A friend of mine (oh, let's call him Charlie) met me two days ago in
Berkeley and he has rented a car. This means that for the next week or so, the
trip is now officially a road trip.
From Berkeley, we drove up to Healdsburg, a smallish village
(population 11,000) in the Eastern part of Sonoma County because Charlie had a
connection with a young woman who used to work in the wine industry who could
put us up and who was willing to take us to a few wineries.
Healdsburg still has a small town feel and does not seem to have
overly succumbed to hyper vino-tourism, as Sonoma or especially Napa have.
We visited two wineries in the Dry Creek Valley, both of which I had
never heard. Ferrari-Carrano (which produces a very nice, dry aromatic Fumé
Blanc) and Sbragia. Their 2009 Home Ranch Chardonnay was lovely and complex);
they also treated us to a number of Cabernet Sauvignon of different vintages
and from several of their vineyards.
After wine was time for beer. We had a number of pints and dinner at
Bear Republic Brewing Company, a brew pub in Healdsburg. Most of their offerings had a very high
alcohol content; of their twelve flavours or so, only two or three were below
5% alcohol. Remember the days when American beer was like making love in a
canoe? That may still apply to the large
chains; it certainly does not apply to craft brewers or brew pubs.
On the way to Healdsburg, we stopped in Petaluma to visit Lagunitas
Breweries, a rather large craft brewery. (I have noticed their products
available in beer bars across the country.). They have a great tap room, with
eight regular and twelve seasonals/rotating beers on tap. I tried their Hop
Stoopid, an IPA, which was excellent, with a lovely and perfectly balanced mix
of hops as well as the WTF, a very malty red which was too sweet for my taste.
The tap room also has a fairly large patio that seems like a local hang-out,
with concerts and small festivals scheduled.
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