Monday:
I wake up fairly early, refreshed from sleeping for eight plus hours. Mike, Ida, and I head to Cafe Brazil (I believe) for breakfast. Supposedly this place has a wicked long wait on the weekends but we get in there pretty quickly. The wait staff are smokin hot Brazilian chicks. I order a fritada. It is crazy good. good coffee too. We head back to their place and hang around for a bit. We eventually pack up some wedding ish and Mike and Ida head down to the court house to turn in their papers to the magistrate and get all official. After dumping out at M and I's I am back in the Corolla sport and on my way to Santa Rosa. What is in Santa Rosa you might ask. One of the most legendary, at least on the east coast, beer makers in Cali: The Russian River Brewing Company. Their double IPA, Pliny the Elder is much sought after trade bait in the northeast. It takes me about three hours of driving and scanning of the radio waves to reach my destination. I check into a travel lodge and chill for a sec before heading over to the local Whole Foods. This locale is a step up from the SC version, but still pretty beat in my (not so) humble opinion. From WF I head to the brewery's world class brew pub. I walk in mid way through happy hour and grab a seat at
the end of the bar right underneath a fairly modest flat screen. I order a blind pig IPA. This is one of three IPA's they have on tap. It is a beer I have been looking forward too for several months and it doesn't disappoint. It is hoppy as hell with tons of citrus, pith, lemon, and tang. Medium body with a nice citrussy, dry, bitter finish. f'in great. Right as I take my first sip, I look up at the flat screen and realize that Monday Night Football, Jets/Giants preseason is about to start. MNF at 5pm, how surreal. The blind pig clocks in at over 6% and I know I have some big beers coming up, so i decide to rock a Gaffers, English style bitter next, seeing as it is only a 5 percenter. It is good but pales in comparison to the Blind Pig. Tasty, bitter, with some maltiness in there. Approximates England. While drinking this and watching football I realize that a Belgian has been chilling in front of me for some time. It is about 3/4 full. Fallen soldier!!! No beer can be left behind. I man up and take it down. It is a Damnation, their year round Belgian strong ale. I have had this in a bottle before and it doesn't disappoint from the tap, despite having sat around for at least a half hour. My plan from this point is to drink as many of the Belgians as I can before I get too drunk. I dip into a Sanctificaton. It is a Belgian sour brewed with brettanomyces yeast, which basically approximates the wild yeasts that are used to ferment lambics in the Pajottenland region of Belgium. This beer is funky as hell. Big sour, yeasty flavors. Some pineapple and some 
lemon. Very nice fizz. A winner to say the least. At some point I ordered a pizza and it arrives while I am babying the sanctification. The Giants are kicking ass. I am already pretty drunk from several high ABV beers. I hit up a Supplication next. It is a Belgian sour brown ale aged in pinot nior barrels. So good. There is malt and sweetness in the aroma. It is sweet and sour, with spice, alcohol, and some subdued yeast flavors. Lots of fruit flavors, like cherries with a nice dry finish and sweet lacing. After this beer I am done. I stumble towards my hotel room, popping into two pizzerias looking for slices. No luck, what gives California. I settle on a subway veggie sub. I fall asleep early but content with my experience at Russian River.Tuesday:
I get up pretty early and dick around for a bit before heading over to the diner across from my hotel. I order a breakfast that consists of two eggs, toast, and a shit ton of fruit. After scarfing this, I put fisherman's wharf into the GPS in the Corolla and I'm off. After a little over an hour I pull into the wharf in San Fransisco. I play some vintage video games for a while and then buy some gifts for my peeps back home. While walking along the water front
I call over to Anchor Brewery and weasel my way onto the tour scheduled for 1pm. I hit up a Whole Foods for lunch. This one has the best produce section I have seen thus far. Still not as nice as back east, but pretty good. I devour my lunch and then walk over to the brewery. The tasting room is beautiful. A nice, big, oak looking bar. Lots of vintage memorabilia. Real classy. The tour guide is young and definitely not a beer guy, but he gives a good tour. He is well rehearsed and pretty funny. The brewery is really really nice. The brew kettle and tun are bright brass and freaking gigantic. We really only get to see the tops of them as most of the mass of the kettles are on the floor below us. Very impressive, as are the open fermentation tanks that they use to ferment the steam beer. Pretty much the whole place is really awesome and classy, from the bottling line, to the hop room, to the cool white jump suits that all the production employees wear. At the end of the tour we sample all six current beers in rotation. From my favorite to my least favorite they are Humming ale, Liberty ale, Anchor Porter, Anchor Steam, Anchor small, and Summer beer. This is definitely the best brewery tour I have ever been on. Could this be because it was free and we got to drink for free too? From Anchor I headed out to City Beer. City Beer is a sweet beer store with a nice vibe and a good selection. They have six beers on tap. You can also drink there if you pay a $1 corking fee. I pony up to the taps and order a German style beer from a brewery called Auburn Alehouse. It is bitter, malty and amber. Good but not a stand out. I peace out of CB and head across the bay to Oakland to meet up with my boy Wally. We went to high school together and he has been living out here for some time now. We cruise on over to Beer Revolution. Beer Rev is a beer bar with a bunch of taps and mad bottles too. They have the same $1 corking fee thing going on. At this point I realize two things: I am leaving 
tomorrow, and I have not had a Pliny yet. WTF. I grab one and go to town. Frickin brilliant. So much hops, so much citrus, so much lemony tangy goodness, but not super heavy or overbearing like so many other double IPA's. I revel in its awesomeness. After I finish the Pliny we hit up the vegan soul food place that is next door. We get some BBQ grill things, french fries, and fried okra and head back to Beer Rev. I grab an Alesmith extra pale ale to go with my meal. The food is really tasty. The beer, no so much. I have heard a lot about Alesmith back east. Their speedway stout has quite a reputation. Perhaps I should have gone with that, but I am in a pale ale mood after that Pliny. The beer has a lot of bitterness up front with not much finish. This could be due to the pairing with barbecued tofu and the like. A stout or porter might have complemented the sweet and salt of the food better. You win some and you lose just as many. The next stop on our itinerary is The Trappist. It is a beer bar that supposedly is owned by a former member of the band Gang Green . It is a real nice classy setup, with lots of wood and bricks. Lots of taps featuring mostly Belgians as the name would imply. I decide to grab a pint of Anchor Humming. It is good but I am kinda blitzed at this point. We drink our pints and then head back to Wally's. We stop at another Whole Foods and I grab a beer for the road. Back at Wally's I start to nod off while drinking my beer and watching the SF Giants game. A good end to a great trip.Wednesday:
Wake up mad early and head to the airport. Flying home all day, back to reality and work. F this. Looking forward to my next beercation, whenever that might be.
