SoCal

When I was growing up, I never thought I'd be able to say that 'I went to California for the weekend' but I did!.  Tony had a conference in San Diego and planned to drive up toward L.A. to see his brother.  So, not wanting to miss seeing Peter, I decided to join him for a few days.


Stone Brewing Company
Never wanting to miss an opportunity to try new beers, we stopped at Stone Brewing Company in Escondido, CA  Tony and I both agree that this might be the best all around brewpub we have ever visited. The food, beer and beautiful surroundings of the restaurant (not to mention the absolutely perfect weather) made this one of the very best.

The inside of the restaurant / bar is surrounded by glass. One side is the brewery - which is a beautiful thing. 

 







The other side of the room faces the gardens.  The glass windows apparently go up like garage doors although they were down the day we were there. This photo is taken from Stone's web site but I thought it did a great job of showing the ingenuity of the architecture.

http://www.stoneworldbistro.com/gallery/architecture.asp

Stone Pale Ale, Stone Smoked Porter, Stone IPA and Stone Arrogant Bastard Ale (l-r)

We decided to start with a sampler of the beers.  We had tried the Stone IPA and the Arrogant Bastard before but they are so good we were happy to try them again.  The Smoked Porter was very good with just enough smoke flavor. 

I enjoyed the Pale Ale the most.  Although Tony liked the samples, he ordered another sample - the Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale. 

 

When the waiter brought it he said, 'sorry, I asked for a sample but they filled it all the way to the top.'  Tony didn't seem to mind!

We wanted to try a variety of food so we ordered two appetizers:  The Stone Pale Ale & Garlic Stir-Fried Brussels Sprouts and the Spud Buds (IPA garlicky mashed potatoes deep fried in Arrogant Bastard batter, served with a side of Smoked Porter BBQ sauce.  The BBQ sauce and the sauce that the brussels sprouts were in would have been good on just about anything!

After eating the appetizers we noticed the Stone Ruination IPA Soup on the menu.  Of course, it was warm outside but how many times does one get to Stone Brewing Company?  We ordered one to split.
Garlic Cheddar and Stone Ruination IPA soup.  (from the menu - A.K.A. the Pungent One.  It is very bitter and we love it! Tons of roasted garlic, extra-sharp white cheddar cheese & more than a splash of Stone Ruination IPA for good measure.  Served with broccoli tempura.  The orange color comes from our fabulous smoked paprika!

I wish we had saved room for dessert.  I would have loved to try the Blueberry Blue Cheese Jalapeno Cheesecake or the Cocoa Pate surfeit Medjool Dates.  There were so many other interesting things that all looked fantastic.  Check out the dessert menu here!

Jen capturing menu info for the blog!

But, we decided to forgo dessert and walk the gardens instead.

I got to climb the rocks! 

Someone was nice enough to offer to take our picture together.  We don't have many of us together on our trips since one of us is usually doing all of the camera work. 

Jen and Tony @ Stone

The bistro and gardens were beautiful!

Manhattan Beach Brewing Company

The name of the establishment implied that they brewed beer on site, but alas, they did not. However, our disappointment in that fact was soon washed away, like sandcastles on the shore, when we noticed how many beers they did have on tap!

But our first beer was not a pint from the on-tap selection.  We noticed the bottle menu listed Russian River Brewing Company's Pliny the Elder.  This beer is at the top of nearly every beer rating you'll find.  Beer Advocate gives it A+ status and Rate Beer gives it a score of 100.  Tony loved it!  I didn't love it as much.  The taste was okay but it smelled a little like trout to me.  I know I'm probably the only person who feels that way about the smell, but I like the smell of a beer just as much as the taste.

Other notable beers from the visit were Uinta's Dubhe Imperial Black IPA, which tasted a little like a delicious Jamocha Shake Beer, Kern River's Just Outstanding IPA, which was truly outstanding and a new brewery in the area - El Segundo Blue House IPA. 

Illiana Mayfest - Crown Point, IN

Tony and Rick studying beer options

We missed it last year but we sure are glad we made it to the Illiana Mayfest this year!  Our great friends Rick and Steve were able to join us for an afternoon of tasting delicious beers and lots of laughter! 

Rick knows a little something about pacing himself so early in the afternoon he purchased a pretzel necklace!  The pretzels are great for keeping a little food on your stomach as well as cleansing the palate from one sample to the next.

Many of our favorite microbreweries were represented:  Crown Brewing,  Backroads, Moylan's, Breckenridge, Broad Ripple Brew Pub, Mad Anthony's, 3 Floyd's, Figure Eight, Shoreline, and Flossmoor Station.  But we got to sample beers from two new pubs - Sun King and Flat 12, both from Indianapolis.

Tony, Ryan, Drew (l-r)

Tony got to spend a little time with his son, Ryan.  Ryan has become quite the craft beer connoisseur.  He has even collaborated with us on a beer which was aptly named Rye-Pa.

We have attended several beer tasting events and we all agreed that this one seems to have been the best organized.  The logistics were well planned and there were plenty of food options, restrooms and fresh air.  The event was held at the Lake County Fairgrounds in a great building and the D. J. played great music.

The Haymarket Pub & Brewery

We drive past this place every single time we go to a Hawks game.  We saw it turn from a Bar Louie into this secret prize wrapped in newspapers (on the windows) while they remodeled.  Tony had heard it was going to be a microbrewery and he was right.

The Haymarket Pub and Brewery opened on December 24, 2010. The chef and the brewmaster both have experience in the industry and the beer and the food show it.

I don't have any pictures (next time!) but Tony tried the Peace Frog American IPA, the Anarchy  Double IPA and the Black Wobbly Robust Porter.  No surprise that the IPAs were his favorite.

The food was also great.  Tony had The Riot - a spicy Italian pork patty, pulled pork, giardinera and mozzarella on a a brioche bun and a side of Mac and Cheese.  I had the burger with blue cheese.