Posts tagged craft beer
Port’s Bagby Featured At Toronado NYE #craftbeer, @lostabbey
(Photo Credit: All About Beer, Julie Johnson)
If you haven’t heard by now, here it is… GABF award winner and Port Brewing’s (@lostabbey) celebrity brewer, Jeff Bagby, is leaving Port Brewing to start his own brewery. In celebration of such a momentousness occasion, the infamous Toronado (@toronado) will be replacing all of their taps (60) with his Port Brewing beers. Taking place on New Years Eve.
If I wasn’t frequenting the Lagunitas event in Big Sur I’d be over at the Toronado consuming these great beers.
Congrats Jeff on your new adventure.
Surf, Music and Australian Craft Beer at Stone & Wood Brewing Company
Way over in the Land of Oz, about 11 hours north of Sydney, in Byron Bay, the team at Stone & Wood Brewing Company subscribe to a pretty simple philosophy: craft beer, good music and surfing.
Back in 2008 the founders of Stone & Wood had been doing the big brewery thing when they decided they needed to change it up a bit: “to brew beer for times like these, beers that the locals, and the growing number of craft beer drinkers around the country (Australia), and of course ourselves, would find simply good to drink.”
Since then they’ve been running steady winning awards for their beers and successfully uniting a mixture of craft beer with the surf and music culture of Byron Bay.
I recently had a chat with Stone & Wood’s sales and marketing team member, Rick “Banno” Bannister about the Stone & Wood Brewing Company.
What’s your job title at Stone & Wood Brewing Company?
Officially, I’m part of the ‘sales and marketing’ team, but in reality I
do a little bit of everything.
Is it fun to work for a brewery?
Yep. It’s harder work and longer hours than people might think, but the
perks make up for it.
What are the perks of working in a brewery?
Free beer!
Tell us a little bit about the Stone & Wood Brewing Company?
It was started by three mates, Brad Rogers, Ross Jurisich and Jamie Cook
who’d done the big brewery thing for a long time and who wanted a change
of lifestyle. They were all passionate about surfing, music and good beer,
so they decided to move to Byron Bay and see if they could combine those
three passions.
What style of beer is Stone & Wood known for?
Our Pacific Ale was the first beer we ever brewed and it recently won the
critic’s choice award for number one beer in Australia. It’s a pretty
unique brew that uses all-Australian ingredients, with the Galaxy hop from
Tasmania really driving it with its passion fruity aroma. Some people have
said and written that it’s actually created a new category, kinda like how
the citrus hops of North America helped create over your way.
You guys brew three types of beer, can you give us an overview of each?
The Pacific Ale is made with Australian malt, rolled wheat and Galaxy
hops. Unfiltered and unpasturised, it’s cloudy in the glass. Dry hopped in
the tank, it’s incredible fresh and has a really refreshing finish. This
is the golden child of our beers at the moment.
The Lager is loosely based on a German Helles. Brad and our other brewer
Scotty are huge fans of German beers and they reckon this style is one of
the hardest to get right. With all the flavours in balance, there’s
nowhere to hide any faults. You certainly can’t shove them under some big
hop flavour. You’ve got to get it right. I’ve learnt to appreciate this
beer and all the subtle complexities between the German malt and German
hops that it has.
We also brew a Stone Beer once a year, for winter, where we take nine
different types of malt, some noble German hops and use the old hot rocks
approach in the kettle. You guys see a bit of this over there in US, but
we’re the only ones doing it in Australia. The beer itself is a deep, ruby
red with a lovely malt pallet and firm, almost spicy hop bitterness.
Does S&W make any special beers or limited beers?
Yep, the Stone Beer and we’ve also done a Kellerbier.
How many barrels of beer does S&W brew a year at S&W?
Put it this way, we have a 25Hec brew house and six 50Hec tanks, another
50Hec tank on the way and more planned. But we can’t make enough beer at
the moment to keep up. That probably seems tiny compared to the “small”
breweries over there these days.
What’s the craft beer culture like in Oz and BB?
It’s growing pretty quickly. The old saying that Australia is five years
behind the US is actually true in this instance. As for Byron Bay, they’re
probably about 15 years behind.
What three words would best describe S&W?
Surf. Music. Beer.
Last question, what are your top five favorite beers?
Stone & Wood Pacific Ale, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Feral Brewing Hop Hog,
Saison Dupont and Jackie Lounge Brewery Choccy Nana.
On Friday night a couple of friends of mine made our way to a few “beer” bars in Oakland. Thanks to the Craft Brewers Conference in San Francisco this past week, there was a plethora of rare beers to be had in the Bay Area. It’s not like we don’t have enough outstanding beers on tap to indulge in, but when you have the best of the best brewers in town, and as a proud brewing City, you need to show off a bit. And that’s exactly what The Trappist (along with a few other venues) did this weekend.
For me, going to The Trappist is like… is like… going to a record store that has that really hard-to-find import 12” record. But in the case of the Trappist, it’s the hard-to-find Belgian beer on draught.
So, the first stop was Barlcay’s in Rockridge to meet my buddies coming in on the BART, just a few blocks from my house. The first beer of the evening was the always satisfying local Linden Street Black Common. Holy crap this beer is good. Think Anchor Steam but with chocolate malt - I purposely didn’t have more than one beer because I knew what the night had in store.
The second stop was The Trappist. My first beer was De Dolle Oerbier. The Oerbier being a nice and smooth Oerbier made with 6 malts and the Poperinge Goldings. The lads had the Russian River Mortification, a Belgian style Quad. The description on the menu “Big and brown.”
Only one beer at The Trappist you ask? Well, not exactly because The Trappist was so fricking crowded and we decided to go somewhere else for a little while: Beer Revolution.
The first beer at the Revo’ was “Toast” from the Moonlight Brewing co. followed by a tasting of the oak barrel aged Linden Street Black Common. As we were finishing our beer, my buddy Ryan got a text from his college buddy Jeff Bagby, the master brewer at Port, letting Ryan know that he was at The Trappist. So, we made our way back to The Trappist and had the following:
- Boon Lambic Foeder #10 limited to only 100 kegs, this very rare single vintage 3 year aged lambic was a treat on none the less.
- Cantillon St. Lamvinus a two year old lambic fermented in oak casks with wine grapes from France. (5%)
- Haandbryggeriet Norwegian Wood a smoked malty and juniper berries.
Needless to say I was a bit hungover on Saturday, but the fact that I had two super rare lambics made it all worth it.
San Francisco’s City Beer Store plans to celebrate their 5-year anniversary with the release of 5 distinct beers created for the event. #craftbeer
San Francisco’s City Beer Store plans to celebrate their 5-year anniversary with the release of 5 distinct beers created for the event.
Five beers are in the process of being created from the following regions: San Francisco, Portland, Tahoe, Orange County, and Anchorage. These five regions have all made an impact in craft brewing throughout the past five years with a genuine dedication to artistry and innovation.
The beers produced for the 5th Anniversary Project will be crafted around the spirit of the West Coast and the unions that have been formed between City Beer and the breweries involved in the project. The program which began this June will culminate with a week long celebration beginning May 2nd, 2011.
“We want to celebrate the entire West Coast brewing tradition, not just our anniversary,” summarized owner Craig Wathen.
City Beer Store, owned by husband and wife team Craig and Beth Wathen, is housed in San Francisco’s diverse SOMA district. Beth and Craig originated the concept of a beer-centric specialty bottle shop and tasting bar.
The Anderson Valley Beer Festival #craftbeer
As you can see, I just bought three tickets to paradise possibly the greatest beer festival in America, The 14th Annual Legendary Anderson Valley Beer Festival out in Mendocino, CA. An all day event with endless taps of almost every single NorCal craft-beer, artisanal foods, a band, and so much more. You can pick up your tickets here.
#craftbeer
Just got my shipment of Brooklyn Lager. We don’t get this stuff on the West Coast. It’s time to indulge.
Seriously, Mr. Oliver makes some fantastic beers!
The Last Month’s Top Beers #craftbeer
After reading Maxim’s The 25 Best Beers in America I figured I’d put together a list of beers I’ve had over the last month, or so, that have really struck a chord on thee ol’ palate.
Napa Smith Organic IPA #craftbeer
Master brewer Don Barkley and the crew over at Napa Smith Brewery are introducing a new Organic IPA. True to the India Pale Ale style, Napa Smith uses two-row organic mall along with a “hefty dose of aromatic Cascade hops.”
Available on draft and in 22oz. bottles.
2009 Beer Report: Beer defies the odd. Beer continues to pick up steam, despite economic challenge. Check out the article on Beverage Industry’s website.
Beer Wars on CNN? Great PR.
