Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Harpoon To Can Their Beer

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Another regional brewery is joining the ranks of those who are canning craft beer. Harpoon Brewery is canning two of their beers, the I.P.A. and the Summer Beer.

From the press release:

The Harpoon Brewery is pleased to announce that your backpack will be a little easier to carry on hiking trips this summer; introducing Harpoon IPA and Harpoon Summer Beer in cans. Just in time for Memorial Day weekend, the Harpoon Brewery will offer its flagship India Pale Ale and seasonal Summer Beer in 12-ounce aluminum cans. The beer, which was brewed at Harpoon’s Windsor, VT brewery, is being canned at FX Matt in Utica, NY today. The new cans will enable New England craft beer lovers to enjoy Harpoon beers during summer activities and at locales where glass bottles are not convenient.

It’s interesting to see more larger craft breweries turn to cans these days. I’m guessing we’ll see more and more of this size brewery adding cans to their line-up.

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Beer City USA Poll 2010

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Charlie Papazian is doing another poll this year during American Craft Beer Week to determine BeerCity USA. Last year’s winner was a tie between Portland, Oregon and Asheville, North Carolina. So far, after just one day, Asheville is out in front with Portland a close second. Everybody else, including the San Francisco Bay Area, is woefully behind. We are all the tortoise to Portland/Asheville’s hare. The poll closes just before midnight on May 23.

Let’s go Bay Area people, get out there and vote. Let’s see if we can win this year. Let’s declare the San Francisco Bay Area to be Beer City USA!

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Session Beers For The Next Session

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Our big 40th Session will be hosted by Erik Lars Myers from Top Fermented. He’s chosen a topic near and dear to Lew Bryson’s heart — as wll as many other beer lovers — session beers, which he describes as follows.

There are a thousand ways to approach this.

What is your definition of a session beer? Is it, as Dr. Lewis suggested at the Craft Brewers Conference this year, “a pint of British wallop” or is your idea of a session beer a crisp Eastern European lager, a light smoky porter, a dry witbier, or even a dry Flemish sour?

Is it merely enough for a beer to be low alcohol to be considered a session beer, or is there some other ineffable quality that a beer must hold in order to merit the term? And if so, what is that quality? Is it “drinkability”? Or something else?

What about the place of session beer in the craft beer industry? Does session beer risk being washed away in the deluge of extreme beers, special releases, and country-wide collaborations? Or is it the future of the industry, the inevitable palate-saving backlash against a shelf full of Imperial Imperials?

What are some of your favorite session beers? When and where do you drink them? If you’d like, drink one and review it.

So join us for the next Session, all about sessions, on Friday, June 4.

New Oakland Beer Fest This Weekend

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A new Bay Area beer festival will be held this Saturday, May 1, from Noon to 3:00 p.m., at Jack London Square. It’s sponsored by the local radio station KGO. It will be called the Craft Beer and Fine Food Celebration and will a benefit for the Alameda County Food Bank. Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at the door. According to the website, you’ll be able to “taste 30 different craft and specialty beers, along with delicious food from fine Bay Area restaurants.” So far, nineteen breweries are listed on the website along with ten food providers. There’s also a Facebook event page with additional details.

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Toby Day Day This Sunday

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I heard the sad news while I was in Chicago for CBC. On April 5, Toby Day, who owned NW Craft Brands and worked for Anderson Valley Brewing, passed away suddenly. Apparently he’d been battling a serious health issue for many years but kept that information from all but a select few friends. Although Toby lived in Eugene, Oregon, he was a fixture at many beer events throughout the west coast and our paths crossed frequently over the years. He always had a smile on his face and seemed to truly enjoy his work promoting craft beer. The world is a poorer place without Toby in it.

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This Sunday, April 25, an event has been set up — Toby Day Day — to honor Toby’s memory and also raise money to help out his family. An Event Facebook Page has been set up, and here are the particulars:

On April 5th, Anderson Valley Brewing Company lost a dear friend and co-worker. Toby Day passed after battling a variety of ailments. Toby was a consummate ambassador of beer and a champion for AVBC since he started working with us in February of 2005.

“Our industry, the beer community, Toby’s family and friends have just lost a very special individual. I lost a friend.” Said AVBC Sales Director Ron Ziomek.

AVBC’s General Manager John Kuhry remembers Toby as “one of the nicest guys you will ever meet with an incredible passion and knowledge of beer. I am glad to have known him.”

On Sunday, April 25, craft beer establishments from Santa Cruz to Seattle will be honoring the life of Toby Day. Many accounts will have special beers on tap in his honor. The proceeds from this “Toby Day Day” are earmarked specifically for Toby’s family to help them pay for outstanding medical and funeral expenses, and to assist with the education of his daughter Lilly and son Tristan, 12 and 9, respectively.

Well wishers can leave their thoughts on his Facebook Page.

Please join us Sunday in raising a glass to a true friend of world-class beer and a world-class guy himself: Toby Day.

I’ll try to get a list of “official” places hosting events and also a way donations can be made directly to the family, if possible. If you can, please help out and honor a terrific guy who made great contributions to the craft beer community.

Eugene:
Sam Bonds Garage
The Bier Stein
Cornucopia (2 locations)

Portland:
The Moon & Sixpence
Concordia Ale House
Roots Organic
The Horse Brass Pub

Seattle:
Uber Tavern
Brouwer’s Cafe

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UPDATE:
An account has been set up where donations can be made directly to Toby’s family, should you wish to help out his two children. Donations may be made at any U.S. Bank location across the country. Here are the details:

Account Name: Toby Day Foundation Trust
Account: 153662428728
Tax Donation EIN For Donations: 61-1615294

Women In Brewing Festival This Saturday In Sacramento

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This Saturday, April 24, another festival will be taking place in Sacramento. If yo happen to be up that way — or live nearby, of course — check out the 4th annual Women in Brewing Festival at Rubicon.

Here’s the info, from Rubicon’s blog:

In 2007 the Rubicon Brewing Company established the Women in Brewing celebration. This is an event that digs up the history of women in brewing while spotlighting the talent of those brewers in our industry today. The 4th Annual Women in Brewing Festival will take place at the Rubicon Brewing Company at 2004 Capitol Avenue starting at 11 a.m. on Saturday, April 24th and will go until the beer is gone. Many talented female brewers have been invited to showcase their special recipes and hard to find brews. Some of these ladies will make the journey to the Rubicon Brewing Company to chat with event goers while enjoying a day in the sun with their fellow brewster’s and a pint. This event is not a competition nor is it a “brewfest.” It is a typical day at the Rubicon where we will highlight the fabulous “brewed by women” beer on tap for tasting in sample, goblet or pint along with food specials and, as always, great friends. A silent auction will be held with great prizes donated by local businesses. While honoring and bringing recognition to our women in the brewing industry, the Rubicon Brewing Company is dedicated to raising money and awareness for WEAVE. The event raises more than $4,000 to support crisis intervention services for victims of sexual assault. WEAVE is the primary provider of crisis intervention services to survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault in Sacramento County.

Denise Jones, the head brewer at Moylan’s will be on hand, and probably additional brewsters, too. Stop by and help support a worthy cause. When I first met my wife, she was heavily involved in volunteering for a similar organization in the South Bay, Next Door, so it’s an issue near and dear to me and my family.

The beers below will be served Saturday, and each one was brewed by a female brewer:

  • Auburn Alehouse: Scarlet Red
  • Blue Frog: Ginger & Meyer Ann
  • Lost Coast: Scotch Ale
  • Moylans: Hell’s Lager
  • Rubicon: Bull of the Woods, Stardancer, 80 Grit
  • Santa Cruz: Witches Wit
  • Sierra Nevada: Summerfest, Scotch Ale
  • Urthel Al: Hop It, Samarath

Bay Area Firkin Fest This Weekend

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This Saturday, April 24, the 7th annual Bay Area Firkin Fest will be held at Triple Rock Brewery in Berkeley. Doors will open at 11:00 a.m. and tickets are $20. Admission includes a commemorative logo glass and six 4-oz. pours. Additional samples may be purchased for $2 each (or 3 for $5). This is one of the most fun festivals of the season, especially if you love cask beer. See you there.

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Collaborating On The Next Session

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May’s Session should not be a lonely affair, but instead should bring more of us together to collaborate. That’s because the next Session’s host, Mario Rubio, has chosen as the theme, Collaborations, which he describes as follows.

Feel free to have fun with the topic. Drink a collaborative beer. Who’s brewed some of your favorite collaborations? Who have been some of your favorite collaborators? Who would you like to see in a future collaboration?

As the topic is collaborations, working with each other is encouraged.

So alone, or in groups, join us in collaborating on the Session Friday, May 7. Afterward, group hug.

Oakland Brewing Finds A Home

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Steve McDaniel and the folks trying to launch Oakland Brewing Co. have some good news. They’ve found a location, finally. It’s the Old Cottonmill building at 1010 22nd Avenue in Oakland. It looks like a great old brick building with some history to it. As Steve is quick to remind me, they still have a very long way to go before the building can be turned into a working brewery, but if their luck holds they hope to have beer in the market by the end of 2010.

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The building, I’m told, is located “a short diagonal off Livingston Street (terminating at I-880), which intersects Embarcadero where Quinn’s Lighthouse sits, just northwest from Coast Guard Island. Once you’re on 22nd Ave, drive toward the freeway and the building will be on your right … if you hit Numi Tea at I-880, you’ve gone too far. Irish Monkey Cellars, who make a fine Cabernet Franc, is right in that same area too.”

You can see more photos of the building at their website.

Join Me For A Beer Dinner At Anchor With Sierra Nevada

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Join me for a five-course beer dinner at the Anchor Brewery in San Francisco celebrating Sierra Nevada Brewing‘s 30h anniversary and the release of their first collaboration of the year, Fritz & Ken’s Ale, which is a stout.

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There are only five seats left for the beer dinner, which will take place on April 1 (no fooling). Here are the particulars.

Join two of the original craft-brewing pioneers for an intimate one-night-only celebration of beer and food at the historic Anchor Brewery in San Francisco. Anchor Brewing’s Fritz Maytag, and Sierra Nevada’s Ken Grossman will be celebrating the release of their collaboration beer, Fritz and Ken’s Ale, in honor of Sierra Nevada’s 30th anniversary. Come and join us for a 5-course dinner packed with unique rare and vintage beers, seated amongst the kettles in the legendary Anchor brewhouse.

Reception starts at 6:00 PM on April 1st, 2010 at Anchor Brewing Company, 1705 Mariposa Street
San Francisco, CA 94107

Five-Course meal, 11 interesting beers, and souvenir glassware.

$100 tickets, limited to 60 seats, no tickets available at the door.

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Tickets must be purchased online, they won’t be available at the door. You can get them at ClicknPrint Tickets. I’ll see you there.

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Ken Grossman and Fritz Maytag in the Anchor brewhouse, where the dinner will be held next Thursday.