Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

Socialize

The Lagunitas Beer Circus Is Coming To Town Again

By

lagunitas-circle
This weekend — Sunday May 20 to be exact — the circus is once again coming to the town of Petaluma as the fourth annual Lagunitas Beer Circus will be held on the grounds of the Lagunitas Brewery. If you haven’t been to the beer circus before, it’s one of the most amazing events of the beer festival season. As their press release promises; “Come One, Come All to Petaluma! Witness death-defying aerialists acts, be amazed by human marvels, laugh at outrageous clowns, get thrilled by exotic burlesque dancers, head-spinning sideshows and so much more to dazzle your mind.”

Lagunitas Beer Circus Girl IPA closeup

Tickets are a reasonable $40, which includes gets you a commemorative glass and 3 tokens good for three 16oz. beers, but you can always buy additional beers. Tickets can be be purchased at either online, by phone at 707.769.4495 or at the Lagunitas Brewery Schwag Shop, located on the same spot as where the circus will take place: 1280 N. McDowell in Petaluma. The event is for adults only, goes from 1:00-6:00 p.m., and will benefit the Petaluma Music Festival and Music In Schools.

The circus acts and musical groups performing on Sunday include the Vau de Vire Society, the Extra Action Marching Band, The Moral Minority, The Ferocious Few, the Sour Mash Hug Band, Wanderlust Circus, Kehoe Nation, Cyclecide, artist Neal Barbosa painting live, “Bed of Nails, Roller Girls, Sword Swallowers, Snake Dancers, Burlesque Dancers, Contortionists … and so much more!”

But wait, there’s more, here’s the food and beer listing from the press release:

Great food! Beyond the Glory (wings, pork sliders, pork shanks), Extreme Pizza, Hog Island Oysters, Bros BBQ (bbq & paella), Sift (cupcakes), Roy’s @ the Yard (hot dogs), Tres Hombres (burritos, tacos), Toad in the Hole (bangers on a bun) Cotton Candy, and Those Fabulous Frickle Brothers… and much more!

Great Beer! Lagunitas, Moylan’s, Marin, Russian River, 3rd St. Aleworks, Stumptown, 21st Amendment, Moonlight, Dempsey’s, Anchor Brewing, North Coast, Iron Springs, Napa Smith, Henhouse Brewing, Palo Alto Brewing, Sonoma Springs, and Ace Cider.

LagunitasBeerCircus2012_poster

Faction Brewing Finds Location In Alameda

By

Faction-temp
I ran into Rodger Davis yesterday, who was uncharacteristically grinning from ear to ear. He had some pretty amazing news. His new venture, Faction Brewery, has found a location. He’s signed a lease on a property — a hanger, really — in Alameda right next to St. George Spirits. It’s great to see things moving forward. The next step is to move the brewery equipment from where its stored in New York and begin the process of actually building the brewery. Congratulations to Rodger and Claudia, and it can now only be a matter of time before the beer starts flowing.

Tasting The Bay: SF Beer Week 2012

By

sf-bw-2012
Here’s yet another video showcasing SF Beer Week. This one is brought to you by the Top Shelf Society. It has great production value and music, including what I can only assume is an original song, Beer by the Bay, “written and performed by Jefferson Bergey.” There’s a lot from the opening celebration and then a few other events are highlighted. Nice job.

Beer Birthday Again: Jay Brooks

By

brookston
Today was my 53rd birthday, and I’ve once again been overwhelmed by an embarrassment of riches from well-wishers sending me notes via e-mail, Twitter and Facebook. My sincere thanks to one and all. As it’s usually me posting embarrassing photos of my friends and colleagues, for the fourth year in a row, here’s some howlers of me from over the years.

indian-birthday
An indian birthday at my grandmother’s house. No idea what year this was. It couldn’t be later than the mid-1960s.

having-a-ball
I can’t even believe this is me, it’s so posed. And what’s with the black baseball? Why is that the prop they chose?

moms-2nd-wedding
At my mom’s second wedding to my stepfather in 1964, before he became a psychotic alcoholic.

gettysburg-cannon
Sitting on a cannon at the battlefield in Gettysburg.

comb-over
An elementary school photo, where they wet my hair and combed it in a way that I never, ever did, except in this photo. It almost looks like I’m bald and it’s a comb-over.

green-and-purple
It’s hard to tell in this early 1970s photo, but that outfit was green and purple; green jacket and tie with a purple shirt. Sheesh.

There’s many more where these came from, for a good laugh just check out the photos from the last three years at Beer Birthday: Jay Brooks, Beer Birthday: J (Yes, Embarrasing Myself This Time) and Beer Birthday Overkill, from 2009, when I posted a bunch encompassing my first 50 years on planet beer. Oh, and thanks once again to everybody for the generous birthday wishes.

Master Cicerone Chosen For SF Zagat 30 Under 30

By

cicerone-circle
At last week’s Three Ring Circus beer dinner, Nicole Erny teased that she had big news coming this week, but told us she was sworn to secrecy. Well today she could finally reveal her news. Erny, who recently became the first female Master Cicerone — and only the fourth overall — has been selected by Zagat as one of their 30 Under 30: San Francisco’s Hottest Up-and-Comers. As for “why she made the list,” Zagat had this to say:

Sitting at the rusty old table with her grandfather as a child tasting different kinds of pears and plums from his orchard is what this up-and-comer credits for developing the neural pathways between the tongue and brain that are so integral in deciphering the nuances of beverages. In addition to being the exam manager for beer sommelier program Cicerone, she’s also its first female Master and is a leading figure on the San Francisco brewscape, especially during annual Beer Week. Blogging and tweeting under the handle @beer_muse, her mission is to raise the bar on how restaurants treat beer as part of their beverage program, with the help, of course, of gals like her.

Join me in congratulating Nicole on this latest honor. Things are really starting to happen for her, and it’s great seeing more and more people turning their passions into careers. Way to go, Nicole!

DSC_1643
Nicole and me at Sean Paxton’s Three Ring Circus beer dinner last Wednesday. (photo by Mike Condie.)

Bistro Double IPA Winners 2012

By

bistro
Knee Deep Brewing‘s Hopologist DIPA was chosen best in show at the 12th annual Double IPA Festival today at the Bistro in Hayward, California. The full winner’s list is below.

And for the second straight year:

And for the first time, Triple IPAs were judged this year. Since there were only fifteen, only first and second places were awarded.

Congratulations to all the winners.

Beer In Ads #540: SF Beer Week 2012

By


Friday’s ad couldn’t be more new, less historical, if it tried. It’s the new poster for this year’s SF Beer Week, which begins today. This year’s poster may be the best yet. Each of the objects, people, places, things represent the name of a local beer, so it’s game, as well as a piece of cool art. See how many you can find and figure out.

sf-beer-week-2012

New Sour Beer Brewery In Bay Area Announced

By

rare-barrel
Yesterday I received the word that there’s a new brewery opening soon in the Bay Area. It’s called The Rare Barrel and they’ll be a gypsy brewery specializing in sour beers. By gypsy, they mean to brew at area breweries and then ferment, age, package and serve their beers at their own facility, with that location still to be determined. One of the founders, Jay Goodwin, used to be the Head of Barrel Aging at The Bruery, so he knows his way around a barrel room.

Rare-Barrel

From the press release:

Northern California is rich in brewing tradition and is home to some of the best breweries in the world. Hoping to add to this proud history, we are pleased to announce that we will be launching an all-sour, all-barrel aged “gypsy” brewery in the San Francisco Bay Area named The Rare Barrel.

What do we mean by “gypsy” brewery? We plan to partner with the great breweries of the Bay Area for our brewing needs, and we will be building our own barrel warehouse for fermentation, packaging and serving our beers to the public.

Our team is made up of people committed to producing the highest quality sour beer. Co-founders Jay Goodwin, former Brewer and Head of Barrel Aging at The Bruery in Orange County, Alex Wallash, homebrewer and Sales Representative in biotechnology, and Brad Goodwin, entrepreneur in the pharmaceutical industry, make up our crew of passionate craft beer lovers.

We hope to release more details of our plan over the next few months. We look forward to producing beer with experimental methods, a singular focus on quality sours, and a commitment to the craft beer community.

No word yet on when we’ll see, or more importantly taste, the first beers, but you can follow their progress on The Rare Barrel Blog or on the website.

In the meantime, here’s how the describe the idea for The Rare Barrel:

As Head of Barrel Aging at The Bruery, Jay started focusing on inoculation and management of the sour barrels. The brewers would send him wort and he had a whole warehouse full of barrels to play with. The idea was born there. Why not team up with breweries here at home in the Bay Area and start entire sour-only barrel warehouse to Northern California?

Since sour beers will take over 1 year to mature (a long time!), they are brewed less frequently due to limited fermentation space. Jay quickly realized that if they built their own brew house, it would collect probably a good amount of dust. Therefore, they decided to partner with host breweries in the Bay Area to produce our wort. While a host brewery will produce their wort, The Rare Barrel will manage fermentation, blending, packaging, and distribution. This model ultimately allows The Rare Barrel to maximize barrel aging capacity while supporting local craft breweries. It’s a win-win situation!