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Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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London Trip: Day 2, Fuller’s Brewery Tour

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On Thursday, our second day in London, we had a nice private tour of Fuller’s Griffin Brewery in the Chiswick area of London.

The Griffin Brewery in Chiswick, London

The “Old Copper,” part of the old brewery.

After the tour we isited the Hock Cellar, where we sampled beer made at the brewery. Here brewers Shaun O’Sullivan from 21st Amendment Brewery and Christian Kazakoff from Triple Rock Brewery pose behind the bar with our tour guide Derek Prentice.

For the full brewery tour, visit the photo gallery.

London Trip: Day 1

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Tuesday I left for a short trip to London along with brewers Shaun O’Sullivan (21st Amendment) and Christian Kazakoff (Triple Rock) and beer fans Motor and Thomas. Because of the time change, our flight was effectively a red eye and we arrived in the U.K. the following morning around seven in the morning. We had no specific plans for the day, apart from some drinking and trying to stay awake as long as possible in order to fight our jet lag.

London had received a rare bit of snow and our tube ride in from the airport was a winter wonderland.

The snow was so unexpected, there were still flowers in the parks.

Christian, Shaun, me and Motor in the lobby of our hotel in Russell Square.

We went for a walk down to the Borough Market and tried a brewpib there, the Brew Wharf Yard. They only had one house beer on, the Wharf Rebel, which was, I’m sorry to say, very dissapointing. But they did have all of the Meantime beers and a good selection of imported Belgian and American beers.

The Anchor pub next to the Thames was a bit of a tourist bar but in a great location and with a decent selection.

By far the best pub in the area was the Market Porter, which had great atmosphere and an even better beer selection.

Though ridicuously the Market Porter also carried Guinness Extra Cold, whatever that means. Actually, according to the Guinness website:

Using the same classic recipe as Guinness Draught, Guinness Draught Extra Cold passes through our Coldflow supercooler en route to the bar. The result is a GUINNESS® Draught that’s served 3°C cooler. With an initial malt and caramel flavour, cooler Guinness Draught Extra Cold finishes with less bitterness than classic Guinness Draught beer. Chilly, isn’t it?

Guinness Draught Extra Cold is best served at around 3.5°C (38.3°F) — that’s 2.5°C (4.5°F) or so colder than Guinness Draught.

We did our own taste test of Guinness vs. Guinness Extra Cold — GEC is in the foreground. Not surprisingly, there was absolutely no difference. As suspected, it was merely a marketing gimmick.

Next, it was off to the Tate Modern, which was only a short walk away.

The highlight was probably the The Unilever Series by Carsten Höller. It was a series of amazing slides that you take from the second, third and even the fifth floor.

The slides wind around a central pole.

There’s solid on the bottom half but glass on the upper half so you can see where you’re going.

You sit on and put your feet into a canvas towel to ride down the tube. Here Shaun O’Sullivan enters the fifth floor slide.

Shaun crosses his arms and lets go.

Here Christian Kazakoff somes out at the bottom after his five-story ride.

A better look at the canvas towel as Christian dismounts the slide.

Afterwards, we went to the Blackfriar, an absolutely beautiful pub steeped in ornate details and history.

An old sign out front.

Unfortunately, inside — though also quite ornate and stunningly beautiful — it smelled of sulfur and sewage, as if the pipes had recently backed up. The people inside either didn’t seem to notice or had grown used to it. But none of us could stay inside for very long and so we kept moving.

We had a late lunch at the Lamb, near our hotel. The beer was decent, but the food could have been better. Overall, it was a little disappointing to see that most pubs looked great outside and in, but carried a somewhat narrow range of beers that differed only according to what pub company owned them. There were very few true free houses. And while I might argue that their beers, and especially the popular ones, were still real ales and much better overall then the beers that dominate our bars, there was still a lack of diversity found in many average Bay Area bars.

For the rest of the evening, we walked from pub to pub in an effort to stay up as long as possible. We had a pint at the Lamb & Flag and Ye Grapes before ending up at the White Horse for the rest of the evening.

Off to the White Horse

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The Bulletin will be on vacation for the next week, returning on Tuesday January 30. I’ll be jumping the pond this morning to attend the Old Ale Festival at London’s White Horse on Parson’s Green. This is supposedly cellerman Mark Dorber’s last year at the pub, so I’m glad I’ll have a chance to see him there. It should be a great time. I’m pretty sure they’ll be photos and stories here next week.

The White Horse in London.

Here’s the beer list for the two-day festival:

British Beers:

Adnams Tally Ho 7.0%
Ballard’s Wassail 6.0%
Bass Museum No 1 10.5%
Bass Museum P2 Imperial Stout 8.0%
Bass Museum Worthington White Shield 5.6%
Broughtons Old Jock 6.7%
Caledonian Santa’s Little Helper 3.7%
Cottage Norman’s Conquest 7.0%
Dark Star Dark Star Original 5.0%
Dark Star Imperial Stout 10.5%
Exmoor’s Beast 6.6%
Fuller’s Old Winter Ale 5.3%
Fuller’s London Porter 5.4%
Gale’s Winter Brew 4.2%
Harvey’s Old Ale 3.6%
Hogs Back A Over T 9.0%
Lee’s Harvest ale 11.5%
Lee’s Moonraker 7.5%
Mauldon’s Black Adder 5.3%
O’Hanlons Port Stout 4.8%
Oakham’s Oblivion 5.7%
Orkney’s Skull Splitter 8.5%
RCH’s Old Slug Porter 4.5%
Reepham Velvet Sweet Stout 4.5%
Robinson’s Old Tom 8.5%
Roosters Body Warmer 5.0%
Roosters Jaks 3.9%
Theakston’s Old Peculier 5.7%
Thornbridge Jaipur 5.9%
Titanic Stout 4.5%
Uley’s Old Spot 5.0%
Woodforde’s Head Cracker 7.0%
Young’s Winter Warmer 5.0%

Belgian Beers:

Abbaye des rocs Speciale Noel 9.0%
Binchoise Special Noel 9.0%
Brigand Christmas 9.0%
Bush Noel 12.0%
Cantillon Lambiek 5.0%
Corsendonck Christmas 8.5%
Geants Saison Voisin 6.0%
Gouden Carolus Christmas 10.5%
Peter Lieven Bruin 6.5%
St Bernardus Tripple 6.7%
St Bernardus Prior 7.6%
St Bernardus Abt 12 10.5%
St Feuillien Noel 9.0%
Troubador Obscura 9.0%

SacBrew Barley Wine Festival Winners

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The results are also in for the 2007 SacBrew Barley Wine Festival. Since I wasn’t able to go north to Alaska, I was fortunate enough to be able to judge in Sacramento last night. Here are the top three Barley Wine winners:
 

Great Alaskan Beer & Barley Wine Festival Winners

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The results are in for the 2007 Great Alaskan Beer & Barley Wine Festival.

Here are the top three Barley Wine winners:
 

 
Results courtesy of Tom Dalldorf, publisher of the Celebrator Beer News.
 

BB & A-B: The Unlikeliest of Unlikelihoods?

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+ = ??

The rumor of Anhesuer-Busch in talks with Boston Beer left a foul taste in my mouth, and a few short weeks ago would not have given the idea a moment’s thought. The feud between Jim Koch’s Boston Beer Co. and Augie Busch’s little company is, though considerably shorter than Budvar’s, just as legendary. The production company “Ducks In A Row Entertainment Corporation” is supposedly even making a film about their famous feud with the tentative title “Beer Wars.” Last I heard, it was in the editing stage but that was some time ago. The point is, these are two companies that do not feel a great deal of affection for one another.

So my first reaction to this rumor would under normal circumstances be, “no F’ing way.” But that was before A-B inked deals with both InBev and longtime rival Budvar. With those deals, the Earth is already spinning off its axis, so why not Samuel Adams, too?

This particular rumor comes courtesy of Miller’s Brew Blog, who got it from the only other source to mention it so far, Beer Business Daily, a subscription-based beer news service. BBD reported that they have “been fielding about a half dozen inquiries a day from readers with the latest rumor du jour making the rounds out there: A-B and Boston Beer hooking up.” To no one’s surprise, neither side would comment on the rumors. But that was the same as the InBev rumors, at least, so who knows?

I’ve heard Jim Koch speak personally about his feelings concerning A-B and their business practices and given that, and all of the trouble they’ve tried to cause him over the years, it just seems incredibly unlikely that he’d entertain any offers from them. But at the risk of repeating myself, I keep coming back to how often the seemingly impossible has been happening these days.

Boscos Supports Blues Music with “Blues & Brews”

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Today is the 11th birthday of Boscos in Nashville. They currently have three brewpubs in Little Rock, Arkansas and Memphis and Nashville, both in Tennessee. As a big fan of music, especially traditional forms, I was pleased to see that they’re supporting the Blues Foundation with a concert at their Memphis location in April. The concert will feature Grammy winner John Hammond and will be a benefit to raise money for the organization whose goal is to “preserve and to highlight the rich history of Blues through” a variety of ventures. A worthy eandeavor, at least in my opinion. If you’ll be in the Memphis area the first week of April, please consider attending. Great beer and great music. How could you go wrong?

From the Press Release:

The Blues Foundation and Boscos Squared, 2120 Madison Avenue, Memphis, TN 38104 in Overton Square are teaming up to host a fund raising event to benefit the Memphis based international blues organization. “Blues and Brews” will be held on Saturday, April 7, 2007 from 1 to 4 PM.

The Blues Foundation is a nonprofit corporation headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, the home of the Blues. With more than 145 affiliated Blues organizations, and membership spanning the globe, the Foundation serves as the hub for the worldwide passion for Blues Music.

Blues and Brews will feature entertainment by acoustic blues master John Hammond. From coffeehouses to concert halls, festivals and beyond, John Hammond has spent forty years entertaining blues, folk and rock audiences around the world, performing intense solo-acoustic blues. A Grammy Award winner and four-time nominee, Hammond is also a multiple W.C. Handy award winner who has shared the stage and/or recorded with many of the masters.

Boscos, The Restaurant for Beer Lovers, will brew a special beer for the occasion. Hammond will perform on Boscos’ patio, consistently voted the best place for outdoor dining in Memphis.

Tickets for the event are $100 per person and will be available on The Blues Foundation website, beginning in February. The ticket price includes food, beverage and entertainment.

Blues musician John Hammond.