Today is the 57th 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.
[Note: last two photos purloined from Facebook.]
Today is the 51st birthday of Jeff Bagby, who for a number of years 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.” Several years ago now 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, but unfortunately he and Dande closed the brewery a little over a year 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.
Today is the 64th birthday of Chris Cramer, who co-founded the Karl Strauss Brewing Co. along with his cousin, Karl Strauss, and Matt Rattner. They opened the first brewpub in San Diego, known as the Karl Strauss Old Columbia Brewery and Grille, and today they have nine locations, including a large brewing facility. Chris has also been very active with the CCBA over the years and has been a great advocate for both San Diego and California craft beer. Plus, he’s fun to share a beer with. Join me in wishing Chris a very happy birthday.
Today is the 71st birthday of Pat McIlhenney, brewmaster and founder of Alpine Beer Co. near San Diego. Pat made some amazing hoppy beers. Unfortunately, his beers are hard to find up our way, and then his brewery was acquired by Green Flash Brewing several years ago, who eventually shut it down. Happily, he started McIlhenney Brewing, along with family members Shawn, Jamie and Val McIlhenney. Join me in wishing Pat a very happy birthday.
Pat manning his booth at the Firestone Walker Invitational several years back.
Pat at GABF in 2008.
Pat at the Boonville Beer Festival, also in 2008.
Pat with Tomme Arthur at the inaugural Firestone Walker Invitational several years ago.
Today is the 50th birthday of Drew Beechum, who’s a past president of the Maltose Falcons homebrewing club and its current webmeister. He’s also the author of The Everything Homebrewing Book: All you need to brew the best beer at home! and wrote a regular column for Beer Advocate magazine. Join me in wishing Drew a very happy birthday.
Drew’s Facebook Profile picture.
Drew at 21st Amendment.
Drew in a Jayne hat — from Firefly — with his wife, Aymee. (NOTE: All photos purloined from Facebook.)
Today is the birthday of filmmaker Anat Baron, whose Beer Wars movie started people writing and talking about the beer business, from all sorts of angles, over ten years ago, and while it’s slowed down, the discussion has yet to have completely gone away. Or as Alan from A Good Beer Blog puts it, “joined to the long-standing discussion about the beer business and added an interesting interpretation.” Love it or loathe it, it has certainly managed to capture people’s attention, and if that’s all it’s done, that’s still a huge positive to my way of thinking. But it’s also opened quite a few minds to what those of us who’ve been embedded in the beer business have known forever, which is how the business operates, where it’s fair and unfair, and what you can do as a consumer to support the beers and breweries you love. Join me in wishing Anat a very happy birthday.
Anat behind the bar.
Publicity photo for Beer Wars.
Today is the birthday of Meg Gill, founder and owner, along with Tony Yanow, of Golden Road Brewing in Los Angeles. Meg is also the former national sales manager for Speakeasy Ales & Lagers in San Francisco. When I first met Meg she was working for Oskar Blues, and later she organized the Opening Gala for SF Beer Week in years two and three, a Herculean undertaking. Golden Road made some waves a few years ago when they were acquired by Anheuser-Busch InBev, and I haven’t seen her since she went over to the “winning team,” and alienated us losers. Although she did try to pretend it didn’t happen when Golden Road announced they were building a taproom in the Temescal area of Oakland and were met with some opposition. Ultimately, it was approved and they should be building a brewpub in the near future. Still, join me in wishing Meg a very happy birthday.
Justin Crossley, from the Brewing Network, with Meg at the 22nd Celebrator Anniversary Party in 2010.
Speakeasy owner Forest Gray, Brian Lenzo, from Blue Palms in L.A., and Meg at a Speakeasy Anniversary event several years ago.
Faction’s (then Triple Rock’s) Rodger Davis, struggling to keep the sun out of his eyes, with Meg at the Sour Fest.
Meg and me at SF Beer Week’s Opening Gala a few years ago. (Photo by Mike Condie.)
An older photo of Meg and Dave Hopwood, from Stone Brewing. (Photo purloined from Facebook.)
Today is the 31st birthday of Erika Bolden, who among much other beer writing in the Los Angeles area, is the Executive Director of the North American Guild of Beer Writers. She has the Herculean task of keeping the rest of us miscreants in line and on task, and she does it with such grace and style that we hardly notice. She’s also run the awards for the last few years, and has grown the event severalfold. Plus she’s an awesome tent neighbor, as we camped next to Sarah and me at last year’s Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival. Join me in wishing Erika a very happy birthday.
Erika on the streets of London.
Stan Hieronymus and Erika.
Channeling Dana Scully with fiancé Brandon Buck as Fox Mulder.
Erika, front and center (in the white blouse and black jacket) at our NAGBW awards ceremony in Denver last year.
Today is also the 46th birthday of Jay Sheveck, a beer writer and filmmaker in Los Angeles. In addition to writing for the Celebrator, Jay wrote the Beer Guppy’s Guide to Southern California . He’s also been working for many, many years on a documentary film about the early days of craft beer, Beer Pioneers. There’s a teaser trailer of it at the bottom of this page. Personally, I’m excited about his film (and not just because I may be in it, unless I end up on the cutting room floor, that is). Join me in wishing Jay a very happy birthday.
Alec Moss, former brewer at Half Moon Bay, with Jay at the celebrator’s Best of the West Fest in 2009.
Jay and a glass of Chimay.
Jay and his wife Vicki at the Director’s Guild dinner in 1998.
Jay and his new son Jake.
(Note: last three photos purloined from Facebook.)
Brandon Hernández had the news this morning that Chuck Silva Resigns from Green Flash Brewing Co., published on WestCoaster. I first met Chuck at the old, much smaller, Green Flash brewery not too long after he started there in 2004. As Brandon details, Chuck was undoubtedly a big part of the brewery’s subsequent success. According to the press release, Chuck is planning on creating his own new brewery, Silva Brewing Company, along with his wife Mary Jo. He’s looking at the Central Coast of California, near where he grew up and where he has many longtime friends and family. It’s apparently been in the works for some time now, and starting today, he be concentrating on the new project full time.
About his time at Green Flash, Chuck had this to say:
“It’s been so fulfilling to play such a major role in the accomplishment of so many goals at Green Flash. Together, we’ve come further and grown larger than I could have ever foreseen. I couldn’t have done it alone and I thank every member of the craft community that helped me along the way,” says Silva. “But it’s always been my dream and personal long-term goal to brew on my own terms. Now is the time to go for it and I’m looking forward to working on smaller projects.”
Good luck, Chuck, I for one can’t wait to have a beer at your new brewery.
Chuck Silva at GABF in 2009.