Hopmonk Kellerbier ABV 5.3%
Unfiltered Pilsner - Pilsner is a crisp, golden, highly hopped lager.

While normaly pilsners are filtered, this beer is not, and therefore it is, strictly speaking, a KELLERBIER (taken from the cellar while still hazy). Easy to drink and pairs with most food.

Hopmonk Tavern, Sebastopol CA
www.hopmonk.com

Hopmonk Tavern Ale ABV 5.6%
California-style Pale Ale

A deep red amber ale. Thick white head. Lots of dark crystal malt with some chocolate malt. Pronounced hop bitterness and aromatics. Substantial and balanced.

Hopmonk Tavern, Sebastopol CA
www.hopmonk.com

Hopmonk Dunkelweizen ABV 5.2%
Bavarian-style Dark Wheat Beer

Unfiltered, top-fermented wheat beer brewed with dark roasted malted wheat and caramelized malted wheat in addition to pale malted barley. The complex flavors produced by the Weihenstephaner Hefeweizen yeast strain are enhanced by the roasted flavors from the dark malts.

Hopmonk Tavern, Sebastopol CA
www.hopmonk.com

Alaskan Smoked Porter ABV 5.9%
Rauchbier

Big complex, unfiltered porter made with alder-smoked malt. Begins oily, with hints of bitter chocolate and caramelized fruits, then explodes with smokiness.

Alaskan Brewing Company, Juneau AK
www.alaskanbrewing.com

GB MAERZEN CAPTURES THE genius of this Vienna-style. Its auburn in color from its use of caramel malts. This beautifully translucent lager (it is filtered) has just enough hops to keep the sweet maltiness from getting out of hand. As impeccably brewed as this ber is, there's no need to restrain yourself in pairing his with food. From shellfish to pasta to more heavier fare, like lamb or beef, this beer enhances all our entrees. Brewed in San Jose by Master Brewer Dan Gordon, this is a world class example of the Vienna style. In Germany this style is also called Oktoberfest Maerzen.

Gordon Biersch Brewing Company, San Jose CA
www.gordonbiersch.com

DOUBLE BOCKS WERE FIRST brewed by the monks of St. Francis of Paula in Munich. They are refered to as Starkbier or “strong beer”. Historic versions had lower alcohol content and higher sweetness, and was considered “liquid bread” by the monks. Master Brewer Dan Gordon has created a dark double bock with 7.2% alcohol-- not too high, not too low. Malty aroma, molasses with some toasty notes. Malty, sweet, but not cloying, with caramel notes on the palate. This a hearty beer, perfect for cool weather, in the style of Optimator, Salvator. We refer to it as the “Gordonator” and it goes great with the hearty dishes on our menu.

Gordon Biersch Brewing Company, San Jose CA
www.gordonbiersch.com

Humboldt Hemp Ale ABV 5.7%
Herbed Beer

BEFORE THE WIDESPREAD cultivation of hops, beers were spiced and preserved by the use of herbs like bog myrtle and pine tips. How natural to spice a beer with Humboldt County's number one cash crop at harvest time! Hemp, that is. This beer is dark, copper-red with a nutmeg head. Caramel nutty aroma with resiny hemp notes. Malty nutty taste, like a Brown Ale. Medium body, easily drinkable. Don't expect to get a buzz from the hemp, but this beer's a good quaffable ale for West County denizens tired after a day's agricultural harvest.

Firestone Walker Brewing Company, Paso Robles CA
www.humboldtbrews.com

REDDISH BROWN WITH A WHITE head. Aroma of sweet caramel And inviting foresty smells of piney hops and redwood bark. Taste of toasted malt, caramel, citrusy lemon zest and piney hops. Mouthfeel is smooth and creamy. Easy drinking with modest carbonation. LET US ALSO RECOMMEND: RUSSIAN RIVER PLINY THE ELDER, OLD RASPUTIN IMPERIAL STOUT, GORDON BIERSCH WINTER BOCK, NEW BELGIUM TRIPPEL

Lagunitas Brewing Company, Petaluma CA
www.lagunitas.com

Moonlight Death and Taxes Black Lager ABV 5.0%
Thuringian-style Schwarzbier

A very dark yet surprisingly light-bodied lager beer. Crisp and refreshing with no heaviness. Great session beer.

Moonlight Brewing Company, Sanata Rosa CA
www.moonlightbrewing.com

THE TRIPEL OR TRIPPEL IS A relatively new style of beer to come from the tradition-rich heritage of the Trappist monks. Developed in Belgium in response to prohibition against strong drink (1919), the monks devised a way around it. New Belgium Brewing had already made it reputation on brewing quality beers with a strong European influence. Pours clear gold, with a big foamy white head. Aroma is complex; ripe fleshy stone fruit with a hint of citrus and a bakery's bready yeast aroma. Trippel boasts a backbone of noble Saaz hops that keeps the sweetness from collapsing in on itself. The flavor is as complex as the aroma would have you expect, and no one flavor stands out. The initial taste is fruity but not overly sweet, banana and apricot, and is well balanced by the hops, slightly herbal and almost grassy. There's a sweet and slightly nutty malt flavor. Trippel ends very clean and slightly dry. The mouthfeel is both bubbly and fizzy, with medium body and surprisingly smooth, almost creamy.

New Belgium Company, Fort Collins CO
www.newbelgium.com

North Coast Old 38 Stout ABV 5.5%
Irish-style Dry Stout

OLD 38 IS NAMED FOR A RETIRED CALIFORNIA WESTERN RAILROAD steam engine on the Fort Bragg to Willits run through the Redwoods. This stout is a smooth, firm-bodied stout with the toasted character with chocolatey and coffee notes of dark malts and roasted barley. It’s pitch black color sits under a mocha brown head. Smells of spice and molasses. Medium bodied, it is a nice quaffable stout, much in line with Dublin-style stout, withs its characteristic dry and slightly chalky finish.

North Coast Brewing Company, Fort Bragg CA
www.northcoastbrewing.com

FLANDERS RED ALES ARE fermented with ale yeast and Lactobacillus, giving them their characteristic tartness. They are often aged in oaken barrels to impart acetic character to the beer. The older, more sour beer is then blended with younger, maltier beer for a delicate balance of freshness and cellar aging. Ommegang Rouge pours reddish brown with an inch of bubbly white foam. An aroma of fresh mown grass, apples and tart stone fruit. This has a pleasant tang with a mix of cherries, orange and spice. Plum, prune and raisin on a ship of roast maltiness on the first taste. Oakiness, balsamic and citrus in the finish. Semi-dry, very soft with low carbonation.

Ommegang Brewing Company, Cooperstown NY
www.ommegang.com

Russian River Pliny the Elder ABV 8.0%
Double IPA

Golden color, great clarity. Off-white head with good lacing. Strong aroma of resins and citrus. Hop palate of resin, citrus, pine. Super toasty maltiness keeps the hops in balance. Nice dry bitter finish. A strong beer, but very drinkable. Classic.

Russian River Brewing Company, Santa Rosa CA
www.russianriverbrewing.com

SHIPYARD OLD THUMPER IS AN Extra Special (ESB) brewed by Shipyard Brewing in Portland, Maine. Originally crafted in the famed Ringwood Brewery of Peter Austin, Old Thumper is the genuine article. Pours a sparkling orangish-amber color with an off-white, almost beige head, and some citrus pulp. The aroma of Old Thumper is earthy with essences of toasted pale malt and spicy floral hops balanced with some fruit and nuttiness, and the taste is toasty, fruity, herbal, spicy, maintaining some barreled wood essences, and a dry finish. One of the top ten craft beers in the US.

Shipyard Brewing Company, Portland ME
www.shipyard.com

AGING BEER IN OAK BARRELS IS nothing new yet it has achieved a resurgence these days. FIrestone Walker's flagship Double Barrel hearkens back to the classic days of wooden barrels by the Burton brewers of England, such as the legendary Marston's, Bass and Ind Coope. This ale recreates this tradition. Amber with small off-white head. Aroma! Aroma! Aroma! Spice, malt, fruit, floral and wood. Off dry grainy maltiness, with some note of chocolate malt. English noble hop leafiness in the background. Maturation in American oak barrels gives this beer a touch of vanilla and toasted oak, hints of tobacco, leather and spice. Medium body with crisp mouthfeel, good medium carbonation. great session beer.

Firestone Walker Brewing Company, Paso Robles CA
www.firestonewalker.com