BNA4!
Posted on July 2, 2009
The Brewing Network's 4th Anniversay Party and Bus Tour!
So, about this time last year I decided along with numerous other listeners of The Brewing Network that I was absolutely going to the 4th anniversary party. Details had not yet been set, but I was going, period! The audio and video of last years party convinced me that it was a must do, and this year it coincided with the National Homebrewers Conference which was going to be in Oakland, CA. Yee Haa, what a great week that would be, or so I thought! I can be a procrastinator at times, and money was pretty tight right about the time that the NHC tickets went on sale for about $250.00 a piece (and that was the AHA member price!) and they sold out! Yes, we missed out on that part.
Brewcaster Justin then organized a pre-BNA4 bus tour, which was scheduled to drop us off at the location of the party, the Linden Street Brewery in Oakland, CA, a brand new brewery that would officially open it's doors for us at the party with their very first batch of beer, "Urban People's Common Lager".
I wasn't missing any of that, no way. 80 tickets to the bus tour went on sale and sold out in about 5 hours! I got 4, from my iPhone, the minute I got the twitter while sitting at Cops and Rodders! Mary, who "doesn't yet appreciate great beer" (i.e. drinks only fizzy yellow piss water) was going regardless. She's always wanted to see San Francisco. Greg and Jaime Wales were also in, until last minute baby-sitter problems forced Jaime to stay home, very sad. I reluctantly sold her ticket to another BN listener, TimCA, and we had to go without her.
The plan was to power drive to S.F., and sleep on Justin's mom's living room floor. Money's tight after all and we were
doing this thing on a rather tight budget! Well I should say that that was Greg and I's plan. Mary wanted nothing to do with it! After a bit of whining and research on Travelocity she convinced me to make this our vacation for the summer. Airfare is cheaper than ever, and we've always talked about going to S.F. Greg was on his own to make the drive, what a trooper!
We flew into S.F. on Monday, and immersed ourselves in the tourist thing Monday night and Tuesday. Tuesday night the unofficial BN Forum plan was to meet up for a pre-BNA4 get together at the 21st Amendment in S.F. Greg was there first, holding down a table for us for about an hour before we could join him, again, TROOPER! I've never, ever, seen a bar more crowded. People were 5 deep at the bar waiting for beer. But alas, no BN shirts. Where was everyone?
We found Greg upstairs, and needless to say, he had quite the headstart on us. Mike "Tasty" McDole's American Pale Ale was on tap. Tasty is a BN brewcaster and last years Sam Adams Longshot winner, so needless to say this guy can brew. Oh man, I can die now, my life is complete, because that was about the best beer I've ever tasted! While leaving the boy's room (wearing my hop grenade shirt, of course) to make room for more beer, some guy say's "hey, nice shirt". I found out he was BCMaui from the forum, and had recently arrived with BrewTa2 and Chaz!
We pretty much had most of the upstairs secured, and the party moved up there. Soon there were about 25 of us listeners and forum members hangin out partying together, and yes, it was easier referring to each other by our forum names. Baloo, Captain and Mrs. Carrot, BDawg, Blawberglop, MyloFiore, BadRock, the list goes on and on. Pretty cool, except Greg didn't have one! After a "few" beers, dinner, a few more beers, and a little and ass-hattery, I called Greg "Weenie Boy" for some reason. BrewTa2 looked up and said, "I think we just found Greg's forum name"! Greg accepted his new identity with grace, and an appropriate avatar is due to follow, I'm working on it! Well it was soon time to leave. Greg had to get to the "Crack Dealer" side of oakland, and Mary and I back to S.F., and after a taxi, B.A.R.T., and trolley ride that I still don't remember we somehow made it to our room. What a blast!
Wednesday morning's hangover wasn't as bad as I thought that it would be. The hotel had a Johnny Rockets in it, and they make excellent breakfast sandwiches! Soon we were off by trolley and B.A.R.T. back to Oakland where we met up with the others going on the bus tour. Really could have used a bloody mary, but none were to be had. I'd have to start my day with a beer, oh well. Met up with TimCA who bought Jaime's ticket, and we hung together most of the day. He's a great guy, lots of fun, and I hope to meet up with him again soon. Tasty was pouring his APA while we waited to board, and then we found a keg of Lagunitas IPA on the bus! Oh man, more heaven, but Mary was screwed cause she hates beer with any flavor! She'd have to drink the 21A's Watermelon Wheat.
So, as any listener of the BN knows, there is no shortage of ass-hattery and sophomorish humor among us. A couple a very brave listeners donned their "nutters" (view the pics, you'll see what I mean) and wore them all day! Oh man, I wish some things could be "un-seen", I'm scarred for life! Justin's assistant Beevo smacked her head on the overhead bin on the bus and we set out to the Anchor Brewing company and were greeted with a guided tour of the facility by grouchy old Bob, who promptly ordered JP to pull his pants up! (TimCA smacked his head the same way as Beevo did a while later and dumped a whole beer on me! Good times...)
The tour was informative and enlightening, especially toward the end when I had to follow BrewTa2 up a spiral staircase. He was wearing a kilt, AAHHHH! Lots more great pics, (none of Tat's undercarraige) and we ended up in their tasting room where beer and snacks flowed freely. Good thing, I was getting parched, then it was back to the bus and that keg of Lagunitas. We ended up killing that thing! Maybe that had something to do with JP and BrewTa2 getting their feathers ruffled after Tat locked JP in the crapper. OH well, we were under strict orders, "NO HEAT ON THE BUS" (no poopin'), so at least it didn't stink so bad.
More beer, and we were off to Moylan's in Novato, CA for lunch. Have you ever smelled heaven? I have, and I can't wait to go back. that place was amazing. We were greated by their owner and head brewer, given a tour of their facility, and treated to more beer and a bottomless pit of pizzas, rings, calamari, etc. Have I mentioned yet that the weather was NOT 115 degrees in the shade? No? Well it wasn't, it was a perfect 65-ish and I can't wait to go back, oh wait, i did say that!
After lunch we set off to Morebeer in Concord to see where I've been buying my stuff from for the last 5 years. I thought it would be larger. They now house a small brewery called Ale Industries which contract brews for E.J. Phair. They were serving up their beers to include one called Parabola (Greg's laughing as he reads this, I know he is!) Parabola happens to be a bourbon barrel aged stout, dark, heavy, sweet, thick, and about 14%! Well I think there was a couple of gallons of bourbon left in that barrel when they put their beer in it, it was FANTASTIC, and they were being VERY stingy with it. So, I give it to Greg and say "here, try this", thinking that he was gonna love it as much as I did. I should have told him what it was, cause he wasn't expecting bourbon!
The look on my face as he spit it back into my glass must have been similar to the look on his as he looked at the look on my face! It was a moment caught in time as I thought "what the hell did you just do?" at the exact time he thought "what the hell did you just give me!" Classic, just classic. Worked out ok though, I went back and because it was getting late they poured me a full glass. More heaven, 14% heaven...
Well the bus dumped us drunken bastards off at Linden Street, an old school brick brewery in downtown Oakland. What a great place. $20.00 bought you a commerative glass that was kept full all night long, especially after I found Tasty McDole serving his APA again, this time out of the back of a van in the parking lot! By that time I was slurring pretty well when I tried to tell him that his beer was "the best beer in the whole wide world!" He just laughed at me and kept pouring, and pouring, and pouring. I think he provided over 70 gallons of his homebrew for us!
I gave Justin one of our new M.A.L.T.S. license plates to adorn his studio with. He's from Havasu, and was very appreciative. That dude can flat ass rock too, and provided us with music for much of the night. Food from "Emergency BBQ" was included in the price of the glass, and Mary doesn't eat brisket so guess who got 2! Oh man, good times. Just as I was fading, not ready to leave of course, but fading none the less, Greg and Mary found a cab and put me in it. We headed for the B.A.R.T., and once again made our way back to the hotel on a trip that I don't remember! Starting to see a pattern?
The next day Greg made the drive home, I don't envy him for that, that had to be a bitch, 8.5 hours. Mary and I took a cable car to downtown S.F. and then walked all the way back to the wharf through Chinatown hitting every bar we found, and somehow managed to loose our camera. My feet still hurt.
What a great trip we had, I can't wait to do it again. S.F. is a fantastic place, and we have so much that we still want to do there. Next year the party and the NHC are probably going to happen in minneanapolis, MN. I'm not sure I can swing that, but I'd sure love to. I you ever have the chance to hang out with the BN Army don't pass it up, they are a great bunch of guys and gals that love great beer and great times! Believe it or not, I didn't even want to think about drinking another beer for almost 2 days after coming home. I think I bruised my liver.
Cheers!
Rich "Reposado" Terrinoni
