BetterBeerBlog

BetterBeerBlog friend Sean Paxton, aka the Homebrew Chef, has asked me to pimp this event out for him. He is a talented, innovative and passionate man and his beer & food events never fail to impress. You can check out his website for full details or just read a little further.

I will add that $98 seems a lot of money for a dinner but 8-courses is a lot of food, especially when specifically paired with 9 can’t-really-find-em-at-your-local-corner-market-liquor-store beers.

Who: Sean Paxton, Firestone Walker Brewing and De Proef Brewing
What: Collaboration: A Beer Dinner featuring Once Chef, Eight Courses, Two Breweries, Nine Beers and You.
Where: Mercedes, 653 Commercial Street, San Francisco, CA map
When: Thursday, February 11, 2010 @ 6:30pm
Why: It’s SF Beer Week… and why the hell not?!
Cost: $98 (inclusive of food, beer and gratuity)

Menu:

Aspall Cuvee Chevallier Double Fermented Cyder

First Course
Local Fromage - Cowgirl creamery Mt. Tam, Humboldt fog goat cheese, dried apricots, cinnamon smoked almonds, malt crackers, Saison Imperiale beer jelly, white pepper infused 30 year old aged honey

De Proef Brewmaster’s Collaboration Signature Ale with Tomme Arthur

Second Course
Union Barrel Smoked  Day Boat Scallops - atop Reinaert Flemish Wild Ale braised Belgian red endive, Les Deux Brasseurs Ale biere blanc and micro herb salsa

De Proef Brewmaster’s Collaboration Les Deux Brasseurs Ale with Jason Perkins

Third Course
IPA Ceviche Margarita - Fresh halibut cured in citrus juices, Union Jack IPA, mangos, red onions, peppers and chilies, topped with an IPA foam

Firestone Walker Union Jack

Forth Course
House-Made Sausage - Sonoma pork, infused with Sauserful of Secrets, thyme, dried fruit and caramelized shallotson a bed of lentils, drizzled with a chorizo amarillo hop oil

Firestone Walker Bourbon Barrel Aged Saucerful of Secrets 2007

Fifth Course
Local Pork Belly - Braised in Zoetzuur Flemish Ale on a bed of parsnip purée, Flemish ale reduction, raddish pickle

De Proef Brewmaster’s Collaboration Van Twee Ale with John Mallet

Sixth Course
Belgian Tamale - Bison short ribs cooked “canronade style” in Van Twee, onions, shallots and thyme
stuffed into a sweet potato masa pillow, Black Xantus TCHO mole, beet foam

Firestone Walker Velvet Merkin

Seventh Course
French Flan - DBA beer caramel topped with dark chocolate Lozen Boer Abt pot de crèmepork fat shortbread cookies, malted mascarpone chantilly cream

Firestone Walker - Double Barrel Ale, 100% Oak Aged on Cask

Eighth Course
My Sweet Valentine - Chocolate truffles made with Pete Slosberg

• Van Twee Ale Caramel in a Dark TCHO Chocolate Shell
• Black Xantus Caramel with TCHO Cocoa Nibs in a Dark TCHO Chocolate Shell
• La Grande Blanche Brittle Infused with Blood Orange and Milk Chocolate in a Dark TCHO Chocolate Shell

Firestone Walker XIII Anniversary Ale

A week ago, Sammy and I attended a Belgian Beer Dinner at the Duck Club at the Lafayette Park Hotel. The event was hosted by Nicole Erny from the Belgian beer bar, The Trappist. It was a fun night filled with great beer, great food and good conversion.

You can read the full review of the event on Beer Connoisseur.

I was enjoying a beer at a “Beer Depletion” get-together when Pete Slosberg turns my way to ask me a question, “Do you want to take a day off work to help us bottle at Russian River?”

“Umm… Hell-to-the-YES!” (Not my exact words but the sentiment was there.)

And that’s how I got invited to bottle Consecration, an ale aged in Cabernet-Sauvignon barrels with currants.

I leave my house at 5:30am in order to make it to Russian River by 8am. I ride with Arie, Pete and Dave. Despite having only 3-4 hours sleep the night before, I am excited to be going up to Russian River. Up until that morning, I had no idea we were going to be bottling Consecration. I was also under the assumption that we would be bottling the larger 750mL bottles but I was told we’d be bottling the smaller 375mL bottles instead. In talking to Vinnie later on in the day, the decision to move to the smaller bottles was more out of necessity than anything else. If I remember correctly, they couldn’t source the larger bottles any more. No U.S. based bottle manufacturer was interested in doing a custom run for just them so Russian River had to go out of the country to get these done. As reported by Jay Brooks, Lost Abbey and North Coast Brewing have gone in with Russian River to get these bottles made. They’re pretty cute, actually, resembling the 750mL bottles… just mini.

To be clear, Russian River does have an automated bottling line. The reason they bottle Consecration manually is because of all the little critters used to make it. Vinnie doesn’t want to risk contaminating his automated bottling line so it’d done manually. From what I heard, they will have an automated corker and cager on order, thus rendering my bottling services obsolete. Knowing this, I am even more grateful to have volunteered my time.

I have been drafted to run the bottle filling machine. The filling machine is gravity fed. You attach a bottle to one of the 6 filling nozzles below and in goes beer. It will stop automatically once it reaches the predetermined fill level. I likened this contraption to a mechanical cow from which I would be bottling the mother’s milk known as Consecration directly from its teats. In hindsight, I regret not taking a photo of me suckling from the teats of mechanical mother.

Basically the flow goes like this: I line up bottles below the filling machine, about 18 can fit under there. I put a bottle on each nozzle and then pull them off once they’re full, replacing them with one of the empties I set up prior. The filled bottles then go to Arie who corks them with another machine. Pete then takes the corked bottles and puts the cages on and fills up cases. Dave will then seal each case, stack them, refill corks for Arie and cages for Pete all while suppling the label machine with empty, bottles he has had to purge O2 out of with CO2.

Rinse. Lather Repeat… times 12.5 BBLs of beer.

Oh. My. God. By the end of the day, my entire body hurt. My back was stiff, the arches on my feet sore, my core sore from the constant twisting motion. My shoulders were in pain from the nearly endless repetition of lifting bottles one after another after another after another. My hands hurt from constantly gripping bottles and the teats of what I learned to be a cruel and uncaring metal mother. This was a painful day. At one point, I think my left shoulder went numb. It was the lucky one. I haven’t hurt this bad physically since… I don’t remember when I’ve hurt this bad from a job… ever. Running the bottling line is more physically demanding than anything else. The repetition of movement allows for muscle memory to set in and soon I was on cruise control, in the zone, so-to-speak. My mind was able to wander freely, when it wasn’t thinking of how much the rest of my body hurt.

Consecration is a barrel aged beer. This means that Vinnie and crew had to move the barrels from wherever they were, as I didn’t see them where we were working, lift them up on a forklift and use gravity to fill a tank where the beer is mixed with priming sugar and fresh yeast needed to bottle condition the beer. The tank we were filling from became our Nemesis. There was this sight gauge at the side of the tank letting us know how much beer was left. It was best not to look at the gauge because it never seemed to move. When you take on 12.5 BBLs of beer 375mL at a time, things will move slowly. Very, slowly. Adding. A. Period. After. Each. Word. For. Dramatic. Literary. Effect. Slowly.

The enthusiasm I displayed at the beginning of my shift quickly gave way to loathing. What started of as, “Fuck yeah! I’m working at Russian River!” transitioned to “Fuck me! I’m working at Russian River”. I grew to hate the sound of Dave purging O2 from empties with CO2 because it meant we weren’t done yet. The teats of metal mother, which looked so inviting in the morning now mocked me with their cold, metallic indifference. Every so often a bottle wouldn’t seal properly on the rubberized portion of the nozzle and beer would gush forth. The slow hiss of leaking beer sounded a lot like, “Fool! You thought you could tame me and bottle my goodness without incident?! Hiss! You know nothing of goodness! Muhahahahaha!”

At the end of the day, despite all the aches and pains, I would jump at the chance to do this all over again. No question, no hesitation. If I get the call to jump, I ask, “How high?”

As a craft beer enthusiast, I have a great deal of respect and admiration for the brewers that brew up my favorite beers. Knowing what I know about the brewing process, there is so much that can go wrong at any given time; to see a brewery not only brew up something spectacular, but to do so consistently year after year, case after case, bottle after bottle is amazing.

So it’s no wonder then, when I meet my favorite brewers, that I get a little starstruck. Even after going on dozens of brewery tours, I still get excited when offered to go on a brewery tour. There’s a real romanticization I have with professional brewers, and their breweries by extension. As an “outsider looking in”, I’ve always wondered what it would be like working for my favorite breweries. I can now tell you, from recent personal experience, it’s not all I thought it would be.

Experiencing a day in the life as a Russian River employee has pretty much wiped any romantic notions I may have had with the brewing industry. Those big, shiny, steel fermentors still shine brightly but I now notice their scratches and dents. The aroma of hops in the air? Still intoxicating but their constant presence in the air renders them almost mundane. The fantasy has become a reality; the dream job is now just a job.

It’s easy to wax poetic about my favorite beers, brewers and brewery from the safety of my desk. This is the fun part of the job, the drinking, the reviewing, the writing. It’s not until you’ve bottled hundreds of beers or hauled 50-lbs sacks of grain or pulled a 16-hour brew day do you realize just how much goes into the beer you are drinking. At least Vinny has a team of people helping him. I have a newfound respect for small brewing operations, even more so for the single guys like Mayfield Brewing Company who not only barrel age everything but bottle it all as well. I bitch like a little girl after one day of work and these guys do this day-in, day-out like it’s nothing.

What’s the written form of a standing ovation because, from this point forward, I think every brewer should get one.

I’ve taken a look behind the curtain, I’ve seen how the magic trick works. And you know what? I appreciate craft beer even more. I didn’t think I could but I do. The next time I stroll down the craft beer aisle at my local BevMo, I will look at all those bottles and hope all those breweries have automated bottling lines.

So the next time you see a 375mL bottle of Consecration, look for Batch 004X2. That’s the one we worked on. Look at the cage as well. The twisted part should be facing upwards. Russian River guys usually face them downwards. Open that bottle up, pour yourself a glass and take in a huge whiff of the aroma. Savor it. Close your eyes. Take a sip. Let the flavors dance around your tongue before swallowing. Take your time before opening your eyes. Let it sink into your head that there’s now a little piece of me, in you. Cheers!

It looks like I’m hosting Hopinions this time around. If you’re a craft beer fan living in the bay area, there’s very little reason why you shouldn’t know about SF Beer Week. In fact, the opening gala starts tomorrow. On this edition of Hopinions, Mario and I talk about SF Beer Week, the events we’ve planned, the events we’d like to be at and the events that we’d like to see next year.

From: Peter at BetterBeerBlog

The SF Bay Area is buzzing. No, there are no swarms of killer bees nor is it an aftershock. San Francisco Beer Week starts in a day and there seems to be a sense of anticipation in the air. With one year’s worth of experience their belt, the SF Beer Week planning committee seems to be more organized this year. They got a spiffy new website, they have sponsors, they have a collaborative beer brewed up and there seems to be more events this year over last year.

Here in the south bay, I have been busy working on putting together events. Just like last year, I’ve worked with Firehouse Brewery to put on a Beer & Cheese Event as well as a Beer & Chocolate Dinner. Instead of working on a Beer & Dessert event like last year, I’m hosting a Beer Appreciation 101 class this time around.

The newest event I’m working on is a Meat the Brewer Beerfest that I am assisting Firehouse and Tied House (at the time of this post, their website is down) breweries with. This beerfest is exciting in the sense that I have always wanted to help put together a beerfest and now I’m getting the chance. I know we’ve had discussions about beerfests in the past. Rereading that post, we had a lot of good ideas that unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to bring to the table, address or implement. Stuff like that happens when you plan in a committee instead of running the show alone. Still, there is strength in numbers.

What events are you planning on attending? Which event(s) are you most looking forward to? Unless I’m mistaken, I noticed that you’re not hosting an event this year. What’s the reason? Are you playing spectator or behind the scenes?

From: Mario at Brewed For Thought

I actually am involved with a few events. Monday will be Smaltz and Hops night at Taps in Petaluma. We’ll be pouring some of the new Lenny on Rye, Jewbellation 13 and Sword Swallower. On thursday we’re bringing in Speakeasy for a cask night along with a few other drafts.

Up in Santa Rosa I’ll be at the Toad in the Hole’s weekly cask night which we’re turning over to Tim Goeppinger of Sonoma Spings. He’s got a new RyePA, a Green Purl Wormwood Ale and a fresh cask of his Little Chief Pale on the cask engine. Last Beer Week this was the first event I threw with Toad in the Hole and we had Tim in, so it’s a bit of an anniversary as well. The Toad in the Hole and I are still very much in love in case you’re wondering.

As for planning other events, I’m working with RateBeer on finding a way to get more North Bay events going. We hope to have a string of events planned for next year where it might be advisable to take a few days off and get a room in Santa Rosa for the fun.

So to answer your question, I guess the answer is sort of yes on both account. There’s some behind the scenes stuff I’m working on, but I also plan on playing spectator.

• Friday - Younger Day at Russian River! Have to get my fresh Pliny the Younger. Then it’s on the road to San Francisco for the Opening Gala.
• Sunday - Hopmonk Luncheon with Fritz Maytag. Although if I weren’t there I’d probably be at Beerunch in the city.
• Monday - Triple dip! Heading to Berkeley for the Triple Rock Sourfest and Bobby G’s Moonlight event. On the way home I will be at Taps.
• Tuesday - Another busy day. First it’s the Tapas at Lagunitas Brewing then to the Toad.
• Wednesday - An off-the-books day. Mark Dredge will be in from London so I’m going to take him around Sonoma County and show him why it’s more beer country than wine country.

At that point I will see if my wife will still have me and plan my attack further. I will not be attending Celebrator’s festival on Sunday, aka Valentine’s Day. I have my sights set farther down the road, specifically May, when Boonville wants to make us choose between beer and family by sharing the weekend with Mother’s Day.

Any special pints you have in mind to try during this week? I’m excited about the Double Common at the Gala and pretty interested in what this Wormwood Ale Sonoma Springs has in store. Anything missing from SF Beer Week for you?

From: Peter at BetterBeerBlog

That’s quite the schedule you have arranged for yourself. Great list of events you have planned out. Unfortunately for me, with regards to SF Beer Week anyway, I still have a day job that I cannot mysteriously disappear from for a glorious, beer-filled week. As such, I will be limited to the events I’m planning/helping to plan. I am going to the Opening Gala event on Friday evening but cannot stay for the entire event. I am seriously contemplating going to Collaboration Dinner by the Homebrew Chef Sean Paxton, featuring Firestone Walker and De Proef. This sounds like an awesome event with two highly respected breweries. While $98/person may seem steep, it is fair when you factor in that you will be getting 8-courses paired with 9 beers. I probably shouldn’t wait too long though as I know this will sell out very quickly.

I was intrigued to see Hopmonk hosting a Brewer’s Lunch featuring Fritz Maytag. As you probably know, I was able to interview him for an article in Beer Connoisseur magazine and I think it would’ve been good to see him again. I was hosting my own event that Sunday but since I pushed this back a week, I might be able to make it after all. There’s just so much going on everywhere that it’s difficult to choose but I think that’s a good problem.

SF Beer Week 2010 hasn’t even started yet and already I’m thinking about what I could’ve done differently in planning this year’s events. I would’ve liked to start planning a little early. I would’ve liked to approach more south bay breweries to see if they’d be interested in doing any events. I would’ve liked to build upon last year’s success and plan other, more creative events. I would’ve like to reach out to businesses other than brewpubs and breweries to try and put on events as well. So many “would’ve”, “could’ve” and “should’ve”’s. I wonder if that’s a sign of poor planning or grand vision?

What are some events you haven’t seen that you’d like to see in the future? As much as enjoy some of these beer geek-centric events, I think we would all benefit from “introductory” events or “beer education” type of things. I know that I’ve moved mine a week back (complete underestimation of the Superbowl) and that Gail from Beer by Bart is hosting one up in San Leandro as well.

Lastly, this question goes out to our readers, what kind of events would you like to see in future SF Beer Weeks? Bringing in the focus, what kind of events would South Bay beer lovers want to see in our neck of the woods? I am open to ideas and the help.

From: Mario at Brewed For Thought

One thing I hope to do for next year is get the restaurants involved. It’s SF Beer Week, why not come up with an easy beer paired menu that you can served any day of the week. I’d love to talk to some more local restaurants about this idea. With the number of specialized events we have going on, it would be great for the excitement to trickle down to the general public.

The question then is how do you accomplish that? I’ve noticed more mass media advertising, or at least presence, and that can get people excited. As we’ve seen with St. Patrick’s day, everyone loves an excuse to drink a beer. Let’s play into that.

On the side of an education event, I held one last year for students at Berkeley and it went really well. At first they seemed a little nervous but at the end they all walked away with a tulip glass and some event took home their own bottles of Chimay, St Bernardus 12, and a few other goodies. Talking to them again they’ve taken what they learned that day and started trying a more diverse selection of beer.

To end this little discussion on SF Beer week I wanted to make sure I took care of my friends. The events coordinated for SF Beer week aren’t governed or subsidized by a central organization. This means we really need everyone to come out and attend the events that interest them. So please, consider buying tickets or attending the events listed below and take part in SF Beer Week yourself.

Super Beerunch - Feb 7th ($40)
Kelly’s Mission Rock
817 Terry a Francois Boulevard
San Francisco, CA 94158

Miss Pearl’s Jam House
Broadway at Water St.
Oakland, CA 94607

A Taste of Rogue Nation Beers, Farmstead Cheeses & Artisan Chocolates - Feb 10th ($40/45)
Rogue Public Alehouse
673 Union St.
San Francisco, CA 94133

Organic Vegan Beer Dinner: Bison Brewing Co. - Feb 4th-7th ($46 to dine, $66 w/paired beers)
Millennium Restaurant
580 Geary St.
San Francisco, CA 94102

Beer & Nosh and Scala’s Beer Dinner - Feb 10th (SOLD OUT)
Scala’s Bistro
432 Powell Street
San Francisco, CA 94102

Humphry Slocombe Beer Ice Creams - All Week
Humphry Slocombe
2790 Harrison Street
San Francisco, CA 94110

Not bad for your first stab at putting on a beer festival. Pretty darned good, actually.

By many accounts, the Brewing Network’s first Winter Brews Festival was a success. There seemed to be several hundred craft beer lovers in attendance, if not thousands. A break in the Bay Area’s winter weather brought out the sun and made what was supposed to be a festival celebrating winter brews into a celebration of good weather, good friends and great beer.

The Brewing Network did a fantastic job of rounding up brewers to participate. The 38 breweries in attendance featured a strong, local flavor but distant breweries such as Alaskan Brewing Company, Ninkasi Brewing Company, Green Flash Brewing and New Belgium featured beers on tap as well. Here’s a list of the participating breweries:

• 21st Amendment
• Speakeasy
• Iron Springs
• Lagunitas
• Moylan’s
• Marin
• Russian River
• Firestone Walker
• Linden St
• Magnolia
• Triple Rock
• Drake’s
• Odonata
• Valley Brewing CO.
• The Bruery
• Gordon Biersch
• Ale Industries
• Firehouse Grill
• Stone
• Deschutes
• Rogue
• EJ Phair
• Schooner’s
• Elysian
• Alaskan
• Black Diamond
• Pacific Coast
• Two Rivers Cider
• Uncommon Brewers
• Moonlight
• Drake’s
• Black Diamond
• Jack’s
• Green Flash
• Bear Republic
• New Belgium
• Ninkasi
• Shmaltz

Beers were organized into 5 groups, each group featuring a theme. “The Darkness” as the name would imply, featured darker, malt-dominant beers that ranged from an ESB all the way through to stouts. Beers within “The Higher Ground” category were primarily big, wintery beers of higher alcohol content. “The Dankness” category represented hop-forward beers while the smallest category, “The Funk”, featured 2 sour ales and Belgian black ale. The final category, “The Works”, seemed to be a catch-all that featured beers brewed with interesting ingredients or just didn’t really fit into the other categories. To give you an idea of what was in “The Works”, Monk’s Blood, a Belgian dark strong ale brewed with figs was featured in with this group as was the Bacon Brown, an ale brewed with pork bellies from Uncommon Breweries.

Food was provided mainly by the homebrew chef Sean Paxton. Pork was the featured animal and word was Sean brought with him two whole pigs injected with Lagunitas’ Brown Shugga to be used in the meals he prepared. In addition, sausages made from local pork and cooked with local beer were on the menu as well as confited duck legs sourced from Sonoma. In addition to Sean Paxton, additional food was supplied by Emergency BBQ while a vegetarian-friendly offering was at the beer fest as well.

A feature that was pleasantly unexpected, and unadvertised, at this beerfest was the inclusion of homebrews in a homebrew pavilion of sorts. The beers supplied by 2 4 local homebrew clubs, the Bay Area Mashers, Draught Board (thanks @bjornidentity) with members of the Mad Zymurgists and D.O.Z.E assisting, seemed to be just as popular as their professional counterparts. Unlike the professional beers, tasting the homebrews required no tickets but you only got a half pour.

Despite everything that went right with this inaugural beerfest, there were a few things that could be improved upon. First, there needed to be more portable toilets. At the height of the festival, it wouldn’t be uncommon to wait nearly 30 minutes for your turn at a Port-o-pottie. Even with 6 port-o-potties in the back of the festival, the line seemed unusually long, while the 2 in the front were woefully inadequate to service the people in those areas.

While the food from Sean Paxton and Emergency BBQ seemed to be excellent, the lines for either one stretched out for dozens of yards. People began to line up for Sean Paxton’s food an hour before even before the pigs were done cooking. The long wait times and lines were unacceptable to me and I didn’t get a chance to try any of Sean’s cooking. Luckily the group of people I went with brought sandwiches. As a by-product of the long food lines, bottlenecks started to form around the beer fest making getting around difficult in certain areas. Hopefully the next beer fest will feature more and/or a greater variety of food vendors to help alleviate congestion.

It took a few hours for everything to start running a bit more smoothly but it was rough in the beginning. With the exception of the beers from “The Higher Ground”, a single drink ticket would net you a full pour while half a drink ticket a half pour. Great idea but it wasn’t readily known to the volunteers pouring early on. Also, signage for the event left a lot of room for improvement, making it difficult at times to locate certain beers on the list. In addition to improving signage in the future, I hope the organizers take a look at the how traffic flowed and will hopefully arrange things differently in future beer festivals to minimize bottlenecks and chokepoints.

The Winter Brews Fest from the Brewing Network was a very impressive showing for a freshmen effort. Even though I didn’t really mention them, host brewery Linden Street Brewery gets a lot of credit for the success of the festival as well. If you get a chance, try their California Common (aka “Steam” beer); it gives Anchor Brewing a run for their money. Between the homebrew clubs and professional breweries in attendance, there were plenty of good beers to be had. And while not everything went off without hitch, the issues I brought up can be improved upon to create an even better beer festival. The bar they’ve set for themselves is pretty high and I am looking forward to the next beer festival organized by the Brewing Network.

Somewhat of a short post this time around. Sammy and I are going to a Belgian Beer Dinner Friday night at the Lafayette Park Hotel. The dinner is at the Duck Club Restaurant and was developed in tandem by Chef Chuck Courtney and Cicerone Nicole Erny, who you may recognize from the Trappist.

I was able to interview Nicole about the event. She goes into some depth regarding the Cicerone program, putting the dinner together and pairing beer with food. I wrote this for Beer Connoisseur magazine so head on over there to read it in its entirety.

Click here to read A Chat with a Cicerone at Beer Connoisseur.

I’ve been diligently working on several SF Beer Week 2010 events for the south bay, the biggest of which is the Meat the Brewers beerfest. This event is a collaboration between myself, the Tied House and Firehouse Brewery. Just about all the details for this event, and the other events I am working on, are finished with the exception of a couple of items which should be resolved by “Go!” time.

Here are the details for the Meat the Brewers beerfest:

Who: Tied House, Firehouse Brewery & BetterBeerBlog
What: Meat the Brewers Beerfest
Where: Tied House Production Facility, 1627 S. 7th Street, San Jose, CA map
When: Saturday, February 13, 2009 @ 1pm - 5pm
Why: Why not? It’s beer. It’s meat. It’s all good.
Cost: $35/person (beer & food) / $20 (food only)

You can view a complete list of participating breweries and food vendors here.

You may think that $20 for non-drinkers is a lot but I’d want you all to keep in mind that there will be quite a bit of food at this beerfest. The BBQ plate alone, from Emergency BBQ, is almost worth the price of admission. Trust me when I say this beerfest is one of the best values for your hard-earned dollars!

Volunteers

Have you ever wondered what it takes to run a beerfest? Well, wonder no more. We are currently soliciting volunteers to help us run the Meat the Brewers Beerfest. If you’re interested, here are the details:

There is a really fun event coming up and we need volunteer help! By volunteering, you get in FREE to the event. So have fun either before or after your shifts!!!

Come and help with the First Annual “Meat the Brewers” on Saturday February 13th.

South Bay and Santa Cruz brewers will present their finest wares, only to be enhanced by a cornucopia of meat selections. From BBQ, to bacon, to pizza, we will have everything a craft beer lover needs to pair with their frothy mugs of goodness. Brought to you by Tied House and FireHouse Breweries, and BetterBeerBlog.

Please see below for the description of the shifts, and the click the link below to sign up for the shift you would like.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dFVTNktpYkNGcVctTEdGUkFXM2I4YVE6MA

Hurry and RSVP to get the slot you want!

1. Registration
Welcome guests, check them in, check ID and take money/make appropriate change.
12:30pm-3:00pm or 3:00pm-5:30pm
6 each (2 id check, 2 wristband, 2 money)

2. Security
Keep and eye on guests and make sure everything is going smoothly
12:30pm-3:00pm or 3:00pm-5:30pm
2 at door at all times, 2 roaming (4 total)

3. Parking
Direct cars to appropriate spots
12:30pm-3:00pm or 3:00pm-5:30pm
4 volunteers needed for each shift

4. Beer Pouring
Pour beers from each of the 11 breweries (must be 21 or over)
12:30pm-3:00pm or 3:00pm-5:30pm
11 volunteers needed for each shift

The BJCP stands for Beer Judge Certification Program. The purpose of the BJCP is to:

1. promote beer literacy
2. promote the appreciation of real beer, and
3. recognize beer tasting and evaluation skills

BJCP Grandmaster-level judge John Watson has organized another BJCP prep class. I’ve taken John’s prep class in the past, twice actually. As a craft beer lover, it was the best thing I ever decided to do. Not only did I learn a lot about craft beer in general, I learned a lot about the various styles in the BJCP style guideline. I had no idea there were over 70 recognized styles!

I would highly recommend this BJCP prep class to homebrewers and to anyone who is interested in craft beer. Even if you decide to never take the BJCP exam, you will get more out of this class than you expect. Here are the details:

Who: BJCP Grandmaster-level judge John Watson
What: BJCP Prep class
Where: More Beer homebrew shop, 991 N. San Antonio Road, Los Altos, CA 94022 map
When: First class is on Thursday, January 28, 2010, 6:30pm - 10pm
Why: Because it’s cool to be a beer geek
Cost: $135 ($20 deposit at the shop) for an 11 week course

UPDATE: The Beer & Chocolate Dinner at Firehouse has been CANCELLED. We apologize for any inconvenience this cancellation may have caused. There are many tough lessons taken away from this experience but at the end of the day, if we can’t put on an event we can be proud of, we’re not going to do it.

I must admit, I was a little worried about this event. SF Beer Week is less than two weeks away and the menu wasn’t set just yet. At least it wasn’t set until this past Sunday. We were able to do a dry run of the menu plus beer and I can say the pairings are solid as well as tasty!

We’ve been working hard to bring an event like this back to the south bay while keeping prices reasonable. I hope to see many of you there!

Here are the details:

Who: Firehouse Brewery
What: Beer & Chocolate Dinner
Where: 111 S Murphy Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94086 map
When: Friday, February 12, 2010 @ 7pm
Why: Because chocolate is good; beer is good! Together they’re great!
Cost: $55 (pay when making your reservation)

Event Description: Chocolate? Beer? But of course! Join Firehouse Brewery as they host their 2nd Annual Beer & Chocolate Dinner. This will be a 4-course affair pairing the beers of Firehouse Brewmaster Steve Donohue with savory dishes featuring chocolate in ways you may not expect. Dessert will feature truffles from Xocolata Confections.

Menu

First Course
Dish: Sweet Potato Soup with White Chocolate Creme Fraische
Beer: Hefeweizen

Second Course
Dish: Sweet & Bitter Greens with Chocolate Vinaigrette
Beer: Pale Ale

Third Course
Dish: Cocoa Espresso Short Ribs, Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans
Beer: One Tun Imperial Stout

Fourth Course
Dish: Assorted Truffles from Xocolata Confections
Beer: Scotch Ale/Barleywine

Seating is limited so please call 408-773-9500 to make your reservations today. Your credit card information will be necessary to secure your reservations.

Update: It looks like we’ve fulfilled our need for volunteers for this event. Thank you all for your interest in volunteering and I look forward to seeing you at the event.

Hopefully this is just late news for you all but the Beer & Cheese Event at Firehouse Brewery is a go! This event has been on the SF Beer Week website for a couple of days now but I was at the brewery tonight putting together the final details of the events and I can say that this is going to be one, fun event.

Here are the event details:

Who: Firehouse Brewery & Milk Pail Market
What: Beer & Cheese Event
Where: 111 S Murphy Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94086 map
When: Wednesday, February 10, 2010 @ 7pm
Why: It’s SF Beer Week and a portion of the proceeds will go to the Red Cross.
Cost: $25 (pay at the door)

Event Description: SF Beer Week comes to Sunnyvale! Join Firehouse brewmaster Steve Donohue and the Milk Pail’s Steve Rasmussen as they pair Firehouse beers, and some of Steve Donohue’s favorite Belgian ales, with local and imported artisanal cheeses.

Volunteers: We are looking for 8-10 volunteers to help staff this event. Should you decide to volunteer you will receive free entry into the event. There will be two shifts: 7:00pm - 8:30pm & 8:30pm - 10pm. If you are interested, please email me your name and contact number and someone will get back to you.

Here are some shots of a few different cheeses I expect to see at the event.

This cheese is called Gjetost (yay-toast) and it’s from Noway. Made from whey, this cheese gets it caramel like coloring from the caramelization the milk sugars undergo during production. This cheese even tastes like caramel.

This cheese is an extra mature English Cheddar called Tickler. I found this cheese to be rich, full-flavored without being overpowering and full of those protein crystals I love so much.

Caciotta Capra Fieno, if my notes are correct. The outer casing of this particular cheese is herbed as well as embedded with straw from the very fields the cows eat from. Talk about a farmhouse product!

Capra Ubriaco al Tramhen (I think). This is a goat cheese that was washed with red wine and has red wine grapes embedded into its crust as well.

I was told this cheese is called Sudtirol. It’s an Italian cheese (we think) that is slightly pungent with a nutty flavor.

In my excitement, I forgot to write down the name of this cheese but I know it is a cheddar made with Irish Whisky. Encased in black wax, this looks like a giant hockey puck. While not a bad cheese, it was unremarkable when compared to some of the cheeses above. If this was the “worst” cheese, we are in for a real treat!