Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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A Tale of Two Bretts

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My first beer stop after recovering from my trip to New Zealand was to head up to Russian River Brewing. It was not because I was craving hops after two weeks mostly without them — although I was — but for another reason related instead to Brettanomyces. One of the most interesting beers I sampled in New Zealand, at Hallertau Brewbar near Auckland, was called Porter Noir, an English-style porter aged in local pinot noir barrels for four months which then spent six more months bottle conditioning with additional Brettanomyces. I brought back two bottles with me, but unfortunately one of them was damaged during the flight. It didn’t break but developed a small leak. Some of the beer seeped out but happily stayed inside the Ziplock bag I had packed it in. So I knew I had to drink it pretty quickly before it went flat.

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So I stopped by Russian River’s new production brewery to open it for Vinnie Cilurzo, figuring he’d appreciate trying another Brett beer. The place looked quite a bit different then when I was there less than three weeks before. For one thing, all the construction equipment and spare parts were gone, making it look much larger inside and out. Vinnie also showed me the sixty barrels of the Consecration — the first beer brewed at the new brewery — aging in the barrel room. Most already have the Zante Currants added, but a few are still waiting for them. The beer will age for at least nine months before being released.

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The first batch of Pliny the Elder in the fermenter, waiting to be bottled in early July.

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So we opened the Hallertau Porter Noir. Although it had lost a few inches of beer from the neck, it was still quite well-carbonated. All of the bottles at this point are from Batch 001, but this one was from Barrel #99081 and was bottled on November 10, 2007. It was 6.6% abv. Dark in color and a very thick tan head. The nose was marked by characteristic barnyard aromas with just a touch of malty sweetness. The nose was slightly less pungent than the sample I had in New Zealand, but Vinnie and I both declared it to be quite tasty. The Brett character married quite nicely with the nutty, malty porter flavors.

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At the original tasting of this beer at Hallertau Brewbar last week in New Zealand. On the left is my host, Luke Nicholas — who owns Epic Beer and is also VP of the recently formed New Zealand Brewers Guild — and, on the right, Stephen Plowman, owner/brewer of Hallertau Brewbar & Restaurant.

FredFest Auction Begins Today

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Today at 3:00 p.m. (left coast time), the online auction for FredFest begins, and will close on Sunday, also at 3:00 p.m.

Here’s some of what’s up for auction, the proceeds of which will be donated to charity. You can find more information about the lots at the Liquid Solutions Blog and the auction itself is at Liquid Solutions.

  1. Hair of the Dog Dave 1994 (375 ml)
  2. Hair of the Dog Adam #1 1994 (12 oz.)
  3. Full Sail Old Boardhead Vertical: 1998 & 1999 (12 oz.), 2001-2007 (22 oz.)
  4. Pike Old Bawdy Vertical: 1996-1998, 2006-2007 (12 oz).
  5. AleSmith: Old Numbskull (750 ml), Grand Cru (750 ml), Horney Devil (750 ml)
  6. Lost Abbey: Older Viscosity (375 ml) Angel’s Share (375 ml), Lost and Found (750 ml)
  7. Rodenbach Alexander 1991 (330 ml) and Rochefort 10 1999 (330 ml)
  8. Westvleteren 12 1997 (11.2 oz.)
  9. Anchor Brewing Commemorative Michael Jackson’s 60th Birthday Beer (1.5 L)
  10. And others from Avery, Midnight Sun, J.W. Lees, Big Time, Fish Tale — and more

From the press release:

Beer aficionados across the nation will be reaching for their wallets this weekend when rare beers and vertical collections will be highlighted at the first-ever FredFest Online Beer Auction.

The auction starts at 3 p.m. PDT Friday, May 9 and begins to wrap up at 3 p.m. PDT Sunday, May 11. The auction is designed to run concurrently with FredFest 2008 — a celebration of the 82nd birthday of Fred Eckhardt, the Dean of American Beer Writers, which is taking place May 10 at Hair of the Dog Brewing Co., in Portland.

“FredFest started as a surprise 80th birthday party for Fred, but is coming back around in its third year as a fundraiser in the memory of fellow beer scribe and friend, Michael Jackson,” said FredFest co-organizer Lisa Morrison.

Each year, Eckhardt is asked to choose a charity for FredFest. This year, he chose Parkinson’s Resources of Oregon, a local affiliate of the National Parkinson Foundation. Jackson had been battling complications from Parkinson’s disease when he died last summer.

The first-ever FredFest online auction was the brainchild of Hair of the Dog owner Alan Sprints, Ben Love of Hopworks Urban Brewery and Matt Maples of Liquid Solutions bottle shop.

It’s for a worthy cause, so bid generously.

First Pink Boots Society Meeting Held

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The Pink Boots Society, the organization of women in beer founded by Teri Fahrendorf, held their first meeting during the recent Craft Brewers Conference on April 19. Teri used to be in charge of brewing operations for the Steelhead chain of brewpubs, but left that job to travel around the country, a journey which she documented as the Road Brewer. Around the same time, she started the Pink Boots Society to be a group of women brewers and related beer occupations that would advocate for women in the industry.

16 women brewers & cellarwomen attended the first meeting, as listed below in no particular order.

Teri Fahrendorf (Formerly Steelhead Brewery), Laura Ulrich (Stone Brewing), Jessica Gilman (Stone Brewing), Alysha Heck (Orlando Brewing), Barbara Gerovac (Red Car Brewery), Emily Thomas (Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing), Erin Glass (Formerly New Belgium, now with the Brewers Association), Hayley Meagher (Rock Bottom – Long Beach), Maribeth Raines (Great Beer Company), Michelle Lowney (Formerly Phantom Canyon, now a Consultant in Canada), Jamie Martin (Dells Brewing), Tonya Cornett (Bend Brewing), Denise Jones (Moylan’s), Laurie Wright Matthews (Island Brewing), Carol Stoudt (Stoudt Brewing), Alyson Tomlin (R & B Brewing).

Portland’s FredFest To Honor Two Beer Writers

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Portland’s Fred Eckhardt is a living legend, especially in his home city, having pioneered writing about and defining beer styles with his early book on the subject, The Essentials of Beer Style, published in 1989. A couple of years ago, Portland threw Fred a surprise birthday party for his 80th — called “FredFest.” It’s become an annual event, now in its third year. And this year, the charity event will raise funds for Parkinson’s disease in honor of fellow beer legend Michael Jackson, who passed away last August.

From the press release:

More than 15 rare and unique beers created by some of Oregon’s most celebrated breweries will be on tap at FredFest 2008. The event will take place from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, May 10 — the actual date of Eckhardt’s 82nd birthday — at Hair of the Dog Brewing, 4509 SE 23rd Avenue in Portland.

The beer menu is still being firmed up, but brewers are promising to pony up something special for the event. The number of beers for FredFest will increase from last year, according to co-organizer and chief beer wrangler Preston Weesner. Some of the breweries that already have committed to the event include: Hair of the Dog (with a special keg of Jim 07), BridgePort, Deschutes, Widmer, Hopworks Urban Brewery, Rogue and Firestone Walker.

Attendees will be treated not only to a rare assortment of hand-selected beers, but also light fare including pastrami cured with Hair of the Dog Fred ale and a birthday cake — complete with a round of “Happy Birthday” — for Eckhardt. Cheeses, chocolate, candy and even cereal will be offered in abundance so attendees can experience some of Eckhardt’s famed beer-and-food pairings.

Cost for the event is $50 in advance and includes a souvenir glass, free ticket for a raffle of bottled specialty beers and four hours’ of sampling, sipping and story-telling with Eckhardt. Admission is limited to 200 attendees. Judging from previous years, the event is expected to sell out quickly. Tickets are available through Pay-Pal. E-mail fredfest@comcast.net to purchase tickets.

Additionally, this year, a silent auction featuring bottles of rare beers running in conjunction with FredFest, allowing Fred fans across the country to be a part of Eckhardt’s birthday and the FredFest celebration and fundraiser.

As always, proceeds from FredFest and the related online auction will go to a charity of Eckhardt’s choice. This year, Eckhardt named Parkinson’s Resources of Oregon, the local affiliate chapter of the National Parkinson Foundation, as the featured charity in memory of his longtime friend and fellow beer writer Michael Jackson, who died in 2007 after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease.

What more could you ask for, great beer and a worthy cause.

CBC Begins In San Diego

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The Craft Brewers Conference, this year held in San Diego, officially began last Thursday — as it always does — with all the Brewers Association members assembled in a large hall for the “Welcome and Keynote Address.” During this time, they also present three awards important within the craft beer industry.

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After opening remarks from BA President Charlie Papazian, Tom Nickel gave the history of San Diego, the area’s beer community, along with tips on what to see and do in the city.

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Dr. Michael Lewis, from U.C. Davis, received one of the three awards.

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As did Vinnie Cilurzo, from Russian River Brewing.

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For more information and photos from this year’s first day of the Craft Brewers Conference, visit the photo gallery.

Martin Luther’s Beer

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I stumbled upon this interesting write-up of the Beers of Martin Luther on a Lutheran website, Cyberbrethern. The post is based on notes from a talk given at a Men’s Breakfast at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Fayetteville, New York in April of 1997. Keith Villa of Blue Moon Brewing is thanked for “describing how the beers of Martin Luther’s era would have looked and tasted.”

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The article discusses German beer in the middle ages, both homebrewed beer and brews made at Abbeys, and then speculates which beer of the time would have been Martin Luther’s favorite. This proved easier than you might imagine.

Frederick Salem, in his Beer, Its History and Its Economic Value as a National Beverage (1880) notes, “Luther’s fondness for beer is well known, and on the evening of that eventful day at Worms, April 18, 1521, the Duke Erich von Braunschweig sent him a pot of Eimbecker (Einbecker) beer, to which he was specially addicted.”

Michael Jackson also mentioned this connection in his New World Guide to Beer, saying “Luther received a gift of Einbeck beer on the occasion of his wedding.”

The article goes on to suggest that Luther preferred homebrew over beer from commercial breweries, finding the latter to be “a curse for Germany.” But in an apparent contradiction, Luther “drank at home.”

One biographer notes, “The German prophet became a patriarch, and the living room was dominated by his presence. He enjoyed his beer and had a great mug with three rings on it, one ‘the Ten Commandments’, the next ‘the Creed’ and third ‘the Lord’s Prayer’. He boasted that he could encompass all three with ease.”

But he was also a champion for moderation, and in sermon he gave in 1539, preached the following:

“It is possible to tolerate a little elevation, when a man takes a drink or two too much after working hard and when he is feeling low. This must be called a frolic. But to sit day and night, pouring it in and pouring it out again, is piggish… all food is a matter of freedom, even a modest drink for one’s pleasure. If you do not wish to conduct yourself this way, if you are going to go beyond this and be a born pig and guzzle beer and wine, then, if this cannot be stopped by the rulers, you must know that you cannot be saved. For God will not admit such piggish drinkers into the kingdom of heaven [cf. Gal. 5:19-21]… If you are tired and downhearted, take a drink; but this does not mean being a pig and doing nothing but gorging and swilling… You should be moderate and sober; this means that we should not be drunken, though we may be exhilarated.”

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There is at least one Luther-Bier, a German-style pilsner brewed by Einsiedler Brauhaus. I’m not sure what that adds to the story, but I found in interesting all the same. As far as I can tell, it was a special release and there’s even a separate website for Luther-Bier, but there’s almost no additional information there. But you can see the special box it comes in an etched mug at a Wittenberg website.

And I found this great quote on another church’s website:

“We old folks have to find our cushions and pillows in our tankards. Strong beer is the milk of the old.”

     — Martin Luther

Beer For Easter

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On St. Patrick’s Day a few years ago I wrote about how many American holidays have been ruined by by overzealous marketing campaigns by the big alcohol companies, suggesting that there were very few not tainted. Well, Easter is one of those that has few beer associations. Less than a couple dozen breweries, most from Europe, make a special beer for Easter.

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Given our track record for trying to ban labels for Christmas beers because they might also appeal to kids, it’s hardly surprising that so few of these beers make it to our shores. I’m frankly somewhat surprised this old bottle of Jubelfest from the now defunckt Privatbrauerei Franz Joseph Sailer in Germany I pulled off of my shelf managed to get label approval. Those are cartoons of bunnies on the label for chrissakes, children might pick one of these up and — gasp — look at it.

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Goudon Carolus Easter Ale, a Belgian beer that I sampled at the annual Keene Tasting in Seattlefive years ago. This one, so far as I know, has not been imported to the U.S. (at least not with this label), and I suspect if they even tried it would make the average neo-prohibitionist’s head spin. You can at least buy the beer in Ontario, but because of the asinine regulation that “graphics that might be appealing to children” are forbidden, with a censorship sticker covering the bunny in the lower left-hand corner. You can read all about it by Greg Clow from Toronto’s beer, beats & bites post entitled LCBO: Let’s Censor Bunnies, OK? . I guess there’s some consolation in knowing we’re not the only idiots when it comes to these things.

Pride Goeth Before A Fall

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The full quote from Proverbs 16:18, at least in the King James’ version, is “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall” but the more common shortened version says it all. Essentially, the modern meaning of this proverb is not to be overly confident, especially in yourself, or you’re likely to have something bad happen to put you back in your place. If you allow yourself to become full of pride, you will find yourself humiliated. Be modest, that’s good advice to remember. It’s what happened to me on Sunday, and I offer up my cautionary tale by way of illustration.

I’ve done my fair share of prolonged drinking over the years, and rarely have I not been able to muddle through to the end. We (and by we I mean those of us who have been regularly attending GABF for many years) generally say about the Great American Beer Festival—by way of advice—that it’s a marathon, not a sprint to suggest that pacing is very important to a full enjoyment of the week’s events. So when I was invited to the 4th annual Keene Tasting on Sunday, the day after the Hard Liver Barleywine Fest at Brouwer’s Cafe, it simply never occurred to me that I wouldn’t be still standing after twelve hours and 150 beers. Alas, my body had other plans for me.

At 11:00 a.m., with our first beer of the day. Things went fine through the first 50 beers or so, when suddenly and quite unexpectedly I felt cold shivers shoot through my body. Initially undaunted, I assumed that the open windows letting in the fresh Seattle air had simply chilled the room so I put on my jacket and resumed tasting. But after another half-hour of involuntarily shivering it became obvious that all was not well and my body had decided to pitch a fit. I felt fine, apart from the chills, and struggled through until we almost reached the half-way point, 75 beers, and it was time for another break. I hunkered down in a comfy chair during the break and tried to will myself to warm up, but it did no good. When tasting resumed, I stayed put figuring I should not ignore my body’s tantrum, and still hoped it was just a temporary thing and my recovery was minutes away. A few kind souls asked if I was okay (perhaps I looked as bad as I felt) and I nodded and muttered that I was fine. But as more time passed and I was feeling worse, I decided to spare myself further humiliation and called in the evacuation troops — my wife — to come and collect me. About an hour later I was standing out front shivering in the cold and waiting for her arrival to whisk me to safety and nurse me back to health. This proved trickier than I might have imagined. Whether my weekend drinking had finally lowered my immune system to the point where I got the flu that’s been circulating in my friends and family for weeks or I simply drank too much, too fast, I can’t really say. All I know is that my chills turned to heat as I burned off a fever so bright that my wife said my skin was hot to the touch like an old-fashioned radiator and that she couldn’t even lie near me because I was radiating so much heat. By morning I only felt lousy, a distinct improvement. But that was nothing compared to the disappointment at not finishing the tasting. Perhaps I was at least a source of amusement for those I left behind, as I heard Bonney calling my name from the window above me as I waited for my ride. I called up, but I don’t think he heard me. C’est la vie. There’s always next year.


Our hosts, Vern and Bonney, the two Matts, during a toast to Michael Jackson’s memory with the beer made by Pike Brewing for the Michael Jackson Tribute dinner held the night before in Philadelphia. The first half of the tasting I enjoyed immensely, right up to the point where I had to leave or die.

For many more photos from at least the first half of the Keene Tasting, including some bottle shots of the beers sampled, visit the photo gallery.

Maui Wowie

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Yesterday’s Honolulu Advertiser had a nice profile of Maui Brewing (thanks Doug). It’s a nice overview of how Sacramento resident Garrett Marrero moved to Kahana, on Maui, after buying the old Fish and Game Brewing Co. & Rotisserie. They’ve also started hand-canning their beers, which are now featured on Hawaiian Airlines, which is a great package for an island like Hawaii.

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Three of Maui’s beers in cans. The Porter won a gold medal at last year’s GABF. There’s a nice photo series of their first canning on their website.

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Brewmaster Thomas Kerns owner Garrett Marrero. Tom was my judging roomie at last year’s Great American Beer Festival.

Labeling the States

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A custom label maker has on their website a map of the United States with a beer label for each state. For instance, California is Firestone Walker and Oregon is Full Sail. How many can you name? Some are hard to see and some are obscure choices, but it was a fun exercise. Visit etiquette systems for a list of the answers by state or a flash version of the map.

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