Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

Socialize

Bay Area Firkin Fest Announced

By

Mark your calendars. The 5th annual Bay Area Firkin Gravity Festival has just been announced. It will take place beginning at 11:00 a.m. on April 5 at Triple Rock Brewery in Berkeley, California. The cost will be $25, which includes a commemorative glass along with a certain number samples (still to determined) with additional tastings available for a nominal fee. This event has quickly become “the” real ale festival in the Bay Area and I’m sure they’ll have something special lined up for their fifth anniversary. Last year there were two dozen breweries in attendance and I suspect we’ll see even more again this year. See you there.
 


 

4.5

Bay Area Firkin Gravity Festival (5th annual)

Triple Rock Brewery, 1920 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, California
510.843.2739 [ website ]

 

Moylan’s To Squeeze Kilt Lifter Into Six-Packs

By

Moylan’s Brewing of Novato, California has always had many, if not all, of their beers available in 22 oz. bottles. For the first time they’re debuting one of their beers, Kilt Lifter Scotch Ale, in six-packs of 12-oz. bottles.

From the press release:

Moylan’s Brewing Company will be sending six-pack bottles to the shelves come late January of 2008, just in time for the Superbowl in February. Moylan’s world-wide award winning Kilt Lifter Scotch Ale will be available in selected retail locations with suggested prices from $8.99-9.99. Denise Jones, Moylan’s Brewmaster, journeyed up to Sudwerk Brewing Company, in Davis CA, to work on expanding and perfecting the brewing of the ever popular Scotch Ale in a larger capacity; an agreement created partly out of owner Brendan Moylan’s respect for Sudwerk, it’s Brewmaster, and the quality of beer brewed onsite, and partly due to the desire to reach more customers with different packaging options. Moylan’s Brewing Company is excited about the reception of the new packaging and, if all goes well, plan on increasing the selection to include other award winning ales in smaller options. Curtis Cassidy, sales manager at Moylan’s Brewing Company states, “Starting off, we will be offering the new bottle size exclusively to California customers. After testing the waters with the Kilt Lifter six-packs, we plan on moving other Moylan’s beers into six-packs as well. We hope to be taking steps towards these goals by the end of 2008.”

The new Kilt Lifter in a 12 oz. bottle.

And the new Kilt Lifter six-pack carrier.

 

New Beer TV Show … Maybe

By

A company from Sacramento, California — The Idea Factory — was in town Monday and Tuesday shooting a pilot for a new television show about craft beer. They’ve already done several successful cable shows, and their work can currently be seen on the Garden Channel, the DIY channel and Discovery Health.

The host is brewer Jennifer Talley, who is from Squatter’s Pub in Utah. Idea Factory producer Peter Holmes saw Talley in a video she did for her brewery and thought she’d be a good host, making the show both about brewers (and brewing and beer) and by brewers, which I think may be the first time for a television show. In talking with the producer, their initial pitch will likely be made to the Food Network or similar cable channels. And I think that makes sense, as there is significant time devoted to beer with food in what they filmed already.

They started out with Talley interviewing Shaun O’Sullivan at his 21st Amendment Brewery & Restaurant. In the afternoon both O’Sullivan and Talley visited Magnolia and sat down to talk with owner Dave McLean over some food and beer. Then on Tuesday they filmed at Russian River Brewing in Santa Rosa. They filmed at both the new production brewery nearby and at the brewpub. Later Bruce Paton, the beer chef, cooked some food and he sat down with Talley and Russian River owners Vinnie and Natalie Cilurzo to talk about the pairings while they enjoyed both the food and beer.

While it’s obviously hard to say too much until it’s been edited, the raw footage I watched seemed pretty good. Everybody I met involved with the production from the producers, the cameramen and make-up all seemed professional and did a great job. Plus, they were all very genuinely nice people. The participants seemed natural on camera and it had the feel of a conversation you’d want to listen in on. The passion that many of us feel for craft beer (and food) comes out pretty easily and this was a good illustration of that principle in action. We all love to talk about beer. The only question remaining: is the rest of America ready to listen?

I wish them luck and it would certainly be great to see a show about craft beer that’s done by people who actually know what they’re talking about. So keep your fingers crossed. I’ll post updates as I learn more, but I imagine this is a long, slow process.
 

For more photos from the beer show tv pilot shoot, visit the photo gallery.
 

Pacific Coast Brewing’s “A Taste of Holiday Beers”

By

The 19th annual holiday beer tasting at Pacific Coast Brewing in Oakland is this Saturday from Noon to 4:00 p.m. Sad to say, I’ve never managed to make it to this one but everybody tells me it’s a great event.
 

 

12.8

Pacific Coast Brewing’s Taste of Holiday Beers (19th annual)

Pacific Coast Brewing, 906 Washington Street, Oakland, California
510.836.2739 [ website ]

 

Moylan’s Brewing Dinner at Noonan’s

By

After the great success of Noonan’s last beer dinner featuring Arne Johnson’s beers from Marin Brewing, they’re hosting another one, this time featuring Denise Jone’s beers from Moylan’s Brewing from my hometown of Novato. It will be a four-course dinner and should be well worth the $79 price of admission. It will be held at the Noonan’s Bar & Grill in Larkspur (across from the ferry landing) on Thursday, November 15, 2007, beginning with a reception at 7:00 p.m. Call 415.342.1592 for more information and reservations.

 

The Menu:

 

Reception: 7:00 PM

Northern California Artisan Cheese Plate, including Vella Farms Daisy Cheddar, Laura Chenel Chevre, Point Reyes Blue and Joe Matos St. George

Beer: Moylan’s Brewery Celts Golden Ale and Moylan’s Brewery Dragoons Irish Stout

Dinner: 7:30 PM

First Course

Seared Sesame Crusted Ahi Tuna with frisee, red onion, soy ginger viniagrette

Beer: Moylan’s Brewery White Christmas Witbier

Second Course:

Autumn Vegetable Soup with huajillo chile broth

Beer: Moylan’s Brewery Moylander Double IPA and Pomegranate Wheat Ale Granita

Third Course:

Roasted Niman Ranch Pork Roulade with pignoli & wild mushroom stuffing, red cabbage, potato pancake, sweet onion white wine reduction

Beer: Moylan’s Brewery “Moylanfest” Oktoberfest Marzen

Fourth Course:

Granny Smith Apple & Triple Cream Brie Turnover with port candied cranberries & fig chutney garnish

Beer: A trio of Moylan’s Brewery barrel aged beers: Old Blarney Barleywine, Ryan Sullivan’s Imperial Stout and Hopsickle Imperial Ale

Denise Jones behind the bar at Moylan’s.

 
11.15

Moylan’s Brewing Beer Dinner with Denise Jones

Noonan’s Bar and Grill, 2233 Larkspur Landing Circle, Larkspur, California
415.342.1592 [ event website ]
 

Marin Munchies

By

Thursday night in Marin was delicious, with Brendan Moylan’s newest venture, Noonan’s Bar & Grill, which like Marin Brewing is also located at Larkspur Landing in Larkspur, hosting a beer dinner conceived by head brewer Arne Johnson. Arne put the menu and the pairing together, working with Noonan’s chef Jose Flores.

Arne Johnson sporting his four gold medals won the previous week at the Great American Beer Festival with Brendan Moylan, owner of Marin Brewing.

All of Arne’s pairings were good, but none worked quite as well as his dry, chocolately Pt. Reyes Porter with the pork mole empañadas with fresh cotija cheese.

Brendan Moylan with chef Jose Flores, explaining how he prepared some of the dishes.

The main course; Petaluma duck breast with pale ale braised beet greens, sage & queso fresco polenta and ancho chili orange sauce paired with Arne’s Imperial IPA, White Knuckle. The big hop beer did a great job of stripping the heat from the dish, which is great because I’m a hot spice wuss.

Rodger Davis, formerly of Drake’s, Beer Chef Bruce Paton and Arne Johnson.

After the dinner, Arne opened some special bottles from his personal stash.

 

Marin Brewing Beer Dinner at Noonan’s

By

It’s definitely beer dinner season, and that’s a very good thing. The next one in the Bay Area will feature Arne Johnson’s beers from Marin Brewing Co.. It will be a four-course dinner and should be well worth the $69 price of admission. It will be held at the Noonan’s Bar & Grill in Larkspur (across from the ferry landing) on Thursday, October 18, 2007, beginning with a reception at 7:00 p.m. Call 415.342.1592 for more information and reservations. I’ll see you there.

 

The Menu:

 

Reception: 7:00 PM

A Trio of Tostada: Nopalitos, Mixed Seafood Ceviche, Beef Salpicon

Beer: Mt. Tam Pale Ale

Dinner: 7:30 PM

First Course

Avocado/Cabbage Salad with margarita marinated prawns and citrus vinaigrette

Beer: Tiburon Blonde

Second Course:

Pork Mole Empañadas with fresh cotija cheese

Beer: Pt. Reyes Porter

Third Course:

Petaluma Duck Breast with Pale Ale braised beet greens, sage & queso fresco polenta and ancho chili orange sauce

Beer: White Knuckle

Fourth Course:

Oàxaca Molten Chocolate Cake, served ala mode with coconut ice cream

Beer: Barrel Aged Quad

Arne and me at another Brewer’s Dinner, this one at last year’s GABF.

 
10.18

Marin Brewing Beer Dinner with Arne Johnson

Noonan’s Bar and Grill, 2233 Larkspur Landing Circle, Larkspur, California
415.342.1592 [ event website ]
 

Critiquing the Critiquers

By

olympia
The tagline from one of my favorite graphic novels, The Watchmen by Alan Moore, is “Who Watches the Watchmen,” which itself is taken from one of the Roman writer Juvenal’s Satires. The notion of who keeps honest the people entrusted to keep people honest is as relevant today — and possibly more so — as it was in First Century Rome when Juvenal first penned the phrase. With blogs this is done quite simply, with the blogosphere policing itself, in effect, as we endlessly comment on one another’s work. This often leads to a healthy exchange of ideas and is personally one of my favorite aspects of writing online.

oly-cakes

Back in July, I picked up on a item from the Oakland Tribune in which staff food writer Steve Dulas wrote about making pancakes with Olympia Beer, insisting it must be Oly or nothing. I didn’t think it would make much of a difference, and said so in my own post about Oly Pancakes.

Over at SF Weekly there’s a regular blog called The Snitch written by Joe Eskenazi and at the same time he also questioned the Oly mandate and tried making the pancakes using different beers for comparison. At the time I wrote my post, I commented on both the original piece from the Oakland Tribune along with The Snitch’s take. As what goes around, comes around, the Snitch today made my critique the story of the day.

In Joe’s original take on this story, he felt that Arthur Guinness would roll over in his grave should anyone have the temerity to try using his Irish stout for making pancakes. I took exception to that and this time around The Snitch tried making pancakes with Guinness, just to see if Artie’s ghost would indeed haunt him, and the results are as funny as they are illuminating. I just love the circular nature of the internet, it reminds of … well, pancakes. Well done, Joe, now I’m hungry again.

Killing Ugly Radio One Beer At A Time

By

Last year I wrote that Tony Magee, the iconoclastic owner/brewer of Lagunitas Brewing has been a big Frank Zappa fan most of his life. That’s still true and he’s kept his promise to keep releasing Frank Zappa beers as the anniversaries of each album comes to pass. First it was Freak Out and now Lagunitas has released Kill Ugly Radio, which was apparently the name Zappa wanted to call his second album. The record company said no, and instead it was known as Absolutely Free. The new beer was also made with the permission of Zappa’s widow, Gail Zappa (who runs the Zappa Family Trust). Like the last one, the label uses artwork from the album.

When the Celebrator panel tried it for the New Releases section of the latest issue, here’s what we thought of the beer:

Like a cacophony of Zappa’s music, there’s a lot going on in this beer. In some ways it’s a bit like a saison on steroids with the peppery, zesty spices you’d expect, but with a very big hop presence. Perhaps a little unbalanced, but then so was Zappa. Again, like Zappa, it’s big and eccentric with a lot of tangents of flavors, in the end a fitting tribute. Highly Recommended for fans, merely Recommended for people who don’t get Zappa.

 

Click on the label for a larger view.
 

Hunt’s Hop Tea

By

teapot
A few weeks ago while helping Moonlight with their hop harvest, owner/brewer Brian Hunt broke out something I’d never seen before: hop tea. Now I’ve seen regular hop tea before, I’ve even bought some at the health food store and tried it, but this was something totally different. Brian told me the idea grew out of an experiment he was doing to see how hops reacted at different temperatures, which he presented at “Hop School” a few years ago. He discovered in the process that he could make a delicious hop tea and that it varied widely depending on the temperature of the water. Here’s how it works:

  1. Put approximately two-dozen fresh hop cones in a 16 oz. mason jar.
  2. Heat water to __X__ temperature.
  3. Fill jar with heated water and seal cap.
  4. Let the water come down to ambient room temperature.
  5. Refrigerate.
  6. Drink.

There appears to be four main factors that change depending on the temperature of the water. These are:

  1. Color
  2. Float
  3. Bitterness
  4. Tannins

hop-tea-1

Intrigued by all of this and quite curious, Brian brought out seven examples of his hop tea made with water of different temperatures: 60°, 120°, 130°, 140°, 160°, 180° and 185°. They’re shown above from lower to higher temperature, left to right.

As you can see, the lower the temperature, the more green the hops are and the water remains less cloudy. At the higher temperatures, the hops are stripped of their green, becoming brown, and the water also becomes more brown. Also, as the temperature increases, the hops lose their buoyancy and begin to sink in the water. Although you can’t see it in the photo, the hotter the water, the more hop bitterness and at the upper range, tannins begin to emerge. Here’s what I found:

  • 60°: Fresh, herbal aromas with some hop flavors, but it’s light.
  • 120°: Bigger aromas, less green more vegetal flavors.
  • 130°: Also big aromas emerging, flavors beginning to become stronger, too, but still refreshingly light.
  • 140°: More pickled, vinegary aroma, no longer subtle with biting hop character and strong flavors.
  • 160°: Very big hop aromas with strong hop flavors, too, with a touch of sweetness. Tannins are becoming evident but are still restrained.
  • 180°: Big hop and vinegary aromas, with flavors becoming too astringent and tannins becoming overpowering.
  • 185°: Vinegary aromas, way too bitter and tannins still overpowering.

hop-tea-2
Trying each of the tea samples with Tim Clifford, who writes for Northwest Brewing News.

hop-tea-3

Brian was kind enough to let me take a small bag of fresh hops with me so I could recreate his experiment at home. I had enough for four samples and made tea at 100°, 140° and 160°. Using two dozen hop cones made the jars look light so I used three-dozen in the last jar, also using 160° water. I tasted them with my wife, hoping to get a civilian opinion, too. Here’s what we found:

  • 100°: Hops still green and floating. The nose was very vegetal and reminded my wife of the water leftover in the pot after you’ve steamed vegetables like broccoli or Brussels sprouts. The mouthfeel is somewhat gritty with light, refreshing flavors and only a little bitterness, which dissipates quickly.
  • 140°: Hops turned brown, but still floating. Light hop aromas with some smokey, roasted aromas and even a hint of caramel. Fresh hop flavors with a clean finish. My wife, however, made that puckering bitter face signaling she found it repugnant.
  • 160°: Hops turned brown, but most has sunk to the bottom of the jar. Strong hop aromas and few negatives, at least from my point of view. My wife was still making that face, cursing me for dragging her into this. Hop bitterness had become more pronounced and tannins were now evident, with a lingering finish.
  • 160° Plus: This sample had 50% more hops. The hops had also turned brown but, curiously, they were still floating. The nose was vegetal with string hop aromas. With a gritty mouthfeel, the flavors were even more bitter covering the tannins just slightly, but they were still apparent, and the finish lingered bitterly.

It seems like either 140° or 160° is the right temperature. Lower than that and you don’t get enough hop character (I’m sure that’s why the hops remain green) but above that the tannins become too pronounced. It appears you have to already like big hop flavor or you’ll hate hop tea. I found it pretty enjoyable and even refreshing though it’s still probably best in small amounts. You do seem to catch a little buzz off of it, which doesn’t hurt. I’m sure the amount of hops is important and more research may be needed on that front. Brian tells me that hop pellets can also be used though I doubt the jar of tea looks as attractive using them. They have the advantage of being available year-round, of course. If you use pellets, you need only about a half-ounce for each pint jar.

If you try to make Hunt’s Hop Tea on your own, please let me know your results. And please do raise a toast to Brian Hunt’s ingenuity.