Brookston Beer Bulletin

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One Chef, 8 Courses, 2 Breweries, 9 Beers and You?

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This Thursday, the Homebrew Chef, Sean Paxton, will host another of his legendary beer dinners at Mercedes in San Francisco. It’s an eight-course dinner. The cost is $98, and that includes all food, beer and gratuity. There’s limited seating, so snap up your tickets now. This should be a good one. It will feature the collaboration beers of Belgium’s De Proef Brouwerij and our own Firestone Walker Brewing. Tickets can be purchased online. See you there.

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Collaboration: A Beer Dinner

Thursday, February 11th, 6:30 pm

Aspall Cuvee Chevallier Double Fermented Cyder

First Course

Local Fromage
cowgirl creamery Mt. Tam, Humboldt fog goat cheese, dried apricots, cinnamon smoked almonds,
malt crackers, Saison Imperiale beer jelly, white pepper infused 30 year old aged honey

De Proef Brewmaster’s Collaboration Signature Ale with Tomme Arthur

Second Course

Union Barrel Smoked Day Boat Scallops
atop Reinaert Flemish Wild Ale braised Belgian red endive, Les Deux Brasseurs Ale biere blanc and micro herb salsa

De Proef Brewmaster’s Collaboration Les Deux Brasseurs Ale with Jason Perkins

Third Course

IPA Ceviche Margarita
fresh halibut cured in citrus juices, Union Jack IPA, mangos, red onions, peppers and chilies, topped with an IPA foam

Firestone Walker Union Jack

Fourth Course

House-Made Sausage
Sonoma pork, infused with Sauserful of Secrets, thyme, dried fruit and caramelized shallots
on a bed of lentils, drizzled with a chorizo amarillo hop oil

Firestone Walker Bourbon Barrel Aged Saucerful of Secrets 2007

Fifth Course

Local Pork Belly
braised in Zoetzuur Flemish Ale on a bed of parsnip purée, Flemish ale reduction, raddish pickle

De Proef Brewmaster’s Collaboration Van Twee Ale with John Mallet

Sixth Course

Belgian Tamale
bison short ribs cooked “canronade style” in Van Twee, onions, shallots and thyme
stuffed into a sweet potato masa pillow, Black Xantus TCHO mole, beet foam

Firestone Walker Velvet Merkin

Seventh Course

French Flan
DBA beer caramel topped with dark chocolate Lozen Boer Abt pot de crème
pork fat shortbread cookies, malted mascarpone chantilly cream

Firestone Walker Double Barrel Ale, 100% Oak Aged on Cask

Eighth Course

My Sweet Valentine

(chocolate truffles made with Pete Slosberg)

Van Twee Ale Caramel in a Dark TCHO Chocolate Shell
Black Xantus Caramel with TCHO Cocoa Nibs in a Dark TCHO Chocolate Shell
La Grande Blanche Brittle Infused with Blood Orange and Milk Chocolate in a Dark TCHO Chocolate Shell

Firestone Walker XIII Anniversary Ale

Bistro Double IPA Winners 2010

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Pizza Port‘s Welcome Back Wipeout IPA was chosen best in show at the 10th annual Double IPA Festival today at the Bistro in Hayward, California. That’s the second year in a row that a Pizza Port beer has won. The full winner’s list is below.

Below is a video of Vic and Cynthia announcing the winners.

SF Beer Week Begins!

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Last night, SF Beer Week officially kicked-off at the Opening Gala held at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. It was a great event, with big kudos to Meg Gill, Rich Higgins and Dave McLean (among many others) for pulling it off in such grand fashion. It was a fun time seeing so many friends, drinking so many great beers and I was honored again to deliver the opening toast. Only nine more days to go!

I’ll post more photos from the event as time permits, but now it’s off to Hayward for the Bistro’s Double IPA Festival. Perhaps I’ll see you there.

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Me and Rich Higgins toasting the opening of SF Beer Week. (photo by Mike Condie)

The Calm Before The Storm

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In case you’ve been living under a rock, SF Beer Week starts tomorrow. It feels like we’ve been working around the clock — and in the case of a few that’s literally true — to get this party started. I can hardly believe it myself. We’re past 200 events at this point, and all of them are great-looking, not a dog in the bunch. That’s roughly a one-third increase in events. I’ll be doing my best to get to two or three events each day. If see me out and about, please say hello.

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Tune In Tomorrow

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If you live in the Bay Area and have nothing going on tomorrow morning (or have Tivo), I’ll be on television in the early morning to promote SF Beer Week. It will air around 8:45 during the three-hour KRON 4 Weekend Show that’s on from 7:00-10:00 a.m. The exact time will depend on how the show develops, then they’ll cut to us at a remote location. I’m told it will be a very short segment, something like 3-4 minutes during which time I’ll try to taste the host, Henry Tenenbaum, on three beers paired with cheese, sausages and ice cream. And at the same time, I’ll try to talk about what he’s sampling and also discuss SF Beer Week, too. I expect it will be a lot like juggling while riding a unicycle. Did I mention I don’t know how to juggle? Or ride a unicycle or that matter. So tune in to watch me make a fool of myself or do Bay Area beer proud. Either way, it should be good for a laugh.

UPDATE: My sister-in-law Kit made a video of the spot and I’ve uploaded it to my YouTube Channel.

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.

 

Barley Wine Festival Video

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If you were at the Toronado Barleywine Festival on Saturday, perhaps you noticed a guy walking around shooting video. That person was Steve Atkinson, and he’s put up a pretty cool six-minute video of the festival and judging. You can watch it below.

 

2009 San Francisco Barley Wine Festival from Steve Atkinson on Vimeo.

 

Best of the West Fest

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The final event of SF Beer Week was the Best of the West Fest, put on by the Celebrator Beer News. It was held at the Oakland Convention Center at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Oakland, the same venue where the National Homebrewers Conference will be held later this year. Instead of an anniversary party, the Celebrator’s annual party this year instead focused on celebrating beer in the Bay Area, in keeping with the SF Beer Week theme. Fifty-five breweries were pouring nearly 250 different beers throughout the evening and a record attendance was there to enjoy the evening. With so many familiar faces, both locally and from out-of-town, it sure felt like the perfect way to finish out the week. Everyone there seemed to be having a terrific time. After ten days of merriment and trying to attend as many events as possible, I’m certainly feeling exhausted, but overall it’s a good kind of tired.

 

Inside the Best of the West Fest, Motor (from Beerschool.com), Sarah Knopp (from Murphy’s Pub) and Jen Garris.

Many festival-goers came to the party in costumes, such as Alice and her cohorts through the drinking glass.

On the air with the Brewing Network, broadcasting live from the fest. From left: Shaun O’Sullivan, me and Tom Dalldorf.

Rodger Davis (from Triple Rock).

Jessica Jones (from Firestone Walker Brewing) at the end of the evening.

 

For more photos from Celebrator’s Best of the West Fest, start at the photo gallery for Part 1 or jump to Part 2.
 

Toronado Barleywine Festival 2009

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Saturday, February 14 — yes, Valentine’s Day — began the 16th annual Toronado Barleywine Festival. The day started out cool, but with sun peaking through the clouds. As has been the case for the past few years, the line to get into the Toronado for the Barleywine Festival stretched down the entire length of the block on Haight Street, before opening at 11:00 a.m. It was another stellar festival and a great day, the second last of this year’s SF Beer Week.

 

Within minutes of opening its doors, the Toronado Pub was filled to capacity.

This year’s Barleywine Festival included 55 different beers, including as least one more unofficial one, for a total of 56.

 

For more photos from this year’s Toronado Barleywine Festival, visit the photo gallery.
 

The Beer Chef’s Beer & Chocolate Dinner 2009

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The Beer Chef’s annual beer & chocolate dinner took place last Friday night at the Cathedral Hill Hotel in San Francisco. This is usually the most popular of the Beer Chef’s annual series of beer dinners, and this year was no exception, with 120 dinner guests. The chocolate came from a local chocolate maker, TCHO Chocolate, located at Pier 17 in San Francisco. The beers featured for the dinner was from Malheur, imported by Belukus Marketing. A great time was had by one and all; great beer, great food, great company.

The Beer Chef, Bruce Paton, with Nicole Erny, from The Trappist, and Jessica Jones, from Firestone Walker Brewing.

Our chocolatey dessert of Eggnog Pannacotta, Compote of Black Mission Figs and Cocoa Nibs with “Fruity” Chocolate Coulis, paired with Malheur 12.

 

For more photos from this year’s Beer & Chocolate Dinner by the Beer Chef, visit the photo gallery.