Ultimate 6er | Tequilla Chasers

When you are talking about perfect pairings, there is none better than tequila and beer. Whether you’re doing shots or sipping on a cocktail if you’re drinking tequila, you obviously need a beer chaser. While you might be content grabbing the closest Mexican lager, you could also branch out a bit, and consider a few other options. Maybe you want to complement your tequila, or maybe you want to soothe the burn. Either way, having the right beer by your side is the only way to go.

As you plan for your celebration of National Tequila Day, yes this is a thing, you also need to plan the beer to best fit your celebration. There is a plenitude of options when you’re considering building the ultimate tequila chaser list. The three style options that come to mind are: the cocktail, the sipper and the crusher.

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Firestone Walker Brewing | Easy Jack IPA

Whether you’re critiquing someone’s beer selection at the local store or researching overall beer sales, you will quickly notice lighter beers lead the pack in sales. The top 10 beers in overall sales are littered with light beers. Beers that are lower in alcohol and calories are not new, but now craft beer is starting to taking notice and looking to capture some of that market share.

So, why can’t hoppy beers be light? Low-calorie beers have been traditionally Lagers and Pilsners. It’s great to see hop forward beers now starting to enter this space. After all, it’s not the hops that are adding calories to your beer. You don’t even want to know how many calories are in that pastry Stout.

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Urban Roots Brewing | A Momentary Lapse of Judgement

How much do you love collaboration beers? This collaboration was brewed and packaged at Urban Roots Brewing, with the Alvarado Street crew coming to Sacramento for the brew day. The name pokes fun at some of the beer names and labels that appear to “borrow” trademarked artwork. While the name of the beer is A Momentary Lapse of Judgement, the label includes a large eagle carrying the C & D letters.

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Treehouse Brewing | Baby Bright IPA

Treehouse Brewing is one of those breweries that you hear more about than you ever see in their beer in the wild. They are one of the most hyped breweries when it comes Hazy IPAs and are on the top of the list for many beer traders.

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Will Travel For Beer | One Man’s Quest to Visit 100 Breweries Every Year

Do you plan your travel around beer? I do. In fact, I visited 100 breweries last year, and I plan on doing that every year.

In the past, when possible, I’ve always tried to include at least a few local brewery stops while on vacation. Four years ago I made a list of all the breweries I visited that year. Without knowing or even planning, I visited 99 different spots. The following years, I started to track more diligently, with the arbitrary goal of hitting 100 each year–that’s a lot of local beer. To be a little more precise, that’s 8.33 different spots each month, which may sound very do-able until you have a few hectic months and you hit zero new breweries.

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Event Preview | Karl Strauss Brewing Company Turns 30

On February 2, 1989, Karl Strauss Brewing Company opened their first brewery on Columbia St. in downtown San Diego, CA. Thirty years later, they are still going strong with 10 brewpubs scattered from San Diego to Orange County and two locations in Los Angeles County.

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Bootlegger’s Brewery | Black Phoenix

Bootlegger’s Brewery sold their first keg of beer in 2008. It was originally located in Fullerton, California in a small industrial building in an area that was a little rough around the edges. The brewery felt closer to a neighbor’s garage than it did a commercial brewery. Since then, they upsized the brewhouse from a 7 to a 30 barrel system. They moved the main brewing operations to a larger industrial area while staying in Fullerton. They also open their third tasting room location in Costa Mesa to go along with the Fullerton and Redlands locations. Read More

Russian River Brewing Company | Windsor Porter

Russian River Brewing Company is an iconic brewery, a brewery that started beer trends, even before we knew what beer trends were. They are also a company that methodically moves at their own speed, with their own vision.

Though there’s no question that Russian River could have expanded earlier, they completed their expansion on their own terms, in my mind further proving their dedication to, and love of, craft beer. The stunning new brewing facility is located in Windsor, CA, just about nine miles from their Santa Rose brewpub. The new location includes a multi-room restaurant and a bar, with both indoor and outdoor bar seating, along with separate tasting and gift shop areas.

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Firestone Walker’s Terroir Project: A Beer & Wine Hybrid Event Recap

Traditional beer festivals are fun and a great place to experience new breweries, but they also can be a bit predictable if familiar breweries choose to just pour core beers that you’ve tried over and over again. If you’ve been to one local beer festival, chances are the next local festival will be much of the same… not bad, but still predictable. Over the last few years, we’ve seen breweries branching out and creating their own, and often uniquely curated beer festivals. Firestone Walker is no rookie when it comes to this. Events like From the Barrel, Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival and most recently Pils and Love all offer something beyond the norm.

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Brewery Showcase | The Booth Brewery

The Booth Brewery, originally based in Korea, is taking it global.

The Booth Brewery has recently expanded to the U.S., with a brewery in Eureka, California. They purchased the 30-barrel brewing facility from Lost Coast Brewing, who recently expanded to a new location. The new facility is up and running, and The Booth has set a goal of producing 10,000 barrels in the next year. This will include both U.S. distribution and Korean exports.

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Moonraker Brewing | Holy Hermit

Located in the heart of California’s Gold Rush county, Moonraker Brewing Company sits in an unassuming business park in the City of Auburn, a mere 700′ from neighboring Knee Deep Brewing.

Walking in their front door, it seems like you might not be in the right spot. No bar, no taps anywhere to be found. However, as you make your way towards the back, the space opens up into a large indoor/outdoor area, that screams beer hall. It also has a few small rooms that give it a bit of a “loungey” feel.

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Firestone Walker Brewing | Leo v. Ursus – Doublus

If you’ve been following the beer scene for more than a minute, you’ve probably have been disappointed and had one of your favorite beers has been discontinued, reformulated or may be moved to a limited release. If you’re a fan of Firestone Walker Brewing, there is no doubt that this has happened more than once over the last few years. Walker’s Reserve, Wookey Jack, Opal and Double Jack. This is a lineup of beers that most breweries would kill to have on their tap list. For Firestone Walker… discontinued, or have they been? Read More

Brewery Showcase | Burning Barrel Brewing

Burning Barrel Brewing is the vision of a father/son duo; Jack and Duncan Alexander. Jack, a longtime homebrewer, and Duncan are leading the way on the build-out of the brewery located within the Barrel District of Rancho Cordova, a city just east of downtown Sacramento. Rancho Cordova has embraced the “Maker Spirit” by creating its Barrel District, streamlining the process of opening a brewery — and more. The Barrel District currently includes six breweries, two distilleries, and one meadery.

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Urban Roots Brewing & Smoke House | Luna de Miel

If you were to ask someone in the Sacramento area if they’ve had a chance to visit a new brewery lately, you would most likely get the response, “Which one?” The rampant growth in U.S. breweries has not been lost on Sacramento. At last count, there are more than 70 breweries, tasting rooms and/or brewpubs open or in planning in the greater Sacramento area. You’ll get thirsty just trying to keep track. Read More