Bye Bye to the Bay

Driving back to The Bay area, we found a well-positioned brewery at which to enjoy a spot of lunch. The folk at Cedar Crest Brewing in Red Bluff were lovely, really helpful and enjoyed chatting about beer and football - what more could you want? They didn't have food but they gave us a takeaway menu for the Mexican place next-door and the food was delivered to our table. It was delicious and went very well with the Manton Hopper IPA - hoppy with citrus and pine but a solid malt backbone tempers the aggression often present in many West Coast IPAs.

Cedar Crest brewing Manton Hopper IPA

The brewery is curiously party of a shop selling fancy snacks and local art. It's got a sort of folksy, country, home-on-the-range vibe which manages to feel more homey than horror. 

The main pilgrimage of the day, however, was to The Rare Barrel in Berkeley. We timed it just right so that the doors opened as we walked up. Him Outdoors has been dreaming about this place, and he wasn't disappointed. The beers are exquisite and we loved every one. It was too hard to pick a favourite, so we were happy just to enjoy them all. 

The Rare Barrel

The menu

The beers

Mister Tea - The aroma has me salivating; the taste has me satisfied, and then some. Funky and tartastic. 4.75/5

Roads Diverge - More subtle than previous; the oak-aged saison displays the soft sourness of apricots, peaches and pears. 4.75/5

The Upside Down Under - Well, we had to, didn't we? Golden sour beer aged in oak barrels with dragon fruit and kiwis. Fruity and sour. 4.5/5

Blurred PsM - Who knew sour grapes tasted so good?! Intense flavours of cherries, plums, cinnamon and nutmeg. 4.75/5

Bourbon Barrel-Aged Ensorcelled (2018) - Wow! That is a massive beer! Dark sour beer aged in bourbons n barrels with tart cherries. Tart raspberries and chocolate. 4.75/5

Seditious Ways - Dark sour beer aged in oak barrels with tart cherries - rich deep fruit flavours and a huge hit of dark chocolate beneath the cherries. 4.5/5

Les Bouquet - Smells sensational like a herbal tissane or a bath bomb but, unlike those, it tastes amazing too! 4.75/5

Tiki Party - Sour edge to tropical hop flavours - mango; papaya; pineapple - like a particularly zingy fruit sorbet. 4.5/5

Driving back to Our Gracious Host and Hostess, we crossed the Oakland Bay Bridge. I do like bridges, as I may have mentioned before. I love the blend of art and engineering into something which is both useful and beautiful. William Morris would approve. As do I.

Oakland Bay Bridge

Our wonderful friends had delayed their Fourth of July party for the weekend, when we had returned and could celebrate their national day with them and a group of friends they had also invited. It was lovely to chat  and get to know them a little. 

Of course the spectre of politics shook its gory locks and I heard that people are still proud to be American, although it pains them that this is getting harder to admit as they are aware that the rest of the world sees their country as one dominated by Trump. Many of them refuse to allow him and his divisive politics rob them of their pride in their country. I admire this perspective and wish more fol from my own nation(s) could adopt it.

Our Gracious Host at the Fourth of July barbecue

See, people do eat vegetables in America!

I was very emotional to say farewell to my wonderful friend. It has been a magnificent trip and I look forward to the next one! Her father gave me this photo of us on her tenth birthday. Across the miles and the years, some things stay the same. In the immortal words of The Spice Girls' Wannabe, 'Make it last forever; friendship never ends'.

Our Gracious Hostess and me on her 10th birthday

And now

On the plane on the way home, I read the newspapers and corrected their errors. Of course, I was mainly interested in the football. It is (to misquote Karl Marx) the opium of the people.

 

And just because it makes me happy, here is a picture of the lads making it through to the semi-final in the most unlikely manner on penalties. 

Here for the Beer: American Home Brewing Conference in Portland

It was with some sadness that we left Our Gracious Host and Hostess and headed off to Portland. As we drove north through Oregon we recognised names such as the Willamette Valley, the Cascade Ranges and the Deschutes River. Yes, as well as the stunning scenery, we were in the midst of hop-growing land. So, naturally we stopped for lunch at a brewery: Hop Valley Brewing Company in Springfield, to be precise. 

We sampled half a dozen beers, of which the Doubledelic Imperial IPA and the Paint the Town Brown were my favourites. The burger menu was significant - I couldn't face that much food, so I just took a picture of the menu instead. We shared a plate of nachos between us. One thing is for sure; we will not starve on this trip.  

  

In the accustomed manner, as soon as we arrived in Portland (we still need to adjust to driving through rush-hour traffic in a city on the wrong side of the road), we dumped our bags in our hotel and caught a cab to the nearest craft beer venue. A quick word on that; the craft beer venues are plentiful. It is not unusual to find at least one on every corner of the block. 

We chose wisely (and often), beginning at Breakside Brewery in Slabtown. The sours were sour and the IPAs were hoppy. My comment on the Breakside IPA was 'citrus and pine - it's what you'd expect from an IPA from these parts, but it's a very good one.' Over the next few days I was to notice how what we call West Coast IPAs are generally just called 'IPAs', and what we know as New England IPAs are called 'Hazy IPAs': there appears to be some coastal rivalry going down. 

Fourth Wave by Breakside Brewery is a superb dessert beer, tasting of rich creamy coffee aged in bourbon barrels

The American Homebrewing Conference began the next day, so we were up bright and early to catch a light-rail train to the Conference Centre. (This is the sort of system that is being installed in Canberra, and if it runs this efficiently, there should be no complaints.) The Conference Centre itself is rather a large building with some impressive artwork.

The Dream by Michael Florin on MLK Jr Blvd

Chinese dragon boat, given to Portland in 1989 in recognition of its status as dragon boat centre of the country

Portal by Bill Hope

River Song by Lucinda Parker

Principa by Kristin Jones and Andrew Ginzel is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's largest Foucault pendulum.

While Him Outdoors judged literally hundreds of beers, I did a Cicerone workshop. The Cicerone Certification Program 'certifies and educates beer professionals in order to elevate the beer experience for consumers'. A certified cicerone is pretty much the beer equivalent of a sommelier; she has knowledge of beer styles, storage and serving, and food matching. 

It's a highly-respected qualification in the beer world, and one I was keen to learn more about. The introductory workshop had us learning lots of information and trying out our new-found skills in practical sessions of beer-tasting and note-taking. I would recommend it to anyone who works in the industry and would like to add professional knowledge to a passionate hobby.

The rest of the day featured a Home Brewing Conference Expo and a Kick-Off Party, at which all the local commercial breweries had stalls serving free beer to discerning drinkers. There are a lot of said breweries in these parts, as I may have mentioned (at last count there were 58 in Portland and 84 in the Portland Metro area), so here are some photos of the home-brewers and the professionals side by side. 

Colouring-in at Ninkasi Brewing Company

And in black and white

The good ones 'sold out' quickly