Sacramento Brewing Closed

I'll keep this blog short. Just wanted to thank everyone for all their support over the last 15 years. Some amazing friends have been made and great times have been had at Sacramento Brewing. As of today, we have closed the doors for good.

PLEASE support your local breweries, the numbers are dwindling in Sacramento as we have lost three breweries in the last year alone and not for lack of quality. We have multiple Great American Beer Festival award winning breweries making world class beer right in your back yard, please think of them the next time you are buying beer at the grocery store or deciding where to have a pint.

Cheers,
Peter Hoey, Brewmaster
Sacramento Brewing Company

Collaborative Evil Wins Bronze at 2009 GABF

Sacramento Brewing Company earned a bronze medal in the Belgian and French Style Ale Category for Collaborative Evil this year at the Great American Beer Festival!

Chris Macias from the Sacramento Bee blogged about it here and Dan (Stickie) at the Sac Rag has a nice article here as well.

This is the biggest beer competition in the world, below are just some of the quick stats.

2009 GABF Quick Stats
49,000	Attendess (includes brewers, volunteers, and tick holders)
3,308	Beers in the GABF Competition
3,000	Volunteers
2,100	Beers served in the hall
495	Breweries in the competition
457	Breweries in the festival hall
132	Judges from 10 countries
78	Categories judged + Pro-Am category
72	Beers entered into the Pro-Am Competition
51	Breweries attending for the first time

$3 PINTS and ALL YOU CAN EAT RIBS!

STARTING TODAY (SEPTEMBER 7th)
Where: Sacramento Brewing Company
When: EVERY Monday and Tuesday Night (after 4:30)
What: $13 all you can eat ribs and $3 pints of Sac Brew beer

Starting MONDAY SEPTEMBER 7th we will be launching a new promotion here at Sac Brew. If you don't know already we have all you can eat St. Louis style ribs for $13 EVERY Monday and Tuesday night. We decided to sweeten that pot by offering $3 pints of Sac Brew beer EVERY Monday and Tuesday to go with our delicious, falling-off-the-bone ribs smothered in house made Red Horse Ale BBQ sauce.

Summer Brewers Dinner in Pictures

Rick Sellers from pacificbrewnews.com was kind enough to take pictures at our brewers dinner last night. It was a great time with fantastic food, Chef Cres really outdid himself this time. Each dish was fresh, light and flavorful fitting the summer theme perfectly. Get a look at his creations here.

Cheers,
Peter

September Brewers Dinner

SEPTEMBER 1st, 2009
Sacramento Brewing Company Brewers Dinner

Ahi Tuna Pizza
Grilled pizzas topped with ahi tuna and salmon roe
Abbey Extra

Chilled Lemon Cucumber Soup
Lemon cucumbers, fresh dill and yogurt soup
Brett Blond

Grilled Vegetable Salad
Summer vegetables and endive grilled and topped with balsamic reduction and manchego cheese
Celtic Amber

Ribs Two Ways
Red Horse Ale BBQ Sauce and Harisa Honey Glazed Baby Back Ribs
Red Horse Ale

Sorbet Trio
House made Watermelon, Canteloupe, and Honeydew Sorbet
Brussels Blond

Seating at 6:00, Dinner at 6:30. Price $40 plus tax and tip.

California Brewers Festival Results

The results are in for the California Brewers Festival:

1st Place India Pale Ale - India Pale Ale
2nd Place Amber Ales - Red Horse Ale
3rd Place Strong Ales - Brussels Blond

AND India Pale Ale took 2nd Runner Up for Best of Show!

Complete results here.

$3 Beers and All You Can Eat Ribs!

STARTING SEPTEMBER 7th
Where: Sacramento Brewing Company
When: EVERY Monday and Tuesday Night (after 4:30)
What: $13 all you can eat ribs and $3 pints of Sac Brew beer

Starting MONDAY SEPTEMBER 7th we will be launching a new promotion here at Sac Brew. If you don't know already we have all you can eat St. Louis style ribs for $13 EVERY Monday and Tuesday night. We decided to sweeten that pot by offering $3 pints of Sac Brew beer EVERY Monday and Tuesday to go with our delicious, falling-off-the-bone ribs smothered in house made Red Horse Ale BBQ sauce.

Collaborative Evil 2009

Collaborate: to work jointly with others or together especially in an intellectual endeavor.

Collaborative Evil returns with more breweries and a bit of leeway. In 2008, three brewers decided to create a beer recipe and then brew it at their respective brewhouses. The beer a Strong Dark Belgian-inspired Ale brewed with Honey, and spices. Each brew had a unique ingredient distinguishing it from the others. This effort was intended to get the beers to the Great American Beer Festival in Denver so that they could be served at the same time under one roof. Two of the three beers managed to get there and be served to the public, the third alas was there but not able to be judged or served at the time of the festival. The founding brewers Zac Triemert of Lucky Bucket Brewing Co. La Vista, NE, Matt Van Wyk of Flossmoor Station, Flossmoor, IL and Todd Ashman of FiftyFifty Brewing, Truckee, CA.

In 2009, we’ve brought in six more breweries. The base style for this year is a Belgian-inspired Strong Pale. The larger group presented some interesting hurdles and this also proved to be what this collaboration is all about.

Working together but also working within the confines of each respective brewery. We have production breweries and brewpubs involved and some with tight schedules and others with lot’s of play in the brewing regimen. We asked each brewer to create a beer based on the style and then make it uniquely their own but within the parameters of the ‘Belgian-inspired Strong Pale’. This was important because it demonstrates what people think of when you mention a style. Because one of the things we focus on in Collaborative Evil is entering the respective beers in the Great American Beer Festival. Entry guidelines forbid entering the same beer so creating a theme and then allowing each brewer participating in Collaborative Evil to spin-off their own beer based on our base style. Tough but not impossible and the interpretations are very spread out and will be fun for GABF attendees to seek out on the festival floor.

The brewmasters are:

Valley Brewing, Stockton, CA, Steve Altimari
Sacramento Brewing, Sacramento, CA Peter Hoey
Fatheads Brewery and Grill, Cleveland, OH, Matt Cole
Flossmoor Station, Flossmoor, IL, Bryan Shimkos
Oakshire Brewing, Eugene, OR Matt Van Wyk
Silver Peak Brewing, Reno, NV Brandon Wright
Speakeasy Brewing Co., San Francisco, CA. John Gillooly
FiftyFifty Brewing, Truckee, CA, Todd Ashman
Lucky Bucket Brewing Co, La Vista, NE, Zac Triemert

Look for these beers on the festival floor at the 2009 GABF and at the breweries participating. Production breweries may have limited releases so check with your favorite for more details…

Read more here:

chow.com

Beer Camp Tasting 8/15

Sierra Beer Camp Tasting Saturday, August 15th Our friends Chris and Merideth from thebeergeek.com and Rick Sellers from DRAFT magazine and pacificbrewnews.com both had an opportunity to brew a small batch of specialty beer at “Beer Camp” hosted by Sierra Nevada. Come meet the brewers and try their creations during this very special tasting.

Updated List for IPApalooza

The updated list for IPApalooza '09
Wendesday, July 22nd 2009 ALL DAY

Auburn Alehouse - Gold Digger IPA, Un-Obtanium Double IPA
Bear Republic - Racer 5, Racer X
Deschutes - Red Chair IPA
Fifty Fifty - Rockslide IPA
Firestone Walker - Union Jack & Double Jack
Flying Dog - Double Dog
Great Basin Brewing - Ichthyosaur IPA
Green Flash - Imperial IPA
Lagunitas - Hop Stoopid & IPA
Marin Brewing Company - IPA
Moonlight Brewing Company - Bombay by Boat IPA
Moylan's - Hopsickle (unfiltered!) & Moylander Double IPA
Rubicon - IPA
Russian River - Pliny the Elder & Blind Pig IPA
Sac Brew - IPA, Independence IPA, Half Pint Double IPA, & Abbey IPA
Sierra Nevada - Torpedo Extra IPA
Stone - Ruination & 13th Anniversary Ale
Valley Brew - Uberhoppy

Basic Brewing Sour Preview

Last month I was interviewed at the the National Homebrewers' Conference by James and Steve at Basic Brewing. They run a website and podcast (video and audio podcasts) focused on making better beer at home so if you are a beginning or advanced homebrewer or just want to learn more about beer check out their site.

I decided to bring the first release from our sour beer project to the tasting. We named it Beersel after the city where our sour culture came from and this particular batch also had some tart cherries added to the barrel. The beer had spend 16 months aging in barrels with brettanomyces, lactobacillus and pediococus and this was the first sample available for public tasting. It has a nice sharp sourness with a plesant earthy and spicy character from the brett. Just a touch of acetic acid (vinegar) but not overwhelming and a mild cherry finish. I expect the beer to be available in mid August at the brewery.

You can see the video here. There is also a great interview with Brian Hunt of Moonlight Brewing at the end about brewing with out using hops as well as great advice for professional and homebrewers alike.

IPA Festival update

Here is a partial list of the beers we will be pouring for our IPApalooza on Wednesday July 22nd:

All being served when we open at 11:30. Chef Cres will have plenty of great Mexican specials to pair with this hoppy selection!

Auburn Alehouse - Gold Digger IPA
Bear Republic - Racer 5
Bear Republic - Racer X
Deschutes - Red Chair IPA
Fifty Fifty - Rockslide IPA
Firestone Walker - Union Jack
Firestone Walker - Double Jack
Flying Dog - Double Dog
Green Flash - Imperial IPA
Lagunitas - Hop Stoopid
Lagunitas - IPA
Moylan's - Hopsickle (unfiltered!)
Rubicon - IPA
Russian River - Pliny the Elder
Russian River - Blind Pig IPA
Sac Brew - IPA
Sac Brew - Independence IPA
Sac Brew - Half Pint Double IPA
Sac Brew - Abbey IPA
Sierra Nevada - IPA
Stone - Ruination
Stone - 13th Anniversary Ale
Valley Brew - Uberhoppy

CASK ALES ON HANDPUMP:
Sac Brew IPA extra dry hopped with Columbus
Firestone Walker Union Jack IPA extra dry hopped with Centennial


Still a few more to be confirmed....stay tuned.

California State Fair Results

We had another great showing at the California State Fair Commercial Beer Competition this year. Here is the list of hardware:

1st Place
Russian Imperial Stout
Celtic Amber (the THIRD year in a row this took gold in this category)

2nd Place
Sac-Squatch Scotch Ale
Luna de Miel
Abbey IPA
Old Pappy

3rd Place
Red Horse Ale

We entered 9 beers this year, so 7 our of 9 ain't bad at all!
The complete results listed by county can be found here.

The Deschutes Dinner

Deschutes Brewing Beer Dinner
Saturday, July 11th, 2009 at 6:00

Halibut and Prawn Ceviche
with fresh flour chips

Mirror Pond Pale Ale

Black Bean, Chorizo and Black Butte Porter Soup
with sour cream and cilantro
Black Butte Porter

Empanadas filled with Chicken, Queso Fresco, and Chile Verde
served with potato croquettes stuffed with goat cheese
Red Chair IPA

Ice Cream Sandwich
Homemade cinnamon Obsidian Stout ice cream, chocolate chip cookies covered in chocolate ganash.
Obsidian Stout

$40 per person, limit 40 people. Tickets available at the bar.

The Bruery is Coming...

The Bruery from Orange County, CA is starting distribution in Sacramento this month and we want to give them a proper welcome! Monday June 15th we will be featuring the beers of The Bruery and welcoming owner and brewer Patrick Rue to our restaurant.

We will start pouring tasting flights and glasses at 4:00 and Patrick Rue will join us at 6:00 to meet and greet our local homebrewers and beer aficianados.

We will be pouring:
Orchard White
White Zin
Virgin Papier
Batch No. 1 - Levud's
Black Orchard
Hottenroth Berliner Weisse

Bottles of Saison Rue, Saison de Lente and White Orchard will be available for purchase as well.

The first 30 sample flights that are ordered will come with a beautiful Rastal crystal tulip glass with The Bruery logo etched on the front. You do not want to miss these!

Chouffe Tasting

We will be pouring the beers of d'Achouffe on Wendesday June 10th starting at about 2:00 and going till close.

La Chouffe
Mc Chouffe
Houbblon Doubblen IPA

Tasting flights, full glasses as well as logo glassware as well for you to keep. As usual Chef Cres will put together some great food specials that night. Hope to see you there!!

AVBC Tasting

Anderson Valley Brewing joins us tonight (5/20) for a special tasting of Boont Amber, Hop Ottin' IPA, Imperial IPA, Oatmeal Stout AND 2007 Brother David's Triple. 4 ounce samples of each, a full pint of your choosing and a logo AVBC to keep all for $14.

Food specials for the tasting include:

Brother David Triple steamed Mussels with garlic & parsley served over homefries. $6 (Suggested pairing: Triple)

Two chorizo potato and serrano pepper tacos with fresh pico de gallo and cilantro on a corn tortilla. $5 (Suggested pairing: IPA or Imperial IPA)

Hope to see you later tonight!

KCRA A-List Results

Thank you to everyone who voted for Sac Brew on the KCRA A-List, with your support we took 1st place for the second year in a row! See the full results for the KCRA A-List here.

To celebrate we will be offering $14 prime rib dinners on Friday and Saturday nights! Come on in, have a great meal and try some of our new brewers specials like Half Pint IPA and Luna de Miel.

Mother's Day Brunch

Join us at Sacramento Brewing Company for a fantastic Mother's Day brunch featuring all our normal brunch favorites like eggs benedict & biscuits and gravy plus hand carved Prime Rib, made to order omelette station, fajita bar and Poached Salmon.

Only $24.99 for all you can eat plus unlimited Mimosas, Champagne, and Sac Brew Beer. $19.99 if you want the food but not the unlimited drinks.

Seating starts at 9:30am and last brunch seating at 2:00pm.

Reservations strongly recommended.

Events this Week

Luna De Miel Release Party
Tuesday, May 5th
We will release Luna de Miel, our amber Mexican lager, on Cinco De Mayo this year. This beer was originally brewed to celebrate Brewmaster Peter Hoey's wedding and when translated means "Honeymoon."

We will have mexican food specials to go with the beer and Chef Crescencio's signature lobster rellanos which are part of our daily menu now!
So far chevechie and empanadas are on the menu.

Allagash Tasting
Wednesday, May 6th
We will be tasting some great beers from Allagash Brewing (Portland, ME) that rarely make it out to the Sacramento area. We will be pouring:

White: A Belgian-inspired white ale
Curioux: A Triple aged in bourbon barrels
Four: A quadruple style ale
Black: A Belgian-inspired stout

$10 gets you an Allagash logo chalice (to keep) full of White and then 4 ounce samples of Curioux, Four and Black.

Spring Brewers Dinner
May 2nd, 2009

Spring Vegetable Minestrone
Abbey Extra

Braised Pork Belly with Roasted Beets
Red Horse

Insalta Mista with Red Wine Vinaigrette
Abbey IPA

Pumpkin Risotto with Fresh scallops
Firestone Walker Pale 31

Tiramisu with espresso sauce
Imperial Stout

Seating at 6:00, Dinner at 6:30
$50 per person

i am a craft brewer.

Thought I would share this video with those of you who are not immersed in the beer community that might have missed it. Greg Koch of Stone Brewing put it together for the keynote address at this years Craft Brewers Conference.

i am a craft brewer.

http://vimeo.com/4298464

Sierra Nevada Tasting Update

So Chef Cres and I have been working on some tasty treats for our Sierra Nevada Tasting on Wednesday April 22nd. We will have our normal tasting flight of the featured brewery and keep the glass promotion and will have a special menu starting at 5:00.

Salmon Tartare Crostini - Sashimi grade salmon tossed in sesame seed oil, soy sauce and wasabi on sourdough toast.
Pairing suggestion: Sierra Summerfest Lager

Roasted Beet Salad - House roasted beets, goat cheese, and crystal wheat carbonated citrus wedges tossed in a citrus tarrogon vinegrette.
Pairing Suggestion: Sierra Crystal Wheat Ale

Steak Crostini - Thin sliced steak with a sourcream horseraddish sauce and chives.
Pairing suggestion: Sierra India Pale Ale or 2009 Sierra Bigfoot Barleywine

All designed to be ala carte, three crostinis to a plate to encourage sampling and pairing with the featured beers.

Cheers!

Two New Beers

Just tapped today:

Sierra Nevada Brewing - Brown Saison
Nice, spicy notes with mild caramel flavor and pleasant bitter finish.

Russian River Brewing - Pliny the Elder
Double IPA. If you've not had it, get down ASAP. Last keg sold out early on the day after we tapped it.

Easter Brunch

Join us at Sacramento Brewing Company for a fantastic Easter Brunch featuring all our normal brunch favorites plus hand carved Prime Rib and Poached Salmon.

Only $24.99 for all you can eat plus unlimited Mimosas, Champagne, and Sac Brew Beer. $19.99 if you want the food but not the unlimited drinks.

Seating starts at 9:30am and last seating at 2:30pm.

Reservations strongly recommended.

Sierra Nevada Tasting

Sierra Nevada joins us for a special night of world class beer!

April 22nd we will be pouring:

Summerfest
Crystal Wheat Ale
Pale Ale
Brown Saison
India Pale Ale
2004 Bigfoot
2008 Bigfoot
And a special Cask Conditioned Ale TBA

4 ounce sample of each, 1 full pint (snifter for barleywines), and a logo sierra glass to keep all for $18.

We will have a special menu starting at 5:00pm that night designed to pair with and cooked with these special beers. Stay tuned here for previews!

Beer Update

New Beer on tap TODAY!

Dogfish Head Aprihop: An IPA brewed with apricots.

(Replaces Deschutes Hop Henge Imperial IPA)

New Beer Update

Unibroue Maudite & Rubicon Rex IPA are out.

New this week:
Port Brewing - Way Heavy
A "wee heavy" scotch ale brewed at the San Clemente Pizza Port location. Big caramel flavor with a sweet malty finish.

Comming Soon:

Stone Brewing - Smoked Porter
Deschutes - Mirror Pond and Black Butte Porter
Green Flash - Hop Head Red
Greenhouse - Pale Ale and Brown Ale
Rubicon Brewing - *CASK* Maggie Brown

Beer Update

Pliny, Anchor Christmas, Sudwerk Hefe out.

Anchor Liberty, Oskar Blues Gordon, Bear Republic Crazy Ivan in.

Anchor Liberty
Originally brewed in 1975 to commemorate Paul Revere's ride, this brew is a heavily hopped ale (Cascade hops) with a copper color and a hoppy nose.

Oskar Blues Gordon
Gordon is a dry-hopped hybrid strong ale somewhere between a Double IPA and and Imperial Amber Ale (IAA). Brewed in tribute to the late Gordon Knight, Gordon is brewed with massive amounts of American hops and features about 85 IBUs and 8.7% alcohol by volume. Once a winter seasonal, Gordon is now a year-round, limited-supply offering.

Bear Republic Crazy Ivan
A blend of Red Rocket and Racer 5 fermented with a Belgian yeast strain.

SOME THINGS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED:

Bear Republic Double Rocket
Take the Red Rocket Ale and double the malt and hops for a very strong, very hoppy brew. We are the only bar to have this beer in Sacramento, the closest place to us to get a glass is at the Bear Republic Pub in Healdsburg. Save yourself the drive and give it a try locally.

Deschutes The Dissident
One gallon left of this one, get it while you can.

Rubicon Rex Double IPA
The Rubicon may be out of this beer but we still have a keg. Big hop aroma with a nice malty but bitter finish. If you were a fan come and get it while you can, it won't last long.

Sac Brew Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Red Ale
100% Barrel Aged, no blending. BIG oak and bourbon aroma and caramel malt sweetness.

Rubicon Brewing Tasting

Just a reminder that all day today we have a tasting and pint glass promotion featuring our friends at Rubicon Brewing Company! Come get a tasting flight of IPA, Irish Red, Rex Double IPA, Stout and Winter Wheat Wine, a pint* and Rubicon logo glass to keep. All for just $14.

There will some great food specials in the bar designed to compliment the Rubicon Ales, 3 different small plates for $5. Chef Crescensio told me yesterday he would be serving chorizo potato enchiladas with a spicy avocado salsa and queso fresco for one of them. Yum!

*half pints of Rex and Winter Wheat Wine.

Happy Birthday Jay Brooks

This is a special post for the man who always remembers everyone else's birthday. We here at Sacramento Brewing want to wish Jay Brooks a very happy birthday!

Jay is a great writer, better beer advocate and a great friend. Check out his blog, the Brookston Beer Bulletin and you will see why he is such a valued member of our brewing community.

Cheers Jay!

New Beers This Week

Celebration from Sierra is toast and we killed the last keg of ESB from Bear Republic. But never fear, here is the list of new beers this week:

ON NOW (2/23)
Sacramento Brewing Company - Abbey IPA
This is our "Belgian IPA" or West Coast IPA fermented with Belgian Ale yeast. Interesting spicy Belgian yeast notes merge with citrusy notes from Simcoe, Columbus and Amarillo hops.

Sudwerk (Davis, CA) - Hefeweizen
Just across the causeway is a great German brewery. Their hefeweizen is a true bavarian style hefe with clove and banana notes and a hazy golden color.

Russian River Brewing (Santa Rosa, CA) - Pliny the Elder
Pliny returns, the classic double ipa with big fresh hop aroma and crisp bitter finish.

Valley Brew (Stockton, CA) - London Tavern Ale **ON CASK**
We got a cask of this great English session ale, low alcohol and big flavor makes for a beer you can drink all night an enjoy every pint. Special session beer pricing as well, $4.00 pints and $3.00 half pints.

ON TOMORROW (2/24)
In preparation for our Deschutes pint night and tasting we are getting our fingers into the kegs just a touch early.

Mirror Pond
Black Butte Porter
Buzzsaw Brown Ale
Hop Trip Fresh Hop Ale
Hop Henge Imperial IPA
The Dissident

Due to limited supply of The Dissident it will only be available as part of the Deschutes sample set.

Sacramento's Best Draft Beer Selection

We now have all 36 taps online giving Sacramento Brewing Company the BEST draft beer selection in the greater Sacramento area! Come in and try some of our award winning house brewed ales and lagers as well as rare beers from small craft breweries and imports from Belgium you wont find anywhere else!

Check out our current beer selection on the right side bar, we update it daily and are constantly bringing you new beers for your (and our!) enjoyment!

Cheers,
Peter Hoey
Brewmaster

Fox 40 Morning Show 2/19

Sac Brew will be on the Fox 40 morning show tomorrow, February 19th. The segment should be around the top of the hour on either side of 6:00 am. Sorry for the short notice, just found out right now! If we can get some streaming video I will post it here as soon as it is available.

More Guest Beers

Well, we got 12 additional taps installed last week and it is time to send some beer through them. Starting Monday, 2/16, we will be adding the following beers:

Firestone Walker Pale 31: Hoppy but restrained, bitter but balanced, a beautiful pale ale.

Firestone Walker DBA: Just about the best English Pale Ale you are going to find outside of England. Well, maybe the best in England too.

Firestone Walker Velvet Merkin: Rich, dark and creamy oatmeal stout.

Bear Republic Racer 5: A bar (and personal) favorite returns. Big west coast hop aroma and flavor.

Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine: The classic American style barleywine. Bittersweet with a load of dry hops.

Sierra Nevada ESB: Nice English Style pale ale with a decided west coast influence.

AND (while they last) we have two casks: Firestone Union Jack and 100% Barrel Fermented DBA

More Cask News

We have lots of real ale events going on in Sacramento right now and I wanted to let you know that Rubicon Breiwng (who often has cask conditioned beer of their own if you didn't know) will be serving Sac Brew IPA as a "guest cask" starting tomorrow, Friday the 13th.

Head down and check it out if you missed our last cask at Sac Brew. The cask Rubicon has is our regular IPA unfiltered and extra dry hopped with a blend of Centennial and Columbus. In a couple of weeks we will reciprocate and have a guest cask of Rubicon IPA at Sac Brew.

Cheers to Real Ale!

Cask IPA on now

We tapped a cask of our house IPA this morning just in time for the weekend. Unfiltered, cask conditioned and extra dry hopped with Columbus hops. Get it while you can, there is only 10.8 gallons in a firkin. Consider it a preview of things to come with our cask conditioning program.

Feb 16th: Firestone Walker Returns!

Join us on Monday February 16th for a night of Real Ale with Firestone Walker Brewing Company. We are serving TWO casks of their beer: Union Jack IPA and 100% barrel fermented DBA. We will tap the casks at 11:00 am and serve them until they are gone!

Cask ale is very different from draft ale and contrary to popular American belief cask beers are NOT "warm and flat." Casks are served at cellar temperature, about 55 degrees, and while they do have a lighter carbonation they are not flat. The other main difference is the special beer engines used to dispense them do not rely on CO2 to serve the beer like a keg does. The beer is drawn out using a pump and is served through a sparkler creating a rich whipped cream like head and a very fine bubble.

Pints are $4.75, Half Pints $3.50 and if you didn't get a FSW logo glass at their last pint night you can get one full of FSW beer for $5.75 while supplies last.

If you are not familiar with Firestone's brewing process they ferment a portion of DBA in American Oak barrels in what is called a "Union System." It is a series of 60 gallon oak barrels that are all linked together. This oak fermented beer is then blended into an all stainless fermented batch of DBA to add complexity. The cask that we will be serving is straight out of the barrels, so it will be a very different experience that the DBA you are used to.

New Beers on Tap

We just put a bunch of new beers on tap this morning that I wanted to make you all aware of. You can always check what we are serving on the right sidebar of this blog but I wanted to highlight some new and exciting beers:

Brouwerij Verhaeghe - Duchesse de Bourgogone: A Flemmish red ale from Belgium. This beer replaces Deschutes' The Dissident on our sour beer handle. Tart green apple and stone fruit mix with sourness and barrel aged character. Throw in some lactic twang for a very complex sour ale.

Bear Republic - Double Rocket: This 9% beer is an Imperial Red Ale, much like our fall seasonal Smokey's Imperial Red. It is the Red Rocket recipe but with double the malt and hops! Very fruity with a deep pine like hop character.

Nectar Ales - Nectar IPA: A fantastic IPA, we had a cask of this beer on last week but this is the normal draft version. More floral and fruity than the big citrus bombs we are used to on the west coast. Balanced and delicious.

Sacramento Brewing Company - Nut Brown Ale: A new house brewed ale, this brown ale had a big chocolate and malt component with just enough hops to balance. We aren't all about hops here! (just mostly).

Come in and try some of these new great beers. Also coming later this month will be Russian River's Pliny the Elder, Bear Republic's Crazy Ivan, and Firestone's Velvet Merkin. Keep an eye on the blog to see when we change out kegs.

Google Calendar

We added a calendar to the bottom of this blog listing our upcoming events, bands playing and specials around the brewery. Major brewery events will still be posted on the blog but check it out for band information as well as looking ahead for lots of beery events we will be participating in.

Pint Nights

One of the new events we will be holding at Sac Brew are "pint night" promotions where we feature one brewery's beers for an evening. Usually this will involve a sampler set ranging from 4-8 beers and a full pint in that brewery's logo glass, which you get to keep.

Our first pint night is this Wednesday January 21st with Firestone Walker Brewing Company. We will be pouring Double Barrel Ale (DBA), Pale 31, Union Jack, and Walker's Reserve Porter. Four - 4 ounce samples of each beer, a full pint of any of the four and a Firestone Walker pint glass for you to keep will cost $13. Then $4 refills of Firestone beers all night.

In addition there will be a Cask of Nectar IPA on a beer engine available in pints and half pints.

As an aside, we did have a 21st Amendment Pint night scheduled for the 28th of January but we needed to reschedule that event. We are talking with the guys from 21A and will set a date in March soon.

Brewers Dinner

Join us January 14th for our next Brewers Dinner! Crescencio, our Executive Chef, has put together a great Mexican inspired menu for us to enjoy. Seating is limited, purchase tickets in advance at the bar.

Gorditas De Carne
A fresh corn masa gordita stuffed with shredded cheddar beef.
Brewhouse Lager

Chicken Tortilla Soup
Spicy chicken soup with farmers market vegetables garnished with queso fresco.
Barrister's Bitter

Ensalada de Pato
Salad with duck confit carnitas and an avacado lime dressing, topped with pico de gallo & sour cream.
Red Horse Ale

Camarones En Pipian De Almendra
Giant Shrimp in a tomatillo, cilantro & almond sauce.
India Pale Ale

Pastel de Tres Leches
Three milk cake with fresh berries.
Old Pappy

$40 (Inclusive) Advance tickets
Seating at 6:00, dinner at 6:30
Call 916-485-4677 for more information

Brewery Update

It is with a heavy heart that I write this blog telling you that after 13 years we have closed the doors at our Citrus Heights location, The Oasis. In these economic times the decision to close the Oasis allows us to focus on our strength: making high quality, award-winning beer. We are closing the Oasis so we can focus on our original restaurant and brewpub and continue provide our customers with world class craft beer and fantastic food.

I want to dispel some rumors that have been floating around the brewing scene at this time:

• Our Town and Country location is OPEN for business as usual.
• We did not declare bankruptcy
• We are not withdrawing from distributing our beers to the greater Sacramento area, Bay Area, and Southern California Markets.

As an aside, any kegs and taps that were purchased from The Oasis can be returned to our Town and Country Brewpub to get your deposit refunded.

While there will be some changes in our product line we will still have all our tasty craft beers available at our brewpub and in finer markets, bars and restaurants. Stay tuned here, we have some great events, beer releases and announcements that will be made in short time.

Cheers,
Peter Hoey, Brewmaster
Sacramento Brewing Company