Amtrak to California, Part 7: The Craft Beer Trail

California Journey:  Craft Beer Trail (3 photos)

It is amazing that Amtrak has even one bottle selection of craft beer, but they do.  The Southwest Chief offers Nevada Pale Ale, and I had one between Santa Fe Station (Lamy) and Albuquerque.  I confess to doing a pretty awful job this time around of taking photos and keeping track of all the places.  So sorry!  I promise to do better next time.

           With our long layover in Chicago after arriving early on our train from Detroit, even a rainy day couldn't stop me from walking to the nearby Haymarket Brewery and Pub.  Let's just say that I will be back as often as possible!

 Part of the draft beer menu at Haymarket Brewery, Chicago.  We also ate lunch
here, with several veg-friendly options available.  The back of the menu lists all
the many bottles available.  At the very bottom is a small portion entitled
"American Crap Beer."  Love it!

Banana Hammock Hefeweizen:  **1/2.
Kaiser Rauchtenstein Dry-Hop:  **1/2
Replicale 2014 Double Pale Ale: ****
Lucy Belgian Tripel Ale 8%:         ***1/2
Angry Birds American-Belgo:      ****
Ombibulous 7.0 American IPA:  ***1/2
The Defender American Stout:   ***1/2    

Chama River Brewery Microbar/Taproom, Albuquerque, NM
            This was a lifesaver!  Located just around the corner from the Amtrak Station, I was able to purchase a 32 oz growler of their Jackalope IPA!  I also tasted their Sleeping Dog Stout, which was just as awesome!  **** stars to both beers!!  I love how the website gives the recipe for home brewers!!!  On an earlier visit to Albuquerque we did visit the main brewpub, and will again.  Taproom opens at 4 pm, so it's good for the westbound train layover.  However, eastbound it doesn't work at all, unless the train is already 4 hours late.

Woodstock Pizza, San Luis Obispo, CA
            Great pizza, offering vegan cheese and a small craft brew tap area.  I enjoyed Speakeasy Prohibition Ale.  Pizza ****.  Ale ***.

Fernwood Lodge, Big Sur, CA
            The tavern is small and cozy, featuring a heated outdoor deck steeped in redwood trees.  There are about 10 craft taps.  We ate lunch here before our hike to Buzzards Roost, then had beer and coffee afterwards.  A great little place, right on Highway 1.  No time to hike to see redwoods?  Have an ale on their back deck.  I had Firestone Session IPA.  ***.

 Peter B.'s Brewpub, Monterey, CA.

            We had two visits here, including a very crowded happy hour one Thursday night, and then for a quieter lunch Friday after the whale watch cruise.  Both times I had the cask IPA and left very happy!  It is a modern, large hotel-type brewpub.  They have glass enclosed ship models.

Cannery Row Brewery, Monterey, CA
            NOT a brewery (I was pre-warned by Jennifer G.), but a large, busy restaurant with many many crafty taps (over 70!).  As we had a 7 pm reservation we were able to saunter in past the lineups at the door and get a table.  The waitress was very helpful in helping us choose vegan items.  I had a glass or two of New Belgium 1554 (****).  The restaurant is situated in the peak tourist district, very close to the ocean.  We had a lovely walk after dinner.

 SLO Brewpub, San Luis Obispo, CA
            After a hot hike in the desert mountains it was nice to come here for a cool-down.  I had an Oatmeal Stout (***), and we sampled the IPA (***1/2).  Right downtown in very cool SLO.  We tried to get in earlier in the week for an evening visit.  However, it is a popular live music venue and the lineup was out the door.  In the early afternoon of a Saturday it was just pleasantly busy.

Manrock Brewery and Taproom, Grover Beach, CA
            Located a five minute walk from our hotel in Arroyo Grande.  How could we resist?  A friendly, busy taproom right off Highway 101.  We both had "Follow the Crow IPA," which was quite outstanding.  ****

Boardroom, Pismo Beach, CA
            A few craft taps and a whole slew of bottles.  I had a pint of Sierra Nevada Hefeweizen (***).  We ate dinner here, preceded and followed by walks on the beach (sunset first, then at moon time).  It was a short drive from our fancy Best Western Motel in Arroyo Grande.

Eastbound Train ride:  I boarded in L.A. with a four-pack of Green Flash Double Stout (*** 1/2).  The only way to travel....

Elephant and Castle, Chicago
            Now a regular watering hole in Chicago.  A fancy place, part of a small chain, and in a hotel.  The bar is a work of art! If it could be transplanted to a train car, it would be the best bar in the entire world!!!  I had an IPA.  Several craft and British drafts, and many adventuresome bottles, including Meantime!

THE END

Amtrak to California, Part 6: Eastbound from Los Angeles

Eastbound on the Southwest Chief (11 photos)

  We were up early next day for our morning drive to L.A., where we would have about 5 or 6 hours to spend downtown.  It was a foggy drive for awhile, but the sun came out eventually.  The highway is really something to see passing the Santa Barbara area, with miles of sandy beach along the ocean.  As it was a Sunday morning, we drove into downtown L.A. with no difficulty.   Near the train station is Little Tokyo.  We were heading to a vegan sushi restaurant for lunch.  It was in an Asian shopping mall, three stories high.  There were several restaurants, gift stores and a large Asian grocery store.  Our restaurant, Shojin, offered some of the most delicious food we have ever eaten!  We shared BBQ Seitan, Stuffed Shitake Mushrooms, and a Gingeronimo Sushi Roll!  They also had many kinds of sake.  However, I had drank enough alcohol so far on this trip that I passed on the opportunity here.

            Later on we visited the L.A. County Museum of Art, enjoying visits to many different galleries and areas, including Japanese Art, which had a display of contemporary kimonos; early European Art, with a great collection of minor Dutch masterpieces; American Art, including several Pre-Columbian galleries; and the bookstore, where I purchase a shiny silver pencil.  The museum is more like a campus, with several different buildings linked by outdoor courtyard.  We were tired when we finally returned to Union Station to await our departure.  There is a small first class lounge here, and we relaxed for about half an hour before boarding.  We left on time, at 6:15 pm.  It was getting dark before we arrived in the mountains, and we didn't see anything much again until next morning, when we awoke in New Mexico.

Last view of downtown Los Angeles, as our train heads east and begins to climb.  The California part of our trip was quite fantastic, and certainly worth repeating (and extending).

 Red cliffs near Gallup, NM, as seen from the Southwest Chief.

More red cliffs, and some tent rocks, NM.

 Telephoto view of Mt. Taylor, near Grants, NM, from the train.  Deb and I have ascended this 11,300' mountain, and would love to get back up there at least one more time.

 The train arrived early into Albuquerque.  We had 55 minutes, so we walked to the nearby downtown city center area, browsing a few shops.  The KiMo is an active historic cinema/theatre.

Detail of the KiMo, Albuquerque.

 Recrossing the plains in NM, passing an extinct volcanic cone.  There were dozens of antelope out here today.

 Deb snapped this one from her side of the roomette, as we curved down into Trinidad, CO!

 It is still the monsoon season in early September, and we passed through some weather as we crossed Raton Pass into Colorado.

 It was a gloomy day as we recrossed the Mississippi River back into Illinois.  It had been a ten-state journey for us each way.  Eastbound, the order is California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan!

Back in Chicago!  We had left L.A. at 6:15 pm on Sunday.  It was now Tuesday at 3 pm!  We had a three hour layover, so we headed to Elephant and Castle Pub, not far from the station.  At 6 pm our train left for Dearborn.  Though we left on time, we arrived 90 minutes late.  We did not get in the door of our house until 2:30 am.  This ends the main travel portion of the journey.  The final page is devoted to craft beer!

To be continued...