Destinations: Cato's Ale House

Late spring in Northern California is a beautiful time. Intoxicating beauty accompanied by toxins, as Michael Pollan would say. One Woman, about to depart from this beautiful state in utter financial crisis has been taking advantage of the lovely things to do: exploring the great outdoors, bike trips and all.

Nothing is more glorious than a cold lager or pale ale after a good hike, or a steady incline on an ultra-heavy chunk of a clunker bike. And so, the recent beers in my life have been not only satisfying in a fine-art-of-beer way, but also in an oh-my-god-I-need-a-beer-now way after biking uphill for an hour, against the wind, in the blistering sun... (okay, fine, not all at once).

Cato's Ale House to the rescue. On my list of upcoming Destinations is the venerable Monk's Kettle in San Francisco. But after a sweaty hike, who wants to shower, change, and take the train and then some to go to a fancy beer bar where you want at least 15 of the beers but can only afford one? One Woman hopped on her bike instead and pedaled over to Cato's Ale House in Oakland (they also have many fine beers). 

Thanks to the long daylight hours, from the many windows of the building,  the sun was still shining on to the darkwood floor and walls of the beer themed ale house on Piedmont Avenue. Burgers and pizza for all, and happy hour pitchers and pints made for a boisterous but family friendly publick house scene. A couple of old ladies even came in to have a cuppa tea, and then left cheerfully.

Thristy from a hike and bike, I went for the extra pale ale on tap--the Steelhead from Mad River Brewing Company. Banana colored, nicely carbonated, notes of clover honey sweetness, and mild hops. That's about it. Does the job fine--I'll take it! Nothing bedazzling, but actually, it would probably make a really good fish and chips pairing with cod and a little vinegar drizzled over the whole mess.

Musical pairing: Stone Temple Pilots, "Plush." I think Steelhead is a good alternaradio beer. Cool, somewhat inspired, and catchy. Good song. Nice hair, Scott Weiland. And what's with the funny warped lens effect on the video? Quoting from a youtube commentator, 2 months ago--"i was born in 1996 but i wish i was born in the late 70s so i could have been teenage for this music along with Nirvana and Alice in Chains, Soundgarden and stuff. :( Music is crap today, with all the mainstream." But wait--1) omg. 2) check out the internet. yr only clicks away people who are still making inspired music. 3) punk's not dead!!

minipost: bay area beer news

beer revolution in oakland and the city beer store in sf featured in the new york times. heads up, they say. see you there!
http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/travel/30headsup.html?hpw

more in beer news--the hearst museum of anthropology on the uc berkeley campus has an exhibit on the history of beer! stay tuned for a report from the field called 99 Bottles of Beer: Global Brewing Traditions 2500 B.C. - Present

Wit Rabbit + Eric's Ale = Best DMV Trip Ever!

Best DMV trip ever?! Have such words ever been uttered by man or womankind?

Well, now it has. One Woman, a lover of bicycles and beer, approaching her third decade of existence, has finally come to realize that life in America is just sometimes easier with a car. Especially when a place called Los Angeles is in the future. After a night of reading the DMV handbook, and learning on youtube (yes, it's now possible) and a morning of hanging out at the DMV, the application and paper test were a success! Temporary driver's license in hand after passing the 36-question paper test the first round (with flying colors), One Woman hopped across the Panhandle to her favorite pub in the Bay Area. Magnolia Brewery lies a mere 6 blocks from the San Francisco DMV. Perfect.

And wait... $3 Tuesdays at Magnolia?? Yes please.

The special beers de jour: Magnolia's house-brewed Wit Rabbit was served in a fluted pint glass. Barely carbonated, it was flaxen in color and pleasantly chilled (click link to hear "The girl with the flaxen hair"). The suspended yeast characteristic of witbier gave it a little bit of a cloud. Instead of the floral yeast and spices like coriander and citrus zest that often overpower witbier, it's much more subtle, like spring desert flowers on the coast. Wit Rabbit gives all the yummy variations of wheat -- crisp in flavor, but still moist like freshly harvested wheat after a night in the dew. There's other starchy goodness too -- fingerling potatoes freshly dug out of the earth, and maybe some crimini mushroom whiff.

Being a festive occasion (how happy were you when you got your driver's permit?), I let Jenny the waitress coax me into this second beer. Eric's Ale is another sour, which has been a kind of beer that One Woman has been particularly fascinated by in the last couple of months. The folks at New Belgium who make it call it an American Wild Ale. It's made with the addition of peach juice during the brewing process. Fruity but neither explosively sour, nor too sweet. Apple-juice colored, it's pleasantly refreshing, and very mildly carbonated. Like the Flemish sours, it's also made by combining a sour, aged beer with a another younger, stronger alcohol ale. It's tasty on its own but it really comes through paired with some good stinkin' cheese. And what a cheese: Red Hawk from Cowgirl Creamery. Talk about funk! Triple cream, washed bright orange rind, gooey, irresistible. Paired with pickled grapes (wow? yum!), this was really the power trio of beer and cheese matching. The battle of sour vs. stink becomes entangled in passionate flavor joy. Suddenly, you don't taste the sour any more, and the ale becomes some kind of heightened version of a really delicate apple cider.

Musical Pairing: Bob Dylan was playing at Magnolia, but One Woman (not a girl, not yet a fully licensed driver) was feeling more of the vibe of something like Chameleon by Herbie Hancock and the Headhunters (the ending of this youtube version is cute). It's a time for change. Get your groove on after a trip to the DMV. I'm going to dedicate this song to another girl who was also at the DMV, and theb showed up at Magnolia about 20 minutes after One Woman did. Brava. You go, girl.

Bonus Public Service Announcement Quiz, or, knowledge gained from the California DMV Driver Handbook:
It's illegal to drink, much less drink and drive if you're younger than 21, but if you're 21 years of age or older, it is illegal to drive with a blood alcohol concentration of _______ or higher:
     a) 1%
     b) 0.5%
     c) 0.08%
     d) 0.01%

Answer to be announced in the forthcoming post. 

Finally, some extra pics from the trek post-DMV. Personally, I like these signs much more than the signs I learned about in the Driver Handbook:

From the Hayes Valley Farm in San Francisco. That's one happy bee.

Duchesse de Bourgogne - Sour Ale #3

Actually, "sour ale" is the worst name for this super tasty Duchesse de Bourgogne. "Sour" sounds like there's something wrong with it, and it sounds kind of gross. Like the Rodenbach and the Monk's Café Flemish Sour Ale that One Woman had a while back, its real name is a Flanders/Flemish Red Ale, and sourness is only one of the many, many wonderful qualities of this beer!

A mahogany-stained walnut color, pretty dusty-pink head with a chiffon cake texture, it smells like earthy dank mushroom, and soft strawberry balsamic. The Duchesse is glamorous. Raspberries, tart cherry, oak, and some tobacco--I know, it sounds like a wine, and it is--kind of like the wise, sexy, sophisticated relative of a rosé wine. Actually, Flanders Reds are made in unlined oak vats like some wines. Brooklyn Brewery brewmaster Garrett Oliver says that dozens of wild yeast call the wood in these vats home. Since the wood cannot be sterilized, these mystery yeasts do their magic on the beer-to-be. A bit scary, but sure, why not. It tastes good.

Served mildly chilled, it pairs wonderfully with food. One Woman had this with an awesome explosive green "pasta primavera" with fresh fava beans and English peas, green garlic, zucchini, parsley all tangled up in pappardelle. It also inspires desert pairings--like the raspberry-topped lemon muffins (aka yum!!) that One Woman was moved to bake earlier in the day. The muffin recipe comes from the amazing smitten kitchen (click on the link and go make your own). I think cheese mongers could also go nuts pairing this with all sorts of fromage and food combos. The possibilities for this one are grand!

Musical pairing: Duke Ellington, "Sophisticated Lady". Crazy gorgeous Ellington harmonies. The lady is elegant, tough, smart, sexy, and yet, not what you expected. Which makes it that much more exciting. Here's another version of Sophisticated Lady with John Lamb (?) on bass? I can't decide which one is better.  Or how about this one with a solo by Harry Carney possibly holding the longest G# in the history of recorded music (by a sax player at least)? The real story of the Duchess is a sad one though. The Duchesse of Bourgogne was Mary of Burgundy, aka Mary the Rich. As the daughter of Charles the Bold, she became the heiress to his wealthy Burgundian domains, and was Duchesse for 5 years, but died in a horse-riding accident at the age of 25 in 1482. The beer is supposed to be named in her honor, maybe imagining what she what she would have become had she lived to see her duchy prosper (which it didn't--the Duchy of Burgundy pretty much fell with Charles' death in 1477). The beer clearly tells the happier success story here.

minipost: palestine's only brewery in the news

this is not the first time taybeh beer has received media attention. but maybe it's newsworthy not just because it's unique, but because the brewery, founded in 1994 by david khoury and his family who moved to the little town of tayba (pronounced tie-bay) on the west bank of palestine from brookline, massachusetts tells a story about hope and people doing things--making things, filling a niche--from a different angle from what's normally in the news. (one woman does wonder why this story was placed in the "opinion" section of the nyt. curious... though, that's just imo).

taybeh means "delicious" or "good and kind" in arabic. and the beer sounds mighty tasty. click on the link to read roger cohen's story about business on the west bank from the perspective of beer.