58003--Hopland

[zyzyly]

We are on our way to the coast. It is a 5 1/2 hour drive out to where we are going, so decided to break it up and are spending the night in Ukiah, made famous by the old Doobie Brothers song, which I am now listening to. We found a very nice budget motel that is much nicer than many higher priced places we have stayed at up this way.

One of the towns before Ukiah is Hopland, and as we passed through, I remembered that I took some folks up to the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company last week for a brewery tour and lunch. On the tour I learned that beer has four ingredients--water, yeast, barley, and hops. They took us into the hops room and let us play with the hops for a bit. It was a really great tour and we had a delicious lunch in the brewery restaurant.


Here are some hops for you to ponder. Next time you drink a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, rest easy, because I washed my hands first.

The Doobie Brothers got me through the first paragraph, and now I am listening to the Decemberists' album Hazards of Love. One of the things that changed for me last year was that I am now listening to way more music than I have in a long time, much of it new. There is so much great music being made these days, but not a lot of people hear it, because it is not played on commercial radio. This album isn't new, but it was a group I discovered this year. If I can manage to keep writing here, and I hope I can, I will probably write about what I am listening to more.

Comments

[randomdreams.livejournal.com]

We keep trying to grow hops, with little success.

Hey, check out TV on the Radio's latest, Seeds. I _really_ like it. Not quite as much as their previous, but it's still very good.

[zyzyly.livejournal.com]

When we got in the car this morning, TV on the Radio was playing on the radio.

I think hops likes cool wet weather, guessing because they said most of what they get grows in Oregon and Washington.

[randomdreams.livejournal.com]

I see it growing around here, albeit with aid -- but it certainly does better in Northwestern environments than in an alternately freezing and blazing desert.

[pinkroo.livejournal.com]

love that album. I listened to it a few times on a driving trip to Utah a few years ago; it's good driving music.

[zyzyly.livejournal.com]

It is. they have a new album coming out soon--One of my friends played it for me and it sounds amazing.

[jadeejf.livejournal.com]

I would love to hear about what you're writing about! I suspect your taste in music would be fantastic. I mean, the Decemberists are a solid choice.

Thanks for washing your hands... I'm totally going to this of this picture when I drink a Sierra Nevada now. Hops are such interestingly shaped plants, huh?

[zyzyly.livejournal.com]

They sure are, and they smell wonderful when you rub them between your palms.

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

There is a ton of great music out now.

[zyzyly.livejournal.com]

There sure is. I stumbled across at least a few gems this past year.

[neptunia67.livejournal.com]

I look forward to reading more about new music. I'm always up for hearing new stuff.

[zyzyly.livejournal.com]

haha--I have a lot to talk about!

[hejyy00.livejournal.com]

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[gracegiver]

Menodocino! In the winter and AFTER the holidays. Smart move. Are you staying at the Algeria? You'll drive right by Jug Handle Creek Farm, where I spend my November birthdays every year.

[zyzyly.livejournal.com]

Oh yes--when we got into town this afternoon all the weekenders were on their way out. The weather is just about perfect.

We are staying at the Alegria. I will look for Jug Handle Creek farm. We always go by there when we are on our way up to Ft Bragg.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Glad to see your post--I'd been thinking about you and wondering how you were doing. Have you heard the Decemberists' The King Is Dead album? It came after Hazards of Love

(beautiful hops!)

[zyzyly.livejournal.com]

I have that album too--love it. They have a new one coming out soon, which I have heard--it is great.

I didn't mean to take a hiatus, but life got in the way. I do miss writing here. I have not found another place to write like I like to here.

[howeird]

Good to see your gorgeous photos here again! And it has been a long time since I've seen hops on the hoof. Back when I was an unemployed photojournalist, I drove out to Yakima for a newspaper job interview. On the way I passed rows and rows of hops, strung up like bean plants, only brighter.

[fivecats.livejournal.com]

Hops are used both as a bittering agent and as a preservative. IPAs (or India Pale Ales) are very hopped because they needed to travel in barrels from Britain to India for the troops back in the day. All of those hops kept the ale from going bad.

There's a new Decemberists album coming out early this year. It's pretty good.

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