12 thoughts on “The Twins are calling up Byron Buxton”

  1. How many Hall of Fame plaques should Cooperstown make for Buxton? I say at least 3.

  7. In the glass tonight.

    Robust coffee aroma, light tan, fizzy head that dissipates quickly. Light-bodied for a porter. It's not entirely successful, but a pleasant enough beer.

    I've now had about a half-dozen beers from this brewery (the IPA, the Kenyan, the Hop Sac, the Gilt Edge, the Capt., the 1881, and the Santos Saison).

    I love saisons, so I was really looking forward to the Santos collaboration. It was a disappointment. It was overly hopped and really lacked the spicy/fruity/funky freshness of a good saison. I won't be spending my money on it again.

    Others of their lineup are excellent, however. The Gilt Edge is a California Golden Lager. Excellent representation of the style and a very, very good beer.

    The 1881 is a red ale; not my favorite style (what? I didn't know there was a style that was not one of my favorites!!!111one111!!!), but this is well-made and flavorful. A big part of Ruhstaller's schtick is its use of locally grown hops (they have a farm stand only open on fridays and saturdays where they serve beers right next to the hop fields, just off of I-80 west of Davisville). This one shows off their Cascade, Chinook and California Common hops to good effect.

    The Capt. is a black IPA. I know that this style is all the rage now, but meh. This is a good one, as these things go.

    The Kenyan was a limited-release coffee-infused ale, again with Old Soul Co. beans (a downtown Sac roastery and coffee shop, complete with dudes wearing skinny jeans and ironic facial hair). Better than The Sauce.

    Hop Sac is another limited release -- this one a wet-hopped ale. I think I had the "Second Leaf" iteration, IIRC. Good stuff.

    I'm excited about the future of this brewery and farm. My last visit to the farm stand, I was very disappointed that they didn't have any of the "California Kolsch" to sample. Still waiting to try that one. ("it's one of my favorite styles!"). These guys are trying very hard to bring class products to the region and to bring back an old tradition of hop farming to the area. (Did you know that the Sacramento valley at one time was a major hop producer and supplier to Guinness, among others? -- note, there is no such thing as "Sacramento University," despite what that link says; the reference is either to UC Davis or to Sac State).

    The IPA was a typical West Coast IPA, IIRC. Meh. But the golden lager, Hop Sac series, and the 1881 are good enough to give me hope.

    here's a cool piece of footage from Sacramento's Horst Hop Ranch from circa 1900-1910. As noted in the above link, Horst developed a mechanical hop separator, which was a major technological innovation.

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FzU_E7RUxY

  9. Have the Twins said anything about whether they view this as a short-term thing with Buxton, or if he's here for the long haul?

    1. Just kidding, this is really exciting stuff.

      I may not get to actually see most of the games, but I'm hoping a guy like Buxton (good defense, wicked fast, etc) is just what the team needs to get back to winning some games. And as JeffA asked above, I do hope it isn't just for some sort of stop gap reason.

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