Scenes from 2011 Meet the Brewers: Food Truck the Brewers Edition Part 1 of 2 – The Beers

I’ve only recently come to truly enjoy beers, wines, and sparkling wine. In moderation, of course. Thanks to wifey, of course.

Didn’t think I’d be able to get out to a beerfest any time soon, but I did. Just this past weekend, in fact. With wifey and the toddler.

As part of San Francisco Beer Week, good ol’ San Jose played host to the 2nd annual Meet the Brewers festival presented by Tied House/Hermitage Brewing Company, FireHouse Grill & Brewery, and BetterBeerBlog.

We arrived shortly after the start time and stayed for a good hour-and-a-half. And we had an awesome time!

Here are the pics.

Standing right outside the Tied House and Hermitage brewery and distribution warehouse.

Close up of the “2011 Meet the Brewers: Food Truck the Brewers Edition” event banner:

Acting cool, but feeling like the proverbial kid in the candy store.

My “vintage” glass.

The toddler chose water over the watermelon soda and the spicy cinnamon soda courtesy of Hermitage Brewing. I tried the watermelon soda and liked it.

First up: Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing – producers of organic beers.

I could already feel the good vibes in the air.

A great beer to start off with. I remember reading somewhere the phrase, “dangerously drinkable.” Yeah, this beer was that. Actually, all the beers I had this day were very drinkable.

Uncommon Brewers – love the name. They’re also producers of organic beers and in Santa Cruz.

Bacon Brown Ale? Had to try it.

Ah. Hit the spot.

At this point, we headed right outside to get some food from the food trucks. After taking a quick bite of a Korean taco, I quickly made my way back inside the warehouse for some more beer.

The place was starting to fill up.

Stopped by Mountain View’s Tied House.

Tried their Wheat Beer. Very, very good. So drinkable. Had to get an immediate refill and went back outside to our table. Wifey very much liked this Wheat Beer as well.

After taking another bite of the Korean taco, I went back inside the warehouse to try out another beer.

This time it was the Campbell Brewing Company’s Hefeweizen, which I really enjoyed – flavorful and refreshing. Wifey mentioned that it seemed like an especially great beer to have in the summer.

After enjoying some good eats, my glass was soon empty. That meant it was time to get inside the warehouse again.

I’m pretty sure that this was the Oatmeal Stout from Seabright Brewery in Santa Cruz. Very good.

I went with another dark beer. This time, the London Porter from Sunnyvale’s Faultline Brewing Company.

Shared some hearty laughter with the pourer, who confirmed that he had a great gig. It was a great way to end my last beer of the day.

The pictures below are of the breweries that I didn’t get the chance to visit.

Firehouse Grill & Brewery. I know, bad form on my part to skip the beers (including root beer) from one of the presenters.

Unfortunately a case of so much beer to taste. So little time.

Did try out Hermitage’s craft watermelon soda as mentioned earlier, but not any of their beers.

We’ve been to Campbell’s Rock Bottom Brewery a couple of times recently. Always enjoy the beers there.

Wish I had the chance to taste the offerings from Rabbit’s Foot Meadery of Sunnyvale.

Quite familiar with a number of Gordon Biersch beers. Love them.

I admit that I’m much more experienced with, and knowledgeable about, drinking wine than beer, but I’m excited to learn more about beer.

I’m so glad to have run across a local newspaper article about this event. We didn’t actually decide to attend until the morning of. And we were able to make it only because it was held so close to us. Since “well behaved children” were welcome, we were thankful to be able to take the toddler with us.

The next post is Part 2 of 2, where I share some more about this great event through the lens of food.

Always Grateful,

~Andy