BetterBeerBlog

Update: Here are the results from the Taste It and Rate It part of the festival:

LAGER
1. Lagunitas Pilsner
2. Brokeen Drum
PALE ALE
1.New Belgiuym Mighty Arrow Pale Ale
2. Drake IPA
DARK/AMBER/STOUT
1. Anderson Valley Stout
2. Mad River Steelhead Amber

The promoters for the festival are open to hearing new categories. Any suggestions? While breaking things up like that seemed to work in the past, would it be better off if they just did a “People’s Choice” and did the top 3 plus an “Honorable Mention”?

All things considered, I had a fun time at the Brewfest. What ended up happening was I got sick. I had been feeling achey and tight all week but Friday night was when the crap started hitting the fan. By Saturday morning, I was feeling ill and by the afternoon, I was ready to throw in the towel. My body was achey all over, I had cold sweats, a headache and my stomach was cramping. Any thing I ate or drank made me want to vomit so I cut my drinking down significantly. So, if you did see me at the festival and I was mainly holed up on a bench against a wall, let it be known it was because I was sick and not drunk.

Joining us this year at the beerfest were Jen and Joey from Wet your Whistles. They’re beer bloggers as well but their website focuses on places to get great beer that are accessible via CalTrain. Since they both like to drink beer, neither wanted to be the DD, so they do the responsible thing and take public transporation. We met Jen and Joey at the Beer and Chocolate dinner event held at Firehouse Bar and Grill. They’re both great people and it’s awesome that we’re able to continue our friendship past a single dinner.

We arrived at the Fairfax Brewfest around 2pm, an hour late. Part of the reason was Sammy and I got up late. Another part was we drove through San Francisco. Normally we take the east bay route which by-passes San Francisco altogether. All I can say is that 19th Street traffic is a bitch.

Similar to last year, the majority of the brewers were lined up against the periphery of the building. While this is the easiest way to layout the event, it makes for horrible crowd flow. Everyone seemed to just concentrate and pool around the brewers (duh, that’s where the beers are at) but that made it difficult to navigate the sea of people to get a beer. Once you found the end of a line, it was easy and quick enough to get your taster but getting in and out was a real hassel. Hopefully they’ll be able to alleviate that next year.

Because I was sick, I didn’t get a chance to try as many beers as I had wanted. I did my best to Twitter the beers as I tried them but I’m on a Motorola Razr and I am still having to “844444477770204666666302233337771″ to say “This is a good beer.” Tedious at best, carpal-tunnel syndrome inducing at worst. (Anyone have any suggestions as to what phone I should upgrade to? I don’t need Internet access, just a qwerty-style keyboard. I’m on T-Mobile.) I’m going from a combination of memory and rereading my tweets but here’s my quick round up of the beers I tried:

• Mad River Black Ale - I am not familiar with the “Black Ale” style of beer. I don’t even think it’s a recognized beer style by the BJCP. Those were the exact reasons I wanted to try this beer. This beer poured out a very dark brown, almost black with a tan head. The beer had a deep roast, almost burnt, flavor and aroma character. It was medium bodied. This beer reminded me of New Belgium’s 1554, only more roasty.
• Triple Rock, Bill Brand Brown - This was a beer, judging from the name, brewed in honor of the late William Brand. This beer was recommended to me by Diane and Mike (who we also met at the Beer & Chocolate dinner). The base beer was an ESB, but it showed way more hop character than your normal ESB. I picked up huge amounts of grapefruit-like hop character in the nose and in the flavor. Despite the huge amounts of hop flavor, this beer wasn’t any more bitter than your typical ESB. Sammy ended up tasting their IIPA (double IPA) and we both agreed the Bill Brand had more hop flavor.
• Napa Smith, Lost Dog Ale - This beer was also recommended by Diane and Mike. Lost Dog is their red/amber ale and I found this beer to have a complex, yet subtle malt character with a balanced level of hop bitterness. I found this beer hard to describe because there was a lot going on. I would later learn from Diane and Mike that Napa Smith brewer Don Barkley approaches malts the same way most west-coast brewers approach hops. Lost Dog has several different malts in the recipe and you can tell by tasting it they layers of flavor and complexity. Most beers will have 2-3 specialty malts in a beer that you can easily pick out but that wasn’t the case with Lost Dog. It’s refreshing to find a brewery that focuses on malt complexity of hop complexity, it’s certainly a rarity here on the west coast.
• Anderson Valley Brewing Company, Winter Solstice - This beer is AVBC’s winter seasonal beer. I found this beer to be very malt forward and surprisingly sweet. It has an aroma that exhibited a candy-like sweetness to it with fruit undertones.
• New Belgium, Biere de Mars (Lips of Faith) - I strolled up to the New Belgium booth ready to try their Dunkelweiss 30° but instead found their Biere de Mars one of their “Lips of Faith” beers. Simply put, these (Lips of Faith) are “playground” beers in which brewers are given the freedom to do what they want. Without knowing any specifics of the beer, I thought this was a spring beer with a saison/biere de garde base. I found Biere de Mars to have a strong, fruity ester component and yeast-induced spice quality. At my local BevMo, I picked up a Dark Kriek Lips of Faith beer but haven’t tried it just yet.
• Iron Springs, Dark Path Black Lager, Epiphany Ale, Oatmeal Stout - Iron Springs is the local brewery of Fairfax. They are also the “host” brewery of the Fairfax Brewfest. I don’t recall trying many of their beers last year so under the advice of Rob from Pfiff!, I decided to give them a shot. Their Dak Path Black Lager tasted good and was a schwartzbier. Unlike the Mad River Black Ale, Dark Path was more balanced and had less of the roasty component to it. It’s also a lager which would explain why. Epiphany Ale was served from the bottle as a “special” during the festival. I found this beer to be aggressively hopped and had an astringent quality to it. The Oatmeal Stout though was very good, nice body and balanced flavor profile.

I think I might’ve covered all the beers I had, maybe I missed out on 1 or 2 beers (at the most), but I didn’t drink that much. Towards the end, I don’t think I even finished the samples I had. I drank just enough to taste but my stomach was playing chicken with me and I blinked every single time.

At one point, there was a festival goer who happened to grab a spot on the floor next to me and passed out. Random people were coming up to him to take his picture. I envied him deeply. By that time during the festival, I wanted nothing more than to lie down and take a nap myself. Then some people came by and started messing around with a portable basketball hoop that was next to where we were. The action served to wake the guy up. I thought these guys were being dicks. The passed out dude was just keeping to himself and wasn’t bothering anyone but then you get a couple of pricks who decided to mess around with the guy. Maybe they knew him, I don’t know, but it’s inevitable that every beer festival has a couple of jerks who think it’s cool to be jerks.

In addition to the good beers I had the chance to try and the wonderful people I was able to talk to, one of my highlights of the day was when one of the blog’s readers came up to me to say, “hi”. It was a very short exchange where he basically said he liked the blog. I thanked him but before I could get his name, he left to go outside. I really do appreciate it when readers introduce themselves. It makes me feel like I’m not just ranting and raving and posting things into cyberspace never to be seen again. Sure, I check my analytics daily to see how things are going but those are just numbers. Seeing people face to face and talking and getting feedback is really what makes this worthwhile. So to that reader who said hello, thanks for reading, I truly appreciate it.

Hanging out at Casa de Pfiff!

After the festival, we headed over to Rob’s place for more beers and more good company. I had made the mistake of not getting Rob’s contact info before he left the festival. This posed a bit of a conundrum as we knew his house was withing walking distance and up the hills but it would seem most of the town lived up in the hills. Thanks to Joey’s cell phone, we were able to grab his address from an old evite. Using Sammy’s GPS we eventually walked the .2 miles or so uphill to Rob’s place.

Rob, Des, daughter Maya and family dog Sierra were there to greet us. Rob prepared some beans and carnitas for us to munch on while we hung out. Eventually, more of their friends showed up (sorry, I didn’t write down any names). I wanted to interact with everyone a bit more but at this point, I was fading fast.

While we where there, we did get to try some homebrews. Rob whipped out his appelwoi (an apple wine) for us to try. It was light in body, very dry, crisp and refreshing. Unbeknown to us, the appelwoi had a calculated ABV of about 13%, give or take 1%. This did not taste like it was that high in alcohol and I imagine this would sneak up on you really quick if you weren’t paying attention. Rob then whipped out his Lavender beer experiement. If I remember correctly, he said the base beer was a dark saison (?) and he added fresh lavender to the boil and used lavender oil (he distilled personally) in the finish. The beer was much darker than I expected, it was inbetween a dubble and a porter in color and had a “medicinal” aroma. “Medicinal” was actually a very bad way of putting things. Botanical would’ve been much better. When I compared the lavender water he pulled out to his beer, I could then pick up the lavender in the beer more. Taste wise, it was different than the aroma. I found it to be a good drinking beer with a noticeable herbal quality.

Christopher, Rob’s friend, came by and brough a few of his beers to sample as well. He brought over a kolsch, an old an dark (?) and a red ale (gone funky). The kolsch was light and delicate with great color and clarity. I’m having trouble remembering the old and dark though. To stop myself from looking the fool, I won’t even begin to guess. His red ale was very interesting. It had a very pungent aroma to it that I couldn’t quite place and it was also aggressively bitter with a strong, astringent quality to it that dried out the middle of my tongue. I felt the malt could’ve been a little more sweet (for balance) and the body a little fuller but the hop character was crazy. I whipped out my own Milk Stout and Pale Ale to share and it looked like the Pale Ale was the room favorite as it got a lot of compliments.

Lastly, one of Rob’s friends (who has quite the beer collection) brought over a mini-vertical of Laguinitas’ Gnarleywine barleywines. He brought over an ‘06, ‘07 and ‘09. From the few people I spoke with, it seemed the 2006 Gnarleywine was the room favorite. It has a sweet and complex malt character that showed slight sherry and port qualities. The 2008 seemed to be on it’s way to the 2006 flavor profile while the fresh 2009 was bright in it’s flavors. The malt was crisp while the hop flavors (which had degraded in the 2006) were still in full effect and bright on the palette. It’s great to be able to age beers like this and taste how they change over time.

Sucks to be sick. I wished I had more energy and felt better enough to contribute in the conversations that were going around at Rob’s place. I spent much of my time on the couch just hanging out and trying not to look too miserable. As soon as I got home, I took double the amount of medicine recommended on the bottle and crashed for the evening. As good as the day went, it didn’t beat being able to lie down to rest.

It’s the final day of SF Beer Week and it’s pouring cats and dogs. The big event of the day is the Celebrator party happening in Oakland later on in the evening. I briefly considered going but opted against it instead. To survive SF Beer Week, Sammy and I have been moderating our drinking and events by going to an event one day and not going the following day. I didn’t plan on this but I was sick for one day, had nothing planned on another and had a non-beer event to go to on another. In the end, my liver thanked me for the respite.

I had initially planned for Sunday to be an “off day” to allow me to rest and catch up on my blogging but after some consideration, Sammy and I headed over to the Englander in San Leandro to help out www.beerbybart.com friends Gail and Steve run their Beer Judging 101 event. As with many SF Beer Week events, their BJCP 101 and 102 classes sold out close to the last day. Having never been to the Englander, I was amazed by the large selection of beers they had on tap and vowed (fist shaking to the sky) that I would be back. I had a job to do that day and enjoying the Englander wasn’t part of the job description.

Grand Master-level BJCP judge Dave Teckam would be leading the class. He has a very casual demeanor and is a wealth of beer information. If anything, his demeanor helped to set a relaxed atmosphere in the class that fostered discussion. It really was like a beer school in that Dave stood in front of the group with a pointer stick in hand and his white boards behind him chalk full of beer information while workshop attendees were seated in tables according to rows.

Having been given very little instruction as to what our roles would be, Gail and Brian set about marking cups and pouring beers while Sammy and I doled them out to the workshop attendees. Eventually, we pre-counted the necessary number of cups, marked them when applicable and handed them out. It was a smooth going operation, if I must say so myself. Sammy was a huge help in organizing how things worked out. Having done our fair share of events ourselves, we’re familiar with figuring the flow of things.

I did my best to listen to what Dave had to say during the 101 class but having to work, I missed out a lot on what he said. In the pieces and parts I did catch, I admired his ability to explain things as well as foster discussion from the class. Public speaking is definitely a learned skill and being knowledgeable about your topic helps determine your comfort level. While I learned some new things regarding beer and beer tasting, I think I may have learned a bit more about public speaking.

The big surprise of the 101 event was the final pairing. I admit that I didn’t see the beers being poured but I noticed a difference between them. They were both big beers, malty but one was decidedly more hoppy than the other. The big reveal was that the final pairing was the same beer, 5 years apart. One beer was a 2004 Sierra Nevada Bigfoot while the other was the 2009 Bigfoot. This revelation elicited a collective, “Whoa!” from the class. I did a mini-Bigfoot vertical a few weeks ago at the homebrew shop but I knew what I was getting into then. When you do a blind tasting like this, the big reveal has a bigger effect.

Dave believes that 5 years is the optimal age for a Bigfoot. Any longer and you start to see a degradation in flavors. The 2004 had a noticeable alcohol note with a complex malty flavor while being mellower and exhibiting slight sherry and oxidation notes. The 2009, by comparison, was bright, hoppy and robust in its flavors. Of course this was because it was the fresher beer. Dave said the best way to age your beer would be to keep them out of light and in a place that is consistent at 50º-55° F, much like a wine. Now inspired to age beers, I will have to back to BevMo and pick up a case of 2009 Bigfoot. Which reminds me, I found it miraculous that Dave, Gail and Brian were able to find enough 2004 Bigfoot for the class. It’s not like you can hit up your local Safeway or BevMo and ask for it. They must’ve called in some favors to pull that off. In the end, I think the reaction of the class was worth it.

The 201 class was a little more in-depth with the knowledge. You didn’t need to have signed up for the 101 class to attend but I think having a slight background helped out. Even then, Dave approached it all as if you didn’t know. Sammy and I stayed long enough to taste some sour beers but we had to cut out. The NBA All-Star game was going to be on that night and I wanted to catch it with some friends.

On the way home through the rain, Sammy and I discussed on how much we got out of the experience. We both agreed that it was totally worth while to have helped out Gail, Brian and Dave. It further inspired me to improve my own BJCP judging abilities to move up a rank. If anything, being a more informed, more skilled judge should help me educate and hopefully turn people on the wonderful world of craft beer. Even in our short time within the craft beer community, we have been shown a warmth and acceptance I had not anticipated. I’m hoping to be able to share that with more of my friends in the future as well as give back to the community that has already given me so much.

SF Beer Week officially started yesterday with a kick-off event at Anchor Steam. I actually started my SF Beer Week celebration a little earlier by heading over to Firehouse Brewery & Grill in Sunnyvale. I went over there for lunch with two other co-workers. I won’t regale you with how we spent most of the time “talking shop” but will instead get right to the beer review because this is a beer blog. I’m sure you have much better things to read about than the missteps of an international IT solutions company.

OTIS (One Tun Imperial Stout), Firehouse Brewery & Grill, 9.8% ABV

Usually I like to shine a light through a beer to determine it’s clarity (or lack thereof) and OTIS is as dark and as opaque as they come. Steve (Firehouse Brewmaster) can always rename it the “black hole” as no light escaped from this beer. In addition to being black and opaque, OTIS has a brown head. The aroma of this beer is a combination of dark chocolate, deeply roasted malts and coffee. The flavor is very similar to the aroma along with the addition of a noticeable hop bitterness. Stouts aren’t particularly known for having a noticeable hop bitterness, so in a sense, OTIS is a bit out of style. That being said, damn beer styles as this is a good beer. After allowing the beer to warm up a little over the course of lunch, OTIS began to remind me of a bittersweet, dark chocolate. This is a full-bodied beer with medium-lo/medium carbonation that is served in a mini-snifter/goblet looking piece of glassware.

Firehouse Barleywine, Firehouse Brewery & Grill, ~10.3% ABV

To be fair, this beer isn’t ready yet. The samples we had were taken directly from the fermenter. The flavors of the beer will continue to develop and change slightly while the addition of carbonation will also affect the flavor and character of the beer. That being said, this is a pretty good beer already.

This barleywine pours out a relatively clear, light brown beer with ruby hues and no head. The aroma is distinctly American with the telltale citrus and floral hop character along with a slight alcohol note. This is an aggressively bitter barleywine. Despite the high level of hop bitterness, there is more than enough malt flavor to keep this beer in check. The more you drink, the less hoppy it becomes because your tongue is so beat up by the hop bitterness that lasts well into the finish. Steve has every intention of having this beer entered into Toronado’s Barleywine festival and I’m looking forward to trying his barleywine against others.

SF Beer Week Kick-off Event at Anchor Steam

I had never been to Anchor Steam Brewery before. I have always heard great things about the tour and I’ve enjoyed their flagship and namesake beer, Anchor Steam. Anchor Steam brewery is the only brewery in the world that produces a “steam” beer. A “steam” beer was a beer produced on the West Coast of America under primitive conditions without the use of ice. While not very descriptive, you can rest assured that Anchor Steam is the only brewery to produce “steam” beers simply because they hold the trademark to the name. Other breweries produce a beer in style called California Common, which is basically a “steam” beer.

To keep a potentially long story short, this was a great event. Sammy and I were invited by Jay Brooks as a way of saying “Thank You” for helping to promote SF Beer Week. For the first time ever, I felt like I was part of the “industry”. Sammy and I got a chance to meet up with and talk to a lot of beer industry people. There were brewers, assistant brewers, other beer bloggers, chefs, brewery owners and actual beer writers. For once, I didn’t feel like the weird guy constantly sniffing his beer and writing down little notes in his little notebook. For once, I was just the guy constantly sniffing his beer and writing down little notes in his little notebook. It feels good to be accepted.

Sammy and I were able to meet new people and catch up with many of our beer friends. We were able to talk Rob and Des from Pfiff!, Gail and Steve from Beer by Bart and Jon from Beer Obsessed. In addition to the bloggers, I was able to meet with Peter Zien and Jessica from small brewery of the year Alesmith. Jessica remembered us from our trip down to San Diego which was really cool. We hung out with Steve (Firehouse brewmaster) and his wife, as well as chat with the homebrew chef Sean Paxton. It really was great to be able to have met all these folks. It’s a great by-product of the experiences this blog has allowed me to have.

Old Foghorn, Anchor Steam Brewing Company, 8-10% ABV

Having already tried Firehouse’s barleywine, I gave Old Foghorn a whirl and came away impressed. This beer is a clear brown in color with a beige head. With a slightly alcoholic note in the bouquet of this beer, Old Foghorn is a sweet tasting barleywine with a roasted malt character and medium hop bitterness. Whenever I think about barleywines, I usually think of them as sweet and this fit right into what I had in mind. I’m going to have to look for this in the stores.

Liberty Ale, Anchor Steam Brewing Company, 6% ABV

Brewed to commemorate Paul Revere’s historic ride, this one specialty beer is now available year-round. Dark gold in color with an off-white head, this is a clear beer. The inital flavor you get is of a medium/medium-high hop bitterness followed up by a clean, malt flavor and sweetness enough to balance out the hops. I felt this was a tasty beer but fairly straightforward in it’s flavor profile.

Our Barrel Ale (OBA), Anchor Steam Brewing Company, ?% ABV

This beer was the reason we all came out to Anchor tonight. Our Barrel Ale, or OBA, is a blend of different Anchor ales that were allowed to age in Anchor’s own Whisky barrels. OBA has a brown sugar, spice aroma with noticeable whisky character. OBA is dark brown with an off-white head. The beer is malty sweet with some dark fruit undertones and chocolate notes. Despite the notable presence of alcohol in both the aroma and flavor, this beer is surprisingly lighter in body than I had expected. Thinking OBA was going to be a full-bodied beer, I was surprised to learn that this beer has a low/medium-low body and low carbonation with an alcoholic astringent quality in the mouthfeel. The hop bitterness is low as well but is balanced by both the malt profile and alcohol character. Chocolatey, even. A very interesting beer.

OBA is a very limited run beer with less than a hundred cases remaining. Bottled in a magum-sized bottle, this is a rare beer that may end up as a collecter’s item. As much as I think that may happen, I hope it doesn’t as beer is made to be drank and not displayed like so much fine china.

After leaving Anchor, Sammy and I drove east to the Trappist where we met up with Mario (from Brewed for Thought). In addition to just wanting to see the guy, Mario carried with him a special treat for me, actually two, special treats: two bottles of Russian River’s new Consecration Ale. It was good to see Mario and hear that his SF Beer Week Event: An Introduction to Belgian Beers, went over very well. He’s a great guy who looks like he’s positioning himself to become a “beer consultant” in the North Bay. More power to the guy, especially in this economy, it’s good to diversify. While at the Trappist, we got to see Nicole for a little bit but I finally got to meet one of the owners, Aaron Porter. I got to talk to him a little bit about the blog, about OBA, and how great the Trappist is. I didn’t want to sound like I was kissing his ass or anything but the Trappist really is a great Belgian beer bar. Hell, it’s a great beer bar! As with many other times I’ve been there, it was packed full of people, the three of us were lucky enough to get a spot by the door. While there, I did get a chance to put one back.

Petrus Oud Bruin, Brouwerij Bavik, 5.5% ABV

This is the first time I’ve had this beer was from a bottle I picked up from BevMo and I have loved this style of beer since. Eager to see what it tasted like on tap, I ordered two glasses, one for myself and one for Sammy.

It was dimly lit inside of the Trappist so I can’t give the most accurate description of the beer. I remember it being a dark brown color, murky with an off-white head. The aroma was mildly sweet, malty and a low level of tartness. The flavor of the Petrus was on the malty sweet side, medium-lo/medium in intensity, almost no hop bitterness and a low/medium-low level of tartness in the finish. It was medium-low/medium in carbonation and in body.

In a way, I was slightly disappointed. I’ve had this beer on bottle and I think it’s phenomenal. Take the above description but amp it up a few notches. Instead of being mildly sweet, it becomes a complex, malty sweet that I would describe as savory. The tartness, which is very appropriate for this beer, is more pronounced and becomes a great counterpoint to all that sweetness which is why you can get away with a lower hopped ale. Even the body seemed a little fuller on the bottle. This makes me believe that most Belgian Ales are meant to be drunk from the bottle instead of the tap. Of course for every one beer that tastes good in the bottle, there are probably 3 that are better on tap, right? Is this just an isolated case?

Surprisingly, I didn’t drink too much at this event. Maybe it’s a sign that I’m growing up and really am drinking for flavor and not to get drunk. Maybe it’s because my lower back’s in pain and I didn’t want to screw up my liver by mixing anti-inflammatory meds with alcohol. Whatever the case was, I feel I am much better off for it. SF Beer Week is a week-long festival and it’d be a shame to be all “beer’d out” on the first day.

It wasn’t until this afternoon that I took a look at this post again and I completely omitted any mention of me having tried Firestone Walker’s XII. Thanks to Nicole, I was able to sample a little bit of “12″ but I didn’t take any notes because I had bought two bottles. Speaking of bottles, I bought two at $30 a piece! Man… some of the things I do for beer. I have a feeling that most of the money was spent on packaging, the box was pretty nice. Anyway, I was planning on cracking one beer open tonight for dinner and aging the other bottle. Look for the full review on this beer in the near future.

I’ll be the first one to admit that I wasn’t planning on going to Toronado tonight. Even though it’s a mere 50 miles or so away, San Francisco is just a difficult place to drive up to in the middle of the week without a special ocassion. Luckily for me, Firestone Walker was unveiling their XII (aka “12″), their 12th anniversary beer that is a blend of several beers aged in wood.

Sammy and I made the drive up after work. It took us an hour to get to San Francisco because of the traffic. Even in the carpool lane, we were stop and go in certain places. To make matters worse, some shitfuckforbrains in an old ass Lexus (back when they looked like slightly nicer Corollas), kept high beaming us to move over to a lane to let him pass. First of all, we were going above the speed limit and faster than the so-called “fast lane”. Second, the dickweed had plenty of time to pass us if he wanted. When he did, he cut us off and then slowed down to below the fucking speed limit. What the fuck?! I mean seriously? You’re in such a rush to want to pass us and you pull this Mickey Mouse bullshit? At least we were going the speed limit. Mr. PantiesInABunch slowed down to 45 mph to make some sort of point? Hey, I drive a super old version of a high-end brand and I’m in a rush but not so much so I can’t be douche on the freeway.

Sorry, had to get that off my chest. Some people, really.

It didn’t help matters much when we arrived in lower Haight and couldn’t find parking. That’s the thing I hate the most about San Francisco, the lack of parking. Sure, we could’ve taken the train and maybe the buses but we choose not to. As a result, we’re driving around the neighborhood looking for a spot. Thankfully we were able to find a spot about a block away.

In the end, it was all worth it. When we go in Toronado, the first person we saw was Nicole from The Trappist. She quickly informed us that 12 was almost sold out. I made it a point to pick up a pair of bottles while placing our order. It took us a few minutes but at least we got our bottles. Toronado, unsurprisingly, was full but not so much so that you couldn’t get around. I order Firestone Walker’s Big Opal wheat wine to start off while Sammy orders Two Rivers’ organic Pomegranate cider. I’ll list the beers we had and my notes in a little bit.

Surveying the area, we see a lot of familiar faces. As I mentioned before, there was Nicole from The Trappist, Sean Paxton the Homebrew Chef and his father Zane, Rob from Pfiff, The Thirsty Hopster herself, Jessica and her “boss”, Firestone Walker brewmaster Matt Brynildson.

Shame on me for not noticing who Matt was earlier but even if I did, I don’t want to come off as some fanboy who’s all up on his nutsack. I got a chance to talk to Matt for a pretty good amount of time. Maybe it was a good thing that I didn’t know who he was as I was able to just chat the dude up. Matt is a really down-to-earth kind of guy. I found him supremely easy to talk to and friendly. What I found really surprising was that he was just kind of hanging out. Matt is a very accomplished brewer, his Pale 31 won Bronze at this year’s GABF while the Mission Street Pale Ale Firestone Walker brews for Trader Joe’s won Gold in the same category. His Union Jack IPA ended up taking Gold in the IPA category as well. With a resumé like that, you’d expect him to have quite a following.

When compared to Sam Calagione from Dogfish Head brewing, it’s like night and day. Sam is very much a rock star in the brewing world. It seems that he loves the attention and the spotlight. Good thing he is charismatic enough to be able to own his well deserved fame. Trying to talk to Sam during the Dogfish Head unveiling at Toronado proved to be a big more difficult as he was always surrounded by people. Granted, I found Sam to be an excellent host, friendly with a great memory but I could never really connect with him. I’m not saying that Matt and I are now best friends forever or anything but it was nice to have had a conversation with the guy.

In addition to meeting up with some “industry” people, it was good to talk to some of the “locals” as well. Sammy was having an interesting conversation with Todd, who happened to be sitting next to her at the bar. I ended up chatting up with Felice and Michael, a pair of Jessica’s friends. All three were great people to talk to and have actual conversations with. That’s what I love about beer, it brings people together.

Anyway, the experience was great and I am glad I made the effort to come out. The beers (which I’ll be getting to) were good and the company great. Sammy and I finished the night off at Memphis Minnies, a BBQ joint across the street from Toronado. We split a sampler plate consisting of (on the bone) ribs, sweet-smoked pulled pork, brisket, fries and sweet potatoes as our sides. Not sure if it was the beer talking or not but that was some good eats. With Memphis Minnies about to close, we bagged the rest so I could have some lunch tomorrow/later.

Here are the drinks we had with my notes:

• Firestone Walker Big Opal, wheat wine, 11% ABV - As the name would imply, Big Opal is a big beer. Weighing in at 9.5%, this is an unfiltered wheat beer made with premium two-row malted barley, wheat, torrified wheat, honey malt, honey and 100% Saaz hops. The resultant beer has a sweet aroma reminiscent of honey and creamed wheat with a white peppery spiciness and noticeable alcohol character. The honey aromas are most likely from the honey malt and not the honey as fermented honey tends to loose a lot of its aromas. This beer is full bodied with medium-low/medium level of carbonation. The flavor is sweet, like syrup with huge wheat character, hints of cinnamon and a peppery finish. This beer reminds me of a maibock on steriods.
• Firestone Walker Velvet Merkin - I feel both frustrated and honored to cover this beer. I’ve been trying to find more information about this beer but it’s been scarce. Not even Firestone Walker’s website has any information and for good reason: they’ve stopped brewing it. Here’s what I can tell you: this is an oak-aged oatmeal stout, somewhere in the 5-6% ABV range. In the dim lighting of Toronado, this beer appears dark, opaque. I’m picking up some roasted malt aromas, some bittersweet chocolate notes, some coffee and even vanilla? The flavor of the beer is fantastic. My mouth is enveloped in a rich, creamy, velvety blanket of roasted malt and coffee flavors with strong hints of chocoate and slight oaky undertones. This beer is medium bodied but low/medium-low in carbonation. This beer is on hand pump only and the creamy and velvety texture hides the fact it has a low level of carbonation. This is what Guinness tries to do with their stout on nitro but it’s hard to compete with the real thing. Another interesting thing about the name. I’m sure by now that the “velvet” part of the name comes from it’s texture. The “merkin” part is a bit more infamous. Despite what you may think it is, a merkin is actually a Victorian-age pubic wig. That’s right. Pubic. Wig. I’ll let you absorb that for a moment. Prostitutes used to shave their va-jay-jays clean when they’d get pubic lice. Unfortunately for them, being “so fresh and so clean” was a big turn-off back in the day. In order to get their customers back, they had to resort to the use of pubic wigs. Soo lucky for me this beer doesn’t taste like pube… not that I’d know what pube taste like or anything. Moving on…
• Ommegang Rouge, Flemish Sour Red Ale, 5.5% ABV - This is another beer I was having trouble finding information on. It’s not on the Ommegang website but I was able to find tidbits here and there. What I am able to tell you is that this isn’t a pure Ommegang beer, it’s a collaboration between Brewery Ommegang and Brouwerij Bockor of Belgium. “Authentically Belgian”, this beer was the result of spontanous fermentation and 18 months of oak aging. It’s hard to tell what this beer really looks like. Toronado is a horrible place for lighting (then again, full lights means it’s time to go home). The aroma has a noticeable, lactic sourness, more tart than anything. It’s somewhat representational of pickle juice but I think it’s a little bit like ketchup. I also pick up slight brettanomyces funk in this beer. The flavor is mouthwateringly tart, the lactic sourness permeates through all facets. I’m having trouble picking up any of the rich, dark fruit flavors and melanoidic qualities of this beer. Maybe my palette is fatigued, not sure. If you’ve had a bottle of Duchess de Bourgogne or Monk’s Kettle Flemish Red Ale, and you liked it, this beer is definitely for you. My one complaint about this beer, rather this style of beer, is the lack of consistency. The very first bottle of Duchess de Bourgogne I ever tasted was absolutely sublime. Now, it seems like I’m chasing a dream. While very in line with many of the sour beers I’ve tried in the past, I can’t help but miss that very first bottle of Flemish Red Ale with it’s complex malt character and tart finish. Still, this is by no means a bad beer, it’s very good actually. I was just looking for a little bit more.

A few weeks ago, Sammy and I were in Windsor for the long weekend. While up there, I made plans to meet up with Mario from Brewed for Thought to hang out and drink some beers. I initially wanted to do a pub crawl of downtown Santa Rosa with one of the “locals” but instead, we were treated to a very chill, and relaxing kölsch tasting at Mario’s place.

While I initially wondered why Mario decided to do a kölsch tasting, all those thoughts burned off along with the warm Santa Rosa afternoon. Kölschs ended being the best thing to drink that afternoon after all.

Well, what is a kölsch anyway? According to the BJCP style guidelines, a kölsch is:

Kölsch is an appellation protected by the Kölsch Konvention, and is restricted to the 20 or so breweries in and around Cologne (Köln). The Konvention simply defines the beer as a “light, highly attenuated, hop-accentuated, clear top-fermenting Vollbier.”

Expanded further, it is one of the lightest ales you will ever have, when brewed correctly. The strength of the kölsch style isn’t that it’s a big beer, ham-fisted in all ways. Instead, a good kölsch is all about subtlties. The aroma should be light with only the slightest of hint of fruity esters. This is a brilliantly clear beer, pale to light gold in color with a white head. The flavors should showcase a soft, fully attenuated malt characteristic with very, very slight fruit characteristics. This is a balanced beer in which neither the malt nor hops dominate. The beer should finish smooth and crisp, medium-light in body and medium/medium-high in carbonation. If this beer sounds like a lager, it often gets confused for one.

Now that I’ve familiarized you with the kölsch style of beer, let’s get with the three beers in review.

Reissdorf Kölsch, 4.80% ABV

According to the BJCP Guidelines for this style, Reissdorf is a classic example of a beer brewed in this style. In the past, I would’ve just overlooked lager-looking beers like this and moved onto more robust ales. Since passing my BJCP test, I have become more open to trying all the different kinds of beer.

This beer pours a brilliantly clear, light gold with white head. The aroma is clean with subtle amounts of sweet malt, spicy hop and fruit esters. Despite the subtlety of the aroma, this is a flavorful beer. I can taste the pils malt sweetness and a slight fruit character that reminds me of pear with a moderate level of hop flavor and bitterness with a slightly dry finish. This is a medium-low bodied beer with a medium-high level of carbonation that lends this beer and spritzy and effervescent quality.

Alaskan Summer Ale, 5.3% ABV

I’ve actually already had this beer. In fact, I’ve featured it in one of my beer and food pairing menus. As it is with those events, I never have enough time to do a formal tasting while planning the menu. This particular pairing was well received.

The Alaskan Summer Ale pours out a crystal clear gold with white head. The aroma is sweet malt, spicy hop and some fruit esters; very similar to the Reissdorf. The flavor is more of the same. I am able to taste the sweetness of the pils malt and flavor and bitterness of both the European and American hops. This beer is medium/medium-low in body with medium-high/high level of carbonation that is tingly on the tongue and effervescent overall.

While this beer’s description may echo the Reissdorf, rest assured they are not the same beer. Both beers have a very similar flavor profile. By contrast, the Alaskan is just more malt flavor and aroma, has more hop characteristics and more fruity esters. Where the Reissdorf was all restraint and subtleties, the Alaskan “let’s it hair down”. Of course, coming from an American brewery, more of everything is to be expected, even from a style based on subtleties. Not a bad beer by any stretch of the imagination, in fact it’s one of my new favorites.

Drakes Blonde Ale, 4.8% ABV

I am a little perplexed why Mario included this into the kölsch tasting. The Blonde Ale is a category unto itself according to the BJCP style guidelines. Yet, according to  Drakes website, this beer is brewed as a kölsch-style ale. Go figure. Working in marketing, I could never understand why you’d want to mis-label something.

Anyway, this beer pours out clear, a slightly pale gold in color with a white head. The aroma smells a bit off with this beer. All the kölsch characteristics are there but there is a minerally aroma that permeates and even dominates the rest. This continues well into the flavor. The blonde is medium-low in body but high in carbonation. Really high. That’s when it hits me that the off-flavor I’m tasting is the carbonation. This beer is overly carbonated and I can’t help but think I’m drinking carbonated water. I’ve never had this beer prior so I have nothing to compare against.

As my initial exposure to Drakes line of beers, it’s a disappointment. Still, I won’t let one bum beer stop me from sampling more. I’m hoping it’s an isolated case but we’ll see.

Big thanks to Mario for inviting me over and letting me sit in on this tasting. While it’s very nice to be able to taste a range of beers, I find that you really understand the what a beer style is supposed to be when you do a horizontal tasting like this and compare the same style beers as brewed by different companies. I think I’ll be doing more of these for different styles myself.

This is pretty exciting news. The west coast is already known for the quality of its craft beers but it’s nice to see the “Yay Area” getting some props. While nothing is set in stone just yet, SF Beer Week will be anchored by the Bistro’s Double IPA Festival and Toronado’s Barleywine Festival with approximately 150 beer-related events happening in-between.

We’ve signed up to receive any additional information as it comes along but we plan on trying to bring some of SF Beer Week down to the South Bay. I’m hoping to be able to put an event or two together here in San Jose. I’ll keep you all posted as to how our efforts work out.

Fellow Bay Area Beer Blogger Rob of Pfiff! held a beer and food pairing event this past Sunday aptly titled, “The New American Mavericks” showcasing some of the best of the “American wild ale” style. To explain further, I’ll take the opening paragraph from his menu:

As a style, “American wild ale” loosely assembles top-fermenting beers that have been purposefully introduced to fermenting agents beyond the typical assortment of beer yeasts, sometimes replacing them altogether. Strains of wild yeasts such as Brettanomyces, along with the lactic acid-producing bacteria such as Lactobacillus and Pediococcus, which are normally considered contaminants in beer- and wine-making circles, are employed to deliver unique sensory profiles by brewers who are willing to take risks as to both the unpredictability of the results and the perception of the public. Because while the difficulty of controlling the effects of these unorthodox, usually unwelcome microbes is enough of a dauting challenge, getting people to push their preconceptions aside about these strange elixirs is another matter.”

Possibly to sum everything up in a less eloquent manner, “These ain’t your daddy’s beers”.

Having put on a few beer and food pairing events myself, I was very interested to see my own events would compare and contrast to Rob’s. I was also curious to see how the beer and food pairings went but most importantly, I wanted to try some good beers.

Here are my quick notes on a course by course basis. I must say that some of my notes are better than others while some are downright sketchy and unhelpful. Here they are anyway:

• Beer: “Reserve Signature Ale”, De Proef Brouwerij, Lochristi-Hijfte, Belgium, 8.5% ABV
  Food: Hefeweizen steamed green-lipped mussels
  Notes: The beer reminded me of Reinaert Flemish Wild Ale, only lighter in aroma and flavor. There was a noticeable Brett character (barnyard, horse-blanket) that was tempered with sweet malt aromas and flavors with a slight spiciness followed by citrus notes. This beer also had a very interesting hop bill that included Amarillo, UK Phoenix, and German Brewer’s Gold varieties. I thought this beer paired very well with the mussels as the citrus notes of the beer were complimentary to the hefeweizen the mussels were steamed in while the spiciness of the beer played well with the rich, buttery flavors of the sauce. Whatever gaminess the mussels had was matched by the Brett character of the beer.
• Beer: “Ommegeddon, Brewery Ommegang, Cooperstown, NY, 8.0% ABV
  Food: Arina goat gouda and roadside apples, drizzled with truffle honey
  Notes: Ommegeddon, when compared with the Reserve Signature Ale that came before it, had a more assertive Brett aroma, meaning more of those barnyardy smells. The “roadside” apples looked much like the apples in my own backyard, which I believe are Gravensteins. This was another successful pairing in that the dish seemed to echo a lot of what Belgian ales are known for. There are the ester, or fruity, characteristics that are often apple or pear-like while the truffle honey harmonizes with the slight honey notes Belgian ales are known to have. Lastly, the flavors of the gouda complimented the Brett characters in the beer.
• Beer: “Fifteen”, Avery Brewing Company, Boulder, CO, 7.7% ABV
  Food: Turkish figs under a dollop of mascarpone with orange zest.
  Notes: This beer was fermented with 100% Brettanomyces, so all that Brett character was in full effect. Of course, there were the barnyardish character, slight spiciness in both aroma and flavor plus I noticed a slight tartness in the aroma and flavor. This beer was brewed with black mission figs, hibiscus flowers and white pepper. With that in mind, a fig dish seemed to be a very appropriate and harmonious pairing. The mascarpone added a nice change in texture and complimented the flavors of the beer while the orange zest proved to be the element that tied both the beer and the food together.
• Beer: “Interlude”, De Proef Brouwerij, Lochristi-Hijfte, Belgium 9.5% ABV
  Food: Fra’ Mani salame Nostrano and Gentile
  Notes: The strongest beer so far, this beer surprised me with how much it resembled a red wine. There were the woodsy oak aromas and flavors and the alcohol notes. I sense a slight tartness and the more obvious Brett characteristics. I am not sure what “Nostrano and Gentile” is but I definitely recognized the salame on the table. The salami itself was very full-flavored, with much of that coming from the noticeable chunks of flavor also known as fat. In order to cut through those fats, you need a beer that is either highly carbonated or high in alcohol. Luckily, this beer was both and as such, it was a successful pairing.
• Beer: “Temptation”, Russian River Brewing Company, Santa Rosa, CA, 7.3% ABV
  Food: Cypress Grove’s “Humboldt Fog” cheese on toasted sour wheat bread.
  Notes: As with all of the beers we had at this event, evident Brett character. This beer was tart, in a cidery sort of way. The pairing for this beer was suggested by the Russian River brewmaster Vinnie Cilurzo himself. This was probably the best pairing so far in the sense that the beer and the cheese complimented each other perfectly. When one ended, the other began and soon you were having cheese, then beer, then cheese and it all melded together. Nice.
• Beer: “Oro de Calabaza”, Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales, Dexter MI, 8.0% ABV
  Food: Garden plucked Fairfax baby greens, tarragon and grapes in a simple vinaigrette.
  Notes: Not sure if you’ve been paying attention but the beers we’ve been trying have all been above 7% ABV. This is not a tasting for the light of liver. As a result, my notes get progressively worse as the event goes on. My notes for this beer simply say, “Some Brett…oak casks…alcohol notes…grapefruit?” I felt that this pairing may have been the least successful in that the tarragon overwhelmed the salad in my opinion. For those who don’t really know the flavor of tarragon, it’s like black licorice. I don’t really like black licorice but that didn’t stop me from trying to like this dish. In the end, because I don’t like black licorice, that’s the flavor that stuck with me the most.
• Beer: “Supplication”, Russian River Brewing Company, Santa Rosa, CA, 7.0% ABV
  Food: Shredded pork “carnitas” accented with a red wine vinegar and cherry gastrique.
  Notes: Funny. As the notes on beer gets progressively worse the memories of the food remain relatively sharp. Still, by this point, we’re all feeling pretty good and note-taking is the last thing on my mind. The tartness of the beer is what is initially noticeable in the aroma but the sourness isn’t that long lasting, It’s very refreshing, actually. There’s a lot of fruit going on, some citrus notes and even a hints of vanilla and honey. The carnitas, by themselves, weren’t traditionally flavored and seemed to be more of a vehicle for he red wine vinegar and cherries. The red wine vinegar and cherries served to tie the two together as the red wine echos the tartness of the beer and the cherries may be found in some of the fruit esters from the beer.
• Beer: “La Roja”, Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales, Dexter MI, 7.2% ABV
  Food: Wild plum and almond tart with a pinot noir cranberry glaze.
  Notes: I remember the tart much more than I do the beer. As the name implies, the tart was tart, yet sweet and oh-so-buttery-good. Rob’s wife Des baked this herself and it was really tastey. Taking the time to re-read what I’ve written so far, I’m coming to the conclusion that I may be more foodie than beer lover and that I’m just using this blog to justify indulging myself in good food accompanied by good beers.

So much for quick notes, eh? As with many other beer events, Sammy and I met a lot of interesting people. There were the Daves (one does beer and cheese pairings while the other is the buying manager for Healthy Spirits). Jessica from the Thirsty Hopster was in attendance and we met Jesse, a friend of Des visiting from New York.

While my notes were crap, none of the beer were. In fact, all the beers were of such high quality that it seemed a distraction to attempt to take good notes. The time I spent writing things down I could’ve spent engaged in good conversation or by having another sampling of beer.

With the exception of Jesse and maybe Alex, this was definitely an advanced beer crowd. I noticed a lot of name dropping of the different beers and vintages people have tried. On one hand, it’s nice to hear about all these different beers. It gives me something to shoot for, things to add on my “to drink” list. On the other hand, hearing all this talk and all these names being dropped can be intimidating to an outsider. It can be alienating, really.

When I think about the beer and food events I host, I immediately notice a vast difference in crowds. The people who come to my events tend to be mainly beer neophytes. They only know what they see at their local bars or what they see on TV and in San Jose, and that isn’t very much. The crowd at Rob’s could appreciate the complexities, nuance, subtleties or overtness of the beers we tried. Had I served these to some of the guests that have attended my pairings, I’d never see them again. Whereas this event was “preaching to the choir”, the events I’ve done to date could be considered more like “missionary” work.

While the $30 seemed a bit steep, the quality of the beers more than justified the cost. In reality, if you look at the caliber of beers we had and the number of them, $30 is a value. Some of the beers we had were vintages from years past taken from Rob’s private stash, with some nearing the 4-year old mark! Talk about patience!

Overall, this was a very good event with very good people. Had there been beer newbies, this may not have been as successful as all this good beer may have been lost on a young palette. Anyway, I’m looking forward to the next event and I’ll end this post with more quick notes on two “special” beers that some guests brought to the event.

• Angel’s Share by Lost Abbey - Exquisite beer. World-class by all definitions. A complex malt melody of dark chocolate, dark fruit notes, caramel, toffee, and even vanilla. Aged in bourbon barrels, the bourbon flavors are there as well. Definitely a “must-buy” and must buy in quantity.

• The Abyss by Deschutes Brewery - An incredible complex Russian Imperial Stout. Roasty, smooth, with molasses, chocolate flavors and hints anise and black licorice. Sure, I’m not a fan of black licorice but this beer had just the right proportion of that flavor that I didn’t mind. I was surprised to find it but it added to the experience instead of taking it away.

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.

It all started off innocently enough. I sent and email to JJ, aka TheThirstyHopster, to see if she wanted to meet up in Boonville as I knew she was going to be there. She wrote a post about it, I wrote a post about it, soon, others had joined the meet-up. Altogether, there were the four of us, with Jay (Hedonist Beer Jive) and Jay (Brookston Beer Bulletin) who met at Boonville. The meeting was pretty short with us just putting faces to the names. Jay Brooks made a passing remark about a gathering of “Bay Area Beer Bloggers” and next thing I knew, we’re group.

Jay Brooks took the initiative and made a passing remark unto reality. He even designed the nifty, little BABB logo on the right hand side. Clicking on it will take you to our “base of operations“. The criteria for membership is pretty simple: write a blog about beer and live in the greater San Francisco bay area. We even have a Google Group set up thanks to JJ. Currently, there are 14 blogs listed on the BABB page.

It feels good to be part of something greater than yourself. In a way, I feel like a founding member of the Avengers or Justice League. I have the feeling I am more “Irredeemable Ant-man” than “Invincible Iron Man“. At this point, it doesn’t matter as once a “founding member”, always a “founding member”.

Personally, I find all of this really cool. When I first started my blog, it was mainly to keep track of all the beer related activities that I took part in. Everything from reviewing beers, to the festivals, to my own adventures in homebrewing I wrote about. For months I toiled in relative obscurity.

At that time, I never could’ve dreamed of all the things this blog as been able to give me. I have been to places I never been (or heard of in some instances), experienced some really cool things and, most importantly, got to meet some really cool people. Like my fellow BABBers.

I am looking forward to meeting the rest of the BABBers in an “inaugural event”. It could be as simple as hitting up a bar to throw back a couple of cold ones or as complex as holding an event just for us. Whatever the case, I look forward to seeing what we can accomplish together.