Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Glass Bottle Workshop for Brewers

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On March 1, the California Small Brewers Association, in conjunction ProBrewer.com, will be leading a half-day seminar focusing on the “resources, equipment and financial requirements of transitioning from pre-pack to bulk purchasing and the supply of glass to the beer industry. Suppliers of glass bottles and other vendors will be in attendance. This forum will be an opportunity for both brewers and suppliers to discuss needs and issues in a positive and constructive conversation.”

The Glass Bottle Workshop will be held at the Lagunitas Brewery located at 1280 N. McDowell Blvd. in Petaluma, California. The seminar is free to CSBA members and registered ProBrewer.com users. The course fee is $50.00 for all others. A beer social will follow. To attend, you must pre-register by calling 530.265.0422.

Celebrator Beer News Anniversary Party This Sunday

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This coming Sunday is the 19th anniversary party for the Celebrator Beer News, one of the magazines that I write for. It will be held at Trumer Brauerei in Berkeley, California from 4 to 8 pm. This year will also feature a Mardi Gras theme, with three bands, craft beer from fifteen breweries and BBQ and Cajun/Creole food. Tickets are $40, and are available on-line from the Celebrator website. To get a flavor of what the party will be like, check out my photos from last year. I’ll be there, most likely working the door, so say hello when you check-in at the entrance.

 

From the press release:

The Celebrator Beer News will celebrate its 19th anniversary on February 18, 2007, with a Mardi Gras-themed party from 4 to 8 pm at the Trumer Brauerei in Berkeley, Calif.

At least 15 other breweries will pour favorite brews. Meet Celebrator writers and beer industry luminaries, including pioneer figures in the craft beer movement. Cajun/Creole food, music from three bands and beer are included!

Breweries pouring include Anchor Brewery, Anderson Valley, Pacific Coast, Deschutes, Ommegang, BridgePort, Russian River, Sierra Nevada, Triple Rock, Trumer Pils, Valley Brewing, Widmer/Redhook and more.

Music includes a Dixieland Jazz Band and an industry Battle of the Bands with performances by the Hysters (Anchor Brewery) and the industry-staffed Rolling Boil Blues Band!

Tickets are on sale now: $40 per person, including BBQ and Cajun/Creole food, beer and music. Discount rooms will be available at the Cathedral Hill Hotel in San Francisco ($79 per night). Call 800-622-0855 and ask for the Celebrator rate. If you want to stay in Berkeley after the event, there is a deal at the Hotel Durant. Call 510-845-8981 and ask for the Manager’s rate. This event takes place one day after the start of the Barleywine Festival at the Toronado!

For more information, call 510-538-2739. Ticket sales by Visa/MC, phone 800-430-BEER or buy tickets here through PayPal.

Bistro Double IPA Festival 2007

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The 7th annual Double IPA Festival was held yesterday at the Bistro in Hayward, California. There were 42 beers that we judged, narrowing it down to four. All four were terrific beers and any one of them could have ended up in first place, though ultimately Ballast Point Point Brewing‘s Dorado was the one we picked. Judging when pretty smoothly and we had a great group this time, including three Brits in town working on a CAMRA book on the west coast.

Judging in the cellar, trying to take the final ten beers and pick three winners.

Ben McFarland, this year’s British Beer Writer of the Year, and Tom Sandham. The pair are in town along with my friend Glenn Payne (who helped start Meantime Brewing) to work on a CAMRA guidebook for British and European tourists coming to the west coast.

The other end of the judging table, with me flanked by Pete Slosberg and Dave Keene.

While upstairs it was raining something firece.

Darn, I forget the woman on the left’s name, but the rest are Dave Keene (owner of the Toronado), Melissa Myers (with Drake’s Brewing) and Ed Chainey (with Anderson Valley Brewing).

Vinnie Cilurzo (from Russian River Brewing), Shaun O’Sullivan (from 21st Amendment) and Pete Slosberg share a Falstaff.

Double IPA Festival Winners

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Ballast Point Point Brewing‘s Dorado was chosen best in show at the 7th annual Double IPA Festival today at the Bistro in Hayward, California. The full winner list is below.

 
 

 
 

It’s the Hops, Stoopid

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Lagunitas is introducing a new line of beers in 22 oz. bottles under the name “Sonoma Farmhouse.” The idea according to Lagunitas owner Tony Magee is to be able to do different kinds of beers than the usual Lagunitas fare under the new label.

The Sonoma Farmhouse labels are a little more serious, less playful than the regular ones, too. They also lack Tony’s famous — or infamous — rambling label stories. But for what they’re missing on the outside, inside the bottle is another story. The first release is a Saison Style Ale, and it’s one of the best American versions of the style I’ve had. Like all good saisons, it’s very refreshing, clean and would be great with food. I’m told there are herbs and/or spices in the beer, but Tony’s not saying which one or ones. The beer has a certain zestiness so it’s possible grains of paradise are at least one of the ingredients and there are also herbal notes, but who knows. Since the yeast also imparts spicy elements, it’s always a challenge to identify the exact ingredients in these complex beers. And in the end, it’s pointless, since it’s the synergy of how all the elements work together that really matters. The Sonoma Farmhouse Saison flavors are quite delicate, a quality Lagunitas is not exactly known for, but there’s nothing I don’t like about this new beer.

Saisons were originally made by and for farmers to have in the fields. They were generally brewed late in the season so they’d stand a better of chance of making it through the summer. Saisons also walk a tightrope of strength (to last the summer) and drinkability (they need to quench a summer thirst). At 5.2% abv, this one is quite modest, but happily we have refrigerators, a luxury the French and Belgian farmers who pioneered this style did not.

Next up in the Sonoma Farmhouse line is Hop Stoopid, something on the order of a triple IPA, around 100 IBUs. Meant to be a gentle spoof of the increasingly hoppy west coast beers, bottling should begin on Wednesday and be in stores shortly thereafter. I’m told it’s a huge hop bomb brewed with hop oils and hop extracts to really ramp up the bitterness. I’m going to the brewery on Thursday to try some of the first bottles. Tony has done some hop bombs before over the years, and as someone who has definitely acquired a taste for bitter beers, I suspect this beer will seem like night and day to the delicate flavors of the Saison.

Lagunitas’ flagship is their IPA, itself an excellent example of a west coast IPA and quite hoppy, though still well-balanced.

The next Sonoma Farmhouse beer from Lagunitas, Hop Stoopid.

Reunion Beer to Benefit Bone Cancer Research

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Once upon a time, Pete Slosberg created Pete’s Wicked Ale. And the brown ale was good. He had help spreading the word, of course, and in the early days Alan Shapiro and Virginia MacLean also helped Pete’s become a nationally known microbrewery. Pete, of course, moved on to chocolate and Alan Shapiro worked for a time with Merchant Du Vin and now heads his own import company, SBS Imports. Virginia MacLean, in the meantime, left the beer business but as she approached her fortieth birthday was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, which is a type of bone cancer that currently has no known cure. For more information about the disease, see the MMRF or the Institute for Myeloma & Bone Cancer Research.

Recently, Pete Slosberg and Alan Shapiro got together and decided to help their friend by creating a new beer to help raise awareness and money to fund research into this disease. The beer is named “Reunion,” and it’s a big, imperial brown ale and is the first commercial beer Slosberg has done since selling Pete’s Wicked Ale to Gambrinus in 1998. He worked with award-winning brewer Daniel Del Grande at Bison Brewing in creating the organic beer. In the Bay Area, Beverages & more and Whole Foods will be carrying the beer. Please support this worthy cause and buy a bottle or a case.

The press release:

INTRODUCING REUNION
A BEER FOR HOPE UNIQUE COLLABORATION TO BENEFIT
THE INSTITUTE FOR MYELOMA & BONE CANCER RESEARCH

In the early days of the craft brewing business in the U.S. Pete Slosberg brought Alan Shapiro and Virginia MacLean to help lead his emerging namesake company and take his Wicked Ale® to new heights. While these long-time friends ultimately pursued different professional paths, some 18 years later they have reunited to create a beer inspired by Pete’s early recipes.

REUNION – A BEER FOR HOPE is an organic imperial brown ale brewed by Pete and Dan Del Grande at Bison Brewing Company’s organic brewery in Berkeley, CA. It will be sold in 22 ounce screen printed bottles via Shapiro’s SBS Imports distributor network in California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Colorado, and Illinois. It has a suggested price of $4.99 per bottle. All profits generated by SBS from the sale of REUNION will benefit The Institute for Myeloma & Bone Cancer Research in Los Angeles, CA. “Alan informed me that our good friend Virginia had been diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma — a form of bone cancer,” Pete Slosberg recalled. “He later called with the idea of reuniting to create a beer to celebrate our friendship and bring hope to Virginia and others battling this disease. I am thrilled to be a part of the effort to raise funds for this worthwhile organization.”

“Virginia has been a close friend from the day we met at Pete’s back in 1989,” noted SBS Imports President, Alan Shapiro. “I wish I was a great scientist who could help find a cure — but at least I can make a small contribution by raising both funds and awareness for this disease. I have met Dr. Berenson’s team at IMBCR and have seen their work in progress. I know the funds we raise will help make a difference.”

About Multiple Myeloma & IMBCR:

Multiple Myeloma is a unique cancer of plasma cells that attacks and destroys bone. The term is derived from the multiple areas of bone marrow that are usually affected by the disease. Worldwide, over 1,000 people a day are diagnosed with this currently incurable form of bone cancer. Led by Dr. James Berenson, IMBCR is one of the world’s leading research organizations combating this disease. IMBCR specializes in developing novel chemotherapy drugs and treatments. For further information on multiple myeloma or IMBCR, please visit www.imbcr.org or contact 310-623-1210.

About the Beer:

REUNION is a collaborative beer created by Pete Slosberg & Dan Del Grande and inspired by Pete’s original recipe. It is brewed with 6 different organic malts, 3 different hops and dryhopped. It is 7.5% alcohol by volume. REUNION will be available at leading specialty beer retailers and many Kimpton hotels in the western United States. More information is available at www.reunionbeer.com.

The back label:

 

Half Moon Bay’s Restaurant Reviewed

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Inside Bay Area today has a nice review of the restaurant at Half Moon Bay Brewing by the coast in Princeton-by-the-Sea. The food gets an okay review which is improved overall by the location, atmosphere and the view. The reviewer does like the beer at least, as she writes.

Most people looking to fill their bellies are here for the beer. The brewery employs Alec Moss, a brewer with deep roots concocting beers for breweries in San Francisco and San Mateo. All of the beers, which are brewed on site, are good, but my favorites are the robust amber and the citrus-y Princeton-by-the-Sea IPA.

Alec in the brewhouse at Half Moon Bay Brewing taken about a year ago when several Bay Area brewers got together there to sample one another’s Poor Richard’s Ales brewed for Benjamin Franklin’s 300th birthday anniversary.

And just to annoy the people who believe children and beer don’t mix, here are some photos of my daughter Alice during the same brewery visit, when she was about eighteen months old.

Eager to help out in the brewery.

Proving she’s Daddy’s little girl by trying to steal a taste (no, I didn’t let her).

Crazy Dave Calling It Quits?

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Dave Heist, better know in the brewing community as “Crazy Dave,” has been threatening to sell or quit, and hightail it to southern California for at least a couple of years. But he may really be serious this time, because now it’s in print. According to an article sent to me by two Bulletin readers, the Sunday Contra Costa Times is reporting Hoptown will close in two months.

Heist, along with a small group of investors is planning a new venture, in a larger location — possibly near Livermore — that will begin sometime with the year. It will be interesting to see what Crazy Dave does next. His beers are never boring and usually some of the tastiest around.

“Crazy Dave” Heist, owner of HopTown Brewing Co. in Pleasanton, California, along with fellow brewer Melissa Myers, currently at Drake’s Brewing. This was taken at GABF in 2002.