Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Craft Beerds On Tour Beginning Tonight

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My neighbor, friend and colleague Fred Abercrombie, is debuting his new book, Craft Beerds, tonight at Taps in Petaluma. The book is a raucous look at nearly 200 beer labels involving beards, or beerds, and it’s just in time to kick off SF Beerd Week.

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Pick up your own copy of the book, signed by the author.

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I’ll be there at least the first hour, too, but if you can’t make it tonight at Taps, consider one of the other book signing events taking place during SF Beer Week. First, there will be an event at 21st Amendment on Tuesday, February 12 (Lincoln’s birthday) starting at 6:30 p.m.

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The next night, Wednesday, February 13, beginning at 9 p.m. they’ll be a book signing at Zeitgeist in San Francisco. They’ll also be featuring Lagunitas “SoCo ‘Stache Stout.”

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UPDATE: Author Fred Abercrombie with his bearded fans from last night’s book release party:

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CCBA ABC Workshop At UCSD Next Week

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Next week, on Tuesday, February 12, at the International House Great Hall, on the campus of UCSD in San Diego, the California Craft Brewers Association will host an ABC Workshop. The workshop is only open to California craft brewers, out of state craft breweries doing business in California and CCBA Allied Trade Associate Members, and pre-registration is required. You can pre-pay through PayPal or send an e-mail to the CCBA, with details on how to do so here.

Registration for the workshop will begin on February 12 at 12:15 PM and will begin at 1:00 PM and will last until 5:00 PM. There will also be a Beer Social afterwards. If you’re not involved in SF Beer Week, this is your chance to get answers to puzzling questions straight from ABC.

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The Band Is Back For Strong Beer Month

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It’s February, and that means it’s time for the 11th annual Strong Beer Month, once again with six new extreme beers each at 21st Amendment and Magnolia throughout the month. 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:

Side M: Magnolia:

  1. Promised Land Imperial I.P.A.: 10.5% abv
  2. McLean’s Wee Heavy: 8.4% abv
  3. Delilah Jones Rye: 9.6% abv
  4. Quadlibet for Tenderfeet: 9.4% abv
  5. Old Thunderpussy Barleywine: 10.6% abv
  6. Smokestack Lightning Imperial Stout: 9.8% abv

Side Two: 21st Amendment:

  1. Lord & Master Strong English Blonde: 8.2% abv
  2. Dub Step Imperial I.P.A.: 10.2% abv
  3. Nelson, Jade, and Helga Imperial I.P.A.: 10.5% abv
  4. Red Giant Imperial Red Alek: 11%
  5. Two-Lane Blacktop Imperial Black I.P.A.: 10% abv
  6. Hendrick’s Imperial Stout: 8.6% abv

This year’s theme is the 1969 album “The Band” featuring Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko, John Simon, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson and Richard Manuel, and while I know the names, I couldn’t pick most of them out in a line-up, so I’m not sure who’s playing who this year.

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And here’s the back cover, too:

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Firestone Walker Invitational Tickets On Sale February 1

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Tickets go on sale in a few minutes for the second annual Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival, scheduled to take place June 1, 2013. Beginning February 1, you can buy tickets online for the festival, one of the highlights of last year’s festival season. Check out my write up from last year’s inaugural event. It was a really great event last year. If you didn’t make it, consider attending this year’s festival. I’ll see you there.

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From the press release:

Top brewers from around the nation and world will once again turn wine country into beer country with the return of the Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Fest in Paso Robles June 1, 2013—featuring 40+ craft breweries, rare beers, live music, local chefs, brewer Q&A sessions and more.

Tickets will go on sale on February 1, 2013 via www.firestonebeerfest.com. The event is hosted by Firestone Walker Brewing Company and held at the Paso Robles Event Center in partnership with the Paso Robles Pioneer Day Committee. Proceeds from the event benefit Pioneer Day, a local community celebration established in 1931.

“The Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Fest was born from a dream of creating a world-class festival featuring not only the best brewers in the world, but brewers whom we feel are leaders in the craft beer revolution,” said Matt Brynildson, Brewmaster at Firestone Walker Brewing Company. “This is a day where we can all put down our sales and marketing pitches and simply commune and share our beers and stories with people who are truly interested in craft beer.”

Last year’s inaugural fest sold out quickly and was widely praised as one of the nation’s can’t-miss craft beer events, with attendees embracing the casual open-air setting, access to rare beers and opportunity to hang out with leading brewers.

The lineup for the 2013 Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Fest is still being finalized, but attendees can expect 40+ breweries, 20 restaurants and three bands. The event will run from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Last year’s participating breweries included Three Floyds and Sun King from Indiana, Founders and Bells from Michigan, Mikkeller from Denmark, Yo-Ho from Japan, Dogfish Head from Delaware, Southern Tier from New York, and several California breweries, including Russian River, Stone, Lost Abbey, The Bruery and Golden Road.

Each participating brewery will pour one “sessionable” beer registering less than six percent alcohol by volume, as well as one rare specialty beer. Brewers will be on hand to talk to attendees about their beers.

The cost is $75 per person, and attendees must be 21 years or older. Admittance includes complimentary tastings of beer and food while supplies last, as well as a logo snifter glass. Ticket availability is limited.

“The brewers really go all out at this event,” Brynildson said. “You will recognize some of the beers, but you can also expect the unexpected.”

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Ommegang To Brew “Game Of Thrones” Beer

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In case you missed the news, the New York Times Art Beat is reporting that Ommegang will be creating four beers for the popular HBO series Game of Thrones, based on the A SOng of Ice and Fire books by George R.R. Martin. According to Coming Soon: The Beer of Kings:

The first beer, Iron Throne Blonde Ale, will be inaugurated nationwide in late March, to coincide with the Season 3 premiere of “Game of Thrones,” which is scheduled for March 31. Three more beers are planned, with the second to be released next fall. The others will follow in subsequent seasons.

I’m a fan of the show, and my wife and several relatives have read all the books, but this is certainly some odd marketing. If the goal is to make more people watch the show, I can’t see how this will have any effect. If you already like the show, will you seek out the beer just because of the tie-in? I like the beer that Brewery Ommegang makes, but apart from some press and attention, I can’t see how this will help the brand all that much.

Note: These are not the actual labels that Ommegang will create, but some imagined ones that have been floating around the internet since earlier this year, this collection from Geek Tyrant.

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UPDATE 12.18: Ommegang brewmaster Phil Leinhart revealed some additional details about the upcoming Game of Thrones beers in an interview on Guyism. Here’s what he had to say:

[T]he blonde ale is fair in color and soft in appearance, but still holds a complexity and bite.

“With a Lannister currently on the throne, it only made sense to do a delicate, but piercing Golden Blonde Ale with Noble hops,” he said, referring to one of the series’ characters.

Subsequent beers for the collaboration are still being worked on, because the Ommegang team has to wait for the themes and characters to develop in the series’ next season before it can begin crafting the next ale. Capozza said that two additional beers will be released in conjunction with each of the series’ following seasons

And there’s also more about the project came about:

Allison Capozza, a spokeswoman at Ommegang, said that the Game of Thrones creators and producers have long been fans of Brewery Ommegang, whose team happens to enjoy the TV series. HBO, she said, reached out to the brewery about the idea for a collaboration.
“The producers very much resonated with Ommegang’s blend of ‘old world’ and ‘new world’ elements to create something new and unique,” Capozza said.

And below is the official bottle that Ommegang will release next year.

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Cheese Event At Point Reyes With The Homebrew Chef

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This should be a great event. Sean Paxton, the Homebrew Chef, has teamed up with Point Reyes Cheese for an amazing day of cheese and beer. On Saturday, December 8th from 10:30 am to 3:00 pm, Sean will be at the Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company, makers of the wonderful Point Reyes Blue, among others. The day will include “an educational walking farm tour, focused cheese tasting and a demonstration class led by Home Brew Chef, Sean Paxton. This special day will include a craft-beer-inspired and paired 4-course lunch. This educational experience is definitely for beer and food lovers!” It would also make a great early Christmas present, too. Wouldn’t you rather be drinking beer, eating cheese and taking in the beauty of nature than fighting the Christmas shopping crowds?

The luncheon will include beer from Anderson Valley, Bear Republic, Lagunitas and Russian River. Here’s the full menu:

First Course
Hog Island oysters topped with an iced Anderson Valley Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout mignonette, crumbled Original Blue
Anderson Valley Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout

Second Course
A homage to pot pie: local root vegetables and Willie Bird turkey breasts braised in Russian River Temptation with a thyme New Blue barley crust
Russian River Temptation

Third Course
Local lamb cheeks braised in Lagunitas Brewing Co. Cappuccino Stout on a bed of mashed potatoes infused with Toma, sautéed winter greens and garnished with a Marin County gremolata
Lagunitas Brewing Brown Shugga ‘10

Fourth Course
Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye beer caramel mixed into a mascarpone mousse, layered with a fall spiced Red Rocket Ale cake, garnished with a pumpkin seed Heritage Ale brittle
Bear Republic Heritage Ale

Tickets can be purchased online and are $120 per person. That includes everything; a Walking Farm Tour, Focused Cheese Tasting, and the Four Course Cooking Demonstration with Lunch & Craft Beer Pairings by Sean Paxton over four and a half hours.

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Bagby Signs Lease On New Brewery Location

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This is excellent news. Jeff Bagby, who won a boatload of awards while brewmaster at Pizza Port Carlsbad and Director of Brewery Operations for the entire chain, has been searching for the ideal location to open his own brewery, to be called Bagby Beer Co. He announced earlier today that he and his wife, and business partner, Dande Bagby, have signed a lease for the property at 601 S. Coast Highway in Oceanside, California. The 11,000 square foot space used to be “the historical Continental Motors and BMW Oceanside,” and consists of three separate buildings and a small courtyard, which they hope to turn into an outdoor beer garden. They anticipate starting construction on the brewery and restaurant in early 2013. There’s still a lot of work to do before they’re up and running, and Jeff is brewing beer again, but at least they’re over the first hurdle. Join me in congratulating Jeff and Dande on finding a location for their brewery.

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Live Vertical Vertical Epic Tasting Thursday

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Thursday is going to be a fun day, an extra fun day, apart from the travel, at least. I’m flying down to San Diego for what should be a very interesting beer tasting, one that you’ll actually be able to watch, but more on that in a minute.

Almost eleven years ago Stone Brewing began an epic journey, releasing a new beer on subsequent Bonza Bottler Days each year. Created by Australian Elaine Fremont in 1985, “Bonza,” in down under slang, meaning “super, great or fantastic,” while “Bottler” is apparently Australian slang for “something excellent.” So a Bonza Bottler Day is a “super excellent day.” She created Bonza Bottler Day so there would be at least one day each month to celebrate. They occur each month when the day matches the month, so there’s a Bonza Bottler Day every January 1, February 2, March 3, April 4, etc.

Stone Brewing went one step farther and added the year, so that the first Stone Epic Vertical was released on 02.02.02, or February 2, 2002. The sixth was on my daughter Alice’s 3rd birthday, 07.07.07, or July 7, 2007. The eleventh, and last, release will come out in a few weeks on December 12, 2012, thankfully just nine days before the world will end … or not.

But before the Earth is reduced to a smoldering mass of ash by a cataclysmic fireball, I’ve been invited to try all eleven Stone Epic Vertical beers, which includes an early taste of the latest offering, 12.12.12. The entire beer tasting will be broadcast live over that series of tubes known as the interwebs via livestream this coming Thursday. Here is Stone Brewing’s description of the event.

Stone 12.12.12 Vertical Epic Ale marks the end of an era. Since 2002, Stone has released a unique, Belgian-influenced, bottle-conditioned ale, with each subsequent beer available one year, one month and one day from its predecessor, and designed to be aged and enjoyed together on 12.12.12. Beer collectors everywhere are planning tastings and wondering how these long ago procured beers taste. In preparation, Stone founders Greg Koch and Steve Wagner assembled a panel of beer experts to provide fans a live, comprehensive report on the state of the Vertical Epic Ales. That group includes top tasters and the very artisans who constructed these beers. Join Stone brewmaster Mitch Steele, former brewmaster Lee Chase, craft beer ambassador “Dr.” Bill Sysak, beer journalist Jay Brooks, Joe Tucker of RateBeer, Stephen Johnson of New Brew Thursday, plus Jason and Todd Alström of BeerAdvocate as they join Greg and Steve for an examination of one of the most ambitious brewing projects in history.

So join us for this monumental beer tasting on Thursday, November 15, beginning at Noon, Californy time (3:00 PM EST) until 1:30 PST (4:30 East Coast time). Watch the festivities on livestream. It’s going to be epic!

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Hyping the Next Session

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For our 70th Session, our host is David J. Bascombe, who writes Good Morning …, a blog about beer, mostly. His topic is all about the hype surrounding certain beers, and whether it’s warranted or not, whether it changes peoples’ perceptions of the beer, and what effect this all has in the modern beer landscape. Here’s David story cautioning everyone to be careful so they Don’t Believe The Hype:

Back in the summer, I shared a bottle of Westvleteren 12 with my brother and my father. Whilst I was aware of it’s reputation as “best beer in the world”, they were not. Whilst we all enjoyed it, we all agreed that we much preferred the other beer we had that night. The question that came into my head was this…

If I had told them it was the best beer in the world, would their perceptions have changed?

How much does hype have an effect? Are we much better off knowing nothing about a beer, or is it better to have the knowledge as to what the best beers are?

Which beers do you think have been overhyped? How do you feel when a beer doesn’t live up to it’s hype.

Is hype a good or bad thing for beer? Tell me what you think.

So I thought I’d at least hype the next session. Be here with your thoughts next month.

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So weigh in with your own hype on Friday, December 7.

C2CT2: Second Annual Coast To Coast Toast November 15

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Last year, Vanberg & DeWulf, the beer import company founded by Don Feinberg and Wendy Littlefield, celebrated their 30th anniversary with a Coast to Coast Toast. It was such a great success, that they’re doing it again this year. C2CT2 — Coast to Coast Toast 2 — will take place this year on November 15, which in Belgium is “King’s Day,” a national holiday celebrating their monarchy. So it’s a great date to celebrate Belgian beer and Belgian culture.

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Last year, about 350 establishments across the country participated in the Coast to Coast Toast to Belgian beer. This year, Wendy tells me it should be at least 400. If you want to see if there’s a C2CT2 event taking place near you, there’s a list you can download at their website. If you want to consider hosting a toast, you can sign up at Eventbrite.

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Even if you can’t make it out — I’m staying in again and toasting with the missus, for example — toast them in the comfort of your home. It should be easy enough to find one of the great beers they import. Any beer from the following Belgian and European breweries will fit the bill.

  • Amiata
  • Castelain (also St. Amand)
  • De Cam
  • Dilewyns
  • Dubuisson (Scaldis and Cuvee de Trolls)
  • Dupont (also Moinette, Foret, Les Bons Voeux and others)
  • Ölvisholt BrugghÚs, Iceland
  • Slaghmuylder (Witkap Stimulo Singel Abbey Ale)
  • V&D exclusive collaborations with De Troch (Lambrucha)
  • V&D exclusive collaborations with Et Famille (Lambickx)
  • V&D exclusive collaborations with Scheldebrouwerij (Hop Ruiter)

You can also find a list of all of their beers in their portfolio at their C2CT2 website.

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