Beer Tasting, Round 9: Live at Shaka Brewing
For Round 9 of my Beer Tasting 2022 project I went on the road and went live. Instead of buying beer in six-packs from retailers, who get it from distributors, who get it from brewers, I went straight to the source. I reached out Thursday to a friend, Jeremy, I haven't seen in over 2 years due to Covid, and he suggested we meet for Happy Hour at a new(ish) local brewery in Sunnyvale, ShaKa Brewing.
"Huh, why haven't I seen them?" I wondered. Then I mapped their location and understood. They're a very small brewery, located in the middle of a low-grade industrial park on the east side of town. They're only open to customers one day a week, Friday, 4-8pm. And "open" means they open the garage door and set out a few folding tables in the parking alley.
What ShaKa Brewing lacks in ambience it makes up for in hospitality. As I walked up and started looking around, one of the proprietors greeted me and started explaining what beers they offer.
"Are you 'Sha' or 'Ka'?" I asked. I knew from reading their website that the business name comes from combining the two men's first names, Shawn and Karl.
"I'm Shawn," he said, expressing surprise that I knew their backstory already. It wasn't that hard; their website isn't that big... unless you read legal disclaimers page, which accounts for, like, 99% of the site's word count.
Shawn showed me a menu of the 5 beers he and his partner brew. One was sold out. It was the stout, which would've been my second choice. They had my first choice, the Riley Red ale, so I was happy.
I started with a pint of red ale and waited around in the parking alley for Jeremy to arrive and a table to open up. This is where the hospitality vs. ambience factor became important because there is zero ambience here. You're sitting (unless you're standing) in an alley with a bunch of wrecked cars that the custom body shop around the corner hasn't gotten to working on yet. Fortunately a table did open, so I could at least sit while chuckling at the wrecked cars, though Jeremy arrived almost half an hour late.
As for the red ale... it's good stuff. It has all the good characteristics I expect in the category. And it's light on hops flavor. I dislike the sour taste and mouth-puckering nature of a heavy hops bill. Some red ales are made with heavy hops, as heavy hop flavor is, sadly, the "it" thing for craft beer drinkers right now. Well, I don't dress like a hipster with skinny pants and clown-sized brown leather shoes, and I don't care for hipster beer that tastes like cough medicine.
BTW, Jeremy likes those hipsters beers. So predictably he started with the brewery's IPA. But even their IPA was relatively low on the bitterness scale, more an English IPA than an American brutalize-your-taste-buds IPA. I know because he offered me a taste of his. I wouldn't want to drink a whole pint of it, but at least it wasn't spit-it-out sour.
As the brewery is open just one evening a week the owners make it count by inviting a rotating cast of food trucks to set up in the parking alley. This past Friday's food was Venezuelan. We put in an order for a couple of arepas while starting our second pints.
For my second round I sampled a pint of Sunnyvale Pale Lager. Like the red ale it was available on tap. That made it seem fresher than opening a can... though I think the cans are actually bottled on demand so they're virtually as fresh as having it poured straight into a glass.
The lager was surprisingly good. I say that because I'm generally "meh" on lagers but I enjoyed this one. It had subtle floral/fruit aromas noticeable as I lifted the glass to my mouth. Those come from the yeast and are a sign that a lager has been well crafted. It had a rich enough character to pair well with the food.
Speaking of food, the arepas were fantastic. They're corn meal patties, cut open in pouches like pita bread at a Greek restaurant, stuffed with combinations of meat, cheese, beans, and/or plantains. It was delicious. They were expensive, though. And because of my inner cheapskate (habits from childhood die hard) I only ordered one. It was less than half a meal. So while I enjoyed the food very much I don't think I'd want to seek out this food truck again to pay $35 for a full meal... served through a mesh window and eaten while sitting in a parking lot.
We wrapped up the evening around 8:30. The brewery was cool about letting folks stay a bit late. I think they kind of had to because the food truck in the parking lot was so slow. Each of us took home a mixed 4-pack of cans. I bought 2 cans of the red ale, because for me that was clearly the winner of the set, plus a can of the lager because I want to try it again, plus a can of the golden ale I'd like to try. Jeremy and I went our separate ways, agreeing to do this again at ShaKa Brewing, possibly as soon as next week.
"Huh, why haven't I seen them?" I wondered. Then I mapped their location and understood. They're a very small brewery, located in the middle of a low-grade industrial park on the east side of town. They're only open to customers one day a week, Friday, 4-8pm. And "open" means they open the garage door and set out a few folding tables in the parking alley.
What ShaKa Brewing lacks in ambience it makes up for in hospitality. As I walked up and started looking around, one of the proprietors greeted me and started explaining what beers they offer.
"Are you 'Sha' or 'Ka'?" I asked. I knew from reading their website that the business name comes from combining the two men's first names, Shawn and Karl.
"I'm Shawn," he said, expressing surprise that I knew their backstory already. It wasn't that hard; their website isn't that big... unless you read legal disclaimers page, which accounts for, like, 99% of the site's word count.
Shawn showed me a menu of the 5 beers he and his partner brew. One was sold out. It was the stout, which would've been my second choice. They had my first choice, the Riley Red ale, so I was happy.
I started with a pint of red ale and waited around in the parking alley for Jeremy to arrive and a table to open up. This is where the hospitality vs. ambience factor became important because there is zero ambience here. You're sitting (unless you're standing) in an alley with a bunch of wrecked cars that the custom body shop around the corner hasn't gotten to working on yet. Fortunately a table did open, so I could at least sit while chuckling at the wrecked cars, though Jeremy arrived almost half an hour late.
As for the red ale... it's good stuff. It has all the good characteristics I expect in the category. And it's light on hops flavor. I dislike the sour taste and mouth-puckering nature of a heavy hops bill. Some red ales are made with heavy hops, as heavy hop flavor is, sadly, the "it" thing for craft beer drinkers right now. Well, I don't dress like a hipster with skinny pants and clown-sized brown leather shoes, and I don't care for hipster beer that tastes like cough medicine.
BTW, Jeremy likes those hipsters beers. So predictably he started with the brewery's IPA. But even their IPA was relatively low on the bitterness scale, more an English IPA than an American brutalize-your-taste-buds IPA. I know because he offered me a taste of his. I wouldn't want to drink a whole pint of it, but at least it wasn't spit-it-out sour.
As the brewery is open just one evening a week the owners make it count by inviting a rotating cast of food trucks to set up in the parking alley. This past Friday's food was Venezuelan. We put in an order for a couple of arepas while starting our second pints.
For my second round I sampled a pint of Sunnyvale Pale Lager. Like the red ale it was available on tap. That made it seem fresher than opening a can... though I think the cans are actually bottled on demand so they're virtually as fresh as having it poured straight into a glass.
The lager was surprisingly good. I say that because I'm generally "meh" on lagers but I enjoyed this one. It had subtle floral/fruit aromas noticeable as I lifted the glass to my mouth. Those come from the yeast and are a sign that a lager has been well crafted. It had a rich enough character to pair well with the food.
Speaking of food, the arepas were fantastic. They're corn meal patties, cut open in pouches like pita bread at a Greek restaurant, stuffed with combinations of meat, cheese, beans, and/or plantains. It was delicious. They were expensive, though. And because of my inner cheapskate (habits from childhood die hard) I only ordered one. It was less than half a meal. So while I enjoyed the food very much I don't think I'd want to seek out this food truck again to pay $35 for a full meal... served through a mesh window and eaten while sitting in a parking lot.
We wrapped up the evening around 8:30. The brewery was cool about letting folks stay a bit late. I think they kind of had to because the food truck in the parking lot was so slow. Each of us took home a mixed 4-pack of cans. I bought 2 cans of the red ale, because for me that was clearly the winner of the set, plus a can of the lager because I want to try it again, plus a can of the golden ale I'd like to try. Jeremy and I went our separate ways, agreeing to do this again at ShaKa Brewing, possibly as soon as next week.