Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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OBF Opening Ceremonies

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After we marched from McMenamin’s Crystal Ballroom to the Tom McCall Waterfront Park and the Oregon Brewers Festival, the ceremonial keg was brought into the park by the Hammerheads from this year’s parade host brewery, McMenamin’s.

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Hammerheads and the ceremonial cask.

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The Hammerheads and the Ruby Witches McMenamins’ folks positioned themselves in front of the stage.

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Then Art Larrance got things started.

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This year’s parade host represented by Brian McMenamin, took the ceremonial hammer.

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And passed it off to next year’s host, the Cascade Barrel House.

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Then Grand Marshall Fred Eckhardt had a few words for the crowd, before tapping the first keg.


Fred, tapping the keg.

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Fred drinking the first toast to OBF 2011.

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Fred and me catching up with a pint after the ceremonies.

Oregon Brewers Festival Parade 2011

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Although I missed last year’s Oregon Brewers Festival for the first time in many years, it felt like it had been at least five years since I’d been back. That’s how much I missed Portland, and I was thrilled to be there again. After the Brewer’s Dinner Wednesday night, I attended the brunch, this year held at McMenamin’s Crystal Ballroom, and helped setup for the event beforehand, as well. After everyone feasted and prepared their stomachs for the day’s drinking, what looked to be close to 1200 people lined up for the parade. That’s just a guess, but it was easily the biggest crowd I’d seen for the parade, and this was my third time, of the five so far. Many of the usual suspects were there, the band, the Rogue Friars, people in kilts, people wearing literal hopheads, etc. This year’s Grand Marshall was Portland legend Fred Eckhardt who led the parade via pedicab down to the Tom McCall Waterfront Park, the annual home of the beer festival. Here are some photos from the parade. Enjoy.

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Pedicab leading the OBF Parade with Grand Marshall Fred Eckhardt and OBF founder Art Larrance.

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Here we come.

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… walking down the street,

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We get the funniest looks from …

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Everyone we meet.

After arriving at the festival grounds, it was time to tap the keg and officially start the festival. Look for the ceremonies coming soon in part 2.

New York Beer

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Today in 1788, New York became the 11th state.

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New York Breweries

New York Brewery Guides

Guild: New York State Brewers Association

State Agency: New York State Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control

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  • Capital: Albany
  • Largest Cities: New York, Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers, Syracuse
  • Population: 18,976,457; 3rd
  • Area: 54475 sq.mi., 27th
  • Nickname: Empire State
  • Statehood: 11th, July 26, 1788

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  • Alcohol Legalized: December 5, 1933
  • Number of Breweries: 76
  • Rank: 8th
  • Beer Production: 10,620,762
  • Production Rank: 4th
  • Beer Per Capita: 16.9 Gallons

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Package Mix:

  • Bottles: 49.6%
  • Cans: 40.3%
  • Kegs: 9.9%

Beer Taxes:

  • Per Gallon: $0.14
  • Per Case: $0.32
  • Tax Per Barrel (24/12 Case): $4.34
  • Draught Tax Per Barrel (in Kegs): $4.34
  • In addition, New York City assesses a tax of $3.72 per barrel

Economic Impact (2010):

  • From Brewing: $1,540,520,106
  • Direct Impact: $5,343,831,895
  • Supplier Impact: $3,224,460,192
  • Induced Economic Impact: $4,660,828,233
  • Total Impact: $13,229,120,321

Legal Restrictions:

  • Control State: No
  • Sale Hours: On Premises: 8 am–4 am. Some counties have more restrictive hours.
    Off Premises: Beer: Per state law, 24 hours/day.
    Wine & spirits: 9 am–midnight Mon–Sat, Noon–9 pm Sunday.
    Many counties have more restrictive hours, such as bans on beer sales overnight (hours vary).
  • Grocery Store Sales: Yes
  • Notes: Off-premises sale of wine and spirits is only at liquor stores, and beer is not sold at liquor stores; it must be sold at supermarkets and convenience stores. Exchanges for returned items are permitted (at store owners’ discretion).

    Some counties may retain the Sunday morning beer prohibition which the state discontinued as of July 30, 2006. Twelve dry towns, mostly in western region of state. All liquor stores must be owned by a single owner, who owns that store and lives within a certain distance of it — effectually banning chain liquor stores from the state. New York City law does not allow open containers of alcohol in public. Thus, having a beer on the stoop of a building may draw a citation. However, practically, bagged containers of alcohol are consumed in violation of the rule, since opaque bags conceal evidence necessary to prosecute a citation and it is difficult to warrant a search of the bag without other evidence (evidence discovered due to an improper search is inadmissible in court).

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Data complied, in part, from the Beer Institute’s Brewer’s Almanac 2010, Beer Serves America, the Brewers Association, Wikipedia and my World Factbook. If you see I’m missing a brewery link, please be so kind as to drop me a note or simply comment on this post. Thanks.

For the remaining states, see Brewing Links: United States.

Next Session Turns Sour

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Our 54th Session turns sour … sour beer, that is. Jon Abernathy, who writes The Brew Site, has chosen the topic Sour Beer, which he describes like so:

Instead we’ll be in the heat of the summer and while we’ve had Sessions covering Summer Beers, Fruit Beers, and Wheat Beers already (all which could suitably cover summertime beer enjoyment), it occurred to me that the topic of Sour Beers fits well within the season and (surprisingly!) hasn’t come up yet.

I’ve been gradually exploring Sour Beer and finding myself seeking out and trying various beers which fit into the “sour” realm (yes, I’m purposefully avoiding the word “style” here as it is entirely too loaded): beers inoculated with wild yeasts, soured with fruit (often in conjunction with those wild yeasts and barrel-aging), lactic acid beers like Berliner Weisse-influenced beers and the rare Gose, and so on. It’s a challenging area, both in acquiring a taste for soured beer and in brewing them—fortunately many brewers are being adventurous and branching out these days, giving us many more options.

So that’s our topic for August: Sour Beer. I’ll leave the implementation up to you, but here are some suggestions: seek out and review a sour beer of some kind; write about your experiences with brewing a sour beer; talk about your first sour beer experience; who’s brewing the better sours—Belgians or Americans (or somebody else)?; perhaps a contrary approach—what you don’t like about sour beers. Or if you have the perfect sour beer idea you want to write about, I can’t wait to read it!

Personally, I LOVE sour beer, so this one should be fun. So practice your pucker face and get ready to write all about it for the next Session on Friday, August 5.