Gilligan and the Skipper may have built a washing machine out of coconuts and seaweed, but never constructed a brewery. In Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, the protagonist laments his inability to brew. Of course he did. The only way to survive on a desert island is with beer. But which beer? Everyone who writes or blogs about beer gets asked repeatedly: “What’s your favorite beer?” Worse still are brewers who get asked that question and then it’s the double-edged sword of picking one of their creations or not. Not that it matters, since we all respond, “I could never pick just one.” But the truth is, we all have a few absolute favorites. Even if new ones replace old ones on a steady basis. So when I was asked to select a mere five beers to take to a deserted island, the gears started revolving.
Abbots Cellar – the adventure continues….
Our good friends over at Monks Kettle in San Francisco have announced they are opening a new space… and only blocks away in the Mission! If you have never been to Monk’s Kettle, you are missing out. Please stop reading immediately and head over there for a beer/bite and then continue reading. Christian and Nat have signed the lease on 740 Valencia – to open Abbot’s Cellar this coming Winter. The new space (which will hold about 95 people including the bar space) will be a restaurant that focuses on beer pairings and seasonal American and European fare. The beer selection will be a bit more focussed than the massive and widespread selection at Monks Kettle, but we know their 100 bottles and 24 tap selection (including 2 hand pump casks) will still be pouring delicious brew. We can’t wait for them to open (and we hope we can get a [...]
Beer For Your Spring Party
If you’re anything like us, you want the coolest/easiest way to get booze for your parties/picnics. As the weather heats up and you’re shedding your sweater and heading to the park, take a look at this… Minimize carrying around a ton of bottles and having to worry about recycling all of them (this is recyclable) and lugging around a bunch of dripping bottles – AND get bring that wonderful taste of draught beer with you! More and more companies are putting their beer into mini micro kegs… and it’s great to see some brands that we like following suit. We recently tried out the Newcastle Micro-Keg. It was a total success and super easy to deal with. It fit in our (already packed) fridge and was a one stop shop for the kind of beer that we usually head to the local bar for. It’s all pressurized so you don’t have to recall your [...]
Drink in the Clink
Y’all can’t get more “local” than an alcoholic product that’s made and consumed all in one place, and I’m not talking about the output of micro-breweries. I refer to operations that are much, much smaller, say 6’x8’ … with facilities as close as your toilet. Pruno (aka juice, jump, chalk, buck, and hooch) is hoosegow homebrew: made in prison by and — God help ‘em — for prisoners. America has the largest incarcerated population (USA! — We’re #1!), so in the interest of being prepared, here’s a brief guide to imbibing behind the other kind of bars. The basic recipe for producing jail “wine” is simple: fill a plastic bag with anything sweet, from stewed prunes (hence the name “pruno”) to cake frosting. Add yeast (or even moldy bread) and hot water. Ferment for “up to” nine days. The result is a stinking, orange-to-maroon liquid that may make you sick [...]
Your Adoring Public
“Public houses,” commonly referred to as pubs, have existed around the world long before anyone brewed so much as a drop of beer on American soil. Some were “free houses,” which could procure their ale from any old brewery they wanted. Others were “tied houses,” meaning that alehouse had a contract with a specific brewery, which just so happened to often own the pub. Historians unearthed records of ancient Egyptian innkeepers who operated brewery and bakery combos. Imagine the Yelp reviews a place that did that well now would get. Today, of the over 1,600 breweries in the US, about a thousand of them are brewpubs, meaning they are breweries that sell most of their draught beer on premise even if bottles and growlers (refillable half-gallon jugs) are available to go. The best of them offer fresh, often local fare, that’s as good as the beer they serve. The Brewers [...]
Profile Page: Ken Grossman
If you’ve ever been to Chico, California, you probably have a soft spot in your heart for Sierra Nevada’s beer. It is not because their beer is impossible to separate from the university culture that permeates every crevice of the town, or that their products are so prevalent in bars and restaurants (though they are). But it is the spirit of the brewery and the founder that make Chico, and frankly much of the U.S., embrace the Sierra Nevada brand. When Grossman came to Chico in 1972 to attend the university, building an internationally recognized brewery was just a dream. “I was studying chemistry and opened a home brew store selling wine making equipment and beer supplies,” remarks Grossman. “In 1978 I opened a small brewery, wrote a business plan, bought materials.” As simple as that sounds, creating an empire like the Sierra Nevada brand was more of a passion [...]
Pliny the Younger Release
Pliny the Younger is an elusive beer, with kegs released from their natural habitat by Russian River Brewing Co. into the wild only once a year. For two weeks in February, Pliny hunters can enjoy the insanely popular, small batch, triple IPA, with a deliciously sweet, hoppy, and carbonation balance that makes it dangerously easy to drink with an ABV of 10.5%. You may be aware of the similar species, Pliny the Elder, from the same family, and classified as a double IPA with an 8% ABV that can be spotted year-round in bars all over San Francisco.
Websites to Drink To: SupportYourLocalBrewery.org
You love drinking beer and miss being an activist? Well now you can be an activist for beer! SupportYourLocalBrewery.org has banded together with local breweries and brewers guilds (including our own SF Brewers Guild) from around the country to support the tradition that has been keeping us together—and inebriated—since the very first public houses. They often fight to keep legislative and regulatory treatment fair. You can sign up to learn more about issues and stand up to keep the taps pouring your favorite local beers. We’ll raise our glass to that.
SF Beer Week Preview
It’s that glorious time of year again when breweries, bars, and restaurants come together (in mutual love, respect, and adoration) to create a weeklong celebration all in the name of BEER. Beer enthusiasts can bask in the fermented malted grain love through festicals, tastings, pairings, and parties. Sponsored by the SF Brewers Guild, the week boasts hundreds of events in and around our fair city. In addition to one-off events (which can be viewed on the Drink Me calendar or at SFBeerWeek.org), some venues offer weeklong specials that can be enjoyed when your schedule allows. Here’s a breakdown of our favorites.
Wild Beers
To say beer is simple enough to make that even a woman in medieval times could make it is true, albeit misogynistic. To say that beer is simple enough to make that even I could make it in my apartment’s small kitchen is true, but somewhat insulting to the hard work those medieval women — brewsters — applied to their craft. In their day, the act of making beer relied on a lot of know–how and a little magic, in that no one could say for sure exactly how the raw ingredients — grains, herbs, and water — were transformed into an effervescent, alcoholic drink. What they did understand was that it helped if some remnants from the previous batch were added to the new one. The slurry from the brewing pots contained what brewers simply referred to as “God-is-good.” Today, thanks to the discovery by Louis Pasteur, we call it yeast. Drink a quality brew and it’s all the proof you need that even agnostics have to admit, God is great.
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