Nick on the Town

Beer Week Barrels Forward

February 28, 2012 at 3:12 pm Leave a comment

Well, we’ve reached the halfway point of Sacramento Beer Week 2012 and I’m still hanging in there. I had a bit of a rough start over the weekend when a ticket snafu kept me from the Capital Beer Fest, but I’m looking to make up for that this week. Here are just a few Beer Week observations I’ve made so far:

• I’ve never had Pliny the Younger, but people sure get excited about it. People track it down like treasure hunters. I’ve never even seen it though. It’s the Bigfoot of beer (not counting Sierra Nevada’s Bigfoot Ale). When I was at Alley Katz on Friday, every other person who came in asked if they had Pliny the Younger on tap. They didn’t. Rumors swirled about it being available at Pangaea for $70 a glass. Could that be true? Maybe they said $17 and I just misheard them since I wasn’t really part of the conversation, but was just eavesdropping. But even at $17, how good can this beer possibly be? I’m not buying into the hype. Anyone with $70 (or possibly $17) want to prove me wrong?

• I had my first Ruhstaller. This Sacramento beer is back from the dead (Mr. Ruhstaller himself, however,  remains buried at the Old City Cemetery). I had a little number called the Captain and – hooboy – it’s a sippin’ beer. I think it took me over half an hour to drink a pint of it and I was a little sleepy afterwards, but I have no regrets. Tasty stuff.

• My main gripe with Beer Week still remains: Too many participating establishments don’t put in the effort. When I walk into a Beer Week establishment, I shouldn’t have to ask “So….what are you guys doing for Beer Week?” Put up a sign or something! Make it clear that there’s a special event going on and don’t just rebreand your regular ol’ happy hour as being a special Beer Week happy hour. You’re not fooling anyone.

• Coloma Brown from the new American River Brewing Company sure is one fine brew. Maybe it’s time to have a website or a functional facebook page, so I can see what your deal is, ARBC. I want to be friends!

• So far I’ve visited Ten22, Dive Bar, DeVere’s, Alley Katz, Hoppy Brewing Co, Socal’s and Ink. Not quite as many as I would have liked to have checked off my list, so I’ll be making up for lost time the rest of week.

• I’m on board for the Devere’s to Devere’s bike ride on Saturday. With the Handmade Bicycle Show at the convention center this weekend, this is really the perfect event to tie everything together.  And the exercise will give me a chance to annoyingly say “Well, I earned this one!” every time I order a beer that day.

 I’m not sure where I’ll hit tonight, but I’m sure I’ll be posting some dumb comments on twitter about it.

Enjoy the week!

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