Curious how to properly use a butterfly beer opener? Not to worry, Lagunitas has your back. Watch and learn, grasshopper.
Lagunitas Brewhouse Destroyed At Sea
Ouch. As many of you probably know, Lagunitas Brewing is in the process of installing a new 250-barrel brewhouse, but there may be a bit of a delay. Apparently the brewhouse was on its way to California, tied down on the top of the deck in the Caribbean, when a storm hit the cargo ship. As it “rolled back and forth by more than 40 degrees a crane came loose from its chains and crushed the brewhouse. The 30′ diameter lauter tun caught the blunt of the attack, and appears to be a total loss.”
Lagunitas Sucks Holiday Ale
No, that’s not a judgment call on my part. I love Lagunitas. But that is the name of their new seasonal ale for 2011; Lagunitas Sucks Holiday Ale. They’re calling it that because the new beer is a temporary replacement for their popular — and usual holiday seasonal — Brown Shugga’, which they won’t be able to brew this year due to the installation of their new 250-barrel brewhouse.
From the press release:
It is a sad day at Lagunitas when we have to tell you that our favorite seasonal — Brown Shugga — will take a year off and come back in full force in the fall of 2012 after the installation of our new brewhouse.
A brand new beer that’s sure to please is our “Lagunitas Sucks Holiday Ale”….. it’s our BrownShugga’ substitute.
This beer is a Dry-Hopped ‘Cereal Medley’ of Barley, Rye, Wheat, and Oats…. full of complexishness from the 4 grains, and weighing in at 7.6% abv, it is mondo-dry-hopped for that big aroma and resinous hop flavor.
The entire project has a self-deprecating air about it, including the label notes, which are always written by Lagunitas founder Tony Magee. To wit:
This sad holiday season we didn’t have the brewing capacity to make our favorite seasonal brew, the widely feared BrownShugga’ Ale. You see, we had a couple of good years (thank you very much) and so heading into this season while we are awaiting a January delivery of a new brewhouse we are jammin’ along brewing 80 barrels of IPA and PILS and such every 3 hours. A couple of months back we realized that since we can only brew a mere 60 barrels of Shugga every 5 hours, that we were seriously screwed. For every case of Shugga’ brewed, we’d short 3 cases of our daily brews. The new brewhouse will help insure that this kind of failure never happens again. It’s a mess that we can not brew our BrownShugga’ this year and we suck for not doing it. There is nothing cool about screwing up this badly and we know it. Maybe we can sue our sorry selves. There is no joy in our hearts this holiday and the best we can hope for is a quick and merciful end. F*@& us. This totally blows. Whatever. We freaking munch moldy donkey butt and we just want it all to be over ….
My guess is that the new Lagunitas Suck Holiday Ale will be so good that we’ll all forgive them and Santa will not bring them all a lump of coal this Christmas. They do seem to be appealing to Santa’s better nature but putting a yummy-looking Santa cookie on the label. Perhaps they’ll leave some of them out on Christmas Eve so when Santa comes down the brewhouse chimney, he can eat himself.
Bistro IPA Festival Winners 2011
Family commitments kept me from attending this year’s Bistro IPA Festival, but owner Vic Kralj was kind enough to send me the list of the winners. Craig Cauwels’ IPA, from Schooner’s in Antioch, California, was chosen best in show at the 14th annual IPA Festival yesterday at the Bistro in Hayward, California. The full list of winners is below.
- 1st Place: Schooners IPA (Schooner’s Grille & Brewery)
- 2nd Place: Aroma Coma (Drake’s Brewing)
- 3rd Place: Hops On Rye (Fire House Brewery)
- Honorable Mention: Head Hunter IPA (Fat Heads Brewery & Saloon)
- People’s Choice: Aroma Coma (Drake’s Brewing)
Beer Birthday: Ken Allen
Today is also the birthday of Ken Allen, former owner of Anderson Valley Brewing. Ken sold the brewery and retired to Belize, at least during part of the year. Join me in wishing Ken a very happy birthday.
Owner Ken Allen, former AVBC salesman Ed Chainey, me, Ralph Woodall, from HopUnion and Ken’s former wife.
Celebrator publisher Tom Dalldorf (whose birthday is also today) with Ken at the 2006 Boonville Beer Festival.
Ken, with Larry Bell, from Bell’s Brewing, along with Ed and Carol Stoudt, from Stoudt’s Brewing, at the Craft Brewers Conference in Austin, Texas, in 2007.
Ken with new Anderson Valley Brewery owner Trey White at last year’s CBC in Chicago.
Beer In Art #124: Rasmussen Ximenes’ The Last Supper
This week’s work of art is by a Brazilian artist who now calls Petaluma his home. Rasmussen Ximenes painted The Last Supper as part on a local contest entitled ArtSlant, in which it was a second round winner. Feeling the pride of his new home, he included the local brewery’s beer in his painting: Lagunitas IPA.
I saw the original painting recently, which is temporarily in the offices of Lagunitas in Petaluma. Though, as you can see below, the frame has now been painted purple.
You can read more about Ras Ximenes, a.k.a. Moco, at his web bio and also see more of his work at his gallery.
Q&A With Jack McAuliffe
Last week, you may recall, I had the opportunity to spend some time with Jack McAuliffe, founder of the first modern microbrewery in America; New Albion Brewery. That was the week after the annual Craft Brewers Conference, which was held this year in San Francisco. At CBC, the elusive Jack was in town for his first appearance at a public beer event in a very, very long time. He was going to do a Q&A session along with a short talk by Maureen Ogle, author of Ambitious Brew, and Jack’s daughter, Renee DeLuca, who writes online at the Brewer’s Daughter. As an amateur beer historian, and lover of the subject, seeing the man who built the first microbrewery from scratch back in 1976 was simply something I was not going to miss. I arrived early and got a chance to meet Jack for the first time. Needless to say, it was a great treat.
Jack and me at CBC.
After a talk by Jack’s daughter Renee on social media, Maureen discussed “The Long View of the Big Picture,” lessons learned from failed breweries and what the ones who survived did to keep going. Then the session was turned over to jack, who answered questions from the audience for a good half hour. I recorded Jack’s Q&A and you can listen to it below. Enjoy.
The New Albion Brewery Site 30 Years Later
This has been one amazing week. During yesterday’s unexpected lunch with craft beer pioneer Jack McAuliffe at Russian River Brewery, Jack invited us to have him show us around the old site of the New Albion Brewery in Sonoma, California. Needless to say, we didn’t have to be asked twice and readily accepted Jack’s kind offer.
We met at high Noon at the Swiss Hotel on Sonoma Square. After a quick lunch and a few pints of beer, our convoy of two cars headed out into the industrial park wilds of Sonoma, with Jack and his friend Pat leading the way. After a few minutes driving, we pulled off the road into a warren of tin buildings with scrap metal in organized heaps, including the recognizable midsections of several jet airplanes. We turned around, parking out on the public road, and Jack went in to ask the landlord — still the same man Jack rented the property from in 1976 — for permission to show us around. He came back a few minutes later, waving us in.
Arriving at the old brewery site.
This is the building where the New Albion Brewery stood over thirty years ago.
Despite its proximity to the entrance, this was not the front of the brewery building, in part because Jack didn’t rent the entire building, just a portion of it.
This was essentially the front of the brewery building.
Jack indicating that this was the front door to the brewery.
Vinnie Cilurzo, from Russian River Brewery, and Jack McAuliffe in front of the old site of his brewery.
Jack McAuliffe showing us around the old site of his New Albion Brewery.
The view of where the brewery building stood from the road.
Jess Kidden has scans from Brewers Digest issues in November 1979 and October 1980 where you can contrast the building today and what it looked like 30+ years ago.
What a wonderful afternoon. Having the opportunity to spend time with the father of the modern microbrewery and have him show us where it all began was just amazing. Seeing the history and hearing Jack reminisce about that time in his life was a once-in-a-lifetime event. Thanks again Jack, and cheers to Vinnie and Natalie for letting me tag along.
Jack McAuliffe Visits Russian River
Quite by accident yesterday I had the pleasure of spending a few hours with Jack McAuliffe, founder of New Albion Brewery. I had to meet some new friends from Argentina at Russian River Brewery (more on that later) and when I arrived, I found out that Jack was coming by to have lunch with Russian River owners Vinnie and Natalie Cilurzo. I knew Jack was still in California because at CBC last week, where I met him for the first time (more about that later, too), he’d said as much. And I knew Natalie had invited Jack to come by their brewpub, where the original New Albion sign (that I later learned Jack made himself) hung behind the bar in a prominent place, but I didn’t know any of the details.
Vinnie and Natalie with Jack McAuliffe and his friend Pat Crisco.
Vinnie and Natalie generously invited me join them for lunch with Jack and a friend of his, Pat, who he was staying with for the week. We sat below the New Albion sign and talked, drank and ate. For an amateur beer historian, it was nothing short of remarkable. Jack told great stories about his early days in brewing — some can be retold, others perhaps not — but all of them colorful and entertaining. I knew as much of New Albion’s story as had been told, but to hear it from the man who lived it was such a treat, plus Jack added many personal details that I’d never known before which was amazing to hear. Anyway, at some point, Jack pointed up at the old sign and asked Vinnie if he’d like him to sign it. I’m not sure we all believed he’d do it, but we got out the ladder and up he climbed, sharpie between his teeth like a beer pirate.
Jack up on the ladder signing the New Albion sign.
Signing it up close.
Signing the sign.
The finished old sign, now new again with Jack McAuliffe’s signature.
Jack and me at Russian River. What a great afternoon.
UPDATE: During Jack’s visit to Russian River, I met Peter Stetson who does social media for the town of Calistoga, and he also took some photos and captured some video of Jack signing the New Albion sign. Thanks, Peter.
Moylan’s Releases Orange & Black Congrats Ale! For Giants’ Opener
As the Giants get ready to take on the Athletics in the annual Bay Bridge Series that begins tonight, a local brewery gets set to release a new beer to honor San Francisco’s world series victory last year. Moylan’s, in Novato, California, will release Orange & Black Congrats Ale! on March 31 to coincide with the start of the regular baseball season. The special limited release is an American black ale, 6% a.b.v. and 32 IBUs. It will be available on draft, in growlers from the brewpub and in 22 oz. bottles.
From the press release:
In honor of the World Champions at the Cove, Moylan’s has created a smooth, American Black Ale brewed with orange zest. A hearty brew for the bleacher bums, the gardeners of turf and patient fans who have endured 54 years of pine-grabbing torture. This ale is a reflection of the many dedicated hearts and minds needed to brew a quality beer. It is made with Montana-grown pale two-row barley malted by Malteurop, crystal and black malted barley grown and roasted in Bamberg, Germany by Weyermann Specialty Malts. The robust flavors in the Black and Orange beer also include Canadian-grown barley supplied by Gilbertson and Paige and Mt. Hood and Liberty hops grown in the Yakima Valley by Puterbaugh Farms for Hops direct.
All the oranges used in this brew were grown locally in the California sunshine. Moylan’s offers an adult beverage to salute the Bat, the Stick, the Rally throng, the Crab, the Seal, the Golden voices in the box and all of the San Francisco legends that helped them see the dream become reality. The Orange & Black beer will be officially released on the Giants Opening Day on March 31st and will be available for a limited time. Alcohol by Volume 6.0%, total IBUs 36, 1.068 Original Gravity. This beer will be seen on draft at the pub and in select locations throughout the bay area.
This should be the perfect beer to enjoy as the Giants begin their run for back to back world series victories.