007/366
Saturday, January 7th: Beers with friends at Stumptown Brewery on the Russian River. This brewery is the home of the Russian River Beer Revival beerfest and BBQ cookoff every August and one of my favorite places to bring newbies (aka tourists) to Sonoma County. The drive through the Russian River Valley vineyards is gorgeous and this biker bar/adventure in Gurneville is one that doesn’t happen every day.
006/366
Friday January 6th: Meetings at Coffee Catz. I always have new marketing and PR opportunities for projects here in Sonoma County, and most of my meetings take place at local coffee shops around town.
See more about why I love Coffee Catz on a blog post about “Stuff I Love” from back in May.
Every Christmas I have a few traditions that truly makes this time of year special. Each year, since I left for college in San Diego, I have come back home to Sonoma County for the holidays (and my dad’s in Sacramento) and have had tear-inducing laughs with friends and family.
1. Christmas Eve dinner with my mom, sister, her husband and the littles (aka my three nieces and nephews).
2. Sailer Jerry shots at the B & B Lounge in Healdsburg (either on Christmas Eve or Christmas).
3. Catching up with friends in my friend’s Mom’s garage in Healdsburg. We remember the good ol’ days back in the nineties and laugh at each other until one of us spills, falls or laughs so hard we cry.
4. Hiking or walking around Russian River Valley with my mom on Christmas Day.
Here are some of my favorite pictures from today’s walk nearby Piner Creek (and one of myself and my favorite people):
It has just been announced that the Russian River Brewing Company in downtown Santa Rosa will be releasing Batch 4 Beatification on Monday, December 19th. The Sour Ale/Wild Ale is only sold in bottles and people will be able to purchase two bottles each. According to the Russian River Brewing Company’s blog, buyers can drink cold bottles at the brewery or take a bottle home for stocking stuffers (but knowing most beer geeks, they will be taking the other bottle home for themselves).
I am always fascinated with the names that Vinnie (owner and brewmaster) comes up with to name his cult beers. My favorite is “It takes a lot of good beer to make wine,” a toast to Sonoma County winemaking friends who are known to down many bottles of beer during Harvest. In true Russian River Brewing Co fashion, the name of this release has a story behind it….
Image taken from Rate Beer
(in the Roman Catholic Church) Declaration by the pope that a dead person is in a state of bliss, constituting a step toward canonization and permitting public veneration
The Sonoma County brewery will be open at 11am, but considering the beer bloggers from all over have been waiting for this release for a while, my advice to you would be to get there early and grab some coffee from the newly opened Filling Station in Sweet Tooth, just a block away at 643 4th Street, stand in line and meet fellow “in the know” beer geeks such as yourself.
Once you are inside, make sure to grab some beer bites, or my favorite, Pliny bites, which are small bites of pizza with white cheddar and jalapenos. Or try one of the BEST vegetarian pizzas in all of Sonoma County (well, without a brick oven) – the Nu-Deal. Made with mozzarella, pesto, spinach, caramelized onions and mushrooms.
The 26 poses of Bikram’s Yoga… And yes, this is how I felt the entire 90 minutes…. Though what they forget to mention is the amazing high you feel afterward. All of the suffering I have gone through during my first class was a little less during my second class. I am told I will suffer less and less with practice.