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Archives for June 2013

Anchor Brewing Announces Zymaster #4: Fort Ross Farmhouse Ale

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Anchor Brewing announced today the 4th beer in heir Zymaster series. This latest offering — Fort Ross Farmhouse Ale — is a beer made with local herbs from nearby Fort Ross, which is located along the coast in Sonoma County. This sounds like an interesting beer. I can’t wait to try it.
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Here’s the full story, from the press release:

Over 200 years ago, ninety miles up the coast from San Francisco, the Russian American Company built a stockade that became known as Fort Ross. It was home base for Russia’s fur trade and, in the 1820s and ’30s, supplied the Russian colony of New Archangel (now Sitka) with grain from “bread plants” like wheat and barley. The farms were small and the harvesting primitive. Reaping was done with sickles and threshing by driving horses over the sheaves.

Among the native plants at Fort Ross is a perennial evergreen shrub, prized by the local Indians for its healing powers, whose purple flowers bloom from May to early July. The Spanish missionaries called it Yerba Santa or Holy Herb. Our Zymaster® Series No. 4: Fort Ross Farmhouse Ale is inspired by the wheat, barley, and Yerba Santa at Fort Ross and the hardy souls who harvested them. Fermented with a local saison-style yeast, this unique brew celebrates the history and flora of Northern California like no other.

Our Fort Ross Farmhouse Ale (7.2% ABV) is a Belgian-style farmhouse ale with a California twist. The unique bitterness and earthy spiciness of Yerba Santa, a native California herb, perfectly complement the fruitiness and clove-like flavors created by a local saison-style yeast. And in addition to hops, barley malt, and wheat malt, we used toasted Belgian wheat malt, which gives our Fort Ross Farmhouse Ale its distinctive maltiness and burnished bronze color.

Zymaster Series No. 4: Fort Ross Farmhouse Ale will be available in draught and 22-ounce bottles and will be poured in select bars and restaurants throughout the United States, as well as the Anchor Taproom, starting June 2013.

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Mateveza/Samuel Adams Collaboration Beer Being Released Tonight

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Tonight from 6-9:00 p.m. at Cervecería de MateVeza, located at 3801 18th Street in San Francisco, there will be a beer-tasting of a new collaboration beer. Here’s the story:

Samuel Adams and MateVeza will come together to celebrate and introduce their limited-release collaboration beer, Boston Tea Party Saison. The unique brew combines MateVeza’s signature ingredient — yerba mate tea — and Samuel Adams’ one-of-a-kind Kosmic Mother Funk (KMF).

After completing a Brewing and Business Experienceship, an extended craft brewing mentoring program offered by Samuel Adams, MateVeza founder Jim Woods teamed up with his mentor to create a unique collaboration beer. The Experienceship is offered to craft brewers as part of Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream, a micro lending and coaching program available to food, beverage and hospitality small business owners as well as craft brewers.

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Jim Woods and Samuel Adams brewer Dean Gianocostas in Boston on the day they brewed the collaboration beer, Boston Tea Party Saison.

Here’s their description of the beer itself:

Samuel Adams and MateVeza came together to brew a Saison, which is a farmhouse beer traditionally brewed in the autumn or winter for consumption during the summer for the farm workers. The final recipe combines MateVeza’s signature ingredient — yerba mate tea — and Samuel Adams’ one-of-a-kind Kosmic Mother Funk (KMF), a blend of wild yeasts and bacteria designed to give beers unique flavors. The bright and satisfying brew has a slightly earthy and deliciously fruity character with a hint of spice and a long dry finish.

If you’re in the city tonight, stop by and give the beer a try. See you there.

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Chris Spinelli and Jon Mervine from Roc Brewing (who also did a similar collaboration beer, though their beer is ThreeNinety Bock), and in the middle Jim Woods, MateVeza, and Jim Koch, from Boston Beer.

Hog’s Apothecary In Oakland Looking For Founding Members

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The Hog’s Apothecary, located in Oakland at 375 40th Street, is looking for founding members on the crowndfunding website Indiegogo. With less than 36 hours to go, they need just $3,000 to complete their vision of bringing an American-style beer hall to Oakland. Check out all of the details on Indiegogo or their Facebook page and support their efforts if it looks good to you. Here’s their pitch:

The Hog’s Apothecary is an American-style beer hall and gastropub brought to you by Bradford Earle and John Streit set to open this summer in Oakland’s Temescal District. The Hog will feature 32 American Craft brews and 4 local wines on draft, weekly firkin selections, a selection of craft bottles and a menu of artisanal sausages and roasts, a selection of charcuterie, appetizers and well composed salads, all crafted onsite.

Under construction since November, The Hog’s Apothecary is a locally owned operation. Owners Bradford and John are local residents, excited to make a lasting contribution to our neighborhood. We love Oakland and we could not be happier to be opening our first restaurant in the East Bay. We invite you to be part of speeding us to our grand opening and to making The Hog the place for you to hang out in the East Bay! We hope that you’ll become a Founding Member and feel that The Hog’s Apothecary is as much yours as it is ours.

We can never have too many good beer bars as far as I’m concerned. I wish them the best of luck.

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Hammer Of Glory Stolen!

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Well, this is horrid news. According to CBS in Philadelphia, Philly Beer Week’s “Hammer of Glory” has gone missing, presumed stolen. According to Philly Beer Week director Don Russell, “The Hammer was on display [at] the Fishtown Festival on Frankford Avenue when it went missing.” At some point, “somebody decided to pick it up and, you know, take off with it,” he added. He also said that they just want it back; “if you have it, just turn it in to a [Philly] Beer Week bar.” Hopefully, someone will do just that and return it. Read the full store here at CBS.

The Hammer at Standard Tap's Bear Ninja Cowboy beerchambeau
The Hammer at Standard Tap’s Bear Ninja Cowboy beerchambeau in 2010.

Me with the Hammer of Glory
Me with the Hammer of Glory during a Hammer Time pub crawl Jennie Hatton (pictured above) took me on a few years ago.

UPDATE: Happy news. Philly Beer Week’s Facebook page is now reporting that the Hammer of Glory has been found. Here’s the story:

The Hammer of Glory is SAFE! It was turned in an hour ago to Frankford Hall. The person who dropped it off said he found it under 95. We really need to thank the Philadelphia Police, the Philadelphia Media and all you beer drinkers who helped us spread the word and get the HOG back.

Whew. Below, the HoG safe and sound.

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Pedigrees Of Common Hop Varieties

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Today’s infographic is a dizzying chart of Pedigrees of Common Hop Varieties, created at the University of Minnesota, who began doing hop research in 2010. They describe the poster as a “24×36-inch poster [that] displays the pedigrees for over 40 varieties of hops developed by English, American, German, and Japanese breeding programs. From Brewer’s Gold to Bravo, Centennial to Millenium, Chinook to Challenger.” It’s also available for purchase.

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Click here to see the chart full size.

Mapping The Rise Of Craft Beer

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Here’s a very cool interactive map from the New Yorker, part of their Idea of the Week for this week. Their map of the U.S. can show several different pieces of data about craft breweries and beer in the U.S., by state, and moving your mouse over each state reveals additional information. Give it a try.

Here, for example, is Total breweries. The darker the color, the more breweries.
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And here are new breweries opened in 2012.
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