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Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Beer Birthday: Brandon Hernández

August 14, 2023 By Jay Brooks


Today is the 47th (maybe) birthday of Brandon Hernández, who is a Brewing Industry Contributor at The San Diego Union-Tribune and also stays busy with the San Diego Beer News, as a Craft Beer Correspondent at FOX 5 San Diego, Co-Host at The Indie Beer Show, Beer To The Rescue, and Food & Beverage Editor / San Diego On-Tap Host at Ranch & Coast Magazine. He also used to bethe Chief Marketing Officer for Societe Brewing, and before that AleSmith and Stone Brewing. And he’s published the Complete Guide to San Diego Breweries in 2015. Until recently, I used to run into Brandon fairly regularly at beer functions and he’s become one of my favorite people to hang out with. Join me in wishing Brandon a very happy birthday.

Brandon and me at Bell’s last year.

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Nice towering press photo of Brandon.

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With fellow writers at the opening event for the CBC in Washington, DC in 2013. From left, Stephen Beaumont, me, Steve Shapiro, Gail Williams, Brandon and Chuck Cook.

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At Churchill’s in San Diego with Tomme Arthur in 2012.

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With a bevy of Celebrator writers in Chico for Beer Camp #93 in late 2012, to make a beer celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Celebrator Beer News. That’s Brandon sporting blond hair fourth from the left.

[Note: photos 2 and 4 were purloined from Facebook.]

Filed Under: Birthdays, Just For Fun Tagged With: California, San Diego

Beer Birthday: Paul Sangster

August 6, 2023 By Jay Brooks

rip-current
Today is the birthday of Paul Sangster, who is the brewmaster of Rip Current Brewing in San Marcos, California and a co-founder with his partner Guy Shobe. By a strange coincidence, Guy’s sister is our neighbor across the street at the home we bought over ten years ago and his niece is one of my daughter’s best friends. So I’ve met Paul and Guy a couple of time now, and it was great seeing them win big at the 2015 GABF. Last year, we judged together on the final day of GABF judging. Paul is a longtime San Diego homebrewer and won numerous awards before leaving his career in 2014 to turn pro.

UntitledPicking up a medal at the 2015 GABF awards. That’s Paul in the center next to Charlie Papazian, and his business partner Guy to Charlie’s right.

UntitledThe Rip Current crew off the stage.

UntitledOn stage again, winning Very Small Brewing Company of the Year in 2015.

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Winning his third straight brewing machine award at the AFC in his final homebrewing competition before opening his own brewery [photo purloined from Facebook].

Filed Under: Birthdays Tagged With: California, San Diego

Beer Birthday: Dr. Bill

July 30, 2023 By Jay Brooks

wild-barrel
Today is also the 61st birthday of William Sysak, better known to the beer community as Dr. Bill. Dr. Bill’s massive tastings are the stuff of legends, and he later transported them — albeit on a smaller scale — to working at Stone Brewing’s World Bistro & Gardens. He has impeccable taste, be it in beer, wine, whiskey, cigars, what have you, and is one of the most fun people to taste with. He was working with Stone Brewing for a time, but more recently he started his own brewery, co-founding Wild Barrel Brewing, in San Marcos, California, which opened several years ago. Join me in wishing Bill a very happy birthday.

hardliver08-04Dr. Bill and me sharing a plate of frites before the final judging at the Hard Liver Barleywine Festival in 2008.

slofn08-05Dr. Bill with Matt Bonney, from Brouwer’s/Bottleworks in Seattle at Slow Food Nation 2008 at Fort Mason.

gabf06-sat-15Dr. Bill at Falling Rock, hosting one of his legendary tastings, during GABF in 2006.

dr-billDr. Bill’s player’s card when he joined Stone Brewing.

Filed Under: Birthdays Tagged With: California, San Diego, Southern California

Beer Birthday: Travis Smith

July 22, 2023 By Jay Brooks

Today is the 43rd birthday of Travis Smith, who was a co-founder of Societe Brewing Co. in San Diego. Before that, Travis brewed at Russian River Brewing for a number of years, before moving south, where he brewed at both The Bruery and the La Jolla Brewhouse. His brewery quickly became one of the destination spots in San Diego, and his beers are especially tasty, standing out in the area surrounded by numerous great breweries. More recently, Travis left Societe and is currently the brewmaster at the Lazy G Brewhouse in Prescott, Arizona.  Join me in wishing Travis a very happy birthday.

Travis “MacGyver” Smith showing off the cork gun he made with spare brewing parts lying around the Russian River brewpub. It shot a beer cork a pretty fair distance and would pierce cardboard at 100 feet.

Patrick Rue & Travis Smith, from The Bruery
Travis with Patrick Rue, from The Bruery, at GABF in 2009.


Agostino Arioli, from Birrificio Italiano in northern Italy, with Vinnie Cilurzo and Travis, at Russian River Brewing in 2008 working on a fun collaboration beer, La Fleuette.

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Travis behind the handmade redwood bar at Societe a few days before they opened.

Filed Under: Birthdays, Just For Fun Tagged With: California, San Diego

Beer Birthday: Chris White

July 1, 2023 By Jay Brooks

white-labs
Today is the 55th birthday of Chris White. Chris founded the yeast company White Labs in 1995 and he’s also on the faculty of the Siebel Institute. He’s also a fixture at virtually every brewing industry and homebrewing conference, and was kind enough to talk to my SSU beer appreciation class about yeast. Join me in wishing Chris a very happy birthday.

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Chris and his brother Mike bookending Chuck, from Green Flash Brewing, Natalie Cilurzo, from Russian River Brewing, John Harris, from Full Sail Brewing, and Vinnie Cilurzo, also from Russian River, at CBC in Austin, Texas in 2007.

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Chris at the new White Labs taproom during the Craft Brewers Conference a couple of years ago in San Diego.

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Surly brewer Todd Haug with Chris.

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Chris with Technical Sales and Marketing Coordinator Ashley Paulsworth at the NHC.

[Note: last two photos purloined from Facebook.]

Filed Under: Birthdays Tagged With: California, Ingredients, San Diego, Southern California, Yeast

Beer Birthday: Jeff Bagby

May 18, 2023 By Jay Brooks

bagby-beer
Today is the 49th birthday of Jeff Bagby, who until a few years ago was the head brewer extraordinaire at Pizza Port in Carlsbad. There, you used to be able to read the entire biography of Jeff “Extra Spicy” Bagby. I’m not sure when it was written, but it’s no longer there, but it ended with the following sentence. “Jeff has his sights set on winning a GABF Brewpub of the Year award and we most definitely believe it is in his future as well.” Eight years ago at GABF, Jeff won an amazing seven medals and Pizza Port Carlsbad was awarded the Large Brewpub and Large Brewpub Brewer of the Year. That means his plaid pants got to go up on stage a record eight times! You can see a retrospective of Jeff’s plaid choices over the years, too, at Jeff “Lucky Pants” Babgy Wins Big. Once he started working on opening his own brewery, I suggested he should consider “Plaid Brewing” or some variation of that idea, like “Plaid Pants Brewing” or “Lucky Plaid Brewing.” Unfortunately, he went with a more sensible Bagby Beer Co., which opened a few years ago. All, well some, kidding aside, Jeff is a terrific brewer and a hell of a washoes player, though I still think Dave Keene and I could beat him and Tomme again. Join me in wishing Jeff a very happy birthday.

Jeff Bagby & His Girlfriend, from Pizza Port - Carlsbad
Jeff with his then-girlfriend, now wife, Dande at GABF a few years ago. And yes, those are his lucky pants.

Greg Koch & Jeff Bagby
Greg Koch and Jeff at the Falling Rock.

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Former Drake’s brewer Melissa Myers with Jeff at an event at Anchor celebrating the Toronado’s 20th anniversary.

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Sam Calagione, Bruce Paton and Jeff at the Lost Abbey for a beer dinner during CBC.

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Jeff at the Toronado for the annual Belgian Beer Dinner in 2012, with owner Dave Keene wearing his “Who the F@#k is Jeff Bagby?” T-shirt.

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Dandelian and Jeff Bagby in the upstairs loft dining area of their new brewery. The plaid back of the bench seating was inspired by Jeff’s winning plaid pants that he used to wear for GABF award ceremonies, as I detailed several years ago in Jeff “Lucky Pants” Bagby Wins Big.

Filed Under: Birthdays Tagged With: California, San Diego, Southern California

Beer Birthday: Pat McIllhenney

April 29, 2023 By Jay Brooks

alpine-beer
Today is the 69th birthday of Pat McIllhenney, brewmaster and founder of Alpine Beer Co. near San Diego. Pat makes some amazing hoppy beers. Unfortunately, his beers are hard to find up our way, but that hopefully will be improving since Alpine was acquired by Green Flash Brewing a few years ago. Join me in wishing Pat a very happy birthday.

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Pat manning his booth at the Firestone Walker Invitational several years back.

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Pat at GABF in 2008.

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Pat at the Boonville Beer Festival, also in 2008.

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Pat with Tomme Arthur at the inaugural Firestone Walker Invitational several years ago.

Filed Under: Birthdays Tagged With: California, San Diego, Southern California

Beer Birthday: Steve Wagner

April 5, 2023 By Jay Brooks

stone
Today is Steve Wagner’s 65th birthday. Steve is a co-founder of Stone Brewing and the president of the California Craft Brewers Association. In the late 1980s, Steve was a member of the band “The Balancing Act,” who put out several albums on I.R.S. Records. Now he just presides over one of the most successful microbreweries in the U.S. Join me in wishing Steve a very happy birthday.

cbc07-37
Mitch Steele, Stone Brewing’s brewmaster, with Steve, at CBC when it was in Austin, Texas.

cbc08-35
The Stone crew: Arlan Arnsten, Steve and Greg Koch at CBC in San Diego 2008.

gk-sw-cheers
With Stone Brewing co-founder Greg Koch in a publicity shot (by John Schulz Photography).

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The day after we tried all of Stone’s Vertical Epic’s in San Diego; with Steve, me, Joe Tucker, Jason and Todd Alstrom and Greg Koch.

stone-first-12oz
Lee Chase with Steve on April 14, 1999 celebrating their first bottling run on their then new Maheen bottler. [Note: photos purloined from Stone Brewing’s website.]

Filed Under: Birthdays, Just For Fun Tagged With: California, San Diego, Southern California

Beer Birthday: Lee Chase

March 20, 2023 By Jay Brooks

Automatic Blind-Lady
Today is the 50th birthday — The Big 5-O — of Lee Chase, co-owner of Blind Lady Ale House in San Diego, and brewer at Automatic Brewing, located in the Blind Lady’s back room, and brewery consultant to the stars. Chase was also the head brewer at Stone Brewing for nearly a decade and oversaw the building and installation of the new brewery in Escondido. Lee’s a terrific brewer and a great beer ambassador, and also great fun to hang out with a share a pint, which I was able to do a few Decembers ago at the Stone Vertical Epic Tasting. Please join me in wishing Lee a very happy birthday.

lee-chase-2
Lee at Beer School for CitySearch San Diego in 2008.

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Lee, with Meg Gill, Garrett Marrero and Matthew Brynildson at CBC in San Diego a few years ago.

lee-chase-green
Greg Koch and Lee at the Stone 5th Anniversary Open House Celebration, which later became the “Stone Anniversary Celebration & Invitational Beer Festival.”

stone-first-12oz
Lee with Stone co-founder Steve Wagner on April 14, 1999 celebrating their first bottling run on their then new Maheen bottler. [Note: photos purloined from Facebook & Stone Brewing.]

Stone-1996
Lee, and several other Stone employees, along with some other beer people, around 1996.

Filed Under: Birthdays, Just For Fun Tagged With: California, San Diego

Beer Birthday: Chuck Silva

February 14, 2023 By Jay Brooks

silva
Today is also the birthday of Chuck Silva, former brewmaster at Green Flash Brewing in San Diego. His West Coast IPA has taken the world by storm, and personally, I loved his Tripel and Le Freak. The big, shiny new brewery they recently built is also pretty amazing. But eventually Chuck wanted to create something of his own, and so he opened Silva Brewing Company in the Central Coast of California, around his native San Luis Obispo area in Paso Robles. Join me in wishing Chuck a very happy birthday.

Chuck Silva, from Green Flash Brewing
Chuck at GABF two years ago.

greenflashdin-7
The beer chef, Bruce Paton, with Chuck at one his beer dinners.

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Chuck at Mammoth Lakes Bluesapalooza in 2007.

cbc08-05
Chuck serving the symposium beer at Stone Brewing during Craft Brewers Conference in San Diego in 2008.

Filed Under: Birthdays, Just For Fun Tagged With: California, San Diego, Southern California

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