Pacific Coast Brewing Co. Oakland CA

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Bill
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Pacific Coast Brewing Co. Oakland CA

#1 Post by Bill » Fri Apr 28, 2006 12:23 am

Pacific Coast Brewing Company
906 Washington Steet, Oakland California
http://www.pacificoastbrewing.com

Pretty small place with more of a 'local pub' feel to it. It also happened to be like 100 yards from my hotel!

They had 7 house beers on tap with several others available (Anchor Steam, Pyramid, Sierra Nevada, Stella Atrois, North Coast to name a few, 13 guest beers in total)
I found out the the Brew Master bartends on Wednesdays, so I missed him by a day. I may have a chance to catch him when I'm back next month.
I drank all 7 of their crafted beers so I'm pretty tipsy at this point, but I will do my best.

I ordered the chicken breast with portabella mushroom gravy, garlic mashed potatoes and sauted veggies (zucchini, red/green peppers, red onion and yellow squash). The food was better than the beer.
My rating: 7


Pacific Coast Gray Whale Ale
Light and smooth with an amber color and a light to medium body. Very clear and well balanced taste. Bronze medal winner at the 1991 GABF.
My rating: 6


Pacific Coast Blue Whale Ale
A beer for the person that loves hops! They call it "either an IPA on steroids or a light Barleywine". Too hoppy for me for me to judge fairly, so I won't rate it. Like I said, I'm not a good judge of beer yet, but I'm honest enough to say I shouldn't rate this beer due to my lack of knowledge and love of hops.
Silver medal winner at 1989 GABF.
My rating: N/A


Pacific Coast Leslie's XPA
They say it's named after the Brew Master?s daughter. Very clear and the lightest colored beer on the menu. Had a decent hop flavor and aroma to it, but had a very bitter finish. I now understand the 'wet cardboard' taste everyone was saying you will get from an oxidized beer. I couldn't do more than 3 sips of this one.
My rating: 3


Pacific Coast Emerald Ale
Seasonal left over from St. Patty's. Nice amber-to-burgundy color, full bodied with a crisp finish that is more on the malt side. Probably my favorite of the bunch.
"All Centennial hops with an O.G 1.060"
My rating: 7


Pacific Coast Luck O' The Irish Stout
Also a St. Patty's left over. Nice dark color with a rich, roasted malt flavor. Light on the hops and very dry. Not outstanding but drinkable.
My rating: 6


Pacific Coast Cask Emerald
In my opinion, this was my least favorite beer of the bunch. It had a mild malt flavor, a very cloudy amber color and was very flat. The beer didn't seem like it was finished aging yet or maybe it was contaminated.
My rating: 2


Pacific Coast Leviathan Imperial Stout
I'm not much of an Imperial fan, but this was good. It had a very deep roasted flavor, not too hoppy and a creamy roasted finish and of course, was very full bodied.
They state;
"Black as Squid Ink! The Stout of Russian Czars! Brewed strong (10% abv) to withstand the long trip to Moscow from Great Britain"
Silver medal winner 1992 and 1993 GABF.
My rating: 6.5

The service was fine and well staffed. I could see into the kitchen and it seemed very clean, I could see the cooks wash their hands. You can see the brew vats (3 or 4 of them I think) when you go down stairs (next to the bathrooms, you are not the first Shane) and they actually do brew from extract. There were several (15 or so) sealed 5 gallon buckets of extract under the stairs and also several gray 55 gallon metal drums that had no writing on them. Not sure what they were for, toxic waste possibly :) .
I would go back for the atmosphere (felt very Irish with nice outdoor seating), but I was a bit let down by the beer. For winning so many medals at the GABF, I felt their beer was lacking.


Average rating: 5.4 (Blue Whale Ale wasn't factored in when making the average)
Last edited by Bill on Wed Jan 31, 2007 11:49 am, edited 1 time in total.
Thanks!

--Bill

all your mash are belong to us

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Joe Yoder
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pacific coast brewery

#2 Post by Joe Yoder » Sun Jul 23, 2006 10:10 am

We visited the Pacific Coast Brewery in Oakland, too, on our last trip out there! The beers were good, but the best ones were the 'guest' beers. They had Pliney the Elder...need I say more! I tried a few of the locals, but they were not great, good, but not great. They are an extract brewery which explains how they can make beer in such a small place.
Joe Yoder

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Bill
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Posts: 935
Joined: Fri Feb 17, 2006 11:21 am
Location: Auburn/Topeka

#3 Post by Bill » Wed Jan 31, 2007 12:00 pm

I visited them again on 01/23/07, but this time around I had the guest beers rather than theirs. I had a good time, from what I remember. I started from the wrong end of the scale by having the Imperial Stout first...
After that I had the bartender Paul choose my brews. By the time I hit the barley wine I was completely faded. Staying after the bar closed was probably not the best decision I made all night, but I had a good time.
I vaguely remember stumbling the 1/2 block back to my room. I wasn't worth a shit for work the next day. Luckily I didn't have any meetings that morning.
So, no ratings on the brews, but I like the place. The staff is just weird enough to make it fun.
Thanks!

--Bill

all your mash are belong to us

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