Jul 052017
 

A mug of Faultline Brewing Company Root BeerTwo weeks ago I was down in the Bay area, not for the business trip that I posted about on Facebook, but for another amazing Tesla Road Trip! It’s that time of year and probably my last trip down there for awhile, so I had to see what I could find. My friend had upgraded his P90D to a new Model X P100D! So much more ludicrous speed. And he even let me drive it! And he laughed as I raged at getting kicked out of autopilot time and again for “not holding the wheel.” I WAS HOLDING THE WHEEL!!!! Upgrade your sensors or something… So anyways, we had stopped in Mountain View and were trying to supercharge and I scanned the area and found the Faultline Brewing Company was only about 10 minutes away and still along the way to Monterey. So we left the rather congested super charger and took the Gilroy route down, stopping at the brewery along the way. It’s a really classy brewery I must say, as the pictures below will attest. The root beer order seemed more than a pint but it didn’t say on the menu and I didn’t ask. I was too busy drinking.

The Body is mild with a fruity generic flavor with some hints of sarsaparilla. There really isn’t much distinct about it. The Bite is mild as well yet it isn’t smooth. The Head is nice and foamy and can be built tall. The Aftertaste is fruity sarsaparilla with caramelized sugar.

So, no, not really, nope. I don’t really like this. I mean, it’s not horrible, but not good. We ordered some very delicious seafood ceviche and then, interestingly, the brew paired quite well with it. Afterwards I doubted my initial reaction to the brew and got a bit more to swig again and yup, didn’t like it. So my conundrum, a brew that literally only tastes good when paired with a menu item. I guess that’s my definition of drinkable, so 3 kegs it is, barely. I don’t even think it’d pair well with the other food there, but the ceviche was yummy and so I can recommend the combo but not the brew by itself. Check it out if you’re in the area.

Three kegs




The seafood ceviche with root beer. Quite a tasty combo.

The seafood ceviche with root beer. Quite a tasty combo.

The left side of the restaurant as viewed from the entrance.

The left side of the restaurant as viewed from the entrance.

The right side of the restaurant as viewed from the entrance.

The right side of the restaurant as viewed from the entrance.


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.