Bay Area

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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Nicole Erny Becomes First Female Master Cicerone

January 4, 2012

You probably already know about the thousands (just over 8,800) of beer industry professionals who have become Certified Beer Servers in Ray Daniels’ Cicerone program since it was launched in 2007. It’s essentially the beer equivalent of a sommelier. But did you know there are actually three levels of Cicerone certification? Until recently, only three [...]

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Beer Birthday: Daniel Del Grande

December 28, 2011

Today is also the 43rd birthday of Daniel Del Grande, brewer and co-owner of Bison Brewing. I’ve known Dan a lot of years, since shortly after he bought Berkeley’s Bison Brewery in 1997. He’s been leading the charge for organic beer and makes some of the best organic beers anywhere. Join me in wishing Dan [...]

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Beer Birthday: Nicole Erny

December 16, 2011

Today is also the 28th birthday of Nicole Erny, a certified Cicerone and passionate beer lover, who used to work at The Trappist and as a “Beer Ambassador” at the CommonWealth Cafe & Public House, both in beautiful downtown Oakland. She now works with Ray Daniels’ Cicerone program. Nicole and I almost worked together on [...]

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Beer Birthday: Mark Silva

November 19, 2011

Today is the 50th birthday of Mark Silva, co-founder of RealBeer.com, one of the first beer portals to establish a presence on the internet. I’ve known Mark for a lot of years in a variety of enterprises. These days, I usually run into Silva at beer events, though sadly not as often as I used [...]

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Bistro West Coast Barrel Aged Beer Fest Results

November 14, 2011

On Saturday, the 6th annual West Coast Barrel Aged Beer Fest took place at the Bistro in Hayward. 67 different barrel-aged beers were served to a packed house on a beautiful fall day. Festival goers voting for their favorites chose the following three for the People’s Choice Awards: Brette Davis Eyes, from Drake’s Rumpkin, from [...]

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El Cerrito Brewpub Owner Injured By Police During Occupy Oakland

November 7, 2011

I was really hoping to avoid writing about the Occupy Oakland horrors currently going on in the city I used to call home. But last Thursday, Oakland Police apparently injured yet another war veteran — two tours, one each in Iraq and Afghanistan — simply trying to walk to his home, rupturing his spleen in [...]

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Lagunitas Brewhouse Destroyed At Sea

November 4, 2011

Ouch. As many of you probably know, Lagunitas Brewing is in the process of installing a new 250-barrel brewhouse, but there may be a bit of a delay. Apparently the brewhouse was on its way to California, tied down on the top of the deck in the Caribbean, when a storm hit the cargo ship. [...]

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Lagunitas Sucks Holiday Ale

October 10, 2011

No, that’s not a judgment call on my part. I love Lagunitas. But that is the name of their new seasonal ale for 2011; Lagunitas Sucks Holiday Ale. They’re calling it that because the new beer is a temporary replacement for their popular — and usual holiday seasonal — Brown Shugga’, which they won’t be [...]

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Happy Birthday To The Microbrewery

October 8, 2011

Today is the 35th anniversary of the day that New Albion Brewery incorporated, which happened on October 8, 1976. New Albion Brewery was the first modern microbrewery, the first small brewery to be built from scratch, mainly from scrap and discarded industrial equipment. To me, and many others, that makes it the first modern microbrewery [...]

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Beer Birthday: Don Gortemiller

October 2, 2011

Today is the 59th birthday of Don Gortemiller, brewmaster for Pacific Coast Brewing in Oakland, California. Don’s been making beer there since the very beginning, back in 1988, helping to put Oakland and the Bay Area on the beer map. Join me in wishing Don a very happy birthday. Pacific Coast founder Steve Wolfe with [...]

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Beer Birthday: Steve McDaniels

September 14, 2011

Today is Steve McDaniels’ 43rd birthday, a former brewer with 21st Amendment. These days McDaniels is hard at work building what will become the Oakland Brewing Co. on 22nd Avenue in Oakland. Join me in wishing Steve a very happy birthday. Steve with OBC partner Bruce Paton and Arne Johnson, brewmaster at Marin Brewing. Steve [...]

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Beer Birthday: Geno Acevedo

September 11, 2011

Today is the 50th birthday of Geno Acevedo, head brewing and co-owner of El Toro Brewing in Morgan Hill, California. Geno makes one of my favorite Oatmeal Stouts, along with many other fine beers. Join me in wishing Geno a very happy birthday. Geno Acevedo, with his wife Cindy, at the Boonville Beer Festival a [...]

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Beer Birthday: Pete Slosberg

August 26, 2011

Today is my friend Pete Slosberg’s 61st birthday. Pete is, of course, best known for Pete’s Wicked Ales. After that he toyed with the idea of making barbecue but decided instead to make some incredible chocolates and had a small company, Cocoa Pete’s. These days he’s doing a lot of traveling and just enjoying himself. [...]

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Bistro IPA Festival Winners 2011

August 7, 2011

Family commitments kept me from attending this year’s Bistro IPA Festival, but owner Vic Kralj was kind enough to send me the list of the winners. Craig Cauwels’ IPA, from Schooner’s in Antioch, California, was chosen best in show at the 14th annual IPA Festival yesterday at the Bistro in Hayward, California. The full list [...]

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Beer Birthday: Vinnie Cilurzo

July 25, 2011

Today is the 41st birthday of Vinnie Cilurzo, founder and brewmaster at Russian River Brewing. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know Vinnie is one of the best brewers in America and is credited with having made the first Imperial IPA. His Russian River Brewery in Santa Rosa, California won unprecedented back-to-back best [...]

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