Aug 312016
 

A pint of Brasserie Saint James Root Beer Brew number four from my amazing Tesla Gigafactory Root Beer Road Trip, which makes this the most successful trip yet (at least in terms of quantity). When we last left off, I was gallivanting about downtown Reno with the voice actor for Oblio in his Model X, finding root beers in casinos. I knew of one final place, Brasserie Saint James, and figured that it was now or never. The brewery is built in an old ice factory and when the current owners bought it, they also got the water rights to the spring on which it is built. This means that they don’t have to use the city water for their brewing. Their decor is very rustic and I really like it, but of greater importance is that they make their own root beer.

The Body is fruity, so fruity, with a little sour that masks the other flavors. The Bite is nothing other than a little carbonation. There is hardly any Head at all and what little there is vanishes is seconds. The Aftertaste is more light fruity.

Yuk. Why is it so fruity? Maybe it’s very old. Maybe it’s a bad batch. Maybe they like it like that. Or maybe, they just don’t care about their root beer. Whatever the reason, I am not impressed at all. The coolest looking place has the worst root beer of my entire trip. Their food looked absolutely amazing, but I wasn’t hungry, so I just took one picture of someone else’s order and wished I was in the appetite for it.

2 out of 5 root beer kegs


Just look at this deliciousness. I wish I had eaten it.

Just look at this deliciousness. I wish I had eaten it.

Brasserie Saint James Bar

This is my kind of place, if they only had made a good root beer…




Aug 242016
 

A mug of Don's Root Beer.Brew number three of the my Tesla Gigafactory Root Beer Road Trip. It was Saturday, as Friday’s TMC Connect and Gigafactory party left no time for root beer hunting. I scoured the net and found this root beer being made at The Brew Brothers, a brewery in the Eldorado Casino a 10 minute or so drive from us. It’s called Don’s because Don was the brother that makes it, I guess. I tried to recruit any and all who would come (partly because I didn’t have a car). The only one I could find was Mike Lookinland, who always called me “Doctor” and wanted to know, every time I went to catch a Pokemon, if it was a diglet. We took his Model X, and after a stop for a car wash we arrived at the casino. The brewery itself was nice enough, despite being in a casino in Reno, and they even had frosty mugs for the root beer.

The Body is the sweet and creamy type, albeit a little generic. It’s got a rich texture but no particular flavors jump out at you. The Bite is pretty mild as well. The Head is okay, though a little on the short side and fizzes away too quickly. The Aftertaste is a light sassafras and the slightest hint of anise.

This is a nice solid brew, nothing exceptional at all but plenty good to eat with dinner. I give this a solid 3 kegs, better than the Great Basin brew, but not so much as to merit another half a keg. We weren’t actually very hungry so we just shared a plate of nachos. I forgot to take a picture of them unfortunately.

Three kegs


The Brew Brothers

The Brew Brothers. It looks like it’s outside, even though it’s inside.

The Brew Brothers' brewing vats.

The Brew Brothers’ brewing vats.




Aug 172016
 

A pint of Great Basin Brewing Company Root Beer Tesla Gigafactory Road Trip Brew number two. This one was in Reno. On the first night after the TMC Connect welcome reception. I had checked to see if there were any local breweries and found that the Great Basin Brewing Company was only a 15 minute walk from the conference center. So I asked some of my friends if they wanted to walk down with me and got a merry crew of three other Tesla enthusiasts. Along the way we caught Pokémon because they play as well as me and I can’t miss an opportunity to catch more. Plus Nevada is all desert and so lots of rock and fire type spawn there whereas in the rainy, river filled Seattle area I mostly catch water type. The brewery itself was a gym so my friends and I, who are on different teams, battled unceasingly over it until the root beer arrived. And since you care more about root beer than my Pokémon adventures, I’ll get on that part of the post.

The Body features a strong wintergreen flavor with cloves and a decent amount sassafras, yet it feels that there’s something missing. There’s a sharp Bite with the spices present. The Head is excellent, though it fizzes away just a little faster than I’d like. The Aftertaste is wintergreen that ends a little bitter.

This is okay. I’ve had better but had much worse. It reminds me of that Designation Root Beer but with a much, much better Head. So I’d drink it again. I have no idea how the food is at this place, since I’d just come from a fully catered reception, I wasn’t hungry at all, but I’m sure it is good.

Three kegs