Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Wine Enthusiast Enthuses Over Dogfish Head

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Well, not exactly. Author Gregg Glaser is squarely in our camp, being the Editor of Yankee Brew News and the News Editor of All About Beer. But it was still terrific seeing his article in a wine magazine, which covers primarily wine, of course, but also spirits. A quick search of their archives and it’s clear Wine Enthusiast does ocassionally write about beer, at least a few times year anyway. The article, Extreme Beer Dinners: Big beer, big food and lots of both, is part of the “Best of 2006” issue and is an overview of some of the unusual beers Sam Calgione makes at Delaware’s Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales. It also mentions his new book, Extreme Brewing, and the many beer dinners Sam has done across the country, including the one he did in San Francisco last November.

This was the label featured in Glaser’s article but I’m running it here again because I love Tara McPherson‘s artwork.

Kiss & Urthel: The Beer Dinner

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Monday evening the beer chef, Bruce Paton, hosted a “Dinner with the Brewmaster” with Urthel’s Hildegard and Bas van Ostaden. It was a small, more intimate dinner than usual, and, as usual, I had a very good time.

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We began the evening with Hop-It, the first Imperial IPA brewed in Belgium. The tap handle featured one of Bas’ gnomes, which appear on all the Urthel labels.

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Hildegard van Ostaden, Urthel’s brewster, one of only two female brewers working in Belgium, and Brian Hunt of Moonlight Brewing.

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Hildegard spoke to the audience before each course and described the beer we were about to enjoy.

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Then her husband and business partner, Bas, entertained the crowd with stories of the Urthels, the bald little gnomes on the beer labels that he created.

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Our beautifully presented dessert, a tartare of figs and Buddha’s hand with chocolate sabayon, vanilla mascarpone and cocoa nib cookie.

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Jen Garris and Brian Hunt.

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Bas van Ostaden, Bruce Paton and Hildegard van Ostaden after the dinner.

2007 Bloggies

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E-mails have been floating around this morning with the news that nominations for the 2007 Bloggies awards end tonight at 10 p.m. eastern time (that’s 7 p.m. for us left coasters). If you like the Brookston Beer Bulletin, please consider nominating it for “Best New Weblog” and/or “Weblog of the Year” (hey, I can dream, too, can’t I?). But you have to nominate at least three so I recommend also voting for Lucy Saunders’ wonderful Beer Cook and Grilling with Beer blogs, especially since she nominated mine. Apparently, final nominations are determined by the number of votes potential nominees receive, so I’ll need all the help I can get, dear loyal readers (note pleading suck up tone). Just click the link to the 2007 Bloggies below and start nominating whoever you want in at least three categories and then follow the instructions at the bottom of the page. That’s it. Thanks.

Beerapalooza Week

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2.10-18

Beerapalooza Week in the Bay Area (4th annual)

A week-long series of beer events beginning with the Bistro’s Double IPA and concluding with the Celebrator Beer News 19th Anniversary Mardi Gra Party at Trumer Brauerei in Berkeley, California. Other events include the Toronado Barleywine Festival, a Beer & Chocolate dinner at the Cathedral Hill Hotel and a cheese and beer tasting at the San Francisco Rogue Ales Public House.

See the Celebrator website for a list of events.

800.430.2337 [ Celebrator website ]

 

Rube Goldberg Pours a Beer

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You probably know what a Rube Goldberg contraption is, even if you don’t know who Rube Goldberg was. He was a cartoonist rightly famous for coming up with the most outlandish, elaborate contraptions that went through numerous steps to do just one simple task. Your first encounter with one was probably as a kid playing the board game “Mouse Trap,” which was inspired by his work. The YouTube video below, while perhaps overly lengthy, shows just such a contraption rigged up to pour a bottle of beer into a glass. They did a nice job of setting it up and showing it at work — and it’s pretty funny, too.