Fair Oaks Brew Pub, 7988 California Avenue, Fair Oaks, California
Sacyard Community Tap House, 1725 33rd Street, Sacramento, California
Alaro Craft Brewery, 2004 Capitol Avenue, Sacramento, California
University of Beer, 1510 16th Street, Sacramento, California
During my trip to California back in May and June, I spent a night in Sacramento with my Bay Area friend Rick. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers and around 90 miles northwest of the San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento is primarily known as the capital of the state of California. It also made its name as an economic centre during the Gold Rush of 1849, and it was the western terminus of the Pony Express and later for the Transcontinental Railroad. Originally inhabited by the Nisenan and Maidu peoples, the area was colonised in the mid-19th century by the Spanish, and in 1854 it became the capital.
Our main reason for being in Sacramento was to spend the day with my famous Unkletom, aka Da Unk, who is a fellow bizzareal artiologist. Unkletom lives in the city of Citrus Heights, so we picked him up there and headed four miles southeast to the Fair Oaks Brew Pub for lunch.
Da Unk had left his hearing aids at home, so we decided it would be easier for him to hear us if we sat in the shady beer garden, which looked quite inviting, with plenty of wooden tables and picnic benches. When I spotted the cushy, comfy red chairs on their own level toward the back against the fence, I thought that would be a perfect conversational nest for the three of us. Once we were seated, Rick and I started with a taste of Fair Oaks’ own Hammer IPA (6.8% ABV), brewed with Simcoe and Cascade hops. It offered a mildly interesting mixture of malt and bitter. Both of us ended up going for pints of Breaking Bud (6.5% ABV, Knee Deep Brewing Company, Auburn, California), which we’d both really enjoyed the previous night at the Knee Deep brewery. For purely avian reasons, Da Unk chose a pint of Chicken Foot Pale Ale (5.7% ABV), a middle-of-the-road, malt-forward brew.
As we sipped our pints and caught up with Da Unk, we perused the food menu which featured small bites, salads, artisan thin crust pizzas, burgers, meat sandwiches, and breakfast options. Sadly the selection of sushi, which excited all of us and was accompanied by saki, was only available on Sundays and Mondays after 4:00pm, and this was a Wednesday at lunchtime. So Rick and I shared a margarita pizza with artichokes.
Although the garden is lovely and the pints were fine, I have to give the food service a bad point, simply because Unkletom was finished with his chicken Caesar salad way before the pizza for me and Rick was served. To add to this awkwardness, a huge refrigerated truck suddenly pulled up right behind us, its very loud and irritating motor completely drowning out our catching-up conversation. Fortunately we were able to move to another part of the garden; but it was still quite a noisy experience for my hard-of-hearing Unkle. That was obviously down to bad luck; but the issue with the meal timing could be improved. Just a suggestion...
After lunch the three of us headed west to Old Town Sacramento, where we mosied over to take a look at the “raging” Sacramento River, which is impressively wide. Three people dressed in some sort of period costumes passed by us on horseback, and Da Unk pointed out that the horses were “moseying”. (I learned later that they were part of the National Pony Express Association, who were re-creating an 11-day eastbound ride from Sacramento to St Joseph, Missouri, and this was the first day’s starting point. I wish we’d known that at the time. They took off from Sacramento 15 minutes later.)
We mosied on, stopping briefly in the California State Railroad Museum and a couple of shops, had a coffee, and then decided that we could use another pint. So we headed over to the Sacyard Community Tap House. Housed in a former automotive garage, this pub’s emphasis seems to be on its large beer garden with fire pits and outdoor games. Seeing as how it was a pleasant sunny day, we ordered our pints at the outdoor counter and grabbed a table on the outskirts of the garden. I went for a pint of Hop Ascension IPA (6.5% ABV, Morgan Territory Brewing, Tracy, California), which I really liked. My pint sparkled with light while being zippy with hops, making it really refreshing. And no wonder: this double dry hopped brew contains rice and uses Ekuanot, Idaho 7, and El Dorado hops, giving it a pineapple-resin flavour. Rick’s pint was Big Dip Hop IPA (6.8% ABV, a collaboration between Flatland Brewing Company, Elk Grove, California, and South Lake Brewing Company, South Lake Tahoe, California). This was also very fine indeed. Da Unk had a pint of Must Be The Honey (5.5% ABV, Belching Beaver, Oceanside California), a honey blonde that tasted like a light beer brewed with honey--which is exactly what it was. The afternoon had become quite gorgeous, balmy and breezy, so what a perfect opportunity this was to enjoy some good company, along with more of Da Unk’s stories, in a beer garden.
Later on, we decided to have a light dinner, so Rick suggested a place that he knew. Besides being one of Sacramento’s oldest craft breweries, Alaro Craft Brewery is also a restaurant and cocktail bar specialising in tapas and modern pub food. Rick and I shared the Gambas Al Ajillo and a Green Goddess Salad, and Da Unk had the Wild Rock Cod Tacos, and the food was very nice. Da Unk had had enough beer for the day, so Rick and I decided to just split a bottle of the brewery’s own Rising Together Rye IPA (7.0% ABV), which offered that sharp rye character that a rye IPA should have. It was really good, and our meal was really pleasant. The outdoor tables in front along the pavement looked appealing, but as we had the late afternoon sun blazing through the windows, we were quite happy to be sitting at an inside table.
After the long but pleasant day, It was time to drop Da Unk off at his place, and Rick and I finally checked into our hotel. After relaxing for a bit, during which time Rick discovered he’d left his fanny pack at Alaro, we walked back to pick it up. Then we moved on to the University of Beer for a nightcap pint. As the sun had set by now and it was pleasantly warm, we sat on the covered patio, which felt pretty much like sitting inside. Our server was really bubbly and just so excited! to be telling us about the beers., and she seemed to know quite a lot about California beers and breweries.
Once again we decided to share two pints. The first one, Mosaic Stack (6.5% ABV, Russian River Brewing Company, Santa Rosa, California), had a really great Mosaic character. And the second was West Coast RIPE (7.0% ABV, Great Notion Brewing Company, Portland, Oregon), a really ooh! sort of brew. Just what was that taste? It was definitely something new to me! It wasn’t just the Citra hops--it was superpowered with something! Looking it up we learned it had mango, papaya, and both Citra and Cryo Citra hops! (Sorry about the exclamation points! It’s just that our server was so excited! she was liberally spreading them everywhere!) As we sat and once again thoroughly enjoyed our pints, it felt as if we were sitting under a ceiling fan, but it turned out it was just the wind!! The weather was perfect!
There are several University of Beer locations, including East Sacramento, Folsom, Rocklin, Roseville, Vacaville, and Davis, where Rick and I had a pint ten years earlier! And if you’re getting tired of all the !!s, even the food menu features exclamation points! Hey! It’s better than being a grumpy git, isn’t it?
Related Links
- All about Citrus Heights (Citrus Heights.Net)
- A detailed history of Fair Oaks, including the origin of its name (The Fair Oaks Historical Society)
- The National Pony Express Association, with all sorts of information about their annual Re-Ride