Beer on Both Coasts

Since my last post I’ve been to New York City (said with same emphasis as the Pace Picante commercial) and Sacramento, I was able to visit brewpubs in both cities. One in NYC and four in Sacramento. Overall that makes them successful trips even though there was work involved. Before I talk about them though I’d like to refer back to my last post. I, or rather my spouse found Bluemoon’s Rising Moon Ale, which is an amber Wheat with Lime and Lime peel added. I can know report that I enjoyed it very much. It’s crisp, refreshing, and light. The Lime taste is very slight and does not overwhelm. Try it if its’ available near you.

Also in response to the comment from Greg on my last post, I had forgotten but occasionally I get a bad Bluemoon White. I’m not sure what happens to it but it just isn’t what it should be. It’s only happened a couple of times but one was this week. For some reason the beer takes on an orange cast and actually tastes a little like orangeade, not a good thing for a beer. I know they put orange peel in it but I think sometimes they get carried away.

Now on to my brewpub expereinces. Heartland Brewery has 5 locations in the NYC area. I managed to get to 2 of them. Both places are similar so convenience is the only consideration for picking a locale. The beer at Heartland is definitely drinkable. They’ve won some awards in the past but nothing recently and in my humble opinion that’s because they’ve gone for mass appeal instead of sticking to the strict qualities of the beer types. Everything they have is recognizable for what they call it but is not exactly on the mark for the beer type. The stout was closer to being a porter and so on. Service was very good, food was great, and the atmosphere was pleasant.

While in Sacramento I went to Rubicon Brewing, Hoppy Brewing, Pyramid Alehouse Brewery, and Sacramento Brewing. Each had it’s own traits and all were worth the visit.

Rubicon is more like a neighborhood bar than anything else and I suspect that’s because that’s really what it is. It just happens to make it’s own beer. It’s in a small residential area just out of downtown and obviously had a lot of loyal regulars. The beers were good, food was good and service was very good. As I already said, atmosphere was basically neighborhood bar.

Hoppy Brewing is a more traditional brewpub that lives up to it’s name. Most of their beers are a bit on the hoppy side for my taste. Their IPA will cause your face to go into a permanent scrunch. But hey, some people like that. The service was pretty good, food was good and the atmosphere was what you would expect, brewpub like.

Pyramid Alehouse is a larger chain like brewpub. It’s really more like a large brewey that has restaurants. Reminds me a lot of Big River. They have 5 locations on the west coast and are worth a visit. They make a nice Hefeweizen and an Amber I really enjoyed. In the summer I think their Apricot Ale would be very refreshing. The food was very good, service was excellent, and the atmosphere was big restaurant like, but not bad.

As for Sacramento Brewing I went to their Oasis location which has since been closed so I’m hesitant to talk about it. I haven’t been to the other location and don’t know anything about it. They area little unique in that they have a beer menu outside of their own brews. I will definitely check out their other location next time I’m in the Sacramento area.

Some of you may ask ‘How does he manage to taste all the beers in a brewpub in one visit?’. The secret is , samplers, most of these places will give you 4-5 OZ samples sometimes in a group, sometimes individually. It helps if you have somebody else with you so you don’t have drink all of each one. I usually pick my favorite and have a pint of that with my meal. If they have half pints I might try two.