Third Anual Hoppy Easter Brewery Tour
At 11:30 the brewery opened the "Beer Sanctuary", where the manager set up four tastings for each of us. We sampled Czech Pilsner, Pale Ale, IPA, and a new beer called "VI" as we munched on pretzels and peanuts. It was truly a "hoppy" tour since Lagunitas Brewery is known for making beer heavy on hops. Fortunately, it turned out to be a beautiful, sunny day, which we appreciated because we were seated outside at three long picnic tables. Lagunitas is a great place to lounge, take the brewery tour, eat at their new restaurant, and listen to live music. We did spend over an hour there, but we had another stop on our tour, the Iron Springs Pub & Brewery in Fairfax.
We departed Lagunitas and took our time, enjoying an hour-long drive through the countryside, green and alive with wildflowers. Jake, the manager of Iron Springs was ready for us with pitchers of four of their beers to enjoy: Bothin Porter, Amber, Kolsch, and Kaz's "First Pitch", a beer named in honor of the Giants' opening day. We had our choice of hearty portions of sautéed tiger prawn salad, southwest chicken sandwich, or mushroom and onion burger. Dave, our waiter, was "hopping" back and forth to the kitchen with pitchers, food, and good humor.
At the end of our meal, we gave away door prizes. Everyone walked away with something by which to remember our tour, including t-shirts, magnets, posters, and glasses from the two breweries we visited. Looking down the table, I saw many smiles and heard lots of laughter as we all enjoyed our cars and the company of fellow Porsche owners. There were already suggestions for breweries for next year!