Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Final Beer Dinner At Cathedral Hill Coming October 23

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beer-chef
The final beer dinner to be held at the Cathedral Hill Hotel in San Francisco is scheduled for Friday, October 23. For the past eight years, the Beer Chef, Bruce Paton, has done over 60 beer dinners featuring beers from around the corner and across the world. But what you probably didn’t know is that many of the recent dinners have been done on borrowed time. A medical corporation owns the land that the hotel is situated on, and for many years has been planning on building a new hospital there. It’s been postponed several times already and the hotel’s been able to keep renting rooms and doing beer dinners. But that’s finally coming to a close as a date is now set and the Cathedral Hill Hotel will be closing. A week after the dinner, on Halloween, October 31, the hotel will be torn down.

The final beer dinner will feature the beers of Allagash Brewing and brewer/owner Rob Tod will be on hand to talk about his beers. It will be a four-course dinner, and well worth the $100 price of admission. It will begin with a reception at 6:30 p.m. Call 415.674.3406 for reservations before it’s sold out. Don’t delay, it will likely sell out quickly. I’ll see you there.

The Menu:

Reception: 6:30 PM

Beer Chef’s Hors D’Oeuvre
Beer: Allagash White

Dinner: 7:30 PM

First Course

Cannelloni of Dungeness Crab Legs with Citrus Lobster Sauce
Beer: Fluxus

Second Course:

Hobbs Applewood Bacon Fat Poached Duck Breast with Artichoke Fingerling Potato Hash
Beer: Hugh Malone

Third Course:

The Best of the Barnyard with Yam Crème Brule and Bloomsdale Spinach with Duck Ham
Beer: Odyssey

Fourth Course:

Sweet Trick or Treat
Beer: Vagabond

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Bruce Paton, the Beer Chef, with Rob Tod, from Allgash, at an earlier beer dinner.

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Dinner with the Brewmaster: Allagash
Cathedral Hill Hotel, 1101 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, California
415.674.3406 [ website ]

Firestone Walker Beer Dinner: The 2nd Last At Cathedral Hill

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beer-chef
Last night was the second to last beer dinner that will take place at the Cathedral Hill Hotel in San Francisco. The hotel is scheduled to be torn down on Halloween to make way for a new hospital. The Beer Chef, Bruce Paton, put on four wonderful courses paired with the beers of Firestone Walker Brewing in Paso Robles, California. Brewer Matt Brynildson was on hand to talk about his beers.

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The Beer Chef, Bruce Paton, with Firestone Walker brewer Matt Brynildson.

Below is a slideshow of the beer dinner. After clicking on the arrow in the center to start the slideshow, you can also 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 who and what’s in the photos.

The final beer dinner at the Cathedral Hill Hotel will take place on October 23. Keep an eye on the Beer Chef website for details.

Bear Republic GABF Preview Tasting

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bear-republic
Last Sunday, Bear Republic Brewing hosted a very fun event at their brewpub in Healdsburg. Between the brewpub and their production brewery in Colverdale (where they brew their package beer) they entered 22 beers in the Great American Beer Festival. At the event, dubbed the 2009 Bear Republic Cellar Party, they served all 22. They gave everyone attending a booklet with each beer along with it’s description, style parameters for GABF and a judging sheet like the one we use for the festival. As brewmaster Rich Norgrove explained to the people there, he wanted to afford an opportunity for those who weren’t able to attend GABF to sample all the beers they sent out to be judged. It was fun idea and hopefully more breweries will begin to give their locals a peek into the way GABF works.

Below is a short slideshow of the Bear Republic Cellar Party. If you click on the button on the bottom right with the four arrows pointing outward on it, you can see the photos in glorious full screen.

Bistro IPA Festival Winners 2009

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Head Hunter IPA from Fat Heads Brewery & Saloon in Cleveland, Ohio was chosen best in show at the 12th annual IPA Festival earlier today at the Bistro in Hayward, California. The keg of Fat Head beer was sent via FedEx in a blue suitcase to The Bistro. Bistro owner Vic Kralj recounts that when he called Fat Heads brewer Matt Cole, who coincidentally was enjoying a beer in Wisconsin with Bay Area brewers Arne Johnson and Alec Moss, that his screams of delight could be heard through the phone by everyone around Vic. The full list of winners is below.

Beer Birthday: Tom McCormick

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I’ve known Tom since he was still at the beer distributor he founded, McCormick Distributing, which then, as now, promoted craft brewers and better imports. Tom has also worked as a consultant, with Wolaver’s and Real Beer, and now runs the ProBrewer website. But these days his primary job is running the California Small Brewers Association. Join me in wishing Tom a very happy birthday.

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At the CBC banquet with Nancy Johnson, director of the GABF.

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Tom with Greg Koch, co-owner of Stone Brewing, after a CSBA meeting in San Diego the year before last.

Cheesed Off

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Tuesday night the Bistro in Hayward, California, held one of the most unique and fun cheese pairing events I’ve ever attended. It was called The Bistro’s North County Cheese-Off. What owner Vic Krajl did was pick five cheeses and then asked five breweries from north of San Francisco — Bear Republic, Lagunitas, Marin, North Coast and Russian River — to pick the beer they made that they felt was the best pairing with each cheese.

So it was essentially five flights. At our table we’d get a generous portion of a cheese and then five beer samples, one from each brewery. They were unmarked so we did not know which beers we were being served, only the cheese. So, in turn, you’d take a bit of cheese and then try a beer. Then another nibble and the next beer, and so on. So our job was not to find the best beer, but which one complemented or contrasted the cheese best. It’s good they gave us a lot of each cheese, because you’d keep going back and forth, eliminating here and there, but then often struggling with your two favorites trying to determine which one you liked the most. It was a very illuminating and educational way to approach pairing cheese and beer. Someone from each brewery was also there, and it was interesting to get their thoughts after the event. I’d definitely try this again, as it made the experience much richer and you left feeling not only satiated, but like you learned something, too.


Bistro proprietor Vic Krajl cutting the cheese.


The North County Cheese-Off was a sold-out event and even filled up the bar, too.


Our third cheese, Tomme De Brebis, a sheep cheese.


Rich Norgrove, from bear Republic.


The final cheese, Humboldt Fog, a goat cheese.


After choosing our favorite from each round, we handed in our scorecards and they tallied up the results to determine which pairings were the most popular. A prize was awarded to whoever correctly predicted the most popular choices. Only one person, this gentlemen, chose all five most popular. While I’d argue that most popular doesn’t necessarily mean best, especially since people’s tastes and palates vary widely, it was still a fund way to wrap up the evening and determine at least what a majority of people thought about the choices. Below is a list of each of the cheeses along with the beer pairings chosen by each brewery and then what was determined to be the most popular. The beer in bold was chosen as most popular and italics indicates my personal choice, in case you’re interested.
 

Cheese No. 1: Manchego (sheep)

  1. Bear Republic: Peter Brown Tribute Ale
  2. Lagunitas: Pale Ale
  3. Marin: Albion Amber
  4. North Coast: Brother Thelonius
  5. Russian River: Salvation

Cheese No. 2: Fromager D’Affinois (cow)

  1. Bear Republic: Heritage Ale
  2. Lagunitas: Pilsner
  3. Marin: Hefeweiss
  4. North Coast: Old Rasputin
  5. Russian River: Blind Pig

Cheese No. 3: Tomme De Brebis (sheep)

  1. Bear Republic: Raver 5
  2. Lagunitas: Brown Shugga
  3. Marin: Left End Unfiltered Pale Ale
  4. North Coast: Acme Pale Ale
  5. Russian River: Damnation (4 yr. old)

Cheese No. 4: Cahill Porter (cow) [Tie]

  1. Bear Republic: Red Rocket
  2. Lagunitas: The Hairy Eyeball
  3. Marin: Pt. Reyes Porter
  4. North Coast: Old Plowshare Stout
  5. Russian River: Supplication

Cheese No. 5: Humboldt Fog (goat)

  1. Bear Republic: Bubba
  2. Lagunitas: Ruben & the Jets
  3. Marin: Witty Monk
  4. North Coast: Le Merle Saison
  5. Russian River: Beatification

Hat’s off to Vic for coming up with such a simple yet effective new way to approach cheese and beer pairings. What fun. I hope to see more of this type of event in the future.

Sacramento Closes Oasis, But Still Brewing

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sac-brew
I learned today that the Oasis location of Sacramento Brewing on Madison Avenue in Citrus Heights has closed its doors for good. The original location at Town and Country Village is alive and well and will continue as usual. Recent rumors that Sacramento Brewing was in danger of closing are simply not true. After the remaining beer in the tanks at Oasis is finished, all production — including bottling — will take place at Town & Country.

I’m told business at the Oasis location was always hand to mouth, even from the very beginning, but with the economic times we currently face dipped down below profitable levels. At Town and Country, on the other hand, business remains good and the new owner is optimistic and confident that will continue.

Head brewer Peter Hoey tells me that he will concentrate on having at least a dozen Sacramento beers on tap at any given time and will begin introducing guest taps, possibly as many as 24 in an effort to make the brewpub a Sacramento destination for not only his beers, but better beers of all stripes.

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Some some good news, some bad. I’m certainly pleased to learn that the brewery is not closing. I think Peter is a talented, under-appreciated brewer so it will interesting to see what he comes up with this year in the way of specialty beers, which he promises won’t be dull.

KVIE On Tap

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I keep forgetting to share this, but as it’s a slow news day, I figured today would be a good time. The PBS station in Sacramento, California, KVIE, created a show they called “On Tap” all about beer, and specifically beer in Sacramento. It was hosted by local sports announcer and television host Gary Gelfand. He interviewed Fritz Maytag, Charlie Bamforth (Professor at U.C. Davis), Ken Grossman (Founder of Sierra Nevada) and Don Barkley (founder of Mendocino Brewing and currently brewmaster at Napa Smith Brewing), along with presiding over a tasting of Sacramento beers with Rick Sellers (Draft magazine and Pacific Brew News), J.J. Jackson (owner of the Original Homebrew Outlet) and myself. The show aired in August (I think) and you can order the show on DVD online. You can also watch the full tasting that we did online, only a portion of which was used in the show that aired. Click on “Bonus Video” and then “Extended Beer Reviews” at the KVIE Viewfinder.

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Rick Sellers, me and J.J. Jackson tasting beer at the Fox & Goose Public House in Sacramento.

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This is the logo they created for the show.

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I’m sure I was making some point here. That or practicing my goofy hand gestures.

Traditional Anchor Christmas Ale Day

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Every year since 1975 the brewers at Anchor Brewery have brewed a distinctive and unique Christmas Ale, which is now available from early November to mid-January.

From Anchor’s website:

The Ale’s recipe is different every year—as is the tree on the label—but the intent with which we offer it remains the same: joy and celebration of the newness of life. Since ancient times, trees have symbolized the winter solstice when the earth, with its seasons, appears born anew.

Until recently, Anchor’s Christmas Ale was not released until the Monday before Thanksgiving each year. A few years ago they bowed to pressure from their distributors, who wanted to have it earlier to compete against all of the other holiday beers that are released much earlier. So while I can’t argue it’s a bad thing to have this wonderful beer both earlier and for a longer period of time each year, I do actually miss it coming later on a very specific date. There was something I really liked about having to wait for it — admittedly vague and unspecific, but the feeling was there all the same. And there was something I admired about their stubbornly refusing to release it until they were damn well ready. I think it added something intangible to the beer’s mystique, making it more special somehow.

I realize I sound like a sentimental fool, but beer (and many other things) used to be ruled by the seasons and their availability was something that created anticipation and deep satisfactions, too. To me fruit is a great example. Wait, hear me out. There was a time when you couldn’t get almost every fruit year round, but now thanks to agreements with growers in the Southern Hemisphere, we can get most of them all year long. But the very fact that they’re around all the time makes them less desirable. How much better did a strawberry taste when you couldn’t eat one all winter and they suddenly appeared each spring?

Of course, I don’t really think Anchor’s Christmas Ale will lose much — or any — of its specialness by being released a couple weeks sooner each year. I know I still wait eagerly to try the new one each year. But I really think there is something to building up demand and the perceived value that artificial scarcity brings. And there are beers that have suffered for going from a seasonal to a year-round beer. Mendocino’s Eye of the Hawk comes to mind. Back in the early 1980s they only brewed it three times a year (for the 4th of July, their annual anniversary and Oktoberfest). They released the strong ale in 22 oz. bottles in limited quantities and it sold out quickly like clockwork every time it was released. That went on for years until around 1999, when they made it available all the time and in unlimited quantities. Sales fell and although it sold steadily, we sold more in three bursts than when it was always there. Let’s also not forget that seasonals are now the number one craft category at mainstream outlets like grocery and liquor stores. It’s clear people like picking up something different. I don’t think we’ll see popular everyday beers going away, but it should be remembered that limited and seasonal releases can have their own cache and sell better in direct proportion to the difficulty in obtaining them.

Today I’m celebrating “Anchor Christmas Ale Day” and picking up some more today, I’ll drink some tonight, and also save some for my Thanksgiving Day meal on Thursday. This holiday will continue to be the Monday before Thanksgiving, to honor the idea that some things are worth waiting for.

But back to Anchor’s “Our Special Ale.”

Each year our Christmas Ale gets a unique label and a unique recipe for the Ale itself. Although our recipes must remain a secret, many enthusiasts save a few bottles from year to year—stored in a cool dark place—to taste later and compare with other vintages. Properly refrigerated, the beer remains intriguing and drinkable for years, with different nuances slowly emerging as the flavor mellows slightly.

Over the years, there have been 34 different labels and each year Anchor prints a beautiful poster with all of the past labels plus the current years’ label.

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