BetterBeerBlog

This was one of the better Fourth of July weekends that I’ve had in some time. I managed to spend some time at the beach, catch the fireworks show in downtown San Jose, party up with some friends while squeezing in some “I’m going to be really, unproductively lazy right now” time. To wrap up the weekend, Sammy and I decided to drive all the way up to Fairfax to attend the BABBBBQ (Bay Area Bloggers Barbeque), graciously hosted by Rob of Pfiff.

Truthfully, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this BABB meeting. I had no idea how many people were going to be at Rob’s place or who. In the end, it ended up being a more intimate affair with just a handful of people showing up. Surprising to only Sammy and myself, we were the first ones there. Unless we get the times incorrect, Sammy and I are rarely the first ones at anything. Here’s who attended in the order of appearance (I feel like I’m writing up meeting notes, ha!):

• Rob and family (wife Des and daughter Maya)
• Myself and Sammy
• JJ, her sister Allie and Melissa, Allie’s girlfriend
• Jay Brooks and family (wife Sarah, son Porter, and daughter Alice)

Of course what BABB event would be complete without beer? This is, after all, a gathering of beer bloggers. Silly me for not taking any notes but there are just some times when you want to turn the blogger part of you “off” and just enjoy a beer without having to think too hard about it. That being said, here is a list of the beers that were served along with my comments as I remember things:

• Rob’s witbier - I’m a bit jealous of Rob’s witbier as it turned out much, much better than my own. It was everything mine was not: appropriate color for the beer and head, appropriate aroma and flavors as well. The biggest critique I would have of his witbier was the lack of body. Already light in body, the carbonation made the wit even more light. That being said, it was a refreshing beer to start off with after the long drive.
• The Bird - A double IPA brewed by Rob, this one had an 8% ABV that wasn’t noticeable. The Bird had a wonderful amber color with solid malt aromas and a surprisingly subdued hop aroma. As with many beers, the aroma is pretty indicative of the flavor. Malty sweetness is the first thing that hits you when you drink it, followed discreetly by hop flavor and bitterness. This is a style that is supposed to have strong hop flavor supported by a solid malt profile. Rob got the malt part right but the hops were a little on the low side. Having talked to Rob about it briefly, he used a continuous hopping method when he brewed it. Knowing that, The Bird then reminded me of Dogfish Head’s 90 Minute IPA which uses a similar method. I remember that beer having a lower than expected hop bitterness despite it’s 94 IBU rating. I believe that the continuous hopping method will calculate out to high IBU numbers but have a much more mellow hop bitterness which leads to a perception of lower hop bitterness but not necessarily lower hop flavor.
• Russian River’s Damnation - Brought by the Thirsty Hopster herself, Jessica. I wish I could remember more about this beer but I made the mistake of having the JC Flyer IPA that blew my palette out. As a result, I don’t remember much about this beer other than I liked it.
• Iron Springs JC Flyer IPA - Supplied by our host, Rob. Wow, what a hoppy beer. Great American hop aroma, citrus, piney and even floral. Good malt characteristics with an aggressive hop bitterness that lasted well into the finish of the 2nd slice of “palette cleansing” bread I ate.
• My own Altbier - By most accounts, my altbier was well received with the only critique coming from Jay Brooks who said, “That’s one hoppy altbier”. I realized that the malt and hop flavors where a bit big for the style and pushed the envelop a bit bit I liked how it turned out after some weeks of aging.
• Rob’s Barleywine - If I remember this correctly, this was dark in color, maybe darker than appropriate. Having attended the Barleywine festival at Toronado, I can say that the range of colors from all the barleywines at the festival were all over the board. Some were amber in color while some were as dark as stouts. The American Barleywine category has such a wide range, Rob’s would’ve fit in just fine. The aroma was malty sweet with noticeable alcohol. The flavor matched the aroma as well. I only had a little bit of this as it was a warm afternoon and I might be driving later on. As with many of Rob’s beers I tried today, there was a noticeable lack of hop bitterness and this carried on that tradition. Keeping that in mind, I’ll just call it an English Barleywine instead.
• Rob’s Holiday Ale - This was the last beer I had for the day. I only remember a few things about it. The flavor leaned toward the malty side but this beer was more well balanced. Normally holiday ales are spiced in such a way as to evoke the holiday season in which they’re supposed to be consumed in. Other adjuncts such as bitter orange peel or dried fruit maybe be added as well as honey, molasses or brown sugar. I mention this because I never did ask Rob if he spiced his beer or added anything additional. I don’t recall smelling or tasting anything out of the ordinary but I must admit that after a certain time, I stop thinking about beer and focus more on drinking it. This beer certainly fell well within that time frame.

Even though there were only a few of us, some interesting discussions were taking place. Between myself, JJ and Rob, we talked about the February Beer Month idea that was being kicked around a while back on the BABB group page. We all felt that it would be a worthwhile event to participate in and just rehashed some of the ideas from the Philly Beer Week document. Hopefully it will be more of a “bay area” event as opposed to just a “San Francisco” event as the Peninsula, South and East Bay need love too.

We (all of us) then, then talked about what the BABB could be. Jay, the catalyst for starting everything, basically said he put the group together without much thought about it’s purpose or direction. In my opinion, he doesn’t have to know. He doesn’t even have to make a suggestion. As with any other organization, loose-knit or highly structured, it is only as strong as it’s members. Maybe all we will ever do is meet up every once in a while to drink, eat and be merry. And that’s fine, I am all about the “merry”. Or maybe we can all pull our resources together and plan our own week-long beer event. That would be cool too, pretty badass actually. Whatever we end up doing (or not doing), I can say that I am making friends with people I probably otherwise would not have had a chance to meet. That is cool in itself.

JJ and company had to leave early as she needed to drop her sister and Melissa at the airport to catch a flight back to Washington (State). I got to talk to Allie and Melissa a little bit and found them to be cool people. Because of JJ, Allie and Melissa are now just getting into beer. How fortunate then to live in Seattle where they have quite a number of breweries in the city and more opening up. Just in Allie’s neighborhood alone, there is a brewpub within walking distance and as well as a very diverse bottle shop. Sammy and I have always wanted to visit Seattle and now we have a reason other than beer to visit.

As the shadows grew longer and the glasses emptier, all the children started to get tired at once. A more obvious clue to end the get together could not have been made. Jay and his family were next to leave, followed minutes later by myself and Sammy. Before we left, Rob offered up either his barleywine or his holiday ale in exchange for the altbiers we brought. I left the decision to Sammy and she picked the barleywine. It currently sits in my kegerator where it will age for a few months to be enjoyed during the winter months.

It was a great way to end an otherwise great weekend for us. I look forward to the next BABB event and meeting more bloggers.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 8th, 2008 at 1:53 am and is filed under Bay Area Beer Bloggers, Craft Beer, Homebrew. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.