On our way skiing last month, Lisa
and I stopped at the Sacramento Brewing Co. It is
very convenient for travel to Tahoe, since it is
right off of Business 80--great whether you're headed
up I80 or Hwy 50.
And this place is worth a stop. There
is a very large bar area, which was packed and noisy
on a Friday evening. The dinner menu had a nice
variety of original dishes at medium prices, and it
changes often. The wine list was short, but the
selections were quite reasonably priced. I liked the
selection of three ports and several dessert wines.
But if you stop for the beers, you'll be fine with a
choice of eight, spanning the range of styles.
The menu offered eight appetizers
from baked brie, calamari with lemon aioli, German
sausages with red cabbage to a bread and cheese
board. The salad selections were imaginative from the
perennial Caesar to a Thai chicken salad to apple,
walnut and gorgonzola salad. I felt like ordering a
pizza, and chose the wild mushroom, caramelized onion
and pepperoni pizza over the honey ham, sun dried
tomato and gorgonzola. The entrees included Grilled
Mahi Mahi with vegetables over chow mein noodles with
a light Thai curry sauce; clams in a Vietnamese
garlic and chili broth over capellini noodles; two
pork chops stuffed with a sage walnut stuffing;
tequila marinated ribeye steak; and oatmeal stout
roast chicken. Lisa got linguine with oyster, shitake
and crimini mushrooms and caramelized onions. My
pizza was great, with a thin crisp crust, but chewy
in the middle. Lisa's dish, however, was too
heavy--it needed something to cut the richness of the
light cream sauce and mushrooms.
To start, they were out of their
regular Miner's Golden Ale and had a Bohemian Pilsner
instead. This beer was sweet initially, but had a
crisp, bitter finish. A green olive aroma, however,
detracted from the beer. Seemed like it might have
been young. The Hefeweizen was very nice, however. A
deep golden color with some haze, this beer had a
great balance of clove and banana and wheat flavors.
The residual sweetness was balanced by a slight
citric character that added to the complexity. I'd
get more of this in the summer.
Two more selections had poorly
descriptive names. The Red Horse ale and the Irish
Red ale left the customer wondering what they would
be like--or how they were different. (The former is a
regular offering). The Red Horse was
"aggressively dry hopped", and the hops
were certainly evident along with a real estery nose.
This beer also had a grainy maltiness, amply hop
flavor, and a dry bitter finish. It had a few rough
edges, but was a very enjoyable beer. I didn't care
for the Irish Red, though. Alcohol was evident, as
well as grainy and roasted malt flavors. The dry
finish didn't help on this beer.
A British Pale Ale, another brewer
special, lived up to its name. Faint malt and hop
aroma gave way to a balanced beer with a mild finish.
The Brown ale was a good Northern English Brown
ale--light bodied and easy drinking. The IPA was an
American version with good Cascade aroma, a light
amber hue, and a good malt backbone to support the
bitterness. Another good choice on a summer day (if
you don't have too far to drive).
For dessert, you could choose from
the Scotch ale or the Imperial Stout (another
special, replacing the regular Oatmeal Stout). The
Scotch was sweet, with a good grainy flavor and
possibly a hint of peat smoked malt. The malt flavors
were nice, but the body could have been a bit higher.
The stout was a big beer, as expected. Very roasty
and coffee like, with alcohol flavor and a bitter
finish. Again, I expected a little more body.
We were impressed at both the
selection of beers as well as the way they all
distinguished themselves. Some pubs, especially in
the South, offer beers that look different, but end
up all tasting the same. The only complaint I had was
that the beers all tended to start out big and sweet,
but had a dry finish that left you wanting a bit
more. They were also served too cold.
This place is behind a shopping
center, so don't drive by it like I did. They're
coming up on their second anniversary in June, and I
would expect them to be around for a while.
