Three years ago, the brewers, in an effort to give their livers a break from the big IPAs and double IPAs they’d been cranking out (IPA, Denogginizer, Hop Salad, Aroma Coma, Hopocalypse), decided to brew a session ale. However, they were unwilling to give up their west-coast hop addiction to accomplish this goal.

Their solution? 1. Brew a light, refreshing session ale with 2-row, Maris Otter, and a touch of crystal malt (3.8%) 2. Crank up the hops to IPA levels (50 IBUs) with large additions of West Coast hops in the boil and another hefty dosage in the dry-hop. 3. Leave the beer only loosely filtered. 4. Enjoy many pints.

Since our first batch of Alpha Session, low-ABV ales have grown in popularity throughout the craft beer community, with ales like English-style Milds, Berliner-weiss, and small beers growing in popularity. So after two years of brewing this “NorCal Bitter” ale in small batches, and likely drinking most of it ourselves, we are ready to share our hop-forward take on session ales with our fans. This time round, Alpha Session has been given full annual seasonal status, meaning that once a year this brewer favorite will be available both on draft and in 22 oz bottles.

To celebrate, we’re kickin’ back at the Barrel House all day Saturday, May 19th from 12-9pm. The Drake’s crew will be on hand sippin’ on Alpha Session, giving tours, playing games of washoes, and generally having an excellent day. For noshing, Oakland’s Fists of Flour pizza truck will be coming by all day to sling pies for our friends. Bottles of the Alpha Session will be available for purchase (limited number per person), so folks can come have a pint and take home some more for later.

1. CBC Opening Gala at the San Diego Zoo- While the animals we ran into were for the most part human… this was a great start to the festivities.

2. Drake’s and Triple Rock Night at Small Bar- was great to get out into the town and meet some local San Diego Drake’s fans alongside our sister brewery, Triple Rock. Anyone who met us that night, please come visit us here in San Leandro anytime.

3. All the Glorious Beer- Every night the Tiki Bar was filled with 137 different, awesome beers from all over the country (and possibly the world) It was so great to be able to sample some things we had never had alongside the brewers that made them.

Thanks to all the folks at the Brewer’s Association for putting on, once again, one of the highlights of our year. For a gallery of more pictures from the night, check out our Facebook page here. 

Seems a little unreal that after today we won’t see him around: climbing atop barrels, stroking his wizard beard for inspiration, or willingly giving his time to help guide any interested person in learning more about making great beer.  Over the nearly five years Brian has been at Drake’s, he has been not only an exceptional brewer, helping to create some of our most loved brews, but a great friend as well. There’s no doubt; we’re gonna miss the guy.

Where’s he headed? Get excited Midwest folks, Brian says he and his family will be leaving the Bay Area for the Grand Rapids, Michigan area. There he will join Thomas (Tommy) Nicely (formerly of Half Acre Brewing) as the Head Brewing team for a brand new production brewery slated to open this year, Perrin Brewing Company. Brian says they will begin by brewing a handful of regular styles year-round and eventually build a Barrel Aging program.

So, we suppose that while we are sad to see him go, there is a silver lining worth mentioning: We will still get to drink beers made by this great brewer… We just may have to travel a bit further to get them. So, to paraphrase a little Henry David Thoreau for our craft beer world:

Nothing makes the world seem so delicious as to have great brewer friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes.

Good Luck Brian. You’ll be missed.

As guests arrived they were given our Hefeweizen to start as servers passed around a fresh flatbread topped with goat cheese and olive tapanade. The fruity aroma and fresh zing of the goat cheese played very nicely with our light Hefeweizen, kicking the night off to a great start.

When the guests had all arrived, the meal began with a light arugula and asparagus salad with a creamy herb dressing pairing with Drake’s 1500. The lightness of the 1500 and the crisp citrus hop flavors went well with the light vegetables and the peppery arugula and cut through the creaminess of the dressing.

For, the second course, Humphries, an East Coast native, pulled together his take on a classic New England Clam Bake, butter poached lobster with little neck clams, marbled potatoes, corn pudding and sea beans. For this dish, they chose our Denogginizer IIPA, which has a clean hop character capable of balanced the buttery, richness of the lobster and corn pudding.

Things got seriously delicious with the third course, with a succulent serving of Chicken Marsala with morel mushrooms and spring onions paired with our Amber Ale. While we did not confirm this, we’re fairly certain the chef used the Amber in the sauce to up the pairing perfection of this dish to new heights. Our only regret is that it would have been uncouth to lick the plate clean…

If the previous dish didn’t send us road tripping down memory lane about good ole’ home cooking, the next dish certainly did. Out came a tender and delicious braised beef short rib served with classic pot roast vegetables, carrots and spring peas. Hearty and delicious and paired with our Barrel-aged Drakonic. Such a classic dish, we could have seen this paired with lots of our beers from regular Drakonic to IPA to Denogginizer.

Lastly we came to dessert with two different courses designed to satisfy those preferring a savory cheese course and those going for the rich and deeply satisfying sweet chocolate ending. First, Humphries paired a Pt. Reyes Blue cheese crouton with pickled rhubard and frisee with our Bourbon and Brandy barrel aged Drakonic Imperial stout. The intensity of the pungent blue cheese was impeccable with the strong imperial stout and the enhanced flavors of dried, dark fruits and brandy cut the richness of the cheese nicely.

At the same time, servers poured out side by side tastings of our regular Drakonic imperial stout alongside a dark chocolate pudding with sour cherries and a thin crispy “Cara Crakine” on top. We had trouble not licking the plate on this one too.

A big thanks to the whole Kitchen Door crew including Chef Humphries, Cheff Litts, Kitchen Door General Manager Tim Seberson and to the folks at Mutineer Magazine (especially Managing Editor Brian Knopf, who celebrated his birthday last night with us). Check out the rest of our pictures from the night below. Cheers.

]]> http://drinkdrakes.com/site/?feed=rss2&p=2051 2 http://drinkdrakes.com/site/?p=2035 http://drinkdrakes.com/site/?p=2035#comments Thu, 29 Mar 2012 21:33:45 +0000 admin http://drinkdrakes.com/site/?p=2035
Wood-aging can be a fickle friend. From our experiments with oak barrels, we know that the subtle play of oak tones ranging from sweet vanilla or caramel notes to mild spiciness of clove or cinnamon to woody aromas and flavors can add dimension and complexity to our ales in a pretty satisfying way. Still, the long amount of time it takes to achieve these flavors from aging in a full barrel sometimes means the compromise of fresher flavors of the hops or malt. Also, our barrels, all former bourbon/wine/brandy barrels, have other flavor components that come into play besides the pure oak.

So, in an effort to see what a little straight oak tones can give to our fresh beers, we recently began experimenting with oak wood chips. Wood chips are small pieces of wood (in our case oak), usually about 2 inches long that have been toasted to varying degrees (untoasted, light, medium, and heavy) to achieve different flavor components. Chips with their greater surface area are able to infuse beers with oak flavors more quickly than barrels, which for us means we can get the oak flavor without losing some of the fresher flavors of our beers.

Brian began by taking growlers of a range of our fresh beers, taken anytime between when the beers had just finished and were conditioning to the point when they were ready to package. “I ran the gamut really: Denog, Barleywine, IPA, Red Eye, Drakonic, Dry Stout, and even a little Hefeweizen,” he said.

He then added a different type of oak-chip to each growler and left them to mellow. Generally Brian said, he likes to taste the beers at 1 week, 2 weeks, up to a month. So, yesterday, at about the 2 week mark of this round of tests, we gathered a seven person panel inside the Barrel House to try what we had.

Overall we came to learn that just a little bit of oak can go a long way. In some of our trials the oak did impart nice flavors but it overpowered the beer, leading us to think that maybe larger chip sizes in smaller amounts could be better. Some of our conclusions were expected—the Drakonic Imperial Stout did well with a hint of oak. Others were unexpected— who knew the Hefeweizen might taste pretty good with a very small dose of heavy toasted oak chips?

Our brewer Alex, noted how she particularly liked how the oak could be used for hoppy beers. “With wood chips, you can retain some of the bitterness and fresh hop character that falls away in the barrels.”

These fresh, oaked beers, Brian explained, could also be use to blend with some barrel-aged beers to further add complexity and freshness. But, he qualifies, “This is Step 1.” There are still many more iterations to come with this process as we work to discover exactly what method, which combinations of chips and ales, and possible what blending options will give us something truly of uncommon deliciousness.

For a more detailed review of oak-aging in general, this article sums things up pretty nicely. –> Using Oak in Beer

With a contagious exuberance that likely hasn’t waned much since he was a small boy and an undeniable talent in the kitchen, Chef Pechal worked with our Head Brewer Brian Thorson and created a 5-course menu of sumptuous dishes each paired with a different Drake’s beer.

As guests began to arrive early in the evening, we poured our light and crisp Kolsch-style Blonde ale, to pair with the first dish of the night: Lobster and Blonde Beer Fritters with Meyer Lemon Aioli.

Hungry from set-up and the choice to eat very lightly throughout the day pre-beer-dinner, the intoxicating smell of these delicious golden puffs of beer batter and lobster made it difficult to keep from promptly stuffing four into our mouths and washing down with a full Blonde, but we refrained. Good thing too, because the hits just kept on coming.

Chef Pechal finally instructed us all to take our seats for the next course and introduced to the crowd our owner John Martin and Brian. Then, when the opening remarks were complete, the wait staff brought in dish and beer number 2. Drakes Amber paired with 12 Hour Pork Belly with Honey Amber Mustard, Toasted Pistachios, sauteed Blueberries, and Red Mustard Frisee.

After the delicious and almost mandatory infusion of pork belly, we moved on to course three: House Made Squid Ink Pasta with Grilled Monterey Squid, Calabrian Chilis and Arugula paired with 1500. The lightness of the 1500 and the citrus in the hops perfectly paired with the richness of the pasta, lightness of the squid and the spice from the chilis.

Now that we had hinted at the hops and the spice, the fourth course took it to the next level. Glasses of our seasonal Hopocalypse Double IPA made their way to each guest as servers dropped vintage martini glasses filled with Fort Bragg Rockfish Ceviche with Blood Oranges, Habeñero, and Hopocalypse-Avocado Mousse garnished with a crispy corn chip.

Then, the night got even more interesting. In a mad scientist turn, Chef Pechal brought a table to the front of the room and had his sous chef bring in a large metal container filled with liquid nitrogen. After donning protective gloves and goggles the two chefs began to pour the -320 degree liquid nitrogen into a container filled with a hefty amount of our latest sour Theia (an American Strong Ale aged in Chardonnay Barrels with Brettanomyces), thus creating tableside sorbet. Fog from the liquid nitrogen billowed out of the top of the container as Chef Pechal stirred the mixture to a perfect sorbet consistancy– the perfect palate cleanser for a beer dinner. Chef Pechal served small spoons of the Theia sorbet with garnish of carbonated blood oranges (made by putting oranges and beer into a keg and cranking up the psi to carbonate the juice inside the oranges) and a glass of the non-frozen Theia.

After the entertainment of the evening was finished, and all of our palates thoroughly cleansed, servers began to bring out the fifth pairing: Black Robusto Porter with Porter Braised Beef Shortribs with Crispy Fingerlings, Carnival Cauliflower, and Toy Box Carrots. We had no words…

Nearly stuffed, a bit red faced, and very happy at this point, every cheerfully welcomed the final pairing for dessert that was both delicious and inventive. Dessert paired our well-named Barrel-aged Barleywine blend, The Good Shit with Apple-Barleywine Bundt Cake with Cardamom Ice Cream and Apple Barleywine Granita.

We left that night full, completely satisfied, and absolutely certain to dream about the foods and beers we had had. Both Brian and John agreed it was one of the more excellent pairing dinners they had ever had the pleasure to experience, and if Chef Pechal wants to do another dinner with us… you can be sure that we’re in.

Quick shout out to the servers and staff that made the dinner as wonderful as it was. Probably going to dream about this food again tonight. Cheers.

This year’s Beer Week was by all accounts the most phenomenal showing by breweries and attendees across the Bay Area in the week-long event’s history (we would know, we were there). With something along the lines of 300 events throughout the tumultuous ten days, Bay Area beer lovers smelled, sipped, paired, guzzled and enjoyed craft beer in every way imaginable, and many many of them did it all with us.

We did a staggering 22 events from food pairings to pig roasts to good ole beer fests and blind tasting competitions, and it was pretty excellent to see several of our fans at more than a few of our events.

As we couldn’t possibly cover the vast amount of excellent things that happened throughout the week without spending far too much time on this blog post (still have beer to brew…), here are a few of the highlights as we saw them from Monday on.

Monday: Beer and Cheese Pairing at Mission Cheese. This tiny cheese shop helped us pair 5 beers with 5 cheeses, and the results were so delicious that we must share said pairings for your own cheese & beer adventures to come.

Pawlet (cow’s milk) with 1500 dry-hopped Pale Ale.
Aged Tomme with Hopocalypse DIPA.
Ocooch with Dire Straits 2012 Barleywine.
Classico Goat Cheese with Drake’s Amber.
Windemere Cheese (known as the Bacon of cheeses) with Moscow’s Burning Smoked Imperial Stout.

ALSO on Monday: We again participated in the Annual Barclay’s Pub Battle of the Bays with our 1500 and Hopocalypse battling it out in taste duals with foes from the other side of the Bay. For the second year in a row we emerged the big winners. 1500 won the American Pale Ale category; Hopocalypse won the double IPA category; the East Bay took the most votes over the West Bay; and we took home the most votes overall, along with this sweet trophy to adorn the Barrel House.

Brewer Alex with our guest of honor

Wednesday: Our Sau & Brau Part Deux, whole hog pig roast was for the second year in a row a huge success. Our friends at Chop Bar in Oakland showed up early to start the two whole pigs roasting away, and come 6pm most folks were waiting just outside the Barrel House for their pig and beer fix.

Gabbi was excited to tap the special Drakonic firkin.

This year we had the added bonus of over 22 beers on tap (up from 6-7 beers from the first year) for attendees including both the Hopocalypse DIPA,  Hopocalypse Black Label TIPA, our Barrel-Aged Festival Award winner Brette Davis Eyes, The Good Sh*t Barleywine blend, a specialty firkin of Drakonic Imperial Stout with Blue Bottle Espresso and TCHO chocolate nibs added to name a few. We also had our Barrel House decked out with plenty of room for folks to hang out, drink up and pig out. Another cool addition this year was the inclusion of the piano and drum duo “Bangin’ and Clangin‘” who provided just the right tunes to go with the high spirits of the night. Really really can’t wait to do this night again next year.

The Full Meal. Om Nom Nom.

Everyone was lovin' it. Great folks, great pig, great beer.

Jacob and Kirby from Bangin' and Clangin' are awesome.

Drake's Brewer Chris Dunstan, Triple Rock Head Brewer (and former Drake's Brewer) Jeff Kimpe, and Buffalo Bill's Head Brewer (and former Drake's Brewer) Mike Manty.

Thursday: Somehow we ended up all over the Bay Area on this night. Folks enjoyed some barrel-aged beers alongside tasty spirits at Bloodhound in SOMA in San Francisco. Brewer Alex joined a host of other Bay Area brewers at the Cal Academy of Sciences for their SF Beer Week Nightlife which brought out over 2600 people (whoa). On this side of the bay, Head Brewer Brian did our meet the brewer segment at Beer Revolution, and was joined by owners John Martin and Roy Kirkorian as well as our sales rep Dow with a hefty list of cool beers including a few barrel-aged beauties. Finally, we joined our brother breweries Triple Rock and Jupiter at the first ever East Bay BrewFest at Pyramid in Berkeley for a night of East Bay craft beer love.

Lots of people came out to get a rare taste of the Jack & Jolly.

Friday: The Return of Jack & Jolly, our Jack Daniels Barrel-aged Jolly Rodger, for another round. Three kegs only were tapped simultaneously at 6pm in three different locations throughout the Bay Area including our own Drake’s Barrel House, The Page Bar in SF, and Iron Springs Brewery in Fairfax. This year’s version was our 2009 Jolly Rodger Imperial Brown Ale aged in Jack Daniels barrels- malty and smooth with flavors of mild smoke, tobacco and a hint of tang from the sour mash whiskey engrained in the barrel. Complex and completely satisfying.

Also on Friday, we were once again entered into a beer battle at Barclay’s Pub in Oakland for their IPA challenge. We faced off against other Bay Area hoppy offerings in a blind-tasting, and again, we took the top prize. You like us, you really like us. Thanks!

Brian hung out and tried some Poppy Jasper from El Toro Brewing Co out of Morgan Hill, CA.

Saturday: While we grilled and chilled here at the Barrel House with Bourbon Bros. BBQ and Fists of Flour pizza, Brian headed south to meet some folks in the South Bay for the 3rd annual Meet the Brewer event at the Tied House/Hermitage. We don’t make it down to the South Bay too often yet, so it was cool to see a bunch of new faces and brewers. Added plus, the 5 food trucks at the brewery were dang tasty.

Drake's, Triple Rock and Jupiter set up together for Celebrator.

Sunday: As no highlight reel of SF Beer Week would be complete without mentioning the closing event, we must applaud the folks at Trumer Brauerei and Celebrator Beer News for once again pulling off a closing fest that exceeded expectations all around. Road weary and beer soaked from the week, we pulled into Trumer on Sunday afternoon, but it did not take long for us to perk up. A great line-up of Bay Area brewers came out once again with some incredible beers to send off SF Beer Week right. Also, those beer donuts were just incredible (with Trumer Pils cream inside… mmm).

Yeah...

And so it ended with a bang and not a whimper, and after a brief Presidents’ Day of rest (for most of us… Alex and Chris still brewed all day yesterday), we are back to business. In fact, today we did a big tank move in which a 60 bbl bright tank and a 60 bbl fermenter headed over to the new cellar via crane.

Also, Sacramento folks, if this post made you jealous, no worries, Sac Beer Week kicks off Thursday, and we will have events all week with some of our northern neighbors. Cheers.

This year for the first time the judges did an separate round for the plethora of newly emerging Triple IPAs including our own Hopocalypse Black Label TIPA. And we are happy to announce that we were victorious! Amongst the intimidating competition of Triple IPAs including Triple Rock’s Rodger’s Last Stand (Silver), Pizza Orgasmica’s new TIPA, and Russian River’s iconic Pliny the Younger, Hopocalypse Black Label was chosen for the top honors.

We couldn’t be happier, especially considering the time and effort we put it to making this beer into a success. Head Brewer Brian developed the new huge recipe with some help from the rest of the guys, and Brewer Alexandra Nowell took on the task of handling this monster brew (our biggest yet with a starting gravity of 26.5 degrees Plato) from the very start of the mash in until the it was ready to keg and bottle. She coddled this beer like it was her little infant child  making sure the yeast was in the perfect condition to ferment the extremely concentrated brew at just the right temperature, with right amount of oxygen, and with the occasional nudges to make this beer finish exactly how we wanted.

Because of the hard work of our brewers, we ended up with a beer bursting with hops, a big heady nose, and massive flavors of citrus, tropical fruit and just a touch of warm booziness. We love it. Glad to hear others did too.

In other news: As we move into Day 4 of SF Beer Week, we do need to take a moment to recap the past weekend (or we may just forget).

For Pictures of Our Beer Week Shenanigans you can check our Flickr Set below. We will continue to update it throughout the week.

The Opening Celebration put on by the SF Brewer’s Guild at the Concourse Pavilion was a universal hit. The space was perfect and large enough to accommodate the huge crowd of beer enthusiasts and brewers. We took a hopped-up arsenal of 6 beers, 5 of which were some form of IPA, and 4 of which were Double or Imperial IPAs. (Our list: Hopocalypse DIPA, Hopocalypse Black Label TIPA, Denogginizer IIPA, Jolly Rodger 2011 Imperial Dark IPA, Drake’s IPA, and 1500 Dry-hopped Pale Ale).

The whole night felt like an incredible craft beer reunion with all of our friends in the industry and fans of our beers coming together to taste some amazing brews. We were happy to be there.

On Saturday, while some of us went to the DIPA Festival in Hayward for the competition, others in the crew headed out to the Craneway Pavilion in Richmond for their 3rd Annual Chocolate and Beerfest with 16 kegs in tow. Over 2500 people came to sample chocolates and our beers, and by the end, everyone’s cup runneth over, and all our kegs came home tapped out.

Sunday, we started early hitting 21st Amendment for our 2nd Annual Big Beer Brunch. The talented chefs at 21A whipped up delicious brunch specialties and we took 4 of our biggest beers (Hopocalypse, Denogginizer, Drakonic, and The Good Sh*t Barleywine Blend). The place was crowded with folks looking for a beer and brunch nirvana, and in our opinion, it was pretty well achieved. After a meal that delicious and rich with beers that big, we’re pretty sure some folks went home for a post-brunch nap.

No, napping for us though. Some of the Drake’s crew then headed toward Triple Rock and Jupiter to help our brother brew pubs with their Annual Sour Sunday Festival which was epic as always

Then, last night, to end the weekend right we went took over the taps at Amsterdam Cafe in SF with a few great brews. There we got to introduce some folks to a few of our newest beers including our Brandy Barrel-Aged 2009 Barleywine, “Brandy Witches.” We had a great time, and loved hanging out in this way cool little bar in the heart of the city.

But, as we said, it is only Day 4 of the action, and we have lots more to come. Tonight, we are headed to a beer friendly cheese joint in the Mission in SF for a cheese and beer pairing night that already has our mouths watering.

Tuesday we head back to another place in the Mission on Shotwell’s and 20th for a Valentines Day Chocolate and Beer Pairing. Also, Brewer Alex Nowell will be representing women in Bay Area brewing at the film screening of the new documentary For the Love of Beer at 18 Reasons in the Mission.

Wednesday, we’re thinking about some Pig and Beer. The Second Annual Drake’s Sau & Brau will be going on here at Drake’s Barrel House with twice the pig, twice the space and over 3 times the beer from last year. Tickets are sold out for this event, but if you need your Drake’s and Pig fix, Brewer Kyle Wilson is going to a charcuterie shop in SF near Fell and Gough for a Pork Happy Hour. (Can you say Drakonic Sausage??)

Thursday, we will be all over the map with events in the city and the East Bay including a showcase at an Oakland beer bar near 3rd and Broadway, a barrel-aged beer tasting at an SF bar in SOMA (on Folsom between 7th and 8th) known for their spirits, the East Bay BrewFest at Pyramid, and an appearance at the Cal Academy of Science’s Nightlife.

Friday is Jack & Jolly time. We took our 2010 Jolly Rodger Imperial Red Ale and put it into Jack Daniels barrels for the past year and this Friday we will release 3 exclusive kegs in three different locations all to be tapped at 6pm. Locations: Drake’s Barrel House, SF Bar on Divisidero near Haight St., and at Iron Springs in Fairfax.

Saturday, Head Brewer Brian is heading down South to partake in a Meet the Brewer event at the Hermitage in San Jose. Excited to meet our fans down there in one of the few events we do down in the South Bay.

And, with a sigh of relief on Sunday we will be at the Celebrator 24th Anniversary Beer Fest at Trumer Brauerei in Berkeley to officially bid farewell to another great beer week.

Monday… we sleep.

Well, in late November, we were lucky enough to bring Doug into the Drake’s fray as our sales rep for the North Bay and Sacramento, and his knowledge of the area’s beer scene and well-honed palette have definitely helped us bring up our game.

Still, even as Doug now traverses from Sacramento to Santa Rosa and back to San Leandro on a normal basis, he still finds the time to get his own brewing in. A few weeks ago, Doug dropped off a couple bottles of his Belgian Golden Strong ale at the brewery for Brian and the rest of the brewers to try, and needless to say, it was a resounding hit.

Sooo… We decided to make some more.

Brian worked with Doug to scale up the recipe for our tanks, and this past Saturday they mounted the brew deck and made it happen.

According to Brian and Doug the beer, the B.D. Golden Peril as they call it, will be hugely effervescent champagne-like ale with touches of spice and peach esters from its Belgian golden strong yeast strain hailing from Brasserie d’ Achouffe in the heart of the Belgian Ardennes. Noble hops, Saaz and German Spalt, will accent the beer with a spicy, earthy character, and the finish will be dry with a pleasantly, lingering floral undertones. Golden, aromatic, delicious, and as the name suggests, perilous at an expected 9% ABV.

Brian already has a few barrels set aside for some of this batch for aging, but the limited release of the young version will be making an appearance likely by the end of this glorious beer month. Can’t wait to try it. Cheers.

Grabbing a post, grain out glass of Hopocalypse.

Hand's lookin' much better. Stir that mash!

An air of excitement hung in the air as the sun rose in San Leandro on Saturday. Cases and kegs of our Hopocalypse Double IPA and Hopocalypse Black Label Triple IPA sat in the cold box waiting for thirsty craft beer fans to arrive and get the first taste of the hoppy-goodness and grab a few bottles for home.

At 8:20 am the first folks arrived to start the line which by the time the doors opened at 10 am had stretched back into our parking lot and started to curve toward the brewery.

At 9:55, the whole crew gathered inside the Barrel House for a celebratory toast of Hopocalypse to start the day, and at 10am sharp the doors opened unleashing a wave of hop-heads anxious to get their first sips and take home 22 oz bombers, growlers, and Brew Rhino kegs of the Hopocalypse Double IPA and the limited release 22 oz bombers of the Hopocalypse Black Label TIPA.

From 10am until 8pm the crowd at the bar never really died down with hop-heads from all over the Bay Area and beyond gathering across the width of our 30 ft. bar to get their Hopocalypse fix. Delicious smells of smoked ribs and tri-tip from Bourbon Bros. BBQ wafted over the patio all day long as folks casually relaxed sipping on both levels of the Hopocalypse or sampling one of the other 22 taps of our beers available in the Barrel House. Brewery tours ran throughout the day giving folks a chance to get a look inside the brewery itself and taste a bit of our next batch of the Hopocalypse DIPA straight from the tank.

The Hopocalypse kegs to-go were the first to go out the door, but do not fret. We will be getting more with each new batch of the Hopocalypse DIPA to come out. So, if you missed your chance Saturday, there will be a few more Brew Rhinos coming. Unfortunately, however, that’s not the case with the Black Label bombers that sold out of our entire supply of roughly 700-800 bottles on Saturday by around 5:30 or 6pm. If you missed your chance to grab a bottle for home, the Black Label will stay on tap here at the Barrel House for a brief while longer, so come on down sometime this week or next to indulge in the latest huge hoppy monster we’ve created.

Live Music got going around 2pm, starting off easy with a low-key acoustic duo and finishing the night with local band Rough Waters who rocked out the Barrel House until the bitter end inspiring some to break out their dancin’ shoes and celebrate the day. Fists of Flour pizza came by round 6 with their killer wood-fired pizza to satiate the dinner crowd and teach us all once again that craft beer and great pizza really were meant to be together.

As the final glass was poured at the end of the day the whole crew heaved a deeply satisfied sigh at the success of the day. We had a tremendous day that exceeded all of our expectations all due to our awesome fans that showed up in force to support and have a great time in the process.

To everyone that made it out, Cheers to you. It’s the craft beer fans out there that make it all possible, and ours are among the best. Can’t wait to see you all next week for SF Beer Week, and really can’t wait for next year’s release.