California

Celebrity Beer Gossip

by Jay Brooks on February 8, 2012 · 3 comments

in Editorial,Just For Fun,News

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I know it’s a good thing when celebrities drink craft beer, because people tend to copy their behavior. So the more celeb’s drinking good beer, the more some people might pick it up, too. But I can’t help but find it a little sad, too. I just don’t find all the minutiae about famous people very interesting. It’s just not my thing, though I have friends and loved ones who feel otherwise, so I do tend to find out about these gossipy items anyway, sometimes whether I want to or not. Case in point, I just learned that actress Charlize Theron served Dogfish Head’s 60 Minute IPA at her house in Los Angeles during the Super Bowl. And that’s great, don’t get me wrong. Charlize Theron was, at one time, on my list of five (married men will know what I’m talking about here) so I’m certainly glad to know she has good taste in beer.

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The whole thing was captured in nauseating detail in the U.S. Showbiz section of the UK’s Daily Mail in an article titled — believe it or not — We’re in for a Super night: Charlize Theron hardly breaks a sweat as she carries a case of beer to a Super Bowl party. They have five, count ‘em five, photos of Theron carrying the beer from her car to the house. The running commentary is hilariously absurd, though I couldn’t help but hear it in my head as if being read by Robin Leach from Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous.

To be fair, I’ve posted a photo of television celebrity Nathan Fillion drinking a Drake’s IPA through a curly straw, that my wife took during an L.A. Browncoats convention a few years ago, but somehow that seems different. Or maybe I’m just fooling myself. What I really wanted to know from the article is why she chose that beer, and how she and her guests enjoyed it. Now that I’d find far more interesting than how she managed to carry it a few feet without breaking a sweat.

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New Sour Beer Brewery In Bay Area Announced

by Jay Brooks on February 8, 2012 · 0 comments

in Breweries,News

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Yesterday I received the word that there’s a new brewery opening soon in the Bay Area. It’s called The Rare Barrel and they’ll be a gypsy brewery specializing in sour beers. By gypsy, they mean to brew at area breweries and then ferment, age, package and serve their beers at their own facility, with that location still to be determined. One of the founders, Jay Goodwin, used to be the Head of Barrel Aging at The Bruery, so he knows his way around a barrel room.

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From the press release:

Northern California is rich in brewing tradition and is home to some of the best breweries in the world. Hoping to add to this proud history, we are pleased to announce that we will be launching an all-sour, all-barrel aged “gypsy” brewery in the San Francisco Bay Area named The Rare Barrel.

What do we mean by “gypsy” brewery? We plan to partner with the great breweries of the Bay Area for our brewing needs, and we will be building our own barrel warehouse for fermentation, packaging and serving our beers to the public.

Our team is made up of people committed to producing the highest quality sour beer. Co-founders Jay Goodwin, former Brewer and Head of Barrel Aging at The Bruery in Orange County, Alex Wallash, homebrewer and Sales Representative in biotechnology, and Brad Goodwin, entrepreneur in the pharmaceutical industry, make up our crew of passionate craft beer lovers.

We hope to release more details of our plan over the next few months. We look forward to producing beer with experimental methods, a singular focus on quality sours, and a commitment to the craft beer community.

No word yet on when we’ll see, or more importantly taste, the first beers, but you can follow their progress on The Rare Barrel Blog or on the website.

In the meantime, here’s how the describe the idea for The Rare Barrel:

As Head of Barrel Aging at The Bruery, Jay started focusing on inoculation and management of the sour barrels. The brewers would send him wort and he had a whole warehouse full of barrels to play with. The idea was born there. Why not team up with breweries here at home in the Bay Area and start entire sour-only barrel warehouse to Northern California?

Since sour beers will take over 1 year to mature (a long time!), they are brewed less frequently due to limited fermentation space. Jay quickly realized that if they built their own brew house, it would collect probably a good amount of dust. Therefore, they decided to partner with host breweries in the Bay Area to produce our wort. While a host brewery will produce their wort, The Rare Barrel will manage fermentation, blending, packaging, and distribution. This model ultimately allows The Rare Barrel to maximize barrel aging capacity while supporting local craft breweries. It’s a win-win situation!

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Last year, Brewmaster Mark Carpenter celebrated his 40th anniversary with Anchor Brewery. According to my notes, he started on September 30, 1971. During GABF, a film crew interviewed a number of us during some side events, and they put together this video that includes some luminaries from the craft beer industry. Congratulations Mark.

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Beer Birthday: Jay Sheveck

by Jay Brooks on February 6, 2012 · 0 comments

in Birthdays

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Today is also the 42nd birthday of Jay Sheveck, a beer writer and filmmaker in Los Angeles. In addition to writing for the Celebrator, Jay wrote the Beer Guppy’s Guide to Southern California . He’s also been working for many years on a documentary film about the early days of craft beer, Beer Pioneers. There’s a teaser trailer of it at the bottom of this page. Personally, I’m excited about his film (and not just because I may be in it, unless I end up on the cutting room floor, that is). Join me in wishing Jay a very happy birthday.

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Alec Moss, former brewer at Half Moon Bay, with Jay at the celebrator’s Best of the West Fest in 2009.

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Jay and a glass of Chimay.

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Jay and his wife Vicki at the Director’s Guild dinner in 1998.

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Jay and his new son Jake.

(Note: last three photos purloined from Facebook.)

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Beer Birthday: Brian Ford

by Jay Brooks on February 6, 2012 · 0 comments

in Birthdays

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Today is the 48th birthday of Brian Ford, owner/brewer at the Auburn Alehouse near Sacramento, California. Brian previously brewed at Beermann’s Beerworks, but left before they closed several years ago. I’ve been meaning to visit the Auburn Alehouse but so far haven’t managed it. But this year is defintely the year. Join me in wishing Brian a very happy birthday.

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Brian pouring his beer at the Raley Field Beerfest in 2007.

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And here’s Brian with Glynn Phillips, from Rubicon, at the same event.

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A publicity shot at the Auburn Alehouse.

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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, especially if you can’t get Pliny in your hometown. But fear not. As is revealed in the end credits; “No Pliny the Elder was harmed in the making of this video.”

Here’s how John describes his film: “How spoiled is the Bay Area when it comes to beer? This spoiled. Come check out SF Beer Week from February 10th-19th and spoil yourself silly.” I spoke to Vinnie Cilurzo at Russian River Brewing today, and he loved the video, thought it hilarious and sent it to all his employees.

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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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Kelley Brothers Brewpub To Close Today

January 31, 2012

I got an e-mail last night from a reader that the Manteca brewpub Kelley Brothers Brewing was closing and today is to be their last day. I haven’t been able to independently confirm that news, but will do so when I’m able. It’s always sad news to hear that a brewery is closing. UPDATE 2.1: [...]

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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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Lagunitas IPA Brewed At Anchor

January 26, 2012

If you were following the twitterverse closely on Tuesday, you might have noticed an interesting story developing, as relayed in tiny bites by Lagunitas owner Tony Magee. I’ve rejiggered the twitter stream, re-ordered it, uncompressed abbreviated words, and added additional ones for clarity in an attempt to make it a more coherent story. “We had [...]

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Sierra Nevada Chooses Asheville North Carolina Site For New Brewery

January 25, 2012

After scouting numerous sites in North Carolina and neighboring states, Sierra Nevada Brewing announced today they have selected a location near Asheville, North Carolina to build a new brewery to supply their beer throughout the east coast. From the press release: The site, approximately 90 acres in the Henderson County town of Mills River — [...]

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Anchor Zymaster #1 To Be A California Lager

January 24, 2012

Yesterday Anchor Brewing announced their new line of beers under the “Zymaster Series,” with the first to debut during SF Beer Week in February. This morning I spoke to the Zymaster himself — Mark Carpenter — who told me a bit more about the beer. It sounds like it will be a pretty interesting beer, [...]

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Anchor Announces New Zymaster Series

January 23, 2012

As promised on Friday, Anchor Brewing announced today a new series of beers they’ll be debuting during SF Beer Week. The new beers will be under the series designation “Zymaster,” which Anchor describes like this: Zymaster n [Gk zyme leaven + master – more at ZYMURGY] 1: a new word coined by Anchor Brewing to [...]

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Beer Birthday: Chris Nelson

January 20, 2012

Today is the 46th birthday of Chris Nelson, better known as The Beer Geek. Chris and his wife, Merideth Canham-Nelson, recently completed an around the world beer festival tour, but are still traveling the globe searching for great beer. Join me in wishing Chris a very happy birthday. The first “official meeting” of the Bay [...]

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Anchor Teases About New Beer Series

January 20, 2012

Anchor Brewery is teasing us. Earlier today they tweeted this enigmatic photo that vaguely hints at a new series of beers from the oldest craft brewery in America. All the tweet says is that we have to wait until Monday. “We’re brewing up a special announcement for Monday, January 23. Here’s a little taste…” Can’t [...]

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