Hops & Scotch

7001 Sunne Ln #100
Walnut Creek CA 94597
(925) 378-7980
  • PUB QUIZ—Mondays @ 6:00pm
About Hops & Scotch

Whisk(e)y originates from Gaelic for “water of life”. According to author David Broom, the Scots and Irish Gaelic translation of this is uisge beatha. This referred to a proto-whisk(e)y redistilled with spices and herbs and the straight version became known as 'usky'."

Now is it Whiskey or Whisky? In short, the spelling "whiskey" is common in the United States and Ireland. The rest of the world, including Japan, Scotland and Canada, uses "whisky."

Bourbon, Rye, Single Malts, Blends - they're all whisk(e)y. There is no one right way to drink all whisk(e)ys. Whether you drink it neat or on the rocks, whisk(e)y is one of America's most beloved spirits.  Enjoying this beverage is a personal journey that could easily change from week to week, day to day, drink to drink.

You'll find that many whisk(e)ys are greatly enhanced by ice, but you'd be doing yourself a disservice if you don't at least try the whiskey neat. Have you tried your Scotch with a few drops of mineral water?  A splash of water can be a great thing as it releases the hydrophobic elements in the glass, allowing you to detect more aromatics on the nose, and by lowering the alcohol content, it can allow you to taste more flavors on your palate.

At Hops & Scotch we have over 450 types of whisk(e)ys ranging from American Bourbon to Japanese Whisk(e)y.  Whether you like your rye neat or your Scotch with a drop of mineral water, or your bourbon with our ice spheres molded at the bar, Hops & Scotch is sure to have something to please your palate!

QUIZ RECAP

Mon Jul 29 2019
| by Quizmaster Paul Benson
|

It was another incredibly windy night at Hops & Scotch! And Murphy's Law was full in effect, as the microphone also died around the second round of trivia. Thankfully, your humble quizmaster is not exactly the quiet sort, and was able to make himself heard(barely) over the wind and street traffic.

Hazy Maybez came out swinging tonight, and never let up, carrying the lead in every single round. The competition for second was tight too, as Cappin It and Wonder Twins duked it out. Going into the final round, it was looking like Cappin It was going to take it, but their lack of knowledge of domestic cheeses tripped them up, and Wonder Twins squeaked past them.

For the drinking round, everyone was asked to come up with an "elevator pitch" for their idea of what movie would eventually unseat Avengers Endgame from the all-time worldwide box office champion. Here are the winners:

  • Dove Alley Documentary. Up close, unleashed, unreal! You won't believe your eyes!
  • Titanic 2. There was room for two(and they are back!)
  • Space Force. Donald Trump builds a wall around Earth. "Fighting aliens from taking your job!"
  • Porn.
  • In a world...where people drink beer and know random facts. In a world...where a terrible breeze whips across the land. In a world...where blatant pandering gets you points in the drinking round...Paul Benson is...THE QUIZMASTER. Based on a true (embellished) story.

Game Rank Team # Team Name Score Teams Beaten Team Beat Average
1 21412 Hazy Maybez 41 6 1.000
2 Wonder Twins 37 5 0.833
3 Cappin' It 36 4 0.667
4 Double A 34 3 0.500
5 21415 J-Roc 27 2 0.333
6 21417 Unstable Unicorns 25 1 0.167
7 Barley's Bitches 8 0 0.000

QUIZ RECAP

Mon Jul 22 2019
| by Quizmaster Paul Benson
|

It was a roller coaster of a trivia night at Hops & Scotch. The first round found every team at either four or five points, but teams got daring starting with the 2nd round. Team-Pain leapt into first place with an early double or nothing, and held onto that lead for several rounds. But a failed double or nothing in round six dropped them behind, and suddenly Texas Terminators capitalized on a successful double or nothing to catapult into the lead. The end of round seven found them tied with J-Roc, so we headed into the tie breaker. True to their name, Texas Terminators took down J-Roc to land in first place, winning the night.

For the drinking round, I asked everyone to submit a haiku about alcohol. Hops & Scotch employees Chase and Josh judged the poems, and were very strict, automatically disqualifying the ones that didn't adhere to the proper haiku structure. Here are the winners of the night:

  • Whiskey is my friend/Until it gets me wasted/Then I lose my friends
  • My drinks are girly/My rhymes and hair are curly/Suck my fruit cocktail
  • Former student here/Please don't tell her I'm drinking/Whisky while teaching?
  • Pina colada/Chilling out my summer vibe/I always swallow
  • Beer goggles are on/Can't wait to take this girl home/Damn! Can't get it up

Game Rank Team # Team Name Score Teams Beaten Team Beat Average
1* 21413 Texas Terminators 58 6 0.929
1 21415 J-Roc 58 6 0.929
3 21410 Question Authority 53 5 0.714
4 21414 Team-Pain 42 4 0.571
5 Lone Rangers 41 3 0.429
6 21412 Hazy Maybez 36 2 0.286
7 Unstable Unicorns 33 1 0.143
8 2nd Best 26 0 0.000
* Won Tiebreaker

QUIZ RECAP

Mon Jul 15 2019
| by Quizmaster Paul Benson
|

It was a breezy night in Walnut Creek for the inaugural night of King Trivia on the outdoor patio at Hops & Scotch. So breezy, that the giant Jenga tower fell over just from the wind(as you can see from the photo)! But that didn't diminish anyone's enthusiasm in the sizable crowd that was ready for their trivia fix.

It being Prime Day, instead of Amazon we honored Optimus Prime. For the drinking round teams had to list as many Autobots as they could remember from the Transformers movies. Apparently there weren't a lot of Transformers fans in the crowd, as four teams tied at only three Autobots each. So each team elected a teammate to come up and sing the Transformers cartoon theme song, and the crowd voted on the winner.

All in all, we had a fun night of Trivia, with a beautiful(if windy) summer sky above our heads.

Game Rank Team # Team Name Score Teams Beaten Team Beat Average
1 Team Zylo 46 6 1.000
2 21229 Purple Parrots 43 5 0.833
3 Banana Flakes 38 4 0.667
4 Question Authority 34 3 0.500
5 VC Victory 30 1 0.250
5 Central Perk 30 1 0.250
7 The ABC's 28 0 0.000
* Won Tiebreaker