Since moving up to S.F. I’ve lived without television but in its place has been Hulu. I just found out today that they have complete episodes of Three Sheets. If you’ve never watched the show it’s about host Zane Lamprey, as he travels the world trying the best (and worst) alcohol that each country has to offer. The premier episode is set in Belgium, the beer lover’s paradise. As I watched the episode I caught myself salivating when they’d pour new beers. Just thinking about their estery flavors made my imagination and taste buds go nuts. That’s NEVER happened before. But it’s not often you find glass after glass of Belgian beer being poured on television. You can guess what I think of Belgian beer.
Lots of changes in the past few weeks, the biggest being the Obama presidency. Very nice, I’m happy about that. I’m searching for work again. In a sense I’m also happy about this as well. I learned a lot about management, specifically how NOT to manage people or a business. The blog has changed as well. Overall the look is the same and so is the content management system (Wordpress) but I’ve completely replaced the framework of the site. Basically it will be much easier to upgrade in the future. There are still a couple of little details here and there that need to be added but overall I’m happy with this as well.
On the job hunting front I’m hopeful. I have my fingers crossed about a potential position at one of the biggest craft breweries. But they have no exact response date so I have to wait and see if they call. It’s tough to find a job in the industry even in the Bay Area. It’s still a small industry and there isn’t much turn over. I haven’t given up yet but I am slowly coming to the realization that I might not even be working in the industry prior to opening my own place. It’s not completely crazy either. There are plenty of very successful brewpubs and breweries that have been started by people without any prior experience other than being homebrewers, the Brooklyn Brewery being one of them. That was started by a journalist/homebrewer and his friend who worked in commercial loans. Now it’s one of the largest and fastest growing craft breweries in the nation. It’s not something I’d want to do but I have to be open to the idea that it might have to be that way.
About two months ago I met brewers John and Rich of San Francisco’s Gordon Biersch brewery/restaurant. I’d mentioned to them my aspirations of one day opening my own place and the difficulties of placing a job in such a specialized and small industry. Although there weren’t any jobs available at Gordon Biersch, John, the head brewer, was gracious enough to invite me to have a brew day with them. However, schedule conflicts kept me from taking him up on the offer until this week.
On Wednesday I arrived at Gordon Biersch at around ten in the morning. They had already started heating the mash by the time I got there. Knowing we had a long day of brewing ahead of us John suggested we take in some “fortification” and had me sample all of the beers they had available. It turns out there was to be much “fortification” through out the rest of the day and the next. And not for without good reason, brewing is hard work!
I finally got a chance to visit The Trappist in Oakland this Sunday and I have to say this is my favorite beer bar so far in the bay area. The decor is simple and beautiful, everything - the bar, walls, furniture, are done in dark wood. The bottled beer menu is leather bound, each page protected in a plastic sleeve with short descriptions of each beer. I told the bartender how much I digged the menu and she said people steal them all the time. I don’t blame them. The Trappist is a Belgian beer lover’s paradise and in turn they treat their Belgian beers with love. Each beer is kept at the appropriate serving temperature for that specific beer. Every one of them is served in its appropriate glass and rinsed before each pour using a high-tech fountain built into the bar. I’ve never seen anything like it.
I started off with an Allagash Four, then on to another quadrupel, a bottle of Ommegang’s Three Philosophers split with my buddy Augi. We finished the day off with a real treat, Brasserie de Rocs’ Triple Impériale, a Belgian dark strong along with a cheese and salami plate. One of the most interesting things was when Augi challenged me to quiz his girlfriend, who does not drink beer at all, on beer and brewing. I was amazed, she could name me all the main ingredients in beer, as well as different types of hops and even processes in fermentation. Funny enough, she probably knew more about beer than 95% of beer drinkers.
By the end of it Augi and I agreed we would try to make going to The Trappist a Sunday ritual. It might take some more effort to convince his girlfriend.