California Beerzine

Dinner with Denise – A Conversation with Moylan’s Brewmaster

When I ask Denise Jones if she has any tricks up her sleeve for the Great American Beer Festival this year, she shakes her head. “No tricks, just what we have at Moylan’s. Last year we shocked the world when we won so many awards. When we won gold for Hopsickle, I became the hop queen in about 20 seconds.”

We’re sitting in the Cathedral Hill Hotel in San Francisco, a half-hour before Bruce Patton’s beer dinner featuring Moylan’s beer is scheduled to begin. I had been afraid that it would be difficult to get a brewmaster to open up and talk about her process and her career, but it’s easy to get anyone to talk about something they love. And Denise Jones clearly has a passion for brewing.

“We know we have beers that are higher quality, and they can only get better. We’re gonna make more beer this year than ever before–we’ll probably crack 4,000 barrels.”

Moylan’s, a brewpub in Novato, CA, has been around for 13 years now, but Denise has been brewing there for just under two. When I ask her what she is most proud of during her time at Moylan’s, she doesn’t even mention the gold and silver medals.

“We’ve increased the quality and the production. There’s more awareness and education among the brewers. Safety is a big concern. Maintenance and just fixing things, getting things to work more efficiently. There’s a lot more to it than just walking in and changing all the beer flavors. Other things are more important.”

Beer dinners are exactly what they sound like–various beers, in this case exclusively Moylan’s, matched with several courses of food. The dinner that night started with Dragoons Dry Irish Stout paired with a Lobster cake and Osso Buco Ravioli. A silver medal winner at GABF, Dragoons is slightly sweet and light for a stout. It is in talking about the beers for tonight that I learn the most surprising thing about Denise.

“I sent Bruce random samples of fresh beers–all my creations. I put my own brewing style into the development of these batches, but there are limits. For example, I would love to make the Irish Red at 4%, that’s what it is traditional, but I have to do it at 6.”

“You want to make beer with LESS alcohol?” I ask. Read more »

Homebrew Away From Home: SoCal Festival Moves to Lake Casitas

The annual spring Southern California Homebrewers Festival is always one of the coolest beer parties in the bottom half of the state, but this year, the fest was literally cooler. That’s because the 2008 festival was moved from the traditional toasty Temecula location in Riverside County to the more temperate climes of the Lake Casitas Recreation area, outside of Ojai in Ventura County, where a refreshing breeze blew in off the lake to the relief of the revelers.

Over 1,000 homebrewers and their friends, representing nearly 30 brewclubs – from Alpha Ales of Orange County to Walnut Valley Beer and Gourmet Society of Walnut – descended upon the grounds on May 2, set up camp and erected their serving booths for the opening festivities that evening (including a Belgian ale taste-off, a single malt Scotch whisky tasting and live music), and the day-long party May 3.

With each of the homebrew booths featuring at least five beers on draught, and some close to 20, there were literally more brews than people could get to in a day. And the majority of them were exceptional. Among the most unique beers were the winner in the Belgian taste-off, the Long Beach Homebrewers’ French Oak-aged Belgian Quad from Julian Shrago; the Chamomile American Strong Ale from Pacific Gravity (which won Josh Jensen a Gold Medal in this year’s Mayfaire competition); and “Alexander Rodenbach,” a blend of two beers from the Strand Brewers: Super Sexy Flanders and Flemish Sour Red, which was phenomenally tart, and definitely exceeded the sum of its parts.

Aside from the sun and the suds, the day also featured talks by Firestone Walker Brewing’s head brewer Matt Brynildson and Hop Union’s GM/owner Ralph Olson, and a raffle of brewing equipment and assorted breweriana. Tina Damery of Arcadia won the grand prize: a deluxe brewing system from Beer, Beer & More Beer. There was also live music throughout the day, including a lunchtime performance from Steve Casselman (a bluesman and brewer who has performed at all of the SoCal Homebrew Fests, and the Maltose Falcons’ Brews Band, which closed out the fest with a dance-inducing set of class rock covers –– and proved that homebrewers can make good music too.

All photos by Tomm Carroll

Bombing Through Humboldt County

In the extreme Northwest of California, Humboldt Nation to be precise, you will notice an amazing concentration of breweries and brewpubs in and around Eureka. Most people recognize Humboldt for its other major export. Believe me, that hasn’t stolen the attention of all the great beer coming from Humboldt.

Why is so much great beer concentrated in this area? After speaking with several brewers from the region, I think I’ve traced it back to a couple of reasons.

One is the Humbrewers Guild, an active homebrew club that dates back earlier than the advent of craft brew itself. The other is the Humboldt brewery (no longer with us, label was bought out by Firestone Walker).

Bob Smith, Founder and President of Mad River Brewing Company, spent much of his time brewing with the Humbrewers. He was a regular patron of Ken Grossman’s homebrew shop in Chico, buying supplies for himself and the club. Ken eventually closed the homebrew shop in order to start Sierra Nevada, a decision we are all happy about.

Bob was putting in time at the Humboldt Brewery to help ensure their success in the county. He also consulted for Wendy Pound and Barbara Groom on their new brewpub, Lost Coast. After all this, he had the momentum to get backing for his own brewery. He wanted it to be a production facility from the start.

Mad River now produces the Steelhead and Jamaica Brand of beers. During the holiday season, they produce John Barleycorn Barleywine (GABF Gold medal last year). While I was up visiting this month they were working on test batches for this year’s release. Seek it out.

I spoke with GABF Gold and Silver medal winner, Carlos Sanchez (Brewmaster, Six Rivers Brewpub) who, two weeks after losing a boring day job back in 1990, decided to go work at Humboldt brewery. He came onto the job with plenty of experience in homebrewing and judging beers for the Humbrewers guild. When he wasn’t brewing there, he was helping out at Mad River Brewing, which had just started up.

When Humboldt Brewing started to plateau in production, Carlos decided to take the job as Brewmaster for the newly formed Six Rivers Brewing Co. He was eventually able to secure Humboldt Brewing’s original equipment and he brews on that equipment to this day.

So what about Humboldt’s “other export” in terms of beer marketing? When I sat down and spoke with Ted Vivitson, President and Founder of Eel River Brewing Co., he had this to say: “I’ll go around the country and people say ‘where you from?’ and I say Fortuna, California, they say ‘where’s that?’ and I say Humboldt, they go ‘ahhhh….you bring any?’”

Instant name recognition.

So let’s review some of Humboldt’s finest:

Six Rivers Brewing Co.
While Carlos does bottle some of his staple beers (IPA, Pale, Porter), distribution is very limited. You truly need to visit Six Rivers, only 20 minutes north of Eureka. His GABF silver medal winning Chili Pepper ale has to be experienced.

He puts roasted and raw habaneras, japapenos, ceranos, and anaheims into a food processor, chops them up, puts them in a mesh sack and lets it sit in a base wheat beer for about a week. The beer smells like hot peppers, and a second or two after swallowing you get a 5 second heat blast. Again, you have to experience this beer.

A couple other to mention, Carlos does an amazing rasberry framboise and it is one of his biggest sellers. My favorite, though, was his GABF gold medal winner: the nitro poured kona moon porter. Wow, the coffee comes through nicely in both aroma and flavor and the nitro adds a creaminess. All backed up with a subtle roast in the porter. This is a beer I could easily drink at 6am.

sixriversbrewery.com

Mad River Brewing Co.
Sells both the Steelhead and Jamaica Brands of beer. They have a great tasting room next to the brewery that has the elusive seasonal John Barleycorn Barleywine and usually a couple other special beers. I had a chance to try the Scotch Porter which is a Porter mad with a peated malt. Wonderful Porter flavor up front that introduces a subtle smokiness into the back of your mouth.

madriverbrewing.com

Eel River Brewing Co.
Eel River is the first organic brewery in the country. They are located about 20 minutes south of Eureka in the quiet sunny town of Fortuna. They have a production brewery further down the road but all of the brewpubs beers are done on the house system, on location.

Their menu has a solid organic lineup. I tried the Organic Blonde which was an enjoyable easy drinker. The Amber Organic was a true to its West Coast heritage, that went down easily as well.

Eel River is known for their Triple Exultation, an outstanding beer. As Ted Vivitson says “we wanted a strong ale, an old style ale. We came up with Exultation. I then looked at my guys and I said let’s triple it”.

eelriverbrewing.com

Lost Coast Brewpub and Brewing Co.
A cool brewpub right in downtown Eureka. The pub is a busy place with some eclectic art decorating the room. Again, a couple of good ones on tap that I haven’t seen in bottles. A delicious scotch ale in the style of a wee heavy, as well as a chocolate porter that gave wonderful coffee flavors with a nice, moderate level of roast.

lostcoast.com

For audio interviews with these brewers and more, check beerobsessed.com.

Are You a Beervangelist?

We all have them: craft beer-averse friends and family members. Sure, you could just leave them alone and let them live their lives this way. But then, really, wouldn’t you be letting them down? Converting non-beer drinkers can be a long and painful experience, but don’t you owe it to your parents, significant other, siblings, neighbors, high school buddies, dog walker, dry cleaner, butcher, baker, and/or candlestick maker to show them the light?

Of course you do. And since I’m sure your motives would be entirely selfless – your companion’s beverage enjoyment being your first and only concern – the benefits that accrue are just the icing on the cake. With each conversion, the results are immediate and gratifying: one more buddy to hit the festival circuit with, one more friend who’ll split a 750mL with you, one more cousin who will never make you swill Bud Light at his BBQ again.

So what’s a gal who’s into lukewarm cask beer to do about companions who feel entirely lukewarm about beer?

Converting them over to the dark side (and the amber side, the golden side, and all the other beer shade sides in between) is easier than you might think. It may take time, but with patience and a good attitude, there are few craft beer neophytes who can’t be won over. Here are a few tips for successful beervangelism:

Tip #1: Choose your targets wisely. Start with those friends and family who are interested in your hobby. Anyone who has expressed admiration for your label collection or your ability to name the seven Trappist breweries is fair game here.

Gourmet-types (those with a special appreciation of wine, chocolate, Carolina-style ribs, or what have you) are also great targets. They are generally deathly afraid of being labeled ‘unadventurous’ and their feelings of guilt and inadequacy over their craft beer ignorance leaves them ripe for conversion.

Leave your Mormon, Muslim, and otherwise religiously abstinent friends alone. Not only should you respect their fidelity to their beliefs, they make very reliable designated drivers.

Save the macro-brew fanatics for last. Matthew McConaughey’s brother is the poster-boy for this camp (he named his kid Miller Lyte for goodness sake!). They’re best won over via a war of attrition. Once you’ve converted all their friends and family, such that they’re faced with a choice between social isolation, perpetual BYOB, or giving your favorite brews a try, they’ll almost certainly cave. Read more »

Blessed Are The Beer Dorks

I know of what I speak, because I too am a dork. If it’s not totally obvious that this obsessive/compulsive, try-every-rare-beer, online trading, pub seeking, beer blog-reading, lace-on-the-glass-loving behavior is about as dorkified as it gets, then it’s time to hit the therapist’s couch and truly learn to know thyself. I say this with the utmost in respect for you, and for myself.

Drinking microbrewed craft beer is a pastime shared by many around the land and indeed the globe; the increasing number of converts to our cause is heartening and cockle-warming. Astride the craft beer revolution, it must be said, are the fanatics. This new breed of high-end beer devotee is every bit as concerned with his naval-gazing pastime of choice as is the coin collector, the stamp collector and the antique accumulator.

In this beer-obsessed world, I’m often reminded of the fanaticism that I myself used to engage in when I was an ardent record collector. I used to spend hours poring over trade lists and looking in classified ads for folks who might be selling records that I’d either never heard (and only heard about) or had heard but couldn’t get. I’d go on road trips to find obscure records that I needed. The “thrill of the score” was palpable. I’d be thumbing through the racks and all of a sudden happen upon some LP or 7″ single that I needed (or had on “my list” starting to sound familiar, beer drinkers?), and the euphoric feeling was similar to that felt across the US today when a bottle of Bell’s Hopslam or Russian River Supplication arrives at the mailstops of beer dorks nationwide.

In fact, the regionalism of craft beer production is among its most appealing features for the beer dork. If everyone could walk to Safeway or the Piggly Wiggly and pick up a bottle of Lost Abbey Serpent’s Stout, then, hey, where’s the fun in that? This is my beer, damn it! Want to trade for it? I’ve found that the sense of loss felt by beer dorks when a favorite craft brewer succeeds in gaining wide distribution is akin to the feelings many of my record collector pals felt when one of our micro-scene bands broke out of their neighborhood and began to be played and bought on a nationwide level. It actually kinda hurts on the inside, even though it shouldn’t.

Let’s give the fanatic his due, though. It is he (and even sometimes she) that is helping bring incredible beers into the restaurants of America. It is he who has glorified the ultra-hopped India Pale Ale, and helped prod brewers nationwide to new tongue-scorching heights. It is he who has helped move craft beer acceptance into the near-mainstream, just as the punk rocker propelled his hallowed bands out of the local, scene-based ghetto and into mass acceptance.

It just may be that Moylan’s Hopsickle or Southern Tier’s Heavy Weizen is poised for a worldwide breakthrough on par with Nirvana in 1992. As always, the beer dorks will have been there first. Just ask them, for they will make sure that you know.

Russian Beer In Northern California?

Of all the great breweries in California, Russian River stands out for making some of the most coveted beers on the market. Any beer geek worth his salt has made the pilgrimage to Santa Rosa, pre-ordered their special releases online, or orchestrated a trade to get their hands on this precious commodity. But for the uninitiated, who are slowly learning all the great beers California has to offer, here is a primer on one of California’s best breweries.

Russian River Brewing Company

If you’re an avid craft beer fan like I am, chances are, you are very familiar with the name Russian River. They produce some of the most sought after beers in the country. 

Most craft breweries are lucky to have one beer that causes fanatics to stand in lines for hours, pay over a dollar per ounce, or seek friends across country that will ship them beer.  Russian River makes more of these high demand beers than you can count on both hands.

Without getting too complicated, Russian River has made their name in two areas: IPAs and Wild Ales.  Their four IPAs are some of the best, if not the best, known to man.  Russian River IPA, Blind Pig IPA, Pliny the Elder Double IPA and Pliny the Younger Triple IPA satisfy every hop lover’s dream; getting smacked upside the head with huge doses of hops.

Their Wild Ales are made with special yeasts and bacterias, giving these beers a signature tart or sour quality.  The more well known of this bunch are Temptation, a Blonde Ale aged in used chardonnay barrels, and Supplication, a Brown Ale aged with sour cherries in used pinot noir barrels.

In addition to their IPAs and Wild Ales, they also brew several types of Belgian Ales, American Pale Ales, Stouts, English Pale Ales, Czech Pilsners and more.  Right now, their Belgian Pale Ale, Damnation, is their only beer that can be found pretty regularly at the better beer stores across the state.  But thanks to a recent expansion, they just began regular bottling of Blind Pig and Pliny the Elder, which will be available throughout California for the first time in 500mL bottles.

If you’re feeling a bit adventurous, or happen to be near Santa Rosa (about an hour north of the Bay area), a stop at the Russian River Brewpub is a must.  And if you aren’t yet a fan of IPAs or Wild Ales, there is plenty on tap that will satisfy: a Blonde Ale, a well balanced Pale, a spicy Belgian-style wheat beer, or a nice roasty, chocolaty Stout.  Those are just a few of the possibilities, if you need a suggestion, don’t be afraid to ask the bartender.

Prices are at the brewpub are very reasonable. For beer of this quality, at $3-4 per pint, this might be one of the best deals in California. If you make it to happy hour (which lasts all day on Sunday) you can get a beer for under $3!  The food isn’t to be forgotten either, and you’ll more than likely need some.  The bulk of the menu is pizza and pizza-derived dishes, very tasty, and perfect for soaking up all that delicious beer in your belly.

Russian River is located at 725 4th Street, Santa Rosa, CA 95404. Their website can be found at http://russianriverbrewing.com/

Steve Altimari of Valley Brewing Introduces Two Special Releases

Thanks to Joe and Jasmine from Beer at Joe’s for their excellent coverage of Beerapalooza ‘08!

Beer Cannon Montage

It just goes to show, there are tons of cool things you can do with Milwaukee’s Best Light besides drink it.

Mammoth IPA 395

After a full day on the slopes, there are few things more rewarding than cracking open a bomber of Mammoth Brewing’s 395 Double IPA. This is a big, hoppy IPA brewed with sage and juniper. If the alchemists at Mammoth Brewing were trying to create a beer whose flavor personified the Eastern Sierras, 395 IPA is a resounding success.

As you raise the glass to your lips, the fresh, floral aromas meander up like an old 2-man ski lift going to the far side of the mountain. Luckily, with a hop profile like this, you’re in no rush to bomb down the slope and squeeze in as many runs as possible. No, you’re going to want to take your time with this one.

This beer is to be sipped and enjoyed, and like any good ski trip, it’s best when shared with friends. Get greedy and drink too much of it, you’ll swerve into the trees. When you wake up, you’ll find yourself in a basket behind a snowmobile, head throbbing with a mouth full of pine needles. We’ve all been there before, folks, and it’s a great way to ruin a beer forever (the same reason I have sworn off Old Viscosity).

Best to keep this a nice leisurely slalom through fresh powder. You won’t inflict yourself with any debilitating injuries, and you’ll stay appreciative and longing for next season.

Yes, that was a snowboarding analogy in the middle of July. What, you never heard of Christmas in July?

Alpine Ale