Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Spring Brews Festival This Weekend

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One of the best Bay Area beer festivals is taking place this Saturday — tomorrow — in Concord. It’s usually a winter festival taking place in January, but because of the brouhaha with SF Beer Week moving because of the Super Bowl in San Francisco sucking up all the event spaces and hotel rooms (or tripling their prices) they decided to move out of the way, and wait until spring. So this year, the Brewing Network is putting on their annual festival, temporarily renamed the Spring Brews Festival. It will take place on Saturday, April 2nd, 2016, from Noon to 4 pm at Todos Santos Plaza.

Here’s more info from the Eventbtrite page where you can also buy tickets:

The Brewing Network’s Winter Brews Festival returns to in Concord to celebrate its seventh year as one of the best craft beer festivals in the Bay Area. And while we are a little late this year due to schedule conflicts and the threat of inclement weather, we’re bringing the same great lineup of amazing beer and another awesome day for beer lovers in Concord!

Tickets are now on sale and are $40 pre-sale or $50 at the gate and include unlimited pours and a commemorative glass. Designated Drivers are just $5, however this is a 21 and over only event so all attendees must be of legal drinking age.

The event is conveniently located just two blocks away from the Concord BART station so mark your calendars for a craft beer infused day for a wonderful cause.

We are very proud that this year’s event is a benefit for the TSBA Arts Foundation, which helps fund the summer music program in Todos Santos Park, as well as youth music programs around Concord.

Unlimited Tasting From Over 50 Craft Breweries

Live Music From Purple Haze Jimi Hendrix Tribute Band

The brewery list is still being built so stay tuned, but below is a look at who will be there as of now to give you a good idea of how many wonderful breweries attend:

21st Amendment Brewery – San Leandro
Drake’s Brewing Co.
White Labs
Ale Industries
Almanac Beer Co
Altamont Beer Works
Anderson Valley Brewing Company
Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits
Beechwood Bbq & Brewing
Bear Republic Brewing Co.
Berryessa Brewing co
Black Diamond Brewery
Cali Craft Brewing Co.
Cider Brothers
Cleophus Quealy Beer Company
Coronado Brewing Company
Deschutes Brewery & Public House
Dust Bowl Brewing Company
Eagle Rock Brewery
Eight Bridges Brewing
E.J. Phair Brewing Company
Epidemic Ales
Faction Brewing
Fieldwork Brewing Company
Firestone Walker Brewing Co.
Flat Tail Brewing
Gillman Brewing Company
Gordon Biersch Brewing Company
Half Moon Bay Brewing Company
Heretic Brewing Company
Hermitage Brewing Company
Highwater Brewing Company
Iron Springs Pub & Brewery
Kinetic Brewing Company
Lagunitas Brewing Co
Libertine Brewing Company
Linden Street Brewery
Lost Coast Brewery
Magnolia Gastropub & Brewery
Marin Brewing Company
Moonlight Brewing Company
Moylan’s Brewing Company
Mraz Brewing Company
Nectar Creek
New Belgium Brewing
North Coast Brewing Company
Pizza Port Brewing Co.
The Rare Barrel
Russian River Brewing Company
Sierra Nevada
Societe Brewing Company
Sonoma Springs Brewing Company
Speakeasy Ales & Lagers
Sudwerk Brewing Co.
Three Weavers Brewing Company
Triple Rock Brewery and Alehouse
Working Man Brewing Company

For more information on the event please visit: BNbrewfest.com.

Rain or shine, we’ve got you covered. And with the Concord BART station just two blocks away, this afternoon event will be sure to satisfy locals wanting to enjoy some beers for a great cause. SORRY, NO DOGS OR CHLDREN WITHIN FESTIVAL GATES. NO SMOKING IN TODOS SANTOS PARK OR DOWNTOWN CONCORD (INCLUDING E-CIGARETTES).

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Make American Beer Drumpf Again

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I really hope this isn’t an April Fool’s Day prank. But even though I just saw it today, it was originally posted March 22, and it’s by a brewery that actually went through with making a beer using goat’s brains in an homage to zombies for a Walking Dead-themed beer, which in my mind increases its chances of being legitimate. Anyway, Dock Street Brewery of Philadelphia announced that they’re launching a new line of political beers to be known as the “Friends Don’t Let Friends Vote Drumpf” series. First up will be Short-Fingered Stout, which is described as “a bitter and delusional stout with an airy, light-colored head atop a so-so body.” Sadly there’s no timetable yet for its release. With many beer folks converging on the City of Brotherly Beer early next month, we can only hope it will be available to coincide with the Craft Brewers Conference, so we can all have a chance to “Make American Beer Drumpf Again.”

Here’s Dock Street’s press release:

Is it just us, or does this particular celebridential candidate always sound like he’s had a few too many? In his (dis)honor, Dock Street Brewery is brewing up a series of quaffable reminders to exercise your suffrage, and just dump Drumpf.

Beer has always, throughout history, been a key ingredient in the recipe for revolutionary ideas. In that spirit, we’re brewing this series to declare our disdain for Drumpf, and to extend a little nod of solidarity to our friends, fans and neighbors that also believe the country deserves better representation – on a national and international platform – in the race to be Commander in Chief. We just can’t wrap our well-coiffed heads around a candidate who encourages his supporters to attack protesters at his rallies, wants to limit access to the U.S. based on religion, and flagrantly manipulates facts and data. Oh yeah, and that ridiculous wall idea? Come on.

The first in the “Friends Don’t Let Friends Vote Drumpf” series will be Short-Fingered Stout, a bitter and delusional stout with an airy, light-colored head atop a so-so body. Don’t worry, its bark is worse than its bite; this big baby comes in at a somewhat conservative 4.5% ABV.

Release date will be announced soon, during which we’ll host a meeting of the minds and palates at our brewpub where guests are encouraged to debate, discuss, and toast to free speech and democracy.

All are invited and welcomed, no matter what your political views are. Except one person…

Go home man, you’re Drumpf.

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Artwork: Alexis Anne Grant for Dock Street Brewery

Patent No. 1299379A: Wild-Oat And Barley Separator

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Today in 1919, US Patent 1299379 A was issued, an invention of Robert J. Owens, for his “Wild-Oat and Barley Separator.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

The object of my invention is to provide a separator which will dispense entirely with fans and air currents and wire sieves and of such devices as flannels, carpets and the like, frequently found in machines of this type for separating and grading grains.

A further object is to provide a machine by means of which not only wild oats but small, imperfect kernels of grain can be separated from the full, plump kernels that are suitable for seed.

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Beer In Ads #1867: Facts Versus Fallacies #67

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Thursday’s ad is another one for the Pennsylvania State Brewers Association, from 1915, No. 67 in series they did from 1915-17 called “Facts Versus Fallacies.” I have no idea how many were done but some of the them are numbered into low triple digits, suggesting there were a lot of them, all in an effort to stop Prohibition from happening and win over support for beer. This ad, marked “67,” and is about how in every state that already had a prohibition in alcohol, it was failing miserably, and was impossible to enforce. In Alabama, in one city alone — Birmingham — it was estimated that 500 packages of alcohol were delivered every single day to residents who’d ordered them from out of state. So yeah, that worked.

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Patent No. 2633251A: Palletizer

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Today in 1953, US Patent 2633251 A was issued, an invention of John K. Bruce, for his “Palletizer.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

My invention provides a completely automatic machine for loading pallets. Empty pallets may be fed into one end of the machine, and cartons or boxes fed in from the side and loaded pallets may be delivered out the other end. Not only does my palletizer accurately layer and stack the cartons and boxes, but in addition arranges non-cubic boxes in any selected pattern so that the boxes of different layers will interlock or overlap and provide a stable and rigid stack on the pallet.

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Patent No. 2035962A: Brew Kettle

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Today in 1936, US Patent 2035962 A was issued, an invention of Alvin Hock, for his “Brew Kettle.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

My invention consists in providing a closed kettle or receptacle preferably having a downwardly converging bottom provided with a central outlet therein and having above said bottom a series of U-tubes extending into and out of the kettle and connected to steam inlet and exhaust outlet tubes whereby steam will circulate through said U-tubes which are immersed in the liquid and whereby heat is given off to said liquid from the entire surface of said tubes, so that all of the heat thus transferred is fully utilized.

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Beer In Ads #1866: Facts Versus Fallacies #61

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Wednesday’s ad is another one for the Pennsylvania State Brewers Association, from 1915, No. 61 in series they did from 1915-17 called “Facts Versus Fallacies.” I have no idea how many were done but some of the them are numbered into low triple digits, suggesting there were a lot of them, all in an effort to stop Prohibition from happening and win over support for beer. This ad, marked “61,” and is about a canard that’s still used as propaganda by prohibitionists today, which is that people who drink alcohol are criminals and that one leads to the other. But even statistics at that time (as today) did not support that claim, and in fact a majority of incarcerated people were not alcoholics. They go on citing several experts of the day, all with he same opinion, that drinking alcohol does not cause someone to become a criminal, despite the ludicrous cries of the anti-alcohol wingnuts.

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Patent No. 3175912A: Synthetic Organic Chemical Preservative For Beer

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Today in 1965, US Patent 3175912 A was issued, an invention of John B. Bockelmann and Frede B. Strandskov, assigned to Schaefer Brewing Co., for their “Synthetic Organic Chemical Preservative For Beer.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

The present invention relates generally to the control of micro-biological growth in finished packaged beer and ale with a synthetic, organic chemical preservative of the general formula:

Wherein R is an aliphatic hydrocarbon radical; X is either a hydrogen atom (H), an alkali metal, e.g., sodium (Na) and potassium (K), or an alkaline earth metal, e.g., cal cium (Ca); and 11 is an integer equal to the valence of X. More particularly, this invention is directed to the preservation of finished beer with a chemical preservative of the Formula 1 wherein R is saturated hydrocarbon chain. This invention also encompasses a mixture of compounds of Formula 1 as a chemical preservative for finished packaged beer and ale.

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Beer In Ads #1865: Facts Versus Fallacies #57

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Tuesday’s ad is another one for the Pennsylvania State Brewers Association, from 1915, No. 57 in series they did from 1915-17 called “Facts Versus Fallacies.” I have no idea how many were done but some of the them are numbered into low triple digits, suggesting there were a lot of them, all in an effort to stop Prohibition from happening and win over support for beer. This ad, marked “57,” and is about yet another false claim by the Anti-Saloon League at their annual convention in Atlantic City, when they claimed that a report offered showed that thousands of people in Pennsylvania were giving up drinking. Sadly, this still happens frequently today, and the report showed no causation and was shown out of context. Statistics from another source, the I.R.S., contradicts their claim, of course.

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Patent No. DE3235563A1: Siphon Bottle Filling Apparatus

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Today in 1984, US Patent DE 3235563 A1 was issued, an invention of Karl Horst Knopf, for his “Siphon Bottle Filling Apparatus.” Here’s the Abstract:

Traditional German siphon bottles are for the most part filled at the publican’s beer dispensing tap. In order to make possible filling without foaming and release of carbon dioxide, according to the invention a filling closure has been created which allows the bottle, prior to filling, to be put under pressure by means of a hand pump attached to the filling closure. No foam can form as the beer flows in, since the beer enters under counter-pressure and cannot expand. To regulate further overpressure building up as the beer flows in, a vent screw is provided.

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