Cannery Row Brewing Company

My mother used to always say "if you don't have anything good to say, then don't say anything at all", so with that in mind, I kept this post about Cannery Row Brewing Company pretty short.

This is a new establishment located in the tourist arena of Monterey. Occupying the building that used to be the Spaghetti Factory restaurant. They boast a huge selection of beers on tap (73?) and pub fare food.

I connected with my daughter who lives in nearby Pacific Grove and we walk together along the ocean from her house to the restaurant. We're finally getting a break in the rain here in California and the opportunity to enjoy the gorgeous length of coast between Pacific Grove and the old cannery row section of Monterey was impossible to resist. We breathed in the warm sun and the smell of the deep blue ocean that crashed along the rocky shore and when we reached CRBC we chose to sit outside in the patio area where I ordered a sampler platter of the house beers.

One very important fact should be mentioned here. The Cannery Row Brewing Company is NOT a brewery or brewpub. They boast a selection of four beers that they call their own but those are contract brewed by St. Stans Brewing Company out of Modesto, California. I don't like the idea of a restaurant calling itself a brewpub or brewery when they don't actually brew any beer. Seems disingenuous, kind of tricky. But wait, I'm starting to slip into that "if you don't have anything good to say..." area so I'll stop here on that subject.

My beer sampler arrive at our table quickly. Of the four house beers that came with the selection of six, one was out of stock (the porter) and so the bartender substituted with a Mendocino brewing strong ale. It was also up to the bartenders discretion to pick at random the other two samples on the platter. They ended up being Sierra Nevada's barley wine and 'Celebration' ale, I didn't get to choose.



Speakeasy to the rescue

To go with my lunch I ordered a pint of "Lupulo", a beer I'm unfamiliar with but the name peaked my curiosity. They were out of that one but I had a backup beer order placed in advance. The word on the street was to have a backup plan because of the high numbers of  "tapped out" beers.  My second choice was Speakeasy's IIPA which they did have and of course this beer did not disappoint.

In conclusion, the following are all the positives I encountered at CRBC.

• Our waiter was attentive, stopping at our table often to check on us.
• One of the house beers, "Lucky Sailor -honey wheat", was a good example of an American style wheat beer.