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ASN Tours New Beervana, Survives Pizza Port Strong Ale Fest By Tony Forder ASN Vol. 16 No. 1 (Feb - Mar 2007) So, you’ve heard they have some pretty good beers in San Diego. You have no idea. Beginning with our first stop after leaving the airport — Ballast Point Brewing — we were awash in a sea of high-quality, high-test brews, which left us gasping for air at such an elevated beer altitude. From the “You are not Worthy” brews of Stone, to the beautifully balanced brews of Ballast Point, the inspired bottlings at Green Flash, the almost venerable AleSmith, and the barrel-aged inspirations of Tomme Arthur at the new Port Brewing Co., I would venture to say that San Diego County is the current trailblazer in American beer country. Even the pizza places have outrageous beer — the multiple locations of Pizza Port and Oggi’s, for example. The most popular style? Double IPA, without a doubt. After sampling the super smooth Dorado at Ballast Point (winner of the first two gold medals at the Double IPA Fest in Hayward, CA), we stopped by local watering hole, O’Brien’s. There were at least five Double IPAs on tap. The great thing about O’Brien’s, run by local beer maven Tom Nickel is that you can order a 4-by-4 ounce sampler, the ideal way to sample these high-gravity brews. A visit to Peter Zien and Co. at Alesmith capped our arrival day. His crew kept our noses to the grindstone, cracking open a case of 2004 Speedway Stout, which jolted us to attention. Horny Devil, golden Belgian and Yulesmith, imperial red, were duly checked, and backed up with the solid ESB Anvil Ale. If the beer air had been rarified, it became darn well ethereal at the 10th Annual Strong Ale Festival held at Pizza Port, Carlsbad, Dec. 8-9; the boundary between flesh and spirit blurred amid the 64-plus brews that ranged from 8% to 14% in strength. Thirty or so of the brews came from San Diego County. Of the remainder, half came from other parts of California, and half from six other states and three other countries, including Maudite from Quebec; a 10% barley wine from Cocapa Brewing in Mexicali, Mexico, and an exceedingly rare 2001 keg of Samichlaus from the Eggenberger Brewery in Austria. The East Coast was represented by Ichor Quad from Sly Fox and Storm King Imperial Stout from Victory. Each beer seemed to be amazing on its own; the cumulative crescendo meant some time in the padded cell, by which I mean the VIP area — the brewhouse lined with comfortable couches. Standouts that were not flushed from memory by the sheer strength of the big beer current included the instant pick-me-up, knock-me-down, Da Grind Buzz, an imperial version of Kona Brewing’s coffee stout (Hawaii); a whiskey barrel-aged Bigfoot from Sierra Nevada (California) and a Wild Turkey-aged Double IPA from Bear Republic (California). The locals presented a variety of Belgian styles, Imperial Stouts, Barleywines and Double IPAs, including 10th anniversary editions from Stone and Coronado. In honor of the beer brewed for the fifth annual fest, Port Brewing presented a barrel-aged version of Older Viscosity, weighing in at 12.1%. Pizza Port Carlsbad, the fest’s host brewery laid on Night Rider Imperial Stout and Revelations, a Belgian-style Golden Ale. In all, 10 types of Double IPAs were on tap, including cask-conditioned Dorado; seven Imperial Stouts; and seven Barleywines, as well as a Wheat Wine from Karl Strauss. Samples were poured at four ounces, or less if desired. With tasting running seven hours — 4-11 p.m. (VIP at 1 p.m.) on Friday and 12 hours Saturday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m., it was possible to pace oneself, take breaks for eating and other more mundane tasks. Our tour group was stationed within easy reach of the fest at the Best Western Ocean View — they weren’t kidding about the view, great from the balcony. The weather held up its end at a sunny 68-70 degrees. Our tour day, Saturday, saw us headed down Route 78 stopping first at Green Flash and Oggi’s Pizza in nearby Vista. Brewer Chuck Silva welcomed us at Green Flash with West Coast IPA, really a definitive example of the style. Ruby Red and Nut Brown led the way to Barleywine and Trippel and, of course the requisite Imperial IPA. Solid nutrition was taken on board at Oggi’s Pizza washed down with their solid brew lineup before heading to San Marcos, where we found, installed in the old Stone brewery, the new, but already strangely mystical Port Brewing with its Lost Abbey labels — you can almost hear the beer aging in the barrels. We tried Tomme Arthur’s latest opii, the Lost and Found, Amazing Grace, and the dangerously powerful Angels Share. The latter takes its name from whisky lore — the angels’ share being the part of the batch that is lost through evaporation from the barrel. In this case, it seemed the barrels kept plenty for themselves. The final destination, the piece de resistance, was San Diego County’s newest jewel, the Stone Brewing Co.’s $12M brewery and World Bistro and Gardens where we had dinner. The bistro is impressive, with indoor and outdoor seating and an acre of sunken gardens strewn with boulders and stones of varying sizes. President Greg Koch said our group would be christening the upstairs party space. The bar features all the regular Stone’s, special releases such as Vertical Epic Ale, Imperial Russian Stout and OAKED Arrogant Bastard, as well as selections from other San Diego breweries. We munched on items on the Bistro’s adventurous (and pricey) menu and eventually limped back to Carlsbad and a nightcap at the fest.
By Stan Hieronymus ASN Vol. 16 No. 1 (Feb -Mar 2007) Garrett Oliver of Brooklyn Brewery sounds curiously like a Belgian-born brewer when he describes Brooklyn Local 1, the first bottle-conditioned beer that Brooklyn will package in 750 ml bottles finished with a cork and wire closure. Local 1 should be available by early March. He says it has some of the same character as a tripel, but it’s not a tripel. A little like a strong golden ale, but not one. You might say it reminds you of a saison, but don’t call it a super saison. By the way, it’s brewed with first-pressing raw sugar from the island of Mauritius and fermented with a yeast from Belgium. “And it’s rather hoppy,” Oliver said. But the style, what’s the style? “It’s rather hard to put your finger on,” said Oliver, a man who generally appreciates the value of identifying style when it comes to beer education. “It is pretty much its own self.” Somewhere in Belgium a brewer is smiling when he reads this. Belgians would rather not hear American-brewed beers described as Belgian, or even Belgian-style. Some of that is practical business sense, some of it national pride and some of it just plain aversion to sticking beers in style categories. They wouldn’t be happy stepping into a well-stocked beer store these days, looking over the draft list at a taproom or perhaps visiting a brewpub. Hot a year ago, beers labeled Belgian are even hotter this year. Those beers are as likely to be brewed in America as Belgium, and many consumers are seeking them out for just that reason. “Customers know the Belgian parameters and they figure the Belgians are more likely to stick to them,” said Dan Ratti, owner of Oak Tree Discount Wines & Spirits in South Plainfield, NJ. “Americans have the free rein to do what they want. When the Belgians do something different, like (Urthel) Hop-It then they (consumers) expect it will be more Americanized.” Many micros have added Belgian-inspired beers as a seasonal, waiting to decide if they earn a spot in the regular lineup. “They make good line extensions because sometimes they may sell out fast,” Ratti said, “but if they don’t then it has a longer shelf life (because of higher alcohol levels).” As a “destination” store Oak Tree attracts customers looking for the newest beers (“The diehards know before us.”) but not buying just those. Ratti sees them going back to beers already well established. “Ommegang gets stronger every year,” he said. Struggling to keep up with demand as it adds capacity, Brewery Ommegang didn’t ship anything new in bottles in 2006. Allagash Brewing, on the other hand, continued to add to its barrel-aged line in 750ml bottles, most of them selling between $10 and $20. Customers aren’t rushing back to buy a second or third bottle of everything called “extreme” and selling for double-digits — Belgian-influenced or otherwise — but Ratti doesn’t think sticker shock has been a problem for beers such as Allagash’s Interlude, Odyssey and Mussette. “They know Allagash makes great stuff,” he said. “They know what it’s worth.” The Belgian-style beers that Ray Daniels of the Brewers Association refers to as craft beer’s “Third Wave” remain hot not so much because of new entries but because of established beers. So an Oak Tree customer might wheel out a cart with a beer that’s been around for a while, such as Weyerbacher Quad, the relatively new Sly Fox Saison and something even newer — Brother Thelonious from North Coast Brewing. Of course what they’re also talking about is the beers they can’t put in the cart. At the top of the list for anybody east of Chicago are the beers from New Belgium Brewing in Colorado. New Belgium will finish installing a new bottling line this year and eventually double capacity, but plans to add distribution only in Iowa and Minnesota in 2007. In contrast, 2006 newcomer Port Brewing has already sent its Lost Abbey beers east from San Marcos, CA. Saveur magazine recently singled out Lost Abbey for its Saveur 100, praising Lost & Found Abbey, Red Barn and Cuvee de Tomme. The beers are available in Massachusetts and the Philadelphia area (as well as California and Arizona). Brewing director Tomme Arthur said Port could move into the Pacific Northwest and Colorado later this year. And then there’s the fastest growing brand with “Belgian” on the label — Blue Moon White from Coors. The continued surge in sales — Coors hasn’t released figures but speculation is that production surpassed 400,000 barrels in 2006 — led Coors to add Blue Moon Winter Ale and plan for Blue Moon Spring Ale, an “amber wheat ale with kaffir lime leaves and lime peel.” At Brooklyn, rolling out Local 1 was not simply a matter of Oliver writing another recipe. The beer itself is based on Fortitude, a draft-only special. He spent more than a year picking the right bottling line, getting it in place, designing a separate temperature-controlled warm room and running test batches. The whole project cost more than $300,000. It’s the largest “still fill” bottler in the country, meaning sugar and yeast are added to beer that has virtually no C02 in it, then the beer is naturally carbonated in a warm room. Even in Belgium, most breweries add some C02 at bottling and before warm conditioning. “We asked ourselves, ‘Are we going to do it old school or do it the modern way?’” Oliver said. “In the end, we thought we got more complexity (this way).” With the release of Local 1 still two months away he didn’t like hearing questions about what the next beer bottled the same way might be. “Right now there are no plans,” he said. “I tell people that every time I’m asked the question that I will delay the second beer by two months. I want to do this one thing for a year.”
January 17, 2007
Ten years ago, regular patrons of O'Brien's tavern in Kearny Mesa started whining to the owner. “This used to be good,” they'd gripe, gagging on a mild ale they had once savored. “Why isn't it good any more?” “Guys,” Jim O'Brien would reply, “your tastes have changed.” Change was in the air – and in the mug. Through the early 1990s, San Diego beer fans were faced with a meager choice of bland mass-market American beers; bland mass-market Mexican beers; the occasional Northern California or Oregon microbrew; and the self-proclaimed “San Diego Native,” Karl Strauss Amber Lager. But around 1996, a beer tsunami hit San Diego, changing our expectations and challenging our taste buds. In the 10-year span between 1996 and 2006, Stone, Ballast Point and several other breweries were born; the “San Diego beer,” a bracing new ale, won a passionate following; guerrilla brewers blazed bold trails; and new brews flooded local restaurants, bars, liquor stores and supermarkets. But that was then. “As for our generation,” said Calagione, 37, founder of Delaware's Dogfish Head, “San Diego is recognized as the pre-eminent land of hops.” Reviewing the last 10 years, we have identified 10 keys to the rise of San Diego's craft beer industry. This list reflects personal experience and bias; if you have your own list, please e-mail it to me. For now, consider this the opening round in a great debate – one that may be continued later over a pint. January 17, 2007 1996: WHITE LABS GOES COMMERCIAL Chris White, a UCSD microbiologist, founded White Labs in 1995 to sell yeast to home brewers. It took him about a year to find another group of customers: commercial brewers.
“The brewery thing didn't take off for me until '96 or '97,” White said. But he quickly achieved orbit. Today the Mira Mesa company is one of the world's largest suppliers of brewers' yeast, with a clientele of more than 2,000 breweries. 1996: WE DISCOVER OUR UNWORTHINESS Among the notable breweries opening in the past decade were Ballast Point, Green Flash, Reaper, Firehouse and Lightning. (AleSmith and Alpine were founded in 1995). But none made a bigger splash – or sold more beer – than the brewery that proclaimed, in the snarky squint-inducing text etched on each bottle, that we are not worthy. Fortunately, Stone Brewing's founders have the chops to back up the 'tude. 1997: PIZZA AND BEER, PART II First-grade math tells us that 1 plus 1 equals 2. But when Gina and Vince Masaglia added Pizza Port Carlsbad to the original Solana Beach branch, 1 plus 1 equaled a ton of prize-winning beers. Now led by brewer Jeff Bagby, Pizza Port Carlsbad was honored with a spot on Beeradvocate.com's 2006 list of “Top 50 Places to Have a Beer in America.” (Other local honorees: O'Brien's, Liars Club and Pizza Port Solana Beach.) 1997: FEELING FESTIVE Dozens of beers received their San Diego County premieres at the Real Ale Festival, which local brewers Tomme Arthur and Tom Nickel launched in '97. Arthur and Nickel would later start festivals celebrating strong ales and Belgian brews, but the Real Ale Festival is the county's oldest organized attempt to showcase beers that exemplify a single brewing style. 1998: A MONSTER BREAKS LOOSE The invention of the Double India Pale Ale is often credited to Vinnie Cilurzo, who in 1994 whipped up the super-bitter Blind Pig IPA. By the time Cilurzo's Temecula brewery folded in 1998, this style had been embraced by virtually every brewer. In San Diego County, that is. (For an excellent example of the style, try Alpine's Pure Hoppiness.) The Double IPA is so closely identified with this region that Garrett Oliver, brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery, dubs it the San Diego Pale Ale. 2000: FOUND IN TRANSLATION Skip Virgilio, the former brewmaster at AleSmith, and his successor, Peter Zien, were among the first local brewers to add Belgian-style beers to their portfolios. But this trend gained momentum and notice thanks to a breathtaking Belgian-inspired brew that smacked of sour cherries and bourbon – Cuvee de Tomme. Tomme Arthur's brew has won many honors: silver medal, Great American Beer Festival, 2000; gold medal, Great American Beer Festival, 2003; bronze medal, Great American Festival, 2004; gold medal, World Beer Cup, 2004. In 2001, Malt Advocate magazine dubbed Cuvee de Tomme its “Domestic Beer of the Year.” 2004: THE BEER OLYMPICS After years of lobbying by local brewers, the World Beer Cup came to town. The biennial gathering of the globe's beer makers showcased San Diego's accomplishments – of the 231 winning beers, 11 were locals. Tom Nickel, then at Oggi's, was named the world's best small brewmaster. 2005: BEER ACROSS THE BORDER The inaugural Tijuana International Beer Festival was a coming-out party for Baja California Norte's microbrewing industry. Mexicali's Cucapa Pale Ale, Guanajuato's Potro – a smoky, sweet dazzler – and TJ Brewery's Morena, a light-bodied brew with silky cocoa-and-cream notes, all testified to the variety and vitality of these upstart breweries. 2005: THE AGE OF EXPANSION Evidence of the local brewing industry's strength was, in several cases, literally concrete. By moving into a remodeled facility in Scripps Ranch, Ballast Point tripled its capacity. By shifting operations to a custom plant in Escondido, Stone Brewing quadrupled its capacity. And Stone's old San Marcos brewhouse was snapped up by Port Brewing, which is bottling Pizza Port favorites like Shark Bite Red and Tomme Arthur's Belgian-inspired line of Lost Abbey ales. 2006: KARL STRAUSS, RIP Strauss' death last month underlined the great sea change in the local beer trade. Ten years ago, the brewery that carried his name was the best-known San Diego brewery, and the beers made to his specifications were the best-known San Diego beers. That's no longer true. Karl Strauss Brewing Co. remains a success story, and its beers increasingly push against the boundaries set by the late brewmaster. Strauss, a remarkably energetic and forceful presence for nearly all of his 94 years, helped establish the local brewing scene. His beers were solid and well-crafted but a little stodgy. In the post-Strauss era, the industry's leading edge is – and will be – more inventive and daring. Next month: Ten changes on San Diego's brewing horizon. Brewery Rowe appears monthly in the Food section. Peter Rowe,the proprietor, welcomes calls, (619) 293-1227; letters, c/o The San Diego Union-Tribune, P.O. Box 120191, San Diego, CA 92112-0191; and e-mail, peter.rowe@uniontrib.com. Brute Brews San Diegans love beer. But not just any old, run-of-the-mill, mainstream beer like the Millers or Budweisers that occupied the entire bottom shelf of your refrigerator in college. Nope, beer drinkers here have discriminating tastes in their brews. With more than 30 breweries in the county, including Stone, Karl Strauss and Green Flash brewing companies, San Diego has made a name for itself among the country’s beer elite. Along the East Coast, members of the beer industry have even begun changing the names of certain India pale ale (IPA) recipes, referring to them as “San Diego pale ales” instead, because of a particular way of using hops that creates a distinctive flavor many believe originated here. With so many local breweries to choose from, how can you possibly expect to keep up with all of the best beers? You could start by sampling two or three new beers every night, non-stop, for the next four months and you might get close to tasting all the beer San Diego has to offer. Wasn’t there a doctor who said something about how drinking beer every day is good for your heart? OK, maybe not. Another way to get your hands on this city’s premier pints is by stopping by one of the many annual beer festivals, including the upcoming San Diego Strong Ale Festival hosted by Pizza Port Brewing Company. Now in its 10th year, the Strong Ale Festival in Carlsbad will be the battleground for more than 65 beers from here and around the country, each one with at least 8-percent alcohol by volume (ABV). Among the local breweries competing in this year’s festival is AleSmith Brewing Company, widely known for its Anvil ESB and its Halloween seasonal brew, Evil Dead Red. Peter Zien, AleSmith’s owner and one of the company’s brewers, joins the ranks of self-proclaimed “beer nuts” in San Diego who look forward to participating in festivals like Strong Ale. Though Zien has been crafting his own brews for more than 11 years now, he can trace his passion for beer back to three decades ago. “When I was in junior high and high school, I had about a 300-bottle beer collection,” Zien said, “My folks would take me to Europe and I was trying all of these great beers out there. That’s when I discovered better beer.” Upon joining the AleSmith team nearly five years ago, Zien began his mission of teaching people to regard beer with a level of discrimination similar to that of wine tasting. “I want to represent the Rolls Royce segment of beer and show people it can be an elegant thing,” he said. Chatting over several samples of AleSmith beer he offered inside the brewery’s Miramar warehouse, Zien described his company’s contribution to this year’s Strong Ale Festival, the Wee Heavy Strong Scotch ale, “This is our interpretation of the classic Scottish style, big and malty with a touch of smoked malt apparent in the aftertaste.” The Wee Heavy, which boasts an alcohol content of 10 percent (most commercial beers range between 5 and 6 percent), has performed well in past festivals, taking both silver and bronze medals in the last two years at the Great American Beer Festival. Two entries in the Strong Ale Festival this year will come from Ballast Point Brewing Company (two locations—the original one near the University of San Diego and a new one near Scripps Ranch). “We’re bringing our Three Sheets Barley Wine and the Dorado Double IPA,” said Colby Chandler, one of Ballast Point’s brewers. As president of the San Diego Brewers Guild, Chandler has an unending list of favorite brews, which is one of the reasons he says he began brewing in the first place, “I like beer, but not just one particular style. That’s why a lot of people get into home-brewing, because they can’t find that one style they like.” Ballast Point’s Dorado Double IPA is included in Chandler’s long list of personal favorites. “It has a big aroma, a lot of that kind of citrusy hops, grapefruity, tropical fruit—that kind of aroma……. There’s just enough sweetness to balance out the aggressive bitterness of the hops.” San Diego City Beat 11-29-06 ASN Tours New Beervana, Survives Pizza Port Strong Ale Fest ASN Vol. 16 No. 1 (Feb - Mar 2007) So, you’ve heard they have some pretty good beers in San Diego. You have no idea. Beginning with our first stop after leaving the airport — Ballast Point Brewing — we were awash in a sea of high-quality, high-test brews, which left us gasping for air at such an elevated beer altitude. From the “You are not Worthy” brews of Stone, to the beautifully balanced brews of Ballast Point, the inspired bottlings at Green Flash, the almost venerable AleSmith, and the barrel-aged inspirations of Tomme Arthur at the new Port Brewing Co., I would venture to say that San Diego County is the current trailblazer in American beer country. Even the pizza places have outrageous beer — the multiple locations of Pizza Port and Oggi’s, for example. The most popular style? Double IPA, without a doubt. After sampling the super smooth Dorado at Ballast Point (winner of the first two gold medals at the Double IPA Fest in Hayward, CA), we stopped by local watering hole, O’Brien’s. There were at least five Double IPAs on tap. The great thing about O’Brien’s, run by local beer maven Tom Nickel is that you can order a 4-by-4 ounce sampler, the ideal way to sample these high-gravity brews. A visit to Peter Zien and Co. at Alesmith capped our arrival day. His crew kept our noses to the grindstone, cracking open a case of 2004 Speedway Stout, which jolted us to attention. Horny Devil, golden Belgian and Yulesmith, imperial red, were duly checked, and backed up with the solid ESB Anvil Ale. If the beer air had been rarified, it became darn well ethereal at the 10th Annual Strong Ale Festival held at Pizza Port, Carlsbad, Dec. 8-9; the boundary between flesh and spirit blurred amid the 64-plus brews that ranged from 8% to 14% in strength. Thirty or so of the brews came from San Diego County. Of the remainder, half came from other parts of California, and half from six other states and three other countries, including Maudite from Quebec; a 10% barley wine from Cocapa Brewing in Mexicali, Mexico, and an exceedingly rare 2001 keg of Samichlaus from the Eggenberger Brewery in Austria. The East Coast was represented by Ichor Quad from Sly Fox and Storm King Imperial Stout from Victory. Each beer seemed to be amazing on its own; the cumulative crescendo meant some time in the padded cell, by which I mean the VIP area — the brewhouse lined with comfortable couches. Standouts that were not flushed from memory by the sheer strength of the big beer current included the instant pick-me-up, knock-me-down, Da Grind Buzz, an imperial version of Kona Brewing’s coffee stout (Hawaii); a whiskey barrel-aged Bigfoot from Sierra Nevada (California) and a Wild Turkey-aged Double IPA from Bear Republic (California). The locals presented a variety of Belgian styles, Imperial Stouts, Barleywines and Double IPAs, including 10th anniversary editions from Stone and Coronado. In honor of the beer brewed for the fifth annual fest, Port Brewing presented a barrel-aged version of Older Viscosity, weighing in at 12.1%. Pizza Port Carlsbad, the fest’s host brewery laid on Night Rider Imperial Stout and Revelations, a Belgian-style Golden Ale. In all, 10 types of Double IPAs were on tap, including cask-conditioned Dorado; seven Imperial Stouts; and seven Barleywines, as well as a Wheat Wine from Karl Strauss. Samples were poured at four ounces, or less if desired. With tasting running seven hours — 4-11 p.m. (VIP at 1 p.m.) on Friday and 12 hours Saturday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m., it was possible to pace oneself, take breaks for eating and other more mundane tasks. Our tour group was stationed within easy reach of the fest at the Best Western Ocean View — they weren’t kidding about the view, great from the balcony. The weather held up its end at a sunny 68-70 degrees. Our tour day, Saturday, saw us headed down Route 78 stopping first at Green Flash and Oggi’s Pizza in nearby Vista. Brewer Chuck Silva welcomed us at Green Flash with West Coast IPA, really a definitive example of the style. Ruby Red and Nut Brown led the way to Barleywine and Trippel and, of course the requisite Imperial IPA. Solid nutrition was taken on board at Oggi’s Pizza washed down with their solid brew lineup before heading to San Marcos, where we found, installed in the old Stone brewery, the new, but already strangely mystical Port Brewing with its Lost Abbey labels — you can almost hear the beer aging in the barrels. We tried Tomme Arthur’s latest opii, the Lost and Found, Amazing Grace, and the dangerously powerful Angels Share. The latter takes its name from whisky lore — the angels’ share being the part of the batch that is lost through evaporation from the barrel. In this case, it seemed the barrels kept plenty for themselves. The final destination, the piece de resistance, was San Diego County’s newest jewel, the Stone Brewing Co.’s $12M brewery and World Bistro and Gardens where we had dinner. The bistro is impressive, with indoor and outdoor seating and an acre of sunken gardens strewn with boulders and stones of varying sizes. President Greg Koch said our group would be christening the upstairs party space. The bar features all the regular Stone’s, special releases such as Vertical Epic Ale, Imperial Russian Stout and OAKED Arrogant Bastard, as well as selections from other San Diego breweries. We munched on items on the Bistro’s adventurous (and pricey) menu and eventually limped back to Carlsbad and a nightcap at the fest.
January 17, 2007
Ten years ago, regular patrons of O'Brien's tavern in Kearny Mesa started whining to the owner. “This used to be good,” they'd gripe, gagging on a mild ale they had once savored. “Why isn't it good any more?” “Guys,” Jim O'Brien would reply, “your tastes have changed.” Change was in the air – and in the mug. Through the early 1990s, San Diego beer fans were faced with a meager choice of bland mass-market American beers; bland mass-market Mexican beers; the occasional Northern California or Oregon microbrew; and the self-proclaimed “San Diego Native,” Karl Strauss Amber Lager. But around 1996, a beer tsunami hit San Diego, changing our expectations and challenging our taste buds. In the 10-year span between 1996 and 2006, Stone, Ballast Point and several other breweries were born; the “San Diego beer,” a bracing new ale, won a passionate following; guerrilla brewers blazed bold trails; and new brews flooded local restaurants, bars, liquor stores and supermarkets.
But that was then. “As for our generation,” said Calagione, 37, founder of Delaware's Dogfish Head, “San Diego is recognized as the pre-eminent land of hops.” Reviewing the last 10 years, we have identified 10 keys to the rise of San Diego's craft beer industry. This list reflects personal experience and bias; if you have your own list, please e-mail it to me. For now, consider this the opening round in a great debate – one that may be continued later over a pint. All About Beer Magazine • Volume 24 Number 6 • January 2004 by Stan Hieronymus We have been rolling hop bombs across our tongues for about two hours now and have little humor for what the innocent Great American Beer Festival volunteer across the serving table is trying to tell us. "We'd like the Dorado Double IPA," I say. "I don't see that," she replies, pointing to pitchers of a variety of Ballast Point Brewing beers. "It's right here in the program," I tell her, pointing to the entry, then to the back of the booth. "And there on that sign." "It used to be called Crystal Pier," Vic says. This doesn't seem to help. Granted, there is no mention of it on the table, nor is its name on any of the hand-printed signs hanging from the taps behind her. We step around the table and into the booth, which is probably against GABF rules. We have come for hops, dammit. "Look, this is the keg," Vic says, pointing to "Dorado Double" scribbled on the top of one. "We need to tap this." He looks at the volunteer. "I know how to do this," he says, not adding, "I'm a professional," although he owns a California bar. We are certain this is against GABF rules and know it might even be illegal in Colorado. "I'll get my captain," the volunteer says, appearing interested in pleasing us-that, or we're seeing a look of total fear. By now Vic is behind the kegs. "It's already tapped," he says. "We've just got to make this switch." She does, fills a pitcher, and pours us each an ounce of the beer. "Great nose," Vic says. "Almost no malt character, bitter all the way through. One of my favorites." "This is the style, zeroed in," I agree, as we step to the booth next door and order the Backstreet Imperial IPA. Blame It on the Hops When did we know we were in trouble? Maybe when I described a bitterly hoppy beer as "biscuity." Or when Vic asked, "Where are we going next?" and the answer was Dogfish Head. Our mission on this last Thursday in September: To try every double (or imperial) IPA we can find at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver. Why? These are extreme beers that take your taste buds on a roller coaster ride as long and furious as, say, the Raptor at Cedar Point in Ohio. Many are stronger than barley wine, but although we are drinking only an ounce (or less) at a time, these beers are meant for pint glasses rather than snifters. A mother lode of malt allows brewers to jam more than a mother lode of hops into the beer. First and foremost, these are hop delivery vehicles. Eight years after beer author-brewer-consumer Randy Mosher presented a travelogue of a recent trip to the world's great hops growing regions to listeners at Oldenberg Beer Camp, an image lingers. He is tilting his head back as if he were taking a big drink, meanwhile reaching his hands into the air and grabbing fistfuls of imagined hops, then bringing them back down to his mouth. "Americans have been starved for hops so long," he says, "that right now we're just shoving them down our throats." Just one week later, Blind Pig Brewing brewer Vinnie Cilurzo proved that point by serving GABF attendees the first, as far as anybody knows, commercial double IPA. He brewed Inaugural Ale in June 1994, the first batch out of the Temecula brewery. "Our equipment was pretty antique and crude, so I wanted to start out with something that was big and, frankly, could cover up any off flavors," he says. He calculated the bitterness at the time of brewing at 100 IBU (International Bittering Units). It was aged on oak for nine months, was served on the brewery's first anniversary, and was 15 months old when it reached the GABF. "After that, we made it a tradition to make DIPAs for our anniversary. At our second anniversary, the beer was 120 BUs. This was almost undrinkable at the time of bottling, but there was a small market for it," Cilurzo says. "We had a tasting room at our brewery. Customers would bring their Blind Pig growlers back for refills, etc. The last drop of Second Anniversary Ale, out of the brewery's last keg, filled (Stone Brewing Co. founder) Greg Koch's growler." Operating pretty much in parallel in the Northwest, John Maier of Rogue Ales brewed his first imperial pale ale in 1995, releasing it as I2PA at the 1996 Oregon Brewers Festival. The hops train was picking up speed. This year, for the first time, "Imperial or Double India Pale Ale" is a separate category in GABF judging and 39 beers are entered. How Many IBU? Vic Kralj and Tom Nickel see the passion every day, and they feel it as well. Kralj (otherwise to be known as Vic in this story) runs the Bistro in Hayward, CA, which organizes a variety of hoppy beer events. He is at the GABF for the first time since 1998. "I want to be here when they award the first Double IPA gold medal," he says. Vic started his own Double IPA festival in 2001. "The first year we had 12, then 20 and 24. I wouldn't be surprised if we had 30 for this one (February 7, 2004)," he says. Tom Nickel is a brewer, bar owner and veteran beer judge. He made the category his first preference for judging this year. At his pub, O'Brien's in San Diego, the best-selling beer is an 8 percent IPA and he regularly has at least one double IPA on tap, sometimes more than a half dozen. "As a pub owner I like to have a big beer from a brewery on tap at the same time as another beer-they like one, odds are good that they will like the other. I want to expand people's horizons about what they think is beer and what is proper to put in a pint glass," Nickel says. And then there's the fact he just plain likes to drink double IPAs. "They are awesome tasting, strong and hoppy, but you can still drink by the pint," he says. "It is why I think Dogfish Head's 120 Minute IPA is so impressive. I can have pint of it and enjoy it without it being too heavy or thick-mind you, the alcohol catches up with you fast, but the flavor and body beg to be put in a pint." Dogfish Head Brewing in Delaware hops relentlessly, adding hops constantly to its 60 Minute, 90 Minute and 120 Minute IPAs, with the latter two labeled "imperial." Because they are bottled and sold across much of the country, they act as ambassadors for the style. The 90 Minute falls within the GABF guidelines, but at 21 percent ABV, the 120 is far too high (for style) in alcohol. Yet it was probably the first of the 1,400-plus kegs to be drained on the Thursday of GABF. The 120 also is dry hopped every day for a month. Is it really 120 IBU? "That's what we calculated," says brewery founder Sam Calagione, "but we should probably send it out (to a lab) to make it official." Brewers and consumers toss around IBU numbers that likely aren't accurate. "Hey, did you try the one that's 130 IBU?" we hear Thursday as we walk. In fact, that might not be possible. Brewing chemists can fill a blackboard explaining why, so Mitch Steele-an assistant brew master at Anheuser-Busch who also judged the category-provides an English translation: "The maximum IBU level in a beer is somewhat dependent on composition of the beer. A higher alcohol, higher gravity beer can have more IBU than a beer at 5 percent alcohol. A 5 percent beer will max out at 120 parts per million iso-alpha acids, which corresponds to about 80 IBU. It is physically impossible to have more IBU than that in a 5 percent beer. As alcohol and unfermented carbohydrate in the beer increases, so does the ability of the beer to carry more IBU. Our hop research expert feels that the claim that some barley wines have over 100 IBU is probably valid." What a chemist may measure and a drinker may taste can differ. "Perceived hop quality versus measurable bitterness, that's a tough one. I'm not sure there is a relationship because so much more is involved, like flavor balance, and the types of hops used," says Steele. "Many feel that low cohumulone hops produce a better, cleaner bitterness. I do know that during the judging, the imperial IPAs that were not harsh or unbalanced did better with the judges. Clean bitterness was key." "This set a standard, a benchmark," Nickel says. "If you enter this category and expect to win, your beer better be at least this hoppy. This category is only going to get better as hop usage becomes more refined. In the grand scheme of things, craft brewers know very little about hops." Back to the Hunt We begin Thursday, appropriately enough, with Cilurzo. He now calls his double Pliny the Elder because a couple thousand years ago, Pliny and his contemporaries created the botanical name for hops, Lupus salictarius, meaning "wolf among scrubs." That eventually became Humulus lupulus. Cilurzo is in the process of setting up a new brewery and pub in Santa Rosa, CA, and steals time to brew his Russian River beers at another brewpub, where he also makes beer. Thus he is serving Pliny bottled back in June, and not as fresh as he would like. "The hops haven't dropped out on this at all," Vic says. "This beer is beautifully balanced," I note, before suggesting that may not have been the case in 1995. "I would probably agree," Cilurzo says. "I've raised the malt level (the Inaugural Ale was 6.5 percent ABV; Pliny is 8 percent). I try to use more high alpha hops, with lower cohumulone (a contributor to a coarser bitterness)." Personally, he likes Pliny better at two or three months old. "But it really sells well when it is younger," he says. "It is an extreme style, and I personally don't think the beer should be totally balanced-it should definitely be slanted toward hops." He tries to be patient when consumers disagree. "I'm probably too frank with those people, but I tell them not to drink Pliny and drink our regular IPA. I continue to tell these folks that it's a double IPA, it's supposed to be big, just as a Scotch ale is supposed to be malt with almost no hop character to it. Bottom line, 'double' is about choice," he says Speaking of being frank, that's our next stop: Frank Double IPA from Port Brewing Co. in Carlsbad, CA. Bad news. "Frank has left the building," the volunteer tells us. The keg of Frank has been misplaced (so misplaced that it never appears). This becomes more disappointing Saturday when Frank wins the gold medal. We step to the next booth, Port's sister brewery, Pizza Port Solana Beach, where head brewer Tomme Arthur has earned national acclaim with a wide range of Belgian-style ales. A couple of years ago, a drinker arrived at the Pizza Port table and said, "Give me the hoppiest thing you got." Arthur replied, "Don't see any hops here." Today there are hops-Hop 15 will be the silver medal winner. "On the dark end of the (color) range, but beautiful," Vic says, holding it up. "Smell those hops," he adds, closing his eyes and smiling. We bounce from Illinois to Virginia, back to California, over to Pennsylvania and on to New Mexico. Brewers who have seldom tasted the style as it has been nurtured in California for eight years are taking a poke at it. "It was about a year or more ago that I started researching this elusive style," Bill Madden of Capitol City Brewing, Arlington, VA, said before the competition. He decided to call his beer Imperial after a West Coast brewer reasoned that a true double would have to start at 32 Plato and have 140 IBU. "We only tapped a keg a week so our regulars would not drink it up so fast. We never advertised the Imperial IPA in the brewpubs, but still people in the know heard about it and would call ahead to be sure it was on tap. Stealth beer, we call it," he said. By the time the night is over, we will have sampled 29 would-be double IPAs. Some-one from Goose Island comes to mind-are wonderful beers but don't have the fresh hop character West Coast brewers demand. "It's like crushing a hop and throwing it in on top," Vic says, holding a sample of Racer X Double IPA. "Just smell this." Is This Really a New Style? The hop bills for these beers remind us how extreme the style is meant to be. Dave Hiest of Hoptown Brewing in California won the gold for his IPA, but really wanted it for his DUIPA Imperial Ale, which is double dry hopped and overall has 100 pounds of hops in a 13-barrel batch. To brew Frank, Kirk McHale uses 26 pounds of hops in the whirlpool alone. The beer was named for a customer. "Our Wipeout IPA (a silver medal winner in 2001) was never hoppy enough for him, so we made a beer that is as obnoxious as he is," McHale said. In Solano Beach, assistant Jeff Bagby came up with the idea for Hop 15, inspired by the restaurant's 15th anniversary. He and Arthur added 15 ounces of 15 different hops at 15-minute intervals during the boil (yes, that makes for nearly a four-hour boil). The order was chosen by pulling numbers from a hat. It was dry hopped with 18 pounds of three different hops at three different stages. "This is a terribly American beer," Arthur told author Michael Jackson after the awards ceremony. "Terribly?" Jackson asked, drinking the Hop 15. "I find this beer terribly drinkable. Is it because I'm a hophead?" In most of the world, most of this country, really, drinkers have never heard of double or imperial IPA. Will it end up being considered as a style of its own? "Right now, it is a matter of semantics," said Jackson, whose work 25 years ago defined most of what we call styles today. Eight years later, Mosher-a style historian himself-isn't convinced that Americans aren't going through a phase. "I still think this will pass, although it does seem as if a micro-niche has been created for these stupidly-and I mean that in the best possible way-hoppy beers," he says. "I think it's evidence that US brewers are pushing the edges wherever they can find them. As new techniques-barrel-aging, wild yeast, etc.-are worked out, these will offer more avenues for extreme beers.... This super-specialty area is one more place small brewers can go where the big brewers just can't follow." For now, expect brewers to keep turning up the volume. Perhaps Vic and I can put back on our tour shirts January 28-29, when six brewers duke it out in the "Lupulin Slam" at R.F.D. Washington in Washington, DC. Cilurzo, Arthur and Adam Avery of Avery Brewing in Colorado will line up for the West Coast; and Madden, Calagione and Larry Bell from Kalamazoo Brewing, for the East Coast. Each brewer will bring two beers and plenty of insults. At the end of the evening, a mystery 13th beer will be served. Let's see. Twelve beers, each claiming to be 100 IBU, blended into one. Is that 1,200 IBUs? An imperial imperial? Now, that's terribly American.
January 17, 2007 * 10 events that rocked our beer mugs, 1996-2006 Ten years ago, regular patrons of O'Brien's tavern in Kearny Mesa started whining to the owner. “This used to be good,” they'd gripe, gagging on a mild ale they had once savored. “Why isn't it good any more?” “Guys,” Jim O'Brien would reply, “your tastes have changed.” Change was in the air – and in the mug. Through the early 1990s, San Diego beer fans were faced with a meager choice of bland mass-market American beers; bland mass-market Mexican beers; the occasional Northern California or Oregon microbrew; and the self-proclaimed “San Diego Native,” Karl Strauss Amber Lager. But around 1996, a beer tsunami hit San Diego, changing our expectations and challenging our taste buds. In the 10-year span between 1996 and 2006, Stone, Ballast Point and several other breweries were born; the “San Diego beer,” a bracing new ale, won a passionate following; guerrilla brewers blazed bold trails; and new brews flooded local restaurants, bars, liquor stores and supermarkets.
But that was then. “As for our generation,” said Calagione, 37, founder of Delaware's Dogfish Head, “San Diego is recognized as the pre-eminent land of hops.” Reviewing the last 10 years, we have identified 10 keys to the rise of San Diego's craft beer industry. This list reflects personal experience and bias; if you have your own list, please e-mail it to me. For now, consider this the opening round in a great debate – one that may be continued later over a pint.
1996: WHITE LABS GOES COMMERCIAL Chris White, a UCSD microbiologist, founded White Labs in 1995 to sell yeast to home brewers. It took him about a year to find another group of customers: commercial brewers.
“The brewery thing didn't take off for me until '96 or '97,” White said. But he quickly achieved orbit. Today the Mira Mesa company is one of the world's largest suppliers of brewers' yeast, with a clientele of more than 2,000 breweries. 1996: WE DISCOVER OUR UNWORTHINESS Among the notable breweries opening in the past decade were Ballast Point, Green Flash, Reaper, Firehouse and Lightning. (AleSmith and Alpine were founded in 1995). But none made a bigger splash – or sold more beer – than the brewery that proclaimed, in the snarky squint-inducing text etched on each bottle, that we are not worthy. Fortunately, Stone Brewing's founders have the chops to back up the 'tude. 1997: PIZZA AND BEER, PART II First-grade math tells us that 1 plus 1 equals 2. But when Gina and Vince Masaglia added Pizza Port Carlsbad to the original Solana Beach branch, 1 plus 1 equaled a ton of prize-winning beers. Now led by brewer Jeff Bagby, Pizza Port Carlsbad was honored with a spot on Beeradvocate.com's 2006 list of “Top 50 Places to Have a Beer in America.” (Other local honorees: O'Brien's, Liars Club and Pizza Port Solana Beach.) 1997: FEELING FESTIVE Dozens of beers received their San Diego County premieres at the Real Ale Festival, which local brewers Tomme Arthur and Tom Nickel launched in '97. Arthur and Nickel would later start festivals celebrating strong ales and Belgian brews, but the Real Ale Festival is the county's oldest organized attempt to showcase beers that exemplify a single brewing style. 1998: A MONSTER BREAKS LOOSE The invention of the Double India Pale Ale is often credited to Vinnie Cilurzo, who in 1994 whipped up the super-bitter Blind Pig IPA. By the time Cilurzo's Temecula brewery folded in 1998, this style had been embraced by virtually every brewer. In San Diego County, that is. (For an excellent example of the style, try Alpine's Pure Hoppiness.) The Double IPA is so closely identified with this region that Garrett Oliver, brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery, dubs it the San Diego Pale Ale. 2000: FOUND IN TRANSLATION Skip Virgilio, the former brewmaster at AleSmith, and his successor, Peter Zien, were among the first local brewers to add Belgian-style beers to their portfolios. But this trend gained momentum and notice thanks to a breathtaking Belgian-inspired brew that smacked of sour cherries and bourbon – Cuvee de Tomme. Tomme Arthur's brew has won many honors: silver medal, Great American Beer Festival, 2000; gold medal, Great American Beer Festival, 2003; bronze medal, Great American Festival, 2004; gold medal, World Beer Cup, 2004. In 2001, Malt Advocate magazine dubbed Cuvee de Tomme its “Domestic Beer of the Year.” 2004: THE BEER OLYMPICS After years of lobbying by local brewers, the World Beer Cup came to town. The biennial gathering of the globe's beer makers showcased San Diego's accomplishments – of the 231 winning beers, 11 were locals. Tom Nickel, then at Oggi's, was named the world's best small brewmaster. 2005: BEER ACROSS THE BORDER The inaugural Tijuana International Beer Festival was a coming-out party for Baja California Norte's microbrewing industry. Mexicali's Cucapa Pale Ale, Guanajuato's Potro – a smoky, sweet dazzler – and TJ Brewery's Morena, a light-bodied brew with silky cocoa-and-cream notes, all testified to the variety and vitality of these upstart breweries. 2005: THE AGE OF EXPANSION Evidence of the local brewing industry's strength was, in several cases, literally concrete. By moving into a remodeled facility in Scripps Ranch, Ballast Point tripled its capacity. By shifting operations to a custom plant in Escondido, Stone Brewing quadrupled its capacity. And Stone's old San Marcos brewhouse was snapped up by Port Brewing, which is bottling Pizza Port favorites like Shark Bite Red and Tomme Arthur's Belgian-inspired line of Lost Abbey ales. 2006: KARL STRAUSS, RIP Strauss' death last month underlined the great sea change in the local beer trade. Ten years ago, the brewery that carried his name was the best-known San Diego brewery, and the beers made to his specifications were the best-known San Diego beers. That's no longer true. Karl Strauss Brewing Co. remains a success story, and its beers increasingly push against the boundaries set by the late brewmaster. Strauss, a remarkably energetic and forceful presence for nearly all of his 94 years, helped establish the local brewing scene. His beers were solid and well-crafted but a little stodgy. In the post-Strauss era, the industry's leading edge is – and will be – more inventive and daring. Next month: Ten changes on San Diego's brewing horizon. Brewery Rowe appears monthly in the Food section. Peter Rowe,the proprietor, welcomes calls, (619) 293-1227; letters, c/o The San Diego Union-Tribune, P.O. Box 120191, San Diego, CA 92112-0191; and e-mail, peter.rowe@uniontrib.com. Hop fieldEnough about session beers, at least for the moment. Let’s get back to hops. Jay Brooks has the results of the Bistro’s 7th (yes, seventh, this is no fad) Double IPA Festival in Hayward, Calif. The winner was Dorado Double IPA from Ballast Point Point Brewing, an old friend. We go back to when it was called Crystal Pier and was already winning at the Bistro’s festival. In 2003 the guys at Ballast were nice enough to put some of Cyrstal Pier into 22-ounce bottles (they sold it only on draft) and ship it to New Mexico. The American Society of Brewing Chemists gathered in a resort north of Albuquerque for their annual convention and I helped Mitch Steele - then of Anheuser-Busch, now with Stone Brewing - round up beers for a seminar on styles. At that time almost none of the 30-plus brewing industry employees in the room had ever had an “Imperial IPA” (or were ready for other beers like New Belgium’s La Foile and Cuvee de Tomme). It was an eye-opening experience for me. These guys (meaning men and women) are focused. Many worked for the world’s largest brewers or companies that supply them. They are worried about shelf life, foam stability, stuff like that. No detail is too minute. And they can spot off flavors, and tell you why they are there, at perhaps three miles away. We asked them to provide comments about the beers they tasted and I just drug those out of a file. I started out looking only at the Ballast Point beer, and that’s all I’ll write about today, but soon was reading more. Within the week I’ll post more notes about some of the other beers. Only seven of the 28 who left comments said they’d buy Cyrstal Pier in a store. One wrote: “Tongue scraper requested. Malt is still good.” On the other side (and I know this was from somebody who worked in packaging at A-B): “Multitudes of flavor! Awesome - I love this new style.” Maybe my favorite: “‘Savage’ flavor but not taste. Hoppy. Hoppy. Hop. Hop.” You get the point. All About Beer Magazine • Volume 24 Number 6 • January 2004 by Stan Hieronymus We have been rolling hop bombs across our tongues for about two hours now and have little humor for what the innocent Great American Beer Festival volunteer across the serving table is trying to tell us. "We'd like the Dorado Double IPA," I say. "I don't see that," she replies, pointing to pitchers of a variety of Ballast Point Brewing beers. "It's right here in the program," I tell her, pointing to the entry, then to the back of the booth. "And there on that sign." "It used to be called Crystal Pier," Vic says. This doesn't seem to help. Granted, there is no mention of it on the table, nor is its name on any of the hand-printed signs hanging from the taps behind her. We step around the table and into the booth, which is probably against GABF rules. We have come for hops, dammit. "Look, this is the keg," Vic says, pointing to "Dorado Double" scribbled on the top of one. "We need to tap this." He looks at the volunteer. "I know how to do this," he says, not adding, "I'm a professional," although he owns a California bar. We are certain this is against GABF rules and know it might even be illegal in Colorado. "I'll get my captain," the volunteer says, appearing interested in pleasing us-that, or we're seeing a look of total fear. By now Vic is behind the kegs. "It's already tapped," he says. "We've just got to make this switch." She does, fills a pitcher, and pours us each an ounce of the beer. "Great nose," Vic says. "Almost no malt character, bitter all the way through. One of my favorites." "This is the style, zeroed in," I agree, as we step to the booth next door and order the Backstreet Imperial IPA. Blame It on the Hops When did we know we were in trouble? Maybe when I described a bitterly hoppy beer as "biscuity." Or when Vic asked, "Where are we going next?" and the answer was Dogfish Head. Our mission on this last Thursday in September: To try every double (or imperial) IPA we can find at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver. Why? These are extreme beers that take your taste buds on a roller coaster ride as long and furious as, say, the Raptor at Cedar Point in Ohio. Many are stronger than barley wine, but although we are drinking only an ounce (or less) at a time, these beers are meant for pint glasses rather than snifters. A mother lode of malt allows brewers to jam more than a mother lode of hops into the beer. First and foremost, these are hop delivery vehicles. Eight years after beer author-brewer-consumer Randy Mosher presented a travelogue of a recent trip to the world's great hops growing regions to listeners at Oldenberg Beer Camp, an image lingers. He is tilting his head back as if he were taking a big drink, meanwhile reaching his hands into the air and grabbing fistfuls of imagined hops, then bringing them back down to his mouth. "Americans have been starved for hops so long," he says, "that right now we're just shoving them down our throats." Just one week later, Blind Pig Brewing brewer Vinnie Cilurzo proved that point by serving GABF attendees the first, as far as anybody knows, commercial double IPA. He brewed Inaugural Ale in June 1994, the first batch out of the Temecula brewery. "Our equipment was pretty antique and crude, so I wanted to start out with something that was big and, frankly, could cover up any off flavors," he says. He calculated the bitterness at the time of brewing at 100 IBU (International Bittering Units). It was aged on oak for nine months, was served on the brewery's first anniversary, and was 15 months old when it reached the GABF. "After that, we made it a tradition to make DIPAs for our anniversary. At our second anniversary, the beer was 120 BUs. This was almost undrinkable at the time of bottling, but there was a small market for it," Cilurzo says. "We had a tasting room at our brewery. Customers would bring their Blind Pig growlers back for refills, etc. The last drop of Second Anniversary Ale, out of the brewery's last keg, filled (Stone Brewing Co. founder) Greg Koch's growler." Operating pretty much in parallel in the Northwest, John Maier of Rogue Ales brewed his first imperial pale ale in 1995, releasing it as I2PA at the 1996 Oregon Brewers Festival. The hops train was picking up speed. This year, for the first time, "Imperial or Double India Pale Ale" is a separate category in GABF judging and 39 beers are entered. How Many IBU? Vic Kralj and Tom Nickel see the passion every day, and they feel it as well. Kralj (otherwise to be known as Vic in this story) runs the Bistro in Hayward, CA, which organizes a variety of hoppy beer events. He is at the GABF for the first time since 1998. "I want to be here when they award the first Double IPA gold medal," he says. Vic started his own Double IPA festival in 2001. "The first year we had 12, then 20 and 24. I wouldn't be surprised if we had 30 for this one (February 7, 2004)," he says. Tom Nickel is a brewer, bar owner and veteran beer judge. He made the category his first preference for judging this year. At his pub, O'Brien's in San Diego, the best-selling beer is an 8 percent IPA and he regularly has at least one double IPA on tap, sometimes more than a half dozen. "As a pub owner I like to have a big beer from a brewery on tap at the same time as another beer-they like one, odds are good that they will like the other. I want to expand people's horizons about what they think is beer and what is proper to put in a pint glass," Nickel says. And then there's the fact he just plain likes to drink double IPAs. "They are awesome tasting, strong and hoppy, but you can still drink by the pint," he says. "It is why I think Dogfish Head's 120 Minute IPA is so impressive. I can have pint of it and enjoy it without it being too heavy or thick-mind you, the alcohol catches up with you fast, but the flavor and body beg to be put in a pint." Dogfish Head Brewing in Delaware hops relentlessly, adding hops constantly to its 60 Minute, 90 Minute and 120 Minute IPAs, with the latter two labeled "imperial." Because they are bottled and sold across much of the country, they act as ambassadors for the style. The 90 Minute falls within the GABF guidelines, but at 21 percent ABV, the 120 is far too high (for style) in alcohol. Yet it was probably the first of the 1,400-plus kegs to be drained on the Thursday of GABF. The 120 also is dry hopped every day for a month. Is it really 120 IBU? "That's what we calculated," says brewery founder Sam Calagione, "but we should probably send it out (to a lab) to make it official." Brewers and consumers toss around IBU numbers that likely aren't accurate. "Hey, did you try the one that's 130 IBU?" we hear Thursday as we walk. In fact, that might not be possible. Brewing chemists can fill a blackboard explaining why, so Mitch Steele-an assistant brew master at Anheuser-Busch who also judged the category-provides an English translation: "The maximum IBU level in a beer is somewhat dependent on composition of the beer. A higher alcohol, higher gravity beer can have more IBU than a beer at 5 percent alcohol. A 5 percent beer will max out at 120 parts per million iso-alpha acids, which corresponds to about 80 IBU. It is physically impossible to have more IBU than that in a 5 percent beer. As alcohol and unfermented carbohydrate in the beer increases, so does the ability of the beer to carry more IBU. Our hop research expert feels that the claim that some barley wines have over 100 IBU is probably valid." What a chemist may measure and a drinker may taste can differ. "Perceived hop quality versus measurable bitterness, that's a tough one. I'm not sure there is a relationship because so much more is involved, like flavor balance, and the types of hops used," says Steele. "Many feel that low cohumulone hops produce a better, cleaner bitterness. I do know that during the judging, the imperial IPAs that were not harsh or unbalanced did better with the judges. Clean bitterness was key." "This set a standard, a benchmark," Nickel says. "If you enter this category and expect to win, your beer better be at least this hoppy. This category is only going to get better as hop usage becomes more refined. In the grand scheme of things, craft brewers know very little about hops." Back to the Hunt We begin Thursday, appropriately enough, with Cilurzo. He now calls his double Pliny the Elder because a couple thousand years ago, Pliny and his contemporaries created the botanical name for hops, Lupus salictarius, meaning "wolf among scrubs." That eventually became Humulus lupulus. Cilurzo is in the process of setting up a new brewery and pub in Santa Rosa, CA, and steals time to brew his Russian River beers at another brewpub, where he also makes beer. Thus he is serving Pliny bottled back in June, and not as fresh as he would like. "The hops haven't dropped out on this at all," Vic says. "This beer is beautifully balanced," I note, before suggesting that may not have been the case in 1995. "I would probably agree," Cilurzo says. "I've raised the malt level (the Inaugural Ale was 6.5 percent ABV; Pliny is 8 percent). I try to use more high alpha hops, with lower cohumulone (a contributor to a coarser bitterness)." Personally, he likes Pliny better at two or three months old. "But it really sells well when it is younger," he says. "It is an extreme style, and I personally don't think the beer should be totally balanced-it should definitely be slanted toward hops." He tries to be patient when consumers disagree. "I'm probably too frank with those people, but I tell them not to drink Pliny and drink our regular IPA. I continue to tell these folks that it's a double IPA, it's supposed to be big, just as a Scotch ale is supposed to be malt with almost no hop character to it. Bottom line, 'double' is about choice," he says Speaking of being frank, that's our next stop: Frank Double IPA from Port Brewing Co. in Carlsbad, CA. Bad news. "Frank has left the building," the volunteer tells us. The keg of Frank has been misplaced (so misplaced that it never appears). This becomes more disappointing Saturday when Frank wins the gold medal. We step to the next booth, Port's sister brewery, Pizza Port Solana Beach, where head brewer Tomme Arthur has earned national acclaim with a wide range of Belgian-style ales. A couple of years ago, a drinker arrived at the Pizza Port table and said, "Give me the hoppiest thing you got." Arthur replied, "Don't see any hops here." Today there are hops-Hop 15 will be the silver medal winner. "On the dark end of the (color) range, but beautiful," Vic says, holding it up. "Smell those hops," he adds, closing his eyes and smiling. We bounce from Illinois to Virginia, back to California, over to Pennsylvania and on to New Mexico. Brewers who have seldom tasted the style as it has been nurtured in California for eight years are taking a poke at it. "It was about a year or more ago that I started researching this elusive style," Bill Madden of Capitol City Brewing, Arlington, VA, said before the competition. He decided to call his beer Imperial after a West Coast brewer reasoned that a true double would have to start at 32 Plato and have 140 IBU. "We only tapped a keg a week so our regulars would not drink it up so fast. We never advertised the Imperial IPA in the brewpubs, but still people in the know heard about it and would call ahead to be sure it was on tap. Stealth beer, we call it," he said. By the time the night is over, we will have sampled 29 would-be double IPAs. Some-one from Goose Island comes to mind-are wonderful beers but don't have the fresh hop character West Coast brewers demand. "It's like crushing a hop and throwing it in on top," Vic says, holding a sample of Racer X Double IPA. "Just smell this." Is This Really a New Style? The hop bills for these beers remind us how extreme the style is meant to be. Dave Hiest of Hoptown Brewing in California won the gold for his IPA, but really wanted it for his DUIPA Imperial Ale, which is double dry hopped and overall has 100 pounds of hops in a 13-barrel batch. To brew Frank, Kirk McHale uses 26 pounds of hops in the whirlpool alone. The beer was named for a customer. "Our Wipeout IPA (a silver medal winner in 2001) was never hoppy enough for him, so we made a beer that is as obnoxious as he is," McHale said. In Solano Beach, assistant Jeff Bagby came up with the idea for Hop 15, inspired by the restaurant's 15th anniversary. He and Arthur added 15 ounces of 15 different hops at 15-minute intervals during the boil (yes, that makes for nearly a four-hour boil). The order was chosen by pulling numbers from a hat. It was dry hopped with 18 pounds of three different hops at three different stages. "This is a terribly American beer," Arthur told author Michael Jackson after the awards ceremony. "Terribly?" Jackson asked, drinking the Hop 15. "I find this beer terribly drinkable. Is it because I'm a hophead?" In most of the world, most of this country, really, drinkers have never heard of double or imperial IPA. Will it end up being considered as a style of its own? "Right now, it is a matter of semantics," said Jackson, whose work 25 years ago defined most of what we call styles today. Eight years later, Mosher-a style historian himself-isn't convinced that Americans aren't going through a phase. "I still think this will pass, although it does seem as if a micro-niche has been created for these stupidly-and I mean that in the best possible way-hoppy beers," he says. "I think it's evidence that US brewers are pushing the edges wherever they can find them. As new techniques-barrel-aging, wild yeast, etc.-are worked out, these will offer more avenues for extreme beers.... This super-specialty area is one more place small brewers can go where the big brewers just can't follow." For now, expect brewers to keep turning up the volume. Perhaps Vic and I can put back on our tour shirts January 28-29, when six brewers duke it out in the "Lupulin Slam" at R.F.D. Washington in Washington, DC. Cilurzo, Arthur and Adam Avery of Avery Brewing in Colorado will line up for the West Coast; and Madden, Calagione and Larry Bell from Kalamazoo Brewing, for the East Coast. Each brewer will bring two beers and plenty of insults. At the end of the evening, a mystery 13th beer will be served. Let's see. Twelve beers, each claiming to be 100 IBU, blended into one. Is that 1,200 IBUs? An imperial imperial? Now, that's terribly American. Brute brews San Diegans love beer. But not just any old, run-of-the-mill, mainstream beer like the Millers or Budweisers that occupied the entire bottom shelf of your refrigerator in college. Nope, beer drinkers here have discriminating tastes in their brews. With more than 30 breweries in the county, including Stone, Karl Strauss and Green Flash brewing companies, San Diego has made a name for itself among the country’s beer elite. Along the East Coast, members of the beer industry have even begun changing the names of certain India pale ale (IPA) recipes, referring to them as “San Diego pale ales” instead, because of a particular way of using hops that creates a distinctive flavor many believe originated here. With so many local breweries to choose from, how can you possibly expect to keep up with all of the best beers? You could start by sampling two or three new beers every night, non-stop, for the next four months and you might get close to tasting all the beer San Diego has to offer. Wasn’t there a doctor who said something about how drinking beer every day is good for your heart? OK, maybe not. Another way to get your hands on this city’s premier pints is by stopping by one of the many annual beer festivals, including the upcoming San Diego Strong Ale Festival hosted by Pizza Port Brewing Company. Now in its 10th year, the Strong Ale Festival in Carlsbad will be the battleground for more than 65 beers from here and around the country, each one with at least 8-percent alcohol by volume (ABV). Among the local breweries competing in this year’s festival is AleSmith Brewing Company, widely known for its Anvil ESB and its Halloween seasonal brew, Evil Dead Red. Peter Zien, AleSmith’s owner and one of the company’s brewers, joins the ranks of self-proclaimed “beer nuts” in San Diego who look forward to participating in festivals like Strong Ale. Though Zien has been crafting his own brews for more than 11 years now, he can trace his passion for beer back to three decades ago. “When I was in junior high and high school, I had about a 300-bottle beer collection,” Zien said, “My folks would take me to Europe and I was trying all of these great beers out there. That’s when I discovered better beer.” Upon joining the AleSmith team nearly five years ago, Zien began his mission of teaching people to regard beer with a level of discrimination similar to that of wine tasting. “I want to represent the Rolls Royce segment of beer and show people it can be an elegant thing,” he said. Chatting over several samples of AleSmith beer he offered inside the brewery’s Miramar warehouse, Zien described his company’s contribution to this year’s Strong Ale Festival, the Wee Heavy Strong Scotch ale, “This is our interpretation of the classic Scottish style, big and malty with a touch of smoked malt apparent in the aftertaste.” The Wee Heavy, which boasts an alcohol content of 10 percent (most commercial beers range between 5 and 6 percent), has performed well in past festivals, taking both silver and bronze medals in the last two years at the Great American Beer Festival. Two entries in the Strong Ale Festival this year will come from Ballast Point Brewing Company (two locations—the original one near the University of San Diego and a new one near Scripps Ranch). “We’re bringing our Three Sheets Barley Wine and the Dorado Double IPA,” said Colby Chandler, one of Ballast Point’s brewers. As president of the San Diego Brewers Guild, Chandler has an unending list of favorite brews, which is one of the reasons he says he began brewing in the first place, “I like beer, but not just one particular style. That’s why a lot of people get into home-brewing, because they can’t find that one style they like.” Ballast Point’s Dorado Double IPA is included in Chandler’s long list of personal favorites. “It has a big aroma, a lot of that kind of citrusy hops, grapefruity, tropical fruit—that kind of aroma……. There’s just enough sweetness to balance out the aggressive bitterness of the hops.” San Diego City Beat 11-29-06 ASN Tours New Beervana, Survives Pizza Port Strong Ale Fest By Tony Forder ASN Vol. 16 No. 1 (Feb - Mar 2007) So, you’ve heard they have some pretty good beers in San Diego. You have no idea. Beginning with our first stop after leaving the airport — Ballast Point Brewing — we were awash in a sea of high-quality, high-test brews, which left us gasping for air at such an elevated beer altitude. From the “You are not Worthy” brews of Stone, to the beautifully balanced brews of Ballast Point, the inspired bottlings at Green Flash, the almost venerable AleSmith, and the barrel-aged inspirations of Tomme Arthur at the new Port Brewing Co., I would venture to say that San Diego County is the current trailblazer in American beer country. Even the pizza places have outrageous beer — the multiple locations of Pizza Port and Oggi’s, for example. The most popular style? Double IPA, without a doubt. After sampling the super smooth Dorado at Ballast Point (winner of the first two gold medals at the Double IPA Fest in Hayward, CA), we stopped by local watering hole, O’Brien’s. There were at least five Double IPAs on tap. The great thing about O’Brien’s, run by local beer maven Tom Nickel is that you can order a 4-by-4 ounce sampler, the ideal way to sample these high-gravity brews. A visit to Peter Zien and Co. at Alesmith capped our arrival day. His crew kept our noses to the grindstone, cracking open a case of 2004 Speedway Stout, which jolted us to attention. Horny Devil, golden Belgian and Yulesmith, imperial red, were duly checked, and backed up with the solid ESB Anvil Ale. If the beer air had been rarified, it became darn well ethereal at the 10th Annual Strong Ale Festival held at Pizza Port, Carlsbad, Dec. 8-9; the boundary between flesh and spirit blurred amid the 64-plus brews that ranged from 8% to 14% in strength. Thirty or so of the brews came from San Diego County. Of the remainder, half came from other parts of California, and half from six other states and three other countries, including Maudite from Quebec; a 10% barley wine from Cocapa Brewing in Mexicali, Mexico, and an exceedingly rare 2001 keg of Samichlaus from the Eggenberger Brewery in Austria. The East Coast was represented by Ichor Quad from Sly Fox and Storm King Imperial Stout from Victory. Each beer seemed to be amazing on its own; the cumulative crescendo meant some time in the padded cell, by which I mean the VIP area — the brewhouse lined with comfortable couches. Standouts that were not flushed from memory by the sheer strength of the big beer current included the instant pick-me-up, knock-me-down, Da Grind Buzz, an imperial version of Kona Brewing’s coffee stout (Hawaii); a whiskey barrel-aged Bigfoot from Sierra Nevada (California) and a Wild Turkey-aged Double IPA from Bear Republic (California). The locals presented a variety of Belgian styles, Imperial Stouts, Barleywines and Double IPAs, including 10th anniversary editions from Stone and Coronado. In honor of the beer brewed for the fifth annual fest, Port Brewing presented a barrel-aged version of Older Viscosity, weighing in at 12.1%. Pizza Port Carlsbad, the fest’s host brewery laid on Night Rider Imperial Stout and Revelations, a Belgian-style Golden Ale. In all, 10 types of Double IPAs were on tap, including cask-conditioned Dorado; seven Imperial Stouts; and seven Barleywines, as well as a Wheat Wine from Karl Strauss. Samples were poured at four ounces, or less if desired. With tasting running seven hours — 4-11 p.m. (VIP at 1 p.m.) on Friday and 12 hours Saturday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m., it was possible to pace oneself, take breaks for eating and other more mundane tasks. Our tour group was stationed within easy reach of the fest at the Best Western Ocean View — they weren’t kidding about the view, great from the balcony. The weather held up its end at a sunny 68-70 degrees. Our tour day, Saturday, saw us headed down Route 78 stopping first at Green Flash and Oggi’s Pizza in nearby Vista. Brewer Chuck Silva welcomed us at Green Flash with West Coast IPA, really a definitive example of the style. Ruby Red and Nut Brown led the way to Barleywine and Trippel and, of course the requisite Imperial IPA. Solid nutrition was taken on board at Oggi’s Pizza washed down with their solid brew lineup before heading to San Marcos, where we found, installed in the old Stone brewery, the new, but already strangely mystical Port Brewing with its Lost Abbey labels — you can almost hear the beer aging in the barrels. We tried Tomme Arthur’s latest opii, the Lost and Found, Amazing Grace, and the dangerously powerful Angels Share. The latter takes its name from whisky lore — the angels’ share being the part of the batch that is lost through evaporation from the barrel. In this case, it seemed the barrels kept plenty for themselves. The final destination, the piece de resistance, was San Diego County’s newest jewel, the Stone Brewing Co.’s $12M brewery and World Bistro and Gardens where we had dinner. The bistro is impressive, with indoor and outdoor seating and an acre of sunken gardens strewn with boulders and stones of varying sizes. President Greg Koch said our group would be christening the upstairs party space. The bar features all the regular Stone’s, special releases such as Vertical Epic Ale, Imperial Russian Stout and OAKED Arrogant Bastard, as well as selections from other San Diego breweries. We munched on items on the Bistro’s adventurous (and pricey) menu and eventually limped back to Carlsbad and a nightcap at the fest. Eventful decade led to San Diego's ascendency in the craft-beer world January 17, 2007
Ten years ago, regular patrons of O'Brien's tavern in Kearny Mesa started whining to the owner. “This used to be good,” they'd gripe, gagging on a mild ale they had once savored. “Why isn't it good any more?” “Guys,” Jim O'Brien would reply, “your tastes have changed.” Change was in the air – and in the mug. Through the early 1990s, San Diego beer fans were faced with a meager choice of bland mass-market American beers; bland mass-market Mexican beers; the occasional Northern California or Oregon microbrew; and the self-proclaimed “San Diego Native,” Karl Strauss Amber Lager. But around 1996, a beer tsunami hit San Diego, changing our expectations and challenging our taste buds. In the 10-year span between 1996 and 2006, Stone, Ballast Point and several other breweries were born; the “San Diego beer,” a bracing new ale, won a passionate following; guerrilla brewers blazed bold trails; and new brews flooded local restaurants, bars, liquor stores and supermarkets.
But that was then. “As for our generation,” said Calagione, 37, founder of Delaware's Dogfish Head, “San Diego is recognized as the pre-eminent land of hops.” Reviewing the last 10 years, we have identified 10 keys to the rise of San Diego's craft beer industry. This list reflects personal experience and bias; if you have your own list, please e-mail it to me. For now, consider this the opening round in a great debate – one that may be continued later over a pint. January 17, 2007 1996: WHITE LABS GOES COMMERCIAL Chris White, a UCSD microbiologist, founded White Labs in 1995 to sell yeast to home brewers. It took him about a year to find another group of customers: commercial brewers.
“The brewery thing didn't take off for me until '96 or '97,” White said. But he quickly achieved orbit. Today the Mira Mesa company is one of the world's largest suppliers of brewers' yeast, with a clientele of more than 2,000 breweries. 1996: WE DISCOVER OUR UNWORTHINESS Among the notable breweries opening in the past decade were Ballast Point, Green Flash, Reaper, Firehouse and Lightning. (AleSmith and Alpine were founded in 1995). But none made a bigger splash – or sold more beer – than the brewery that proclaimed, in the snarky squint-inducing text etched on each bottle, that we are not worthy. Fortunately, Stone Brewing's founders have the chops to back up the 'tude. 1997: PIZZA AND BEER, PART II First-grade math tells us that 1 plus 1 equals 2. But when Gina and Vince Masaglia added Pizza Port Carlsbad to the original Solana Beach branch, 1 plus 1 equaled a ton of prize-winning beers. Now led by brewer Jeff Bagby, Pizza Port Carlsbad was honored with a spot on Beeradvocate.com's 2006 list of “Top 50 Places to Have a Beer in America.” (Other local honorees: O'Brien's, Liars Club and Pizza Port Solana Beach.) 1997: FEELING FESTIVE Dozens of beers received their San Diego County premieres at the Real Ale Festival, which local brewers Tomme Arthur and Tom Nickel launched in '97. Arthur and Nickel would later start festivals celebrating strong ales and Belgian brews, but the Real Ale Festival is the county's oldest organized attempt to showcase beers that exemplify a single brewing style. 1998: A MONSTER BREAKS LOOSE The invention of the Double India Pale Ale is often credited to Vinnie Cilurzo, who in 1994 whipped up the super-bitter Blind Pig IPA. By the time Cilurzo's Temecula brewery folded in 1998, this style had been embraced by virtually every brewer. In San Diego County, that is. (For an excellent example of the style, try Alpine's Pure Hoppiness.) The Double IPA is so closely identified with this region that Garrett Oliver, brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery, dubs it the San Diego Pale Ale. 2000: FOUND IN TRANSLATION Skip Virgilio, the former brewmaster at AleSmith, and his successor, Peter Zien, were among the first local brewers to add Belgian-style beers to their portfolios. But this trend gained momentum and notice thanks to a breathtaking Belgian-inspired brew that smacked of sour cherries and bourbon – Cuvee de Tomme. Tomme Arthur's brew has won many honors: silver medal, Great American Beer Festival, 2000; gold medal, Great American Beer Festival, 2003; bronze medal, Great American Festival, 2004; gold medal, World Beer Cup, 2004. In 2001, Malt Advocate magazine dubbed Cuvee de Tomme its “Domestic Beer of the Year.” 2004: THE BEER OLYMPICS After years of lobbying by local brewers, the World Beer Cup came to town. The biennial gathering of the globe's beer makers showcased San Diego's accomplishments – of the 231 winning beers, 11 were locals. Tom Nickel, then at Oggi's, was named the world's best small brewmaster. 2005: BEER ACROSS THE BORDER The inaugural Tijuana International Beer Festival was a coming-out party for Baja California Norte's microbrewing industry. Mexicali's Cucapa Pale Ale, Guanajuato's Potro – a smoky, sweet dazzler – and TJ Brewery's Morena, a light-bodied brew with silky cocoa-and-cream notes, all testified to the variety and vitality of these upstart breweries. 2005: THE AGE OF EXPANSION Evidence of the local brewing industry's strength was, in several cases, literally concrete. By moving into a remodeled facility in Scripps Ranch, Ballast Point tripled its capacity. By shifting operations to a custom plant in Escondido, Stone Brewing quadrupled its capacity. And Stone's old San Marcos brewhouse was snapped up by Port Brewing, which is bottling Pizza Port favorites like Shark Bite Red and Tomme Arthur's Belgian-inspired line of Lost Abbey ales. 2006: KARL STRAUSS, RIP Strauss' death last month underlined the great sea change in the local beer trade. Ten years ago, the brewery that carried his name was the best-known San Diego brewery, and the beers made to his specifications were the best-known San Diego beers. That's no longer true. Karl Strauss Brewing Co. remains a success story, and its beers increasingly push against the boundaries set by the late brewmaster. Strauss, a remarkably energetic and forceful presence for nearly all of his 94 years, helped establish the local brewing scene. His beers were solid and well-crafted but a little stodgy. In the post-Strauss era, the industry's leading edge is – and will be – more inventive and daring. Next month: Ten changes on San Diego's brewing horizon. Brewery Rowe appears monthly in the Food section. Peter Rowe,the proprietor, welcomes calls, (619) 293-1227; letters, c/o The San Diego Union-Tribune, P.O. Box 120191, San Diego, CA 92112-0191; and e-mail, peter.rowe@uniontrib.com.
Get a simple answer: “Ten years?” repeated Jack White, the president and resident seer at Ballast Point Brewing. “I don't know that we think much past the next brew.” Predicting the future is a mug's game. No wonder many of the local beer industry's wise men and women – the Magi of Malt – reacted to my question as if I'd swilled one too many. Yet this is the same bunch who force microscopic organisms to transform water, malted barley and hops into a magical elixir. They can't resist a challenge. A word of encouragement, a pint or more, and the predictions flowed. Some of these guesses are as educated as a magna cum laude; others may look as unschooled as a kindergarten dropout. Is your crystal ball sharper? Share your visions of beer news to come with Brewery Rowe, peter.rowe@uniontrib.com. Through a beer mug darkly, 2007-2017 1. Breakout brewery: Ballast Point The tide is flowing Ballast Point's way. The brewery controls its own distribution network; sells rivers of easy-drinking Yellowtail Pale Ale; wins street cred with hop-happy Dorado Double IPA; is invading Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties; and projects 50 percent growth this year, up to 12,000 barrels. “They're doing awesome,” said Jeff Bagby, Pizza Port Carlsbad's brewer. Best of all, head brewer Yusef Cherney's crew is still taking risks. “We're just trying to have fun,” said brewery president White, “giving our brewers a chance to experiment.” 2. Buzz phrase: “Beer culture” No, this does not refer to mold growing under a leaking keg. “Beer culture” means exploring the world of brewing and brews, often in a fine-dining environment.
3. Trend: Belgian beer bistros Beers from Belgium are all the rage among beer geeks – but we have just begun to scratch the Flemish and Walloonian surface. “I think the appreciation of Belgian beers is still in its infancy,” said Skip Virgilio, the former brewer at AleSmith. “I can't think of any place in town where they focus on this.” In other cities, Belgian beer and cuisine is a winning combination. In Philadelphia, there's Monk's; in Seattle, Brouwer's Cafe; in Tokyo, Cafe Hoegaarden and a small chain, Brussels. 4. Distilled experience Anchor, the San Francisco brewer, now makes gin and whiskey. Rogue, the piratical brew house in Newport, Ore., turns out gin and rum. I'll bet a pint and a shot that, by 2017, at least one San Diego County brewer will be distilling spirits. 5. Breakout beer: Sharkbite Red Ten years ago, few local beers were bottled. Today you can find dozens – but none with more blockbuster appeal than Sharkbite Red. A deceptively simple amber ale, Sharkbite is the best seller at Pizza Port Solana Beach and Carlsbad. Centennial and Cascade hops snap your palate to attention, while roasted malts smack of caramel and butterscotch. Sharkbite is a zesty reminder that reds can have teeth. 6. Quest for space The San Diego Festival of Beer, set to celebrate its 13th birthday in September, is a typical adolescent, bursting at the seams. Hemmed in by its current location on the streets around Columbia and B, this teen must grow. Why? Three reasons: An annual fundraiser for the San Diego Professionals Against Cancer, the festival is a great cause. The one-night event introduces outstanding beers to a wide audience without snobbery. Attendance by brewers and the public would soar if the festival could secure more spacious grounds. That's a big if – the cancer-fighting pros are determined to keep the event in space-starved downtown – but a worthy challenge. 7. Going organic “Even though craft brewers shun chemical additives and preservatives during brewing,” notes Christopher Mark O'Brien in his book, “Fermenting Revolution,” “their beers are heavily laden with dangerous chemicals from the dozens of chemical inputs used to grow barley and hops, the primary ingredients in beer.” Yuck. Organic beers, though, allow you to drink with an easy conscience. As organic foods grow in popularity, expect more breweries to produce more all-natural beers. A dazzling example: San Diego Brewing Co.'s Red Star Organic Imperial Stout, a creamy stout that tastes like it was cross-bred with a tart India Pale Ale. 8. Tastes great, less polluting Breweries must address the environmental costs of bacteria-laced wastewater, an unfortunate byproduct of brewing. “That's going to be the monkey on the back of growth,” said Lee Chase, a White Labs consultant and former brewer at Stone. One possible solution: Engineers are devising ways to tap effluent for energy. Anheuser-Busch, for instance, has turned its wastewater into a fuel source – and profit. In 2000, this step reportedly saved A-B $40 million. 9. Trouble brewing? Several brewers fear that the local craft brew fraternity's one-for-all attitude may devolve into a free-for-all. The reason: As breweries expand, many shift their focus from kegs to bottled beer. Bottles require shelf space, a limited commodity and a potential battlefield. “I don't see how 10 years from now we're all hunky-dory,” said one local brewer. 10. Branding San Diego Expect to see San Diego beers marketed as San Diego Beers. “The fact is,” said Jim O'Brien, former owner of O'Brien's pub in Kearny Mesa, “no normal guy in San Diego knows that San Diego makes the best beer in the country.” Local brewers, noted Pizza Port's Bagby, have been “working on the beer, not on selling it.” Great brewing is essential. For breweries to continue thriving, so is great marketing. Beer biz Last month's list of 10 events that changed the local beer scene drew comment and fire: Jeff McQuigg noted that I had overlooked last May's inaugural Cardiff-by-the-Sea Microbrew Festival. He promises a second fest later this year. Jeff Kelleher focused on local purveyors of unpressurized, unpasteurized, “real” ale. Beyond O'Brien's, Liars' Club and Hamiltons, he recommended the San Diego Brewing Company and Rock Bottom. “The Brewing Company's version is usually an English import like Fuller's ESB. Rock Bottom's is brewed on the premises, and is usually very good.” Alex Markle charged Brewery Rowe with criminally slighting local home-brewers, especially members of QUAFF. Guilty. The nation's best home-brewing club will meet Feb. 27 at Callahan's, 8111 Mira Mesa Blvd., San Diego. Finally, I failed to applaud brew pubs that match food to beer. Case in point: La Jolla Brew House will host an Irish-themed feast March 12. Four courses, four beers and live music for $25. Reservations are required; call (858) 456-6279. Brewery Rowe appears monthly in the Food section. Peter Rowe, the proprietor, welcomes calls, (619) 293-1227; letters, c/o The San Diego Union-Tribune, P.O. Box 120191, San Diego, CA 92112-0191; and e-mail, peter.rowe@uniontrib.com. Eventful decade led to San Diego's ascendency in the craft-beer world Ten years ago, regular patrons of O'Brien's tavern in Kearny Mesa started whining to the owner. “This used to be good,” they'd gripe, gagging on a mild ale they had once savored. “Why isn't it good any more?” “Guys,” Jim O'Brien would reply, “your tastes have changed.” Change was in the air – and in the mug. Through the early 1990s, San Diego beer fans were faced with a meager choice of bland mass-market American beers; bland mass-market Mexican beers; the occasional Northern California or Oregon microbrew; and the self-proclaimed “San Diego Native,” Karl Strauss Amber Lager. But around 1996, a beer tsunami hit San Diego, changing our expectations and challenging our taste buds. In the 10-year span between 1996 and 2006, Stone, Ballast Point and several other breweries were born; the “San Diego beer,” a bracing new ale, won a passionate following; guerrilla brewers blazed bold trails; and new brews flooded local restaurants, bars, liquor stores and supermarkets. America's hopheads noticed. When Sam Calagione started brewing, he looked for inspiration to Northern California breweries like Anchor and Sierra Nevada. But that was then. “As for our generation,” said Calagione, 37, founder of Delaware's Dogfish Head, “San Diego is recognized as the pre-eminent land of hops.” Reviewing the last 10 years, we have identified 10 keys to the rise of San Diego's craft beer industry. This list reflects personal experience and bias; if you have your own list, please e-mail it to me. For now, consider this the opening round in a great debate – one that may be continued later over a pint. 1996: WHITE LABS GOES COMMERCIAL Chris White, a UCSD microbiologist, founded White Labs in 1995 to sell yeast to home brewers. It took him about a year to find another group of customers: commercial brewers. Advertisement The brewery thing didn't take off for me until '96 or '97,” White said. But he quickly achieved orbit. Today the Mira Mesa company is one of the world's largest suppliers of brewers' yeast, with a clientele of more than 2,000 breweries. 1996: WE DISCOVER OUR UNWORTHINESS Among the notable breweries opening in the past decade were Ballast Point, Green Flash, Reaper, Firehouse and Lightning. (AleSmith and Alpine were founded in 1995). But none made a bigger splash – or sold more beer – than the brewery that proclaimed, in the snarky squint-inducing text etched on each bottle, that we are not worthy. Fortunately, Stone Brewing's founders have the chops to back up the 'tude. 1997: PIZZA AND BEER, PART II First-grade math tells us that 1 plus 1 equals 2. But when Gina and Vince Masaglia added Pizza Port Carlsbad to the original Solana Beach branch, 1 plus 1 equaled a ton of prize-winning beers. Now led by brewer Jeff Bagby, Pizza Port Carlsbad was honored with a spot on Beeradvocate.com's 2006 list of “Top 50 Places to Have a Beer in America.” (Other local honorees: O'Brien's, Liars Club and Pizza Port Solana Beach.) 1997: FEELING FESTIVE Dozens of beers received their San Diego County premieres at the Real Ale Festival, which local brewers Tomme Arthur and Tom Nickel launched in '97. Arthur and Nickel would later start festivals celebrating strong ales and Belgian brews, but the Real Ale Festival is the county's oldest organized attempt to showcase beers that exemplify a single brewing style. 1998: A MONSTER BREAKS LOOSE The invention of the Double India Pale Ale is often credited to Vinnie Cilurzo, who in 1994 whipped up the super-bitter Blind Pig IPA. By the time Cilurzo's Temecula brewery folded in 1998, this style had been embraced by virtually every brewer. In San Diego County, that is. (For an excellent example of the style, try Alpine's Pure Hoppiness.) The Double IPA is so closely identified with this region that Garrett Oliver, brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery, dubs it the San Diego Pale Ale. 2000: FOUND IN TRANSLATION Skip Virgilio, the former brewmaster at AleSmith, and his successor, Peter Zien, were among the first local brewers to add Belgian-style beers to their portfolios. But this trend gained momentum and notice thanks to a breathtaking Belgian-inspired brew that smacked of sour cherries and bourbon – Cuvee de Tomme. Tomme Arthur's brew has won many honors: silver medal, Great American Beer Festival, 2000; gold medal, Great American Beer Festival, 2003; bronze medal, Great American Festival, 2004; gold medal, World Beer Cup, 2004. In 2001, Malt Advocate magazine dubbed Cuvee de Tomme its “Domestic Beer of the Year.” 2004: THE BEER OLYMPICS After years of lobbying by local brewers, the World Beer Cup came to town. The biennial gathering of the globe's beer makers showcased San Diego's accomplishments – of the 231 winning beers, 11 were locals. Tom Nickel, then at Oggi's, was named the world's best small brewmaster. 2005: BEER ACROSS THE BORDER The inaugural Tijuana International Beer Festival was a coming-out party for Baja California Norte's microbrewing industry. Mexicali's Cucapa Pale Ale, Guanajuato's Potro – a smoky, sweet dazzler – and TJ Brewery's Morena, a light-bodied brew with silky cocoa-and-cream notes, all testified to the variety and vitality of these upstart breweries. 2005: THE AGE OF EXPANSION Evidence of the local brewing industry's strength was, in several cases, literally concrete. By moving into a remodeled facility in Scripps Ranch, Ballast Point tripled its capacity. By shifting operations to a custom plant in Escondido, Stone Brewing quadrupled its capacity. And Stone's old San Marcos brewhouse was snapped up by Port Brewing, which is bottling Pizza Port favorites like Shark Bite Red and Tomme Arthur's Belgian-inspired line of Lost Abbey ales. 2006: KARL STRAUSS, RIP Strauss' death last month underlined the great sea change in the local beer trade. Ten years ago, the brewery that carried his name was the best-known San Diego brewery, and the beers made to his specifications were the best-known San Diego beers. That's no longer true. Karl Strauss Brewing Co. remains a success story, and its beers increasingly push against the boundaries set by the late brewmaster. Strauss, a remarkably energetic and forceful presence for nearly all of his 94 years, helped establish the local brewing scene. His beers were solid and well-crafted but a little stodgy. In the post-Strauss era, the industry's leading edge is – and will be – more inventive and daring. Next month: Ten changes on San Diego's brewing horizon. Brewery Rowe appears monthly in the Food section. Peter Rowe,the proprietor, welcomes calls, (619) 293-1227; letters, c/o The San Diego Union-Tribune, P.O. Box 120191, San Diego, CA 92112-0191; and e-mail, peter.rowe@uniontrib.com. ASN Tours New Beervana, Survives Pizza Port Strong Ale Fest So, you’ve heard they have some pretty good beers in San Diego. You have no idea. Beginning with our first stop after leaving the airport — Ballast Point Brewing — we were awash in a sea of high-quality, high-test brews, which left us gasping for air at such an elevated beer altitude. From the “You are not Worthy” brews of Stone, to the beautifully balanced brews of Ballast Point, the inspired bottlings at Green Flash, the almost venerable AleSmith, and the barrel-aged inspirations of Tomme Arthur at the new Port Brewing Co., I would venture to say that San Diego County is the current trailblazer in American beer country. Even the pizza places have outrageous beer — the multiple locations of Pizza Port and Oggi’s, for example. The most popular style? Double IPA, without a doubt. After sampling the super smooth Dorado at Ballast Point (winner of the first two gold medals at the Double IPA Fest in Hayward, CA), we stopped by local watering hole, O’Brien’s. There were at least five Double IPAs on tap. The great thing about O’Brien’s, run by local beer maven Tom Nickel is that you can order a 4-by-4 ounce sampler, the ideal way to sample these high-gravity brews. A visit to Peter Zien and Co. at Alesmith capped our arrival day. His crew kept our noses to the grindstone, cracking open a case of 2004 Speedway Stout, which jolted us to attention. Horny Devil, golden Belgian and Yulesmith, imperial red, were duly checked, and backed up with the solid ESB Anvil Ale. If the beer air had been rarified, it became darn well ethereal at the 10th Annual Strong Ale Festival held at Pizza Port, Carlsbad, Dec. 8-9; the boundary between flesh and spirit blurred amid the 64-plus brews that ranged from 8% to 14% in strength. Thirty or so of the brews came from San Diego County. Of the remainder, half came from other parts of California, and half from six other states and three other countries, including Maudite from Quebec; a 10% barley wine from Cocapa Brewing in Mexicali, Mexico, and an exceedingly rare 2001 keg of Samichlaus from the Eggenberger Brewery in Austria. The East Coast was represented by Ichor Quad from Sly Fox and Storm King Imperial Stout from Victory. Each beer seemed to be amazing on its own; the cumulative crescendo meant some time in the padded cell, by which I mean the VIP area — the brewhouse lined with comfortable couches. Standouts that were not flushed from memory by the sheer strength of the big beer current included the instant pick-me-up, knock-me-down, Da Grind Buzz, an imperial version of Kona Brewing’s coffee stout (Hawaii); a whiskey barrel-aged Bigfoot from Sierra Nevada (California) and a Wild Turkey-aged Double IPA from Bear Republic (California). The locals presented a variety of Belgian styles, Imperial Stouts, Barleywines and Double IPAs, including 10th anniversary editions from Stone and Coronado. In honor of the beer brewed for the fifth annual fest, Port Brewing presented a barrel-aged version of Older Viscosity, weighing in at 12.1%. Pizza Port Carlsbad, the fest’s host brewery laid on Night Rider Imperial Stout and Revelations, a Belgian-style Golden Ale. In all, 10 types of Double IPAs were on tap, including cask-conditioned Dorado; seven Imperial Stouts; and seven Barleywines, as well as a Wheat Wine from Karl Strauss. Samples were poured at four ounces, or less if desired. With tasting running seven hours — 4-11 p.m. (VIP at 1 p.m.) on Friday and 12 hours Saturday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m., it was possible to pace oneself, take breaks for eating and other more mundane tasks. Our tour group was stationed within easy reach of the fest at the Best Western Ocean View — they weren’t kidding about the view, great from the balcony. The weather held up its end at a sunny 68-70 degrees. Our tour day, Saturday, saw us headed down Route 78 stopping first at Green Flash and Oggi’s Pizza in nearby Vista. Brewer Chuck Silva welcomed us at Green Flash with West Coast IPA, really a definitive example of the style. Ruby Red and Nut Brown led the way to Barleywine and Trippel and, of course the requisite Imperial IPA. Solid nutrition was taken on board at Oggi’s Pizza washed down with their solid brew lineup before heading to San Marcos, where we found, installed in the old Stone brewery, the new, but already strangely mystical Port Brewing with its Lost Abbey labels — you can almost hear the beer aging in the barrels. We tried Tomme Arthur’s latest opii, the Lost and Found, Amazing Grace, and the dangerously powerful Angels Share. The latter takes its name from whisky lore — the angels’ share being the part of the batch that is lost through evaporation from the barrel. In this case, it seemed the barrels kept plenty for themselves. The final destination, the piece de resistance, was San Diego County’s newest jewel, the Stone Brewing Co.’s $12M brewery and World Bistro and Gardens where we had dinner. The bistro is impressive, with indoor and outdoor seating and an acre of sunken gardens strewn with boulders and stones of varying sizes. President Greg Koch said our group would be christening the upstairs party space. The bar features all the regular Stone’s, special releases such as Vertical Epic Ale, Imperial Russian Stout and OAKED Arrogant Bastard, as well as selections from other San Diego breweries. We munched on items on the Bistro’s adventurous (and pricey) menu and eventually limped back to Carlsbad and a nightcap at the fest.
Ten years ago, regular patrons of O'Brien's tavern in Kearny Mesa started whining to the owner. “This used to be good,” they'd gripe, gagging on a mild ale they had once savored. “Why isn't it good any more?” “Guys,” Jim O'Brien would reply, “your tastes have changed.” Change was in the air – and in the mug. Through the early 1990s, San Diego beer fans were faced with a meager choice of bland mass-market American beers; bland mass-market Mexican beers; the occasional Northern California or Oregon microbrew; and the self-proclaimed “San Diego Native,” Karl Strauss Amber Lager. But around 1996, a beer tsunami hit San Diego, changing our expectations and challenging our taste buds. In the 10-year span between 1996 and 2006, Stone, Ballast Point and several other breweries were born; the “San Diego beer,” a bracing new ale, won a passionate following; guerrilla brewers blazed bold trails; and new brews flooded local restaurants, bars, liquor stores and supermarkets.
But that was then. “As for our generation,” said Calagione, 37, founder of Delaware's Dogfish Head, “San Diego is recognized as the pre-eminent land of hops.” Reviewing the last 10 years, we have identified 10 keys to the rise of San Diego's craft beer industry. This list reflects personal experience and bias; if you have your own list, please e-mail it to me. For now, consider this the opening round in a great debate – one that may be continued later over a pint.
Chris White, a UCSD microbiologist, founded White Labs in 1995 to sell yeast to home brewers. It took him about a year to find another group of customers: commercial brewers. “The brewery thing didn't take off for me until '96 or '97,” White said. But he quickly achieved orbit. Today the Mira Mesa company is one of the world's largest suppliers of brewers' yeast, with a clientele of more than 2,000 breweries. 1996: WE DISCOVER OUR UNWORTHINESS Among the notable breweries opening in the past decade were Ballast Point, Green Flash, Reaper, Firehouse and Lightning. (AleSmith and Alpine were founded in 1995). But none made a bigger splash – or sold more beer – than the brewery that proclaimed, in the snarky squint-inducing text etched on each bottle, that we are not worthy. Fortunately, Stone Brewing's founders have the chops to back up the 'tude. 1997: PIZZA AND BEER, PART II First-grade math tells us that 1 plus 1 equals 2. But when Gina and Vince Masaglia added Pizza Port Carlsbad to the original Solana Beach branch, 1 plus 1 equaled a ton of prize-winning beers. Now led by brewer Jeff Bagby, Pizza Port Carlsbad was honored with a spot on Beeradvocate.com's 2006 list of “Top 50 Places to Have a Beer in America.” (Other local honorees: O'Brien's, Liars Club and Pizza Port Solana Beach.) 1997: FEELING FESTIVE Dozens of beers received their San Diego County premieres at the Real Ale Festival, which local brewers Tomme Arthur and Tom Nickel launched in '97. Arthur and Nickel would later start festivals celebrating strong ales and Belgian brews, but the Real Ale Festival is the county's oldest organized attempt to showcase beers that exemplify a single brewing style. 1998: A MONSTER BREAKS LOOSE The invention of the Double India Pale Ale is often credited to Vinnie Cilurzo, who in 1994 whipped up the super-bitter Blind Pig IPA. By the time Cilurzo's Temecula brewery folded in 1998, this style had been embraced by virtually every brewer. In San Diego County, that is. (For an excellent example of the style, try Alpine's Pure Hoppiness.) The Double IPA is so closely identified with this region that Garrett Oliver, brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery, dubs it the San Diego Pale Ale. 2000: FOUND IN TRANSLATION Skip Virgilio, the former brewmaster at AleSmith, and his successor, Peter Zien, were among the first local brewers to add Belgian-style beers to their portfolios. But this trend gained momentum and notice thanks to a breathtaking Belgian-inspired brew that smacked of sour cherries and bourbon – Cuvee de Tomme. Tomme Arthur's brew has won many honors: silver medal, Great American Beer Festival, 2000; gold medal, Great American Beer Festival, 2003; bronze medal, Great American Festival, 2004; gold medal, World Beer Cup, 2004. In 2001, Malt Advocate magazine dubbed Cuvee de Tomme its “Domestic Beer of the Year.” 2004: THE BEER OLYMPICS After years of lobbying by local brewers, the World Beer Cup came to town. The biennial gathering of the globe's beer makers showcased San Diego's accomplishments – of the 231 winning beers, 11 were locals. Tom Nickel, then at Oggi's, was named the world's best small brewmaster. 2005: BEER ACROSS THE BORDER The inaugural Tijuana International Beer Festival was a coming-out party for Baja California Norte's microbrewing industry. Mexicali's Cucapa Pale Ale, Guanajuato's Potro – a smoky, sweet dazzler – and TJ Brewery's Morena, a light-bodied brew with silky cocoa-and-cream notes, all testified to the variety and vitality of these upstart breweries. 2005: THE AGE OF EXPANSION Evidence of the local brewing industry's strength was, in several cases, literally concrete. By moving into a remodeled facility in Scripps Ranch, Ballast Point tripled its capacity. By shifting operations to a custom plant in Escondido, Stone Brewing quadrupled its capacity. And Stone's old San Marcos brewhouse was snapped up by Port Brewing, which is bottling Pizza Port favorites like Shark Bite Red and Tomme Arthur's Belgian-inspired line of Lost Abbey ales. 2006: KARL STRAUSS, RIP Strauss' death last month underlined the great sea change in the local beer trade. Ten years ago, the brewery that carried his name was the best-known San Diego brewery, and the beers made to his specifications were the best-known San Diego beers. That's no longer true. Karl Strauss Brewing Co. remains a success story, and its beers increasingly push against the boundaries set by the late brewmaster. Strauss, a remarkably energetic and forceful presence for nearly all of his 94 years, helped establish the local brewing scene. His beers were solid and well-crafted but a little stodgy. In the post-Strauss era, the industry's leading edge is – and will be – more inventive and daring. Next month: Ten changes on San Diego's brewing horizon. Brewery Rowe appears monthly in the Food section. Peter Rowe,the proprietor, welcomes calls, (619) 293-1227; letters, c/o The San Diego Union-Tribune, P.O. Box 120191, San Diego, CA 92112-0191; and e-mail, peter.rowe@uniontrib.com. ARCHIVE
Hello, I just thought that I would mention that I have been in town for the past few weeks and this past weekend (my last unfortunately), I decided to road trip and finish off the last 14 breweries. I drove 295 miles and hit all 14 (Friday - Firehouse, Alesmith, Lightening, Ballast Point, Oceanside Ale Works. Saturday - Alpiine, Coronado, San Diego, Gordon Biersch, Taylor's, La Jolla, Oggi's. Sunday - San Marcos, Backstreet). Just thought you might like to know that it can be done that quickly. Thanks for the website, without it I would only found Green Flash. Thanks Again, Rylund Lewis San Diego beermakers--AleSmith, Stone, Pizza Port and others--are gaining a national reputation for excellence. YEAR ROUND in San Diego, beach and beer go can in hand. Stand on the boardwalk in Mission Beach, epicenter of the beach-party scene, throw a dart blindly, and odds are high you’ve just punctured a can of Coors Light. Before the offended party tracks you down —that’s him with the tribal tattoos and board shorts, brandishing a metal horseshoe —beat a hasty retreat into The Liar’s Club.
August 23, 2006 Alaskan makes no effort to hide its northern frontier roots, she added, but “it has the feel of a local beer – there's the outdoorsy image, the laid-back style.” Her advice to the Juneau-based brewery? Toga! Toga!
Learning? Good. Learning about beer? Better. Learning about beer on an ocean liner? Better yet. Holland America's Oosterdam will depart San Diego on Oct. 21 for a seven-night “Suds at Sea” cruise. Peter Zien of AleSmith Brewing Company will teach classes in brewing, beer styles and beer evaluation. I hear he's a strict teacher, but no one complains about his homework assignments. Rates range from $817 to $1,152. For information, call Rose Mario at K Travel, (619) 275-4528. UNION-TRIBUNE
(Beers are rated from 0 to 5, with 5 being best.) GORDON BIERSCH MAIBOCK ½ San Diego In mid-April, Stone Brewing released its 2006 Stone Imperial Russian Stout. By late April, the beer was No. 2 on BeerAdvocate.com's list of Top 100 Beers, and No. 10 at rival RateBeer.com. San Diego Brewers Guild Get Together August 22nd 2006 14. Tom mentioned that the Wall Street Journal would have an article on wet hops coming out on Friday, August25th and that San Diego Magazine had a nice article on the San Diego beer scene in the August issue. He also asked if folks were getting copies of the Celebrator, Southwest Brewing News and Ale Street News. Tom is now writing a column in every other issue for the Ale Street News, which is organizing a beer tour to San Diego for the 10th Anniversary of the San Diego Strong Ale. Jeff Bagby mentioned details on the fest which will be at Pizza Port Carlsbad on December 1st and 2nd. They are looking for beers over 8%, any 10th anniversary beers, any of the original Strong Ale Festival beers from 1997 and beers from 10 states. The 12 Original beers were: AleSmith J P Grey's Wee Heavy, Baja Tripel, Ballast Point Navigator Barleywine, Del Mar Stuft Pizza - Belgian Holiday Ale (brewed I believe by Greg Distefano), Hang Ten - Toes Over Stout, Hang Ten - Barneywhine (was it a wheat wine?), La Jolla - Blitzen Holiday Ale, Port Carlsbad - Elfin Holiday Ale, Port Solana - Old Boneyards, Port Solana - Santa's Little Helper, San Diego - Red Star 17. Next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, September 20th, presumably at 7 pm at the Stone World Bistro and Beer Gardens in Escondido right before the San Diego Festival of Beers. Due to conflicts with the QUAFF meeting, it was suggested that we not meet on the 4th Tuesday of any month so members could attend both meetings. Pat McIllhenny from Alpine was speaking at the QUAFF meeting on the night of the Guild meeting. It was also proposed to meet Monday – Tuesday – Wednesday when there is no Monday Night Football and to meet Tuesday – Wednesday – Thursday during football season. 18. Topics for the next meeting include: San Diego Festival of Beer and the Guild Table, Brewers Guild Festival, Community Enhancement Program Grant Application and the upcoming Gathering of the Guilds. Please bring your 19. Two final reminders. First from the last minutes: Shawn Dewitt will be collecting any past membership dues that have not been payed (gift certificate / script). The importance of getting these dues can’t be stressed enough. They are being used for trade. Not only for services (Dave the lawyer and Matt for the website) but also for items 20. And finally, if you would like to add employees or co-workers at your business to the Guild’s email distribution list, please send the full name and email address of the person (people) you wish to have added to Tom Nickel atbrewhaus@hotmail.com. BREWERY ROWE - PETER ROWE |
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