Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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CSBA Expands Board

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The California Small Brewers Association recently added two new board members, increasing the number from five to seven.

The CSBA Press Release:

The California Small Brewers Association has elected a new and expanded board of Directors. The new Board was elected in December and took their seats on January 1st.

The CSBA Board was expanded from five to seven members.

“The Board was expanded to allow greater representation of the membership,” said Tom McCormick, Executive Director of the association. “It will also allow for more Board involvement as we embark on a new and expanded mission for the future.”

With a new Board at the helm, the association plans to expand and broaden the realm of services for small brewers in 2007.

“For the first time, the CSBA will be conducting work shops to address critical business issues.” McCormick said. “We will also be implementing a new marketing campaign to promote California craft beer in addition to conducting numerous events and meetings to help foster communication and education among our family of brewers.”

The CSBA is a non-profit trade association that as founded in 1989 to protect the political and legislative rights of the small brewers of California.

The new Board of Directors of the CSBA are:

  1. President: Steve Harrison (Sierra Nevada Brewing)
  2. 1st VP: John Martin (Triple Rock Brewery)
  3. 2nd VP: Steve Wagner (Stone Brewing)
  4. Treasurer: John Dannerbeck (Anchor Brewing)
  5. Secretary: Glynn Phillips (Rubicon Brewing)
  6. Board Member: Geno Acevedo (El Toro Brewing)
  7. Board Member: Lee Doxtader (San Diego Brewing)

American Craft Brewers to Enter Australian Beer Awards

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The Brewers Association Export Development Program (or EDP) announced that they will be facilitating the entry of 19 craft brewers into the the Australian International Beer Awards (AIBA)

From the press release:

Held in Melbourne each year, the AIBA is Australia’s most prestigious beer event and has become firmly established on the international brewing calendar as a renowned and recognized barometer of excellence and diversity in beer brewing across the world. In 2006, the Australian International Beer Awards attracted 974 entries from 31 countries. AIBA uses the Brewers Association’s Beer Style Guidelines. The Brewers Association’s Export Development Program, in an effort to help promote the image of American craft beer as a world class beverage, pays for entry fees and transportation into select international beer shows for its program subscribers, such as the AIBA. “Assisting US craft breweries with participation in large international competitions like AIBA is a major focus of the EDP,” says Brewers Association vice president Bob Pease. “Our work for EDP subscribers allows us to allocate funds for their entry fees and cover the cost of a consolidated beer shipment to the competitions. US craft beers typically perform well on the international stage and the awards they receive bring attention to the brands and to the US industry as a whole.”

These are the brewers entering their beer in Australia:

  1. 21st Amendment Brewery Café,­ San Francisco, California
  2. Blue Point Brewing, Patchogue, New York
  3. Deschutes Brewery, Bend, Oregon
  4. Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Milton, Delaware
  5. Eugene City Brewery, Eugene, Oregon
  6. Flying Dog Brewery, Denver, Colorado
  7. Full Sail Brewing,­ Hood River, Oregon
  8. Great Divide Brewing, Denver Colorado
  9. Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales, Dexter, Michigan
  10. Kona Brewery, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii
  11. Rogue Ales Issaquah Brewhouse, Issaquah, Washington
  12. Left Hand Brewing, Denver, Colorado
  13. Matt Brewing, Utica, New York
  14. Odell Brewing, Fort Collins, Colorado
  15. Rogue Ales, Newport, Oregon
  16. Shipyard Brewing, Portland, Maine
  17. Sprecher Brewing, Glendale, Wisconsin
  18. Stone Brewing, Escondido, California
  19. Widmer Brothers Brewing, Portland, Oregon

Let’s wish all good luck. Winners will be announced April 19.

New Belgium Springs Springboard for Spring

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New Belgium Brewing will be releasing their spring seasonal, Springboard, a unique beer made with oats, Mt. Hood hops, Schisandra (an ancient Chinese herb), Gogi berries, and wormwood. Then it’s blended with a small amount of one of New Belgium’s other beers aged in wood.

According to the press release, “Springboard opens with fruity berry-like tones, has a spirited, tart threshold and ends with a dry, crisp finale. It’s partially filtered, resulting in a cloudy blonde appearance, and moderate body. Springboard was created to satisfy our desire to introduce new flavors and produce a spring seasonal that is innovative and inspiring,” said Brewmaster Peter Bouckaert. “Springboard maintains an equilibrium that keeps it balanced and easy to enjoy.”

Springboard will be available on draft and in bottles from the end of February into April.

London Trip: Day 2, Fuller’s Brewery Tour

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On Thursday, our second day in London, we had a nice private tour of Fuller’s Griffin Brewery in the Chiswick area of London.

The Griffin Brewery in Chiswick, London

The “Old Copper,” part of the old brewery.

After the tour we isited the Hock Cellar, where we sampled beer made at the brewery. Here brewers Shaun O’Sullivan from 21st Amendment Brewery and Christian Kazakoff from Triple Rock Brewery pose behind the bar with our tour guide Derek Prentice.

For the full brewery tour, visit the photo gallery.

London Trip: Day 1

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Tuesday I left for a short trip to London along with brewers Shaun O’Sullivan (21st Amendment) and Christian Kazakoff (Triple Rock) and beer fans Motor and Thomas. Because of the time change, our flight was effectively a red eye and we arrived in the U.K. the following morning around seven in the morning. We had no specific plans for the day, apart from some drinking and trying to stay awake as long as possible in order to fight our jet lag.

London had received a rare bit of snow and our tube ride in from the airport was a winter wonderland.

The snow was so unexpected, there were still flowers in the parks.

Christian, Shaun, me and Motor in the lobby of our hotel in Russell Square.

We went for a walk down to the Borough Market and tried a brewpib there, the Brew Wharf Yard. They only had one house beer on, the Wharf Rebel, which was, I’m sorry to say, very dissapointing. But they did have all of the Meantime beers and a good selection of imported Belgian and American beers.

The Anchor pub next to the Thames was a bit of a tourist bar but in a great location and with a decent selection.

By far the best pub in the area was the Market Porter, which had great atmosphere and an even better beer selection.

Though ridicuously the Market Porter also carried Guinness Extra Cold, whatever that means. Actually, according to the Guinness website:

Using the same classic recipe as Guinness Draught, Guinness Draught Extra Cold passes through our Coldflow supercooler en route to the bar. The result is a GUINNESS® Draught that’s served 3°C cooler. With an initial malt and caramel flavour, cooler Guinness Draught Extra Cold finishes with less bitterness than classic Guinness Draught beer. Chilly, isn’t it?

Guinness Draught Extra Cold is best served at around 3.5°C (38.3°F) — that’s 2.5°C (4.5°F) or so colder than Guinness Draught.

We did our own taste test of Guinness vs. Guinness Extra Cold — GEC is in the foreground. Not surprisingly, there was absolutely no difference. As suspected, it was merely a marketing gimmick.

Next, it was off to the Tate Modern, which was only a short walk away.

The highlight was probably the The Unilever Series by Carsten Höller. It was a series of amazing slides that you take from the second, third and even the fifth floor.

The slides wind around a central pole.

There’s solid on the bottom half but glass on the upper half so you can see where you’re going.

You sit on and put your feet into a canvas towel to ride down the tube. Here Shaun O’Sullivan enters the fifth floor slide.

Shaun crosses his arms and lets go.

Here Christian Kazakoff somes out at the bottom after his five-story ride.

A better look at the canvas towel as Christian dismounts the slide.

Afterwards, we went to the Blackfriar, an absolutely beautiful pub steeped in ornate details and history.

An old sign out front.

Unfortunately, inside — though also quite ornate and stunningly beautiful — it smelled of sulfur and sewage, as if the pipes had recently backed up. The people inside either didn’t seem to notice or had grown used to it. But none of us could stay inside for very long and so we kept moving.

We had a late lunch at the Lamb, near our hotel. The beer was decent, but the food could have been better. Overall, it was a little disappointing to see that most pubs looked great outside and in, but carried a somewhat narrow range of beers that differed only according to what pub company owned them. There were very few true free houses. And while I might argue that their beers, and especially the popular ones, were still real ales and much better overall then the beers that dominate our bars, there was still a lack of diversity found in many average Bay Area bars.

For the rest of the evening, we walked from pub to pub in an effort to stay up as long as possible. We had a pint at the Lamb & Flag and Ye Grapes before ending up at the White Horse for the rest of the evening.

Off to the White Horse

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The Bulletin will be on vacation for the next week, returning on Tuesday January 30. I’ll be jumping the pond this morning to attend the Old Ale Festival at London’s White Horse on Parson’s Green. This is supposedly cellerman Mark Dorber’s last year at the pub, so I’m glad I’ll have a chance to see him there. It should be a great time. I’m pretty sure they’ll be photos and stories here next week.

The White Horse in London.

Here’s the beer list for the two-day festival:

British Beers:

Adnams Tally Ho 7.0%
Ballard’s Wassail 6.0%
Bass Museum No 1 10.5%
Bass Museum P2 Imperial Stout 8.0%
Bass Museum Worthington White Shield 5.6%
Broughtons Old Jock 6.7%
Caledonian Santa’s Little Helper 3.7%
Cottage Norman’s Conquest 7.0%
Dark Star Dark Star Original 5.0%
Dark Star Imperial Stout 10.5%
Exmoor’s Beast 6.6%
Fuller’s Old Winter Ale 5.3%
Fuller’s London Porter 5.4%
Gale’s Winter Brew 4.2%
Harvey’s Old Ale 3.6%
Hogs Back A Over T 9.0%
Lee’s Harvest ale 11.5%
Lee’s Moonraker 7.5%
Mauldon’s Black Adder 5.3%
O’Hanlons Port Stout 4.8%
Oakham’s Oblivion 5.7%
Orkney’s Skull Splitter 8.5%
RCH’s Old Slug Porter 4.5%
Reepham Velvet Sweet Stout 4.5%
Robinson’s Old Tom 8.5%
Roosters Body Warmer 5.0%
Roosters Jaks 3.9%
Theakston’s Old Peculier 5.7%
Thornbridge Jaipur 5.9%
Titanic Stout 4.5%
Uley’s Old Spot 5.0%
Woodforde’s Head Cracker 7.0%
Young’s Winter Warmer 5.0%

Belgian Beers:

Abbaye des rocs Speciale Noel 9.0%
Binchoise Special Noel 9.0%
Brigand Christmas 9.0%
Bush Noel 12.0%
Cantillon Lambiek 5.0%
Corsendonck Christmas 8.5%
Geants Saison Voisin 6.0%
Gouden Carolus Christmas 10.5%
Peter Lieven Bruin 6.5%
St Bernardus Tripple 6.7%
St Bernardus Prior 7.6%
St Bernardus Abt 12 10.5%
St Feuillien Noel 9.0%
Troubador Obscura 9.0%

Boscos Supports Blues Music with “Blues & Brews”

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Today is the 11th birthday of Boscos in Nashville. They currently have three brewpubs in Little Rock, Arkansas and Memphis and Nashville, both in Tennessee. As a big fan of music, especially traditional forms, I was pleased to see that they’re supporting the Blues Foundation with a concert at their Memphis location in April. The concert will feature Grammy winner John Hammond and will be a benefit to raise money for the organization whose goal is to “preserve and to highlight the rich history of Blues through” a variety of ventures. A worthy eandeavor, at least in my opinion. If you’ll be in the Memphis area the first week of April, please consider attending. Great beer and great music. How could you go wrong?

From the Press Release:

The Blues Foundation and Boscos Squared, 2120 Madison Avenue, Memphis, TN 38104 in Overton Square are teaming up to host a fund raising event to benefit the Memphis based international blues organization. “Blues and Brews” will be held on Saturday, April 7, 2007 from 1 to 4 PM.

The Blues Foundation is a nonprofit corporation headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, the home of the Blues. With more than 145 affiliated Blues organizations, and membership spanning the globe, the Foundation serves as the hub for the worldwide passion for Blues Music.

Blues and Brews will feature entertainment by acoustic blues master John Hammond. From coffeehouses to concert halls, festivals and beyond, John Hammond has spent forty years entertaining blues, folk and rock audiences around the world, performing intense solo-acoustic blues. A Grammy Award winner and four-time nominee, Hammond is also a multiple W.C. Handy award winner who has shared the stage and/or recorded with many of the masters.

Boscos, The Restaurant for Beer Lovers, will brew a special beer for the occasion. Hammond will perform on Boscos’ patio, consistently voted the best place for outdoor dining in Memphis.

Tickets for the event are $100 per person and will be available on The Blues Foundation website, beginning in February. The ticket price includes food, beverage and entertainment.

Blues musician John Hammond.