Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Announcing The Brookston Beer Pix Photoblog

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It’s been a busy week. I just got back from almost a week in Colorado for my cousin’s wedding. Of course, I did a little sightseeing and was fortunate enough to sample the special edition of La Folie that New Belgium did for the Falling Rock‘s 10th anniversary. Chris Black, along with New Belgium brewer, Eric Salazar, blended beer from 10 foders (four 60- and six 130-hectoliter wood tuns) into one pretty spectacular beer. I missed seeing Chris while I was there, which meant I didn’t get to hear his version of what will undoubtedly be come to be known as the Twisted Pine Debacle, which culminated in the wooden sign that hangs above the center booths being sawed in half diagonally. The second-hand story I was regaled with was pretty good but I can only imagine it coming from the horse’s mouth. More reports from Colorado will follow this week.

All of which has nothing to do with this post’s title, except by way of explanation of the two reasons there haven’t been as many posts or rants lately. The second reason is I’ve been working on something new. I’m pleased to announce the launch of The Brookston Beer Pix, a beer-themed photoblog. For no better reason than I thought it would be fun for me, each day I’ll post a new photo that I’ve taken over the years that has something to do with beer. To be sure there will be gleaming stainless steel and glowing copper along with lush green hops, but also some other fun and more unusual shots as well. The hope is to showcase beer, brewing and the brewing community in a more artistic way and feed my own creative side. Plus, it gives me something to do with all those photographs that I can’t sell. Who knows, perhaps it will make me a better photographer. Take a look and let me know which pictures you like and which you don’t, and, of course, why.

 

 

The New Stone Brewery

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I was down in San Diego Sunday through Tuesday for a CSBA meeting and finally had a chance to see the new Stone Brewery, along with their World Bistro & Gardens in Escondido on Monday for the very first time. The place is very impressive from top to bottom and seems very well-thought out at every stage. The food was pretty tasty, too, especially the deep-fried garlic mashed potato balls. Yum.

Stone’s gleaming new brewery during our tour by new head brewer Mitch Steele.

Co-owner Greg Koch toasting the end of a great day, in front of his Stone World Bistro & Gardens.

For more photos from my Stone Brewery and the World Bistro & Gardens tour, visit the photo gallery.
 

Finding the Lost Abbey

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As I mentioned yesterday, on Sunday I flew down to San Diego for a couple of days to attend a CSBA meeting. My first stop was to visit Tomme Arthur at Port Brewing‘s new production facility, which they bought a little over a year ago from Stone Brewing. I wanted to see what they’d done to the place and also sample Tomme’s wonderful beers at the source.

The lobby of the brewery has been fashioned like a ship with portholes looking into their conference room.

The original paintings from the Lost Abbey’s beautiful labels hang behind the tasting bar.

Aging beer in wooden barrels line the brewery and are fit into nooks and crannies throughout.

Tomme’s daughter Sydney, who’s just over a year-old, came to work.

Tomme Arthur and Sydney in front of aging beer destined to be in future bottles of the Lost Abbey.

Bay Area Brewfest 2007

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Last Saturday the second annual Bay Area Brewfest took place in San Mateo. It was another beautiful day in the Bay Area. While there plenty of local and domestic craft beer pouring at this festival, I think what will ultimately set it apart is that there are several good Belgian and German import beers in attendance. Very few festivals have better imports so it was a good opportunity to try a variety of beers from abroad.

The grounds at the San Mateo Event Center.

Alec Moss from Half Moon Bay Brewing serving his tasty beers.

Festival organizer Jeff Moses with Mike Pitsker, who also writes from the Celebrator and has an insurance agency which also specializes in covering breweries.

Canned Beer Dinner

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Last month, Monk’s Cafe and Beer Emporium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania hosted a unique beer dinner with beer cook Lucy Saunders at the helm to support her new book, Grilling with Beer. All of the beers paired with each course was a craft beer in a can. A growing trend among small brewers, there are better than two dozen now putting their beer in a can. The Philadelphia Inquirer attended and reviewed the dinner, titling their article “Can do — craft-beer makers kicking glass, going metal.” Lucy sent me some of her photos from the dinner.

Lucy also was kind enough to provide her write-up of the event:

Craft brewers certainly can be proud of canned beer – at least, that’s the take-home message from a celebration of all-American grilled food and canned brews at Monk’s Café, Philadelphia, PA, in May.

To help Lucy Saunders launch her newest book, Grilling with Beer, Chef Adam Glickman and his culinary team prepared a banquet of BBQ ribs and fixings. Hosts Fergus Carey and Tom Peters called on top craft brewers offering their wares in cans to share the bounty.

Answering the call from San Francisco, California, brewer Shaun O’Sullivan of the 21st Amendment traveled cross-continent to celebrate his birthday at Monk’s, bringing both the stellar Watermelon Wheat Ale and the IPA in cans. Chuck Williamson drove all the way from Garrattsville, across NY state to deliver cold cases of Heinnieweisse to the door. (Cans do travel well, provided they are kept cold.)

Stacks of cans grew like Great Pyramids of Giza on tabletops, as we sampled skewers of apricot-wheat ale chicken, Malt Monster Shrimp with 21st Amendment’s Watermelon Wheat and the Butternuts Heinnieweisse. Brooklyn Lager paired with Chef Glickman’s grilled asparagus salad, and Dale’s Pale Ale partnered with the Porter Ginger Salmon Skewers. Sly Fox’s tasty canned offerings accompanied the beerbistro’s tender Apple Ale Ribs (braised in Éphémère Pomme before finishing on the new grill in Monk’s kitchen).

And at the end, we pulled the pop-tops off of cans of Old Chub Scottish ale, malty and rich enough to handle the Adult S’mores, stuffed with melted bittersweet Belgian chocolate and marshmallows made with St. Bernardus.

It was a cook-out to celebrate craft beer tasting just as the brewers intended, served from cool and classic aluminum cans, so convenient for any BBQ with beer. That’s why I think of cans as mini-kegs, perfect for keeping flavors fresh.

Shaun O’Sullivan from 21st Amendment, Fergie Carey, co-owner of Monk’s, Lucy Saunders, the beer cook, and Tom Peters, also co-owner of Monk’s.

For more photos by Lucy Saunders from the beer dinner, visit the photo gallery.

Sasquatch Brew Fest in Eugene

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Last Saturday, while I was attending the Santa Rosa Beerfest, 550 miles to the north in Eugene, Oregon, another beer festival was taking place. The fifth annual Sasquatch Brew Fest is a benefit for the Glen Hay Falconer Foundation, a charity set up after the untimely death of the well-known Eugene brewer in 2002. The Foundation provides scholarships for brewers to attend the Siebel Institute in Chicago.

Shaun O’Sullivan, co-founder and brewmaster of 21st Amendment Brewery in San Francisco, attended the festival and was kind enough to share some of his photos. Thanks Shaun.

Jamie Floyd, from Ninkasi Brewing, John Maier, from Rogue Brewing, and Nikos Ridge, also from Ninkasi.

Shaun O’Sullivan, co-founder and brewmaster of 21st Amendment Brewery in San Francisco, and his girlfriend Adrienne McMullen.

For more photos from this year’s Sasquatch Brew Fest, visit the photo gallery.

Beerfest in Santa Rosa

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This was the 16th annual Santa Rosa Beerfest, which is a benefit for Face to Face, a Sonoma County AIDS charity. What’s fun about this festival and what sets it apart is two things. First there’s the emphasis on local beer and food producers. Second, and most importantly in my opinion, is the way they treat food. There are as many, perhaps more, food stands than beer stands. And for your admission price you get unlimited samples of both food and beer. That means you can choose a food and a beer to pair, and try endless combination of pairings right there on the spot. More festivals should adopt this method, because it’s a terrific way to really show just how good beer and food are together. I can write about it until I’m blue in the fingers, and you can try single pairing after pairing, but to have an opportunity to mix and match like this is priceless and a fantastic learning experience. Plus, the equal emphasis on food alleviates the drunkenness that sometimes accompanies lesser festivals. Anyway, it was a great day — perfect weather — and I had a great time talking with friends, eating and drinking and listening to live music. After the festival I was so full, I didn’t have another bite for the rest of the day. I was satiated and satisfied.

Rebecca and Fraggle, inveterate festival-goers, at this year’s Santa Rosa Beerfest.

Two from Russian River Brewing, co-owner Natalie (center) and as many times as I’ve met this gentlemen I can’t remember his name, along with Brian Hunt from Moonlight Brewing (right).

For more photos from this year’s Santa Rosa Brewfest, visit the photo gallery.

Rob Tod Rocks the House

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Rob Tod, the owner/founder of Allagash Brewing of Portland, Maine, was in San Francisco Friday for a beer dinner at the Cathedral Hill Hotel. Bruce Paton, the Beer Chef, put on his usual spectacular fête and the meal and pairings worked magnificently. All of Allagash’s beers are in a Belgian-style, though most are quite experimental. Rob Tod really worked the crowd and made a great impression both with his stories and his beer. Having missed Valley Brewing’s dinner last month, it was great to enjoy another of Bruce’s dinners. There were a number of friends there and a great time was had by one and all.

Rob Tod had the crowd in the palm in his hand talking about his beers.

The Main dish, cutlets of slow roasted lamb with fingerling potato risotto and bing cherry compote, which was paired with Allagash Inoculator. Inoculator is a “one-off” beer made almost by accident. It started with their triple, aged in bourbon barrels with cherries from their local market added. The yeast they used was from Rodenbach and helped create a delightful 9.5% beer.

Dave Keene, from the Toronado, won a raffle at the dinner to support a local chef’s organization. One of the items in his prize basket was “Shrimp flavored Chips.”

James Costa, from E.J. Phair Brewing, offers some to his wife, Caroline. Wisely, she declined. The smell alone was enough to produce a gag reflex.

Rob Tod, on the other hand, was brave enough to actually eat them.

Chef Bruce stopped by our table. From left, Dave Keene, Vinnie Cilurzo (from Russian River), Arne Johnson (from Marin Brewing), James Costa and his wife Caroline, and Rob Tod.

Chef Bruce also brought us a special bottle of Malheur Brut Reserve, Michael Jackson Commemorative Selection 2006. Yum.

The Malheur (at right) also worked well with the dessert, Banana Upside Down Cake with Butterscotch Mascarpone, though the official pairing, Allagash Curieux, was inspired. Curieux is a tripel aged in Jim Beam barrels.

Chef Bruce and Rob Tod, who respectively provided the food and beer for our dinner.

Malin Palssoa and Eric Schiff (from San Francisco Brewing), fans of the Bulletin at the dinner. At least I think that’s their names, I had trouble reading my own handwriting the next day.

Enjoying some Blind Pig IPA at the hotel bar after the dinner, Rob Tod and me.

Raley Field Brewfest

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The first Raley Field Brewfest was put on by the Northern California Brewer’s Guild in an effort to raise funds for the fledgling organization. It was a good first fest at a great setting with perfect weather, especially for Sacramento. Because it was a festival by brewers for their own benefit, attendance was better than usual for a first-time event, and there were several breweries who rarely make an appearance at festivals, which made it more interesting than ones with only the usual suspects.

Brian Ford, who returns to the brewing community June 1, when his Auburn Alehouse Brewery & Restaurant is exected to open, with Glynn Phillips, owner of Rubicon and the festival organizer.

Melissa Myers, brewer at Drake’s, serving festival-goers.

Peter Hoey, from Sacramento Brewing, and Steve Altimari, from Valley Brewing.

For many more photos from the Raley Field Brewfest, visit the photo gallery.

Achouffe Turning 25

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Brasserie d’Achouffe, located in the small village of Achouffe in the heart of the Belgian Ardennes, is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. It was August 27, 1982 that Brasserie d’Achouffe brewed the 1st batch of La Chouffe. From August 10-12, they’ll be a big party at the brewery, which they’re calling La Grande Choufferie, and they’ve set up a website just for the occasion, along with slideshow of thirty photographs that shows the brewery then and now, as well as photographs of the local countryside.

Oh, and did I mention their beer is quite excellent. I’ve got a magnum of the La Chouffe I’m holding onto, which I think I’ll open this August for their 25th anniversary.