Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

Socialize

Beer Birthday: Brent Ainsworth

By

patch
Today is my friend and neighbor’s birthday, Brent Ainsworth. Brent was a newspaper man until very recently, when he became the Novato Patch for AOL’s ambitious local news Patch project. Brent also wrote the occasional beer piece and contributes stories to the Celebrator Beer News. oin me in wishing Brent a very happy birthday.

cbn20th-14
Marin/Moylan’s owner Brendan Moylan and friend, Brent and Mike Altman, owner of Iron Springs Brewing at the Celebrator 20th anniversary party.

cbn20th-08
Brent and Lars Larson from Trumer Brauerei.

P1000647
Brent (top right) at the 4th Philopotes Society meeting in July.

Beer Birthday: Sean Lilly Wilson

By

fullsteam
Today is the 40th birthday of Sean Lilly Wilson, founder of Fullsteam Brewing in Durham, North Carolina. Even before the brewery opened this past April, Sean made a name for himself and the brewery through twitter and their blog. Join me in wishing Sean a very happy birthday.

P1200392
Marty Jones and Sean at the Craft Brewers Conference earlier this year in Chicago.

P1200393
Greg Koch with Sean at CBC.

Oakland’s Newest Brewer

By

oakland-brewing
Just got some great news. Steve McDaniel, co-founder of the soon to be open Oakland Brewing, and his lovely wife Justine Nguyen, had their first child yesterday. Justine gave birth to Merritt just after Noon on October 30. It sounds like mother and son are doing great, as Justine is up and using Facebook. Join me in wishing the happy couple all the best on their birth of their son. Congratulations Steve and Justine!

Particulars:

Original Gravity: 7 pounds, 11 ounces
IBUs: 21 in.
Style: Boy
Release Date: October 30, 2010
Label: Merritt Anh Xbalanque McDaniel

merritt-mcdaniel-1
Steve McDaniel and Justine Nguyen’s new son Merritt.

merritt-mcdaniel-2
A sleeping Merritt Anh Xbalanque McDaniel.

Beer Birthday: Craft Beer

By

new-albion-banner
Today is the 34th anniversary of a momentous moment in the short history of craft beer. On October 8, 1976, the New Albion Brewery was incorporated in the State of California. Though the brewery opened in July the following year, it only lasted until 1982 or 83. It was ahead of its time, way ahead. But it was the first small brewery to be built from scratch, mostly by hand, using junkyard parts and old dairy equipment. To me, and many others, that makes it the first modern craft brewery and its legacy should be remembered, revered and celebrated. Its founder, Jack McAuliffe, essentially shied away from the brewing community after 1983, returning to his original profession as an engineer. As a result, few people — except us old-timers and historians — give McAuliffe his due. A lot of young brewers and fans don’t know his name, though that, happily, is changing.

Maureen Ogle managed to track down McAuliffe through his daughter for her book, Ambitious Brew, and in it she gives a great account of New Albion Brewery.

McAuliffe

Sierra Nevada recently lured McAuliffe to Chico to collaborate on a beer for their 30th anniversary. Jack & Ken’s Ale, a black barley wine, came out recently, and that seems to be the beginning of a resurgence or renaissance for Jack McAuliffe. He’s back in the public eye, and people are writing once more about his lasting impact on the craft beer industry. Here are a few places he’s been mentioned:

Then there’s The birthday of craft beer, written by me for my newspaper column. It was supposed to run this Wednesday but got bumped to next week, which happens occasionally. But it did go online this week, in time to raise a toast tonight

My idea is to designate today as the “birthday of craft beer,” a holiday to celebrate New Albion Brewery, Jack McAuliffe and the thousands of small breweries that followed to create the beer landscape we all enjoy today. Working with the California Small Brewers Association, we’re going to petition the state to recognize October 8, 2011 in some fashion as the 35th anniversary and the birthday of craft beer. If you’d like to help that effort, drop me a line and when we have a better idea what needs to happen, I’ll reach out to you. For now, today is the 34th anniversary, and the birthday of craft beer, so join me in raising a glass to Jack McAuliffe, New Albion Brewery and all the great beer that’s flowed since 1976. Happy birthday craft beer.

new-albion-ale

Here’s one of the original New Albion labels. The original sign from the New Albion Brewery now hangs on the wall at Russian River Brewing in Santa Rosa. Stop by and see it anytime you like. To see what New Albion looked like, check out breweriana collector Jess Kidden’s page on New Albion Brewing, where he’s reproduced two articles that appeared in Brewer’s Digest in 1979 and 80.

Ithaca’s Twin Fermenters

By

ithaca
It’s never too late to celebrate great news. Congratulations to Jeff and Heather O’Neil on the birth of their twins, August William and Clara Jean, born July 21. Jeff is the brewmaster at the Ithaca Beer Co. Join me in wishing Jeff and Heather best wishes on the addition of two new fermenters to their brewery family.

oneil-twins-3
Jeff and Heather with the twins — Clara on the left, August the right — and their 4-year old son Henry Sinon.

Particulars:

Label: August William
Original Gravity: 6 lbs., 7 oz.
IBUs: 20 in.
Style: Boy
Release Date: July 21, 2010; 4:20 p.m.

Label: Clara Jean
Original Gravity: 7 lbs., 6 oz.
IBUs: 19 in.
Style: Girl
Release Date: July 21, 2010, 4:21 p.m.

oneil-twins-2
Ithaca brewer Jeff O’Neil with his twins.

Vinnie’s 40th Birthday Party

By

blind-pig-cupcake
This Sunday, Vinnie Cilurzo, founder and brewmaster at Russian River Brewing, turned forty. His wife Natalie pulled out all the stops and made it a two-day celebration, beginning with a barbecue at the production brewery.

Vinnie & Terrence Sullivan, from Sierra Nevada, filling barrels
We arrived a little early, and Vinnie and Terrence Sullivan, assistant brewer at Sierra Nevada Brewing was there with kegs of a beer that Vinnie brewed in Chico, and they were now filling into wine barrels to store in the barrel room for aging. The beer is for a special project for next year, and I can’t say more than that at this point.

My son Porter & Terrence's son Riley in Russian River's barrel room
We brought our kids along and happily so did Terrence and his wife. Their son Riley and Porter got along immediately and were thick as thieves playing in the barrel room and the rest of the brewery.

P1000588
We dropped the kids off at Grandma’s, put them to bed, and rejoined the party, which had moved to the brewpub, where we caught up again with Natalie and Vinnie.

P1000591
Natalie had a bunch of great cupcakes made, including several custom ones with a few logos you may recognize.

P1000571
The band playing was one of Vinnie’s favorites, The Famous, a San Francisco band. They even did a special song for the occasion, Pliny the Elder.

P1000599
Vinnie and me toward the end of the evening. The next day, we had brunch at Willie BIrds, near the brewery. After that, the party resumed back at the brewpub, but sadly without us. It was time to get the kids home.

Below is a slideshow of Vinnie’s 40t birthday party. This Flickr gallery is best viewed in full screen. To view it that way, after clicking on the arrow in the center to start the slideshow, click on the button on the bottom right with the four arrows pointing outward on it, to see the photos in glorious full screen. Once in full screen slideshow mode, click on “Show Info” to identify each photo.

Beer Waterfall

By

humor
In a scene straight out of a deranged adult version of Willy Wonka, the beer waterfall on the belated birthday card below arrived in my mailbox today.

beer-waterfall
The card was primarily the work of my friends Ray and Cornelia, both Beer Drinkers of the Year in separate years. But they took it along with them to Brewvival in Charleston, South Carolina and had a few more friends sign it, which was very cool of them. There were separate notes from Julie and Jason from Brusin’ Ales and also Patrick Rue, from the Bruery. Then there’s another birthday greeting from a name I can’t quite read, though the initials look like G.H. Of course, it’s the thought that counts and I really appreciated getting the card. Thanks guys!

But there was one more note, from the John Hancock of the signatories, big and bold. His (or her) message took up nearly the entire inside left side with the following: “I want to see this in your fucking blog!” So how could I refuse? If only I could figure out the identity of my mystery person. Here’s his signature below. Any guesses?

cheers-unknown

Beer Birthday: J (Yes, Embarrasing Myself This Time)

By

brookston
Today is my 51st birthday, and I’ve been overwhelmed by an embarrassment of riches from well-wishers sending me notes via e-mail, Twitter and Facebook. Thanks to one and all. Since it’s usually me posting embarrassing photos of my friends and colleagues, last year I posted a bunch encompassing my first 50 years on a page entitled Beer Birthday Overkill. From old baby photos to the high fashion of the 70s and beyond, they’re still up and good for a chuckle. So again in a spirit of fair play and transparency, here are a few more cringe-worthy photos from my days of youthful indiscretions.

confirmation-bowtie
Another classic from the early 70s, around 1972 or 73 when I was 13 or 14. It was taken for a church directory when the Lutheran Church I attended was celebrating their 100-year anniversary, or something like that. My Mom actually made the jacket and, no offense to her, but she was not the finest seamstress to peddle a sewing machine. You gotta love the butterfly bow-tie look. I’m sure glad that died a much-deserved fashion death.

wd37
At Woodstock (’94 — I’m not that old!) and yes, that’s a can of Miller Genuine Draft I’m holding. After a few days in the mud, we couldn’t be very picky or stand on ceremony about using the proper glass, sad to say. The sleepy-looking fellow next to me is Jim Noecker, my oldest friend in the world, who I’ve known since we were in kindergarten together.

sarah-10
While I can’t recall the exact details of where or when this photo was taken, it was definitely on one of my first dates with my wife Sarah, which places it around 1993 or so, roughly seventeen years ago. Good god, we look young.

There’s many more where these came from, just check out Beer Birthday Overkill and thanks again for all the birthday wishes.

Beer Birthday: Pat Hagerman

By


Today is the 46th birthday of Pat Hagerman, co-founder of ReelBeer.com, one of the first beer portals to establish a presence on the internet. I’ve known Pat for a lot of years in a variety of enterprises. Pat also has a son, Jack, who’s a little older than Porter so we’ve seen him at birthday parties from time to time, though it’s been a little while. These days, I usually run into Pat at beer events, though I suppose technically he’s also my boss since for a while I’d been filling in for Stan writing the Real Beer Blog, though happily now Stan’s back. Join me in wishing Pat a very Happy birthday.


Pat (at right) with Tom Dalldorf in New Orleans for the Craft Brewers Conference in 2003.


A self-portrait of me and Pat at Falling Rock in Denver at the 2005 Great American Beer Festival.

My Report Card From 2009

By

report-card
Last year at this time, I made my usual five predictions for the 2009 beer year. Let’s see how I did.

 
2009 will be the year of the collaboration beer.

My Score: A+
Boy howdy, was it ever. Even Sierra Nevada waded into the collaborative pool with their first one. Collaborations between brewers were everywhere throughout the year and at this point I’d wager they’re here to stay.

 
Food & Beer Goes Mainstream.

My Score: B-
While beer dinners and food pairing events are still on the rise, things didn’t reaching the tipping point I thought they might or hoped they would.

 
Merger shakeouts will effect small brewers.

My Score: C
While mergers among distributors did continue in 2009, and the mess between ABIB and MillerCoors and their distributors still hasn’t reached a final solution, most regional brewers didn’t feel the pinch much. The fact that craft beer is growing faster than domestic and imports didn’t hurt, either. But some small brewers continued to look for alternative distribution solutions so it’s still not all rosy either.

 
Beer prices will continue to rise.

My Score: A
All the rising ingredient costs finally caught up with the big brewers, who previously had been trying to keep retail prices down. But InBev’s philosophy regarding pricing is fundamentally different than A-B’s had been, so when they announced price hikes, everyone else followed suit (as they usually do).

 
New Drys’ attacks will be more aggressive.

My Score: A+
This one was probably a little too predictable, but I was yet again surprised by just how aggressive these buzzkillers were in 2009. The vituperation of their rhetoric, the lengths they went to bend facts to their will and the outright fabrications are just astounding, especially given that the basis for their point of view is often on moral grounds. That their words and deeds can be so void of morality in the ends-justify-the-means approach taken seems a cruel irony that appears lost on them.

 
04-bp
Overall Score: B+
I think I did better last year, though in three out of five this year I think I hit the nail on the head pretty well. But the other two, not so much. C’est la vie. Now, to put on the ol’ thinking cap for next year’s predictions. See you next year!

Tomorrow I’ll make my predictions for 2010.