Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Toasting Michael

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Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know last night was the National Toast to Michael Jackson, a benefit for Parkinson’s Disease and a chance to all raise a glass to the leading light in beer writing. I went to the Toronado in San Francisco to join the toast. Real Beer was there with a camera, documenting people’s thoughts about Michael and his legacy. They interviewed a number of us, asking us each the same seven questions and apparently this was going on in bars across the country with the idea of editing it all together in one media package.

 

Celebrator publisher Tom Dalldorf was on hand to emcee the toast as Toronado owner Dave Keene looks on, glass in hand, ready for the toast.

And exactly 6:00 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time, we all raised our glasses, as hopefully millions more did across the continent.

And then drank to Michael’s memory.

Dave opened a big bottle of Russian River Temptation.

After the toast, those of us that stayed adjourned to the back room for some heated games of washoes. Dave and I won at least ten straight before finally being unseated by Rodger Davis and Melissa Myers. Dave also opened a very big bottle of the anniversary beer Vinnie Cilurzo made for the Toronado’s 10th anniversary in August at Russian River Brewing.

Celebrating their one-year wedding anniversary, Claudia and Rodger Davis. Claudia works at 21st Amendment and Rodger is the former brewer at Drake’s. Believe it or not, this was the only picture I could get where Rodger did not have his mouth open with his tongue wagging.

 

The Brew Am 2007

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The 3rd annual Sasquatch Brew Am took place Friday morning at McMenamins Edgefield Pub Course. It was for a very worthy cause and sponsored by the Glen Hay Falconer Foundation. I also sponsored a hole again this year at the tournament.

Quentin Falconer addresses the golfers, flanked by volunteers Bob Brewer and Lisa Morrison. A portrait of Glen Falconer hangs on the tree at the left.

We listen as Quentin explains the rules.

Shaun O’Sullivan, from 21st Amendment Brewery, with Gabby and Justine — or is that Justine and Gabby? — and Motor.

The CO2 was out so we improvised and opened up the top of the keg to get the beer out. You know that old saying, “where there’s beer, there’s a way.”

Me at hole 8, which is the one I sponsored this year.

The ill-advised shotgunning of the Watermelon Wheat cans.

My fivesome after we finished our round, with a score of 5 under, from left: John, Ken, Brian, me and Shaun, along with tournament organizer Quentin Falconer.

After the tournament, we relaxed with a buffet lunch in the banquet hall, learned who won what (I won longest putt), and found out who won the many raffle items. A great tim was had by all of us. If you’re planning on being in Portland next year during OBF, you really should consider playing in the tournament.
 

UPDATE: Bob Brewer also has a nice collection of photos from the Brew Am online.

 

Open Your Hearts & Wallets

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Linda Starck, if you don’t already know her, has for a long time been a part of the Brewers Association in Boulder, Colorado, the trade organization committed to supporting and raising the status of craft beer in the U.S. and abroad. If you have met Linda, you already know she is a wonderful, giving person. Unfortunately, Linda is now quite literally in the fight of her life, as she was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in February. So far, the regular treatment has proved ineffective and the cancer has spread. As a result, Linda started looking around for alternative treatments and found a promising one in Cologne, Germany. It’s a three-step approach known as the Cologne Model, consisting of Dendritic Cell Therapy, Newcastle Virus and hyperthermie. It has apparently shown success there but is only at the trial stage here in the U.S.

Linda is currently in Germany having the first of the three treatments and the whole process will take six months, meaning she’ll have to travel there three separate times, and will likely remain in Germany for the final four months of treatment. As you might have guessed, the treatments are considered experimental and naturally not covered by insurance. Each treatment alone costs a whopping $15,000!

I lost my own mother to cancer when I was only 22 (and she was only 42 years old) so I know only too well how her family feels and how much your donation would mean to them. Please join me is helping Linda and her family with this fight. Friends of Linda are organizing fund raisers in their homes in and around Boulder, Colorado but no matter where you are, whether you know Linda or not, please consider sending a check to help raise the money necessary for these treatments. Let’s show the world that the beer community truly is — as I believe it to be — like one, big extended family.

Send your check made payable to “Linda Starck” for any amount to:

Linda Starck
c/o Brewers Association
736 Pearl Street
Boulder, CO 80302

Thank you in advance for your generosity and charity.

 

Linda Starck (at left) with Nancy Johnson, director of the festival, at the Great American Beer Festival several years ago.
 

UPDATE 11.26:

Linda is home for a short while and very happy to be here. The weather there was very cold and damp so she is enjoying the sunshine and warm weather. The doctors are seeing some evidence that the first dosage of tarceva is working. A scan scheduled for January 2 will tell if the tarceva and/or the dendretic cell treatments are working.

If you’re near Boulder, don’t forget about the fundraiser that is scheduled for Dec. 2nd, hope to see you all there, I know Linda is looking forward to seeing you. If you want to attend or would like any more information, please email me and I’ll pass on your request to Nancy Johnson at the Brewers Association. Linda will be leaving early the next morning for her next treatment in Germany.

UPDATE: 12.11:

Linda and her family wish to extend their sincere gratitude for all those attending and contributing to the fundraiser. She enjoyed seeing everyone and the donations received will be very helpful with the treatment she is receiving. Donations are still coming in! Thanks so much.

Linda and er husband Joyce left bright and early the morning after the fundraiser and immediately started the next treatment regimen. It is still too early to test for the success of the treatments, but her energy level has definitely improved. Her spirits remain high.

Her US doctor had restarted her on a lower dose of Tarceva which she still did not tolerate well, so that has been discontinued. She learned that there is a chemo sensitivity test which she is having done to see if there are any other chemo drugs that might be an option.

Linda and Joyce will be return to the US on the 15th.

UPDATE: 1.8:

As circumstances and information changes, so do Linda’s options, decisions and priorities. Pain management is of primary concern at this time! Adjustments are being made to her pain medications.

Latest tests show that the cancer has spread aggressively along her spine, throughout her torso and also now in her liver. Linda has canceled her continued treatment in Germany for now, as travel would be difficult. This can be reconsidered, of course.

Her U.S. doctor is suggesting two options — supportive care and/or participating in a clinical trial. She has decided to take part in the clinical trial (chemo) offered here, while we explore additional alternative treatments. She is glad to say she still has several to explore. Oasis of Hope Hospital in Tijuana is one she and her family hope to consult with today.

Linda is overwhelmed at the generosity of others, including total strangers. The fund-raising efforts on Linda’s behalf have assisted in her alternative care not covered by insurance. The approximately $22,000 raised to date (not including $4,000 raised by the Brewing Network) comes close to covering the first two treatments she received in Germany. Linda thanks everyone again for your generous support. If she pursues other alternative treatments at a later date, or is able to travel back to Germany, she will let us all know.

Thanks to everyone out there who gave so generously. And a special thanks to Justin at the Brewing Network for putting the resources at his disposal to such a selfless purpose.

UPDATE: 1.28:

Linda has been on an oral chemo as part of a trial for about three weeks now. It is having a big effect on her. She is extremely tired and has very little appetite. These are side effects of this drug so we can only hope that it means that it is doing its job and fighting this ugly disease. The schedule of this trial is to be on the pills for 60 days and then go in for updated scans to determine the next phase. Thank goodness, the pain management has been going much better.

The family is still exploring alternative treatments very aggressively. Nothing has come up as a perfect fit yet, but there are some hopeful possibilities. Linda and her family are bound and determined to find the answer get Linda better, so please send all your prayers and good wishes their way.

UPDATE: 2.14:

Linda is struggling very hard at this time. The main problem is that she cannot keep any nutrition down. She is very weak and sleeps most of the time. The goal is to be able to give her some enzymes to get her nutritional level back up but they cannot do that until she is able to keep some food down. The family is keeping a constant log on her nutrition and trying to get something in her every fifteen minutes. This is taking every bit on strength they have. Although they very much appreciate your concern, they are asking that we all please keep phone calls to a bare minimum and no visits for the time being. They need to give all of their attention to Linda.

Linda and her family need every bit of love, good thoughts and prayer that we can send them right now.

Write Your Own Arrogant Bastard Label

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Do It For Humanity’s Sake. Or Your Own… You Arrogant Bastard! (Humanity Will Still Benefit)

Stone Brewing, of course, has a history of doing charity work. And unbeknownst to me, they’ve been auctioning off stuff on eBay all year long to raise money for charity. This auction will benefit one of Stone’s charities, the San Pasqual Academy. There are many others. The take so far just this month totals just north of $130,000!

But this one is a doozy, and I’ll let the press release speak for itself:

This month we have an unprecedented opportunity that we’re auctioning off: You getting to write your own Arrogant Bastard Ale bottle!

This is a “once-in-a-lifetime-don’t-expect-you’ll-get-it-again” chance for you to express your arrogance on a bottle of Arrogant Bastard Ale. Try not to screw it up by not bidding enough.

We’ll be taking your writings (either handwritten or submitted as text – your call) and producing at least 60 cases (720 bottles) of your text. Of those 720 bottles, you will personally get 4 cases (48 bottles) and the remainder will be distributed out into the marketplace in your region of the country.

We will not ship beer to your door, but we will work with your closest wholesaler to get the beer to you. (If you wish to pickup the cases here at the brewery, that works too.) Clearly, there’s going to be some guidelines to this. The bottle will need to meet California ABC guidelines, and if we need to ship it out of state it will also need to meet Federal (TTB) guidelines and any other guidelines required by your state. We will make sure it meets with the required governmental approvals. This means that you can’t write any boneheaded thing you want, but a fully Arrogant approach will work! It does for us.

The auction is already up on eBay and will close this Sunday, October 29 at 8:00 p.m. PST sharp. So far there are 10 bidders, and highest at this moment is $760.

Write your own rant for Arrogant Bastard.

The Brew Am 2006

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The 2nd annual Sasquatch Brew Am took place Friday morning at McMenamins Edgefield Pub Course. It was for a very worthy cause and sponsored by the Glen Hay Falconer Foundation. I also sponsored a hole at the tournament.

Nico Freccia, of 21st Amendment, tees off.

A view from the hills. McMenamins Edgefield Pub Course.

Me at Hole No. 2, the hole I sponsored.

Hole No. 2.

Shaun O’Sullivan and Nico, co-owners of 21st Amendment, at Hole No. 12, the hole they sponsored. They’re holding the imaginary cans of their beer they forgot to bring.

The McMenamins gardens with the ballroom and water tower behind them.

Shaun teeing off.

Lisa Morrison, Paul Walker, Abe Goldman-Armstrong, Noel Blake, and two golfers from Lompoc Brewery in Portland.

Lisa Morrison and Bob Brewer look on as Quentin Falconer, organizer of the Brew Am makes a toast in the ballroom after the tournament.

The tournament participants relax in the ballroom.

Sasquatch Legacy Project Event in San Francisco

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Last night was the charity event at 21st Amendment Brewery for the Glen Hay Falconer Foundation. They served the Sasquatch Legacy Project’s Imperial Red Ale, which was a collaborative effort. The beer was created by the current Foundation Brewing Scholarship recipients (Barney Brennan of Full Sail Brewing, Jenn Gridley of Fish Brewing, and Markus Stinson of Elysian Brewing).

All proceeds from last night’s event supported the Foundation’s scholarship program. The foundation honors the memory of iconoclastic brewer Glen Falconer, who died in a tragic accident in 2002. He brewed at Wild Duck Brewery in Eugene, Oregon. The foundation raises money for scholarships so that worthy brewers can attend the Siebel Institute in Chicago.

Host Shaun O’Sullivan from 21st amendment, Quentin and Yuko Falconer from the foundation, and Vic Kralj, from the Bistro in Hayward.

Shaun O’Sullivan as a literal hophead.

Quentin Falconer, Glen Falconer’s brother, addresses the crowd.

The Imperial Red was quite tasty with rich, roasted malt character and hints of figs and raisins. The flavor gave you an overall impression of thick earthiness and finished clean. At 8.2% abv, it packed a bit of a wallop, but was very drinkable. Hops were muted but the beer was still nicely balanced. The color was a rich mahogany with ruddy red streaks when held up to the light.

Sasquatch Legacy Project Tasting Scheduled at 21st Amendment

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Mark your calendars for April 4th, when Bay Area residents can have their first taste of Sasquatch Legacy Project’s Imperial Red Ale and support a worthy cause in the process.

From the press release:

Join us, and the San Francisco Bay area brewing community, Tuesday, April 4, 2006 at 5:30pm until 8pm at the 21st Amendment in the Brewer’s Loft for a party celebrating the first-of-its-kind 2006 “Sasquatch Legacy Project” Imperial Red Ale collaboration in support of the Glen Hay Falconer Foundation’s brewing education program.

The Sasquatch Legacy Project is a collaboration beer created by the current Foundation Brewing Scholarship recipients (Barney Brennan of Full Sail Brewing, Jenn Gridley of Fish Brewing, and Markus Stinson of Elysian Brewing). Proceeds from the event benefit the Glen Hay Falconer Foundation, which promotes knowledge and expertise in the craft brewing industry by sending professional and aspiring brewers to the Siebel Institute of Brewing Technology in Chicago.

Enjoy a pint or two of this special beer and know that, while you appreciate the Imperial Red Ale’s flavors and complexities, your beer purchases also support brewing education through the Foundation’s scholarship program. All proceeds to benefit the Foundation.

For more information on the Foundation and the Brewing Scholarships, visit www.sasquatchbrewfest.org. Souvenir glasses and t-shirts will also be available. It will be a lot of fun.

The foundation honors the memory of iconoclastic brewer Glen Falconer, who died in a tragic accident in 2002. He brewed at Wild Duck Brewery in Eugene, Oregon. The foundation raises money for scholarships so that worthy brewers can attend the Siebel Institute in Chicago.