Beer 47

Will California Outlaw Coffee Stout with Bill AB 1598?

David Jensen — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 08:15:44 +0000

Normally, I only post articles about beer reviews, beer events, home brewing, and cooking with beer but something a little more political and beer related recently caught my attention. I was reading a post by @DevilsCanyon that linked to California bill AB 1598, which outlaws malt beverages that contain caffeine. I’m not lawyer or legislator but there seems to be some issues with this bill that could lead to outlawing coffee stout.

The bill language and some reference links can be found at the following locations:

Below are the questions and concerns that I have about the bill:

Does it or does it not outlaw beverages such as coffee stouts?
- This is my biggest concern. Will it prevent me from home brewing my own coffee porter or stouts?
- There seems to be a section that exempts beer such as stout, porter, ale, lager, etc. but to me it is not that obvious.
It leaves the terminology for “stimulants” open ended.
- I interpret (or misinterpret) a situation where somebody like Uncommon Brewers might have to cease producing some of there beer if somebody considers anise or licorice or something else a stimulant, despite the fact that they have received FDA approval for their beer.
It makes a bunch of assertions to justify the existence of this bill, some of which are hokey, false, or without proof.
- For instance, according to the bill, social networking sites, like Facebook and MySapce, are used to market to, specifically, young people. I guess the California legislature knows the Facebook demographics better than Facebook. The truth is the 18-25 demographic on Facebook is shrinking percentage-wise. In March 2009, it was down to 35%.
- Does caffeine and alcohol really impair you ability to know how drunk you are? Maybe there is a study for this but I’d like to read the study before it gets jammed into law as fact.
The law outlaws caffeinated malt beverages but doesn’t touch Red Bull vodka. This is also a slippery slope, will Red Bull vodka be next? What about rum and coke?
I was looking for Title 26 Section 5092 for the definition of “brewer” but could not find it and it seems that 5052(d) has replaced 5092 but I’m not certain.

What do you think of this AB 1598? Does it outlaw coffee stout and porter?

Update: March 9, 2010 9:20am

Mario from Brewed For Thought contacted and received a response from Tom McCormick of the California Small Brewers Assoc. which indicates that there should be no concern, yet, about this bill.

Mario,
Currently we are in direct talks with the bill’s author, Assemblyman Jim Beall (Santa Clara). We expect to amend this bill fully so that it has no impact on craft brewers. If that changes for any reason, we will certainly look at a letter writing campaign etc.
Thanks for your support!
Tom

Tom McCormick
Executive Director
California Small Brewers Assoc.

Personally, I won’t be unconcerned until the bill is dead. This bill has a slippery slope down which we should not slide.

I also found a few more links this morning:

Update: March 9, 2010 at 11:22am

Read the comments below. One read received a response from Jim Beall’s office as follows:

The Assemblymember is working with the craftsbrewer association to attempt to clarify the legislation. The intent of AB 1598 is to enforce federal legislation that prohibits alcoholic beverages that are spiked with stimulants.

Sincerely,

Frances Grammer

Senior Field Representative

If this is the case and the reason is to comply with federal regulations, then why is there all of that mumbo-jumbo in sections (a) through (j) of the bill? This bill needs a lot of work. They need to remove (a) through (j) and simply state it that the intent of this bill is to comply with the enforcement of federal regulations.

But now I ask, if there is already a federal regulation, why does California need a law on the books?

Update: March 10, 2010

FDA Investigation

I received a message on Twitter from @beerwars that this issue is similar to an ongoing investigation by the FDA. Here’s some details about that investigation: http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/blog/whats-in-your-kids-favorite-drink-big-brother-wants-to-know-01896.html

Jim Beall, California Assembly District 24

This bill was introduced by Jim Beall from District 24, which covers Santa Clara and parts of San Jose. Here is some information about Jim Beall:

California Assembly Committee on Governmental Organization

This bill is currently in committee with the Committee on Governmental Organization. If your representative is on this list, then please send them an email with your displeasure about this bill. If you representative is not on the list, then send an email to Jim Beall or the committee chair, Joe Coto, District 23.

Members of the Committee on Governmental Organization
Joe Coto, committee chair: Assemblymember.coto@assembly.ca.gov

Jewbelation Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah at Amensia, SF Beer Week 2010

David Jensen — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 19:00:12 +0000

Shmaltz Brewing Company started out 13 years ago in San Francisco and although they are now based out of New York, they came back for SF Beer Week to celebrate their 13th Anniversary with this event and the release of Jewbelation 13. This event, appropriately named as their Bar Mitzvah (also the subtitle for Jewbelation 13), featured all of their Hebrew beer brands including two limited edition brews: Jewbelation 12 (2008) and Jewbelation 13 (2009). The party also included 2 live bands and cake. Although Amnesia was extremely crowded, this was a great event and a wonderful opportunity to have a vertical tasting of of the Jewbelation beer.

The following are some notes that I took for the Jewbelation beers.

Jewbelation 12 is the Shmaltz anniversary beer from 2008 made with 12 malts, 12 hops, and 12% alcohol by volume. Although it was a dark bar, it was still apparent that this beer has a deep dark color. It has a dark-roasted malty-sweet aroma and scents of bittersweet molasses. The flavor follows the aroma with a not-quite barley wine molasses flavor and astrong roasted malt flavor coupled with some pure cocao flavors. Jewbelation 12 also has notes of prunes and dark dried fruits. The smooth bitterness of this beer brings out molasses and coffee flavors. Smooth bitterness. Despite being 12% abv, this beer is not very boozy. The mouthfeel was syrupy and lightly carbonated.

Jewbelation 13 is the 13th anniversary beer made with, you guessed it, 13 malts, 13 hops, and 13% alcohol by volume. It has a similar color and mouthfeel to 12 but it has much different flavors. Since this beer has not been aged for a year, it is greener in both age, flavor, and hops. The flavor comes off much less like molasses and much more more like beer brittle. The hop bouquet is much more apparent and is spicy and earthy. It is clearly more bitter, with a more harsh bitterness, and more hoppy than Jewbelation 12. The hop flavor makes me think of a very hoppy stout with an enhanced dark chocolate flavor. It is roasty and sweet and balanced by the hops. The beer was good to drink “fresh” and will certain age well. I will definitely wait for about a year to try the bottle that I have in my beer cellar.

Casks & Quesos at Thirsty Bear, SF Beer Week 2010

David Jensen — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 06:32:56 +0000

Thirsty Bear Brewing hosted their second annual Casks & Quesos event for SF Beer Week at their brew pub restaurant in San Francisco on Saturday, February 6, 2010. I missed this even last year for SF Beer Week but after talking to the Thirsty Bear brew master, Brenden Dobel, at the Gala on the previous night, I decided that I was not going to miss this event and I’m very glad that I attended. The focus of this event was cask conditioned beer and cheese with unlimited samples of beer and as much cheese as you could eat. No wonder the event was sold out!

Casks were brought in from several California breweries with most of them from the San Francisco Bay Area. There were 12 selections of beer from Thirsty Bear, Magnolia, 21st Amendment, Half Moon Bay, Firestone-Walker, Gordon-Biersch, Beach Chalet, Speakeasy, Sierra Nevada, Mayfield, and Triple Rock. I believe that I tried all but one. The three beers that I heard mentioned frequently as “the beers you have to try” were the 21st Amendment Imperial ESB, Thirsty Bear Bearly Legal Barleywine, and Triple Rock Hi-Top IPA. All of the beer was quite fantastic and all three of those were certainly also among my 11 favorites of the evening.

The following are some tasting notes of the beer that I tried that evening.

Thirsty Bear Bearly Legal Barleywine is a cloudy yellow-orange amber hued beer with an off-white not-quite-tan head and it a bit lighter than I expected. The hop bouquet is leafy, spicy, and noble with a hint of citrus and is likely due to dry hopping with Mt. Hood hops. There is also a subtle sweet malt and biscuit aroma. This beer has a pleasant malty sweetness but is just a bit drier than other barleywines that I’ve had. It also does not have a molasses quality to it. The bitterness from the hops is smooth and complements the sweetness very well. Despite being 10% abv, Bearly Legal Barleywine does not smell nor taste boozy. This is a full bodied beer which is surprisingly easy to drink and is an overall delicious and well made beer.

Triple Rock Hi-Top IPA is cloudy and amber colored with a sizeable head for a cask conditioned ale. The Cascade and Centennial hops provide for a wonderfully strong hoppy nose of pine, citrus, grapefruit, spiciness, and floral notes. This beer is a bit sweet and contrasts well against smooth bitter hop flavors and grapefruit. The grapefruit flavors manifest more like a sweet grapefruit juice than a the sour and bitter fruit. This medium-full bodied beer is an easy to consume session beer that is full of flavor.

Magnolia Prescription Pale Ale. I really enjoyed this ale and I thought it captured the English inspiration of both being pale and a cask ale while still having some California influence. The color was a clear amber color with not much head (as most casks ales are). The hops bouquet has a gentle hoppy, citrus, and floral quality with some malty biscuit qualities. The flavor was malty sweet balanced smoothy by some hop bitterness. On cask this is quite an enjoyable medium-bodied and low-carbonation.

Speakeasy Paypack Porter is a robust and full flavored porter. It has a dark black color with a mocha colored head. The aroma exudes copious amounts of chocolate with a hint of caramel and a bit like fresh baked brownies. There are also hints of vanilla which enhances the chocolate aromas. This beer is sweet and chocolaty almost to the point of tasting like chocolate syrup due to the thick mouthfeel. Tasting this beer reveals a roasty and caramel malty sweetness. It is a full bodied beer with the slightest hint of chalkiness, which for some reason I tend to detect in many if not all porters. It is delectable and drinkable.

Serra Nevada Stout from a cask, in my opinion, is much tastier than out of the bottle. The hoppy aromas and flavors seem a little more subdued from the cask stout allowing the dark roasty flavors to dominate. The hops still manifest bitterness which contrasts nicely against the roasty malt sweetness to produce some great coffee an espresso flavors and aromas.

Half Moon Bay Bootlegger Brown. I found this brown colored ale to have just the right amount of maltiness with a subtle hop bitterness. It smelled of toasty and roasted malts. It was a struggle to not grab another glass of this delicious brown ale.

I felt that the Gordon-Biersch Dampfbier was much better and more flavorful out of the cask than out of the keg.

Can-a-palooza at 21st Amendment, SF Beer Week 2010

David Jensen — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 20:54:31 +0000

On Monday, Feb. 8, 21st Amendment (21A) hosted an SF Beer Week event called Can-a-palooza featuring craft beer in a can from a number of different breweries. When I showed up, about three hours after the event started, they were out of everything except Fat Tire, 21A IPA, and 21A Watermelon Wheat. This is likely due to the fact that the cans were only $2, you just can’t beat that price.

The event had great attendance and was hosted on the second level, which had a nice view of the brewery where the disco ball was out (see photo below).

Breweries that were featured at this event were Anderson Valley Brewing Company, Uncommon Brewers, Oskar Blues, Buckbean, New Belgium, Big Sky, and 21st Amendment. Next time I’ll be sure to get there earlier, a piece of advice that I recommend for all of the events for SF Beer Week 10.

SF Beer Week 2010 Opening Gala

David Jensen — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 21:51:21 +0000

SF Beer Week is finally here an on Friday, festivities were kicked off with the SF Brewer’s Guild Opening Gala at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. The format of this event was basically a beer festival, complete with souvenir glasses, 20 or so craft breweries, live music, food, tons of people, and unlimited pours. Early in the evening there were toasts to commemorate the festivities and special release beers abound.

The following are only a few of the great beers that I sampled at this event.

SF Brewer’s Guild Imperial Common. This is the official beer of SF Beer Week 10 and is a collaborative brew by the SF Brewer’s Guild. It looks like the plan is to make it available at several events throughout the week until it is gone. It has a nice malty and caramel sweet aroma with a woody, green hops bouquet and a touch of citrus. It doesn’t really taste like a stronger version of Anchor Steam but is not also a complete surprise. It has a nice malty flavor, slightly toasty, and a noticeable hop bitterness. Although the hop bitterness is pronounced it is nicely balanced against the malt sweetness. The Imperial common is medium bodied with a smooth bitter taste and is more sweet than dry while not being boozy at all. I find this to be an enjoyable and well craft beer made with Northern Brewer hops and St. George Spirits whiskey barrels.

Sierra Nevada Weizenbock. This was quite a surprising special release beer from Sierra Nevada. This is by far one of the cloudiest beers I’ve experienced with a wonderful yellow-orange hue. The smell has a nice fruity fresh ripe bananas and rich maltiness and lacks cloves. It might have just a touch of vanilla, enhancing the banana-split-like smell. This beer is rich with flavor. It is malty with some grainy qualities accompanied by a hint of banana and a touch of lemon zest. The Perle hops in this beer give it a noticeable but smooth bitterness and some earthy notes. It is full bodied, nicely carbonated, tasty, and delicious.

Black Diamond Tenzing Imperial Porter. This dark, rich, and delicious beer is named after Tenzing Norgay, the Sherpa that climbed Mount Everest with Edmund Hillary.This beer has a lot of clarity but nearly opaque due to the dark brown color. The head is like chocolate milk. The predominant smell is that of a high quality dark chocolate bar which is, in part, likely due to the presence of vanilla and cocoa nibs in the beer. The flavor has chocolate but also has a rich roasty flavor with a hint of espresso. The mouthfeel is full bodied and this beer has a richness to it that in some ways makes it seem more like a stout.

Black Diamond Quadrupel. This is a high gravity ale that is dark amber in color with an off-white, tan head. It smells very malty and somewhat like molasses and just a bit fruity without much in the way Belgian yeast characteristics. The flavor was sweet, roasted malts, and just a little boozy. It is a full bodied beer which is a pleasure to drink.

Lagunitas Hairy Eyeball. This is a high gravity beer that is malty sweet balanced with spicy hops and quite drinkable for such a strong beer.

Drakes 1500 Pale Ale. This crystal clear amber-orange colored beer is quite a hoppy pale ale made. It is made with Simcoe and Amarillo hops which is quite apparent in the nose with notes of citrus, fresh grapefruit, pomelo, grass, and earth. The taste has a smooth bitterness and the grapefruit and pomelo flavors are present. It is not too bitter but the bitterness and the flavor of the hops dominates the maltiness. This is another great California hoppy pal ale.

Valley Brewing Bill Brand Brett. This sour beer is a tribute to the departed beer writer Bill Brand. It has a cloudy straw color and a sour ale aroma with just a nice hint of bready yeast. The sourness in the flavor is prevailing but combines well with a touch of sweetness from the malt. The sourness is fruity, not like vinegar, and quite refreshing. It is a medium bodied beer and quite drinkable for a sour ale.

Valley Brewing Pomegranate Saison. Valley has made a wonderful fruity, Belgian-style farmhouse ale with a nice orange amber hue. The flavor is a little sour and fruity with just the right amount of pomegranate flavor. The sweetness balances the sour for a pleasant drinkable medium-bodied beer.

Other notable beers that I tried were Gordon-Biersch Dampfbier, a German steam beer, Shmaltz Jewbelation Bar Mitzvah with 13% abv, 13 malts, 13 hops, Devil’s Canyon Bill Brand Brown, Thirsty Bear Winter Warmer, NapaSmith Lost Dog Red Ale, and Firestone Velvet Merkin.

Bison Gingerbread Ale Review

David Jensen — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 05:13:06 +0000

Bison Brewing is a small brewery, headquartered out of Berkeley, California that brews USDA certified organic beer and sells it to 12 states (as of writing). The history of the brewery was a little turbulent but the excellence of their product has prevailed as exemplified by beers such as Chocolate Stout, Honey Basil Ale, and, the beer we’re focusing on today, Gingerbread Ale.

Bison describes Gingerbread Ale on their website and on the bottle as follows:

Our Spiced holiday porter is brewed with ginger, nutmeg and a touch of cinnamon, yielding the aroma of fresh backed gingerbread men! The chewy dark malt flavors are sure to smooth out that dinner with the in-laws.

Date Reviewed. December 13, 2009

Where I Found It. City Beer Store in San Francisco.

Serving Type. Bottle to pint glass.

Appearance. Bison Gingerbread Ale is deep dark brown, nearly black, and opaque. You can see a little light through the corners of the glass, which gives the beer a deep dark red-brown glow. The head is cola-fizz color. Poured about 0.75 inch of head which did not last long. However, a nice thin layer of foam remained throughout consumption.

Smell. This beer has wonderful holiday spice bouquet of ginger and cinnamon and maybe some nutmeg. It also has the perception of cloves, even though cloves are not listed an ingredient. The spices do not overwhelm and contribute to a good balance of beer and spice. It also has a hint of brown sugar and a nice roasty malt aroma. The roasted and black malts contribute the a hint of coffee aroma.

Taste. Gingerbread Ale is balanced and not excessively sweet. It has a toasty and roasty malt taste with a dark sugar flavor lacking the bitterness of molasses. The dry sugar flavor combines well with the ginger and cinnamon to have just enough spice without being overwhelming. The spice is more subtle in the taste than the smell, which is good thing. This beer tastes better at cellar temperatures than ice cold.

Mouthfeel. Medium-light bodied and nicely carbonated. Like many porters this one has a ever so slightly chalky mouthfeel that smooths out at a warmer temperature.

Drinkability. As a holiday beer this is very tasty and, despite being a spiced beer, I could drink two of these in one session. This beer is great to sip and savor slowly.

Rating. My ratings below are on a five point scale with five being the best score.

Appearance (20%): 4.0
Smell (20%): 4.5
Taste (40%): 4.0
Mouthfeel (10%): 3.5
Drinkability (10%): 4.0
Overall: 4.05

Information

Style: herb spice beer
Brewery: Bison Brewery
Alcohol by volume: 6.0%
Original Gravity: 1.054
Final Gravity: 1.009 (calculated)
Bitterness: 21 IBU
Malts: (all organic) 2-row, caramel, chocolate, roast barley, black
Other ingredients: (all organic) ginger, nutmeg and a touch of cinnamon
Beer Advocate rating: 3.6 (as of December 26, 2009).

Other Reviews

The Bruery 2 Turtle Doves Review

David Jensen — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 14:30:42 +0000

On a recent trip to City Beer Store in San Francisco I was browsing the beer fridge, after having tried De Ranke’s Père Noel, trying to figure out what other winter season beer to try. As soon as I spotted 2 Turtle Doves by The Bruery, I grabbed a 750ml to try. I first heard about 2 Turtle Doves (or sometimes Two Turtle Doves) on twitter from @aircoleman who recommended it with this tweet: “2 Turtle Doves” is a Belgian-style Dark Ale brewed with cocoa nibs and toasted pecans. A very nice 12% winter beer!”

2 Turtle Doves is crafted by a brewery in Orange County, CA called The Bruery, who specialize mostly in Belgian-style ales found either in 750ml bottles or on tap. This beer is the second winter seasonal beer they have produced in their series of the “Twelve Beers of Christmas” with the first being “Partridge in a Pear Tree.”

This is truly a wonderful winter beer which I initially described on Twitter as “like chocolate syrup muddled with a sweet stout with a little cola, gourmet coffee, and spices.” These flavors are not on accident. The bottle caption describes 2 Turtle Doves as follows:

Belgian-Style Dark Ale Brewed with Cocoa Nibs & Toasted Pecans

The second verse of our “Twelves Beers of Christmas” saga begins with caramel and toasty, nutty malt with a luscious layer of chocolate. Happy Holidays!

Date Reviewed. December 11, 2009

Where I Found It. City Beer Store in San Francisco, CA

Serving Type. Served from a 750ml bottle into a tulip glass.

Appearance. 2 Turtle Doves has a dark black or very dark brown color with a pleasant mocha colored head. Head didn’t last to long in the tulip glass.

Smell. The aroma of this beer is heavily like dark chocolate syrup. It also has hints of cola, rum, with a dash of holiday spices like cloves or nutmeg. The spicy quality plus the cola undertones give it a smell like an artisan root beer or sassafras. The aroma also has hints of gourmet coffee. Finally, as the beer warms it reveals a bouquet of caramel, nutty pecans, and toasty malt.

Taste. I originally described 2 Turtle Doves on Twitter as follows, “it’s like chocolate syrup muddled with a sweet stout with a little cola, gourmet coffee, and spices.” The dark roasted malt flavor comes through like an iced coffee made with gourmet coffee and artisan dark chocolate bittersweet syrup. The sweetness and the alcohol come through like a 18-year aged rum while not being boozy. The hints of cola flavor complement all of the other flavors. Also picy cloves. Finally, the malt has a nice roasty and caramel flavor. 2 Turtles Does is a delectable dessert in a bottle.

Mouthfeel. This beer is full boded, thick, and smooth but there may be a few tannins, that come through, giving it a hint of chalkiness.

Drinkability. 2 Turtle Doves is pure liquid dessert, a treat, and delicious. Although it is 12% alcohol by volume, it drinks smoothly and easily.

Rating. My ratings below are on a five point scale with five being the best score.

Appearance (20%): 4.0
Smell (20%): 5.0
Taste (40%): 4.5
Mouthfeel (10%): 4.0
Drinkability (10%): 4.5
Overall: 4.45

Information

Style: Belgian-style dark strong ale.
Brewery: The Bruery
Alcohol by volume: 12% abv
Other ingredients: cocoa nibs and toasted pecans
Beer Advocate rating: 4.1 (as of Dec. 21, 2009)

Other Reviews

Beer and Homebrewing Holiday Gift Guide 2009

David Jensen — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 02:17:17 +0000

To help you with your holiday shopping for that beer lover or homebrewer that you know, or as a resource to figure out what you want for the holidays, I’ve formulated with the following Holiday Gift Guide. If you have any more suggestions, list them in the comments and I’ll update the article.

This guide has recommedation for book, movies, glassware, homebrewing, draft equipment, neon signs, and beer.

Books

Reading and learning about beer can be almost as fun as consumption of beer. The following are some recommended books on the subject.

Tasting Beer: An Insider’s Guide to the World’s Greatest Drink by Randy Mosher, is a good resource of flavors, styles, and breweries.
The Brewmaster’s Table: Discovering the Pleasures of Real Beer with Real Food by Garrett Oliver, is a great guide to pairing beer with food.
Ambitious Brew: The Story of American Beer by Maureen Ogle, is an interesting take on the history of beer in America.
Christmas Beer: The Cheeriest, Tastiest, and Most Unusual Holiday Brews by Don Russell, is a fun book about holiday beer.
Michael Jackson’s Great Beers of Belgium by Michael Jackson, is considered by some to be the bible of Belgian beer.
Good Beer Guide Belgium by Tim Webb, is a great guide to beer, beer bars, restaurants an breweries in Belgium. I used this book daily on a recent trip to Belgium and found it indispensable. Unlike most travel books, this guide is still very useful after the trip due all of the information about Belgian beer. I especially like the “Find that Beer” index.
Red, White, and Brew: An American Beer Odyssey by Brian Yaeger, is about a craft beer trek across America.
Brewing Up a Business: Adventures in Entrepreneurship from the Founder of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery by Sam Calagione, is the story about how Sam Calagione started Dogfish Head Brewery and got it off the ground.
A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage, is a view of world history from the standpoint of beverages such as beer.

The following are some great books on the subject of homebrewing.

Extreme Brewing: An Enthusiast’s Guide to Brewing Craft Beer at Home by Sam Calagione, is full of interesting beer recipes and is targeted at the beginner and extract homebrewers. It does, however, have some a great chapter about beer pairings including several recipes for food using beer as an ingredient.
The Complete Joy of Homebrewing by Charlie Papazian is a great resource for beginners that starts easy and leads you through all-grain brewing. It includes a bunch of recipes.
Radical Brewing: Recipes, Tales and World-Altering Meditations in a Glass by Randy Mosher is one of my favorite homebrewing books. It has interesting recipes for both extract and all-grain brewers (some recipes are all-grain only) and the history behind many of the recipes in the book. A very solid homebrewing book and highly recommended.
Designing Great Beers: The Ultimate Guide to Brewing Classic Beer Styles by Ray Daniels is for the advanced homebrewer with tons of details about several styles of beer.
Clone Brews: Homebrew Recipes for 150 Commercial Beers by Tess Szamatulski has 150 recipes with partial-mash, extract, and all-grain versions of each.
North American Clone Brews: Homebrew Recipes for Your Favorite American and Canadian Beers by Scott R. Russell has over 100 recipes, again for partial-mash, extract, and all-grain brewers.
Dave Miller’s Homebrewing Guide: Everything You Need to Know to Make Great-Tasting Beer by David G. Miller is a good guide for all-grain brewers and explains all the different methods of mashing and how it works on a technical and scientific level.

Movies

Movies with a beer theme can be great fun to watch and the documentaries are informative. Here is a list of movies about beer.

Strange Brew (1983) is a classic movie with Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas about trying to get a free case of beer.
Beerfest (2006) (Blu-ray edition) is a new classic comedy about beer. Octoberfest, brewing, beer games competition, slapstick comedy, this beer movie has it all. Das Booooot!
Beer Wars (2009) is a recent documentary about the beer industry and the 3-tier system of distribution.
Artie Lange’s Beer League (2006)

Glassware

As craft beer lovers know, beer is always best poured into a glass and especially good if you can drink it from the preferred shaped glassware. Beer Advocate has a great guide to beer glassware.

Pilsner glasses use these for all of your lagers and German style beer.
Double walled Pilsner glasses, keep you beer colder in one of these and admire your beer in this interesting glass.
Beer Goblet glasses for all of your big Belgian beers like strong, dubbel, tripel, etc.
Beer Steins are great for American craft ales, English ales, Oktoberfest beer, Vienna lager, and dark lagers.
Weizen glasses are frequently sold as pilsner glasses. Use them for your wheat beers.
Double walled weizen glasses keep your beer colder longer and look cool too.
Imperial pint glasses are great for just about any American or English ale.
Snifters are good for the high gravity ales like barleywine and Belgian-styles.
Tulip glasses are great at collecting and concentrating the aroma of the beer. I liket hem for almost all styles but they are traditionally best for Belgian style beer and double IPA.

Homebrewing

One of the best resources for homebrewers is continuing to learn new techniques and recipes by reading magazines. The following magazines are great resources for hombrewers.

There seems to be at least one constant with the hobby of homebrewing, the need to continually upgrade your equipment. You can start as simple as a single food grade bucket and some empty bottles and eventaully graduate to a full RIMS or HERMS setup.

A Beginning Homebrew Kit is the place to start if you have never tried homebrewing and want to get started. The only thing this kit is missing is 48 bottles and sanitizer.
Pre-assembled extract recipe kits are an easy way for extract brewers to brew their favorite beer styles without the trouble of digging for a recipe on the internet and wondering if it will be good or not. The link provided starts you off to find some great beer recipes.
Auto siphons are the best and cleanest way to get a siphon started. I’m surprised how many homebrewings don’t have one of these.
A homebrew kegging system is one of the best upgrades you can make as a homebrewer. Even though there is some prestige in bottled conditioned beer, it is a lot of work and kegging takes out many hours of work instantly. This kit has everything you need to get started.
Used 5 gallon ball lock kegs are on sale for $16 as of writing (November 28, 2009) so get that extra one that you wanted for more beer or “cask” conditioning or what have you.
Gift certificates make buying for a homebrewer easy. Let them choose what they need.

Draft Equipment

Having cold craft or homebrewed beer on draft at home is convenient and a wonderful experience. Years ago kegerators used to be completely inaccessible in price, now most of them are $600 or less.

Haier Dual Faucet Kegerator w/ Stainless Steel Door is what I recommend to start with. Why two faucets? Because it is much cheaper to start with two than to upgrade later. Keg fridges will fit either one full keg, one pony keg, or two or more 5 gallon kegs. Since homebrewers and also many craft brewers use 5 gallon kegs, the desire to have 2 beers on tap will arise shortly after purchase.
Deluxe Keg Tap Refrigerator Kegerator Conversion Kit will allow you to use an existing old refrigerator and turn it into a keg fridge. I recommend, however, that if they fridge is very old to either get a newer used fridge or a full on kegerator. Old fridges use a lot of power, unnecessarily.

Tap handles are fun and useful and are even sometimes collected by beer enthusiasts who don’t even have a draft beer setup.

This Tap Handle Display – Holds Eight: Walnut is perfect for the tap handle collector.
A Custom Beer Tap Handle is great if you want to design your own logos for your homebrew.
The Changeable Tap Handle with Natural Oak Finish is another easy customizeable solution for tap handles.
Use a Chalk Board Tap Handle to quickly write what beer you have on tap. Use this with color chalk to get really creative.
For something stylish, check out the Pub Style Beer Tap Handle with Oval Shield or without Oval Shield.
There are also crazy shaped styles of tap handles:

Neon Signs

If you have a bar setup, a basement, man-cave, or a garage, these signs can really light up the atmosphere. Although I’m not much of a fan of Pacifico, I have a wonderful Pacifico neon sign in the garage above the kegerator.

Beer

Giving beer as a gift to a craft beer lover can be more difficult than you might think. First, you need to know what beer the recipient likes and dislikes. Next, to make it special, you should look for a unique bottle of something either imported and hard to find, special release, or limited edition. If you can meet these criteria, then giving beer as a gift can be great. If not, you can always give a gift certificate to a a good beer store or bottle shop.

2009 Barrel Aged Beer Festival at The Bistro

David Jensen — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:00:25 +0000

On Saturday, November 14, 2009 we made a short journey to Hayward, California to attend the 4th Annual Barrel-Aged Beer Fest, which is organized by The Bistro. When we arrived, we encountered 65 wood barrel-aged beers from about 30 different breweries, all available for tasting form the souvenir tulip-shaped glass. The tasting was $40 and included said glass, a very detailed listing of the beers available, and 10 tasting tickets, additional tickets were available to $2 each but I didn’t need more.

This beer festival featured some of the most interesting beers, in a wide variety of “styles,” from breweries all across the nation, all with two common themes: wood barrel-aged and high alcohol content. Although most were West Coast based breweries other breweries from other parts of the country and the world were there, such as Avery (Colorado), Allagash (Maine), Dogfish Head (Delaware), and Rodenbach (Belgium).

The festival itself, on average, wasn’t terribly crowded. I only had a little bit of trouble getting around when I first arrived but within 20 minutes the number people around was manageable. The people attending the festival and serving the beer all were very interested in beer and all seemed to be enjoying the beer being sampled at this event.

There were no two beers that produced a similar tasting experience, each beer was very unique, interesting, and well crafted. This would be no surprise when inspecting the beer list and the details of each beer. The “styles” ranged from barleywine, imperial stout, Belgian-style strong dark ale, Scotch ale, doppelbock, Flemish red, IPA, fruit beers, and many were blends of everything in between or experimental styles crafted very well. I’m using “style” in quotes because it seems like by-the-book styles were thrown out the window in favor of creating something very interesting and delicious with a complexity of flavor and aroma. Next, the alcohol content by volume ranged from 6% at the lowest all the way up to 13% for the strongest, with the median being around 9%. On top of that, add the diversity of barrels used to age the beer: bourbon barrels from a variety of makers, wine barrels from various styles of wine, brandy barrels, neutral barrels, and toasted oak barrels. Finally, each beer was aged for different amounts of time with the shortest for 2 months and the longest for 2½ years.

With 65 very interesting beers available, it was difficult to figure out what to try so after my first beer I talked to one of the servers and I also ran into the future owners of 510 Brewing Company and Peter from BetterBeerBlog, all of whom had some great suggestions. The following are some brief notes about the beers that I tried at the event.

Interlude by Allagash. Aroma of green apples and a malty sweet flavor with a hint of sour. This 9.5% abv beer was aged in French Merlot and Syrah oak barrels for 12 months. It was fermented with a Belgian farmhouse yeast and Brettanomyces.

Voltron by Avery. Roasty, sour, rich, dark malty sweet aroma and flavor with some woody notes. Voltron is a blend of 5 different small-batch 12 month barrel-aged beers including 2 Chardonnary barrels, 2 Port barrels, and 1 Carbernet barrel. This beer was fermented to 9% by several strains of yeast: 2 Brettanomyces strains and several strains of lactobacillus and pediococcus.

Clobberskull by Bear Republic. Clove honey aroma and flavor. This 10.5% ale was made with 10% raw wheat and 10% split peas and aged for 100 days in Medium Toast French Oak Cabernet barrels.

Imperial Porter by Black Diamond. A medium bodied beer that reminded me of brownie chocolate and roasted coffee beans. This 9% beer was made with Scharffenberger chocolcate cacao nibs and vanilla beans and aged in Tenzing bourbon barrels.

Imperial Eclipse Stout 2008 by Fifty Fifty. This stout was like liquid dark chocolate with a a roasty nature like cacao nibs. A 2008 GABF bronze winner, this 9.5% abv beer was aged in Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon barrels for 1 year.

Cruisin’ with Ruben & the Bretts on Cherries by Lagunitas. Aroma and tasty of dark and sour cherries with a dark malty sweetness and a hint of dill spice. The was by far the strongest beer at the festival at 13%. The beer listing had the following description of this beer:

Ruben and the Jets was an Imperial Stout, yeast dropped and aged in stainless on Criollo Peruvian cacao nibs, then into [Heaven's Hill] Bourbon barrel for 6 months, Brettanomyces claussenii added to the barrel for 3 additional months, then Sonoma County cherries offered as a snack to the yeast for another 3 months.

Black Pearl by Maui Brewing. Roasty, coffee/espresso, woody, a little smoky, slightly malty sweet. A 6.5% abv beer that was aged in Jim Beam American Oak barrels.

Wet Hopsicle 2009 by Moylans. Hoppy, bitter, and a delightful experience of hops. At 9.2% abv, this beer was aaged in Girad Chardonnay Medium Toast French Oak.

Old Woody 2006 by Schooners Grille. Malty with an aroma of candied orange peels and a little bit boozy. This beer is 10.5% abv and was made with whiskey soaked oak chips and then added to a neutral oak cask.

Scotch on Scotch by Sierra Nevada. Had flavors and aromas of caramel, Almond Joy, and syrupy-malty Scotch ale. Scotch on Scotch is 9.4% abv and was aged in Glengoyne Scotch barrels for 7 months.

From left to right in the picture above: me (David), Travis (510 Brewing Co.), Petter (BetterBeerBlog), Dean (510 Brewing Co.)

For another recap of this great beer festival read these blog posingst:

AleSmith IPA Review

David Jensen — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:00:21 +0000

AleSmith is an awarding winning brewery out of San Diego, CA where all of the employees are homebrewers. In fact, according to their website, the owner and the head brewer were both past presidents of their homebrew club.

AleSmith touts that, “every AleSmith ale is an all-natural, unpasteurized, handcrafted artisan product brewed using only premium domestic and imported malts and hops, precisely conditioned water and our quality yeast strains.” This quality craftsmanship is readily apparent when you try the AleSmith IPA, an IPA that has won numerous awards including Silver at the World Beer Championships and Bronze at the Great American Beer Festival. The brewery describes AleSmith IPA beer as follows:

Deep golden to light amber color, and a nice off-white head, with good retention when properly served. Starts off with pleasantly strong hop flavors, balanced by a firm malt backdrop, then fades to a dry finish with a lingering hoppiness.

Where I Found It. BevMo in La Quinta, CA.

Serving Type. 22 oz. bottle into a glass.

Date Reviewed. June 26, 2009.

Appearance. AleSmith IPA has a golden honey color with an orange hue. It is very clear as long as you don’t pout the yeast into your glass. This IPA has a foamy and frothy head that lingers for a very long time. It just doesn’t seem to go away; half-way done with the beer and there is still a thin layer of head on top.

Smell. This beer smells like hoppy goodness. The sweet maltiness combined with the fruity hops made me think of fresh plums while I was taking the photos. There is a hint of vanilla or caramel and the hops are clean and fresh. This IPA has a slight hint of cedar (instead of pine) and a slight hint of spice but also fruity like fresh pineapple. There was a slight bready yeast smell when I first opened the bottle but could not pick it up after that.

Taste. I tried AleSmith IPA closer to 50ºF on a hot evening in the desert and although it does not sound like ideal conditions, it was fantastic. This beer has a nice malt flavor with a hint of caramel and vanilla sweetness. The maltiness is topped by a generous dose of hops. The hop flavor is like white pepper spice, grapefruit citrus, and for the first few sips I tasted fresh plum.

Mouthfeel. This is a big IPA and has a smooth silky nature to help glide the strong flavors through your palate. It is a full bodied beer that is almost creamy in texture and well carbonated.

Drinkability. This is a smoother IPA that has a nice balance between smooth bitterness and spicy bitterness with a bite.

Rating. My ratings below are on a five point scale with five being the best score.

Appearance (20%): 4.5
Smell (20%): 4.5
Taste (40%): 4.5
Mouthfeel (10%): 4.5
Drinkability (10%): 4.5
Overall: 4.5

Caption on the Bottle

The following caption appears on the back of a 22 oz. bottle of AleSmith IPA:

I prefer AleSmith it’s pretty awesome. That’s what our People’s Choice Award says to us. Each year at the San Diego Real Ale Festival , everyone is asked to vote for their favorite beer. In 2001, they chose AleSmith IPA over all the others. If you like your beer hoppy, you’re gonna love this one.

AleSmith IPA is brewed using only premium-quality malts, along with pounds and pounds of the freshest hops and our championship yeast strain. Even the water we use is precisely conditioned to make sure everything is just right for the best possible product. The results is a hoppy, malty hand-forged American-style IPA with a tantalizing aroma and a flavor that’ll have your taste buds in ecstasy!

The brewer’s yeast at the bottom of the bottle is living proof that this is a top-quality bottle-conditioned beer. Conditioning in the bottle gives the beer a lush, velvety texture that you just can’t get with force-carbonating. The bubbles are smaller, giving your taste buds a lot more surface are to grab onto, and the difference shows from the first sip to the last.

To serve, chill to approximately 45-50º and pour gently into an AleSmith pint glass, leaving the yeast in the bottle. To learn more about AleSmith Brewing Company and our many other premium products, please visit our website.

Information

Style: IPA
Brewery: AleSmith
Alcohol by volume: 7.25%
Original Gravity: 1.072
Final Gravity: 1.018 (calculated)
Hops: Columbus, Warrior, Amarillo, Simcoe, Cascade, Chinook, Palisades [source]
Beer Advocate rating: 4.36 (as of Nov. 15, 2009)