Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Toby Day Day This Sunday

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hat-fedora
I heard the sad news while I was in Chicago for CBC. On April 5, Toby Day, who owned NW Craft Brands and worked for Anderson Valley Brewing, passed away suddenly. Apparently he’d been battling a serious health issue for many years but kept that information from all but a select few friends. Although Toby lived in Eugene, Oregon, he was a fixture at many beer events throughout the west coast and our paths crossed frequently over the years. He always had a smile on his face and seemed to truly enjoy his work promoting craft beer. The world is a poorer place without Toby in it.

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This Sunday, April 25, an event has been set up — Toby Day Day — to honor Toby’s memory and also raise money to help out his family. An Event Facebook Page has been set up, and here are the particulars:

On April 5th, Anderson Valley Brewing Company lost a dear friend and co-worker. Toby Day passed after battling a variety of ailments. Toby was a consummate ambassador of beer and a champion for AVBC since he started working with us in February of 2005.

“Our industry, the beer community, Toby’s family and friends have just lost a very special individual. I lost a friend.” Said AVBC Sales Director Ron Ziomek.

AVBC’s General Manager John Kuhry remembers Toby as “one of the nicest guys you will ever meet with an incredible passion and knowledge of beer. I am glad to have known him.”

On Sunday, April 25, craft beer establishments from Santa Cruz to Seattle will be honoring the life of Toby Day. Many accounts will have special beers on tap in his honor. The proceeds from this “Toby Day Day” are earmarked specifically for Toby’s family to help them pay for outstanding medical and funeral expenses, and to assist with the education of his daughter Lilly and son Tristan, 12 and 9, respectively.

Well wishers can leave their thoughts on his Facebook Page.

Please join us Sunday in raising a glass to a true friend of world-class beer and a world-class guy himself: Toby Day.

I’ll try to get a list of “official” places hosting events and also a way donations can be made directly to the family, if possible. If you can, please help out and honor a terrific guy who made great contributions to the craft beer community.

Eugene:
Sam Bonds Garage
The Bier Stein
Cornucopia (2 locations)

Portland:
The Moon & Sixpence
Concordia Ale House
Roots Organic
The Horse Brass Pub

Seattle:
Uber Tavern
Brouwer’s Cafe

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UPDATE:
An account has been set up where donations can be made directly to Toby’s family, should you wish to help out his two children. Donations may be made at any U.S. Bank location across the country. Here are the details:

Account Name: Toby Day Foundation Trust
Account: 153662428728
Tax Donation EIN For Donations: 61-1615294

Beer In Ads #93: Budweiser’s Hammer Time

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Thursday’s ad during strange glances week also a 1958 ad, this time for Budweiser, under their campaign “Where there’s life .. there’s Bud.” Mr fix-it watches intently as his wife pours his beer from a can into a pilsner glass. What I can’t quite understand is how use fix a telephone with a hammer. There’s also an odd bit of text there, right next to the hammer.

THE KING’S CREDENTIALS: The King of Beers prints its ingredients right on the label. Know of any other beer that does?

Was that really such a bold claim in 1958? I think I was under the impression that most, if not all, beer labels contain at least the primary ingredients on them, but perhaps that’s a more recent development. Since there are only four, I wouldn’t think that would be a point of differentiation. But maybe then most people didn’t know what the ingredients were, or that they were virtually identical from beer to beer.

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Beer In Ads #92: Snappa Cappa Red Cap

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Wednesday’s ad keeps the week’s accidental theme of strange glances going. It’s a 1958 ad for Carling’s Red Cap beer, “the true Canadian ale” — at least according to the ad. The primary sidewards glance in this ad is looking up at someone looking to have their not-yet-empty glass filled. That’s odd enough, but notice the full glass just to his left (our right). Above that glass is another strange sight. Just what exactly is that out-of-focus man holding on to, and looking up at? A light saber? No, it was nearly twenty years before Star Wars debuted. A RC remote? A red fishing rod? At any rate, that makes two odd looks in one ad, two for the price of one.

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Women In Brewing Festival This Saturday In Sacramento

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This Saturday, April 24, another festival will be taking place in Sacramento. If yo happen to be up that way — or live nearby, of course — check out the 4th annual Women in Brewing Festival at Rubicon.

Here’s the info, from Rubicon’s blog:

In 2007 the Rubicon Brewing Company established the Women in Brewing celebration. This is an event that digs up the history of women in brewing while spotlighting the talent of those brewers in our industry today. The 4th Annual Women in Brewing Festival will take place at the Rubicon Brewing Company at 2004 Capitol Avenue starting at 11 a.m. on Saturday, April 24th and will go until the beer is gone. Many talented female brewers have been invited to showcase their special recipes and hard to find brews. Some of these ladies will make the journey to the Rubicon Brewing Company to chat with event goers while enjoying a day in the sun with their fellow brewster’s and a pint. This event is not a competition nor is it a “brewfest.” It is a typical day at the Rubicon where we will highlight the fabulous “brewed by women” beer on tap for tasting in sample, goblet or pint along with food specials and, as always, great friends. A silent auction will be held with great prizes donated by local businesses. While honoring and bringing recognition to our women in the brewing industry, the Rubicon Brewing Company is dedicated to raising money and awareness for WEAVE. The event raises more than $4,000 to support crisis intervention services for victims of sexual assault. WEAVE is the primary provider of crisis intervention services to survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault in Sacramento County.

Denise Jones, the head brewer at Moylan’s will be on hand, and probably additional brewsters, too. Stop by and help support a worthy cause. When I first met my wife, she was heavily involved in volunteering for a similar organization in the South Bay, Next Door, so it’s an issue near and dear to me and my family.

The beers below will be served Saturday, and each one was brewed by a female brewer:

  • Auburn Alehouse: Scarlet Red
  • Blue Frog: Ginger & Meyer Ann
  • Lost Coast: Scotch Ale
  • Moylans: Hell’s Lager
  • Rubicon: Bull of the Woods, Stardancer, 80 Grit
  • Santa Cruz: Witches Wit
  • Sierra Nevada: Summerfest, Scotch Ale
  • Urthel Al: Hop It, Samarath

Bay Area Firkin Fest This Weekend

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This Saturday, April 24, the 7th annual Bay Area Firkin Fest will be held at Triple Rock Brewery in Berkeley. Doors will open at 11:00 a.m. and tickets are $20. Admission includes a commemorative logo glass and six 4-oz. pours. Additional samples may be purchased for $2 each (or 3 for $5). This is one of the most fun festivals of the season, especially if you love cask beer. See you there.

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Beer In Ads #91: Schlitz Best Round All Day

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Tuesday’s ad continues the week’s accidental theme of strange glances. It’s a Schlitz ad from the 1950s and features a clubhouse scene presumably just after the golf tournament ended. While the WASPy members of Bushwood Country Club look on, the “winner” pours a bottle of Schlitz into his “Club Champion” trophy. But it’s his smug, smirking sidewards glance at us that makes me shudder. The slogan, “Best round I’ve had all day,” also seems a bit to punny, and I love a great pun.

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Bacon Peanut Butter Mashed Potatoes

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When I put the kids to bed, I often fall asleep myself after reading to them and snuggling. This happened again a few days ago, and when I woke up, I had an incomprehensible desire to make mashed potatoes with peanut butter. I figured it had to have been tried before, but came up snake eyes after I fired up the internet and found surprisingly few actual recipes, apart from mentions of it having been tried on Top Chef. My wife thought I was crazy — I am — and that it sounded disgusting. Undaunted, today I gave it a try. I used instant mashed potatoes because it was lunchtime and I was lazy, adding about two tablespoons of organic peanut butter to the milk (for what the potato mix says is for “6 servings,” which is just about the right amount for one me-sized serving.). After the water, salt and butter boiled, I added the instant flakes and then the PB-laced milk and began stirring. It actually mixed fairly easily.

I often make for lunch what I call “mashed potato surprise,” where I also add bacon, cheese and whatever else we happen to have in the refrigerator, like vegetables, or something similar (that’s the surprise part). It’s a quick and filling lunch. I decided that the peanut butter mashed potatoes would benefit from having bacon, too, and then I also added some shredded cheese just because. The bacon and peanut butter was awesome together and the cheese, while not standing out, didn’t get in the way either. It was actually much better than I expected and I’ll definitely be adding this to my lunchtime menu. Oh, and I paired it with with a hoppy Blind Pig IPA, from Russian River, which I have to say, worked pretty well..

Bacon Peanut Butter Mashed Potatoes
You can’t see it very well in the photo, but the normally snow white mashed potatoes are dulled a bit from the brown peanut butter. The lumps are the bacon bits.

7-11 Debuts Game Day Private Label Beer

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7-11, the largest convenience store chain in the U.S. with over 6,000 stores, sells a lot of beer, most of it from the big beer companies. In fact, they’re the third-largest beer retailer in the country. With more limited shelf space, C-Stores tend to focus on fast-moving brands and usually carry very few local or craft beer brands. So those stores have been one of the few outlets where space has not be eroding due to craft beer’s growing popularity. But, according to an announcement in Fortune magazine, that’s about to change, though not toward more craft beer. 7-11 has announced the release of their own private label beer, called Game Day. Apparently it’s a “premium beer selling at a budget price,” though further details were not forthcoming. While not yet confirmed by 7-11, it’s being reported that there will be two varieties of Game Day, Game Day Light and Game Day Ice and each will likely be sold in two package sizes, 12-pack cans and 24-oz. singles. Prices are expected to be between $6.99-$8.99 for 12-packs and between $1.49-$1.89 for singles, depending upon distribution and state specific costs, like taxes. The contract brewing is being done by City Brewing in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

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