Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Pete’s Joke of the Week #2

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Okay, it’s not exactly weekly, but here’s another beer joke from my friend Pete Slosberg which I thought I’d share. I’m still hoping I can get Pete to do a joke of the week every week.
 

Joke of the Week #2: Beer Contains Female Hormones

Last month, National University of Lesotho scientists released the results of a recent analysis that revealed the presence of female hormones in beer. Men should take a concerned look at their beer consumption. The theory is that beer contains female hormones (hops contain phytoestrogens) and that by drinking enough beer, men turn into women. To test the theory, 100 men drank 8 pints of beer each within a 1 hour period. It was then observed that 100% of the test subjects:

  1. Argued over nothing.
  2. Refused to apologize when obviously wrong.
  3. Gained weight.
  4. Talked excessively without making sense.
  5. Became overly emotional.
  6. Couldn’t drive.
  7. Failed to think rationally
  8. Had to sit down while urinating.

No further testing was considered necessary.

Open Your Hearts & Wallets

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Linda Starck, if you don’t already know her, has for a long time been a part of the Brewers Association in Boulder, Colorado, the trade organization committed to supporting and raising the status of craft beer in the U.S. and abroad. If you have met Linda, you already know she is a wonderful, giving person. Unfortunately, Linda is now quite literally in the fight of her life, as she was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in February. So far, the regular treatment has proved ineffective and the cancer has spread. As a result, Linda started looking around for alternative treatments and found a promising one in Cologne, Germany. It’s a three-step approach known as the Cologne Model, consisting of Dendritic Cell Therapy, Newcastle Virus and hyperthermie. It has apparently shown success there but is only at the trial stage here in the U.S.

Linda is currently in Germany having the first of the three treatments and the whole process will take six months, meaning she’ll have to travel there three separate times, and will likely remain in Germany for the final four months of treatment. As you might have guessed, the treatments are considered experimental and naturally not covered by insurance. Each treatment alone costs a whopping $15,000!

I lost my own mother to cancer when I was only 22 (and she was only 42 years old) so I know only too well how her family feels and how much your donation would mean to them. Please join me is helping Linda and her family with this fight. Friends of Linda are organizing fund raisers in their homes in and around Boulder, Colorado but no matter where you are, whether you know Linda or not, please consider sending a check to help raise the money necessary for these treatments. Let’s show the world that the beer community truly is — as I believe it to be — like one, big extended family.

Send your check made payable to “Linda Starck” for any amount to:

Linda Starck
c/o Brewers Association
736 Pearl Street
Boulder, CO 80302

Thank you in advance for your generosity and charity.

 

Linda Starck (at left) with Nancy Johnson, director of the festival, at the Great American Beer Festival several years ago.
 

UPDATE 11.26:

Linda is home for a short while and very happy to be here. The weather there was very cold and damp so she is enjoying the sunshine and warm weather. The doctors are seeing some evidence that the first dosage of tarceva is working. A scan scheduled for January 2 will tell if the tarceva and/or the dendretic cell treatments are working.

If you’re near Boulder, don’t forget about the fundraiser that is scheduled for Dec. 2nd, hope to see you all there, I know Linda is looking forward to seeing you. If you want to attend or would like any more information, please email me and I’ll pass on your request to Nancy Johnson at the Brewers Association. Linda will be leaving early the next morning for her next treatment in Germany.

UPDATE: 12.11:

Linda and her family wish to extend their sincere gratitude for all those attending and contributing to the fundraiser. She enjoyed seeing everyone and the donations received will be very helpful with the treatment she is receiving. Donations are still coming in! Thanks so much.

Linda and er husband Joyce left bright and early the morning after the fundraiser and immediately started the next treatment regimen. It is still too early to test for the success of the treatments, but her energy level has definitely improved. Her spirits remain high.

Her US doctor had restarted her on a lower dose of Tarceva which she still did not tolerate well, so that has been discontinued. She learned that there is a chemo sensitivity test which she is having done to see if there are any other chemo drugs that might be an option.

Linda and Joyce will be return to the US on the 15th.

UPDATE: 1.8:

As circumstances and information changes, so do Linda’s options, decisions and priorities. Pain management is of primary concern at this time! Adjustments are being made to her pain medications.

Latest tests show that the cancer has spread aggressively along her spine, throughout her torso and also now in her liver. Linda has canceled her continued treatment in Germany for now, as travel would be difficult. This can be reconsidered, of course.

Her U.S. doctor is suggesting two options — supportive care and/or participating in a clinical trial. She has decided to take part in the clinical trial (chemo) offered here, while we explore additional alternative treatments. She is glad to say she still has several to explore. Oasis of Hope Hospital in Tijuana is one she and her family hope to consult with today.

Linda is overwhelmed at the generosity of others, including total strangers. The fund-raising efforts on Linda’s behalf have assisted in her alternative care not covered by insurance. The approximately $22,000 raised to date (not including $4,000 raised by the Brewing Network) comes close to covering the first two treatments she received in Germany. Linda thanks everyone again for your generous support. If she pursues other alternative treatments at a later date, or is able to travel back to Germany, she will let us all know.

Thanks to everyone out there who gave so generously. And a special thanks to Justin at the Brewing Network for putting the resources at his disposal to such a selfless purpose.

UPDATE: 1.28:

Linda has been on an oral chemo as part of a trial for about three weeks now. It is having a big effect on her. She is extremely tired and has very little appetite. These are side effects of this drug so we can only hope that it means that it is doing its job and fighting this ugly disease. The schedule of this trial is to be on the pills for 60 days and then go in for updated scans to determine the next phase. Thank goodness, the pain management has been going much better.

The family is still exploring alternative treatments very aggressively. Nothing has come up as a perfect fit yet, but there are some hopeful possibilities. Linda and her family are bound and determined to find the answer get Linda better, so please send all your prayers and good wishes their way.

UPDATE: 2.14:

Linda is struggling very hard at this time. The main problem is that she cannot keep any nutrition down. She is very weak and sleeps most of the time. The goal is to be able to give her some enzymes to get her nutritional level back up but they cannot do that until she is able to keep some food down. The family is keeping a constant log on her nutrition and trying to get something in her every fifteen minutes. This is taking every bit on strength they have. Although they very much appreciate your concern, they are asking that we all please keep phone calls to a bare minimum and no visits for the time being. They need to give all of their attention to Linda.

Linda and her family need every bit of love, good thoughts and prayer that we can send them right now.

Got Wood?

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Saturday was the first-ever beer festival for wood-aged beers in the west. It was held at the Bistro in Hayward, California and they were pouring about 42 different beers who had in common only that they’d been aged on some type of wood barrel. At one time, of course, all beer was stored in wooden barrels and the cooper was just as important to the brewing of beer as anyone else. Eventually stainless steel overtook wood as the vessel of choice for beer, and indeed it has many advantages, one of which is that it doesn’t impart anything to change the flavor of the beer. But that is precisely the point of the new wood-aged beers, and how they change the beer is what is so exciting about this trend. Brewers are learning through experimentation what works best and in general barrel-aged beers gain enormous complexity from their time in the wood, and what type of wood and/or what was in the barrel before the beer transforms the beer into a whole new experience. The most common used barrels once contained bourbon, scotch, wine, port or brandy. And these residual flavors, in addition to the wood itself, are also apparent in the finished beer.

The scene outside under the tent at the Barrel Aged Beer festival, with Rodger Davis from Drake’s making faces at me.

Here’s something you don’t see everyday, Falstaff beer in cans.

The 21st Amendment Girls enjoy some yummy Tri-Tip sandwiches (oh, and Steve, too).

Bistro co-owner Vic Kralj announced the winners.

The first barrel aged fest was very well-attended, boding well for another one next year. The weather was decidedly cool for the Bay Area, which made it perfect for enjoying big, strong beers.

Our hosts, Bistro owners Cynthia and Vic Kralj.

Judging the four categories of beers kept us sequestered in the cellar for five grueling, delicious hours. Because all the beers have in common is being aged on wood, it was very difficult to choose among so many diverse, but deserving beers. There were very lively discussions every step of the way. Rumor has it one of the other judges wanted to “kick my ass” afterward, so I know I must be doing something right. What a blast!

Bistro Barrel Aged Beer Festival Winners

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Port Brewing’s Old(er) Viscosity was chosen Grand Champion at the 1st and (hopefully) annual Barrel Aged Beer Festival Saturday at the Bistro in Hayward, California. The full list of winners is below.

 

Category 1: Sour Beers

 

Category 2: Wine Barrel Beers

 

Category 3: Wood Barrel Beers (New Wood)

 

Category 4: Bourbon Barrel Beers

King of Swill

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You’ve got to love Portland, one of the few cities where Budweiser is not the best-selling beer in town. On a painted wall advertisement at the corner of Third and West Burnside was the sign below, happily captured on film before it was taken down. Whether by an act of defiance or a happy accident, the new sign captured the rising spirit of dissent for people who love full-flavored beer. Reminiscent of the art of Ron English, it’s a simple piece of popaganda with a provocative message. Too funny. Of course, it’s no longer there, having been recently painted over.

Internet Pints

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I got an e-mail from Patrick from YouGotBeer.com about his new website, which allows you to send someone a beer over the internet. It seems like a fairly intriguing, if somewhat wacky idea, to buy someone a pint in cyberspace. It’s a simple enough idea. Using PayPal you send whoever you want a gift card that can be redeemed for a pint at specific locations. It still appears to be in its early stages, because there’s a limited number of places, about fourteen chain restaurants/bars/brewpubs. Although the wesbite claims — and I can’t dispute it — those few chains add up to thousands of locations in all 50 states. But if they get more unique places to sign up, it could really turn into something. Who wouldn’t like to see “You’ve Got Beer!” in their inbox, especially when you really could redeem it for a pint of beer.

Oregon’s Ninkasi Brewing Profiled

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Jamie Floyd’s new brewery, Ninkasi Brewing, had a nice profile in the Eugene, Oregon local newspaper, the Register-Guardian. It was in today’s business section and titled, “Brewers Tap Into Trends.” It includes an overview of Oregon’s recent brewing history along with interviews with Jamie Floyd, Teri Fahrendorf and Jack Joyce. The paper also has an interesting article about the likelihood of Oregon raising the tax on beer called “Uncap Beer Tax?”

Jamie Floyd inside his new Ninkasi Brewery in Eugene, Oregon.

Rising Up in the Valley

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Steve Altimari and the gang at Stockton’s Valley Brewing took delivery yesterday of the grain silo from the old Stone Brewery in San Marcos. Stone recently moved into a new facility in nearby Escondido and Valley needed somewhere to store their malt. Steve’s young son, Cassidy, upon seeing the new silo asked his Dad. “When can I take a ride in the new submarine?” It’s great to see Valley Brewing doing so well, Steve has been making a wide array of delicious beers for some time now. His beers deserve to be more well known.

Steve Altimari in front of Valley Brewing’s new grain silo. If you look closely, you can still see the Stone logo on it.

No Fish: The Dogfish Head Beer Dinner

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The latest beer dinner from beer chef Bruce Paton took place Friday evening at the Cathedral Hill Hotel in San Francisco. The delicious four-course dinner was paired with the beers of Dogfish Head Brewing from Milton, Delaware. Owner Sam Calagione was at the dinner to talk about his beers. Another great night with beer and food.

Sam Calagione tells the assembled crowd or over 80 people about his philosophy of brewing and about each of the five beers poured Friday night. There was no fish on the menu, however, and instead we enjoyed poached foie gras with caviar, duck parsnip nodle pho with charred ginger broth, and angus short ribs with lobster medallions.

Table-mates Vinnie and Natalie Cilurzo from Russian River Brewing.

And Justin and Daniella from the Brewing Network.

The dessert was a delicious Ginger Scented Banana Custard with Citrus Caramel Sauce paired with Dogfish Head’s newest historical beer, Chateau Jiahu, a beer based on a 9,000 beverage discovered in pottery jars found in the Neolithic villiage of Jiahu in Northern China. It was determined to be a mixed fermented beverage of rice, honey and fruit.

Brewers and beer people at the Dogfish Head dinner.

Sam Calagione and beer chef Bruce Paton, our hosts for the evening.

The next beer dinner should be sometime in January. Watch for more details here or on Bruce Paton’s website, the Beer Chef.