Sips on the Road: Beer Thirty, Part Three

Green Flash Brewing Company

Karl in front of the brewery

Our third stop for the birthday fun was where our group dynamic started to go downhill.   It was here that not one but two pint glasses were broken and security started to pay more attention than we would have like, it’s probably a good thing that this was the last major brewery stop on the list, the last two being newer smaller breweries with less crowd control.

Green Flash tasting wall

Traditionally a green flash is the optical phenomenon that is seen typically on a cloudless sunset or sunrise, right as the sun sinks or rises below the horizon; made famous in Pirates of the Caribbean.  In this case it is a brewery located in Mira Mesa.  Started by a husband wife team in 2002, this brewery has grown to a staple of the San Diego craft beer scene.  They like so many of the breweries in San Diego can lay claim to an award winning IPA and unique perspective in their take on beer.   With over 20 beers on tap during our visit if you can't find something you like, you're likely not a beer drinker. 

Ready to leave Green Flash

Their brewery, bottling line and tasting room are all in the same industrial space.  A small wall separates tasters from brewers and the magic.  The large tasting space is great for large groups and with so many beers on tap I recommend going the taster route so you can experience more than just the few beers bottled for commercial sales.  If you become a fan you can even get yourself some Green Flash swag at their small shop including filled growlers or dog bones (mine loved them).  Be sure to check out the San Diego exclusive beers brewed, bottled and sold only at the Green Flash tasting room.



Sips on the Road: Beer Thirty, Part Two



Make your selection Saints and Sinners

Located in an industrial park in San Marcos, CA Port Brewing and Lost Abbey would literally be lost in the mix of concrete buildings if not for the massive crowd extending from the brewery out to the food truck and the ID checker waiting for the tour buses that roll up to the entrance during the day.   Lost Abbey’s tag line “Inspired Beer for Saints and Sinners alike” only adds to the intrigue of the various brews they keep bottled on site and in stores.  With beer names like Devotion, Inferno and Judgment Day you just might be choosing a side; sinner or saint.

From the Vine to your Glass: Bottling

I decided that it would be fun to do pieces on the different aspects of wine making. As I'm sure you've deduced by now, I love to learn. Some of my favorite wine adventures have come in learning experiences (remember that Bordeaux blending I did? Awesome!). For this series, I'll focus on separate pieces of the wine making process. Maybe take a tour through a vineyard, help out with crush, and of course, bottling. I'll do a separate write-up on each of these different activities. My first post in the series (obviously not in any sort of order) is on bottling. Enjoy!

I've always enjoyed volunteering with wineries. One local winery that I have helped out on a few occasions now is Northwest Totem Cellars, so when Mike Sharadin posted a note saying he was looking for a few volunteers for a Saturday afternoon of bottling, I jumped at the opportunity. The winery is located at the home of owners Mike and Kate Sharadin, located on the Redmond/Woodinville border. Mike has his own bottling equipment, but every winery does things a little bit differently. Mike stated that a lot of the smaller wineries have their own small bottling set-ups and once they reach a certain size (i.e. they reach a certain case production), they will utilize a mobile bottling truck. This truck is basically a bottling line on wheels and provides all the necessary equipment for bottling. Mike estimated that up to 85% of wineries in this area bottle using the mobile truck. At Northwest Totem Cellars, the bottling line is set up in an area designated for this purpose. The volunteers each had a specific responsibility in the line. Once we got going, we were bottling about 45 cases an hour! At 12 bottles to the case, that was a whopping 540 bottles that went by in just ONE hour of bottling. On this day we were bottling two separate wines. We started with the 2008 Qo-ne, which is a blend of 60% Cabernet Franc, 29% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Syrah, and 2% Petit Verdot. We bottled up 102 cases of the Qo-ne, which comes out to 1,224 bottles! WOW. It doesn't hit you just how many bottles go through the line until you do the math on it! After a lunch break, catered by Kate Sharadin, we headed back out to bottle up the 2008 Sangiovese. We bottled 62 cases of the Sangiovese, or 744 bottles. It was a lot of fun to be a part of the process!