Thorn St. Brewery
We arrived at Thorn St. Brewery right as they opened at noon after a 20 minute walk from Urban Solace. We sat at the bar and got to ask questions about the beers and the brewery and learned a lot about Thorn St. Brewery. We were eager as it was our first stop, so we ordered EIGHT of their 5 oz. tasters, but hey, at least we shared the 40 oz. of beer. They were only $2 a piece, so it was a great way to sample a good selection of what they offer.
My personal fave at Thorn St. Brewery was Tropic Daze, an IPA brewed with Citra hops (a fave of mine) as well as Topaz, Mosaic and Amarillo. It also contains a small amount of wheat and crystal malt and comes in at 6.6% ABV, right in the perfect range for me. Ben liked it too but preferred the 7.2% Relay IPA, containing Amarillo, Simcoe and Columbus hops among others. We also both liked Mystic Gnome, a hoppy Xtra Pale Ale, but really everything we tried was great. On to the next brewery!
Modern Times Flavordome
It was only a 5-10 minute walk back in the direction we had just come from to get to the North Park outpost of Modern Times Beer, aptly nicknamed the North Park Flavordome. Tastings were a bit pricier here, ranging from $3-$4 each, but we ended up with a free one when the bartender poured it by mistake. Can’t complain! Although I love Modern Times beer, my fave part of this place was the decor! VHS tapes adorned the bar, floppy disks lined a full wall, lamp shades hung upside down from the ceiling, it was a really fun vibe!
I’ve been a fan of Modern Times Fortunate Islands for a while, for me it’s the perfect marriage of a refreshing wheat beer with the hoppiness of an IPA. So, I had to have a taste of that, but also ordered up all five IPAs for the hubs to try. Yes, FIVE. The extra pour was the Blazing World hoppy amber, which we have had before and also like. We both noticed that a lot of the IPAs here were very heavy, not necessarily a bad thing, but we wished we had gotten a few lighter choices as well. My fave other than Fortunate Islands, was naturally Mega Fortunate Islands, a stronger and hoppier version of the former, with a full 3% jump in ABV from 5% to 8%. Both contain Amarillo and Citra hops (notice the theme here?) Alright, now that we were starting to slur, it was time for a nice long walk.
Mike Hess Brewing
We stopped into a few shops on our way to Mike Hess Brewing, mostly to slow ourselves down as we had already shared 15 beer tasters and it was barely 2pm. When we arrived at Hess, the place was hopping! It was definitely the most lively brewery stop of the day! We ordered 5 tasters to take advantage of their 5 for $15 deal that comes with a free branded pint glass. We both thought the food truck set up here was awesome, the sushi food truck there that day was pulled right up to a bay door on the backside of the brewery near the bar. How incredibly convenient! Almost as good as having an on-site restaurant.
A favorite for me at Hess was the 8 West, an Orange Honey Wheat brewed with orange blossom honey and California orange peel and coming in at 6% ABV. I was rather hopped out at this point, so it was refreshing to have something lighter. Another fave of both of ours was the Grapefruit Solis at 7.5% ABV. We had a lingering discussion about how well grapefruit works with beer and complements the hops so nicely without being overly sweet. It’s one of few fruits my husband welcomes in his beer. We picked up our cool Hess pint glass and headed across the street to City Tacos for a snack break.
NICE