Well, Wes made it to Santa Rosa. The theme of the weekend is beer, and that means I have to take him to the Hopmonk for dinner. I’ve written about the Hopmonk before but haven’t been back since, so I was looking forward to this trip.
Initially, the plan was for Wes to get in town around 3:30-4. After that we’d drive out to Sebastopol and meet up with Dean for a beer and a meal. Well, a wrong turn in northern Napa County delayed his arrival until a little before 5. No problem, but it looked like we wouldn’t be able to run into Dean after all. We headed to Sebastopol and sat down for a meal we were all more than ready to eat.
I started off with the Kellerbier and Wes ordered a Tavern Ale. The Kellerbier is an unfiltered pilsner from Gordon Biersch, very good and hit the spot on a warm evening out on the patio. The Tavern Ale was originally brewed by Moonlight but the demand was too high. Last time I was here, the tap was empty. Now, the beer is brewed by Firestone Walker and is quite an ale. A British styled bitter ale, there is a distinct lemon-citrus aroma to this beer. Very crisp finish, this is a solid session beer that is can be enjoyed with just about any meal. One thing I really liked was the fact that te beers were at slightly different temperatures, with the ale appropriately served a little closer to room temperature, while the Kellerbier was nice and cool.
When the food came out, Wes ordered a Hop Rod Rye from Bear Republic while I grabbed a glass of Duchesse. My wife and wes hadn’t tried the Duchesse before so I passed the glass around. It is definitely an interesting beer, very sour. My wife seemed to really like it, which isn’t a surprise as she’s always seemed to be a fan of the sour Belgians. Wes had never had the Hop Rod Rye, which is surprising because it is such a good beer and he’s pretty well versed in the world of beer.
The beer was good, as was the food. I did meet up with Dean but only for a minute, while changing my daughter in the parking lot. It was too bad we couldn’t have a beer together, but there’s always next time.
