I forgot what day it was on the last post (a sure sign of a good vacation, no?).
Kicked the day off at Pearl's for breakfast again. Lots of locals there, including several youngsters getting properly fueled up for their upcoming little league game. Pearl's passed the B&G test on the strength of their gravy: thick but smooth consistency, plenty of chunky sausage and well-seasoned, including a hint of cayenne pepper. The biscuits were the sweet cake-like variety. Not my favorite style for sure, but good gravy makes anything taste better.
The routine has been that we figure out a rough itinerary for the day over breakfast, incorporating any advice from locals along the way. This particular meal inspired us to go brewery-hopping instead of winery-hopping. First, we headed up to Healdsburg and the Bear Republic Brewing Co. Very friendly staff and an expansive selection of quality beers here, including some great IPAs, Scotch Ales and a really nice dry Irish Stout that got Rhonda's seal of approval. Along the way, we saw a couple of wineries we intend to visit today.
Next, a stop at Russian River Brewing Co. in Santa Rosa. These guys are one of the darlings of the "beer geek" community, specializing in incredible IPAs, flavorful Belgian-style brews and American Wild Ales (a relatively new, loosely defined style and not my cup of tea, at least the ones I've had so far). I definitely wanted to come here for a pint of Pliny The Elder, one of the best beers in the world according to those internet beer geeks (including myself). We get it in bottles and sometimes on tap, but nothing tastes better than a great beer fresh from the source. The Pliny was great and I could have stayed for quite a while, but it was too beautiful a day to stay cooped up inside so long (they need a patio!).
By the way, if you come to wine country, I highly advise you to stick to a pretty small region. It ended up being a fairly lengthy drive because of the traffic in Santa Rosa. Also, if you plan to hit Santa Rosa, definitely pick up a city map- the maps in the wine country guides did us more harm than good in the city! Healdsburg was a pretty cool little town, with plenty of shops, restaurants and tasting rooms (and the brewery, of course) within walking distance. Next time we do a wine trip, we may base ourselves here and check out some Russian River Valley wines. After a second trip to Sonoma, we think we'll pretty much have "done" the Sonoma Valley.
Once we finally got back to Sonoma, we headed over to the Bartholomew Park winery for a tasting and a picnic. We found out that this is the "boutique label" for the Buena Vista winery just down the road (a place we visited on our last trip). Bartholomew sits on a pretty piece of hillside property, and is a popular tasting spot in part because of abundant picnic spots with great views and a network of vineyard hiking trails. We didn't have a chance to do the trails, but after some tasting (excellent syrah and cabs), we found a sunny spot and snacked on crackers, grapes and an assortment of cheeses. And one of those cabs. We are hauling around an ice chest that was packed with cheese, sandwich stuff, tea and bottled water from home- big money-saver, especially in an expensive place like this.
Had dinner downstairs at the hotel (We're staying at the El Dorado, by the way. Great location right on the Sonoma Plaza.). After dinner, Rhonda got a late boost of energy and we walked across the plaza to Murphy's Irish Pub (perhaps she was inspired by that Irish Stout at Bear Republic). We were up a little past our bedtime, but it was a fun end to a fun day. Well, almost the end anyway. We locked ourselves out of the bathroom just as we were ready to go to bed. I had to get dressed and run downstairs, where an old handyman with a twinkle in his eye lent me an allen wrench to unlock the door.
Back to serious wine-tasting today.
Kicked the day off at Pearl's for breakfast again. Lots of locals there, including several youngsters getting properly fueled up for their upcoming little league game. Pearl's passed the B&G test on the strength of their gravy: thick but smooth consistency, plenty of chunky sausage and well-seasoned, including a hint of cayenne pepper. The biscuits were the sweet cake-like variety. Not my favorite style for sure, but good gravy makes anything taste better.
The routine has been that we figure out a rough itinerary for the day over breakfast, incorporating any advice from locals along the way. This particular meal inspired us to go brewery-hopping instead of winery-hopping. First, we headed up to Healdsburg and the Bear Republic Brewing Co. Very friendly staff and an expansive selection of quality beers here, including some great IPAs, Scotch Ales and a really nice dry Irish Stout that got Rhonda's seal of approval. Along the way, we saw a couple of wineries we intend to visit today.
Next, a stop at Russian River Brewing Co. in Santa Rosa. These guys are one of the darlings of the "beer geek" community, specializing in incredible IPAs, flavorful Belgian-style brews and American Wild Ales (a relatively new, loosely defined style and not my cup of tea, at least the ones I've had so far). I definitely wanted to come here for a pint of Pliny The Elder, one of the best beers in the world according to those internet beer geeks (including myself). We get it in bottles and sometimes on tap, but nothing tastes better than a great beer fresh from the source. The Pliny was great and I could have stayed for quite a while, but it was too beautiful a day to stay cooped up inside so long (they need a patio!).
By the way, if you come to wine country, I highly advise you to stick to a pretty small region. It ended up being a fairly lengthy drive because of the traffic in Santa Rosa. Also, if you plan to hit Santa Rosa, definitely pick up a city map- the maps in the wine country guides did us more harm than good in the city! Healdsburg was a pretty cool little town, with plenty of shops, restaurants and tasting rooms (and the brewery, of course) within walking distance. Next time we do a wine trip, we may base ourselves here and check out some Russian River Valley wines. After a second trip to Sonoma, we think we'll pretty much have "done" the Sonoma Valley.
Once we finally got back to Sonoma, we headed over to the Bartholomew Park winery for a tasting and a picnic. We found out that this is the "boutique label" for the Buena Vista winery just down the road (a place we visited on our last trip). Bartholomew sits on a pretty piece of hillside property, and is a popular tasting spot in part because of abundant picnic spots with great views and a network of vineyard hiking trails. We didn't have a chance to do the trails, but after some tasting (excellent syrah and cabs), we found a sunny spot and snacked on crackers, grapes and an assortment of cheeses. And one of those cabs. We are hauling around an ice chest that was packed with cheese, sandwich stuff, tea and bottled water from home- big money-saver, especially in an expensive place like this.
Had dinner downstairs at the hotel (We're staying at the El Dorado, by the way. Great location right on the Sonoma Plaza.). After dinner, Rhonda got a late boost of energy and we walked across the plaza to Murphy's Irish Pub (perhaps she was inspired by that Irish Stout at Bear Republic). We were up a little past our bedtime, but it was a fun end to a fun day. Well, almost the end anyway. We locked ourselves out of the bathroom just as we were ready to go to bed. I had to get dressed and run downstairs, where an old handyman with a twinkle in his eye lent me an allen wrench to unlock the door.
Back to serious wine-tasting today.
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