Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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What’s SF Beer Week Like?

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reservoir-dogs
John Heylin, of the Nor Cal Beer Guide, along with several other BABB members, created a little spoof or homage film for SF Beer Week entitled What’s SF Beer Week Like? Drawing on Reservoir Dogs and the cult status of Russian River’s Pliny the Elder, the minute and a half video might make you cry, especially if you can’t get Pliny in your hometown. But fear not. As is revealed in the end credits; “No Pliny the Elder was harmed in the making of this video.”

Here’s how John describes his film: “How spoiled is the Bay Area when it comes to beer? This spoiled. Come check out SF Beer Week from February 10th-19th and spoil yourself silly.” I spoke to Vinnie Cilurzo at Russian River Brewing today, and he loved the video, thought it hilarious and sent it to all his employees.

Hops Webinars Scheduled By Simple Earth Hops

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Matt Sweeny, from Simple Earth Hops of Dodgeville, Wisconsin, announced today that he’ll be hosting 2-hour educational “Brewing Up a Community Hops Webinars” in March, April and May of this year, on the third Saturday of each month with a morning (10 a.m. CST) and evening (9 p.b. CST) session on each day.

Accroding to the press release, “commercial hopics to be covered include marketing local hops, establishing a commercial hopyard, processing hops, how to use earth-friendly growing practices and lots of time for questions and answers. The cost for each webinar is $20, tickets are available at Eventbrite” and a full schedule is available online.
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So that’s “2 Hops Webinars offered per day on Sat. 3/17, Sat., 4/21 and Sat., 5/19 for American Craft Brew Week! Morning Hops Webinar @ 10am to 12pm CST and a late night Hops Webinar @ 9pm to 11pm CST.” If you’ve ever thought about growing hops, either commercially or just for fun, this looks like it could be a great way to find out more about how to go about it and what’s really involved.

Pliny the Younger Day 2012

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Now fixed as the first Friday in February, today was Pliny the Elder Day for 2012 at Russian River Brewing in Santa Rosa, California.

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When I arrived around 10:30, the line stretched from the entrance of the brewpub to the end of the block. I’m told the first fans arrived at around 6:00 a.m. this morning to wait for a taste of this year’s triple IPA.

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Owners Vinnie and Natalie Cilurzo now set limits on the number of people that can be in the pub at any give time, unlike two years ago, when it devolved into a madhouse. Between that, and the elimination of growler sales, it remained blissfully civilized inside throughout the morning.

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I found a table with some friends, and Natalie brought over a copy of today’s Press Democrat, which featured a story about Russian River’s big day — Credit the Hops — which I read as I enjoyed my first Pliny the Younger of the year.

This year’s version seemed smoother than previous years, and the hops, while monstrously omnipresent, were nonetheless very well balanced and never harsh. This may be my favorite batch yet, particularly because of the smoothness. Plus, it never seemed like a 10.7% beer. The strength was relatively muted behind a rich, thick mouthfeel of full flavors, so that the alcohol never dominated. It seems almost counter-intuitive to use the word delicate for such a big beer, but that why it’s so great, because despite its heft, it’s also complex and elegant; quite recherché.

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Meanwhile the patio outside filled up, too. Here Dan DelGrande (co-owner of Bison Brewing), Steve Shapiro (of Beer By BART) and Stephen Johnson (from New Brew Thursday) enjoy some sunshine and Pliny.

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While back inside, the bar was full, but not overcrowded.

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Eventually, it was time to leave, and hosts Vinnie and Natalie said so long as they toasted another successful Pliny the Younger Day.

Look for Pliny the Younger at select accounts throughout the Bay Area and at their Santa Rosa brewpub for at least the next two weeks. Around 30% more was brewed this year, but you can still expect it to sell out fast, so don’t wait around too long if you’re hoping to get a taste of this year’s triple IPA.

Beer In Ads #534: Bayrische Bierhalle Kropf

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Thursday’s ad is from Switzerland, specifically Zurich, and is for possibly a restaurant or beer hall. Because Bayrische Bierhalle Kropf, in German, is Bavarian Beer Hall Kropf. It’s by Herman Rudolf Seifert, though I can’t find any substantive information about him. Featuring prominently in the ad is the hammers logo with the date 1417, which is used on the Hacker-Pschorr logo so perhaps it is a beer hall that serves their beer.

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The Super Bowl: By The Numbers

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You usually see this kind of list for Oktoberfest; how much beer, how many sausages, etc. But Tree Hugger put together a list of what’s consumed during the Super Bowl: By the Numbers: Super Bowl Facts and Figures. The statistics are from 2010’s big game, but I feel confident they’re close enough. Here’s the most important numbers, about the beer.

  • 325.5 million: Gallons of beer drank by Americans that day.
  • 493: Number of Olympic-sized swimming pools that could be filled with all that beer.

A few more:

  • $5.6 billion: Amount consumers will spend on Super Bowl related items.
  • 1 billion: Number of chicken wings consumed on Super Bowl Sunday.
  • 194 million: Approximate number of blades of grass on the football field.
  • 151.6 million: Number of people who will watch at least part of the game.
  • 28 million: Pounds of potato chips consumed.
  • 293,000: Number of miles of potato chips, laid end to end, consumed during the game.
  • 232: Number of countries and territories in which the game will be broadcast.
  • 34: Number of languages the game is broadcast in.
  • 1: Number of languages in which the word “football” doesn’t mean “soccer.”

Check out the rest of the list on Tree Hugger.

Brewhog Determines Winter Beers For 6 More Weeks

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Over in Gobbler’s Knob, in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, Phil the Groundhog — a.k.a. Brewhog — raised up his head this morning and looked around, and this year saw his shadow everywhere. You know what that means. It’s six more weeks of drinking winter beers this year. Or something about a late spring, I can’t keep it straight. You can see a video of Punxsutawney Phil here. And there’s more information about Groundhog Day at the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club.

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Brew Are You, Strong Beer Month?

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It’s February, and that means it’s time for the 10th annual Strong Beer Month, once again with six new extreme beers each at 21st Amendment and Magnolia throughout the month, which this year has one more day to help you make it to the finish line. Try them all, and you get to keep the commemorative logo glass. Just collect all 12 punches in your Strong Beer Month ticket before the beer’s all gone.

Here’s the beer for this year:

Magnolia:

  1. Old Thunderpussy: barleywine, 11.9% abv
  2. Smokestack Lightning: imperial stout, 10.7% abv
  3. Pride of Branthill: imperial ESB (extra special bitter), 8.9% abv
  4. Tweezer Tripel: abbey tripel, 10.1% abv
  5. Promised Land: imperial IPA, 11.5% abv
  6. Punch You in the Rye: strong rye ale, 8.0% abv

21st Amendment:

  1. Lord & Master: strong English blonde, 8.3% abv
  2. Triple Crisis: imperial IPA, 11.0% abv
  3. Red Giant: imperial red ale, 13.0% abv
  4. Oaked Drunken Monk: dark abbey ale, 9.5%
  5. Two Lane Blacktop: imperial black IPA, 9.8% abv
  6. Hendrick’s: imperial stout, 9.5% abv

This year’s theme is the 1978 Who album “Who Are You” featuring Nico “Roger Daltry” Freccia, Ben “John Entwistle” Spencer, Dave “Keith Moon” McLean and Shaun “Peter Townsend” O’Sullivan. Frankly, I think “Moon McLean” might stick as a nickname. Have all twelve strong beers, and you too might start singing “Brew Are You.” I really want to know.

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Beer In Ads #533: Birra Italia Milano

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Wednesday’s ad is also for an Italian beer, though it’s by renowned German illustrator Adolfo Hohenstein, who made a name for himself painting in Italy, where he helped to found Italian Art Nouveau. Hohenstein is also considered the “father of Italian poster art,” and this poster was completed in 1906, the year he left Milan and returned home to Germany. I think it’s one of the most beautiful of the time period.

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Spirits Still Gaining On Beer’s Market Share

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The Distilled Spirits Council, a trade organization for producers of distilled spirits, just released their annual report on how spirits are doing relative to the other alcoholic beverages. Vodka continues to lead the spirits parade, with rum in second and tequila in third.

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While beer continues to be the most popular adult beverage, spirits once again took market share from beer, which was up 4% by sales in 2011 over 2010. According to their figures, beer currently enjoys 49.3% of the alcohol market, with spirits having 33.6% and wine 17.1%. [Note: I can’t account for the 0.1% difference in the two charts. They’re supposedly taken from the same source, though the one below is directly from the Distilled Spirits Council.]

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While 49.3% sounds pretty good, the year before it was 49.8%

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And in 2000, only 11 years ago, it was 55.5%, meaning beer has lost 6.2% marketshare in just over a decade. Hey, beer people; you’re just not pulling your weight. Drink a few more beers tonight. A can (or bottle or pint) a day, that’s all we ask.

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Pairing Beer & Comic Books

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Here’s an odd, but interesting article (especially if you’re a comic book geek — which I am) on comic books and beer. The author makes suggestions of beers to pair with your favorite comic book characters. Weird, but why not? We’ve tried pairing beer with everything else at this point, so why not comic books.

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The article, A Guide To Pairing Your Comics & Beer was published yesterday on Quirk Books. The suggestions, a dozen in all, range from obvious to clever to head-scratching.

Here’s the list, though I’d encourage to check out author Thom Dunn’s reasons for each pairing.

  • Batman: Young’s Double Chocolate Stout or Left Hand Milk Stout
  • Captain America: Samuel Adams Boston Lager
  • Daredevil: India Pale Ale
  • The Flash: Four Loko
  • Ghost Rider: Rogue Dead Guy Ale
  • Green Lantern: Stone Arrogant Bastard Ale
  • The Hulk: Brooklyn Monster Ale
  • Iron Man: Chimay
  • Spiderman: Hard Cider
  • Superman: Yuengling Lager
  • Wolverine: Labatt’s Blue
  • X-Men: Anything from Dogfish Head

The two that seem most wrong to me are Batman and Wolverine’s choices. Batman wouldn’t drink something sweet, he’d have an imperial stout, something bigger and rougher like Three Floyd’s Dark Lord. And a better Canadian choice for Wolverine would be Unibroue’s Maudite, which is based on a legend of eight lumberjacks, a pact with the devil and a flying canoe.

And here’s a couple more I came up with. What comic book and beer pairing would you suggest to add to the list?

  • Ant Man or The Atom: Anchor Small Beer
  • Green Arrow or Hawkeye: Strongbow Cider
  • The Joker: Shmaltz Brewing’s Coney Island Freak beers
  • Martian Manhunter: Biere de Mars
  • The Penguin: BrewDog Tactical Nuclear Penguin
  • The Punisher: Steel Reserve
  • Silver Surfer: Maui Big Swell IPA
  • Thor: RedHook Long Hammer IPA
  • Wonder Woman: Amazon Beer

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