R.I.P. Coast Range Brewing 1995-2007

Read a blog from William brand last week that announced the closing of Coast Range Brewing. He went into further detail the next day about the specifics, but when it’s all said and done, a quality brewery is closing the doors. So I headed to BevMo in Santa Rosa, grabbed a few bottles and drank to the past.

Before I get into the beers, a quick personal story. When my wife and I were still dating, we headed to a River Cats game in Sacramento and stopped in Vacaville for a small beer festival. While there, she won a growler from Coast Range Brewing. Now, we live in Santa Rosa and I have my family on the Monterey Peninsula. Coast Range was located in Gilroy, which is conveniently on the way to and from meetings with the family. Unfortunately, I never remembered the growler, and never made it to their brewery. So while I still have the growler to serve as a nice memory, I am disappointed I never got to take it back to it’s home.

Enough of the stories of way back when, what about the beer? Well, to begin, there is plenty of Coast Range at BevMo, or there was as of last week. I grabbed a bomber of the Maduro Porter and a Merry Maker. The Porter was on special for $1.89 so I grabbed a second. The Merry Maker scared me. The label speaks of 2004 hops, and well, it is now 2008 (Click the image for a closeup of the labels). I understand that a nice strong, highly hopped beer can last for some time in the bottle, but 3 and a half years for a winter special? (Click the image for a closeup of the labels)

First I tried the Porter. What a great beer. Exactly what you want out of a porter, nice and complex with dark flavors. My wife said it reminded her of burnt caramel. My favorite part of this beer is as you pour it, you get the churning within the beer that makes a pint of Guinness so enjoyable to watch. It doesn’t last as long as the Guinness and is more subtle, but still fun to watch. For $1.89 I would go out there and grab at least a couple of these. I plan on heading back in the next couple of days.

After a little pacing, and pumping myself up, I charged into the kitchen armed with a bottle opener and faced my fears. I opened the Merry Maker. It poured a wonderful amber red, a very pretty beer to look at (aren’t they all?). I gave it a sniff. Smells fine. Gave it another. Still smelled good. Then the taste. We discussed the differences in “holiday” beers before, and the Merry Maker closely follows Sierra Nevada’s Celebration in style. A rich IPA styled beer, the malt i sweet but not overpowering and the hops, however old they are, are nice and floral. This is a nice big IPA, but definitely not a double. I checked Ratebeer and some reviewers thought the label could have been left over from the previous season. This makes sense, considering Coast Range was obviously facing financial problems.

So head to your local beer market and look for these beers. There was another brew I can’t recall, but I think I will give it a shot, especially if BevMo keeps discounting the price. And buy an extra bottle to keep for a little while. Once these are gone, they are gone.