The Santa Rosa Press Democrat had a nice interview with Lagunitas Brewing owner Tony Magee a couple of days ago. The piece was called “the art of the brew.” I’ve known Tony for a lot of years and he’s a terrific person who makes some fine beers.
Tony Magee and me at last year’s Bistro IPA Festival.
Chris Anderson is the author of the Long Tail theory and the companion book The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More (and editor of Wired). He did a post last year about Anheuser-Busch’s foray into spirits, a division named Long Tail Libations, which got me thinking about his theory as it applied to craft beer.
Anderson has another post this morning further exploring this connection as it applies to the number of niche products the company has added over the last ten years. This leads him to the most niche (is nicheiest a word?) market going today, gluten-free beers. Check out his blog.
The California Small Brewers Association recently added two new board members, increasing the number from five to seven.
The CSBA Press Release:
The California Small Brewers Association has elected a new and expanded board of Directors. The new Board was elected in December and took their seats on January 1st.
The CSBA Board was expanded from five to seven members.
“The Board was expanded to allow greater representation of the membership,” said Tom McCormick, Executive Director of the association. “It will also allow for more Board involvement as we embark on a new and expanded mission for the future.”
With a new Board at the helm, the association plans to expand and broaden the realm of services for small brewers in 2007.
“For the first time, the CSBA will be conducting work shops to address critical business issues.” McCormick said. “We will also be implementing a new marketing campaign to promote California craft beer in addition to conducting numerous events and meetings to help foster communication and education among our family of brewers.”
The CSBA is a non-profit trade association that as founded in 1989 to protect the political and legislative rights of the small brewers of California.
The new Board of Directors of the CSBA are:
The Bay Area Blues Society has named Hayward’s Bistro as “Blues Nightclub of the Year.” The Contra Costa Times has a nice article about the awards and the upcoming 2007 West Coast Blues Hall of Fame and Awards Show, which will be held Saturday March 10, at Kimballs Carnival in Jack London Square (522 2nd Street, Oakland, California).
Congratulations to Vic and Cynthia and the whole gang down at the Bistro. Be sure to stop by on February 10 for their 7th annual Double IPA Festival.
Beginning today, 21st Amendment Brewery and Magnolia Pub & Brewery, both in San Francisco, will team up again to host their fifth annual Strong Beer Month. Each brewpub has created six new and different seasonal beers — and if you haven’t figured it out yet, they’ll all be strong — that will be available at the two locations throughout February.
From the press release:
It’s that time of year again. This is our fifth annual Strong Beer Month and it has become quite a tradition. When Dave Mclean, owner and brewmaster at Magnolia Pub and Brewery and Brewer Shaun set out five years ago to put on an interesting array of strong beers to warm the body and soul through the San Francisco winter doldrums, they never really conceived that the month of February would be so popular. Five years ago we had six strong beers and this year we bring present you with twelve winter warmers between both breweries. Quite a feat when you think of it as we set aside valuable brewery tank space and our normal house brews and serve up a collection of higher octane adult beverages in all shapes and flavors.
These strong beers are big beers, big in body, bold in flavor and full of the heady, warming sensations that can only come from beers above 8% in alcohol. They span a wide range of styles, from Barleywines, Imperial IPA’s, several strong Belgian beers, imperial smoked porter and a Russian imperial stout. They are all over the map from light to dark but they share one defining characteristic: their strength.
Best sipped slowly and savored, not quaffed in a hurry, these twelve beers command respect. No need to rush through them all in a day. They will be available throughout February (or until they run out) in commemorative 13.5 ounce glasses. Drink all twelve strong ales (six at each brewery) and the glass is yours. Commemorative 2007 Strong Beer Month T-shirts are also available. We will also have special library strong beers from years past presented throughout the month and special food dishes paired with the strong beers.
The strong beers at both pubs:
At Magnolia:
Tweezer Tripel
Old Thunderpussy Barleywine
Smokestack Lightning Imperial Stout
Promised Land Imperial IPA
Weekapaug Monster
Old Perplexity
At 21st Amendment:
Golden Doom
Double Tripel
Blind Lust
Diesel Imperial Smoked Porter
Double Trouble IPA
Lower de Boom Barleywine
Several people tipped me to this. According to the Oregon Brewers Festival website, after 19 years of it being a family event of sorts, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) will no longer allow minors at all at the Oregon Brewers Festival. Minors were allowed in previous years, though last year they were required to wear these ridiculous orange stickers. Not surprisingly, this has sparked a lot of discussion among the Oregon Brew Crew and on Beer Advocate’s forums. What did surprise me was that there were people out there who have so internalized the puritan propaganda of alcohol and children not mixing that they believe this is a good idea. That separating society into two parts, one that’s kid friendly and one that’s adults-only, is somehow a desirable way to orient the world.
Some of the most alarming are:
Wow, I find these comments pretty frightening and unenlightened. But let’s look at the sentiments themselves.
According to the first person, no family should ever attend a beer festival. It’s simply not possible. I apparently have no business being there with my wife and our two young children. I have to make a choice, it’s either beer or my family. I guess I can’t have both. Heaven forbid we spend a day in the sun by the river with a picnic lunch and enjoy some good beer, too. How dare I wish to share such an experience with my loved ones and show them how beer is an integral part of society, not something separate to be feared, avoided or worst of all, binged on after the arbitrary prohibition of age is removed. The nerve of me for wanting to show my children what responsible drinking looks like so they can model such positive behavior when they get older.
The second comment is even more of a head-scratcher. This person appears to assume that the only reason someone might take their family to a beer festival is they were too poor to afford a babysitter. Is is possible he can’t conceive of someone actually wanting to spend time with their children? If he finds parenting too stressful to involve his kids at a fest, by all means he definitely shouldn’t, but I don’t understand why he feels the need to restrict the rest of us who actually like having our family members around us. Are there better places to take the kids? Personally, anyplace my family can all be together is a great place. Sometimes we do things I want to do, sometimes the kids get to decide. That’s what families do, they take turns and share experiences so everyone’s life is a little richer and more varied. Just because I’m a parent now doesn’t mean I have to spend all my weekends at Chuck-E-Cheese.
But it’s the last one that really deserves attention, because it’s so unbelievably laced with ignorance and selfishness disguised as advocating freedom for adults. So, one by one, then.
Why would anyone want to have their kids in a place where people are drinking anyway? You never know what might happen and what you might expose your kids to.
Why would I not want my family to be where I am? Why would I care if adult things are taking place in the presence of my children? I make my living from alcoholic beverages, should I be ashamed of that and shield my kids from knowing what they are? What could I possibly “expose” my kids to that they can’t see on television. And frankly, what better place for them to be “exposed” to things than at a place where their parents are there to explain, interpret and teach them about life. I don’t understand the mentality that believes children must be locked away and protected from everything the world might throw at them. That’s how you raise a child who can’t deal with anything different, or adapt to new challenges and situations or is just plain afraid all the time.
It’s also a pain in the ass having strollers all over the place or having to mind yourself or edit yourself because a kid is around.
Ahh, poor baby. Now I’m really feeling bad for this person. She has to be inconvenienced by not having wide open spaces to walk around. There might be things in her way, restricting her free movement. She might have to take a couple of steps to one side and walk around a stroller. Wow, what a hard life she has that she’s actually concerned about how that effects her and makes her life so difficult. And why does she feel she has to act or speak differently if children are around? Does she normally swear like a drunken sailor when there are no children about? And now I’ve burdened her by bringing my kid within earshot of her so that she feels like she has to think of another way to talk, and I can just imagine how difficult that must be. Assuming for a moment that I care if she swears around my kids — I don’t — is it such a burden to her delicate sensibility that she has to express herself more genteelly?
Drinking experiences are meant for adults. It’s no ones fault but your own if you choose to breed. Don’t punish the rest of us because you have to have everything cater [sic] to you because your [sic] a parent now.
Wow, it’s my own “fault” I chose to start a family. I hope she’s not still blaming her parents for making a similar decision. Apparently I’m punishing her because I decided to further the human race. I suppose we should all be pleased that this particular person chose not to breed. In a later comment, she actually claims to still “love” the little tykes, just not if they’re in her way or are a buzzkill to her having a good time. Without getting too melodramatic, what does she think would happen to the future of the human race if everyone decided to just get drunk and not have children, which is apparently her ideal society. Because ostensibly wanting a world where both children and adults can co-mingle is a selfish desire.
Where exactly did she get the idea that “drinking experiences are meant (exclusively) for adults?” Travel to almost any nation on the earth and you’ll find in a majority of them that alcohol and entire families coexist quite seamlessly, and with far fewer problems with binge drinking than we experience. But that’s the price our society has to pay. Keep children from seeing responsible drinking and make it the huge forbidden taboo that it is, and you see what happens. Not only does it create adults who can’t see the value in teaching their children how to be adults and engage in so-called adult activities responsibly but you also create people so selfish that to suggest that they might have to curb their behavior in public is akin to them being punished. What a tough life this woman has that she can’t stand to be dictated how to behave because there are children present. Does it mean that she walks through life avoiding children so that she can be herself and not mind what she says or what language she uses? Are there no adults that might not appreciate her endless cacophony of profanity she feels free to use in kid free zones? She must be a joy to be around.
Happily, not everyone is like this woman. Many people do see the OLCC’s draconian laws for what they are. For example.
Though I have but one wee one, I have LOVED the fact that my family — all 3 of us — can partake in my passion the last weekend of July. We always have gone just as the festival opens on Saturday — when the lines are non existent and the college “let’s get smashed” crowd is still comatose from the night before. While there will always be irresponsible morons where ever you go, for the most part it’s a wonderful family experience.
And.
I just don’t buy your argument that if we can afford micros, we can afford a baby sitter. Drinking the good stuff is a passion and a luxury and it’s BECAUSE it’s a family event that I can afford the indulgence.
We hear it over and over and over again, but I can’t stress enough my belief that responsible drinking starts at home and there is NOTHING wrong with including families in events where alcohol is present. Though there may be drunken boobery as far as your eyes can see, the real young ones will only pay attention to what YOU are doing. And if what they see is an adult drinking beer responsibly, then THAT is what they will learn.
I love Oregon and the fact that, for the most part, Portland is a pretty enlightened society, but rulings like this are an embarrassment and a reminder that, great as it is, our lovely city really isn’t THAT much different from the rest of the country.
One aspect this debate also overlooked is that the OLCC does allow minors to be present at wine events. For example, as one brew crew member relates.
The OLCC discriminates against beer drinkers as they allow kids to wine events. There will be 65 wineries at the Oregon Seafood & Wine fest next weekend and kids are welcome. Please don’t hesitate to let them and your governor know how you feel being unfairly treated as a beer slob, instead of as a wine snob!
So it’s not really enforcing Oregon’s minor posting law as the OLCC claims, or else children would not be permitted at any event that is predominately a drinking event as the law states. It’s again about unfairly treating beer as a negative in society while allowing wine to be perceived as a positive. How else to explain it?
Or as legendary beer writer Fred Eckhardt put it:
This is the same jerk who ruled that the Great American Distillery Festival could only allow THREE (that’s right THREE) quarter ounce tastings of the distilled liquors there. THREE. This at a festival where one could then BUY as many full strength mixed drinks as he/she wished for, while appearing sober, but sane sampling? Forget it. These guys have far too much power. IT’S A CLASS ACT IN STUPIDITY. THE OLCC IS regulating these things in a PUNITIVE MANNER. That’s not rational. If this A**hole would check he’d find that no self respecting child on the planet would drink anything as hoppy and dark and roasty as ANY craft beer. Kids don’t like this kind of beer. Like dry wine, it’s an acquired taste and it doesn’t really come until one is almost old enough to graduate from College.
The fact is that very few of the bigger beer festivals, in this country at least, do allow minors so there really aren’t that many opportunities to annoy non-breeders by traveling with our children. So it’s especially troubling to see one of the few that still was relatively kid-friendly change to adults-only. Frankly, I think this sends the wrong message about beer. It should not be restricted and separated from society because it is a part of society. To pretend otherwise is dishonest and does society a great disservice.
If you’ve been to the OBF, as I suspect many who’ve commented have not, you’d know it’s held in a very large space with big circus-sized tents and large open grassy areas overlooking the Willamette River. There’s plenty of room for both adults and families with children. There is plenty of food available and other activities, as well. It could easily be turned into much more of a family event if not for neo-prohibitionist agendas. The irony that this debate is raging around Portland should not be lost on anyone. There are more breweries within Portland’s city limits than anywhere else in America, meaning a good portion of the town’s economic health can be attributed directly to beer. Usually following the money would lead you to a government that actually cares about an industry contributing to its fiscal stability. But the wild card here is prejudice. Prejudice against vice, against the perception that beer is a social evil. And the number one tactic of neo-prohibitionist groups, as well as many other similarly misguided causes, is that old canard of protecting the children. As I’ve said many times here before, don’t you believe it. Family values is a euphemism for imposing a rigid set of values on everyone else. Because the truth is every family has its own set of values. And mine include enjoying a sunny day at a beer festival along with my wife and kids. Will my being there ruin the experience for someone else? If it’s that woman I’m punishing with my wanton procreation, I certainly hope so.
The Nashua Telegraph in southern New Hampshire has some suggestions for pairing beer and food courtesy of Mike Labbe, the brewer at Pennichuck Brewing.
The newest Laurelwood Public House at 51st and Sandy in Portland. According to a recent newsletter, “We’ll let all of you know when we’re close to brewing and even more importantly, when the pub will be opening. Things have been moving along quickly in recent weeks and the long wait should be over soon.” There are new photos now posted to the Laurelwood Live Blog.
The Brewers Association Export Development Program (or EDP) announced that they will be facilitating the entry of 19 craft brewers into the the Australian International Beer Awards (AIBA)
From the press release:
Held in Melbourne each year, the AIBA is Australia’s most prestigious beer event and has become firmly established on the international brewing calendar as a renowned and recognized barometer of excellence and diversity in beer brewing across the world. In 2006, the Australian International Beer Awards attracted 974 entries from 31 countries. AIBA uses the Brewers Association’s Beer Style Guidelines. The Brewers Association’s Export Development Program, in an effort to help promote the image of American craft beer as a world class beverage, pays for entry fees and transportation into select international beer shows for its program subscribers, such as the AIBA. “Assisting US craft breweries with participation in large international competitions like AIBA is a major focus of the EDP,” says Brewers Association vice president Bob Pease. “Our work for EDP subscribers allows us to allocate funds for their entry fees and cover the cost of a consolidated beer shipment to the competitions. US craft beers typically perform well on the international stage and the awards they receive bring attention to the brands and to the US industry as a whole.”
These are the brewers entering their beer in Australia:
Let’s wish all good luck. Winners will be announced April 19.
New Belgium Brewing will be releasing their spring seasonal, Springboard, a unique beer made with oats, Mt. Hood hops, Schisandra (an ancient Chinese herb), Gogi berries, and wormwood. Then it’s blended with a small amount of one of New Belgium’s other beers aged in wood.
According to the press release, “Springboard opens with fruity berry-like tones, has a spirited, tart threshold and ends with a dry, crisp finale. It’s partially filtered, resulting in a cloudy blonde appearance, and moderate body. Springboard was created to satisfy our desire to introduce new flavors and produce a spring seasonal that is innovative and inspiring,” said Brewmaster Peter Bouckaert. “Springboard maintains an equilibrium that keeps it balanced and easy to enjoy.”
Springboard will be available on draft and in bottles from the end of February into April.