I got an e-mail last night from a reader that the Manteca brewpub Kelley Brothers Brewing was closing and today is to be their last day. I haven’t been able to independently confirm that news, but will do so when I’m able. It’s always sad news to hear that a brewery is closing.
UPDATE 2.1: The Manteca Bulletin confirmed the closing of Kelley Brothers Brewing today, posting Last call for Kelley Brothers with the full story.
Friday night Guinness‘ P.R. firm in New York invited me to the start of the Guinness Believer Tour, which debuted in San Francisco this weekend. The idea was to introduce not just regular Guinness, but also Foreign Extra Stout and their new Black Lager to consumers, who as far as I could tell, signed up for the event through social media like Facebook. The event was held at the Terra Gallery on Harrison Street and was pitched as a “multi-media experience that will take you ‘behind the gates’ of the famous St. James’s Gate Brewery.”
Guinness is much more than a beer, and when you raise a pint to your lips, you’re not just drinking it—you are part of it. We want you to be a part of history, connecting you to tradition that spans generations and a spirit that fuels celebrations today. Experience the Gravity Bar in Dublin, discover the heritage behind this famous brand and, of course, raise a pint of the black stuff to Arthur Guinness himself.
So I thought, why not? It’s been a while since I’ve done a Guinness event, in fact I think the last one was when it was still being imported by “Guinness USA,” which is pre-Diageo, I think. So I went to virtual St. James Gate.
The room was set up with different “stations,” or areas where the small crowd of no more than 100 people could meander to and from. The center featured a bar where servers were showing off the 119.5 second “perfect pour” and handing out pints of Guinness. Then there were a few food stations loaded with some very tasty nibbles.
So for the first 20-25 minutes, people sipped their pints, nibbled on nibbles, and meandered from station to station. In addition to the virtual St. James Gate, there was also “Find Your Prefect Pint” station, where you could put in an address to find nearby spots that served Guinness. There was a place to learn to do your own perfect pours from a nitrogen kegerator. There were wall sized display pieces with Guinness history and memorabilia on them, and a slideshow of old advertising lit up the wall.
For the second half of the hour, there was a presentation on a small stage. The host was comedian Dan Soder, who Guinness hired as an “Ambassador” for the tour. I had a chance to chat with him before it all began, and he was an amiable, likable guy and a big Bill Hicks fan, for which he scored bonus points as far as I’m concerned. That portion of the show was interesting. Three short films were shown on the wall, little advertising pieces with high production value showing the history of the brand and other information about the beer. In between, Soder entertained the crowd, and staff handed out small samples of both the Foreign Extra Stout (still tasting great) and the Black Lager (not bad). A comedian, and Dan in particular, seemed to work well to keep things light and moving. They also brought up a pair of volunteers to practice the perfect pour, with prizes to the winner, of course.
All in all, not a bad way to spend an hour. The Guinness was tasting very fresh, which was nice and it wasn’t too cold, which was great. I find it’s often served at a temperature that’s too chilly, but that gravity bar was a cellar temperature.
Am I a believer? Not quite yet, but it was nice to see that served properly Guinness is still a great beer. I do love the Foreign Extra Stout, and was pleased when they began importing it again. My feeling has been that Diageo has mis-managed the brand’s cache over the last decade, but this seemed like a good start toward presenting it well again.
From here, apparently the Guinness Believer Tour was headed to Los Angeles and was then traveling throughout U.S. cities. Check it out if it comes to your town.
If you were following the twitterverse closely on Tuesday, you might have noticed an interesting story developing, as relayed in tiny bites by Lagunitas owner Tony Magee. I’ve rejiggered the twitter stream, re-ordered it, uncompressed abbreviated words, and added additional ones for clarity in an attempt to make it a more coherent story.
“We had a crazy strong 4th quarter 2011 and are nearly MAXED! out right now. This could cause SERIOUS supply problems as Spring approaches.” As you may recall, “our new brewhouse,” specifically the “Lauter Tun, was savagely attacked by a crane in the mid-Atlantic and that has delayed the start-up by a about a month. Working on the new brewhouse installation and all the plant improvements have been my whole life for the last year, so, for me, it’s personal!” I “don’t want to disappoint friends, customers, retailers, or distributors” and “since the cool new owners of Anchor have become our friends,” and “since their brewers are totally the most experienced Craft Brewers anywhere on Earth, I asked them if they could help us somehow.” They magnanimously said yes, “so we’re working with them right now to brew some IPA draft for us. Can you dig that? Anchor Brewing! Its’a STRAIGHT-UP honor that Anchor is willing to help us through this two-month hump. It is great to have such friends on this crazy competitive left-coast! I love this career. Imagine; working with the brew-co father of us all.”
So that sounds intriguing, right? Lagunitas brewing in the cooolships at Anchor?!? I spoke to Anchor co-owner Keith Greggor, who confirmed that’s exactly what happened. He stressed that we shouldn’t read too much into it, it’s just one brewery helping out another, which is great, I think. So for the next couple of months, head brewer Jeremy Marshall will, from time-to-time, be overseeing Lagunitas IPA being brewed in San Francisco.
They’ll be brewing IPA for draft only there, at least until the new brewhouse in Petaluma can be completed. That also means that shortly, when you an order a Lagunitas IPA from a keg, it could have been brewed at Anchor. As far as I know, this is the first time a non-Anchor beer has been brewed on Anchor’s system at their present location. Now this is a great example of our community, where a brewery can set aside any competitive impulse and help out a fellow brewer in need. As Greggor said. “It just felt like the right thing to do. You help your friends.” How cool is that?
After scouting numerous sites in North Carolina and neighboring states, Sierra Nevada Brewing announced today they have selected a location near Asheville, North Carolina to build a new brewery to supply their beer throughout the east coast.
From the press release:
The site, approximately 90 acres in the Henderson County town of Mills River — along the French Broad River, 12 miles south of Asheville — will be home to the new production facility, as well as a proposed restaurant and gift shop.
“We are thrilled to have found an ideal location in western North Carolina for our second brewery,” says Ken Grossman, founder of Sierra Nevada. “The beer culture, water quality and quality of life are excellent. We feel lucky to be a part of this community.”
The new facility will add much needed capacity for Sierra Nevada, and will allow for the quick shipment of brewery-fresh beer to consumers in the east. The East Coast brewery will start with a capacity around 300,000 barrels, with room to grow. The added barrelage will accommodate wider production of the myriad of seasonal beers and bottled specialties Sierra Nevada has produced in recent years, as well as an expansion of the brewery’s well-known flagship product: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.
Sierra Nevada began the search for a new location several years ago. The brewery looked at hundreds of potential sites, eventually narrowing the search down to a handful of locations. The list of criteria was long and included quantifiable factors such as ease of shipping and water quality, as well as quality of life issues for its employees. Sierra Nevada has a reputation for a laid-back brewery culture and a love of the outdoors, and the new facility will retain this same tone. The Asheville area offers Sierra Nevada Brewing the perfect confluence of community, recreation and craft beer culture.
Sierra Nevada’s eastern brewery site is expected to employ approximately 90 workers, with additional staff in the restaurant to follow. The brewery anticipates being operational by early 2014.
That’s one more great reason to visit Asheville. I took a family vacation there a couple of years ago and it’s one of the best places I’ve been to for beer, food and culture. They have an amazing beer community. I’m sure not everyone will be thrilled by the news, but it’s been my experience that Sierra Nevada has been a good steward to the beer community as a whole, and has acted honorably in every instance I’m aware of, and I wouldn’t expect that to change as they expand their operations.
UPDATE: Asheville’s Mountain Xpress had photos and a report of the ceremony today at the site of the brewery that included North Carolina governor Bev Perdue and Ken and Brian Grossman, from Sierra Nevada.
Ken Grossman, Governor Perdue and Brian Grossman raise a glass of Sierra Nevada beer at today’s ceremony in Mills River.
A drawing of the proposed site.
Yesterday Anchor Brewing announced their new line of beers under the “Zymaster Series,” with the first to debut during SF Beer Week in February.
This morning I spoke to the Zymaster himself — Mark Carpenter — who told me a bit more about the beer. It sounds like it will be a pretty interesting beer, and one I’m definitely looking forward to trying.
Carpenter told me they wanted to do something distinctly Californian, and they searched brewing logs and records that they could find from early California brewers. Reasoning that as soon as brewers had the technological ability to brew lagers, that’s what they did, so they turned their attention to lagers. In California, Boca Brewing is believed to have made the first lager in the state, around 1875 (according to American Breweries II). The town of Boca was located in northeast California, roughy 6.5 miles from Truckee. In 1880 it had a population of around 200 people, though today it’s literally a ghost town. The brewery was founded in 1875 and closed in 1892, four years before the Anchor Brewery opened.
So Anchor set about to recreate the first lager brewed in California. They used California-grown malt and California cluster hops. Clusters were the first hop variety grown in the United States. Though their origin is unknown, it has been “suggested that they arose from hybridization of varieties, imported by Dutch and English settlers and indigenous male hops.” They weren’t able to find enough cluster hops actually grown commercially in the state, but they did find cluster hops growing in Washington using the same bines that used to grow in California, before the hop-growing family took their rhizomes with them when they moved north from California to Washington.
So the first Zymaster Series beer from Anchor is also the first true lager they’ve made (with Steam beer being essentially a hybrid) and was brewed to try as best they could to replicate the first lagers brewed in California. It’s 5% a.b.v. and is a single-hop beer, using only Cluster hops. Because of quality issues in the late 19th century, lagers here tended to be more highly hopped then they are today, and Anchor’s new beer will also reflect that, though they have not yet calculated the IBUs, so no one can yet how hoppy the lager will be. Only one thing is certain, I can’t wait to see what it tastes like.
As promised on Friday, Anchor Brewing announced today a new series of beers they’ll be debuting during SF Beer Week. The new beers will be under the series designation “Zymaster,” which Anchor describes like this:
Zymaster n [Gk zyme leaven + master – more at ZYMURGY]
1: a new word coined by Anchor Brewing to describe a brewmaster with hands-on experience throughout the a-to-z process of creating a new beer, from the research and selection of the raw materials and development of a recipe to brewing, fermentation, cellaring, and finishing
2: a unique series of beers from Anchor Brewing, rooted in its exceptional respect for the ancient art and noble traditions of brewing and featuring extraordinary ingredients, innovative techniques, and unusual flavors
The first Zymaster Series beer will be released at select events during SF Beer Week, which this year is February 10-19. The initial offering will be “available on draught only in 13.2 gallon and 5.16 gallon kegs,” and “[i]nitial distribution will be focused in California.”
No word yet on what the first beer will taste like, whether it will hew closely to any recognizable style, what ingredients were used to brew it, or how often we can expect subsequent offerings in the Zymaster series. Updates as they emerge.
Anchor Brewery is teasing us. Earlier today they tweeted this enigmatic photo that vaguely hints at a new series of beers from the oldest craft brewery in America. All the tweet says is that we have to wait until Monday. “We’re brewing up a special announcement for Monday, January 23. Here’s a little taste…” Can’t wait.
For the third straight year, beer had a bigger presence at the Winter Fancy Food Show, held each January in San Francisco. The Brewers Association once again had a booth pouring beer from a variety of craft brewers, through their Export Development Program (EDP). I went the first year, too, and this year it again appeared to be one of the most popular booths at the giant food show that features high-end, specialty foods. Hopefully not by coincidence, the BA’s craft beer booth was located next to most of the cheese, which made finding divine pairings quite easy. There are few things better than great beer and cheese together.
In talking with Bob Pease, COO of the BA and head of EDP, it was clear this was the right crowd to help build craft beer. Attendees were by and large retailers who carry not just ordinary grocery fare, but high-end, specialty foods. Craft beer, of course, is a high-end, specialty food and these days, any specialty food retailer carrying better cheese, bread, chocolate, charcuterie, etc. but not craft beer, is missing out. And many people there seemed to understand that.
People lined up to try the beers, and unlike your average beer festival, most asked good questions not just about the beer, but what foods it went with, how to market it, etc. In several conversations I eavesdropped on, retailers admitted not knowing much about craft beer, but seemed to understand it was now part of the specialty food world and were eager to learn more and understand how it could fit into their own businesses.
Nancy Johnson, Event Director for the BA, sampling people on Dogfish Head’s beer.
Having had most of the beers from the dozen breweries at the BA’s booth, I wanted to see what else was being featured at the show, so I spent a few hours walking the aisles and stuffing my face with countless delicious samples being offered at nearly every booth.
I was in heaven with all the different cheese available for sampling. I must have eaten at least a pound or more of cheese in the aggregate.
There was an entire area devoted to Japan’s cuisine, and among those booths I discovered that Hitachino Nest Beer was sampling people on three of their beers.
I also noticed this clever carrying-case to transport a twelve-pack to your next tasting.
Not surprisingly, they were also pouring beer — Spaten — in the German cuisine area.
And last, though in this case possibly least, there was also a booth featuring beer salt. Though I suppose if you’re stuck drinking Corona, with a wedge of lime and some beer salt, you’d have the makings of a beer margarita.
Anyway, the Fancy Food Show was great fun, and it was amazing to see so many innovative foods, and the way they were being presented. There was food from a dizzying number of countries, and many new ways of eating more traditional fare. But what was really terrific to witness, is how many people were so accepting of beer as a part of the great panoply of food. I don’t so much like the word “fancy” as a way of describing either craft beer or most of the foods at the show, and I suspect that’s a name with a history that they’re somewhat stuck with now. The Fancy Food Show is put on by the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade, and that’s a much better way of looking at it. Because none of the food there could be considered ordinary, it was all pretty special. And that’s one way to look at beer, too. There’s ordinary beer — well-made but fairly bland without much flavor — and then there’s craft beer — loaded with flavor and in endless variety. Give me the specialty beer every time. Life’s just too short to settle for the ordinary.
This is a pretty cool piece or artwork that would look great on your wall. Los Angeles-based artist David Odere has created a poster entitled There Are 1,952 Craft Breweries In The United States, in which the glass of beer, head included, contains the names of every one of those 1,952 breweries. The poster is below, but to really get a flavor for it, look at in his website, Factry, where you can zoom in on it to read all of the brewery names. Last time I’d checked, the number was in the high 1800s, but I guess we’ve gone way past 1900 since then. Can hitting 2,000 breweries be very far away at this point? See if you can find your own or the ones in your area. For $20 (plus shipping) you can also but an 18″ x 24″ poster of it.
And if you love bacon, be sure to check out his other poster, Everything Goes Good with Bacon.
The 3rd annual Winter Brews Festival, sponsored by the Brewing Network, will be held this year on Saturday, January 28 from Noon to 4:00 p.m. Thanks to the Occupy Berkeley movement, last year’s location was not available and BN thought they’d have to cancel. But the City of Concord came to the rescue, and this year’s event will be held at Todos Santos Plaza, just two blocks from the Concord BART station.
Tickets went on sale tonight, and can be purchased online through Eventbrite.
Here’s all the info from the press release:
Todos Santos Plaza is normally closed to public events during the winter months. Due to the extreme situation, however, they graciously opened their doors to allow the event to go on uninterrupted. Partnering with the Todos Santos Small Business Association and a local environmental non-profi t organization, this event will proudly promote the value of local breweries, local businesses, and fresh beer.
Visitors will enjoy unlimited tastings from more than 30 world class breweries. Confirmed breweries include the 21st Amendment, Drakes, Heretic, Lagunitas, Magnolia, Triple Rock, and Russian River. This Winter Brews Festival promises to expose beer lovers, new and experienced, to a variety of appetizing and innovative beers. A portion of the proceeds will also benefit local nonprofit, the Coral Reef Alliance.
The 3rd Annual Winter Brews Festival will be held at the Todos Santos Plaza in Concord on Saturday, January 28, 2012, from 12pm to 4pm. Tastings will feature a wide variety of local brews and unique innovations from some of the best brewers around, many of whom will be pouring their own beers giving visitors an opportunity to learn more about how the beer is made. The event will happen rain or shine, with arrangements in place to keep festival goers dry or out of the sun. And with the Concord BART station just two blocks away, this afternoon event will no doubt satisfy locals wanting to enjoy some beers for a great cause. Tickets are $35 pre-sale or $40 at the gate and include unlimited pours and a commemorative glass. For more information on the event, and to purchase tickets, please visit The Brewing Network Ontap.
See you there!