San Jose & Sunnyvale

May 3-4, 2009

Val was heading-up a CalCPA meeting in downtown San Jose, and I got to go along to make sure her Power Point presentations were working and to see what the craft brewing industry of the Silicon Valley had on tap.

The meeting was at the Fairmont Hotel, and we arrived at noon on Sunday (damn, I missed church again!).  This is one high rent place,  so.... we stayed at the Wyndham, down the road, for a fraction of the price.  

After two hours of dealing with three female accounting professors, all telling me at the same time, the changes they wanted made in their PPTs, I was ready for.....

Fortunately, the brewpub is only a block away.  

This is a classic setup, where they've taken an old building and turned it into a brewpub - well done!  

I'm not a big fan of Blonde Bock , Czech Style Pilsner or Hefeweizen, so I stuck to two of my favorites - Märzen  (below) and Schwarzbier (black lager) - Delicious!

The place was full, with a very lively crowd.  You can see the brewery tanks in the background.

On that way out I caught this shot of the top tower of a classic old office building (I thought it must have been a church!) on the corner of 1st and Santa Clara, one of the landmarks of downtown San Jose.

Early that evening, back to the Fairmont for a nice reception and then down the street, to the Sainte Claire. for a delicious Italian meal (these folks know how to do it right!).

Monday 8:00, another crunch to get the day's presentations set, then I was out'a there...

Coffee outside at a nice little cafe next to San Jose State...

Then onto the business of the day.  

Drove up 101 to Sunnyvale, and first visited the Fire House Brewery.  This location, on classic South Murphy Avenue, use to be Stoddard's Brewpub.  I'd been there about six years ago, with son Jason, when he was doing an internship with AMD.  That was a Friday evening and I never got any further then the back patio.  This was 11:30 Monday, and I pretty much had the place to myself!  I even got free parking out front.

Classic bar, with the brewery behind the glass - Life is good!

As usual, I had their sampler set, and there was definitely some good ones here.  

Not a very steady shot of the board (below).  I can honestly say it was low light with no flash - I had not even got into the beer yet!  All of them are their beers, except of course the Trumer Pils (which reminds me, I need another Berkeley Road Trip!).  

Usually, I'm not a big fan of Pale Ale (spoiled by the hoppier beers), but this was an exceptionally good ale.  The stout and porter also really caught my attention.  

Had one of the best hamburgers (don't tell my office partner!)  I've had in a long time - and then the Barleywine for dessert.  This was a nice lunch!

A view of the skylight inside the pub.

Brewmaster, Steve Donahue, stopped by and asked how I liked the beer.  One of the advantages to visiting these places during "off hours". 

Turned out Steve graduated from Chico State, back around the time we started working there - 19 years ago.  What a nice guy - he gave me a little tour of his domain - A one man show, every homebrewer's dream!

He had Scotch Ale, aging in the oak barrels

Steve was the brewer for Stoddard's, so he has a lot of history here.  

The kegs go to their Palo Alto location, and a couple of other spots in the bay area.

I took a peek out in the back patio...

These are a tad bit higher then mine.  Must be because they are further south!

I then migrated over to Faultline Brewery, also in Sunnyvale...

They use to have a few other locations (Sacramento, etc), but now they are just down to this brewery.  But what a beautiful location....

One of the regulars...

When I sat down and saw the beer list, I got all excited to see they had a cask brown (last one on the list).  

Well, there was a reason it was at the bottom of the list.  After taking my first sip, I asked the bar tender how long this cask had been on tap.  "Oh, a month or two".  I said to myself "Oh shit!". 

I tried to explain to him that it was all down hill after one or two days.  Fortunately he was good enough to dump it and get me a delicious hoppy IPA.  Saved by the hops!

What a great venue, but where are the people at lunch time?

Got a kick out of this sign, as I exited the parking lot...

Back to downtown San Jose to hit the Tied House Brewpub.  I'd been to their Mountain View location, that same evening with Jason, six years ago.  I'd really liked that brewpub, so I was looking forward to this one.

This San Jose location is on the historical San Pedro Square.

I stopped by on Sunday, but they were closed.  I was suspicious because San Jose had a huge Cinco De Mayo celebration downtown that day.  Not a logical time to be closed?   

Well on Monday they had a sign up: "Closed for remodeling, will open May 19th".  I read that as just plain old "Closed!"  It had been at least two days and there was no sign of any work going on. Bummer!  [Although, as I'm writing this, I checked their Web site and it does say; "Closed for remodeling, open May 15th".  That's better then the 19th! Hopefully, they'll be back]

Down the street was a classic necessity on a street full of bars!

This is part of the arch to the entrance of San Pedro Square.

Well, it was time to pick up Val, so I headed on back.  These are the fountains in front of the Fairmont, with the Marriott in the background and a jet on final for SJC.

The Fairmont - a classic!  

3:15 and we headed out'a Dodge, before the traffic got too bad.  It was a great two days!