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Session Beer Day To Be Celebrated April 7

March 20, 2012

My friend and colleague Lew Bryson is promoting a new holiday, to take place on April 7. Session Beer Day was created to bring awareness to the idea that low-alcohol beers can be every bit as flavorful as their more spirited cousins, beers of average or high alcohol. Lew’s Session Beer Project has been a [...]

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Drowning One’s Sorrows May Be Genetic

March 16, 2012

The March issue of Science, touted as “the world’s leading journal of original scientific research, global news and commentary, included an article entitled Sexual Deprivation Increases Ethanol Intake in Drosophila. Which may not mean much, until you realize that in plain English it’s essentially “fruit flies who’ve had their sexual advances rejected drink more alcohol.” [...]

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San Francisco Gordon Biersch To Move

March 13, 2012

The picturesque location on San Francisco’s Embarcadero of the former HillS Brothers Coffee building is home to the third Gordon Biersch brewpub, which opened originally in 1992. According to Inside Scoop SF, as of the end of April, that will no longer be the case. (And thanks to Pete S. for sending me the link.) [...]

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Marzen Madness 2012

March 11, 2012

While not the biggest fan of college basketball, I still enjoy March Madness every year. The tournament is usually a fun diversion for a few weeks each year, so for the second straight year, I’ve set up a fantasy game, similar to fantasy football. It’s a bracket game through Yahoo which I call “Märzen Madness.” [...]

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“DOZEer” Wins 2nd Straight Brookston Football Pool

March 11, 2012

Congratulations to Paul B. — a.k.a. “DOZEer” — for being the winner of this year’s Brookston Football Pick’Em Pool. Paul also won in grand fashion last year, making him unquestionably the man to beat next season.

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San Francisco’s Temporary Beer Gardens

March 8, 2012

The Atlantic online had an interesting post on their Cities Places Matter blog entitled San Francisco’s Temporary Beer Garden Takes Off, all about a couple of new beer gardens in the city, one of which is in a temporary space while it waits to be developed.

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Martha Stewart Declares Beer “The New Thing”

March 7, 2012

I should confess right up front that I’ve never been a big fan of Martha Stewart. I’m not really sure why, but her advice and how she presents it has always bugged me for some reason. I guess for me, it always comes across as trying to be for everyone, the common people, but can [...]

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Hard Liver Barleywine Fest Winners 2012

March 4, 2012

Here are the results from the 2012 Hard Liver Barleywine Fest in held at Brouwer’s Cafe in Seattle, Washington: 1st Place: Angel’s Share Bourbon ’11; Lost Abbey 2nd Place: Abacus ’11; Firestone Walker Brewing 3rd Place: Old Birdbrain ’10; Black Raven Brewing Congratulations to all the winners. (And special thanks to Sean Paxton, the Homebrew [...]

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Next Session To Consider What Makes Local Beer Better?

February 27, 2012

I’m a little behind the eight-ball in getting the word out, but our 61st Session is coming up fast; this Friday to be exact. Our host, Matt Robinson — a.k.a. The Hoosier Beer Geek — is asking us to consider the question What Makes Local Beer Better? Here’s how he puts it: The topic I’ve [...]

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It’s Official: February Declared California Beer Month

February 23, 2012

It’s been rumored for weeks, maybe longer, but I got the word a few days ago that the California Senate would vote this morning between 9 and 10 o’clock on SCR 66, introduced by Senate majority leader Ellen Corbett, a resolution to declare February California Beer Month. Rick Sellers, who writes at Pacific Brew News [...]

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Master Cicerone Chosen For SF Zagat 30 Under 30

February 22, 2012

At last week’s Three Ring Circus beer dinner, Nicole Erny teased that she had big news coming this week, but told us she was sworn to secrecy. Well today she could finally reveal her news. Erny, who recently became the first female Master Cicerone — and only the fourth overall — has been selected by [...]

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Mermaids Love Beer

February 13, 2012

You just can’t make this stuff up. In southern Africa, two dam projects were in danger of being thwarted by … mermaids. According to the Weird Wide Web, the “mermaids had harassed workers installing water pumps at a dam near the small town of Gokwe, in northern Zimbabwe, according to local media reports.” And similar [...]

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The 8th Trappist Brewery?

February 13, 2012

Currently there are seven Trappist monastery breweries authorized to use the “Authentic Trappist Product” label by the International Trappist Association. Six are in Belgium, one is in the Netherlands. It looks like an 8th monastery is applying for authorization to brew beer under the official designation. The monastery of Engelszell Stift has filed an application [...]

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Three Ring Circus Brewer’s Dinner & Sideshow This Wednesday

February 12, 2012

Wow, check out the Three Ring Circus Brewer’s Dinner & Sideshow happening this Wednesday night. To me, this sounds like the most off-the-hook, amazing, one-of-a-kind beer dinner since … well, since the last one Sean Paxton, the Homebrew Chef, did. If this isn’t on your SF Beer Week itinerary, it really should be, at least [...]

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Traquair House Switches To 500ml Bottles

February 10, 2012

One of my favorite breweries, Traquair House in Scotland, announced today through their importer — Merchant Du Vin — that they’re switching to 500 ml bottles for all of their beers. That might not seem like big news, and perhaps it’s not, but Traquair House is one of favorite places so I never miss a [...]

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Anchor Releases California Lager

February 10, 2012

Although SF Beer Week doesn’t officially launch until later tonight, there’s already been one event that took place at Anchor Brewing on Wednesday. Three weeks ago, they announced their new Zymaster Series and later revealed that the first beer in the series would be a pre-prohibition California Lager. Wednesday night, Anchor held an event to [...]

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