A tasting tour on two wheels
by Nicole Jones-Oakland North
August 30, 2010
Fine wine, microbrews and delicatessen chocolate never tasted so good with a little bike grease.
In conjunction with the Eat Real Festival last Saturday at Jack London Square, 13 two-wheeled foodies pedaled along Oakland’s waterfront to meet the neighborhood’s culinary artisans and sample their creations. Riders ranging from ages 20 to 60 spent the balmy afternoon meeting others who shared a passion and palette for local, sustainable chocolate, tea, beer and wine.
At $40 a person, or $30 for members of East Bay Bike Coalition and Walk Oakland Bike Oakland, the bicyclists were invited to share what tour organizer [and Oaklavia planner] Karen Hester says are three of her greatest loves: eating, biking and drinking.
There’s a lot of exploring to do in Oakland, Hester said, who considers this tour, now in its second year, “like going on a little day vacation in my own backyard.”
Throughout the four-hour bike ride that began and ended at Jack London Square, riders pedaled for a total of six miles. They dismounted at their first stop before they could break a sweat, and were welcomed to Linden Street Brewery with pitchers of cold microbrew lagers.
Located in a historic 1890’s brick warehouse near the Port of Oakland, Linden Street Brewery makes beers native to the West Coast. By using a lager yeast fermented at ale temperatures, Liden produces a similar recipe to the European lagers early immigrant gold seekers tried to recreate in the warmer Bay Area climate. The brewery is known for its Burning Oak Black Lager, a roasty, slightly sweet light-bodied black beer, which debuted at last year’s Eat Real Festival.
A self-defined “neoindustrialist,” owner and beer architect Adam Lamoreaux says he’s committed to the revitalization of Oakland by bringing high quality food and drink manufacturing back to the city.
Lamoreaux delivers most of his beer via bicycle, and told the cyclists he’s trying to source all his ingredients within 100 miles of Oakland and keeping the end product 80-90% organic. “If you see a guy carting two kegs of beer behind him,” he said, “that’s probably me.”
Read on and see photos at oaklandnorth.net