Tuesday Brewsday - Brew's Best 2011

Last spring we wrote a preview highlighting what to expect from the Inaugural 2010 Brew's Best Festival held at Lake Las Vegas, Nevada. We had an overwhelmingly good time last year, so much so that we never got around to producing any sort of follow up to that article. Well in case you were curious what the gathering and the surroundings look like we have your back with coverage from the 2011 Brew's Best Festival.

Tuesday Brewsday - Stone Lukcy Basartd Ale

While we write about them often, it has been roughly one full year since writing about our favorite brewery, Stone Brewing Company. Since our last writing, Stone has released a couple new beers to the market. Some are apart of their ever-evolving collaboration series, some are the annual additions to their Anniversary and Vertical Epic series', others are special releases.

Stone has released SIX new beers in the last year (here are five of them): 

Collaboration Series: 

Stone/ 21st Amendment/ Firestone-Walker  El Camino (un)Real Black Ale

Stone/ Victory/ Dogfish Head  Saison du BUFF (Brewers United for Freedom of Flavor) 

Stone/ Kelsey McNair/ Ballast Point  San Diego County Session Ale

Anniversary Series:

Stone 14th Anniversary Emperial I.P.A. - a British-inspired I.P.A.

Vertical Epic Series:

10.10.10 - a grape-happy beer meant to be aged (preferably until at least  12.12.12)

Tuesday Brewsday - Acme California Ales

BREWSDAY IS BACK! 

What we consider our cornerstone post, Tuesday Brewsday, is back. I'm sure your taste buds are as anxious as mine are to find out what wonderful fermented beverage we bring to you next. This week we head up the California coast to Fort Bragg, CA all the way in Mendocino County just north of San Francisco. There we find the North Coast Brewing Company quietly nestled near the Pacific Ocean. 

Now you may be asking yourself, "Why is he talking about North Coast Brewing when it's an Acme beer?" Well, I'd say, great question! North Coast Brewing Company makes the beer but the name harks back to another notable brewing company from the San Francisco Bay Area.

Tuesday Brewsday - Las Vegas Beer Festival "Brew's Best"

This Saturday at the MonteLago Village at Lake Las Vegas the Buckbean Brewing Company is producing a special beer festival of local Nevada breweries as well as notable breweries from the region. Buckbean Brewing Company, located in Reno, NV, is Nevada's longest operating bottler in Nevada. Granted it's only been two years that they've been operating their business but that doesn't discredit their claim. Also, it's important to note that while they do package and distribute their beer to other markets they don't in fact bottle, they can. That's right they can, and cans are the best way to have your beer reach your customers with the closest to tap quality brew. Cans are 100% protective against oxygen and light, the #1 enemy of quality beer, and provide you to carry your beer where it might be otherwise prohibited: beaches, campgrounds, concerts and more.

Tuesday Brewsday - 48 Beers in 28 Hours (Part 2)

* DISCLAIMER* 
 Grab yourself a good craft brew cause continuing further without one may cause extreme thirst. 

This week's Tuesday Brewsday is a continuation of story written last month, if you missed that you can catch up on the story here.

A little hungover from the previous night's escapades, however only slightly because we ended up laying our heads down nice and early around 10PM. (We had two more breweries we could have visited the night before.) However, last time in San Diego we discovered that Old Town has the cure for a mean hangover. That place is called Casa Guadalajara. Their homemade tortillas and to-die-for Machaca, which is a heavenly blend of generous amounts of carne asada, egg, onions and peppers. The spice and substance of a breakfast here cure any ails your stomach may have left over from the previous evening. Breakfast options aside, we needed to find ourselves a sampler set to enjoy!

Tuesday Brewsday - 48 Beers in 28 Hours (Part 1)

* DISCLAIMER* 

 Grab yourself a good craft brew cause continuing further without one may cause extreme thirst.

Last week I highlighted the plethora of breweries in San Diego County and mentioned that I was planning on visiting several of them. Well we're back to highlight the 48 different San Diego beers we sampled during our time in Ron Burgundy's hometown. Known for their aggressively hoppy beers, San Diego County breweries have been taking awards for years and more importantly been recognized as one of the hottest brewing spots in the World.

Tuesday Brewsday - America's Finest Beer City: San Diego

One doesn't often think of San Diego when someone says beer, but you should be. San Diego is America's Premier Beer City offering 33 breweries throughout all of San Diego County. Known for the super-hoppy beers, San Diego County breweries are quickly making a name for themselves. At this year's Great American Beer Festival, Pizza Port-Carlsbad received the Large Brewpub and Large Brewpub Brewer of the Year. You name the style of beer and it is being brewed by one of the many breweries in San Diego County. 

Tuesday Brewsday - Beer vs. Wine (3-Part Saga)

**** NOT ORIGINAL CONTENT - TAKEN FROM THE STONE BLOG ****

Thought you might like to learn about the results of the recent epic “Beer vs. Wine Dinner” at the Rancho Bernardo Inn’s highly regarded “El Bizcocho” restaurant.
First, a short recap of what the dinner was all about….

• The recent October 16, 2009 dinner was the third in a 3-year series.

• The premise is simple: A multi-course fine-dining dinner served with a specially selected wine to go with each course, as well as a specially selected beer. All the attendees of the dinner get a specially prepared card to mark their preference for each course – either the beer or the wine. At the end of the dinner, the results are tallied and the one winner is announced based on the total number of votes for the evening.  “Wine” was represented by Sommelier and Certified Wine Educator Barry Wiss of Napa’s Trinchero Family Estates.  Barry has flown down from Napa each year to participate in the challenge.  Neither I nor Barry had any say in the creation of the menu — each year it was presented to us with a “Gentlemen, here you go…do your best!”

• In October 2007, “Beer” won. However, it was very close. Beer took three of the courses and wine won three. Yet, beer edged out with more total votes during the evening. This dinner was captured on film and an entertaining documentary was created by our friends at Redtail Media (the same team that created the viral I Am A Craft Brewer video with me). The “Beer vs. Wine 2007″ doc is on the promotional Stone DVD. If you haven’t found the opportunity to view it yet, grab the DVD and watch it. I think you’ll find it quite well done and entertaining. If you haven’t gotten one yet, it can be obtained at the Stone Store either at the brewery, or online here.

Tuesday Brewsday - North American Breweries

Did you know that Upstate New York has a brewing corporation of its own that spans three continents, and includes several notable North American brands? North American Breweries based in Rochester, New York is exactly that. While they don't own as many brands as AB-InBev or SAB Miller they still command a significant market share while remaining majority American owned, which neither of those behemoths can claim. They own and operate Dundee Ales & Lagers, Labatt USA, and Genesee Brewing Company.

Tuesday Brewsday - Guinness 250th Anniversary Stout

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This year Guinness & Company brewery at St. James Gate in Dublin, Ireland turns 250 years old. In 1759 Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000 year lease on the unused St. James Gate Brewery and ten years later he exported his first barrels of Guinness beer.  Fast forward 250 years and you get to 2009 and the 250th celebration of Guinness.

Tuesday Brewsday - The Great American Beer Festival

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The Great American Beer Festival (GABF) is held annually in Denver, Colorado. It began in 1982 by Charlie Papazian, a nuclear engineer, homebrewer, and current president of the Brewers Association who hosts the Great American Beer Festival.

This year's event was held September 24th through September 26th featuring 495 breweries with over 3,300 beers competing in 78 different style categories, however only 2,100 different beers were served in the hall. I know only two thousand different beers to choose from, so sad.

The GABF is the benchmark for American brewing. It is really one of the few ways that most regional brewers are to recieve critique of their beers from a national audience. Since most brewers only supply their brewpub or at best, local establishments, almost all of their beer is never sampled by a larger crowd.

Here is the entire event from set-up, all four sessions, and the tear down all within one minute. Check it out.

Here are are the top brewery awards handed out at this year's festival: (taken from the GABF website.)

2009 GABF Brewery of the Year Awards

Winners are determined based on the results of the competitive beer judging held at the Great American Beer Festival. Breweries are awarded points based on medals won, and these points are tabulated to arrive at the results. The following criteria used to rank breweries and break ties by awarding points. See Beer Competition for more information.

Small Brewpub and Small Brewpub Brewer of the Year
Sponsored by Briess Malt & Ingredients Co.
Chuckanut Brewery, Bellingham, WA
Will Kemper 

Large Brewpub and Large Brewpub Brewer of the Year

Sponsored by Brewers Supply Group
Pizza Port Carlsbad, Carlsbad, CA
Pizza Port Brew Guys 

Small Brewing Company and Small Brewing Company Brewer of the Year
Sponsored by Microstar Keg Management
Dry Dock Brewing Company, Aurora, CO
Dry Dock Brewing Team 

Mid-Size Brewing Company and Mid-Size Brewing Company Brewer of the Year
Sponsored by Crosby & Baker Ltd.
Flying Dog Brewery, Frederick, MD
Robert Malone 

Large Brewing Company and Large Brewing Company Brewer of the Year
Coors Brewing Company, Golden, CO
Dr. David Ryder


Other notable winners at this year's festival were:
 
Belgian-Style Witbier - Silver Medal
Belgian White - Big Dog Brewing Company, Las Vegas, NV

American-Style India Pale Ale - Bronze Medal
Blind Pig IPA - Russian River Brewing Company, Santa Rosa, CA

Belgian-Style Lambic or Sour Ale - Bronze Medal
Supplication - Russian River Brewing Company, Santa Rosa, CA

American-Style Stout
Stonefly Oatmeal Stout - Third Street Aleworks, Santa Rosa, CA

American-Style Lager or Premium Lager
Totally Naked - New Glarus Brewing Co., New Glarus, WI

Tuesday Brewsday - Sierra Nevada

Sierra Nevada Brewing Company is the second largest craft brewery in the country. It was founded by Ken Grossman and Paul Casumi in 1979. They developed one of the cornerstones of the craft brewery movement along with Sam Koch's Samuel Adams. Their flagship beer, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale was first brewed in late 1980 and is considered by the Beer Judging Certification Program (BJCP) Guidelines to be the best commercially available example of American Pale Ale. According to  Sierra Nevada's website, "It has a deep amber color and an exceptionally full-bodied, complex character. Generous quantities of premium Cascade hops give the Pale Ale its fragrant bouquet and spicy flavor." If you've never tasted a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, I highly suggest you run down to your local liquor store and buy one. It is likely one of the few craft beers available in all 50 states.

However wonderful their pale ale may be, they brew many other styles excellently as well. In fact it was recently announced that they were teaming up with the hottest craft brewery at the moment, Dogfish Head of Milton, Delware. They will brew two beers in "Life & Limb" series, called 'Life & Limb' and 'Limb & Life'. The description of both beers from the press release is here:

Life & Limb is a 10% ABV strong beer that defies style characteristics—brewed with pure maple syrup from the Calagione family farm in Massachusetts and estate barley grown on the Grossman “farm” at the brewery in Chico. The beer is alive with yeast—a blend of both breweries’ house strains—bottle conditioned for added complexity and shelf life, and naturally carbonated with birch syrup fresh from Alaska; it is the first beer we know of ever to use birch syrup in the brew. If stored under good conditions, this rich, full-bodied beer should age well for years.  Life & Limb will be available in 24-oz. bottles and limited draft starting this November.

Limb & Life is a companion to the big beer—an acorn off the larger tree. It is a 5% ABV small beer—a low-gravity beer made using the residual sugar as “second runnings” from the first larger brew, fortified with American hops.  This is a session beer. Its big brother is a sipper. Limb & Life will be a limited draft-only product, a prelude to the bigger beer, available in select bars and restaurants this October. 

The two beers will be brewed at the Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., in Chico, CA and released through the Sierra Nevada distribution network.

Since 1998 Ken Grossman has been the sole head of Sierra Nevada and continues to one of the key persons in the world of craft beer. There have been rumors of their corporate buyout, but to this day they are independently owned and operated. So keep a look out at your local beer freezer for the Sierra Nevada family of beers including their all new beer with Dogfish Head Brewery.

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Tuesday Brewsday - Deschutes Brewery

Located in Bend, Oregon, Deschutes Brewery is personally my second favorite brewery. When it comes to picking favorites, for me it is about consistency. Any brewery can produce a phenomenal ale or lager, however to produce a family of great beers is much more difficult to achieve. Like Stone Brewery, (my personal favorite) every Deschutes beer is a highly styled, well-crafted piece of art.

Founded in 1988 Deschutes has been brewing craft beer for more than 20 years. It was start by Gary Fish who named the brewery after the nearby Deschutes River in Bend, Oregon. They have since expanded to four brewhouses, with Brewmaster Larry Sidor monitoring all sites to insure consistency and a quality standard that Deshutes has been known to withhold.

They distribute to 14 western states; Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Montana, Idaho, California, Hawaii, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Wyoming, Utah, and parts of Texas. They have no intentions on expanding eastward, much like America's oldest brewery Yuengling having no desire to go westward. In both instances, they wish to simply resupply their markets with the great beer they're known for, rather than risk losing established customer bases for the concept of new ones abroad. 


One final interesting fact about their beers is that they are VEGAN BEERS! Yes I know I've never really heard this moniker attached to zymurgy but alas Deschutes makes animal-product free beer using Irish Moss to produce a clarifying agent, red algae. 

- Beers in the Deschutes Family -

Year-Round Releases:

Black Butte Porter

Mirror Pond Pale Ale

Green Lakes Organic Ale

Inversion I.P.A.

Cascade Ale

Obsidian Stout

Bachelor E.S.B.

Their Seasonal Ales:

Jan.-March - Buzzsaw Brown 
Apr.-June - Cinder Cone Red

June-Sept. - Twilight Ale
 Oct.-Dec. - Jubelale 

Bond Street Series: "Hop-Forward Beers"

 Jan.-Apr. - Hop Henge Experimental I.P.A.

May-Sept. - Red Chair I.P.A

Oct.-Dec. - Hop Trip Pale Ale

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Tuesday Brewsday - Tis the Season . . .

No, not for mistletoe and holly, but beer steins and Marzen!

ITS OKTOBERFEST PEOPLE! I know most of you think that Oktoberfest actually falls in October but it falls mostly in the month of September. This year's festival occurs from September 19th until October 4th. (Those in Vegas, there's a cask-keg tapping with Siegfried & Roy at Hofbrauhaus on the 19th.)


So with Oktoberfest comes the brewery companies Oktoberfest beer. Sam Adams has . . . oddly enough Oktoberfest, Gordon Biersch has their year-round Marzen, Flying Dog features Dogtoberfest, and even New Orlean's own Abita beer has Fall Fest.

So as you drink either corporate brands or wonderful craft brew, please make sure that it is appropriate with the celebrations worldwide. Tis the season to celebrate wonderful brew of a crafted nature the world 'round. On top of that, every year craft brew moves into a bigger segment of the market and hopefully edge out Big Beer on yet another SMALL PERCENTAGE of the market.

Maybe someday soon people won't call us "fanboys" and will acknowledge the fact that we are conisseiurs of a finely crafted beverage and not some cheaply produced corporate behemoth that relies on adjuncts, extracts and mass marketing. Nothing can ever top the real thing, especially when it tastes as good as a great Marzen.

(Please make sure to thank your local store for carrying craft brew and ask them to carry a brand you like and they don't have. You have the power to change your world, just try and use it.) - Inspired from a Stone Brewery update of a similar nature.

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All Beer Is Yellow . . .

. . . I know, I know it isn't. However, in a recent Facebook thread I was told such, TWICE! Now this is not a candid reply to such, merely a developed explanation on how this simply is not the case.

Now not only can this be refuted in an instant but it begs to ask the question, "Why would someone think this is so?" The answer to that is probably the massive marketing campaigns that BIG BEER produces. These campaigns dominant marketing all over television, radio, and the internet, telling you that their beer "Tastes Great" and is "Less Filling," enticing you to tell another "I Love You Man" to snag a beer, or that their beer is "As Cold as the Rockies."

As famous beer critic and writer, Micheal Jackson 'The Beer Hunter' put it, "Now someone farts and they put a TM after it. Even Miller Lite says 'A Fine Pilsner Beer' on the label. It is a crime."

The late Michael Jackson, "The Beer Hunter"

The Big Beer I refer to would be the three largest breweries on American soil, Anheuser-Busch (brewers of Budweiser), Miller, & Coors. I unfortunately have to say on American soil because they no longer are majority-owned by Americans. Miller Brewing is owned by SAB Miller, a British company based in London and listed on the London Stock Exchange. In 2005 the Coors Company merged with Canadian owned Molson and is now MillerCoors, a joint venture created in 2007 between British-owned SAB Miller and the now Half-Canadian, Half-American MolsonCoors, to be one third American owned. Last to join the foreign market is Anheuser-Busch. They were purchased in August of 2008 by the Belgian owned InBev to the sum of $52 billion. This makes InBev the largest brewer by volume with all of the Anheuser-Busch brands (Bud, Michelob, Busch, Rolling Rock) joining notable brands like Bass, Beck's, Stella Artois.

So that leaves the meager Boston Beer Company as America's Largest American-owned brewery. When I mentioned this fact to my Facebook friend they rifled back with, "You know, Sam Adams is a 'BIG' corporate company." While they may be publicly traded company, they are no doubt a craft brewery and not Big Beer. Here is how the Boston Beer Company describe themselves:

The Boston Beer Company is America's leading brewer of handcrafted, full-flavored beers. Founder and Brewer, Jim Koch, brews Samuel Adams® beers using the time-honored, traditional four-vessel brewing process, and the world's finest all-natural ingredients. With 18 distinctive, award-winning styles of beer, Samuel Adams offers discerning beer drinkers a variety of brews. The brewery has won more awards in international beer-tasting competitions in the last five years than any other brewery in the world. Samuel Adams is an independent brewery and has half of a percent of the domestic beer market. The Company's flagship brand, Samuel Adams Boston Lager®, is brewed using the same recipe and processes that Jim Koch's great-great grandfather used in the mid 1800s. The result is a beer renowned by drinkers for its full flavor, balance, complexity, and consistent quality.

With that I'll continue to refute the statement of "All Beer is Yellow." The following styles in the there nature are anything but yellow; stouts, porters, ambers, brown ales, dark largers, bocks, lambics, and irish red ales. For the majority of their styles you need not read their BJCP Style Description but simply read their name. Some lambic's colors are so vibrant they are more akin to pure juices than beer or even wine.

As you can see from the BJCP Color Chart, each style varies in color greatly. While most lagers and pilsner styles are meant to be clear with a golden yellow hue, most porters and stouts are meant to be dark and slightly opaque. These are attributes to their style and are not necessarily for better or worse. I sampled a wonderful pilsner by Green Flash Brewery in San Diego called, in fact, Fizzy Yellow Beer - a Bohemian Pilsner. It was full-bodied, had Belgian yeast notes, as well as a nice finish.

So in closing, I state that there is good beer that is yellow. I do not think, however, that the yellow beers that are worth drinking would be classified as 'fizzy' and 'yellow'. On the other hand, most beers brewed in corporate mega-factories in Golden, CO, St. Louis, MO, and Milwaukee, WI are more than likely LESSER THAN to say the least.

If these are your beers of choice fine, that's okay. No one is saying we should ban such products from the market. Be that as it may, you cannot argue that a box wine is better than an aged wine, nor can you argue that a cheaply produced beer made with rice and corn can rival that of a true craftsman and artist. Paint-by-numbers isn't Picasso, so let's not pretend such with our evening libations. Okay?

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

"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."



A program is in development to include even more of America's amazing craft brewers. Please stay tuned!

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