Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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The Artist Behind 21st Amendment’s New Cans

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UK-based illustrator Joe Wilson, whose clients include such high-powered companies as Adidas, British Airways, De Beers, GQ, Random House and Wired, designed the new artwork adorning the new 21st Amendment Brewery beer cans. So given his work for Wired, I suppose it’s no surprise that they featured his art on their Underwire Blog in a post entitled Chimp Astronaut Spaces Out in 21st Amendment Brewery’s ‘American Icon’ Artwork.

In an e-mail interview for the post, Wilson talked about the project. Regarding Bitter American. “That was a nice idea to center it around Ham the Astrochimp, who was undoubtedly a bitter American.”

The brewery’s marketing firm, TBD Agency, hired Smith on the strength of a Statue of Liberty illustration he did for Public Finance magazine. “They asked me to create a series of images based around the loose theme ‘American icons,'” Wilson said. “They already had the names of the beers, so this was a case of coming up with American subject matter and giving it a twist.”

21st Amendment wanted to establish a cheeky alternative to its mainstream competitors and that’s precisely what Wilson delivered with his drawings of the space chimp and other American icons. For the history-on-a-can theme, Wilson drew Paul Revere (for a black IPA called Back in Black), Abe Lincoln and his Mount Rushmore companions (Brew Free or Die IPA), the Statue of Liberty (Hell or High Watermelon wheat beer) and Franklin D. Roosevelt (Fireside Chat winter spiced ale).

Below are Wilson’s original sketches followed by the finished can label for each beer.

Brew Free or Die IPA

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Hell or High Watermelon

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Bitter American

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Back in Black

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Fireside Chat

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It’s cool to see the changes — look carefully — from rough sketch to finished artwork. You can see more of Joe Wilson’s artwork at his website and at debut art.

More From This Year’s Anchor Christmas Party

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If you saw my post from the Anchor Christmas Party a few days ago, my friend Mike Condie — who’s a much better photographer than I am — sent over some of the pictures he took at the party and I thought I’d share those, as well.

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The Celebrator crew.

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Alec Moss and Tom Dalldorf.

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Me with brewer Mike Lee and Bob Brewer.

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Bob Brewer showing me Anchor’s new bottling line.

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Ron Silberstein, from Thirsty Bear, and Anchor co-owner Keith Greggor.

Thanks for sharing, Mike.

Anchor Christmas Party 2011

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Last night was the annual Anchor Christmas Party, one of my favorite events of the beer year. It’s an opportunity to celebrate the holidays with the local beer community and have a bit of fun before all the family obligations kick in. And it’s always a great party. Anchor pulls out all the stops, putting out a terrific spread and opening the brewery up for one night.

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The Anchor party is one of the few events that my wife Sarah attends with me each year, making it that much more special. We always make a point of having holiday photo taken at the brewery.

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The Celebrator Beer News crew at the party.

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Brewer Mike Lee and Bob Brewer.

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During the course of the evening, I was happy to get a look at Anchor’s new bottling line, which is doubling their filling speed and offering better O-levels and fill level consistency. Plus it’s a beautiful piece of machinery.

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Tom Dalldorf, publisher of the Celebrator Beer News, my wife Sarah, and Keith Greggor, co-owner of Anchor Brewers & Distillers toward the end of the night.

The Bay Brewed: A Rock & Roll Beer Festival

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This sure sounds like a fun new event. The San Francisco Brewers Guild along with City Beer Store and The Bay Bridged is putting on a beer festival and a music festival called The Bay Brewed, which is scheduled to take place on December 3, from 2-7 p.m. at San Francisco’s Verdi Club, located at 2424 Mariposa Street. Here’s some more info from the press release:

Presented in partnership with the City Beer Store and the SF Brewers Guild, a ticket to The Bay Brewed includes unlimited beer tastings from San Francisco Bay Area breweries including 21st Amendment, Anchor Stream, Beach Chalet, Lagunitas, Magnolia, Social Kitchen & Brewery, and Speakeasy, and musical performances from four excellent San Francisco bands: Weekend, Sleepy Sun, Extra Classic, and Terry Malts. Food will be available for purchase courtesy of Rosamunde Sausage Grill.

Christian Cunningham, General Manager of The Bay Bridged, explained the desire to create an event pairing local bands and local craft beers: “San Francisco’s music and beer scenes are both unbeatable when it comes to the talent and creativity of the people involved. The Bay Brewed is our way of bringing together people who like great music and people who like great beer for a unique event that couldn’t happen anywhere but San Francisco.”

Ticket prices are $45 and can be purchased online, or buy them at the door for $55. According to the ticket page, “[y]our ticket purchase includes performances by four great local rock bands — Weekend, Sleepy Sun, Extra Classic, and Terry Malts — and a commemorative mug that gets you unlimited beer tastings all day long from an array of awesome local breweries. In partnership with the City Beer Store and the SF Brewers Guild, you’ll be sampling beer from and meeting the brewers behind 21st Amendment, Anchor Stream, Beach Chalet, Lagunitas, Magnolia, Social Kitchen & Brewery, and Speakeasy, with more still to come.”

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Toronado Belgian Beer Lunch This Sunday

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I just learned that there are a few seats left for the annual Toronado Belgian Beer Lunch taking place this Sunday, April 10. For the third year — or is that fourth? — the food is being done by Sean Paxton, the Homebrew Chef. If you love Belgian beer, good food and especially pairing the two, you don’t want to miss this. And if you’ve never been to one of Sean Paxton’s gastronomic extravaganzas, you’re in for something special. Tickets are $150 each, which might sound steep until you consider that this is a twelve-course meal that includes 20 Belgian beers! Lunch begins at 11:30 and is expected to last until at least 4:30. You read that right, it’s a five-hour lunch. Call the Toronado to reserve your seat as soon as possible. You won’t be disappointed. Payment can be in cash or check (I believe on the day of the event) but best check that when you make your reservations. See you there!

2011 Toronado Belgian Beer Lunch Menu

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Toronado owner Dave Keene with the Homebrew Chef, Sean Paxton, at an earlier Belgian Beer Lunch.

Pre-Lunch Reception:

Beer served: Van Steenberge Ertveld’s Wit

First Course

Belgian Sushi: Wit-flavored brioche infused with foie gras, roasted eel, Poperings Hommel Bier duck egg green aioli, pea shoots

Paired with DuPont Avril

Second Course

Charcuturie Platter: Duck rillettes braised in Russian River Consecration with a Supplication gelee, duck pistachio apricot infused with Sanctification terrine, pork/duck liver and Orval beer pâté, cornichons, heirloom radishes, house-made Goulden Carolus Noel mustard, currant & Consecration compote, and served with local The Bejkr breads

Paired with Chimay Grand Reserve 3 Liter and Duvel Triple Hop

Third Course

DuPont Avec Les Bons Voeux Poached Sole: On a bed of leek and turnip purée, topped with a lobster crawfish mussel Tripel Karmeliet waterzooi sauce

Paired with De Dolle Arabier and Moinette Blond

Fourth Course

Goat Butter Poached Sea Scallop: Smoked in Mort Subite lambic barrel staves, De Ranke Guldenburg demi glaze, celery root purée infused with Affligem Noel, fennel pollen

Paired with Petrus Aged Pale

Fifth Course

Seared Duck Breast with Sour Cherry Sauce: Sonoma County duck breasts cooked sous vide with shallots, thyme, with a dried sour cherries Hannsen Oude Kriek sauce on a bed of black barley simmer in Delirium Noel and TCHO cocoa nibs

Paired with Bocker Cuvee De Jacobins and Drie Fonteinen Oude Kriek

Sixth Course

Medium Rare Short Ribs: Cooked sous vide for 48 hours in Rochefort 8, caramelized shallots and thyme, served on a bed of Flemish-style mashed potatoes, with a fig, date Petrus Oud Bruin gravy

Paired with Echt Kriekenbier and Rochefort 10

Seventh Course

Crepenette: Westmalle Dubbel infused Spring Sonoma lamb, mixed with creamed leeks, wrapped in caul fat topped with a sirop de Liége (pears, date simmered in a Chimay Red ale syrup) and Belgian endive salad

Paired with Rodenbach Grand Cru 2008 keg

Eighth Course

Foie Gras: Lobes of foie gras poached in Boon Kriek, made into truffles and coated in Cantillon Rosé De Gambrinus gelee, garnished with hibiscus sea salt

Paired with Malheur Brut Reserve 2006

Ninth Course

French Lentil Salad: Lentils simmered in Fantôme Saison, curry-scented green cauliflower, ‘wit’ candied cashews, mâche greens and toasted hemp seeds tossed in a Straus yogurt bergamot orange Lindemans Gueuze Cuvée René dressing

Paired with Oud Beersal Oude Geueze Vieille

Tenth Course

Assorted Belgian Cheeses: Grevenbroecker, Wavreumont, “St. Maure,” Charmoix, Meikaas, and Kriek Washed Fromage served with pomegranate Supplication honey, The Bejkr Biologlque bread, hazelnut fig crackers, dried fruit, honey blood orange peel candied pistachios

Paired with Liefmans Cuvee Brut and Orval

Eleventh Course

Crêpe: Boon Oude Geuze Mariage Parfait beer curd, Hanssens Oudbeitje rhubarb jam, Westmalle Tripel chamomile syrup wrapped in a Sara Buckwheat Ale crepe

Paired with De Struise T’sjeeses

Twelfth Course

Chocolate Pot de Crème Deconstructed Pie: Speculoos cookie crust, Belgian dark chocolate infused custard, Chantilly cream

Paired with De Struise Pannepot 2007, Scaldis Noel 1998 Magnums and De Struise Black Albert 2009

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The Homebrew Chef cooking with nitrogen behind the Toronado bar.

New Pliny The Elder Video By The Famous

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The San Francisco-based band The Famous regularly plays the beer circuit and can frequently be seen performing at beer festivals and brewpubs around the Bay Area. They’re a terrific band. I’ve seen them several times, most recently at Vinnie Cilurzo’s 40th birthday party at Russian River Brewing. At Vinnie’s party, The Famous did a song created for the occasion, Pliny the Elder or The Pliny Song, an awesome little homage to the beer and the man it was named for. They’ve now recorded a studio version of it, and have created a music video to go along with it. Enjoy.

Brekle’s Brown Released By Anchor

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This evening at Anchor Brewing in San Francisco, the brewery released their newest beer, Brekle’s Brown, named for the very first brewer at the brewery that would eventually become Anchor, Gottlieb Brekle.

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Mark Carpenter, Anchor’s brewmaster showing off his latest creation, Brekle’s Brown.

The beer is a beautiful bright mahogany, with a tan head. The nose is malty sweet, with nutty aromas that continue through to the flavor. With a dry finish, it’s nicely sweet on the palate, and belies its 6% a.b.v. Easily a session brown. Another great complement to the stable of Anchor beers.

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I’ll have more later on the event later, but with just another half hour to go, I’m going to go have another beer before heading on to the next event.

SF Beer Week On ABC 7 TV

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On Monday, Rich Higgins (Director of SF Beer Week) and I went on the local ABC affiliate’s afternoon show, 7 Live, to promote SF Beer Week. Rich brought two of his beers from Social Kitchen & Brewery. First, his White Thai Affair (9.5% a.b.v., an imperial Rapscallion with galangal and lemongrass) was paired with a Kale salad with clementines and a ginger garlic vinaigrette. Then his Giant S’mores (10.5% a.b.v., a Belgian Imperial Stout) was paired with Point Reyes Original Blue cheese. Lastly, I picked up some beer ice cream from Humphry Slocombe made with He’Brew’s Bittersweet Lenny’s R.I.P.A. and brought bottles of the beer so they could taste the beer the ice cream had been made with.

It was a quick 3-4 minute segment, as is the nature of these things, but overall I think went well. Of the three 7 Live hosts, our segment was with Lizzie Bermudez, though both of the others did get into the act with Brian Copeland snagging one of the beers of the table and Jennifer Jolly trying the ice cream, too. We got the message out about SF Beer Week and, I think, opened their eyes a bit to beer with food. The cheese pairing went over particularly well and the ice cream was a big hit, too. And it was great fun for us.

Anchor’s Newest Beer: Brekle’s Brown

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The story of Anchor Brewery begins shortly after gold was discovered in nearby Sutter’s Mill. That’s when German brewer “Gottlieb Brekle arrived in San Francisco with his wife Marie and infant son Frederick.” In 1854, Brekle applied for U.S. citizenship and 1871 bought an old beer-and-billiards saloon near Russian Hill. That location became “a little San Francisco brewery on Pacific, between Larkin and Hyde,” and 25-years later was known as Anchor Brewery.
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On February 16, Anchor will unveil it’s newest beer, an all-malt, single hop brown ale named for the original Anchor brewer, Gottlieb Brekle, who was brewmaster from 1871 to 1888. Brekle’s Brown will then be available on draft only at select locations throughout the Bay Area for the remainder of SF Beer Week from February 17-20. Look for it at better beer bars everywhere.