Last night the third-to-last beer dinner was held by Bruce Paton, the Beer Chef, at the Cathedral Hill Hotel. The dinner featured the beers of Russian River Brewing. We also had a surprise guest, Jeff Lebesch, founder and original brewer from New Belgium Brewing, who along with his girlfriend and other friends, had been sailing the San Francisco Bay to celebrate Jeff’s birthday. It was a great beer dinner, and now there are only two left: Firestone Walker and Allagash later this year.

Natalie and Vinnie Cilurzo presented Bruce with a special signed bottle of Temptation.

Our table, clockwise from bottom left: Jeff Lebesch, New Belgium founder, his girlfriend Zia, an early employee, Peter Bouckaert, New Belgium’s head brewer, Dave Keene and Jen Smith, and Natalie and Vinnie Cilurzo.

Below is a short slideshow of the Russian River beer dinner. If you click on the button on the bottom right with the four arrows pointing outward on it, you can see the photos in glorious full screen.