Need to get out of town for a little while, even if it’s only in your mind?  Here you go.  

You’re welcome.

Hopocalypse and Beer Revolution’s 2nd Anniversary

This weekend, I had the opportunity to slip away and head down to Oakland to join some friends for a fun filled day of beer events.  At the behest of Angelo from Brewpublic, Ashley from Drink With The Wench and Taylor from The Art of Beer, I flew down to Oakland, CA to attend the release of Hopocalypse at Drake’s Brewing as well as the 2nd Anniversary celebration at Beer Revolution.

I flew into San Francisco on Saturday morning and took the BART over to Oakland.  There I met up with Taylor and we headed straight down to Drake’s Brewing to sample this years release of Hopocalypse.  We arrived not long after the onslaught of eager Bay Area beer enthusiasts looking to pick up bottles and cases of this years release had subsided.  Perfect timing in my opinion.  We met up with John Martin, co-owner of Drake’s, who graciously took us through a tasting of this years Hopocalypse and it’s two variants.  Hopocalypse is an Imperial IPA coming in at about 9.3% ABV and 100+ IBU’s.  Considering the big numbers, Hopocalypse is a well balanced, easy drinking IIPA made with American 2-row and English pale malts as well as some Vienna and Rye malt mixed in for good measure.  It is then hopped with Citra, Simcoe and Chinook.  It had a wonderful nose of citrus with a hint of spice and poured a light orange color with a lovely head.  Absolutely delicious.  Next we moved on the the cask version that had an extra charge of Citra added.  Much stronger citrus notes, but still a wonderful beer.  Last, we tried the Hopocalypse Triple IPA which comes in a whopping 12.5% ABV and is double dry hopped.

While at Drake’s I also had the opportunity to chat with Steve Donohue, the brewer from FireHouse Grill & Brewery as well as Nicole Erny, who recently became the first female, and one of only five certified Master Cicerones.  Both wonderful individuals passionate about Craft Beer and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to talk to both of them.  We were also joined by Daniel Del Grande from Bison Brewing who I got to know peripherally through Ashley (she is also the Director of Awesomeness at Bison Brewing) and finally got the chance to meet in person earlier this year here in Portland at Holiday Ale Festival.

Having had our fill of Hopocalypse and securing some bottles to bring home, it was time to wend our way to Beer Revolution back in Oakland to help celebrate their 2nd Anniversary.

Beer Revolution is a smallish craft beer bar that hosts 50 taps of amazing craft beer as well as being a bottle shop with a rather impressive selection of beers seldom seen in Portland.  The place was pretty full when we got there, but over the course of the rest of the evening, the crowd quickly swelled to standing room only. We were joined there by Daniel, Ashley and Angelo as well as Stephan Johnson and Aric Mellott from New Brew Thursday.  We quickly settled into a routine of taking turns ordering beer at the bar and sharing them with the rest of the crew.  Had we not took turns passing beers around the table for everyone to sample, things could have quickly gone south but that was not the case.  The beers we sampled from the tap list were too numerous to list not to mention the occasional bottle that random patrons brought to our table to share.

This was a day that once again cements in my mind the amazing sense of community that exists in the craft beer world.  No attitude, no egos, just a ton of fun and a common love of great craft beer.  I can’t wait for my next opportunity to enjoy the amazing beer scene in the Bay Area.

Also, much love to Taylor from The Art of Beer without whom this trip for me wouldn’t have happened. It goes without saying that she will be spoiled greatly the next time she comes to Portland.

A nice video synopsis of Kriek Kamp hosted by Double Mountain Brewery.  First time I’ve had a chance to see it.  Hope you enjoy it.

Prost!

Duke