Firestone-Walker has gone all out on two events that you should really ponder attending. They have grabbed some seriously great breweries. (Some of which do not venture to California). Read the descriptions below and start drooling.
“From the Barrel will return for the second year at the Historic Santa Margarita Ranch and will feature some of the best barrel-aged beer in the country as well as Ports, Bourbons and great local food. The event is March 30th and tickets are on sale now at fromthebarrel.net. Breweries that will be there will be Russian River, Jolly Pumpkin, Crooked Stave, Lost Abbey, Ballast Point as well as Firestone Walker. This is a prohibition themed event that was very well received in its first year. There will be even more this year with the inclusion of more Bourbons and a beer cocktail station run by the Beer Wench herself Ashley Routson.”
“The Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Fest will be making its debut on June 9th and will feature a TON of great breweries. In partnership with the Pioneer Day Committee we decided to put on a world class beer event in the middle of wine country. We had a dream list of breweries that we could get to attend this and sent out the invites and to out surprise and pleasure they pretty much all said yes. We have breweries from all over the country and some from overseas as well some of whom have never poured their beer in California. Visit Firestonebeerfest.com for all of the info and the full list of breweries. Tickets will go on sale February 10th.”
The Beer Allowance – March
Instead of waiting until the middle of the month or till the end, in March, despite having a well filled ‘fridge. I took my $20 allowance that I received for Christmas and went to Vendome in Toluca Lake and picked up two beers and still had $3 to spare!
Now in February I bought Rayon Vert from Green Flash which I did not care for. Too medicinal and overpowering for my tastes and I also bought Kili Wit from Logsdon which I haven’t popped open yet.
This month’s choices were Epic Brewing (the Utah one) and their Brainless Golden. Epic has just entered the L.A. market and I wanted to try a “base” beer before getting Big Bad Baptist or Brainless on Cherries. Choice # 2 is from Telegraph of Santa Barbara. Part of the Obscura line. But this one is made with artisinal chocolate.
If they all get opened, I will follow up with my notes and to see what I bought back in January, click HERE.
The History of Beer in NY
“The fascinating yet largely unknown legacy of the cultural history of beer in New York is uncovered in Beer Here: Brewing New York’s History at the New-York Historical Society. The exhibition traces 350 years of the production and consumption of beer in the city—from colonial New York, when beer was a vital source of nourishment and tax revenues, to the current artisanal revolution occurring in microbreweries throughout the state. This exhibition is on view at New-York Historical through September 2, 2012.
Beer has been brewed in New York City since the days of its earliest European settlement. Beer Here: Brewing New York’s History will begin with an exploration of the colonial period in New York when beer was often safer to drink than water, and noted citizens brewed beer as just one aspect of their business activities. It will then take the visitor up to the present popularity of microbreweries and homebrewing. Topics include the nutritional properties of colonial beer and early New York brewers in the age of revolution; infrastructure innovations and the importance of access to clean water; large-scale brewing in nineteenth-century New York and the influence of immigration; temperance movements and the impact of prohibition; bottling, canning, refrigeration and other technological advances; and the promotional efforts of the City’s breweries in the age of mass production. These topics will be highlighted through a display of historical objects and documents such as a 1779 account book from a New York City brewer who sold beer to both the British and patriot sides; sections of early nineteenth-century wooden pipes from one of the city’s first water systems; a bronze medal that commemorates an 1855 New York State temperance law; beer trays from a variety of late nineteenth-century brewers; souvenirs from the campaign to repeal prohibition; and a selection of advertisements from Piels, Rheingold and Schaefer, beloved hometown brewers. The exhibit will conclude with a small beer hall that features a selection of favorite New York City and State artisanal beers.
“Beer is an important cultural influencer,” explained Debra Schmidt Bach and Nina Nazionale, curators of Beer Here: Brewing New York’s History, “and is not a topic typically covered in an exhibition at an Historical Society. We were intrigued by the longevity and popularity of beer in New York throughout the past 300 years, and wanted to bring together objects and documents of historical and cultural importance to investigate this venerable tradition.”
New-York Historical will host a special summer public program, “Beer Appreciation: The History and Renaissance of Beer,” featuring experts Garrett Oliver and Steve Hindy from Brooklyn Brewery, at which local craft beers will be served on Tuesday, July 10, 6:30 pm. Beer Here: Brewing New York’s History curators Debra Schmidt Bach and Nina Nazionale will join the conversation.”
You can also find more information on the Facebook page and on Youtube too.
Eat This, Drink That
L.A.s own Beer Chicks will be hitting the small screen with…..
“Eat This, Drink That, a special on The Cooking Channel starring The Beer Chicks, Christina Perozzi and Hallie Beaune airs Sunday March 4th! They travel to New Orleans to taste local craft beer, go shrimpin’, eat fantastic food and down some artisanal cocktails, then return to LA where Food GPS’ Beer Float Showdown is underway. They team up with Chef Ilan Hall of The Gorbals and Jonathan Porter of Smog City Brewing. Watch the competition go down at Eagle Rock Brewery featuring local chefs and brewers!”
The premier air date of the special is March 4th at 8pm on The Cooking Channel. You might even see, yours truly, in the background at the Beer Float Showdown! And I sure wish I could go to New Orleans because that food must be amazing with beer.
Learn about Hops
I briefly mentioned the Simple Earth Hops people a while back and now Matt Sweeny has announced 2-hour educational “Brewing Up a Community Hops Webinars” in March, April and May of this year, on the third Saturday of each month with a morning and evening session on each day.
From the press release, “commercial topics to be covered include marketing local hops, establishing a commercial hopyard, processing hops, how to use earth-friendly growing practices and lots of time for questions and answers. The cost for each webinar is $20, tickets are available at Eventbrite” and a full schedule is available online.
Find the Best
I have certain “go to” sites when I need beer information. Usually I try the breweries website and if I get nothing there than BeerAdvocate and RateBeer for more information. As a last resort I will punch it into Google and see how many kajillion hits I get.
But now there is another tool for your arsenal at Find the Best. You can go HERE to compare beers or HERE to compare breweries.
Give it a spin the next time you are looking for information on a rare beer or the beer that you have in front of you.
One More Trappist?
I saw this on the fabulous Brookston Beer Bulletin site. Jay Brooks writes,“Currently there are seven Trappist monastery breweries authorized to use the “Authentic Trappist Product” label by the International Trappist Association. Six are in Belgium, one is in the Netherlands. It looks like an 8th monastery is applying for authorization to brew beer under the official designation. The monastery of Engelszell Stift has filed an application and expects to be notified of the ITAs decision in 4-5 weeks.
According to Trappist-Beers.com, the Engelszell Stift monastery was “founded in 1293 and needs financial input to recover the old paintings, fresco’s and paintings” and has decided to start a small brewery to raise the necessary funds. It is located a little over 120 miles from Munich in Austria. According to Wikipedia, it’s the only one in Austria and is located in the northwest part of the country known as the Innviertel.”
I wonder how the whole application process is for this designation? Are there check-ups from inspectors? A letter grade like restaurants in California? And most importantly will this open the floodgates to more?
Session # 61
The Hoosier Beer Geek is hosting the March edition of the session. The topic I’ve been thinking about is local beer. The term is being used by just about every craft brewer in the country. What does it really mean though? Is it more of a marketing term or is there substance behind the moniker? This month I want to think about what makes local beer better? I’m not just talking about the beer itself, although it’s the focal point, but what makes local beer better? My connection to local beer is far from thinking that my beer is actually “local.” Maybe you don’t agree with me, and you can write about that. Bonus points for writing about your favorite local beer and the settings around it being local to you.
We now enter the wonderful word of semantics which as Wikipedia puts it, is “a problem of understanding that comes down to word selection or connotation.” First, I do not think there is a universal idea in the craft beer world when the word “local” is uttered. I frequent a fabulous beer bar in Burbank (shameless plug for Tony’s Darts Away) that only serves California brewed beer. Is it all local? To some yes and to others no. Personally, I only care that they serve a varied list of great beer and the carbon footprint of delivery is of lesser though still significant importance.
To others local denotes freshness. That is very important in an IPA but if I am partaking of a barrel aged sour at (shameless plug # 2) Eagle Rock Brewery then it doesn’t really matter. And local can mean the watering hole closest to you that you frequent the most. The Cheers to your Norm as it were. And it could be a brewery, bar or bottle shop. Then you have the whole issue of locally sourced ingredients to ponder.
If you have gotten this far, you may probably be saying, “Well, what is your definition of local?” And the answer is all of the above. Even I don’t have one overarching idea. There is my idea of “locally brewed”, my idea of “locally distributed” and my idea of “local destinations” but to me they are all minor considerations to me when I make a beer purchase.
I guess that it is because I firmly believe in widening ones horizons. Travel far and wide. Sample the craft beer bounty that others before us were not so lucky to have.
It might seem anti-eco to say this but as laudable as the whole “local” movement is, and as much as I admire the Sierra Nevada’s and Rogue’s that grow their own hops and barley’s, I find it more important to focus on being creative and exposing the world to the tremendous bounty that we should all responsibly enjoy.
Bring on your organic, bring on the discussion of terroir, grow it all within yards of the brewhouse but also keep brewing. Be it a simple German pilsner of some exotic beer with kaffir limes and sake yeast. I will drink local, close to local and international as long as it is craft beer.
The Canny Awards
“The best can graphics in the craft beer industry will be recognized as part of the first annual “Canny” Awards, a competition to promote craft beer in cans and highlight the high-quality, captivating graphics on canned craft beer. Awards will be presented during the Craft Brewers Conference, May 2-5 in San Diego, Calif.
The “Canny” Awards honor craft beer and the distinctive graphics created in an industry known for unique brands and brews. The competition is sponsored by four leading suppliers to the canned craft beer industry – Ball Corporation, Cask Brewing Systems, Hi-Cone and Mumm Products.
The Canny Awards is open to any canned craft beer in North America. Entries are now being accepted through March 31. Craft brewers can submit up to three entries per brewery and may choose from seven categories to enter. One design may be entered in multiple categories (up to three).
Independent judges will award an Overall Can Design trophy to the top three designs, as well as first-place awards in each of the seven categories:
Best Shelf Presence
Best Graphics Design
Best Use of Color
Best Seasonal
Best Character
Best Illustration of Beer Name
Best Local Tie-In (State, Town, Geography, Local Activity)
Winners will receive a custom Canny Award trophy that includes their can graphics and recognition at the Craft Brewers Conference and in industry publications. For a complete set of guidelines and rules and an entry form, search for “Canny Awards” on Facebook and Twitter.”
I certainly hope that Golden Road picks up at least the Best Local Tie-In award. And the Cavatica Stout from Fort George should get best use of Spiders.
In the Tap Lines for March 2012
~ e-visits to three breweries in Ireland
~ video reviews of three beers purchased during my recent trip to Portland
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my opinion on the craft beer world
~ … and Session # 61 will converge bloggers onto a single topic
~ plus many more posts about new beers, beer products and breweries
Here are two events to get your March started in the Los Angeles craft beer world:
1) March 21st at Beer Belly in Koreatown a One Night Stand with Golden Road Brewing
2) March 30th From the Barrel hosted by Firestone-Walker Brewery