7. Bear Republic Brewing Co.
Bear Republic had good selection of beers but the Racer 5 IPA was the most hoppy, strong grassy note from hop I experienced. It was the beer to kick your taste butts by strong bitterness! Another contender was the cousin of IPA called Black Racer IPA. It isn't burned coffee like malt taste you imagine from the color of the beer and is like more of toasty bread. Compared to Racer 5 IPA, I noticed the fruity hop note but beer had very strong bitterness experienced. The XP pale was still hoppy side of pale but highly drinkable. Also Rye beer was good. Bear Republic also tried to create own Belgian styles, but isn't as excellent taste as North Coast. Monkey High Five Belgian Porter was earth note (more like stink seafood) with mild clove/banana but not so much.
Overall 3.8 / 5.0
8. Lagunitas Brewing Co.
Probably the Lagunitas is well known name because the company focus on distributing beer. The tasting room open till 8 pm on Sat. and Sun. and till 9 pm from Wed. to Fri. The tasting room and patio is very nice. Lagunitas beer always sweet aftertaste for me. It is very present and drinkable for most of beer style. I cannot take much for Brown Shugga that was too sweet like candy. I did enjoy the seasonal Octoberfest. Toasty malt with fruity hop refreshed me very well. I also like Little Something Wild. The earthy funky note from belgian yeast added pinelike woody note and nice combination of toasty malt aroma. Beer food snackies were good too.
Overall 4.2 / 5.0
9. Russian River Brewing Co.
The brewery is most famous for belgian style/farmhouse ale than English style ales, but Blind Pig IPA and Pliny the Elder are the famous for long time. The Pliny the Younger (Triple IPA) is usually released in Feb., but this famous beer would not last long. People (beer geeks) standing outside for more than 5 hrs. to taste this 10.5 % IPA. Hummm, I wonder how much complexity it would have for taste and aroma. This can be the dream beer for West coast IPA fan. The Pliny the Elder is very strong hop note and bitter taste. Indeed it is double IPA, the hoppy aroma is more of spicy tobacco or cigar like aroma than fruity hoppiness. The bitterness is not stick around so long, so it is still drinkable and delicious. However, I preferred to taste Blind Pig IPA that was far more balanced with grassy and fruity hoppy note with toasty malt taste with bitter aftertaste. It is far more crisp and drinkable beer than Pliny the Elder. Russian River IPA is another good IPA. It stronger aroma of hop and bitterness than the Blind Pig. It is somewhere between Pliny the Elder and Blind Pig IPA. My two favorit Belgian style is Damination and Consecration. Damination has funky yeasty note and banana/clove note is very similar to North Coast Pranqster. Also Consecration is the best kriek like farmhouse style ale with current. The amount of sourness from this beer may not favor many beer drinkers, but it is still very drinkable and great beer to open your mind for many style of beers available in West coast. The wood oven style pizza is very good too.
Overall 5.0 / 5.0
Next morning with bunch of drunkers. We need water, coffee, breakfast, and beer.
Some kind of Factory we saw...
Darn, that was the yellow piss beer factory.
10. Sudwerk Restaurant and Brewery
It is located at UC. Davis, and the beer style is famous for Pilsner, Hefe, Lager, Marzen, Bock, and Weizen. Yes, the beer list is more of German style to Eastern European style beer. Please do not disappointed by reading it so far. I admit myself that I was not a fun of those style either until I step in the Sudwerk to taste the good beer. I mean really good European style lager. Lager was very crisp and honey like aroma. It is very good. Marzen was more nutty malty aroma with sweet candylike note. It was not as sweet as Lager. The Pilsner was my favorite. It was very fruity and hoppy with good combination of bitterness. The food at Sudwerk was also good and bar tender was very nice! It was the worth stop by.
Overall 4.6 / 5.0
Now moving from UC Davis to Chico!
11. Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.
The Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. located at Chico, CA, and this brewery is already huge production size of crafted ales. I do not think the category of "micro-brewery" would fit this place anymore. Indeed its extensive distribution network, the beers from Sierra Nevada is easily accessible to most of grocery stores in USA. I pick the best 5 beers from Sierra Nevada at this time. #5: Poter that was most drinkable one. #4: Celebration Ale was the winter seasonal ale that is still hoppy one. #3: Bigfoot was the good barley wine that is more fruity side than the muscular barley wine flavor. #2: North Hemisphere Harvest is probably much more hoppy than regular Torpedo IPA. Highly recommend it! #1: Fritz and Ken's Ale from 30th Anniversary collection (Stout). It was very roasted coffee and chocolate like aroma and taste. Although it is not as smooth as Old Rasputin from North Coast brewing Co., the rich flavor of beer gets better when it warms up bit. Also this beer feels high alcohol from the first sip that slows me down for sure. The company puts a lot of good styles of beers, but I felt some styles are not distinctively different. I felt the same aftertaste for some of the beers. Food is very good. The restaurant would be perfect place to enjoy the beer and food pairings.
Overall 4.2 / 5.0
#12 Caldera Brewing Co.
Ah, we are finally back in Oregon. The Caldera Brewing Co. is located at Ashland, and the company was the one of pioneer to put good ale beer in CAN. I personally have no against feeling to CAN of beer. You can carry easy with CAN for hiking, climbing, etc. It can chill down very quick with stream of cold water. You can smash the empty CAN to bring trash back from camp site easily. But some people claimed that the beer poured from the CAN can taste metallic. I guess it has pro and cons.
I do like Pale Ale more than IPA from the Caldera. I think the IPA has complex of three hops (Simcoe, Centennial, and Amarillo) instead of just a Cascade hop in Pale, and this gives me more strong hoppy bitter aroma and taste. Another good IPA is called Hopportunity Knocks. It is very hoppy but rather simple aroma than regular IPA. Another good beer is called Mogli. This imperial porter is nice chocolate flavor with woody aroma. Foods are more like regular pub foods. There are few interesting beer like Hibiscus Ginger Beer and Rose Petal Imperial Gold Ale, which I did not try this time.
If you are looking for more of great foods with beer, I recommend to go Standing Stone brewing Co. It is located at only one block away from Caldera Brewing. Co Tap room.
Overall 4.0 / 5.0
We were finally drove back to Corvallis, and the time was already shifted to Monday 1:02 am. It was great and memorable trip we did!
Great write up Mikio! Thanks!
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