Having made our way through Sequoia National Forest, we traveled to Clovis, CA to meet friends and spend the night. There were no plans to visit any breweries in the Clovis area, but I brought craft beer to share.  That evening we enjoyed Mike Hess Brewing Anno Quatro and Anderson Valley Brewing Heelch O’Hops. Both beers were fervently enjoyed!

However, the Mike Hess Brewing Anno Quatro is worth additional mention.  Anno Quatro is Mike Hess Brewing’s 4th Anniversary Special Release Imperial Release India Pale Ale (IPA). Only 30 barrels of this beer were made and I bought a bottle at the Mike Hess tasting room during my recent visit (read about my visit here). To the best of my knowledge, this beer is only available in bottles at this time at Mike Hess Brewing and supplies are probably lean.  Anno Quatro is made with Simcoe and Amarilla Hops and is a healthy 10.75% ABV and 130 IBU. The malt flavor at the start is fleeting but absolutely magnificent and is immediately and aggressively followed perfectly by hop-driven flavors of sticky pine resin, melon, grapefruit citrus, and apricot. The beer has a pleasant, bitter, lingering pine resin finish.

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Mike Hess Brewing’s Anno Quatro is an outstanding beer. I wish I had more!

From Clovis, we departed for Yosemite National Park – no breweries but the views are spectacular.

El Capitan often has climbers but none were to be found this day.
El Capitan often has climbers but none were to be found this day.
Later during the same day we visited, hikers on Half Dome had to be evacuated by helicopter due to a park fire.
Later during the same day we visited, hikers on Half Dome had to be evacuated by helicopter due to a park fire.

After Yosemite, we traveled through California Gold Country to South Lake Tahoe.

My next installment will cover breweries in the Lake Tahoe area.