About Me

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TARZANA, CA, United States
Hello food, wine & beer pals! Welcome to my photo-journal of food, wine and beer adventures. I'm pictured on the right and my home brewing pal, Aron is on the left. Years ago I started watching the Food Network, saving recipe's, making recipe's, trying new things, tasting new things, and it's all blossomed from there, including the weekly tastings (beer & wine) at BevMo. I'm hooked on variety and continuing my search for tasty goodness all over the world. Please feel free to email me with comments and ideas at FoodieWinonBrew@yahoo.com Bon Appetito!

Thursday, August 26, 2010

ANDERSON VALLEY BREWING COMPANY, BOONTVILLE, CALIFORNIA

Anderson Valley Brewing Company is doing a few things right as I sip one of my recent love affairs of taste in the form of their ESB (Extra Special Beer/Bitter). On the label is a seal Gold Medal Winner, and on the website the beer boasts 4 TIME Gold Medal Winner, which doesn’t surprise me when I taste it; the beer upon inception is a full mouth feel, mingled with sweet barley, then bitter, balanced sweet citrus, with the fantastic dry salt hop finish. It’s complimenting my halibut in a tomato basil sauce nicely; in fact it’s stealing the culinary show tonight. Every sip is a lovely complex arc of taste that screams gold medal and taste vacation. Take your time drinking this brewed art work of texture and story. I have a feeling this won’t be the last time I review this brewery. All due respect to Anderson Valley Brewing Company noting on the bottle cap it reads “solar powered brewery” which means a nod to sustainable production. I also noticed that the biography of the Brewing Director, David Gatlin, mentions he worked for Firestone Walker, who makes one of my favorite IPA’s, Union Jack—that might be another reason this beer sits so well with me in terms of balanced hop taste. Love the beer, and it’s definitely worth a try for the true blue “hophead.” Boonville, California where Anderson Valley Brewing Company is located, is about two and a half hours north of San Francisco. Makes me proud to be a Californian! Big Smiles!