Today my dad and I went to Mrs. Grossman’s Sticker Company, Lagunitas Brewery, and Costco in Petaluma. The sticker trip was kind of a bust – I was hoping to find stickers to pass out to my students in Japan, but everything was pretty high priced, and there wasn’t anything that jumped out as uniquely American.
After the sticker place we went over to Lagunitas Brewery to check out the brewery. My last visit to a brewery was New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins, CO while I was visiting Sara. The contrast between the two breweries was amazing. While New Belgium had an extensive tour, a really nice bar area, and a compliementary flight of beer tastes, Lagunitas was totally different.
We walked in and the tour guide took me and my dad (we were the only ones) across to the brewery, where we were lead up to a tasting bar overlooking the bottling line. She poured us a couple of beers (full glasses) and one for herself (!). We sat around talking about the beers and the bottling line, and then she starting pouring more. No little tasters here, we’re taking 12 ounces a pop. Did I mention that it was free?
We walked the bottling line, and even got a couple of low-fill bottles that quality control had kicked off the line. All in all it was a great tour. The tour guide obviously loved her job, and said that is a great place to work. Even the cellar workers were walking around drinking beers. She said that the owner is a “stoner”. Sounds like a great job to me.
Costco was overwhelming as usual – we got out of there for $350. Ouch! The food selection was pretty good, though, and I was able to pick up a game I’ve had my eye on few almost a year. It was down to $25. We picked up a case of Lagunitas IPA though, so the tour paid off right away for the brewery.
