Friday, October 23, 2009

Libation Hydration Saturday: October 17, 2009


How often do you get to plan an entire day around beer? While the idea is always sound, the execution is an exact science, a science I am proud to say I’ve perfected, and I stress “I’ve.” With plans to have Lina and Sunni join us, we stayed in Fremont at Casa de Lina. We had an appointment with Dr. Leviathan at 11:30, and I most certainly did not want to be late. Justine, Lina and I woke up at 8:30, got ready to go and waited for Sunni til 11:00. No worries however, a quick BART ride to Oakland would get us to our destination only slightly later than anticipated! Dammit, we forgot breakfast. A quick stop at Raley’s for a gourmet breakfast quickly sets us on the right track!

Our destination for this morning (well, it was supposed to be morning, now it was afternoon) was Pacific Coast Brewing Co. in Oakland. It's just a short 3 block walk from the 12th Street station: http://www.pacificcoastbrewing.com/ PCB was celebrating their 21st birthday, and in honor of the occasion they rolled back their beer prices to those of 1988! $2.50 for a pint of delicious micro-brew beer! We could’ve stayed all day; instead we stayed for just under 3 hours, got served by a Kirsten Dunst doppelganger (Cat Rocks!), and got a $37.50 bill for 15 beers. DIG IT!






As I said previously, our entire day was planned around beer, so we gracefully sauntered out of PCB, and made our way toNorth Beach’s La Trappe http://latrappecafe.com/ It would take me entirely too long to explain the allure of La Trappe, suffice it to say they have a “beer bible” and a dark secluded European underground atmosphere. Drew was already there, saving our favorite section and awaiting our arrival. We wouldn’t have scored “our” section without him, I’m quite sure. A sultry strut up to the bar secured more brew for our parched palettes. That 30 minute BART/cab ride from Oakland to San Francisco sure was dehydrating. We enjoyed suds and each others company, awaiting the arrival of the rest of our party. Before we knew it Michelle had arrived fresh from the daily grind, and Frank, Casey, Chris and Shawn were hot on her heels. With 10 of us boisterously occupying “our” section, nobody else dared stay for long, partly due to Justine’s death stare which only heightened their feeling of unwelcome-ness. It wasn’t until Shawn engaged another group in conversation that anyone stuck around, however they had to squish themselves into the small and open front section, allowing us our well earned space. Laughter, story exchanging, discussions of the future, philosophy, overuse of the restrooms (particularly the women’s) is what a beer day is all about!

Beer breeds hunger, and our gourmet breakfast was well on its way out by this time. Michelle, Lina, Sunni, Drew and I decided to head to Burgermiester, while Justine stayed behind for more beer and to enjoy the company of the rest of the group. Halfway through our somewhat expensive and drunkenly delicious meals, the rest of the group joined us, Justine stayed this time, and everyone else left quite happy with only half a day of beer.



 I decided coffee would be appropriate, so we walked up Columbus in search of a café that suited us. Volaré!!!!!????? There’s a café called Volaré!!!!!????? With a hostess that barks out the door at us, it was perfect! What completes perfection? Beginning to sing the Gypsy Kings song of the same name, and have an Italian gentleman outside complete the lyrics for us. The coffee was good, the sangria was bad, the day was over. You gotta be crackin’ me!

1 comment:

  1. I love the blog, and am so happy that I was able to join you all for Libation Hydration Saturday. There were many highlights...identifying the correct Michael Yackson (ayeeeee) photo in the PCB ladies room, experimenting with libations at La Trappe that tasted suspiciously like vinegar, the photoshoot with Justine, the sing-a-longs at Volare, even the sangria that smelled like carne...it was all klim. Let's do it again soon!

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