What’s On Tap – The California Beer Newsletter

What’s on Tap:

Dogfish Head 90 Minute Imperial IPA Leads the Pack

By William Brand
MediaNews Group

DO YOU REMEMBER THE 1980s? I do and one of the weirdest things that happened in the beer world was the absolute craziness on the East Coast about Coors. People had to have it. It was hot. But regular Coors was just an ordinary light lager, so the Coors craze didn’t last.

Fast-forwarding more years than I care to think about, there’s a new craze and it’s here on the West Coast. The buzzword brewery is Dogfish Head. The difference between then and now is that the beers of this Delaware brewery are just about the exact opposite of light lager. I’d call them stunning.

But Sam Calagione, who founded Dogfish Head in 1995 and named it after a peninsula in Maine where he spent summers as a kid, describes them as “extreme beers, off-centered beers for off-centered people.” And finally, after years of anticipation, Dogfish has arrived in the Bay Area. Extreme? Calagione’s not kidding. Consider our Beer of the Week: Dogfish Head 90 Minute Imperial India Pale Ale ***½. It’s 9 percent alcohol by volume and 90 International Bitterness Units. READ THE REST OF THIS POST…

Note: This is an updated version of an an interview I wrote, published in Northwest Brewing News in 2005.

By William Brand
SAN FRANCISCO -  “He’Brew - The Chosen Beer.” It all began as a joke between  two  high school kids in suburban San Francisco, a long time ago.

“We were the only Jewish kids in our immediate group of friends,” Jeremy Cowan explains. It was back in the 1980s. Sam Adams had been on the market a little while. They thought, `You know what  - Jews need their own beer.’

They played with the idea and came up with slogans like `Don’t Pass Over Sober.’

Those 17-year-olds  never would have guessed that two decades later that very beer would be sold in 20 states and the people - Jews and most everybody else - would laugh at the joke and enjoy the beer.

Cowan recalls that He’brew remained an inside joke among friends for years, but the craft beer movement in the San Francisco Bay Area kept growing and Cowan got serious.

It’s not widely publicized, but Jews have an incredible drinking and brewing tradition, he said. “I came up with He’brew.  e’BrewI thought it would be a fun idea, a unique idea. I had bartended; I had worked at a brewpub in New Orleans,” he said. But he was not a brewer…READ THE REST OF THE POST…

Events…It’s not too late to make a contribution at a benefit today for S. Clay Wilson, the underground Zap Comix artist who is ailing.  Buy a pint or something among the many things for sale today.  It’s at the Bistro, 1001 B St. in downtown Hayward, starts at 2 p.m. goes until  8 p.m.

Also, Monk’s Kettle, the most excellent pub and restaurant…READ THE REST OF THE POST AT MY OTHER BLOG…www.ibabuzz.com/beer…

The new Russian River brewery in Santa Rosa is making a big splash in Sonoma County. Paul Marshall, who is a homebrewer and beer judge and festival organizer, was up there this week. No tour. But he did send us the link to an article and video shot by the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. See it here…

Finalist judgers for the 2008 Sam Adams Longshoe homebrewing compeition in the Boston Beer Col tasting room in Boston, Jim Kock, left, Marty Nachel, front, Tony Fordor, right, William Brand, rear, right. Photo by William Brand

I helped pick the winner of the 2008 Sam Adams Longshot Homebrew Competition Wednesday in a blind tasting at the Boston Beer Co. brewery in Boston. No, I can’t tall you who won – the judges are sworn to secrecy, but I can tell you about the four beers that made the finals… Read the rest of this entry »

The beer scene in the Bay Area is vast and becoming bigger still. These days “beer fests” can escape the notice of most of us. One of these is the Oakand A’s beerfest, which takes place this Saturday, June 21, 4:05 p.m - 6:05 p.m. at the Coliseum, featuring the usual corporate brewers, plus many, many others; Bear Republic, Lagunitas, Firestone-Walker, Deschutes, Gordon Biersch, Mount St. Helana…

What? You ask. Yes, it’s become an annual event and it always occurs with no publicity in the beer world. Oh, I haven’t looked, but there may be an ad in the Celebrator Beer News, buried in the back pages.

Details: Saturday, June 21, 4:05 - 6:05 p.m. (Sounds like a schedule from my old high school principal) East Side Club, McAfee Coliseum. Admission free with a game ticket, additional tastings can be purchased. Info: 510-638-4900, ext. 4040 or buy a game ticket on line here.

While we’re on the subject of beer fests, check my post earlier on the Scotish Games in Campbell in the South Bay, also this Saturday afternoon.

Odd bits…This is truly odd…according to the New York Times…all official vehicles at the Democratic National Convention in Denver in August will be pwoered by ethanol made from beer by (gasp) Coors using discarded beer. Proves, I guess, that it’s corn not rice that makes Coors sweet and watery. I always thought Bud and Coors were rice beers and Miller’s wss corn.

Or can you make ethanol from rice as well as corn? Comments anyone. By all means read the whole post

Caught Rodger Davis, the former Drake’s brewer, who now handles Drake’s sales while he gathers his energies and cash investors for his own brewery. Here’s the skinny on the Drake’s beers being tapped tonight beginning at 6 p.m. at the Toronado in San Francisco: Read the rest of this entry »

A note to readers of my San Jose Mercury News column. I promised in my column today that I’d write about the best places to drink beer in Santa Cruz.  Just haven’t had time yet today. Still coming. I expect to post it around 4 p.m. PDT.

Right now, I’m in Boston, helping judge the national Sam Adams Longshot homebrewing competition. I’ll finish the post at Logan waiting for my plane home to Oakland.  (Ahh, this hectic modern world — so little time, so much beer and so many damn planes.)

More later. william brand

Have you ever wanted to really like something, but you just don’t? It happened to me this week with Magners Cider. This is an Irish cider that’s been imported to the U.S. since 2000, but has only recently been distributed here on the West Coast.

I’m a fan of good cider – and let’s get one thing straight, by “cider”, I mean the alcoholic product, fermented from either apples or pears. No alcohol? It’s just juice and calling that sweetish stuff “cider” desecrates a fine product with a long history. Read the rest of this entry »

The calendar items keep coming. Here’s one you might not know about, but especially if you live in the South Bay, the 30th Annual Campbell Highland Games in downtown Campbell looks like fun: Lot’s of beer, from Moylan’s in Novato, naturally, and er– ancient Celtic games, the music, the kilts, the sheer raucous wonder. READ MORE…