Tag: san francisco

It’s early Saturday morning the first post-SF Beer Week weekend. You’d think I’d be resting and recuperating, which I am, but I also couldn’t wait to report on a great SF Beer Week event I had the good fortune to participate in. I’ve been thinking about writing this post all week, but alas, work got in the way. So, I’m taking a brief moment out of book writing to bring you this.

Gail Williams, one half of the informative www.beerbybart.com, organized the Cheers to Women in Beer event at Beer Revolution in Oakland. Advertised guests included Moylan’s Brewmaster Denise Jones and Grand Master Beer Judge and Zymurgy panelist Beth Zangari. It all came together nicely in our second-half Beer Week schedule, as I wanted to support Gail, show my solidarity with other girl beer geeks, and visit the brand new Beer Revolution.

We ran into Gail earlier that morning while she waited in line for Toronado’s Barleywine Festival. She told me then that she planned on me being a “special surprise guest” at the Cheers to Women in Beer event. I thought she was joking and laughed at the idea. When I realized she was serious, my next thought, and I think I actually said it, was “Oh, couldn’t get anyone else, huh?” I was flattered and liked the idea of taking part, I just wasn’t sure how much of a “surprise guest” I would turn out to be.

Together with our friends J.J. and Scott, we traveled to Downtown Oakland. I took an immediate liking to Beer Revolution. The location, the deck out front, and of course the beer selection. For having only been open for a week, Fraggle and Rebecca seemed to have everything under control.

After a bit of socializing, Gail got the show going. We raised our glasses to women in beer and Denise took the floor. Standing tall on a milk crate, she talked about entering the brewing world at a time when women in the beer industry were few and far between. She is a brewer who has stood the test of time. Not because she happens to be female, but because she is a damn fine brewer. Period.

Beth climbed up on the crate next and talked about beer judging. Again, a woman who entered a facet of the beer universe when few female judges existed. As a Grand Master Beer Judge, she earned her lofty position because her palate and skill are top notch, not because she is female.

As the third speaker and surprise guest, Gail introduced me. I was incredibly humbled by following two highly notable female forerunners in the industry. How, exactly, did I fit into this scene, I wondered. But when I stood atop the crate and started to speak, I realized that the three of us represented the variety of contributions women have made to the beer industry. I may not have the patience of a Brewmaster or the sensitive palate of a Grand Master Beer Judge, but I contributed by encouraging all people, not only hardcore beer geeks, to find their own beer experiences. This realization undoubtedly sprang from being in an establishment called Beer Revolution drinking what Beth called the “drink of the people.”

After me, the average age of the women who shared their own beer herstories dropped by 15 years or more. As they spoke I felt proud to be of the slightly older group. I haven’t always blogged, but my interest in craft beer extends back to the young days of the movement. A time when women certainly weren’t expected to know about beer and in fact it was assumed women didn’t know anything about it.

Today there is a growing number of young women who blog about beer, brew beer at home, and are honing their judging skills. They aspire to be authors, world renown beer travelers, Brewmasters, and Grand Master Beer Judges. While I feel that women have moved beyond needing affirmative action in the beer world, on this day I  honored the women that set the stage for me, recognized my personal contribution to the beer community, and took pride in the next generation of women in beer.

My heartfelt thanks to Gail for organizing the event and including me.

Saturday dawned quite foggy in the City, somewhat apropos for how we were feeling. While Merideth and I were doing much better than the previous Saturday, late night beers at Tommy’s Joynt with the Alaska crew always leaves us a bit ‘weary.’ We needed to buck up as we had another busy day planned. A 3 1/2 mile walk to Magnolia for their Pre-Barleywine Breakfast was just what we needed.

The walk from our hotel to Magnolia conveniently brought us by Toronado. While we weren’t planning on attending one of SF Beer Week’s marquis events, the Barleywine Festival, we wanted to go by to get some footage.

Arriving at Toronado a little before 10am, we found our friends J.J., Scott, Gail and Steve near the front of the line. After chatting with them and a couple of other friends, taking a few pictures and shooting some video, the ‘normal’ people continued on to Magnolia.

The Pre Barleywine Breakfast was a great addition to this year’s SF Beer Week schedule. Magnolia’s convenient proximity to Toronado made it an excellent location for building the beer and food base before tackling the Barleywines. Or in our case, a great place to have breakfast and beers before heading back down to Toronado to giggle at all the drunks.

It was good to be an early bird at Magnolia. Merideth and I arrived around 10:15 and easily found a seat a bar. At the time, there were also plenty of tables available. But around half past, the steady stream of people started to walk through the door and a wait list quickly developed.

If you have made the walk between Toronado and Magnolia, you might have noticed a sign in the window of one of the building along Haight St. A picture of a little pig, the sign says “Please Don’t Eat Babe for Breakfast…” As Merideth and I walked by, we laughed heartily and said to each other that we were totally eating Babe for breakfast. We thought ourselves so funny, we stopped and filmed a little bit for the SF Beer Week One Pint at a Time episode.

Merideth had pancakes with a side of bacon while I went for the Crispy Pork Belly with a Fried Egg over Black Eyed Peas. Talk about building a strong food base for the day. It was an amazing meal.

The main event for me at Magnolia was Strong Beer Month. This would be my one and only chance to try Magnolia’s big beer offerings. Not a huge fan of the high ABV brews, Merideth would stick with their regular beers like the Saison.

First up was Let it Rauch, a 8.8% ABV smoked beer. The ‘right’ level of smoke is subjective, but for me, it had the right amount of smoke. The only disappointment was that I finished it before my pork belly arrived. I thought they would have been a perfect pairing. Let it Rauch was on of my favorite beers of the 2010 SF Beer Week.

The Rauchbier was followed by Promised Land Imperial IPA, a 10.4% ABV hopbomb.  I look forward to drinking this beer each year when Strong Beer Month rolls around. I had a slight scare, however, when we arrived and an “X” covered Promised Land on the board. Dave McLean happened to be behind the bar helping out. I didn’t real whine but explained to Dave my disappointment; how I look forward to it every year… today was my only chance. It was a Beer Week miracle as Promised Land was put back on. Not redolent of a marijuana harvest as in previous years, it still was a wonderful brew. Thanks Dave!

Still feeling strong, I was able to try Four Winds Quadrupel and Smokestack Lightning Imperial Stout before we had to head back down to Toronado. Between beer two and four, I remembered how much I like Magnolia. As we left, I promised myself that I wouldn’t forget again.

We needed to get over to Oakland for a Women in Beer event at Beer Revolution so the plan was to quickly make the loop through Toronado to shoot more photos and video footage. Entering a very crowded Toronado, we eventually made our way through the front bar to the back room. Halfway through the room, we saw our friends and stopped for a chat.

Offered a chance to sit, something we have never done at the Barleywine fest, we ended up staying over an hour. With almost all of the 48 Barleywines laid out in front of us, it was natural to grab a few to try. Barkley’s Sour Horn from Anderson Valley was the most interesting. As the name implies, it was a slightly sour Barleywine, something that I never imagined Anderson Valley creating. I also tried two of the three winners; the repeat winner from Glacier Brewhouse, Big Woody,  and Firestone Walker’s Abacus blend.

In previous years, we looked at the Barleywine fest as a challenge to be overcome; a feat of strength. But this year, we were actually having something approaching what I would characterize as ‘fun.’ Unfortunately, Merideth and I needed to move on to the Women in Beer event. She was the ‘special surprise guest’.

Based on our experience this year, here is my guide for the 2011 Toronado Barleywine Festival:

• Have or make friends with people near the front of the line. They need to be able to get a table
• These friends should have water and snacks
• Enjoy breakfast and a few beers at Magnolia while the above-mentioned friends acquire the Barleywines
• Return to Toronado when above-mentioned friends have a nice buzz on. Join them when they ask
• Enjoy the Barleywine, snacks and water

Before we knew it, the second weekend of SF Beer Week was upon us and we returned to the City with a full schedule of events for the final three days. Friday afternoon, we headed to our first event: the Bill Brand Tribute at Drake’s Brewing in San Leandro. Bill was a Bay Area beer writer who tragically died last year shortly after the inaugural SF Beer Week.

I was hoping there would be a special Beer Week event for Bill because we are forever grateful for his belief in us. He was one of our early fans. At the time, Merideth and I wondered whether chronicling our beer traveling lives mattered to anyone besides ourselves and a few friends. Bill’s plugs for us and his words of encouragement in his columns and in person meant a lot in those early days.

Bill was honored in a number of ways during SF Beer Week. The SF Brewers Guild made a collaborative beer, an Imperial Common, and breweries were encouraged to make a special brew as a tribute to Bill. Spearheaded by Rodger Davis from Triple Rock, approximately a dozen breweries made a memorial beer for a great friend of the Bay Area beer community. Ten of those beers were available at the Drake’s event.

Our last visit to Drake’s was back in the mid 1990s when it was still Lind Brewing. Owned then by the personable and quirky Roger Lind, the brewery was known for making some of the best beer in the Bay Area. A lot has changed at the brewery from those days with one exception: they still brew great beer. While the staff was still getting the memorial beer bar sorted out, I took the opportunity to enjoy a brewery fresh pint of their excellent IPA.

I sampled four of the ten memorial brews. The Hoppy Dark Lager was a nice beer from Iron Springs. Drake’s and Triple Rock each created very interesting blends. Drake’s offering, called Barrel Aged Blend, was a combination of Brett Zommer Blonde and Pine Tar Blend with raspberry. Triple Rock weighed in with the wonderfully hoppy Bill Brand IPA, a blend of IIMAX, IPAX and Moody’s.

Merideth enjoyed the Linden St. Bill’s Amber Glow, a XXXX, and Devil’s Canyon’s Bill’s Brown Ale in addition to the Iron Springs beer.

Valley Brewing provided a consensus favorite of our group with Bill Brandbic, a lambic-style brew. A sour blend that included pomegranate juice, this memorial beer was nothing short of spectacular.

There was one more star of the Drake’s event, the chocolate cupcakes made with Drake’s Imperial Stout. Created by Cupkates, an East Bay mobile cupcakery, the Stout was incorporated into the batter. One just wasn’t enough, so I had a second cupcake and Merideth tried out their red velvet cupcake as her encore.

All in all, we enjoyed a pleasant afternoon and evening of beer, cupcakes and chatting with friends. I imagine that at least one tribute event to Bill will become a permanent feature of SF Beer Week.

After the Drake’s event, we were off to the San Francisco’s City Beer Store for Bay Area debut of Alaska’s Midnight Sun Brewing.

We first tried Midnight Sun two years ago on our Year in Beer trip to Anchorage. Of the many excellent brews we tried on that trip, Midnight Sun made the the biggest impression on us. Merideth, besides liking the brewery’s sun logo, was drawn to the Imperial Chocolate Pumpkin Porter.  I fell in love with their “Seven Deadly Sins”, a one-time series of mostly Belgian-style beers. We were excited to try their beer again.

Meeting us at City Beer were some of our Anchorage friends: Jim Roberts, better known as Dr. Fermento, and Ken Pajak, owner of Cafe Amsterdam. Down for the Toronado Barleywine Festival, they were already hanging out at the crowded City Beer when we arrived.

Over Midnight Sun’s CoHoHo Imperial IPA for myself and Panty Peeler Tripel for Merideth, we got caught up with Ken and Jim.

The night ended with our traditional Tommy’s Joynt visit with our Alaska friends. More beer, more conversation, a great start to the final weekend.

While Double IPA and Barleywine Festivals get all the press and crowds, it’s the smaller events that are the backbone of SF Beer Week. These events mostly happen during the week, away from the adulation of the big crowds. Last year, during the inaugural SF Beer Week, we sat on the sidelines for the midweek events. Not so, this year; we wanted to get more of a Beer Week experience.

After two days of rest from opening weekend, on Wednesday, Merideth and I ventured up to the South Bay for a Beer and Cheese pairing event at Firehouse Grill and Brewery. Organized by Peter Estaniel, the cheese was provided by the Milk Pail Market in Mountain View. Most important, the beer was provided by our friend, Steve Donohue, Head Brewer at Firehouse. A couple of Steve’s beers were poured as well as a selection of brews chosen by him. These were heavy on the Belgians and Belgian-styles but included American classics Bear Republic’s Racer and Sierra Nevada Bigfoot. In total there were 25 cheeses and a dozen beers to sample.

Since we weren’t doing our own event this year, we wanted to help others out when we could. When Peter put out the call for helpers, we gladly volunteered. Our shift was the first half of the event and our job was to pour the aforementioned Racer 5 and Bigfoot. We also had a pitcher of Steve’s tribute beer to Bill Brand, an Imperial Red. The three cheeses on our table were blues.

People started coming in a little before 7pm and we were quickly pouring beer and fielding questions about cheese. Luckily, the beer and cheese pairing wasn’t structured. The idea wasn’t to be told what beer and cheese to pair together. Rather people were encouraged to wander around and discover for themselves which beer and cheeses paired well together. Merideth and I thought this was a great idea because it fit in well with our ‘find your own beer adventure’ beer travel beliefs. I coined it “build your own beer and cheese experience.”

In a very relaxed setting, groups of people wandered between cheese and beer stations sampling the offerings. As the crowd flow permitted, Merideth and I took turns visiting the other stations and sampling. We were even able to mingle and chat with friends.

Turns out the best beer and cheese pairing for me was right in front of my eyes. The fresh, hoppy 2010 Bigfoot paired very well with the English Blue Stilton. Pairing aside, my favorite cheese was a Horseradish Havarti from Wisconsin. I love horseradish! When is a brewer going incorporate it in a beer? Merideth, when asked what she liked best, wisely commented, ” I liked the cheese…”

And despite the presence of some of my all time favorite beers like Rodenbach, Racer 5 and Orval, the beer of the evening for me was Steve’s Bill Brand Imperial Red. Sentimentality aside, it was a beautiful 10% ABV hop monster.

After our shift, we chatted with friends and tried a few more cheeses and beers. Remembering our ‘it’s a marathon’ mantra, we decided to pack it in and head home. SF Beer Week’s closing weekend was rapidly approaching and we needed our beauty rest.

I’d like to start with a confession; we had never been to the Bistro in Hayward. It opened the same month, January 1994, we left Oakland to move back home. In the subsequent 16 years, we spent quite a bit of time in the East Bay. But, we never thought of stopping in Hayward. Even with the Bistro’s legendary beer festivals, we never managed to attend any of them. But this year’s SF Beer Week, for us, is about trying new things.

The Bistro’s Double IPA Festival is one of the anchor events of SF Beer Week. The 2010 edition was the 10th Annual and featured 58 beers, most Double/Imperial IPAs.  There was also a few oddball strong beers thrown in. Earlier the week, our attendance looked like it could be in jeopardy. A 70-80% chance of rain in the forecast didn’t bode well for this outdoor festival. I just didn’t see myself sipping hop bombs in the rain.

Saturday morning dawned overcast and drizzly, not the heavy rain that I thought was forecast. The weather no longer seemed to be a problem. But we encountered another hurdle. The previous evening Merideth and I thought it was a great idea to head down to 21st Amendment after SF Beer Week’s Opening Gala to try some of their Strong Beer Month brews. Needless, to say, both of us were hurting a bit on Saturday morning. We fought the urge to spend the whole day in our hotel room and sleep. A little before noon, we hopped on BART for the ride over to Hayward.

Walking through the Bistro’s small bar and out the side door, we entered the closed off side street. First thing I noticed was the crowd was smaller than anticipated an hour and a half into the festival. Where was everybody? Did they feel worse that I did? The fact that I wouldn’t have to do beer festival battle from moment one lifted my hungover spirit. Going over to the ticket buying tent, I passed on the 5 tickets for $35 and ambitiously purchased 15 tickets for $50. Each ticket was good for a six ounce taste. Merideth and I were joined by our friends Renee, Other Chris and Philippe; our partners in crime from the night before.

Another confession; my brain wasn’t working at all on Saturday. Thus, my ‘tasting notes’ are going to be even more sparse than usual. Since it was a Double IPA festival, the brews were all REALLY hoppy, some citrusy and others piney. A few of the brews had more of a malt background than the others.

It was time to taste some hop bombs. First up was Hop Juju from Cleveland’s Fat Head’s Brewery. The surprise winner of the Bistro’s IPA festival over the summer, I was curious to try my first Midwest hoppy brew. Surprisingly, my body didn’t reject the first  beer of the day and it went down pretty easily.

I really like what Drakes is doing these days with hop bombs. I recently enjoyed a growler of Denogginizer courtesy of a friend. At the festival, Drakes had two other Double IPAs, Hopocalypse and Quasar. These were my two favorites.

I have heard a lot about Kern River Brewing recently and their Double IPA was my first time trying one of their brews. I remember it being the maltiest of the bunch.

As mid-afternoon approached, there seemed to be a correlation between the less chance of rain and the growing crowd. Between 2 and 3pm, blue sky could be seen and the festival started to get packed. We hoped to stay at the festival until 5pm to see which Double IPAs took away the awards, but playing human pinball started to take its toll. After only eight Double IPAs, I gave away my last six tickets. For those doing the math, I later found the 15th ticket in my pocket.

We would later learn that Welcome Back Wipeout from Pizzaport Carlsbad took first place. It was the only winner that I tried. A nice beer, it wasn’t my favorite. Pliny the Younger from Russian River won the People’s Choice Award.

With our friends, we headed back to the City. Food was needed as the energy derived from the scone and coffee I had earlier in the morning was starting to wear off. Those who have been to Toronado probably have purchased a sausage from the place next door, Rosamunde. They recently opened a new sausage grill in the Mission complete with 20+ taps. We had planned to visit sometime during Beer Week and now seemed like the perfect time.

Prior to visiting, I had pictured the Lower Haight Rosamunde with beer taps squeezed in somewhere. But the Mission location is much, much larger, even having tables.

The service was quick and friendly and I was soon enjoying my first real food of the day. A Brat with sauerkraut and onions, Italian with sweet peppers and the pickle paired perfectly with my Racer 5 from Bear Republic. Rosamunde is an excellent addition to the beer scene in the City.

The real reason we were in the Mission was for Humphry Slocombe ice cream. For SF Beer Week, they created special ice creams that incorporated beers from craft breweries. I am not sure how many different flavors were made but five were available when we visited. A tasting flight of four cost $4.50. Since I was still famished, I had to get a flight. All the flavors were excellent but Merideth and I agreed that Faie Coffee Porter (Iron Springs Brewery) was the star. We’ll have to find time to make it back the second weekend of Beer Week.

Merideth and I finished off the night with a quiet beer with our friends at the Church Key in North Beach. The first weekend of SF Beer Week was great but being ten days, it’s a marathon, not a sprint. After sprinting the first night, we settled for a mellow ending of day two and headed back to our hotel for a good nights sleep.