Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Lagunitas To Expand Into Distilling

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After a lengthy struggle where apparently one neighbor refused to willingly let his new neighbor build on the adjacent property in a way that was approved by nearly every governmental and environmental agency, Lagunitas owner Tony Magee’s plans for the land he owns in Tomales Bay was finally approved by the California state Coastal Commission in a 7-2 vote yesterday. The property is in the unincorporated town of Marshall in western Marin County.

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According to the Marin IJ, “The project, overlooking the east shore of Tomales Bay at the northwest corner of 17990 Highway 1, includes a residence, garage, brandy distillery producing about 280 gallons a year, an equipment barn, shed, hops shelter, two sheep shelters, a greenhouse, a new well, special wastewater treatment and related improvements. Three public tours for up to eight people each will be offered for four hours on Saturdays. Brandy will be offered for sale to those on tours, but no tastings will be allowed.”

“Magee and one employee plan to cultivate hops on 6 acres and English dessert grapes on 6 acres, and graze about 35 pair of lambs and ewes on 50 acres. Other livestock would include 100 chickens.” Five years ago, almost to the day, I wrote about Lagunitas planting hops on this same bit of land, in Lagunitas Plants Hops in Tomales Bay, and this was the view at that time.

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So the brandy should be interesting; micro-distilling is certainly a hot trend lately. I’m sure the hops they’ll be growing will be for Lagunitas beer, but I wonder if the 6 acres of grapes will be used for the brandy? It’s seem likely, but we’ll have to wait and see. I assume it will be a while before there’s any brandy to taste.

But I think my favorite part of this story is that in the headline, the newspaper refers to Lagunitas owner Tony Magee as a “beer baron.” Lagunitas has certainly become one of the bigger small breweries, but I’m not sure they’ve ventured into “beer baron” territory. Either way, I don’t think I’ll be able to not think of Tony as a beer baron in the future. I recently did a feature profile of Magee in the latest issue of Beer Connoisseur if you want to learn about Tony and Lagunitas. If only I’d known then that he was a beer baron.

Bistro IPA Festival Winners 2013

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For the third straight year I missed the Bistro IPA Festival, even with them moving it from its usual August date to today. Happily, owner Vic Kralj was again kind enough to send me the list of the winners. Carlsbad Raceway IPA, from Pizza Port in Carlsbad, near San Diego, was chosen best in show at the 16th annual IPA Festival today at the Bistro in Hayward, California. The full list of winners is below.

Jennifer Talley Joins Russian River Brewing

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So yesterday my friend Maureen Ogle, author of Ambitious Brew, was in town, on vacation with her family, and we had lunch at Russian River Brewing. Before lunch, we stopped by the production brewery so Maureen could say hello to Vinnie and Natalie, and also so she could take a peek at the brewery. After the tour, I was chatting with Vinnie who told me some big news. Although it’s apparently been in the works for some time, and is not a secret, they’ve been fairly low key about spreading the news.

While we were all in D.C. at CBC, Jennifer Talley, who was with Squatter’s in Utah for eighteen years, and more recently was the brewery production manager at Redhook Brewery in Washington, was in Sonoma County searching for a place to live. That’s because as of May, she’ll be brewing with Vinnie at Russian River Brewing, and eventually will be taking over the brewery’s barrel program. She’ll start out as a shift brewer and once Kevin Robinson leaves Russian River to concentrate on his new venture, Divine Brewing, Jen will become lead brewer. As Vinnie joked with me, “she has more experience than I do.” They’re thrilled to have her, and it’s easy to see why. Jen’s been one of the more important and influential brewers in her more than two decades in the industry. She was the 2011 recipient of the BA’s Russell Schehrer Award for Innovation in Craft Brewing, is on the technical committee of the MBAA and started her brewing education at the Siebel Institue of Brewing Technology. There’s no doubt her presence will make Russian River even more of a powerhouse brewery than it already is, not to mention freeing Vinnie to concentrate on big picture concerns. Congratulations to both Russian River and Jen for the new gig. I’m certainly glad to have another stellar brewing neighbor here in Sonoma.

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Jennifer and Natalie Cilurzo (middle two), both now from Russian River Brewing, along with Carol Stoudt (left) and Teri Fahrendorf (right) after a panel discussion at GABF on women in brewing in 2007.

Announcing The Bay Brewers Guild

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I’m pleased to announce that a number of South Bay, Silicon Valley brewers have banded together to form the Bay Brewers Guild, a new trade group for brewers located “South to Monterey, North to The Northern most point of the SF bay, East to all breweries that call the Bay their home (this can include places such as Livermore, Pleasanton, Walnut Creek, etc.), and West to the Pacific Ocean.” The new guild has been brewing for some time now, but it recently became official, and they’re a 501(c)3 non-profit organization as of November 27, 2012.

In a press release announcing their formation, the guild’s stated goals are the following.

  1. To promote the beers of the breweries in our area.
  2. To raise awareness about the joys of drinking craft beer.
  3. To support other non-profit organizations in our area.
  4. To develop and run annual beer events for our community.
  5. To spread the word about our area as having a long history in the American Craft Beer Movement that continues today.

They’re just getting started, and will be conducting monthly meetings. ALso, there’s no online presence yet, but I imagine that’s in the works. Executive Director of the new guild is Dan Satterthwaite, who’s a Siebel trained brewer who’s worked for Gordon Biersch and is currently in the process of opening his own brewery in Santa Cruz. If you’re in their geographic area and not currently a member, please contact Dan about becoming involved in the guild. Congratulations to everybody involved.

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Founding Members of the Bay Brewers Guild:

  • Rock Bottom Brewery Restaurant, Campbell
  • Campbell Brewing Company, Campbell
  • Lost Gatos Brewing Company, Los Gatos
  • Gordon Biersch Brewing Company, San Jose
  • Firehouse Brewery, Sunnyvale
  • Rabbit’s Foot Meadery, Sunnyvale
  • Tied House Brewery Restaurant, Mountain View
  • The Hermitage, San Jose
  • Santa Cruz Ale Works, Santa Cruz
  • Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing, Santa Cruz
  • Uncommon Brewers, Santa Cruz
  • Seabright Brewery, Santa Cruz
  • Discretion Brewing Company, Capitola
  • Sante Adairius Rustic Ales, Capitola
  • Boulder Creek Brewing Company, Boulder Creek
  • Peter B’s Brewpub, Monterey
  • Corralitos Brewing Company, Corralitos
  • Faultline Brewing Company, Cupertino
  • El Toro Brewing Company, Morgan Hill

Q&A With Ken Grossman

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This is a fun little video, apparently Sierra Nevada “[t]hrough Facebook and Twitter recently invited anyone who had a question for Ken Grossman to toss it our way. He combed through them and had fun answering a few in this video, and he typed up several others at” their blog, in a post entitled Your Questions for Ken Answered. Enjoy. [Note: For some reasons the graphics with the questions are displaying right now, but hopefully that will be fixed soon, but the answers are still there. For now, you can play Jeopardy.]

Beer Birthday Redux: Jay Brooks

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Today is my 54th birthday, and even though it’s still early in the day, I’ve already been overwhelmed by an embarrassment of riches from well-wishers sending me notes via e-mail, Twitter and Facebook. My sincere thanks to one and all. As it’s usually me posting embarrassing photos of friends and colleagues, for the fifth year in a row, here’s some more howlers of me from over the years.

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An early studio portrait.

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Motorcycles: just one of my youthful indiscretions that prevented me from seeking political office later in life.

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If I cut my hair short, it doesn’t look much different than this today.

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This is an Easter outfit from when I was maybe nine or ten.

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And this is the same outfit, which looks positively restrained in comparison to my Mother and my Grandmother’s Easter outfits.

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Ready to party, look out ladies.

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My first band, we were rockin’ out.

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Probably from around junior high or early high school. I love the shiny shirt, straight out of That 70s Show.

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The world of a teenager … circa 1977.

There’s many more where these came from, for a good laugh just check out the photos from the last four years at Beer Birthday Again: Jay Brooks, Beer Birthday: Jay Brooks, Beer Birthday: J (Yes, Embarrasing Myself This Time) and Beer Birthday Overkill, from 2009, when I posted a bunch encompassing my first 50 years on planet beer. Oh, and thanks once again to everybody for the generous birthday wishes.

Odonata Beer Returning

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I just heard from Tracy Bethune, one of the original investors in Odonata Beer, that she’s re-launching the brand, which was founded in 2009, but shut down in 2011. Peter Hoey, the original brewer, and co-founder, is not involved with the new company, nor is Rick Sellers, who was formerly married to Bethune. A new version of their Saison will be available in limited supply at events during this year’s Sacramento Beer Week, which began yesterday. Here’s what I know so far:

Odonata Beer Company’s limited reserve Cellar Aged Saison is a special release of our flagship Saison that has been conditioned in perfect Wine Cellar conditions. Like a fine wine, our Saison is traditionally designed to be aged and the bottle conditioning has allowed the live yeast to provide a very dry exquisitely herbal finish along with the refined tropical fruit notes which define our outstanding Saison. Drinkable and refreshing, this beer scored an impeccable 98/100 points before we laid it aside for cellar conditioning – and industry experts are calling our reserve inventory better than the original!

After a short hiatus, Odonata Beer is thrilled to announce it’s resurrection and our Reserve Saison is being made available only by arrangement as a celebration of our local establishments and the fine beer enthusiasts of Northern California!

Tracy also informs me that she’s working on getting a new facility open in the Sacramento area later this year.
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The Celebrator Silver Polka

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During last night’s Celebrator 25th Anniversary Party, Vic Kralj, from the Bistro, wrote a spoof of “Roll Out the Barrel” for our silver anniversary, entitled the Celebrator Silver Polka. Then he rehearsed it with regulars and friends from his beer bar, unveiling it as a special surprise for Tom Dalldorf during the party. Below is a video the evening’s performance.

And here’s the sheet music, if you want to sing along.
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Afterwards, Tom was presented with a framed copy of the song.

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And later he and Arlene posed with some of the culprits who perpetrated his surprise.

Russian River Brewing Honored By California State Legislature

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California State Senator Noreen Evans, from District 2, honored Russian River Brewing Co. with a Resolution from the California Legislature. The resolution was also signed by Assemblyman Wesley Chesbro, who joined me and the crew from the Celebrator Beer News, at Beer Camp #93 at Sierra Nevada. Evans was also joined on stage by State Senator Alex Padilla, from District 20 (the San Fernando Valley) so that both the southern and northern parts of the state were represented.

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Senator Padilla, Natalie and Vinnie Cilurzo and Senator Evans presenting a joint legislative resolution from the State of California yesterday.

The joint legislative resolution “recognizes RRBC’s outstanding community and customer service, exemplary business ethics and liquid craftsmanship that have provided the county with huge local economic benefits through jobs, sales and distinction.”

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Senators Alex Padilla and Noreen Evans, Tom McCormick, Executive Director of the CCBA, and Natalie and Vinnie Cilurzo yesterday at the Russian River brewpub.

Congratulations to Vinnie and Natalie, and all of the Russian River Brewing employees, for this great honor.

Below is a short video I shot of the ceremony (using Sean Paxton‘s camera because mine was unwell, and who also shot the above photos for me — thanks Sean).

UPDATE: Here’s the actual resolution:

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Craft Beerds On Tour Beginning Tonight

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My neighbor, friend and colleague Fred Abercrombie, is debuting his new book, Craft Beerds, tonight at Taps in Petaluma. The book is a raucous look at nearly 200 beer labels involving beards, or beerds, and it’s just in time to kick off SF Beerd Week.

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Pick up your own copy of the book, signed by the author.

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I’ll be there at least the first hour, too, but if you can’t make it tonight at Taps, consider one of the other book signing events taking place during SF Beer Week. First, there will be an event at 21st Amendment on Tuesday, February 12 (Lincoln’s birthday) starting at 6:30 p.m.

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The next night, Wednesday, February 13, beginning at 9 p.m. they’ll be a book signing at Zeitgeist in San Francisco. They’ll also be featuring Lagunitas “SoCo ‘Stache Stout.”

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UPDATE: Author Fred Abercrombie with his bearded fans from last night’s book release party:

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