Bloomberg TV To Feature Jim Koch & Oceanside Ale Works

November 3, 2010 By Jay Brooks

bloomberg-tv
Bloomberg Television is debuting new show tomorrow entitled The Mentor, in which experienced, successful businesspeople visit ones in the same field just starting out in order to help them along. In the first show, which airs tomorrow, Boston Beer Co. founder Jim Koch travels to Oceanside, California to help out the guys at Oceanside Ale Works.

From the press release:

This Thursday, November 4th, 2010 at 9:00 PM/ET, Bloomberg Television will debut “Bloomberg The Mentor,” an original new series that features top CEOs mentoring small business owners across America.
Every entrepreneur hopes to strike it big, but the reality is that 80% of small businesses fail within the first 18 months. What if entrepreneurs from around the U.S. had the chance to get real-life advice from some of America’s best-known CEOs? This season, “Bloomberg The Mentor” tests that concept with four small businesses.
In the series premiere, Jim Koch, founder and chairman of The Boston Beer Company, the largest independently owned American craft brewery and brewer of award-winning Samuel Adams beers, brings his national business expertise to a pair of budding brewers at Oceanside Ale Works in California.
Mark Purciel, a former teacher, and Scott Thomas, a firefighter, initially started brewing hand-crafted ales as a hobby. In 2005, the duo co-founded Oceanside Ale Works, one of the only manual brew houses in the nation. Now, Purciel and Thomas dream of transforming their passion for beer into a nation-wide business. But without significant management experience, how can Purciel and Thomas make the right decisions about scaling their business and finding a way to increase sales and distribution?
During the episode, the unconventional entrepreneurs wing it through a sales meeting with LA nightclub impresario Sam Nazarian before finally meeting their ultimate mentor, Jim Koch, who offers the brewers some tough advice on next steps for their business.

TheMentor

I confess I didn’t realize that our cable company carried the Bloomberg channel, but it does. To check if it’s available where you live, they have a handy page where you plug in your zip code to see if you get the station.

Here’s a trailer for the Oceanside Ale Works show:

And this is a trailer for the show, The Mentor, itself:

BRU/SFO Project Flies Into Town Again

November 1, 2010 By Jay Brooks

The BRU/SFO Project is back for a second year. A play on the airport codes BRU (for Brussels, belgium) and our own SFO, the Project is between the 21st Amendment Brewery & Restaurant and Magnolia Gastropub. Each brewpub will be creating six Belgian-inspired beers throughout the month of November, with a new one released each Monday. Here’s the release schedule:

November 1
21st Amendment: Via (Belgian Single), Noir de Blanc (Cocoa Witbier) and Papa Parks Porter
Magnolia: Deep Ellem (Dubbel), Destiny UnBlonde, Chocolate George Stout
November 8
21st Amendment: Drunken Monk (Dark Abbey Ale)
Magnolia: Gordo
November 15
21st Amendment: Oaked Baby Horse (Belgian Oak- Aged Quadruple)
Magnolia: Saison De Lily
November 22
21st Amendment: St. Lupulin (Imperial Belgian IPA)
Magnolia: Sunbust

bru-sfo-2010-1

As last year, you can pick up a “boarding pass” at either brewery to get each beer marked off as you try them. “When you’ve enjoyed all 12 you get to take home and keep for your very own the special BRU/SFO commemorative glass” (good while supplies last). According to the breweries, the “Belgian beer project is a unique time to take in and enjoy Belgian-style beers, with interesting styles and tastes all with an American twist. We hope you enjoy your flight.” And Magnolia adds that their “exploration of Belgian-style and Belgian-influenced beers includes both old favorites and brand new beers.”

Magnolia has also “put together a special menu of snacks and smaller dishes to enjoy in the spirit of this Transatlantic project. Be sure to try the duck fat fries, chicory gratin, roasted tomato crevette, mussels (steamed in beer, of course), and a special cheese plate, all of which are available throughout the month. Look for other specials throughout the month, too, most of which will be intended to pair with a specific BRU/SFO beer.” And that the end of the month, they’ll host “One Dinner To End It All,” a “4-course dinner [to be held] on Monday, 11/29 with each course paired with a beer from the Project. More info coming soon, including the menu and price.”

Bay Area Craft Beer Festival This Saturday

October 21, 2010 By Jay Brooks

bay-area-craft-beer-fest
This Saturday, October 23, another new festival will kick off in the Bay Area, in this case Martinez. The Bay Area Craft Beer Festival will be held in the historic Cannery District at the Martinez Waterfront Park, located at 333 Ferry St. in downtown Martinez from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. Tickets are $35 for general admission or $50 for a VIP ticket, which gets you in an hour earlier, at Noon. Tickets can be purchased online or at several locations throughout the Bay Area. Check out the festival website for details.

Admission includes includes a commemorative glass, unlimited tastings and entertainment, which includes three bands. Over thirty breweries will be pouring their beer. Food will also be available for a separate purchase. The festival will take place indoors, so it’s rain or shine.

BACBF

Sanity/Fear: A Rally for Beer 10.29.10

October 17, 2010 By Jay Brooks

sanity-fear
If you’re planning on going to either Jon Stewart’s Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Stephen Colbert’s March to Keep Fear Alive on October 30 — or if you just happen to live in the Washington D.C. area — you’re most likely going to need something to do the night before. If so, have I got an event for you.

Sanity-Fear Poster

The Brickskeller in D.C. will host Sanity/Fear: A Rally for Beer on Friday night October 29, 2010. This is coincidentally the eve of A Rally for Sanity with Jon Stewart (The Daily Show) and Keep Fear Alive with Stephen Colbert (Colbert Report) on Saturday afternoon on the mall at our nation’s capitol in Washington, DC.

Join Celebrator Beer News publisher Tom Dalldorf (who’s alter ego Glenn Becks is named for a mediocre German import) as we consider Sanity in brewing and Fear of extreme beers with brewers Bill Madden, Mad Fox Brewing Company, Falls Church, VA and Jason Oliver, Devil’s Backbone Brewing Company, Roseland, VA. Several of their best efforts will be served along with some cellar treasures selected by the Brick’s Dave Alexander.

Sanity-Fear-logo

Following this will be a performance by the Rolling Boil Blues Band defying Sanity by instilling Fear via beery tunes like Hop This Town, This Beer’s For You, Homebrew Hand Jive and (sadly) many more! The band features Dave Alexander on lead guitar and Tom Dalldorf on so-called vocals. Fortunately, the beer will be flowing!

Damn, that should be a lot of fun. Wish I could be there. Additional details and tickets are available at the Brickskeller website. Tickets are $40 and can be purchased online. Here’s the info from the website:

The SANITY vs FEAR Beer Tasting
Friday, Oct. 29th

TOM DALLDORF
Owner/Publisher of the Celebrator Beer News

Brings two brewmasters to our stage in a bearish recreation of the following days rally!

Dave’s old buddy, Rolling Boil Blues bandmate and fearless leader Tom Dalldorf, owner / publisher of Celebrator Beer Magazine returns to the Brick for a beerish re-creation of the next day’s Stewart-ish and Colbert-ish rally in a Sanity vs. Fear beer tasting! Tom always brings the bestest of the bestest beers to his events! Oh yeah don’t ya know after we gets’ em liquored up our lucky toe tapping guests will be closing their eyes screaming check please and covering their ears while me Tommy and a couple of real musicians get up on stage and start feeding back and blowing the endings to our favorite beer infused tunes!

HOP ROCKS!

These events will be held at
The Brickskeller
1523 22nd St NW

“Come for the Sanity. Stay for the Fear. Beer and Loathing at the Brickskeller, Washington, DC. Be there!”

Rally-to-Restore-Sanity

Inaugural Good Food Awards Include Craft Beer

October 17, 2010 By Jay Brooks

Last weekend I was pleased to help judge beer for the inaugural Good Food Awards. As I remarked yesterday in a post about Blue Bottle’s Stout Coffee Cake, while the sustainable and local food community has been slow to accept beer, “things are finally changing and a growing number of self-avowed foodies are accepting craft beer as an equal to other artisanal foodstuffs.” You couldn’t ask for a better example of that than the new Good Food Awards. Started by Seedling Projects, their take on the Good Food Awards is to reward producers whose products are “delicious, authentic and responsibly produced.”

The Good Food Awards will present the best of seven different types of food: beer, charcuterie, cheese, chocolate, coffee, pickles and preserves. Here’s the overall concept:

The Good Food Awards celebrate the kind of food we all want to eat: tasty, authentic and responsibly produced. We grant awards to outstanding American food producers and the farmers who provide their ingredients. We host an annual Awards Ceremony and Marketplace at the iconic Ferry Building in San Francisco to honor new Good Food Award recipients and also organize a month of events and tastings to support the wider community making good food.

More specifically, they included beer for the following reasons:

Good Beer is crafted by brewers who practice water recycling and resource conservation, support their local communities and seek out ingredients that are free of pesticides, herbicides and genetically modified organisms. The Good Food Awards seal will be given out in the categories of Traditional, Experimental and Collaborative brews – those made by more than one brewer working together — a growing practice that highlights the community spirit flourishing amongst craft brewers.

We judged about fifty beers from around the country, divided into broad categories: experimental and traditional. It was then further divided geographically into five regions, though the majority came from the West. We had six judges, a good mix of experience and backgrounds. Dave McLean, from Magnolia, ran the judging behind the scenes and asked me to act as judge captain, though he did manage to judge one late round, when one of the other judges had to leave early.

P1010474
The beer judging table at the Good Food Awards.

We tried a lot of great beers, and the winning beers were all very impressive beers. The winners in all the categories will be announced on January 14, 2011. Two days later, beginning January 16, they’ll kick-off Good Food Month, which will last until February 20. “Each week will pair two of the food categories” judged and the final week, February 11-20, will include a partnership with our own SF Beer Week to celebrate beer in the Bay Area and beyond.

Renato Sardo and Dave McLean judging beer at the Good Food Awards.

Sam Calagione Ready For His Close-Up As Date Set For TV Show Debut

October 5, 2010 By Jay Brooks

Mark your calendars. The date has now been set for the debut of Brew Masters, the Discovery channel television show that will star Sam Calagione. It will debut on Sunday, November 21 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT.

Here’s part of the press release:

It’s cold, it’s comforting, it’s beer….but for Sam Calagione, founder of one of America’s leading craft brewers Dogfish Head Brewery, beer is a passion, a business and a personal quest for best, most imaginative brews. Premiering Sunday, November 21 at 10 PM E/P on Discovery Channel, BREW MASTERS follows Sam and his partners in suds as they travel the country and the world sourcing exotic ingredients and discovering ancient techniques to produce beers of astounding originality.
From chocolate to oysters to tomatoes, Sam is constantly pushing his team and himself to innovate and celebrate the amazing world of beer and beer making. The imagination of the Dogfish Head team is matched only by the fun they inject into every facet of their jobs. Beer tasting meetings in the conference room with co-workers, a bocce ball league in the parking lot, filming original rap videos in the brewery plant, its all in a days work for BREW MASTERS.
BREW MASTERS taps more than just kegs and barrels, it unlocks a fascinating history of beer making, showcasing the ingenuity and passion behind our love affair with those alluring suds and how it played a role in building civilizations, said Clark Bunting, President and General Manager of Discovery Channel.
Running a successful business also requires inspiration, so BREW MASTERS hits the road for the ultimate beer tasting road trip. Sam sets out to recreate ancient ales that have been discovered at sites around the world from Egypt to Peru. He travels to Rome to research old world Italian beers as inspiration for a new site in New York with Mario Batali. A visit to New Zealand introduces the idea of making the first tomato based beer. And back home, Sam is tasked to come up with a commemorative beer called Bitches Brew to celebrate the 40th anniversary release of Miles Davis famous recording.
Beer has always been my passion. It is so much more than what you see in the glass. I’m excited to share the diligence, daring and creativity that we pour into our work, said Calagione.
BREW MASTERS is produced for Discovery Channel by Zero Point Zero Productions. Chris Collins and Lydia Tenaglia are executive producers. Tim Pastore is executive producer for Discovery Channel.

And Channel Guide magazine also mentions the new show for the fall lineup.

Canadian Brewing Awards 2010

September 25, 2010 By Jay Brooks

cba
Last night, Friday September 24, the 8th annual Canadian Brewing Awards were presented at the Cool Brewery in Etobicoke, Ontario. At the CBA Gala and Medal Presentation, 93 medals were awarded in 31 style categories.

This year, there were 390 entries from 76 Canadian breweries, “making the 2010 edition the largest brewing competition ever held in Canada.”

Congratulations to all the winners.

CBA

North American Style Lager

Gold: Red Baron Premium Blonde Lager, Brick Brewing Co. (ON)
Silver: Laker Lager, Brick Brewing Co. (ON)
Bronze: Molson Dry, Molson Canada

North American Style Premium Lager
Gold: Molson M, Molson Canada
Silver: Premium Lager, Muskoka Cottage Brewery (ON)
Bronze Island Lager, Vancouver Island Brewing (BC)

European Style Lager (Pilsner)

Gold: King Pilsner, King Brewery (ON)
Silver: Pilsner, Mill Street Brewery (ON)
Bronze: Okanagan Spring 1516, Okanagan Spring Brewery (BC)

North American Style Amber Lager

Gold: Red Leaf Lager, Great Lakes Brewery (ON)
Silver: Barking Squirrel, Hop City Brewery (ON)
Bronze: Clancy’s Amber Ale, Moosehead Breweries Ltd.

North American Style Dark Lager

Gold: Dark 266 Lager, Cameron’s Brewing (ON)
Silver: Waterloo Dark, Brick Brewing Co. (ON)
Bronze: Hermann’s Dark Lager, Vancouver Island Brewery (BC)

Light (Calorie-Reduced) Lager

Gold: Brewhouse Light, Great Western Brewing Co. (SK)
Silver: Great Western Light, Great Western Brewing (SK)
Bronze: Moose Light, Moosehead Breweries Ltd.

Bock – Traditional German Style

Gold: Captivator Doppelbock, Tree Brewing Co. (BC)
Silver: Amsterdam Spring Bock, Amsterdam Brewing Co. (ON)
Bronze: Centurion, Le Saint-Bock (QC)

Kellerbier

Gold: Denison’s Dunkel, Denison’s Brewing Co. (ON)
Silver: Kellerbier, Les Trois Mousquetaires (QC)
Bronze: Bohemian Pilsner, R&B Brewing Co. (BC)

Porter

Gold: Coffee Porter, Mill Street Brewery (ON)
Silver: Two Fisted Stout, Amsterdam Brewing Co. (ON)
Bronze: Nutcracker Porter, Black Oak Brewing Co. (ON)

Strong Porter (Baltic)

Gold: Porter Baltique, Les Trois Mousquetaires (QC)
Silver: Brewmaster’s Black Lager, Okanagan Spring Brewing Co. (BC)
Bronze: Grand Baltic Porter, Garrison Brewing (NS)

Cream Ale

Gold: Sleeman Cream Ale, Sleeman Breweries
Silver: Cream Ale, Muskoka Cottage Brewery (ON)
Bronze: Cream Ale, Cameron’s Brewing Co. (ON)

Kolsch

Gold: Lug Tread Lagered Ale, Beau’s Brewing Co. (ON)
Silver: High County Kolsch, Mt. Begbie Brewing Co. (BC)
Bronze: Harvest Moon Organic Hemp Ale, Nelson Brewing Co. (BC)

North American Style Amber/Red Ale

Gold: Yukon Red Amber, Yukon Brewing Co. (YT)
Silver: Fire Chief’s Red Ale, Pump House Brewery (NB)
Bronze: Irish Red, Garrison Brewing Co. (NS)

North American Style Blonde/Golden Ale

Gold: Molson Export, Molson Canada
Silver: Red Cap, Brick Brewing Co. (ON)
Bronze: Natural Blonde, Amsterdam Brewing Co. (ON)

Brown Ale

Gold: County Ale, Wellington County Brewery (ON)
Silver: Naramata Nut Brown, The Cannery Brewing Co. (BC)
Bronze: Stonehammer Dark Ale, F&M Brewery (ON)

Scotch Ale

Gold: Squire Scotch Ale, The Cannery Brewing Co. (BC)
Silver: Wee Angry Scotch Ale, Russell Brewing (BC)
Bronze: Scotch Ale, Pump House Brewery (NB)

English Style Pale Ale (Bitter)

Gold: KLB Pale Ale, Amsterdam Brewing Co. (ON)
Silver: Red Devil Pale Ale, R&B Brewing Co. (BC)
Bronze: Wisharts ESB, Clocktower Brewpub (ON)

North American Style Pale Ale (Bitter)

Gold: Canuck Pale Ale, Great Lakes Brewery (ON)
Silver: Hopyard, Garrison Brewing Co. (NS)
Bronze: Duggan’s #9, Duggan’s Brewery (ON)

Wheat Beer – Belgian Style White/Wit

Gold: Dominus Vobiscum Blanche, Microbrasserie Charlevoix (QC)
Silver: White Bark, Driftwood Brewing Co. (BC)
Bronze: Paresseuse, Le Saint-Bock (QC)

Wheat Beer – German Style Hefeweizen

Gold: Hefeweizen, Tree Brewing Co. (BC)
Silver: Duggan’s #13 Weiss, Duggan’s Brewery (ON)
Bronze: Summer Wheat, Bushwakker Brewing Co. (SK)

Wheat Beer – North American Style

Gold: Sungod Wheat Ale, R&B Brewing Co. (BC)
Silver: Silver Wheat, Wellington County Brewery (ON)
Bronze: Dooryard Summer Ale, Picaroons Traditional Ales (NB)

Strong or Belgian Style Ale

Gold: La Fin Du Monde, Unibroue (QC)
Silver: Trois Pistoles, Unibroue (QC)
Bronze: Gros Mollet, Microbrasserie du Lac St-Jean

Barley Wine

Gold: Thor’s Hammer, Central City Brewery (BC)
Silver: St. Ambroise Vintage Ale, McAuslan Brewing (QC)
Bronze: Barley Wine, Mill Street Brewery (ON)

Stout

Gold: Dark Star Oatmeal Stout, R&B Brewing Co. (BC)
Silver: Malediction, Le Saint-Bock (QC)
Bronze: Timber Hog Stout, Picaroons Traditional Ales (NB)

Imperial Stout

Gold: Black IPA, Garrison Brewing Co. (NS)
Silver: Russian Imperial Stout, McAuslan Brewing (QC)
Bronze: Imperial Russian Stout, Wellington County Brewery (ON)

English Style India Pale Ale

Gold: Nasty Habit IPA, Mt. Begbie Brewing Co. (BC)
Silver: Brockton IPA, Granville Island Brewing (BC)
Bronze: India Pale Ale, Mill Street Brewery (ON)

American Style India Pale Ale

Gold: Red Racer IPA, Central City Brewery (BC)
Silver: Hop Rock Candy Mountain IPA, Hart & Thistle Brewpub (NS)
Bronze: My Bitter Wife, Great Lakes Brewery (ON)

Imperial India Pale Ale

Gold: Red Racer Imperial, Central City Brewery (BC)
Silver: Cuda, Benelux brasserie artisanale et café (QC)
Bronze: Ten Bitter Years, Black Oak Brewing Co. (ON)

French and Belgian Style Saison

Gold: Farmhand Ale, Driftwood Brewing Co. (BC)
Silver: Saison, Black Oak Brewing Co. (ON)
Bronze: Blonde de Chambly, Unibroue (QC)

Fruit & Vegetable

Gold: Coconut Porter, Swans Buckerfields (BC)
Silver: Quelque Chose, Unibroue (QC)
Bronze: Frambozen, Mill Street Brewery (ON)

Special Honey/Maple Lager or Ale

Gold: Enigma, Le Saint-Bock (QC)
Silver: Holiday Honey, Old Credit Brewing (ON)
Bronze: Mackroken Flower Grande Reserve, Bilboquet Microbrasserie (QC)

Two additional medals were bestowed during the CBAs Gala and Medal Presentation — Canadian Brewery of the Year and Canadian Beer Of The Year awards. Rob Engman, President of TAPS Media, was thrilled with the announcement that first time participants, Central City Brewery from Surrey, BC, won both of the prestigious awards. “I am extremely excited for Central City Brewery,” stated Engman. “This is the first year that the brewery has competed in the CBAs and they wowed the judges with their submissions.”

Beer of the Year: Thor’s Hammer Barley Wine, Central City Brewery (BC)

CBA-brewery

Brewery of the Year: Central City Brewery (BC)

This Year’s Jeremiah O’Brien Festival

September 21, 2010 By Jay Brooks

sf-brewers-guild
Trying to catch up after being gone a week at GABF, the week before I attended the annual Brews on the Bay beer festival put on by the San Francisco Brewers Guild. It’s such a unique, fun event in such a great setting that I really enjoy it going each year.

The beer festival aboard the SS Jeremiah O'Brien
The Brews on the Bay beer festival aboard the SS Jeremiah O’Brien.

Shaun O'Sullivan, from 21st Amendment, and Brendan Dobel, Thirsty Bear
Shaun O’Sullivan, from 21st Amendment, and Brendan Dobel, brewer at Thirsty Bear.

Rich Higgins, me and Hop-Meisters hop farmer Marty Kuchinski
Rich Higgins, from Social Kitchen, me and Hop-Meisters hop farmer Marty Kuchinski.

Below is a slideshow of this year’s Brews on the Bay beer festival. 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.

« Previous Page