Events

What’s SF Beer Week Like?

February 3, 2012

John Heylin, of the Nor Cal Beer Guide, along with several other BABB members, created a little spoof or homage film for SF Beer Week entitled What’s SF Beer Week Like? Drawing on Reservoir Dogs and the cult status of Russian River’s Pliny the Elder, the minute and a half video might make you cry, [...]

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Hops Webinars Scheduled By Simple Earth Hops

February 3, 2012

Matt Sweeny, from Simple Earth Hops of Dodgeville, Wisconsin, announced today that he’ll be hosting 2-hour educational “Brewing Up a Community Hops Webinars” in March, April and May of this year, on the third Saturday of each month with a morning (10 a.m. CST) and evening (9 p.b. CST) session on each day. Accroding to [...]

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Pliny the Younger Day 2012

February 3, 2012

Now fixed as the first Friday in February, today was Pliny the Elder Day for 2012 at Russian River Brewing in Santa Rosa, California. When I arrived around 10:30, the line stretched from the entrance of the brewpub to the end of the block. I’m told the first fans arrived at around 6:00 a.m. this [...]

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Brew Are You, Strong Beer Month?

February 2, 2012

It’s February, and that means it’s time for the 10th annual Strong Beer Month, once again with six new extreme beers each at 21st Amendment and Magnolia throughout the month, which this year has one more day to help you make it to the finish line. Try them all, and you get to keep the [...]

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Guinness Believer Tour

January 28, 2012

Friday night Guinness‘ P.R. firm in New York invited me to the start of the Guinness Believer Tour, which debuted in San Francisco this weekend. The idea was to introduce not just regular Guinness, but also Foreign Extra Stout and their new Black Lager to consumers, who as far as I could tell, signed up [...]

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Alaska Barleywine Festival 2012 Winners

January 22, 2012

Here are the winners from this weekend’s Great Alaska Beer & Barley Wine Festival in Anchorage, Alaska. Black Raven Brewing, Redmond, Washington Firestone Walker Brewing, Paso Robles, California Silver Gulch Brewing & Bottling, Fairbanks, Alaska And the Best Winter Beer: Kodiak Island Brewing, Kodiak, Alaska Congratulations to all the winners. Thanks to Tom Dalldorf from [...]

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Beer At/Is Fancy Food

January 17, 2012

For the third straight year, beer had a bigger presence at the Winter Fancy Food Show, held each January in San Francisco. The Brewers Association once again had a booth pouring beer from a variety of craft brewers, through their Export Development Program (EDP). I went the first year, too, and this year it again [...]

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Danny Williams Needs Your Help

January 13, 2012

If you’re in the brewing industry, and especially if you’ve entered your beers in the Great American Beer Festival and/or the World Beer Cup, then you no doubt know Danny Williams. He’s worked with the Brewers Association at GABF for a number of years, and since 2001 has been in charge of the beer for [...]

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Winter Brews Festival In Concord January 28

January 4, 2012

The 3rd annual Winter Brews Festival, sponsored by the Brewing Network, will be held this year on Saturday, January 28 from Noon to 4:00 p.m. Thanks to the Occupy Berkeley movement, last year’s location was not available and BN thought they’d have to cancel. But the City of Concord came to the rescue, and this [...]

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Hoppy Christmas

December 25, 2011

From my IP address to yours. Have a very Malty Christmas and a Hoppy Holiday. Peace On Earth, Good Beer to Men (and Women). “Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas.” [...]

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SF Beer Week Opening Event Announced

December 20, 2011

The opening celebration to kick-off SF Beer Week for 2012 has been announced. Having outgrown our space last year, this year it’s been moved to a new, larger location at the Concourse pavilion at the Concourse Exhibition Center in SOMA. Here are the details: On February 10, 2012, over 50 Northern California breweries will converge [...]

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More From This Year’s Anchor Christmas Party

December 10, 2011

If you saw my post from the Anchor Christmas Party a few days ago, my friend Mike Condie — who’s a much better photographer than I am — sent over some of the pictures he took at the party and I thought I’d share those, as well. The Celebrator crew. Alec Moss and Tom Dalldorf. [...]

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Anchor Christmas Party 2011

December 9, 2011

Last night was the annual Anchor Christmas Party, one of my favorite events of the beer year. It’s an opportunity to celebrate the holidays with the local beer community and have a bit of fun before all the family obligations kick in. And it’s always a great party. Anchor pulls out all the stops, putting [...]

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Top 8 Beer Sales Days

November 26, 2011

This two-year old SlashFood article showed up in my Paper.li today, retweeted by a brewery I follow. The article, Super Bowl Sunday — The 8th Biggest Beer Day of the Year? questions the list of the top eight “Holidays/Events for Beer.” The list was complied by Nielsen, and as he points out is “combined beer [...]

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Beer Anniversary: Vanberg & DeWulf

November 15, 2011

Today, 30 years ago, Don Feinberg and Wendy Littlefield launched Vanberg & DeWulf, one of the first companies to specialize in importing Belgian beer to the United States. Originally, they conceived of the company as a way to keep visiting Belgium on a regular basis and see the many friends they’d made when they lived [...]

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Jester King Sues Texas Over Antiquated Beer Regulations

October 25, 2011

The Jester King Craft Brewery in Austin, Texas, is my new hero, but then I’m a fan of their Don Quixote kind of crazy. The windmill they’re currently tilting at is the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC). Like most states, and the Federal government, most of the laws regarding alcohol were written in the months [...]

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