Steve Atkinson, who does great video work for the Celebrator and others, put together this fun video from last night’s SF Beer Week opening celebration at the Concourse Exhibition Hall in San Francisco. Enjoy.
Bistro Double IPA Winners 2012
Knee Deep Brewing‘s Hopologist DIPA was chosen best in show at the 12th annual Double IPA Festival today at the Bistro in Hayward, California. The full winner’s list is below.
- 1st Place: Hopologist DIPA, Knee Deep Brewing
- 2nd Place: Pliny the Elder, Russian River Brewing
- 3rd Place: Ruination, Stone Brewing
And for the second straight year:
- People’s Choice Award: Kern River Citra Double IPA
And for the first time, Triple IPAs were judged this year. Since there were only fifteen, only first and second places were awarded.
- 1st Place: Hopocalypse, Black Label Drake’s Brewing
- 2nd Place: Rodgers Last Stand, Triple Rock
Congratulations to all the winners.
Vatican Beer
Today in 1929, Vatican City signed the Lateran Treat with Italy, establishing it as an independent State.
Vatican City
Vatican City Breweries
Vatican City Brewery Guides
Other Guides
- CIA World Factbook
- Official Website
- U.S. Embassy
- Wikipedia
Guild: None
National Regulatory Agency: None
Beverage Alcohol Labeling Requirements: Not Known
Drunk Driving Laws: Unknown
- Full Name: The Holy See (State of the Vatican City)
- Location: Southern Europe, an enclave of Rome, Italy
- Government Type: Ecclesiastical
- Language: Italian, Latin, French, various other languages
- Religion(s): Roman Catholic
- Capital: Vatican City
- Population: 832; 236th
- Area: 0.44 sq km, 250th
- Comparative Area: About 0.7 times the size of The National Mall in Washington, DC
- National Food: None Known
- National Symbol: Cross
- Nickname: Vatican City, Papal City
- Affiliations: UN
- Independence: Signed the Lateran Treaty with Italy, February 11, 1929
- Alcohol Legal: Yes
- Minimum Drinking Age: 18
- BAC: Unknown
- Label Requirements: N/A
- Number of Breweries: 0
- How to Say “Beer”: birra / Latin: cerevisia, cervisia, fermentum
- How to Order a Beer: Una birra, per favore / Latin: Cervisiam, sodes
- How to Say “Cheers”: A la salute / Cin cin / Salute
- Toasting Etiquette: N/A
WHO Alcohol Data:
- Per Capita Consumption: N/A
- Alcohol Consumption Trend: N/A
- Excise Taxes: N/A
- Minimum Age: 18
- Sales Restrictions: N/A
- Advertising Restrictions: N/A
- Sponsorship/Promotional Restrictions: N/A
Patterns of Drinking Score: N/A
Prohibition: None.
Guinness Ad #106: Camels Have A Guinness When They’re Tired
Our 106th Guinness ad is from the Illustrated London News, from late 1945, toward the end of World War II. Showing a sad-looking man in the desert, holding the lead to his camel, who’s piled high with boxes, barrels and luggage. I’m not 100% sure what’s going on in the ad. The camel looks like perhaps he’s refusing to give up the Guinness in one of the boxes on his back because he’s not tired yet. Maybe that’s why the hapless explorer looks so downtrodden. He is tired and he’s not getting an Guinness.
Beer In Ads #540: SF Beer Week 2012
Friday’s ad couldn’t be more new, less historical, if it tried. It’s the new poster for this year’s SF Beer Week, which begins today. This year’s poster may be the best yet. Each of the objects, people, places, things represent the name of a local beer, so it’s game, as well as a piece of cool art. See how many you can find and figure out.
Traquair House Switches To 500ml Bottles
One of my favorite breweries, Traquair House in Scotland, announced today through their importer — Merchant Du Vin — that they’re switching to 500 ml bottles for all of their beers.
That might not seem like big news, and perhaps it’s not, but Traquair House is one of favorite places so I never miss a chance to talk about it. If you’ve never been to the brewery, it should definitely be on your beer bucket list. It’s not easy to get to, but it is worth it. Oh, and the beer is terrific, too. If you haven’t had their beer, you should correct that … immediately.
Traquair House Ale shows a deep reddish-amber color and full, velvet-like body. The aroma offers a hint of rich oak; the flavor is opulently malty, complex, and deep but subtle. OG 1.070; IBU 26; ABV 7.2%.
Traquair Jacobite Ale, first brewed in 1995, is spiced with hops as well as another traditional seasoning: coriander. Deep brown; spice and leather aroma; full body; exotic, engaging character and finish. OG 1.075; IBU 23; ABV: 8.0%.
From the press release:
In 1566, Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, visited Traquair House on the banks of Scotland’s Tweed River with her infant son James, who would later become King James I of England. During that visit, she drank good ale brewed at Traquair.
Descendants of the same family have lived at Traquair since 1491. Beer was brewed there from the earliest times until some time after 1800; in 1965 the 20th Laird of Traquair, Peter Maxwell Stuart — following his heart and his family heritage — brought the tiny brewery back to life, brewing traditional ales in a 1738 copper brewkettle and fermenting them in wooden vessels.
Traquair House Brewery is known today for excellent ales — traditional, historical, masterpieces of rich, full, engaging flavor: a taste of Scotland.
It’s a cool place, with a cool history, making cool beers. What more do you need to know?
I took this photo of the brewery when I visited Traquair House around 1994.
Anchor Releases California Lager
Although SF Beer Week doesn’t officially launch until later tonight, there’s already been one event that took place at Anchor Brewing on Wednesday. Three weeks ago, they announced their new Zymaster Series and later revealed that the first beer in the series would be a pre-prohibition California Lager. Wednesday night, Anchor held an event to launch the new beer.
The new Anchor Zymaster Series No. 1: California Lager
Anchor co-owner Keith Gregor, Barb Condie, Steve Shapiro and me at Anchor Wednesday. (Photo courtesy of Mike Condie.)
As I wrote before, Anchor based the beer on a lager from Boca Brewing, who is believed to have made the first one in the state, around 1875. The town of Boca was located in northeast California, roughy 6.5 miles from Truckee. In 1880 it had a population of around 200 people, though today it’s literally a ghost town. The brewery was founded in 1875 and closed in 1892, four years before the Anchor Brewery opened.
Me, Brenden Dobbel (from Thirsty Bear) and Shaun O’Sullivan (from 21st Amendment). (Photo courtesy of Mike Condie.)
An old ad featuring the Boca Lager, the inspiration for Anchor’s California Lager.
In addition to the California Lager, Anchor was also serving the latest batch of O.B.A. (Our Barrel Ale) which this time used a different blend and also the recent Brekle’s Brown.
There were plenty of other local brewers in attendance to try out the new beer. Here, from the left, is John Tucci (from the San Francisco Gordon Biersch), Aron Deorsey (from Beach Chalet) and Zambo (from 21st Amendment).
So how’d the beer taste? Consensus was that it was pretty good, an interesting beer. Having had several other pre-prohibition lagers, it tasted better than most of the others. In fact, I can’t think of one I enjoyed more. A lot of the others used corn, which was common then, but I believe Anchor’s is all-malt, and the taste seems to reflect that. It’s only slightly sweet, but smooth, and the Cluster hops are fairly muted and restrained. They never overpower the flavor of the beer, they’re just there for balance. The overall flavors are similarly mild, making the beer very sessionable.
Schlafly, Texas Ranger
If this hilarious video for the annual The Repeal of Prohibition Beer Festival doesn’t make you want to attend, I don’t know what else would. The festival will be held at Schlafly Bottleworks in St. Louis, Missouri on Saturday, April 14th, 2012 from noon until 5:00 p.m.
Beer In Ads #539: Heineken Jammin’
Thursday’s ad is a recent one for Heineken, in support of a music festival they sponsored, the Heineken Jammin’ Festival in Venice, Italy. I may not like their beer, but they do put out some great advertising. The photo of a band on state from overhead, with the floodlights lighting the crowd makes it look like a pint of dark beer with a nice head and bubbles. Awesome shot.
The American Beer Revival
Regular Bulletin readers know how much I love infographics, a marriage of data and graphic illustration that shows information in a beautiful and understandable way. So I was thrilled when I got an e-mail this morning from a new Silicon Valley start-up, Visual.ly, whose mission is just that, to create and help others create cool visual charts, infographics and videos.
One of their latest works is The American Beer Revival, created by Nate Whitson. Here’s how they describe it:
Over the last hundred or so years, the brewing industry in the United States has changed dramatically. From the saloon era through consolidation to today’s flourishing craft beer culture, it’s been quite a ride. Take a look at how the small brewer is making quite a comeback after nearly a half century of decline.
But better yet, just watch.