I’m a Craft Beer Enthusiast (CBE). That means indie (ugh, hate that word) all the way. Ownership matters! Down with Big Beer!
“Dude, Heineken just bought 50% of Lagunitas!”
To be determined…
Okay. Um, I’m fine with that. Just a partnership, right? Trying to open up some distribution channels, make some inroads into some new markets. That’s fine. They’re long since past the days of being the neighborhood nano, right? They’ve hit a ceiling where they are, and this is the next step in their evolution, right?
I love Lagunitas. It was so West Marin. So un-marketed. So idiosyncratic.
So, um, indie (sorry).
Don’t get me wrong. 99.999999% of people who heard Heiny bought half of Lagunitas knew they’d buy the other half at some point. I mean, duh.
But I didn’t think it would happen so quickly. And apparently I never really came to grips with the ramifications of that eventuality.
Basically, what am I supposed to do now?
If I want to keep my CBE cred, I need to disown Lagunitas and everything it now stands for. They’ve committed the ultimate sin and gone corporate. I should dump the remaining bottles of Waldos I have in the fridge and burn my logo t-shirt, preferably in front of many passers-by and TV news cameras, in the ultimate display of disgust of yet another Craft Brewer selling out to The Man.
But. I just. Can’t.
Aside from putting out some phenomenal product, Lagunitas is special.
I mean, c’mon. Tony Magee’s wake-n-bake ethos exudes from every pore of every product they produce.
Brown Shugga — a giant bandage on a brew that went completely wrong, which ended up making the whole body stronger in the long run.
Lagunitas Sucks — a bandage on the bandage that somehow gave the body bionic powers.
Plus, I have my own emotional ties to that special piece of ground in Petaluma.
A couple of years back, I was a student in Sonoma State’s inaugural Craft Beer Appreciation Certificate Program, which consisted of a 12-week course of study. Instead of being taught in some stuffy, boring classroom on campus, it was held in the employee break room at Lagunitas.
Jay Brooks was our instructor, and for that first course, he lined up an astounding array of speakers and presenters.
I mean, seeing this parade of the architects of the current craft beer movement lay down their vast amounts of knowledge on you week in and week out, how is the place NOT going to be magical?
Plus, just the vibe there was special. It was just … funky. The brewer’s loft, where we had orientation and a few class sessions, was a stoner’s basement with taps, complete with gnarly couches, paneling on every visible surface, and marijuana bags on the walls. The taproom was a clubhouse. The patio was your cool friend’s backyard.
This is corporate??
Everything about it screamed anti-establishment.
And now they’re a part of it. And I have to deal with it.
But really, this comes down to WHO actually bought them.
If this had been another ABInBev purchase, it’d be a no-brainer. As much as it would pain me, Lagunitas and I would have to part ways.. End of discussion.
But Heineken? Here’s where it gets complicated.
As an American beer drinker, I’m very aware of what ABI is trying to do to the American craft landscape. Buy up well-performing, receptive mid-size breweries that are easy to scale up, take the brews national with their existing brewing and distribution networks, and undercut local competition with their economies of scale, all the while completely obscuring their ownership of these former craft brands.
Heineken, I just don’t know. The two parties are definitely saying the right things — Lagunitas will remain and independent entity within the company, all employees will keep their jobs, and Magee is still running the show while now serving on Heineken’s board.
But is Heineken as predatory as ABI seems to be? Will they use the Lagunitas brand to make inroads into and eventually dominate emerging international craft markets?
I honestly don’t know. I’d like to think not, but that’s the part of me that so dearly wants to continue to love Lagunitas as much as I have in the past.
For now, the Waldos are still in the fridge, the shirt remains unscorched, and I’m still holding on to my CBE card.
But time will tell whether or not Lagunitas really Sucks.
I’m not one for hyperbole, but I’m a bit giddy these days because I just got to interview a craft brewing legend.
Okay, he might think that a bit grandiose. How about pioneer? Trailblazer? Sherpa?
Whatever, doesn’t matter. Don Barkley has been in the craft brewing game since before there was one, when he convinced Jack McAuliffe in the late 1970s he could use some help running America’s first true new small brewery since Prohibition — Sonoma’s New Albion Brewing Company.
Try as they might, they could only make the venture last until 1982. McAuliffe and Barkley then took the equipment north to Hopland and helped found Mendocino Brewing Company (MBC), the nation’s first on-site brewpub, in 1983.
With brews like Red Tail Ale and Eye of the Hawk, growth followed quickly. But by the mid ’90s, like many breweries at the time, MBC faced a challenge. They needed to expand to keep up with demand, but didn’t have the money.
Enter India-based brewing conglomerate United Breweries (UB), which purchased MBC in 1997. Their deep pockets allowed MBC to expand their own facility, and, UB’s recently established brewery in New York allowed them the possibility of nationwide distribution.
Barkley helmed MBC’s brewing operations until 2008, when the promise of being closer to his ailing father brought him to his current home at Napa Smith.
You’ll find the Vallejo taproom under a big V.
The brewery was purchased in 2013 by R.S. Lipman Company, a Nashville-based owner of several wine, beer, spirit, and mixer brands. Seeking to expand capacity, Lipman recently moved Napa Smith from its initial home in a business park south of Napa to a former Sears distribution center in northern Vallejo, just off Highways 29 and 37.
[BTW, although the official taproom Grand Opening is still about a week away as I post this (May 20th), the soft opening is well underway. Stop by and say howdy. Look for the giant palm trees in front.]
The combination of Vallejo’s new brewery and Lipman’s Nashville facility, currently home to their Hap & Harry’s brand of ales and lagers, will allow them to eventually take Napa Smith nationwide. Just as with MBC, Barkley will be managing breweries across the country.
Speaking of Barkley’s former employer, United Breweries made recent headlines when founder Vijay Mallya was arrested in London amidst business fraud charges. His extravagant lifestyle in the face of these charges is well documented.
I recently spoke with Don at Napa Smith’s new brewery about New Albion, working for United Breweries, craft-beer sustainability, and Vallejo’s possibilities.
The Beerverse: By the time you finally convinced Jack McAullife to be his assistant at New Albion in the late ‘70s, I imagine he pretty much had the brewery fashioned together by then?
Don Barkley: To some degree. There was continuous improvement at New Albion. Everything was absolutely built from scratch, that was one of Jack McAullife’s fortes — knowing how to make beer, then actually putting it into practice by building the equipment, putting it together and making it a functioning brewery.
I’ve been [thinking about] him the last couple of years with the addition of a lot of people doing really tiny, tiny little breweries — a barrel, barrel-and-a-half, even half-barrel breweries, thinking “What in the world are these people thinking?” And then of course I had to stop myself and say, “Wait a minute! New Albion was only a barrel-and-a-half per batch!”
Don Barkley (far right) chatting with friends in the new taproom, about a week before opening.
BV: At least they have some templates to go by. You guys had to figure it out as you went.
DB: Pretty much. There was no equipment anywhere at that point.
BV: Were Fritz Maytag (Anchor) and Ken Grossman (Sierra Nevada) good resources for you guys? Did you interact much with them?
DB: Fritz Maytag was a great supporter of what we were doing at New Albion. Ken wasn’t really in the business yet, although he did come by and take a peek.
Fritz was a great help. Once Jack had made a malt bin, we would go down to Anchor to get our malt. All the malt we used for brewing for a long time came from Anchor. Fritz and the whole Anchor gang were pretty interested in what we were doing at New Albion.
BV: What was it like working for United Breweries once they took over at MBC? Were they very hands-on or did they let you do what you do?
DB: They definitely were hands-on. They put a little over $4 million in [the brewery expansion] project which was enough to get it finished, and installed not only the Managing Director but also the CFO on-site. Both of those guys came from the brewing business so they understood brewing and how to make and sell beer in India.
There may have been some cultural differences in learning how to sell beer in the U.S. market, but as the Master Brewer at the Mendocino Brewing Company, I was certainly held in high respect. But I certainly learned a lot in regards to record-keeping and watching the pennies and all that.
The only thing that probably was a little different was the fact they were from a different culture. Making beer around the world is always the same, but selling beer in a different culture is a different type of thing.
How ’bout some shuffleboard with a side of education?
BV: Did you have much interaction with Mr. Mallya himself?
DB: Vijay came to Mendocino once a year for the shareholder meeting. He was aloof to say the least.
BV: With nearly 40 years in the industry, you’ve seen a lot of cycles, expansions and contractions. The last few years of growth have been astronomical. There’s lots of wringing of hands lately about what the short term will bring. Your thoughts?
DB: My gut feeling right now is that we’re on the tip-top of the wave. With the amount of capacity coming on, with all the small breweries that have expanded in the last couple years into 100-barrel, 150-barrel brewhouses, those people [already] in the marketplace and those trying to get into the market, we’re going to see some fall-out. It’s starting right now as far as I’m concerned.
BV: The Speakeasy shut-down caught a lot of people by surprise. Hopefully they’ll find a find a new buyer. [Editor’s note: interview was conducted before the buyer was announced.]
DB: Hopefully they will, and maybe draw back a little bit and regroup.
But I think as far as small brewpubs and that kind of thing, I think there’s still room for a lot of that, as far as community establishments. But getting out into the marketplace, there’s almost too much beer right now, too many products to select. You end up with more beer on the supermarket shelves sitting there longer, which is not good for beer at all.
I think we’re pretty much topped out as far as this wave. So we’ll have a bit of a slump as all this capacity comes on and people try to figure out how to sell it all. Then we’ll start to have price wars going on. When you get into the price war business, then those who don’t know how to run a business will start to have a bit more of a problem surviving.
Ah, that new brewery smell…
BV: On to brighter things. When did the Vallejo facility come on-line?
DB: We actually moved in in December. On December 1st, we had everything out of our original Napa location. We actually made our first batch of beer in the first week of January, so it took about a month or so.
BV: Were you guys offline for a while? Did you brew elsewhere or just stock up your accounts to cover the outage?
DB: We were offline for about six weeks. We made sure our production was proper, our finished goods inventory was high, our distributors were full of beer, and said, “Okay, let’s go!” It took about two weeks to move the equipment and put it back together.
BV: You’re completely out of Napa now, correct?
DB: Yes. We were in the Napa facility for about 8 years.
BV: Was Napa Smith just starting when you were brought on?
DB: It had not existed before I got there. I got there and basically sourced all the brewing equipment and installed it, and in a fairly short time was able to make some beer. We made our first batch in April 2008.
BV: Any plans for a satellite taproom or some other future presence in Napa?
DB: We have planned to keep a presence in Napa. We are looking for the right location, downtown if possible.
BV: It must be an exciting time for you guys.
DB: The move to Vallejo has allowed us the opportunity of opening up the production side and be prepared to make more beer. That’s a really good thing for us.
BV: Any thoughts of a Vallejo collaboration with new neighbor Mare Island Brewing?
DB: I think as we go along [we’ll look into it]. We haven’t [reached out yet] because we’ve been trying so hard to get ourselves up and operating here. It’s a whole new game for us. And Mare Island, from what I understand, they’re planning on starting to brew at their facility in May, as well.
We hope to do something with Mare Island in the future. We’ll see how it goes.
Taproom with a view.
BV: Outside of the core beers, will you be doing one-offs and other taproom-only brews?
DB: We’ll have some taproom-only, and we’ll do our one-off program now that we’re in our new space. We’ll be looking at bringing new beers in about every six weeks or so. Two days ago we made a Cascadian Dark Ale. It’ll be BLACK.
And of course, because we’re involved with Tennessee, Robert Lipman makes and sells as part of his product line a Bourbon called Old Hickory, and every once in a while they dump a bunch of barrels…
BV: I was just gonna ask if there was going to be some barrels coming your way…
DB: We do have some Bourbon barrels, yes, and we just put some Hoppageddon into a Bourbon barrel. That’ll sit in there for about six months.
BV: Note to self — “come back to Napa Smith in six months.”
DB: You’ll definitely want to. Hoppageddon is such a lovely beer, anyway. Out of a Bourbon barrel it’ll be really, really nice.
So we did that recently, and we’ve got our wheat beer which we just launched last year. It’s basically a hoppy wheat, obviously no [bittering hops], only aromatics. That’s really a nice wheat beer and we’ll have it out full-steam in the summertime. Really, really lovely.
And we’ve got another special beer that I think we’ve got on tap right now, and that’s called TrHOPic Thunder, and so it has a lot of tropical papaya and really interesting flavors from the hops. We’ll be playing around with a lot of really fun beers.
BV: It must be nice to have the room to do that.
DB: That’s right, and have a really nice little taproom to feature it in.
We made our Golden Gate IPA specifically as an IPA that … a few years ago, we were just so tired of big, high alcohol, super big IPAs, we said, “Let’s make something that’s just really, really nice.” It’s gotten so sophisticated and so delightful lately.
It has just gone crazy throughout San Francisco, obviously, with the name. It’s a 6% IPA, a nice big hoppy thing but not trying to blow you out of the water, just a real, delightful, sophisticated flavor.
BV: There’s something to be said for balance, absolutely.
DB: Well, that’s part of my forte, here. Have that balance. Never forget the malt!
Fresh taps for even fresher beer.
BV: Is canning in your future?
DB: We’ve had a lot of requests, especially from the Sonoma Raceway. They would LOVE to have our beer over there. We could do it on draft, but the real source of sales would be cans. We’re playing with the idea of doing cans, but all in good time.
We’ve got a brand new Kosme filler, though, so the beer is getting into the bottle in superb character right now. Our air pickup is absolutely nil, so we’re really, really happy to finally have a filing machine that can get the beer into the bottle and really know that that beer is going be good down the line.
BV: I read in Ken Grossman’s autobiography that, in the early days, the bottle fillers probably gave him more headaches than anything else.
DB: Yep, yep, absolutely. You can make the best beer in the world and have it in your fermenters, but if you can’t get it into the bottle, you have a big problem! It won’t last!
You see it out in the marketplace, now. There’s a lot of great beers, and you want them to be better, but you [can] just tell the age on them, maybe they weren’t filled the way they should have been. It’s a disappointment.
BV: Working at Mendocino must have been good training for you to coordinate brewing on both sides of the country. Are you brewing Napa Smith in Tennessee yet?
DB: We have not started to actually produce product there. We’ve done some trial batches, and we’ve just installed a lead brewer in that facility and he’s getting used to making some of our other products.
Robert Lipman is contracting a particular beer he brewed at Yazoo Brewing [in Nashville] called Hap & Harry’s, ale and lager. Right now we’re concentrating on making those beers for the Nashville market and beyond. As our new lead brewer gets the facility well under his belt, then we’ll probably start making some Napa Smith beers there.
Your starting lineup.
BV: Is that a new facility there, as well?
DB: Yes, it’s about a year old or so.
Having brewed at Mendocino in both New York and California, there are nuances that are pretty involved to get the product to taste as similar as possible.
BV: Dealing with different water sources…
DB: That’s a huge component. If you’re in one place and you know what your water’s doing, it’s a whole different ballgame if you go somewhere else and all of a sudden your calcium and every other ion in that water is off. Sometimes just the equipment itself requires some unique approaches to do the same thing you’re doing in California.
BV: Do you plan to eventually brew and distribute some Tennessee product out west?
DB: Maybe. As we’re going along we might do some Hap & Harry’s. We have made the lager and ale in Napa and sent it back to Tennessee for some trial runs and also to help their production gap as they ended production at Yazoo Brewing and started at the new Tennessee facility.
BV: Finally, hazy beers. Yea or Nay?
The reason there’s hazy beers out there is that people don’t have their brewing process down. In theory, haze should not affect the flavor of a beer at all. I’ve had and made myself some wonderful hazy beers. But with a good, tight brewing process, there’s no reason to have a haze in your beer at all.
Unless you’re making a wheat beer. Then, of course, style dictates you’ll have some haze. But the beauty of a beer is watching it sparkle in the sunshine.
I can drink a nice, hazy beer as long as it tastes good and has a reason for being, other than just being hazy.
Thank you, Don. It was nice for you to spend some time with me while in the middle of getting the new taproom up and running. As I mentioned, the doors are now open. Have a pint or two and enjoy the new surroundings.
With the possible exception of Anchor Brewing, there probably isn’t a brewery more iconic to San Francisco than Magnolia.
To wit:
Purloined from Magnolia’s website.
Dave McLean, the founder, got indoctrinated into the craft beer scene in the parking lots at Grateful Dead shows in the Boston area the late ’80s/early ‘90s, where many of the Dead’s followers brought brews with them from the West Coast shows. Once he settled in the City in 1991 (in the Haight, natch), he began home brewing almost immediately.
After finishing the brewing program at UC Davis, he found a space at Haight and Masonic just a few blocks from his home. The small space had an even smaller basement, in which he managed to cram a seven-barrel brewhouse in 1997.
That tiny brewhouse is still churning out quality brews to this day.
The location already had a colorful history before Dave’s arrival, with one of the former proprietors being the famous Magnolia Thunderpussy. Given that, you really can’t get more San Francisco than by naming your new brewery Magnolia (Dave continues the tribute with his barleywine — Old Thunderpussy).
Seeking to expand production, Magnolia opened Smokestack, a brewery/BBQ joint/whiskey bar in the Dogpatch district, in 2014. That name also comes from Dave’s love of history, a nod to the Dead’s remake of Howlin’ Wolf’s song “Smokestack Lightnin'”, as well as to the neighborhood’s industrial past.
(BTW, Magnolia also makes a damned tasty Smokestack Lightning Imperial Stout, which I was fortunate enough to enjoy during the last Beer Week)
Although all his businesses have been profitable (he also owns The Alembic in the Haight), Dave filed for bankruptcy in late 2015, seeking to restructure his debt-load from the expansion. All businesses have continued operations during the process, which continues. In fact, during this time Magnolia recently brought their first packaged products into market, Kalifornia Kolsch and Proving Ground IPA, both in cans.
Dave was kind enough to chat with me via email, and talks more about history, Magnolia’s bankruptcy, the Dead’s influence on his record-keeping, the can rollout, and the one collaboration he’d still love to do as Magnolia approaches its 20th Anniversary.
The Beerverse: To get this out of the way, can you comment on how the bankruptcy is proceeding? Looking good to emerge from it?
Dave McLean: We’re diligently working on our steps forward to emerge and while it has taken longer than I had hoped, I’m pretty happy with how much we’ve been able to accomplish during it and how it hasn’t had any impact on the experience at our brewpubs nor our beer. It was a major milestone to launch our canned beer during this time.
BV: How has the can rollout gone? Is Blue Bell Bitter still on the horizon? Are there plans for others?
DM: The cans have been selling so well that it has been hard for us to keep up. It was incredible to see the initial reception in terms of how so many people know the brand and were thrilled to be able to take Magnolia beer home in a convenient format after all these years. We’re just getting to the point where we can spread some around to our other distributors outside of San Francisco and we’re beginning to work on the next releases. Yes, I really want to put Blue Bell in a can.
BV: Putting the bankruptcy aside, how has the Smokestack experience been? I know you changed chefs and tweaked the menu last summer. How has that been received?
DM: I feel like both restaurants are operating better than anytime in their past. We saw some opportunities to optimize the service model at Smokestack last year and there are always menu adjustments to be made at both restaurants. Everything seems to be well-received and we have a lot more in the works in terms of some additions to the Smokestack menu.
BV: Some big anniversaries are coming up in the Haight this year — the Summer of Love’s 50th, and Magnolia’s 20th. Any plans to commemorate the two? Any special anniversary brews?
DM: Both are big milestones and we’re excited to celebrate them with our community. The Summer of Love is coming up fast and our own anniversary is in the fall. I’m kicking around some ideas for a 20th anniversary beer. More to come on that.
BV: I’m a historical preservation buff (one of my columns is called “Beer Preserves”, featuring breweries in historic buildings). Can you talk a bit about the history of both locations?
DM: Sure, that’s something that really appeals to me, too. One of the first things I did when I signed the lease for the Haight location was to go to the San Francisco History Room at the public library and dig into what had been there before us.
Our Haight building has a pretty interesting history—built in 1903, it was a grocery store in the early days and then was a pharmacy for many of its years, with that era ending in 1964. It then became the Drugstore Cafe, one of the early hippie businesses in the Haight (they had to change the name to the Drogstore after a run in with the California pharmacy board).
And then a legendary woman named Magnolia Thunderpussy took it over and opened a cafe named after herself. She only ran it for a couple of years but those years stand out in a lot of people’s minds and we still hear anecdotes and stories about her and that era of our building. She moved on and took her name with her (next to the Boarding House on Bush, where she ran the kitchen and put out basically the same menu as she had served at her Haight location).
Our space became the Psalms Cafe, something of a hold-out hippie business after most of them fled and the neighborhood had a long hangover. It was a breakfast spot, Dish, throughout the ’80s until 1996, when I took it over.
While our Dogpatch space [Smokestack] doesn’t have quite as colorful history, it’s special in its own way, as is the history of that neighborhood.
It was the industrial heart of San Francisco for many years, and our building was part of the American Can Company, which started across the street in the early 1900s and expanded by building our building in the 1940s. Incidentally, the American Can Company produced the first beer can, but not in San Francisco (they had several plants around the country).
They shut their San Francisco plant in the 1960s and the buildings sat empty for a few years. The father of the current owner bought them and subdivided them into spaces for artists, artisans and craftspeople, and other creative types who wanted affordable space in a then-desolate part of town.
Now it is at the center of one of the hottest neighborhoods in the city and home to an amazing patchwork quilt of cool, independent San Francisco businesses of all kinds.
BV: I’ve never seen such detailed beer archives on a brewery website. The way your library can be cross-referenced and sorted is a researcher’s dream. Why is that so important to you?
DM: I can’t quite explain why, but it is, so we try to record it all. And there’s so much more along those lines that I’d like to add when and if I have time. I’ve always been that way about the Dead, too—identifying with the tapers and collectors who chronicled every version of every song, every setlist, etc. To that end (and sports can be this way, too), the stats and facts can tell stories, reveal patterns and give context to both history and the present. It’s also just fun to look back and be reminded of some of this stuff.
BV: Your list of collaborations is quite impressive. Are there any bucket-list collaborators you haven’t yet gotten to work with?
DM: Well, what has been most fun about our collaborations has been the organic way in which they have all come about, rather than having a master plan or wishlist. That’s important because to me it helps make the case for one of the things that’s special about the beer world. It’s an amazing community full of friends new and old and the inspiration to collaborate almost always seems to come for me out of a social moment with someone, usually over a beer. That’s what’s fun about it. There’s an element of not trying to hard and letting things unfold in interesting and satisfying ways.
That said, as we approach 20, I think a lot about how much Brian Hunt from Moonlight helped me make Magnolia a reality when most people didn’t think I could squeeze a brewery into the basement at Haight and Masonic. And yet, we’ve never brewed together. I’d like to fix that.
BV: Finally, I gotta ask — hazy IPAs, yes or no? Is the kerfuffle justified?
DM: I can appreciate the good ones and get the idea but I’m not all that into them.
Thank you, Dave! I really appreciate you taking the time.
A final note. Although Dave noted his collaboration brews usually happen organically, I think we as a community need to help him out just this once. A Magnolia 20th Anniversary collaboration brew with Moonlight needs to happen. What better way for Dave to celebrate this milestone than with the guy who helped him out so much when he first started?
Mr. Hunt, if you’re reading this, whaddya say?
Friends of Mr. Hunt, if you could pass this note along to him, I’d really appreciate it. I think we all would enjoy the result.
In the midst of this waterlogged winter, another San Francisco Beer Week has washed over us. Here’s where I dipped my toes into this year’s raging currents.
I Need A Miracle DIPA Release, Pacific Standard Taproom, Berkeley
With the ever-increasing supply of beers from an ever-increasing industry, the problem of where they’re going to sell this stuff is becoming more acute. There are only so many taps and shelves, right?
One solution — create your own taproom.
Sierra Nevada has the Torpedo Room in Berkeley. Firestone Walker’s new space in Venice Beach recently opened. Wood’s Brewing has four locations in the Bay Area — three in the City and one in Oakland. Not to mention Fieldwork’s outposts in Napa and Sacramento, with more to come in San Mateo and Monterey.
A chill start to Beer Week at Pacific Standard.
Into the fray comes Pacific Standard, Half Moon Bay Brewing’s new taproom just around the corner from Downtown Berkeley BART.
I got there not long after the event started at Noon, and while there were a decent amount of patrons, the vibe was nice and relaxed. A chill way to start off Beer Week, and a great opportunity to dive into some not-so-common HMB offerings.
The best part, all tap selections are offered in 5-oz. pours. Much easier for sampling.
Which came in handy, ‘cuz who knew I’d wind up winning the lottery? The taproom was gearing up for a release event later in the evening, so I got to try several fresh kegs that were tapped as I sipped:
Everyone’s Doing It Hazy Pale Ale — yes, there’s much wringing-of-hands over hazy beers. Brewers chasing fads again. For me, the bottom line is, is it good? This one is. Tangy, juicy, bright, quenching. Haze away!
Crazy for Coconuts Porter — with toasted coconuts, which tempers the sweetness and adds nuttiness. Nice!
Belgian White — this collaboration with Richmond’s Benoit Casper was spot-on, with a floral quality that lingered on the finish.
I Need a Miracle DIPA — another collaboration, this with Peter Hoey of Brewer’s Supply Group. Solid as DIPAs go, but this 8.8% brew drinks too easily. Could be trouble, so be careful.
BTW, a tip. They do have a bottle shop, but due to license restrictions, they can only sell their own brews to go. Any other brewers’ bottles must be consumed on-site.
Triple Rock Mister Stout Imperial Stout Flight, Berkeley
Around the corner and up a few blocks is the venerable Triple Rock, which opened back when the beers were still called microbrews (they’re coming up on 30 years). They recently expanded into the space next door.
Triple Rock’s Annex. Note graffiti left on a former exterior wall.
The best thing — they didn’t try to replicate the nearly 30-year-old original brewpub. Cuz let’s face it, there’s no way to recreate decades of beer-soaked happiness without it looking like Disney Goes To Portland.
In fact, they did the opposite.
Sleek. Modern. Concrete. Bright. Complete with a roll-top window opening to Shattuck Avenue. Now, everyone can be happy. The regulars have the patina of back-in-the-day, while the hipsters can see-and-be-seen.
If this bad boy starts slidin’, drink up. It’s probably your last.
Plus, instead of hiding the fact that any new construction in the Bay Area has to be earthquake-proofed to infinity, they made it a design feature. Several massive pillars anchor the space, complete with gigantic slip-plates that can allow the upper floors to surf over the space if they need to. A not-so-subtle reminder that the East Bay is overdue to crumble. So drink up.
Which I definitely did. But, had I known the quantity of the flight, I might have limited my samples at Pacific Standard. Yikes.
The server placed the tasting sheet on the table. A four-pour Mister Stout vertical, ranging from the last 2015 barrel-aged keg to the freshly-brewed 2017. I figured, just four tastes, right? A few sips of each one to get an idea, and I’m good to go.
Not.
They had to be eight ounces each, ranging in ABV from 10.2 to 11.5%. Oy.
BTW, to my wife — no, I did NOT finish them. Got maybe 1/2 to 2/3 through each pour. Which was bad enough, I know. Thanks for driving me home.
Anyway, without getting too deep in the woods, my fav was the 2017. I know, blasphemy to you barrel-age enthusiasts. I enjoyed the freshly roasted coffee flavors and aromas, and the energetic acidity. The ’16/’17 blend gave a bit of softness, which I also enjoyed.
But the 2015? Too much caramelly sweetness for me. Sorry. When the barrel obliterates the beer, I’m just not a big fan.
Molina “Tavern” w/Headlands Brewing and Magnolia Brewing, Mill Valley
Yes, Marin can have a precious, bubble-like atmosphere at times. But they also have some damned nice restaurants, and the beers ain’t bad, either.
See, beer CAN be romantic, honey. Honey?
And I’m sorry, but the quaint-meter just pegs in Mill Valley. And you never know when you’ll run into Sammy.
Anyway, this being my first experience with Molina, I can’t tell you about the normal mode of things. However, I did hear one regular ask “Why is it Ten after Six and the bar’s already full?”
For this event, they kept to a small-plate “tavern” menu, with recommended pours for each plate. But, for “drink what you like with the food you like” me, I chose just to try some nice beers and eat some good food.
Check on both counts.
My wife and I shared Crab Jambalaya and Poutine with Mushroom gravy. Both were outstanding. Plenty of crab and pulled pork in the just-right-spicy jambalaya, and the hearty fries held up to the rich poutine gravy. And I hate mushrooms, so if that’s not a recommendation right there, I don’t know what is.
The beers? Top notch, of course, especially the Light My Fire Smoked Helles, a special collaboration for Beer Week with Headlands and Santa Cruz’s New Bohemia Brewing. Smoke was evident, but only enough to enhance the crispness and dryness of the Helles. Tremendous.
BTW, the Magnolia Smokestack Lightning Imperial Stout with the Chocolate Stout Cake wasn’t half-bad, either, The black-licorice component of the stout seemed heavy-handed on it’s own. But with the cake? Verrrrry nice.
East Bay Beer Festival, Drake’s Dealership, Oakland
Um, I realize if I’m supposed to maintain some modicum of credibility, that I should keep a bit of detachment from my subjects, and not gush on endlessly.
Yes, first in line. No, not on purpose.
But holy cow, was this event awesome!
Yes, I just said “awesome.” I don’t care.
Even more impressive, this is the inaugural event (and they even knew to use “inaugural” and not the fingernails-on-the-blackboard “first annual”).
I must admit, my euphoria about this event might have resulted in large part from plain ol’ Vitamin D.
Yes, sunshine.
You folks in the Midwest and Northeast probably have little sympathy, but this winter has been so saturated for us Northern California folks that we keep expecting the Arc to show up any day now. We’ve probably had rain at least 3/4 of this year so far, and most of that has been of the sideways variety.
Lucky glasses about to be filled with all kinds of locally-fermented goodness.
This day, the sky turned an unusual shade of brilliant blue, and the warming rays came down upon us. Add to that some top-notch brews, and a DJ spinning some fine tunes (how is it not a party with Beck’s “E-Pro”?), and you have one fine event.
The East Bay, as the kids say, was representin’. (Do the kids still say that?)
The Hive, before it got buzzin’.
And Drake’s Dealership was a great host. The Hive’s interior parking lot was the perfect space. Just enough room for all breweries, plus a few food options, while still keeping the complex open for patrons to visit the other businesses.
I’m too lazy to take notes on the beers I had, and who wants to work on day this nice? But I can tell you of a couple of standouts I tried.
Hydration, hydration, hydration..
Newcomers Gilman Brewing, out of Berkeley (natch), offered a wonderful Smoked Chipotle Porter called Speak of the Devil. Now, I’m a sucker for anything chipotle (I even kept going to the restaurants after their troubles), and saying Smoked Chipotle might seem redundant, but this was a tasty beverage. Chipotle smokiness, check. Porter foundation in evidence, check. Result — one fine beer.
The other was a Black IPA from Eight Bridges Brewing in Livermore. I know, the IPA category’s getting played out, and Black IPAs may be one of the earliest to jump the shark, but this straddled the line well between coffee-roastiness and hop-sharpness. Kind of changed with each sip, which to me equals balance.
Overall, though, I don’t remember a beer that wasn’t at least good. Maybe a bit too savory here, perhaps not malty-enough there. But overall, some fine brews were poured on a Chamber-of-Commerce day. Spring can’t some soon enough, but we had a taste of it on a stellar, beer-soaked afternoon.
Bottom line — stumble around pretty much anywhere in the East Bay and you’re bound to come across some fine local brews. Go out and get some, and be thankful for our local bounty!
One of the (few) perks my day job offers is birthdays off. The last few years I’ve taken advantage of the free day by hopping on mass transit and heading to some new (to me) beer joints. As the pace of openings shows no signs of slowing, there’s no shortage from which to choose.
This year’s stops — Bartlet Hall and Local Brewing, both in the City.
BARTLETT HALL
Birthday stop No. 1
To be honest, I was a bit trepidatious about this one. Bartlett Hall (named for Washington Allon Bartlett, the City’s first mayor) is a full-on restaurant, with a full bar, just off of Union Square. It’s too easy for house-made beer to be an after-thought, or worse yet, an affectation, at places like this.
The usual touches apply here — padded leather barstools and banquettes, rich hardwood tables, the men’s-den swank accented by the pop of the brightly-lit bar with sleek marble top. Luxo-pub.
The selection didn’t exactly put me at ease — only four house brews were available. “Great,” I thought, “just make the minimum to make it look like you take this seriously and have at least somewhat of a selection.”
Did I mention two of the four were IPAs?
So, I started into the sampler set, and…
What’s that they say about books and covers?
Is that all there is?
The Bartlett Blonde was solid, if not spectacular. Straightforward, easy to drink, nice to order if you’re with a group and want to think more about the conversation than what you’re drinking.
The IPAs, though, were intriguing, and the highlight of the flight. Hop Sounds was the brash, bigger brother of the two. More hop spice, pepper, and grassiness.
Pio Pico was a bit more streamlined, refined, and zesty, full of citrus, with a clean finish. Both were nice, in their own ways, and it was heartening they offered two very different, and quite good, examples of the style.
The Dark Bullitt Chocolate Coffee Porter, unfortunately, was disappointing. Too much chocolate, not enough coffee. I can say it would make a terrific beer float. But on its own, it was just too sweet. Great chocolate cream flavor, but the finish was just too sticky.
The food was tasty, as well. The meatball small plate came with three, bathed in a rich Marinara sauce. The “side” of fries was a meal in itself, piled high in a bowl. Added bonus — two aiolis for dipping, as well as ketchup. Very good, all around. Although, as is my weakness, I could not stop eating the fries even though I should have.
Good thing it was a 25-minute hike to the next stop. I could use it.
LOCAL BREWING
My timing was perfect, I got to Local just as they were opening the giant roll-up door.
Homey industrial, just like I like it.
One thing I love about brewery tap rooms — you gotta seek them out. They aren’t in typical retail areas, shopping centers and strip malls. Mostly they’re in light-industrial, mixed-use areas, which is the case here. This lightly-traveled block of Bluxome, complete with head-in parking, is quiet and subdued. A nice contrast to the high-traffic main thoroughfares.
Although I was the first there, it filled quickly. The tall industrial space is warm and friendly, with sleek, low-profile stools, dark wood tables and bar, and oversized local photos adding a sophisticated touch.
I took my seat at the bar, got my generous six-beer sampler, and started in.
I can only pick six? Geezo!
My overall takeaway — distinct, unique beers, very well executed.
The Bernal Equinox Belgian Pale was a great blending of both worlds, the Belgian twang enhancing, but not overwhelming the Pale hops. The Bluxome Black Lager was light on its feet with an interesting nutty streak (kind of like me, except for the light-on-my-feet part).
The Outer Sunset was hard to wrap my brain around. Billed as a Dark Saison, the competing components almost left a sour impression, in a good way. Tart and musty at the same time.
Nice view. Ingenious use of extra seating.
The Let’s Get Tropical Pale Ale was the most intriguing. A Pale Ale on Nitro, it was an interesting twist on the New England-style IPAs the kids are drinking these days. The lack of carbonation muted the spice and let the citrus flavors really shine, while also giving a bit of heft and richness. Very unique, and enjoyable.
The Sutro Tower Stout (also on Nitro) nailed it. As solid a stout as you will ever find — roasty, rich, bitter, and oh-so smooth. This should be in the dictionary for how to brew a stout. I could drink several to combat the usual SF chill.
And with that, another birthday’s in the books. So thankful of having the gift of many, many beer spots to explore so close to my home. Looking forward to the next one, and to finding many more before then!
Before this year’s Beer Week gets too far in the rear-view mirror (i.e.: I forget what I did), here’s a brief rundown of the events I attended.
First, a quick word about tasting notes. To be honest, I don’t really do them anymore. For all the beer I’ve had over the years, my palate just isn’t sophisticated enough. Other than vague generalities (balanced! smooth! malt backbone!), I can’t do each beer justice.
I can knock myself out crafting the perfect assessment, but everyone’s palate is different, so what’s really the point? From now on, most likely I’ll only make note of what’s most prominent and/or unusual for the style.
Besides, trying to describe something as I’m sitting there drinking it distracts from the enjoyment of it. I’d rather just take in the beer and the place and paint an overall impression of the experience. Were the beers enjoyable? Was the vibe welcoming and fun? Was the food and service up to par?
Laziness on my part? Perhaps. But I’m tired of worrying about it. Instead, the bottom line anymore is — were the beers (and food) good, were the people nice, and was it a great place to hang out, relax, and enjoy everything?
Single/Double/Triple IPA Firkin Flight, Triple Rock, Berkeley
Now, IPA flights are great enough. When you can try a brewery’s Single, Double, and Triple IPAs, even better.
Hello, old friend!
When all three are pulled from casks — sign me up!
Coming here was a bit of a reunion of sorts. Hadn’t ventured to this venerable spot in a couple of decades, at least. Time has only added to its charm. The brewiana-covered walls, the air of beery civility — the place speaks of the tens of thousands of pints proudly poured there over nearly 30 years.
I arrived to an already crowded bar shortly after the 11:30am opening. Fortunately the three firkins were positioned on the bar in such a way that one corner seat was tucked in amongst them. I settled in and got to work.
The featured IPAs were the IPAX (single), Hop Salad (double), and Nod’n’Smile (triple). Great beers, all. The Hop Salad was probably the most hop-forward of the three. But what I really couldn’t believe was how smoooooooth the Nod’n’Smile was. The touch of sweetness at the end muted whatever alcohol kick it had.
Speaking of friends, have you met the Firkins?
The 9-oz. pours were perfect — enough to thoroughly enjoy each one while still being able to leave under your own power.
A tasty Asian-marinated Salmon sandwich was the perfect pairing. The marinade tang mirrored the bitterness, while the fatty fish cut through the alcohol. And the service was wonderful. Although I was nearly hidden amongst the firkins at the bar, the very busy staff kept an eye on me and made sure I wasn’t neglected.
Cask beers are, of course, the best. And a chance to taste several in a flight is a delight. This was wonderful, and I hope they do similar events in future Beer Weeks.
Barrel-aged Beer Fest, The Trappist, Oakland
This was my first visit to The Trappist, and I loved it immediately. But be warned — if you’re claustrophobic, this is NOT the place for you. The front bar has barely enough room for stools, a walkway, and standing-height ledges along the back wall barely wide enough to hold your beer.
And hello new friend!
The whole place is kind of a horseshoe. Walk past the front bar and the space widens a bit, with long bench seating along one dark-paneled wall, and the bathrooms on the opposite side.
Hit the back and open a door, and a small beer-garden is outside. Otherwise, hang a right to find more small tables and some stools along the dark back corridor.
Reach the end of that hall and hang another right. You’re heading back toward the front of building now, and the space opens up with several more tables and light filtering in from the front windows. This is the back bar area.
The odd and sometimes cramped shape of the space meant for long lines at the bars (more so at the front bar). But, as I’ve found at countless beer events, participants were cheerful and patient. And as a newbie, I quickly picked up the procedure.
Lines formed at the END of each bar. You don’t squeeze between people sitting at the stools. Study the printed menu while you wait, make sure you’re at the correct bar (the menu was divided into Front and Back Bar sections). Get the routine down and plan accordingly, and you will have a very pleasant experience and rarely have to wait long holding an empty glass.
I’m standing against the BACK wall!
First up was the Gigantic Brewing Pipewrench IPA, aged in gin barrels. That was a first for me, and the gin made for a more tangy, citrusy experience than most IPAs I’ve had. Really nice.
Next was Fieldwork’s Viking’s Lament Imperial Porter, aged in bourbon barrels with licorice and vanilla beans. I was a bit reluctant as I’m not a licorice fan, but to my delight the vanilla and bourbon flavors were much more pronounced, with the licorice providing just a bit of bite at the back end. Quite good.
Finally (and I couldn’t do any more if I wanted to) was Drake’s Barrel-aged Drakonic. This was just straight-up, in-your-face Imperial Stout time, with a bit of maple from the bourbon barrels. Subtle, it’s not. But still very delightful.
Overall, if you can deal with a lot of people in not a big space, it’s a great place to enjoy quality beer. I’ll have to return on a non-event day.
Dogfish Head Tap Takeover, Gott’s Roadside, Ferry Building, SF
A bonus stop after wandering around Super Bowl City. We got to the spectacle right about opening time on the first day, and boy, are we glad we did after seeing reports of the crushes of people on the days right before the game. Took us about 10 minutes to get in, and the crowds were very manageable.
And kudos to Speakeasy for getting some taps at the beer concessions. Nice to see some local beer represented.
Anyway, after checking the scene for about an hour, my wife was kind enough to agree to lunch at Gott’s. Now, I adore Gott’s as it is (although it’ll always be Taylor’s Refresher to me), but throw in some rare beers from one of the most off-the-wall breweries on the planet, and you’ve got yourself a deal!
Off-centered in the Ferry Building.
And wow, did they have some hum-dingers available, including a couple of 17% monsters. If you’ve been to Gott’s, you know it isn’t conducive to pouring samples, so unfortunately flights were not available.
I opted for the Pennsylvania Tuxedo Pale Ale, brewed with spruce. A pretty straight-toward (for them) Pale, with the spruce adding a bit of spice.
I had to try one of the monsters, so I braved the Higher Math, a golden strong ale made with sour cherry juice and cocoa nibs.
At this point I must confess, and I may have to turn in my beer-lover’s card for this, but I do NOT like sour beers. Just can’t do them. Almost invariably, they are too puckery for me and wind up tasting like not much more than beer-flavored vinegar. I know, I know. I’m thinking of getting counseling.
Why pay $10 for a Super Bowl City beer??
Thankfully, that was not the case here. The cocoa took enough of the sour edge off to where it tasted pretty much like chocolate-covered cherries. Worked very well. And BTW, the 17% was NOT in evidence. Yes, it’s a sipper, but a light-on-its-feet one. Very dangerous.
I enjoyed these with one of my favorite meals off all time, anywhere — the Ahi Burger. You ever been asked what your last meal would be? This would be mine — a huge slab of rare Ahi with Asian slaw and Wasabi aioli. Normally I’d say with a Duckhorn Sauvignon Blanc (I defy ANYONE to find a better food/wine pairing), but these Dogfish Head beers would work just fine, as well.
And with that, another Beer Week is in the books. Again, it’s friggin’ amazing to live in an area with so many hundreds of fantastic events to experience, and I’m thankful I got to enjoy a few. Until next year, then.
Admit it, you thought this day would never come. Truth told, neither did I.
Presenting our first Master of the Beerverse:
Fal Allen, Brewmaster at Anderson Valley Brewing Co., Boonville, CA
Courtesy AVBC
Fal grew up in Hilo, Hawaii, and left the Islands to attend college in Oregon, where he first encountered Northwest craft beers. After graduation and a couple of years honing his craft as a home brewer, he took his first brewing job with Redhook in Seattle in the late ’80s.
After a falling out with ABVC in 2004, he was offered a dream gig to start the beer program for Archipelago Brewing, a new brewery in Singapore, in 2005. A two-year tour turned into five, but by then Fal yearned to return to his adopted homeland in Northern California.
Fortunately, an ownership change facilitated his return to Anderson Valley, where he’s been Brewmaster since 2010. He was kind enough to chat with me via email regarding his time in Singapore, the excitement of his second tour at AVBC, and what he’d do a with bajillion dollars.
^^^^^^^^^
BV — Okay, not gonna ask how your Boontling is. I assume it’s perfect, so I wouldn’t understand the answer anyway.
FA — Well, I am surely no bahl Boont harper, I am a bit shaggish, but I can harp a wee slib of the ling and a bahl Steinber helps a missit.
BV — Shoot, where did I put that Boontling/English dictionary. It was just here a second ago…
Anyway, I would imagine a chance to return to your tropical roots was a big factor in moving to Singapore in 2005. Was your familiarity with the climate an asset, or were there more cultural differences than you expected?
My familiarity was with a mild Hawaiian climate and a multi-ethnic culture. Singapore is just plain hot (even the locals agree on that) and most Singaporeans are of Chinese decent. I am sure that my growing up in Hawaii helped me cope with the differences in Singapore, but I certainly had a lot to learn about how different Singapore was from where I grew up.
Having said that, I loved it in Singapore. The people were great, the food is some of the best in the world, and exploring Southeast Asia was fantastic. I learned a fair amount of the local slang (Singlish) but I was never able to grasp the differences in pronunciation of Mandarin Chinese.
BV — How was your experience working for such a large parent company while in Singapore? Lots of challenges or were you given a fairly free hand?
FA — Working for Asia Pacific Breweries, who at the time owned more than 30 breweries throughout Asia (all which produced over a Million hectoliters), was a big change; some good, some not as good. But overall it was a great experience. It was certainly nice working for a company that had the money and inclination to spend it on nice equipment.
They were good about knowing where their expertise was. They hired me because they knew what they wanted to do was not where their expertise lay. They found a great general manager for the project, and she and I worked well together to develop some nice and interesting beers with some good concepts and marketing behind them. For the most part they let us do what we thought would work. The brand had a story to tell and the beers were distinctive and fun.
BV — I understand differences with management led to your departure from AVBC. Has your second stint been all you were hoping for?
FA — The previous owner of AVBC was a bit difficult to work with. The new owner is much better. His name is Trey White and he has made great investments in the (much needed) upgrading of our equipment, has given the brewers a lot of free reign to try out new beers, has pushed us to increase our barrel beer program, and has worked hard to both grow the brands and to get the brands back into the conversation about which breweries are relevant.
I think that our Wild Turkey Bourbon Barrel Stout and our Holy Gose are great examples of him facilitating the creation of great beers. The best part is that our beers are getting better and we are developing more of them all the time. In many ways this time around has exceeded my expectations.
BV — Regarding your barrel program, any plans to use barrels other than bourbon? Say, wine or tequila? Or does your agreement with Wild Turkey limit you to their barrels exclusively?
FA — We are fortunate to have such a good partner in Wild Turkey. They have been very helpful, and our agreement with Wild Turkey does not limit us to the use of bourbon barrels. We have used bourbon, Rye, brandy, whiskey, raw oak and both red and white wine barrels to produce beers.
To date we have focused more on our Wild Turkey barrel series and less on the beers from those other barrels. Many of those beers produced from other barrels don’t make it into bottles (they are draft only), so not as many people are aware of them. For example, we have over 200 wine barrels in our sour beer program. Since the beers that come out of those barrels are only in the draft format, not as many people have tasted them (but they are worth tasting). Maybe in the future we will bottle some of them.
BV — Any dream collaborations, people you would love to call and say “Hey, come brew a beer with me”?
FA — We have done a few collaborations, both with retailers (having them up to the brewery to help design and brew a beer) and with other breweries (we have collaborated with a few breweries in South America — Cervesaria Kross, Wals Brewery, Amazon Brewery). But we did them more for the fun and the sharing of experience of brewing the beers than for commercial reasons. We are always open to the possibilities of other collaborations, they are fun and it is exciting to work with other people.
BV — Any trends in the craft brew industry you find disconcerting? Exciting?
FA — Disconcerting, no. Exciting, yes, always. I am excited by the new lower ABV beers that we are seeing out there (and there are some great ones). I like to drink beer so the lower ABV beers afford me the opportunity to have several, not just one or two (as the 8+ ABV beers do). And I am excited by the many new sour beers we are seeing. I think sour beer will replace the IPA craze and all the beer aficionados will be seeking them out soon.
BV — Are there any underappreciated/forgotten styles you’d like to see come back?
FA — Mild ale. I would love to see Mild ale make a comeback, but I doubt it ever will here in the USA. Whenever I see one on draft I always order it. Of course, Mild Ales are lower in alcohol and yet have to have a good, interesting flavor profile, so that makes them challenging and interesting (as a brewer). But with a name like Mild Ale they won’t be that appealing to most craft brewers. I think that is why we don’t see them that often.
BV — If you had a bajillion dollars and could run your own place and do whatever you wanted, what would you specialize in?
FA — If I had a bajillion dollars, I would specialize in drinking beer on the beach. (And I might open a nano brewery behind my estate sized beach house – you know, mostly for fun.)
BV — Speaking of your own place, if you ever move back to the Big Island and start something there, could you use an assistant? Cuz I’ve been there twice and would move there in a nanosecond. Absolutely beautfiul.
FA — Well, as much as I love the Big Island I am fairly entrenched here in the Anderson Valley. But never say never, so I will keep you in mind for an assistant … for my estate nano brewery … should I win that Bajillion dollar lottery.
^^^^^^^^^
Thanks, Fal. And I’ll be scouring the papers for lotto winners. If a certain someone hits it, I’ll be calling.
(Special thanks to Beer in Hawaii for very helpful background info.)
It’s a new year (well, new-ish). I’m not much on resolutions, which is a cop-out way of admitting I never stick to them.
Still, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, The Beerverse has been dark for a while. Now, I could hand you a lot of excuses, but they’d be lies.
I’ve just been lame.
For whatever reason, the thought of coming up with ideas for posts, much less actually sitting down at the desk and banging out a few sentences, became too daunting. After coming home from work each day, it was WAY easier to flop on the couch and potato-out for an hour or five.
So that’s what happened. And before I knew it, slacking off for a few days turned into months of inactivity.
I was intrigued and looked into it, but scoffed when I saw the tuition (not cheap). So I figured that was that.
But, with strong encouragement from my wife, who’s grown tired of seeing her husband slowly turn into an extension of our living room furniture, I swallowed hard and plunked down the cash.
Yes, you’re looking at a newly minted Sonoma State Seawolf. (Don’t ask me how the basketball teams are doing, I really have no idea.)
So what does this have to do with resolutions? The biggest reason for going back to school (other than getting off the sofa for a few hours) is inspiration. I’m hoping being submersed in an academic setting once a week for 12 weeks, meeting like-minded people also eager for knowledge and listening to industry folks, will enable the blog posts to flow like beer from an open tap.
Best. Classroom. Ever.
Speaking of taps, I use the term “academic setting” pretty loosely. Class will be held in the loft space at Lagunitas, otherwise known as the employee break room. If you know anything about Lagunitas at all, it shouldn’t surprise you the loft space resembles pretty much any stoner’s basement you’ve ever seen, complete with low ceilings, dank lighting, and ratty couches.
Now add a bar and several taps, and you’ve got our “classroom.” (Insert “higher” education joke here.)
The course itself will be divided into three areas of emphasis:
Beer history and process, including brewing basics and quality control,
The business of beer, including equipment, laws and regulations, and distribution,
Beer appreciation, everything from styles to sensory analysis, how to conduct tastings, and food pairing.
Mr. Brooks will be laying down all this knowledge with the help of a boatload of guest speakers representing all aspects of the industry, from hop farmers, maltsters and yeast wranglers to brewers and marketers. Name pretty much any brewery in the Bay Area (and several more elsewhere), and they’ll be represented.
