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Up to Date

Disclaimer: I try to keep the snarky rants to myself and focus on the great beer (which there is a lot of!!) But I have to offer up a suggestion to publicans.

Keep the beer list current and change the taps.

I walked into a beer bar and saw the distinctive Green Flash logo on a tap handle but it was a Berliner Weiss from the Bruery pouring from it. Laying aside that I hope the line was cleansed free of the mammoth amount of hops that Green Flash uses (which I like), but why not change out to a Bruery handle or a generic? Is it a time issue? If so, go with the chalkboard ones. Less fuss and lots of chalk dust.

I also make a plea here for an updated beer list. It doesn’t need to be fancy. The Verdugo and Blue Palms have great beer menus. One large page or two smaller ones, I don’t care. Which beer to choose should be difficult because of the well curated kegs not because I have to figure out whats pouring.

Thanks for listening.

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Habanero Stout

Roots Habanero Stout Release
3 p.m., Friday 11/06/09, Roots Organic Brewing,1520 S.E. Seventh Ave.

“An Irish style Stout brewed with chocolate malt, chocolate wheat & five pounds of coco nibs in the mash. We then boil this beer for two hours during which we slowly inoculated six pounds of organic free trade semi sweet chocolate syrup made by Alma Chocolates. After fermentation we dry hopped the Stout with 100 chopped Habaneros. ”

If this is anything like the McMenamin’s pepper beer then I will not be able to get close to it before the blast gets me.

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Black Hole Brewery

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I don’t highlight enough foreign breweries, which isn’t right,. I need to educate myself and my faithful readers about where to go while on vacation. So here goes…

Burton-on-Trent is known for the water but it is also the home of a nice amount of small brewers. Black Hole Brewery started life in the old Ind Coope bottling plant close to Burton town centre in January 2007.

These two beers intrigued me the most from their list…
Supa Nova
ABV 4.8%
Supa Nova is a premium pale ale brewed using lager malts with a top fermenting ale yeast. A variety of hops from Europe and America combine to provide a floral taste.

No Escape
ABV 5.2%
A combination of chocolate, crystal and roasted barley produce the subtle series of smooth flavours in this award winning dark beer, whilst a balance of dry bitterness and spicy aroma is achieved by a late hop of Goldings.

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Chuckanut Brewery

If I needed another reason to kick myself, here is another brewery that I missed while at GABF. Then it went and won major awards!

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Here is their address:
601 W Holly St.
Bellingham, WA
98225
(360) 75-Beers

They have an Autumn beer dinner coming up. It might be a great time to check out their award winning beer.

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Lucky 13 from Firestone-Walker

“Firestone Walker Brewing Company announced the release of their much anticipated anniversary beer, “13” today. This annual release will go on sale for the first time at noon on November, 14th at the Firestone Walker Brewery in Paso Robles and the Firestone Walker Taproom Restaurant in Buellton.

Firestone’s anniversary series, a unique blend of barrel aged beers, has become quite a phenomenon each year as beer fans from all over the U.S. seek out this special limited release. In years past releases have sold out at the brewery in just a few weeks and these beers have garnered a hefty price tag in the market.

“These unique barrel aged beers have really changed the public’s perception of beer,” said Brewmaster Matt Brynildson. “The care and time that went into this blend is more akin to wine than beer,” he added.

Brynildson again enlisted the help of Paso Robles area wine makers to assist in the blending of several barrel-aged beers into the final product. Barley wines, imperial stouts and an imperial brown are just a few of the beers making up the final blend. Many of the component beers have spent over 2 years aging in a combination of retired bourbon, rye, and wine barrels. This process contributes unique and one-of-a kind flavors not typically found in beer.”

firestone_walker_13_22oz_bottle

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Great Quote from the NY Times

“But the enemy of good beer and good wine, and good food in general, is bad beer, bad wine and, yes, bad food.

What unites this team is the striving for real wine, real beer, and real food, as opposed to cynical product. That is the problem, and I think most people realize this no matter what they say or do. Craft beer’s battle is not against wine but against decades of cynical marketing from the giant breweries, which have done everything possible to portray beer drinkers as asinine fools. The enemy of good wine is the atrocious marketing that makes wine an aspirational commodity, just another luxury good to purchase for its status value. That has to offend the reverse snob in all of us.”
Eric Asimov

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My first visit to Toronado

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I did not know what to expect of Toronado SF. I had purposefully not looked at any photos. All I had done was check the beer list and made advance selections (that I didn’t follow). I have been to enough beer sellers to know that this was A) a serious beer place B) a familiar beer hall style.

Toronado is like Horse Brass in Portland or Lucky Baldwin’s in Pasadena or Tied House in Denver. Old taps are attached to the wall everywhere. (They had a great year by year tap progression of the Anchor Christmas beers) Old signed bottles are on shelves and every bar stool is taken. Oh and the lighting was dim.

Don’t take this as a slam against the place. Toronado is authentic. The taps on the wall tell a history. There was a large grouping of historic Full Sail taps. You can’t fake this. Plus, I love that they had a large board that was easy to read of the current rotation. With prices! Why some places eschew that touch is beyond me.

My wife scored us a table by some sort of magic and I settled on a new Anchor Steam. Hey, we were in the home of Anchor. Huming Ale is made with Nelson Sauvin hops, supposedly. It was almost like two different beers fighting each other. A steam beer with layers of hops but I could not locate the grape-y Nelson in there.

I could easily have stayed for hours and tried all new (to me) beers. That is the mark of a great beer bar.