The Pyramid Alehouse located on Gilman in Berkeley will be hosting a party March 1, beginning at 7:00 p.m. to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Washington brewery in California.
3.1
Pyramid Alehouse 10th Anniversary Party in Berkeley
Pyramid Alehouse, 901 Gilman Street, Berkeley, California
510.528.9880 [ website ] [ tickets ]
The results are in and again craft beer has hit one out of the park. For the fourth straight year, growth in the sale of craft beer has shown signifcant improvement.
From the BA press release:
The continuing growth of craft beer entered double digit territory in 2006, with sales by craft brewers up 11.7% by volume for the year. This comes on top of strong growth in each of the prior three years and illustrates the ongoing surge of consumer interest in craft beers.
“American tastes are clearly changing thus the demand for more flavorful and diverse beers is exploding,” said Paul Gatza, Director of the Brewers Association, which tabulates industry growth data.
The Brewers Association estimates 2006 sales by craft brewers at over 6,600,000 barrels (one barrel equals 31 U.S. gallons) up from an adjusted total of just under 6,000,000 barrels in 2005. The increase totals over 690,000 barrels or 9.5 million case-equivalents. For 2006 craft beer posted a retail sales figure of $4.2 billion.
A strong area of distribution for craft beer is grocery, convenience, drug and liquors stores. According to Information Resources Inc. (IRI), “The beer category reaped growth from import (+10.9%) and micro-brew (+16.9%) products, while suffering losses across domestic and non-alcoholic varieties.”
“Craft beer has become a great American success story and today U.S. craft brewers are being watched, emulated and celebrated globally.” stated Julia Herz, Director of Craft Beer Marketing for the Brewers Association. “Demand has become contagious. Craft beer is satisfying the thirst and beer enthusiasm of a continuously growing number of beer drinkers who are seeking flavor, diversity and value.”
A more extensive release of the 2006 production numbers will be available from the Brewers Association on April 19 at the Craft Brewers Conference in Austin, TX and unveiled in the May/June issue of The New Brewer magazine. The craft beer segment includes 1377 breweries.
The definition of craft beer as stated by the Brewers Association: An American craft brewer is small, independent and traditional. Craft beer comes only from a craft brewer. Small = annual production of beer less than 2 million barrels. Beer production is attributed to a brewer according to the rules of alternating proprietorships. Flavored malt beverages are not considered beer for purposes of this definition. Independent = Less than 25% of the craft brewery is owned or controlled (or equivalent economic interest) by an alcoholic beverage industry member who is not themselves a craft brewer. Traditional = A brewer who has either an all malt flagship (the beer which represents the greatest volume among that brewers brands)
Sunday was the 19th Anniversary Party for the Celebrator Beer News. It was held at Trumer Brauerei in Berkeley, California from 4 to 8 p.m. There was a really good turnout for the party and a lot of friends and colleagues were there, which was great fun. Also, there was some terrific beer from twenty breweries, some terrific food from brewer Jeremy Sowers Emergency BBQ and three bands. This is just a few of the photos I took at the party, for more pictures, visit the photo gallery.
Greg Koch, co-owner of Stone Brewing, and Greg’s girlfriend Susan, presented Celebrator publisher Tom Dalldorf with a montage poster of Stone Brewing moments in the Celebrator.
Dan Del Grande, from Bison Brewing, brewed the new Reunion Beer, a charity for Multiple Myeloma (a type of bone cancer) by former Pete’s Wicked Ale employees Pete Slosberg, Virginia MacLean and Alan Shapiro.
A perky Kathryn with Judy Ashowrth and Melissa Myers, from Drake’s Brewing.
Party host Tom Dalldorf with Portland beer writer Fred Eckhardt.
For many more photos from the party, visit the photo gallery.
This month on the website “On Milwaukee” it’s Bar Month and this editorial today caught my attention because of all the recent talk regarding children and beer. The piece is by staff writer Molly Snyder Edler and is entitled “Motherfest: Kids and beer bottles.” The whole article is interesting, but I love the conclusion:
The children of vegetarians own Burger Kings, Waldorf school graduates wind up working in the media, and kids who sip their parents’ beer could become contemporary prohibitionists. As parents, all we can do is trust our gut, hope the wheel turns in our favor and remind ourselves that, in the end, it’s our job to keep therapists in business.
Edler’s whole take is refreshing in its honest and fresh approach to what is more often than not an off-limits topic. It should be something that is discussed and debated, but neo-prohibitionist proselytizing and power have made it largely a one-sided affair making people with opposite (and I believe more rational and reasonable) opinions increasingly reluctant to stand up to the growing neo-prohibitionist agenda. Unfortunately, that’s always been a recipe for disaster when good people remain quiet while a vocal minority won’t shut up about their cause, however misguided or unpopular.
2.18
Celebrator Beer News Anniversary Party (19th annual)
Trumer Brauerei, 1404 Fourth Street, Berkeley, California
sponsored by:
Celebrator Beer News, 22455 Maple Court, Lower Level, Hayward, California
510.538.BREW [ party info ]
Saturday was Day One of the 14th annual Toronado Barley Wine Festival in San Francisco. The festival will run until the next Saturday, February 24. But the first day is when the crowd descend and the beers are judged. As usual, I was one of the early arriver’s even though my judging round — the finals — wasn’t scheduled until at least noon. It was great to see so many friends and colleagues and just hang out. I spent the day there sipping barley wine and other beers and left around dinner time.
All of the beers at this year’s festival.
Ditto, this time from the side.
Now that judging takes place across the street, the Toronado’s backroom is available for many more customers.
And this year, a few of the beers were available in the back room, too, to help alleviate the crush at the main bar.
Baron Brewing’s Jeff Smiley and Kate Geiser down from Washington.
Judging the final round of nine barley wines. After all seven judges sampled each of the finalists, we were able to eliminate three from pack fairly quickly. Then two more fell after a lot of discussion. The remaining four were all excellent in their own ways, and haggling over the order was quite spirited, though happily there was no bloodshed this year. We had some difficulty deciding whether or not our potential third and fourth place beers should get a tie for third or one third and an honorable mention. Ultimately we chose a tie because they were both excellent beers but quite different expressions of the style. We had pretty good consensus on which beers we felt should be first and second, but not necessarily the order. Eventually, we talked our way to a decision we were all happy with. (Thanks to Gregg Wiggins for taking a few shots with my camera.)
After the winners were announced, a group of homebrewers gave Toronado owner Dave Keene an award to show their appreciation for his hosting such a great event for the past 19 years.
Back on the other side of the street, I caught up with friends at the bar. Here, Judy Ashworth, Matt Salie (with Big Sky Brewing) and Judy’s daughter Laurel.
Justin and Daniela (from the Brewing Network) and Shaun O’Sullivan (from 21st Amendment).
An accordionist serenaded Toronado patrons in the back middle room.
Former Stone brewer Lee Chase with Susan and Greg Koch (co-owner of Stone Brewing).
Here are the results from the 2007 Toronado Barley Wine Festival in San Francisco:
Congratulations to all the winners.
Bruce Paton, the Beer Chef’s, 3rd annual Beer & Chocolate Dinner paired ten Trappist beers from six out of the seven monastery breweries authorized to call themselves Trappists by the International Trappist Association (ITA). In addition to hors d’oeuvres accented with chocolate (paired with Orval and Chimay Cinq Cents), there were four courses. The first course was a delicious lobster bisque infused with milk chocolate and crème fraiche and paired with Westmalle Dubbel and Chimay Premiere. When they started bringing the bowls of bisque into the dining room, the air was thick with the aroma of lobster, but when you tasted it the chocolate really came through as the dominant flavor.
The table I sat at was Chef Bruce’s table, too, so we got some great insight on how he chose the pairings, found the ingredients and prepared the dishes. Next up was breast of squab with sweet potato chocolate flan and natural jus paired with Achel and Westmalle Tripel.
The third course was Angus beef short ribs braised in Chimay with parsnip puree dark chocolate port wine reduction served with Chimay Grand Reserve and Rochefort 8. The beef was so tender you didn’t need your knife. Also, the parsnips were all but completely overwhelmed by the chocolate flavors, which complemented the meat perfectly.
Guests at the dinner, from left. Cornelia Corey and Ray McCoy (Beer Drinkers of the Year 2001 and 2003, respectively), Bryan Harrell (the Celebrator’s man in Tokyo) and Portland beer writer Fred Eckhardt (who pioneered the beer and chocolate dinner way back in 1988)
The dessert course billed was an “Exploration of Chocolate Delights” which in this case meant three very different chocoholic desserts. There was a lemony chocolate cheesecake, a chocolate mousse with white chocolate pieces in it and a strawberry wearing a tasty white chocolate tuxedo. These were paired with Rochefort 10 and De Koningshoeven Quadrupel. The De Koningshoeven is only one of the seven Trappist breweries in the Netherlands (the rest are all in Belgium) though it is better known by its European name, La Trappe. The only Trappist beer not represented was, of course, Westvleteren, which no longer distributes its beer outside the monastery.
Beer Chef Bruce Paton with his two great passions, food and beer. Thanks Bruce for another terrific dinner. Look for a Valley Brewing dinner at the end of April and a Allagash beer dinner in late May.
2.16
Dinner with the Brewmaster: Beer & Chocolate
Cathedral Hill Hotel, 1101 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, California
415.674.3406 [ website ]
Alright, it didn’t make the magazine, but it is a “web exclusive” on the Newsweek website. It is an article by Andrew Romano entitled Beer By the Year (thanks to Joe in Florida for sending me the link). The article is about vintage beers and the 25 of them Gramercy Tavern in New York City has added to their menu. It’s great to see Newsweek do a piece on aged beers, though the article suffers from the usual snide disbelief that beer could be worth spending money on and be something beyond a drink for the masses, or as Romano envisions it, an “equal-opportunity inebriator.”
Then there’s this dissmissive description:
This is beer we’re talking about. You know, the stuff shirtless football fans drink from a helmet. Sure, boosters might do well to take a page from wine’s playbook: according to the latest figures from the National Institutes of Health, alcohol consumption from beer (per capita) is down 6 percent since 1992, while “classier” vino is up 17 percent.
A little later in the article Romano grudgingly admits that some beers may benefit from aging but then claims that that’s true only “in theory.” He makes this claim because the final product may not necessarily turn out to be good after all. Why? One explanation is that the aging must be done properly: at the right temperature, in a dark place, etc. Here’s his other reasons.
Brewers, unlike vintners, release their beverages when they’re ready to drink, and aging is an inexact science. Given time, some bottles soar; others sour. With vintage beer, you always run the risk of liking the final draft less than the first.
This makes it sound as if he’s inferring that wine doesn’t have such issues, that aging wine is an exact science. But the exact same risks he brings up are true for wine, as well. First of all, plenty of wines are released too early but just as many are ready to drink, too. And then to age a wine properly, all the same steps involving light, temperature and so on must also be followed for the wine to have benefitted from the aging process.
Many — if not most — of the beers meant to be aged are not released when they’re green, but have in fact been aged for a period of time before being released to the public for further aging. I spoke to Vinnie Cilurzo of Russian River Brewing and he confirmed that he does age many of his beers either in the tank, barrel or bottle before releasing them to the public, some for a few weeks and some for many months. He wants the flavors to be right and the taste to have mellowed or changed in a positive way before they’re out of his hands.
I don’t quite understand why the author feels the need to qualify aging beer as having unique risks. “Given time,” not every bottle of wine will age well either, so why is he making it sound like aging is a different process for wine and beer?
Happily, Romano doesn’t stick with that tone and for the most part is convinced that vintage beers are worth their higher price tag. Romano and his dinner companion try six vintage beers and like all of them, and love a couple, especially the 1992 Thomas Hardy.
According to the article, Gramercy Tavern “gave beer-by-the-year its big-league, fine-dining debut with a select 25-bottle list of vintage suds from Europe, Japan and North America. The response, says assistant beverage director Kevin Garry, has been ‘amazing’—and it could mean more mainstream acceptance to come. ‘Based on how our guests have reacted, I can totally see vintage beer catching on at other places,’” says Garry, who pairs his bottles with cheeses and desserts. ‘I’d love to see it become the next cool thing in the fine-dining world.’”
As the article ends, Romano can’t resist bad-mouthing beer one more time in his last sentence, which concludes, “[w]e stumble home shortly thereafter.” Let’s see, two men share six bottles of beer. That’s three apiece. And not all were big 750 ml bottles. Thomas Hardy bottles are 11.2 ounces. Yes, some of the beers were strong, but overall not compared to the average wines. Would a wine writer having consumed an equal amount of wine ever claim to have “stumbled” home afterwards? Not in a million years.