Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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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.

(Not) The Top 10 Cities for Beer Lovers

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travel
I somewhat optimistically assume the slight that beer receives at the hands of our intrepid mainstream media will never get as bad as the last example of it, and yet more often than not I am proved wrong. Take MSNBC’s list today of their choices for the world’s Top 10 cities for beer lovers. Or rather the advertisement pretending to be news, because MSNBC’s list has no discernible author but instead appears to have been compiled and written by Sherman’s Travel, making it more like an infomercial than actual news, though it’s shamelessly made to look exactly the same as any real news item. But maybe it’s a good thing it’s not real news, because as news it’s laughably bad. As travel suggestions, at least it makes a little more sense since the goal is not to educate but to sell vacations. As a consequence accuracy or even logic is not only unnecessary but might get in the way of their ultimate goal. It’s a little sad that MSNBC, which at least is masquerading as a real news outlet, would “partner” with a travel agency to essentially hoodwink their readers into believing an author who knows what they’re talking about is sharing the inside track on beer destinations. But unfortunately the blurring between commerce and the media is all but complete.

Here’s the list Sherman’s Travel offers up as the best ten places worldwide for people who love beer:

  1. Amsterdam
  2. Berlin
  3. Brugge
  4. Burlington (Vermont)
  5. Dublin
  6. Mexico City
  7. Montreal
  8. Portland (Oregon)
  9. Prague
  10. Sapporo

Notice anything funny about that list. It’s not immediately apparent on MSNBC, but when you see them as a straight list then it’s obvious the list isn’t even trying to put them in any kind of order, because they’re alphabetical. There’s already been a lively debate about the order of the choices but I think we can dispense with any further discussions about rankings since there really aren’t any. Viewed in that light, it becomes obvious they were more concerned about a list that was spread out across the globe, the better to sell travel packages, the bread and butter of travel agencies.

But let’s look at their choices and the reasons they give for them.

1. Amsterdam: After listing the best known Dutch beers as “Heineken, Grolsch, and Amstel” (hardly the reason to visit Amsterdam, not that there aren’t good reasons to go) they suggest trying instead “artisanal blends [huh?] and witte (wheat) beers from neighboring Belgium.” Um, wouldn’t it make more sense to go to Belgium and drink there? I’m not planning a trip to France so I can sample the Napa Valley wines.

2. Berlin: Since this is the only German city on the list, apart from mentioning Munich in the introduction, it seems reasonable to assume they think it’s the best city for beer in Germany. There are places all throughout Germany, of course, rich with brewing heritage and Munich alone is a better choice than Berlin, as is almost anywhere in Bavaria.

3. Brugge: While it’s good that there is a Belgian city on the list, sadly there is no beer brewed today in Brugge so it seems an odd choice. Perhaps they have a good airport.

4. Burlington: This one is a bit of a head-scratcher. While I think Magic Hat Brewing does indeed make some very fine beers, and I’ve enjoyed my trips to Vermont immensely, I cannot fathom by what possible criteria this small college town has a better beer scene than San Francisco, Seattle, New York, Philadelphia or any number of other American cities.

5. Dublin: While there is indeed history aplenty in Dublin, it’s all pretty one-dimensionally Guinness, apart from the few recent craft brewers in town. There are lot of great pubs here, but diversity is not this city’s hallmark. And given what Diageo has done to Guinness’ reputation and the beer itself, it’s pretty hard to justify Dublin as one of the ten best, beer-wise.

6. Mexico City: Ha, ha, ha , ha. Mexico City as a beer town. Stop, you’re making my sides split. The article suggests trying “Corona, the signature Mexican brew” could be the height of your trip. Now why anyone even drinks the stuff is beyond me, but that aside why on Earth would you go to Mexico to get one, when every 7-11 and corner liquor store has stacks of it? Well Sherman’s Travel suggests you can try the Dos Equis or the Bohemia, also ubiquitous north of the border. Ridiculous.

7. Montreal: Okay, I’ll buy this one. I’m not sure it quite makes my personal top ten list, but it would be close and given how bad some of the other choices are, this has obvious merits.

8. Portland: No question Portland should be on the list, and probably near the top.

9. Prague: Okay, I’ve got nothing against Prague but here’s how the articles sells it. After giving the dubious reason that it’s inexpensive it’s “also home to the original (and many would say better) Budweiser.” Um, Prague is the home of Budvar? Did I miss a meeting? Did the town of České Budějovice merge with Prague? Given that it’s at least 40 miles south as the crow flies, I’d say that’s a bit of a stretch.

10. Sapporo: The reason they chose this Japanese town is because you can “purchase [beer] from vending machines on the street.” Now that’s a reason to spend fourteen hours on an airplane, so I can buy a can of beer from a vending machine. No thanks.

What a joke this list is, and as much for what they left off as what they chose. There’s not one British city, not even London, where ale is king. How is that possible? And several (Berlin, Burlington, Mexico City and Sapporo) have absolutely no business being on this list. MSNBC should be embarrassed to lend their name on something this grotesque. I’d be curious how much it costs to pretend your advertisement is news.

Fermenting a Book Signing

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Chris O’Brien, author of Fermenting Revolution, will be doing a book signing at The Book Shop in Hayward, California from 2:20-3:30 p.m. this Saturday, November 11. The Book Shop is located at 1007 B Street, right next door to The Bistro, who is hosting a Barrel Aged Beer Festival the same day from 11 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Chris will have a reading and sign books for an hour or so, and then join us next door at the festival for a lively discussion of beer culture.

I’m looking forward to meeting Chris in person. Now that I’ve gotten my review copy of his new book and looked over the table of contents, it seems even more interesting. I can’t wait to read it. This is just one more good reason to come out to the Barrel Aged Beer Festival, not that you probably needed one. It should be a great time all by itself, but now you can tell people you’re going to a book reading and sound more like a normal, well-rounded person. At least that’s my plan.