Our 43rd Guinness poster by John Gilroy features a man lifting up a very large boat in order to paint the underside. The boat has “GIGFY” on it’s bow, which I assume stands for “Guinness is good for you” although the slogan for the ad is “Guinness for Strength.”
Back in September of this year, you may recall, that Beer From Early 1800s Found In Baltic Shipwreck. Near the Åland Islands, they found champagne and beer bottles in a sunken cargo ship thet is believed to have been sailing from Denmark, most likely Copenhagen, sometime between 1800 and 1830, and possibly bound for St. Petersburg, Russia.
Motor Boats Monthly recently published an update on the fate of the bottles. They also note that “experts” — no word on who — opened some of the bottles and declared them to taste “absolutely fabulous.” I wish there was something a bit more than AbFab to go on, but that’s all that’s said. In addition, there’s this exciting news:
Bottles of beer found in the wreck are thought to be the world’s oldest drinkable ale, and could provide the recipe to allow it to be replicated. Finnish authorities have approved the idea and several breweries, including one managed by Christian Ekstroem, have expressed interest in brewing the beer for today’s drinkers to taste.
I hope that happens, it would be like tasting history.
Today is the 40th birthday of Sean Lilly Wilson, founder of Fullsteam Brewing in Durham, North Carolina. Even before the brewery opened this past April, Sean made a name for himself and the brewery through twitter and their blog. Join me in wishing Sean a very happy birthday.
Marty Jones and Sean at the Craft Brewers Conference earlier this year in Chicago.
Greg Koch with Sean at CBC.
Friday’s ad is from around 1910 for a Germany brewery, Bergschloss. It’s for their Berschloss Bock and was painted by an artist by the name of Riemery.
Thursday’s ad is from 1960 and is for Pabst. I chose it because the man is wearing a mustache and the men in beer ads rarely have facial hair, surprisingly enough. I love the slogan “Back in the Days — The Good Old Days … When Beer Was Really Beer.” I wonder what they’re trying to imply with that one?
I ran into Jamil Zainasheff at the annual CSBA meeting yesterday at Anchor Brewery and I found out a little bit more about his commercial venture, Heretic Brewing. All I knew before is that it would be somewhere in the East Bay. The brewery, I learned, will be in Pittsburg, and in fact he’ll be sharing E.J. Phair’s new 30-bbl brewhouse across the street from their alehouse at the Liberty Hotel in an arrangement known as “alternating proprietorship.” That’s the official term that the TTB uses to “describe an arrangement in which two or more people take turns using the physical premises of a brewery.” So he won’t be contract brewing, but instead the two breweries will remain separate and distinct, in effect taking turns using the equipment.
Jamil and me yesterday at Anchor.
Wednesday’s ad is from 1963 and is Budweiser’s depiction of “The Tavern … a friendly spot.” Don’t you miss the days when all bartenders wore those red half jackets? And a tavern with only two people in it? That’s got to be a great place to talk about “bowling, baseball or city hall.”
E.J. Phair of Concord, has opened its second location in Pittsburg. The new alehouse is in the historic Liberty Hotel in the downtown area at 200 East 3rd Street. Beginning this week, they’ll be airing a new television commercial on Comcast, which you can see below.
Finally some good news out of the knee-jerk ruling by the FDA to ban drinks mixing alcohol and caffeine. To their credit, they’ve put up a Questions and Answers: Caffeinated Alcoholic Beverages page. Question No. 7 answers the concerns of brewers and fans of coffee stouts, along with other craft beers that have caffeine in them as a result of ingredients that add a variety of flavors, too. The question and answer is below in its entirety.
Does This Action Apply to Coffee-Based Liqueurs?
No. These Warning Letters are not directed at alcoholic beverages that only contain caffeine as a natural constituent of one or more of their ingredients, such as a coffee flavoring. The alcoholic beverages that are the subject of FDA’s Warning Letters are malt beverages to which the manufacturer has directly added caffeine as a separate ingredient.
The 2nd annual BevMo Holiday Beerfest will be held at Fort Mason this Saturday, November 20, from 5:30 until 9:00 p.m.
More than 100 local and international breweries will be pouring over 150 holiday, seasonal and special beers, including cider. For the designated driver, they’ll also be serving craft soda. You can see a list of the beers being poured at the festival website.
Tickets are $40 and may be purchased online, and include unlimited samplings of the beer. Food will be available for purchase and three bands will be performing throughout the evening: Con Brio (Funk, Jazz & Soul), Sentinel (Indie Pop Alternative) and the Jugtown Pirates (Acoustic Psychedelic Bluegrass).
This was a fun festival last year and a great opportunity to try a number of different holiday seasonals at one place. See you there.