UYE: Casual Friday – Pints Optional!

UYE or YEE? Which was it really?
While billed as the former, the Casual Friday — Pints Optional! UYE most certainly felt like the latter. & not just any YEE, either. It reminded me of the exclusive, small group, wine-​tasting YEE’s of the North County (North of the Golden Gate, Marin/​Napa/​Sonoma, wine country) Flight Club series. Only with beers brewed on premises instead of wine.
Cold Water Brewery and Grill dedicated a lot of personal attention & put on the full spread for our small group: private room, tasting flight of their beers, wide variety of delicious bites from their kitchen, rundown of the highlights of how beer is brewed, tour of the brewing operation, & open q&a throughout with both Ryan the brewer & Debbie the owner.
If there’s beer, that’s where I’ll be. Seriously. Especially in Cali. I’ve been to breweries & brewpubs all over the Golden State (Who knows? My «I Unilocal California Beer» list could quite possibly be the grandest compilation of CA brewery/​brewpub/​brewfest reviews in all of Unilocaldom) & was genuinely impressed by what Cold Water Brewery is doing with their tiny 7bbl system.
The next time I’m in Tahoe, I’ll definitely be stopping by here again. I really very much liked the setup/​layout of the place, the beers, the food, &, of course, the people. Thanks Cold Water Brewery and Grill for the warm welcome & treating us to all the good stuff you’re doing so well. &, wow, Dominique M., this must’ve been the most YEE-​like UYE ever!

This was an awesome UYE set up by Dominique! We had so much fun that it seemed like one of our Elite Events. Debbie the owner, and Ryan the brewmaster definitely rolled out the red carpet!
We took a tour of the brewing setup, getting to walk through the kitchen (always a fun detour). Ryan also talked about the different notes and flavors in his beer. He had small tasting boards for the attendees. Yeastman the mascot was hilarious!
Debbie sent out some sample plates for us to try, like wrapped dates, slaw, and a large French loaf with beer cheese in one end and artichoke dip. All of them were delicious! We also ordered an order of truffle fries, and the BBQ pork tostadas, which came with chunks of watermelon.
I wish Cold Water Brewery was closer to us in San Diego, because it would fit right in to the Craft Brew Capital! But it will probably get more attention in Tahoe, because of less competition. Thanks to all the staff of Cold Water, and everyone who helped organize the event for us!

Dominique rocked this event… it was more like an ‘elite’ event versus a UYE.
The backroom was a perfect spot for all of us to settle in, taste amazing beers, have some ‘lite-​bites’ with the opportunity to order more food off the menu (you know I did!), tour the brewery… really, it was amazing.
Debbie (the owner) made sure all the Unilocalers were taken care of and Ryan (the brewmaster) shared his passion for brewing on the tour. While on the tour, we walked through the kitchen. Whatever those guys were cooking up smelled amazing… probably burgers or something!
Out of all the things I ate there, the beer cheese bread dip was my favorite. Cheese+beer+bread…how can that possibly be bad?! The bacon wrapped dates were really enjoyable too but carbs always wins with me! HA!
Would definitely stop back when I’m in Tahoe again!

Is it against the rules to review your own UYE?
If it is, IDGAF, because this was amazing! Mostly, I am reviewing because Debbie, the owner and Ryan, the Brewer AND all of the staff of Cold Water Brewery are AMAZING! When I decided to hold a UYE and got some tips from Alex and Katie about the best location to hold one, I started discussing and working with Debbie on different ideas about how to make this event special. She was so excited and full of energy to share her passion with all of us Unilocalers!
See, Debbie recently opened Cold Water Brewery just last November so this place is BRAND SPANKIN’ NEW! Buuut — you wouldn’t know it by how well the service, food and BEER are! Seriously, so tasty!
We got some education from the brew master along with a tour of the facility all while tasting their amazing beers and sampling several yummy appetizers! I had to order a plate of their «pickled stuff» because, well, pickled anything is tasty. I also got to try some of the truffle fries. Mmm… pickle it or deep fry it and Imma prolly enjoy it!
This was such a treat! Annd, truly out of the realm of UYE status! Debbie and staff are simply the best! I can’t thank them enough!

Three cheers for the UYE that felt like a YEE and kicked off our Friday afternoon in South Lake Tahoe. Wow they really rolled out the red carpet for us! Dominique you amazed me with this one.
Ryan and Debbie take great pride in what they have created with Cold Water Brewery. It shows, and it’s appreciated. It’s new, but you can tell the recipe for success is there.
They welcomed us with open arms and made us comfortable in their party room. The appetizers were delicious (you had me at bread with beer cheese, nuff said) and the beer tasting spread was unbelievable.
Then, to frost our glasses so to speak, we get a really informative rundown of the brew process from Ryan who then takes us in a private tour through the brewery so we can see how the magic is made!
Oh yes, I’ll DEFINITELY be back to this brewery on my next visit to South Lake. Thanks again Dominique for throwing a fantastic event!

VIBE /​LAYOUT
For sure me and my buddies was the first one to arrive to this event. We were like omg where is everyone because we thought we went to the wrong place! shortly after we saw the crowd coming! We were hosted in this private room, and it was a perfect size to host us all.
The timing and day for this UYE is just perfect to start off the whole Unilocal Tahoe events! I didn’t know what to expect from this UYE but for sure i loved everything about it! Learned so much about beer and how it is made and what is in it, now i appreciate every sip a bit more!
FOOD
BREAD BOWL filled with cheese! — presentation was sooo nice! the bread was golden brown and fluff in the inside! the cheese was rich and creamy! Love to use the fluff to dip in the warm gooey cheese.
SPINACH dip — This was a bit thicker and creamier than the cheese filled in the bowl. there were chunks of spinach in the inside and it was awesome! gotta love my veggies! I loved using the golden brown crisp part of the bread this because it matches the texture!
CUCUMBER salad — this was a more calm in the flavors, very light and refreshing. also has a tangly italian or some kind of dressing to it.
BACON wrapped date with bleu cheese — The date is warm and in the middle filled with some bleu cheese! the bleu cheese wasn’t too over powering but it was just the right amount. i loved how they used bacon to wrap the outer part! the bacon is great for soaking up the darker beers with a higher IBU. with a high IBU that means its more strong and bitter.
Drinks
BEERZZZZZ
We had a sample of 6 to 8 kinds of beers. i love how we got a table mat with all the beer name and info, so we can set it on the top of it to see which one we taste. Ryan is an awesome guy who let me try 2 of the exclusive ones. One of my favorite is the salted caramel with chocolate in it due to one of my special request! The after tested was a bit sweet and salty towards the end, and is a dark beer. I also like the one with the unfiltered one which was a bit easier to drink as well.
Tour
That was one of my favorite part of this event, just getting to see how everything is made and what machines they use is amazing! It was like taking an education class about beers!
Overall thanks to Dominique for hosting a wonderful event with free beer and small appetizers to taste! Thanks to Ryan for educating us about the brewery!

Hats Off To Dominique For An Outstanding UYE Sampling Experience & Tour!
SITREP
We are gathered up here in South Lake Tahoe for Unilocal’s Tahoe Getaway (YTG) 2015 for a great weekend.
But unbeknownst to us Unilocalers who gathered at Cold Water Brewery (CWB) for what was expected to be a fun Unofficial Unilocal Event (UYE) meet-​up & sharing with other national Unilocalers, turned into a full-​blown tasting & sampling event!
THE SETUP
Located in downtown South Lake Tahoe, not far from the lake itself, is CWB, a wonderfully avante garde operation that is both innovative and ground-​breaking:
* Innovative in that it brings Rocky Mountain brewing expertise in the person of it’s brew-​master, a gentleman who learned his mad skilz in breweries in Colorado & Utah, both the little ones AND the big ones (a big on in fact named «Coors» — which probably a lot of you haven’t heard about). ;)
* And ground-​breaking on many fronts, but for one, has a FEMALE owner named Debra — brewing is a totally-​MALE dominated industry (it IS what it IS), so it’s *refreshing* when the ladies step up to the plate and take charge in the industry as well.
TOUR
We got a fun tour of their operation — it’s not huge, but it is VERY educational and VERY accessible. [It was humorous navigating around the different sections of their busy working kitchen, but you deal with what you gotta deal with, right?, in order to make the magic happen.
THE LOWDOWN
Food, brews, touring, great Unilocal peeps, so a huge thank-​you to Dominique for making that fun UYE happen for YTG 2015!

Great UYe Dominique !!!
Cold Water Brewery really rolled out the Red Carpet!!!
Ryan the Brewer gave us a Tour of his Brewery .
Ryan had designed the Brewery tanks to fit in his historic building where the Brewery is located.
Ryan is a partner in the Brewery it one of the few brew pubs owned by a woman.
We got to Sample 4 Beers that are brewed by the Brewery.
We also sampled Bacon Wrapped Dates, a Sprig Salad and Sour Dough Bread with 2 spreads.
It was great meeting New Unilocalers

Thank you so very much Dominique for planning an amazing UYE! Free beer samples, a private room, appetizer samples and educational talk by the brew Meister himself! Simply amazing!