Bottoms Up

Made it to The Trappist in downtown Oakland and discovered they do have food. I’ve always been so interested in the vast selection of Belgian beer on tap and in bottles , including the Linden Street Urban Peop’s Common Lager shown here that I’ve never noticed.

In fact, they have a cheese plate: It’s $8, includes organic crackers made at Rustic Bakery in Larkspur and a selection of cheeses, thick slices. On this visit they had Old Quebec Vintage Cheddar: It comes from Canada, is aged at least five years and is incredibly rich. The other cheese was Roth Kase Braukase, a brick munster from Roth Kase, a Monroe, WI cheesemaker.

Into cheese: Here’s a good link that discusses cheddar, including Old Quebec:

This day I ordered an Urban People’s Common Lager, from Linden Brewing in Oaklnad. It came perfectly served in a Trappist chalice. I looked around and there was Adam Lamoreaux, Linden Street’s co-founder and brewery. Adam said they’re still brewing at Drake’s in San Leandro, while he struggles with his city permits.

He just came back from South Africa where he toured hop fields, looking for a steady supply for his brwery. One problem: South African hop farmers tend to grow bittering hops, not the aromatic hops like Hallertau and the new American hops like Amarillo that American brewers prefer.

The gossip at The Trappist, by the way, centered around getting a lunch cart to serve sausage and maybe Belgian-style Frenc fries outside the door of the pub. Anayone interested? Talk to Trappist co-fonders Aaron Porter and Chuck Stilphen.

I hear that Linden Street’s Friday afternoon openhouses are really getting popular. Start at 4 p.m. Free beer.

Oddest bit: Took this photo today of a :”beer” shelf at my local Safeway. Comments anyone?