Category: BrewPubs

There is a section of Boise, that is technically it’s own separate town since swallowed up by the greater Boise metropolis, called Garden City.  It is a 4 square mile strip a few miles long along the river, zoned mostly industrial with a smattering of trailer parks and used car lots.

But on the bright side, over the last couple years it has been a localized hot bed for craft beer.  Starting at the east end is Payette Brewing, established in 2010 and basically a brewery with a small tasting room attached.  A mile or two west is Crooked Fence Brewing, a similar commercial model.  And another mile or so down the road is Kilted Dragon, a decidedly simple and blue-collar joint which opened its doors just last December.   Each is brewing on premises and all but the latter with their own canning line.

This stretch has been called Garden City’s “Ale Trail” and “Chinden Beer Boulevard”,  by local publication contributors.  I think I prefer simply, “the Beer Belt” referring to the near-by popular cycling and strolling “Green Belt” system of trails, winding along the river through town.

Whatever you want to call it, it’s a good thing.  Boise is on it’s way to making it’s mark on the regional list of brew-towns like it’s big sister about 300 miles to the west.

I was at Crooked Fence recently and had one of their year-round offerings, Devil’s Pick IPA.  At 80 IBUs it is plenty bitter, full bodied but not a ton of fresh hop flavor.  It packs a punch though and as somewhat of a hop-head myself, it did just fine.

The place seats about 35-40 and is mostly high stools and tables with a small 10 seat bar.  Very basic food choices consisting exclusively, as far as I can tell of  hotdogs “crooked wieners” on a rotating warmer.  But folks come here for a drink, and that’s just fine.

Looking forward to visiting the other newest members of the Boise Brewpub scene and I’ll be documenting it here.

It’s exciting to see growth in this area, in this area,  and I hope this town can support a few more.

I spent part of the day yesterday, checking in on a few local sources of my favorite malt beverage and it included a lunch break at The Ram – Boise.  Even before I opened the front door I knew something was brewing when I picked up on the unmistakable aroma of a “boil” going on.  I loved it but I wondered to my self how many of the prime time lunch crowd coming in would infact be turned off  by that unique smell as it is somewhat  of an “acquired taste”.

As is typically the case when I stop in to a Brewpub, especially ones I have visited recently or regularly, I am looking for any one-offs or seasonals or some other special offering.   I cant quite justify driving all the way down for a run-of-the-mill Amber, for example that they have all the time anyway.   Once in a while my effors are rewarded as I stumble across some Barrel Aged version of some seasonal or some other experimental brew.

Today though, only their regular line-up was on, so I had the Taildragger IPA which was very tasty as usual.   I skipped actual food and stuck with the beer only as a type of carbo-loading I suppose.

The highlight of my visit was when I spotted Kevin, the head brewer come out for a drink (of water) while glancing at MLB highlights on the big screen (Bobby Thompson had just passed away, and they were showing the clasic 1 game playoff in 1951)    I overheard my server talk to him about my questions I had for her a few minutes earlier about any special beers that were coming up and she was, I suppose making sure she hadn’t forgotten to mention any.  He came over and we shook hands and since he didnt seem to rushed I got to chat with him and ask a few questions.

He did say that he has an American Stout on oak right now that will be released in the fall and when I mentioned that it smelled like he was boiling something he confirmed that it was “just an Amber” he was doing today.  I asked him about GABF coming up and he perked up a bit and said he had several entries this year.  I reminded him that he had done pretty well in the past and he shrugged it off and agreed that he had had some success recently.  I asked him if he had particularly high hopes for any of his entries in particular and the Kolsch, he thought was pretty good especially.  I’m sure he will come back with a couple medals this year again.

It was great to chat with him and it was gracious of him to take a few minutes out of his busy schedule for me and now that I think of it, he might have shown me around the brewing facilities if I had asked, but I didn’t want to impose.  I did however switch gears a bit, identified myself as a Homebrewer and had a specific question about Pale Ales and IPAs and that grassy, hay like flavor I sometimes get.  He asked if I dry hopped and when I said “yeah” he advised me that hops in the pellet form would likely give me less of that off flavor than the whole leaf version I had usually used in the past.  Thanks for the tip.

I was good to talk to Kevin, and I couldn’t help feeling like I was hob-knobbing a little and getting privy information.

Not having officially checked out the few adult beverage establishments in the upscale town on the western outskirts of Boise, I figured it was high time to take a closer look.
Eagle is a nice town.    I like the fresh modern look that all the relatively new construction adds to it. I had driven by RiverRock Ale House about a thousand times over the last year or so but never stopped in, until now.
Hitting it at 345pm I figured it wouldn’t be busy and I was right. In fact there was an awkward moment when I walked in when the entire staff and both of the customers all turned around and stared at me for a moment.   I thought maybe there was a private meeting going on and that I was going to have my attention directed to the “closed” sign.
Turns out they were in fact open, and the collection of blank looks I got must have been due to some other unknown factor.
Their tap selection is impressive and disappointing at the same time. 24 taps, no casks and no nitros. Well, 1 if you count the Guinness. Their tap selection shows that they are not proud nor adventurous. The light variants of both Bud and Coors were represented and argue other end of the spectrum were such wild and crazy offerings as Black Butte Porter, Stella Artois and Skinny Dip. It was nice to see the Ninkasi Radiant and also the Stone IPA. 

I went with an old favorite, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale which was good, as usual but I would have liked to see her run a couple ounces out before filling the glass.

I had to have been the first hit on that tap in the last couple hours, maybe even for the whole day.    It foamed like crazy and my server figured it was the same thing to just pour off the foam (and nearly all the carbonation from that first 30% of the serving) and just top it off with a couple more pulls from the tap.    So it was a little flat and a little warm. Not that I have to have my beer ice cold.   I was offered ice water, which I accepted, but after 20 minutes all I got was a couple expressionless glances while he was determining if it was too eat to try to sell me another beer.    I also thought it was a nice touch when my server had to answer the AC/DC ring tone on her cell.
“Shook me all night long” I think it was.
Can’t think of a good reason to come back….well…AC/DC does rock…

I don’t know what took me so long to notice, but I stumbled upon a “new” bottleshop in Boise this weekend.
Brewforia is located on Miluakee near Carls Jr and he’s been open for business since November. They are currently preparing their new site in Meridian near the Overland and Eagle intersection. A little birdie told me there will even be a modest menu when the new location opens.
At aproximately 350 beer selections currently, they have a nice range of choices. I picked up a Sierra Nevada 30th aniversary Imperial Stout, and a couple from 21st Ammendment. (how could I NOT bring home something called “monks blood”)
They have a few rotating taps as well for samples and pints as well if you are so inclined to sit and have a full glass. Which I was…
I realy think that Brewforia fills a niche or a gap in the bottled beer retail landscape in Boise. The Co-Op does well and has a decent selection but is not very conveniant for us west enders. New Vintage is a wine shop that has a few regional beers but I have witnessed the effects of them being pretty low on their distributors priority list due to the relatively low volume they move.
It will be good to have a real bottle shop in Meridian/West Boise. The usual suspects are represented, Sierra Nevada,

A part of this site will be to plug and review the local Brewpubs of the Boise and Treasure Valley area.

The first on the list is Sockeye Grill and Brewery on Cole road.  Their Dagger Falls IPA is a regular and a favorite of mine.  I also particularly liked the Hopnixious Imperial IPA and the Split tail Stout, the latter of which I think has not returned since it’s debut in early ’08.  Josh King, the brewer keeps the regular line-up going and new seasonals are usually posted out front on the reader board when they come on.

In side it is a bit dark and has a kind of old, comfortable feel.  A couple of TVs are over the bar and are not obnoxious to those that don’t care about PAC-10 “whatevers” going on.  Friendly staff and an over all relaxed atmosphere where you are not bombarded by neon, brass, 32 flavors of Margaritas and 60″ plasma TVs.

At 8 o’clock on Tuesdays and Fridays, local bands perform and the place gets pretty rockin’.  especially in the Summer when the usually full house spills out in to the patio.

I consider it my home BrewPub.  Especially on Tuesdays where it is 2$ Pints.