Over A Barrel: The Next Sessions Looks At The Good In Wood

July 24, 2018 By Jay Brooks

For our 138th Session, our host will be Jack Perdue, who writes Deep Beer. For his topic, he’s chosen The Good in Wood, by which he means beer being stored in wood or otherwise flavored with it.
wood
Here’s his full explanation of the month’s topic:

Wood has been used for millennia to store, transport and flavor beer, wine and spirits. Today, the relationship between wood and beer has regained its popularity with brewers and drinkers as observed in the prevalence of bourbon-barrel-aged beer and sours. This topic is deep and wide and meandering, romantic and historic, personal and professional.
I will suggest a few themes to stir your imagination on “The Good in Wood” but of course you can choose your own path.
Historic uses of wood through a beer lens
Physical characteristics of wood and that relationship with beer
Professional and personal experiences such as wood-themed beer festivals or tours
A favorite wood-influenced beer style or experience, e.g. your first bourbon barrel-aged beer, a special Flanders red moment or why you don’t like a lambic
Other, let your imagination run as crazy as a wild ale

beer-barrel

To participate in the August Session, simply post a link to your session post by commenting at the original announcement on or before Friday, August 3.

Celebrator Beer News Ceases Print

April 3, 2018 By Jay Brooks

While staff was told earlier last month, Tom Dalldorf of the Celebrator Beer News, today made the official announcement that he was shutting down the print side of the business, suspending the printed version of the 30-year old brewspaper. As the former GM of the Celebrator, it was sad to see this news, but in today’s media climate where many breweries use guerilla marketing and social media over traditional journalism, it’s not terribly surprising. People have to support a robust media in order for it to thrive. The model of how people consume their beer news has undoubtedly changed in the last three decades, and there are less advertising dollars being spent, despite the growing number of breweries, on a greater number of media outlets. C’est la vie.

The Celebrator writers in attendance at the 30th Anniversary Party held at the end of SF Beer Week this February.

Here’s the press release from publisher Tom Dalldorf:

After 30 years of publication the Celebrator Beer News, the first publication to focus exclusively on craft beer, has suspended its print edition. Tom Dalldorf, editor and publisher, stated that the economics of a print magazine requires an advertising base that simply is no longer viable.
“The pervasive use of electronic media has rendered print media superfluous. The expense of design and layout and printing and distribution doesn’t work for the beer enthusiast the way it did just a few years ago,” said Dalldorf. “The craft beer world has grown tremendously in the last twenty years and beer enthusiasts, craving news and opinions on their favorite subject, are depending on websites and apps for news and reviews,” he said recently.
Consequently, Celebrator has re-launched its website on a WordPress platform that will allow it to be more timely in its coverage of the rapidly changing craft beer world. “Our new site allows us to get stories, news and information up instantly rather than waiting up to two months for the next print issue to drop,” said Dalldorf. Celebrator Beer News is now available 24/7 at celebrator.com. A mobile app is in the works as well, according to the publisher.

Hopefully, the Celebrator can make the transition to an online publication.

Tom and me at the 30th Anniversary Party.

And this was the final cover of the last Celebrator Beer News in print.

Top 50 Breweries For 2017

March 14, 2018 By Jay Brooks

The Brewers Association just announced the top 50 breweries and craft breweries in the U.S. based on sales, by volume, for 2017, which is listed below here. I should also mention that this represents “craft breweries” according to the BA’s membership definition, and not necessarily how most of us would define them, as there’s no universally agreed upon way to differentiate the two. For the tenth year, they’ve also released a list of the top 50 breweries, which includes all breweries. In the past I’ve posted the two lists separately, but have decided going forward to present them together since the two are getting increasingly intermingled. Here is this year’s craft brewery list:

Top 50 Craft Brewing Companies

Rank	Brewery Name	City	State
1	D. G. Yuengling & Son, Inc	Pottsville	PA
2	Boston Beer Co	Boston	MA
3	Sierra Nevada Brewing	Chico	CA
4	New Belgium Brewing	Fort Collins	CO
5	Duvel Moortgat	Paso Robles/Kansas City/Cooperstown	CA/MO/NY
6	Gambrinus	San Antonio/Berkeley/Portland	TX/CA/OR
7	Bell’s Brewery, Inc	Comstock	MI
8	Stone Brewing	Escondido	CA
9	CANarchy	Longmont/Tampa/Salt Lake City/ Comstock Park	CO/FL/UT/MI
10	Deschutes Brewery	Bend	OR
11	Brooklyn Brewery	Brooklyn	NY
12	Dogfish Head Craft Brewery	Milton	DE
13	Minhas Craft Brewery	Monroe	WI
14	Artisanal Brewing Ventures	Downingtown/Lakewood	PA/NY
15	SweetWater Brewing	Atlanta	GA
16	New Glarus Brewing	New Glarus	WI
17	Matt Brewing	Utica	NY
18	Harpoon Brewery	Boston	MA
19	Alaskan Brewing	Juneau	AK
20	Great Lakes Brewing	Cleveland	OH
21	Abita Brewing	Abita Springs	LA
22	Odell Brewing	Fort Collins	CO
23	Stevens Point Brewery	Stevens Point	WI
24	August Schell Brewing	New Ulm	MN
25	Summit Brewing	Saint Paul	MN
26	21st Amendment Brewery	Bay Area	CA
27	Shipyard Brewing	Portland	ME
28	Flying Dog Brewery	Frederick	MD
29	Full Sail Brewing	Hood River	OR
30	Troëgs Brewing	Hershey	PA
31	Long Trail Brewing	Bridgewater Corners	VT
32	Rogue Ales	Newport	OR
33	Rhinegeist Brewery	Cincinnati	OH
34	Narragansett Brewing	Providence	RI
35	Gordon Biersch Brewing	San Jose	CA
36	Allagash Brewing	Portland	ME
37	Uinta Brewing	Salt Lake City	UT
38	Ninkasi Brewing	Eugene	OR
39	Surly Brewing	Minneapolis	MN
40	Revolution Brewing	Chicago	IL
41	Karl Strauss Brewing	San Diego	CA
42	Bear Republic Brewing	Cloverdale	CA
43	Green Flash Brewing	San Diego	CA
44	Left Hand Brewing	Longmont	CO
45	Three Floyds Brewing	Munster	IN
46	Saint Arnold Brewing	Houston	TX
47	Lost Coast Brewery	Eureka	CA
48	North Coast Brewing	Fort Bragg	CA
49	Wachusett Brewing	Westminster	MA
50	Avery Brewing	Boulder	CO

six-glasses

This list, by contrast, is the Top 50 Overall Brewing Companies in the U.S. based on sales, by volume, for 2017. This includes all breweries, regardless of size or any other definitions or parameters.

Breweries in bold are considered to be “small and independent craft brewers” under the BA’s current definition. That there are so many footnotes (23 in total, or almost half of the list) explaining exceptions or reasons for the specific entry, seems illustrative of a growing problem with the definition of what is a craft brewery. I certainly understand the need for a trade group to have a clearly defined set of criteria for membership, but I think the current one is getting increasingly outdated again, and it’s only been a few years since the contentious debate that resulted in the current BA one. But it may be time to revisit that again. This is the same number of footnotes as last year, so this is a problem that is not resolving itself.

Top 50 Overall Brewing Companies

Rank	Brewery Name	City	State
Bold = small and independent craft brewery
1	Anheuser-Busch, Inc (a)	Saint Louis	MO
2	MillerCoors (b)	Chicago	IL
3	Constellation (c)	Chicago	IL
4	Heineken (d)	White Plains	NY
5	Pabst Brewing (e)	Los Angeles	CA
6	D. G. Yuengling & Son	Pottsville	PA
7	North Amer. Breweries (f)	Rochester	NY
8	Diageo (g)	Norwalk	CT
9	Boston Beer Co (h)	Boston	MA
10	Sierra Nevada Brewing	Chico	CA
11	New Belgium Brewing (i)	Fort Collins	CO
12	Craft Brew Alliance (j)	Portland	OR
13	Duvel Moortgat (k)	Paso Robles/Kansas City/Cooperstown	CA/MO/NY
14	Gambrinus (l)	San Antonio/Berkeley/Portland	TX/CA/OR
15	Founders Brewing (m)	Grand Rapids	MI
16	Bell’s Brewery, Inc (n)	Comstock	MI
17	Sapporo USA (o)	La Crosse	WI
18	Stone Brewing	Escondido	CA
19	CANarchy (p)	Longmont/Tampa/Salt Lake City/Comstock Park	CO/FL/UT/MI
20	Deschutes Brewery	Bend	OR
21	Brooklyn Brewery	Brooklyn	NY
22	Dogfish Head	Milton	DE
23	Minhas Craft Brewery (q)	Monroe	WI
24	Artisanal Brewing Ventures (r)	Downingtown/Lakewood	PA/NY
25	SweetWater Brewing	Atlanta	GA
26	New Glarus Brewing	New Glarus	WI
27	Matt Brewing (s)	Utica	NY
28	Harpoon Brewery	Boston	MA
29	Alaskan Brewing	Juneau	AK
30	Great Lakes Brewing	Cleveland	OH
31	Abita Brewing	Abita Springs	LA
32	Odell Brewing	Fort Collins	CO
33	Stevens Point (t)	Stevens Point	WI
34	August Schell (u)	New Ulm	MN
35	Summit Brewing	Saint Paul	MN
36	21st Amendment	Bay Area	CA
37	Shipyard Brewing (v)	Portland	ME
38	Flying Dog Brewery	Frederick	MD
39	Full Sail Brewing	Hood River	OR
40	Troëgs Brewing	Hershey	PA
41	Long Trail Brewing (w)	Bridgewater Corners	VT
42	Rogue Ales	Newport	OR
43	Rhinegeist Brewery	Cincinnati	OH
44	Narragansett Brewing	Providence	RI
45	Gordon Biersch Brewing	San Jose	CA
46	Allagash Brewing Co	Portland	ME
47	Uinta Brewing	Salt Lake City	UT
48	Ninkasi Brewing	Eugene	OR
49	Surly Brewing	Minneapolis	MN
50	Revolution Brewing	Chicago	IL

six-glasses

2017 Top 50 Overall U.S.
Brewing Companies Notes

Footnotes from brand lists are illustrative, and may not be exhaustive – ownership stakes
reflect greater than 25% ownership:

(a) Anheuser-Busch, Inc includes 10 Barrel, Bass, Beck’s, Blue Point, Bud Light,
Budweiser, Breckenridge, Busch, Devils Backbone, Elysian, Four Peaks, Golden
Road, Goose Island, Karbach, King Cobra, Landshark, Michelob, Natural Rolling
Rock, Shock Top, Wicked Weed, Wild Series brands and Ziegenbock brands.
Does not include partially owned Coastal, Craft Brew Alliance, Fordham, Kona,
Old Dominion, Omission, Red Hook, and Widmer Brothers brands;
(b) MillerCoors includes A.C. Golden, Batch 19, Blue Moon, Colorado Native,
Coors, Hamms, Hop Valley, Icehouse, Keystone, Killian’s, Leinenkugel’s,
Mickey’s, Milwaukee’s Best, Miller, Olde English, Revolver, Saint Archer, Steel
Reserve, Tenth & Blake, and Terrapin brands;
(c) Constellation Brewing Co includes domestic brands Ballast Point, Funky Buddha,
and Tocayo Brands; it also includes imported brands Corona, Modelo, Pacifico,
and Victoria;
(d) Heineken Brewing Co includes domestic brand Lagunitas Brewing Co as well as
imported brands Dos Equis and Tecate;
(e) Pabst Brewing Co includes Ballantine, Lone Star, Pabst, Pearl, Primo, Rainier,
Schlitz and Small Town brands;
(f) North American Breweries includes Dundee, Genesee, Labatt Lime,
Mactarnahan’s, Magic Hat, Portland and Pyramid brands as well as import
volume;
(g) Diageo Brewing Co includes both domestically produced and imported Guinness
brands;
(h) Boston Beer Co includes Alchemy & Science and Sam Adams brands. Does not
include Twisted Tea or Angry Orchard brands;
(i) New Belgium Brewing Co includes Magnolia Brewing Brands (partial year);
(j) Craft Brew Alliance includes Kona, Omission, Red Hook and Widmer Brothers
brands;
(k) Duvel Moortgat includes Boulevard, Firestone Walker, and Ommegang brands;
(l) Gambrinus includes BridgePort, Shiner and Trumer brands;
(m)Founders ownership stake by Mahou San Miguel;
(n) Bell’s Brewery, Inc includes Bell’s and Upper Hand brands;
(o) Sapporo USA includes Anchor Brewing Co (partial year), Sapporo and Sleeman
brands as well as export volume;
(p) CANarchy includes Cigar City, Oskar Blues Brewing Co, Perrin and Utah
Brewers Cooperative brands;
(q) Minhas Craft Brewery includes Huber, Mountain Crest and Rhinelander brands as
well as export volume;
(r) Artisanal Brewing Ventures includes Victory and Southern Tier brands;
(s) Matt Brewing Co includes Flying Bison, Saranac and Utica Club brands;
(t) Stevens Point Brewery includes James Page and Point brands;
(u) August Schell Brewing Co includes Grain Belt and Schell’s brands;
(v) Shipyard Brewing Co includes Casco Bay, Sea Dog and Shipyard brands;
(w)Long Trail Brewing Co includes Long Trail, Otter Creek and The Shed brands;

BEER-generic

Here is this year’s press release. For a few years, the BA had helpfully annotated the list, saving me lots of time, since I’d been annotating the list for nearly a decade, but they abandoned that practice three years ago. And I’ve also given up on annotating, too. It used to be fun to see who was doing well and rising and who was slipping, but it’s as much about business dealings as hard work and brewing, so I give up.

And similar to the last couple of years, the BA created a map showing the relative location of each of the breweries that made the list.

Bistro Double IPA Winners 2018

February 13, 2018 By Jay Brooks

On Saturday the 18th annual Double IPA Festival was held at the Bistro in Hayward, California. I got there early for judging again this year, and was sequestered in the dark, dank basement out of the view of the beautiful Bay Area sun for most of the morning. We judged 63 Double IPAs and 36 Triple IPAs.

Double IPAs

1st Place: All Hops on Deck, Moonraker Brewing
2nd Place: Greenshift, Beachwood BBQ & Brewery
3rd Place: Hop Salad, Triple Rock Brewery

Judging in the basement of the Bistro.

Triple IPAs

1st Place: Nod & Smile, Triple Rock Brewery
2nd Place: Compulsory, Iron Springs Pub & Brewery
3rd Place: Power Plant, El Segundo Brewing

It was a beautiful day at the Bistro for tasting 99 Double and Triple IPAs.

Peoples Choice Awards

People’s Choice Award — Double IPA: Oak and Rye, New Bohemia Brewing
People’s Choice Award — Triple IPA: Scarcity, Altamont Beer Works

Congratulations to all the winners.

Jeremy Marshall, from Lagunitas, and Terence Sullivan, from Sierra Nevada, with their wives, enjoying some camaraderie at the Double IPA Fest.

Start A Homebrewing Conversation For The Next Session

January 30, 2018 By Jay Brooks

For our 132nd Session, our host will be John Abernathy, who writes about beer at The Brew Site website. For his topic, inspired by the news that BA and AHA founder Charlie Papazian recently announced his retirment, has been thinking about homebrewing and is calling his topic Homebrewing Conversations. Essentially he’s calling for anything about “homebrewing — the good, the bad, your experiences, ideas, (mis)conceptions, or whatever else suits you, as long as it starts the conversation!”

Here are some suggestions Jon has about how you could approach the topic:

Do you homebrew, and if so, for how long? How did you get started?
Talk about the best beer you ever brewed at home—and your worst!
Are you a member of a local homebrew club (or even the AHA)? Tell us about your club.
Describe your home set up: do you brew all grain? Extract? Brew in a bag? Unusual mashing/sparging/etc. methods?
Have you ever judged a homebrew competition? Talk about that experience.
Are you a BJCP or other accredited beer judge? Talk about the process of becoming certified/official.
Never homebrewed/not a homebrewer? No problem! Consider these questions:
Do you know any homebrewers?
Have you ever tasted someone’s home brewed beer?
Would you ever be interested in learning how to brew? Why or why not?

So by this Friday, February 2, or thereabouts, start your homebrewing conversation. To participate in the February Session, simply leave a comment at the original announcement and leave the URL to your post there, or tag him on Twitter or on Facebook (or even Instagram) with your post, and I’ll round up all the entries early next week.

California Brewery Count Hits 900

December 12, 2017 By Jay Brooks

ccba-new
Today the California Craft Brewers Association announced another milestone in California breweries has been reached. There are now 900 breweries in the Golden State, which means that over 9 out of 10 California resident now lives within 10 miles of a brewery.

Here’s the press release:

“The craft beer industry has tripled over the last five years, up from 300 breweries in 2012 to just over 900 breweries in operation today, according to data released by the nonprofit trade association representing the industry, the California Craft Brewers Association (CCBA). California is home to more craft breweries than any state in the nation, with nearly 92 percent of the state’s 39.5 million residents living within 10 miles of a brewery.

’11 percent of the craft brewing industry’s total $67.8 billion economic impact comes from California,’ said Bart Watson, Chief Economist at the Brewers Association. ‘These data highlight the powerful economic impact craft brewers have in California and across the nation.’

According to the CCBA report, the total economic impact of craft breweries in California exceeds $7.3 billion. This figure is derived from the total impact of beer brewed by craft brewers as it moves from breweries to distributors to retailers as well as non-beer merchandise sold at breweries and tasting rooms.

By the Numbers:

Craft breweries in California supported nearly 50,000 full-time jobs with an average wage of $55,000 a year.
California’s craft breweries paid $1.49 billion in taxes in 2016, including $868 million in state and local taxes and $617 million in federal taxes.
California’s craft breweries produced 3,295,221 barrels of beer in 2016. Breweries exported 1.17 million barrels, which is greater than the total craft production in all but five states in the nation.
The number of licensed breweries grew by more than 100 in the last year – more than any state in the country and an increase that was greater than the total licensed number of breweries in 34 states.

‘The positive impact of craft breweries on the state of California goes far beyond just the benefits of tax revenue, manufacturing jobs and tourism,’ said CCBA executive director, Tom McCormick. ‘Craft breweries also have a tangible influence on the growth and development of their region, investing in their community, employing their neighbors and supporting local nonprofits. Craft breweries are the living room, the town hall and the gathering place for their community.’”

Next Session On The Hunt For Missing Local Beer Styles

October 20, 2017 By Jay Brooks

For our 129th Session, our host will be Eoghan Walsh, who writes Brussels Beer City. For his topic, he’s asking “what beer style would you like to see being brewed in your local market that is not yet being brewed?” and has titled his topic Missing Local Beer Styles.

local-1

Here’s a fuller explanation:

In 2017 it might seem odd to think that there are beer styles missing from our local markets. We seem to be living in an era of almost ubiquitous choice – where almost every style of beer is available to us either in bars or online, and where new styles quickly break out from their local markets to be brewed by craft or independent breweries around the world. Often though, this choice feels like one between an IPA, a session IPA, a double IPA, a NEIPA, a black IPA (although, really?), West Coast IPA, fruited IPA, etc.
You get the picture.
Local means local
And outside of large metropolitan areas, areas with a large craft beer culture, or regions without recourse to online shopping the spread of different or new styles can remain limited. That’s not even to mention the local or regional styles that disappeared in the last 50 years. And that’s why the theme of this month is styles missing from your local brewing scene’s canon. And you can take local as a relative concept, depending on your context – your town or municipality, county, region, even country if you really are isolated. And local also means brewed locally, not just available locally. Essentially: what beer style would you like to see being brewed in your local market that is not yet being brewed? Simple enough question.

local-2

Eoghan then suggests some themes you could consider:

The “Dodo” – a local or regional style that has died out and not yet experienced the same revival of the likes of London Porter or Göse.
The “One-hit Wonder” – that one one-off or limited-run style from a local brewery that was never made again, to your eternal dissatisfaction
The “I used to be cool once” – a style that burst through in the first flushes of the “craft beer” revolution, but which has since died a death, albeit one now much-lamented
The “Phoenix” – narrowing your focus from the style to a specific exemplar of said style, that is no longer in production, from a particular brewery – think of the birth-death-rebirth cycle of a Thomas Hardy’s Ale for example.
The “Contrarian” – you could always take the contrarian approach, and call out a style being produced locally that you’d really rather not see again. Ever.

So what local beer styles do you think are missing from where you live? There’s a lot out there, so I imagine it’s hard to know what’s not there. But have a drink, and start thinking about what’s not in your glass, but should be. Simply leave a comment at the original announcement and leave the URL to your post there.

support-local-beer

Black Diamond Brewery Closes

October 17, 2017 By Jay Brooks

black-diamond-new
Just saw on their Facebook page that Black Diamond Brewery in Concord closed on Tuesday under mysterious circumstances, to say the least. Apparently, when coming into work Tuesday morning, brewery operations and production manager, Shawn Whitaker, found this taped to the front door.

blk-diamond-closes

And earlier today, this was posted on their Facebook page:

“Due to unfortunate circumstances the locks have been changed and Black Diamond Brewery is closed for the foreseeable future. Thank you to everyone who supported us during our 23 year run!”

Also, the brewery’s website domain name expired October 6. So the obvious guess is they got into some kind of financial bind, and perhaps we’ll learn more in the coming days or weeks, but for now, that’s all we know.

Sonoma Pride Beers To Help Raise Money For Fire Victims

October 14, 2017 By Jay Brooks

sonoma-pride
In the wake of the horrific Northern California wildfires that decimated parts of Sonoma, Napa and Mendocino counties, some of our breweries are doing something about it, helping to raise money for those who’ve lost everything and many others who have been affected by this still-unfolding tragedy. A couple of years ago, Vinnie Cilurzo, at Russian River Brewing created the label “Sonoma Pride” for a series of beers. They’ve done two releases — Amasa and Dauenhauer — so far (one each year) and have given recent event have decided instead to call this year’s beer simply “Sonoma Pride” and “100% of the sale of this beer will donated directly to this fundraising effort.” They’re working with the King Ridge Foundation and on October 31, they will release the new Sonoma Pride beer at Russian River Brewery and select retail outlets. You can also sign up to be notified by email when it’s released. They’re also accepting direct donations on the Sonoma Pride website and have launched a line-jumping offer for next year’s Pliny the Younger release in February. For every $25 donated, “you’ll be entered into one or more chances to win line cutting privileges to the 2018 Pliny the Younger release at Russian River Brewery.”

sonoma-pride-banner

And that’s just the beginning. Bear Republic Brewing, has also announced they’ll be joining that effort. Here’s the draft press release that will be released early next week (so it may change a little):

Bear Republic Brewing Company is proud to be joining forces with Russian River Brewing and the King Ridge Foundation, and will be brewing a Bear Republic version for the Sonoma Pride release. We are a little late to this effort because our starships are running on impulse power.
We are are currently working on additional collaborations to be brewed with other Sonoma County breweries to support the victims and firefighters of the 2017 Sonoma County wildfires.
Bear Republic will be supplying ingredients and manpower to St. Florian’s Brewery in a mutual aid effort to brew another version of Sonoma Pride. We are currently working on the details with 101 North Brewing for a similar collaboration, with the efforts supporting the rehabilitation of Cardinal Newman High School, the alma mater of the brewmasters of 101 North and Bear Republic.
Many of the BRBC family members have lost their homes and have little to rely on. For the next 30 days, 50 cents on every case of Bear Republic beer sold will be donated to raise funds to help those affected. We are reaching out to our wholesalers and asking for their support through matching funds up to 50 cents per case or a one time donation.
Many of our distributors nationwide also committing to this cause, making it a truly national effort.
As we are coming together to support this cause, we ask that you consider supporting one of our own. Bear Republic’s Head Brewer Rob and his wife Cami, both employees of Bear Republic, lost their home recently to the fires. While there are many people in the same boat out there, anything will help in supporting them. Please donate if you can at GoFundMe.
Bear Republic’s brewpubs will be offering FREE MEALS to the first responders involved with the local fires at both restaurant locations in Healdsburg and Rohnert Park, California.
Thank you for your continued support, kind words, and prayers during these difficult times.

BRBC-BANNER-LOGO_IndependentFamilyBrewers

But wait, there’s more. I’ve also heard from Derek Drennan and Robert Raney, owners of Sonoma Springs Brewing Co.

They’ve also been in contact with Russian River Brewing, and will brew a beer under the “Sonoma Pride” label in the coming weeks, donating the proceeds to local relief charities. And in November, Sonoma Springs will go forward with their planned event, which they began in 2015, to honor and raise funds for local firefighters, specifically the Sonoma Fire Association, with a beer dedicated to them, Sotttile Double Red Ale.

Sonoma Springs will also hold its third annual Sottile Red release event in November (either the 4th of the 11th, depending on when we can get brewing again). This event, from its inception in September 2015, has raised funds for the Sonoma Firefighters Association. It commemorates the response led by the Sonoma Fire Department to put out a major fire in our building back in November 2014, which imperiled the completion of our current brewing facility. This year’s event will provide the community with an opportunity to thank all our local firefighter and first responder heroes who will undoubtedly appreciate such praise after the events of the past week. The beer will be available at the event in November and, for the first time, in cans that we plan to distribute across the north bay.

And that’s what I know so far, there will undoubtedly be additional efforts. I know, for instance, that Fogbelt Brewing will be doing something, but haven’t decided yet what they’ll be doing. Likewise, HenHouse Brewing, which has stayed open through the week, has been announcing collaborations and special brews on their Facebook page, and raising money through the Redwood Credit Union, “a local institution working with our local State Senator to get funds to the right people. RCU did a similar donation portal for the Lake County Fire in 2015 and we know Senator Mike McGuire well, this is an excellent way to help.” For details, go to North Bay Fire Relief.

henhouse

That’s what I know about so far, I’m sure there will be additional efforts in the coming days and weeks. I’ll update this page as new information becomes available. In the meantime, whenever possible, please support Sonoma, Napa and Mendocino county breweries by purchasing their beer at bars, restaurants, and stores wherever you live, and help the vibrant beer cultures in Northern California continue to thrive and grow.

« Previous Page