The Black Cock Chronicles

Who is to blame when a Groupon goes wrong?  The merchant?  Groupon themselves?  God?  Lets find out together.

It’s no secret that I’m cheap.  I learned it from the head cheap-o himself, The Old Man.  Together, we love a bargain.  Keep that in mind as you read my review.  So there was a Groupon for Black Cock Brewing Company in Orange, California and of course we pounced on it.  Black Cock used to be the Old Orange Brewing Company.  (Click the link to check out my previous review.)  OOB was not that great of a place to begin with.  Then, for reasons unknown to myself, they changed to Black Cock Brewing Co.  I was anxious to get to the newly named brewery and see what changes had come.

In some ways, @BlackCockBrewCo was just like @OldOrangeBrewCo.  Maybe they had the same decorator?  But the walls were hung with art work of their flagship beers.

With the Groupon in hand and my best drinking buddies behind me, we ventured into the Black Cock one Sunday.  Immediately, we found out we couldn’t use our Groupon that day.  In the small print, which I had neglected to read (my bad), the terms were that you needed to make a reservation at least 24 hours in advance.  There was a sign too with the bad news.  I was bummed.

I got a shot of the menu board…

As I checked out the menu, I kinda smiled to myself at the name of one of the beers: Dumb Bitch Denise.  What else would you expect from a brewery named Black Cock?  I decided to have the Dumb Bitch pale ale with a 6.6% ABV.  When I went to order it, I found myself having a hard time saying “dumb bitch” to the female brewtender.  Normally, “bitch” will come out of my mouth for the littlest reason, it’s one of my favorite words in fact and I love using it….around people who know me.  I didn’t know this lady and here I am asking her for a “Dumb Bitch Denise” and just hoping that she wasn’t Denise.  I found the name of the beer a little insensitive to say the least but the Old Man thought it was downright misogynist.  I know that it is probably coming across as too PC, I’m sure Black Cock’s patrons love the flippant manner and I just have a stick up my ass.  Whatever.

So the Dumb Bitch Denise was really tasty.  It was just a bit hoppy but not overwhelming.  When I was finished with my first pint, I tried a Kemeron which is a 7.2% American Pale Ale.  It was so delicious, the first sip was like drinking a Sprite.  The key lime is very prevalent but again, not overwhelming.  It wasn’t too citrusy, just crisp and refreshing.

Remember when I said I was cheap?  Well, here it comes.  Beers at Black Cock are $8.00 a pint.  That is way overpriced.  I went to Karl Strauss later in the day and paid $6.50 for beers that were better tasting with higher ABV’s.  I realize small breweries are the latest thing but that’s no reason to bend me over the barrel on the cost of a pint.

We hung around and drank pints for a couple of hours.  Black Cock has lots of games to play like Jenga, shuffleboard, and board games in a corner.

They even have a popcorn machine that is always full of hot buttery popcorn.  So good for my low sodium diet! 

And a giant Connect Four game. 

There is definitely no shortage of things to do at Black Cock.

And they offer something no other brewery does: the option to add 200 mgs of cannabis oil to your beer.  It’s an expensive treat at an additional $15 per “Splash” and $30 per pint but some people are really into the whole CBD thing so it could be worth it just for that option.   Me? I prefer to go around the corner and toke a preroll.  It’s cheaper and I like THC more than CBD’s.

This guy!

Black Cock also offers 32 ounce versions of their beers all “Super Size Me!” style.  I didn’t see it on the menu but my friend visiting from North Carolina got one.  He’d be pissed if I used his name so lets just call him “Brian.”

From Hawaii…

We had a good time that Sunday despite not being able to use the Groupon.  We scored some cool gifts from the Eichels who had just returned from their vacation in Maui.  The Old Man wanted to eat and continue drinking so we headed over to Karl Strauss in Anaheim near the Angels Stadium.  Totally different experience.  Cheaper beers, good tofu appetizer…. Karl Strauss has it all.  I even took a couple of shots to commemorate the difference.

Flash forward one week later after we had made our reservations…

The brewtender remembered us and so did the guy I assume is the owner and/or manager of Black Cock Brewing Company.  They explained that because of unseasonal weather, some of their beers weren’t available.  They only had numbers 4 through 8 on the menu board.  This was back when I still thought we would get to choose what beers we wanted for our 4 bombers that were included in the Groupon.  They said if we wanted to come back when they had more beer selection to redeem our Groupon, that would be okay.

 

A murder of growlers

We were kinda annoyed at that news.  We didn’t feel like hanging out again with the limited selection of brews.  The guy behind the bar said if we stayed he would give us official Black Cock undies for girls and boys.  Tempting but it wasn’t enough to keep us there and we ended up going to Chapman Crafted Brewery in Orange, just down the street a couple miles.

The next Sunday after that we went camping so we skipped that weekend.  We came back the Sunday after camping and were happy to hear that all the brews were available.  Ck & Carie got their 2 flights and we got the first 2 of the 4 flights coming to us.  The flights consist of 4 beers at 4 (maybe 5) oz. each.  There are 8 beers on the menu and we tried one of each.

I liked the selection and every beer was tasty.  Some I had tried 3 weekends before and I got to try others that I normally wouldn’t have.  The top 2 beers that stood out were the Chocolate Persuasion and one that wasn’t on the menu last time called Cock-a-something.  The picture I took on the third visit turned out blurry so I don’t know the full name.  The Cock-a-whatever was brewed with a chile pepper and had a spicy taste.  The Chocolate Persuasion was a 7.2% ale with a distinct yet mellow chocolate taste with some creaminess.

The Old Man and I traded our final 2 flights in for pints.  Being creatures of habit, we had the Dumb Bitch Denise.  When we finished those, we had two more pints, I went with the Kemeron since I had liked it so much before and Sean had the Cock-a-something beer.  We talked about what beers we wanted for our bombers and came up with a list of 4 starting with the highest percentages.

But when it came time to get our bombers and go, we found out that they were prefilled 22 oz bottles of Back Door Blonde.  We were like, “Wha?”  Back Door Blonde would’ve been my last choice for what I wanted to take home because it is only a 4.0% ABV.  The tender didn’t even tell us what beer it was.  She told Carie a few minutes before when she picked up their 2 bottles.  Plus the bombers had Cannonball Imperial IPA labels and upon closer inspection were revealed to be left-over stock from the Old Orange Brewing Company.  We felt like we had been scammed.  So that happened.

I posed the question in the beginning, who is to blame?  I put all the confusing small print, deceptive take-home bombers, and the annoyance of having to come back 3 times square in the lap of Black Cock.  And a little bit of God’s fault because the weather was not hot enough to put the beers in the bright tank or whatever.

I went there to check it out and I did.  I liked Old Orange better because they didn’t have names that were offensive to this stuck-up old biddie.

Fancy a flight?

Their beers are pretty good, if not great, tasting but I noticed as I was going through the flights that there was an underlying similarity to all the brews.  Like you could just tell they were all from the same brewery.  But I really don’t care about those things because I’m not going back to Black Cock.  My whole experience with this brewery should’ve happened in one day.  Instead it took 3 weeks to finally get to redeem the Groupon.  And then, the 22 ouncers sucked.

The best part about Black Cock, the one thing that would make me reconsider returning, is the friendly, helpful attitude of the brewtender behind the bar.  Every time we were there, she had a smile and bought drinks to our table and made our experience a little better.  I feel really bad about trash-talking Black Cock because of her.  The guy I assume is the owner was nice also but he is probably the “brains” behind the Groupon scam so I will leave it at that.

Costume party? Sorry, I’ll be at Bottle Logic.

 

Rules Is Rules @BackstreetBrew

 

So…just a heads up.  Monday $3.00 Pint Night at BackStreet Brewery in Anaheim has gone up.  Not for all of them, but for the ones with an ABV of 7% or higher expect to pay the premium.  I ordered a Tomahawk IPA and then I got informed of the new standards.  A Blood Orange Animation IPA with a 6.5% ABV ended up being my drink of the night.

So take a look at the menu before you go ordering.  Don’t get a Tomahawk DIPA, Holy Shizz, or a Straight Stoutta Anaheim or you will pay full price.

We had a fun night of drinking and hanging out playing Quiddler.    You can get it on Amazon and it is totally worth it.  Hours of fun are to be had making words.  It’s like Scrabble but with cards.

On the tenth and last round, we combined our words to make a funny statement:

 

The word “Clue” was just a leftover.  It has nothing to do with she binding thine fine sex.  The final score of the night was The Old Man with 294 and me with 249.

 

 

But really, what is up with the 4 drink limit?  When the Old Man was ordering our 4th beer, the brewtender asked if we would be okay to drive home.  WTF?  I guess there’s a first time for everything.  And here’s a new sign in the boys bathroom: 

I have a feeling they got busted for letting people do bad stuff like smoke joints in their patio and get really wasted on over 7% beer.

Last time I was here, smoking a bowl or joint on the premises was not unheard of.  Rules, right?

The food truck of the night was Monster Burgers….

….and they didn’t have veggie burgers.  They had a few non-meat items but I didn’t end up ordering anything.  The loaded fries looked appetizing but I had pigged out at Souplantation earlier so food was not in my forecast.

There was a monthly schedule posted for all the upcoming events and happs.  I was glad to hear that Wednesday Night Bingo will be back.  It’s a lot of fun without any old ladies stealing the wins.  The different food trucks that come during the week are listed too.  I’m trying to get my man’s band, Chuy Poluka & The Bar Room Junkies, to play in September or October because they have bands playing on some days.

There were quite a few precious puppies who came to BSB tonight but I think the award for the best beggar of fries goes to Kelsey, some kind of wonderful golden lab shepard mix.

Look how she zeroes in on those loaded fries.  Expert level begging, I say.

There were at least 2 other doggies and I was impressed.  I think it’s great to bring your fur babies to a brewery.  Not so much with the fleshy babies.

 

So there’s the update for BackStreet Brewery in Anaheim.  A few changes since last time but nothing that I can’t deal with.  I will continue to show up for $3 Pint Night on Mondays with the knowledge that a 7% or higher beer is full-priced.  It’s not a bad rule, just new.  I just have to get used to it.

Checking up on All-American Ale Works

I had the unfortunate occasion to be at the Kaiser Permanente mega-complex in #Anaheim one night.  A sick mother-in-law is no good.  The Old Man and I hung out for a while bedside in the ER and then, hands wringing, left for the night hoping for the best within the next couple of days.

Since we were so far down on La Palma, we decided to hit up All-American Ale Works.  It is one of the newer breweries in Anaheim and one that I hadn’t been to since I wrote this review of them in the summer of 2017.

All-American Ale Works is the furthest brewery east on Lager Palma Brewlouvard.  It’s maybe 3 miles from Bottle Logic, Asylym, & Hoparazzi.  We were pleased when we pulled  up and there was a sign letting patrons know that they had $3 Founding Father Pints on this night.  With a special like that going on, we were shocked when we walked inside and there was no one in there, except for the brewer Travis.  When I came in July, it was so packed that I was lucky to get a seat.  That was right after they opened so word was on the street about a new brewery in Anaheim.  This time, I had my choice so I picked the table with the best All-American Ale Works brand.  Hardcore.

We asked Travis what the “Founding Father’s” pint special was all about and he told us it was all the “Year Round” beers on the menu, there were 5 choices with varying tastes and ABV’s.

Here’s a pretty focused shot of the menu.  The growler prices are cut off so you will just have to go there to find out the prices.

Normally I would’ve gone for the Old School Mix Tape Session IPA but it was only a 4.7%.  I know it’s more about the taste of the beer but I happen to be an ABV nerd and it’s something I look for in a brew.  So I went with the Barefoot Blonde Lager which measured 5% and the Old Man had a Storm The Beach which is a red ale with coconut with an awesome 7% ABV.

We both really enjoyed our selections in the first round.  So much that we stayed for a second round and both had the Storm The Beach this time.  Again, the color was dark red with a good head and the coconut in the mix adds such a sweet, mellow flavor to the finish.  Here’s the Old Man hisself posing with his first 7%er:

 

 

For about 10 minutes after we ordered our first round, no one was in there so we just talked to Travis.  He was personable and really on top of things coming up for All-American.  They are looking ahead to having distribution in local places and getting their name out on the craft brew festival circuit.  I mentioned the lack of crowds and Travis said the $3 pint on Monday night thing was new but let me know that they have a bunch of events going on throughout the week.  Here’s a pick of the weeklies:

 

 

Eventually, a group of 4 came in and sat at the bar so Travis turned his attention to them.  Now it was my chance to start snapping pictures and writing down the facts!  Another couple came in a little while later and then finally a lone guy but it got a little more crowded without being annoying.

 

There has been a hole in my heart since Backstreet Brewery quit hosting trivia night.  My interest was definitely piqued when I saw that All-American teams up with

Geeks Who Drink for trivia on Tuesdays at 7:00pm.  Travis said the top prize is a $20 gift card.  I know a couple of Lag-A-Lots who could use a $20 gift card to pay for the $50 worth of beer we would all drink that night.  One of these nights I’m gonna get down Lager Palma east and play some trivia with my smart friends.  Can’t hardly wait!

 

 

 

Travis told us about some upcoming charity thing they are doing in conjunction with a local cat rescue.  For the life of me, I cannot remember the name but I wish I could give them a plug here.  Remember to spay and neuter your pets!

All-American Ale Works has improved and seem to be getting better than when I first tried them out.  Everything about the place is mostly the same as it was when they opened last year.  For example, they’ve got the Patch Wall and merchandise for sale still.

The art on the walls is still the same as well as the big screen tele’s on every wall broadcasting whatever game catches the fancy of the brewery patrons on any given night.

But they have a lot more beers on tap than they used to though and that’s great.  Travis said when they first opened they only had 9 or so choices on the menu and now the menu is extensive.  He said they have made over 35 different brews since they opened until now.

I got a few shots of the back area:

If you’ve never been to All-American Ale Works, I recommend checking it out.  If you’ve been once or twice last year, like I had, do yourself a favor and head back there.  Just don’t come on Tuesdays for trivia night because my team will devour you.

Below the glowing neon sign (also lets you know you have arrived)

This is their suite number, in case you miss the glowing neon sign

Red Tandem Brewery

I’ve had my eye on Oxnard for a while.  I see in the news that the weather is perfect there which makes me want to retire in the nard of the Ox.  So when the Eichels invited us to the Oxnard Steampunk Fest I was more than eager to check out the town.

We got dressed up in our finest and paraded around Heritage Square for a couple

of hours and then, as per usual, spent more time at the bar than mixing with the crowd.  We got dinner and went back to our room to drink Heinekens.  All of a sudden, we had the whole night before us with no immediate plan.  So we decided to hit the town.

I chose Red Tandem Brewery because they were the closest one to our hotel and we wanted to Uber since we had been drinking for most of the day.    The brewery & tasting room is in a strip mall kind of area surrounded by nice beachy-type houses in the Oxnard Shores community.  We arrived early in the evening when it was still light outside and snapped this picture of one of the houses all decorated up for Halloween. Getting in the spirit…I love it!

 

  There is a bright red sign letting you know you are exactly where you want to be… minutes from the beach on a mildly temperate evening in October about to get drunk on “nanobrew.”  Good times for the forecast!

 

 

The interior of @RedTandemBrews is on the small side but there is seating for at least 25 people.  The menu is also on the small side but that’s not a bad thing when they advertise on their website as a “nanobrewery.”  At least you know what to expect when you walk in.  There are only 7 different brews but everyone in my group got something unique so the limited selection wasn’t an issue.  The Old Man snapped this clear shot of the brew board.

I started off with my usual, a 6.4% IPA called C-Hag.  The hop level was just about perfect.  It has a measurement of 47 IBUs and was not shocking to my palette at all.  It was so good that I stuck with the C-Hag for the rest of the night, which ended up being about 3 beers long.  Sean got the Beach Blonde Ale with a high 5.9% ABV for a blonde.  He loved it but he also experimented with the Island Fox Red Ale and some of that C-Hag.  Everything we tried was a taste of perfection.  You can tell that the brewery really cares about what it is producing and takes the time and attention to detail that is necessary.

Red Tandem has some art on the walls (possibly for sale?), a chess board,

and a barrel set up with games to play.  We bought our own game of Timeline because we’re pretty good at this brewery thing; this wasn’t our first rodeo.  We met a nice guy named AJ.  He was just drinking and waiting for a friend so Ck asked him to join our game.  He caught on right away and we all had a great time.  I only won once but I’m glad about that one.  Every time I play I try to remember one card from the whole night.  Last month, I memorized the death of Billy the Kid as happening in 1881 and as fate would have it, I drew that card this time and stole the game!

As I was walking around the place taking pictures, the owner and brewer, Mark, asked if I wanted a tour.  I said yes right away because I love seeing all the equipment of the whole brewing process.  He was very friendly and quickly went over all the steps.

It was information overload during the tour and I don’t remember much of what Mark told me but he showed me the vats, the 55 lb bags of grain they use, the door to the temperature controlled fermenting room, and the refrigerated room where they keep the kegs and other ingredients.  All the brewing is done on site in the back.  It’s a small operation but extremely efficient.

I really liked Red Tandem Brewery.  From the location to the brews, they are tops in my opinion.  It’s too bad that I’m hardly ever in Oxnard because this is a place I would revisit again and again.  Maybe someday I will make it back there.  I hope Mark is behind the bar.  And I hope I get a better Uber driver than the crazy lady who picked us up at the end of the night.

Cheers!

 

Council Brewing Company Part Two

I like when breweries take chances and concoct new libations and that is exactly what Council Brewing Co. has been doing since I’ve been there last.  I was hop-stopping in San Diego last Saturday and happened to be in the neighborhood so I thought, “What the hell?”  My first time there was great so my anticipation was palpable.

So down Clairemont Mesa Blvd. we drove to the industrial park off Convoy St. where Council’s unassuming tasting room/brewery is located.  There was a small crowd so we easily got a table big enough to stretch out a long Timeline.

 

I was pleased to see the changed-up menu offerings.  Even the selections from the Magic Factory had changed.  I remembered the Lickable Staves Sour that I had wanted to try but I didn’t see it up on the board so I might’ve missed my chance.   I saw on their website that Lickable Staves won Best In Show at the SD International Beer Competition!  Congratulations to them but now my regret is even greater that I never tasted it.  As the Old Man would say, “Bird in the hand and all…”

The first beer I tried was a hazy IPA called Hazeas Corpus.  It was a 6.7% and so citrusy with tropical juiciness.  Delicious.  Sean went with a new draft release called Miss Olivia that was a respectable 6.8%.  Carie got a Blonde called Lively Banter that was 5.5% ABV.   Ck stuck with the fruity theme of the night and got a 4.5% Guava Beatitude Tart Saison.  The Old Man and I also split a Bully Pulpit which we had both tried the first time we visited and wanted to experience again.

@Council has a well-rounded and extensive menu.  They have 2 NE-style IPA’s and 6 flavored Beatitude Saisons.  Just up on the main menu are 14 different beers plus 2 new releases on tap.  Then there’s the Magic Factory selections: 8 beers ranging in strength from 5.8% to 6.8% that are brewed at a different location.

 

Council has bottles to go and merchandise for sale.  Of course, the Old Man found the clearance bin.  

Of course, I had to buy one of those clearance shirts since I love CBC so much.  You can also get growlers and crowlers filled.  Flights are $10 for 5 tasters which is a great option if you are trying to sample a selection from the menu rather than focusing on one or two pints.

The best part about ending the night at Council Brewing?  Our television star Pennywise!

I went to the ladies room and this is what I saw:  It’s a sign from you-know-who.

Happy Drinking!

Societe Brewing Company

With good traffic, I can make it to #SanDiego in an hour and a half.  That’s the perfect amount of time to anticipate all that the south-most county in California has to offer.  With a plethora of breweries and map full of comic book shops there is always something to do.  I was in San Diego last weekend for a wedding and had a night to kill so I set my radar to find the coolest brewery I’d never been to so far and I came up with Societe Brewing Company.

It was around 6:00 on a Saturday night when I showed up with the Old Man, Ck, & Carie.  The tasting room was packed as well as almost every table outside.  We quick snagged an empty spot and contemplated the menu.

@SocieteBrewing has four different styles of beer that they brew: Out West, Old World, Stygian, & Feral.  Sean and I went traditional with IPA selections from Out West.  I got the Publican, a 5.5% Small IPA and the Old Man tried the 6.9% Fiddler IPA.  We were happy with our choices and they were just hoppy enough.  They were both light in color but the flavors were developed and foremost.

Carie went with a 5.6% Belgian Blonde called Harlot from the Old World menu.  Ck wanted it fruity so he chose one of the Feral brews called Henchman, a 6.1% that was $10 for a 12 ounce pour.  It is also known as a fruited beer and it can be called feral, or “wild,” because a different type of bacteria is used in the fermentation that produces different flavors.

  Societe doesn’t offer flights but you can get up to two samples if you are on the fence about what you want to try.  They have a great selection so deciding could be a problem.  There was one thing about Societe that I didn’t like.  That was their “full pours” being 12 ounces instead of 16.  Lame.  Don’t know why it bothers me but I kind of feel like I am getting gypped out of that extra 4 ounces.

There are also bottles to go and growlers you can get filled at the bar.

Something that I always enjoy seeing are the brewery tours and Societe offers them on Saturday’s at 2:00 and 4:00 pm. 

Dogs are just as welcome as people at Societe Brewing and they actually have merchandise for sale for the pooches.  Talk about a stylish puppy, wearing a Societe dog tee and munching on beer bones!

People-sized shirts for women are available for $17.

The decor is old fashioned and whimsical.  I loved the black silhouettes on the wall with their steampunk-style lights in front of every one.

  And the piano in the corner was cool.  A good selection of games lined the top but we had come prepared with our own cards to play.  We’ve been hooked on one called Timeline.  It’s addicting, fast, and fun and you only need 2 or more to play.  It’s perfect for a brewery.

Societe is great for a night of hanging out and trying different styles of brews.  The atmosphere is relaxed and the place is well-run.  There’s a menu board that lists what upcoming food trucks will be there and sometimes they have events.  They’ve got a charitable night with a dog rescue receiving the proceeds.  It was National Sour Day when we went so they had specials on their Feral selections.

I’ll be back to Societe Brewing Co. and there’s not much that I think should change.  They’ve got this down.  I can’t wait to try some of their 7%+ IPA’s and I’m always ready for a game of Timeline.

Bingo Wednesdays at Backstreet Brewery

It was just like putting on a familiar pair of jeans; getting back to Backstreet Brewery in Anaheim for game night.  It used to be trivia on Wednesday nights.  But times change.  The game changes.  Now it’s bingo. 

 

 

The Old Man and I arrived at about 7:45 and we were the first group among many that had parked right after we did and walked up right after us.  Luckily we knew what we   wanted so we just went right up and ordered at the bar.  The menu board was the same as Monday’s $3 pint night and our selections changed only slightly.

On our first round, I tried the Los Angeles IPA of Anaheim that had an ABV of 6.4% and a measurement of 55 on the IBU scale.  It was a dark IPA in such contrast to the golden color of the Old Man’s Set Sail IPA but not even close to being as dark as their Imperial Red Ale.    It had a smoky taste and the slightest of bitter notes.  I liked it a lot even though it has a kinda low ABV.

Before “last call” we ordered a last round of Tomahawk Double IPA’s.  We both had pints of this on Monday and we were glad to revisit.  The color is light but the taste is full.

We played 3 rounds of bingo.

The caller, the man in charge, told us they usually do 4 rounds.  They also usually start at 7:00 but on this night, they waited until more people showed up and they didn’t get started until about 7:30.  Since we got there a little late, we missed the first round.  A mistake we will never make again.

 

 

Bingo night is so stress-free at @BackstreetBrew.  I have gone to the church bingo nights with the serious old ladies and it is not fun.  The old ladies are aiming for complicated bingo patterns that make no sense.    At bingo night at Backstreet, we just played regular, not serious, bingo.  The kind where you win if you get five in a row.  The last game’s goal was to get the 4 corners to win.  But these are easy to understand.  The old ladies play shapes like the Confederate flag and shit like that.  When I went, I had to constantly ask the old lady next to me if I had a bingo yet.  As expected, she became annoyed and quit talking to me.

 

 

You get one card per round and a dabber. 

It’s free to play and the guy provides everything.  Prizes are awarded after each successful round.  The table next to us was super lucky and the one lady, among four men, won twice.  The first time, she got a card valid for a growler.  Yeah, I was jealous but I was sure I could win one myself…ha!  God laughs at the plans I make.  She also won the grand prize at the end which was 2 Angels tickets.  I would’ve preferred another growler if I was her, but she was nice and gave her tix to her friend for his birthday.  Damn winning bitch.  I hope she burns in beer hell for her luck.

Our favorite brewtender, Renee, was serving tonight and we were so glad to see her smiling face.  She remembered us from trivia night and helped us right away with great service.

There was a food truck called MexItUp but they were shut down for the night.  I don’t know if they sold out of their wares or if they were too into bingo to serve food.  But the menu was on the outside and I noticed they had veggie tacos for $8.00.  

Don’t veggies cost less than meat?  Shouldn’t veggie tacos be cheaper than meat tacos?  Just one vegetarian’s opinion.  I guess if you are eating off a food truck, you expect to pay a premium for the service and options.  I was just excited to know they had veggie tacos in the first place, never mind the price.

 

The crowd for bingo night was overwhelming.  The two tables inside were completely taken up.  By the time bingo had started, there were only two empty picnic tables left on the patio.

 

After bingo, the crowd dispersed somewhat.  The twice-winning woman got the heck out of there before we could strong arm her for her growler prize.  But we will be back again.  Maybe not every week but it is a great break in the middle of the work week.  You should try to make it to #Anaheim for bingo night at Backstreet Brewery.  It’s fun and drinks flow the whole night.

Get your drunk on and always remember to tip your brewtender!

 

 

 

 

 

 

$3 Pint Night @BackstreetBrew

Monday is a day much maligned in our working-class culture.  But if you think about it, Monday’s not that bad.  I mean, you’ve got Preacher (spoiler alert) on AMC.  And then, to prep for Preacher,  you’ve got $3 pints at @BackStreetBrew.  Those two things alone are like the silver lining of Monday’s grey cloud.

I noticed a few things had changed right off the bat.  They have a giant new BSB sign on the front.    There was a note on the front door that welcomed and invited you to use the entrance on the left side.  Oh yeah, and to remind you to #drinklocal. 

In the front window, on the floor, was also a wooden sign.  Maybe they don’t know it’s on the floor.  Someone should hang it back up.  It’s cool.

It was very crowded when we showed up around 8:00.                                                         Almost all the street parking was taken.  Which can also be said about all the outside seating.  There was one left for me & the Old Man in both instances.  The city has painted blocked out parking spots on Santa Cruz St..  I’m sure it’s in preparation for the shit-ton of crowds that are going to be coming here once all the condo’s go up in the vicinity.  You can see the gigantic eyesore of a parking structure in the background.  Yay.  Crowds.

I love how consistent Backstreet is with their menu but how they also always have something new to try.  

This time, I noticed the Los Angeles IPA of Anaheim and I giggled to myself at the play on words for the Angels baseball team.  But…I ended up going with the Set Sail IPA.               It was stronger and I needed that.  Set Sail is a 7% with 70 IBU’s.  It’s a beautiful golden color and tastes so refreshing and with a hoppyness to last for days.  It’s delicious so I could not resist.  Neither could Sean, we both ended up drinking the same brews the whole night.  Once we killed our first round, we decided to hit hard and go for the Tomahawk Double IPA.  Tomahawk is a whopping 9.2% ABV with a score of 105 on the IBU scale.  I love it because it is so strong.  It’s bitter as hell at first but your palette adjusts accordingly and it goes down smooth after that.

There was a food truck there last Monday.   It was called Bobup and people seemed to really like it.  I have friends who would be interested in bringing their food truck, HeadHunter, to Backstreet so it is good to know that they are having trucks come on a regular basis.

Bobup featured Korean food and put their menu’s on the tables.  I thought that was a brilliant move to show the folks what you have to offer without them having to awkwardly go up to the truck to look at the menu and think about what they want and then kinda slink off back to their seat to stew over which kind of protein they want.  Unfortunately there was nothing of substance that was vegetarian.  And they spelled steak wrong.

The Old Man and I caught up on trivia with the pages I totally missed from my trivia calendar.  The pages started on June 1st. and we got all the way to June 23rd.  We thought it was appropriate considering we used to come here for trivia on Wednesdays.  But they don’t have trivia anymore.

 

They’ve got bingo on Wednesday nights now but other than that, their Daily Specials are still the same as they were since the last time I was at BSB.  Again, I love the consistency.  Here’s a pic of their specials:

 

So that’s about it.  I’m getting back to Backstreet.  Tonight, I’m stopping by for a game of bingo and a Los Angeles IPA of Anaheim.  If you find that Monday has given you the blues, turn your frown upside down and get drunk with $3 pints at BackStreet Brewing.

Drink up & always remember to tip your brewtender!

 

Asylum Brewing

It was hot as balls in Anaheim.  The Old Man informed me that it’s not even considered a “heat wave” because the temps have to get past 100f.  So while the fake forecasters tell you it’s technically not a heat wave even though you are melting, you can rest assured that it is indeed, as hot as balls.  I consider hot as balls to be 90 and above.  On the Friday night I went to Asylum Brewing Company it was a good 93 at 8:00 at night.  Disgusting.

There is a tent outside the entrance and meaty tacos were cooking underneath it so it was even hotter going in.  But once you get inside, the air conditioning is magic.  It improved my whole mood.  All of a sudden I didn’t care about the crowd and the childrens running around or the wanna-be heat wave.  I was just elated to be comfortable.

We checked out the menu board and this is what we saw:

So many taps, so little selection

Only 4 out of 5 beers were available.  Fair Weather Friend, a West Coast Pale Ale with a 4.7% ABV, was sold out.  That was great for them.  But it reduced the selection by 20%.  Don’t check my math or anything but the cold hard fact is that there were only 4 beers to choose from.  This seems like it would be typical of a newly-opened, small brewery but I have seen smaller breweries with more choices.  But they are a very tiny operation in their infancy.  Brewing and tasting out of the same small space makes for close company.  Hopefully they will expand into a larger building.

It’s a good thing they weren’t sold out of Monsters We Breed, which was billed as a dank IPA with a 7.5% ABV.  I saw “dank” and I had to have it.  It was tasty and cold but not very “danky.”  I figured they meant “especially hoppy” when they described it as “dank” but it wasn’t really too bitter.  It had a kick though and I drank mine right up.  The Old Man decided on a 6.5% Harlequin Honey Blonde.

There is cool wall art in the entrance hall and in the tasting room area.  I saw on Asylum Brewing Company that the artist of these 3 beautiful paintings is a local named Nathan Houtz.  Not sure where credit goes for the 4 geometric prints but they’re outstanding.

 

Like all smart breweries, Asylum is trying to brand you with their selection of merchandise.  They have shirts for $15, hats for $25, and pint glasses at $7 for sale.

 

@AsylumBrewing is in a great location.  Steps away from Hoparazzi Brewing and sharing a parking lot that is across the street from Bottle Logic, this place is in the center of the action on Lager Palma Brewlouvard.  That would explain why they were so crowded.  And I’m sure their excellent a/c system kept it crowded.

There is a shelf full of games and it seemed like every table had one going on.  We chose to play Spot It!  A game meant for 4th graders and drunks.  It was a blast because we didn’t keep score.  That ended up being in my inebriated favor.

What is the matching symbol in common?  Wrong!

I wished I could’ve spent all night inside the cold cave of Asylum.  I was ready to check myself in.  They are open until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.  Those are some of the latest hours I’ve seen a brewery open until.  I’m sure they get people coming and going all night.

But we had already tried the two beers on the menu that seemed best suited for our tastes.  Neither of us really likes an Imperial Stout that much and the Rorschach was too…coffee for me, at least.  So our #datenight came to an end.

I’m gonna keep my eye on Asylum Brewing because I liked what little of their menu selections I tried.  If they can add some more options, I will definitely be back in.  It would be great to see them expand and add more space to the brewing and tasting room areas.  I wish them the best of luck.  Drink well & remember to tip your bartender.

 

Bay City Brewing Company

Last month I was lucky enough to try a new location of a previously-visited brewery, At Ease @ Barrel Harbor, and to experience a whole new brewery, AleSmith Brewing Company, while I was in San Diego for the weekend.  This month, I found myself in San Diego again with a lot of time and a lot of nothing to do.  So you know what I did?  I got drunk.

I started out the day right with a big breakfast and then a visit to the Villainous Lair where Ck picked up a new Munchkin game called MOOPS: Monster Mash-ups.  Then it was time to commence the drinking that I knew was going to happen all day long.

Our first stop was at Bay City Brewing Company.  It is located in an industrial area off the 8 freeway and close to Mission Bay (hence, the “bay” in “Bay City”).  Bay City is also about a two minute drive from Modern Times Beer.

Bay City is spacious and seemed even more so when we got there a little after it opened at noon because of the lack of people.  More folks eventually showed up and I got to meet two dogs during my time there.  Always the highlight!

A well-behaved Frenchie

 

The Pug that wandered in from the storm

Their menu isn’t extensive so I was able to pick out right away what I wanted to try.

I went for the basically-named San Diego Pale Ale and the one with the highest ABV, 7.7%.

Sean tried a Power Play IPA that I told him to get because I wanted to try that one too and I knew he would like it.  It measured in with a 6.9% ABV.

Carie had the Vienna Lager, a mellow 5.0%, and Ck had the Dark Lager that came in at 5.3% ABV.

The Pale Ale & the IPA were very hoppy.  Very resinous tasting and mine killed my taste buds in such a way that I was able to enjoy the rest of my pint.  Otherwise, I would’ve been scowling with every sip.  I tried little sips of Ck’s & Carie’s lagers and they were so light in comparison.  They were delicious and worth a second visit.

We sat around a pallet table that was big enough for 8 people and played a game of Munchkin. It was so much fun because our group has been talking about doing it for about as long as we’ve been playing Munchkin, which is about 3 years.  Finally!  Our wish come true!

Old man kicking down the door

Ck likes his treasure, his precious

Carie, plotting her win

We didn’t have a game board but not to fear!  Ck had purchased each of us our own 10-siders that corresponded to our home-game Munchkin colors.  What a thoughtful guy!

I languished around level 1 for so long as the rest of those munchkins rose up until Carie eventually claimed the win.

The brewtender who came to collect our empty glasses also asked if we wanted refills and the answer of course, was, “Yes, please!”  That was a nice touch of service and I will always remember Bay City as very customer-oriented.

A brew tour bus came through so it got a little crowded for about half an hour but then it cleared out and it was just our gang of four with a Frenchie guy and a couple other humans left over.

A woman from the tour pissed everywhere around the toilet and nowhere in the toilet.  What, did she think she was in the men’s room?  Sidenote: Bitches please!  At least clean your piss up so I don’t have to if you can’t use a toilet seat the right way.  It’s your own damn piss.  Bitches. The bathrooms were nice and clean other than that little incident.

Behind the scenes at Bay City Brewing Co.

The brew vats are set up off in the back.  They are lit up with cool blue lighting that goes with the silver of the tanks.  Cool design, owners!

There is a back patio area that I didn’t get to visit because I love sitting on my ass.  Next time I’m at Bay City Brewing, I will check it out.

I liked this brewery a lot.  It is roomy enough to deal with crowds and has some pretty tasty beer.  I would recommend starting with the light end of their spectrum and you won’t be disappointed.

The location is another great thing about Bay City that will definitely bring me back in.  Parking could be better but when I was there, parking wasn’t an issue so I won’t complain.  I’ll just say, I would hate to have to find close parking after 4:30 on most weekdays and all time during weekend nights.

Bay City Brewing Company is a must stop if you are in the Mission Bay area.  I had a great time there and will be back, for sure.