Just finished up a blog post for Beer Connoisseur magazine. I interviewed Ramon Gutierrez, beer specialist/buyer for the Los Altos Whole Foods Market. We spoke about his beginnings in craft beer, his experience at the infamous Sierra Nevada “Beer Camp” and what went into making the resulting collaboration beer Juniper Black Ale.
You can read all about it on Beer Connoisseur at this link.
Note: There were a bunch of pictures that were supposed to have been posted as well but BC is having some technical issues and they’re not up. Hopefully they’ll post them soon.
I am getting around to catching up with all my SF Beer Week posts. Bear with me. I am unexpected going through some family issues and finding time to write is… a challenge. That being said, let’s finish recapping this event.
This is the second year I’ve helped to put on the Beer & Cheese Event at Firehouse Brewery in Sunnyvale and the second time we’ve partnered up with Steve Rasmussen from the Milk Pail Market in Mountain View. Admittedly an absentee owner the past several years, Rasmussen has found his cheese muse again and is working his way back into the world of fine cheese. In fact, for this event, Rasmussen came through with over 28 different cheeses. Many of the cheeses were listed and briefly described in a handout he brought along just for this event while a small handful were surprises. Even to him.
Not to be outdone, Steve Donohue came through on the beer side of things providing approximately 14 different, bottled beers in addition to the pitchers of Firehouse beers available at the event. During the set-up portion of the event, I took inventory of the beers we had and organized the room accordingly. Just like last year, we held the event in the upstairs area of the brewpub although, in a most unusual move, a private company dinner was held in the banquet room in the rear. Luckily there were no conflicts but I found it to be an odd arrangement.
We did our best to arrange the space in a logical way. Once I knew what beers we had, I divided the room accordingly. Here’s how the space broke down and the beers that were poured, as I remember them.
Hop Side
These beers included: Allagash Hugh Malone, Bear Republic Racer 5, Green Flash Imperial IPA, Sierra Nevada Bigfoot (yes, I know it’s a barleywine but it’s a hoppy barleywine).
Belgian Strong Ales
On this table we poured Chimay Grand Reserve, St. Bernardus Abt. 12, and Affligem Tripel. I ended the evening at this station.
Funky Belgian Ales
At this station we poured Orval and an Imperial Saison De Proef Brouwerij. This was the station I initially started out on.
Sour Ales
I was surprised to find that Steve Donohue had a sour ale table. Surprised and happy. At this station, we poured New Belgium’s La Folie and Rodenbach Grand Cru. While both sour ales, they were distinct in their sourness.
I wish I could give you a detailed breakdown of how the cheeses were and which cheeses paired with what beer but I was busy working the event as pouring beers for guests as well as being the “volunteer coordinator”. I have that word in quotes as I don’t think I did much coordinating. More on this later.
Planning an event, especially one on this scale, can be a nerve racking event. I was running around all over the place trying to get things in order up until we “opened the doors” to the event. By then, whatever wasn’t done, wasn’t done and I wasn’t going to worry about it. Fortunately, nothing huge (noticeable) went awry and the event went off much better than I anticipated. Credit this to the volunteers we had, both scheduled and plucked from the line. Without their help, this event would’ve been a train wreck. So, thank you to everyone who volunteered and for those who ended up volunteering. Y’all saved my ass!
Despite how well the event went, there were a some issues “behind the scenes” that needed to be addressed. Much of these issues have to do with communication between invested parties, volunteers and organizers. Other issues dealt with expectations while other concerns arose from lack of proper planning. You’d think we’d have run much more smoothly this second year, and in many aspects it was, but we weren’t as organized. Needless to say, all these issues have been well documented and will be addressed well ahead of time for next year.
By most accounts, the Beer & Cheese Event at Firehouse was a success on many levels. I would, once again, like to thank all the volunteers who made this event possible. I can’t thank you all enough, really. I thank everyone who came out to support the South Bay brew scene by attending this event. While I’ve said this many times before, I’ll say it again: the local craft beer scene is only as good as the people supporting it. If you enjoyed this event, let us know. Visit Firehouse brewery in Sunnyvale and let brewmaster Steve Donohue know; visit Milk Pail Market in Mountain View and let them know. Write an email to let me know. As crazy as it was to help plan and execute this event, I would happily go through it all over again if I knew there was interest for it.
In any case, I look forward to helping plan this event again next year! Until then, enjoy the rest of the photos below. All these shots were taken by Arie Litman. You can visit his website here.
In the weeks leading up to SF Beer Week, I was helping to plan several events for the South Bay. One of the events was a beer dinner. Several of us converged upon the home of Michael and Diane, one of the principle organizers of the event, for a dry run of the planned menu. Not have visited their home before, I was surprised to see the beers they had on their display shelves. In fact, display shelves is putting things mildly as they have several bookcases worth of beer. Many of the beers were rare for our area if not unavailable altogether. In some instances, there were multiple vintages of the same beer lined up. I thought I was a beer hunter but these two put me to shame.
The topic is open ended and the rules of The Session are close to nil. You can use your post to be persuasive or therapeutic. You may choose to tell a story of a great bottle you once opened or boast of your own beer collection.
Relatively speaking, I am but a babe in the craft beer world. I really didn’t get into craft beer until I started writing BetterBeerBlog about 3 years ago. Just like any other craft beer fan, the more I got into the scene, the more beers I tried. The more beers I tried, the more aware I became of the myriad number of “special” beers out there. I would read on other blogs about So-and-So Brewing Company’s special release or how Bloggie McBloggerton beer blogger was able to get their hands on a limited release XYZ beer. The more I read, the more I got sucked in. I took both mental and physical notes of these special beers in the hopes that one day, when I came across them; I could either taste them or squirrel a bottle away for later.
I would come to find I was not the only one. There are many others like me and, if you’re reading this blog, chances are good that you are a beer hunter as well. My personal collection of bottles initially filled a small chest freezer modified with a temperature control unit to keep the beers cold, not frozen. In the years since, my collection has now spanned not only that chest freezer but what little spare room there was in my kegerator, the bottom shelf of our refrigerator; the rest spread out amongst several boxes stashed in my office, a closet and in the garage. Many of the beers I’ve collected were supposed to be fodder for the blog. If I did nothing else but drink and review a beer a day, I’d have enough content to last me several months.
Despite having a gallons of beers at my disposal, the vast majority of the beers I have are nothing special. They are all good beers in their own right but nothing you wouldn’t be able to pick up readily. That being said, I do have a few bottles in my possession that I consider head and shoulders above the rest. These beers are special for a myriad number of reasons: they are from out of my immediate area, they are able to age well, they are exclusive, limited release beers I was able to get my hands on or they are part of a larger series I am looking to complete. In just about every case, I have but a single bottle of each. Every time I look at one of them, I wonder when would be a good time to crack one open?
Unlike wine, the majority of these beers were not meant for the aging process. There are exceptions, of course, and those exceptions I can table for another day. The rest probably have a window of opportunity that is quickly coming to a close with each passing day.
There are some beers that absolutely require a “special occasion” to open them. The very first time I tried a Samuel Adams Utopia was when BJCP judge John Watson cracked open his vintage 2005 Utopia in honor of his 50th birthday. Were I to wait for a similar moment, I’d have a 15 year wait ahead of me. Would it be worth it? Dunno. Would the beer still be good? Perhaps, but chances are high that I won’t wait that long to find out.
In other instances, trying to find a good time to open up your special beers is like waiting for the stars to align in a Dark Crystal-esque manner. Firehouse brewer Steve Donohue has a stash of Sierra Nevada Bigfoot that spans a decade. We’ve talked on and off for as long as I’ve known him about putting on a horizontal tasting but settling on a time and date is proving elusive. With something as epic as a decade’s worth of Bigfoot, is there ever a “right time”?
The dry-run for the beer dinner was delicious. Unfortunately taste alone does not make a beer dinner and the event was canceled several days later. After dinner, the conversation eventually steered back to beer as it is often wont to do. While not another bottle was opened up for the remainder of the afternoon, the four of us spoke about when a good time would be to open up special beers. Regardless of time or place, the one thing we all agreed was that who you were having your beers with seemed to trump just about every other concern.
In this version of Hopinions, Mario and I discuss the Brew Dog’s Tactical Nuclear Penguin and Sink the Bismarck! super-strong ales. At such high alcohol levels, are these beers still beers? Are these beers any good or are they just good marketing? Is this even an issue worth caring about? Read on to find out!
A couple of weeks ago, Scottish brewery Brew Dog released what is now the world’s strongest beer: Sink the Bismarck! (StB), a quadruple IPA. Weighing in at a whopping 41% ABV, or 82 proof, this “beer” was brewed in reaction to the 40% ABV Schorschbock from German brewery Schorsbräu. In fact, both companies have been in a literal cold war trying to outdo each other for the past several months. Schorsbräu originally brewed up a 31% Schorsbock that Brew Dog countered with their much hyped Tactical Nuclear Penguin (TNP).
When I first heard about TNP, I was as excited as everyone else in the craft beer world. I wondered how they got the alcohol so high? I thought about how the beer would feel? Would it have a hot, alcohol quality or be extremely smooth? Most importantly, how would it taste? After all, the true measure of a beer is how it tastes and not how much alcohol it has. Sadly, I’ve yet to try TNP so I cannot comment on taste at the time of this post.
Strangely enough, when I first heard about StB, my initial thoughts were, “Really? 41%? Was this really necessary? What’s the point?”. I found my complete change in attitude surprising as I was all hyped up for TNP but StB seems a bit like… overkill. It’s one thing to have a concept of a beer you would like to make and quite another to make a beer to “one up” the guy next to you. Is the Brew Dog/Schorsbräu relationship really pushing the brewing envelope or is this just a pissing contest?
Strong beers are nothing new to the brewing world. Sam Adams Utopia used to be world’s strongest beer at 27% ABV, but it also tasted really, really good. Dogfish Head brews up two beers, their 120 Minute IPA and World Wide Stout, that both clock in at 18% ABV while Avery Brewing has their “Demons of Ale” series of beers that range from 14.5% - 15.1% ABV. You’d have to go all the way back to Samichlaus (~15% ABV) to find one of the earliest contenders to the title of World’s Strongest.
Brew Dog managing director James Watt has this to say about TNP and StB:
Beer has a terrible reputation in Britain, it’s ignorant to assume that a beer can’t be enjoyed responsibly like a nice dram or a glass of fine wine.
Many of the beers I’ve listed above are as strong as, maybe stronger, than many wines. The few I’ve had the pleasure of trying have been in small quantities, usually in snifter types of glassware usually reserved for distilled spirits. So while I don’t disagree with Mr. Watt, can beers such as TNP and StB still be be called beer? Especially when their alcohol percentages rival those of distilled spirits?
There are no yeast strains, that I am currently aware of, that will withstand alcohol percentages as high as StB, let alone those present in TNP. In order to get beers that high in alcohol, Brew Dog has resorted to the same techniques used to make Eisbocks. Eisbocks are made by freezing a strong beer then removing the ice. Because alcohol freezes at a much lower temperature than water, the remaining liquid is a concentrated and higher alcohol beer. This is essentially a distillation process, which is why you don’t see this type of beer at your local breweries in the United States. If you did, those breweries would also have a distillation license (Hello, Anchor Brewing? Dogfish Head?). This technique differs from your typical distillation process in that it is heatless and concentrates both flavors and alcohol as opposed to just isolating alcohol.
I think it’s all great marketing. BrewDog isn’t going to make their money selling bottles of Tactical Nuclear Penguin, Sink the Bismark or even their beer on the other end of the spectrum, Nanny State (a 1% ABV hop bomb).
What this race to the top does is give them an easy way to advertise their other products. Have you noticed the major push BrewDog utilizes along side these releases? Their videos on the beer are seen by far more people than those that actually get a chance to drink the beer. Even if you haven’t had the Penguin or Bismark, you’ll probably try some of their Punk IPA or other brands just for a taste of what all the hype is about.
I have to say, I don’t know what Schorsbräu’s angle is in all of this. Maybe it’s because I don’t speak German and can’t view their videos or read their blogs, but I haven’t seen anything from their end other than bigger, crazier beers. They aren’t marketing their releases in the same way, and maybe it’s just a matter of pride to hold the title “Strongest Beer in the World.”
Your question though was what do I think of all of this? I have no problem with it. They’re having fun and, from the taste of Penguin I had during SF Beer week, making interesting beers that are worth at least a sampling. Do these beers warrant the steep price put on them (even steeper for us in the US when you tack on shipping)? That’s hard to say, but I can’t knock them for trying.
From what I have heard about Sink the Bismark, it isn’t just a strong beer for the sake of being strong. It seems like a beer that has its merits. So where do you draw the line? If the beer’s quality diminishes I think it’s hard to encourage the breweries. Yet they are seemingly making quality beer at the 41% mark, so what’s wrong with that?
From: Peter at BetterBeerBlog
Well if they’re making a quality beer at 41%, then there’s nothing wrong with it. You bring up an interesting point with the marketing aspect of this story. A side effect to brewing such huge beers is the huge PR you get from them. All of a sudden, Brew Dog is on everyone’s tongue (literarily and literally). Whatever cost they spent making the beer they probably earned back with interest in the form of press. I don’t think they would’ve gotten nearly the same return had they took the same amount of dollars and invested it in traditional marketing. Let’s hear it for word-of-mouth.
On the other end of the spectrum, I don’t think they’re necessarily advancing craft beer if these beers were brewed as a marketing stunt. For all the positive press they’ve gotten, Brew Dog has also received negative press in the form of criticisms from alcohol abuse watch groups.
Chief executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland, Jack Law, told The Sun: “The fact that they have achieved a new world record is not admirable.”
“It is a product with a lot of alcohol in it - that’s all. To dress it up as anything else is cynical.”
Personally, I can guarantee that if I’m ever able to land my hands on a bottle, I will not be pounding back pints. This is definitely a sipping beer. I’m a little envious that you were able to taste a sample during SF Beer Week.
Your aforementioned Nanny State 1.1% ABV beer was a Brew Dog reaction to all the negative press they received from the media. I want to know why it takes negative criticism to prod a brewery to brew up a low alcohol or session-strength beer? OK, over generalization, but there’s always the impulse to “imperialize” a beer but not so much the other way. I’ll be surprised when I hear a brewer suddenly blurt out, “I’m gonna brew up big flavor, big aroma beer with huge hops and malt character… and then sessionize it!”
I will agree with you in regards to the enigma that is Schorsbräu. You’d think that brewing a huge, 30% ABV strongest beer in the world-type of beer would be call for yelling from the rafters but I didn’t even know about them until I heard them mentioned in the same breath as Brew Dog. Chalk it up to conservative German sensibilities?
Why does everything have to be in the name of advancing craft beer? BrewDog brews tasty beers and sells them. That alone “advances craft beer” in the fact that more craft beer is available. They don’t have to have a greater good in mind.
Those same groups who had a problem with Tokyo*, which is where all of this began, will tell you that BrewDog and their marketing style is aimed towards teenagers and that they copious amount of alcohol units in each bottle (that’s how the neo-prohibitionists measure alcohol in the UK) is conducive to binge drinking. Never mind the fact that teens couldn’t stomach the stuff or that even the biggest craft beer drinkers would prefer to split these bottles 5-6 ways, if not more.
That’s where Nanny State comes from. We don’t need the government telling us what we can or can’t drink.Does it not seem hypocritical that beer can be damned for selling 12 ounces of 18% beer (As Tokyo* was when released) but bottles of booze can be bought far easily at much lower prices in much larger quantities?
The fact is, high ABV beers are not for everybody. If you’re not interested in Sink the Bismark, there’s nothing wrong with that. Will I be drinking it? Once I get my hands on it, definitely. Has the whole arms race with Schorsbräu brought more attention to BrewDog? Without a doubt.
In the end you have to decide for yourself if you care or not.
About a year ago, the craft beer world lost one of its own. William “Bill” Brand passed away during the inaugural year of SF Beer Week. I knew of Bill but didn’t know him. I followed his blog on a near religious basis and many of the craft beer events I am now a regular at I found out through him.
His loss is deeply felt here in the South Bay. While many of the beer writers and other media would focus on San Francisco breweries, Bill would make the trip to the South Bay to see what we were up to. To commemorate his passing, I took the time today to have a pint in Bill’s name at one of his favorite South Bay haunts: Firehouse Brewery.
Firehouse brewmaster Steve Donohue was still in the house when I finally arrived. We spoke briefly about Bill before toasting to him. Call it fortuitous but Steve had tapped two new beers recently and I was able to try them both. Whipping out my notepad Bill Brand style, I took notes on the new beers.
Brendan’s Irish Stout, 5.1% ABV
This beer was a very dark brown with a white/off-white head. The beer has a soft, pleasant, deep roasted malt flavor with hints of dark chocolate. The hop bitterness is medium low for balance. The Irish Stout’s aroma echos the flavor. The body is medium-low and the carbonation/nitrogenation is low/medium-low.
I like this beer. At the time of pouring, Steve was still fiddling with the amount of nitro he was hitting his beer with. The pint that I was poured seemed to be a bit low on the nitro and the natural carbonation of the beer seemed to be the more apparent. After a winter of some really big beers, a smooth, sessionable stout was just what the doctor ordered. While Steve won’t readily admit it, he used a box of Lucky Charms to brew this beer.
Cluster Fuggle, 4.1%
Cluster Fuggle pours a hazy amber color with a white head. Soft hop aromas and lightly toasted malt notes make up the aroma of the beer. The flavor of the beer is similar; lightly toasted malt flavors give way to a medium-low hop bitterness and pleasant hop flavor that is subtle in character. Cluster Fuggle is medium-low/medium bodied with medium carbonation.
Cluster Fuggle is an example of an English Bitter. This is the smallest beer Steve has brewed in a long time, perhaps ever. Named after the primary hops used in the making of the beer, the name is a play off the more popular “Cluster Fuck”. In fact, one of the waitresses mentioned to Steve that all of her customers kept ordering the “Cluster Fuck”. If you’re ever at the brewpub and are having this beer, see if Steve is around and ask him why he really named the beer Cluster Fuggle.
Note: I participated in the “Grow Your Own” round up. It’s essentially a collection of blogs where the running theme are things made with stuff your grew yourself. In the case of this beer, these were homegrown hops. You can read the complete roundup here.
This homebrew was my attempt at brewing a Rye IPA. I really enjoyed the Rye IPA from Firehouse Brewery and I wanted to see if I could do something similar. Like my Harvest Pale Ale, I ended up using my homegrown hops in this beer as well. Read on to see how this beer turned out.
Malt
7 lbs - Coopers Light DME
Specialty Grains:
1 lbs - 2-Row Pale (1.5L)
1 lbs - Belgian Caravienne (20L)
2 lbs - Flaked Rye
Hops
2 oz - Centennial (8.0) bittering
2 oz - Amarillo (8.5) finishing
6 oz - Chinook (homegrown) wet - flavor
12 oz - Cascade (homegrown) wet - flavor
Yeast
California Ale Yeast WLP001
Extras
1 tablet Servomyces
Original Gravity: 1.074
Final Gravity: 1.020
ABV: 7.09%
Process
Steep all specialty grains @ 155° F for 30 minutes, then remove.
Bring wort to a boil.
Add 6 lbs of Coopers Light DME at the 30 minute mark.
Add 2 oz Centennial hops and wort chiller at 40 minute mark.
Add 12 oz Cascade hops at 45 minute mark.
Add 1 tablet of Servomyces at 50 minute mark.
Add 6 oz Chinook at 55 minute mark.
Add 2 oz Amarillo hop plugs at flame out.
Cool to 65°F - 70°F.
Pitch yeast and aerate.
Tasting Notes (wort) — 9/7/2009
Very muddy, amber color with a lot of hop particulate floating about. Sweet malt aroma, like soggy Wheaties. Hop aromas are fresh and a little “green” with slight citrus and pine notes. Flavor is sweet, cloying and grainy. Medium-high/high hop bitterness, grassy. Full-bodied, no carbonation.
Tasting Notes (primary) — 11/8/2009
Amber/light caramel in color, no head. Beer is cloudy. Floral/piney aroma with bready/caramel malt undertones. Beer has a distinctive rye flavor that is earthy and spicy. Hop flavor is pungent with slight piney/floral notes, hop bitterness is medium-high/high and lasts well into the finish. Beer is medium-high in body.
Tasting Notes (final) — 2/24/2010
The beer is a clear, mahogany color with ruby highlights and a white/off-white head. The beer has a soft, piney/citrus aroma with a pungent hop character. Noticeable spicy, earthy aroma is from the rye. Toasty and caramel malt aromas as well. The flavor is initially toasty and caramel malt flavors that give way to a medium-high/high hop bitterness. The spicy and earthy flavors of the rye come into the finish. This is a full-bodied beer with medium-high carbonation and a slight astringency in the mouthfeel.
Overall
For my initial attempt at a Rye beer, I think I did OK. The malt flavor is pretty nice, the hop bitterness is much more than expected (more on this later) but I think the beer is unbalanced with an overabundance of rye flavor and aroma. Looking back at my ingredient list, I thought I used 1 lbs of rye for the beer but imagine my surprise when I looked back at my notes and saw I had put in 2 lbs! I’ve always had a little trouble discerning the rye character in commercial examples of rye beers but make no mistake, I know what rye in beer tastes like now!
You may or may not have noticed in my process section but I didn’t add any hops until the last 40 minutes of the boil; this includes the bittering hops. I haven’t looked at this recipe and process in a while so I wondered why I had put in the bittering hops so late. I forget what I was listening to but the basic idea was to add in all your hops, bittering included, as late as possible. You get the bitterness by adding in more hops than usual. So, instead of adding in 1 oz of Centennial hops in the beginning, I added 2 oz at the 40 minute mark theoretically maintaining the same level of hop bitterness. This is also supposed to increase hop aroma and flavor. The tradeoff, of course, is you need to add in more hops.
Despite the fact I had this beer sitting on primary for about 2 months, I don’t detect any off-flavors (burnt-rubber) that would be the result from autolysis. I brewed this during the cooler, late Fall months and it sat in my office which is the coolest part of my house. Once I took it off primary, I kegged the beer and had it in my kegerator which is usually sits at about 35°F. While I have been drinking this beer since kegging, it’s been chilling in the kegerator for so long that it looks as if I’ve filtered it.
Anyway, if I had to do this all over (and I will be doing this all over) I will definitely cut back on the rye by at least 50% if not more. I will also dry-hop the beer for more hop aroma and flavor. Ha! I just remembered that I was only supposed to add in 1 oz of Amarillo during flame-out and add the other 1oz during dry-hopping but I got lazy and added it all in. Oh well.
Continuing the SF Beer Week goodness, Rose & Crown hosted a brewery night for Palo Alto Brewing Company and Firehouse Brewery. Firehouse Brewery is no stranger to BetterBeerBlog. If you’ve been here long enough, you know that I spend a fair amount of time there and it’s only natural that I’d be out to support Steve.
Palo Alto Brewing Company (PABC) is the relatively new kid on the block. Kasim, the owner of Rose & Crown, is also the man behind PABC. I had the chance to interview Kasim a while back regarding the Rose & Crown and PABC that I am, unfortunately, still transcribing. As soon as I get that done, you’ll be the first to know.
Why combine PABC and Firehouse into a single Brewery Night? The answer is simple: PABC brews their beers at Firehouse. Steve has the capacity to spare and Kasim has the desire to brew beer. To clarify, Kasim does brew PABC beers, he just happens to do so on the Firehouse system.
It’s a Monday night and by the time I arrive at Rose & Crown, I see a lot of familiar faces. I pull up a seat at the end of the bar next to the firkin, order a pint and start to enjoy my evening.
Firehouse Pale Ale, cask-conditioned and dry-hopped with Citra hops
This beer was served out of the firkin. The beer is a hazy, gold color with an off-white head. There is a pungent hop aroma with citrus and piney notes. The flavor of the beer is chock full of hops; fresh, pungent, citrus and slight pine. The mouthfeel is medium-low/medium with medium-low carbonation as is common for cask-conditioned ales. There is also a slight astringent quality.
I like the Firehouse pale ale already but I really love this cask-conditioned, dry-hopped version. The carbonation is not as prickly as the normal pale ale and I love how there’s much more hop flavor and character but not necessarily more hop bitterness. I’m gonna have to get on Steve’s ass to do more firkin/cask-conditioned beers.
Palo Alto Brewing Company Bourbon Barrel Aged Coconut Porter
Very dark brown beer with a tan/brown head. The beer smells like an Almond Joy; coconut with a dark chocolate character and light roast. The beer’s flavor echos the aroma. It’s like liquid Almond Joy without the cloying coconut sweetness but retaining coconut flavor supported by dark chocolate, and deep roast flavors without being astringent. There is enough hops for balance. This is a full-bodied beer with medium-high carbonation. The bourbon character comes through when the beer warms up.
What I find interesting with bourbon barrel aged beers is that sometimes coconut flavors and aromas come through via the barrel. In a beer like this that’s made with coconut, it’s difficult to tell if the coconut flavors are from the actual coconut or if they’re from the barrel. In any case, I really enjoyed this beer and wished I could’ve had more.
Palo Alto Brewing Company Cask-conditioned Straight Porter
Very dark brown beer, nearly opaque with a tan head. Pleasant roasted malt aroma with cocoa powder character. Flavor is similar with hints of dark chocolate as well. This is a medium-low/medium bodied beer with low/medium-low carbonaton.
The straight porter would make a great session beer; seemingly light while retaining a lot of flavor without being overbearing. While I found this to be a very good example of a real ale, I kick myself in the ass for having drunk the bourbon barrel aged coconut version first. The bourbon barrel aged coconut porter is such a bigger, more complex beer that it makes the straight porter seem bland by comparison. Still, it was a good beer.
Palo Alto Brewing Company Chocopeño
Hazy, caramel colored beer with an off-white head. Lots of Jalapeño pepper in the aroma that is reminiscent of the Jalapeño flavored Lays potato chips. It is the dominant aroma. Chocopeño is surprisingly sweet with noticeable Jalapeño flavor and enough heat to let you know it’s a pepper beer. Body is medium/medium-high with medium carbonation.
As you could’ve probably guessed, this was a beer brewed with both chocolate and Jalapeño peppers. People either loved or hated this beer. I fall more in the “didn’t like” category as opposed to straight hating. I didn’t really pick up on the chocolate aspect of the beer and felt like the Jalapeño character was a little too dominant. The resulting beer was a little unbalanced for my tastes. I think it’s interesting enough to buy a pint to share but I’d have a little trouble finishing the beer entirely.
Altogether, PABC and Firehouse Brewing was a great success. The turnout was pretty good for a Monday night and I felt both breweries had some really interesting things on tap. I’m looking forward to trying more PABC beers. I think Kasim’s doing a great job.
As part of the SF Beer Week events, Rose & Crown in Palo Alto is having a brewery night featuring the beers from Mayfield Brewing Company (MBC). This is an especially rare treat in that MBC does not sell their beer in draught format, only in bottles. So if you’ve never had the opportunity to try MBC beers before, I hope you were able to make it and give them a shot.
Owner/brewmaster John Alderete is the “man” behind the one-man show that is MBC. His beers differ from many other breweries in that all his beers have been aged at least 12 months in wine barrels. If you’d like to pick them up, they are available in many Whole Foods but you can also purchase them from him directly. Currently there are 3 award-winning beers in the MBC Iconoclast series: Aurora, Eclat and Nocturna. Here are my notes.
Aurora – Altbier aged in American Oak California Zinfandel and Cabernet wine barrels
Aurora pours out a light caramel in color with amber highlights. The beer is primarily malty with some roasted notes. Hop flavor and bitterness are low. The aroma echos that of the flavor. Aurora is a medium bodied beer with medium carbonation. Surprisingly, there’s a slight tartness in the finish.
When I first had this beer in the bottle, I wasn’t very impressed with this beer. I found it to be a little underwhelming. I can tell this beer has changed slightly since that very first vintage I’ve tried and it’s for the better. It’s been sometime since I’ve had this beer in the bottle so I can’t really make any comparisons to the draft version.
Nocturna – Imperial Stout aged in French Oak Port Wine barrels
This beer is very dark, nearly black and opaque. The aroma exhibits some oxidation that comes across in the form of soy sauce. The aroma is also sweet. The flavor of the beer is primarily sweet with coffee, chocolate, molasses and syrup notes. Low to no hop character at all. Nocturna is full bodied with medium-low carbonation.
Of all the MBC beers, Nocturna remains my favorite. Darker, higher alcohol beers tend to hold up to barrel again well and Nocturna is no exception. Normally oxidation is considered a flaw in many beers but the type of oxidation exhibited, soy sauce, some sherry, I consider pleasant. The big caveat, of course, is that those oxidized notes are balanced with respect to the beer.
Eclat – India Pale Ale aged in American Oak California Zinfandel and Cabernet wine barrels
Despite being an IPA, the beer’s overall flavor profile is malty. The malt flavor his slightly on the caramel side. The hop flavor and bitterness is lacking for what one would expect for an IPA. The aroma has a slight grassy hop aroma and a low level of fruity esters. Eclat is a medium-low/medium bodied beer with medium low carbonation.
Out of the entire Iconoclast series of MBC beers, Eclat is the most controversial of beers. The main reason for this is because of the lack of expected hop character. Whenever you come across an IPA, you expect the beer to be a showcase for the hops. The aroma should be bursting with hops while the flavor should have a tongue-numbing bitterness. This is distinctly not the case for Eclat. In the true sense of an IPA, this is where an Eclat fails to meet expectations. Despite this, the resulting beer is interesting on its own merits.
What I can say though is that Eclat’s bitterness is improved from the initial vintage. In speaking with John Alderete, he has told me the hop character of the beer drops off significantly during the barrel aging process. I am a big fan of enjoying a beer in the original manner the brewmaster intends. In the case of Eclat, that includes aging an IPA until the hops have nearly dropped off. What I am curious about though, is trying Eclat before it enters the barrel. I’m interested in seeing just how much the hops drop off while in the barrels.
One thing I will note is that I didn’t pick up the woodsy/oaky notes in these beers that I normally am able to pick up from bottled versions. John did mention that these beers were racked right from the barrels to the keg but maybe some of those woodsy notes were lost in the carbonation process.
In addition to the MBC beers, I had the opportunity to try the Imperial Common Collaboration beer brewed by the SF Brewers Guild just for SF Beer Week. The Imperial Common pours our a dark brown with amber highlights and a beige head. The aroma has pungent and piney hop notes with the malt character in the background. The flavor is similar, tasting like a more alcoholic Anchor Steam, only slightly less bitter. This is a medium/medium-full bodied beer with medium-high carbonation.
Collaborative beers are the latest thing with breweries. In this instance, the members of the SF Brewers Guild appropriate have teamed up to brew an Imperial Common. Thanks to the efforts of Anchor Steam, the California Common is the indigenous beer of San Francisco and it only made sense that the first collaborative beer would be a California Common.
It was great to see Rose & Crown organizing events for SF Beer Week. There was a lot more participation this year from the south bay breweries Rose & Crown did a fantastic job lining up Brewery nights for almost the entire run of SF Beer Week. I’m looking forward to seeing what they have lined up in the near future and for next year.
It was about two weeks ago that the 2010 iteration of San Francisco Beer Week was kicked off by its inaugural Opening Gala. Yes, this may have been year two of the festival but this was the maiden voyage of the Opening Gala.
Last year, SF Beer Week was kicked off by an appropriately named Kick Off Party held at the venerable Anchor Steam Brewing Company. Far from being an impromptu affair, last year’s Kick Off Party had a very informal air to it. Many of the local brewers who’s beers I have since come to love were in attendance. In fact, the Kick Off Party at Anchor seemed to be a “who’s who” of the craft beer world. In addition to the brewers and their assistants, many of the SF Bay Area Beer Bloggers were in house as well. At the time, I didn’t really know them but by SF Beer Week’s end, I would become friends with many of them. Last but not least, the grandfather of American Craft Brewing Fritz Maytag himself, was on hand to debut Anchor’s first ever barrel aged beer, predictably named Our Barrel Ale.
This year’s Opening Gala had a decidedly different tone. Unlike last year’s casual celebration, the Opening Gala was much more organized and structured. Instead of being a party for those of us who had a hand in getting SF Beer Week 2009 off the ground, the Opening Gala was pretty much a beer festival of breweries participating in SF Beer Week on one level or another. Many of us who helped promote or plan events for SF Beer Week 2010, were allowed in an hour early during media hour. Everyone else was able to enter at 5pm. Unlike last year’s “invitation only” event, the Opening Gala was open to the public but I do believe tickets were limited.
Whereas my time at last year’s Kick Off Party was more of an eye-opening “I can’t believe we’re hobnobbing with all the local brewers at Anchor Brewing” sort of thing, this year’s Opening Gala was more of a jaw-dropping “Wow, they’ve really outdone themselves this year” event. While many will argue that Anchor Brewing is a much more beautiful location to have a beer-related party in, the Yerba Buena Center for the Performing Arts served as an excellent backdrop for the Opening Gala. While not cavernous by any means, the room the Gala was held in was large enough to accommodate all the brewers and guests. Like any other beer festival, the crowd was “shoulder-to-shoulder” at times with pockets of open space peppered within.
The majority of breweries that were pouring were arranged around the perimeter of the room with their names hanging on the walls above them. The center of the room was reserved for those breweries who supported SF Beer Week 2010 as sponsors. Off the top of my head, those breweries were Gordon Biersch, 21st Amendment, Magnolia and Speakeasy. I’m sure there were more but I just can’t recall them at the moment. On the side of the room with the windows was a stage where a 3-piece band was playing. About halfway through the night, Rich, of SF Brewers Guild, took to the stage to thank everyone for coming while Jay Brooks closed with a toast.
In addition to all the beer being poured, select food venders were in attendance as well. Typical beer festival foods such as sausages were being served but unexpected treats such as sushi were represented as well. Food was not included in the price of admission; you needed to pay the vendors individually. Really the only thing that went poorly the entire evening was a lack of water. It wasn’t until a little past the halfway point were water-filled kegs finally rolled out.
There were a lot of good beer being poured. I had the chance to try a variety of beers of which I took no notes of at all. Despite this there were a few memorable beers. The Imperial Common collaboration beer brewed by SF Beer Guild breweries specifically for the brewfest was debuted that evening. I found the beer to be good, reminded me of a stronger Anchor Steam, just a touch more malty. I also had the Bill Brand commemorative beer from Steve Altimari of Valley Brewing. Available only in bottles, and only if you knew to ask, it was a delightfully sour ale; mouthwateringly tart, aromatic and estery. Gordon Biersch brewed up a dampfbier, explained to me as a “German Steam beer”, I found to be balanced, not too malty or bitter, but I remember it having a “chewy” character.
The remainder of the evening was spent catching up with old friends I hadn’t seen in weeks, months even. In this respect, the Opening Gala felt a lot like a school reunion. My wife and I ran into people we knew just about everywhere. Whereas most beer festival conversation tend to be centered around beer, many of the conversations we had that night were more about how our friends were doing, what they were up to and what they had in store. Beer may have been the reason we all came out that night but the opportunity to see each other is the reason we keep coming out. I hate to say it but I think I spent more time catching up with old friends than I did trying some of the fantastic beers that were there.
Unfortunately, Sammy and I had to leave the Opening Gala hours before its end. My close friend’s mother passed away earlier in the week and that night was the viewing so we cut out early to attend and support him and his family. If that wasn’t enough, Sammy’s grandfather experienced some health issues that resulted in a trip to the emergency room. By the time I picked Sammy up and brought her home, it was 7am Saturday morning and we opted to stay in instead of taking a power nap before heading out to the Double IPA festival.
Overall, the SF Beer Week 2010 Opening Gala was a successful event to launch this year’s festivities. There were many breweries in attendance and lots of good, in some cases even rare, beers being poured. The theme presented on the SF Beer Week 2010 website was carried out in many aspects of the signage and collateral and really set a unified tone to the entire thing. I am looking forward to seeing what next year brings about!
At the Meat the Brewers beerfest last weekend, I had the opportunity to speak with Ramon, the beer buyer at the Los Altos Whole Foods. He was pouring their Juniper Black Ale, a beer he brewed with other Whole Foods reps at Sierra Nevada during their Beer Camp program.
Sierra Nevada’s Beer Camp is a program designed for people in the beer industry, not necessarily brewers, to get a hands-on experience with beer by brewing up a very limited, special batch of beer. The types of beers brewed vary from class to class. Several people from Whole Foods were invited to Beer Camp from a number of states to participate in brewing the Juniper Black Ale.
From what Ramon told me, there are only about 8 kegs of this floating around California and Good Karma Vegetarian Cafe will be hosting a tapping party to celebrate this beer. Here is the information:
Who: Whole Foods, Good Karma Vegetarian Cafe, Sierra Nevada What: Juniper Black Ale Tapping Party Where: Good Karma Vegetarian Cafe, 37 South 1st Street, San Jose, CA map When: Friday, February 19, 2010 @ 7pm Why: You doin’ anything better on a Friday night? If so, let me know. Cost: As far as I’m aware, free to get in but you’ll have to pay for your beer
I really like the idea of a Beer Camp. It’s a great way for Sierra Nevada to not only pimp out their own beers and philosophy but to also educate people about beer. Even if the beer buyers don’t end up purchasing Sierra Nevada beers for their stores, they are at least more educated about beer and can purchase the craft beer and imports that they do like and are potentially open to ordering beers we request. The fact this tapping party is in San Jose is cool in the sense that interesting craft beer is making its way here. I encourage people to attend this tapping party to show that good craft beer is wanted in San Jose and people are willing to come out to get some.
In the weeks leading up to 
