Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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NFL Football: Pick The Winners At Brookston Fantasy Games

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This is the fourth year for the Brookston Fantasy Football Games. We’ve had a lot of fun over the last three, so if you love football and beer, consider joining us again this year. The NFL season begins on Thursday September 9, so you’ve got about a dozen days to sign up.

I’ve again set up two free Yahoo fantasy football games, one a simple pick ’em game and the other a survival pool. Up to 50 people can play each game (that’s Yahoo’s limit), so if you’re a regular Bulletin reader feel free to sign up for one or even both. It’s free to play, all you need is a Yahoo ID, which is also free. Below is a description of each game and the details on how to join each league and play.

Standings for both leagues will be listed at the bottom of the Bulletin’s right column.

Pro Football Pick’em

In this Pick’em game, just pick the winner for every game each week, with no spread, and let’s see who gets the most correct throughout the season. I’ve added a new wrinkle this year. Since we’re all very busy, and you (or I) might screw up at least one week, you can now throw out your lowest week. All that’s at stake is bragging rights, but it’s fun.

Also, a new feature Yahoo added is the ability to keep picking all through the playoffs, so the game will continue through to the Super Bowl, which is pretty cool.

In order to join the group, just go to Pro Football Pick’em, click the “Sign Up” button (or “Create or Join Group” if you are a returning user). From there, follow the path to join an existing private group and when prompted, enter the following information…

Group ID#: 37001 (Brookston NFL Pick To Win)
Password: brookston

Survival Football

If picking all sixteen football game every week seems like too much, then Survival Football is for you. In Survival Football, you only have to pick one game each week. The only catch is you can’t pick the same team to win more than once all season. And you better be sure about each game you pick because if you’re wrong, you’re out for the season. Actually this year they added a new feature and I changed the game so to be kicked out you have to be wrong twice. In that way more people stand a better chance of lasting longer into the season. So get one wrong, and you’re still okay, get a second wrong, now you’re gone for the season. Last man standing wins.

Yahoo also added the new feature to this game, too, where we can keep picking all through the playoffs, assuming our luck holds. So the game could even continue through to the Super Bowl.

In order to join the group, just go to Survival Football, click the “Sign Up” button and choose to “Join an Existing Group”, then “Join a Private Group”. Then, when prompted, enter the following information…

Group ID#: 15291 (Soused Survival League)
Password: bulletin

With 50 players allowed in each game, there’s plenty of room, so don’t be shy. Sign up for one or both games. Beginning after the first weekend of the regular season I’ll post the standings on the home page (at the bottom of the right-hand column) and then each Monday after that through the season. Won’t you join us?

Next Session: New Kids On The Bock

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Our next Session is fast approaching, ten days away to be exact. This month’s host will be Carla Companion, better know as The Beer Babe. Her topic is The New Kids, by which she means the many, many new breweries that have started up in the last couple of years.

Here’s how she explains it:

Picture yourself starting school, on a cool, crisp September day. Only, you’re not as excited as you usually are because you’re starting at a new school. No one knows who you are, groups of friends are already established, and you have nightmares about getting lost in the hallways trying to find your next class. How will you ever fit in?…

In some ways, there may be a beer-world parallel to this experience: new craft breweries joining an established beer community, or even tougher, breaking into a non-craft beer town.
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With the astounding growth of the number of craft breweries this year, chances are there’s a new one in development, or has just started out in your area. My challenge to you is to seek out a new brewery and think about ways in which they could be welcomed into the existing beer community. How does their beer compare to the craft beer scene in your area? Are they doing anything in a new/exciting way? What advice, as a beer consumer, would you give to these new breweries?

Take this opportunity to say hello to the new neighbors in your area. Maybe its a nanobrewery that came to a festival for the first time that you vowed to “check out” later. Maybe it’s a new local beer on a shelf on the corner store that you hadn’t seen before. Dig deeper and tell us a story about the “new kids on the block.” I look forward to welcoming them to the neighborhood!

Join the welcome wagon on Friday, September 3, and tell us about your favorite new brewery.

Urban Chestnut Brewery To Open In St. Louis By Former A-B Brewer

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This is excellent news. I just got an e-mail from Florian Kuplent, one of my favorite brewers at A-B (including Mitch Steele, of course). His Bavarian Wheat beer is/was divine. Last week he left A-B and along with fellow ex-A-B employee David Wolfe to open a new craft brewery in St. Louis. The new brewery, Urban Chestnut Brewing, will be located at 3229 Washington Avenue, “in an old 1920’s garage that has been outfitted to accommodate our ‘new world meets old world’ brewery’ in a district of St. Louis known as Midtown Alley.”
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From the press release:

Urban Chestnut Brewing Company (UCBC), an unconventional-minded yet tradition-oriented brewer of craft beer, is excited to announce its plans to open a micro-brewery in the Midtown Alley district of St. Louis, MO. UCBC plans to brew and distribute its draught and bottled beers to local restaurants, bars, grocery and liquor stores and other retail establishments in the St. Louis area.

Scheduled to launch in late 2010, UCBC is operated by two former Anheuser-Busch employees: Florian Kuplent, UCBC’s brewmaster, and David Wolfe, UCBC’s marketing and sales principal.

Co-founders Kuplent and Wolfe believe their passion for craft beer coupled with their unique expertise in creating, brewing and marketing beer will bring a fresh approach to the local craft beer market in St. Louis. The pair also shares a passion for local community development. By using local ingredients in their beer and food offerings whenever possible, and by partnering with local businesses and non-profit organizations, UCBC hopes to contribute to St Louis’ progression as a strong and vibrant local craft beer community and community as a whole.

  • UCBC will look to distinguish itself from other craft breweries through its unique brewing philosophy, Beer Divergencya ‘new world meets old world’ brewing approach wherein UCBC contributes to the ‘revolution’ of craft beer through artisanal creations of modern American beers, and pays ‘reverence’ to the heritage of beer with classically-crafted offerings of timeless, European beer styles.
  • Their philosophy is shaped around co-founder Florian’s lifelong passion for the culture and tradition of brewing and his dedication to the art and science of brewing. A German-born and educated brewmaster, Florian brings two decades of brewing expertise to UCBC. His career in brewing has spanned small and large brewers in the U.S, Germany, Belgium and England and his beers have won awards at the Great American Beer Festival, the North American Beer Awards and SIBA Wheat Beer Challenge. Florian is active in the brewing community serving as a judge at national and international beer festivals, as a contributor to brewing publications and as a member of various brewing clubs. It is his passion for creating new, artisanal beers coupled with his background rooted in the heritage and culture of beer that has helped to form UCBC’s brewing philosophy Beer Divergency. “In launching UCBC, my vision is to delve into both th3 exploration of modern, American craft beer and the traditions of old world brewing, simultaneously. It is the fusion of these two brewing cultures, new and old, that has shaped our brewing philosophy of ‘Beer Divergency’— embracing the revolution of American craft beer, while simultaneously appreciating the heritage of European beer,” Florian shares.
  • UCBC will work to contribute to St. Louis’ evolution in local craft beer by adding to the number of small, local brewers who distribute their beer in bottles. The co-founders believe St. Louis is a burgeoning local craft beer community that unquestionably boasts a significant community of knowledgeable craft beer drinkers and has a proud and active base of small brewers. UCBC sees an opportunity to add to the overall growth of and appreciation for local craft beer, by bottling and selling their beer at establishments all over town. Wolfe, who grew up in St. Louis, comments, “As UCBC prepares to join the community of small, St. Louis area brewers who are already contributing to the culture of local craft beer, we are excited to begin packaging our beer in both bottles and kegs, and we look forward to collaborating with as many local merchants as possible to reach as many beer drinkers as we can.”

Beyond distributing their beer, UCBC will have a taste room and outdoor biergarten where guests can enjoy UCBC beers and other locally brewed craft beers accompanied by small food pairings. Wolfe remarks, “Our taste room & biergarten won’t quite be the traditional brewpub. I like to tell people, ‘think wine bar for beer’; a casual place to hangout and experience a selection of local craft beers accompanied by small plates of cheeses, meats, and other little eats that pair well with beer.” Kuplent adds, “It is my goal to bring a little bit of Bavaria to UCBC. While our taste room will have a touch of old-world feel, our biergarten is where we’re trying to create an authentic, German beer-drinking experience by importing biergarten tables from Europe and planting shade-giving chestnut trees.”

The Urban Chestnut name is also derived from its philosophy of “Beer Divergency”; Urban—a nod to the locales of the modern craft beer revolution and Chestnut—a symbol of the heritage and tradition of beer; the chestnut tree has been utilized by Bavarian brewers for centuries to give shade to their biergartens and bierkellers.

According to the website, they’ll be doing two series of beers:

Revolution Series: Our contribution to the renaissance of craft beer—brewing artisanal, modern American beers.

Reverence Series: Our celebration of beer’s heritage—brewing classically-crafted, timeless European beer styles.

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North American Breweries Close To Deal To Buy Magic Hat & Pyramid

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Beer News is reporting, via Harry Schuhmacher, that the Magic Hat/Pyramid Breweries is very close, possibly days away, from announcing that they’re being acquired by North American Breweries, the entity created to take over Labatt’s distribution in the wake of the Anheuser-Busch / InBev merger. NAB also owns the Genesee and Dundee beer brands. Check out the full story at BeerNews.org.
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Like Real Estate, Next Session About Location, Location, Location

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Our 42nd Session will be hosted by Derrick Peterman, from Ramblings of a Beer Runner. He’s chosen “A Special Place, A Special Beer” as his topic, which Derrick describes geographically:

The Session provides a unique opportunity to explore this connection between the beer in our glasses and the place it comes from with perspectives from all over the world

So I ask for this 42nd Session that you write about a special place in your life, and a beer or brewery that connects you to that place. It can be the beer from your childhood home, a place you once lived, your current hometown, a memorable vacation you once took, or a place you’ve always wanted to go to but never had the chance. Please take a few moments to think about the how the beer connects you to this place, and share this with us. Of course, the definition of “place” is rather open ended, and in some cases, highly debatable, so it will be interesting to see the responses on what constitutes a place.

So look around the world and then bring home your own post for the next Session, on Friday, August 6.

Pabst Deal Closes

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As of today, the Pabst deal is done. The Kalmanovitz Trust no longer owns Pabst and now C. Dean Metropoulos and his two sons are at the helm.

According to Harry Schuhmacher at Beer Business Daily:

In buying Pabst, Metropoulos is getting a variety of regional brands, some of which he may sell off, according to sources. Pabst owns Schaefer, Carling’s Black Label, Blatz, Colt 45 Malt Liquor, Schmidt, Special Export, Schlitz, Lone Star, Jacob Best, Ballantine, Falstaff, Rainier, Ice Man Malt Liquor, Silver Thunder Malt Liquor and Stroh’s Beer.

Of the portfolio, Pabst Blue Ribbon and to a lesser extent Lone Start are the diamonds in the rough. PBR is currently the fastest growing domestic beer brand of the top brands in IRI scans, up around 20% in the latest four weeks. The brand has been embraced by young adults with an anti-establishment bent, with a love of irony (I decline to say “hipsters” because that’s what everybody says, and I think it’s gone beyond hipsters). Pabst has proven masterful at what I’ve called un-marketing — that is, marketing without seeming to market, relying mainly on word-of-mouth. The recent Clint Eastwood flick Gran Torino didn’t hurt either.

Distributor we’ve talked to are guardedly optimistic about the sale, as Metropoulos clearly has “earned his chops turning around old brands,” as one distrib said in an email. Distribs are also glad that the decades-long uncertainty about the fate of Pabst is finally over. Of course, there is a change in control, which theoretically could put the brewer in play in some states, although I’m not sure that would be a priority at this point for a new owner wanting to minimize disruption. But you never know.

It will certainly be interesting to see what happens next.

The Great Lambic Summit

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This event just looks awesome. After whetting my appetite at the Monk’s Cafe’s lambic dinner Tuesday night, Shelton Brothers is putting on The Great Lambic Summit at the University of Pennsylvania the following evening, Wednesday June 9, beginning at 7:00 p.m.

Here’s a description of the event:

The Lambic World is more divided, politically charged, and fraught with danger than the Middle East. So it’s a really big deal when you get Armand Debelder (3 Fonteinen) Frank Boon (Brouwerij Boon), and Jean Van Roy (Brasserie Cantillon) together at the same table. In fact, it’s never been done before.

On Wednesday evening, June 9th, as part of Philly Beer Week, these three greats — indisputably the three most traditional and authentic producers of real lambic in Belgium — will be gathered first to celebrate and praise each others’ work. Liberal quantities of special beers from each producer will be passed around, including some rare items being flown over to the U.S. for the very first time for the occasion. There will be some artistically prepared foods, naturally, including cheeses made with Gueuze from 3 Fonteinen and Cantillon. But there will also very likely be some fireworks. Even at the top, not everyone sees eye to eye, to say the least. And there will probably some discussion, and some dirt dished, about what’s going on in the darker corners of Lambic World. Dan Shelton, beer importer, lambic fan, and well-known pain-in-the-ass, will be hosting the discussion and doing his ugly best to make sure that the evening is not without controversy, just the way you like it!

It all happens under the wise and watchful eye of the Sphinx, in the Lower Egyptian Room in the depths of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Art. The ancient inhabitants of the Nile River Valley were of course the first great civilization to make an art and religion of brewing beer — relying on unseen and then unknown wild yeasts to ferment their brew, just as the famous brewers and blenders of lambic beer in Belgium’s Senne River valley do today.

You really can’t afford to miss once in a lifetime chance to drink some extremely rare lambic beers with the people who have dedicated theirs lives to the art.

old-lambics

Here’s the lineup:

Frank Boon, Brouwerij Boon
Armand Debelder, 3 Fonteinen
Jean Van Roy, Brasserie Cantillon
The world’s best lambic beer, and good food, served.

Tickets are $50 person, cheap at twice the price. See you there!

Next Session Tackles Homebrew Inspirations

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Our 41st Session will be hosted by the Wallace Brothers, Jeff and Tom, from Lugwrench Brewing. They’ve chosen “Craft Beers Inspired by Homebrewing” as their topic, which Jeff describes like so:

Session topics typically come from the host’s area of passion – something they have a strong affinity towards. For Tom and I, the real pathway in our appreciation of Craft Beer has been through the hobby of homebrewing. Not only has this hobby fostered yet another reason for two geographically-separated brothers to collaborate (the core concept for the Lug Wrench blog being “a fraternal bond over beer”), it was through homebrewing where we learned what makes a marginal beer and what makes an exceptional beer. It was the lauching pad for how we came to admire (and sometimes fanaticize) about “good” beer. So during our discussions of potential topics, the debate kept coming back to homebrewing and how craft beer is connected to the amateur brewing community.

The chosen topic: Craft Beers Inspired By Homebrewing. How has homebrewing had an affect on the commercial beer we have all come to love? Feel free to take the topic in any direction your imagination leads you.

Write about a beer that has its roots in homebrewing. Write about a commercial beer that originated from a homebrew.

Write about a professional brewer you admire who got their start in homebrewing before they went pro. Write about a professional brewer who still homebrews in their free time.

Write about a Pro-Am beer tasted either at a festival or a brewpub. Write about an Amateur / Professional Co-op you’ve had the pleasure of experiencing (such as The Green Dragon Project).

Write about commercial brewers using “Homebrewing” as part of the marketing. Write about the Sam Adams LongShot beers, whether good or bad.

So brew up your own post, at home, for the next Session, on Friday, July 2.

Dogfish Head Bitches Brew Honors Miles Davis

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Dogfish Head Craft Brewery today announced the release of Bitches Brew to commemorate the original release of the milestone jazz album, Bitches Brew, by jazz legend Miles Davis.

The new beer by Dogfish Head is described as “a bold, dark beer that’s a fusion of three threads imperial stout and one thread honey beer with gesho root, a gustatory analog to Miles’ masterpiece.” It also features the “the album’s iconic artwork, created by the late Mati Klarwein, on its label, Dogfish Head’s Bitches Brew will be unveiled at Savor, An American Craft Beer & Food Experience tonight at the National Building Museum, Washington DC. The beer will be bottled in 750ml bottles and released through Dogfish’s distribution network in late August.

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From the press release:

The newly created ale is designed, according to Dogfish founder and president Sam Calagione, “as the ultimate partner for chili or spicy curry chicken” and best enjoyed “sipped cool, not cold, from a snifter or red wine glass while listening to the Bitches Brew album.”

Calagione was drawn to the alchemical spirits in Bitches Brew right out of college, acquiring a copy of the album “within months of the first time I brewed a batch of homebrew in my apartment in New York City.  I listened to it when I was writing my Dogfish business plan.  I wanted Dogfish Head to be a maniacally inventive and creative brewery, analog beer for the digital age.  You could say that my dream was to have Dogfish Head, in some small way, stand for the same thing in the beer world that Bitches Brew stands for in the jazz world.  You can imagine how excited we are to be doing this project 17 years after I wrote that business plan.”

“There’s a spirit of innovation, of creativity and individuality, that’s at the core of Miles’ music,” said Adam Block, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Legacy Recordings.  “Sam and Dogfish Head approach their art from the same place and consequently the marriage is an easy and cool one.”

Later this year, on August 31, an anniversary edition of the recording — two, actually: a Legacy Edition and a deluxe Collector’s Edition — will be released on CD.

Win Tickets To The SF Giants Brewfest Saturday

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Come join me and my family this Saturday for the inaugural San Francisco Giants Brewfest at the ballpark, sponsored in part by the San Francisco Brewers Guild. All seven brewery members (Beach Chalet, 21st Amendment, Thirsty Bear, Social Kitchen Brewery, Magnolia Pub, Speakeasy & Gordon Biersch) will be pouring their beer from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, and then the game begins at 6:05. Tickets are $20, which includes a commemorative glass, unlimited samples, music by “The Famous” and tickets to the Giants vs. Diamondbacks game.

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What could be better than a deal like that? How about free tickets? Leave a comment here telling me why you’d like to go to the Brewfest and the baseball game this Saturday and the best answer will win two tickets, courtesy of the San Francisco Giants and the Brewer’s Guild. Comments, or entries, must be posted here by 5:00 p.m. on Thursday (yes, that’s in two days) and the winning entry will be announced at 6:00 p.m. The winner will then be able to pick up their tickets at will call on Saturday. See you there!

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UPDATE 5.27: And the winner …? It was a tough choice, there were many worthwhile entries. I almost chose the newly engaged couple, and the recent San Diego transplant. Then there was the never-been-kissed friend and the intern on his first weekend in San Francisco. But I was most moved by the plight of Stuart Dejesus, who desperately needs a day away. He’s trying to plan a wedding with twin 10-month old babies. I think he and his fiance deserve a day in the (hopefully) sun. Congratulations Stuart, your tickets will be at will call under your name.