Distill my beating heart: A whiskey odyssey

Boston Beer Co., makers of Samuel Adams, announced today a partnership with Berkshire Mountain Distillers--their in-state brethren purveying adult beverages--to create two whiskies literally made from two different Sam Adams beers including the flagship Boston Lager.

The story was picked up by several news outlets including the Wall Street Journal. It's a new frontier for craft brewers and distillers to be sure. But the press release chose its words carefully to insinuate, but not state, that Jim Koch is the Christopher Columbus discovering this new world (though maybe that's an apt comparison since Chris gets the credit but hardly "discovered" an already inhabited frontier).

As I'd reported in a Draft Magazine story in 2010, "Whiskey is a distillate made from 'low wash' or 'distiller’s beer,' meaning it contains the same malted grain, water and yeast that all beer has. The difference is that the beer we drink is bittered, usually with hops." The story was about Charbay, a winemaker and distiller in the San Francisco Bay Area using various beers, predominantly from local Bear Republic Brewing, to turn into whisky whereby master distiller Marko Karakasevic uses " a copper alembic pot (to make) cuts to the distillate to ensure only the hearts—the most desirable liquid—and not the heads or tails, remain." (That other stuff is the reason moonshine has a reputation for making you go blind.)

Oddly, the WSJ story also notes that Boston Beer isn't the first brewing company to get into the microdistilling biz. (Those who've tasted Utopias, first introduced in 2002 and clocking in usually at 27% alcohol but more like 54-proof, would say they're already selling cognac or something close to it.) It says that Rogue from Oregon, "for example," started distilling in 2003. Other breweries-cum-distilleries include Dogfish Head and Ballast Point. But I'm curious why they didn't just point to Anchor. Established in 1896, it famously launched the craft/micro brewing revolution in 1965 when Fritz Maytag salvaged the brewery. The microbrewing renaissance didn't begin until over a decade later. Maytag did the same with whiskey and craft distillation in 1993 when Anchor Distilling was born.

The first time I'd interviewed Fritz, he said, “In the eighties when all the competition came in the brewing world, some of the fun went out of it. Then I found out that no commercial American whiskies were made in a traditional manner. When I heard that, I realized, we’re going to make an all-malt, pot-distilled rye whisky aged in uncharred barrels. You don’t put hops in it, but whisky is really distilled beer.”

The Boston Beer Co. deserves a tremendous amount of credit as an early pioneer in the good ol' days of better beer. Starting in 1984, Koch put a better product in front of millions of Americans and had the gumption (and advertising moolah) to convince them they could be drinking a better tasting beer. They now release 40-some-odd active beers a year. And while they were the company behind Hard Core Ciders, they've things up quite a bit with Angry Orchards brand ciders. Can their foray into the world of winemaking be far behind?

Perhaps they're waiting until 2015ish to see how the whiskies do.

The Session #40: Session Beer

Erik over at Top Fermented hosts this month's version of the Session and chose a topic that's homophonically appropriate. Session beers. Erik asks:

What is your definition of a session beer? Is it, as Dr. Lewis suggested at the Craft Brewers Conference this year, “a pint of British wallop” or is your idea of a session beer a crisp Eastern European lager, a light smoky porter, a dry witbier, or even a dry Flemish sour?

Is it merely enough for a beer to be low alcohol to be considered a session beer, or is there some other ineffable quality that a beer must hold in order to merit the term? And if so, what is that quality? Is it “drinkability”? Or something else?

This will be short'n'easy (if any of you make a crude comment about my brand new wife, Half Pint, yer all in big trouble. Yes, I've been remiss about blogging since I stopped doing it long enough to get hitched to the greatest chick beer drinker in the land) since I'm a devotee of session beers, which to me is just anything I can drink several pints of without having my

keister meet the floor. For me, and I'm not saying this because I think Fritz reads my blog, it's Anchor Steam. 4.9% ABV and the one that started it all. It's got malt, it's got hops, it's got bubbles, and like barbeque sauce (otherwise, whip cream), it goes with everything. Since I live in an apartment in San Francisco, I wouldn't know from a lawn, but if I did, the first thing I'd purchase after a ridable John Deere would be a case of Anchor Steam. Yes, I love trying 14% RIS's and whatnot, but it boils down to this: I'm a lightweight! If I don't have enough food and water in me, I'm schnockered. I've never once left Bell's Eccentric Cafe in Kalamazoo sturdily on my own feet. But I do walk out of my local Magnolia Pub because as is their wont in being a British style gastropub (albeit with mounds of California accentuation), they brew loads of session beers. It's even on record that I rehydrate with their 3.6% Dark Star Mild after the SFBW Beer Run. Does a low alcohol session beer have to be

mild? No way, Jose. Whenever I find it, I'm sure to treat myself to the Bruery's Hottenroth Berlinerweisse, which, at 3.1%, I can't fathom how they cram so much tartness and deliciousness into such a light beer. A personal shout out to the boys down there for making a beer I can drink copiously without embarrassing myself. All hail the session beer.

Dropped Anchor. End of an era

Though I covered this in the SF Weekly's SFoodie blog and the SF Beer Examiner blog, the sale of Anchor this week keeps me pondering. Don't ask me to rattle off everything great about craft beer and the industry, but one thing I've discussed frequently is that all the forefathers, the pioneers, the movers, shakers, and brewers who got the keg rolling are, for the most part, still around. What other industry could that be said for? Luminaries such as Boston Beer's Jim Koch and Sierra Nevada's Ken Grossman are still captaining their ships, still vibrant and show no signs of slowing down; in fact, both of them keep ramping up great projects. This is what I set out to discover when I started working on Red, White, & Brew. While there was Dick Yuengling and Jake Leinenkugel whose great-great-grandfathers built the breweries they now preside over, I met with D.L. Geary who founded the first microbrewery in New England, Larry Bell who started Michigan's first, Carol Stoudt, the first female craft brewery owner, and more. While all of them have kids now who are working for them and learning the ropes in the hope that one day they take the reins from dear old Dad or Mom, the undisputed father of American craft beer is Fritz Maytag who bought the sinking Anchor Brewery in 1965. This week, after 45 years, he sold it. Just up and sold it.

While not the same level of severity as Kennedy's assassination or a man walking on the moon, I'll never forget when I heard the news. I was at the New Orleans airport returning from Jazz Fest Monday night when Half Pint texted me the news, informing me that our friend Jesse from Beer and Nosh was the first to post it. The shock hasn't really worn off.

Maytag is 72. Last month, Ken Allen, 70, sold Anderson Valley Brewing Co. As the pioneers

reach retirement age, this will happen more and more. It's inevitable. Change is constant. Even among the breweries I selected for RW&B, where longevity was a top criterion, half of the 14 have undergone major changes. And the fact that I picked 14 to represent just 1% of the then-1,400 breweries means it is likely that half of all breweries have experienced such transitions. To wit:

1. Leinenkugel's was already owned by Miller. But the SAB-Miller/MolsonCoors merger of their US operations means that Leinie's is now owned by MillerCoors.
2. New Belgium is employee-owned, but founders Kim Jordan and Jeff Lebesch were majority shareholders. They seemed an odd pairing--her nurturing and talkative, him taciturn and retiring. I just found out they are recently divorced and Lebesch has been completely bought out.
3. Grand Teton was quietly sold by founder Charlie Otto after some 20 years.
4. Widmer Bros. merged with Redhook, both already partly-owned by Anheuser-Busch, to form Craft Brewers Alliance with Kona and Goose Island falling under their umbrella.
5. Anchor, the very first craft brewery, sold, along with its distilling business which was also a revolution in craft adult beverages.
6. Electric Brewing in remote Bisbee, Ariz, everybody's favorite chapter, was sold to a couple of guys who recently opened Dave's Electric Brewpub in Tempe (founded by Electric Dave in 1988, one of the new owners name is also Dave). Far worse, Electric Dave was recently in a life-threatening car accident but is recovering in Bisbee.
7. Dixie Brewing in New Orleans continues to be contract brewed in Wisc. and its return to the Big Easy grows ever unlikely.

Names and faces are changing. Fortunately, beer continues to get better and better. Go enjoy an Anchor Steam and count your blessings.

Cheers

Ten-day SF Beer "Week" is too long

I love love love that I live in the best beer drinking region and that we have our own San Francisco Beer Week to put on a fancy show for the locals and diehard beer lovers who make the pilgrimage. But c'mon, ten days of balls-out beer bashes is a bit overboard.

At least I seem to recall it was.

Within a couple days, I was having a hard time remembering what I'd done and what beers I tasted a couple days earlier. I know I kicked things off with the opening gala which was a hoot. I remember Speakeasy Brewing bowled me over as the showstealer of the night with both their Zin-aged Payback Porter and bourbon-aged Scarface Stout.

I actually remember the Bistro's Double IPA Fest (only because I actually ran a half marathon early the next morning!) As a result of the run, Half Pint & I felt more than entitled to splurge at the Anchor beer lunch at Hopmonk Tavern. As always, a great meal and, as always, a treat to hear the godfather of craft brewing, Fritz Maytag, pontificate on craft beer and Anchor's role in establishing the rules of the game. Sitting in the warm beer garden alongside Joe Tucker and Mario Rubio from Ratebeer.com (and its blog the Hop Press), hearing Fritz spin his yarns while drinking Liberty Ale or Anchor Porter, well, it just made the Super Bowl viewing party that followed that much sweeter, as did the Saints' triumph. Geaux Saints.

I seem to recall moderating the first ever SFBW panel, which was on a favorite subject of mine, barrel-aged beers, but beyond that I can't recall much. Oh sure, I could post one of the dozen short videos that Half Pint shot using our new Flip videocam, but that would require me learning how to post a video and I'm too much a technophobe to do that. Besides, you should've bought a ticket and attended. In other words, attendance was light but that just meant more beer (and St. George Whiskey) for all of us. But yes, it was highly educational and the following nights' panels on technical brewing and pioneering/trailblazing brewers moderated by the Brewing Network's Justin Crossley are reported to have been equally exhilarating.

Speaking of barrel-aging, I seem to recall hitting Barrel Night--my favorite event from the inaugural SFBW--at Triple Rock.

Seriously, that was only Tuesday night. The whole "week" is a blur. And the Homebrew Chef Sean Paxton's 8-course (really 9-course) beer dinner didn't lighten the load any. It was a staggering accomplishment. It was tasty as all get-out. It was... a lot.

Good thing I went on another run that week. A beer run. Make that a Beer Run. Inspired by Bryan Kolesar from the Brew Lounge (who, alas, was snowed in in Philly and couldn't make it) and with help from Derrick Peterman, the Bay Area Beer Runner, we actually pulled it off, and all before the Toronado's Barleywine fest!

Watch this video.

All I know is, when it was over, I vowed to take a week off of beer. But who am I kidding. I haven't been able to take a single day off from having at least a single beer. Regardless, thank God it's not for another 51 weeks, and I'll be counting them down.

Thinning the herd

When your "beer cellar" is capable of holding, oh, say around 300 bottles, and it's packed to the gills to the point where you have overflow piling up in boxes on the floor, well, if you have a fiance like mine who doesn't like to see piles anywhere, there's only one course of action to take. Thin the herd.

So I invited a few local, friendly beer geeks over. Nuthin' fancy. No grand pairings. Just a simple open-season on the Beeradise. True, I made some suggestions by chilling down a bunch of bottl

es, but almost anything in the malt vault was fair game. In the end, eight of us killed 15 bottles (OK, a bit more including something akin to homebrew but more potent). Not just 15 bottles, but bombers and 750s and we even closed out the ceremony with a magnum. I believe the beers ranged from 9-18% ABV. Here's a rundown of what we polished off, maybe some notes, and my personal score out of 10. Because they were hand-picked, it's no surprise many were highly rated.

Goose Island's Demolition (Belgian Golden). I appreciated how light it was=9

Southern Tier's Pumking (pumpkin ale). I agree it's the best pumpkin beer there is. You'd swear there's even graham cracker crust=9
Boulevard's Somestack Series Double-wide (2IPA). Proof a great IPA can even come from Kansas=8

Blvd's (Somestack) Seeyoulator (Doppelbock). Aged on cedar? To a wood fan like me, super tay-stee=9
Rodenbach's Vintage 2007 Vintage (Oak-aged Sour). I'm not all about sours, and Rodenbach is often over the top for me, but this was easier to get into=9

New Belgium's La Folie (Oak-aged Sour). This bottle was handed to me by New Belgium co-founder Kim Jordan herself back in '07. For that I gave it an extra half point=8.5

Blvd's (Smokestack) George Brett (Saison). Why do people think that merely adding Brettanomyces makes it complex? Further proof "horse blanket" is not a flavor I condone=4

Odell's Woodcut No. 1 (Oak-aged Old Ale). You never know what will happen when you get into a discussion with a liquor-store-owning beer geek in Wichita. For me, it meant obtaining this glorious bottle. It substantiates that the best part of wood-aged beers is the wood (not a particular spirit or wine). Oaktastic!=10

Odell's Woodcut No. 2 (Oak-aged Strong Ale). Picked this bottle up in Denver, first. I liked it, but way to sweet (and I'm a sweet-tooth)=6

--Interesting side note. Of the 8 people who tried both WC#1 & #2, it was an even split. 3 guys and 1 gal preferred No. 1 and the same for No. 2. Ain't subjectivity great?

Nogne O's Sunturnbrew (Smoked Barleywine). Made me want to slow-cook an entire forest's worth of animals just to see what would pair the best=9

Dogfish Head's Fort (Framboise). 18%! It burns, oh, it burns. Not even the raspberry patch's worth of raspberries could save it. Shoulda waited several years?=4

Church Brew Works' 2000 Triple (Triple). Pittsburgh's Church Beer Works is easily the most remarkable brewpub in the country in terms of appearance. This subtle triple is also praiseworthy=8

Charleville's Triple Wit (Witbier). 8

Bluegrass Brewing's Horse Piss (piss lager). Truth in advertising. Picked this up in Kentucky, just because. I threw this in the mix as a test to make sure our palates still worked. Regrettably, they did=1

Alltech's Lexington Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale (bourbon-aged). Most bourbon-aged beers are based on Imperial Stouts or something where the flavor is predisposed to mask the bourbon notes. By using a lighter, golden ale as the foundation, the beer becomes a pedestal for the fresh barrels culled from just down the road. A boilermaker in a bottle=8

Anchor's Our Barrel Ale (Barrel-aged Strong Ale). Now that Anchor's entree in the barrel-aging world has a year on it (it debuted at the start of last year's SFBW), we opened this one last. Despite being a magnum and the fact we were all schnockered, it went the quickest=10

The 8 imbibers other than myself were Jesse Friedman of Beer & Nosh, Gail Williams & Steve Shapiro of Beer By Bart, Damian Fagan, Jason Henry, Chris Cohen who, once he moved to SF, is on the accelerated beer geek path, Eric Cripe of the Jug Shop and a veritable Certified Cicerone (TM), and toward the end, my own Half Pint.

The coldest beer I ever drank was a Summer Ale in San Francisco

It's seriously in the chilly-50s and cloudy and doesn't feel like the holiday in which we usher in summer. But if we drink like we're Irish on St. Patty's Day, let's drink like it's summer in The City.

Don't forget to subscribe to this blog, and equally if not more important, my SF Craft Beer Examiner page.

Happy Memorial Day.

Memorial for Bill Brand, Mar. 1 @ Trappist

Like many in the beer community, particularly in the Bay Area, I was keeping vigil while What's On Tap blogger Bill Brand was in a coma, and mournful upon learning that he just couldn't hold on. While I cannot imagine the grief and loss being suffered by his wife Daryl and family, it's clear the whole community shares the pain. Jay Brooks has posted info about the memorial taking place this Sunday at the Trappist in Oakland where we can all mourn the passing and celebrate the life of our friend Bill.

Every beer lover gets asked what their favorite beer is, and none of us can give a simple, direct answer. But to be sure, Anchor Porter is one of mine. An aficionado of fine beer, I don't know why I thought Bill leaned toward DIPAs, or Double India Pale Ales. But it turns out Anchor Porter is (one of) his favorites, too.

Anchor's Our Barrel Ale

Anchor Brewing's "Our Barrel Ale," as I've written about before, is a blend of three Anchor Brewing Co. beers aged in Anchor Distilling barrels--not charred but toasted Oak barrels used to age their phenomenal Old Potrero rye whiskey. The beers, I found out, are Bock, Old Foghorn Barleywine, and mostly Liberty Ale, their hoppiest offering in the lineup.

Starting this morning, only 100 cases went on sale. Seeing as I was first in line, only 99 were available once I left.

At $30 per magnum (1.5 ltr), make that almost $33 after tax and CRV, it's a helluvan-expensive six-pack. Compared to other beers that sell at that price for 22- and sometimes 12-oz bottles, or a halfway decent magnum of wine or champagne would set you back, it's actually a fair price for such a delectable, intriguing beer.

But lest you think I'll crack one open this weekend and lay down the other 5 in my Beeradise for years to come, Anchor's master brewer, Mark Capenter, warned that while it's high enough in alcohol at over 8% ABV, since it's unfiltered and sat in wood barrels, it's best to keep it refrigerated and enjoyed with the occasion calls for it. Now accepting occasion suggestions.

SF Beer Week Day 1: ODE to O.B.A.

Kicking off SF Beer Week at a private event at the Anchor brewery in the Portero Hill neighborhood (it's sixth location in its 113 year history) got me in the spirit in a hurry. Many local brewers represented as did various beer-world flotsam and jetsam (ahem). Not only were we treated to Anchor brews fresh on tap and an undying plate of Maytag Blue cheese, the reception ended and guests were invited to gather around the mash tuns and brew kettles for a toast. The debut of Anchor's newest, and very limited release, Our Barrel Ale.
(Left to right are SF Beer Week's creators: Celebrator's Tom Dalldorf, Magnolia's Dave McLean, Beer Chef Bruce Patton, Fritz, 21st Amendment's Shaun O'Sullivan, and beer scribe extraordinaire Jay Brooks.)

Introduced by owner Fritz Maytag and his longtime brewmaster (since '71) Mark Carpenter, this beauty clocks in around 8-9% ABV. It's a blend of other Anchor beers (notably Porter and Bock, and I'd guess no Small Beer) aged around six months in their proprietary barrels--those of Old Potrero
Straight Rye Whiskey. Take some of my favorite beers, blend, aged in barrels of one of my favorite whiskeys, and you've got yourself the "ideal social interchange beverage," if I may borrow a quote Fritz told me.
On a scale of one to ten, I unwaveringly give it a 10.

Just don't start licking your lips. This uber-ltd release goes on sale SOON but with no official release date, and there are barely over 100 cases--bottled only in magnums (would that be "magna"?) like Our Special Ale (a.k.a. Anchor X-mas)--and they'll only be available at the brewery. Thank goodness I live in San Francisco.

Afterward, Half Pint & I headed for our favorite "cheap'n'cheerful" grub stop, Tommy's Joynt, which knows a thing or two about old school Anchor tradition.
Can't wait to see what the next nine days have in store.

Fat, drunk, and broke. SF Beer Week is almost here.

Behold, the inaugural SF Beer Week. I've been eagerly anticipating this 10-day "week" for months.

Foreward. There are nearly 100 events scattered over all neighborhoods throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, from Carmel (a stretch even for the South Bay) to Petaluma in the North Bay, from Beach Chalet by the Pacific to Richmond out in the East Bay. It would be impossible to BART to hit them all.

The events range from "free"--you only pay for the beers and other incidentals like nibbles--to more than one $100 beer-pairing dinner. It would be impossible to afford to hit them all.

And let's not forget, though some Pilseners and lighter lagers will be poured, many barleywines, higher alcohol barrel-aged beers and other strong ales will be featured. It would be impossible to let your liver filter them all.

It is from this mind frame that, in my attempt to go, see, drink, eat, learn, and meet my full share of places, beers, foods, and people, respectively, that I devised this schedule. (Huge [p]regret: I'll be missing all the great-sounding events in Santa Cruz since it'd be impossible to return home safely.) I reserve the right to change any events based on opportunity, greatness, affordability, and downright whimsy.

Key:
SF=San Francisco
EB=East Bay
NB=North Bay

FRIDAY, FEB 6:
Day one eases me in, celebrating two of NorCal's biggest, best, and oldest breweries.
SF 11 a.m.-10 p.m. All things Anchor (beer, wine, whiskey, cheese) @ Murphy's Pub in SF's Union Square.
SF 6-8 p.m. Sierra Nevada tasting, including the new Torpedo Extra IPA @ The Jug Shop (in Russian Hill).

SATURDAY, FEB 7:
SF Noon+. AleSmith @ City Beer (in SOMA).
EB 6-8 p.m. Possibly heading out to the Trappist in Oakland for Allagash's Rob Tod. (Only problem is, he'll be in the City on Mon.)

SUNDAY, FEB 8
Woah. HUGE day. Like Hansel in Zoolander, "I'm going monk."
SF 11 a.m.-3ish. Beer2Brakers bike ride around the entire city. We don't need no stinkin' Gatorade. $10
SF 3-7 p.m. Dogfish Head's Sam Calagione holds court @ The Alembic (in Upper Haight).
SF 6-9 p.m. Beer dinner with the Homebrew Chef, Sean Paxton @ 21st Amendment Brewing. $50.
SF 10-midnight. Unless I'm in a food-and-beer coma, I'd like to head over to the Toronado(in Lower Haight) to meet Lost Abbey/Port's Tomme Arthur... and buy a bottle of Cable Car.

MONDAY, FEB 9
NB 1-5 p.m. Moylan's Brewing event @ Noonan's. What's this beer event about? Whisky, cheese, and chocolate. You know I've never taken the ferry up to Marin? I will this night. $29.
SF: 6-midnight. In case I didn't catch him @ Trappist, here's my 2nd chance. Allagash's Rob Tod hits the Toronado. (Stay tuned for my upcoming Beer Session #24 post on their "Curieux.")

TUESDAY, FEB 10
All day across the Bay.
EB 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Local beer and slow food pairings from Ground Zero. Not to mention, gotta try "Original Albion" beer @ Chez Panisse. A la carte (in the Gourmet Ghetto). This is going on the 9th-12th, lunch and dinner seatings.
EB 4 p.m. Barrel-aged beer tastings @ both Triple Rock & Jupiter brewpubs (in Berkeley). $10.
EB 6:30-9:30 p.m. "North County Cheese Off." Flights of North Bay brews @ The Bistro (in Hayward). $45

WEDNESDAY, FEB 11
If I wasn't allergic to 2 dishes that contain seafood, my C-note could be no better spent than at Scala's for Beer + Nosh's beer-pairing dinner. Think 7 courses prepared by a local celebrity chef paired with 7 beers including some you're not likely to try again. I look forward to the pictures!
SF 6-8 p.m. Chillax with Sierra Nevada's ass't brewmaster Terry Sullivan @ The Page (in Duboce Park).
scheduled February 11, 2009 from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
SF 8-midnight. Nightcap for the beer+cheese night featuring Ommegang, in hopes of finding some more "Obamagang," er, I mean "Inauguration Ale" as well as their anniversary Chocolate Indulgence. Where else? @ the Toronado.

THURSDAY, FEB 12
To be sure, there are several awesome-sounding beer dinners in the City tonight, but I'll be heading over the Bay Bridge. Dig it:
EB 2-3 p.m. I'll probably pop back into Chez Panisse for another round of a la carte slow-grub and beer.
EB 6-8 p.m. Me. Yep, The Mad Zymurgists, the Tri-Valley's homebrew club and advocates of all manners of fermentation science, asked me to speak and sign books at the Hop Yard (in Pleasanton). Thanks to Brian of the Mad Zymurgists and Towne Center Books, the local indie bookstore for handling sales. (I'm not-so-secretly looking forward to trying some homebrew, too.)

FRIDAY, FEB 13
SF noon-2 p.m. Bavarian Beer Brunch @ Gordon-Biersch (in SOMA). Mit oompa band! $30.
SF 4-8 p.m. (or, as their other site says, 6-9 p.m.) "Meet the Brewers" @ Speakeasy Brewing (in Bayview/Hunter's Point). They hold these every month, but Speakeasy is the one SF brewery I haven't been to yet.

SATURDAY, FEB 14
SF Noon+. The only game in town! Barleywine Fest @ the Toronado.

SUNDAY, FEB 15
Oh no. Last day.
EB 1-2:30 p.m. Beer judging 101 in San Leandro. $25.
EB 3-8 p.m. Celebrator shindig @ the Oakland Convention Center. $35.

Should be one helluva week.

Twelve Beers of Christmas, c/o the Jug Shop

When it comes to living in San Francisco, one of the many things I’m grateful for is the abundance of specialty liquor stores, not that I buy all that many bottles of booze or vino. This may come as a shock, but mostly I scan the beer coolers. Such was the case when I popped into the Jug Shop at Pacific and Polk St, just around the corner from Half Pint’s apartment. Incidentally, despite living there for four years, she’d never scoped out the joint. Since we’re shacking up and it’ll no longer be the neighborhood beer store, I wanted to buy a bottle for the first time for old time’s sake. The proprietor sensed I was there for no mere sixer of Heinie and disappeared into the backroom only to emerge with a bottle of Deschutes’s Abyss.

Sold.

As I paid, the fellow (his name is Eric) let me know they were going to hold a winter beer tasting over the course of two nights. Yep, a tasting too big to be contained in one session. Not only would he be opening up winter warmers, he’d be be opening up TWELVE winter warmers. Not altogether, but EACH NIGHT, which is to say the 12 Beers of Christmas. Friday: Mostly Belgians. Saturday: Mostly domestic beers. Hooray for having a place to crash within stumbling distance!

I feel like I’m always apologizing to the Beer Geek Community, but while I am always down for trying everything, I’m no huge fan of certain styles of beer, from the uber bitter double IPAs to the pucker-inducing Belgian sours. So while I greatly appreciated the first session, I didn’t love most of them. Surprisingly, most of the samples were overtly malty with nary a trace of hoppiness. Pancake beers, because they were so syrupy sweet. What follows is the complete list of beers, the Jug Shop’s retail prices for 750 ml unless noted, notes and my personal rating on a 5-stein scale.

1. Scaldis, Prestige. $49.99. (Yep, fiddy bucks for 750 ml. Initial impression was all sugar, but nice piney finish, certainly spices up as it warms up.) 4 steins.
2. Brasserie Dupont, Avec Les Bons Voeux. $10.99. “With Best Wishes” from the brewery that brings us a stellar Saison, this guy was only lightly fruity. 3 steins.
3. Canaster, Winter Scotch ale. $15.99. I love Scotch ales. Having said this, this was too tart to be what I consider a Scotch ale. 2 steins.
4. Scaldis, Noel Premium. $?. Unfiltered, bottle-conditioned amber that put Mrs. Butterworth to shame. 2 steins.
5. St. Bernardus, Christmas Ale. $11.99. Ah yes, this is what I was hoping to find. This “living ale” can be aged for 15 years. I don’t often go for Abbeys, but this one begs for a fireplace and s’mores. 4 steins.
6. La Chouffe, N’ice Chouffe, dark winter beer. $11.99. At 10% ABV, the purported thyme and Curacao didn’t really come through over the Wall of Malt. 2 steins.
7. Goudon Carolus, Christmas. $11.99. Three hops and six spices and herbs. Just shy of the Colonel’s secret blend, but way tastier. If it was brewed in August and tastes this good already, would love to see how it tastes next winter solstice. My only 5 stein beer of the night.
8. Delirium, Noel. $11.99. One of the most popular Belgians of the season, the banana and pineapple notes jumps the gun. Crazy Belgians. 3 steins.
9. Affligem, Noel. $?. Why is this not a barleywine? Where are the hops, spices, fruits? Drowned in all that alcohol. 1 stein.
10. Samichlaus, Helles. $5.99 (for 12 or 11.2 oz). This is a Helles?? Tastes like malt syrup, honey, molasses, treacle, and finishes with some sap. Bring on the triple-crème brie. 1 stein.
11. Samichlaus, Bier. $5.99 (12 or 11.2 oz.) OK, so they age these for almost a year. My maple syrup in my fridge is that old and it doesn’t get any more complex either. This liquefied brown sugar is over the top, but would go with a Nutella crepe. 1 stein.
12. St. Feullien, Cuvee de Noel. $10.99. OK, at this point I was just pleasantly intoxicated and making friends with my fellow tasters. I gave it 3 ½ steins.

The next night was more my cup o’ tea. Or beer. And cider…since Eric saw fit to start the show with three ciders from Oregon, on top of the 12 beers of Christmas. Again, he supplied a print-out with info about the beers, but somehow I misplaced mine, but I think I can recall them all. Most were poured from 12-oz bottles out of six-packs, which I recall were mostly in the $8-11 range.

1. Wandering Aengus Ciderworks, Dry. No joke about the dry. Reminds me of New Belgium’s La Folie brewed with Brett. 3 steins.
2. Wandering Aengus Ciderworks, Semi-dry. Niiiice. 4 steins.
3. Wandering Aengus Ciderworks, Heirloom Blend. The sweetest of the three but with an interesting tang. 3 steins.
4. Sam Adams, Winter. Yeah, that’s right. Sammy. Nothing mind-blowing our crazy out-there, but it’s been forever since I’ve tried this and it’s straightforward that works for holiday beer novices. 2 ½ steins.
5. Moylan’s, White Christmas. On top of standard Belgian witbier spices like orange peel and coriander, they kept going, but possibly went overboard with the white pepper. Yes, it has a kick. 2 ½ steins.
6. Marin Brewing, Hoppy Holidays. I usually want my holiday beers to just pack the spice, but this offers up both spice and hops. Delectable. 4 steins.
7. Shipyard, Prelude Special Ale. Sort of a nutty red ale. For a hit-or-miss brewery, chalk one up for the Ringwood yeast. 3 steins.
8. New Belgium, Frambozen. It’s not that I can’t like a fruit beer. It’s that I don’t like this one. Tastes like a basket of raspberries that was left to ferment in your fridge plus hops. 1 stein.
9. New Belgium, 2 Below. Nicely balanced like if they were to turn an ESB into an ice beer. 3 steins.
10. Sierra Nevada, Celebration. Yep, lots of Cascade hops. 3 steins.
11. AleSmith, Yulesmith. What do San Diegans know about winter let alone winter beers? Quite a lot. 4 steins.
12. Anchor, Our Special Ale 2007. I’m a latecomer to Anchor vertical tastings of their Chrismas and New Year special ale, but I’ve been squirreling away a few bottles at home. I remember last year that the 2007 rendition didn’t do it for me as much as the ’06. Having said that, it has aged tremendously in just one year. Dare I say… 5 steins.
13. Anchor, Our Special Ale 2008. I was planning on cracking open the ’07 and ’08 at home soon. Jug Shop did it for me. I’ve already had the ’08 this year and loved the dark roasted malts and ginger kick. Having said that, the aged ’07 is now better. Silver lining: how good the ’08 will be down the road.* 4 steins.
14. Deschutes, Abyss. No, this isn’t technically a Christmas beer, but certainly holds up against any winter warmer. It’s an imperial stout, aged in French oak and bourbon barrels. Hells yeah. Remember how I started by saying I bought a bottle of this here last week? Upon tasting it, Half Pint made me buy one to keep for down the road. 5 steins.
15. He’Brew, Jewbelation. Again, I was too toasted at this point. But I’ve had this, uh, Chanukah Beer before and it does the trick. 4 steins.

*While there, I got a call from Jesse who was attending a beer club meeting hosting a phenomenal-sounding vertical tasting of Anchor X-mases, 1993-2008!!! Woe that I did not make it over.

Overall, both nights were excellent endeavors and drew a great crowd of experienced and newbie beer fans who all found great was to stave off Jack Frost from nipping at our noses, and livers.
Cheers.

Red, White, and Yahoo: Book release party a success

View all pictures here.

Yahoo. Oct 2 had been building and approaching and building for ages. And now, it's finally a cherished memory. You only get one first book and only get one first book release party. The whole thing was very cazh (casual). It started at 7 p.m., but the bar (the 540 Club) was screening the VP debate. So I just hung out and signed copies of the book for people who had hired baby sitters and such. I hadn't really prepared anything to say so when Nick from Green Apple (thanks, Nick!) said I'd talk for about half an hour, gulp, I just let my mind wander and knew my mouth would follow... for a more tolerable 15-20 minutes.

Microphone in hand, I talked about the impetus for my beer odyssey, meeting the folks who make our beer, and praised the California microbrew culture, past and present. The first passage I read was from the chapter on Anchor Steam and what Fritz Maytag is like. I followed it, in contrast, by reading from the next chapter about Electric Dave from Electric Brewing Co. in Bisbee, Arizona.
Before I got up to speak and read, Nick had Ashley the bartender hook me up with a bottle for my brand new, custom-made Brew Holster. A pint sized bottle of Russian River's Pliny the Elder appeared before me. I like this beer book author thing. After my spiel, another bottle magically appeared: one that defied the message of drinking locally if you're in California, but terrific nonetheless. Brooklyn Lager. Then, lastly, though I told myself no more than two, Nick offered me a bottle of Lagunitas Pale Ale. Brewed in Petaluma, I couldn't turn down a solid, local favorite, though I should note that Nick favored the "Champagne of Beers."

Over the course of the night, we sold around 40 books. Pretty good. Thanks to all my friends and friends-of-friends for the support, and for the few barflies and locals who'd caught wind of the event and showed up to buy then have a book signed. Next up: around America.




Drink local and drink often,
Brian