April 2008

A First Look at the San Diego Toronado

April 22, 2008

The well-known Toronado bar in San Francisco is coming to San Diego … soon. Rumored for almost two years, I attended a reception Thursday afternoon at the new location currently under construction at 4026 30th Street in San Diego’s North Park. If all goes according to plan, it should be open with the next month. [...]

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Green Breweries On Earth Day

April 22, 2008

Happy Earth Day everybody. This is the 39th annual celebration setting aside a day to reflect on the big blue marble that sustains us and makes every second of all our lives possible, including enjoying some wonderful beer, organic or otherwise. I did a feature earlier this year on Green Breweries called It Ain’t Easy [...]

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Portland’s FredFest To Honor Two Beer Writers

April 22, 2008

Portland’s Fred Eckhardt is a living legend, especially in his home city, having pioneered writing about and defining beer styles with his early book on the subject, The Essentials of Beer Style, published in 1989. A couple of years ago, Portland threw Fred a surprise birthday party for his 80th — called “FredFest.” It’s become [...]

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CBC Begins In San Diego

April 22, 2008

The Craft Brewers Conference, this year held in San Diego, officially began last Thursday — as it always does — with all the Brewers Association members assembled in a large hall for the “Welcome and Keynote Address.” During this time, they also present three awards important within the craft beer industry. After opening remarks from [...]

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CBC San Diego: The Night Before

April 20, 2008

For the second time in four years, the annual Craft Brewers Conference again descended on San Diego, California. It was an opportunity for beer people from around the world to get together and interact, learn and, of course, have a great time. The tightknit San Diego brewing community went out of thier way to make [...]

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The Midnight Raid of Paul For Beer

April 18, 2008

While attending the annual Bay Area Firkin Festival in Berkeley a few weeks ago at Triple Rock, I was again struck by this beautiful old ad for Genesee beer in upstate New York. It’s a great play on words, and got me thinking about the phrase it’s based on: the midnight ride of Paul Revere, [...]

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The New 21-A Cans

April 18, 2008

With any luck, the new 21st Amendment canned beer will be available by the 4th of July weekend. Initially, they’ll be test marketing the cans in all Beverages & more stores, but will also continue to be available at the brewpub. After a three-month test, assuming all goes according to plan, then they’ll be rolled [...]

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Fat Tire Cans

April 17, 2008

After the announcement of New Belgium cans, I e-mailed their P.R. person, Alicia, and they hadn’t yet gotten around to taking photos of the new cans yet. She just got the photo today and now we can all see what the new Fat Tire cans will look like.  

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Lagunitas Plants Hops in Tomales Bay

April 17, 2008

Lagunitas Brewing of Petaluma, California, is a big exponent of local ingredients, though usually food. But now they’re trying to make a portion of the beer locally, too. Lagunitas has planted a 1/3 acre test plot in nearby Marshall, California, right on Tomales Bay. I’m not sure about the weather at that location — with [...]

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Celebrator Launches CBN Evening Brews

April 15, 2008

Tom Dalldorf, publisher of the Celebrator Beer News, is launching CBN Evening Brews, a weekly video show reporting on beer news. The format is similar to a television news show, with two anchors — Tom Dalldorf and Alison Cook — who take turns reporting the stories, which are culled from around the world. There’s also [...]

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Italian Brew At Russian River

April 12, 2008

  at    Vinnie and Natalie Cilurzo, while attending a Slow Food event in Torino in late 2006, befriended Agostino Arioli, who opened one of Italy’s earliest craft breweries. His brewery, Birrificio Italiano, makes a unique beer, La Fleurette, whose varied ingredients include flowers, black pepper and orange blossom honey. Agostino is in California this week for [...]

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California Politician Trying To Raise Beer Tax 1400%

April 11, 2008

A California state legislator, Jim Beall, Jr. of San Jose, is proposing a bill that will raise the taxes on beer a staggering $1.80 per six-pack or 30-cents a bottle, which amounts to over a 1400% increase! In addition, the tax on draft beer would be an additional $90 per keg, almost doubling their cost. [...]

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Labatt Adds A Buffalo

April 11, 2008

Last summer, Labatt USA moved its headquarters from Connecticut to Buffalo, New York. The Associated Press is reporting that Labatt USA has now added a buffalo to their beer label to reflect their new business location. “Labatt USA President Glen Walter hand-delivered a case of the newly labeled beer to Mayor Byron Brown Thursday. In [...]

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Global Warming Bad For Barley

April 10, 2008

We already know that the price of barley has doubled over the least year, but according to a scientist from New Zealand, global warming may keep that situation from getting any better and will continue to hamper efforts to increase the supply of barley to be used in making beer. From the AP story: Jim [...]

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Farmers Planting More Hops in the Yakima Valley

April 10, 2008

According to a news radio station in Seattle, Washington, KOMO Radio, farmers in the Yakima area have responded to the rising price of hops and are pulling out other crops to plant hop rhizomes this year. From the report: Growers are feverishly reconditioning yards and adding new land at an unheard-of pace. Growers are receiving [...]

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Solving Alcohol’s Problems

April 10, 2008

David J. Hanson, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Sociology of the State University of New York at Potsdam, has been researching alcohol and drinking for over 40 years. He’s also the host of the Alcohol Problems & Solutions website, which is quite remarkable for both it’s scope and size. Hanson’s goal with the site “is to [...]

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