The brewpub chain BJs Restaurant Brewhouse is planning to put their newest location in Marin County, their first in the county and their 14th in Northern California. It’s a rumor I’ve been hearing for several months now, but a well-placed inside source has all but confirmed that it’s going to take place. The new location will be at the Northgate Mall in San Rafael, occupying the corner space that was formerly a Blockbuster Video store. It’s actually a good location, on a prominent corner that’s part of the main building but with no entrance from inside the mall. No word on whether the location will brew or be fed beer from a hub location. But since it’s not too close to another brewing location it’s entirely possible they will brew at the new Northgate location.
 

 
BJs operates 85 restaurants and brewpubs in fourteen states, with at least three more planned, not including the San Rafael location.

April brings our 26th monthly Session, a.k.a. Beer Blogging Friday, courtesy of my favorite big galoot, Lew Bryson, whose smokin’ hot topic this month is rauchbiers, smoked beers of all stripes, though I’ll let him tell you what he was thinking.

Before we get carried away with this health craze [after last month’s lagers], I’d like to invite everyone to join me out back of the barn, where we’re going light up some smoked beers.

There may be more smoked beers than are dreamed of in your philosophy, Horatio; it’s not just rauchbier lagers from Franconia. Within the last year, I’ve had a strange smoked wheat beer, light and tart, that local brewers insisted was a re-creation of a Polish grodziski beer; a lichtenhainer, another light smoked wheat beer; several smoked porters; the odd Schlenkerla unsmoked helles that tastes pretty damned smokey; and, yeah, several types of smoked lagers. You’ve got three weeks, is what I’m saying: go find a smoked beer.

Because I’m not going to tell you that you have to like them, how you have to drink them, or whether you can have an expensive one or where it has to be from. But I do insist that if you blog on this Session, that you drink a smoked beer that day.

They’re not the ideal choice in a variety of settings. They don’t go with a lot of different meals. They’re just not all-purpose beers by any stretch of the imagination. Unless ….

So back in California, it’s a relatively cool, but sunny, spring day. No German Rauchbier, but Alaskan Smoked Porter is as good an American substitute as I can imagine. Though technically a porter, it’s deep black color and thick tan head could make anyone mistake if for a stout, at least in appearance. The nose, of course, is another matter. The smokey aromas are unmistakable, and the Alderwood Alskan uses gives it different aromas than the typical rauchbier, in fact different from most other smoked beers entirely, giving it a singular nose. It has a silky smooth mouthfeel and a dominating smoke quality, naturally. A few times before I’ve had it with smoked salmon that Alaskan Brewing owner Geoff Larson has hand-carried from Anchorage. The salmon is smoked using the same Alderwood used for the beer and as you’d expect, it’s a match made in heaven. They compliment one another perfectly. I’ve never been to Alaska, but I wonder if the Smoked Porter tastes even better there under the glare of the Aurora Borealis? Again, it’s a really wonderfully well-made beer, with just the right amount of smokey character with rich malt notes and a creamy, dry finish. But I don’t think I’ll be able to finish the 22 oz. bottle by myself, not without it turning suddenly into a more frigid day or without some thick, meaty stew to have with it. C’est la vie. I think maybe it’s time to go back to Bamberg … or Alaska.

I meant to write about this yesterday, but you know how it is with these things. So, as usual, I procrastinated. But according to Russian River Brewing, on Wednesday they finally released the long-awaited, highly anticipated Procrastination, the newest of the -tion beers. Here’s the description from Russian River:

Yes, Procrastination, a Belgian-style Herbed beer, was tapped just in time for our 5th Anniversary this weekend, and will only be available on draft at our pub! We have all been waiting patiently for years, watching it on the “Coming Soon” section of the chalkboard, wondering when and what Procrastination will be, and, voila! The wait is finally over! This Belgian-style beer is made with fresh, locally grown Sonoma County herbs. It weighs in at a whopping 9.3% ABV and 72 BU’s… clearly not for the average beer drinker!

So, is Natalie and Vinnie pulling our legs? Probably.

No, not the yellow kind or even pure driven snow, but the Chinese beer Snow has overtaken Bud Light as the world’s best-selling beer, at least according to Plato Logic, a UK-based beer market data company. They’ve just published their latest World Brewer Factfile and Bud Light is apparently no longer the reigning king of beers, at least in terms of beer produced.

But as Jeremiah McWilliams points out in Lager Heads, A-B vigorously disagrees with the rankings, arguing that Snow’s numbers are a total of the brewery’s output, which included 25 line extensions. Budweiser and Bud Light alone easily overtake Snow without even having to resort to Bud Lime numbers. Snow is, of course, owned by rival SAB Miller so pride may have more than a little to do with these rankings.

But as a Reuters story explains it, “Plato lists the top six beer brands as the Snow range of beers followed by the Bud Light range (my emphasis), including Dry and Ice, at 55.6 million hectoliters, Budweiser at 43.4 million.”

And as Williams reminds us, A-B itself separated the Bud and Bud Light brands into two “mega-brands,” each having their own family of brands and considers them now separate and distinct from one another.

From Anheuser-Busch’s website:

As Budweiser begat Bud Light, each brand is in the process of becoming its own powerful, distinct brand family. Budweiser has added Budweiser Select, Budweiser & Clamato Chelada and Budweiser American Ale to its mix, giving adult beer drinkers the variety they want from a brand they trust. Bud Light has added Bud Light & Clamato Chelada and Bud Light Lime in 2008, offering a wider scope of beers and enhancing the Bud Light brand as consumer tastes and needs change.

So I’m not sure they get to have it both ways. All the other brands include line extensions, too, but Budweiser and Bud Light are separated into their own brands expressly because A-B wanted it that way. Only these results have caused them to rethink that strategy, at least for purposes of spinning this story in which they’re seen as no longer being number one, which can’t be good for shareholder and market confidence.

Today was the 20th anniversary of Marin Brewing in Larkspur, California. I met a few friends there for lunch and to try the two special beers Arne had made for the occasion. One was his Tripel Dipsea Belgian Ale — always a fave — and the other was a new 20th Anniversary Old Ale, which Arne described as a “young old ale.” Founder Brendan Moylan regaled us with hilarious tales from the last two decades. Good beer, food and company, that’s how to celebrate an anniversary.

Brewmaster Arne Johnson and founder Brendan Moylan inside the brewhouse at Marin Brewing.

For more photos from Marin Brewing’s 20th Anniversary, visit the photo gallery.
 

I just heard that Jack McAuliffe, the founder of New Albion Brewing, the country’s first microbrewery, was in a serious car accident in Las Vegas. Here’s what we know so far.

According to Tom McCormick, director of the California Small Brewers Association, “Jack’s sister, Cathy McAuliffe who had just spoken to the hospital, said Jack was “doing OK, considering…” It was also reported by Maureen Ogle that Jack is “in intensive care, on a ventilator, in a Las Vegas hospital,” but details were still vague.”

Updates, as they become available, will be posted to the Pro Brewer forum.

Jack was a pioneer in the industry, let’s send good wishes to him and his family for a speedy recovery.

UPDATE 4.2: Maureen Ogle let me know that Jack’s sister will be sending her updates as they become available, so check out her blog to learn more. As of 12:44 p.m., Cathy McAuliffe sent Maureen the following. “He is still on the ventilator, but seems to be doing OK.”

The UK has its share of loonies, anti-alcohol neo-prohibitionist groups foaming at the mouth like our MADD, the Marin Institute and the CSPI. One major organization is Alcohol Concern, whose motto is “making sense of alcohol.” The UK’s Independent ran a propaganda piece today entitled Health Fears Over ‘Extreme Beer’ Craze, in which they appear to be making more nonsense about alcohol than anything else.

They also target Scotland’s wonderful BrewDog and confuse being hip and edgy with “targeting young people.” The tagline for the article is the historically forgetful “Bottled bitters with mind-blowing alcohol contents are being marketed to young drinkers,” as if high alcohol beers are something new. Barley Wines, a creation of the old guard British breweries, have been around more than a century, so it’s not like “extreme beers” are novel. A spokesperson for Alcohol Concern, CEO Don Shenker, is quoted as complaining “that BrewDog appeared to be targeting young people” and that it “remind[ed him] very much of alcopops. It looks to [him] like they’re going for the 18 to 25-year-old category.” Well how scientific. It “appears,” he’s “reminded” and it “looks to [him] like something he doesn’t like is taking place. That The Independent gives this group a voice is the real tragedy at the heart of what’s wrong with the way beer is so often mischaracterized by a press pandering to fear to sell papers and get hits online.

As part of an article in the Publican, by UK beer writer Pete Brown, was used as background for the smear piece, he rightly exposes their hypocrisy. Read the original article and then read Pete Brown’s response. It’s a joy to behold. Pete is obviously a kindred spirit.