Better Beer Blog

Went to Gordon Biersch (GB) tonight for dinner. No special reason other than I received a “Free entrée with purchase of another entrée” coupon for my birthday. I ordered the sea bass and had the blonde bock along with it while Sammy ordered the halibut with the hefeweizen. The thing about seafood dishes is that it’s a crapshoot. You hope the fish is fresh and well prepared. Tonight, I was disappointed. The fish had a slight “fishy” smell (which is only apparent in not fresh fish) while the blonde was just “okay”. Can’t really critique it as I was just looking to enjoy my beer but even that didn’t happen.

William Brand wrote a good article I read in the San Jose Mercury News today about the growth of GB as the hometown brewery. You can view the article here. I never knew the San Jose location was only the second brewpub they’ve opened or that Dan Gordon and Dean Biersch sold off the brewpub business long ago to a Tennessee-based company.

As I’ve grown and matured, so have my tastes. I discovered homebrewing, I discovered the world of craft beer. I went through a beer puberty of sorts. Yet, no matter how far I traveled to search for good beer, sometimes, the thing you search for is right in your backyard.

Midway through dinner, I started to think about GB in general. They’ve been a San Jose institution for as long as I can remember. Back in the day when I just turned 21, going to GB was a “special” night out. While not overwhelmingly pricey now, it was big bucks back then. I don’t specifically remember what any of the beers may have tasted like back then but that shouldn’t have been a surprise. Being 21, all I cared about was drinking and getting drunk. Lager? Ale? As long as it got me drunk, it didn’t really matter.

A lot of people will disagree with me with regards to the quality of GB beers and they are entitled to their opinion, it’s their Constitutional right. I enjoy many of their beers, like their dunkleweizen and schwartzbier. Then there are times where I’m just not feeling it as with tonight’s blonde bock or their marzen (yes, I realize it’s considered a classic example of the oktoberfest style but when it warms up, I just don’t like it). So, make no mistake, this post isn’t me being a GB “fanboy” more than it is a trip down nostalgia.

This will be a short post. Just letting folks know I’m back and regular posting will resume this week. There’s a lot to write about and a ton of photos. In the meantime, you can view the newest addition to the BetterBeerBlog photo galleries here.

This post is actually overdue. I started writing this post last weekend with the event still fresh in my mind. In my typically unnecessarily lengthy style of writing, I had written a novella chronicling what can easily be described as “dinner in San Francisco”. Halfway through the my magum opus, I accidentally clicked on an icon on my blogging software that should’ve been named “fuck you, blogboy” and deleted all of my progress that night. So here I am, starting over.

As a graphic designer I rely on my eyesight for everything I do. My whole job is predicated on what can I see. Essentially I would be, as the Google French would say, Jusqu’à merde ruisseau sans paddle, should I ever loose my vision. My worst case scenario would be to go blind. Last Thursday, I had the opportunity to do so.

Sammy and I accompanied our new friend Danthy to San Francisco to “dine in the dark” at this new restaurant called Opaque. The basic premise of Opaque and her sister shops in San Diego and Los Angeles, is fine dining in total darkness. Sammy and I first heard about this experience on the evening news and thought it was a crazy idea that we’d like to participate in one day. Coincidentally, the restaurant can’t be seen from the street as they have no visible sign. Look for the address above a door next to Indigo restaurant on McAllister and Gough.

Normally I wouldn’t even write about this on a beer blog but the experience was too interesting for me not to. The owner of Opaque, Ben, is one of the few Germans who don’t like beer. So automatically, he gets knocked down a few points. In addition, for a fine dining restaurant, they have a lousy beer list. If I were the owner of a fine dining establishment, dark or not, I would’ve made sure everything was high quality. There’s just no excuse, especially in San Francisco where there is a robust craft beer scene. The only beer of note is Anchor Steam but the rest are the same seven in every other bar. As a result, I drank wine.

After arriving, the three of us were given menus to which we can choose our meals. I chose to be completely surprised and I let the hostess pick my meal. While waiting for our waitress, a representative from CitySearch.com interviewed us about why we were there. When I last searched, there weren’t any videos up yet but I’m not holding my breath.

The staff of Opaque let us wait just outside the entrance to the dining area. It’s a small space with only a few ottoman style chairs and small, glass coffee tables. The doorway to the dining area is pitch black. You can hear the noises and conversations of the diners within but you couldn’t see anything. That is, afterall, the point. It was then our blind waitress Suna appeared out of the dark to lead us to our table. It all hits home at this point, fine dining from a blind person’s perspective.

Forming a single file line with one hand on each other’s shoulders, we entered the dining area. What I thought was a straight shot was actually a short series of cutbacks necessary to keep out the dim lighting of the waiting area out. Suna’s voice is firm and reassuring, it has to be. The total darkness of the dining area is disorienting and uncomfortable. I can easily understand why Suna is continually asking us if we’re alright.

As with many restaurants, we are given bread and butter to tide us over while the first course is being prepared. Having all of my senses, the little things that I take for granted are instantly magnified a hundred-fold when my sight has been taken away. For example, I grab a piece of bread and butter it with what I believe to be a butter knife. I take a bite of the bread only to realize I have seriously over buttered my bread. The ratio is totally off. It would’ve been more accurate to say I “breaded my butter”.

It got better as the night wore on but the learning curve was steep. My hands effectively became my eyes as I used my hands to map the table dimensions and location of my plate, utensils and beverages. After about an hour, I had learned where everything was and eating was becoming much easier.

Our eyesight accounts for 80% of our sensory stimuli. That’s a huge friggin’ percentage! Up until our food arrived, I was having trouble adjusting to the total darkness, so much so my eyes began to hurt as they strained to find even the smallest shred of light. Maybe it was having something to preoccupy me or a refocusing of my senses but once our food arrived, my eyes stopped hurting. I have cousins who sleep with their eyes open. It’s strange to watch them sleep because even though you know they’re sleeping, they’re watching you back. If you know someone who sleeps with their eyes open, you know how their eyes look and that’s how I felt my eyes had become by the end of dinner. I could feel my eyelids partially open as my body had adjusted to the darkness.

The food was fantastic. Everything tasted wonderful and felt good. I can’t say the food looked good because I obviously couldn’t see it but it sure felt good on the plate. I know this, literally, first hand. I figured that it’s pitch black, no one can see me, so I ate with my hands. While many people consider it unclean, I find eating with my hands gives me an intimate relationship and understanding of my food that utensils will never give me. It’s an acceptable thing do to in my culture. Besides, it’s only unclean if you don’t wash your hands and I made sure to have done so before dinner.

Here’s a quick bulleted list of our meal. It was supposed to be 3 courses but they added in a few things to keep us guessing:

• Mouth Tease - Chunk of smoked salmon, ginger and risotto (I think) served on a tablespoon. It is a tease, afterall.
• Baby Arugula with Ruby Red Grapefruit, Laura Chenel Goat Cheese, Toasted Walnuts and a Champagne Vinaigrette (description taken from the Opaque website). This was a good salad. I tried to be civilized and use my salad fork but after a few dropped pieces of food, I gave up on “fine eating” and used my hands.
• Vegetable plate consisting of brocollini, red bell peppers and celery served with wasabi creme fresh, a curry-based dipping sauce and red pepper aioli.
• Grilled Beef Tenderloin with Sweet Potato Puree, Roasted Broccolini Green Peppercorn Sauce, Truffle Butter (from website). I loves me some meat and this was an excellent meat plate. Man o’ man was that steak good. Eating mashed potatoes by hand is a very interesting thing.
• Bittersweet Chocolate Cake, Bing Cherries in Mint Sugar, Vanilla Whipped Cream (last course). This was more like those “lava cakes” where the inside is still piping hot and “raw” cake batter. So rich and gooey. I don’t have a sweet tooth to begin so I didn’t finish but that was some good dessert.

I would like to give props to our waitress Suna. She was one of the most attentive wait staff I have ever had. She was there often enough to make sure we were good but never hovering just over our shoulders (She might’ve been, it’s dark, I can’t tell.). Suna is very personable as well. Turns out, she wasn’t always blind, she lost her eyesight some time back. What really trips me out about her is that she’s also a fashion designer. “Colors,” she says, “You never forget colors”. I look at her and I see what my options are should I loose my own eyesight.

Despite the endless rambling of dining in the dark using your hands, I did manage to have some good beer. When Danthy, Sammy and I first arrived, we chilled out at a bar called Jade which was right around the corner from Opaque. It was a warm day and I ordered the Scrimshaw Pilsner from North Coast Brewing Company. While light, crisp, refreshing and flavorful, I found the beer to be “okay”. It’s a good beer but I felt the flavor profile wasn’t a good example of the style. The malt flavors didn’t taste of pilsner malt and the hop level was below even the low end of what is acceptable for the style. I suppose I’d order another pint of nothing else was around but thankfully, there was.

My next pint was only half a pint as they keg ran out of beer. I tasted Mt. Tam Pale Ale from Marin Brewing Company. This is an awesome beer and I kick myself in the ass for passing on it soo many times at the BevMo. Mt. Tam, please accept my apology and I vow from hereto forth, to never ignore you again. This pale ale has an awesome fruity, floral, citrusy, fresh hop aroma with a flavor to match. There is just enough malt flavor to support the hops but the hops are the starts in this beer. Jahmmy!

After dinner, we headed back to Jade to hang out a little bit more. Sammy had ordered the Pt. Reyes Porter, also from Marin Brewing Company while I drank the Alaskan IPA. I enjoyed the Alaskan IPA. I found the aromas to be very pleasant, a good mix of malt sweetness and hop character with an emphasis on the hops. An excellent precursor to the taste. The IPA had pronounced hop flavors and strong hop bitterness with medium malt characteristics. As good as this beer was, I think I enjoyed the Mt. Tam even more.

Sammy’s Pt. Reyes porter was a great tasting beer as well. Sammy doesn’t really like the dark beers such as porters and stouts. They are not sweet enough for her and the roastiness of some porters and stouts overwhelm her palette sometimes. She liked the Pt. Reyes though. As Sammy put it, “This tastes like chocolate espresso coffee. It’s bittersweet and chocolatey.”

All in all, this was an evening to remember. Dining in the dark at Opaque is an experience I would readily recommend to people who enjoy good food and new experiences. Keep in mind though, it’s a prix fixe menu. I found the $99/person price point a bit steep, especially if it’s just for the food. Because of the combination of food and experience, I found the price worthwhile. I would recommend you wash your hands before dinner and to avoid wearing white if you plan on eating with utensils. There’s a good chance you’ll get food someplace you weren’t expecting. I would hope that Ben would look at Opaque holistically. If he’s going for a fine dining restaurant, everything should be “fine dining”, including your beer list. Jade is also a cool place to hang out with some good beers on tap.

If you do go to Opaque, I’d love to hear about your experiences. I love reading comments.

Normally I try and refrain from using any sort of profanity on this website. I think there are other ways of conveying your message without the use of profanity but in this instance, there’s just no other way of saying it, this proposed beer tax is just bullshit!

California State Assemblyman Jim Beall, who once proposed a 1500% tax raise on beer, is back in the news. In an article he wrote in the San Jose Mercury News, Assemblyman Beall argues for a raise in beer tax to pay for alcohol related healthcare issues.

I understand their view. But they need to understand that all California taxpayers - including the one-third who don’t imbibe - are shelling out billions for alcohol’s role in soaring health costs, traffic accidents and fatalities, crime and incidences of fetal alcohol syndrome, the leading preventable cause of birth defects. The lifetime cost for a person with fetal alcohol syndrome can exceed $2 million in medical expenses, special education and productivity losses.

I cannot begin to put into words how pissed off I am regarding many of his arguments. If I had a choice, I would choose not to support the lifetime costs of some fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) baby. I wouldn’t. I’m not sorry about that either. Why should I help pay for someone else’s mistake? If some woman decided binge drinking was a good idea while she was pregnant, she alone should be held responsible for raising her FAS child.

It’s time for those responsible for alcohol’s devastating fallout to pay their fair share of the financial burden booze places on our society. If we can single out smokers by making them pay higher taxes for health costs they create, we should do likewise to breweries and their consumers.

Just for the record, I do not support the heavy taxation of tobacco companies to pay for the higher health costs smoking tobacco causes. In the end, the choice to smoke, or even drink, is a personal one. There is enough information out there showing direct correlations between numerous cancers and smoking, yet people choose to pick up smoking anyway. Why penalize one segment of an industry for a personal decision? If Assemblyman Beall wants to talk about fairness, he should penalize the entire industry of alcohol producers. That being said…

Why tax beer and not wine or distilled spirits? Beer sales represent 50 percent of the nation’s alcohol market and it is the alcoholic beverage of choice for underage drinkers. Beer also represents 81 percent of all alcohol in the United States consumed in hazardous amounts.

The wine and distilled spirits should be held just as accountable for the alcohol problem as much as Assemblyman Beall holds the beer industry accountable. I spoke to a co-worker of mine and we discussed wine culture as opposed to beer culture. I will go home and have a bottle of two of either my homebrew or my favorite beers with my dinner. It’s relaxing and enjoyable to me. Still, two bottles of beer is 24 ounces and no more than 7% alcohol in many cases. I get the occasional “you’re an alcoholic” from my friends for that. Yet, there are many people who will down a full bottle of wine (some even more) with their meals every. single. night. That’s 750ml, or approximately 25.36 ounces. While comparable in volume, keep in mind that most wines clock in at 12% - 15% alcohol. Nearly the same volume of alcohol, nearly twice the level of intoxication. For whatever reason, wine drinkers are able to hide their alcoholism under the guise of “sophistication” and and I think that’s bullshit.

The distilled spirits industry is no different and potentially even worse with their higher alcohol by volume (ABV), usually at the 40% mark. The fact remains that while distilled spirits costs more, a liter of vodka has much more “mileage” than an equivalent volume of beer. Put in simpler terms, a little bit of vodka can go a long way with regards to getting drunk. Let’s just cut the crap and call it how it is. Statistics are just numbers and can be easily manipulated by many to support their various causes. Hell, even Sex Panther works “60% of the time, all the time”.

One out of five people nationwide - age 12 to 20 - does binge drinking. Each day, 5,400 children under 16 down their first drink. Ten percent of the drinking public consumes 55 percent of the total volume of alcohol in America.

Over 90% of our nation’s wealth resides in the bank accounts and pockets of only 10% of out nation’s population. Why doesn’t Assemblyman Beall draft a bill or a law mandating those 10% to financially support the other 90%? Because it’s stupid and unfair, just like his proposed beer tax.

More than 90,000 college students annually are victims of alcohol-related sexual assault or date rape. Consider alcohol’s role in the reported sexual assault of a teenage girl at a controversial March 2007 party in San Jose, attended by some members of a local community college baseball team, where liquor and beer were served to minors. In her lawsuit, the girl said she was intoxicated and unconscious during the assault.

Liqueurs have revolutionized recreational drinking much more than wine, beer and distilled spirits combined. Take a moment to remember the face you or your friends made whenever you took a shot of vodka, or any distilled spirit for that matter. You all looked like you were taking a really bad shit. It was never enjoyable. Now, mix one part vodka, one part triple sec, and one part lime/lemon juice and you have a kamikaze. Ahh, now we’re cooking with gas, you could probably kill a dozen of these a night, right? Probably have. A good bartender/mixologist will make you a drink that will be so sweet and taste so good that you won’t even notice you just had the equivalent of 4 shots of 40% alcohol. Next thing you know, it’s morning, you don’t know where you are, who you’re with or why your ass hurts. Yes, I am being overly dramatic but it’s to illustrate a point. Is it the alcohol’s fault you were sexually assaulted or the guy/gal lying next to you? Or maybe even the bartender? Even worse, at a party with minors, where were the parents in all of this? Doesn’t decency, morality and common sense start at the home?

Look, this will be a hotly debated topic in the weeks to come. Obviously I side with the beer industry in opposing this bill simply because it is unfair. It is unfair to point to one segment of an entire industry and ask them to foot the bill when they are not the sole source of the problem. If you’re going to draft a bill demonizing the abuse of alcohol because of all the alcohol related healthcare problems, then make every alcohol producer liable, not just the beer industry. Don’t blame the beer industry based solely on volume of sales, the world is more complex that numbers or statistics. Proper context is just as important.

The underlying issues that Assemblyman Beall is trying to address with this beer tax are important issues that must be dealt with but not in this manner. It is important to educate people about the potential dangers of alcohol and substance abuse but I feel there are other, deeper issues, that people must be taught and no bill, law or beer tax can do that. I’m sure Assemblyman Beall’s heart is in the right place but this execution isn’t. Speaking of heart, the number one cause of death in the United States is heart disease. Assemblyman Beall’s efforts would be better off drafting a “fast food tax” to mandating the fast food industry to foot the bill for all the healthcare related issues and problems fast food causes.

Don’t let your voice go unheard! Contact Assemblyman Beall here.

It took some time but my kegerator has arrived and is now up and running! I purchase the Haier HBF05EBSS-2 Dual Faucet Kegerator with Stainless Steel Door from the Beverage Factory and so far, so good but as always, it didn’t start off well. Chalk it up as a learning experience.

I researched a few places online for the best deals, mainly through Google. I knew I was going to inherit a chest freezer from my mother-in-law and I originally planned to convert that but then I went out and bought a three Cornelius (corney) kegs and found I could only fit one keg in the freezer. I really wanted a two keg system so I started to look at my many options. In the end, my wife just said, “Just buy the stainless steel, two tap system from that website. It’s not like you’re actually going to build one anyway!” So with a credit card in one hand and my shattered ego in the other, I made the phone call.

Just days later, I notice that FedEx has left a little note saying they came by and attempted to deliver the parts. To keep a long story short, my wife ended up going to FedEx to claim the refrigerator portion while the tap lines, tower and CO2 equipment were delivered separately. The day I put most of the kegerator together, I realized Beverage Factory forgot to ship the CO2 regulator. I called them the next day and they shipped the part to me within a couple of days later.

After purchasing the CO2 from a local provider (Carbonic Service), I finally set up my system. No one told me I needed to agitate the keg once hooked up. This explained why I had low pressure and flat beer for a few days. Needless to say, the system works well now. In my earnestness, I brewed two new batches of beer in consecutive days. I’ll write about these and my other homebrews soon enough. There’s a lot to say.

My experience with Beverage Factory was satisfactory, if that means anything. I was neither impressed nor disappointed by their service. For every action that bummed me out, there was something to offset. For example, they forgot to ship me the CO2 regulator but shipped me a new one without question the next day when I got a hold of them. Below is a small pro/con list.

Pros:

• Timely service – They shipped out my kegerator within a couple of days. Had anyone been home, I would’ve been up and going much sooner.
• Competitive prices – They were cheaper than the More Beer! people and some retail options as well (BevMo and Fry’s Electronics)
• Customer Services- When I explained to Customer Service that they forgot to ship me the CO2 regulator, they shipped one to me without question.

Cons:

• Understaffed – When I called to place an order or to follow up on the missing CO2 regulator, I had to wait quite a while for a live body to answer the phone. When ordering, I think I was on hold for maybe 10 minutes. That’s a bit too long to wait, in my opinion.
• Delivery options – Because of the cost/size/content of the shipment, Beverage Factory requires a signature upon delivery. Great, I like that. I appreciate that. I just wish they could’ve had a “Pick-up from FedEx” option. I have a truck and it’s no big deal for me to pick things up.

At the end of the day, would I recommend Beverage Factory? Yes, I would. Take my “endorsement” with a grain of salt as my experiences will differ from yours. As soon as my next two beers are done, I’m having a “Grand Opening” party… assuming of course the beers I made taste any good, ha!

What a weekend! Man! Before I go off for the next 10,000 words recapping the Boonville Beer Fest, I would like to thank Jeremy, Ashley and Jen from New Belgium Brewing Company for giving us the opportunity to tag along with them. You guys are way cool and I can’t thank y’all enough for having us.

That being said, this weekend wasn’t all rainbows and puppies. Friday night was a whole lot of logistical uncertainty. Sammy and I were supposed to meet up with Jeremy and the other New Belgians over at Toad in the Hole, and English-style pub in Santa Rosa. According to Google maps, getting from San Jose to Santa Rosa takes approximately 1 hours, 51 minutes. We left our house at about 2:30pm and didn’t park in Santa Rosa until 6pm. The Friday afternoon commute was a bitch! Whatever. It just made everything at Toad in the Hole that much better. I’ve written about Toad in the Hole in a separate post.

After dinner, received a phone call from Jeremy telling us that they had just arrived at Anderson Valley Brewing Company (AVBC). With that news, we were on our way. From Santa Rosa, we had to take 101N to Hwy 128. It’s not uncommon for highways to become the main street in many small towns. Boonville is no exception with hwy 128 being the town’s main street. As we found out on the drive back home, hwy 128 is a scenic highway that runs parallel to a river for a good part. The other half winds through the mountains and becomes very interesting with a variety of blind corners, tight turns and switchbacks. This is all fine and dandy during the day but when you’re driving in the middle of the night as we were, it can be a bit harrowing. There are no lights on hwy 128 and despite the clear night, we were forced to drive with our high beams on just to see what’s ahead of us. After a white-knuckle drive that seemed to last on and on, Sammy and I arrive at the intersection of hwy 128 and hwy 253, which is essentially where AVBC is located.

We pull into AVBC expecting to see just a handful of people only to find the place is abuzz. It was colder than anticipated, yet there were campers scattered throughout. The tasting room was filled with people and hidden under the veil of darkness, a persistent murmur of voices and laughter emanated from the distance. I rang up Jeremy only to be greeted with his voicemail. As was suspected, mobile phone service was sketchy at best, non-existent at worst.

After leaving a few voicemails, Sammy and I take the truck to the back of the property where the majority of the campers seem to be. It is crowded. There are cars parked everywhere there was room and just beyond them, tents. I heard from Jeremy that we’d be camping on the back 40 (acres) of the AVBC lot and figured that it can’t be that big so I tell her to sit tight while I look for him.

What I thought was the main campground ended up being just the top level of the back 40. Stumbling through campsites and trees, I make my way down to the second, and much larger, level of the campsite. It felt a little overwhelming looking for the New Belgium needle in this haystack of camping brewers but I kept at it. I walked the perimeter of the second level campground, almost hitting my head on a low-lying tree branch, before deciding to head back. There was a third lower level of campground to walkthrough but I decided to make my way back to the car. Maybe Jeremy had called while I was in the back 40 where cellular service was nil.

On the way back, I run into Dan Satterthwaite, the brewer for Gordon Biersch San Jose. I think he’s a bit surprised to run into a stranger in the dark who knows him by name but after I re-introduce myself, he assures me that we can camp just about anywhere and we’ll be fine. With things looking up, my phone rings with a voicemail.

Jeremy had come to the front part of the property to pick up his friend Jen, who is also an employee of New Belgium Brewing Company. The four of us gather our things and head down to the second level of the campground where we find Ashley (another New Belgium employee) warming herself by the fire at their campsite… located right next to a tree with a low-lying tree branch. Sonofabitch.

I am not averse to going camping. I find it fun, actually. We just don’t go very often. As a result, I am not really familiar with how to erect the tent we borrowed from Sammy’s sister. The last time we used it was… 2 years ago? A year? Not surprisingly, Sammy and I are both stumbling in the dark trying to pitch this tent when we are pleasantly interrupted by the sounds of a marching band. A marching band, a “one time, at band camp…” marching band. At first I think that one of the breweries has employees all comprised of former marching band people and think of how cool that it. In the end, it’s really the Humboldt Firkin Tappers, a group of former marching band people who apparently travel to different beer festivals and play contemporary music rearranged to work with marching band instruments. We finish setting up the tent to David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance”.

Finally able to relax and have some New Belgian Springboard on tap, I slowly take the scene in. It’s tent city. There are neighborhoods of tents everywhere built by the employees of different breweries. It’s almost like these fantasy movies (e.g. 300, Lord of the Rings, and Troy) where you see a sea of tents and bonfires scattered here and there surrounded by people all just hanging out until they go to war the next day. Exactly like that, except we’re drinking really good beer and don’t have to wake up the next day to die in a war to stop the Persians/save Middle Earth/bring back some adulterous slut.

Despite all the commotion, the marching band and the occasional “Whooooo!”, it is a very chill atmosphere. Most of the brewers all know each other, if not know of each other. Being a brewer is a bit like joining a small club. There’s only a few thousand members nationwide and everyone is connected by the power of beer. As a result, people are coming and going from each other’s camp, hanging out, trying different beers, and even smoking out on occasion. And because everyone there is connected by industry, there is a much different vibe than a regular campsite would have. There’s no “keep to yourselves” attitude. It’s very… community, for lack of a better word.

“Ironman” by Black Sabbath as interpreted by the Firkin Tappers comes on in the background while we’re huddled by the fire. Not more than 6 feet from the fire and you’ll notice a significant temperature drop. I notice each camp is starting to pull in ranks around the fire. The crescent moon dips below the horizon line and the sky instantly lights up with hundreds of thousands of stars. Living in the city, the lights of the city often outshine the nightscape and you forget about the stars sometimes. Looking up, it’s hard to fathom how we forget about the stars. Sammy and I take our cue from the moon and decide to call it a night.

Sammy and I roll out of the tent the next morning at about 8:30am. I don’t get up this early for work yet I’m up this early on a Saturday. I’m surprised to find that we’re one of the last people up and about. The majority, if not all, of the brewers are up and making breakfast, playing Frisbee golf or doing other things to keep themselves entertained. Having planned to do much of our eating at restaurants or at the festival itself, Sammy and I only bring snacks. She whips out the cinnamon raisin bread and spray-on butter (I can’t Believe it’s not Butter brand. Most of us eating can’t believe it is butter) for us to share with our hosts while I pour out some beers. It’s 9am and just about everyone has a beer in hand. How cool is that? Historically, beers were often part of a ploughman’s lunch as beer is fortified with B vitamins and is full of carbohydrate goodness. They don’t call it “liquid bread” for nothing.

At Jeremy’s call, we pack up our gear and head over to the fairgrounds where the beer fest is being held. It’s different being on the brewer’s side of the beer festival scene. As a participant, I go to these different festivals, try the beer and try to make friends. If I’m lucky, I’ll get to talk to a few brewers but more often than not, I don’t get the chance to do so.

It is 11:30pm when we’re done setting up. Jeremy has 4 kegs hooked up to two jockey boxes while Jen and Ashley have spread around New Belgium bottle openers and sell sheets to the front of the table. At this festival, New Belgium is pouring their Abbey, Springboard, Mothership Wit and their famed La Folie. It’s no secret that I take horrible tasting notes when I’m out. Sometimes, I don’t take any notes whatsoever. I’m not sure what it is about me but I need the strictest of controls when sampling and tasting a beer. When I’m out and about, I find it hard to focus. It’s even more difficult to focus when all I smell is wood. Even though we’ve changed clothes, there’s still a hint of firewood smoke on my clothes and hair. Its pervasive, almost all encompassing. I should’ve picked my nose clean to clear it of any smoke-infused nose nuggets but here, in public and in plain view of all the brewers setting up shop around us, I thought better of it.

It’s a bit too hot to have the Abbey. We’ve already had the Mothership Wit before and the Springboard at camp, so I eagerly pour myself a glass of La Folie. For those not familiar, La Folie is a sour ale that has been aged in wood for 3 years. The final product is often a blend of young and older barrels to achieve a more consistent product. The aroma is pleasant and sour. The flavor is almost identical. This is a tart and tasty beer. It’s literally mouth watering, slightly astringent and puckering. Despite it’s 6% ABV, I find this to be a refreshing beer on many levels. I don’t know this at the time but I’m going to regret only pouring myself one glass.

To the left of the New Belgium spot is Two Rivers Cider Company. Sammy and I get a pouring of their Pomegranate cider and this is one of the best tasting ciders I have ever had. It is light, effervescent, pink in hue and refreshing beyond compare. The sweetness is balanced out by a sour undertones allowing the pomegranate fruit flavors to shine without stealing the show. If there were ever a “chick drink” this would be it. Regardless of gender, this is an immensely enjoyable drink that everyone I know would like.

Sammy starts to snap pictures of whatever brewers have already set up. Before we even begin our rounds, we meet up with Randy Griggs, BJCP judge and production manager at the More Beer! store in Concord, CA. We’re joined by Morgan (I don’t remember his last name, Fox I believe) who is also a BJCP judge and brewer at EJ Phair Alehouse also in Concord. In fact, both the More Beer! store and EJ Phair are located in the same plaza. Randy tells us that once he found out his store wasn’t going to have a presence at the festival, he volunteered to help the EJ Phair folks pour. Sammy and I met both of them when we were stewards at the AHA Homebrew Competition at Devil’s Canyon Brewing Company some weeks back. It’s good to see they remembered us.

With only about and hour to go before the general public is admitted to the event, Sammy and I take this opportunity to finally grab a bite to eat and to take photos of the breweries in attendance. We get halfway through before Sammy realizes she forgot something at the campground and needs to go back. We part ways with Sammy heading back to AVBC while I continue to take pictures and sample beers.

At this point, my note taking has gone to hell so I don’t have much to write about. I remember trying the La Fleurette (sp?) from Russian River Brewing Company (RRBC) but not taking any notes. By this time, the general public has been let in and it’s a mad dash by everyone to get this drink on. Here are the few notes I did take:

• Pizza Port AtTENuation – Belgian style strong pale ale. Good Belgian yeasty notes in the aroma backed with some fruit notes as well. Smooth, strong. 9.5% ABV
• Firestone Walker Union Jack: Great nose! Sweet with medium strong floral, hop characteristics. Strong hop flavor and bitterness without being overwhelming.
• Black Diamond Belgian Blonde: Fruity notes (peach), yeasty character. Light malt aroma and flavor with fruit notes and a dry finish.

See? Horrible note taking.

With Sammy having returned by this time, the two of us head over to the gazebo area to meet up with the other Bay Area bloggers. The first person I meet is Jessica from The Thirsty Hopster, followed by Jay of Brookston Beer Bulletin and Jay of The Hedonist Beer Jive. We keep our conversations light and beer-centric, of course. When prompted if we’ve tasted anything good, we all pull our out notepads to check what we’ve reviewed so far. I found that moment to be pretty high up on the beer geek scale. While I am only superficially familiar with Jessica and Jay (Hedonist), I haven’t heard about the other Jay before. After listing his beer writing credentials, I feel pretty silly for not knowing about him. Jay has been featured in just about every beer publication around, including Zymurgy, Beer Advocate, San Francisco Chronicle and Celebrator.

Sammy is pretty hungry after her walk to and from AVBC so we cut out from our Bay Area beer blogger summit. I have every intention of coming back and hanging out with them. I had questions for Jessica and for Jay (Brookston) but it all had to wait. By the time we got back to the gazebo, everyone had parted ways and I didn’t hear from anyone until my email inbox a few days later.

At this point, I stopped drinking. Weird, yah, I know. It’s just the vibe of the festival was changing. There were a number of guys walking around with their shirts off and a few hippies running to and fro’. People were pissing behind bushes, in corners and there was a lot of drunken shenanigans starting up. What started off as a cool festival of beer appreciation was turning into a frat party. As a result, I was turned off by the whole thing and we headed back to the New Belgium stand where we helped them take down the rest of their equipment and headed back to the campsite.

Boonville is the biggest beer festival we’ve attended to date. All of the other beer festivals have been nice, chill events. The majority of the people who attend the past beer events we’ve been to have been down to earth, easy to talk to, and most important, respectful of beer. It seems the larger event, the more mainstream the event, the worst people are. It’s less and less about the beer and more about getting wasted. Maybe I’m expecting too much but you’d never see this anything like this at a wine festival. It’s just frustrating to see such a wonderful collection of brewers and breweries helping to put on good festival pour beer to people who just don’t appreciate it.

For the most part, the festival did go well. With the exception of the Pizza Port incident, there were no fights. Despite the availability of marijuana, there were only two people detained by the Sheriffs. I guess when compared to the vibe happening at the AVBC brewer’s campsite, the festival itself pales in comparison.

Saturday night carried over a lot of the good vibes from Friday night. If anything, everyone seemed to be more relaxed, as if getting over the festival was some huge hurdle. The kind folks at AVBC prepared a BBQ dinner for the brewers as well as a bonfire. As the day turned to night, folks came and went from one campfire to another.

Pat Mcilhenney and his son from Alpine Brewing Company hung out with us for most of the night. A dozen or so beers later, we managed to talk them into sharing their bottles of sour ales with us, a lambic called Briscoe and a kriek named Chez Monieu. The lambic had a tart, yet sweet aroma that carried on to the flavor. There was little to no hop aroma or flavor. The characteristic “barnyard” aromas were subtle. While not an excellent example of the lambic style, this was a damn good beer. The kriek was more of the same, except with cherry notes in both the aroma and flavor. This makes sense as the lambic was the base and Pat added the cherries during the last 3 months. Pat also mentioned how these beers were kept up in his attic at the brewery. As you can probably guess, it gets mighty warm and keeping his beer up in an attic isn’t going to help keep them cool. As a result, Pat kept an air-conditioner on for the better part of several months as the beer aged in wood barrels.

Not to be outdone, Jeremy brings out his last bottle of Le Fleur Monsieur, a Belgian Golden Strong Ale. As the story goes, Jeff Lebesch (founder of New Belgium) was riding his bike through European villages famous for their beers. Somewhere in France, Jeff suffers from what I will kindly call “an upset stomach”. Tired, despondent, and near tears, a French boy approaches Jeff and says, “Le fleur, monsieur?” before handing him a flower. The beer is sweet smelling with fruity and yeasty notes. The flavor is a mirror of the aroma. I notice a little bit of warmth from the alcohol. It’s a pretty good beer but not as refreshing as the lambic and kriek from Alpine. I’m dealing with apples and oranges here so it’s not really a fair comparison.

The Firkin Tappers are back and run through another medley of songs. This time, I stand right at the perimeter of the action instead of taking it all in from a distance. The fire in the center of the circle is bright and illuminates the “drum major”, who by now is shirtless and conducting his band from a folding chair as the Super Mario theme songs blares from behind him. Sammy and I stay for a few songs. At one point, the “drum major” starts to put on his shirt but the crowd catcalls for him to leave it off. I for one, would’ve appreciated him with his shirt on but seeing as they take requests, he takes his shirt back off. Someone from the audience yells out, “I NEED MORE COWBELL” and the Tappers oblige. Sammy and I leave for out camp as soon as they’re done playing “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” by Blue Oyster Cult. Yes, there was enough cowbell for everyone.

We wake up bright and early the next morning in order to make it back in time for our various Mother’s Day events. As some of the other campers are just getting breakfast ready, Jen leaves first, followed soon after by Jeremy and Ashley. I’m just a little melancholy as we’re pulling out of AVBC and head back onto hwy 128. I am still in disbelief that I was able to participate and appreciate the Boonville Beer Fest as both a fan and as a “brewer”. Overall, the good far outweighed the bad in this event and I look forward to coming back either as a fan or on the brewer’s side. If possible, I’d like to come back on the brewery side of things as I feel I didn’t get a chance to talk to as many people as I wanted to. Sometimes, there’s a lot to be learned by listening. In any event, I’d like to thank the Jeremy, Ashley and Jen from New Belgium for having us out there with them.

12th Annual Legendary Boonville Beer Fest click to view full gallery

Firkin Gravity Festival 2008 Click to view gallery

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

William Brand, beer columnist of the Oakland Tribune, wrote an interesting article that appeared in several publications. I wanted to write about is sooner but I was just barely able to get to it tonight. In the article, he asked a very simple question, what are the best beer pubs in Silicon Valley? Not surprisingly, the answer was a frustrating and resounding, “The South Bay is a (expletive deleted!!) beer desert.”

Unfortunately, I have to agree. There are no great beer pubs in the South Bay Area, let alone good beer pubs. The South Bay is a veritable wasteland devoid of good beer.

San Francisco has the Toronado, Magnolia, and the Beach Chalet to name a few. Oakland has the Trappist and even Hayward is in on the act with the Bistro. I could go on and list every single little town that has an awesome beer pub but the list would be long and depressing for the residents of the South Bay. San Jose, the city I call home and the third point of the Bay Area triangle, in particular is pathetically devoid of excellent beer pubs.

I may get a few emails telling me I’m full of myself and these people would be entitled to their opinion. There are indeed many places to get drunk in San Jose, I can attest to that personally but I should make a distinction. I’m looking for a good beer bar. You can get drunk just about anywhere but a good beer bar has a few distinctions. According to William Brand, here they are:

1. A warm, friendly, welcoming place without attitude or snobbery.
2. A beer list that goes beyond the standards and frequently offers new beers.
3. Bartenders and waiters who are interested in and care about beer.

That being said, I am at a loss to name even a single place that fits those categories. Some of William Brand’s readers have chimed in and here are their responses.

• Rose and Crown - Palo Alto
• Mission Pizza - Fremont
• El Toro Brew Pub - Morgan Hill
• BJs - Cupertino

I have personally been to Rose and Crown in Palo Alto and find that to be a good bar with an interesting selection of beers. Unfortunately, I don’t count Palo Alto to be part of the South Bay but part of the Peninsula so they’re out. El Toro in Morgan Hill has a vast selection of beers all brewed in house. I went there once for my birthday and enjoyed their beer but found their food to be lacking. I don’t even consider BJs to be a true brew pub as they import their beers from their central brewing facility in Roseville. Mission Pizza sounds to be the most interesting out of the four and a place I will have to give a try.

After all that, San Jose and it’s immediate cities and towns are still left off the map. San Jose has Gordon Biersch, which itself is a good brew pub but they don’t have a large selection and the “fun” beers are just their seasonals. The waitstaff doesn’t seem to be all that knowledgeable about their beers, either.

Luckily for us, there is a silver lining, a light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. Cupertino, known mainly for being the headquarters of Apple Computers, is planning on building an authentic Hofbrauhaus to be located in the Cupertino Square Shopping Center. I had written about this before but as their summer opening date is fast approaching, I’m starting to see more references to the Hofbrau Beer Hall Silicon Valley Cupertino (yes, that is their long winded name). The Wave Magazine has a small write-up about the Beer Hall you can download here.

While the article doesn’t have too many details regarding specific opening dates or what German beers will be on tap, but if this Hofbrauhaus is going to be anything like its Las Vegas counterpart, we can expect some tasty brews. One of the key points in the article comes from an interview with Stefan Gastager, President of Hofbrauhaus Las Vegas.

“Gastager, who has been overseeing Hofbrauhaus Las Vegas since it was established in 2004 believes authenticity is the key to the business’ success. ‘The quality, of course, costs money,’ he says. ‘But the people like it, and it’s been proven over four years that it’s the right route’”.

Whether or not the Hofbrauhaus will be an excellent beer location that meets the three criteria previously listed remains to be seen. At best, it will. At worst, it will be just another place to get drunk at, especially during Oktoberfest.

I will be keeping close tabs to the success or failure of the Hofbrauhaus. In my opinion, how well it does will be a representation of the demand for quality beer and quality beer establishments here in the South Bay. I’m sure I will not be the only one watching.

If anyone has any good suggestions to excellent beer bars in the South Bay, I’d love to hear from you.

An interesting article I found on www.cnn.com today reports on a study that suggests having a big belly in your 40s can lead to Alzhimers Disease and other forms of dementia decades later. What I find particularly interesting is that the increased risk isn’t just limited to obese people (meaning people who are fat everywhere) but people who aren’t even overweight are just as susceptible.

That abdominal fat, sometimes described as making people apple-shaped rather than pear-shaped, has already been linked to higher risk of developing diabetes, stroke and heart disease.

“Now we can add dementia to that,” said study author Rachel Whitmer of the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, California.

As with most scientific studies that come out linking one thing to another, I find it best to take it with a grain of salt and review the findings for yourselves. The one thing I notice about these studies is that they rarely say “x causes y”. Most of the time, the wording goes more along the lines of “x may lead to y” or “x increases the chances of y”. Same thing with this article.

Dr. Jose Luchsinger of the Columbia University Medical Center in New York, who studies the connection between obesity and Alzheimer’s disease but didn’t participate in the new work, cautioned that such a study cannot prove abdominal fat promotes dementia.

But the study results are “highly plausible” and “I’m not surprised at all,” he said. High insulin levels might help explain them, he said.

So what’s the point? How does this relate to beer?

Short answer? It doesn’t. This article doesn’t relate directly to beer at all, in fact, there’s not even a mention of “beer” anywhere in the context of the article. So why even bring it up, let alone write about it?

Because it’s going to come up. Some time, some place, someone will point to the pint of liquid heaven in your hand known as “beer”, then point to your belly, then point to their temples and make those little circles in a gesture known universally as “Dat bitch be craaaaazy”. If you were to finish your beer and use the empty glass to knock that person out and then proceeded to squat up and down on their heads in a gesture universally known as “Halo-humping“, I wouldn’t hold it against you. If anything, I would marvel at your ability to complete even 2 repetitions with that gut handicapping you as it were.

In all seriousness, it is not cool to smack someone in the face with a pint glass until they get knocked out. It was disturbing enough in the movie Pans Labyrinth when Captian Vidal killed that poor farmer with a bottle. I don’t need to read about it on CNN.

Beer belly. Beer gut. Pot belly. Spare tire. Masculine obesity. Whatever you call it, it’s not too much of a stretch to imagine a beer lover with a bulbous midsection. All too often, beer is seen as the main culprit for central obesity when there is little scientific evidence to support that claim. No matter what you call it or what factors lead up to it, the fact remains that obesity can lead to strokes, heart disease, diabetes and now dementia.

This is just another public service message to the beer lovers out there to enjoy beer responsibly and to take care of yourselves by engaging in a lifestyle of moderate alcohol consumption, watching what you eat, and by being active. With all the good beers in the world to try, it’d be a shame to die early and miss out on all the fun.

This is the calm before the storm that is the spring season of beer. As spring approaches, brewers everywhere are starting to brew up their spring seasonals. Expect to see a variety of the lighter beers coming out like witbiers, hefeweizens, pale lagers, blondes and kölschs. In keeping with the seasonal brewing trend, and being inspired by my latest BJCP class, I have decided to brew a kölsch.

Put plainly, a kölsch is an ale version of a pale lager. In many brewpubs that brew only ales, the kölsch is considered their “entry-level” beer that would be most similar to an American standard lager or premium lager. This is my first attempt at a lighter style beer and I am interested to see how it goes for a variety of reasons.

Brewing a lighter style beer is much more difficult than a darker style. The process isn’t any different but lighter styles will definitely test how well a brewer sanitizes his (or her) equipment as well as how well they can keep to a process. The reason for the increased difficulty is because lighter beers have less to hide behind. Stouts, for example, have huge roasty, chocolatey, and coffee flavors that can easily mask subtle mistakes. Lighter beer on the other hand can’t really hide anything as the flavors are more subtle.

In any event, here is my ingredient list:

Malt Exctract/Additions:

• 4 lbs German pils
• 2 lbs light DME (dry malt extract)
• 4 oz maltodextrin*

Grain:

• 8 oz Crystal 15L

Hops:

• .5 oz Glacier hops (6.0)** bittering hops
• 1 oz Vanguard hops (4.4)*** finishing hops

Yeast:

• Wyeast 2565 Kölsch

Original Gravity:

• 1.050 - Curiosity may have killed the cat but I hope it didn’t ruin the beer. I couldn’t help myself and took a reading. I have this wine thief (that I sanitized before hand, I always have sanitizer ready) that I used to steal some wort (wort is what beer is called before the yeasts have converted the sugars to alcohol) in order to take a hydrometer reading. I just bought the wine thief this past weekend and it’s already paid dividends! Anyway, the reading I took was 1.050 but kräusen had already formed and the air lock had started to bubble so it may have been even higher initially.
  TBD - Yeah, I screwed up on this one. In my rush to cool the wort down and pitch the yeast, I forgot to take a hydrometer reading. I can tell you that the recipe I am using lists the O.G. to fall within the range of 1.045 - 1.052. I bought the altbier recipe from the same place and my O.G. for the altbier was right on the button. With that in mind, I have a feeling the kölsch O.G. should fall right into place.

* Maltodextrin is used by brewers to add mouthfeel, body and head retention without affecting flavor.

** Bittering hops - As the name suggests, bittering hops gives beer it’s signature bitter backbone. The number I have listed next to it in parenthesis is a measurement of the alpha acid content (the primary chemical responsible for bittering). Not all hops are the same as some varietal yield higher alpha acid than others. The higher the number, the more bitter the hop.

*** Finishing hops - Are usually added in the final minutes of the boil. Boiling hops releases the alpha acids, or isomerizes them. Adding finishing hops is not intended to add more bitterness but to add aroma and flavor.