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What’s SF Beer Week Like?

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John Heylin, of the Nor Cal Beer Guide, along with several other BABB members, created a little spoof or homage film for SF Beer Week entitled What’s SF Beer Week Like? Drawing on Reservoir Dogs and the cult status of Russian River’s Pliny the Elder, the minute and a half video might make you cry, especially if you can’t get Pliny in your hometown. But fear not. As is revealed in the end credits; “No Pliny the Elder was harmed in the making of this video.”

Here’s how John describes his film: “How spoiled is the Bay Area when it comes to beer? This spoiled. Come check out SF Beer Week from February 10th-19th and spoil yourself silly.” I spoke to Vinnie Cilurzo at Russian River Brewing today, and he loved the video, thought it hilarious and sent it to all his employees.

Brew Are You, Strong Beer Month?

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It’s February, and that means it’s time for the 10th annual Strong Beer Month, once again with six new extreme beers each at 21st Amendment and Magnolia throughout the month, which this year has one more day to help you make it to the finish line. Try them all, and you get to keep the commemorative logo glass. Just collect all 12 punches in your Strong Beer Month ticket before the beer’s all gone.

Here’s the beer for this year:

Magnolia:

  1. Old Thunderpussy: barleywine, 11.9% abv
  2. Smokestack Lightning: imperial stout, 10.7% abv
  3. Pride of Branthill: imperial ESB (extra special bitter), 8.9% abv
  4. Tweezer Tripel: abbey tripel, 10.1% abv
  5. Promised Land: imperial IPA, 11.5% abv
  6. Punch You in the Rye: strong rye ale, 8.0% abv

21st Amendment:

  1. Lord & Master: strong English blonde, 8.3% abv
  2. Triple Crisis: imperial IPA, 11.0% abv
  3. Red Giant: imperial red ale, 13.0% abv
  4. Oaked Drunken Monk: dark abbey ale, 9.5%
  5. Two Lane Blacktop: imperial black IPA, 9.8% abv
  6. Hendrick’s: imperial stout, 9.5% abv

This year’s theme is the 1978 Who album “Who Are You” featuring Nico “Roger Daltry” Freccia, Ben “John Entwistle” Spencer, Dave “Keith Moon” McLean and Shaun “Peter Townsend” O’Sullivan. Frankly, I think “Moon McLean” might stick as a nickname. Have all twelve strong beers, and you too might start singing “Brew Are You.” I really want to know.

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Guinness Believer Tour

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Friday night Guinness‘ P.R. firm in New York invited me to the start of the Guinness Believer Tour, which debuted in San Francisco this weekend. The idea was to introduce not just regular Guinness, but also Foreign Extra Stout and their new Black Lager to consumers, who as far as I could tell, signed up for the event through social media like Facebook. The event was held at the Terra Gallery on Harrison Street and was pitched as a “multi-media experience that will take you ‘behind the gates’ of the famous St. James’s Gate Brewery.”

Guinness is much more than a beer, and when you raise a pint to your lips, you’re not just drinking it—you are part of it. We want you to be a part of history, connecting you to tradition that spans generations and a spirit that fuels celebrations today. Experience the Gravity Bar in Dublin, discover the heritage behind this famous brand and, of course, raise a pint of the black stuff to Arthur Guinness himself.

So I thought, why not? It’s been a while since I’ve done a Guinness event, in fact I think the last one was when it was still being imported by “Guinness USA,” which is pre-Diageo, I think. So I went to virtual St. James Gate.

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The room was set up with different “stations,” or areas where the small crowd of no more than 100 people could meander to and from. The center featured a bar where servers were showing off the 119.5 second “perfect pour” and handing out pints of Guinness. Then there were a few food stations loaded with some very tasty nibbles.

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So for the first 20-25 minutes, people sipped their pints, nibbled on nibbles, and meandered from station to station. In addition to the virtual St. James Gate, there was also “Find Your Prefect Pint” station, where you could put in an address to find nearby spots that served Guinness. There was a place to learn to do your own perfect pours from a nitrogen kegerator. There were wall sized display pieces with Guinness history and memorabilia on them, and a slideshow of old advertising lit up the wall.

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For the second half of the hour, there was a presentation on a small stage. The host was comedian Dan Soder, who Guinness hired as an “Ambassador” for the tour. I had a chance to chat with him before it all began, and he was an amiable, likable guy and a big Bill Hicks fan, for which he scored bonus points as far as I’m concerned. That portion of the show was interesting. Three short films were shown on the wall, little advertising pieces with high production value showing the history of the brand and other information about the beer. In between, Soder entertained the crowd, and staff handed out small samples of both the Foreign Extra Stout (still tasting great) and the Black Lager (not bad). A comedian, and Dan in particular, seemed to work well to keep things light and moving. They also brought up a pair of volunteers to practice the perfect pour, with prizes to the winner, of course.

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All in all, not a bad way to spend an hour. The Guinness was tasting very fresh, which was nice and it wasn’t too cold, which was great. I find it’s often served at a temperature that’s too chilly, but that gravity bar was a cellar temperature.

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Am I a believer? Not quite yet, but it was nice to see that served properly Guinness is still a great beer. I do love the Foreign Extra Stout, and was pleased when they began importing it again. My feeling has been that Diageo has mis-managed the brand’s cache over the last decade, but this seemed like a good start toward presenting it well again.

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From here, apparently the Guinness Believer Tour was headed to Los Angeles and was then traveling throughout U.S. cities. Check it out if it comes to your town.

Lagunitas IPA Brewed At Anchor

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If you were following the twitterverse closely on Tuesday, you might have noticed an interesting story developing, as relayed in tiny bites by Lagunitas owner Tony Magee. I’ve rejiggered the twitter stream, re-ordered it, uncompressed abbreviated words, and added additional ones for clarity in an attempt to make it a more coherent story.

“We had a crazy strong 4th quarter 2011 and are nearly MAXED! out right now. This could cause SERIOUS supply problems as Spring approaches.” As you may recall, “our new brewhouse,” specifically the “Lauter Tun, was savagely attacked by a crane in the mid-Atlantic and that has delayed the start-up by a about a month. Working on the new brewhouse installation and all the plant improvements have been my whole life for the last year, so, for me, it’s personal!” I “don’t want to disappoint friends, customers, retailers, or distributors” and “since the cool new owners of Anchor have become our friends,” and “since their brewers are totally the most experienced Craft Brewers anywhere on Earth, I asked them if they could help us somehow.” They magnanimously said yes, “so we’re working with them right now to brew some IPA draft for us. Can you dig that? Anchor Brewing! Its’a STRAIGHT-UP honor that Anchor is willing to help us through this two-month hump. It is great to have such friends on this crazy competitive left-coast! I love this career. Imagine; working with the brew-co father of us all.”

So that sounds intriguing, right? Lagunitas brewing in the cooolships at Anchor?!? I spoke to Anchor co-owner Keith Greggor, who confirmed that’s exactly what happened. He stressed that we shouldn’t read too much into it, it’s just one brewery helping out another, which is great, I think. So for the next couple of months, head brewer Jeremy Marshall will, from time-to-time, be overseeing Lagunitas IPA being brewed in San Francisco.

They’ll be brewing IPA for draft only there, at least until the new brewhouse in Petaluma can be completed. That also means that shortly, when you an order a Lagunitas IPA from a keg, it could have been brewed at Anchor. As far as I know, this is the first time a non-Anchor beer has been brewed on Anchor’s system at their present location. Now this is a great example of our community, where a brewery can set aside any competitive impulse and help out a fellow brewer in need. As Greggor said. “It just felt like the right thing to do. You help your friends.” How cool is that?

Anchor Zymaster #1 To Be A California Lager

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Yesterday Anchor Brewing announced their new line of beers under the “Zymaster Series,” with the first to debut during SF Beer Week in February.

This morning I spoke to the Zymaster himself — Mark Carpenter — who told me a bit more about the beer. It sounds like it will be a pretty interesting beer, and one I’m definitely looking forward to trying.

Carpenter told me they wanted to do something distinctly Californian, and they searched brewing logs and records that they could find from early California brewers. Reasoning that as soon as brewers had the technological ability to brew lagers, that’s what they did, so they turned their attention to lagers. In California, Boca Brewing is believed to have made the first lager in the state, around 1875 (according to American Breweries II). The town of Boca was located in northeast California, roughy 6.5 miles from Truckee. In 1880 it had a population of around 200 people, though today it’s literally a ghost town. The brewery was founded in 1875 and closed in 1892, four years before the Anchor Brewery opened.

So Anchor set about to recreate the first lager brewed in California. They used California-grown malt and California cluster hops. Clusters were the first hop variety grown in the United States. Though their origin is unknown, it has been “suggested that they arose from hybridization of varieties, imported by Dutch and English settlers and indigenous male hops.” They weren’t able to find enough cluster hops actually grown commercially in the state, but they did find cluster hops growing in Washington using the same bines that used to grow in California, before the hop-growing family took their rhizomes with them when they moved north from California to Washington.

So the first Zymaster Series beer from Anchor is also the first true lager they’ve made (with Steam beer being essentially a hybrid) and was brewed to try as best they could to replicate the first lagers brewed in California. It’s 5% a.b.v. and is a single-hop beer, using only Cluster hops. Because of quality issues in the late 19th century, lagers here tended to be more highly hopped then they are today, and Anchor’s new beer will also reflect that, though they have not yet calculated the IBUs, so no one can yet how hoppy the lager will be. Only one thing is certain, I can’t wait to see what it tastes like.

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Anchor Announces New Zymaster Series

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As promised on Friday, Anchor Brewing announced today a new series of beers they’ll be debuting during SF Beer Week. The new beers will be under the series designation “Zymaster,” which Anchor describes like this:

Zymaster n [Gk zyme leaven + master – more at ZYMURGY]
1: a new word coined by Anchor Brewing to describe a brewmaster with hands-on experience throughout the a-to-z process of creating a new beer, from the research and selection of the raw materials and development of a recipe to brewing, fermentation, cellaring, and finishing
2: a unique series of beers from Anchor Brewing, rooted in its exceptional respect for the ancient art and noble traditions of brewing and featuring extraordinary ingredients, innovative techniques, and unusual flavors

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The first Zymaster Series beer will be released at select events during SF Beer Week, which this year is February 10-19. The initial offering will be “available on draught only in 13.2 gallon and 5.16 gallon kegs,” and “[i]nitial distribution will be focused in California.”

No word yet on what the first beer will taste like, whether it will hew closely to any recognizable style, what ingredients were used to brew it, or how often we can expect subsequent offerings in the Zymaster series. Updates as they emerge.

Anchor Teases About New Beer Series

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Anchor Brewery is teasing us. Earlier today they tweeted this enigmatic photo that vaguely hints at a new series of beers from the oldest craft brewery in America. All the tweet says is that we have to wait until Monday. “We’re brewing up a special announcement for Monday, January 23. Here’s a little taste…” Can’t wait.

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Beer At/Is Fancy Food

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For the third straight year, beer had a bigger presence at the Winter Fancy Food Show, held each January in San Francisco. The Brewers Association once again had a booth pouring beer from a variety of craft brewers, through their Export Development Program (EDP). I went the first year, too, and this year it again appeared to be one of the most popular booths at the giant food show that features high-end, specialty foods. Hopefully not by coincidence, the BA’s craft beer booth was located next to most of the cheese, which made finding divine pairings quite easy. There are few things better than great beer and cheese together.

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In talking with Bob Pease, COO of the BA and head of EDP, it was clear this was the right crowd to help build craft beer. Attendees were by and large retailers who carry not just ordinary grocery fare, but high-end, specialty foods. Craft beer, of course, is a high-end, specialty food and these days, any specialty food retailer carrying better cheese, bread, chocolate, charcuterie, etc. but not craft beer, is missing out. And many people there seemed to understand that.

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People lined up to try the beers, and unlike your average beer festival, most asked good questions not just about the beer, but what foods it went with, how to market it, etc. In several conversations I eavesdropped on, retailers admitted not knowing much about craft beer, but seemed to understand it was now part of the specialty food world and were eager to learn more and understand how it could fit into their own businesses.

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Nancy Johnson, Event Director for the BA, sampling people on Dogfish Head’s beer.

Having had most of the beers from the dozen breweries at the BA’s booth, I wanted to see what else was being featured at the show, so I spent a few hours walking the aisles and stuffing my face with countless delicious samples being offered at nearly every booth.

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I was in heaven with all the different cheese available for sampling. I must have eaten at least a pound or more of cheese in the aggregate.

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There was an entire area devoted to Japan’s cuisine, and among those booths I discovered that Hitachino Nest Beer was sampling people on three of their beers.

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I also noticed this clever carrying-case to transport a twelve-pack to your next tasting.

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Not surprisingly, they were also pouring beer — Spaten — in the German cuisine area.

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And last, though in this case possibly least, there was also a booth featuring beer salt. Though I suppose if you’re stuck drinking Corona, with a wedge of lime and some beer salt, you’d have the makings of a beer margarita.

Anyway, the Fancy Food Show was great fun, and it was amazing to see so many innovative foods, and the way they were being presented. There was food from a dizzying number of countries, and many new ways of eating more traditional fare. But what was really terrific to witness, is how many people were so accepting of beer as a part of the great panoply of food. I don’t so much like the word “fancy” as a way of describing either craft beer or most of the foods at the show, and I suspect that’s a name with a history that they’re somewhat stuck with now. The Fancy Food Show is put on by the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade, and that’s a much better way of looking at it. Because none of the food there could be considered ordinary, it was all pretty special. And that’s one way to look at beer, too. There’s ordinary beer — well-made but fairly bland without much flavor — and then there’s craft beer — loaded with flavor and in endless variety. Give me the specialty beer every time. Life’s just too short to settle for the ordinary.

Mission Rock Cafe To Become Brewery In 2012

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Yet another new brewery is apparently coming to San Francisco next year. According to the San Francisco Chronicle and SF Weekly, the Mission Rock Cafe, in China Basin not to far from the stadium where the Giants play, will soon become a brewery. Local publican Peter Osborne, who currently owns MoMo’s, Pete’s Tavern and Pedro’s Cantina, will take over the waterside restaurant on January 1. He’ll then start renovating it with an eye toward re-opening it sometime during the summer as Mission Rock Brewery and Oyster Bar.

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On the deck at Mission Rock Cafe during the Beerunch there during SF Beer Week in 2010.

SF Beer Week Opening Event Announced

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The opening celebration to kick-off SF Beer Week for 2012 has been announced. Having outgrown our space last year, this year it’s been moved to a new, larger location at the Concourse pavilion at the Concourse Exhibition Center in SOMA. Here are the details:

On February 10, 2012, over 50 Northern California breweries will converge on the Concourse in San Francisco for the Opening Celebration of SF Beer Week, which kicks off a ten day marathon of beer tastings, small festivals and food pairing dinners across the Bay Area. From 6-10pm, beer lovers will discover newly minted nanobrewers pouring alongside legendary craft brewing pioneers.

Early bird tickets are now available for $55. Each attendee will receive a commemorative glass and enjoy unlimited samples of new, rare and classic beers. Tickets are expected to go quickly. The event is one of the largest and most anticipated gatherings of the region’s beer community. A complete list of attending breweries will be published in mid January.

This year the Opening Celebration has moved to a larger venue in San Francisco’s SOMA district. The Concourse pavilion will provide a more spacious experience, easier access to the breweries and more food options will be available. Artisan producers from around the Bay will serve up a range of delicious choices for purchase, while live music fills the air.

Tickets are available online, the early bird price is $55. See you there.

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