BetterBeerBlog

I Am A Craft Brewer from I Am A Craft Brewer on Vimeo.

I got a link to an awesome, and what I feel inspirational, video off of Twitter today. The shortened link was provided by @IAACB and it is of the opening video for the keynote speaker from the 2009 Craft Brewers Conference. Here are the details to this video:

“I Am A Craft Brewer” is a collaborative video representing the camaraderie, character and integrity of the American Craft Brewing movement. Created by Greg Koch, CEO of the Stone Brewing Co. and Chris & Jared of Redtail Media…and more than 35 amazing craft brewers from all over the country. The video was shown to a packed audience of 1700 craft brewers and industry members at the 2009 Craft Brewers Conference as an introduction to Greg’s Keynote Speech entitled “Be Remarkable: Collaboration Ethics Camaraderie Passion.” As is tradition for the CBC Keynote, a toast to the audience was offered. This time, the beers offered for the toast were all collaboratively brewed craft beers including Isabella Proximus, Collaboration Not Litigation, AleSmith/Mikkeller/Stone Belgian Style Triple, Jolly Pumpkin/Nøgne-Ø/Stone Special Holiday Ale, and 2009 Symposium Ale “Audacity of Hops.”

I got word of this article from @MustLoveBeer off of Twitter. Our old “friend” Jim Beall Jr. is back at it again with his newly proposed beer tax. His last attempt received so much criticism that it was, thankfully, shot down before it could gain any sort of momentum. The devil is in the details, as they say, and Beall’s Bill may have a better chance of passage this time. Read the Assembly Bill 1019 below:

Assembly Bill 1019 - Free Legal Forms

In an article written by Mike Zapler of the San Jose Mercury News, the new bill would add 10 cents to every pint of beer, glass of wine or shot of distilled spirit. Unlike the last time, Beall has written this new increase as a fee versus a tax. The difference, and it’s a major one, is that fees need only majority vote to pass while a tax would require a 2/3rd supermajority to be implemented. In addition, Beall may have the support of the Governator as Schwarzenegger proposed a 5-cent increase in the past. Monies raised by the new fee would be used to back alcohol and drug related programs.

Dan Gordon, the “Gordon” part of Gordon Biersch, opposes the new bill. Even though the fee will be charged to wholesalers, Gordon argues that there will be a trickle down effect and when the buck finally stops, it will be the consumer who has to food the bill. Another thing that is on our side is that the bill targets more than just beer, the wine and distilled spirits industries will be hit up as well. You can bet your bottom dollar that beer, wine and distilled spirits will be putting their considerable resources together to try and stop this bill from passing.

Let’s just call Assembly Bill 1019 what it really is: prohibitionism in the form of a sin tax. Didn’t we learn our lesson already? Prohibition didn’t work the first time and it won’t work now. Even then, sin taxes are discriminatory, unfair and target personal behaviors that governments should not be butting their noses into anyway.

But why target alcohol alone? Jim Beall argues that alcohol is a killer, that it is a factor in many other crimes and that it is a drain on our resources. These are all points I cannot disagree with. Yet if you look to the Center for Disease Control, the following are the leading causes of death in the United States:

• Heart disease: 652,091
• Cancer: 559,312
• Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 143,579
• Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 130,933
• Accidents (unintentional injuries): 117,809
• Diabetes: 75,119
• Alzheimer’s disease: 71,599
• Influenza/Pneumonia: 63,001
• Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 43,901
• Septicemia: 34,136

If Assemblyman Beall is going to make it a point to punish alcohol (and tobacco) for the issues they cause, his efforts would be better off served taxing the McDonalds, Burger Kings and Taco Bells of the world for their roles in contributing to heart disease. Might as well as fine corporations and cut funding to schools that don’t mandate exercise for their roles in contributing to heart disease. Impose “fees” to Hostess, Coca-Cola and Pepsi for their roles in diabetes. If Assemblyman Beall targeted the industries that contributed to diabetes alone California would be out of debt.

The problems that alcohol causes are real and serious, no one disputes that. I don’t profess to know the answer to solve those particular problems and I would question anyone who says they do. What I do know is that Assemblyman Beall’s newly proposed alcohol fee is not the answer. I urge my fellow beer lovers, wine enthusiasts and distilled spirit connoisseurs to write to Jim Beall, or their respective representatives, and let them know of your opposition to this bill. These are our elected officials and we should never forget that they work for the us. Alone, there’s not much I can do. Together, there’s nothing we cannot accomplish.

In this edition of Hopinions, Mario and I take the time to remember the late Bill Brand.

From: Peter at BetterBeerBlog

From: Peter at BetterBeerBlog

Just a friendly reminder that SF Beer Week is starts this Friday! Many people have been working hard to organize and put together a number of beer-related events, including yours truly. Just in case any of you were curious or wanted to join us, I will be posting the events that BetterBeerBlog will be at during SF Beer Week. I’d be great if I could go to all the events but I can’t be five places at once, nor do I have enough money to do so.

Also wanted to remind you that we here at BetterBeerBlog are having our own SF Beer Week event on Monday, February 9, 2009. It will be a 4-course Beer and Dessert Event happening at Wine Affairs, right on the Alameda in downtown San Jose. Here are the essential details:

Beer and Dessert Tasting Event
Wine Affairs, 1435 The Alameda, San Jose, CA map
February 9, 2009, 7pm
$35/person

Space at this event is limited. To reserve your place, call Wine Affairs at (408) 977-0111.

I just got an email from Diane at Wine Affairs and she tells me the event is about 50% booked, so if you still want to attend, call and make your reservations today.

Primo Lager, Primo Brewing & Malting Company, Honolulu, Hawaii

I was having dinner at Hukilau one night when I looked up on their draft beer list and saw Primo. Having never heard of the beer before, I asked our server about it. She said it’s “kinda like Stella”, while not exactly my favorite type of beer, I ordered one anyway hoping to be pleasantly surprised.

Primo pours out brilliantly clear, gold with a white head. Low pils malt aroma with slight citrus notes… some DMS and slight “green apple” aromas come on when the beer warms up. The flavor is much of the same slight characteristics in the aroma. Sammy was able to pick up slight corn flavors as well. Hop bitterness is medium-low, body is medium with a high level of carbonation.

I was hoping to be pleasantly surprised but the only thing I was surprised about was that Primo Brewing & Malting Company is a division of Pabst Brewing Company, the same company responsible for PBR. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was PBR, just rebranded. So if you’re into PBR, then Primo is pretty much the same thing, just with a touch of “aloha” brewed into every bottle. Well, as much “aloha” as you can get from Illinois.

Anniversary Ale, Rock Bottom Brewing Company San Jose, 7.8% ABV

Rock Bottom just tapped this beer last week. While I was late for the start of the party, I was there for the finish. Anniversary Ale is an example of and Imperial Red Ale, which is just beer speak for a stronger American Amber Ale.

This is a clear, brown beer with ruby hues and an off-white head. Slightly nutty, malty aroma with a citrus-like hop aroma. The flavor is sweet malty, with a low level of nuttiness, slight roast with citrus hop flavors. This is a fairly balanced beer with a medium/medium-high hop bitterness. Medium-high body, high carbonation and noticeable alcohol warming.

This is a pretty good beer. We had just discussed the American Ale category the night before and covered Amber Ales so I had a pretty good idea of what to expect for the style. If you happen to be at Rock Bottom, this is a pretty good beer to have, although it is 7.8% ABV so enjoy in moderation.

Stillwater Stout, Rock Bottom Brewing Company San Jose, 8.5% ABV

Very dark brown beer, almost black, with a creamy, lasting brown head. Deep roasted barley aromas on the nose with slight chocolate undertones. The flavor is a mixture of bittersweet chocolate, deep roasted barley (almost burnt) flavor with black coffee notes. There’s enough hops to balance but it can be difficult to pick out from all the other flavors. This is a full bodied beer with medium-high, creamy carbonation. Even though Stillwater Stout weighs in at 8.5% ABV, it hides is weight well. I thought this was an excellent beer. If you’re going to have two, you’d better have a designated driver.

Boulder Creek Pale Ale, Rock Bottom Brewing Company San Jose, 6.0% ABV

Boulder Creek Pale Ale is a clear, amber colored beer with an off-white head. The hop aroma is a mixture of floral and citrus with a slight spice underneath it all. The flavor is is similar to the aroma with a citrus and floral hop flavors and a tinge of hop spice in the finish. The malt is clean and enough to support the hop bitterness which is medium-high. This is a medium bodied beer with high carbonation.

It’s too bad that I had this beer last as it was my least favorite of the 3 Rock Bottom beers I had that night. I’m not saying it was a bad beer, because it’s not, but when I compare them to the other two I felt this beer just didn’t measure up. A 6.0% ABV pale ale is a robust pale ale but it’s a drop off from the 8.5% ABV Stillwater Stout I had prior.

I got an email in my mailbox today from Mario who has his own beer blog, Brewed for Thought. In his email, he asks me a question that I get asked often, “Should I age my beer?”. The short answer, it depends. I’ve copied and pasted my reply below so you can read it and see what my thoughts are on the subject.

Speaking very generally, I’ve always believed that beers should be drunk as fresh as possible. In no other time will a beer be closest to what the brewer intended it to be than at it’s freshest. The flavors will be the brightest and the aroma most true.

That being said, whenever I am asked about cellaring, I say that some styles are more adept to cellaring than others but the main distinction would be the alcohol content. 8% seems to be a nice number on which to base whether or not to cellar a beer. From experience, personal and anecdotal, maltier beers seem to age much better than their hoppier bretheren. Hop flavors diminish quickly with time, even under the best of conditions.

Country or style of origin must be taken account when thinking about cellaring/aging beers. I would argue that lagers should age pretty well (under ideal conditions), it is in their name after all. Marzens, traditionally brewed in March, would need to be cellared for a minimum of 6 months before they were consumed in the fall and this particular style ranges in ABV from 4.8% up to 5.7%, which is well below the 8% threshold. Belgian beers, as you probably already know, arguably age the best of all beers. A huge reason for this is because most Belgian ales are bottle-conditioned and the yeasts have a preservative quality because they consume the oxygen in the headspace of the beer after bottling.

At the end of the day though, it’s entirely up to the person cellaring the beer. In the case of Christmas/holiday beers, it’s fun to buy and extra sixer and age it over the course of 6 years and see how the beer holds up during that period as well as contrasting it to beers from later vintages. It is nearly impossible to predict how a beer will mature over time as there are many variables to consider. Even if you did take the time, care and effort to maximize cellaring conditions, there’s no telling what kind of shape the beer was in when it first arrived at the bottle shop/grocery store/bar/gas station you first purchased it from.

Personally, I don’t cellar very many beers. I just don’t have the discipline to not drink a good beer. : )

Now that I’ve stated my two cents, I’m interested in hearing what any of you have to say on the subject. While not as polarizing as “less filling vs. tastes great”, I think the idea of cellaring something that really doesn’t age very well would make for a good discussion. Hopefully some of you will chime in.

Wine Affairs in downtown San Jose will be having a Winter Beer Tasting event Tuesday, December 09, 2008. I wrote about the beers here but this is an excellent opportunity to stop by and discover Wine Affairs if you haven’t already. For less than the price of a bottle of Scaldis Noel, you can sample seven Winter beers, including the hard to find He’Brew Jewbelation 12. Here is the information straight off the digital presses:

December 9, 6-8pm come join us for a tasting of winter Ales, present by Wine Warehouse.

Erdinger Dunkel Weizen, Germany
He’Brew Genesis, USA
He’Brew Jewbelation 12, USA
McAuslan Oakmeal Stout, Canada
Allagash Black, Portland, ME
Meantime London Porter, England
Chimay Grande reserve Blue, Belgium

These seasonal brews are bound to please. Fee:  $10 per person.  Wine Club members free.

I am totally bummed that I will not be able to make it to this event on time. I have some “graduation/hard sales pitch” event to go to that I absolutely cannot get out of. It’s something that is important to the wife, and to me by extension. As any married man will attest to, if the wife is happy, then he is happy. *sigh*

When I think about how fast time passes me by these days, it’s scary. I remember being in 6th grade, sitting in Ms. Fabela’s sweltering class counting down the days until summer vacation. Even getting through a single day seemed like an eternity. Nowadays, the weeks fly by like so many grains of sand in an hourglass. The onslaught of age approaches like the incoming tide and like the shore, there’s nothing I can do.

Nothing except attend the Trappist’s 1st Year Anniversary Tasting Party!

I realize that most of my recaps are follow up to previous posts alerting the dozen or so of you who visit this website of upcoming events. This 1st Year Anniversary Party at the Trappist was an “invite only” event so I didn’t feel right blasting to the world, “I got an invite and you did nooot! Nyah, nyah!”. I felt that it would’ve been in poor taste.

Despite my best intentions, I was late. Between waiting for my sister to show up Saturday morning and picking up a flier I had designed and weaving through downtown Oakland traffic trying to find an alternative route through closed off streets, getting to the Trappist was a little hectic. When I arrived at the Trappist, I saw Nicole behind the bar who greeted me. Turns out I was just in the nick of time before the actual tasting started.

In order to make this a truly special event outside of their regular Beer School-Belgian beer tasting classes, the crew at the Trappist put together a tasting of beers from each of the 7 different Trappist Monasteries which include: Koningshoeven, Westvleteren, Westmalle, Orval, Achel, Rochefort, and Scourmont Abby, better known as Chimay. There are over 170 Trappist monasteries around the world but these seven are particularly beholden to beer lovers because they brew some of the finest examples of Belgian ales.

As with their past Beer School Events, this Tasting was led by Nicole and Nathan from the Trappist, featuring Jay Harmon (from Merchant du Vin) in some instances. The three speakers exhibited an intimate knowledge of Belgian ales that would be difficult to find in many places and I felt fortunate to have participated in this tasting. On the other hand, I feel like a complete doofus for forgetting the handouts the Trappist supplied for the tasting. It was my intention to refer to them as I wrote this post as they are full of interesting facts about each beer and monastery. What can I say? I had the Pacquiao-De La Hoya fight to attend to and was running a little late. Anyway, here are my tasting notes:

Cinq Cents, Chimay, 8.0% ABV

Cinq Cents is Chimay’s offering of a Belgian Tripel. The Trappist served this beer as the “opening” beer as we waited for people like me to finally arrive so we could get the party started.

This beer pours out a hazy gold color with a creamy, moussey, white head. There’s a spiciness on the nose from the hops along with fruity esters that are citris-like in nature as well as a sweetness that that is Pils-like in character and even undertones of honey. As with many Tripels, there is a spicy, phenolic character to the aroma as well. The flavor of this beer is initially sweet, Pils malt in nature along with a low honey note. There is a spicy character that is clove-ish as well as noticeable fruit character. The hop character is medium-low/medium in bitterness that you don’t even notice as it’s well balanced by the malt and yeast flavors. This beer is high in carbonation and medium in body.

Koningshoeven Dubbel, 7% ABV

Among the beer producing Trappist Monasteries, Koningshoeven is the only one not in Belgium, it is located in Tilburg, Netherlands.

This Dubbel pours out caramel in color with amber highlights and an off-white/beige-ish head. Caramelized malt aromas with hints of dried dates, raisins and toasted bread crusts are in the aroma. The flavor of this beer echos that of the aroma. This is a predominantly malty beer with a malt character that is rich and complex. The malt character is toasty, bread-ish, raisiny and date-like. There’s a smooth alcohol character that isn’t hot or harsh. This beer is high in carbonation and medium-high/full in body.

I really enjoy the Dubbel-style of beer, they’re just so tastey and rich; the perfect beer for today’s cooler evenings.

Westvletren 12, 10.2% ABV

My expectations for this beer are so high that I wasn’t sure if this beer would meet them. If that sounds unrealistic, any quick Google search will reveal that this beer is often considered “the best beer in the world” on many a beer-related website. I almost didn’t want to try this beer for fear of being disappointed. On the other hand, with everyone and their mothers writing about how awesome this beer is, I’d be remiss not to have tried it. Westvleteren 12 is an example of the Belgian Dark Strong Ale category.

This beer pours a dark brown/caramel in color with ruby tones and an off-white head with noticeable particulate matter in suspension. The aroma is of toasted bread crusts, sweet Munich malt aroma with dark fruit notes such as dried dates and low levels of figs and raisins. There is a slight alcohol character that is pleasant and not not or harsh. The flavor mirrors the aromas. This is a malt forward beer with a malt character that tastes sweet and reminiscent of toasty bread crusts and dark, dried fruit. The alcohol warms the throat slightly and despite this, goes down a little too easy. When compared to the Kongingshoeven, the Westverleteren 12 is spicier and hoppier. This beer is medium in carbonation and medium-medium high in body.

So, did this beer live up to the hype? No, it didn’t. In fact, it never could really. Was this a good beer? You bet your bottom dollar it is. It’s just unfortunate that this beer is one of the most difficult to try simply because Westvleteren refuses to sell this beer outside of its two sales points, both located on their Abbey property. Still, if you are able to secure a bottle of this beer, don’t hesitate to try it and find out for yourself if this beer lives up to the hype.

Westmalle Tripel, 9.5% ABV

I already reviewed this beer in a past post. The Trappist held their first Belgian Beer School event and it covered Dubbels and Tripels but I’ll review it again here.

This beer pours a hazy straw color with a white head. Pils malt aroma if prevalent, it is sweet, kinda honeyed cracker like. There’s a moderate amount of fruit esters, like pear, as well as a spicy/peppery phenolic character. The flavor is sweet, pils malt, spicy hop, and a medium/medium-high level of spicy phenolic character. This beer is medium/medium-high in carbonation and medium in body. Noticeable alcohol notes with a medium hop bitterness.

Jay Harmon pointed out to us that the Westmalle Tripel received a “100″ point rating from draft magazine but that it should be somewhat expected from the brewery that invented the style. As the story goes, the Tripel style was brewed as a way to compete with the new German lagers that were coming out at the time. While I do not doubt the story, I find it weird to brew a 9.5% ABV beer to compete with a lager of a more modest 5% ABV. As much as I enjoy Tripels, I don’t think I’d be able to drink one on a very hot summer’s day. Too much alcohol. In the end, I think Westmalle was trying to brew a very pale colored beer to match the same color of the German lagers.

Orval, 6.9% ABV

I reviewed this beer in a previous post as well. Nicole was kind enough to buy me a bottle once when I was visiting the Trappist. See how this current review stacks up to the old one.

Sweet, raisin-y, plum, caramelish aromas. Amber in color with a white head. Flavor is balanced between malt, hop and yeast characteristics. Brett character is subdued, not much in the aroma or flavor. This beer is medium/medium-high in body and high in carbonation.

I can’t say I was blown away by this beer. I enjoy this beer but nothing really stands out. This beer was different in character than the first time I tasted it. If anything, you should probably read what I wrote about it in the past as it was more descriptive then. I still am not “wowed” by this beer by any means and I find some of the backstory stuff more interesting than the beer. For example, unlike other Trappist breweries, this brewery makes only one beer, Orval. They do make an Orval Small (or was it light or mini?) that is about half the alcohol. Plus the shape of the bottle is very unique and serves a function. The bottle’s shape was designed to be able to catch the dregs of yeast at the bottom of the bottle so that they didn’t spill out, if you pour it slowly. Like I said, it’s a good beer, one I’d recommend you try on your own, but nothing I was overly impressed about.

Achel 8° Blonde, 8% ABV

The Belgian Blonde style, to me, is more of a direct answer to German lagers than the Tripel is but a quick Google search on it’s history shows that this style is relatively young and is more of an attempt to sway European Pils drinkers. Here’s what I thought.

Brilliantly clear gold with a white head. Sweet Pils malt aroma with medium-low hop aromas. This beer smells sweet and bready. The flavor is similar to the aroma in that I can taste a sweet, Pils malt flavor that is bready and faintly honey-cracker like in nature. This beer has a good amount of pear in the aroma and flavor. This beer has a medium level of hop bitterness. I find this beer to be light, bubbly and effervescent with a medium body and high carbonation.

I can’t say that I am a huge fan of the Belgian Blond Ale style but I am enjoying this beer immensely. Despite the relatively high level of alcohol, I could enjoy this beer on warmer days, maybe evenings.

Rochefort 8, 9.2% ABV

Rochefort 8 pours out a dark brown in color with ruby highlights and an off-white/beige head. Toasty bread crust-like malt aroma with notes of figs, and other dark fruits. There is a phenolic, peppery note as well as noticeable alcohol. The flavor is rich, complex and definitely malty in character. I can taste toasty bread crust and some figs notes. I can also pick up caramelized malt flavors, sweet. This beer is medium-high in carbonation and full in body. The alcohol notes are warming in nature and thankfully not at all harsh or solventy.

Supposedly the “8″ is to designate the percentage of alcohol in this beer but their website lists this as 9.2% ABV. Despite the relatively short description of this beer, this beer was my favorite of the day.

Chimay Grand Reserve, 9.0% ABV

I must say that this beer was my gateway beer into Belgian ales. I was completely blown away and hooked into this beer once I had it. As the story goes, this beer was originally developed to be Chimay’s Christmas beer but someone, somewhere commented on how good it was and why they don’t brew this year-round. Obviously someone listened and this beer is now brewed year-round.

This beer pours out a hazy, caramel color with an off-white head. Sweet malt aroma, like toasted bread along with dark fruit esters and a spicy character. The flavor is malt forward; toasty, some dark fruits like dried dates, maybe some figs, some dark chocolate notes underneath and slightly spicy/peppery phenolic character.

So there you have it, those were the beers I tried for the tasting. As with many other beer-related events, I stuck around afterwards to hang out. I was able to talk to Nathan for a while as well as new BetterBeerBlog friend Frank, who I met at the first Belgian Beer School class. Really cool guy I look forward to hanging out with in the future. I also hung out with Roland, who I also met at that initial class, and we chatted for a bit over the Mahler Dark Brut, another tasty beer. Lastly, I was able to talk with the Beer by Bart folks again. Great couple who I always look forward to talking to at various beer events. They even wished my Dad a Happy Birthday.

Before I left, Nicole managed to talk me into picking up a couple of Christmas beers they had on bottle. I had never heard of either beer before and truthfully, I am too lazy to walk to the kegerator and learn their names. Just know that I’ll be whipping them out this week to do another Christmas beer review. This was a great way to spend a 1-year Anniversary party and I look forward to going to many more in the future.

Today is the day. Today is the day. Sometime in the future, we will look back on today and remember November 4, 2008 one of two ways. This will be the day where the United States of American rose up as a people and made history. Or. This will be the day people will point to and say, “I should’ve…”, “I could’ve…”, “I would’ve…” but “…didn’t”.

I am not a morning person but I woke my up early this morning to cast my vote, to make my voice heard. It is not my place to tell you who or what to vote for. You are a grown-ass adult and you need to make decisions for yourself. I’ve made mine and I hope you’ve cast yours.

GABF. The Great American Beer Festival. This is the big boy of American Beer Festivals. Held annually in Denver, Colorado, this is the one time where breweries and brewers whip out their big guns and show off a bit. With our flight early Wednesday morning, this will probably be my

Needless to say, I am pretty excited about this upcoming trip. It is an opportunity to get out of work, fly someplace we haven’t been to in a while and drink some good beers, nay, great beers. Well, that’s the plan anyway.

As much of a ruckus as I’m making about the enormity of the event, we are only attending one session at GABF: the Saturday afternoon “Members Only” session for American Homebrewers Association (AHA) members. From what I’ve been told, the Members Only session is one of the best events to go to as it’s not open to the general public so you get to avoid a lot of the drunken, frat-boy antics that has started to creep into the other sessions.

Despite only attending just one session we have a full itinerary planned out. There’ll be plenty of beer consumed, I promise you, just not all at GABF.

Here is our loose itinerary:

Wednesday: (All in Boulder)

1. Redstone Meadery
2. Avery Brewing Company
3. Twisted Pine Brewing Company (if there’s time)
4. Gold Medal Dinner at The Kitchen featuring: Adam Avery (Avery Brewing Company), Sam Calagione (Dogfish Head), Rob Tod (Allagash), Vinnie Cilurzo (Russian River) and Tomme Arthur (Pizza Port). If this line-up sounds familiar, the Beer Chef held a “5 Guys and a Barrel” dinner with the same guys. Here is the tentative menu as relayed to me by Ray Decker of The Kitchen:

1^st course : Russian River ‘Supplication’ & The Lost Abbey ‘Devotion’ - paired with Fois Gras

2^nd course: Avery ‘Bad Sally’(draft)   &   Allagash ‘White’ - paired with coriander dusted sea scallops and blood orange buere blanc

3^rd course: Dogfish Head ‘Sahtea’(draft)  &  Russian River ‘Temptation’  -  paired with prosciutto wrapped rabbit and squash ravioli

4^th course: The Lost Abbey ‘Isabelle Proximus’   &   Allagash ‘Interlude’  -  paired with Venison Chops

5^th course: Avery ‘Mephistopheles’   &   Dogfish Head ‘120min’  -  paired with dessert

Friday: (Fort Collins)

1. Shooting Lessons (Not enough time to go hunting so we’ll go shooting instead)
2. New Belgium Brewing Company
3. O’Dell Brewing Company
4. Fort Collins Brewing Company

All three of these breweries are in Fort Collins and come highly recommended by our hosts Mike and Bonnie. We’ve been meaning to get over to Colorado to visit them but haven’t had the opportunity until now. If anything, we plan on being with them more than being at GABF itself, which is the point of the trip anyway. What good is having all this great beer if the company isn’t up to par?

Saturday:
We’re heading on down to Denver to attend the Members Only session. Afterwards, we had planned to go to another beer and food pairing dinner hosted by Draft Magazine featuring the beers of Flying Dog Brewing Company but it’s not set in stone yet.

Monday:

1. Coors
2. Golden City Brewery
3. Great Divide Brewing Company
4. Sandlot at Coors Field
5. Wynkoop Brewing Company

Monday will be our lazy day where we bum around Denver for the remainder of our trip. The only brewery I really want to visit would be Coors (came highly recommended by a BJCP Grandmaster level judge, go figure), Great Divide and the Sandlot.

Tuesday: Fly back home.

When it comes to beer bars, the name Toronado is held in high regard by many who know. Their draught beer list is rotational and is always fresh with the finest examples of crafted ales from around the world. While many people have many different conflicting opinions of the staff at Toronado, one thing that is consistent is they are the mecca for great ales and lagers. At least the San Francisco Toronado is. How does the San Diego Toronado stand up? Read on.

When we finally arrive at Toronado (from here on I’ll be referring to the San Diego location unless noted), it is a little past one in the afternoon. Just like the San Francisco location, the front door is a double door, split in half halfway up. Including myself and Sammy, there are five people in the whole place.

I used to think Toronado SF (TSF) was pretty impressive with their 20 or so taps. Toronado San Diego (TSD) more than doubles that amount with 50 taps. Represented are many local craft ales as well as some Belgian imports. Logistically I have wondered what 50 taps would look like. I assumed there would there be one giant line of taps that spanned the length of the bar but that’s not the case nor is it the most efficient. All of their taps are attached to the wall instead of towers. This makes much more sense and would be more efficient to maintain.

As with many places, their bottled beer list is very impressive as well. I didn’t count them all but it looks to be easily past 100. Two and a half commercial grade refrigerators keep everything cool. Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK and the US are the countries represented in their bottle list with Begium having the most representation. I could be wrong but I don’t ever remember TSF having a bottle list. Everytime I’ve gone, I’ve always ordered something on tap. They may have a list but I’ve never seen it.

TSD also differs from TSF in that they serve food. While there is a wide variety of what people consider pub food, TSD specializes in sausages. We didn’t write down or take a photo of the sausage list but it numbers in the dozens. Even though their menu is very limited, I think it’s a good thing to do one thing really well than to do a lot of things really poorly. Having just come from lunch, we didn’t order any food but we did order a few beers.

Hottenroth Berliner Weiss, ?% ABV

The first beer I ordered was the Hottenroth Berliner Weiss by the Bruery. For those not familiar, the Bruery is a relatively new brewery out of Orange County, yes, the OC. Their confusingly spelled name is an incorporation of the family name “Rue”. Witty? Sentimental? Often misspelled? Probably all of the three. Poured into a tulip glass, Hottenroth pours a pale straw color with a white head. The aroma is light but fruity with a noticeable sour tint and slight hint of Brettanomyces. The flavor, simply put, is cider-like. It’s very light in body with a high level of carbonation; very effervescent. I enjoyed this beer but it left me a little wanting. It’s meant to be a sour ale, very light. On those blistering hot days, this would be the most refreshing beer to drink, hands down.

Ola Dubh Ale 16yr, 8.0% ABV

The second beer I order is the Ola Dubh Ale 16 year brewed by Harviestoun and Highland Park distillery. Recommended by a San Diego local, it was a recommendation I’m glad I took him up on. “Ola Dubh” loosely translates to “black oil”, a most appropriate name. The “16″ refers to a Highland Park cask that was formerly used to age a 16 year old whiskey. Pouring out a nearly opaque black, this beer reminds me of used motor oil. There is virtually no head on this beer. The aroma is interesting; a mix of sweet malt, soy sauce, wood notes, caramelized dark fruit, whisky, roast and chocolate. In the flavor, I pick up much of the same chocolate, oakey, molasses, roasty and whisky flavors. Despite the complexity and intensity of the malt profile, the hops are noticeable enough to support malt flavors. The alcohol qualities are slightly noticeable in both the aroma and flavor. With the regards to the mouthfeel it’s smooth and warming. If you’re a big fan of whisky, then this is a great beer to try. Ola Dubh has two more siblings in the family that come in 12yr and 30yr flavors. Good gawd.

I never get tired of writing how Sammy and I get to meet cool people everywhere there’s good beer. At Toronado, we met Jeremy and Dawn, two locals and beer lovers. Both are very down to earth and passionate about their beers. They had great recommendations (that’s how I learned about Ola Dubh) about beer and where to go for more great beer. We’ll be taking them up on some of their recommendations, like going to O’Briens. And really, beer is a social beverage. While it’s nice to sit back and have a good beer by yourself, it’s much better to have a good beer in the company of good people.

Besides sharing the same name and a love of good beer, the two Toronado’s share very little else. Don’t come to the Toronado San Diego expecting it to be like Toronado San Francisco; nothing is like Toronado San Francisco. And that’s okay. If I wanted to go to Toronado San Francisco, I wouldn’t have driven 7+ hours to San Diego.

Overall, I enjoyed my time at the Toronado. They have a huge selection of beers with 50 taps and an excellent bottle list as well. The fact they actually serve food is pretty cool as well. You don’t have to run out of the place to find some grub and come back hoping you’ll still have a seat. My only complaint is that our bartender Eric was a little lax in his attention. It took a while for him to check up on us. I would recommend visiting Toronado San Diego yourself to make your own decision.