So to speak…
Last Friday (the 16th) I flew from LA to Oakland, getting into my hotel (near the Oakland airport, thanks to my boss wanting to stick with his preferred hotel chain for the points) around 3 p.m. My boss wasn’t scheduled to get in for another four hours or so.
So, like usual, I consulted my beer travel resources. Using beermapping.com, I found that Drake’s Brewing Company was less than two miles from the hotel. I checked out their website and saw that they had brewery tours and tastings every Friday from 4 to 7 p.m. Cool!
So I decided to wander over and check them out.
On the way, I found this "weed" growing next to the sidewalk…
Anyway…
I got to the address and found a huge building holding a bunch of stores, including an Office Depot and a Home Depot. Hmm. Where the heck is the brewery? I asked a security guard (Pinkerton) at the Home Depot. Turns out he’s also a homebrewer, so we chatted for awhile. He had never been to the brewery but remembered seeing their truck around the back of the building.
I found it.
Here’s the door to their "office":
Turns out to be more than just a tour and tasting…
$15 for a logo glass with beer, plus tokens for three refills. Not a bad price. (But bad for the ol’ diet, of course!)
They set up a fence around the parking lot, started pouring beer and a party broke out. And it happens every Friday…
It was a perfect spring day and a perfect way to enjoy it!
I started out with their IPA, which should surprise no one!
I also had their 1500 Pale Ale and their NoneTheWizer.
Nice panel truck for deliveries…
The gentleman with his back to us in the picture below was grilling through the whole time. He cut the grilled meat into bit-sized pieces and everyone just grazed on it. Delicious (especially since it was free)!
They put the bar in front of their garage door. You can see the brewing equipment in the background.
They didn’t do tours, claiming they didn’t have enough people on this particular day.
I picked up a few to bring home with me.
I consumed a couple after I ran out of tokens (I actually "bought" someone a beer, so I didn’t use all my tokens on me…) and gave one away. The rest somehow got consumed at the hotel during the following week, before I returned to Roanoke. Oops..
Here’s one back at the hotel room…
I talked to a lady that pilots barges in the bay and an artist that pulled out a three-ringed binder with pictures of all his paintings. Interesting crowd…
Here’s where they store their base malt, with a worm screw to bring it into the brewery…
The worm screw brings it in and they measure it out and mill it, adding the additional grains as required.
Rodger Davis, one of the two brewers, gave me a tour after the "tour & tasting" ended. Well, I kinda ambushed him. After the party was over (and I helped put up the fencing), I just walked into the brewery without invitation. He was very nice about it, though.
Here’s Rodger doing a quality control check on a fermenting beer…
After the mash is done, the spent grains are transferred outside. Looks like they are used by a farmer, likely as a supplement to cattle feed.
My spent grains only supplement the local landfill…
Rodger gave me some samples directly from a couple of fermenters. Tasty!
He also gave me a bottle of their hefeweizen to bring home.
Even more importantly, he gave me a ride back to my hotel. I said that I’d be fine walking back, but he was probably right (after all those "tastings" and since it was after dark by then)…
Very nice guy!
For my next trip to Oakland (which may not be soon, but this was my third in three months!) I’ll definitely have to schedule my return for Saturday so I can visit Drake’s again…
Speaking of Drake’s, while I was at Pacific Coast Brewing Company for dinner, I had a glass of Drake’s Double IPA. OH MY GOD! I think that may be the best beer I’ve EVER had. Wow! I didn’t see it for sale at BevMo, or I might’ve bought their entire supply and shipped it home…
I’m glad he gave you a ride back to the hotel. I was worried about you walking to the brewery in daylight, although that area doesn’t look too bad then, a lot of empty space if I recall correctly, and some industrial buildings.
After dark though, all bets are off.
Comment by opie_jeanne — 27 March 07 @ 5:44 pm