NHC 2009 Adventure Part 1: Pre-Conference Shenanigans

One word:  Wow.

What an unbelievable week.  If you’ve been on the fence about going, or just never been to the National Homebrewer’s Convention – you’re really missing out on something special.

Seriously.

This year it was held in the bay area of California – home to dozens of breweries, brewpubs and excellent beer bars.  We decided to spend the full week and make a vacation out of it.

We flew in on Monday and kicked the week off by nearly missing our connecting flight from Philly to SFO.  The first plane was late taking off for no particular reason and US Airways decided to change the gate on our connecting flight to a whole different terminal.  If you have a choice, avoid the Philadelphia airport at all costs.

Anyway, upon arriving it was late in the afternoon, so we decided to just check out the area around the hotel.  The Trappist is closed on Mondays (grrr), so we found a little bar called Max’s in City Center.  Nothing out of this world, 10 taps or so – but a good selection for what it was.

I had a Mirror Pond from Deschutes and a Sierra Nevada Brown Ale.  Alison had a Trumer Pils.  We  hadn’t had any of them previously and they were all tasty so it worked out anyway.

Then it was off to meet up with some local-ish friends for sushi.  Unfortunately I don’t remember the name of the place, but it was quite good.

Woke up early on Tuesday.  Stupid time zones…  A leisurely breakfast and then off for some touristy stuff.

Fortunately we had access to a  car, so we took a ride through Golden Gate Park then across the bridge and up the PCH to see some Redwood trees in Muir Forrest.  All in all pretty cool, but decidedly lacking in beer.

A problem soon remedied by a BART ride from the hotel to Berkeley where we visited our first beer Meccas of the week.

By the way, those of you that live in the bay area, D.C. or New York where there are such fine mass transit systems, I hate you.  Around here we get the city bus, or a taxi cab.  Stupid urban sprawl.

Anyway, just across the street from the station is Jupiter.  It’s a small brewpub who’s beer is apparently brewed off-site at Drake’s.  In addition to 10 or so of their own beers, they have another dozen-ish guest taps, so you’re sure to find something you’ll like.

We tried the Red-Spot Amber, Hefeweizen and Dry Stout.  All of them were well brewed, but maybe a little too standard brewpub fare.  They do sport an excellent outdoor courtyard beer garden which is definitely worth the trip.  Lots of shade from the adjacent buildings and copious plant life makes it a great sport to enjoy a few beers with friends.

After that it was off to Triple Rock.  Rodger makes some fantastic beers.  Check out the IPAX (on cask as well) if you go.  I hear the food is great too, but we didn’t have time to stay.

Dinner was with local friends again at a mom and pop Italian restaurant in Concord.  Wish I could remember the name as it was actually quite good.

Upon arriving back at the hotel I got a call from the other members of our local homebrew club who were across the street at The Trappist.

If you’ve not been before, go early.  The place is about the size of a traincar and fills up fast.  It probably didn’t help that other people were arriving for the conference that day too.

I joined them for a Brother Thelonious – fortunately they saved me a seat.

We didn’t last long though as everyone was still operating on east coast time.  Not to worry, Wednesday would be a long day.

Up and at ‘em early, again.  Did I say stupid time zones?

A quick bagel and a train ride and we were back in San Francisco.  This time headed for the World-Famous 21st Amendment.

If you have time, get off the BART at the Embarcadero station and head south towards the waterfront.  It’s a nice walk past the bay and there are a couple of marinas with some cool boats to look at, if that’s your thing.

You’ll also pass a sweet outdoor pancake house.  Note the empty Anchor Steam bottles on all of the tables at 10 am.  They do it up right here.

Pass the Giants baseball stadium, which is also quite cool, and head back up 2nd st 3 or so blocks to number 563.

We arrived just before they opened 11 and there was already a line outside.  Apparently nobody in San Francisco has a job.  The place was packed by 11:15.

Luckily, we got a table and started in on the carnitas (excellent!) and some of their fine beers.  You can’t go there without trying the flagship Hell or High Watermelon Wheat.

We also enjoyed the new Koelsh as well as the Altbier.  And of course the Tasty APA – brewed with one of the local homebrew heroes Mike’ “Tasty” McDole (who is a really great guy and excellent brewer).

After lunch we wandered out to the patio (past the brewhouse!) where they serve another 8 or so craft beers in cans.  They’re $4, which isn’t really a bad deal considering what you’d pay for the standard tumbler at most places.

Moose Drool and Maui Coconut Porter, neither of which we have locally, were wonderful.  Then another Watermelon wheat and Old Chub, which we can get here.

We also managed to catch owner and Sunday Show regular Shaun O’Sullivan (and of course Steffaneeeeee) as they were headed to the Giants game.  They were kind enough to spend awhile talking with us even though they were on their way out.

I had intended to check out the Toronado and Magnolia, but by that time we were ready to head back to the hotel for a bit.  Maybe next time.

A little rest and then back out to our next destination, the MoreBeer showroom in Concord.  On the way out, we bumped into Mr. Malty himself, Jamil Zainasheff – who again was kind enough to stop and say hi (notice the trend).  I think I nearly made him miss the elevator.

He kind of gave me a funny look when I mentioned walking over to MoreBeer from the Concord BART station.  But wished us luck and we were off.

We soon discovered why as we started our hike from the station.  It really doesn’t look that far on google maps, but it had to have been at least 2 miles.  Each way.

That kind of sucked.

But one more place I can say I’ve been at least.  And if you don’t already have a great homebrew store near you, it’s worth having a look as the place is quite nice (as homebrew shops go).

That pretty much finished off the afternoon, but the day wasn’t over yet.  That night was the much anticipated Brewing Network Anniversary party.

Definitely one of the highlights of the weekend, and worth the trip even if it hadn’t been at the same time as the conference.  It was held at the finally open Linden Street Brewery in Oakland.

They were kind enough to serve the first batch of their Urban People’s Common Lager for the party and there had to have been another 14 or so excellent craft brews.

Not to be outdone, the local clubs and the BN cast of characters also furnished another 20 kegs of their finest brew.  All of it was served festival style – buy the glass and drink all you want after that.

The food from Emergency BBQ was great – but very west coast.  Which was a nice change from what we’re used to here in North Carolina, the land of barbeque.

To top it all off there were live performances from Big Joe Hurt, The Session Band, and Cold Hot Crash.  The highlight of which might have very well been Push Eject and Justin, the 2 whitest guys ever, doing their rendition of the Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg classic “Nuthin’ but a ‘G’ Thang”.  Good times.  Good times…

Whew.  All that in only 2 and a half days.  I’m getting tired just trying to remember it all and we haven’t even started the actual conference yet!  But you’ll have to tune in next time to check that out.

Tagged as: 21st amendment, aha, national homebrew conference, nhc, trappist