Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Beer Birthday: J.J. Phair

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Today is the birthday of J.J. Phair, co-founder of E.J. Phair Brewing. J.J. started homebrewing in 1990, and ten years later opened his brewery, which is named for his grandfather Ewart John Phair, who was an amateur winemaker and beer lover, as a way to honor E.J. The brewery’s grown since then, and today there’s a taproom in Pittsburg and a pub in Alamo. Join me in wishing J.J. a very happy birthday.

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J.J. and Craig Cauwels at the E.J. Phair brewery taproom in 2012.

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J.J. at the Bay Area Beer Festival in 2006.

Bistro Double IPA Winners 2024

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Earlier today, the 24th annual Double IPA Festival was held at the Bistro in Hayward, California. I got there early for judging again this year, and spent the morning holed up in the basement, where we judged Double IPAs for most of the morning, before choosing our top three favorites.

Starting our judging bright and early.

After emerging from the dark into the light, it was nice to see a bright, sunny day in beautiful downtown Hayward.

At 2:00 pm., owner Vic Kralj announced the winners:

Double IPAs

Matt Sager from Danville Brewing picking up his bronze medal.
Silver medal winner Craig Cauwels, from Morgan Territory, missed the awards ceremony by just a few minutes
Sunriver made it down from Oregon to accept their gold medal.

People’s Choice Awards

Double IPA: Cone Goblin, by Ghost Town Brewing, from Oakland, California, in collaboration with Alvarado Street Brewing, headquartered in Monterey, California

Ghost Town won the People’s Choice this year.
Cheers from the 2024 Double IPA Festival!

Bistro IPA Festival Winners 2023

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Today was the 25th annual IPA Festival at the Bistro. It was another lovely sunny day in Hayward, making it perfect beer festival weather, although we’d returned to being sequestered in the basement for judging. The full list of winners is below.

Judging today at the Bistro for their IPA Festival.

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Tenma picking up their gold medal.

And Tenma also won People’s Choice for favorite IPA at the festival.

It was a beautiful day in Hayward.

Bear Republic Merges With Drake’s Brewing

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They’ve been working behind the scenes for some time now, but as of today most of the details have been worked out, so they’re making it official. Rich Norgrove, along with his wife Tami Norgrove, owners of Bear Republic Brewing of Cloverdale are partnering with John Martin and Roy Kirkorian of Drake’s Brewing, headquartered in San Leandro, to effectively merge the two breweries. In official terms, today they “jointly announced the sale and purchase of certain assets of Bear Republic to Artisan Brewers LLC” (which is Drake’s Brewing’s official business name).

What that means in practical terms is that “Racer 5 is shifting gears once again, beginning a new collaborative partnership with The Drake’s Brewing Co. The iconic West Coast IPA, once at the forefront of the California craft beer boom, is merging lanes to accommodate industry-wide challenges, while keeping a firm ‘pedal to the metal,’ moving forward.” The deal means Drake’s will acquire “all of Bear Republic Brewing Company’s recipes, formulas, and intellectual property, and will allow The Drake’s Brewing Company to continue producing the Bear Republic lineup of beers, including its Racer 5 IPA, as well as their other brands, plus new beers in the coming months. The long-time industry friends are aligned in their vision, bringing Bear Republic Brewing Company into new markets, new communities and new opportunities moving forward.

“We have always admired Drake’s Brewing Company’s passion for craft beer, their community as well as their commitment to quality,” said Bear Republic Brewing Company’s CEO Richard Norgrove. “Joining forces with Drake’s will allow us to bring our beers to even more customers, and we’re excited to be a part of the Drake’s family.” Throughout the merger, Norgrove will continue to be a shepherd of the brand, helping to represent the family-owned brewery in the manufacturing, production and sales of BRBC’s recipes.

So it’s not a straight sale, as is often the case, but instead, as Norgrove explains it, it’s more like “not coming in and buying the car, but buying the engine and driver.” Norgrove, as well as his longtime brewmaster, Peter Kruger, will continue to work with the Bear Republic brand. It will continue to be brewed in Cloverdale, but brewing will be transitioning over the coming months to San Leandro.

I spoke to both Martin and Norgrove this afternoon, and they stressed that this deal “makes them both stronger.” Bear Republic’s best-selling beer, accounting for 92-percent of sales, is Racer 5, so that, along with new favorite, Racer 7 (a 7-percent hazy IPA), will be the primary focus during the transition period. Naturally, the two have known one another for decades in the Bay Area brewing community and have even shared some of the same brewers who have worked for both companies. So as Martin described it, there are “so many cool things from a synergistic point of view.” They also share distributors in some key markets, which will help make the transition smoother. The good news here for beer overs is that Bear Republic beer will continue to be brewed in the Bay Area and may lead to it being even easier to find. The two have already started talking about future satellite locations, starting in Sonoma County, similar to Drake’s Dealership in Oakland and The Barn in West Sacramento.

From right to left: Rich Norgrove, Tami Norgrove, John Martin, Laura Norgrove, and Paul Marshall at Judy Ashworth’s place for a beer tasting recently.

About the two companies.

Drake’s originally was founded as Lind Brewing in 1989 by Roger Lind. He sold the brewery to a local coffee company in 1998 and they changed the name to Drake’s, which had been a name used for many of the beers. In 2008, John Martin and Roy Kirkorian bought the brewery. Martin, along with his brother Reid Martin, also started Triple Rock Brewery in Berkeley, one of the earliest brewpubs in the country when it opened in 1986. After taking the reins, Martin and Kirkorian opened Drake’s Barrel House in 2011, its brewery tasting room and a few years later, in 2016, opened Drake’s Dealership, a beer garden and restaurant in downtown Oakland at the site of a former Dodge automobile dealership. In 2018, they opened another satellite location in West Sacramento known as The Barn.

Me with John Martin at Triple Rock Brewery in Berkeley a few years ago.

Bear Republic Brewing was founded in 1995 by Ricardo and Tami Norgrove, along with his parents, Richard and Sandy Norgrove. By 1999, they’d won a gold medal at GABF for their Racer 5 IPA, one of the first popular West Coast-style IPAs. The original brewpub was located in downtown Healdsburg, but in 2005 they built a much larger production brewery in Cloverdale. In 2006, they won big at GABF, winning Small Brewing Company and Small Brewing Company Brewer of the Year. In 2017, they opened a second brewpub in Rohnert Park, and in 2019 due to issues with the landlord closed the Healdsburg location. But Covid hit them hard, as it did most breweries, and this led to them closing the Rohnert Park location, as well, focusing instead on their package beer and distribution.

Me and Rich Norgrove at the original brewpub several years ago.

Bistro Double IPA Winners 2023

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Earlier today, the 23rd annual Double IPA Festival was held at the Bistro in Hayward, California, and after a virtual fest two years, and a modified outdoor festival last year, this year it was back to a much more typical festival, complete with people and sunshine off and on. I got there early for judging again this year, and we were back in the basement again — which was oddly comforting. We judged 87 Double IPAs for most of the morning and part of the afternoon, before choosing our favorites

Beginning the judging process.

After emerging from the darkness into the light, it was nice to see the shining, at least from time to time.

Beautiful downtown Hayward.

At 2:00 p.m., Vic and Cynthia gathered everybody together to announce this year’s winners.

Double IPAs

People’s Choice Awards

It was also great running into loads of old friends.

Bistro Double IPA Winners 2022

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Earlier today, the 22nd annual Double IPA Festival was held at the Bistro in Hayward, California, and after a virtual fest last year, this year it was back to a more typical festival, complete with people and sunshine. I got there early for judging again this year, and instead of being sequestered in the dark, dank basement out of the view of the beautiful Bay Area sun — which is where we usually are — we were again outside under a large tent in what was a beautiful, sunny, hot day. We judged Double IPAs and Triple IPAs for most of the morning and part of the afternoon, before choosing our favorites in both categories.

It was hot and sunny throughout the festival this year.
A little after 2:00 PM, Vic announced the winners.

Double IPAs

Russian River won three awards.
Danville Brewing won second place for their Double IPA, Chux.

Triple IPAs

Wynn Whisenhunt from Wondrous Brewing accepting his 1st place award.

People’s Choice Awards

Vic and me.

Bistro IPA Festival Winners 2021

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Today was the 23rd annual IPA Festival and the 3rd annual Hazy IPA Festival at the Bistro, but that’s only because there wasn’t a festival last year. It was a lovely sunny day in Hayward, making it was perfect beer-judging weather now that we’re no longer in the basement. This year we judged in pairs, split into two groups of regular clear IPAs and hazy IPAs. The full list of winners is below.

Traditional IPAs

Hazy IPAs

Bistro Double IPA Winners 2021

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Earlier today, the 21st annual Double IPA Festival was held at the Bistro in Hayward, California. I got there early for judging again this year, and instead of being sequestered in the dark, dank basement out of the view of the beautiful Bay Area sun — which is where we usually are — we were outside in what was a beautiful, sunny, albeit a little windy, day. We judged Double IPAs in two categories — West Coast and Hazy — for most of the morning and chose our favorite six in each category, which Vic will will hand pack into a “Double IPAs Finals Case” which can be ordered online for just under one-hundred dollars. But sales will end at midnight tonight, so if you want one, now’s the time.

West Coast Double IPAs

Hazy Double IPAs

Congratulations to all of the winners.

Beer Birthday: Porter

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Alright, you caught me again. It’s not the birthday of the beer style, Porter. Strictly speaking, this isn’t really a beer post but it’s my son’s 18th birthday today, but since his name is Porter I figured people wouldn’t feel too duped by the title. It is accurate, after all. In previous years, I’d written that “one day soon, we’ll brew a porter together.” Well that day finally came, and six years ago on his birthday weekend it was Porter’s Porter Day, when he made his first batch of homebrew, with a little help from our friends. Anyway, please join me in wishing Porter a very happy birthday!

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At Porter’s birthday party when he turned one, trying to get at a keg of Russian River. That’s my boy! NOTE: To those of you reaching for the phone to call child protective services, put down the receiver. He did NOT drink any beer. His mother got to him before he figured out how the tap worked.

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A beautiful memory at the Rogue Alehouse in San Francisco when Porter couldn’t have been more than two, if that. Much to my surprise, Porter utterly charmed Don Younger with his ability to swiftly climb a bar stool. Don was very impressed, and so was I.

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Twelve years ago, showing off a 5th-birthday present from Grandpa, a Union Pacific Challenger steam engine.

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Porter several years ago, when he came with me to visit Southern Pacific Brewing in San Francisco. He was trying to emulate his then-hero Tim Lincecum, at least hair-wise, pitching-wise he was more of a closer. Timmy may be gone, but the hair remains.

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Me, Porter and Vinnie Cilurzo, after Porter’s Porter Day six years ago.

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Also six years ago, Porter’s second batch, a version of Hair of the Dog’s Doggie Claws, made with the Homebrew Chef Sean Paxton, but mostly Alan Sprints, whose own birthday was just a few days ago.

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Wowing the ladies with his diving prowess during a vacation in Solvang a few summers ago.

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Porter riding Amtrak, also during a summer vacation a few years back.

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Porter with his sister sporting their World’s Okayest siblings shirts.

Lucky Lager Returns

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Pabst announced today that they’re re-introducing Lucky Lager in the Bay Area. The iconic local beer has been absent from store shelves for four decades, but I’m pretty sure it was still around when I moved here in 1985. By then, according to Wikipedia, beginning in “July 1985, the Olympia Brewing Company in Tumwater, WA began to produce Lucky Lager in the US. In July 2003, this brewery was also closed. Lucky Lager continued to be sold in its original Northern California range at Lucky Stores supermarkets, which although not affiliated, sold Lucky Lager as an unofficial value store brand, until Lucky Stores supermarkets were bought out by Albertson’s and the name of the supermarkets was changed around 2000.”

But as long as I’ve been here, people have been waxing nostalgic about the brand. Apparently, it saw a lot of Bay Area folks through college and their lean years, as an affordable beer brand. And now, they’re bringing it back, albeit without the iconic label and a reimagined modern take on the packaging. I feel like appealing to the nostalgia for the brand — something Pabst knows a thing or two about — would have been a better idea, although only time will tell. On the plus side, it’s being brewed under contract by the 21st Amendment Brewery in San Leandro. When I spoke to co-owner Shaun O’Sullivan, he told me it was under arrangement with Pabst to brew and can the beer for them. At 4.2% it could be a good session lager, something that could definitely be useful. I’m actually looking forward to tasting it, and part of that has to do with 21st Amendment’s involvement.

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Here’s the press release from Pabst:

The Gold Rush and Tech Boom are iconic examples of the good fortune emanating from the Bay Area. San Francisco attracts visionaries and entrepreneurs willing to put in the sweat equity to make their dreams a reality. For most of the last century, Lucky Lager was the Bay Area’s beer of choice after a long day. Now, this Bay Area classic has been reimagined as a premium lager to inspire a new generation working tirelessly to turn dreams into reality.

Founded on the heels of prohibition, Lucky Lager became synonymous with the city of San Francisco and a favorite of the diverse cultures that call it home. In an effort to revive Lucky and restore its local roots, Pabst tapped San Leandro-based 21 st Amendment for help with brewing and canning, and San Francisco-based design agency Hatch to helm the redesign. “San Francisco is a town where anyone with a persevering mindset and dedicated spirit can get ‘lucky’ and strike it big,” said Matt Bruhn, General Manger at Pabst. “We want Lucky Lager to be your reward for a hard day’s work.”

San Francisco-based design agency Hatch created the new Lucky Lager can, a modern interpretation of the iconic original. Six packs present “Lucky” in one of five local languages heard every day on the streets of San Francisco, including English, Chinese, Spanish, Korean and Vietnamese. This new design concept is an initial nod to the area’s rich cultural diversity and a subtle reminder that luck is a universal phenomenon. “Lucky represents sketch dreams and napkin schemes; it’s a beer meant to celebrate both the wins and failures that pave the road to success,” said Nicole Flores, Creative Director at Hatch.

“Born in San Francisco, Lucky Lager is infused with the same drive, where “X” marks the spot for determination, imagination and desire that make the Bay Area so alluring. Such qualities are inherent to the beer and to those in the Bay who drink it.”

A unique, unfiltered lager that pours with a pale straw color and a clean white head, Lucky Lager introduces itself with the aroma of sweet corn, toasted bread and light notes of citrus fruits from delicate hops. At 4.2% ABV, Lucky welcomes you with notes of light malt, floral earthy hops, and slight honey, with a creamy and satisfying carbonation. It finishes crisp with a pleasant linger, proving that being Lucky is refreshing.

Lucky Lager is exclusively available throughout the Bay Area and Northern California. For more information on distribution and our story, please visit luckylagersf.com.

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The five different Lucky cans being prodiced.