A few months back I got an e-mail from a Canadian beer salesman, Dave Gardner, who works for Yukon Brewing in Whitehorse. He got my name from Don “Joe Sixpack” Russell, who suggested to him that I might like the new Hawaiian shirt he designed with his friend, and partner, Steve Lozar, who owns the Montana Brewing Heritage Museum. I currently have about thirty beer-themed Hawaiian shirts, enough that it’s become difficult to find new ones that are significantly different the the ones I already have in my wardrobe.

Gardner wanted to find a cool beer shirt to wear on sales calls and at beer events, but wasn’t able to find just the right look for what he wanted. So instead he made his own. His wife Erin did the art and they had the fabric made, which is being used to make several hundred shirts, most of which are already spoken for.

It’s a beautiful design in my opinion, and not at all gaudy (which some aloha shirts can be). It’s just a simple black background with a gray abstract hop flower and wheat or barley stalk. On top of that are green hop plants and tan wheat or barley designs. You’d only know for certain that it’s a beer shirt if you know the ingredients. For most of us it’s quite obvious, but for many non-beer people I imagine it just looks like nondescript tropical plants. I particularly like that aspect of the design, its relative subtlety.

There are apparently a few shirts left in most sizes, including larger sizes, available for a mere $30 plus shipping from Montana. If you’d like one of your own, call Total Screen Design in Montana at 406.883.9218 or Dave Gardner in Canada at 780.446.4856.

Me wearing my newest beer shirt at the Celebrator 20th Anniversary Party on February 17.

On the off chance that there’s someone in the universe who hasn’t discovered the wonderfully useful Beer Mapping Project, I’m picking it as my Website of the Month for March. And it’s not just because I’m an honorary Captain in the BMP Army (I keep wondering when my sword will arrive) nor is because the General, Jonathan Surratt, and his lovely wife Robin, are two of the nicest people I’ve met (yes, I’m coming to Great Taste of the Midwest … soon).

It’s really because Jonathan has taken what’s essentially a simple idea and done just a terrific job of making it incredibly useful. The Beer Mapping Project has taken Google’s offer of allowing free not-for-profit use of their Mapping API and created maps to beer destinations. I remember when he was just getting started and little by little new cities were being added, seemingly daily. Today there are maps in eleven countries around the world, all fifty U.S. states and dozens of cities, including our own San Francisco map. Each map includes breweries, brewpubs, beer bars, beer stores and homebrew shops. There are also reviews, a forum, a way to create your own beer trips, and much, much more. The Beer Mapping Project is without a doubt one of the killer apps of the online beer community.

This is my second pick for “Website of the Month,” which I started featuring on the right sidebar last month, because I get so many link requests, and because I have so many in my blogroll, I wanted to highlight the best ones I come across.

It’s not perhaps the worst thing about being blind, but it would be problematic to figure out exactly what’s inside that can of beer you just picked up if you can’t read the label. According to the Inventor Spot, Kirin Brewing has solved this dilemma by putting braille on the top of their beer cans. The braille on the cans apparently spell out “alcohol” on some and “Kirin Beer” on others. But until more breweries take up the cause, all anyone will be able to distinguish is Kirin from everything else. And what if you prefer a bottle? Oh, well, it’s the thought that counts, right?
 

Yesterday, the San Francisco Brewers Guild held its 2nd annual Slow Beer Festival on March 1, 2008 in the San Francisco County Fair Building in Golden Gate Park. The event was co-sponsored by Slow Food San Francisco. The idea was to pair San Francisco’s local brewers with locally made foods and explore different tastes from pairing each together in a variety of ways. It was fun event and we lucked out with some gorgeous weather to help enjoy the day. A sold-out crowd enjoyed beer from a dozen breweries and food from at least ten.

Food and beer mixed happily and deliciously throughout the day, as evidenced here by Ian Marks (from Hog Island Oyster Co.), Taylor Boetticher (from the Fatted Calf), Dave McLean (from Magnolia), John Tucci (from Gordon Biersch San Francisco) and Shaun O’Sullivan (from 21st Amendment).

For many more photos from this year’s Slow Beer Festival, visit the photo gallery.
 

This doesn’t have anything to do with beer, but someone sent me a link (thanks, Cindy) correctly believing I’d enjoy it. In fact, it’s surreal, weird and perversely hilarious. Food Fight is simply the history of warfare since World War II told through food fights, with national foods representing each country, or as the Food Fight website put is.

Food Fight is an abridged history of war, from World War II to present day, told through the foods of the countries in conflict. Watch as traditional comestibles slug it out for world domination in this chronologically re-enacted smorgasbord of aggression.

They’ve also thoughtfully provided a cheat sheet listing all of the foods in the film and which nation they’re associated with. And since it’s war, expect a lot of ketchup. Enjoy.
 

On Tuesday, my friend Pete Slosberg and I headed up to Russian River Brewing to take a look at how the construction of the new brewery was coming. He had just returned from four months living in Buenos Aries, Argentina, but now that he was back he wanted to enjoy some good beer. So he picked me up and we drove to Santa Rosa to visit Vinnie and Natalie Cilurzo.

Natalie took us over to the new facility, which is about three weeks away from completion. I took a bunch of photos at the construction site, as I’ve done in a few other breweries lately. I thought it was just me who likes to see pictures of brewing equipment, but based on the comments and links I’ve gotten whenever I post brewery photos I think I’m not the only one after all. I’m starting to think it’s a perverse kind of brewery porn that we ooh and ahh over brewing equipment in all it’s magnificent glory. I’m just glad to know I’m not the only deviant.

Pete Slosberg and Vinnie Cilurzo in the old brewery.

At the new brewery, used wine casks stacked in the barrel room.
 

For more photos from our visit to the new Russian River Brewery still under construction, visit the photo gallery.