Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Photo Gallery: 9th annual Bistro IPA Festival

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The 9th annual IPA Festival was August 12 at the Bistro in Hayward, California. It was another fun time with many excellent India Pale Ales to choose from. Judging was great fun though the final four led to much heated debate in trying to determine the final rankings.

 

Vic Kralj, co-owner of the Bistro, with Vinnie Cilurzo of Russian River and Shaun O’Sullivan of 21st Amendment.

Out back at the IPA festival.

Matt Salie with Big Sky and Dave Hopgood with Stone.

Tony Magee, owner of Lagunitas, with me.

Darnell and Paul Marshall, who headed up the festival beer judging.

Shaun and Vinnie with Brian Hunt from Moonlight.

Melissa Myers and Rodger Davis from Drake’s join Shaun, Brian and Vinnie.

Angie Wagner, Celebrator writer, shows off her cycling leg with the help of Melissa Myers out in front of the Bistro.

Vic and Cynthia, Bistro owners (at left), pose with many of the brewers and beer people at their 9th annual IPA festival.

Bistro IPA Festival Winners

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Blind Pig IPA was chosen best in show at the 9th annual IPA Festival today at the Bistro in Hayward, California. The full list of winners is below.

 

 

Photo Gallery: Drake’s Summit Hop Festival

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Today was Drake’s 1st annual Beer Festival & Washoes Tournament in San Leandro. The festival involved 19 beers all made with the same hop — Summit — but with each brewery free to use whatever malt, yeast and water they wanted. Essentially, these were all single hop beers. I was fortunate enough to judge the beers and it’s certainly very interesting to see what different brewers will do with the same recipe and the same hop.

Rodger Davis, head brewer at Drake’s enjoys a pint of his own.

The judges. Clockwise from bottom left: Judy Ashworth, Bill Tarchala, me, Craig Cauwels of Schooner’s, David Hopgood of Stone, [I never did catch his name] and Paul Marshall, who ran the competition.

Brenden Dobel of Thirsty Bear, Rodger Davis from Drake’s and Arne Johnson from Marin Brewing.

Rodger Davis again, Dave Keene from the Toronado, Melissa Myers (also from Drake’s), James Costa from Moylan’s and beer enthusiast Motor.

The Washoes Tournament gets underway.

Craig Cauwels from Schooner’s and James Costa from Moylan’s.

Vinnie Cilurzo from Russian River and Rich Norgrove from Bear Republic.

Alec Moss from Half Moon Bay Brewing with Vinnie Cilurzo and Dave Keene.

Christian Kazakoff and festival winner Daniel Del Grande from Bison Brewing.

Dave Keene and me.

Pyramid CEO Resigns

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Pyramid Brewing announced today that CEO John Lennon has resigned, effective immediately. The company is reporting that Lennon left to “pursue other business interests,” which is about a vague as you can get. He had been on the job only since last August, and before that he was with Beck’s. It will be interesting to see what finally comes out as the real reason for his departure, because in my mind these sort of things don’t play out like this unless there is a hidden agenda.

He will be replaced by board member Scott Barnum, who previously has worked for Pete’s Brewing and Miller. Barnum is a resident of the Bay Area and will apparently maintain offices both in Berkeley and Seattle.

Single Hop Festival at Drake’s: “Summit Hop”

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July 8, from Noon to 6:00 p.m., at Drake’s Brewing in San Leandro, California you’ll have a unique opportunity to taste at least sixteen beers all made with the same hop, but with different malt, yeast and water. This should be a lot of fun. Perhaps I’ll see you there.

From the press release:

We will have around 17 local breweries in house with their beers, and all will have made a “single hop beer” or in this case “same hop beer.” The idea was to have each brewer make a beer with their own malt, water and yeast, but have everyone use the same hop. This year we are using the new Summit hop. Come on by and see for yourself how different malts, yeast, water and brewing techniques can change a beer. Brewers will also be bringing some of their other fine products. We will also be playing the game that will be sweeping the brewing nation — Washoe. The $35 admission price includes entry to the fest, all the beer you wish to responsibly consume, entry into the Washoe tournament, a festival t-shirt and a great time. Please join us!

Drake’s is about a 15-20 minute walk from the San Leandro BART station. Buses run up and down Davis Street. Cabs are available at the BART station. We are located at the loading dock area around the back of the Wal-Mart. This is to benefit San Leandro school teachers. Hope to see you here.

 
 

Come out to the festival and meet Drake’s brewers Rodger Davis and Melissa Myers.
 
 

Breweries Attending

  • Bear Republic
  • Bison
  • Drake’s
  • E.J. Phair
  • Eldo’s
  • Iron Springs
  • Magnolia
  • Marin
  • Moylan’s (still a maybe)
  • Piza Port (still a maybe)
  • Rubicon
  • Russian River
  • Sacramento
  • Seabright
  • Sudwerk
  • Thirsty Bear
  • Triple Rock
  • 21st Amendment

 
 

7.8

Single Hop Festival & Washoe Tournament (2nd annual)
Drake’s Brewing, 1933 Davis Street #177, San Leandro, California
510.562.0866 [ website ] [ directions ]

Bay Area Brewfest 2006

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Yesterday a new beer festival took place in the Bay Area. The Bay Area Brewfest was held at the County Expo Center in San Mateo, California and appeared to be a modest success. Attendance rumors were that around 1,200 people sampled the fifty or so craft and imported beers available at the festival. The music was very good and mercifully not too loud. For a first-time festival, the organization seemed outstanding. As I’ve said before, the Bay Area could really use a big outdoor festival to showcase the area’s wonderful and many contributions to the beer scene. Is this is? Not yet, but the potential is definitely there. I would have liked to see more local breweries there, but perhaps next year?

Even though attendance was good, it never felt crowded at the Expo Center, and there was plenty of parking.

Festival organizer Jeff Moses, who’s also GM of Coast Range/Farmhouse Brewing Co. of Gilroy, California.

Music was sponsored by the local radio station 107.7, The Bone, who had a stage with seating set up on one end of the festival area. You could hear the music throughout the festival, but it was never too loud, a rarity at these type of events.

Jeremy Cowan, of Shmaltz Brewing, shows off his new 10th anniversary brew Genesis 10:10.

J.J. Phair, owner of the award-winning E.J. Phair Brewing.

The wold looks rosier when seen through beer goggles.

Jack Curry, co-owner of the Prince of Wales, a San Mateo institution and great beer pub.

Fellow writers Lisa and Mike Pitsker, along with their son James, my table-mates at the festival.

New Bay Area Brewfest This Saturday

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This Saturday in San Mateo, a new Bay Area beer festival will take place at the County Expo Center, aptly named the Bay Area Brewfest. The Expo Center a good, centrally-located spot for a beer fesitival with plenty of parking, and the Bay Area could really use a good annual beer festival. There’s plenty of good small ones here and there but there hasn’t really been a good big one in the area since the KQED Beer & Food Festival and the Berkeley Beer Festival both stopped pouring for good several years ago. So it’s with high hopes Jeff Moses, who is also the GM for Coast Range/Farmhouse Brewing in Gilroy, has organized this new event. I’ll be there to offer my support along with fifty breweries who’ll be pouring samples of their beer from 12-6 p.m. Tickets are $25.00 at the gate and include admission, entertainment, and tastings.

Please think about coming out and supporting the festival so it can be an annual event. The first year’s turnout will go a long way to insuring future festivals.

6.10

Bay Area Brewfest (1st annual)
County Expo Center, 2495 South Delaware Street, San Mateo, California
[ website ] [ tickets online ] [ map ]

History’s Most Profitable Beer Run

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When Andrew Morbitzer went on a beer run to get his wife another beer and some peanuts at San Francisco’s AT&T Park on Sunday, he had no idea the lucky day he was about to have. As he waited in line, he heard the crowd roar and was sure he had missed Barry Bonds’ historic 715th home run putting him ahead of Babe Ruth and #2 on the all-time home run list behind Hank Aaron. But two fans above him missed catching the ball in the melee and it careened down the causeway and into the concession area behind the center field bleachers where Andrew was in line. He snagged the ball and was immediately surrounded by police and whisked away for safety. The ball could reportedly be worth as much as $100,000. Sadly, the reports did not include what kind of beer his wife wanted.