At the Surly Goat, Craftsman Monkey See Money Do isn't an evil monkey living in your closet

This has been a long time a coming. Headed out to the Surly Goat for a coworker's birthday. The Surly Goat is a great beer bar, who has a host of unusual beers (Surly Goat Brew Ha Ha's) but it's in WeHo, which is a drive from the Marina so we haven't made it out yet. Between my wonderful coworker Kate's berfday and the promise of beer and cupcakes, I convinced David it was a worthwhile drive.

Nice Crayola work

Monkey is a Double IPA and pours a great hefeweizen color, making it a bit darker than a pale ale. The flavor profile delivers what it promises with robust bitterness, the hops add a grassy and slightly citrus taste. The beer finishes dry and the bitterness doesn't overwhelm the palate. This ain't no Transformers dark side of the moon, welcome to THE ROCK rating

Note: how unless you're in a LA bars east of Fairfax, one may not be able to find Craftsman, the small but highly regarded Pasadena brewery, bottled in stores. So look for it in your local brew pub!

Now it's time to thump my chest - David beat me terribly at Foosball last May, but last night we held a grudge match and I beat the Scandinavian out of him. Old score settled, we then teamed up against two chumps for back to back games. They suggested jokingly that if we won, they would call me "Walker Wrecks-a-Stranger" which is the best nickname I've heard in a long time (a play on Walker Texas Ranger). Guess what? We thumped them. How bad did we shit on their dignity? Like a boss.

All these months later, Foosball redemption still tastes so sweet.

LA BEER FEST at Union Station, where it's Beer O'Clock...from 1-4pm on Sunday

David gathered a crew of Elder Statesman and Excellent Drunks (can't have one without the other) to conquest the 2010 LA Beer Fest at Union Station in downtown Los Angeles, the culminating event in LA Beer Week. A $40 ticket gained you a 4 oz mug and limitless nectar from a fantastic list of breweries. The fest promised to be epic.

And the festival kept its promise...

Kenny F, Karl K, David and myself entered Union Station 15 minutes early. This allowed us to mill around and check out the 60 or so breweries we hoped to annihilate. However, we couldn't drink yet. The anticipation only made me even more giddy, and suddenly I felt like Charlie Bucket when he was poor child and had to look in through the store window. I was practically jumping up and down by the time they rang the bell (except I'm not poor and you should replace 'candy' with 'booze' and 'child' with 'gangbuster').

I had my beer for the day from Craftsman (which had a unique variety). I chose a Triple White Sage, and it was wicked awesome.
Imagine an Allagash White beer but then make it even more crisp and clean with a hint of sage at the end and you have this Craftsman. Damn good.

 Karl made a wise suggestion -- because this is a special occasion, I should honor my chosen beer with a unique Michael Bay rating. He suggested a music video Bay directed; "I Would Do Anything For Love" by Meat Loaf  (click for video) 

So Craftsman Triple White Sage clocking at 9% alcohol, you've I WOULD DO ANYTHING FOR LOVE rating in excellence and deservedly so because you're a very unique beer. 

(*in an effort to remain contiguous within an already ridiculous rating system, on the official list this beer will have a BAD BOYS rating).

Before even making it out to the main square I had many awesome beers and here are the few that I remembered to notate about:

• Bootlegger had a full bodied Punkin ale that was pretty solid

• Angel City was out of their supposedly amazing Hefeweizen but their "Abbey" beer was an enjoyable Belgian

• The Tustin Bourbon Olde English is also amazing. basically tasted like a chocolate stout with a pinch of Bourbon. LOVED IT. 2nd favorite beer Sunday.Chocolate and Bourbon Whiskey? Say no more.
• Psych, I will. It's also12%, which magically turned my 4oz taster into the equivalent of a 12 oz beer with 4% alcohol. Didn't help my, um, equilibrium. 
• And if you're noting the time, this was my 8th taster (32 oz of various alcohol strength beers) within the first 1/2 hour. Only 3.5 hours to go.

Murderer's Row. These people don't stand a chance...of standing up straight later

By the time we were ready for Murderers Row outside - Affligem, Chimay, Weihenstephaner, North Coast, Unibroue, Franziskaner and Flying Dog breweries - it was only 1 hour in and I was slightly 'overserved' at that point...so, I NEEDED FOOD. I took a much needed respite and waited in line for the Smoke House food truck:

Brisket me much?

Another shot of murderers row from the Affligem table

At the Affligem table David and I reminisced about having Affligem Tripel in his college house, which was nicknamed Grandma's (because there was off limits living room which looked and more specifically, smelled, like Grandma's). Even though we had been to Europe the year before and I'd had my fair share of excellent German beer and especially fond memories of Paulaner in an underground bar every other Tuesday during an awesome Beatles cover band, Summer of '04 in David's kitchen I experienced what people call a 'Gateway Beer' with Affligem Tripel. Reflecting back at that moment at beerfest, I philosophized that moment as being "like discovering Mars and then realizing we're part of the milky way." Or maybe David said it. I don't quite remember. I was pretty housed but at least I wrote it down!
I don't really have much else to say on the day because my memory decided to Lemming itself off a cliff around 3pm but in summary, IT WAS AWESOME. The whole group and day was a blast. The beer lineup beat the crap out of EatDrinkPlay's lineup, and I learned of several California breweries that I will certainly be visiting in the next several months. I also enjoyed the shit out of the breweries I already knew about. Totes.

Epilogue:
The bus ride back was uneventful as far as I can remember, which is nothing. Some genius - I won't say who it was, but his name starts with a 'D' and ends with an 'avid' - lead us to the Townhouse for more drinks and at least one person had Absinthe, which of course lead to In-And-Out and further apartment drinking/shenanigans. One thing for certain, we will be re-watching the Mad Men season finale to help fill in the blanks. Aaaaand we discovered Monday morning that there may or may not be incriminating photos from Beer Fest. Of whom? Well, let's just say I never liked politics anyway...

A parting shot: One of my favorites, North Coast Pranqster.