Lord these computer are a pain...So I'll drink some beer.

I wish I could do my blog by hand, or even smoke signal! My lovely 2005 cheapo dell has gone kaputz on me. She has crashed her hard drive. Insert sad face here. I am working on purchasing a new hard drve nd installing it myself... wish me luck.
I will try to be on here as much as I can. I'll write my thoughts and recipes down and copy them from work when I can.

Today's entry is quick. I am currently on vacation (wow!) and my dear husband and I took a day and ventured up to Fort Bragg, CA. We went to the North Coast Brewing company, and had a lovely time! We were supposed to meet my contact, Doug for a tour of the brewery, but we got there early and had lunch at the brew pub. Oh. My God. I had the crispiest, most perfctly fried mushrooms dipped in a beer batter based on their Scrimshaw pale ale. These weren't just good, they were knock my sock off good.
we decided that we should do the right thing and have some beer, so we each got a 4 beer tasting. I tried a few that we don't get at the store- The Merle Saison, The Acme IPA, the Old # 38 Stout, and the Cask Aged Red Seal. Jon had most of my favorites: the Old Rasputin stout, Brother Thelonious Abbey ale, Pranqster Belgian Golden and The Old Stock Ale.

I have to say- North Coast is quickly becoming my favorite brewery. Every one of these beers has finesse, balance and you can taste the care put into their crafting. I highly suggest you try one or many when you find them.

Doug never did show for the tour, but his assistant was a very kind woman who set us up with a ton of swag for the boys and girls back home at the store, and I got my hands on a 20th Anniversary Golden sweetened with agave, a 12th anniversary Old Rasputin aged n bourbon barrels and a large bottle of Merle just for us. I almost don't want to drink them because then they will be gone.