This past weekend we hosted our first ever beer paired dinner, the Festa Autunno. When we purchased our home almost a year ago one of the first events we thought of doing was a harvest feast and after the bumper crop from our garden we decided we had to make the dinner a reality. After […]
A few months ago we hosted our last party on Powell Avenue, painted the red wall back to white and packed up all of our gear. It was sad to shut down our little brewery, it’s where our passion for beer began, where we hosted our tap parties and where we had created so many […]
One of the gifts that I received for Christmas this year was the book Start Something That Matters. The book is an autobiography of Blake Mycoskie, the entrepreneur that started Toms shoes. It is essentially his story about starting Toms shoes, the inspiration, the community need and the new way he has decided to do business.
It’s been two years now since the brewing bug bit us and it hasn’t let go. This year we doubled down and got even more serious about our brewing, coming up with new recipes, new hardware, and some great parties. We’ve made lots of new friends, rekindled old friendships, and celebrated with our friends and family. We had six tap parties and lots of folks come to taste through our creations. We love everything about it and can’t wait to see what this new year holds but before we get going here’s the breakdown on the last year.
Our regular tap parties have quickly become one of my favorite parts of brewing beer. One year ago we hosted our inaugural tap party a couple weeks after our first kegging. I stressed over how they would be received and whether anyone would enjoy the craft we had embarked on learning. People did enjoy the beers and after a while I relaxed and began to enjoy the company. Fast forward a year and now we stockpile a few of our newest and best beers to put on tap for our parties. I feel much more confident in what we are making and instead of stressing about what people would think of the beers I am now enjoying our company and at this last party I had a bit of a revelation.
This post has been a few months in the making, not literally hanging out in the cue (though I do have a few of those), but instead an internal debate that I’ve had with myself. Then a couple weeks ago I read a post on another blog about homebrewers not being open to sharing there […]
I can’t actually embed the video on this website, so first head over to Bloomberg’s site to check it out:Â Dogfish Head Craft Brewery Profiled – Video – Bloomberg. Now, Dogfish Head is still one of my favorite breweries out there not because their beers are always the best, though they often are, but because they […]
Last month the Sonoma Beerocrats meeting was all about the funk. 24 unique flavors of it. Byron Burch, Sonoma Beerocrat founder and 1986 Homebrewer of the year, led the club through the Siebel Institute Sensory Training kit. The kits are comprised of small vials that you add to a neutral beer then taste. Over the […]
Last night Lagunitas Brewing Company opened up their employee lounge and beer garden for the Sonoma Beerocrats annual picnic. Eryn and I headed down with a couple of homebrews and hoping to have a good time. We had a great time! The folks at Lagunitas were happy to share the amazing beers they are crafting and hanging up in the lounge was a blast. After tasting through a few of the beers on tap we headed down to the beer garden for the BBQ and to taste a few things other people brought. We ended up befriending a group of folks who were out from New Zealand and tasting through a few beers they brought with them. Afternoon quickly turned to night and the picnic came to a close way to quickly. When you combine great beers, new friends and a whole lot of fun you really can’t go wrong. Do we have a date set for next year yet?
Thanks to everyone who came out to our 4th of July tap party. We had a great time with you all and love sharing our latest brews. We came just short of kicking both the Nightfall Blackberry Wheat Ale and Eryn’s Citra Pale Ale. Our next tap party will be the last week of August […]