One of the most fun things so far about SF Beer Week is the participation of some high end local restaurants that one doesn’t normally think of as beer-friendly places, such as Chez Panisse and Oliveto. Last night, Oliveto did their first beer dinner ever with the beers of Russian River Brewing. It was a six course affair and in addition to the beer paired with each course, they also used each beer in some aspect of cooking the dish.

The dinner took place upstairs in a small room toward the back of the restaurant, making it a nice, intimate setting.

After some Miyagi oysters with Beatification mignonette, paired with Beatification, the second course was one of my favorites of the evening. It was a Fritto of Willis Farm pork trotter and sweet onions with Consecration mayonnaise, paired with Consecration.

The U-shaped table allowed for easy conversation and a lively dialogue throughout the evening.

The third course was seared Maine sea scallop with ancho cress and Damnation sauce. It was tasty, but I really loved the next course, which was a Risotto of roasted Delicata squash, wild mushrooms and Russian River Porter. The earthy mushrooms and the porter were a terrific match for one another.

Beer chef Bruce Paton, who helped with the dinner, and Russian River owners Vinnie and Natalie Cilurzo.

The main entree consisted of Carbonades of spit-roasted Magruder Ranch beef striploin with Pliny the Elder. The dessert was a delicious Cocoa nib panna cotta made with and paired with Salvation, pictured above.

For a first tie beer dinner, they really hit this one out of the park. And listening to the chef describe how they went about putting it together, it was obvious they had as much fun creating it as we had enjoying it. I hope this means we’ll see more beer dinners at Oliveto.

Trumer Brauerei in Berkeley, California, had scheduled tours throughout SF Beer Week every day at 4:00 p.m. On my way over to a beer dinner last night, I stopped by to see how the tours were going and inquire if they were seeing people for each day’s tours so far. I didn’t necessarily need the tour myself, as when the brewery was Golden Pacific Brewing before Gambrinus bought it, it’s where I made a number of private label beers for BevMo, including Coastal Fog, Brandenburg Gate and Truman’s True Blue. But it’s always a fun little brewery to be around, and the folks there told me they’d had a handful of people for every tour so far, which I’d say is a good result. So far, we’ve been hearing good attendance for all if the events, I’m happy to say.

A modest group on the Trumer tour, but pretty good considering it’s a Wednesday afternoon.

I just couldn’t resist this image of the sun behind the logo on Trumer’s front door.

If you’ve ever visited Marin Brewing in Larkspur, California, then you know how tiny their brewery really is, squeezed into nooks and crannies throughout the brewpub. So it was pretty cool that brewmaster Arne Johnson wanted to do an extended, intimate and very personal tour that most breweries just couldn’t take the time to do. Here’s how they described the plan.

For those of you interested in learning more about how a small craft brewery works, we are offering an opportunity to hang out with our brewers during a brew day, get an extensive tour of our plant, and an in depth explanation of our brewing equipment, techniques, and procedures. This unique event also includes a sit down lunch and beer tasting with Brewmaster Arne Johnson, Marin’s award-winning brewer. Limited to 8 attendees.

The tour filled up fast, and so I stopped by Wednesday morning just to see how it was going.

Marin’s assistant brewer Shane Aldridge keeping an eye on the boil.

Shane scooped out a pitcher of wort for people to taste.

Brewmaster Arne John led a tour around all of the stages of their brewing and bottling.

Hand labeling Marin bottles. It’s pretty labor intensive, but the machine looks pretty cool in operation, which you can see below.

Henry’s Gastropub is a Berkeley fixture, located across the street from Boalt Hall, Berkeley’s law school. For years they’ve had a decent selection of beer, but until recently, the food was rather wanting, not bad, but nothing special. But all that’s changed recently with a remodel, both cosmetically and in attitude. The biggest reason for the change is Eddie Blyden, Henry’s new chef. Blyden knows beer. He was formerly the chef at 21st Amendment Brewery & Restaurant and also later designed the food menus for Magnolia and Alembic, all three in San Francisco. Monday night he did a beer dinner during SF Beer Week with the beers of Triple Rock Brewery and Iron Springs. I was unable to attend, having accepted an invitation for another beer dinner, but Celebrator Beer News publisher Tom Dalldorf did and declared the dinner to be a great success. He was also kind enough to pass along a photo from the event.

That’s chef Eddie Blyden in the center, wearing red, flanked by Rodger David, Triple Rock’s brewer (far left) and Christian Kazakoff, Iron Springs’ brewer (far right). In between, on the left, is Brad Robbins and Brian Thorson, both from Drake’s on the right, Josh Miner, also from Drake’s.

Yesterday Triple Rock Brewery in Berkeley, California held its second small beer festival, this one all barrel-aged beers. The first, on Sunday, was sour beers and I would have loved to have been at that one, but couldn’t miss the Lagunitas Beer Circus (and once I finish posting all the photos and videos from that beer circus, you’ll understand why, too). Happily, Triple Rock did have a few sour beers left over from Sunday, and I sampled as many as I could, in additional to the many barrels they had available. It was a great event, as I love small festivals that focus on one type of beer, allowing you to really taste the range within that category, be it a style or what have you. There can’t be too many niche festivals to my way of thinking. It’s the difference between a stadium concert (beer festival) and a show in an intimate club (niche festival). Which would you rather attend? Both have their place, but I almost always prefer the small affair.

Rodger Davis, brewmaster at Triple Rock, up on the rooftop patio with an assortment bottled barrel-aged beers.

Tom Dalldorf, Celebrator Beer News publisher, did attend the sour tasting on Sunday, and was kind enough to share a few snapshots.

Sunday at Triple Rock, tasting sour beers.

Pete Slosberg and Justin Crossley having a friendly sour discussion. Justin runs The Brewing Network, and did a great report about the opening events of SF Beer Week that includes a podcast of my opening toast at Anchor Brewer and an interview with me and Vic Krajl of The Bistro.

It was an evening of music, poetry, rapping and fun topped off with great food and beer at the “Wanna Git My Eastern Peanut Butter In Yer Western Chocolate” beer dinner, a.k.a. an East vs. West Slam with Dogfish Head and 21st Amendment. In between five courses, Sam Calagione and Shaun O’Sullivan took turns humorously dissing each others’ coast and the beers from each. I’m kicking myself that none of us recorded any of it on video. It was hilarious. A great evening of merriment.
 

Sam Calagione, dressed as a west coaster and Shaun O’Sullivan trying to look respectfully eastern.

For more photos from the East vs. West Slam Dinner with San Calagione and Shaun O’Sullivan, visit the photo gallery.
 

Moylan’s Monday definitely was, as they described it, “a beer and a shot kind of afternoon” at Noonan’s Bar & Grill in Larkspur, California.

Come meet Brendan Moylan and Denise Jones of Moylan’s Brewing Company for a taste of the finest. Noonan’s is the definitive destination west of the Mississippi River for the world’s most distinguished whiskeys. Over 300 whiskeys are displayed ranging from the traditional to the rare, featuring Irish, Canadian, American, Rye, Bourbon and Micro-Distilled favorites. The 80 foot bar features the craft brewed beers from Moylan’s Brewery and Marin Brewing Company, as well as an extensive wine collection. Join us as we celebrate SF Beer Week at Noonan’s with fine whiskey, spectacular Moylan’s beer, delicious cheese and delectable chocolate.

What a fun, laidback event. Considering it was a Monday afternoon, it was especially gratifying to see the bar fill up. Moylan and Jones poured beer and whisky samples, and passed around large plates filled with delicious samples of local cheeses and chocolates, all made in Marin County.

Denise and Brendan tending to us and making sure our glasses had something tasty to try in them.

Brendan Moylan two-fisting two of life’s greatest pleasures; beer and whisky.