Mission Rock Cafe To Become Brewery In 2012

December 27, 2011 By Jay Brooks

Yet another new brewery is apparently coming to San Francisco next year. According to the San Francisco Chronicle and SF Weekly, the Mission Rock Cafe, in China Basin not to far from the stadium where the Giants play, will soon become a brewery. Local publican Peter Osborne, who currently owns MoMo’s, Pete’s Tavern and Pedro’s Cantina, will take over the waterside restaurant on January 1. He’ll then start renovating it with an eye toward re-opening it sometime during the summer as Mission Rock Brewery and Oyster Bar.

On on the deck at Kelly's Mission Rock
On the deck at Mission Rock Cafe during the Beerunch there during SF Beer Week in 2010.

SF Beer Week Opening Event Announced

December 20, 2011 By Jay Brooks

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The opening celebration to kick-off SF Beer Week for 2012 has been announced. Having outgrown our space last year, this year it’s been moved to a new, larger location at the Concourse pavilion at the Concourse Exhibition Center in SOMA. Here are the details:

On February 10, 2012, over 50 Northern California breweries will converge on the Concourse in San Francisco for the Opening Celebration of SF Beer Week, which kicks off a ten day marathon of beer tastings, small festivals and food pairing dinners across the Bay Area. From 6-10pm, beer lovers will discover newly minted nanobrewers pouring alongside legendary craft brewing pioneers.
Early bird tickets are now available for $55. Each attendee will receive a commemorative glass and enjoy unlimited samples of new, rare and classic beers. Tickets are expected to go quickly. The event is one of the largest and most anticipated gatherings of the region’s beer community. A complete list of attending breweries will be published in mid January.
This year the Opening Celebration has moved to a larger venue in San Francisco’s SOMA district. The Concourse pavilion will provide a more spacious experience, easier access to the breweries and more food options will be available. Artisan producers from around the Bay will serve up a range of delicious choices for purchase, while live music fills the air.

Tickets are available online, the early bird price is $55. See you there.

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The Artist Behind 21st Amendment’s New Cans

December 16, 2011 By Jay Brooks

UK-based illustrator Joe Wilson, whose clients include such high-powered companies as Adidas, British Airways, De Beers, GQ, Random House and Wired, designed the new artwork adorning the new 21st Amendment Brewery beer cans. So given his work for Wired, I suppose it’s no surprise that they featured his art on their Underwire Blog in a post entitled Chimp Astronaut Spaces Out in 21st Amendment Brewery’s ‘American Icon’ Artwork.

In an e-mail interview for the post, Wilson talked about the project. Regarding Bitter American. “That was a nice idea to center it around Ham the Astrochimp, who was undoubtedly a bitter American.”

The brewery’s marketing firm, TBD Agency, hired Smith on the strength of a Statue of Liberty illustration he did for Public Finance magazine. “They asked me to create a series of images based around the loose theme ‘American icons,'” Wilson said. “They already had the names of the beers, so this was a case of coming up with American subject matter and giving it a twist.”
21st Amendment wanted to establish a cheeky alternative to its mainstream competitors and that’s precisely what Wilson delivered with his drawings of the space chimp and other American icons. For the history-on-a-can theme, Wilson drew Paul Revere (for a black IPA called Back in Black), Abe Lincoln and his Mount Rushmore companions (Brew Free or Die IPA), the Statue of Liberty (Hell or High Watermelon wheat beer) and Franklin D. Roosevelt (Fireside Chat winter spiced ale).

Below are Wilson’s original sketches followed by the finished can label for each beer.

Brew Free or Die IPA

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Hell or High Watermelon

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Bitter American

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Back in Black

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Fireside Chat

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It’s cool to see the changes — look carefully — from rough sketch to finished artwork. You can see more of Joe Wilson’s artwork at his website and at debut art.

Mills River, North Carolina On The Short List For New Sierra Nevada Brewery

December 16, 2011 By Jay Brooks

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After Sierra Nevada Brewing‘s plans to build a brewery in Black Mountain, North Carolina fell through, they set their sites on the nearby town of Mills River as one possible location they’re considering. According to Blue Ridge Now, the Mills River location “is now among a ‘handful’ of possible locations for California-based Sierra Nevada to build a second facility.” (And thanks to Win Bassett for the tip.) Sierra Nevada owner Ken Grossman was in North Carolina Thursday and was reportedly pleased by the “welcome reception” he received. He told Blue Ridge Now in a telephone interview:

“We like the community; we like the culture in the area and the focus on craft beer, and a vibrant craft (beer) community is certainly an appealing draw,” Grossman said. “The water is good; we’ve been well-received in the area — certainly a welcome reception helps, not that we haven’t been welcomed everywhere we’ve looked.”
“Logistically, it fits,” he said. “We began discussing the project five years ago but put it on the back burner a couple of times as we agonized over the concept of starting from scratch and building a second plant. But it really makes sense for us from an economic standpoint and a carbon footprint standpoint as far as shipping, as our Eastern markets have continued to see double-digit growth for a number of years.”

Apparently Brian Grossman, Ken’s son, would be relocating to run the Eastern Sierra Nevada operations, wherever it turns out to be.

UPDATE: Miles J. sent me a link to a similar story about Sierra nevada’s search foran East Coast location for a brewery that ran in today’s ChicoER.

More From This Year’s Anchor Christmas Party

December 10, 2011 By Jay Brooks

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If you saw my post from the Anchor Christmas Party a few days ago, my friend Mike Condie — who’s a much better photographer than I am — sent over some of the pictures he took at the party and I thought I’d share those, as well.

The Celebrator crew.

Alec Moss and Tom Dalldorf.

Me with brewer Mike Lee and Bob Brewer.

Bob Brewer showing me Anchor’s new bottling line.

Ron Silberstein, from Thirsty Bear, and Anchor co-owner Keith Greggor.

Thanks for sharing, Mike.

Anchor Christmas Party 2011

December 9, 2011 By Jay Brooks

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Last night was the annual Anchor Christmas Party, one of my favorite events of the beer year. It’s an opportunity to celebrate the holidays with the local beer community and have a bit of fun before all the family obligations kick in. And it’s always a great party. Anchor pulls out all the stops, putting out a terrific spread and opening the brewery up for one night.

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The Anchor party is one of the few events that my wife Sarah attends with me each year, making it that much more special. We always make a point of having holiday photo taken at the brewery.

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The Celebrator Beer News crew at the party.

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Brewer Mike Lee and Bob Brewer.

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During the course of the evening, I was happy to get a look at Anchor’s new bottling line, which is doubling their filling speed and offering better O-levels and fill level consistency. Plus it’s a beautiful piece of machinery.

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Tom Dalldorf, publisher of the Celebrator Beer News, my wife Sarah, and Keith Greggor, co-owner of Anchor Brewers & Distillers toward the end of the night.

Jeff Bagby Leaving Pizza Port To Open His Own Brewery

December 5, 2011 By Jay Brooks

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San Diego Beer Blog had the news today that Jeff Bagby is leaving his position as head brewer at Pizza Port in Carlsbad. Nacho will taking his place for now, though Jeff will be staying on in a consultant role while he firms up plans to open his own brewery. That’s awesome news for Jeff and I’m sure that whatever he does will be amazing.

Jeff Bagby & His Girlfriend, from Pizza Port - Carlsbad
Jeff and his fiance Dande at GABF a few years ago.

North Carolina Rebuffs Sierra Nevada

December 3, 2011 By Jay Brooks

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Sierra Nevada Brewing sells its beer in all fifty states, and has sold increasingly more over the last few years. Not surprisingly, there have been rumors circulating for some time about them building a brewery farther east, in such places as Tennessee and Virginia. It seems they had also identified a site in Black Mountain, North Carolina, which is near Asheville. Sierra Nevada had been considering building there “a beer facility and retail outlet that would employ as many as 140 people.” According to ABC Channel 13 in Western North Carolina, “[t]he company requested an interchange at Blue Ridge Road and Interstate 40. The Black Mountain town board asked the state to build it in hopes of luring the business but, it was not approved by the North Carolina Department of Transportation.” No word as to why the state would turn down the request.

Beer Birthday: Crazy Dave Heist

November 27, 2011 By Jay Brooks

Today is also the 55th birthday of “Crazy” Dave Heist, former owner of Hoptown Brewing in Pleasanton, California. Dave was brewing at Santa Cruz Aleworks for a time, but is now happily retired, at least for the time being. Join me in wishing Dave a very happy birthday.

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Out in front of The Bistro in Hayward at the 2008 Wood Aged Beer Festival. From left: Jeremy Cowan, owner of He’Brew, Judy Ashworth, Dave Heist, and Zak, also from He’Brew.

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“Crazy Dave” at the Mammoth Lakes Bluesapalooza in 2007.

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Kenny Gross and Dave last year at the Bistro’s Wood Aged Beerfest.

Damaged Lagunitas Brewing Equipment At The Dock

November 27, 2011 By Jay Brooks

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You may recall that earlier this month, the Lagunitas Brewhouse [Was] Destroyed At Sea. Lagunitas owner Tony Magee, through his Twitter Feed, just posted a number of new photos of the equipment as it arrived at the Port of Stockton this weekend. I’d say my usual “enjoy,” but it’s a little on the painful-to-see side.