Comments on: Oddbits: Tasting Coastal Fog Holiday Ale, Holiday Beer tastings ahead at The Trappist, Pacific Coast, New Belgium’s green status report

By: Steve D

Steve D — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 22:33:45 +0000

Hey Bill-

If you do the Train pub crawl next week, please give me a heads up so I can be sure to be at the brewery.

Steve

By: William Brand

William Brand — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 19:33:29 +0000

Thanks Duke. My gawd. You could do an all-day pub crawl couldn’t you and do it on one ticket. You can buy a ticket at San Bruno for San Jose, then get off and on as you please on the same ticket. Not a bad idea. Thanks for the info.

By: The Duke Of Dunkel

The Duke Of Dunkel — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 04:30:36 +0000

William–I believe the Beer By Bart website includes beers by Caltrain. But you’ve got Tied House near the Mt View (Castro) stop; Rose & Crown near the downtown Palo Alto stop (also Gordon-Biersch). Prince of Wales in San Mateo used to be a good spot when Jack Curry owned it..I was there a few months ago and it seems to me they still had some good choices. And City Pub near the Redwood City station has some OK stuff on tap (nothing that’ll blow your mind but you can Grab a Lagunitas, for instance).

By: Robert Stewart

Robert Stewart — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 02:32:22 +0000

“Special Extra sounds exactly like Foreign Extra.”

The label actually says Special Export, not Special Extra. Regardless, Wikipedia suggests you are on the right track:

“Foreign Extra Stout and Special Export Stout, with abv over 7%, are perhaps closest to the original in character”

and

“Guinness Special Export Stout, sold in Belgium and The Netherlands—8% abv;”

By: William Brand

William Brand — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 00:24:45 +0000

Well, discdue, it appears that each name is slightly different and except for us beer geeks that brands never conflict. I used the wrong link a couple of weeks ago and got quickly corrected. But you know, it’s a good question.

By the way, my plan is to to take a Caltrain beer crawl next week. I know I can reach Burlingame Station and Firehouse. Wonder if there are any other brewpubs or good pubs close to a Caltrain stop.

By: discdude

discdude — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 18:02:05 +0000

Bill-

Speaking of labels, what about brewery names? Are there rules/regulations on that? There is Firehouse Brewery in Sunnyvale, Firehouse Brewing Company in San Diego, and Firehouse Brewing Company in South Dakota.

http://www.firehousegrill.com/
http://www.firehousebrew.com/
http://www.firehousebrewing.com/

I seem to recall that when Dreyer’s went east, they had to change the name to Edy’s because they were encroaching on Breyer’s territory. These brewery names seem even more confusing.

By: William Brand

William Brand — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:49:56 +0000

I’ll have to check that one out Mario.

By: Mario (Brewed For Thought)

Mario (Brewed For Thought) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 07:19:03 +0000

William, same glasses without the brand name are at Cost Plus, $4 each.

By: William Brand

William Brand — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 02:53:47 +0000

Back in March I interviewed Fergal Murray, who is Guinness Brewmaster — he was on a U.S. tour. Here’s what he told me about Foreign Extra Stout:

About Foreign Extra Stout. This extremely dry, tasty, 8 percent bottled beer is an entirely different product than Draft Guinness. Murray said Foreign Extra Stout is the fastest growing Guinness brand. It’s sold in all of Africa, the West Indies, the Caribbean and Asia. He said he has no idea why it’s not sold in the U.S. “It;s very big in Africa and as a global brand.”

That was his answer: He has no idea why they don’t sell it in the U.S.

By: Chaz

Chaz — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 01:42:47 +0000

I was in Dublin in March and took the popular Guinness tour. I couldn’t wait until it was over so I could go to the taproom to try the Foreign Extra Stout. It makes regular Guinness seem like water in comparison, such a tasty and intensely flavored brew. You would think with the amount of people looking for more and more flavorful beer it’d find a good market in the USA and actually might help boost their regular Guinness sales.