Hello there, I'm 
For this post, I'll be sharing my experience with the Alvarado Street Brewery. The Alvarado Street Brewery is located in Monterey, California, USA. I was with my sister and her husband, and they were giving me a tour of where they got married. Before we headed back home, we stopped by here, which is one of their favorite breweries.
I haven't been to a lot of breweries, but this did not look like the ones I've seen. From the outside, it looked like a typical restaurant. The menu outside shows a lot of food choices, as well as some alcoholic drinks. From these two alone, without knowing where I was going, I would have said we were visiting an upscale restaurant and not a brewery.
My sister and her husband [I might refer to them collectively as "the couple" in the future from time to time.] were excited to get in since it has been a long time since they've been here. The drive from their house to here takes around 2 hours, so it's a bit of a drive, and they don't do it too often.
They told me that they only come here when they have guests, and when they want to show them around. The good thing is that while the brewery is far from them, the beer is available near them. So they don't have to do the drive all the time. The sad thing is that some beer are only available here. So when they do come, they make it a point to buy the ones only found here.
One thing that I found pretty interesting is that even though they are a brewery not all of their beer is available all the time. As written in their menu board outside, the beer list changes. I'm not too familiar with beer brewing, but I thought it can be produced year round as long as the ingredients are available. Maybe some of the ingredients they use are seasonal?
Once we entered the premises, that's when we were greeted by a room filled with brewing equipment. At first I thought they were just there for decoration, but judging from the lights and numbers in one of the devices, it seems to be operational.
There was a bar with the list of available beers, and there were a lot of tables. Considering this was the afternoon, I was surprised that there was quite a lot of people. I guess their food is also pretty good.
Being a brewery, it was also pretty interesting seeing some families with kids. I guess since they food and drinks other than alcohol parents are more than willing to come here and get a few drinks in.
I wasn't able to take pictures of the bar area since there were a lot of people when we entered, and I didn't want to disturb them by taking photos. There were some TVs in front of the bar, and I can only imagine how nice it would be to watch a game night here. Good food, great beer, and a very nice ambience.
I saw that there was a 2nd floor where the restrooms were located. I climbed up there and was able to see a very nice view of the place. There were a lot of tables and chairs available, so it would be very lively here at night.
I was able to get a more general view of their decorations. The beer can paintings on the wall, I assume, are the old versions of their beers when they first started. I don't know why, but they kind of remind me of old milk cans from the movies.
Behind me were some of the awards that they have received. It is pretty cool that they won a lot of awards. I didn't get a better picture since the couple was waiting for me.
There were also some random equipment along the aisle. I didn't know if they were fixing stuff, or they were there as a temp storage. I think the view from the second floor is pretty good, and it might be good to take advantage of that.
Since we are still cautious about covid, we decided to stay at the open air, beer garden at the back. It's pretty cool that the area has its own taplist, although a lot of the beers in the bar are not available here. Worry not, it is easy enough to just order from the bar and bring your drink here.
While I did say earlier that I was curious why some of their beer are not available, I had a realization that maybe that was a marketing decision. Scarcity and variety can be good. Similar to how twister fries, or pumpkin spice latte are huge when they make a comeback every year, making some of the drink disappear and reappear can bring hype to the drink.
In the refrigerator, there were a bunch of beers available in can. The couple told me that we'll bring some home before we leave. They also said that while these are good, nothing beats getting the beer directly from the tap, since it's fresher.
Taking a look around at the beer garden, it was a pretty simple structure. It was a good mix of steel beams and nature. The weather was also perfect, a bit chilly but with the right amount of sunlight.
For those who want to stay warmer, there are actually some blowers that provide some heat. There was a single TV near the end, so those that want to watch the games can still enjoy it here.
When we arrived there were only a few people in the area. But after a few minutes, people started coming in from the entrance near the TV. Some were ordering a lot of beer, and also a lot of food.
What's pretty cool was that some of the people who entered were bikers. They just entered with their bikes and started ordering beer. It seems that this place is a pretty popular hang out place for bikers, since more and more started arriving.
I guess the beer garden is the perfect place for them, since even if they are sweaty, they wouldn't affect the other patrons since it is open air. At one point, some customers entered with a dog. This place is also pet friendly.
After having a few more drinks, resting, and talking, we decided it was time to leave. By this time, almost all of the seats were occupied. We took some of the beers that they wanted, headed to the bar to pay, and left.
Overall, I think this was a very fun and educational experience for me. I saw a very cool concept for a brewery. I had a lot of fun hanging out with my sister and her husband, as well as had good beer. If I ever get the chance, I would love to come back again.