On Sunday, Mark had a block in the middle of the day void of fantasy football commitments so it made for a perfect couple hours for beer drinking! We have pretty much tapped out the south bay and San Francisco for new breweries so are now expanding our brewery radar to the Easy Bay. We started our afternoon at Main Street Brewery in Pleasanton.
The sampler at Main Street Brewery included their five house beers on tap for $1 each.
1. First, we began with a Golden Lager.with a 5.0% ABV. This beer came with a lime on the rim. The lime made Mark immediately guess one beer. Think of the two beach chairs and couple on a quiet island commercials...The flavor was similar as well. It was a very light beer but had a slightly sour aftertaste. Neither of us really liked this one.
2. We then moved onto the Strawberry Blonde Hefeweizen with a 5.1% ABV. The strawberry flavor was subtle and added a nice flavor. Mark doesn't usually like the fruit flavored beers and enjoyed this one.
3. Then, it was time for the Pale Ale with a 5.1% ABV. The smell was definately that of a pale ale with the hop aroma and the flavor matched. It was a flavorful pale and nice tasting but nothing notable.
4. After we moved into the dark beers with a Black Lager. This beer was described as "deceptively light" which scared Mark and I into thinking it would be lacking in flavor. However, this beer was still malty and roasted in flavor and we both enjoyed the brew.
5. We ended with the Porter and the highest alcohol content at 7.2% ABV. Another good beer. There was no one flavor that stuck out in this beer but it was a beer I would enjoy post dinner watching TV. Mark commented that it was one of the porters that he likes a little closer to room temperature. And that ended the line up! Overall, we enjoyed 4 out of the 5 beers we sampled. It was definately worth our time and money to try a new brewery. However, none were particularly memorable so we probably won't be back in Pleasanton soon.
Onto Drake's in San Leandro!
Drake's Brewery has a barrel house where visitors can come and sample the beer. The barrel house is a large open warehouse with a bar and indoor and outdoor seating for tasting. We each did their sampler platter which included your choice of 4 of their year round beers and 1 seasonal. Mark and I planned it so that we sampled 10 different beers.
With the samplers, we were given a tasting note paper to take notes on about each beer as we drank. We thought this was a cool idea and had fun tasting, taking notes, and comparing ideas.
Mark's Sampler:
1. CS Brown. Mark noted, "tasted like a brown, nothing special but good." I would agree. The beer was malty and sweet, typical of a brown. No particular flavors or anything to make it stand out though.
2. 1500 Pale Ale with 5.5% ABV and 48 IBUs. Mark noted "hoppy bitterness-tastes like an IPA." When I sampled this beer, I said the same thing to Mark about it tasting like an IPA. It was a little too bitter for a pale ale for my tastes but that made Mark enjoy it more.
3. IPA with 7% ABV and 65 IBUs. Mark wrote, "floral aftertoones-almost citrus." I smelled the floral aroma in this beer right away. It was hoppy and bitter as well. Mark enjoyed it but would pick other IPAs over this one.
4. Dry Stout with a 6.5% ABV. Mark noted, "very dark with a nice creamy head" about the appearance. He said the aroma was "roasted" and the flavor was "roasted-chocolate-nice and warm." This stout is served on nitrogen which I think gives it the thicker head. It also is the kind of stout that Mark likes more at room temperature. We also both tasted the chocolate flavor which Mark appreciated since he doesn't like the overwhelming coffee stouts. Overall, we agreed this was a good stout.
5. Jolly Roger Imperial Dark IPA. Mark wrote that he could "smell the hops but not overpowering." He also noted that it reminds him of Ruination with lots of floral notes. The hops and bitterness were too powerful in this beer for me but as an IPA, it was good.
Mark and his beer.
My Sampler:
1. Hefeweizen with 4.5% ABV. This was a Bavarian style wheat so I immediately guessed I would like it but Mark wouldn't. I noted the traditional banana and cloves smell but then upon tasted commented that it was a less pronounced Bavarian taste compared to the smell. When Mark tasted it, he said the same thing. I liked this Hef but based on the smell, would have liked the Bavarian style to stand out more.
2. Amber with 5.9% ABV. The hop smell was stronger in this beer than I would usually think for an Amber. After tasting, I then wrote that the taste "does not match smell. Malty and sweet. Bitter aftertaste." The first flavor in this beer was sweet but then the stong hops stood out at the end with the bitter aftertaste. This was a good beer and I enjoyed it.
3. Red Eye Ale with 6.5% ABV and 50 IBUs. The smell in this beer was malty and less hoppy. I then noted that it had "medium hops, bitter finish." No memorable flavors in this beer otherwise. Pleasant but not special.
4. Robusto Porter with 5.4% ABV and 25 IBUs. I noted that this porter was "roasted, malty, chocolate, more like Stone Smoked. Very good." This porter reminded me of my favorite Porter, the Stone Smoked. I really enjoyed it. After tasting, Mark commented that it was like the Stone smoked as well. I will be looking for the beer at Bev Mov to have at home.
5. Drakonic Imperial Stout. I wrote that this beer was "roasted, malty but sweet aftertaste." We both thought this beer was good but liked our other Porters and Stouts better.
So there it is! An afternoon of East Bay breweries. Although nothing wrong with the beer at Main Street in Pleasanton, we tasted some good brews at Dranke's and will be looking for some of our new finds in store. The note taking added a fun component to our tasting at Drake's. It also made writing the blog easier today to remember what we thought about each beer!
