October, 2019
The city of Napa is located on the banks of the Napa River and offers a nice break from wineries and tours. If you are looking for a change of pace, spend the day strolling historic Napa, known for early 1900’s architecture with shops, boutiques, celebrity-chef restaurants, manicured parks and river trails and of course, dozens of tasting rooms if you still need a wine fix.
We opted for an afternoon exploring this charming city and decided to take a break from wine to explore some craft breweries for D. After wandering First Street and exploring the shops we decided to make our way to Stone Brewing. A great location that has two levels, with indoor and outdoor seating overlooking the Napa River. We love to pair locally-brewed beers with artisanal food focusing on using local, small-farm organic produce from the region. D now adds some local merchandise such as a t-shirt, hat or beer glass from all our experiences at the local breweries and he has quite the collection going. D of course opted for the Stone IPA with a massive onslaught of hops, balanced by citrus and tropical flavours. I can never decide, so I leaned toward a flight, which in this case had me exploring four different flavour profiles. We picked a table on the lower patio to enjoy the cold beer and river view.
Enroute to the Oxbow Public Market, we stumbled across another brewery, Trade Brewing. Just our luck, there was live music on the patio and is a venue that shares a love for food and beer! Another perfect trifecta for us! Another IPA for D and another flight for me, while we nibbled on cheddar scallion biscuits with prosciutto and apple butter, along with the charcuterie board with house made pickles and roasted nuts. Just the perfect snack while taking in the music.
Finally, we toured the vibrant Oxbow Public Market known for great food vendors, wine and more beer. Everywhere we travel, we love finding local markets to explore and support, tasting and savouring local delicacies and connecting with locals. There are plenty of goodies here from meat to fish, artisanal charcuterie, produce, organic goods, ice cream, fresh oysters, truffles and toffees, fresh baked goods, olive oils and wood oven pizza. A perfect spot to grab lunch. We opted for an organic wood-fired pizza from Ca’Momi in the market and decided to enjoy a pint with it from Field Work Brewing. For me – the Italiana pizza with prosciutto di parma and arugula, paired with the Citraweisse, an aggressively tart beer with aromas of orange juice, pineapple and lemon with a dry finish. For D, the Divaola pizza with spicy salame paired with the Blue Westcoast IPA – with immense hop-derived notes combined with passionfruit, citrus and grapefruit the perfect combination of bitter-sweetness.
Finally, a great option is to end the night with dinner and music or just go for the music. Check out Blue Note Napa which is located in an intimate venue offering jazz and farm to table cuisine. Reservations required in advance and you can check out the music line-up in advance of your stay. If you enjoy live music add this to your itinerary while visiting Napa.
