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
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
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)