Sonoma Chicken Coop...and then Harry's

When out celebrating a friend's birthday party with dinner at Sonoma Chicken Coop, we discovered that their Campbell location brews its own beer.  Since Mark and I were late to the party, we decided we would have to go back another time and sample.

Last Saturday was a beautiful, sunny, mid 60s January day so Mark and I took our roller blades and gloves down to Campbell and the Los Gatos Creek trail.  After enjoying the weather with some blading and catch, we decided it was time for some beer.  So we headed over to Sonoma. 

As it was between lunch and dinner, the restaurant was relatively uncrowded and we grabbed two seats at the bar.  Sonoma currently brews 6 bears, the Kolsh, Hef, Pale, ESB, Scottish Ale, and the Porter.  I started with the Scottish Ale while Mark started with the Pale. Here's our review.

Scottish Ale- I liked this one.  It was slightly sweet malty with less hops.  It was carmel in color and very pleasant.  I'd order it again.  When Mark tried it, he liked it but said he'd probably order his Pale over the Scottish Ale.  The sweetier, maltier flavor made it more kind of beer than his.   

Pale-After having some of my Scottish Ale and then tasting Mark's Pale, the plae tasted a lot more hoppy and bitter.  I think my reaction was just from the switch of beers because Mark did think it was overwhelmingly hoppy or bitter.  He enjoyed it as well but would put it on the lower end of pale ales he would order out. 

Then we moved onto round 2.  I ordered the Porter and Mark ordered the ESB. 

Porter- Dark in color with light head.  It had a nice roasted flavor to it.  Couldn't specifically pick out a strong flavor in it but a good beer. 

ESB- When asked about it 6 days later, Mark said "eh, it was good but nothing to write home about."  I think I'll have to ask for details of his opinion sooner if I want moe info. :)

At that point, we were going to call it a day so asked for our bill.  The bartendar who we had talked some with since we got there commented that we weren't going to try them all.  We said not today but then he poured us partial glasses of the Hef and Kolsh.   Yay for making new friends! 

Hef- A nice Bavarian style Hef.  Lighter in flavor than some of the better Hefs we've had recently. 

Kolsh- Pretty good for a Kolsh!  As they are more along the lines of "fizzy yellow beers" than Mark and I usually order, we often pass on the Kolshs.  This one had some nice flavor to it though and was much less watery than we anticipated.

We headed back to our cars with the intention of driving home.  However, somehow Mark must have gotten lost because we ended up at Harry's Hobrau!  Our barthender friend we met last week was there again so we said hello.  Here we split Pliny the Elder.  Pliny the Elder is brewed by the Russian River Brewing Company which I've hear good things about and home to make it up to someday.  Pliny the Elder is an Double IPA with an ABV of 8%. 

It is golden, orange in color and smells citrusy.  I wouldn't go so far as to claim that I could smell the pine but it definately smelled fresh.  I was excepting lots of bitterness as it is a Double IPA.  However, I would say that while the bitterness if definately present it is a very smooth drinkable beer with a good malt balance.  Because it is so smooth and fresh, I think I could have a few too many before the higher ABV caught up with me! Makes me curious about the other brews from Russian River. 

Another good Saturday.  With Super Bowl Sunday being today, who knows that tasting is coming up next!