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The Great Lambic Summit

June 7, 2010 By Jay Brooks

cantillon-rdg
This event just looks awesome. After whetting my appetite at the Monk’s Cafe’s lambic dinner Tuesday night, Shelton Brothers is putting on The Great Lambic Summit at the University of Pennsylvania the following evening, Wednesday June 9, beginning at 7:00 p.m.

Here’s a description of the event:

The Lambic World is more divided, politically charged, and fraught with danger than the Middle East. So it’s a really big deal when you get Armand Debelder (3 Fonteinen) Frank Boon (Brouwerij Boon), and Jean Van Roy (Brasserie Cantillon) together at the same table. In fact, it’s never been done before.

On Wednesday evening, June 9th, as part of Philly Beer Week, these three greats — indisputably the three most traditional and authentic producers of real lambic in Belgium — will be gathered first to celebrate and praise each others’ work. Liberal quantities of special beers from each producer will be passed around, including some rare items being flown over to the U.S. for the very first time for the occasion. There will be some artistically prepared foods, naturally, including cheeses made with Gueuze from 3 Fonteinen and Cantillon. But there will also very likely be some fireworks. Even at the top, not everyone sees eye to eye, to say the least. And there will probably some discussion, and some dirt dished, about what’s going on in the darker corners of Lambic World. Dan Shelton, beer importer, lambic fan, and well-known pain-in-the-ass, will be hosting the discussion and doing his ugly best to make sure that the evening is not without controversy, just the way you like it!

It all happens under the wise and watchful eye of the Sphinx, in the Lower Egyptian Room in the depths of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Art. The ancient inhabitants of the Nile River Valley were of course the first great civilization to make an art and religion of brewing beer — relying on unseen and then unknown wild yeasts to ferment their brew, just as the famous brewers and blenders of lambic beer in Belgium’s Senne River valley do today.

You really can’t afford to miss once in a lifetime chance to drink some extremely rare lambic beers with the people who have dedicated theirs lives to the art.

old-lambics

Here’s the lineup:

Frank Boon, Brouwerij Boon
Armand Debelder, 3 Fonteinen
Jean Van Roy, Brasserie Cantillon
The world’s best lambic beer, and good food, served.

Tickets are $50 person, cheap at twice the price. See you there!

Filed Under: Beers, Breweries, Events, Just For Fun Tagged With: Announcements, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

Short Pour Film Winner Announced

June 1, 2010 By Jay Brooks

short-pour-films
“The inaugural Short Pour Film Festival on the subject of beer, which was announced last August, was judged last weekend. The films will debut at the Monterey Beer Festival on June 5th, 2010, from 12:30pm to 5pm.” The Winning Film, along with the entire One Hour & Twenty Minute Program, will be shown in the historic ”King City Room”, a 10,000 square foot building at the Monterey Fairgrounds (home to The Monterey Jazz Festival & The Monterey Blues Festival).

The overall winner is “The Swagger Stagger” in San Francisco by Sayre Piotrkowski, which you can watch below.

The runner-up was by the Beer Nation Show and titled “Legend of Craft Beer Bandit” by Mike Winn & Seth Wright.

The winners will also be screened at this year’s Great American Beer Festival in Denver, September 16-18.

Filed Under: Beers, Events, Just For Fun, News Tagged With: Awards, Bay Area, California, Film

Around The World In 80 Beers

May 29, 2010 By Jay Brooks

earthday
A couple of years ago, someone did a map of the U.S. using a beer label from each state, which I posted in Labeling the States. A world travel website, Pure Travel, has done their own version but with a world map and labels for each country. Apparently there are 80 different labels represented. You can see inset maps at Pure Travel and there’s also a much larger map where you can see greater detail. As before, how many can you identify?

world-beer-map

Filed Under: Beers, Just For Fun Tagged With: Geography, International

I.P.A. Assimilation

May 29, 2010 By Jay Brooks

india
Boston Beer Co. recently announced their new IPA, Latitude 38, previously available only in a variety pack, would be going solo in its own six-pack beginning this fall.

sam-adams-latitude-38

With that decision, nine out of the ten biggest craft breweries will now have an India Pale Ale as a year-round beer. Only the Spoetzl Brewery in Texas doesn’t make one, and they’re primarily a lager brewery, as is Boston Beer given their flagship Samuel Adams Boston Lager. Of the top ten ale breweries, they all have an IPA in their portfolios.

Top Craft Breweries for 2009

  1. Boston Beer Co.: Samuel Adams Latitude 38
  2. Sierra Nevada Brewing: Torpedo Extra IPA
  3. New Belgium Brewing: Ranger India Pale Ale
  4. Spoetzl Brewery: None
  5. Pyramid Breweries: ThunderHead India Pale Ale
  6. Deschutes Brewery: Inversion IPA
  7. Matt Brewing: Saranac India Pale Ale
  8. Magic Hat Brewing: Blind Faith
  9. Boulevard Brewing: Single-Wide I.P.A.
  10. Harpoon Brewery: Harpoon IPA
  11. Alaskan Brewing: Alaskan IPA
  12. Bell’s Brewery: Two Hearted Ale

hops

A decade ago or so, hardly anyone had an IPA in their portfolio and fewer still made one all year long. Now almost every brewery feels they need to have one. I’d have to say that’s score one for the hopheads.

Filed Under: Beers, Editorial, Just For Fun, News Tagged With: IPA

Beer Sophistication

May 25, 2010 By Jay Brooks

tripel
Chris Ballard, a beer blogger, has an interesting piece up that he wrote for Blog Critics, Beer is More Sophisticated Than Wine, where he brings together many of the arguments that people have made over the years to showcase beer’s sophistication, especially as compared with wine. I’m not sure it’s necessary to take on wine. That beer is more complex is at this point almost a given. But still, it’s a nice little rant. The only thing I disagree with is his assertion that Plato is an I.P.A. man. Everyone knows Plato preferred whisky. “Plato, they say, could stick it away—Half a crate of whisky every day.”

Filed Under: Beers, Editorial, Just For Fun Tagged With: Guest Posts

Win Tickets To The SF Giants Brewfest Saturday

May 25, 2010 By Jay Brooks

sf-giants
Come join me and my family this Saturday for the inaugural San Francisco Giants Brewfest at the ballpark, sponsored in part by the San Francisco Brewers Guild. All seven brewery members (Beach Chalet, 21st Amendment, Thirsty Bear, Social Kitchen Brewery, Magnolia Pub, Speakeasy & Gordon Biersch) will be pouring their beer from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, and then the game begins at 6:05. Tickets are $20, which includes a commemorative glass, unlimited samples, music by “The Famous” and tickets to the Giants vs. Diamondbacks game.

Giants-Brewfest-2010

What could be better than a deal like that? How about free tickets? Leave a comment here telling me why you’d like to go to the Brewfest and the baseball game this Saturday and the best answer will win two tickets, courtesy of the San Francisco Giants and the Brewer’s Guild. Comments, or entries, must be posted here by 5:00 p.m. on Thursday (yes, that’s in two days) and the winning entry will be announced at 6:00 p.m. The winner will then be able to pick up their tickets at will call on Saturday. See you there!

Print

UPDATE 5.27: And the winner …? It was a tough choice, there were many worthwhile entries. I almost chose the newly engaged couple, and the recent San Diego transplant. Then there was the never-been-kissed friend and the intern on his first weekend in San Francisco. But I was most moved by the plight of Stuart Dejesus, who desperately needs a day away. He’s trying to plan a wedding with twin 10-month old babies. I think he and his fiance deserve a day in the (hopefully) sun. Congratulations Stuart, your tickets will be at will call under your name.

Filed Under: Breweries, Events, Just For Fun Tagged With: Announcements, Beer Festivals, California, Contest, San Francisco

What Is Beer?

May 24, 2010 By Jay Brooks

pint question-mark
A provocative question to be sure, but not one I’ll even try to answer. Instead, take a look at how that question was answered 70 years ago by the the United Breweries Industrial Foundation in an ad they ran in the January 15, 1940 issue of Life Magazine. On page 69 of Life, they answer the question “what is beer?” eleven different ways.

what-is-beer

At the bottom right, there’s also an address where you can send away for a booklet with the “facts.” I’d love to see a copy of that booklet. It’s interesting what they were probably trying to accomplish with the ad, shining a light on all of the positive aspects of beer and distancing themselves from the negative, no doubt with many people at that time still remembering the prohibition era criminal elements. That’s why they argue that brewers want “to clean-up or close-up the small minority of law-violating places which abuse the license to sell beer. The brewers want to protect your right to buy beer in decent, respectable surroundings.” It makes sense, of course, that the new post-prohibition brewing industry wants to get off on the right foot, reminding people what good there is in their continuing to be in business, especially while the prohibitionist organizations were still hard at work, despite being dealt the near-death blow of prohibition being over-turned less than a decade before.

Below are close-ups of the eleven answers proffered to the question “what is beer?”

Employment Manager

wib-manager

Tax Collector

wib-taxcollect

Farmer

wib-farmer

Dietician

wib-dietician

Business Man

wib-businessman

Housewife

wib-housewife

Doctor

wib-doctor

Police Chief

wib-police

Brewer

wib-brewer

Poet

wib-poet

Average Citizen

wib-consumer

I just love the fact that “Poet” is included. It makes me want to write more poetry. And how many of you know a brewer who looks, or dresses, like this one? But most of these are just hilarious, though undoubtedly true, they’re statements you rarely see stated in ads nowadays. Still, I’d really like to see more pro-beer ads today. I think we need them now more than ever.

Filed Under: Art & Beer, Beers, Breweries, Just For Fun, Politics & Law Tagged With: Advertising

Portland Food Writer Goes Negative

May 22, 2010 By Jay Brooks

thumbs-down
This is just disappointing. A writer at the Portland Mercury, Patrick Alan Coleman, missed the point of the Beer City USA poll by Charlie Papazian and the Brewers Association and instead took things negative with this missive.

Normally I wouldn’t be concerned about something from the Examiner. But Asheville, NC? We’ve got to take them down. We’ve got more “beer city” in the backwash at the bottom of our pint glasses than can be found in all of their pubs and breweries.

Dude, you should be ashamed of yourself. This is supposed to be fun. It’s supposed to be about civic pride, beer pride, beer community pride and building up support for your hometown. It’s not supposed to be about tearing down the other communities. It’s not about insulting other communities. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess you’ve never even been to Asheville or probably any other beer towns, either, because you come off like a provincial bigot. You’re not helping your community. Both towns have a lot to offer, beer-wise. It goes without saying that I’m a huge fan of Portland and have many, many friends in the Rose City. And I hope they all do the right thing and denounce you for being so antithetical to what makes the broader craft beer community so great: the sense of community that’s bigger than any one town.

Filed Under: Beers, Breweries, Editorial, Just For Fun Tagged With: Oregon, Poll, Portland

SF Weekly’s Best of San Francisco

May 19, 2010 By Jay Brooks

sf-weekly
The weekly alternative SF Weekly announced the winners in their most recent “best of” issue for 2010.

  • Reader’s Poll Winner for Best Brewery: Magnolia Gastropub
  • Best Beer Bottle Selection: City Beer Store
  • Best Cult Brew: North Coast Le Merle
    nc-le-merle
  • Best Microbrewery: Elizabeth Street Brewery
  • Best Brewery Tour: Speakeasy Ales and Lagers
  • Best Beer and Trivia: The Church Key

And a special shout out to Jesse Friedman, whose blog Beer & Nosh won for Best Food Blog.

Congratulations to all the beer winners. Here, you can read the rest of the Bars & Clubs winners or take in the entire Best of San Francisco 2010.

Filed Under: Breweries, Just For Fun, News Tagged With: California, Mainstream Coverage, Pubs, San Francisco

Esquire’s Worst 9 Beers

May 19, 2010 By Jay Brooks

worst
Esquire has an odd little piece this week choosing the Nine Worst Beers on Earth, a fairly bold claim given how many beers are brewed on our planet. The author, St. Louis columnist Evan S. Benn, has probably not tried everything yet since he’s only been writing his column since last June, but overall his list does include some truly awful beers.

And while it wasn’t my intention to disparage Benn, in a recent column, Navigate Beer Fests Like a Pro Drinker, he does recommend spit buckets with the following. “You would be surprised how quickly the alcohol in 2-ounce samples can catch up to you. You’d also be surprised at how many beers you thought would be great but end up being disappointing. Don’t be ashamed to use the spit buckets stationed near every table. If you feel like one sip is enough but still have more in your glass, dump the rest into the bucket and move on.” I think he means the “dump buckets,” which is what they’re called in the beer world, but it almost sounds like he’s suggesting not swallowing at least that first sip, a pretty important step in fully tasting any beer. I know judges who occasionally spit second, third, etc. sips when tasting a large number of beers, but that first sip, at least, must be swallowed.

But back to his list, with which, in fact, I can’t disagree with any of his choices except for one, though to be fair I haven’t tried the new Game Day Light. I received an offer to get samples, but maybe I should answer it after all, just to be sure. But the beer I strongly disagree with is the Samuel Adams Cranberry Lambic. It’s not that I’d champion it as one of the world’s best, but from his write-up it appears Benn doesn’t realize that beer has been around since 1990 and the sweetness he finds so distasteful is from maple syrup. While the Sam Adams’ version of a lambic may not make my top 100 beers, it’s nowhere near my bottom 100 and I can think of sweeter, less appealing fruit lambics just off the top of my head.

Here’s Esquire’s list:

  1. Bud Light & Clamato Chelada
  2. 7-11 Game Day Light
  3. Rock Ice
  4. Sleeman Clear
  5. Michelob Ultra Pomegranate Raspberry
  6. Camo 24 Extra Smooth Super Premium High Gravity Lager xxXxx
  7. MGD 64
  8. Samuel Adams Cranberry Lambic
  9. Olde English 800

Why nine, and not ten — especially with so many bad beers out there — I can’t explain. But there are certainly many more beers that I’d put on such a list, beers that if offered to me outside of work, I’d politely decline. Corona and Heineken (and their light versions) leap to mind, as does Stella Artois and most of the nearly interchangeable American-style, European-style, New Zealand-style, Latin American-style, etc. mass produced light lagers. It’s not that they’re poorly made, in fact most are quite well-constructed, but I’m still not interested in drinking them. I want something with flavor … or more flavor, at least.

What beers would make your list of the worst?

Filed Under: Beers, Editorial, Just For Fun, Top 10 Tagged With: Big Brewers, Mainstream Coverage

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