BetterBeerBlog

Update: It looks like we’ve fulfilled our need for volunteers for this event. Thank you all for your interest in volunteering and I look forward to seeing you at the event.

Hopefully this is just late news for you all but the Beer & Cheese Event at Firehouse Brewery is a go! This event has been on the SF Beer Week website for a couple of days now but I was at the brewery tonight putting together the final details of the events and I can say that this is going to be one, fun event.

Here are the event details:

Who: Firehouse Brewery & Milk Pail Market
What: Beer & Cheese Event
Where: 111 S Murphy Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94086 map
When: Wednesday, February 10, 2010 @ 7pm
Why: It’s SF Beer Week and a portion of the proceeds will go to the Red Cross.
Cost: $25 (pay at the door)

Event Description: SF Beer Week comes to Sunnyvale! Join Firehouse brewmaster Steve Donohue and the Milk Pail’s Steve Rasmussen as they pair Firehouse beers, and some of Steve Donohue’s favorite Belgian ales, with local and imported artisanal cheeses.

Volunteers: We are looking for 8-10 volunteers to help staff this event. Should you decide to volunteer you will receive free entry into the event. There will be two shifts: 7:00pm - 8:30pm & 8:30pm - 10pm. If you are interested, please email me your name and contact number and someone will get back to you.

Here are some shots of a few different cheeses I expect to see at the event.

This cheese is called Gjetost (yay-toast) and it’s from Noway. Made from whey, this cheese gets it caramel like coloring from the caramelization the milk sugars undergo during production. This cheese even tastes like caramel.

This cheese is an extra mature English Cheddar called Tickler. I found this cheese to be rich, full-flavored without being overpowering and full of those protein crystals I love so much.

Caciotta Capra Fieno, if my notes are correct. The outer casing of this particular cheese is herbed as well as embedded with straw from the very fields the cows eat from. Talk about a farmhouse product!

Capra Ubriaco al Tramhen (I think). This is a goat cheese that was washed with red wine and has red wine grapes embedded into its crust as well.

I was told this cheese is called Sudtirol. It’s an Italian cheese (we think) that is slightly pungent with a nutty flavor.

In my excitement, I forgot to write down the name of this cheese but I know it is a cheddar made with Irish Whisky. Encased in black wax, this looks like a giant hockey puck. While not a bad cheese, it was unremarkable when compared to some of the cheeses above. If this was the “worst” cheese, we are in for a real treat!

As you probably know from last post of the 2009, I celebrated New Year’s Eve by throwing a “Bring One, Swap One” craft beer party. The idea was simple: bring to the party a bottle of beer (4-pack, 6-pack, whatever) to share and another wrapped, yet unmarked beer (bottle, 4-pack, 6-pack, keg, whatever) to swap in a “White Elephant” style manner.

I was surprised by how many people showed up as well as by what kind of beers they brought. Keep in mind that the majority of the guests invited were craft beer newbies. There were your Belgian mainstays such as Chimay Grand Reserve and Duvel, as well as Dogma and Punk IPA from Brewdog. Gouden Carolus’ Grand Cru of the Emperor was highly regarded by all who tasted it while I was pleasantly surprised by a Grand Cru Imperial Witbier from Blue Moon. While not the best witbier I’ve had, I found it much better than their flagship beer.

Anyway, we didn’t keep a running tab on beer notes. We just cracked them open one at a time and enjoyed the beers and each other’s company. So unless you were following me on Twitter that night, I don’t exactly remember what beers we had. We lined them up at one point but being NYE, we sort of forgot about them as the night wore on. Anyway, here are a few pics of the night with links to the full galleries at the end.

2009 NYE Bring One, Swap One Party Pics

2009 NYE Bring One, Swap One Photo Booth Pics

The Eat Real Festival will be happening in Oakland August 28-30. What is the Eat Real Festival, you say? Well, here’s a little tidbit I picked up from their website:

Founded in 2008, Eat Real Festival is a social venture created to inspire eaters to choose tasty, healthy, good food. Through a vibrant, local festival in Oakland, CA, and a focus on delicious and sustainable “street food,” Eat Real puts eaters in contact with the real people — the farmers, chefs, and producers — who make our food. Eat Real Festival will donate a percentage of its profit to several California organizations promoting access to healthy and affordable food, entrepreneurship and economic development.

Street food is a real staple in many countries and I think it’s a shame that it’s not more widely accepted here in the United States. When I traveled abroad in Thailand and Malaysia, we ate almost exclusively from street food venders. Some of the best meals I’ve had.

In addition to all the good food, there will be a beer tent featuring some of your favorite Northern California breweries. Dave McLean from Magnolia & Alembic is one of the principle collaborators of this event and I suspect he will be calling in many of his Bay Area brewing buddies to help out.

I will be at the Eat Real Festival in to promote Beer Connoisseur magazine. For those who don’t already know, in addition to blogging about beer on BetterBeerBlog, I also blog on the Beer Connoisseur website. As of this post, Beer Connoisseur, in conjunction with the folks at Eat Real Festival, will be giving away free passes to the Eat Real Festival for the next 30 subscribers to the magazine who use my promo code: FBC-0110. While the festival itself is free to get into, a ticket to the beer shed will cost you $20 advance/$25 day of.

In the interest of full disclosure, whenever someone signs up for a subscription using my promo code FBC-0110, I get paid. It’s not much but I do get a little bit of money. Blogging is not a very lucrative endeavor, this is a labor of love for me, so any support you can give your local blogger would be appreciated. To date, I have earned enough money to buy a pint of beer but I can’t afford to tip. My goal is to earn enough money to buy to pints and leave an appropriate tip. One pint for me, one to share. Help a blogger out!

Eat Real Festival website: http://www.eatrealfest.com/

Beer Connoisseur website: https://www.beerconnoisseur.com/

This year’s Boonville Beerfest can be summed up in one word: wet. It was raining on the drive up. It was raining when we picked up Mario. It continued to rain as we put up our tent. It rained in our tent. It rained throughout the night. It rained at the festival. There was a brief respite but then it rained again. Even when it wasn’t raining, I was wet in one way or another. My shoes were soaked through, socks were like sponges and my feet looked like prunes. My pants soaked up every possible drop of water from the ankle-high grass and even my ass got wet sitting in a wet, cloth, folding chair. I had never been so water-logged in my life.

It was one of the best times of my life.

Despite Mother Nature’s best efforts, nothing was able to put a damper on the Boonville Beerfest. After being stuck in the miserable Santa Rosa traffic, Sammy, Mario and myself arrived at Boonville and were greeted by the good folks at New Belgium Brewing Company. Before I go any further with this recap, I’d like to take the time to thank Jeremy and the rest of the New Belgians (sounds like a band when put that way) for inviting Sammy and I back up to join them in the brewer’s campground. This was our second year there and we have New Belgian to thank.

For those who are just hearing about the Boonville Beerfest, let me give you a little background information. The festival is located in the same town as the festival’s namesake: Boonville. Our host brewery, Anderson Valley Brewing Company, has been putting on this festival for… well, this is the 13th year now. There are a few things that make this beer festival really special. First, at least from my understanding, this in an invitation-only beerfest. Not just any Tom, Dick, or Jane Brewing Company can attend. I’ve overheard in conversation that there is a wait-list to participate. Second, each of the participating breweries brings anywhere between 2-4 taps of beer, with some breweries bringing special limited release or beer debuts, to this festival. While I don’t know the exact number of participating breweries, a “shitload” is probaby the best, and closest, approximation. Needless to say, there is a lot of variety of beer at this festival. You can do the math on your own [Range=(shitload x 2) - (shitload x 4)].

As good as this festival is for attendees, it’s even better for the participating breweries. In reality the Boonville Beerfest is a festival for the brewers. The participating breweries are able to camp out in the disk golf course that makes up the back portion of AVBC. Set-up in multiple-tiers like a stepped, rice paddy. Each tier forms its own neighborhood of brewers and campers with a distinct “personality”. This is where Sammy and I were camped out at; in the brewer’s area. Truth be told, I don’t think I’d go to this festival if I couldn’t camp out with the brewers. Boonville is at least a 3 hour drive for us and if I have to be in a car for a duration longer than my time at the festival, it’s just not worth it for me. Sure I could go camping with the festival goers but once you go brewer…. you never go back? Okay doesn’t make any sense but whatever.

The first night there was a huge party atmosphere. Jay Brooks dubbed the rain-soaked campgrounds as “Boontstock“. Adjacent to the New Belgium Campground was Ninkasi Brewing Company and Seabright Brewing Company. Just to give you some sense of range, Ninkasi Brewing Company is located in Eugene, Oregon. Troy (employee #4 at Ninkasi) and his fiancee Ashley drove 9 hours non-stop to make it to the festival. Troy was super friendly and immediately offered us a glass of the Ninkasi Tricerahops (What a great name, wow), a hop-loaded 9.1% ABV double IPA. Without even really knowing the guy, he gave us an open invitation to crash at his place whenever we would be up in Eugene. Before sending us on our way with another full pour of Tricerahops, some t-shirts and a couple of beers, Troy cut us up with his Christopher Walken impersonation (God. Damn.). Nailed it. I think Sammy and I will be taking him up on his offer to crash in Eugene in the near future.

The rest of the evening was spent wandering from campsite to campsite drinking beer after beer in the pouring rain. Sammy and I spent quite a bit of time hanging out at the Speakeasy campsite where we nearly polished off their supply of Double Daddy Imperial IPA, a hefty 9.5% ABV. While there, I made friends with Doug, President of Buckbean Brewing Company out of Reno, Nevada. Another great guy who promised to send me a care package of a flight of his beers. We even got to talking to our other neighbors at Seabright. Sammy was able to talk to their brewer while I was in an impassioned debate about the validity of beer styles with the brewer from San Francisco Brewing Company. I, unsurprisingly am for beer styles and SF Brewing Company brewmaster with the two first names, Allen Paul, is decidedly against them. Decidedly. I think I might’ve pissed him off as he up and left during the conversation. I don’t blame him, I get “talky” when I’m drunk.

What suprised me this year though was the amount of familiar faces at Boonville. As I wrote earlier Mario from Brewed for Thought, also invited up by the New Belgians, was in attendance. Good beer friends Gail and Steve from Beer by Bart were invited up by the good people from Black Diamond Brewing Company. Unlike the freeloader I am, Gail and Steve actually went to work at the festival pouring for their host brewery while Jay Brooks was camping out with his family (which I think more brewers should do). While last year’s beerfest resulted in the creation of the SF Bay Area Beer Bloggers, this year was more of a chance meet up. In fact, Gail and Steve found us, accidentally I think, by wandering the campgrounds. While hanging out with us at the New Belgian campsite, I whipped out the 3 bottles of beer I received from Mayfield Brewing Company for all to try. Results were mixed and Mario and I will be tackling Mayfield Brewing Company in our next edition of Hopinions.

To no one’s surprise, we all woke up hungover, some more than others. My failure to pace myself pretty much set the tone for the rest of the day. While I wanted to drink, I mainly focused on lighter (in %ABV) beers that were malty. I guess getting hammered off of double IPAs will do it for you. Not wanting to relive last year’s breakfast debacle where we had nothing to eat but cinnamon bread “seasoned” with spray-on butter, Sammy and I offered to make breakfast for the New Belgians. On the menu were whole wheat bread, scrambled eggs (with onions, tomatoes, garlic, bell peppers) and bacon. Mmm…. bacon. I should’ve woken up earlier as the New Belgians rushed through breakfast in order to set-up at the festival.

With a brief break in the rain, Sammy and I walked the quarter mile or so to the festival. Because we had brewer tickets we were able to get into the festival ahead of the festival attendees and sample beers from whoever was ready to pour. Because of the rain, about a third of the breweries were moved from the outside of the animal stables into the inside. This had mixed results. On one hand, it was pretty nice to stay dry. On the other hand, quarters were so cramped that everyone expected it to be a madhouse in the stable area. From what I heard later on, it wasn’t so bad but there were some testy moments with the crowding.

The other main area of breweries was in the “pavilion” portion of the Medocino County Fairgrounds. Located on a major thoroughfare of the fairgrounds, the pavilion provided cover for the brewers as well. One side of the pavilion is wide enough to accommodate a large group of people while the other was much smaller and formed a bottleneck. The last, main portion of breweries was located “on the green” beneath two, huge white tents. Even though this area had a lot of open space around the tents, the tents themselves were mobbed by festival attendees.

As soon as the crowd was let in, Sammy and I spent the majority of our time wandering around looking for special beers from each brewery. For the most part, I was “beered out” and didn’t drink that much. I saved myself for anything new and interesting that caught our eyes. Here’s brief list of memorable beers:

• Vanilla Wheat blended with Chocolate Stout, Alpine Brewing Company - Based out of Alpine, California, Alpine Brewing Company brought something really interesting to the table with this beer. As stated, it’s not a straight brewed beer but a blend. The aroma of this beer was a decadent mix of sweet, milk chocolate and vanilla with wheat malt undertones. The body is medium-light/medium and on the darker side of the color spectrum. The chocolate really comes through in the flavor supported by the vanilla. Sammy and I found this beer to be really interesting.
• Tovarich Imperial Coffee Stout, Pizza Port (forgot which one) - Based off of a Russian Imperial Stout, this beer had coffee added to it during the brewing process. From what I remember, this was a big, bodied beer that weighed in over the 9% ABV mark. It had all the deep roasted malt goodness of the style with more pronounced coffee character and a hop bitterness to match. There were a lot of coffee porters and stouts about that day but this just so happened to be the one I tried.
• Uncle Fudd, Moonlight Brewing Company - Brian Hunt of Moonlight Brewing Company can be called many things, boring is not one of them. His Uncle Fudd is a rye beer brewed without hops. The bittering agent he used were cedar branches. Before the discovery and inclusion of hops into brewing, it wasn’t uncommon to use the tips of evergreen trees as bittering agents. In this beer, cedar is the name of the game. I remember this beer to have a unique flavor unlike anything I’ve every had before. The malt profile had a touch of rye spiciness and the beer was, overall, malty sweet. The bitter profile of the beer was very subdued. I wasn’t sure what to think of it. Not sure if I even enjoyed it but I can totally appreciate what Brian is trying to do.
• Saison de Lent & Orchard White, The Bruery - The Bruery is a brewing company located out of Orange County, California. They’re probably the only good thing that side of the “orange curtain”. We tried both of their offerings, their Saison de Lente and their Orchard White. Both beers were light in body and color but the Saison had an interesting, farm-house based aroma. Sure, we were in the stables and you could chalk it up to that but in reality, it was the brettanomyces in the beer. The Orchard White was as very good and refreshing example of the witbier style.
• La Folie, New Belgium Brewing Company - La Folie is New Belgium’s French-oak Wood-aged sour ale that is in actuality a blend of different aged beers. In practice, this is not unlike how you would make a Gueuze. This is a mouth-puckeringly tart/sour ale that is primarily malty in flavor. If I didn’t feel like the tartness was slowly eroding the enamel off my teeth, I’d drink this all day. Lover the sour ales, love the La Folie.

At about the 3pm mark, Sammy and I called it a day and headed back to base camp where we took a much needed nap. By the time we woke up, the New Belgian were back in camp and had just finished setting up their taps for the night. They wisely remembered to save some of the La Folie and we drank that back at camp. In addition, we drank their Trippel, Biere de Mars (Lips of Faith offering) and Triple IPA, a “collabeeration” between New Belgium and Elysian Brewing Company. The Trippel is a sneaky bastard that is lighter in body than one would expect from a 7.8% ABV beer. It has a great, sweet malt flavor that is supported by a nice fruity ester quality from the yeast. Their Biere de Mars is another “lighter” drinking beer that weighs in above the 6% ABV mark. Brewed with oats, barley and wheat malts and bottle conditioned with brettanomyces. This a primarily malty beer with a lot of fruit flavors and aroma esters with a bit of brettanomyces character. I unfortunately didn’t get a chance to drink the Triple IPA because I was all hopped out. I was hoping to have this beer for breakfast but by the time Sammy and I got out of the truck (our tent leaked so we slept in the bed of the pick-up with a cozy camper shell above our heads), the New Belgians had packed up the taps and that was that.

The second night of camping, unlike the first, was much more subdued and relatively rain-free. It seemed like everyone was tired from partying on Friday night coupled with working the festival on Saturday afternoon. AVBC was kind enough to provide dinner to the brewers on Saturday night, an event that is capped off with a huge, palette-fueled bonfire. We all elected to stay at base camp and have dinner there instead. It would seem our pathetic campfire strung together from firewood stolen from our neighbors was enough of a show for us. Joining us the second night were Paul (owner) and Jamie (cook) from Toad in the Hole pub from Santa Rosa. Some of us, including Sammy and myself, wandered that night but without the fervor from the night before. You’d think the break in rain would’ve brought about a resurgence in partying but it didn’t, at least not to the same level.

What the break in the rain did bring was a performance from the Humbolt Firkin Tappers. The Firkin Tappers are essentially a marching band that plays a wide variety of music ranging from classic rock, pop to video game themes. These talented group of musicians are a real treat to listen to and watch as they got the crowd of brewers into their music and to participate as well. Boonville wouldn’t have been the same without their music ringing into the night and I think they’re inclusion at the brewer’s camp is a real highlight of the event. By the time they were hitting their stride, Sammy and I settled in for the evening and enjoyed the show from the cozy, comfort of the camper shell. Eventually, we would find ourselves lulled to sleep by the murmur of the campsite combined with the tunes of the Firkin Tappers. Not a bad way to fall asleep.

The 2009 Boonville Beerfest ended with as much gusto as it began. I got the feeling that once the party was over, people wanted to leave Boonville just as quickly as they had arrived. With brewers driving in from as far away as San Digeo, Oregon and Nevada, I can’t say I blame them for wanting to get their long drives over with as quickly as possible. People were up pretty early and the exodus out of Boonville began. By the time Sammy and I were out of the truck and tearing our gear down, the New Belgians had already taken apart their taps and were in the process of taking down their EZ Up tents. Paul and Jamie, from Toad in the Hole, offered to make breakfast for us and we were treated to a most awesome breakfast of bangers, turkey sausages, scrambled eggs and beans. After one last photo, Sammy, Mario and I were off. This beer fest was in the books.

I tried to keep this post as short as possible but there’s just a lot that happened. I didn’t even mention the guys who brought around some ciders and meads (okay, I just did) that were just phenomenal. Once again, I’d like to thank Jeremy and the other New Belgian Brewing Company beer reps. They made this entire, memorable experience possible.

Beer Wars has changed how I view the beer industry on a fundamental level. As someone who has designs on entering the brewing industry, I can say this movie has made me take a step back and take pause to consider what it is I really want to do. Sammy and I honestly say that we have learned so much from this movie. There’s a lot to talk about so I’ll just dive into it.,

The movie theater I watched the movie in is my local movie house. It’s very close where I live which made it the ideal choice. I don’t live in a beer enlightened community so I fully expected to have the theater to myself so I was surprised when Sammy and I walked in and saw two other people. About  20 minutes into the movie, one person left and we ended up with just 3 of us. I had a brief look at the lady and it looked like she had no idea what the movie was about. She was probably just in there waiting for her grandkids to leave another movie.

While some people may believe that his movie was “David vs. Goliath”, an A-B vs. craft brewers. I happen to think it was more of an A-B vs. small brewers. I say this because of who the film maker decided to include in the movie: Dogfish Head Brewing and Moonshot/Epic brewing.

Sam Calagione, and Dogfish Head by extension, makes for a great craft beer ambassador. He is charismatic, sharp as a tack and his company also happens to embody a lot of the values of the craft beer industry. I loved the footage of Sam working the crowds, operating at ground zero, trying to market and sell his product. I love how he’s still driving around his beat-up, red pick-up truck. If you’ve ever met Sam and watched him work a room, it’s easy to see why he was included in this movie.

Rhonda, of Moonshot Beer/Edison Beer, showed a very different side of the small brewer side of the Beer Wars equation. As someone who doesn’t brew, she comes from the business side of the brewing industry. Her focus is on marketing and growing the brand and entrepreneurship. As an entrepreneur, you have to survey the landscape, find a hole, and fill it. That’s what she’s done, or is trying to do. It’s world’s apart from Sam, and the majority of the sentiment of the movie’s audience, but as a small brewer she’s still facing the same sort of challenges that Sam does.

That being said, I will never buy her product because the values she advocates and the way she markets her product (Moonshot in particular) is against what I believe good beer is. I commend her entrepreneurial spirit and all, just not her product offerings. I will admit to sympathizing with her ordeal. She’s a one-woman crew hitting the pavement and trying to win customers one person at a time and you can see the toll it’s taking on her family. Any small business owner will instantly sympathize with her. Still, if I wanted caffinated beer, I’ll just brew up an espresso porter.

While no one has actually said this to me in my comments or via email, I would not fault someone for labeling me a Budweiser apologist. In the past, I have often excused A-B’s decision to brew the way they do by chalking it up to good old fashioned American capitalism. I have said that they have the resources and the talent to make exceptional beer but choose not to because it’s not as profitable as the light lagers they do currently make. This a sentiment that was even echoed by Greg Koch of Stone Brewing and I felt somewhat relieved that I wasn’t the only one who felt that way.

My views on Budweiser have changed. Some people call them the “evil empire” in jest but I think they truly believe that and I think I do as well. When I hear breweries like Stone or Dogfish who are experiencing phenomenal rates of growth, I can’t help but wonder if they’ll end up turning into what they’ve been fighting all this time. I still have hope that they’ll remain true to their core values. Unlike A-B who want to continue growing to satisfy their shareholders, companies like Dogfish and Stone continue to grow not because they’re actively pushing for growth but because consumer demand warrants it. Therein lies the difference; organic growth versus artifical growth. There’s nothing artificial about A-B’s 50% marketshare but they hold themselves accountable only to the bottom line instead of what the consumers are asking for.

The really scary thing about A-B is that if they really wanted to, they could obliterate the entire craft beer market. As Sam points out, A-B doesn’t even have to make a good craft ale. If they make a pumpkin beer that is cheaper than his, guess what Joe Sixpack is going to buy. If the A-B pumpkin ale sucks ass, do you think Joe Sixpack is going to go out of his way to pick up another pumpkin ale? There goes that segment. Rhonda faces the same issue with her caffine beer. I can’t imagine how Sam sleeps at night when I think about what he’s up against.

Ungh. I won’t even get started with the three-tier system of beer distribution. That’s as broke a system as I’ve ever seen and there’s little chance it will change simply because too many people are making too much money off the status quo. It’s not unlike the oil industry or the car industry.

Fucking lobbyists. I understand the need for “representation” in our government but what lobbyists are getting away with is unethical and should be illegal. It seems like the only thing they’re protecting is their own interests. Speaking of which…

Neo-Prohibition is a threat that I think Beer Wars seems to gloss over. I definitely think the film maker didn’t cover this concern in any great detail at all. In fact, she presents neo-Prohibition as some sort of “Phantom Menace” that was created by beer industry lobbyists to which they can position themselves against.

As good as I thought this movie was, I do have some gripes about it. The official Beer Wars Movie website markets this movie as an “event” versus a movie. They justify the much higher ticket price by saying the live panel segment at the end of the film warrants this event status instead of a movie. I get it. I work in marketing and I get your positioning. That being said, I believe the west coast was screwed by being forced to watch a tape delayed showing of the film. It’s not an event for us more than it is a rebroadcast. This definitely downgrades the experience from event to documentary. By the time the movie is over for us, the afterparty is over for the rest of the country who saw it live. That’s just bullshit. I’m not trying to come off as cheap because I paid what was asked of me and I would gladly do it again. I just wish the promoters held up their end of the contract.

My other gripes are just nitpicks. The movie had a very “homebrewed” feel and even though tonight was the official movie launch, it already felt dated. Like I said, just nitpicks. Oh, and the focus seemed to be a bit off as well.

Overall, I thought this was a good movie about the beer industry. I don’t particularly think A-B was presented in a positive light but I don’t think they care really. I would highly recommend this movie to other beer lovers or people who are interested in the business of business. At the end of the credits, that’s what this movie is about anyway. You could’ve swapped Starbucks for A-B and two neighborhood cafes for Dogfish Head and Moonshot and still have gotten the same film.

One more thing before I go. I spend a great deal of time on this blog talking about real beer and good beers, blah, blah, blah. I won’t repeat myself. But if there’s one thing I will take away from the movie and evangelize to my readers, it is this: vote with your wallets. Resist corporate beer, rise against. It’s not enough to talk or write about craft beers. You must make your voice heard through your pocket books. The only way our favorite craft ales will be around is if we go out and buy them. If we can’t find them, request them. A paying customer is a customer who is listened to.

Outside of a combination post I wrote a few weeks ago, I haven’t really been promoting this movie much. I know, I’m a bad, bad man for doing so. In any event, Sammy and I purchased tickets to see Beer Wars at our local movie theater. We were invited by various beer loving groups to go and watch the movie en masse but I’m big on supporting my local businesses so here we stay. Here’s a trailer of the movie:

The movie starts at 8pm and runs for a little over 2 hours, inclusive of a 30 minute Q&A afterwards hosted by Ben Stein. If you’re interested in joining Sammy and I, purchase your tickets at the AMC Eastridge Mall 15 theater. We’ll be having a few beers here in the house before head over to the event and probably more beers afterwards. At least that’s the plan.

I was introduced to Pete Slosberg via email through a mutual friend. I wasn’t sure what to make of guy when I first met him. This is after all the guy who put the “Pete” in Pete’s Wicked Ale. He could be a totally cool guy or he could be a totally not cool guy. Thankfully, he’s a totally cool guy.

Every so often, Pete will have what he calls Beer Depletion parties. As the name implies, the entire reason for getting together is to drink beer. Pete travels quite a bit and just about everywhere he goes, people give him beer. It’s the price you pay for trailblazing the path for the rest of us. In the time I’ve known him, he’s invited me to 4 of these and this is only the second one I’ve been to. You can read about the first here.

This most recent Beer Depletion party had the most people in attendance as these things have had. All together there were 12 of us. I remember almost everyone’s name, just don’t test me. While Steve Donohue from Firehouse didn’t make it, Alec, brewmaster from Half Moon Bay Brewing Company, and his wife did.

According to my notepad, we drank 12 beers but from what I was told, two more beers were consumed before we got there. I did my best to take notes and photos but when you’re presented with a lot of beer, the eventually happens: you stop taking notes and photos. Here’s a rundown of the beers we had with photos afterwards. I’ve gone back and forth between smaller thumbnails and larger photos, so let me know if the larger ones are better than the smaller ones.

• Marin Brewing ESB - This was an easy drinking 5% beer. Pete wanted to start us off light. Unlike a traditional ESB that is mild in flavor and aroma, Marin’s ESB had a lot more aromatics and a more noticeable malt sweetness. Good beer.
• Halfmoon Bay Double IPA - I found this beer to be a balanced beer for a double IPA. The hop character had a citrus and fruity aroma and flavor. The hop bitterness was smooth and not harsh while the malt character was enough to support. You could easily put a few of these back as they’re so easy drinking.
• Dogfish Head Red & White, 10% ABV - Dogfish Head is known for their extreme beers. As their motto goes, “Off-centered beers for off-centered people”. That being said, Red & White is an Imperial Witbier. In addition to being brewed with corriander and orange peel, the beer is fermented with Pinot Noir juice. The batch is then split and allowed to age in Pinot Noir barrels while the other with oak staves before they’re blended back together. The result? A beer with the citrus, herbal and spicy notes of the style with subtle wood flavors (and astrigency). Despite being 10% ABV, this beer hides it pretty well. A unique and great tasting beer.
• Marin Tripel - A little light on the Belgian yeast character, sweetness and fruit character the style is known for. Not a bad beer but not a great one either, it’s good.
• 21st Amendment Double Tripel - From what Pete says, this beer was brewed by a guest brewer but was on tap at 21st Amendment. This beer is a hybrid style, it’s a double IPA crossed with a Belgian Tripel. It had the high hop bitterness and hop character of the double IPA and the yeast-derived spicy notes of a Belgian tripel. Houblon Chouffe was the first brewery to popularize the style. A pretty good beer.
• Lagunitas Hairy Eyeball 8.7% ABV - This beer is Lagunitas’ winter warmer. It has a brown sugar malt sweetness with noticeable alcohol sweetness. Despite my not having much to say, this was a good beer.
• Allagash Hugh Malone, 9.5% ABV - The name, “Hugh Malone”, is a play on humulone, one of the three alpha acids present in hops. This is a beer that is hopped in multiple places: first-wort hopped, in the boil, in the whirlpool and then dry-hopped. Despite all the hops crammed into this beer, this beer has a soft malt character and a smooth bitterness. While not as bitter as its name would suggest, Allagash is going for more hop complexity than over-the-top bitterness.
• Valley “Sour” Stout - I’ve heard good things out of Valley Brewing, mainly that they had a sour beer program. When Pete said this beer was a stout, I was a little disappointed until I started hearing that this was a sour stout. My curiosity was immediately piqued and I couldn’t wait to try this beer. Unfortunately, my curiosity wasn’t rewarded. I found this beer to have a hot spicy pepper taste with noticeable acetic sourness. It wasn’t pleasant at all and I had to dump this beer. I’m not ready to write this brewery off but this was not a good first impression.
• Brideport Raving Mad Imperial Porter, 7.8% ABV - This beer was the one with the 3-D label and accompanying 3-D glasses. I thought this beer had a deep roasted malt character, almost burnt, in both the aroma and flavor. Hop bitterness was medium/medium-high but was obscured by the malt flavors. The body was lighter than I had expected. An OK beer.
• Lagunitas Reuben & the Jets, 8.6% ABV - This was the last beer of the Reuben series. Primarily a malty beer with caramel notes in the aroma and flavor. From what I remember, this was a good beer. Judging from the dearth of detail in my notes, I can only surmise I was getting pretty drunk.
• Avery 15, 7.68% ABV - This beer was Avery’s 15th anniversary ale. Not brewed to any particular style, this was a different beer than all the others we’ve had tonight. Avery experimented and had some fun with this beer brewing it with various fruits, spices, herbs and then fermenting it with brettanomyces. The result? A beer with a strong brett character that reminded me of baby poo. Thankfully, this beer tasted much, much better than it smelled. It was sweet with lots of fruit character, low hop bitterness, tart brett flavor. I wish I had another bottle of this to enjoy more fully.
• Marin Imperial Porter, 10.5% ABV - This beer was aged in barrels once used for chocolate liquors. This beer had nutty, chocolate, coffee flavors with slight caramel notes. Reminded me of Goose Island’s Bourbon County Stout. Really good beer.
• Lost Abbey 10 Commandments, 9% ABV - What a great beer to end the night with. Great complex malt charcter with dark fruit notes and a warm alcohol character. Another beer I wish I had another bottle of.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been using Monday nights as an opportunity to do my weekly beer reviews. It has been pretty good so far. The only down side is that reviewing multiple beers can get expensive. I wish more breweries would bottle more of their beers in 22oz bombers as well as 6-packs but it is what it is. I plan on doing my weekly Beer in Review this week but at a later day this week.

Instead, I invited a few of my friends over and we had a very, very nice seafood dinner. The whole event was impromptu and as a result, I didn’t have the time to properly pair any beer with the food. Despite the lack of proper pairings, we did manage to throw back a couple of beers as well as a botle of pulque and mead. The dinner was a potluck and most of our guests prepared everything themselves.

I found a recipe for Ahi Poke that is pretty simple. I modified it somewhat based upon my own tastes but it worked out fine. Here’s the recipe:

• 2 cups of tuna (we went to the Asian market by our house and they sell them in packages in the seafood area. They’re not frozen but very, very cold), diced/dubed
• 1 red onion, diced
• 2 stalks (for lack of a better term) of green onion
• 3/4 cup soy sauce

• 3 tablespoons of sesame oil
• Sesame seeds for garnish
• 1 Thai pepper, chopped
• Salt
• Pepper

Cube the tuna and then place into a bowl. Dice the red onion, green onion, Thai pepper and mix with the tuna. Pour in the soy sauce, sesame oil and mix further. Salt and pepper to taste. I took some seaweed (conveniently placed right next to the tuna at the Asian market) and made a bed for the poke at the bottom of a bowl. I then plated the poke on top and added a few sesame seeds until I thought it looked right.

This dish was brought by our good friends Jason and Crystal. I requested this dish because, frankly, it’s damned good. Simply put, this is a steamed clam and mussel dish. He hasn’t divulged the broth he seamed the mussels in so the following ingredient list is purely speculation:

• Clams
• Mussels
• Kale
• Garlic
• White wine
• Bacon
• Blue cheese

As I said, this is purely speculation but it’s a mighty fine dish that keeps getting better as he refines his recipe.

This dish I kinda cheated on. The fish we picked up from the Asian market. What’s cool is that not only does the Asian market scale and clean your fish, they can fry it up for you as well. This practice just isn’t specific to this market, many Asian markets will do this. I did prepare the topping though and here’s the ingredients:

• 2 tomatoes, diced
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 1 head of garlic, minced

Heat up your fry pan over medium-high heat. Add in about 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (we ran out of olive oil). Add onions and garlic and sauté until the onions are just starting to become transparent. Add the tomatoes and sweat until they are soft but not mushy. Add salt and pepper to taste. Place over the fish or you can serve this on the side.

My good friend Joey brought this dish. It’s a seafood linguini made with, just speculating, salmon, clams mussels and garnished with parsley and lemon. This was a rich and cheesy pasta dish with good flavor to it. Had this for lunch the next day, actually.

Pulque, Full Circle Brewing, 8.0% ABV

Pulque was the main reason I decided to have friends over. I picked up a bottle of it from Full Circle Brewing Company located in Fresno. I did a “Spotlight On” sometime ago that you can view here. The pulque pours out a gold in color, slightly hazy with noticeable yeast suspended in solution. They don’t filter over at Full Circle which adds to the “homebrewer” feel of the place. Because the pulque is more of an agave wine, it is still. The pulque has a very aromatic, agave aroma, think tequila but without the alcohol smell. The flavor is more of the same tequila flavor, just mellow and with a honey sweetness. There’s also none of the alcohol burning or flavor associated with the distilled spirit. Pulque is medium in body with slight alcohol warmth and still.

At 8% ABV, it’s a bit of a weak wine but even then, no one chugged the pulque and we all sipped it. In fact, I think people were very surprised by the pulque’s flavor so they babysat what they had to make it last longer. One couple even remarked on how refreshing the pulque was. I served it chilled.

17, Unibroue, 10% ABV

Unibroue is a brewery located in Quebec, Canada. I remember their bottles in BevMo as I think they have some of the most interesting labels. As with many breweries, Unibroue brews up a special beer on their anniversary. In the past, they’ve brewed up a Strong Pale Ale for their anniversary but this year, they’ve changed up and brewed a Belgian Dark Strong Ale. I only have a picture of the bottle and not the beer as we drank all of it because I remember to take a picture.

17 pours out a dark brown, hazy, with a lasting, off-white head. The aroma is a tantalizing mixture of sweet, yet complex malt aromas comprised of some Munich malt aroma, raisiny, dates and figs. No noticeable hop aroma. The flavor is very much like the aroma. The malt flavor is sweet, complex and ripe with dark fruit flavors such as raisins, dates and figs. I can also make out dark candi sugar flavors and slight alcohol notes. Hop flavor and bitterness was low. The body was medium-high with good carbonation with slight alcohol warming.

People enjoyed this beer as well and noted how smooth and sweet it was. When done correctly, the Belgian Dark Strong Ales are considered “dangerous” because they are able to hide their alcohol well.

To wrap up dinner, we munched on ice cream sandwiches. You had your choice of neopolitan or rocky road. By the time everyone had left it was well past midnight and nearing 1am. Everyone had a great time and we were entertained by some interesting conversation. As good as the food and drinks were, it’s really the people that make an event or get together memorable. We’re hoping to host/attend more of these types of dinner parties.

I will be the first person to admit that I am not that big of a football fan. I know the rules to the game and I can appreciate many aspects of it. I just never got into it the way other people have, the way I got into basketball.

Even then, what a game! It looked like the Steelers were going to runaway with things but the Cardinals made a game out of it in the second half. For a few moments, I thoughts the Cards had it but the Steelers came back with two big plays to win the game.

As big as the game is, the commercials have enjoyed their own bit of notoriety as well. It seems for those of us (me) who aren’t that into the game, the commercials become our “superbowl”. They’ve had some good ones over the years but I think everythings been toned down since “Nipplegate” some years back. Thank you Ms. Jackson.

I was planning on doing a “top beer-related superbowl commercial list” but in reality, Budweiser/Bud Light was the only company that advertised, thus severely limiting the playing field. That being said, here are my top 3 Superbowl commercials.

1. Bud Light: Swedish

This is my number one commercial. Part of it is because it’s beer, the other part is because I think it’s pretty funny. Conan is a weird looking guy to begin with but it’s great that he can poke fun at himself. “Room, room party starter!” or something like that.

2. Monster: Need a New Job?

This was one of those commercials that was simple in it’s execution, sublte in its set-up but had a huge payoff. Friggin’ hilarious.

3. CareerBuilder.com: Tips?

The thing about advertising is that it has to be repetitive. This commercial had repetitive down to a science but I can’t help but giggle everytime I see the “woman riding the ocean on the seal lion’s back”. The look on her face is priceless. Likewise, the look on the koala’s face as it get’s punched in the face is pretty good as well. I’m easily amused by stupid things, I know.

Heineken: Expedition Leader

I hate this commercial. I hate this commercial and the other commercial that followed it. This commercial had nothing to do with beer, it even says so at the very end. Not many beer commercials have much to do with beer but this one wasn’t even funny or witty or cool or hip. It just sucked. It reeked of suckiness. It reeked like a Heineken left out on a sunny day. I shouldn’t even be promoting it by linking it but it sucked so hard, I can’t help but share my pain.

“No destination is the destination of the undestinated.” Sigh.

The idea for Beer Pong stemmed from a conversation with Mario from Brewed for Thought. The basic premise is that one blogger will pose a question and each participant will take about 2 rounds of emails to state their opinions. The resulting conversation would then be posted on the participant’s blogs.

This week was my turn to pick a topic and my question was: How would you go about introducing craft beer to people who aren’t familiar with them?

From: Peter at BetterBeerBlog

From: Mario at Brewed For Thought

From: Peter at BetterBeerBlog

From: Mario at Brewed For Thought

I agree, food and beer is a good way of opening people’s minds.  When I’ve thrown pairings at home for my wife and her friends, her non-beer drinking friends come for the cheese or desserts, but find a couple beers that they really like.  But that also takes me back to giving them something exceptional.  One of my wife’s friends who would typically drink the fruit wheat beers chose Bear Republic’s Hop Rod Rye as her favorite beer of the night when we had a Bear Republic tasting.

Trying to convince strangers to try something new is always difficult.  If you’re sitting next to someone at a bar, offer to buy them a beer if it matters than much to you.  Who turns down a free beer, right?  If you’re tending bar, and this is becoming increasing common, pour a little taste for the customer.  Bars that feature a selection of fine ales will always benefit from a more educated customer.

For me, Boont Amber was my introduction to craft beer.  It blew me away not because it was familiar, but because it was so different from anything I had tasted before.  Soon I was trying every beer available at the bar, then the grocery store.  The seed had been planted in one malty, hoppy sip.  If that pint had been any of the beers in that inner circle of Pete’s guide, I don’t know if I would have been so motivated to discover beer.

Go big or go home!