Sacramento Beer Week: Wednesday Feb. 24th... Townhouse Lounge, Rubicon Brewing Company

Beer week approaching it's Mid-point offered a host of good deals and many food pairing events. Wednesday I decided to play it fairly low key and check out an easily accessible beer showcase at the Townhouse Lounge of Sudwerk Brewing Co. Beers. As the night progressed however a change of venue would lead me down to the Rubicon Brewery for some libationary vindication of sorts. Not the most eventful night in store, but a night of beer appreciation nonetheless.

The Townhouse Lounge

The Townhouse Lounge is located on 21st st. between O and P streets in Midtown Sacramento. The place itself is fairly small, but the sign outside has a retro appeal as if something out of the 1950's. For beer week they were showcasing Sudwerk Brewing Co. (Davis, CA) by offering $2 bottles of a choice assortment of their beers. Also, a small table was set up with fliers and a tin bucket full of Sudwerk beer bottles alongside logo imprinted plastic keg cups. They were offering a tasting of each of the beers featured for $2, or so I thought... in actuality it was free, even better!! They only had four types of beer presented and none were anything you couldn't pick up at your local store. They had their Marzen, Hefeweizen, Helle's Lager, and Pilsner. If I had to rank then on a scale of 1-10: Marzen 7.5, Hefeweizen 6, Helle's Lager 7, Pilsner 6. Middle of the road brews, however I have been told that the brewery itself produces some pretty outstanding beers that are available at their brewhouse in Davis...

Rubicon Brewing Co.

In search of some beer with more character, Rubicon Brewing Co. seemed like the safe and fairly reliable choice. Located a stones throw from the Townhouse Lounge on 20th and Capitol, this Brewery/Restaurant has become a staple in my beer adventure repertoire. For Beer Week, Wednesday at the Rubicon featured a Beer and Sausage pairing with all of their house beers being matched up with various Morrant's Old Fashioned Sausages. Arriving at the Rubicon it was pretty obvious that the beer and sausage event had been well exhausted... no matter, it wasn't this event that had caught my attention anyhow. Instead, it was a guest tap from Lagunitas Brewing called Ryan's Folly, an imperial double IPA. Supposedly brewed with Sacramento Beer Week in mind, this beer is amazingly good!!! The malt character is slightly nutty and sweet with just the right amount of heaviness. The hops are perfectly bitter and fairly aromatic. A fairly dark beer with a little mahogany highlight and a thin cream colored head this beer is aesthetically pleasing as well as tasty!!!

On to Thursday...