Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Jack McAuliffe Visits Russian River

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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.

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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.

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Jack up on the ladder signing the New Albion sign.

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Signing it up close.

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Signing the sign.

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The finished old sign, now new again with Jack McAuliffe’s signature.

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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

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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.

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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.

Fairfax Brewfest This Weekend

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This Saturday in the city of Fairfax, in Marin County, the 16th annual Fairfax Brewfest will take place from 1:00-5:00 p.m. Along with festival sponsor Iron Springs Pub & Brewery, at least 17 breweries will be pouring their beer. Tickets are $25 in advance, $30 at the door, for unlimited samples and full details, along with how to buy advance tickets online, can be found at the festival website. See you there.

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New Pliny The Elder Video By The Famous

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The San Francisco-based band The Famous regularly plays the beer circuit and can frequently be seen performing at beer festivals and brewpubs around the Bay Area. They’re a terrific band. I’ve seen them several times, most recently at Vinnie Cilurzo’s 40th birthday party at Russian River Brewing. At Vinnie’s party, The Famous did a song created for the occasion, Pliny the Elder or The Pliny Song, an awesome little homage to the beer and the man it was named for. They’ve now recorded a studio version of it, and have created a music video to go along with it. Enjoy.

Pliny the Younger 2011

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Yesterday was Pliny the Younger Day at Russian River Brewing in Santa Rosa, California. I arrived a little before eleven, and owner/brewer Vinnie Cilurzo let me in the back of the brewpub. The difference between last year’s release day and this year’s was immediately apparent. There was relative calm in the place, the bar was not three or four deep, with people pushing against the bar clamoring for attention. Perhaps most importantly, both Vinnie and Natalie seemed relaxed, too.

Last year, you may recall, Russian River sold out of of Pliny the Younger, their Triple IPA that’s released just once each year, in just eight short hours. The brewpub was filled to the gills and the staff was understandably stressed and exhausted. The main reason this happened last year was nobody expected so many people to order growlers, and having placed few restrictions on them, they continued to honor orders until the entire supply of beer ran out.

The line outside to get in was long all day

Having learned from last that experience, this year no Pliny the Younger growlers were permitted. They also managed the door and made sure it was never too crowded inside, which made for a much more enjoyable experience. A line of people that stretched down most of the block outside waited patiently for their turn to come inside. As people left, a new customer took their place so there was a steady stream of new patrons.

Pliny the Younger Day bar scene

I actually thought this year’s Pliny the Younger was even better than last year. It seemed more balanced and the hop wallop wasn’t as vegetal or oniony as I remember it being last year. There is nothing quite like having it fresh from the source on the day it’s released. And this year, they’ve allocated enough beer so it will be available for at least two weeks, giving many more people a chance to try get some.

Pliny the Younger in the sunlight

It will also begin appearing in select accounts around the Bay Area, so keep an eye on your favorite water hole. But act fast, last year kegs of Pliny the Younger kicked at some bars in a matter of hours.

Vinnie, me and Joe Tucker, from Rate Beer
Vinnie Cilurzo, me and Joe Tucker (from Rate Beer) enjoying a day at Russian River Brewing.

Below is a slideshow of Pliny the Younger Day. 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.

Casting Call: Homebrewing Meets Reality TV

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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.

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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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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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.