Round 1 of Sacramento’s first-ever Fantasy Food Truck Showdown may already be in the books, but lucky for you this bracket points competition between six of the region’s best gourmet food trucks—including Cecil’s Taste, California Love, Brunch Boys, GyroStop Kebab G, The Culinerdy Cruzer and Mama Kim Eats—still has three rounds left: June 4, 2015, at New Glory Craft Brewery, July 2 at Out of Bounds Brewing and August 6 at Yolo Brewing (all events run from 5 to 8 p.m.). In each round of the Fantasy Food Truck Showdown, chefs are given a mystery box of ingredients and have 45 minutes to prepare a dish on their truck, which will then be voted on by a panel of expert judges. Event attendees can also cast their vote by purchasing a $25 pass, which comes with six small plates, a beer and a chance to vote. At Round 1, which took place on May 7 at Track 7 Brewing’s new Natomas location, the people’s choice award went to Cecil’s Taste with the judge’s award going to Mama Kim. So, which food truck will reign supreme? You’ll just have to show up to find out! For more information and for links to buy tickets ahead of time, visit Beersinsac.com/foodtruck.
Device Brewing Company’s Ken Anthony Shows Passion in Every Pint
When I meet up with Device Brewing Company owner Ken Anthony, he’s visibly exhausted and endearingly blunt.
“I can’t really keep up with much but my beer. I don’t really care about press and that sort of stuff. I just brew and it kind of consumes me whole,” he says.
With one sip of his beer, you’ll understand exactly why he doesn’t have to.
Tuesdays are brew days at Device. Anthony spoke to me while he plugged and unplugged hoses, checked brew temperatures with enormous thermometers and busily paced back and forth in front of his brew kettles and fermentation tanks. He has been doing this same thing at his Power Inn brewery since at least 5 a.m., and has that brewer’s beard Sacramento is starting to become familiar with.
“I may or may not have paced through here sobbing a time or two,” he jokes, “It’s a tough job, believe it or not. There is a beautifully industrial nature to it.”
This wasn’t always how Anthony spent his days. A little over two years ago, he threw in the towel as a structural engineer, where his work left him underappreciated and under stimulated. Within a short time frame, he and his wife Melissa moved from San Diego to Sacramento, welcomed a son as well as pursued a new business venture: Device Brewing.
Anthony’s brewing background comes from little more than home brewing experience and a mature beer palate that he credits his father for imprinting in him from a young age. His Friday rituals growing up would be to eat pizza with his pops and have a few swigs of Anchor Steam. Anthony fondly remembers the moment when he was able to tell the enormous difference between craft beer and mass-produced beers like Budweiser.
Now, Anthony is his own boss in a business “that’s 95 percent hard labor and cleaning,” he says.
He barely keeps up with the demand for his beer.
When the taproom is open, it is always packed. Kegs are constantly blowing, and all beer brewed is consumed not long after. It seems that folks know where to fill their cups with the proper suds.
“We are only open a very limited number of hours a week,” Anthony says, “and we just get massively slammed every hour we are open. It’s awesome.”
Device Brewing is one of the first nano-breweries in our area. A nano-brewery being a small space with more limited brewing capabilities. Four-barrel kettles of beer are artisanally crafted about every two weeks. Currently, Device is looking into getting seven-barrel fermenters so they can double their production within the next year. This is an operation that will likely require the brewer to work 18-hour-long days.
There are a standard six beers usually on tap with a few rotating specialty beers such as a Track 7 collaboration and a black IPA. “What makes brewing tricky,” says Anthony, “is finding a constant in brewing and keeping a great beer true.
“Yeast strands are constantly changing and the art lies in being able to detect them and craft the beer as so.”
Sacramento’s beer scene is seemingly growing exponentially, but Device Brewing Company is making its way to the top of grain rightfully beside Track 7, Berryessa and Knee Deep brewing. Brewing beer is complicated. Yes, it’s delicious and fun to drink, but brewing craft beer is truly a labor of love. Brewing beer is expensive, it is physically strenuous, scientific at times and infiltrated with complicated aspects of business and legalities…all things that brewers like Anthony have become well acquainted with. However, Anthony is one of the local brewers who is managing to keep it small, off the grid, high in quality and extremely successful.
“I think that the Sacramento beer scene is something to be proud of,” says Anthony. “It’s not nearly up there with places like San Diego or Portland, but in a short amount of time, we have come a crazy long way.”
Ken Anthony will be a prominent fixture in this year’s Sacramento Beer Week, with Device kegs making an appearance at the Sacramento Brewers Showcase at the California Auto Museum on Feb. 27, 2014 and Kupros Bistro on March 1, 2014 among other locations. For a full rundown on where to find Device Brewing Company, go to Devicebrewing.com. For more about Sacramento Beer Week, go to Sacramentobeerweek.com.
Beer Notes
Words by Rob Lund
Now that you know the story behind Device Brewing Company, the question remains: How’s the beer? Here’s a rundown of Anthony’s impressive array of brews.
Derby Gurl American Amber Ale
The first beer in the lineup was the Derby Gurl American Amber, coming in at 5.2 percent ABV. Derby Gurl filled the glass with a true amber coloring and a thin lace of white head. While most Ambers tend to fall short on aroma and taste, Derby Gurl was bursting with caramel and roasted malt aroma. The first sip awoke the palate with a mild bitterness, and finished with a touch of caramel. The light body of this beer makes it especially easy to drink.
Whisper Sweet Nothings, Sweet Stout
The second beer in Device’s arsenal was the Whisper Sweet Nothings, Sweet Stout at 5.5 percent ABV. Although the name is a bit of a mouthful, the flavors did not disappoint. The beer was a beautiful midnight black with a dense toffee colored head. Coffee and bittersweet chocolate rose from the glass giving off a luring aroma. A smooth and creamy body gives way to layers of semi-sweet chocolate and a slight roast. The sweetness of this beer comes into play on the initial sip, and is caused by residual sugars left behind by the yeast.
Integral IPA
The Integral IPA was our natural progression through the beers. Device’s Double IPA holds an alcohol content of 7 percent, and is brewed in the West Coast style using massive amounts of hops. When set on the counter, the liquid in the glass was a hazy, tangerine hue, with a creamy white head. Enormous tropical fruit scents, with dank and resinous undertones came from this beer. Staying true to the West Coast style, the flavors were dominated by citrus fruit and a touch of bread-y grain flavor on the finish.
Russian Imperial Stout
Nearing the end of our tasting tour, we stepped into the abyss with the Russian Imperial Stout. This 9.5 percent ABV beer hides its alcohol incredibly well by masking it with chocolate and dark roasted coffee. This beer really changed into something incredible as it rose a few degrees in temperature. As it warmed, the aroma opened to a bouquet of fresh ground coffee and a spiciness of tobacco. Being a Russian Imperial Stout, this beer was definitely driven by hops leaving a sticky bitterness on the tongue.
Basilica 3XIPA
Saving the biggest and probably most popular Device beer for last, we found ourselves staring down the 10.5 percent ABV Basilica Triple IPA with Mosaic hops. This hazy, orange brew had an incredibly potent hop aroma that could be smelled from several feet away. Unlike the Double IPA, which had more citrus notes, the Basilica was driven by tropical fruits, lending a sweeter aroma. Overripe stone fruits such as peaches and nectarines were some of the flavors that came to mind, along with a sweet malt backbone that balanced the aggressive hops. Basilica is a remarkably smooth beer that drinks like something with half of the alcohol content.
Track 7 Brewing Company sticks to its home brewing roots
Words & Photos by Adam Saake
All hail to the home brewer, the humble beginning of so many great beers we enjoy today. From an independent and environmentally conscious Sierra Nevada Brewing Company headed by Ken Grossman, who like many of today’s brewers started out with experimental 5-gallon batches, to home brewer Sam Calagione who grew the small Deleware brewery Dogfish Head into one of the most recognized and respected craft beer names in America. In short, great beer begins with a love of brewing and a passion to share it with those who love to drink it. Geoff Scott and Ryan Graham of Track 7 Brewing Company are among the ranks of home-brewers-turned-legit who share this same philosophy. Their recently opened brewery and taproom in the Land Park area, just over the Sutterville Pass, is sure to become an off the grid destination for beer drinkers and has already been established as a local watering hole for its surrounding neighbors.
Scott says that Track 7 has been open since the end of December and the space they occupy, an industrial warehouse with a rollup door, isn’t just a brewery.
“We got a special use permit from the city that allows us to manufacture and then have a tap room,” says Scott.
This mixed-use space creates something similar to what larger, more industrial-sized breweries attempt to accomplish in their accompanying restaurants or public view spaces. The difference is that Track 7’s space feels like you’re sitting and relaxing in the back yard of your friend’s house, except there are fermentation tanks off in the near distance making the delicious suds you’re savoring. The vibe is immediately neighborly. Couples cruise in with their dogs for a pint and groups of friends meet after a long day to unwind and chat with Geoff and his wife Rebecca, who greets guests from behind the bar and pours the day’s offerings from the orange and chrome taps.
Both Scott and Graham have been brewing beer for eight years. They started out by collecting their some-odd 15 batches of beer and having parties at their house where their friends would come over and enjoy the duo’s creations. But it wasn’t just their friends’ enjoyment and a collective skill for brewing good beer that motivated them to take the leap to brewery status.
“People said, your beer is really good, and at the same time our wives pretty much said, you have too much stuff at the house so you need to move it out. So it kind of worked out that way,” says Scott with a grin.
The transition from home brewing to having an actual brewery and operating on a larger scale wasn’t that difficult for the two in terms of process. Brewing was brewing. What did throw them for the loop was the assembly required to actually get started.
“One thing we struggled with was, the guy who built the brew house for us, he kind of just gave it to us and said here you go. We had to do all the piping underneath and it was like a giant puzzle trying to put it all together. We went off of one picture,” says Scott.
But the brewery did come together and the beer has been pumping out. Both Scott and Graham have different styles and tastes, which balances out their selections. Scott is more into IPAs and stouts like their Soulman Stout or Big 4 Strong Ale, where Graham gravitates more toward the Belgium style beers like their Alkali Wit that boasts flavors of coriander and orange. These beers, along with the rest of their concoctions, are all carried over from their days of brewing small batches and experimenting. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
“It’s interesting. Some beers like the Wit we probably tinkered around 25 plus times, and others like the Big 4 were born on the second or third try and that’s how they ended up,” explains Scott.
The four founders are dedicated to community and take pride in being a Sacramento brewery. Local artists like Skinner and Jesse Baggs have designed their bottle labels; their taproom table, a recovered railroad track and glass top, was also designed by a local artist. The name itself, Track 7, is derivative of railroad slang that refers to being out on the furthest track. Scott and Graham, two very down-to-earth guys, had a connection to this slang and felt it appropriate for their new venture. The beers they brew speak to their humble nature; thoughtfully crafted with balance and unique flavor. All eyes will be on Track 7 to see what they grow their new brewery into.
Track 7 Brewing Company’s taproom is located at 3747 West Pacific Avenue, Suite F, Sacramento. The brewery has a few events lined up for Sacramento Beer Week, including the release of a new beer Trainwreck Belgian IPA, which will be available at Track 7 starting Feb. 24, 2012. For more info on what they’ll be up to during Beer Week, go to Track7brewing.com.
