Aloha

We are visiting Hawaii for the first time in many years and one year since wildfires wiped out the historic city of Lahaina.

We had been visitors to Hawaii for 25 years. I'm not sure why we stopped coming but we decided in 2022 to return only to get COVID days before. Two years later, we finally made it.

One of the places we loved visiting was Koholā Brewery - a small, local brewery located in Maui Brewing's original location. It had the kind of vibe that comes with warehouse locations, a local hangout with no pretenses. And, the beers were reliably good. We got in the habit of buying small kegs for our longer visits, pulling the shelves out of the refrigerator to make it fit. (Food? What food? Put it all in the vegetable drawers!)

And then, it all burned to the ground. All of it lost in August of 2023. I can't even begin to describe all that was lost by the town and the people of Lahaina in those fires: lives, property, cultural history. It was tragic.

It was a devastating loss to so many. The fact that Koholā Brewery was able to find a way back in a relatively short period of time is a small miracle.

They partnered with Kona Brewing and within a year, they were back to business brewing their flagship beers. Moreover, they had found a new location for a taphouse and eatery in Wailea which only recently opened.

When the fires happened, all of the places we had visited over the years came to mind. One of them was Koholā. It was a joy to rediscover them in Wailea and even more of a surprise when it was across the street from the condo that we rented!

We stopped in for two of their flagship beers: Lokahi Pilsner and Talk Story pale ale, which also happen to be two of our favorites.

Welcome back from the ashes, Koholā. Too much was lost to hope for full recovery for the town of Lahaina. We can only be grateful for each of its successes. 

Beer Review: Belching Beaver Barrel-Aged Peanut Butter Stout

 This had been living in our refrigerator since November of 2022. It was brewed to commemorate Belching Beaver's 10th anniversary but is no longer available. In fact, it sold out immediately.

We had been introduced to this beer's non-barrel aged namesake at a neighbor's house. As I wrote earlier, I didn't expect to like it. Adding peanut butter to beer is like adding creamer to coffee. It's not right. Not pure. And while I like a little chocolate now and again, I'm not really into sweets.

I was surprised that the flavors were more subtle than I expected. It wasn't overly sweet and it got better as it warmed. So, when we found ourselves by Belching Beaver's Oceanside location almost a year later, we stopped in. My journal entry for that day reads as follows:

Instead, we continued on our journey which included a stop at Belching Beaver in Oceanside. I had the peanut butter stout - because that’s what they’re famous for - and Hubby had a pilsner which turned out to be his favorite one on the rest of this three-day excursion. We also bought two bottles of their 10-year anniversary barrel aged peanut butter stout to take home. While we only got two, the shelf was cleared out of the anniversary stout before we left.

We kept one of the bottles and gave the other one to the friend who introduced me to Belching Beaver's Peanut Butter Stout in the first place.

It lingered in the fridge for nearly two years before we finally opened it. Because of its high alcohol content (12.8%), we felt we needed a special occasion to open it. Certainly, it wasn't a day drinking type of beer. It didn't seem like a summer beer (which rules out most of the year for us). This was something to take one's time with and to savor. Something to be enjoyed at home with no plans to go out afterwards. Maybe by a fire.

And then, I was inspired. 

I had just taken my granddaughter out for ice cream and I had a scoop of Chocolate Peanut Butter. It was decadently delicious. I still had those flavors in my mouth when I got home and started preparing dinner. That's when it hit me. It was time to open the Barrel-Aged Stout.

This beer was a sweeter version of its non-barrel aged cousin. With my first sips, I was thinking this would be a great dessert beer. Maybe even served over ice cream like a syrup. What didn't hit me in the face was the alcohol like some barrel-aged beers do. The aging seemed to intensify the sweetness rather than alcohol flavors. Think, for example, of the flavors that are imparted to a Chardonnay from oak.

Again, I felt the flavors mellowed and smoothed out as the beer warmed. I even felt like some of the sweetness had dissipated until we opened a Grimlock Rye Porter from Loowit Brewing Company and it was like licking an ashtray. The contrast was that stark and the Barrel-Aged Stout was that sweet. Still, I didn't think the sweetness was overly cloying.

But I was right in one respect. It was a special beer that deserved special attention. And now it's all gone. 

Belching Beaver has their 12th anniversary coming up in October. I don't know if they'll do another Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout but it's worth keeping an eye out for. They distribute in 14 states so if you live west of the Mississippi you have a good chance of getting your hands on one of their beers. Even if it's not a Peanut Butter Stout, my bet is it'll be good.

(If you're interested in more information, there's a good review of the Barrel-Aged Imperial Peanut Butter Stout on Beer Advocate.)

"Civilized life can't proceed without salt" - Pliny the Elder

 Or beer.

Industry developed around 100 AD after the Romans invaded Britain. Pottery and building materials were  needed to supply the Roman armies. Later, during the Third and Fourth Centuries AD, they got thirsty. 

Really thirsty.

Beer and salt among Roman 'mega-industries'

It's been a great summer for beers.

 Since our epic road trip, we have been on three more, albeit shorter, trips. We made all three in our BMW - the car that gave us so much grief earlier. The car did fine but we continue to pour money into it. Each time, Hubby declares that there isn't anything left to fix. That being said, we are heading to San Diego this weekend to get something fixed. (We are going there because it will cost $2k less than if we do it here which speaks to how much more money we plan to spend.)*

The argument seems to be this: While the repairs seem exorbitantly expensive, it's still less than a new car - versus - A new car will offer some peace of mind not to mention technological advances over the old car. 

You'll be first to know how it all gets sorted out. In the meantime, I will note that the upcoming repairs are to made at a BMW dealership. [Editor pause to dreamily look at new cars on BMW website.]

While we aren't planning any beer stops on this trip (it's a there-and-back situation), it won't be long before we hit the road again. Therefore, now is a good time to get caught up on where we've been.

Lately, we've traveled to or through four states: Arizona, California, Oregon, and Washington. We stopped in eight breweries and sampled three beers at non-brewery locations:

ARIZONA

Fate Brewing (Scottsdale)

• Keller Pilsner - three of our party of four had it so I guess it was good. I had an Alesmith NA IPA which was not my favorite NA beer but I was taking it easy. We also enjoyed an order of wings and the chicken tinga tacos. The wings were quite spicy and the tinga tacos were incredible. Both were big enough to share. 

Saddle Mountain Brewing (Goodyear) - a regular stop when we go to Arizona.

• Sun-Scorched Kolsch - three of our party of four ordered this. (I'm always the odd one out.) Easy and reliable.
• 5G (American Wheat Ale) - served with an orange on the rim. I had ordered a Belgian-style ale but they were out and this is what they brought me. American Wheat Ales are less interesting to me.
• Taildragger's Clan-Destine (Scottish Ale) - this beer has won medals five times at the Great American Beer Festival and three medal at the World Beer Cup. Even when it's hot outside, this is the one to get. 🍻

CALIFORNIA

Kilowatt Brewing (Oceanside) - I've twice ordered the Peach Cobbler Imperial Sour, an award winner at the US Open Beer Championship in 2024 in the category of "experimental." The first time I was into it. The second time, I didn't enjoy it as much. If you're not into funky, take a look at their online menu before you go. They have several award winning beers but they're not listed as such on the menu at the brewery so it's worth doing a little advance planning.  (Also, stop at Sancho's next door for a burrito. Outstanding! You might also consider going around the corner to Stone Brewing's Oceanside taproom. Their beers are reliably good.)

Pizza Port Brewing (Carlsbad) - Worth a stop. It's a weird name but it started as a pizza joint that added a brewery. I don't know about their pizza but their beer is outstanding, winning multiple metals in multiple categories. The name of the brewery threw me and for a long time I never tried their beer because of it. I didn't have much faith that a pizza joint that made beer on the side could make good beer. I was wrong. Their beer is outstanding and they are a very popular spot in Carlsbad (one of their eight locations). Try the Sharkbite Red Ale.

Oscar’s Brewing Company (Temecula) - We found the beer menu was a little funky. The Kölsch was reasonably good but definitely not our favorite. The feature here seems to be the food based on what we saw coming out of the kitchen. It's a nice venue on a pond that seemed to be quite popular for large groups. We saw little league teams with parents and coaches. There also seemed to be a church crowd which seems at odds with a brewery. Even non-team affiliated groups were wearing matching or similarly styled clothes. It was a head scratcher. Interesting, but I would recommend going to a Karl Strauss instead.

Stone Brewing (Escondido) - amazing venue and outstanding food, not to mention really good beer. Stone is becoming a favorite and I'm starting to think they can do no wrong. Granted, they were bought out by Sapporo Holdings in 2022 but the beer is still good and the venues are still amazing. Hopefully, that legacy will continue far into the future. 

• Stone Pilsner🍻
• Stone Cali-Belgique IPA👣

OREGON

10 Barrel Brewing (Portland) -  Try the Validation Sequence, a Czech-style Pilsner which earned a Gold Medal at the Best of Craft Beer Awards in 2024. Hubby had the Sinister Black which was the beer I tried when we were at their Boise location. It won a medal in 2009 but I didn't dig it. Hubby liked it.

McMenamins Edgefield (Troutdale) - This place has everything: food, concerts, accommodations, distillery, winery, coffee roaster, par 3 golf, and secret passageways! Oh yeah, beer. We went to see Lake Street Dive which was sold out.  The Hammerhead Ale is reliable but if you want something really fun to do, check out their Passport Program. You'll eat a lot of tater tots along the way but you'll also see some really interesting venues. 

While we were waiting for our return flight at PDX (home of the world's most famous carpet), I enjoyed a 

RPM IPA by Boneyard Beer (Bend OR) while Hubby had a Promiscuous Blonde from Heathen Brewing (Vancouver WA). Both reliable beers and a nice way to pass the time while hanging around an airport.

WASHINGTON

On our way to the airport, we crossed the border into Washington for a quick stop at Ben's Bottle Shop. They always have a well varied selection of good beers on tap. I tried the Don't Dance by Irrelevant Beer which is a brewery in Vancouver, Washington, that is so new that as of this writing their website is "coming soon" (however you can find them on FB or IG). It's no coincidence that they are located next door to Relevant Coffee. Not only was the beer good but I was blown away that there was a new brewery in Vancouver that I knew nothing about. I will definitely seek out this brewery the next time I'm in the 'Couve. In the meantime, there's a good writeup here, in Oregon Live.

*UPDATE: The trip to San Diego is cancelled due to the fact that the "repair" was preventative in nature. New information indicates preventing this particular failure could, in fact, lead to other problems and that we should just leave it alone unless or until there are indications that failure is indicated. Keep your fingers crossed!

Economics by the glass

 Hubby and I just had a serious exchange concerning the price of beer. Specifically, how to maximize the discounts offered by a local brewery.

One is an annual VIP Membership which will allow the purchaser to get a 20 ounce beer for the price of a pint. That's a 25% more beer. But, for a price.

That same brewery usually sells gift cards around Christmastime. Buy $100 worth of gift cards and get $120 in value, for example. That's 20% more value. 

We both reached the same conclusion but disagreed on the math. The point being, there was math. Not only that, we went back and forth on this issue. We argued about percentages and corrected calculations. Ultimately, we arrived at a formula that supported what we wanted in the first place. 

(Still, I'm tempted to build a spreadsheet to prove my point. Seriously, I need to build a spreadsheet.)

(Okay, I couldn't help myself. It's beautiful. Not only that, it undeniably supports our decision to go one way versus the other.)

See, kids. Math is useful.

This post has been interrupted to bring you the following . . .

 I came across the following post that I started months ago and then, apparently, forgot about. Since then, we've traveled quite a bit and sampled beer at numerous breweries along the way. By my count, we have visited 33 different breweries since the beginning of the year.  (We visited all but three since the beginning of June.)  Most of them were new to us; 11 or 12 of them we've been to before.

On top of that, we have had 22 different beers outside of breweries - in taphouses, beerfests, airports. At least 13 were beers we'd never tried before. This doesn't include all the beer still in my fridge that we haven't gotten around to yet!

Needless to say, it's hard to keep track of it all, assuming that's something to which one should aspire. Theoretically, my next post will be of the just beers we tried during our last three road trips. 

If you're following along, you may recall that we made a major roadtrip to the Pacific Northwest (Roadtrip! #BeerTravel). Since then, we've made smaller trips to Arizona, San Diego, and Portland and wouldn't you know? We sampled more beer!

My unfinished post is below. My next post will follow once I get it all organized. (You can imagine with so much beer, it's hard to stay focused.) Until then, stay cool and stay hydrated. 🍺

* * *

Pictured is only what we've sampled recently.

Through the benevolence of a visitor, we came into a treasure trove of beer.  We had cases of beer brought to us from the Pacific Northwest. So much that my refrigerator didn't have room for any food. Some of the beer was necessarily stored in the laundry room. Food was stuffed into vegetable drawers.

I considered setting up a neighborhood beer exchange program. In fact, I did make a couple of exchanges. In March, I traded some Even Par from La Quinta Brewing for some Zona Pilsner from 12 West Brewing Company (AZ). Both are award winning beers.

Later, after I came into my bevy of beer, I exchanged a couple of Pilsners from Pfriem (OR) for some Cutthroat Pale Ale from Uinta Brewing (UT) with a neighbor. It was a this point, I thought I would start writing about the various beers I was trying and exchanging with other beer lovers.

As these things happen, I never got around to that and in the interim, my inventory has been severely depleted. And for the record, I think I came out on top with both those trades. 

The Zona Pilsner from 12 West was highly drinkable (🍻) while the Even Par is an IPA with and ABV of 7.2%. Cutthroat (an award winning beer from Uinta) was more in the style of an English-style bitters than an American pale ale - more malt and pine rather than pale IPA-light. While not heavy with alcohol you could make a meal out of a Cutthroat in flavor.

As you can see from the picture, we also received some RPM IPA from Boneyard Beer (OR). Another IPA (not pictured because we drank it all) was Shadow Shinobi from Loowit Brewing Company. Both were outstanding. I've strayed from IPA in recent years but these were so good that I may need to find a way to get more. I'll just out on a limb here: IPAs from the PNW are the best. 

We still have some of the Pyxis Pilsner from Ecliptic Brewing which is quite tasty and something we had not tried before. (Neither the brewer in Oregon, nor their beer anywhere.)

Still remaining in inventory are

[This post has been interrupted.]

Roadtrip! #BeerTravel

We just completed an epic roadtrip. It wasn't epic as in we visited national parks. We didn't see majestic animals in their natural habitats. We didn't see glorious vistas the likes of which nature and travel channels are made of.

It was 3,500 miles of U.S. Interstate and nothing but car trouble. But we survived it and through it all we managed to find a lot of really great beer. (The whole story is here.)

Along the way, we passed through four states, stopping at 11 breweries, and sampling 28 beers. I would love to review them all but there were so many that a summary will have to suffice. 

We purchased several to bring home, filling the fridge once more with beers from the Pacific Northwest. If anyone is interested in a tasting party, let me know and we'll put something together. Bring your own favorite to share. In particular, I would like to try a NEIPA if someone has one that they like. I'm convinced the West Coast IPAs are the best. Please feel free to prove me wrong.

This isn't even our latest trek. We've made one more short one since we were in the Pacific Northwest and we're about to head out on another one. But that's what summers are for: roadtrips, and discovering new places and experiences.

The breweries and brews are listed alphabetically, rather than in the order of our travel, and the standouts are highlighted. Underlined breweries or brews are ones we've visited/tasted before. Everything else was a new adventure.

BREWERIES:

10 Barrel Brewing, Boise ID

• Bad Boy Pilsner
• Sinister Black

54-40, Washougal WA

• Kölsch, Washougal WA

Barbarian Brewing, Boise ID

• West Coast Pilsner 5.0%

Bellevue Brewing, Bellevue WA

• 425
• Pilsner

Boise Brewing, Boise ID

• Hip Check IPA

Brothers Cascadia Evergreen Pub, Vancouver WA

• Lowlands Lager

Common Block Brewing Company, Medford OR

(We didn't sample any of their beer! But, we had a surprisingly good Mediterranean Wrap from their food menu.)

Ghost Runner

• Last Mile Kölsch 5.0%
• Running Up Pils 5.0%
• The One Dark Lager 4.5%

Loowit, Vancouver WA

• Loowit Lager 4.2%/12 IBU
• Astromech Pale Ale 5.5%/42 IBU

Mother Earth, Boise ID

• Boo Koo West Coast IPA, 6.5%

Whipsaw Brewing, Ellensburg WA

• Pilsner
• Blonde
• Stout

BEERS:

• 3-Way IPA (collab), Fort George Brewery (Astoria OR)/Brujos Brewing (Portland OR)/Ghost Town Brewing (Oakland CA)
• Black Butte NA, Deschutes Brewery (Portland OR)
• Bodhizafa, Georgetown Brewing Company (Seattle WA)
• Columbia Kölsch, Ice Harbor Brewery (Kennewick WA)
• Morning Provision, Sockeye Brewing (Boise ID)
• NA IPA, Freemont Brewing (Seattle WA)
• No Bad Days, Barrel Mountain Brewing (Battleground WA)
• Northtown Pilsner, Larrabee Lager Company (Bellingham WA)
• Ramble West IPA 6.8% (Chico CA)
• Shadow Shinobi, Loowit Brewing (Vancouver WA)
• Summer IPA, Reuben's Brews (Seattle WA)

HONORABLE MENTION:

The Underground Taphouse (Pasco WA): Friendly service and great tap list. If you need food, order from Saag Thai, next door. It was notably good. (Jill, our bartender gave us this tip: don't order it spicy!) If you ever find yourself in Pasco getting your car repaired on a road trip and you're stuck for a couple of days, The Underground is right next to Firestone Complete Auto Care.