BetterBeerBlog

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rinse. Lather Repeat… times 12.5 BBLs of beer.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Several sources have reported yesterday that Heineken is purchasing/has purchased Mexican brewery FEMSA (Fomento Económico Mexicano, S.A.B. de C.V.) for approximately $7.34B (as in Billion). This deal closely mimics similar deals such as Miller Brewing’s sale to South African Breweries for $3.6B and, more recently, last year’s sale of Anheuser-Busch to Belgian brewing company InBev for $52B.

This deal was less about acquiring “highly coveted” Mexican beer brands than it was about profitability and distribution. Latin America is one of the fastest growing regions in the world and this merger gives Heineken inroads to that market. Not to be given the short end of the stick FEMSA has acquired a 20% ownership stake in Heineken, instantly become one of their biggest shareholders.

If you want further details, you can check out this article from the N.Y. Times or straight from the horse’s mouth with this press release from FEMSA.

So the big question is: Does anyone care?

I have never been the biggest fan of Heineken. Their insistence to continue using green bottles has effectively ruined any chance that I’ll get to try any of their beers sans skunk. I’ve had a few canned versions that weren’t half bad but that’s about it.

FEMSA brands aren’t much better. Carta Blanca, Tecate, Dos Equis, Bohemia, Sol… the beers these breweries make are almost interchangeable.

It’s business as usual for the macro breweries. Increased profitability continues to underscore much of the publicized news of the macros. Is that so bad, really? At the end of the day, the business of brewing beer is still a business. Their employees are just like you and me with families to feed and mortgages to pay. Should we demonize the brewery that spills more beer in a week than our favorite craft breweries make all year?

It seems that macro breweries are merging on a yearly basis. At this rate, how much longer before “competition” is extinguished by the suffocating size of one, giant brewing zaibatsu? Will our favorite craft breweries be bought out of existence or priced out of the game as Macrosoft Brewing Company produces beer so cheaply craft breweries can’t compete? Even though many of our households are 100% craft beer, I keep forgetting that craft beer sales only make up 4% by volume (as of 12/08).

If you’re on this site, it’s because you’re a fan of craft beer. We enjoy beer with flavor, character and variety. It would not be a stretch to say that our promiscuous drinking habits encourage diversity in the craft beer industry.

That being said, help the “little guys” out. Buy beer from your local breweries or brew pubs. Buy craft beer. Click here for the SAB Miller portfolio of brands, or here for the Anheuser- Busch InBev portfolio. Some names may surprise you.

Stone to open a Brewery in Europe? from stonebrew on Vimeo.

Cutting directly to the chase, Stone is considering opening up a brewery in Europe. At this point, a formal decision has not been made as to whether or not they will but they are beginning to explore all avenues to making this happen.

The impetus for starting a project of this magnitude came from the numerous inquiries from European Stone fans who have asked for their beers. With a firm commitment to quality, Stone has decided they’d rather ship kegs all the way to Europe where a number of things might happen to lower the quality of their beers. So now they’re putting out a RFP (Request for Proposal) and trying to see what options are available to them.

I find the whole idea of an American craft brewery expanding to meet a global demand fascinating. Stone is inviting us along on this journey, it’ll be interesting to see how this all turns out, if it turns out at all. Although a part of me wonders if Stone will end up like the macro breweries they’ve rallied against in the past. They may not yet equal the brewing capacity of an InBud (InBev/Anheuser-Busch) but Stone already has great distribution domestically. Opening up a brewery in Europe would satisfy European demand for their product but it would also be a foothold in which they can expand their distribution lines enabling them to push some of the other craft beer brands they distribute to an international audience.

Regardless, if they can make this work, it’s great for buzz and business. Take a look at me for instance, Stone has essentially put out a press release talking about nothing of any substance… and I’ve written a blog post about it. Hook, line and sinker. You’d think that with the sway and leverage they have in the craft beer world they’d be able to convince BevMo of not putting their beers on an end cap facing the afternoon sun.

Link to the Press Release.

Firestone Walker just released their Quercus Alba Thirteen (XIII). XIII is their fourth barrel aged beer release and, as the name would strongly suggest, it is their thirteenth anniversary beer. Firestone Walker’s barrel cellar topped off at 120 but only 53 of those barrels were used to make XIII. Here is a very quick breakdown of XIII’s components:

• 39% - Parabola, Russian Imperial Oatmeal Stout aged in bourbon barrels, 13% ABV
• 24% - Bravo, Imperial Brown Ale aged in bourbon (50%) and brandy (50%) barrels, 11% ABV
• 15% - Velvet Merkin, Traditional Oatmeal Stout aged in bourbon barrels, 6% ABV
• 6% - Opal, wheat wine aged in rye barrels, 11% ABV
• 6% - Rufus, Continental Imperial Amber Ale aged in rye barrels, 11% ABV
• 6% - Double Double Barrel Ale, Double English Pale Ale aged in retired Firestone Walker union barrels, 10.9% ABV
• 4% - Saucerful of Secrets, Belgian Strong Ale aged in bourbon barrels, 9% ABV

For a complete picture of XIII’s components, download a .pdf of Firestone Walker Brewmaster Matt Brynildson’s notes here.

Here’s a video of Matt talking about XIII from YouTube:

Last year, Sammy and I drove up to Toronado in San Francisco for the Quercus Alba XII release party. We missed it this year because it happened to fall on the same night as my Mom’s birthday. To make up for it, we decided to take the short drive up to Palo Alto where Rose and Crown was selling it for $28/bottle. Joining us were BJCP Grandmaster-level judge John Watson, Jen and Joey from Wet Your Whistles, Travis, Dean (510 Brewing) and their wives as well as homebrewer Jeff. I had no idea so many people were going to show up at R&C but it’s all good as there’s nothing like having good beer with good people.

So what about the beer?

Firestone Walker, Quercus Alba XIII, 12% ABV

Firestone Walker XIII poured a very dark brown, almost black color with a brown head. I picked up lots of oaky aromas initially followed by toasted coconut, some vanilla, a slight deep roasted malt notes and dark fruit character. The flavor is very similar; XIII has a malt sweetness that is like a deep, nearly burnt caramel with some roasted malt notes. I picked up some toasted coconut, vanilla while the dark fruit came through more in the flavor. This is a complex beer that seemed to get better as it warmed. XIII has a medium level of carbonation and is full bodied, with a light syrup viscosity and warming alcohol quality. This beer weighs in at 12% ABV. What a great tasting, layered beer.

As if XIII wasn’t enough of an experimental beer, Rose & Crown also had the Sierra Nevada/Dogfish Head collaboration beers Life & Limb/Limb & Life on tap as well. The story of Life & Limb is an interesting one. Instead of paraphrasing it, let me just copy it directly from their website:

Life & Limb is a collaborative effort, the brainchild of Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. and Dogfish Head Craft Brewery. Life & Limb is a 10% ABV strong, dark beer that defies style characteristics- brewed with pure maple syrup from the Calagione family farm in Massachusetts and estate barley grown on the Grossman “farm” at the brewery in Chico, CA. The beer is alive with yeast-a blend of both breweries’ house strains-bottle conditioned for added complexity and shelf life, and naturally carbonated with birch syrup fresh from Alaska.

Collaborative beers seem to be the beer du jour nowadays and it’s great to see a craft beer trailblazer like Sierra Nevada teaming up with a leading edge brewery like Dogfish Head. In a way it feels like a passing of the torch moment but Sierra Nevada is still going strong releasing well made and interesting beers like Torpedo and Kellerweis.

Limb & Life is the other side of the coin. This is a “small” beer made from the second runnings of Life & Limb. Once again, copy and paste to the rescue:

Limb & Life is a ’small’ beer, made from the second runnings of the larger brew, Life & Limb. Limb & Life has a roasted malt flavor reminiscent of dark roasted coffee and toasted bread, combined with a pronounced hoppiness from the use of bold and aromatic American hops.

Limb & Life is an easy drking ’session’ beer - an antidote to the heavy sippers, and a beer that begs for another glass. It is balanced yet flavorful, hoppy yet not without strong malt, and drinkable but still complex.Limb & Life will be an extrememly limited draft-only release.

Sierra Nevada/Dogfish Head, Limb & Life, 5.2% ABV

We tried the small beer first. Served in a pint glass Limb & Life poured out a clear, dark brown in color with what looked to be an off-white/beige head. This was a hop forward beer that smelled overwhelmingly of pine, think spruce. The assertive hop character continued well into the flavor, dominating with a hop flavor I can only describe as piney/spruce that is not unlike the flavor of new growth evergreen tips. Any malt character was on the slight roasty side and played second fiddle the entire time. Despite all the hop aroma and flavor, the hop bitterness was on the medium-low side. Limb & Life has a medium level of carbonation and is very light in body, nearly watery.

I found Life & Limb Limb & Life to be a little disappointing. Sure, there’s a great hop character about the beer but I find it mainly to be unbalanced; it’s almost all flavor and aroma with not enough bitterness or malt character to make it a really enjoyable beer.

Sierra Nevada/Dogfish Head, Life & Limb, 10.2% ABV

Served in a snifter, Life & Limb pours out a very dark yet clear brown, nearly black color with a beige/tan head. This beer had a lot of alcohol in the aroma, almost hot, that seemed to dominate. The flavor of the beer was more promising than the aroma vaguely hinted at. Life & Limb has a complex malt character that has bits and pieces of dark, roasted malt, molasses and syrup/sap-like flavors. Maybe it was carryover from XIII but I thought I tasted a slight oak/woodsy note. The hop bitterness, about medium-high in level, was enough to provide balance to the sweetness of the malt. This beer was medium-high in carbonation with a medium/medium-high body.

I found Life & Limb to be a very complex beer. There were a lot of things going on, interesting things, but nothing in particular jumped out at me. This was a well-balanced beer, maybe a little too balanced. In any event, if I can find bottles of Life & Limb, I plan on picking up a couple of bombers to see how well this beer ages. Should be interesting. At the very least I’ll have good beer to drink when the world ends in 2012.

Overall I think I tried some very interesting beers. My favorite was the barrel aged XIII. There’s just something about the oak that adds such a complexity to the aroma and flavor of a beer that I thoroughly enjoy and find difficult to satisfy. Methinks I need to start experimenting more with wood in my homebrewing.

While Life & Limb was all about complexity tempered with balance, Limb & Life seemed to be a one-note wonder. Don’t get me wrong, it played that note really well but I think the experience as a whole would’ve been much more enjoyable with more balance.

It’s been a while since Sammy and have been to Rose & Crown. It was great to see so many people come out on a chilly, late fall California evening (well, as chilly as it gets for California) to hang out with us and drink some interesting beers. If I could afford it, or not feel guilty about doing so, I’d have purchased additional bottles of XIII to see how aging would change it’s character. Still, I can’t complain as I did have the oppportunity to try it. By the way, the mushrooms and fish & chips at the Rose & Crown are pretty damn good. The fish tasted fresh and the mushrooms moist and delicous. While not the ideal pairing for the beers we had this evening, they certainly hit the spot.

By the time Sammy and I pulled into our parking space, it is 15 minutes past the time Mayfield Brewing Company opened their doors. A select few of us had been invited to Mayfield to be one of the very first people to sample their 2008 vintage of beers from their Iconoclast series. It may seem odd that I’m using the word vintage to describe a line up of beers but that’s exactly what they are.

Unlike the vast majority of breweries, the Iconoclast series of beers from Mayfield Brewing Company (MBC) are all barrel aged beers. In a time when the sight of stainless steel fermentors and mashtuns are the industry standard, barrel aging a beer is a return to traditional brewing techniques. It’s easy to forget that brewing, the vast majority of alcohol production really, got its humble start within the confines of a barrel. Nowadays, it is not uncommon to find that a brewery is barrel aging a beer or two but the three Iconoclasts beers that make up the entire portfolio of MBC’s products are all barrel aged, in wine barrels no less. So yes, vintage is an appropriate term.

I have long lamented the wine industry’s lack of consistency in their product. I have always disliked the fact that certain vintages of wine were worth much more than others. Yes, yes, I am aware that certain years will yield a much better crop of grapes than another but it seems insulting that I should be charged a premium for good weather. Consistency is one of the reasons I am a beer guy. I feel confident enough to walk into any reputable bottle shop and pick up a sixer of Sierra Nevada tomorrow and know that it will pretty much taste just like the sixer I’ll pick up 5 months from now, which will taste just like the sixer I will taste 8 months from then. Consistency is comforting.

You can throw consistency out the window when it comes to barrel aging a beer. As if brewing a beer wasn’t complicated enough with having to juggle at least four key ingredients, a fifth is introduced when you add the flavor you get from wood; in this case, the barrel. I could even argue that it’s an ingredient and a half when the brewer chooses to use a second use barrel, or a barrel that once used to house something else such as a distilled spirit or wine. To barrel age a beer and come out with something palatable is a success unto itself. To barrel age a beer and have the resulting beers taste phenomenal, well that’s a testament to the brewer’s skill.

I first tried the 2007 vintage of MBC beers at the Boonville Beerfest earlier this year. Thanks to fellow beer blogger Mario from Brewed for Thought for the initial introduction. I can tell you this, the new line up of 2008 Iconoclast beers have addressed some of the issues the 2007 vintage had.

Iconoclast Aurora, Chardonnay barrels, American Oak

The Aurora is brewed as an altbier. The issue I had with the 2007 Aurora was that I felt it was a little lackluster. It wasn’t a bad beer, it just wasn’t memorable. The 2008 Aurora is a much better iteration of this beer with more noticeable wood and fruit character, Chardonnay flavors, floral notes, a hint of tartness and acidity, with a moderate sweet finish. What was once my least favorite of the trio is now a much more interesting beer.

Iconoclast Eclat, Zinfandel/Cabernet, American Oak

Brewed as an IPA, the 2007 Eclat was an interesting beer with it’s noticeable oaky flavor and malt sweetness but once I knew it was an IPA, my impression of the beer was lowered because a key flavor was missing: hops! The 2008 vintage has remedied this issue for me. The beer has a malty, caramel-ish nose with subtle fruit notes and noticeable hop aroma. The flavor has a similar profile with caramel flavors hitting my tastebuds up front, a slight tartness in the middle and a moderate hop bitterness in the finish. If you’re a hop head, you’re not going to be confusing this beer with any of the aggressive West Coast hop bombs we’re used to drinking. Hops change drastically when barrel aged and it’s good to see a noticeable hop character in this vintage.

Iconoclast Nocturna, Zinfandel/Port, French Oak

As the name would imply, this is a stout dark as night. I was a big fan of the 2007 Nocturna as the beer had an unexpected tartness in the finish that I found to be both interesting and tasty. The 2008 version we tried, uncarbonated, had all the flavors you would expect from a stout: deep roasted, nearly burnt malt character, enough hop flavor and bitterness to balance, with coffee and chocolate notes thrown in for good measure. Someone in the tasting room that day even noticed hints of tobacco flavors. This was a sweet beer. In talking with the brewer and others in the tasting room, all agreed that it was a good tasting beer but would end up being much better once it was carbonated with the carbonation balancing out the sweetness. Gone was the tartness I found so appealing with the last batch but MBC brewer John Alderete assured me that additional aging will bring those flavors back in.

Vintage. I will freely admit that I am still torn by the concept. Still, here I am eschewing its virtues in the craft beer world. If I step out of my own ego and ignorance for a moment, I’d be able to recognize the many things the wine industry is doing right that craft breweries can apply to their own businesses. While MBC is not the first company to be barrel aging their beers, they are the only brewery I know of that is doing so with all of their beers.

Be warned that MBC beers are not cheap. If you are nearby, I fully recommend visiting the brewery itself and picking up a bottle directly from them. It’ll set you back $30 per but it’s a savings from buying it retail where select Whole Foods sell it for $43 a bottle.

Interesting times at the Summer Tasting Fundraiser for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure event at Rock Bottom last night. Turnout for the event was much better than anticipated, especially with the apparent lack of promotion. As with the Microbreweries Battling Breast Cancer Festival a few weeks back, ladies dressed in pink were out to show their support for the cause. I’m sure it helped that this was not a beer only fundraiser. In fact, there were dozens of wineries represented by proxy through their wines on the tables. Slightly disappointing was the breweries in attendance were also represented by proxy through their tap handles and by the people serving them.

The event had a really informal atmosphere to it. Rock Bottom’s patio served as the space the fundraiser used and it was far from fenced off to the rest of the world. The street in front of the patio was closed off for the live band that played. The kitchen of Rock Bottom provided appetizers the entire evening and we got to munch on salmon bruschetta, mini-sandwiches, ahi tuna bruschetta, fresh oysters amongst other things. Desserts were being served as I tried the baklava and carrot cake. Bucca di Beppo, also located in the Pruneyard, contributed a meatball appetizer. Good stuff.

Even though I lamented the fact that many of the brewers weren’t there, a few were. I’ve been meaning to talk to the brewing staff of Rock Bottom for a while and it was good to have caught Rock Bottom assistant brewery Larry there. Sammy and I first saw Larry at the Beer & Cheese Event held at Firehouse Brewery during SF Beer Week and again at Boonville. Look for a “Spotlight On:” featuring Rock Bottom in the coming weeks.

The other brewer in attendance was Jim of Sonoma Chicken Coop. After introducing myself to Jim and handing him my business card, things got a little… tense. Jim recognized me as the “guy who talked some shit”. I wrote some disparaging things about Sonoma Chicken Coop sometime ago. Much of what was written was based upon second-hand stories that I never bothered to verify. Unsurprisingly, what was written upset a few key people. After talking to Jim and clarifying a lot of things, I have to say that I was in the wrong.

I will address and clarify that Jim stepped up and took the reigns of the Chicken Coop brewery after the former brewer was dismissed. The plan had always been for Jim to step up and take over once Mike decided to move on to different things. Unfortunately things went down the way they did and that’s that. There was nothing shady about the whole thing, there was no undercutting of anyone’s salary. If there was anything shady about the whole thing, it was that original post of mine. It was written quickly and in ignorance.

It was good to have spoken to Jim and get the other side of things. Between Jim and myself, I’d like to think that we are squared off, back to zero. Even though Jim said I didn’t have to write about this experience as he was satisfied with getting the record straight between the two of us, I felt I owed it to not only him but the people who read this blog. I had already planned on returning to the Coop and checking out if there would be a noticeable difference between brewers but it’s a moot point, as I’ve learned. If you’ve enjoyed any of the Chicken Coop’s beers since January, you are enjoying Jim’s handiwork. Ever since he started working in January, he’s been brewing the beers. I am as guilty of this as anyone but the assistant brewers often don’t get the love and respect from the general public as they deserve. Often times they’re brewing as much, if not more, as the head brewer.

In fact, if you’re a hophead, I would recommend heading over to the Coop and trying their IPA. It is a tongue numbingly bitter beer. Have a designated driver on hand as well as the IPA weighs in at over 9.0% ABV. Expect a new “Spotlight On” featuring the Chicken Coop in the near future as well.

Update: Based upon what little the guy at Rock Bottom told me not more than 5 minutes ago, it’s $15 to get in and he believes you receive a tasting glass. Hopefully that’s the case but he didn’t sound too confident in with his answer.

Kind of last minute, I know, but I didn’t really hear about this until, well, today. Rock Bottom Brewing Company located in “Campbell” will be hosting a Summer Tasting Wednesday, 8/19/2009 to benefit the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation who’s efforts help to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer research.

There will be upwards of 20 northern California vineyards pouring but most importantly, as it relates to this blog, 8 south bay breweries will be pouring as well. They are:

• Tied House
• Firehouse Brewery & Grill
• Faultline Brewing Company
• Sonoma Chicken Coop
• Rock Bottom
• Los Gatos Brewing Company
• Seabright Brewery
• Santa Cruz Aleworks

I think that it’s pretty cool that all these south bay breweries will be together. I’ve been to most of them, not all, and it’d be great to taste what they’ve brought. I’m not too familiar with Seabright Brewery so I’m looking forward to seeing what they’re bringing to the table. Ever since Sonoma Chicken Coop fired their old brewmaster, I’ve been curious to see how their beers are under the stewardship of their new brewer.

Speaking of Sonoma Chicken Coop, looking at their newly redesigned website, you’d never know they brewed their own beer. In fact, the biggest element on their homepage talks about franchise opportunities. I don’t blame the ownership though, it is a business and making money is the whole point. But still, you’d think they’d talk about that a little bit. The Campbell location should get their own Facebook page up, at the very least, a Twitter account.

Update: Received an email from Jeff (founder) from Sonoma Chicken Coop. Essentially, the new Chicken Coop website is the corporate template and each location can customize to their specific needs.

Boy that was quick, the newly designed website just went up on Tuesday afternoon Aug 18. That is just the corporate template that you see right now. Each store will be adding it’s own content, at which point Campbell will be adding a section on its beers.
Thanks!
Jeff Starbeck
Founder

Getting back on track, beer, whiwine, live entertainment and silent auctions for a good cause. Maybe I’ll see some of you there tomorrow?

For those who may not be aware, in addition to brewing my own beer, I also brew my own mead. Despite the fact that mead is probably the oldest alcohol beverage known to man, it is the least known. You may recognize the term “mead” as “that drink at all the Renaissance Fairs” or “the stuff they drank at Hogworts”. Yes and yes. But what is mead really? Simplistically put, it is an alcoholic beverage made from honey. Some people call it a honey wine but I think the term is inaccurate. Honey:mead as grapes:wine, as malted barley:beer. It really is a beverage all on its own.

A good friend of mine recently took up beekeeping. He literally pulled this hobby right out of a tree on his yard. Somewhere in his neighborhood a colony of bees swarmed onto his property not once, but twice. Displaying indecision the first time, the first swarm flew away. With only a little hesitation the second time and a lot of prodding by yours truly, he was able to capture a smaller secondary swarm. Since that day, he’s been a beekeeper.

To help the guy out, I bought him some beekeeping equipment. There’s the safari-type hat, mesh screen, long gloves, smoker and pry bars. While Jason (that’s my buddy’s name) laughed at me initially for picking up the equipment, it has already come in handy. We did pretty much no research whatsoever with regards to beekeeping and jumped into this impulsively. After a few mishaps, Jason and I decided to read up on beekeeping. If we were to commit to this, we might as well as learn the proper way to do so.

When the time came to look for a beekeeping mentor, I immediately thought of two people: Tina and Thomas. Tina and Thomas are a couple I met a few years ago. I forget where I found their contact information but they are where I buy my honey from. I purchase about 12-13 gallons of honey at at time (approximately one gallon) because that’s how much I need to make my own meads (yes, in addition to beer, I also make mead). The last time I visited them they had about 5 hives in their backyard. While this year has been a bad year for honey, last year they ended up harvesting over 120 gallons of it which they ended up selling at local farmers markets and festivals.

Tina and Thomas are part of the Santa Clara Valley Beekeepers Guild, the local chapter of amateur beer keepers. Before I go on, I must tell you that should you run across a swarm of bees in your house or whatever, I highly recommend you call a SCVBG member. They can safely and humanely extract the swarm from your property. Chances are good that they’ll just end up keeping them for themselves but at least you’re rid of the bees. It’s a win-win for everyone and is much better than killing them or calling out pest control. The honeybee population has been decimated over the last couple of years and we could use all the bees we can find.

Purely by coincidence the SCVBG were having their July meeting at Rabbits Foot. The natural progression from beekeeper to meadmaker is a natural one and I can’t think of a better place to learn about mead than at Rabbits Foot.

Rabbits Foot Meadery, 1246 Birchwood Drive, Sunnyvale, CA 94089 map

We were treated with a tour of the facilities. I had already done the tour some time back but it was good to go again and see the changes. The most notable change is the lack of space at the meadery. This is a good thing as it tells me they are busy. A thorough look at their taplist shows an increase in their product offerings. Once the tour was complete, the tastings began.

I didn’t take too many notes during the tasting portion but we tried their dry mead, sweet mead, raspberry mead as well as their hard lemonade and peach ciders. We also sampled their Chocolate Raspberry Love which is a fortified port. This is the only product in their porfolio that doesn’t have honey in it. I also got a chance to try their Honey Stout, which is an example of a dry stout brewed with honey. This puppy weighs in at 7.2% ABV but hides it very, very well. It is smooth, light on the palette and dry with a deep roasted malt character. It’s pretty good and a departure from some of their other beers.

The real treat of the night was when we were able to try some Melia right out of a keg. Mike pulled out a wine theif and doled out tasting samples to everyone. If I remember correctly, Melia is the only mead served at the award-winning, 3 Michelin star rated, The French Laundry. It is made from a single variety orange blossom honey and, as you can imagine, has a great orange blossom aroma. It is pretty sweet as it was made to be a dessert mead. Even though they’re out at the meadery, you can still pick up a couple of bottles from your local BevMo.

I spent the rest of the evening hanging around the bar while Jason was talking to Tina about beekeeping. In the end, everyone was happy. If you want to learn more about mead as well as taste some of it first hand, I fully endorse going down to Rabbits Foot for a tasting. I must warn you that the locals have discovered this place and their tasting room can get quite packed in the late afternoon/early evening. Your best bet would be to go in the early afternoon on a weekday. I’d recommend calling ahead of time as their tasting room schedules fluctuate.

The Trevese Brewers Dinner featuring the beers from Devils Canyon Brewing Company (DCB) took place just about a week ago. I did the main write up on Beer Connoisseur (BC), you can read the post here. I’m not going to spend a great deal of time rehashing what I wrote about on BC. Everything I wrote there still stands but I’d just like to expand on a couple of things I just barely touched upon there.

Before I get into the criticisms, I’d just like to say that I think DCB did a great job at the Brewers Dinner. I can’t say enough good things about the people at DCB. Jason, Chris, Jim, John, Kristiann do a fantastic job brewing good beer in a relatively beer-desolate part of the peninsula. Their passion for craft beer shows whenever you talk to them and it shows in the final product. If you happen to see their taps around the Bay Area, don’t hesitate to support them. It’s through our continued support that small, independent craft breweries such as DCB can continue to make the craft beers we love to drink.

At the end of this post, I will have embedded two videos I stitched together from that night. Let me know if you found any value to them. It’ll help me decide if I should continue with the videos or if I should just focus on the other stuff.

Now, onto the criticisms.

This first item, it’s not really a criticism more than it is what happened. Outside of the DCB crew who attended the dinner, turnout was pretty small. Many things could have contributed to this. First, the date of the dinner kept on changing. It was originally supposed to be held on July 7th but kept getting pushed back for a variety of reasons. Eventually a stake was driven into the ground and July 21st was the hard date. Fortunately, Sammy and I were still able to make it. Second, I’m not sure if this event was promoted enough. I feel that I didn’t do enough on my own blog to support the event and I promise to do better in the future. Even so, one can’t really pin all your hopes on a single blogger. Third, I think the $100/person price tag was a huge hurdle for many people to jump over. I will readily admit that I was able to secure a discount to the event, which made it easier for me to attend. I’ll talk more about the price point a little later.

Having hosted several beer/food pairing events in the past, I can tell you first hand the South Bay craft beer scene is horrible. By no means am I pointing fingers at the South Bay brewers, it’s more a reflection of the general attititude people here have. There’s just no respect or appreciation for good beer. Most people I know get their beer education from the commercials on TV. It’s rare to get a great turnout for any of the South Bay beer events I’ve been to outside of beer festivals, so I would’ve been very surprised had the Trevese Brewers Dinner sold out.

My biggest criticism, and one I barely touched upon, was the lack of Trevese Executive Chef Mike Miller’s participation in the dinner. The press release stated that Chef Miller and DCB brewers would be out during the reception to talk to the guests as well as talk about the dinner as it progressed. DCB held up their share of the billing but Chef Miller was notedly absent. Not only was Chef Miller absent during dinner, it is my understanding he left right as dinner was over. I don’t even remember him coming out to thank us for coming out to his restaurant.

I can only speculate on why Chef didn’t make himself available during the dinner. I’m hoping that it’s because they were short handed and he needed to stay in the back to help out. I’m hoping he left early because sort of emergency popped up that he needed to take care of. Frankly, any other reason would leave me disappointed. At the very base level, I was expecting to be able to talk to DCB brewers as well as the Chef of Trevese and not all my expectations were met. DCB held up their end of the bargain but Chef Miller fell short on his end.

When the Executive Chef of a Michelin Star-rated restaurant skips out on his own event without notice, that doesn’t paint a really good picture of him or his restaurant by extension. As someone who really enjoys good food, I was looking forward to hearing Chef talk about the dishes, what was his inspiration and why he made the culinary decisions he made. Call me curious. His absence fills me with questions and doubt. You could tell from the way Jason talked about his beers that he has a real passion for what he does. I was looking forward to hearing the same from Chef Miller but obviously, it wasn’t to be.

Was it worth it?

This is a tough question to answer. Assigning worth or value to something implies it is in comparison to something else. That’s just how currency works and by extension, monetary worth. The short answer: no, it wasn’t. Let me explain further.

The first $100/person dinner I went to was the Gold Medal dinner I went to last year in Boulder, Colorado. The Gold Medal dinner was easily worth the $100/person cost, in fact, I would’ve paid more. The breweries in attendance were Allagash, Avery, Dogfishead, Russian River and Lost Abbey/Port Brewing. As you can imagine, Rob Tod, Adam Avery, Sam Calagione, Vinnie Cilurzo and Tomme Arthur (respectively) were all in attendence to talk about their beers indepth as well as relate a few stories of the time in Europe together. This was a 5-course meal paired with 2 beers per course from different breweries. It should go without saying but the food that night was awesome. Like I said, I would’ve paid more for that dinner so while $100/person may seem like a lot, it was a fraction of what the true value was. Still, the Gold Medal Dinner is the benchmark for future $100 beer dinners. Ridiculously high expectations, I know but would you be any different?

All that being said, I cannot honestly say the value of the Trevese dinner matched the Gold Medal dinner. Nothing against DCB but had there been 4 additional breweries that night, I would be 4 additional breweries closer to saying it was of even value. Both restaurants cook at such a high level that it would’ve been a wash had the number of courses matched up. Most importantly, the chef of The Kitchen in Boulder came out during every course to explain what he did and why. It was great to hear about the food portion of the beer/food dinner. Most of us were there for the beer anyway so to get background information regarding what we were eating was the proverbial “cherry on top”.

The thing is, I’m not even asking that Trevese lower their price. I’m not going to sit here and say that Trevese shouldn’t have charged what they did for the dinner. They know the price of their time and skill and that’s the the number they came up with. I am okay with that. I am mainly pointing out that my expectations weren’t met and that when compared to another $100 beer/food dinner, the other dinner provided more value for the same price. Maybe I’m wrong but I don’t think it’s too much to expect what was promised or to wish for more value for the cost.

Despite all this, I would support another Brewers Dinner at Trevese, assuming of course Sammy and I could afford it. There’s just not much happening in the South Bay with regards to beer and fine dining so when the opportunit presents itself, I do my best to support my local craft beer scene.

You couldn’t have asked for better weather this past Saturday for the 9th Annual Microbreweries Battle against Breast Cancer Brewfest. The brightly shining sun helped to not only set a festive summer stage but also helped to shine the light on the fight against breast cancer. Hosted by Marin Brewing Company, Breastfest, as I’ve heard it more commonly called, was graced by cool ocean breezes blowing in from the bay even as the sun shone high above to a tune of 90° F.

While most brewfests are undeniably attended predominantly by guys looking for the next tastiest brew, or to get drunk, the attendees of Breastfest were nearly equally split between the ladies and the fellas. Not surprising considering the subject of the brew fest. For the price of admission ($35 advance/$40 door), festival attendees were affixed with a bright pink wrist band that granted them unlimited access to the brews being poured by the 20+ microbreweries in attendance. Food was widely available from the vendors in attendance at the festival or you could purchase something from Marin Brewing Company as they are a brewpub serving both beer and food.

Breastfest was held outdoors in the Larkspur Landing Courtyard directly adjacent to Marin Brewing Company’s back patio. The 20+ breweries were arranged around the courtyard’s perimeter with the band playing in the center. For those not fortunate enough to have landed a spot in the shade, breweries brought their own EZ Up tents sporting brewery colors and logos. While this arrangement works for most of the brewfests I’ve been to I think Breastfest could’ve arranged from a little better set-up. There was a spot near the back of the festival which could’ve easily supported 2-3 breweries. By comparison, there was a small corner of the courtyard where 4 breweries were crammed together. There was barely enough space in their shared area for about a half dozen festival attendees to stand comfortably. Speaking of breweries, here are those that were in attendance:

• Marin Brewing Company*
• 21st Amendment*
• Anderson Valley
• Beach Chalet
• Bear Republic*
• Black Diamond
• Blue Frog Grog & Grill*
• Drakes Brewing*
• Fox Barrel Cider
• Half Moon Bay*
• Iron Springs
• Moon Light
• Moylan’s
• North Coast
• Rubicon
• Russian River*
• Santa Cruz Aleworks
• Seabright
• Speakeasy*
• Stone Brewing
• Stumptown
• Triple Rock*
• Trumer Brauerei
• Two Rivers Cider*

* Denotes breweries Sammy and I tried.

For the most part, it was business as usual at the Breastfest. People socialized, took photos of/with each other and danced to the sound of Petty Theft, a Tom Petty tribute band. People would navigate the crowded courtyard to sample brews from their favorite breweries as well as look for shade.

At one point, Sammy and I headed over to Russian River to get a couple of tastes of their beers. We just happened to be at the right place at the right time. As soon as we got there, Vinnie was getting ready to uncork this ginormous bottle of his latest sour ale, Consecration. Having some technical issues, Vinnie was forced to cut the knob off the cork and then use a standard wine bottle opener to pull out the remaining piece still housed in the bottle. As he was working, I overheard someone in the audience yell out, “C’mon. C’mon! What’s the problem?!” I’m not sure what it is about free stuff that turns ordinary people into douche bags but I felt that was uncalled for. If you can believe it, I even heard boo’s because Vinnie was taking a while to open it up. Luckily for me, Sammy was able to squeeze her petite frame up to the front and return back with samples for the both of us. Still, some people…

I was able to talk to a few of the brewers in attendance to get first hand knowledge of some of the beers that were being poured. I had wanted to get more video clips but the festival stayed busy and experienced no drop off in beer-tasting intensity. I had to pick my spots. The one interview that I was really gunning for but didn’t get was with Arne Johnson, brewmaster of Marin Brewing Company. I was looking to get some background information about the festival and why breast cancer was an issue the brewery decided to do something about. Being the man of the day, he was being pulled in one direction or another and I never got that interview.

Due to some prior commitments Sammy and I had later on that evening, we left Breastfest a little early. Despite that, Sammy and I had a wonderful time reconnecting with old friends, getting to know new friends and drinking good beers for a good cause. This is one festival that will be on our yearly festival schedule. If you weren’t able to make it out this year, I encourage you to go next year. If you were there, I’d like to get your take on the event in the Comments section at the end of this post.

Here’s a video I cut together of the footage I had from the festival. Let me know what you think and if they are worth doing. There’s no audio for the first part of it but it’ll kick in later. It’s my first video so please cut me a little slack. Thanks!