Tag: Reno

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A Podcast & A Beer – The City / Reno

Instead of worrying about gentrification, maybe you should take a listen to this podcast from USA Today, The City. Season 2 heads to Reno, Nevada.

This is a depressing series of podcasts. Strippers without authority or agency. Low income people with nowhere to go. Strip club operators and politicians saying one thing but meaning another. All packed into Reno, Nevada. Throw in Tesla and dangerous warehouse jobs and you got a cauldron of issues to work out.

I was kinda surprised that this was a USA Today production. But it seems like newspapers can find the good topics for podcasts. The reporting is well done and covers all the angles and you are left with basically wishing that someone would build some damn low-income units for people and put them less than an hour away from food pantries.

And though I am not a fan of their label art, you kinda have to start your beer pairing choices with Reno AF from Revision Brewing. Then grab Lunar Kitten IPA from Los Angeles Ale Works since they are near SpaceX, another Elon Musk company. Then I would strongly suggest finding a beer label that doesn’t depict women as just sex objects. You will hear too much about that objectification in the podcast.

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June Micro-Maltster Tour # 1

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Rebel Malting of Reno is part of a new sub-culture within the sub-culture that is craft beer.  I love the combination of keeping it local and using what is given to you.  I mean, if you are in Reno, use the sun!  It makes perfect sense.  And of course you will try to use less water, cause it is Nevada…well.  I will let the website do the talking.  Less sarcasm that way.

“Rebel Malting Company is small, and produces malted products with local and niche grains ( Barley, Millet, Emmer Wheat, Buckwheat) for the brewing and distilling industries.

Micro malting operations are located in Reno, Nevada. Grain is primarily sourced from two locations: Fallon and Yerington, Nevada. Plus other locations if our farmers can not grow it here in Nevada.

The Rebel focus is to sow and grow grains within 100 miles of the malthouse and hand deliver (no ‘middle-man’) this product to local brewers and distillers near Reno, Nevada. An emphasis on customer service is achieved through order customization. Rebel utilizes advances in malting technology to lower water usage up to 30% (we are located in the ‘Rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada Mountains) and is constructing parabolic solar troughs (345 days of sunshine a year) to heat the building and first step in the kilning process. Rebel also supplies whole grain beer making and home malting kits, complete with detailed directions. Please see the About section for more details.”

 

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Canfest 2013

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Last year my good buddy Mike won this contest the year after I did and now the FOURTH year of the epic Beer Blogger Contest is now a GO.

And now YOU can win!  And what you win is “a free trip to the 5th annual CANFEST on August 24th just for writing a blog post. We pay for plane, CANFEST tickets, food, hotel, and will pick you up in a limo.”

Of course there are rules……

1.      Write an original blog post about one or more of the following:
– Why canned beer is awesome
– Why you deserve to come to CANFEST
– What you would do in Reno with canned beer

2.      It has to feature a link to the CANFEST website, www.canfestbeer.com, and the CANFEST Facebook, www.facebook.com/CANFEST.

3.      Be hosted on an established blog; meaning you didn’t just throw up a WordPress site to enter the contest.

“Creativity is good. We’re fans of fun, silly antics, and photos.
Please email it to us NO LATER THAN 5PM PST ON MAY 31, 2013. Entries can be submitted to info@canfestbeer.com (so can questions about the contest).

We are going to compile them in an online voting tool where the most voted on entry will win the prize. Simple as that.”

Good Luck!

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Canfest – upon reflection

I have a few more photos of Canfest to display so I thought I would sprinkle some in amongst my review of the event.

There were really only two items when you talk Canfest. The Beer pairing dinner and the event itself. Both of which were well done and fun. That is a great start. But what I would add in future versions is to have a Canfest bus that you buy a ticket to that will take you to Buckbean, Silver Peak and Great Basin as well as the wonderful Craft wine and beer store. Give a flavor of the Reno craft beer scene.

As far as the events themselves, the dinner and awards is in it’s infancy but was a good, solid dinner. I really like the idea of using last years winners as the beers to pair with. But I would have loved to see a dark beer in the mix. Even though the best pairing was the dessert with an IPA which I thought was a great and unexpected pairing. I would also add a visual component to the awards portion. Just a simple name of category and winner slide would suffice.

The main event hit most of my requirements for a festival. Water was available. The space was large enough for the amount of tickets. Beer was plentiful. And what I really liked was the fact that it was such a wide geographic sampling. South Dakota. Alaska. Arizona. Oregon. Kansas. I would have loved to see Sixpoint, Two Beers, Good People or Surly or some other East Coast influence too. But that is greed on my part.

Overall a very fun trip and if you like the brewery list. I recommend giving Canfest a whirl.

Oh and a Buckbean is a marsh dwelling plant of the Tahoe area that has bitter characteristics, much like a hop. There is a reason why hops are used in beer and not the buckbean though.

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Canfest – Photo Recap

As promised here is my full report (with photographic proof) of Canfest 2011.

Reno was cold and beautiful over the three days that I was in town.

...but this sign really scared me.

But I was here for the beer dinner....

...which finished with an awesome Hawaiian dessert paired with Maui Big Swell IPA...

...and this was the other reason I was there, the main event. Better than the fight in Vegas.

In between, I visited an excellent wine and beer shop....

tasted some beer from a local brewery

...and from our hosts as well.

like this can-aged brew from 2010

I even lost some money to the Dark Lord.

But I left Nevada a ......

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Canfest – Day 3

My third and final day in Reno. Time to give you the quick recap of last night brought to me by the Canfest 2011 people.

28 canneries to sample and so little time and stomach space. First though, my favorite beer was the second of the night. Velvet Rooster from Tallgrass in Kansas was fantastic. Spicy with notes of vanilla. It was dreamy.

Now that that I’d out of the way. I sampled beers from new breweries (to me) like Coop of Oklahoma, Four Peaks of Arizona, Kenai River of Alaska, Santa Fe of New Mexico among others. All told, I sipped 18 brews during the event.

Others of note include the Kenai River Skilak Scottish, Pako’s Eye-P-A and the Pile o Dirt porter from Crow Peak Brewing of South Dakota.

In tommorows post, I will tell you what a Buckbean is and give my review of the weekend too. Oh, and photos lots of photos.

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Canfest – Day 2

Waking up in Reno! Big day ahead. So let’s recap what the good folks at Canfest lined up for me.

Bright and early (after a Starbucks run), I taxied over to the Buckbean Brewery. Soon followed by the crews and posse’s of Fort George, Kenai and Snake River. We were treated to the full range of Buckbean ales including their IPA, Tahoe Tessie and their Belgian IPA, Tour de Nez. And that was not all.

We also got a taste of 2010 Very Noddy. And thar was not all. They whipped up a couple pre-noon beer cocktails as well. My favorite of the day was the Tessie which had a crazy mix of galaxy, citra and other hops.

After that and knowing of the beers to come at the main event, I grabbed lunch and a nap in preparation. More on that in the next post.

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Canfest – Day 1

The Beer Search Party has landed in Reno. And was met at the airport in grand style. Time to recap what the good folks at Canfest lined up for me.

I arrived in Reno after a turbulent flight from Burbank but things got much better. There was a limo driver with my name waiting to whisk me downtown after that luxury, I met Doug from Buckbean accidentally and he gave me a quick tour of where to drink in Reno including the great beer and wine shop, Craft. I had a New Zealand beer in honor of Brett and Jermaine then walked a block to Silver Peak Brewing and had lunch and a DIPA.

Due to long lines from multiple wedding parties, I snagged my room at Circus Circus and chilled before trying to wend my way through the casino maze and the beer dinner.

Addendum: After getting my 7th floor room, I wound my way through the casino to Brew Brothers to sample one of their ales. I went back to the the DIPA well and came up with mediocre. Did not hop up my palate. But I did get to beer chat with some fellow beer lovers.

Then it was on to the beer dinner and awards. It was a really good set of pairings with past award winning beers. All plated elegantly. The best was the desert. A Hawaiian pudding with pineapple that worked wonders with the Maui Big Swell IPA.

Even better was sitting with Peter Estaniel, a fellow beer blogger from the Bay-ish area and the guys from Snake River Brewing (who won best in show for their IPA).

FYI – There will be a full pictorial wrap-up when I get home.

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THANKS!

I want to thank all of you who voted send me on a trip to Canfest in Reno, Nevada.

Because of your votes, whether they came through Facebook, Twitter, Flicker or just plain old e-mail, I will be able to report on all of the canned brew festivities.

It may have taken just a few seconds to vote but I really appreciate that in this social media age that you took that time on my behalf.

And I also want to thank the other bloggers who made it a tight, tight race. The Blager, Daily Beer Review, Hoppy Beer Girl, Washington Beer Blog, Pints and Panels, Road Trips For Beer,
Girl From Arizona and especially BrewDad. I would have been disappointed but glad if any of you had won.

So stay tuned to this blog for more canned beer coverage in November.

P.S. I better see 7 Seas, Good People Beer and Sixpoint Ales at the festival. I will give Golden Road a break this year because they will start canning after the festival.