Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Mayor Sam Adams Tapping Keg At OBF

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While there are plenty more photos to share from this year’s Oregon Brewers Festival, I wanted to get out this fun little video I took from the end of the OBF parade on Thursday morning. After marching to the festival, a little ceremony takes place to officially open the festival. First, this year’s brewery host, Full Sail Brewing, hands over the ceremonial keg hammer to next year’s sponsor, who will be Deschutes. The video begins with Gary Fish, owner of Deschutes, accepting the hammer and then handing it over to Portland mayor Sam Adams so that he can tap the keg. Be sure to watch the video at least through to the tapping.


To view it larger, visit the YouTube page.

Beer Birthday: Tom McCormick

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I’ve known Tom since he was still at the beer distributor he founded, McCormick Distributing, which then, as now, promoted craft brewers and better imports. Tom has also worked as a consultant, with Wolaver’s and Real Beer, and now runs the ProBrewer website. But these days his primary job is running the California Small Brewers Association. Join me in wishing Tom a very happy birthday.

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At the CBC banquet with Nancy Johnson, director of the GABF.

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Tom with Greg Koch, co-owner of Stone Brewing, after a CSBA meeting in San Diego the year before last.

Shaun O’Sullivan’s Ken Kesey Tribute To Bll Brand

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A number of people have expressed regret at not having heard Shaun O’Sullivan’s Ken Kesey-ian rant in tribute to Bill Brand at the memorial the beer community had for him on Sunday at The Trappist in Oakland.

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I did manage to capture the last third to a half of it on video, so you can at least get a feel for it by clicking on the image below. It was certainly one of the highlights of the day. Enjoy.

 
UPDATE: Justin Crossley from The Brewing Network sent me a video of Shaun’s entire rant that he took using his mobile phone. As Justin notes, the sound quality isn’t great, but at least the whole enchilada has been preserved for posterity. Thanks, Justin.

 

Bear Republic Annexes Zeitgeist

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I ran into Tom Dalldorf at the Magnolia vertical barley wine tasting, and we drove over to Zeitgeist, where Rich Norgrove, brewmaster at Bear Republic Brewing, was on hand for a meet the brewer event. We slipped in and out long enough to shake hands, take a photo, and slink away so we could get to our beer dinner on time.

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Part of the Bear Republic brew crew (on left) with Rich and his wife Tami.

Cheesed Off

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Tuesday night the Bistro in Hayward, California, held one of the most unique and fun cheese pairing events I’ve ever attended. It was called The Bistro’s North County Cheese-Off. What owner Vic Krajl did was pick five cheeses and then asked five breweries from north of San Francisco — Bear Republic, Lagunitas, Marin, North Coast and Russian River — to pick the beer they made that they felt was the best pairing with each cheese.

So it was essentially five flights. At our table we’d get a generous portion of a cheese and then five beer samples, one from each brewery. They were unmarked so we did not know which beers we were being served, only the cheese. So, in turn, you’d take a bit of cheese and then try a beer. Then another nibble and the next beer, and so on. So our job was not to find the best beer, but which one complemented or contrasted the cheese best. It’s good they gave us a lot of each cheese, because you’d keep going back and forth, eliminating here and there, but then often struggling with your two favorites trying to determine which one you liked the most. It was a very illuminating and educational way to approach pairing cheese and beer. Someone from each brewery was also there, and it was interesting to get their thoughts after the event. I’d definitely try this again, as it made the experience much richer and you left feeling not only satiated, but like you learned something, too.


Bistro proprietor Vic Krajl cutting the cheese.


The North County Cheese-Off was a sold-out event and even filled up the bar, too.


Our third cheese, Tomme De Brebis, a sheep cheese.


Rich Norgrove, from bear Republic.


The final cheese, Humboldt Fog, a goat cheese.


After choosing our favorite from each round, we handed in our scorecards and they tallied up the results to determine which pairings were the most popular. A prize was awarded to whoever correctly predicted the most popular choices. Only one person, this gentlemen, chose all five most popular. While I’d argue that most popular doesn’t necessarily mean best, especially since people’s tastes and palates vary widely, it was still a fund way to wrap up the evening and determine at least what a majority of people thought about the choices. Below is a list of each of the cheeses along with the beer pairings chosen by each brewery and then what was determined to be the most popular. The beer in bold was chosen as most popular and italics indicates my personal choice, in case you’re interested.
 

Cheese No. 1: Manchego (sheep)

  1. Bear Republic: Peter Brown Tribute Ale
  2. Lagunitas: Pale Ale
  3. Marin: Albion Amber
  4. North Coast: Brother Thelonius
  5. Russian River: Salvation

Cheese No. 2: Fromager D’Affinois (cow)

  1. Bear Republic: Heritage Ale
  2. Lagunitas: Pilsner
  3. Marin: Hefeweiss
  4. North Coast: Old Rasputin
  5. Russian River: Blind Pig

Cheese No. 3: Tomme De Brebis (sheep)

  1. Bear Republic: Raver 5
  2. Lagunitas: Brown Shugga
  3. Marin: Left End Unfiltered Pale Ale
  4. North Coast: Acme Pale Ale
  5. Russian River: Damnation (4 yr. old)

Cheese No. 4: Cahill Porter (cow) [Tie]

  1. Bear Republic: Red Rocket
  2. Lagunitas: The Hairy Eyeball
  3. Marin: Pt. Reyes Porter
  4. North Coast: Old Plowshare Stout
  5. Russian River: Supplication

Cheese No. 5: Humboldt Fog (goat)

  1. Bear Republic: Bubba
  2. Lagunitas: Ruben & the Jets
  3. Marin: Witty Monk
  4. North Coast: Le Merle Saison
  5. Russian River: Beatification

Hat’s off to Vic for coming up with such a simple yet effective new way to approach cheese and beer pairings. What fun. I hope to see more of this type of event in the future.

Albion Don In the Temple of Beer

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Yesterday the first five events of SF Beer Week were all “Albion Don” Barkley and the recreation of the original beer that started the modern craft brew movement. New Albion’s Pale Ale, dubbed Napa Smith’s Original Albion Ale was tapped every hour, on the hour, for five hours at a different location in San Francisco. Beginning at the Temple of Beer, the Toronado, Don arrived, beery scepter in hand to christen the day (and the week’s) activities.

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Don Barley, with the scepter of St. Gambrinus in hand.

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The first pints poured of Napa Smith’s Original Albion Ale.

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Don’s first sip.

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By the power of St. Gambrinus, he declares that it is good.

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Less impressive than it looks, I got to hold the magical scepter while Don availed himself of the facilities.

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Next stop on the tour was Magnolia. Here Don poses with Dave McLean, owner of Magnolia and fellow SF Beer Week organizer extraordinaire.

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And again, the scepter declares that the beer is good.

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I missed the next two tappings at Monk’s Kettle and City Beer Store due to having to do some prep work for SF Beer Week, but caught up with them at 21t Amendment, where Shaun O’Sullivan was on hand to greet Don.

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And again, it was good.

SF Beer Week Coming In February 2009

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When Tom Dalldorf and I came up with the idea for Beerapalooza six years ago, our original vision was a week-long series of events celebrating all the wonderful beer here in the Bay Area, California. Unfortunately, there was just two of us, and we could never quite find the time to pull it together in a way that matched our imagination of what it should have been. Beerapalooza became static, with essentially five annual events—which were all great fun—but that was it. It started off with the Bistro’s Double IPA Festival and finished up with the annual Celebrator Anniversary Party. In between there was the cheese tasting at Rogue’s San Francisco Public House, the Beer Chef’s Beer & Chocolate Dinner and the legendary Toronado Barleywine Festival.

Then earlier this year, Philly Beer Week blew our socks off. What Tom Peters and Don Russell were able to pull off their first year was nothing short of amazing. We were envious and a little guilty that we hadn’t managed to put the same effort into to a similarly grand event here in the Bay Area. We returned from Philadelphia re-energized and committed to pulling it together.

So five of us involved in one capacity or another in the beer world formed an ad hoc committee to organize and promote the successor to Beerapalooza, which we’ve dubbed “SF Beer Week,” which will be held over ten days next year, February 6-15, 2009.

Philly Beer Week characterized their town as being “America’s Best Beer Drinking City.” Since we’re friends with the Philadelphia beer community — hell, I’m originally from Pennsylvania, having grown up just a hour west of Philly — we thought we’d have a little fun with an East Coast/West Coast smackdown and so we’re calling the Bay Area “America’s Original Craft-Beer Drinking City.” Not only are we having a bit of fun with the faux rivalry, but we think we have a pretty good claim to that title. With both Anchor Brewing and New Albion in the Bay Area, not to mention Sierra Nevada and Mendocino Brewing (started with New Albion’s eqiupment), and the fact that three of the first five brewpubs were located in the Bay Area, we feel confident of our claim to that title.

The plan is to showcase the legacy and heritage of beer in the Bay, with a goal of coordinating 100-150 events. The week will be anchored by the Bistro Double IPA Festival, the Toronado Barleywine Festival and will end with a new full-blown Bay Area Beer Festival. In between there will be beer dinners, cheese and beer pairing events, other gourmet food events savoring our world-class cuisine, meet the brewer evenings, homebrewing demonstrations, music, films and even a museum exhibition exploring the history of Bay Area brewing, from Monterey to Sacramento and beyond.

A new website went live over the weekend, in conjunction with handing out postcards announcing SF Beer Week at the Slow Food Nation convention. There’s not much there yet, but you can sign up to receive a newsletter to follow along as we add information over the coming months leading up to the 10-day celebration. Instead of just a few people doing a lot of work on SF Beer Week, we’re enlisting the help of as much of the beer community that’s willing and interested in helping. In that way, our goal is to create an event that’s not just for beer enthusiasts, but by them as well. We also hope to get the support of the wider community in the form of recognition by the City or cities and possibly the state along with support from local tourism boards.

If you’re interested in volunteering or getting involved with SF Beer Week by hosting an event, please contact us via Email. Either way, watch the SF Beer Week website or here for news about the event’s progress. And most importantly, consider showing your support for Bay Area beer by attending as many of the events as your liver and wallet will allow. There should truly be something for everyone, whether you live in northern California or have chosen SF Beer Week as the perfect time to visit us.

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