Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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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.

Bistro IPA Festival Winners 2019

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Today was the 22nd annual IPA Festival and the 2nd annual Hazy IPA Festival at the Bistro. The weather cooperated and it ended up being a sunny day in Hayward, making it was perfect beer-drinking weather once we emerged from judging in the basement. This year the judging was split into two groups, regular clear IPAs and hazy IPAs. There were 32 traditional American-style IPAs and 40 hazies. The full list of winners is below.

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Final Round judging of Traditional IPAs.

Traditional IPAs

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Starting the first round with Hazy IPAs.

Hazy IPAs

Peoples Choice Awards

  • People’s Choice Award — Traditional IPA: Altamont Mau Waui
  • People’s Choice Award — Hazy IPA: Urban Roots Lapse of Judgement

Congratulations to all the winners.

Bistro Double IPA Winners 2019

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On Saturday the 19th annual Double IPA Festival was held at the Bistro in Hayward, California. I got there early for judging again this year, and was sequestered in the dark, dank basement out of the view of the beautiful Bay Area sun for most of the morning. We judged 66 Double IPAs and 34 Triple IPAs.

Double IPAs

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Peter Hoey from Urban Roots accepting his silver medal from Double IPA.

Triple IPAs

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Craig Cauwels from Morgan Territory winning gold for his triple IPA.

Peoples Choice Awards

Congratulations to all the winners.

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It was a beautiful day at the Bistro for tasting 100 Double and Triple IPAs.


Russian River’s New Windsor Brewery Opens Today

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At 11:00 AM today, the grand opening of the new Russian River Brewing Co. production brewery and brewpub in Windsor, California, took place. The 85,000 square foot building houses a 75-bbl state-of-the-art brewhouse, a tank farm, barrel room, coolship, and much more. Eventually, they’ll offer both a guided tour and a free self-guided tour that will give visitors a unique view into the brewery’s operations. To see the whole thing, you really need to take both tours. But that part of the experiences is still a few weeks away as they focus on other aspects of the business.

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The extrance to the restaurant/brewpub. (Photo yesterday, courtesy of Natalie Cilurzo)

What will open today is the restaurant and brewpub, which owners Natalie and Vinnie Cilurzo refer to simply as the Pub. It has a warm, rustic feel and includes several areas and seating for nearly 190 guests. In addition, there’s a 1,000-sq. ft. gift shop, a separate tasting room, and a tour lobby (for when the tours start). Growler fills will be available in three locations. Here are the basics:

Russian River Windsor
700 Mitchell Lane,
Windsor, CA 95
(707) 545-2337 (BEER)

HOURS:

Sunday-Thursday: 11:00 AM-10:00 PM
Friday-Saturday: 11:00 AM-11:00 PM

I was fortunate enough to have visited the brewery leading up to today’s opening, and here is what you can expect to see when you visit the brewery.

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There’s a larger circular fireplace with comfy chairs where you sit with a beer and wait for your table, or just sit and converse with your friends.

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Of course, you can just sit at the bar, too.

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Or sit for a meal and one of several dining areas.

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The menu is completely different from the original downtown Santa Rosa brewpub, with no pizza, but they do have a selection of salads and other nibbles.

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Along with several entrees, like these delicious burgers topped with malted bacon and cheddar fondue.

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There’s also a second back bar in an adjacent dining area, that in the summer will open up to an open area that overlooks several acres of wetlands. The first beer brewed at the new place was Windsor Porter, a variation on Vinnie’s award-winning Porter (fun fact: Russian River’s very first medal at GABF was for their Porter). It was also the first beer he brewed at the original brewery at Korbel, and also when the opened the downtown Santa Rosa brewpub in 2004. It’s now pouring in the brewpub (and is quite tasty) along with the first batch of Pliny the Elder, with many more to follow.

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You can also pick up bottles of the Windsor Porter in the gift shop, and they’re labeled “Batch 1.” The gift shop itself is fairly large, and in fact, just the cooler in the adjacent shop is larger than the whole gift shop at the original brewpub.

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Natalie and Vinnie Cilurzo in the new brewhouse, which is 75-bbls, a little bigger than their previous one, which was 50-bbls.

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But the new brewhouse is a cathedral of beer, large enough that you can barely make out Natalie and Vinnie Cilurzo, who are looking down from the top of the spiral staircase at the upper center of the photo.

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Bistro Double IPA Winners 2018

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bistro
On Saturday the 18th annual Double IPA Festival was held at the Bistro in Hayward, California. I got there early for judging again this year, and was sequestered in the dark, dank basement out of the view of the beautiful Bay Area sun for most of the morning. We judged 63 Double IPAs and 36 Triple IPAs.

Double IPAs

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Judging in the basement of the Bistro.

Triple IPAs

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It was a beautiful day at the Bistro for tasting 99 Double and Triple IPAs.

Peoples Choice Awards

Congratulations to all the winners.

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Jeremy Marshall, from Lagunitas, and Terence Sullivan, from Sierra Nevada, with their wives, enjoying some camaraderie at the Double IPA Fest.

Black Diamond Brewery Closes

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Just saw on their Facebook page that Black Diamond Brewery in Concord closed on Tuesday under mysterious circumstances, to say the least. Apparently, when coming into work Tuesday morning, brewery operations and production manager, Shawn Whitaker, found this taped to the front door.

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And earlier today, this was posted on their Facebook page:

“Due to unfortunate circumstances the locks have been changed and Black Diamond Brewery is closed for the foreseeable future. Thank you to everyone who supported us during our 23 year run!”

Also, the brewery’s website domain name expired October 6. So the obvious guess is they got into some kind of financial bind, and perhaps we’ll learn more in the coming days or weeks, but for now, that’s all we know.

Beer Birthday: Alan Atha

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Today is the 66th birthday of Alan Atha, former co-founder and brewmaster of Baeltane Brewing in the town I most recently lived in, Novato, California. I first met Alan when he was a nanobrewery in planning, and he’s taken the experimental spirit of homebrewing and transitioned beautifully to commercial brewing, while retaining the playful nature that makes so many of his beers interesting, and delicious, with names like The Frog That Ate the World Double IPA and Rumplestiltskin. Unfortunately, Baeltane closed last, and I’m not sure what Alan’s next move will be, beer-wise, but hoping we’ll learn something soon. Join me in wishing Alan a very happy birthday.

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Alan, in a great photo by Mario Rubio.

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Serving bread and beer. [Photo by Riggy.]

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Joe Tucker, me and Alan at the Craft Beerd book release party in Petaluma.

[Note: first two photos purloined from Facebook]

Oakland’s Pacific Coast Brewing To Close Its Doors After 29 Years

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Just heard the sad news that Pacific Coast Brewing, the 29-year old brewpub in downtown Oakland, will be closing its doors for good sometime in November of this year, around two months from now. I know we’re beginning to see more and more breweries closing, and if anything the pace is likley to increase, but it’s still a sad day wherever it happens. Stop by while you can to the Oakland icon and have a final beer.

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Here’s the press release on the closure, which has also been posted to their Facebook page:

After 29 years of serving fine craft beers and classic pub food to the Oakland community, Pacific Coast Brewing is closing its doors. Opened in October 1988, Pacific Coast was one of the pioneers of the Bay Area craft beer community. After an extensive search of the East Bay, founders Steve Wolff, Don Gortemiller and Barry Lazarus fell in love with the Old Oakland Project. They felt that the charm of the neighborhood, and the beautifully restored 1886 Arlington building in particular, was a perfect complement to the classic pub atmosphere that they envisioned for Pacific Coast. They have garnered attention through the years by their commitment to the community as well as by winning numerous awards, including a dozen medals at the Great American Beer Festival. Steve Wolff and his wife Laura, would like to thank all the loyal guests and dedicated employees who have made being the owners of “The Coast” such a joy.

“Unfortunately, due to the uncertainty of our current lease, and the rapid changes coursing through the Bay Area’s restaurant industry, we have made the difficult decision to shut our doors in early November 2017. We are making this announcement well in advance of our closing to ensure that our wonderful staff has the necessary time to find and transition into new employment.”

For their final two months, Pacific Coast, while continuing their regular menu, will also bring back some of the most popular dishes from the past three decades. They will be hosting many of their popular events, highlighted by a four-day Last Anniversary Celebration, October 19th through 22nd. More announcements regarding Pacific Coast’s farewell menu and events will be posted shortly on its social media pages and website.

“We have been fortunate to have been a part of Oakland for 29 years, and to have served the Oakland community and its guests from around the Bay Area, the country, and the world. After watching Oakland’s economy take two steps forward and one (or two) steps back, more times than we can remember, it’s gratifying to see our little Old Oakland neighborhood blooming, as well as Uptown prospering, and now the mushrooming of building cranes throughout the Broadway corridor and beyond. We will miss being a part of Oakland’s exciting future. But we are Oaklanders and are excited for it. Thank you for 29 wonderful years. Cheers!”

Steve, Laura, and all the staff would like to invite all of their friends from the last three decades to come by the Pub one (or more) last time to say good-bye, see old friends, and share their favorite memories.

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