Los Gatos Beer

I'm posting a whole week late, but better late than never I guess. We took an adventure down towards Santa Cruz and met friends for dinner and beers in Los Gatos. Dinner was planned at Los Gatos Brewing Company, and we had a bit of a wait, so we first stopped at the local dive bar.
The Black Watch, 141 1/2 N. Santa Cruz Ave, is a fairly basic bar, almost too clean and orderly to be called a dive bar, really. It had a small but decent selection of beers on draft, and we snagged a booth to enjoy our beverages. It was quiet while we were there and seemed to have a good crowd.
Once we made it to dinner, I managed to try three of the house brewed beers. The Cask Conditioned Porter was first, and it was smooth and very fresh. It was a bit milder than many porters, though full bodied and very drinkable. Next up was the Scottish Ale and maybe the porter whacked out my taste buds, but the Scottish Ale was very mild. I was expecting a little more malt flavors and it seemed just a little too bland. I quickly moved onto the Oktoberfest and I found my favorite of the evening. It had a good level of caramel flavor, nice hop balance, and a clean dry aftertaste. If this had been my first of the night, I would have stuck with it for the evening, but I guess for the sake of adventure, I'm glad it wasn't.

Brew Day - no rain, Yay!

With the threat of rain ever present, I took a gamble and decided to brew some beer today. All went perfectly well, and I hope that the Belgian-style Pale Ale is well on its way to tasting great. This was the first beer brewed in 2010, and hopefully I can brew one, maybe two, more before Ginny pops and we have a little poop machine that takes up all of our time. The brewing was quiet and relaxing - two descriptions that may not apply again later in the year.

Baltimore Beer

Though time for beer adventuring was limited during our few days in Baltimore, I was able to find a brewpub that had some tasty beers. We were staying in the harbor area (I highly recommend touring the sailing ship, Constellation) and the closest beer destination that I could find within walking distance was the Pratt Street Ale House. It had a large selection of cellar brewed ales under the brand Oliver Ales. I had a great burger (blackened beef with blue cheese), but the service for the large group (8+) that we brought in on Sunday was not very good. Time was limited and I was only able to try two of their offerings, but both were good beers:

Scottish Ale - Rather sweet ale with subtle smokey flavors. The 7% alcohol was evident on the trailing taste.
Irish Red Ale - Clear, red, smooth and a little malty, this one was good but very subtle. A very drinkable beer that I probably would have liked more had I not been nursing a little bit of a hangover from the big wedding party the night before.

As part of the wedding events, it was evidently required that we drink lots of Natty Boh, aka National Bohemian. This is a easy drinking lager that, I guess, is made in Baltimore and all hip people drink lots of it. It was tasty, wet, and local, so I can't really complain too much.

One last bit of beer fun: the after party for Catherine and Yann's wedding was held at a local pub that had a good selection of Flying Dog beers. It was late, and I tried a few, but heck if I can remember what they were. I've had many of their beers before, so I don't think that I tried anything new, but until I invent my time machine or under go some kind of hypnosis, those beers are lost to history.