Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Sierra Nevada’s Berkeley Torpedo Room Opens Today

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The new Torpedo Room that Sierra Nevada Brewing created is officially open to the public today, beginning at 11:00 a.m.

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Located at 2031 4th Street in Berkeley, just behind the Grocery Outlet almost underneath the University Avenue off-ramp.

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The interior was created using mostly recycled materials, and there’s even two hop torpedoes behind the bar.

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Hop torpedoes, of course, are what the Torpedo Room was named for. I love the beaker display and the painting hanging on the wall above it.

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The Torpedo Room will feature 16 rotating taps, including some rare ones that used to be available only in the tap room at Chico.

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They won’t serve pints, only tasting flights, although they sell a full complement of Sierra Nevada packaged beer.

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The hours for the Torpedo Room Tuesday through Thursday, from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., and on Friday and Saturday, 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.. They’ll be closed on Sundays and Mondays. It’s a cool, comfortable, intimate space. Check it out when you’re in Berkeley.

Beer In Ads #1027: Beer Is As Old As History

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Monday’s ad is for Budweiser, from 1947. With the tagline “Beer Is As Old As History,” the ad shows scenes from the beginning of civilization to the the present, with select points of history in between. I actually have an original copy of the ad framed in my office. It’s a pretty grandiose ad, especially with the conceit of the Budweiser and glass as the suggested result of all that history.

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Anchor Christmas Day 2013

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Time was when today, the Monday before Thanksgiving, was the traditional day on which Anchor’s Our Special Ale — a.k.a. their Christmas Ale — was released each year. Every year since 1975 the brewers at Anchor Brewery have brewed a distinctive and unique Christmas Ale, which is now available from early November to mid-January.

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From this year’s press release:

“Here at Anchor, we strive to capture the spirit of the holiday season with our annual Christmas Ale,” said Mark Carpenter, Brewmaster at Anchor Brewing. “Much like Christmas morning, everyone anxiously awaits for the day that they can finally crack open a bottle of Christmas Ale and see what this year’s ale is going to taste like. We don’t just change the recipe and the label each year for change sake, each year we are trying to improve and make the best spiced ale we can make. We think beer lovers will be pleased when they taste the complex, spiced flavors of the our 2013 Christmas Ale.”

Since ancient times, trees have symbolized the winter solstice when the earth, with its seasons, appears born anew. This year, Anchor Christmas Ale’s tree is the beautiful California White Fir. It was hand drawn by local artist James Stitt, who has been creating Christmas Ale labels for us since 1975.

Not everyone who came to California in 1849 came in search of gold. A few came in search of trees. English botanist William Lobb was one such plant hunter. As a collector of California’s exotic flora for English nurseries, the “lynx-eyed” Lobb (born in East Cornwall in 1809; died in San Francisco in 1864) was responsible for the introduction of fifty-eight species of California plants to English gardens, including Giant Sequoia and California White Fir.

In its youth, the symmetry of California White Fir’s pyramidal form makes it the ideal Christmas tree. Its shade tolerance allows it to thrive at modest size for years amid groves of much taller Sequoias; yet it can attain heights of up to 160 feet when given the opportunity. The winged seeds of the California White Fir are collected not only by botanists, but also by mountain songbirds, chipmunks, and squirrels.

Even though for the last few years, Anchor’s Christmas Ale is released in early November, I continue to observe Anchor Christmas Day on the Monday before Thanksgiving. I know I’m a sentimental old fool, but I liked that they used to wait that long to release it, even though I understand why they had to abandon it. But some things are worth waiting for. If you agree with me, please join me in drinking a glass of this year’s seasonal release tonight. Happy Anchor Christmas Day!

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Beer Tapping Physics

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The Division of Fluid Dynamics of the American Physical Society sent out a press release about a new study a couple of their members recently published on cavitation, which is a word you’ll understand better from the description.

An old, hilarious if somewhat juvenile party trick involves covertly tapping the top of someone’s newly opened beer bottle and standing back as the suds foam out onto the floor. Now researchers from Carlos III University and Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, Institut Jean le Rond d’Alembert, have produced new insight into the science behind the foaming, exploring the phenomenon of cavitation.

Take a look at the release, The Physics of Beer Tapping Fluid Dynamics Explains Why Bottled Beer Bubbles Over When Tapped, and thanks to regular reader Russ R. for sending me the link. I like this explanation a bit better, though.

“Buoyancy leads to the formation of plumes full of bubbles, whose shape resembles very much the mushrooms seen after powerful explosions,” Rodriguez-Rodriguez explained. “And here is what really makes the formation of foam so explosive: the larger the bubbles get, the faster they rise, and the other way around.” He adds that this is because fast-moving bubbles entrain more carbonic gas.

Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever done that to a person’s bottle. Of course, I tend to be around people who pour their bottle of beer into a glass.

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Photo: Javier Rodriguez-Rodriguez / Carlos III University of Madrid, SPAIN Almudena Casado-Chacon / Carlos III University of Madrid, SPAIN Daniel Fuster / CNRS (UMR 7190), Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Institut Jean le Rond d’Alembert, FRANCE

Beer In Ads #1026: A Guinness Guide To Veal

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Friday’s ad is still another one for Guinness, this one from 1958, designed to look more like content than an ad. Instead, it’s “A Guinness Guide to Veal on the Menu,” with quite the impressive looking presentation. But again, at least there’s a dish of French Fries on the side, making it, once more, my kind of meal.

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Beer In Ads #1025: A Guinness Guide To Sole

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Thursday’s ad is another one for Guinness, also from 1957, and was designed to look more like content than an ad. Instead, it’s “A Guinness Guide to Sole on the Menu,” with the flatfish in the photo. Really, with the French Fries as a side dish, it’s really more of an upscale fish and chips. Again, my kind of meal, apart from the fish.

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