Craft Beer: A Hopumentary

Posted on June 5, 2013 by Jay Brooks

Here’s an interesting video on craft beer by a Jeremy Williams entitled Craft Beer — A Hopumentary. What’s cool about it is that it features Ron Lindenbusch from Lagunitas, Craig and Beth from City Beer Store, Andy French from Southern Pacific Brewing, Zeitgeist, and homebrewer Nathan Oyler. My favorite factoid: craft beer represents 7% of the market, but employs 50% of the employees in the industry.

Beer Birthday: Melissa Myers

Posted on June 2, 2013 by Jay Brooks

Today is my good friend Melissa Myers’ birthday. She most recently brewed at Drake’s Brewing in San Leandro, California. She’s also brewed at Pyramid and Magnolia, among others. She’s currently scouting locations for her own place, having recently secured 95% of her financing. We should hear some good news very soon, fingers crossed. Join me in wishing Melissa a very happy birthday.

Arne Johnson, of Marin Brewing, and Melissa at last year’s Boonville Beer Festival.

Former roommates Jen Garris and Melissa at the Anchor Christmas Party.

Melissa and former Drake’s brewer Rodger Davis at GABF three years ago.

Melissa and me at GABF.

Melissa with her adopted Daddy, Big Daddy Dave Keene.

Melissa in high school, believe it or not. At a Super Bowl party she threw, Melissa made the mistake of showing me this photo while I had my camera in my hand. I snapped a quick picture of it in the photo album, which is why is looks out of proportion and a little fuzzy. I had to seriously crop it and straighten it out and generally fix it up. But I think the effort was worth it, don’t you?

New San Francisco Brewery Announced

Posted on May 30, 2013 by Jay Brooks

According to Inside Scoop SF, a new brewery to be named Phantom Coast Gastropub and Brewery has signed a lease for 5,000-square feet in the Tenderloin. The specific address is 65 Taylor Street, which used to house the Sixty-Five Club. According to the article, “The guys behind the project are Keith Wilson and Casey Gray, who own Tope in North Beach together; Wilson also owns the Boardroom in North Beach. But according to Wilson, a bigger gastropub and brewery project has always been the goal.” There’s not much else that’s been revealed yet, other than this.

Phantom Coast — a moniker stemming from a name that they saw on a vintage San Francisco map of the bay-side waterfront — will focus on West Coast beer and wine. Wilson and Gray are going to brew their own beer, but with at least 75 taps (!) on the premises, they will also highlight West Coast craft breweries and local wineries. Everything — both beer and wine — will be served on tap, Wilson says, thereby minimizing waste and passing on savings to customers.

Their plan is to have live music — with the hope that the city can help out with the permitting process there — and create a raucous, “Bavarian-style” atmosphere with big tables and communal seating. There will be food, too, with housemade sausages, housemade pretzels, salads, sandwiches and more.

The current estimate for opening is early 2014, which more likely means we’ll see Phantom Coast open next summer.

Talking About Hops & History In San Francisco

Posted on May 29, 2013 by Jay Brooks

Last Thursday, I helped the San Francisco Brewers Guild put together a fun event at the Old Mint with Flipside and the San Francisco Museum and Historical Society called Hops and History. My part during the event included being the moderator of a panel discussion about opening and running a brewery in the city of San Francisco.

Shaun O’Sullivan (21st Amendment), Shaun’s son Ryan, Dave McLean (magnolia), Keith Greggor (Anchor) and me. Below is the audio of our discussion.

One of my favorite parts of the evening was a gallery showing of local breweriana, provided by my friend Ken Harootunian, along with some pieces from Anchor Brewing and some labels from SF Brewers Guild executive director Brian Stechschulte.

Below are a few highlights from the gallery:

The gallery room.

Acme Beer.

Steam Beer wooden sign.

More Acme Beer artifacts.

The original artwork from a Lucky Lager ad.

Items from Rainier, Lucky Lager and Regal Pale Beer.

Lucky Lager. Ice Cold.

An old, pre-Prohibition, wooden keg and taps from Anchor, along with some additional steam beer artifacts.

Another Acme pin-up ad.

Beer Birthday: Tony Magee

Posted on May 29, 2013 by Jay Brooks

Today is the 53rd birthday of Tony Magee. Tony is the founder and owner of Lagunitas Brewing. We first met in the mid-1990s when I visited the old brewery, before they moved to their present location, and have been good friends ever since. I recently wrote a profile of Tony for Beer Connoisseur magazine, which I believe is in the current issue. With his twisted, iconoclastic vision, Tony’s built an amazing empire by never compromising his ideals. His unique beers, and especially their quirky label designs and text, are always a treat. And now that they’re installing a new 250-barrel brewhouse plus have announced a similar one to be built in Chicago, I’d say he’s poised to take over the world. Bwa, ha,ha,ha. Join me in wishing Tony a very happy birthday.

Tony as Ringmaster of the Lagunitas Beer Circus in 2009, with Vinnie Cilurzo from Russian River Brewing.

Tony and me at the Bistro’s IPA Festival in 2006.

Tony warming up for a set at the Hopmonk Tavern in Sebastopol in 2008.

Performing the Big Bill Broonzy song, Key to the Highway, at the Brewing Network’s Winter Brews Festival in January of 2010.

What’s Your Local Summer Beer?

Posted on May 26, 2013 by Jay Brooks

Today’s infographic is a local one, for the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. It ran last week in the East Bay Express, and following the chart will lead you to discover What’s Your Local Summer Beer? But the answers are all beers brewed locally, in the East Bay or San Francisco, not that that’s a bad thing.

Clici here to see the chart full size.

History & Hops This Thursday

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Jay Brooks

Join us this Thursday for what’s shaping up to be a fun evening of Hops and History at the former U.S. Mint building in San Francisco. The event is being put on by Flipside, a San Francisco History Events Group, in conjunction with the San Francisco Museum and Historical Society. The Society is currently “undertaking the restoration of San Francisco’s landmark Old Mint to house the future San Francisco Museum at the Mint,” and in the meantime is using the space to hold local history-themed events. Flipside worked with the San Francisco Brewers Guild — and I helped a little bit — but especially SF Brewers Guild executive director Brian Stechschulte to create an evening that includes a program of talks about the history of beer in the city, and also includes a gallery showing of San Francisco breweriana on loan from my friend Ken Harootunian, along with some pieces from Anchor Brewing. Here’s what will be going on during the event, which takes place from 6:30 p.m. until 9:30:

John Freeman: The Curious 150 Year Cycle of Brewing Beer in San Francisco
Dave Burkhart, Anchor historian: History of California Lager
A History of Yeast: Man’s Oldest Industrial Organism
San Francisco Brewers Guild Panel Discussion (led by yours truly)
Screening of Brewers by the Bay film

Tickets are $30 and can be purchased online at eventbrite. Here’s what your ticket includes:

Unlimited tasting of all breweries. Participating breweries include 21st Amendment, Magnolia, Triple Voodoo, Beach Chalet, ThirstyBear Brewing Company, Cerveceria de MateVeza, Speakeasy, Pine Street Brewery, Anchor and Pacific Brewing Laboratory.
Presentation on brewing history
Interactive yeast exhibit
Historical brewing memorabilia exhibit by Ken Harootunian & Anchor
Food available for purchase from by Off The Grid
Docent led tours of the historic 1874 Old Mint
Souvenir sampling mug included
Photobooth sponsored by UpOutSF
Music by DJ Jacob

Join us Thursday for Hops & History. See you then.

Beer Birthday: Judy Ashworth

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Jay Brooks

Today is Judy Ashworth’s birthday. She’s the Grand Dame of Publicans, having once owned the Lyons Brewery Depot in the East Bay, one of the earliest bars to really embrace, support and promote craft beer. Judy sold the pub in 1998 after some health troubles sidelined her, but she’s still a fixture in the Bay Area beer scene. I’ve judged with her many times and these days she’s very supportive of the homebrewing movement and she can be seen at most of the major beer events throughout the year. Join me in wishing Judy a very happy birthday.

Judy with Shaun O’Sullivan (21st Amendment) and Chris Black at his Falling Rock Taphouse during GABF week in 2007.

Out in front of The Bistro in Hayward at the Wood-Aged Beer Festival in August of 2008. From left: Jeremy Cowan, owner of He’Brew, Judy, Dave Heist, and Zak, also from He’Brew.

At the Toronado Barleywine Festival in 2008, Judy Ashworth, Matt Salie (with Big Sky Brewing) and Judy’s daughter Laurel.

Judy with Stephen Beaumont, me and Peter Hoey at the 2010 Pliny the Younger release.

Dave Suurballe, Judy, Julie Nickels and Bruce Paton at Anchor Brewing for the book release party for Tom Acitelli’s “Audacity of Hops” earlier this month.

Beer Birthday: Jeff Bagby

Posted on May 18, 2013 by Jay Brooks

Today is the 39th birthday of Jeff Bagby, who until a year or so ago was the head brewer extraordinaire at Pizza Port in Carlsbad. There, you can read the entire biography of Jeff “Extra Spicy” Bagby. I’m not sure when it was written, but it definitely needs to be updated, as it ends with the following sentence. “Jeff has his sights set on winning a GABF Brewpub of the Year award and we most definitely believe it is in his future as well.” Three years ago at GABF, Jeff won an amazing seven medals and Pizza Port Carlsbad was awarded the Large Brewpub and Large Brewpub Brewer of the Year. That means his plaid pants got to go up on stage a record eight times! You can see a retrospective of Jeff’s plaid choices over the years, too, at Jeff “Lucky Pants” Babgy Wins Big. Once he started working on opening his own brewery, I suggested he should consider “Plaid Brewing” or some variation of that idea, like “Plaid Pants Brewing” or “Lucky Plaid Brewing.” Unfortunately, he went with a more sensible Bagby Beer Co. All, well some, kidding aside, Jeff is a terrific brewer and a hell of a washoes player, though I still think Dave Keene and I could beat him and Tomme again. Join me at wishing Jeff a very happy birthday.

Jeff with his then-girlfriend, now wife, Dande at GABF a few years ago. And yes, those are his lucky pants.

Greg Koch and Jeff at the Falling Rock.

Former Drake’s brewer Melissa Myers with Jeff at an event at Anchor celebrating the Toronado’s 20th anniversary.

Sam Calagione, Bruce Paton and Jeff at the Lost Abbey for a beer dinner during CBC.

Jeff at the Toronado for the annual Belgian Beer Dinner last year, with owner Dave Keene wearing his “Who the F@#k is Jeff Bagby?” T-shirt.

Brookston Beer Bulletin

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