Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Casting Call: Homebrewing Meets Reality TV

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bn
It was bound to happen, but at least it’s being done by someone we know and trust to treat beer and homebrewing with the proper respect. The Brewing Network has partnered with KOFY Channel 20 to create a new reality TV show about … homebrewing. The show, to be called Brew Your Own Beer TV, will take the form of a “game show-reality style program pitting teams of homebrewers and craft beer lovers against one another for some really great prizes. It will be shot all across the greater Bay Area in parking lots and bars and breweries.”

Here’s what they’re looking for:

We are looking for beer lovers of all types, men and women, couples, teams, bikini models — as long as they have a general understanding of how beer is made and a flexible schedule, they will be considered for the show.

Do you love beer? Are you a home brewer or craft beer enthusiast? Are you interested in learning more about the brewing process while competing with other brewers for great prizes?

We are casting for a reality show that centers around home brewers and craft beer lovers in the greater San Fransisco Bay Area.

Applicants must have a LOVE for beer, a desire to learn more about the brewing process, and a flexible schedule between February 20th and June 15th. A basic knowledge of how beer is made is required but home brewing experience is not a must — we want beer lovers of all knowledge levels.

21 and older only!

To apply: e-mail your name, recent photo, brewing experience (if any), an explanation or example of your passion for beer, and a reason why you should be a part of this TV show. If possible, you may also submit a link to a short video that further explains why we should select you and to help us get to know you better.

Deadline for submissions is February 15th!

The casting call is also on Craigslist and that’s where the e-mail address to use for applying can be found. Or you can simply e-mail the Brewing Network.

My understanding is that there will be ten teams of homebrewers competing, so not every team has to consist entirely of expert homebrewers. You’d need at least one, of course, but enthusiastic assistants that work well together would most likely make for the best team, rather than all homebrewers who might have trouble agreeing on how to proceed. There will be contests and competitions along the way to eliminate teams until one emerges victorious. Sounds like it could be great fun.

Good luck to everybody, and good brewing. But hurry up and apply, there’s less than two weeks to go.

Are You Experienced Enough For Strong Beer Month?

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It’s February, and that means it’s time for the 9th annual Strong Beer Month, once again with six new extreme beers each at 21st Amendment and Magnolia throughout February. Try them all, and you get to keep the commemorative glass. To see a list of the twelve beers, check out the Strong Beer Month website. This year’s theme is the Jimi Hendrix album “Are You Experienced” featuring instead of Jimi and his band, Dave McLean (from Magnolia) and Shaun O’Sullivan and Nico Freccia (both from 21st Amendment). Stop by both brewpubs throughout the month for the “Strong Beer Experience.”

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The Clydesdales in California

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The iconic Budweiser Clydesdales debuted on April 7, 1933 and have a big promotional part of Anheuser-Busch ever since. Most come from Grant’s Farm in St. Louis. Today there are six teams of Clydesdales. One is headquartered in St. Louis and the other five travel the country. On Saturday, one team — or “hitch” — visited the A-B brewery in Fairfield, which is the smallest of the twelve ABI breweries in the U.S.

Believe it or not, I’d never been to the Fairfield brewery (I have visited at least three others, however). But my six-year old daughter’s love of horses made this weekend the perfect time to finally correct that oversight. So I responded to the press release I got, and arranged to come a little early so I could still make the Brewing Network’s Winter Brews Festival in Berkeley the same day.

But back to the horses. Clydesdales are Scottish in origin. They’re large draft horses, often six-feet high (18 hands) at the shoulder, weighing as much as 2,000 or more pounds, and are thought to be at least 300 years old. After a quick tour of the facilities, Alice and I arrived in the parking lot just in time to watch the horses being taken off their tractor trailers and hitched up to the wagon.

Two at a time they are off-loaded

Each hitch consists of ten Clydesdales that travel in three tractor trailers, along with the ceremonial beer wagon. Horse-drawn wagons were quite common for beer deliveries before the invention of the automobile, and continue to be used for ceremonial purposes throughout the world. The Radeberger brewery near Dresden, Germany still makes local beer deliveries on a horse-drawn wagon. It was a cool sight when I visited the brewery several years ago.

My daughter Alice in front of the wagon
My daughter Alice, with her stuffed Clydesdale, in front of the Budweiser beer wagon.

The first two hitched to the wagon
The first two hitched to the wagon.

Eventually, eight Budweiser Clydesdales were hitched to the wagon. Then, for about an hour, they paraded around the parking lot to the delight of a few hundred people, who showed up even in the drizzling rain. And especially my daughter, who was thrilled to see the horses up close. You can see a short video of the parade’s start below.

Below is a slideshow of the Clydesdales’ visit. This Flickr gallery is best viewed in full screen. To view it that way, after clicking on the arrow in the center to start the slideshow, click on the button on the bottom right with the four arrows pointing outward on it, to see the photos in glorious full screen. Once in full screen slideshow mode, click on “Show Info” to identify each photo.

BN Winter Brews Festival Announced

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bn
January is usually a slow time for beer in the Bay Area, so it’s nice that last year the Brewing Network stepped up and put on a great new beer festival featuring winter beers in Oakland. They’re back again and this year it will be held in a new location at the Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park in Berkeley, just two blocks from the Downtown Berkeley BART station.

The 2nd Annual Winter Brews Festival will be held on Saturday, January 29, 2011, from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. “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.”

Tickets are $35 before the event, or $40 at the gate, and include unlimited pours and a commemorative glass. Advance tickets can be purchased online. For more information on the event, visit the Brewing Network website.

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SF Beer Week One Month Away

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In exactly one month, SF Beer Week will start up again. For ten days beginning on February 11, beer in the Bay Area will be front and center. Last year we had over 225 diverse events and this year promises to have even more beer-centric events throughout the Bay Area. In a couple of hours — at 4:00 p.m. — this year’s website will go live with the first batch of events added to the schedule. Start filling up your dance card now, to make sure you have a seat at as many of the great events as you and your liver can manage.

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Announcing “High Water Brewing”

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You may recall the formerly wonderful beers of Valley Brewing in Stockton, California. That was due to one singular reason, their longtime brewmaster, Steve Altimari. Steve’s beers have became some of the most creative, innovative and diverse of any brewer. He perfected one style after another and brewed some truly experimental gems. His Uber Hoppy Imperial IPA was one of the best and his London Tavern Ale, a delicate English-style mild was a great session beer. But back on June 12th of last year, Steve was summarily dismissed under circumstances that could charitably be termed “odd.” I got the full story a couple of days after that, when I spoke to Steve in New York, where he was vacationing with his family. The owners initially told him that they’d sold the brewery (something he himself had been trying to do at that same time) and that the new bosses no longer needed his services. That tuned out to be not true in the least, and they instead brought in a scab brewer who flew in from Bend, Oregon, apparently, to do the brewing. I’m told they also locked Steve out of the brewery and refused to return his personal property that was there, including beer, barrels, etc. The good news was that since he’d been trying to buy Valley brewery, he already had investors and a management team in place.

So it’s six or so months later, and I’m pleased to announce that Steve’s new brewery — High Water Brewing — has begun brewing. They’ve set up offices and cold storage in San Leandro, California, near Drake’s Brewing, whose brewing equipment they’ll be using to make High Water’s beer. They’re also installing their own fermenters on site but will store the finished beer in their separate offices nearby.

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Initially, they’ll be offering three regular beers:

  • Hop Riot IPA (7.3% a.b.v. / 73 IBUs)
  • Retribution Imperial IPA (9.5% a.b.v. / 95 IBUs)
  • Old and In the Way Barleywine (11% a.b.v. / 95 IBUs)

The beers will debut on draft — 5 & 15.5 gallon kegs — in February during SF Beer Week (yet another reason I can’t wait for SF Beer Week!). Packaged beer, in 22 oz. bottles, will follow in early Spring, most likely in April. You can see the new labels on the website. They’re also still seeking additional investors, and if you’re interested, you can read about High Water’s investment opportunities.

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In the interest of full disclosure, the name High Water Brewing was suggested by me in a post back in June when this all went down, and after an exhaustive search, my suggestion turned out to be the one they liked best. The founders of the brewery were kind enough to thank me by awarding me some shares in the company, giving me a very teeny tiny interest in the company, essentially a symbolic, but very much appreciated gesture.

New San Diego Brewery In Development

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I just heard about a new brewery being planned for San Diego, the Societe Brewing Co. The new venture is a partnership between two brewers, one of whom is Travis Smith. If you haven’t heard of Travis, you will. He brewed at Russian River Brewing for a number of years, before moving south, where he brewed at both The Bruery and the La Jolla Brewhouse.

As of today, he’s just getting started, and when I wrote to ask how far along, here’s what he had to say.

Basically still working on everything. We have money to start but are still raising more capital. We have the concepts done, and are now in the phase were I just need to do it all. I feel like there is so much to do I don’t know where to start.

No estimated opening date yet, but I’ll continue to update Societe’s progress. Join me in wishing Travis the best of luck. Hopefully, we’ll be drinking his beer soon.

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Travis “MacGyver” Smith showing off the cork gun he made with spare brewing parts lying around the Russian River brewery. It shot a beer cork a pretty fair distance and would pierce cardboard at 100 feet.

Ken Grossman Presents The Sierra Nevada Story

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Our last day at Sierra Nevada’s Beer Camp last Friday, we were invited to their last quarterly beer dinner at the Big Room at the Brewery. Executive Chef Micheal Iles created an impressive five-course dinner, which each course mimicking one meal of the day, so that in essence we ate a day’s worth in one meal. You can see a photo gallery of the beer dinner below.

And as cool as the dinner was, the real treat was a presentation given by Sierra Nevada co-founder Ken Grossman. Throughout the dinner, in between courses, he told the story of how Sierra Nevada Brewery began, complete with slides. By complete happenstance, I happened to be sitting on a riser directly in front of the presentation, so I set up my Flip camera and taped most of it. The talk is separated into 8 parts, since that’s how the presentation was given. It’s just over an hour, and part one is below.

To see the rest of Ken Grossman’s presentation, I set up a page with all 8 videos embedded, The Sierra Nevada Story. Enjoy.

Sierra Nevada Beer Dinner Photo Galley

Beer Birthday: Brent Ainsworth

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Today is my friend and neighbor’s birthday, Brent Ainsworth. Brent was a newspaper man until very recently, when he became the Novato Patch for AOL’s ambitious local news Patch project. Brent also wrote the occasional beer piece and contributes stories to the Celebrator Beer News. oin me in wishing Brent a very happy birthday.

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Marin/Moylan’s owner Brendan Moylan and friend, Brent and Mike Altman, owner of Iron Springs Brewing at the Celebrator 20th anniversary party.

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Brent and Lars Larson from Trumer Brauerei.

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Brent (top right) at the 4th Philopotes Society meeting in July.

Sierra Nevada’s Hoptimum

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One of the first beers of the New Year will be a new Imperial IPA from Sierra Nevada Brewing, whose Hoptimum will be officially released January 1, 2011. If you’re fortunate enough to be in Chico, it was released there locally on Monday, but the rest of us will have to wait until 2011.

The Hoptimum was created during on of Sierra Nevada’s “Beer Camps,” a new program where people — usually beer distributors, retailers and others — spend two days at the brewery’s pilot brewhouse learning about the brewery and making their own small batch of beer. I was fortunate enough to attend Beer Camp last week, but more about that later.

After the success of the single batch, beer camp Hoptimum, Sierra Nevada tweaked the formula for a commercial release, which they describe as follows:

Hops, hops, and more hops are the stars of this big, whole-cone Imperial IPA. Resinous “new-school” and exclusive hop varieties carry the bold and aromatic nose. The flavor follows the aroma with layers of aggressive hoppiness, featuring notes of grapefruit rind, rose, lilac, cedar, and tropical fruit — all culminating in a dry and lasting finish.

And the label is one of the coolest I’ve seen from any brewery, featuring a true “hop head” in fancy clothes. According to the label, it’s a “Whole-Cone Imperial IPA” for “the Ultimate Whole-Cone Hop Experience.” That’s a nod to Sierra Nevada’s philosophy of using whole-cone hops rather than pellets.

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And here’s how the original “beer camp” beer — made for last year’s SF Beer Week — was described:

A group of hop-heads and publicans challenged our Beer Camp brewers to push the extremes of whole-cone hop brewing. The result is this: a 100 IBU, whole-cone hurricane of flavor. Simply put- Hoptimum: the biggest whole-cone IPA we have ever produced. Aggressively hopped, dry-hopped and torpedoed with our exclusive new hop varieties for ultra-intense flavors and aromas.

And here are few of the particulars for the commercial version:

  • Alcohol-by-Volume: 10.4%
  • Bitterness Units: 100 IBUs
  • Bittering Hops: German Magnum
  • Aroma Hops: Simcoe & New Proprietary Variety
  • Dry Hops: Simcoe & New Proprietary Variety
  • Topedo Hops: Citra & Chinook
  • Malts: Two-row Pale, Golden Promise, Munich & Wheat

By pure happenstance, I was in Sierra Nevada’s sensory lab last Friday when random sample bottles of Hoptimum came in for analysis, in this case tasting, before being released locally on Monday, and the rest of the world on January 1.

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I had the beer camp version last year, but too long ago for any meaningful comparison. The commercial version, though, is quite wonderful. Despite being a big, hoppy beer, it’s well-balanced and almost mild for an Imperial IPA. I mean that only in the sense that the hops, while enveloping and intense, are not over-powering, harsh or astringent and meld nicely with the malt character. The beer has great conditioning. It doesn’t taste like a 10.4% beer, either. It’s not hot, but warming. You could drink a lot of it. I plan to. It comes in 24 oz. bottles making it an ideal beer to share with a friend or loved one. If this is how 2011 will begin, perhaps it will be a great year. I’d certainly toast to that. But forget the champagne, give me a Hoptimum.