Food GPS has an interesting Q & A-style interview with the founder of Lagunitas Brewing, Tony Magee. I’ve known Tony since shortly after he started his brewery and he’s one of may favorite people in the industry. Check out the Q&A with Lagunitas founder Tony Magee.
Homebrew Star Jamil Zainasheff To Open Commercial Brewery
Jamil Zainasheff over the last ten years has become something of a rock star in the homebrewing community, and especially the Bay Area, co-authoring two books on beer and homebrewing: “Brewing Classic Styles: 80 Winning Recipes Anyone Can Brew” (with John Palmer) and “Yeast: The Practical Guide to Beer Fermentation” (with Chris White). He also hosts the Jamil Show on The Brewing Network and has a website online entitled Mr. Malty. I had always heard that Jamil had no plans to turn pro, but that appears to be not the case, after all. [And a tip of the hat back to BeerNews.org].
This Thursday on an episode of Brewing TV, Zainasheff announced that he was starting a 30-bbl brewery in the East Bay. The brewery will be called Heretic Brewing, but the website is just a place holder for now.
Jamil says he’s hoping that his first beers will be available beginning in February or March of next year. Initially, the beer will be available in kegs only, and will then make either 750 ml or 22 oz. bottles once they’re up and running.
Oakland’s Newest Brewer
Just got some great news. Steve McDaniel, co-founder of the soon to be open Oakland Brewing, and his lovely wife Justine Nguyen, had their first child yesterday. Justine gave birth to Merritt just after Noon on October 30. It sounds like mother and son are doing great, as Justine is up and using Facebook. Join me in wishing the happy couple all the best on their birth of their son. Congratulations Steve and Justine!
Particulars:
Original Gravity: 7 pounds, 11 ounces
IBUs: 21 in.
Style: Boy
Release Date: October 30, 2010
Label: Merritt Anh Xbalanque McDaniel
Steve McDaniel and Justine Nguyen’s new son Merritt.
A sleeping Merritt Anh Xbalanque McDaniel.
Shameless Bragging: Winning the Russian River Invitational Washoe Tournament
I love the game of Washoes, a game that Tomme Arthur from the Lost Abbey introduced into the brewing community almost ten years ago. I’ve been known to play for hours, given the chance. Almost every small brewery along the west coast has a set of boards, and you see them fairly frequently at events, too. So I was thrilled to be invited to play in the first annual Russian River Invitational Washoe Tournament last night. My partner was Dave Keene, owner of the Toronado. We’ve played together on numerous occasions, but never in a tournament like this. There were nine teams playing in a round robin double elimination tournament. Dave and I — “Team Toronado” — managed to go undefeated through the first three rounds, earning ourselves a bye going into the finals. Since we hadn’t lost a game, the other team had to beat us twice in order to prevail. But we never gave them the chance, and won the first game in short order to win the tournament. What great fun. There definitely need to be more organized washoe tournaments.
To learn more about the rules of Washoes, check out Washoe Rules, a web page put up by Vinnie Cilurzo with the agreed-upon brewing community’s rules. The game exists in many variations around the country, and most likely originated somewhere in the Midwest, but this is the set of rules by which we played.
Dave Keene and me after our washoe victory.
Beer Birthday: Craft Beer
Today is the 34th anniversary of a momentous moment in the short history of craft beer. On October 8, 1976, the New Albion Brewery was incorporated in the State of California. Though the brewery opened in July the following year, it only lasted until 1982 or 83. It was ahead of its time, way ahead. But it was the first small brewery to be built from scratch, mostly by hand, using junkyard parts and old dairy equipment. To me, and many others, that makes it the first modern craft brewery and its legacy should be remembered, revered and celebrated. Its founder, Jack McAuliffe, essentially shied away from the brewing community after 1983, returning to his original profession as an engineer. As a result, few people — except us old-timers and historians — give McAuliffe his due. A lot of young brewers and fans don’t know his name, though that, happily, is changing.
Maureen Ogle managed to track down McAuliffe through his daughter for her book, Ambitious Brew, and in it she gives a great account of New Albion Brewery.
Sierra Nevada recently lured McAuliffe to Chico to collaborate on a beer for their 30th anniversary. Jack & Ken’s Ale, a black barley wine, came out recently, and that seems to be the beginning of a resurgence or renaissance for Jack McAuliffe. He’s back in the public eye, and people are writing once more about his lasting impact on the craft beer industry. Here are a few places he’s been mentioned:
- John Holl had a great piece he did for CraftBeer.com, New Albion Brewing.
- Eric Braun in the San Antonio Express-News, McAuliffe’s new home, wrote Jack McAuliffe is Namesake of Commemorative Sierra Nevada Beer.
- Greg Kitsock in the Washington Post writes The father of craft brewing comes out of retirement.
Then there’s The birthday of craft beer, written by me for my newspaper column. It was supposed to run this Wednesday but got bumped to next week, which happens occasionally. But it did go online this week, in time to raise a toast tonight
My idea is to designate today as the “birthday of craft beer,” a holiday to celebrate New Albion Brewery, Jack McAuliffe and the thousands of small breweries that followed to create the beer landscape we all enjoy today. Working with the California Small Brewers Association, we’re going to petition the state to recognize October 8, 2011 in some fashion as the 35th anniversary and the birthday of craft beer. If you’d like to help that effort, drop me a line and when we have a better idea what needs to happen, I’ll reach out to you. For now, today is the 34th anniversary, and the birthday of craft beer, so join me in raising a glass to Jack McAuliffe, New Albion Brewery and all the great beer that’s flowed since 1976. Happy birthday craft beer.
Here’s one of the original New Albion labels. The original sign from the New Albion Brewery now hangs on the wall at Russian River Brewing in Santa Rosa. Stop by and see it anytime you like. To see what New Albion looked like, check out breweriana collector Jess Kidden’s page on New Albion Brewing, where he’s reproduced two articles that appeared in Brewer’s Digest in 1979 and 80.
The Celebrator’s Conversation With Ken Grossman
Tom Dalldorf did a great interview with Ken Grossman of Sierra Nevada Brewing for the most recent issue of the Celebrator Beer News. The new issue features part of the interview and also Grossman on the cover for Sierra Nevada’s 30th anniversary this year.
The entire interview is just under 30 minutes and was done last month in Chico. Enjoy.
A Conversation with Ken Grossman from Wing and Wing Productions on Vimeo.
Napa Smith Brewery Sold
The Napa Smith Brewery of Napa, California has been sold to Pelican Brands, an alcohol brand management company from Indiana. According to the CSBA, the “purchase includes seven acres of land and 50,000 sq.ft. of production, warehousing and office space.” Pelican Brands plans to make Napa Smith beer available nationwide over the next year.
Brewmaster Don Barkley, who worked for America’s first modern craft brewery, New Albion, and also founded Mendocino Brewing, will be remaining with the brewery.
It appears that Pelican Brands has ambitious plans for the brand. J. Smoke Wallin, Chairman & CEO of Pelican Brands, said, “It is our belief that while a few will become regional brands, a very select few will become national brands. In a press release, the company stated that Napa Smith will be available nationwide by mid 2011.
“In the past three months alone, Napa Smith, through Pelican’s platform, has expanded into eight new states. Pelican Brands will provide the growth capital needed for further expansion. Napa’s winemakers made the Napa Valley into a global name and destination. We are proud to continue this tradition by bringing beer — brewed with the same level of quality and attention to detail — to discerning consumers everywhere.”
Picking Hops In The Moonlight
Yesterday, we took our annual family-outing to pick hops at Moonlight Brewery in Sonoma County, California. Founder and brewmaster Brian Hunt has a quarter-acre he planted several years ago after Vinnie Cilurzo, from Russian River Brewing, had to pull out the hops he had at Korbel when he moved the brewery to Santa Rosa. Russian River’s now growing their own and Moonlight has continued to keep his hopfield going, using the hops primarily to brew his fresh hop beer Homegrown.
I’ve been volunteering to help pick hops for a number of years now, and began taking the family a few years ago, recreating how it would have been done in he later Nineteenth century before hops were harvested using machinery. In those days, the entire community would turn out to pick the hops, with the men working the fields, women putting on lavish picnic spreads (and helping with the picking) and the kids pitching in andalso playing among the hopvines. It’s great fun and really does feel like the community coming together to help out. Everyone does their part, and we all talk and laugh while sitting in the circle and picking the hops.
The Abbey de St. Humulus hop field, a.k.a. Moonlight Brewery
The beautiful green of hops in the field, ripe for the picking.
My daughter Alice outstanding in her field … hop field, that is.
Hops on the vine, as far as the eye can see.
A close-up of the hop cones, the flowers that will be picked and added to the beer.
Moonlight brewmaster Brian Hunt holding a bundle of hops, freshly cut down for picking.
The hopvines are placed in the center of a circle, where people work on each vine, pulling the hops off by hand and putting them into a plastic bucket.
My wife Sarah showing off her hop-picking skills.
Below is a slideshow of our family outing to pick hops. 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.
And below is a short video of cutting down the hops and taking them to be picked.
You Should Know Jack
Jack McAuliffe may just be the most elusive figure in the short history of craft beer. He was craft before craft beer was cool. The former Navy man and engineer founded the very first modern microbrewery in Sonoma County, California in 1976 (New Albion incorporated October 8, 1976) and began production the following year using a brewery he built from spare parts. His New Albion Brewery was all alone for at least three years until Sierra Nevada Brewing joined him in 1980, essentially doubling the number of new breweries.
But New Albion was a bit ahead of its time and by 1982 was out of business. As I understand it, a disheartened McAuliffe tired of reliving his brewery’s failure, and eventually disappeared from the burgeoning beer community that his efforts inspired. For a number of years, few people knew where he was, but Maureen Ogle managed to track him down living in Las Vegas when she was working on Ambitious Brew and provides one of the fullest accounts of the New Albion Brewery beginning at Page 291. More recently, after a bad car accident landed McAuliffe in intensive care, he moved to San Antonio, Texas to live with his sister. Happily, San Antonio has taken to their adopted son, and the San Antonio Express-News had a nice story about Jack and his new collaboration with Sierra Nevada Brewing, San Antonio’s Jack McAuliffe is namesake of commemorative Sierra Nevada beer.
Ken Grossman pours a beer for Jack McAuliffe as (I think) Charlie Bamforth looks on.
The latest collaboration beer celebrating Sierra Nevada’s 30th anniversary this year is based on a beer that Jack used to make at New Albion for another annual celebration.
In the late ’70s, New Albion brewed a special beer for annual Summer Solstice parties that didn’t particularly hew to any style, but occupied a space somewhere between a porter and a barley wine.
Using that concept and the ingredients that were available at the time, Ken and Jack’s Ale recipe was born. It contains Canadian two-row and European caramel barley and a combination of Cascade and cluster hops.
Grossman describes the beer as a “dark barleywine that is bottle fermented.” It clocks in at 10 percent ABV, which McAuliffe points out is the upper limit of what conventional yeast can survive. Like any beer, you can drink this one right away, but it will likely improve with age.
It’s certainly great to see Jack McAuliffe in the public eye again. Few people deserve to be more well-known in the beer world than him. It’s a real shame that so few people know Jack and his contribution to the modern craft beer community. We all really should know Jack. Hell, I think October 8 should be considered the birthday of modern craft beer, which in a couple of weeks will celebrate its 34th. Let’s all raise a toast to Jack, every year, on that day.
Jack & Ken’s Ale, a black barley wine.
Mendocino Brewing Acquires Butte Creek
Ukiah’s Mendocino Brewing announced today that it’s acquired Butte Creek Brewing and “will be brewing these beers at its state-of-the-art brewery at Ukiah, CA.” Butte Creek was originally founded Chico, California, in 1998 by former brewers from Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.
From the press release:
Butte Creek Beer — “The Official Beer of Planet Earth.”
Butte Creek’s mission statement has been: “At Butte Creek Brewing, we handcraft award winning earth-friendly organic ales and lagers. Since 1998, we have been committed to producing organic products focused on quality, balance, and true hop flavor. We support organic farming and promote sustainability in our community. We fight against global warming by reducing our carbon imprint.”
Mendocino Brewing CEO, Yashpal Singh, had this to say about the acquisition. “We’re proud to be the brewers of ‘The Official Beer of Planet Earth’. We fully endorse and will pursue Butte Creek’s mission. This acquisition blends perfectly with our own policy of brewing quality, full-bodied ales for the discerning beer lover.”
Mendocino Brewing Company will brew and market Butte Creek brands under its dba Butte Creek Brewing Company.