Mustardgate

I was researching my upcoming trip to San Diego and saw this posted on Stone Brewery's website:

A Public Apology: June 24th, 2010 from stonebrew on Vimeo.

They bring up a good question though, where DID the beer go?

BBC 1 & BBC 2

No, not the British Broadcasting Corporation. The Bisbee Breakfast Club and the old Bisbee Brewing Company! I recently visited these fine establishments, on the same day no less. The Bisbee Breakfast Club is located on Erie St, a road lined with old storefronts and auto repair shops. The inside was converted from an old pharmacy and soda fountain into a spacious loft-style restaurant. Lots of great light, and lots of wonderful smells emanating from the surrounding tables.
I had the Popeye, an omelet stuffed with spinach, bacon and cream cheese. I substituted my toast for one of their biscuits, oh my goodness. Heavenly. Look at the size of it! They had a variety of jams on the table, including an apple butter. It melted beautifully over my warm biscuit.


Now the Old Bisbee Brewing Company is located in the center of what you could call the downtown area. It’s very small and unassuming, the brew house is actually in a separate building then the tasting room. It opens at noon every day and there were already people lined up outside the door when we arrived. (Always a good sign.)

My friends and I sat at the counter ordered the sampler which included:


Scottish Red Ale
Pale Ale
IPA
Belgian Whitbier
Stout
Copper City Ale
Classic Pilsner Lager

I think my favorite was the Red Ale but I was pleasantly surprised by the Pilsner, it had a much richer taste then I’m used to with lagers. My friends all loved the stout, and it certainly was delicious, it had a very strong coffee aroma. If I was a more thorough blogger I would’ve asked what was in it, instead I just enjoyed.


I noticed that Old Bisbee Brewing Company also made their own root beer and I decided to try it after the sampler. Ok. I promise I am not exaggerating when I say it was the BEST root beer I have ever had. It was sweet and refreshing and very full of flavor. It’s one of those root beers I wouldn’t want to spoil by making a root beer float out of it. That’s saying a lot!

http://www.bisbeebreakfastclub.com/

http://www.oldbisbeebrewingcompany.com/

Mountain Sun Pub & Brewery

Last fall I visited my friend Bridget in Boulder and one of our first stops was Mountain Sun. Colorado is known for it's microbreweries and although I hadn't heard of this one before, I was very eager. Mountain Sun is located off of Boulder's main pedestrian thoroughfare, Pearl St. The inside is cozy, very pub-ish. There's an open kitchen towards the back, and as you walk to the bathrooms you can spot the brewery itself, where everyone's hard at work making sweet delicious BEER.

The beer itself is of a very high quality. I noticed on their menu they include the OG (original gravity) and the TG (terminal gravity) of each beer. I'm not going to pretend I know what this means, it has to do with sugars and fermenting and such. What's important is THEY know what it means and feel it's important enough to inform the beer nerds.

Usually when I go to a new brewery I order the sampler. It's lots of fun to try different varieties and I've noticed with microbrews especially, not every beer "works." Most of the time these samplers consist of 6 to 8 tiny glasses of that brewery's most popular beers. Mountain Sun does not skimp. When the beers arrived, all Bridget and I could think was how close we came to ordering two samplers. We had quite a hill to climb. But we're strong girls and we love our beer.

My favorite beer was their Ginger, quickly followed by the Belgian Dip Chocolate Stout. Even their IPA was tolerable, and I'm usually not a hop-y gal. According to their website there's a Scotch Ale I'm eager to try but it's a winter seasonal beer. Oh well, next time!

My friend and I didn't order any food but the menu looked good. The emphasis was on fresh, organic ingredients while every dish could still be classified as "pub food." What I found interesting was that every employee worked every job. Someone who was your server one day could end up cooking your food the next. Not sure how well this actually worked, but I guess that's what happens when hippies take over a brewery ;)

http://mountainsunpub.com