Better Beer Blog

Firkin Gravity Festival 2008 Click to view gallery

The Firkin Gravity Festival was held at Triple Rock Brewery in Berkeley. Featuring 28 participating breweries, this was one of the more unique festivals I’ve ever heard of for a number of reasons.

Firstly, all the beers were served from a firkin (which is approximately 10.8 gallons). You just don’t see too many firkins lying around. Plus, it’s a fun word to say. Second, these beers were allowed to undergo a secondary fermentation in the firkins making them essentially real ales. This is essentially a more historic way of serving beer. Sure the beers are less carbonated than what one would normally be used to at a bar (some beers are even still) but it’s a different experience. Third, unlike other beer festivals, Triple Rock had a doorman monitoring the amount of people in their brewpub. This meant having to wait in line until the doorman felt it was okay to let you in. Sure, this was a pain in the ass at first but once you got in, you appreciated how much room you had to move around.

Of the 28 or so breweries participating, we were able to sample the following:

• Lagunitas Maximus Double IPA
• Lodi Brown Ale (This ended up being my favorite of the day with it’s complex, sweet malt flavors)
• Pizza Port Imperial Red
• Moylans Ryan Sullivan Imperial Stout (Aged for 13 months)
• Bison Barleywine (the hop aroma reminded me of hops’ more infamous THC laiden cousin. Sammy’s favorite of the day)
• Speakeasy Hunters Point Porter (Aged with bourbon oak chips. I remember being able to taste the wood. It had an astringent mouthfeel that left my mouth feeling like I had just sucked on a cotton ball. Very interesting beer.)
• Rubicon Maggie Brown DH
• Linden Street California Common (Though the color of this beer was on the light side of the acceptable spectrum, if not lighter. Much different than an Anchor Steam beer this style was patterned after)
• English Ales Black Prince Porter
• Bear Republic Rebellion Ale (very enjoyable beer, good drinkability for those who like hoppy beers)
• Sierra Nevada Torpedo IPA (What I remember most about this beer was how much the aroma reminded me of beers I’ve brewed in the past)
• Thirsty Bear Kosovo Vanilla Stout (They had about 30 vanilla pods in the firkin)
• Drakes Firkinwine (Sammy didn’t like this as much as the Bison and this one is the one that got me drunk)

All in all, I wish we had brought more cash than what we did. The wife and I basically bought one tasting glass (primarily because we didn’t have enough cash). She would sip a sample here and there but the lion’s share of the beer went to me. This was a shame as between the two of us, we could’ve covered most of the beers there. Also, their garlic fries smelled really appetizing.

Not even having been to Triple Rock, I soaked in the atmosphere of the place. It’s relatively small (when compared to Gordon Biersch–San Jose) but bigger than Toronado. Also, Triple Rock has a roof top deck that many people were able to take advantage of, including us. Alex (from my BJCP class) was there as were the Beer by Bart people (also from my class).

The one person I was expecting to see but didn’t was Brandon (who we met at the Double IPA festival). This festival was in his neck of the woods and I remember him saying that we’d see him and his father at Firkin. It wasn’t until we were leaving that we ran into Brandon. Turns out he was just being let into the festival as we were being let out. We chatted very briefly. In hindsight, I wish I had emailed him what time we were going to be there. We’ll just catch up with him next time.

All in all, a very good festival with a lot of interesting beers. I’m glad we made the trek up and good times were had by all. We would’ve taken more pictures but Sammy left the bigger memory card at home. There’ll always be next year.

It’s spring and the beer festival season is in full swing. There are a lot of good festivals coming up, but unfortunately, they’re nowhere near San Jose. Hopefully that’ll change soon. Until then, here’s what’s coming up.

5th Annual Firkin Gravity Festival - This is coming up this weekend! This festival is interesting in a number of ways but the most interesting is that all the beers are cask-conditioned. In addition, this festival will benefit the Alisa Anne Rusch Burn Foundation which supports burn victims and their families. So feel good about all the beer you’ll be drinking because it’ll help a good cause. Here are the details:

• $20 Admission (Tasting glass, 5 drink tickets, 1 wooden ticket for a full pour)
• April 5, 2008, 11am - 6pm-ish
• Triple Rock Brewery and Alehouse, 1920 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, CA

Hop Rhizome Beer Festival - This festival will be at The Bistro in Hayward. Hop rhizomes are basically hop roots. They’ll have a bunch for sale as well as hoppy beers on tap and BBQ all day. Can’t complain too much about that. This is one I’ll definitely be at just to pick up a few more rhizomes to plant in my backyard. If I’m lucky, I’ll be able to brew a “harvest ale” this fall. Here are the details:

• As far as I know, free
• April 12, 2008, starts 11am
• The Bistro, 1001 B Avenue, Hayward, CA 94541

Five Guys and a Barrel - Beer and Food event featuring Russian River, Port Brewing, Avery, Allagash and Dogfish Head, hosted by the beer chef Bruce Patton. The wife and I really wanted to go to this but as far as beer events go, this one is very pricey. Here are the detaisl:

• $95/person, SOLD OUT
• April 20, 2008, 6:30pm reception, 7:30pm dinner
• The Cathedral Hill Hotel, 1101 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94109

San Francisco International Beer Festival - This a huge event. There are over 300 beers from all over the world as well as approximately 19 local food providers. It’s a bit pricey but it’s all-you-can-drink. Also, it’s a relatively short time frame. Here are the details:

• $60, unlimited beer tastings SOLD OUT
• April 26, 2008, 7pm to 10pm
• Fort Mason Center, you can get directions here.

12th Annual Boonville Beer Festival - San Jose should take a page out of Boonville’s book (and Fairfax’s as well). In my opinion, one of the best ways to bring tourism to your city or town is to hold a kick-ass beer festival. It’s year 12 and they’re still going on strong! One admission price, unlimited beer tastings and camping available.

• $35 advanced sale, $50 at the gate, unlimited tastings
• May 10, 2008, 1pm to 5pm
• Mendocino County Fairgrounds, 14400 Hwy. 128, Boonville, CA

Westcoast Brewfest 2008 - Thanks to BetterBeerBlog friend Brandon for this tip. If you’re from or close to Sacramento, this is the beer festival for you. I just checked their list of participating breweries from last year and it is quite the impressive list with many brewers from out of state and a number from Germany, Czech Republic, Poland and England. I wasn’t planning on going to this one because of how far Sacramento is but if the same brewers are going to show up, I think I’ll make the effort.

• $30 available starting April 15. 3000 tickets available for sale only
• May 17, 2008, 1pm to 5pm
• Miller Park, 2790 Marina View Drive, Sacramento, CA

These are the beer festival and events that I know of. If you know of any more, don’t hesitate to shoot me an email and I’ll gladly put it on the list. It’s hard to keep track of them all, let alone find them all.

What a February to remember! Between Strong Beer Month put on by Magnolia Brew Pub and 21st Amendment, the Double IPA festival at The Bistro, Celebrator’s 20th Anniversary Beerapalooza party and Toronado’s Barley Wine festival there was a lot going on in the Bay Area beer scene. Lucky for me, I was able to make it to a few of these events and I got to taste a lot of beers I normally wouldn’t have access to. In addition, I got to meet a bunch of really cool people at these events.

Even more fortuitous, the beer festival season looks like it’s about to heat up. Thanks to Brandon, who I met over at The Bistro, he filled me in on a couple of beer festival/events coming up in the following months. Here’s a quick list:

• Slow Beer Festival - Despite what the name says, the beer isn’t at all slow. The “slow” refers to the slow food movement that is basically anti-fast food. You can purchase tickets by clicking here where you’ll be taken to the Brown Paper Tickets website. There will be 8 San Francisco breweries participating as well as an equal number of San Francisco Artisanal Slow Food Producers. The wife and I are planning to go for her birthday. Here are the details:

When: Saturday, March 1st Noon-4:00pm
Where: County Fair Building (Lincoln Way and 9th Ave.) Golden Gate Park
Cost: $50 includes beer tasting and local artisan foods / $75 VIP ticket-includes Goodie Bag and tour of one the local breweries.

• 13th Annual Fairfax Brewfest - The link is sparce, at best, with information about this event. They supposedly have 15 craft and micro breweries lined up to participate but I haven’t been able to get a concrete list. If last year’s list of participants is any indicator for this year’s, then it should be a good one! Here are the details for this year:

Saturday, March 15 1:00p to 5:00p at Fairfax Pavilion, Fairfax, CA
Price: $20.00 advance, $25.00 at door
Phone: (415) 453-5928
Web: Event Web Site

• Firkin Gravity Festival - Triple Rock Brewery in Berkeley will be hosting this event. Too bad at the time of this post, their website doesn’t have the updated information. Basically, is a “real ale” event where all the beers available are cask conditioned. Be warned, a cask conditioned beer is much different than your average beer in many ways and is not for everyone. If you don’t go, that just means more beer for me! (A firkin is essentially a unit of measurement for beer and ales equivalent to about 1/4th of a full barrel.) Here are the details:

5th Annual Bay Area Firkin Gravity Festival
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Triple Rock Brewery, 1920 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley, CA
$25 admission

There are a few more festivals coming up but they’re still a few months away. I’ll post those as we get closer. Lastly, BetterBeerBlog.com’s very own Malternative: Beer & Dessert food pairing event is coming up on February 29, 2008. If you’re interested in coming, shoot me an email and I’ll put you on the list. Thanks again to Brandon for hooking me up with these upcoming beer festivals.