SF Beer Week+

So, as I probably should have noted back in October, and as I’m sure you all deduced several months ago, The Thirsty Hopster is on hiatus.  Since taking a position at Firestone Walker (there it is, I’ve said it, though I think folks at the brewery were more worried about why I hadn’t mentioned them than what I might write about them), I’ve put the blog on indefinite hold.

I’d say that the basis of this decision to hold off on future blog posts was a combination of material and motivation.  On the material front, San Luis Obispo isn’t quite the beer mecca that San Francisco is.  We have our big local brewery, but that’s my workplace and I have enough foresight to guess that blogging about your employment is a dangerous game.  We have a couple brewpubs (Creekside and Downtown Brew), some liquor stores with beer (Sandy’s, Cork & Bottle, and my most recent discovery, Sidewalk Market), and a homebrew shop (Doc’s Cellar).  However, what we don’t have are the newest release or the special events with visiting brewers (usually, though the appearance of Tomme Arthur and Tonya Cornett at a recent beer dinner was a happy exception to the rule).  I guess my biggest gripe is that I read about all these great new, limited release beers put out by one brewery or another, and they all seem to go to San Francisco or Los Angeles, but no one wants to drive them 3 hours down/up the 101 to us.  I miss Dogfish Head.  I miss The Bruery.  I miss Elysian.  And the list goes on.

To get back to the motivation front, well, it’s simple really.  Writing this blog was an escape for me from a stultifying job.  Now, I try to beat the clock everyday to get more work into my mandatory eight-hours-no-overtime-allowed day.  When 4:30pm arrives, I’m usually disappointed I have to put down whatever I’m working on.  So, when I go home at the end of the day, that drive to engage in beer talk has deflated by the fact that I’ve just spent the last 8 hours talking about beer.  Now that I have a stake in a brewery, when I’m going to think about beer after hours, it’s probably going to be about how I’m going to improve the new brewery production-tracking database or how shipping/receiving could be streamlined.

All this though, was really a prelude to what brought me back to the blog tonight.  Tomorrow, I am headed into San Francisco for the beer event I have been looking forward to for the last 6 months: San Francisco Beer Week.  I had a hand in coordinating this event before I moved down here, and have been mourning the fact that I live prohibitively far from the Bay Area to attend all 10 days of events.  From what I’ve heard so far, from Chris & Merideth of The Beer Geek and Jen at WetYour Whistles, the events so far have been a great success. As I speak, I’m dying because I’m missing the home team’s dinner with Sean Paxton at The Peacock Lounge, which Matt B. just confirmed for me is “killer”.

However, I don’t have to miss all the fun.  I’m headed into town tomorrow afternoon and staying through very, very early on Monday morning.  My schedule is:

• Friday evening: Beer & Chocolate Dinner with Bruce Paton
• Saturday 11am onward: Toronado Barleywine Festival
• Saturday afternoon, once the Toronado crowds become intolerable: City Beer Store
• Saturday evening: Valentines dinner at Bar Crudo
• Sunday noon: Maybe Scandinavian beers at City Beer Store, if we have time before…
• Sunday 1pm: Beer Judge Certification Program training class
• Sunday afternoon/evening: Celebrator Anniversary Party (at which I’ll be pouring beer, for the second half of the evening)

Then, it’s up and at ‘em at 3am to drive back down to Paso Robles to start a fresh, new week.

So, I’ll keep you posted!  This doesn’t mean I’m coming back to blogging for good, but I am reconsidering it.

Oh, and PS, in the meantime I got a dog!  He’s frowny and farty and old man-ish, even though he’s only a year old, but I love him just the same.  Meet Hank, my hound-doggish mutt.