A beer tour through wine country
By Bob Ecker
Napa, California:
“It takes a lot of Great Beer to make a Good Wine,” states virtually ever winemaker I’ve ever met, from Chile to France, New Zealand to Spain, and that mantra is certainly the case here in Northern California, America’s premier wine region. Winemakers, vineyard workers, cellar masters, and even salesmen deal with wine and grapes all day long — not to mention harvest — and at the end of their day want a cold, refreshing brew like anybody else. Fortunately, the craft beer movement is alive and well throughout Northern California wine country, with micro-breweries, brew pubs, and fine beer spots scattered across a wide area.
First up, is the Silverado Brewing Company, located on Highway 29 in St. Helena, near the top of Napa Valley. This brewery sits inside the site of the old Freemark Abbey Winery, constructed in 1895. The outside tables, although right on Highway 29, are an ideal place to meet friends and sample many of the site’s fine beers. The hoppy Pale Ale is my favorite, with nods to the appealing Oatmeal Stout and the Maibock, a Munich-styled amber lager. While I was there, Napa winemaker Ken Fortner, (owner of Road 31 Wine Co.) dropped by in his beautifully restored 1966 mint green Ford pickup truck. “Not only does it take a lot of beer to make great wine, but you can tell a lot about a winemaker by the beer in his hands during harvest,” said Fortner.
The next stop is the Calistoga Inn, a mere seven miles up the road. Its outdoor beer garden/restaurant is a popular spot, and the divey bar is a blast from the past. Calistoga Inn’s best is its dark red ale, a serious, heavy, malty brew.
Zipping up Highway 128 to 101, you’ll hit Hopland, and the famous Mendocino Brewing Company. The quirky town of Hopland and this brew pub in particular, is an anachronism. The Mendocino Brewing Company is a big business, and their flagship beer, Red Tail Ale is shipped across the US. Yet this tasting room, inside a hundred-year-old building is barely more than a hole in the wall, with a bar, dartboard, and little else. Still, it’s a fun place to enjoy killer brews, like the popular Blue Heron Pale Ale, fresh Red Tail, and my absolute favorite, Eye of the Hawk Select Ale. This tasty, full-bodied, highly alcoholic dry ale is so damn good.
Heading west into Mendocino’s quaint little town of Boonville, you’ll find many well-known Anderson Valley wineries as well as the Anderson Valley Brewing Company, makers of Boont Amber among others. The cavernous tasting room is strange, but the beers themselves are the draw. Boont Amber is a classic ale, and even better at the source. I also enjoyed Hop Ottin’ IPA. This beer had tons of hoppiness, but still remained smooth. I finished by tasting Brother David’s Triple Abbey Style Ale 10%-ABV — a creamy Belgian balanced with elegant hoppiness. Incidentally, this is also serious Frisbee golf country, and they sell specially labeled Frisbee golf disks at the brewery.
From Boonville, drive west to the Pacific Ocean. This part of Highway 128 is a stunning drive, a joy to zip along, through Tolken-esque Redwood groves and hollows. Once at the coastal town of Mendocino, I headed out for dinner and ended up (not surprisingly) at Patterson’s Pub for some local beer, conversation, pub food, sports on TV, and a great overall vibe. It’s very much like a good Irish pub and also serves the excellent Smithwicks, Ireland’s oldest Ale (since 1710) on draft. (I stayed the night in The Packard House, a lovely, newly refurbished yet modern styled B& B in Mendocino.)
My next brewery stop was the North Coast Brewing Company in Ft. Bragg. This time I tasted everything North Coast’s president and general manager, Mark Ruedrich could throw at me including the resurrected “Acme” brand — a San Francisco company that was brewing over a million barrels of beer per year in the 1940’s. “We didn’t want that piece of California history to die,” Ruedrich said. North Coast also makes a marvelous, Belgian-styled named, Le Merle, after Ruedrich’s wife. My favorites included: Red Seal Ale, and the yeasty Brother Thelonius, a tribute to Thelonius Monk.
Back in Sonoma, Healdsburg’s Bear Republic Brewing Company awaited. Today, Healdsburg is the rapidly beating heart of Sonoma’s wine culture. At the brewery, Celeste, a spitfire of a bartender said, “Lots of people come here after wine tasting.” Indeed, that’s what many in the crowd seemed to have been doing. Bear Republic seems fascinated by the old animated TV show, Speed Racer. The Racer 5 IPA is pretty good, but I preferred their Racer X English-styled ale.
The not-to-be-missed Russian River Brewing Company in Santa Rosa is a company committed to the idea of Belgian style plus double and triple hopped beers. They brew many Belgian-styled ales — go try them. “Our brewmaster has a gift for Belgians,” said Christmas Noel, the friendly bartender. Russian River is also quite famous for their magnificent IPAs, Pliny the Elder and Triple IPA Pliny the Younger.
Every wine person I met on the road confirmed the old saw, it really does take a lot of great beer to make a good wine. And as Kent Fortner said way back at the beginning of the trip, “You know, beer is basically wine stripped of all opportunity for pretension.” I concur.
Bob Ecker is a writer from Napa, California
All photos courtesy of Bob Ecker
The writer at Silverado Brewing Company
Hopland!
North Coast Pub’s Mark Ruedrich pours a beer
Don’t get lost
