Two legendary beers and breweries. And guess what, Samuel Adams is STILL labeled independent!

This beer is a complex beer, meaning the process to make the beer is very labor intensive. They use decoction and krausening; two uncommon styles / methods of brewing in the US.

I want to have a beer or three with the owner Jim Koch one day. Mad props the the salesy looking fellow with a big heart for his company. You won’t ever see that fool without a Sam Adams on TV appearances.

Fuller’s ESB is a heavily award-decorated beer. It is a 5.9% which is considered a “strong ale,” but it kind of has it’s own category of style. They were independent and family owned until January of 2019 they were bought out.

They are the type of brewery that is like McDonalds in England though. They are everywhere there.

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I try the STS pilsner from Russian River Brewing Company. It is the first time I tried this beer, it weighs in at 5.35% abv. Russian River is the home to the famous Pliny the Elder and Pliny the Younger beers.

They are originally from Santa Rosa and recently expanded to Windsor, Ca.

In addition, I taste the Interstellar Juggernaut from Ol’ Republic Brewing. It is a NE Double IPA that is 8.7% abv. I had this before, I know it’s good.

They are a brewery from Nevada City, Ca and recently expanded to Rancho Cordova, Ca.

Good beers are good for the soul. I encourage you to try and find what beers you love. I personally love hazy / NE IPA’s as evident from what I usually taste on the show. However, I love many different styles of beer.

You never know what you will like if you haven’t tried a style of beer from multiple breweries.

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(the podcast stream is below)

In this episode, I sip (chug) a Stone Brewing Delicious IPA. It is a 7.7% reduced gluten beer that is a heavy west coast IPA, meaning it tastes bitter like hops.

I went to Stone a while back. It is a beautiful brewery with great beer. They are independent craft brewers with a mission to make beer that are strong and hoppy. Much Respect.

I also taste Dogfish Head breweries’ Mida Touch Ancient Ale. It is a strong ass beer at 9%. It is a beer based off ingredients from a nearly 3000 year old recipe.

I went to this brewery also in DELAWARE. Yes, Delaware. I went from cooshy California to Delaware and was delighted to have that experience. Sam Calagione is a majestic creative practitioner in the beer world.

Their array of beers is so diverse it makes Sacramento’s ethnic culture appear normal to rural parts of the world.

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(the podcast is below this article)

It was a rainy day in Sacramento, but it rained after I snuck in a round of 18 hole golf. Luckily, I only had one triple bogey and one double bogey. No birdies, but I parred and bogeyed the rest of the holes (that is good for me!).

Fighting heartburn from a few beers on the course, a polish hot dog and some Taco Bell, I mustered up the courage to try two beers on the show.

The first beer is a pilsner from the famous Pilsner Urquell. Fresh is always the best, along with a good head (foam). My buddy actually hit this brewery up and said it was phenomenal fresh.

I don’t have the luxury of going to the Czech Republic as of now, so I will have to settle for less fresh beer (from the bottle, shipped from far away).

This beer is considered liquid bread. It is a light 4.4% abv beer that is great to drink all night or to enjoy on a hot day. Hell, drink it anytime!

The next beer is the Kentucky Breakfast Stout (KBS) from Founders brewing. Although they have sold a 30% stake in their brewery and are not considered an “independent craft brewery” by definition, they still put out great products.

This brewery supports musicians, craft beer and have been innovative with their barrel aging techniques. The KBS is a heavy 11.2% abv. It is an imperial stout brewed with coffee, chocolate and then aged in bourbon barrels for a year.

This and the CBS (Canadian Breakfast Stout) are super sought after beers that have become more commercially available over time. Anyways, this and the first beer I drink are good.

However, most beers I drink are good. There are only a few beers I really don’t like, but I usually drink them anyways – I don’t know if that is a problem or a common thing to do as a beer drinker.

Probably the latter based off a couple other dudes’ opinions.

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Get streams to my podcast for $0.00 (free) on the apple podcasts app, facebook, google play, and/or stitcher.

I taste Bear Republic’s Double Aught Pilsner which weighs in at 5% abv. They are a solid brewery with a timeless taste, i.e. their Racer 5 IPA is still good in comparison to the newer styles of IPA’s that are coming out over the past few years. This beer is crushable, chuggable or sippable. I envision drinking this beer with dinner, lunch or on a hot day.

I visited the brewery a while back, it was a fun experience. Very restauranty. In any event, when I see Bear Republic on tap anywhere, I usually consider ordering it.

There wasn’t a lot of information on their website about their brewery, which sucks as you know I like stories. That doesn’t take away from their quality beer and the fact they are independent makes the beer taste that much better to me.

Additionally, I taste Device Brewing Company’s Curious Hazy Northeast style IPA. It is a 7% beer. They are an innovative brewery that jumped on the haze craze bandwagon early on.

This paid off as they have multiple prominently located locations and are have withstood the test of time (as many newer breweries fail to do).

I met the owner once, he is a tall ass dude with a serious brain on his shoulders. He was an engineer and decided to turn his focus onto brewing professionally.

I asked him for a job once and he told me no. I was a bit offended at the time, but I was also super faded when I asked him. So I own up to that and don’t hold it against him as he puts out a good product.

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On this show, I have a guest Matt (not hop gardens guy) and we taste three beers. Knee Deep brewings Sac Fly PA and their Imperial Tanilla.

We also drink Moonraker Citra Double IPA (crushable series). We don’t intend to, but we end up comparing breweries.

My band just played a show at Knee Deep and Matt and I hit up Moonraker (right around the corner) right after the show.

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Lost Coast is a cool ass brewery out of Eureka, California. Great White and Downtown Brown are the two beers I have experience with, so I decided to try this one out.

It’s a 6.7% beer, which isn’t too shabby for an IPA.

I also taste from Unibroue (Quebec, Canada (eh)) breweries Trois Pistoles. It’s a belgian style dark ale at 9%.

It opened in flavors and scent a lot after I let it swirl in my glass, let it lose carbonation and allowed it to warm up a tad.

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In this episode, I drink the last of my Chimay beers. It is a light 4.8% beer with hints of spices (coriander and such) and yeast. It is heavily carbonated but gets better as it gets warmer in a glass.

In previous episodes, I discuss more information regarding the Trappist breweries.

I also drink the Hazy Little Thing from Sierra Nevada brewing company. It’s legit. It’s a good comeback and market demand response to all the new england / hazy / juicy style IPA’s on the market. It tastes like a hoppy tropical paradise IMO. I have had it before and would looove to order it fresh at the brewery.

Sierra Nevada is a hippie type of joint. They are super sustainable, grow their own hops and make hella good beer. Their logo sweaters were super popular in Nor Cal for a minute.

Oh yeah, they are independent as well. Finally, they do something called “Beer Camp.” This is a huge “camp” collaboration with multiple breweries to produce an awesome 12 or 24 pack of unique beers.

I try to get a variety pack every year as it opens my mind, expands my palette and is just simply delish. It helps me they are only about an hour and some change from my pad (easy accessibility).

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Firestone Walker Brewing Company is an innovative large brewery that has made breakthroughs and aggrandized contributions to the beer community over the past few decades. Although I am disappointed at their recent share sales to a larger corporation, they still continue to put out great products.

The Mind Haze IPA is a hazy IPA that definitely tastes great and is nearly sessionable at 6.2% abv. The tropical flavors and juicy tastes definitely compete with microbreweries across the nation.

As I have mentioned before, Chimay is a legit “Authentic Trappist Brewery.” This mark is only handed out to a few breweries. Their Grande Reserve Ale rocks at a 9% abv and is a great beer in my opinion.

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I dive in to another Belgium trappist ale in this episode. The brewery is called Orval. This beer weighs in at 6.9% abv. They are only open to the public two days a year, so I would have to do some string pulling and planning in order to get in that joint.

I also taste Cherry Sournova, which is a 5.8% abv sour ale aged in oak barrels with cherries and vanilla. It is from Almanac Beer Co, which prides itself on using local ingredients. They are based out of Alameda, California which is about an hour and a half from my crib.

I shalleth see if I want to check this brewery out based on the tasting!

Both of these breweries need to work on their bio’s as I did not find any really cool stories to the breweries. All I know is when I open my brewery, I’m gonna have some super-cosmic-monomythic stories on the website.

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