There was no tour this week.
I’m not posting about a tour this time.
Instead, I am doing what I envisioned for the website, minus my shitwriting.
I’m going to talk about my Tijuana Adventures. I have invited other writers to do something similar. I have been getting great reactions when I tell people about what TJ Adventure is turning into. And other people have shown interested in writing. Of course, the writers I invited still have deliver nothing, but I haven’t either, so I can’t ask for much. I also haven’t change the site as much as I would like.
Let’s talk about beer and reddit.
I missed tap Tuesday this last week. I ended up having a few caguamas over at Nelson’s Bar late at night instead. The intention was to post every Tuesday, but I’ve come to the realization that Sundays work best (I’ll post on my other blog on Mondays, work the rest of the week).
On Wednesday I had a few new beers I haven’t had before in Plaza Fiesta. I also ate a Torta Ahogada from El Jerezano which is connected to my least favorite brewery. The torta was outstanding though. It wasn’t drowned like the name ahogada suggests, but happily swimming over a sauce with stout and mezcal (or so it claims).
I posted the Reddit Alien inside Border Psycho for the next /r/Tijuana meetup on May 27th, 7:00 pm. This should be a fun time with fellow redditors, last meeting went great.
Now let’s talk about beer. I need to talk more about beer, but also learn so much more.
I had the Mosaic IPA by Cerveza Urbana inside Legion tap room. Surprisingly good for a brewery I never tried before. More hoppiness and some citrusy flavor would have been ideal for me, but the beer was a well balanced IPA that sits well.
It was followed by Simcoe De Mayo IPAs by Insurgente. This brewery never disappoints (or very rarely). Simcoe is a type of hop hailing from Washington and has a piney taste. The beer was similar to their famed Lupulosa but with different hops (and a denser yellow color). At Insurgente I ran into this little puppy, whose owner is the beertender at Norte.
After that, my night and the pictures I took are blurry. Only good picture was sausages hanging inside Voodoo Stu’s kitchen.
The other TJ Adventure I had was on Saturday, though it was short-lived. I ate a Champi burger at Indie inside Colectivo 9 and had a Lycan Lupus from Fauna (easily on the top 5 IPAs in Tijuana). I followed by three IPAs in Norte (that’s usually enough to get me to bed). I was on the list as media for the event in Mamut Brewery, but I wasn’t very interested in going (I prefer to avoid huge crowds). I ended up inviting a female friend and we went together.
Mamut had a show to inaugurate their new space with Ruben Albarran (of Cafe Tacuba), DJ Chucuchu, and Sonidero Travesura. An incredible line-up to dance all night.
The place was FUCKING PACKED. The menu read that they had Lupulosa, fuck yeah, way better than having a Mamut brew, especially priced at 60 pesos. OH FUCK. There was a huge line to order in their actual bar. Decided to go for a mezcal in the bar in the back instead. The two bars in the back were serving mezcal or a Stout or Farmhouse (Saison). The mezcal was not such a good idea. It was delicious (I don’t know shit about mezcal though), but it also made me very drowsy.
The new area of the Mamut Brewery is very cool and very big with art by Teak and El Norteño. Mamut has expanded like crazy and I heard that they have a 4th location already. Unfortunately all the expanding has left the quality of beer behind. For the past months, Mamut has served beer that is barely drinkable. At least they were selling it for 30 pesos in Pasaje Rodriguez, but still, beer had the texture of mud and the smell and taste of fermentation through dirty tanks. They started picking up, having slightly better brews, but still not to the level they once had. Mamut is a complete roller coaster, you never know what quality you are going to get.
With all this said, I said fuck it, I’m going to have a Farmhouse brew. I had a taste of my companion’s Stout, it tasted like soapy water. The Farmhouse had the same taste, except with a bit more of a yeasty after finish. I finished my beer and went home before midnight (Sonidero Travesura was still playing, didn’t see anyone else).
Mamut is definitely a great place in downtown Tijuana, with great parties and food, but their beer at the moment… I rather drink Tecate (which is what I’m drinking as I am typing this!)
Ok. I already wrote a lot. And I hope my blog posts to be way shorter than this. I should probably post more than just Sundays but whenever I feel like it except like a ¼ of the size of this blog post. I should just write a mini blog every time I go out for new craft beer or food in Tijuana. That will probably work… right?
Oh shit! I forgot to mention. 1994 had their third year party! I wasn’t there, but I wish I at was. It was probably the beer party of the night.
—Matingas
Tijuana Adventure 