Wine Affairs – San Jose’s Craft Beer Bar

My weekend in San Francisco with my girlfriend Rachel and her family was awesome! We checked out Pier 39, Fisherman’s Wharf, The Golden Gate Bridge, and China Town. We had some great barbeque at Tommy’s Joynt and some great beer. We even managed to land a pitcher of Pliny The Elder at 4th Street Bar and Grill for $22 dollars. The weekend was coming to a close and I was off to San Jose to see some old friends and spend the week with them hitting as many beer bars and breweries as humanly possibly; as well as show them the city.

Stephen Markosky and Dan Stevens have been in my life for a number of years as great friends and roommates. They both moved out to San Jose this past year and this was my first time getting to see them since they’ve settled in. Stephen took his level one Cicerone examine with me and Dan is preparing for it as well. Both were very interested in checking out San Francisco as well as tasting some great beer. My first dinner with the guys was grilled corn, green peppers, onions, steak, and Drake’s Hopocalypse. Tomorrow I would see Stephen’s work, Wine Affairs, and taste some great craft beer!

I head over to Wine Affairs around seven p.m. with Dan to meet his girlfriend and see the place Stephen has talked up for the past couple of months. Located at 1435 The Alameda San Jose, this wine and beer bar sits nestled into a group of shops and a Latin movie theater. When we arrive the place is full from patio to inside. The bar is quite spacious and holds around twenty guests while the other half of the restaurant is filled with two and four top tables. They even have a private table in the back for the more private affairs.

Overall the restaurant was quite spacious. They typically run a skeleton crew and every table belongs to every server. This means that the server hosts, bartends, servers, and busses each table. While this keeps the staff incredibly busy during their peak hours, it also means very little waiting time when it comes to making an order; every table belongs to every server. I like this concept and I think it works really well. Being how they have a packed house at 7:30pm means they are doing something right.

I meet Dan’s girlfriend Johanna and we started the night off with La Fin Du Monde by Unibroue and Bison’s Organic Chocolate Stout. Bison’s Organic Stout was really tasty. I have had a few organic beers in the past and they were okay but this one took the notch of the best so far. Clean body, unsweetened chocolate malts, and a silky finish paired perfectly with Wine Affair’s chicken meatballs and bbq sausage plate. Being from Colorado I pounded out the chocolate stout with easy and moved on to Rouge’s Double Mocha Porter.

Rouge’s Double Mocha Porter is a bottle topped 750ml bottle that’s bright blue making it easy to remember. So far everything I’ve had by Rouge Ale’s has been fantastic and this beer was no exception! Pouring a dark brown with a khaki brown head that froths on top with burnt malts and heavy coffee aroma- Starbucks beware! Considered an Imperial Porter (hence the double) it lives up to the hype. Big roasted malts leaning on the espresso style flavor fill the palate with a black coffee finish. Great carbonation and full bodied but still very easy to drink. I forced Dan to pound his Unibroue and experience this excellent craft beer. Paired with Wine Affair’s flat bread pizza topped with mascarpone cheese blended with black truffles, finished with a balsamic glaze and fresh basil.

From here it was on to desert! Stephen had saved a bottle of Lost Abbey’s Angel Share just for me on this night. Angel Share is very hard to come by (at least in Colorado) and it’s an experience. This year Lost Abbey barrel aged their ale in brandy barrels versus bourbon barrels. Coming in at 11.5% abv this beer will knock you on your ass if your careful. Served in a 375ml bottle corked and caged the aroma is filled with rich molasses and charred oak. First sip is heavy with massive richness to the malt and body with charred oak undertones just as the nose gave off. Sweetness comes from the malts and subtle notes of molasses from the barrel aging with a very long finish that was rich and boozy all at the same time. Paired with Wine Affair’s N.Y. style cheesecake with a sour cherry glaze. While Margarete by Avery or Red Poppy (Lost Abbey) might have been a better pairing, neither were available and there is no substitution to Angel Share as a desert beer or after dinner drink.

Johanna this entire time was sipping wine. Perfectly understandable being how the restaurant is called Wine Affairs. I asked her if she liked pickles- she did. I have this theory that pickle lovers will always like sour ales. Pickles seem to bring out a tart sour type flavor, not found anywhere else in the world, that closely resembles itself in Wild American Ales (American sours) and Belgian style sour ales. The table next to ours was sipping on 2010 La Folie by New Belgium so I ordered us a bottle to test my theory. The 2010 bottle has a 1970′s bark wood label and this beer is a huge brown sour. Aged in French wine casks it delivers a massive punch of full bodied sour. Johanna enjoyed it but decided it was a bit much, especially for a first time sour, and I couldn’t agree more.

Johanna had to leave and go back to studying (she’s gonna be one hell of a lawyer, mark my words) and she left Dan and I to our own devices. Dan was on the cusp of calling it quits but I wasn’t quite ready. The restaurant had died down and only a few patrons remained. Stephen asked if I wanted to see the cellar- Does a bear shit in the woods? Passed the private table in the back the stairs lead down to their cellar. Wine on one side and beer on the other. While I do love my wine I’m here for beer and boy was it a pretty sight!

While Wine Affairs carries around 15 taps their bottle selection is beautiful. Beer from all over the world as well as some of the best craft beer in the country rests in this cellar. Rare bottles like Firestone’s Abacus (reserve Barely Wine) and Double Jack, Deschutes Abyss ’10, Russian River’s Pliny The Elder, and Grand Teton Persephone Pils, and many, many more. This was beer porn in person! I had to order one more bottle so on the way up (empty restaurant) we ordered Unibroue’s Trios Pistoles.

Trois Pistoles (Three Coins) is named after a small village of Quebec. Founded over 300 years ago, Trois Pistoles gave birth to several legends, including one about the Black Horse. It involved a local bishop who conjured up a good devil (appearing in the form of bridled black steed) to haul large brick stones to construct a new church. When someone accidentally removed the bridle, the black horse suddenly vanished just as the last remaining stone was to be set. This stone is still missing, as can be seen when visiting the local church. This is a fantastic beer giving great notes of chocolate, spice, rum, and sweet caramel malts. It isn’t too heavy nor too thin, it’s just right with excellent carbonation. We shared the beer with staff and the last patron (aside from us) before we made our way to Single Barrel.

San Francisco has been very exciting and Wine Affairs was a fantastic wine and beer bar. The craft beer scene in San Jose is just starting to take off and Wine Affairs is responsible for this. If you haven’t had the time to check this great restaurant out then you need to go – today. We met some great beer lovers there (Brian and his friend) and all in all had a really wonderful time! A slew of great wine awaits you at Wine Affairs but if you love beer, which I know you do, then this is the place to drink in San Jose. Ask for Stephen and have a beer epiphany with amazing craft beer paired with artisan tapas food.