Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Chiles and Beer: Millennium Beer Dinner

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The night before leaving for GABF, there was one more beer dinner to attend. The Millennium Restaurant, a vegetarian eatery located in the Hotel California (f.k.a. the Savoy), put on their 3rd annual Chile and Beer Dinner with beers from Russian River Brewing and Nodding Head Brewery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

One of the desserts, a pineapple-Serrano cake with chocolate frosting, coconut-lime anglaise and chile ice cream.

A glass of Monk’s Flemish Sour contrasted by Nodding Head’s Ich Bin Ein Berliner Weisse with Woodruff syrup.

Tom Peters, Nodding Head co-owner and brewer Curt Decker, Vinnie and Natalie Cilurzo, from Russian River Brewing.

Tom Peters and Dave Keene, owners of the best two Belgian beer bars on both coasts.

A Delicious Evening at the “Tion” Dinner

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Last night was Beer Chef Bruce Paton’s latest beer dinner, dubbed the Tion Dinner, because it featured Damnation, Temptation, Supplication, Salvation and Redemption from Russian River Brewing. Everything was spectacular and because the MBAA conference is in town this week, there were a lot more familiar faces than usual, which made for an even more enjoyable evening. The food was delicious, as were the beers, of course. Friends, food and beer: what more could you ask for of an ideal evening? Bruce asked me to take photos of the event so I have a lot of pictures to share. Here is a photo gallery of the event.
 

Chef Bruce Paton and Brewer Vinnie Cilurzo.

All of the brewers who attended the beer dinner.

This was just too good a photo to wait, this is Bruce with Russian River co-owner Natalle Cilurzo.
 

UPDATE: Photo Gallery from the event now online.

Belgian Beer Tasting in San Francisco

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This Saturday, September 16, at O’Neill’s Irish Pub near the ballpark in San Francisco there will be a Belgium Beer Tasting from 7:30-9:30 p.m. Several Belgian beers imported by Vanberg & Dewulf and Artisanal Imports will be available for sampling.

Tickets are $30 in advance and $40 at the door and tickets can be purchased online. Seating is limited to 300 people, so hurry up and reserve your spot. I’ll see you there.

Frm the press release:

Belgium beers are some of the best beers in the world and O’Neill’s Irish Pub is proud to host a very exclusive beer tasting party for two of the finest Belgian Import companies in America, Vanberg & Dewulf and Artisanal Imports. Featuring some of the finest Belgium beers accompanied by mouth watering appetizers. After the beer tasting the party will continue all night long with a live band and drink specials.

Some of the beers featured will include*:

From Artisanal Imports:

Bostels (Dues)
De Leyerth (Urthel)
Nethergate (Old Growler)
Neuzeller (Bath Beer)
St. Feuillien (Cuvee’ de Noel)
St. Bernardus (Grotten)
St. Jozef (Pax)

From Vanberg & Dewulf:

Brasserie Dupont (Saison Dupont)
Brouwerij Boon (Boon Kriek)
Brasserie Castelain (Blonde Castelian)
Brouwerij Slaghmuylder (Witkap)
Brasserie Dubuisson (Scaldis)

*Specific beer are subject to change based upon availability

 

9.16

Belgian Beer Tasting at O’Neill’s

O’Neill’s Irish Pub, 747 3rd Street (near AT&T park), San Francisco, California
[ website ] [ tickets ]

Brews on the Bay

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The 3rd annual beer festival put on by the San Francisco Brewers Guild, Brews on the Bay, was held today. Eight of the nine breweries in the city were pouring their beers, with only Anchor abstaining. The festival has an unusual location. It’s held aboard the S.S. Jeremiah O’Brien, a World War Two-era Liberty Ship anchored at Pier 45 in Fisherman’s Wharf. Despite a cold, windy and grey day in the city — imagine that — there was a pretty good turnout for the festival and the ship was packed. The beer was spread all over the deck of the ship and there was music and food on board, as well. It’s a fun place for a festival and indeed everyone appeared to be enjoying themselves immensely.

The Liberty Ship, S.S. Jeremiah O’Brien docked at Pier 45.

The festival on the starboard side.

And on the port side, looking aft.

Already a tourist destination, a lot more people than is usual for a beer festival had cameras and were capturing friends aboard ship.

The Brewing Network’s radio show did a live remote with several of the brewers during the festival.

From the upper deck of the ship looking toward the bow.

Members of the San Francisco Brewers Guild pose with the ship as backdrop.

The brewers with the San Franciso Bay at their backs.

Festival Announcement: Brews on the Bay

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This Saturday is the San Francisco Brewers Guild’s beer festival — their third one — and it will again take place aboard the SS Jeremiah O’Brien, the National Liberty Ship Memorial on Pier 45 of Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. Over 50 beers brewed in the city will be available for sampling.


 

9.9

Brews on the Bay (3rd annual)

SS Jeremiah O’Brien, National Liberty Ship Memorial, Fisherman’s Wharf – Pier 45, San Francisco, California
[ website ] [ tickets ]

Monterey Beer Fest Profiled in SF Chronicle

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Jeff Moses, who produces the Monterey Beer Festival, among several other Bay Area beer festivals, sent me this article about the festival that ran in San Francisco Chronicle on Sunday, while I was still out of town vacationing with the family. It’s nice to see a beer festival get some good, positive press for a change.
 

Monterey Beer Festival Brew with a View
September 9, 12:30-5 p.m.
Monterey Fairgrounds, Monterey, California

Time for Fresh Hop Beers

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Autumn brings many changes, even here in California where the change of seasons is not as dramatic as in more temperate areas. But regardless of specific climate, throughout the country, it’s harvest time. Only the exact date to begin picking changes. For Moonlight Brewing and Russian River’s combined hop harvest, that date was Monday.

A little more then ten years ago, small breweries began making “fresh hop beers,” which are usually ales made with freshly picked hops thrown into the boil as soon as possible after they were picked from the vine, often within a few hours of being harvested. Usually, many times more fresh hops are used than in ordinary brews and aficionados claim that fresh hopping enhances aromas. It may be merely a perceptional advantage, but to my mind — and senses — they definitely do have great aromas and flavors.

These beers are also known by other names, including “wet hop beers” and “harvest ales.” Sierra Nevada Brewing’s Harvest Ale was undoubtedly one of the first and today is sold in every state. But most remain small batches, generally limited by the fresh hops themselves, as well as other factors. Over the years, an increasing number of breweries are now making fresh hop beers, including Alpine Brewing of San Diego (WHAle, Wet Hopped Ale), Deschutes Brewery of Bend, Oregon (Hop Trip Harvest Ale), Dogfish Head of Delaware (Fed-Extra Mid), East End Brewing of Pittsburgh (Big Hop Harvest Ale), Great Divide Brewing of Denver (Maverick Fresh Hop Pale Ale), Left Hand Brewing of Longmont, Colorado (Warrior IPA), Rogue Ales of Newport, Oregon (Hop Heaven), and Victory Brewing of Downingtown, Pennsylvania (Harvest Pilsner) to name only a few.

On Monday, I helped out with the hop harvest of cascade, chinook and red vine hops grown on the property at Moonlight Brewing and shared with Russian River Brewing for the two breweries’ fresh hop beers. Moonlight’s is called Homegrown (in some places) and Russian River’s is know as HopTime. It was a lot fun — though today I’m still a little sore and scratched up — and took about five or six hours to complete the harvest. Then both brewers retired to their respective breweries to begin the process of making their fresh hop ales. The rest of us enjoyed a yummy lunch at Russian River provided by Natalie Cilurzo, the hop queen of Russian River Brewing.

Barley, the dog, adorned with fresh hops plays in the hopyard.

The Moonlight/Russian River hopyard.

Brewers Brian Hunt, assistant brewer Travis, and Vinnie Cilurzo in their hopyard.

Brian Hunt on a ladder cutting down hopvines from ten-foot wires strung across the yard.

Then the bottoms are cut so the vines can be moved for picking.

The volunteer hop pickers in front of Moonlight’s brewery.

Everybody works in a circle picking the hop cones from the vine and collecting them in buckets.

A mound of hopvines ready to be picked. Cascade and Chinook hops are mixed in the pile.

Hops on the vine.

Stored in a bucket after picking.

A third hop is kept separate. This is Red Vine, a type of cluster hop.

Vinnie Cilurzo picking Red Vine hops.
 

Last Friday, the Wall Street Journal did a feature article about Fresh Hop Beers. If you don’t have a subscription, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette syndicated the story and “To toast a new crop, brewers roll out ‘wet hop’ beer” is available online. I’ve been complaining lately that only smaller and regional traditional media is covering beer so it’s nice to see a big player step up. Though according to insiders, the story took many weeks to get approval and the author had to advocate persistently to finally get it published.

Five Reasons to Keep Drinking Beer

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The Metro, San Jose’s alternative weekly might not be exactly mainstream, but when I lived in the area the years ago, it was a pretty good paper. This week’s edition features a short little column listing five recently discovered health benefits associated with drinking alcohol in moderation. These included a healthier heart, lungs, bone density, help in fighting cholesterol, and reducing the risk of a stroke.

A Little California Brewing History

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Yesterday I took the kids to the California State Railroad Museum, which is in Sacramento. My son Porter is obsessed with trains and he’d been wanting to go there since he’d seen it in one of the many train videos he watches over and over again. We had lunch in a converted train depot across the street from the museum in a part of town known as Old Sacramento. It too, was a little slice of history, and had some very interesting old beer bottles on some shelves behind the counter.

  1. The first one is from the Swan Brewery, Brewers & Bottlers, which operated in San Francisco for a very short time, from 1878-1880, on 15th and Dolores Streets. It had a cork top with a wire loop, similar to a Champagne bottle an the two examples they had both still had liquid in them.
  2. Next is Buffalo Brand Lager Beer from the Buffalo Brewing Co. in Sacramento. The Buffalo Brewery lasted a bit longer, and was in business from 1890 until finally closing in 1949. It was located between 21st and 22nd Streets, but had three different new owners beginning in 1897, when it became part of Sacramento Brewing Co. (which itself was known by several names from 1859-1920). After prohibition, it reopened in 1934 and apparently was independent again but then was taken over once more by Grace Brothers Brewing Co. of Santa Rosa in 1942. The 11 oz. bottle was already empty.
  3. This last bottle is more part of the brewery industry’s recent past but I can’t actually ever recall having seen this bottle of Pete’s before. According to the neck label, it was brewed by August Schell Brewery, which is still in business in Minnesota. Perhaps Pete himself can step in and let us know more about this one.

Of course, I wasn’t expecting a history lesson yesterday, but you never know when something beer-related and interesting is going to present itself.