Christmas beer.

Christmas cheer in a bottle, that's what I call the Anchor Brewing Company's Special Ale.  I am always a little worried that I will miss the release of this beer, however this year I needn't have been concerned.  Getting our wires crossed, Vinomaker and I both bought some Anchor Christmas ale (their 44th annual bottling).  I bought a six pack and Vinomaker bought one bottle.  But what a bottle it is.
Adorned with a Korean Pine (Pinus koraiensis) this year, the one, big bottle is massive, 50.7 fluid ounces.  Yes, folks, that is just about 1.5 litres of beer.  The bottle is heavy.  H-e-a-v-y!  It's huge.  We may have to throw a party to get rid of it.  At the very least, I see a pizza night in my future.

Pizza, beer and wine.

Thud's pizza oven gets awfully hot.  I risked life and limb to get this photograph, as it was super, super toasty.  And that high heat is the reason that the pizzas are ready to eat after just 90 seconds of cooking.  Simply fabulous.  Copious amounts of Peroni aided Thud and his culinary-accomplice, Monkey, in the making of a dozen pizzas, mostly with all different toppings.  I polished off a bottle (well, not the entire bottle) of Amalaya, Blanco De Corte, 2016 Torrontés-Riesling (Calchaquí Valley, Argentina) with my pizza-dinner.  The wine paired well with most of the pizzas, but not the Thai Chicken one.  But that's OK, there were plenty of other pizzas that did pair with this Argentine-quaffing wine.  Yum.

Brimstage Brewery.

Today, I went for an informative tour of a small brewery located close to where Thud lives. Situated in a modest building in the yard of a dairy farm, Brimstage Brewery produce about 5 different beers - including my favourite offering of theirs, Trapper's Hat.
Brimstage Brewery's head brewer, Adam Williams, gave me and my fellow Trapper's Hat fan, Monkey, a fantastic tour of the compact brewing facility and walked us through the entire beer making process. So interesting.  I even got to taste a few different types of malt and smell several different varieties of hops. Wonderful stuff, thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Beer jelly.

I have had a few beers of late.  And I have had some jelly also.  Today was the first time that I have ever had beer flavoured jelly.  Or beer flavoured Jelly Belly jelly beans to be exact.
A quick trip out of Napa with Thud and his three oldest children found us at the Jelly Belly Candy Company (located at One Jelly Belly Lane, Fairfield, of course).  I just love seeing things being made and packaged (love bottling-time at TWWIAGE) and so I found the Jelly Belly factory very interesting.  One can witness the entire jelly bean making process at this very busy production facility.  We all had lots of fun, but at the same time learned a lot about food manufacturing.
Perhaps in an attempt to attract more adults, Jelly Belly are now offering wine and chocolate pairings in a '21 and over' tasting room.  And grown-up jelly bean flavours like 'Champagne' and 'Draft Beer'.  The champagne jelly beans tasted like stale, still white wine to me, but Thud thought the draft beer beans actually tasted like beer: my taste buds were not that convinced. Weird.  I'll just stick with Juicy Pear, my favourite flavour.

Birthday brews.

I have been very busy lately with family goings-on.  A lot of driving has been necessary, so, consequently, I haven't really been drinking.
I had one glass of wine last Friday night, which was my and Vinomaker's anniversary, an agreeable 2014 Chenin blanc from Vinum Cellars (Clarksburg AVA).  I had half a glass of beer at the Main Street Reunion car show on Saturday.  And on Sunday, in celebration of Thud's birthday, I had two bottles of beer; a bottle each of the Kona Brewing Company's Castaway IPA and Fire Rock pale ale.  Both beers were very pleasant and paired well with the tasty BBQ fare on my plate.  I'm not complaining, I'm having fun.
This evening, my family and I are planning on throwing an Earthquake Party: it is two years since a rather angry temblor shook the Napa Valley to its roots.  The little ones have suggested that we all eat jelly (Jello), popcorn and Pop Rocks.  Kids!

Anchor Christmas Ale: 2015.

Yay!  It's that time of year when Anchor Brewing Company's Christmas Ale is available in the shops.  This is the 41st time that Anchor has released their Christmas Ale, a tradition the company began in 1975.  And drinking it is a tradition I started for myself some years later.  I really look forward to the release of this ale, to me it means Christmas is coming.  The recipe is different each year and it is always kept a secret. This year, Anchor decided to add less spices, a throwback to earlier iterations when the ales malty-ness was more prominent.  And yes, the ale is quite malty this year, very fruity and very smooth.
The tree depicted on the 2015 label is a Deodar Cedar (Cedrus deodara), better known as the California Christmas Tree.  Evidently, this cedar "has been a San Francisco favourite for over 150 years."  Did not know that, but now I do.
Cheers!

Happy anniversary ale!

 

This year is the 40th time that Anchor Brewing Company have produced their wonderful, limited edition Christmas Ale.  The recipe might change every year, but it never fails to disappoint.  This year the label is adorned with a charming ink drawing of a Sequoiadendron giganteum - the Giant Sequoia - which is a wonderful choice of tree this year.
Giant sequoias are the world's largest tree and can grow to upwards of 275 feet.  That's a lot of firewood!  To be able to visit a grove of these majestic trees, and stand in the cathedral-like space beneath their lofty bows, is just one of the great things about California.  Big tree.  Big anniversary.  Nice beer.  Well done Anchor Brewing Company, and happy Christmas.  I'm looking forward to your 41st edition.

Chocks away!

Goodbye Blighty 2014, Part 2.
Once again my holiday has come to an end and early tomorrow I will be winging my way back to the US of A.  But not before I have a farewell glass of something domestic, a Spitfire Kentish Ale.
Spitfire bitter (pale ale) was first brewed in 1990 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, a limited edition entitled 'The Bottle of Britain'.  Seemingly, the folks at Shepherd Neame Brewery have a good sense of humour.  This particular edition is a partnership with the men's health charity, Movember.  In homage to Movember's annual moustache growing campaign, Spitfire's current label is adorned with a ginger mustache.  Cute.  Quite malty, fruity, hoppy and slightly bitter Spitfire is a very pleasant ale.  And a fitting way to send me off into the wide blue yonder.
California here I come.

The Wheatsheaf Inn.

I'm  not a local.  I call the pub that I visited today by the name outside on it's shingle, The Wheatsheaf.  Apparently the locals call it The Thatch, and indeed it was recently rethatched. But roofing material aside, it was for the beer that I was here, or rather, there. A quick glass of Trapper's Hat, and an open coal fire, was a great cure for the increasingly greying sky outside.

A tree treat.

Here it is, the 2013 iteration of Anchor Brewing Company's Christmas Ale.  I look forward to this beer appearing in the shops this time of year.  It has become a fast tradition (especially for me and Thud, when he's visiting at Yuletide) that the mere act of purchasing this beer gets one into the Christmas-swing of things. 
The label, adorned with a different tree each year, this year the California White Fir (Abies concolor var. Lowiana), is olde worlde and festive.  The neck label reads thus: "This is the thirty-ninth "Our Special Ale" from the brewers at Anchor.  It is sold only from early November to mid-January.  The Ale's recipe is different every year, as is the tree on the label, but the intent with which we offer it remains the same: joy and celebration of the newness of life.  Since ancient times, trees have symbolized the winter solstice when the earth, with its seasons, appears born anew."  Yikes, I feel all teary-eyed. 
Hoppy-citrusy-yumminess, I must buy more of this ale so that I have some to drink on the winter solstice.  "Ring out, ring solstice bells."  I feel some Jethro Tull coming on!

On the fourth day of Christmas...

...I got a little bit fed up with wine and decided to have a Christmas beer instead.
Anchor Brewing Company's Christmas Ale is something I look forward to each year - if I can find it.  This Christmas Ale is a limited production and is only available during a specific period: early November through mid January.  But honestly, I have never seen it in the shops for that amount of time.  I buy it as soon as I see it because it sells out fast.
With a different, tree-adorned label every year this ale is medium bodied, quite dark, pleasantly spicy and altogether delightful. Throughout the year I often imbibe in an Anchor Steam Beer, or sometimes a bottle or two of their Porter, but it's the release of this San Franciscan brewery's Christmas offering that I eagerly await every autumn.
My purple, polka-dotted glass just adds to the festivities.

Trapper's Hat.

This afternoon, I enjoyed a glass of Trapper's Hat bitter in The Wheatsheaf Inn, a tiny little pub that is celebrating it's 400th anniversary this year.

It was a lovely, sunny Bank Holiday Monday and going out for a quick half just seemed like the thing to do. The beer, by local brewer Neil Young, was light with refreshing citrus notes and a rather hoppy nose and finish. Nice beer, old pub, good company, an English spring - great combination.

"The year's at the spring..."

With all their canes securely tied to the fruiting wires, Vinoland's vines are on their own reconnaissance for a while. Today I redirected my attention to - weeds! In just one winter it seems that Mother Nature has reclaimed Vinoland as her own; gravel driveways, flower beds, everything is overgrown with weeds. Even the creek has all but disappeared beneath a tangle of brambles (although at least they produce great berries in the summer). Of course, my weeding activity just happened to coincide with warm weather, 82 degrees F today. This time last week I was complaining about the cold and rain, what a turn around.

Needless to say, at the end of the day I was ready for a cold beer. Blue Moon's Spring Blonde Wheat Ale hit the spot.

Spring is most definitely sprung! All's right with the world.

Oktoberfest.

Sunday evening heralded the end of the 2008 harvest at my place of employment. The winery actually received their last Cabernet sauvignon fruit today, harvested overnight under floodlight. If the people that sign my pay cheques want to call the end of harvest a little prematurely, then so be it. Sunday night was the night they wished to celebrate, so Sunday it was. A good time was had by all. For Vinogirl it meant a night off from wine. I imbibed in a pleasing malted beverage called 'Death & Taxes'...dark, lucious and bitter. Wonder what old Ben Franklin would think of the current election season? Dark? Bitter? Prophetic? I hope not.