Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Announcing “High Water Brewing”

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high-water
You may recall the formerly wonderful beers of Valley Brewing in Stockton, California. That was due to one singular reason, their longtime brewmaster, Steve Altimari. Steve’s beers have became some of the most creative, innovative and diverse of any brewer. He perfected one style after another and brewed some truly experimental gems. His Uber Hoppy Imperial IPA was one of the best and his London Tavern Ale, a delicate English-style mild was a great session beer. But back on June 12th of last year, Steve was summarily dismissed under circumstances that could charitably be termed “odd.” I got the full story a couple of days after that, when I spoke to Steve in New York, where he was vacationing with his family. The owners initially told him that they’d sold the brewery (something he himself had been trying to do at that same time) and that the new bosses no longer needed his services. That tuned out to be not true in the least, and they instead brought in a scab brewer who flew in from Bend, Oregon, apparently, to do the brewing. I’m told they also locked Steve out of the brewery and refused to return his personal property that was there, including beer, barrels, etc. The good news was that since he’d been trying to buy Valley brewery, he already had investors and a management team in place.

So it’s six or so months later, and I’m pleased to announce that Steve’s new brewery — High Water Brewing — has begun brewing. They’ve set up offices and cold storage in San Leandro, California, near Drake’s Brewing, whose brewing equipment they’ll be using to make High Water’s beer. They’re also installing their own fermenters on site but will store the finished beer in their separate offices nearby.

high-water-logo

Initially, they’ll be offering three regular beers:

  • Hop Riot IPA (7.3% a.b.v. / 73 IBUs)
  • Retribution Imperial IPA (9.5% a.b.v. / 95 IBUs)
  • Old and In the Way Barleywine (11% a.b.v. / 95 IBUs)

The beers will debut on draft — 5 & 15.5 gallon kegs — in February during SF Beer Week (yet another reason I can’t wait for SF Beer Week!). Packaged beer, in 22 oz. bottles, will follow in early Spring, most likely in April. You can see the new labels on the website. They’re also still seeking additional investors, and if you’re interested, you can read about High Water’s investment opportunities.

high-water

In the interest of full disclosure, the name High Water Brewing was suggested by me in a post back in June when this all went down, and after an exhaustive search, my suggestion turned out to be the one they liked best. The founders of the brewery were kind enough to thank me by awarding me some shares in the company, giving me a very teeny tiny interest in the company, essentially a symbolic, but very much appreciated gesture.

Update On Jamil’s Heretic Brewery

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heretic
I ran into Jamil Zainasheff at the annual CSBA meeting yesterday at Anchor Brewery and I found out a little bit more about his commercial venture, Heretic Brewing. All I knew before is that it would be somewhere in the East Bay. The brewery, I learned, will be in Pittsburg, and in fact he’ll be sharing E.J. Phair’s new 30-bbl brewhouse across the street from their alehouse at the Liberty Hotel in an arrangement known as “alternating proprietorship.” That’s the official term that the TTB uses to “describe an arrangement in which two or more people take turns using the physical premises of a brewery.” So he won’t be contract brewing, but instead the two breweries will remain separate and distinct, in effect taking turns using the equipment.

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Jamil and me yesterday at Anchor.

Bay Area Craft Beer Festival This Saturday

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This Saturday, October 23, another new festival will kick off in the Bay Area, in this case Martinez. The Bay Area Craft Beer Festival will be held in the historic Cannery District at the Martinez Waterfront Park, located at 333 Ferry St. in downtown Martinez from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. Tickets are $35 for general admission or $50 for a VIP ticket, which gets you in an hour earlier, at Noon. Tickets can be purchased online or at several locations throughout the Bay Area. Check out the festival website for details.

Admission includes includes a commemorative glass, unlimited tastings and entertainment, which includes three bands. Over thirty breweries will be pouring their beer. Food will also be available for a separate purchase. The festival will take place indoors, so it’s rain or shine.

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Bistro IPA Festival Winners 2010

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Rodger Davis’ IPAX IPA, from Triple Rock in Berkeley, California, was chosen best in show at the 13th annual IPA Festival earlier today at the Bistro in Hayward, California. The full list of winners is below.

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Me and Rodger Davis, brewer of the first place IPAX IPA at this year’s IPA Festival at The Bistro.

Beer In Art #86: Erik Olsen’s Faux Beer Posters

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Today’s works of art are by an illustrator apparently living in the Bay Area, Erik Olsen. I say apparently, because a number of the links from his blogs are dead ends, and the faux beer poster’s I’m highlighting here were abandoned in 2006 after only three posts on that blog, Faux Posters. He created three posters as an homage to the great beer posters on the early 20th century. There he described the idea for the project:

It’s a tribute to some of the great poster designs in the early twentieth century. (Specifically those early French beer posters) Our first series is focused on the theme “beer”, each series of 12 prints will be focused on a new topic with limited prints runs. We have many sizes of prints available, everything for the beginner collector to the serious collector. Stay tuned as we add new Images and new themes to our gallery as we design more Faux Prints!

Unfortunately, only these three were done, beginning with the monster below.

Erik_Olsen-Monster
Bete Biere translates as “Beast Beer,” with the slogan “Ugly But Delicious.”

Erik_Olsen-Mermaid
Biere de Sirene, essentially the Siren’s Beer and the slogan is “Faire attention a l’Appel” or “Heed the Call.”

Erik_Olsen-Prehistoric
“Biere Prehistorique,” simply Prehistoric Beer, “Aged to Perfection.”

The first and the third are available for purchase as a poster, but it’s looks like he abandoned the project before the Mermaid was made available.

You can read Olsen’s biography and see his resume. There’s also a portfolio at his personal website and a few more on Coroflot.

Betsey’s Belgians

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In my newspaper column two weeks ago, entitled Betsey’s Belgians, I highlighted Waterloo Beverages and the new beers they’re bringing in from Belgium. The beers are being brought in by a friend of mine, Betsey Hensley, who used to work at the Toronado. Since these beers are so good and I think deserve a chance to catch on with customers, I wanted to highlight each one of them a bit more and let you know where they can be found, at least so far.

st-amand

Abbaye de St Amand

Brewery: Brunehaut Brewery
Beer: Belgian Strong Pale Ale
A.B.V. 7%
Package: 330 ml bottle-conditioned
Organic: no
Notes: the Abbaye de Sint Amand, a bottle-conditioned strong blonde ale spiced with Juniper berries. The Juniper is subtle and gives just a hint of the berry’s distinctive flavors and has a great dry finish.

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Arend Tripel

Brewery: Brouwerij De Ryck
Beer: Belgian Tripel
A.B.V. 8%
Package: 330 ml bottle-conditioned
Organic: no
Notes: The Arend Tripel from the Brouwerij de Ryck, is a favorite of local brewer Brian Hunt, who owns Moonlight Brewing in Santa Rosa. Hunt tells me, in fact, that he asked Hensley to bring in the beer, as he waxes poetically about the brewery. De Ryck “is a third-generation family brewery, and makes some of the finest beers in the world, with a brilliancy and passion you don’t often see.” After a visit to the brewery, he’d become friends with Anne De Ryck, one of Belgium’s few women brewers. “I don’t think a man can make that beer. Her beers have a grace that I haven’t found in others. We can’t make it, but we can appreciate it.” And it is a beautiful beer, soft and subtle, with some delicate flavors. It may simply be the best tripel you’ve never heard of.

Bersalis

Bersalis

Brewery: Oud Beersel; brewed at Brouwerij Huyghe
Beer: Belgian Tripel
A.B.V. 9.5%
Package: 330 ml bottle
Organic: no
Notes: The brewery’s only non-lambic beer, Bersalis, a tripel they created to help finance the operations of the museum brewery where they make their lambics. It uses wheat, as well as malt, to soften it and includes some spices to give it great citrus and spicy notes. It has a nice dry finish, and you’d never guess it’s 9.5% a.b.v.

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Gageleer

Brewery: De Proef [website currently offline]
Beer: Belgian Pale Ale
A.B.V. 7.5%
Package: 330 ml bottle-conditioned
Organic: yes
Notes: Gagaleer is a blonde brewed with sweet gale (a.k.a. bog myrtle) a traditional spice used in gruits that pre-date the use of hops in beer, though it’s used primarily here as a spice. The beer also uses local barley and Belgian hops. The beer is honey sweet and the finish is candy sweet, balanced by the bitterness of the sweet gale and hops.

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Ichtegems Grand Cru

Brewery: Brouwerij Strubbe
Beer: Flanders Red Ale
A.B.V. 6.5%
Package: 330 ml bottle
Organic: no
Notes: The Ichtegems Grand Cru, from the De Strubbe Brewery, is a Flemish red ale aged in oak barrels. It has a malty nose and flavors, with just a touch of sourness, a creamy mouthfeel and a sweet finish.

jessenhofke

Jessenhofke

Brewery: De Proef [website currently offline]
Beer: Belgian Strong Pale Ale
A.B.V. 8%
Package: 750 ml bottle-conditioned, cork & cage
Organic: yes
Notes: This beer is brewed with unrefined cane sugar giving it a ruddy complexion along with organic hops — Challenger, Goldings & Fuggles — from Poperinge, organic malt and there’s also organic garlic used in the brewing process. The garlic provides mostly body and mouthfeel, though it is evident in the aroma.

leireken-bio

Leireken Wild Berries

Brewery: Brouwerij Strubbe
Beer: Fruit Lambic
A.B.V. 8%
Package: 750 ml bottle-conditioned, cork & cage
Organic: yes
Notes: Leireken Wild Berries is a bottle-conditioned fruit beer made with the juice of pomegranates, cherries and strawberries, along with the pulp from blueberries, raspberries and the red elderberry, all organic and unfiltered. Surprisingly, the beer is more tart than sweet, and is refreshingly light and zesty. According to their website it’s “is based on Leireken White Spelt, an organic beer brewed from spelt. Spelt is a hardy ancient type of wheat that grows well in nutritionally poor soil. Its slow maturation process allows the plant to absorb a maximum of minerals from the soil. The 12th century medieval abbess Hildegard von Bingen, later Saint Hildegard, endorsed spelt, calling it “the healing grain.” (She’s actually quoted as saying, “It is rich and nourishing and milder than other grains. It produces a strong body and healthy blood to those who eat it and it makes the spirit of man light and cheerful”).”

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Oude Geuze Vieille

Brewery: Oud Beersel
Beer: Gueuze
A.B.V. 6%
Package: 750 ml bottle
Organic: no
Notes: The Oud Beersel brewery is a working museum just like Cantillon in Brussels. According to their website, “Oud Beersel Oude Geuze is one of nature’s miracles. Oude Geuze is a blend of lambic from different years. One year old lambic is still readily fermentable. Two year old and three year old lambic main contribution is to the taste. Blending the lambic produces a sparkling beer that is made in accordance with time-honored traditions. Oud Beersel Oude Geuze notable hop and fruit character is much appreciated.”

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Oude Kriek Vieille

Brewery: Oud Beersel
Beer: Fruit Lambic
A.B.V. 6.5%
Package: 750 ml bottle
Organic: no
Notes: Oud Beersel’s website describes Oude Kriek as “an artisanal product, made from real cherries and Oud Beersel Lambic from old barrels. Once the cherries have been added to the Lambic, they are slowly absorbed into the Lambic, which develops a fruity character and a red colour.
Oud Beersel Oude Kriek is unique of its type in that it contains around 400 grams of cherries per litre of Oude Kriek. Oud Beersel Oude Kriek has no added sugar and contains no artificial flavourings or preservatives.” It’s only bottled once a year, and what’s available now was bottled last fall.

The beers are just rolling out to retailers and restaurants around the Bay Area. So far, you can find some or all of them at the following locations:

  • Beer Revolution
  • Bi Rite Market
  • Church Key
  • City Beer Store
  • Eastside West (Restaurant on Fillmore)
  • Healthy Spirits
  • Heaven’s Dog Restaurant
  • Jardiniare Restaurant
  • The Jug Shop
  • Lunardi’s Supermarkets
  • Monk’s Kettle
  • New Star-El
  • Noeteca Restaurant
  • Pi Bar
  • Shotwell
  • The Slanted Door Restaurant (Ferry Building)
  • Swirl
  • Toronado
  • The Village Market (Ferry Building)
  • Whole Foods (Haight Fillmore)

Short Pour Film Winner Announced

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“The inaugural Short Pour Film Festival on the subject of beer, which was announced last August, was judged last weekend. The films will debut at the Monterey Beer Festival on June 5th, 2010, from 12:30pm to 5pm.” The Winning Film, along with the entire One Hour & Twenty Minute Program, will be shown in the historic ”King City Room”, a 10,000 square foot building at the Monterey Fairgrounds (home to The Monterey Jazz Festival & The Monterey Blues Festival).

The overall winner is “The Swagger Stagger” in San Francisco by Sayre Piotrkowski, which you can watch below.

The runner-up was by the Beer Nation Show and titled “Legend of Craft Beer Bandit” by Mike Winn & Seth Wright.

The winners will also be screened at this year’s Great American Beer Festival in Denver, September 16-18.