165 Main Street, Old Town Salinas; 758-BEER

Food, sail boats, and small airplanes--sometimes they have a lot in common. For example, in all three, if you want to get from point "A" to point "B", you rarely steer a straight course. In my neighborhood, if you want to sail from Moss Landing harbor to Monterey, the wind is almost always blowing directly across your path, so you spend all of your time zigzagging (we call it 'tacking' in the sailing world) your way across the bay until you arrive two hours later than you would have anticipated. When you fly a Cessna 150 from Watsonville to Hollister (almost directly east) you point the nose of the plane almost north because the wind is blowing down the valley from San Jose so fast that if you took a 'direct route' you'd be in Santa Maria two hours later before you never got to the planned runway. Recently, Kim and I were toying with the idea of a Slow Food event where we would pair locally crafted cheeses with locally crafted beers. Here in California, we have our fair share of award winning cheese makers (Cowgirl, Harley Farms, Oakdale, Bravo Farms, etc.), but we were having a hard time finding a micro-brewery that lived up to the same standard. Then there was an art exhibit at the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas.

A little background: We moved to the California Central Coast area twenty-two years ago, in a big hurry (no, I got a job, and the sheriff wasn't chasing us) and the only place to live turned out to be an apartment in Salinas. Back then, entertainment in Salinas (so it was said) consisted of drinking beer, beating your wife, taking your kids to the minor league baseball park (the wind always blew and the team rarely won) and THE RODEO. Annually Salinas hosts the biggest rodeo in the United States, second in the world only to the Calgary Stampede in Canada. Additionally, the disenchanted sons and daughters of our stalwart Mexican-American farm workers would kill each other in gang related violence. All-in-all, not a great place for a Slow Foodie to live. (OK, the chili, steaks, and birria were great, but...)

So we moved out to the rural area between Salinas and Watsonville, and we, more or less, forgot about Salinas for roughly twenty years. However, here comes the Steinbeck connection. Salinas is an Ag/Cow town, but John Steinbeck came from there, and he wrote about there, and he didn't want to be buried there, and they buried him there anyway, and now there's a national center there. And the Center hosts art exhibits, and I'm an art teacher, and we're members of the center, and...

After visiting the art exhibit at ten in the morning, we decided to take a stroll down the old Main Street area that stretches from the front door of the center. Since we've lived in Salinas a lot has happened: an earthquake, an economic boom, and economic bust, etc. We discovered Salinas has today moved the homeless, cleaned up the surviving 'original' buildings (they range in birth from '89 to '34), enticed some new businesses and hostelries, and generally cleaned up its act.

And so, on our stroll we discovered The Monterey Coast Brewing Company--a local brew pub! But was it any good? Was it any good with cheese? 10:56 am, and time for a beer for breakfast.

Actually, on the day of our visit, they were offering six beers to taste. No, we didn't do a pint of each. They offer a four ounce tasting glass, and they encouraged us to share tasting glasses, so we 'knocked down' six beers in twenty-four ounces for less than $7.50--not bad! Let's start.

American Wheat. VERY light. Light on hops, light on body, what I call the "coors" in their line-up. I'd love it after four hours of rototilling on a hot spring day. If "I don't drink beer," this is for you.

Pale Ale. Their version of India Pale Ale, and a classic it is! It's clean, no after taste, and everything you'd expect from an IPA.

Pilsner. This is their only lager (fermented under refrigeration rather than "room" temperature--longer to develop, smoother, "cleaner"). The hops are a little stronger here. This is what most of us call "beer."

Hefe Weissen. OK, the double 's' in 'weissen' is really that funny looking capitalized 'B,' and the foreign name really means something like American Wheat (see above), but this REALLY is a different beer. Like American Wheat, it's light on body, but the hops are a little sharper and the flavor explodes with cardamom/spice/honey/floral (and I say smoky) flavors. I'd say this wheat-based beer lives right up there with a classic pilsner.

Scottish Red. Their Flagship Beer. I Agree with serving person, this is their everyday winner. Rich, hoppy, full mouth feel ("Chewy"), and a real red color--hold a white napkin up behind your glass and see--this is the one! Not for the non-beer-drinker, but one sip will bring a smile to almost everyone's lips.

This is a real working brewery, so this day their Nut Brown Ale wasn't available, but...

...the Chocolate Porter was! Dark, clear, chocolaty, coffee-flavored, and NOT SWEET! Lately I've seen a tendency to sweet porters. NO! The chocolates should be sweet, and the porter or coffee should be a counter point to the sweetness of the dessert. This is a great way to finish a dinner (or, in our case, a breakfast), and it would sit sweet on the stomach all by itself.

We did not taste the fare--how could we with a full beer tasting for breakfast?--but the menu looked 'American' and well rounded. I wouldn't hesitate next time.

Sum up: No negatives. All of the beers were clear, no after taste, 'classic.' In Salinas?!?!? Sometimes we steer a funny-looking course to get where we want to go. We left Salinas many years ago thinking there was no food "there there," and twenty years later we walk into a classic brew pub where homeless used to relieve themselves. Once I was so intent on scanning my harbor that I failed to notice the bilge water was up my knees and I needed to start bailing. I pray every flight that I haven't forgotten the airstrip I've just passed--just in case.

My point is, go back and rediscover where you have been in the past few years. The world changes, food changes, your perspective changes, and the gem you're looking for--and beer and cheese pairing/tasting--may be as close as the stroll you take after a casual art show.

Date	Article
08/01/2008	Big Sur Bakery & Restaurant By Rebecca Thistlethwaite
07/24/2008	Ristorante Avanti By Kimberly Wright
08/14/2008	River Cafe & Cheese Shop By Kimberly Wright