Taking North Coast in a Storm

Every March, beer enthusiasts and whale watchers make their way to the annual Fort Bragg Whale Festival. On roads winding through Redwoods, on pavement hugging the curves of the coast on Highway 1 or utilizing Highway 101 to its fullest before crawling up the narrow, winding roads that link the island of Fort Bragg with the rest of the world, visitors came from throughout Northern California for the weekend's events.

Ukiah served as a nice stopping point for visitors coming from Sacramento or the southerly regions of NorCal. There, one could stop for the night to shorten the journey to just over an hour for coming feast day.

Feast day it was, on Saturday, March 19. The day's events included nothing less than whale watching, a clam chowder competition and a beer festival featuring regional microbrews. A full list of festival events could be found in the Mendocino Real Estate Magazine, which was odd, but welcome, since there was little printed material other than a summary on the Fort Bragg tourist website.

Throughout the drive to Fort Bragg on Saturday morning, snow chunks littered the windshield, taunting a bright red raincoat, looking quite thin and lonely without its flannel, woolen liner. On Saturday morning, visitors had little more than an hour to adore the rugged North coast under the partially cloudy sky. Soon, a cold rain put a damper on the walk from the coast to Main Street, where visitors had begun lining up, hoping to catch the chowder before it ran out.

Rain, shine, rain, shine; whatever the weather, there was a glow coming from the warm clam-chowder filled bellies crowding the Town Hall. The clam chowder festival began at 11:00 a.m., but the line was already running down the street at 20 to 11. After a filling stop-in for a mere $10, there was a slow but steady exodus inland towards the Eagle's Hall. Everyone's next stop was the microbrew tasting, hosted at the Eagles Hall on the corner of Corry and Alder, hosted by the local Rotary Club.

Entertainment for the day was cheerful and folksy. Local musicians Steve and Josh started the day, followed by Dirt Floor, a five man band from nearby Willits, Calif.

The fiddle as a guide, locals and visitors tasted and mingled, creating such an ambiance, every second of the day you knew you were in Mendocino County. Left and right, people wore Sierra Nevada t-shirts and sweatshirts that looked orgasmically comfy on a rainy North Coast day.

Mendocino Brewing Company had a few popular selections, which included their Imperial series. While their Imperial IPA could have been better, their Imperial Stout and Barley Wine were a great addition to a chilly day. Their Barley Wine especially was a nice paring for the amazing and huge tri-tip sandwich that was cooking up in the Eagles' kitchen. A non-profit group was serving for the day in an effort to raise money for a new stadium for the local high school. Although they were 90 percent done with their fundraising, the day's man with the meat assured me that, while helpful, the day's profits would not realize their goal.

The mothers of the class of 2015 had a table in the social hall as well, selling Guinness cupcakes, cream cheese frosted Guinness cake, and giant cookies that could have passed for gourmet in any big city bakery or patisserie.

The only questionable item on the food list was the fresh oysters. While it was tremendous to see such fresh and local cuisine, they seemed a likely contender for making at least one person ill before the end of the day.

North Coast Brewing Company, the local star, had numerous delights on draught. Their Saison, Le Merle, was a great addition to their numerous taps, including their old favorite, Old Rasputin and Brother Thelonious, nice Belgian that really captures the essence of a Belgian dubbel.

Outside the hall, there was a grassy yard with picnic tables and the remains of an old well. It was all so quaint, it was difficult to believe there weren't more people there, getting their fix of the small town Northern California life. Then again, the trip up was not quite the seamless and effortless trip to Napa that so many Bay Area residents take advantage of for their weekends away.

Still, there were people of all breeds, including young women with braids in pink flowered galoshes and flannel attired men with camouflage cowboy hats and handlebar mustaches. There's no place like Mendocino County.

Continuing with the theme of supporting local organizations, a raffle was held throughout the day. Prizes included sweatshirts, a hotel stay, and a whale watching tour. The best part was probably the raffle ticket seller, who was so sweet she made you want to buy double the tickets.

“You have to be here in body,” she said, “but not in mind.” She noted where each half-drunken ticket buyer stashed their tiny blue redemption tickets. The woman in the hat put it in the inside pocket of her purse, she would explain, and the guy in the plaid, he put it in his right pocket. She certainly had her work cut out for her for the day.

It's no wonder people were buying plentiful raffle tickets in a land of craggy bluffs, microbreweries and organic diners. Even the lobby of the hall had the faint smell of marijuana, indicating just how relaxed the region is.

The whale watching was less successful than the beer and clam chowder gatherings. Tours at both 12 and 2 o'clock were cancelled due to rain, storms, and even a bit of hail. Most unfortunately, the fish dinner was also postponed. The sign noted in the bottom corner, scribbled in a fat-tipped marker “no fresh fish!”

Such a tragedy. Only on the coast in a place like Mendocino County could a fish dinner be cancelled because there were not fresh fish available to prepare. This type of attitude makes you think these locals really do care what they put in their mouths.

Ultimately, it seemed that the majority of the beer tasting attendees were locals, seemingly stopping in for a few drinks before heading back home for the evening. Representatives of the Rotary Club who sold tickets for the fest noted that the numbers were down substantially from the 2010 festival, mostly due to the weather. Either way, visitors went away happy and toasty warm, the smell of roasting tri-tip and onions wafting throughout the small town, thought it was too bad about the whales.

Sipping Bear Republic Brewing Company's Hop Rod Rye at a table in the lunch room, it was easy to feel right at home in Fort Bragg. Warm light began to stream in through the white-pained window and you
couldn't help but think:

“… Why don't I live here?”

This, I suppose, is why they advertise the festival in the Mendocino County real estate guide.

Pliny’s all around, Young & Old

It was a perfect February night. The mood was a sober, impatient anticipation, waiting for what was to come. The line was only 30 minutes, the shortest wait time of the night, and the scent of wort was wafting in the air. After a year’s wait, Pliny the Younger had been released. Fans of microbreweries, Russian River Brewing Company enthusiasts and IPA lovers alike had been waiting for this moment for months. Beer-loving Sacramentans of all ages flocked to the brewpub in downtown Santa Rosa last Friday for the annual limited release brew. Still others have plans for a microbrewery tour before time runs out, hitting up Lagunitas Brewing Company and Bear Republic Brewing Co. on the way there.

The previous year, the beer was gone in eight hours. This year, thanks to careful planning and allocating and a ban on growlers of the Younger, the beer should last for a full two weeks, from February 4th to the 17th. In my humble opinion, this plan is still doomed. I would wager that, right now, they are already running over their limit (I mean, come on, it’s opening night), plus these workers have got to be slipping an extra 10 ounces here and there in the back room.

This triple IPA is delicious and well worth the $4.50. It’s sharp, fresh, and the beautiful blend of hops just melts in your mouth. They went easy on the finishing hops which normally give aroma, so the beer has a wonderfully clear, clean taste, like water going down. That said, you should certainly watch how many you drink. Don’t forget that the alcohol level is 10.25 percent.

There was a lot of great flavor without the overwhelming bitterness that sometimes comes with a super-hoppy IPA. I would wager that this is because of a strategy of dry-hopping rather than so many starter hops. Somehow, I ended up as the DD (women always get the shaft on brewpub nights), but, fortunately, they had lovely two-ounce samples for just a fraction of the price.

Homebrewer and beer enthusiast Matt Doyle couldn’t say enough about the Younger.

“It’s cool, because they’re able to take the IPA to the next level,” he said. “More hops, more malt, but the key is that it’s not too heavy. They were able to ferment it all the way down with the use of strong, healthy yeast. That’s what’s able to put it over the top in terms of drinkability.”

By 7 o’clock, there were already people making out by the bar, no doubt due to the double digit ABV of Pliny the Younger. (Sigh… these youth, they never settle down.) Just FYI, after three “high alcohol-level” beers (i.e. Pliny the Younger), they are allowed to cut you off.

This Santa Rosa microbrewery is now at the top of my list. To be perfectly honest, I would take a stout or a nut brown ale over an IPA nine days out of 10, so that means something. Their newbies, Defenestration (yes, that’s correct, their next beer shares its name with the German word for death from being thrown out a window) and Procrastination, are coming soon and will be worth checking out.

The only thing that was odd about the place is how I kept getting confused as to which waiter was ours. There were just so many servers with thick, Burt Reynolds-style sideburns.