No such thing as stupid people...

This afternoon as I surfed a bulletin board I often browse, I saw the following message:

"I'm going to a BYOB party here in a few days and I have some friends who are BMC [Bud, Miller and Coors] fans, but like to drink everyone else's beer that they bring and not their own crap beer. Now I know it would be good advocacy to bring something that is still craft and tastes good and try and convert them. Then again I know they are mooches and they wouldn't appreciate it.

So would it be selfish of me to bring DIPA's [Double India Pale Ale] over? I would almost guarantee that nobody would drink my beer. Not that I hate sharing, I just not a fan of their mooching. What would you lot suggest?"

The author brings up quite a dilemma. This is the topic of one of my new year's resolutions: "Convert BMC fans into craft beer drinkers." This isn't nearly as difficult as the Spanish Inquisition, nor will it require me to be chaperoned by an elder. In fact, I won't even have to drug people like Mola Ram.

It could be as simple as buying a new friend a craft beer in your favorite bar or taking a co-worker out for happy hour to your favorite brewpub. In the question postulated above, just introducing someone to an affordable microbrew like Mirror Pond Ale or Racer 5, would be satisfactory enough. Your friends and coworkers will thank you for letting them know that the beer world exists beyond adjunct in a can.

Manderes 1st Anniversary Tasting

Two friends named Brent and Dave knew what Folsom missed: A beer bar. After getting the cash, paperwork, and finding a place to lease, Manderes, latin for "to eat," opened its doors for the first time on December 10th, 2007.

On December 10th, 2008, Manderes celebrated its first anniversary of opened its doors and the eyes of Folsom residents to "no crap on tap." About 15 hopheads attended, but didn't know what to expect beyond several tastings and some delicious appetizers. The restaurant was packed with the usual suspects, employees, and of course, beer lovers new and old to Manderes.

At 7 PM, Dave and Brent started the festivities by thanking their patrons, wait staff, and giving us a brief history of the beginning of Manderes. Quickly thereafter they broke out their first tasting: a 3 Liter (a jeroboam for you winos) of Duvel. Several of the hopheads describe this Strong Belgian Pale as having notes of dry grape, similar to a Muscat.

Shortly after finishing the sample of Duvel, Dave and Brent started drawing raffle tickets. Our fearless leader, the Chadd, won a Manderes t-shirt. Actually, the first Manderes t-shirt. Sheelagh also won another shirt as well. There were other hop heads who won prizes, we did pretty well at the raffle.

The next sample poured to the packed house was presented by the brewer himself, Matt, from Great Basin brewing in Sparks, Nevada. Matt seemed to be a familiar face to many. From the Sacramento area himself, Matt brewed as a member of the Gold Country Brewers Association and completed the zymurgy (fermentation aka brewing) program at UC Davis. Manderes purchased a keg of his Harvest Ale and decided to let the brewer present it himself. Matt spoke at length about the Harvest Ale: Freshly picked sage, juniper berries, pinenuts, and of course freshly picked hops. The hops lended notes of citrus and flowers, while the pinenuts rounded out the beer to a smooth balanced finish.

The third beer poured was Brasserie D'Achouffe's, McChouffe. This belgian strong dark ale uses American hops to provide a citrusy quaff backed by some dark candi sugar and belgian malts. The waitstaff brought the appetizers to our table. Two types of fried peppers (jalapeno and unsure of the other red one) and some bbq beef ribs. The peppers were spicy while the bbq beef ribs were excellent and glazed with a tasty, yet not overly sweet sauce.

After making pigs of ourselves, Brent's distributor presented the fourth sample, the Cuvee van de Keizer from Carolus. I have never heard of this beer, so this was new for me as well. Another belgian strong dark ale infused with maple syrupy sweetness and what I would describe as hazelnut liqueur. A really good selection by the Manderes crew.

The next beer brought out was one of my favorites: Ommegang. Brewed by Ommegang, this is a Belgian dubbel that has notes of caramel and belgian candi sugars. If stored properly, this abbey style ale ages very well and the living yeasts add new flavor to the brew over time.

Brent and Dave had a trick up their sleeve for us yet. They took the sixth sample off of a fork lift: A methuselah sized bottle, or 6 Liters, of St. Bernardus 12. The number 12 represents a certified, abbey brewed quadrupel, and an original gravity (fermentable sugars after boil) of about 1.120. This was the best bottle of St. Bernardus I have sampled: notes of sourdough bread with belgian candi sugar.

By now people were starting to really enjoy themselves. Most of these beers way in at over 8% ABV and the waitstaff was very generous with their pours. The grand finale of the night was an Austrian beer called Sammiclaus. Sammiclaus is brewed once a year on December 6th. Again, another great beer to cellar. This Sammiclaus resembles an Eisbock and was brewed on December 6, 2007. Fresh out of the tap, this was very sweet and bready, kind of lke a fruit or rum cake.

So for the big question, what was the favorite beer served tonight? There is an adage, that homebrews are generally better tasting than commercial beers. The least produced beer won. Congratulations to Matt @ Great Basin. The Harvest Ale had a beautiful presentation, excellent spices, and a very well-balanced mouthfeel.

OBF 2

Chadd and I woke up early thinking it was a good day for some exercise. What better way than to hike a mile to PGE park before we'd gorge and reward ourselves with some brunch. After about 20 minutes of hiking and about 5.13 wrong turns, we made it to our destination about 10 minutes before hearing play ball, er, help yourselves. Arriving with us were several of the usual suspects including the beergeeks, J. Mark, Jennifer, Lisa the Beer Queen, and a surprise cameo by a very exhausted Rick Sellers. For this was not just any event, but the Brewers Brunch and Parade.

Without further ado, Chadd and I headed over to the brunch buffet for some greasy eggs, fruit, and sausage. We also redeemed our beer tickets for a couple of Widmers. They had the standard Hefe and an IPA called Broken Halo. The Hefe was definitely the winner. Not a bad morning beer. During our schmoozing with local brewers and media, we ran across some interesting characters.

The first was Ron Gansberg, the Brew Master and Chief Imagineer (that's what his card said), from Cascade Brewing, aka the Raccoon Lodge. Now I was curious, how do you get a title of a Chief Imagineer? Ron's specialty is blending beers. Typically Belgians and Phlegms. Wait I misspelled that, Flems. They had a really interesting article on his craft in Beer Northwest. Chadd and I spoke with him about the Hop Heads, and what a great group of beer aficionados we had. Ron invited us out for a private tasting at his brewery on Friday night: He wanted us to sample his blended homebrews before deciding to make them for the public. I didn't know whether to feel honored or if this guy was an ancient Greek luring me with candy back to his house. Of course I was honored. Unfortunately, we had to decline his invitation as his brewery was on the other side of the city and most of our trip was already booked. We thanked him and schmoozed on. We also met a candidate for congress who had some great ideas, but we couldn't vote for him as we were not in his district, let alone state.

The brunch was winding down as the Widmer beer and lemon made their appearance. Several people dressed as monks were getting ready to carry the barrel through the streets of downtown Portland. Joining them were several people in wrestling outfits (sorry no singlets ladies) complete with masks. They were advertising for the newest Widmer creation, the Full Nelson IPA. The Nelson (ha, ha!) is an imperial IPA. They announced the march and off we went.

The parade itself was rather interesting. A procession of monks, several wrestlers, and a sea of about a million or maybe 200 people in black t-shirts that said Follow Me to the Oregon Brew Fest paraded down the streets of downtown Oregon without a police escort. Chadd asked me to hold him tightly cause he was scared to be hit by a car, but I told him to man up and he did.

After about a 20 minute parade the group descended upon Tom McCall Waterfront Park, the final destination of the empty barrel. While in line to enter the event we ran into Dan just shortly before asking the security guard with the rubber gloves to be gentle. After we were let in, we went to the ceremonial spot where the Mayor of Beertown, AKA Portland, tapped the replacement (a full) barrel of Full Nelson. Several hundred people stood in line to run their cup underneath the stream and get beer free flowing from the barrel. I felt like Charlie Bucket at the Willy Wonka factory. Chadd and I met up again and thought aw heck, since we're down here, we should probably drink some beer. So we purchased some tokens and sampled some beer.

We met some other interesting people as well as other writers, brewers, and aficionados like ourselves. In my opinion the better beers there were: Pliny the Elder from Russian River, Bell's Porter, a coffee flavored stout, and a Belgian from Goose Island. Aside from that, we ran into some interesting people who all had a story to share.

So, it was time to head back to the hotel for some R&R before heading out on a special occasion with the Beergeeks and the Beer Retard. The group was going to travel to Hopworks Urban Brewery (HUB) for Beergeek Chris' 400th brewery celebration. Wow, 400 breweries! We arrived there that evening and settled down for some beers. The architecture in the brewery was quite exquisite. Lots of finished wood in the buildng and about 30 bike frames welded over the bar. We had the sampler and Chadd enjoyed the IPA while I liked the Stout. We also had a delicious garlic and pepperoni pizza. Note to selves, never eat a garlic pizza before going on a date, not good.

We left HUB and decided to settle down at another bar within

crawling distance of the hotel called Bailey's. Bailey's has excellent beer on tap, which is generally not easy to come by. Surprisingly, it was light on the pocket too. I also chatted with the bartender and was surprised to find out he contributed to Beer Northwest along with some of the other people we hung out with on this trip. We sat outside and chatted with some other Oregonians and visitors who had stopped by. After a round or two we called it a night awaiting for what OBF 3 held in store.

It's not often that I say this about a city, but the people in Portland are world class. We had a brewer offer us a free, private tasting and met some very friendly people at Bailey's. On the other hand, talking to a stranger at a bar in California can sometimes be like trying to pull teeth. Not fun, unless you're into sadism. In Portland, everyone is friendly and respectful.

Stay tuned for OBF 3.

OBF Day 1

The Roving Reporter is at it again, this time at the Oregon Brewers Festival in Portland, Oregon. This is the first of a five day blog entry and I apologize as you will have to read a little more than just pictures of the brewfest (see left).

But there will be stories of beer drinking, fighting, romance, chivalry, and comedy, but less the fighting, romance, chivalry, and comedy, unless you enjoy the torture of reading my blogs.

We landed in Portland shortly after 3 and took the Max to our hotel at the Benson. For those of you who have not been to Portland, it's public transit system is a far cry from that of Sacramento. It shows up on times and has regular routes, even on Sundays. After checking in and settling into our luxurious room, we left to find the Brewer's Dinner at Tom McCall Waterfront Park, and managed not to get too many eager hunters of the dinner lost behind us either.

The Brewers Dinner consisted of a meal consisting of either pork or salmon. Since both of us are not superstitious and never paid attention to the warnings from the movie Airplane, we chose the fish. We expected a little more from the dinner as far as food, but the stout brownie was the highlight of the meal. Tastings consisted of six 8 oz. samples from a selection of 25 different beers. There were some excellent beers on here including Deschutes sour brown Dissident; Ninkasi's Tricerahops Double IPA; and a Bourbon Barrel Aged Stout from Old Market. And there were also a couple we tried for the first and last time too. We enjoyed the opportunity to try some of these harder to get beers, and meeting up with some familiar faces including the beergeeks, Chris (left) and Meredith, and Jay Brooks from Brookston Beer Bulletin.

The beergeeks and several other friends invited us to head out to the Green Dragon and continue our carousel. The Green Dragon was supposed to be the beer bar to be, before it closed down due to ownership changes. Although some people would argue otherwise. Not being teetotalers, they had to twist our arm to agree. As it turned out the Green Dragon was 1 mile from our location, so we decided it would be in our best interest to suck up and hoof it.

So Chadd and I left for a rendevouz at the Green Dragon, until somebody who will go nameless, convinced the Chadd to go into this place on the left. I saw they had only 4 taps, but a crapload of interesting beer in their refrigerator. By my count it was about 150 (not that I took time to count each bottle in the refrigerator, but you know I was right). So we stopped in and had a beer. I ordered a Golden Monkey from Victory and I can't recall what Chadd ordered even though the same question was on Jeopardy earlier tonight. In our opinion, the Golden Monkey was one of the better beers we drank there. It was a Tripel with a nice fruity nose and a hearty, bready, almost chewy finish. Delicious.

We met some nice folks at the Morrison Hotel, but unfortunately had to say goodbye as we were late for another unrelated drinking engagement completely unsimilar to the one we had at the Morrison.

So we continued our way to the Green Dragon. Unfortunately when we arrived, our buds had to say goodbye as they were on their way out the door. Chadd and I quickly learned for once, sometimes you can't show up to a party fashionably late, but this is not nearly as important in magnitude as never get involved with a Sicilian, if death is on the line (unless you built up an immunity to Iocane powder, which is fictional by the way. Now I am just rambling. Heh, heh, you read my rambling, which I typed instead

of spoke. Do people really do that? Ramble on in somewhat serious blogs? Oh yeah, the rambling, sorry)!

So after a pint each, we decided to stumble 1.5 miles back to the hotel to get some rest before the Brewer's Brunch and Million Beer Drinkers march the following morning. Scratch that, it was only 200 or 300 Beer Drinkers parading to the Oregon Brewers Festival.

Stay tuned for the next posting for OBF Day 2.

Hop Heads 100th Event! Tasting at Mary's Pizza Shack

Our trip to Mary's Pizza Shack in Roseville on Sunday was our 100th official Hop Heads event. Barely a week after our second anniversary!

As some of you may have seen from Rick Sellers blog, PacificBrewNews, Mary's Pizza Shack in Roseville recently began brewing craft beer to go with their pizza. On tap, their starting line up included a wonderfully dry hopped pale ale, a malty amber, a pilsner and an american wheat.

Wow! what a turnout! We had Hop Heads from as far south as Lodi (welcome, Tina!). Gary Juels (brewmaster) and Josh (District Manager) were class acts. They went out of their way to show us a great time. Countless samples of their ales.

The pale ale stood out, with wonderful dry hopped aroma. The excellent beers, the awesome appetizers, and the wonderful pizza (my favorite was the combo) put us in food and beer sensory overload. Hmm...wonder what's next to be on tap?!

At a mere 365 sq ft, the brewery is packed tight. The kettle is heated from a 500kBTU direct fire stove. Geez! All beers are served straight from the bright tanks, no middle man. The tubes are replaced with each batch to eliminate worries of cleaning such long lines. It was defintely one of our top Hop Heads events, thanks completely to Gary and Josh at Mary's Pizza Shack. We'll definitely be back!

First Annual International Brewers Day

I must say the first annual International Brewers Day was a success! Thank you Jay Brooks!

It began at Rubicon with Hopsickle (Moylans), Hop Sauce, and ESB. What a wonderful selection of excellent, as usual!

Wow, the hops are growing like crazy in the back! Then we migrated to the Old Tavern for a pitcher of Arrogant Bastard and Lagunitas IPA. Shuffleboard didn't work out so well with the lack of sand. Daniel, at the pool table, ran it up a couple rounds but refused to go home with the cougars.

It was great to welcome our newest Hop Head, Nicole, like she was a long lost member of our club. She apparently asks for a beer by giving the reacharound signal. I didn't even know there was a reacharound signal. OK, long story.

Jason and I compared Hobbit toes at one point.

Nonetheless, this was not an event to miss. Thank god for International Brewers Day!!!

Kym McNicholas' (my big sis) segment on Craft Brew on Forbes.com

Well, it appears that my craft brew enthusiasm has just spread to my sister, Kym, reporter for Forbes.com. In her segment, she interviews Fritz Maytag of Anchor Brewing and Dan Gordon of Gordon-Biersch. Link to video.

It looks like Kym has a little trouble pouring her first pint. I guess that's my fault for not teaching her properly :).

Avery Tasting at Manderes

Like big beers? You may just like Avery. Avery Brewing found itself as the subject of the June tasting at Manderes. At this event, eight Hop Heads attended the tasting to sample some of the biggest beers Colorado had to offer.

When we did finally reach Manderes, it was half-full or half-empty depending on how you hold your stein. Typically, monthly tastings at the Man Bear Pigs are at capacity, with little room left for seating. I can't compliment their events enough: 8-10 samples, plus delicious appetizers for a reasonable price. Paul and I arrived about 30 minutes late thanks to some traffic malfunctions and sat next to our fellow Hop Heads who just received the second pour. Everyone looked happy and the tastings looked excellent. So we signaled a waiter for a menu and some glasses to get down to some noshing and sampling Boulder's finest.

The first beer they brought, was the Karma. This beer is labeled as a belgian ale. However, it resembles more of a Scotch Ale. Smokiness, amber malts, and honey flavors abound from this brew, which mellow and mask typical sugary esters more common in Belgians. Good, but quite a shock to the palate despite the description. That'll teach me to read covers.

The second beer we sampled was the Salvation. This is not to be confused with Vinny's beer at Russian River. The Avery Salvation is a strong golden ale (versus a strong dark) loaded with a heavy coriander perfume, orange zest, toffee, candi sugars, and light smokiness. The hop balance was excellent and I wished I had a fuller glass.

The third beer brought to us was Collaboration, not Litigation Ale. Now this one you can confuse with Vinny's beer. Several years ago, Vinny and Adam Avery became friends and realized they both had beers named Salvation. So put 1 + 1 together, and you have the name of this beer. How would this taste though? I know you don't care, but I'll answer anyhow. Interesting. Interesting how both flavors combined. Dark cherries and light candi sugar with citrusy hops. Wow, this is some good stuff. Can't wait until they decide to increase production on this bad boy!

When we finished the Salvation squared, the fifth sample was brought to our table. Wait, shouldn't we have tried the fourth? Nah, just straight to the fifth. The Hop Heads are a wild bunch. We drink milk after the expiration date, and drink the fifth sample before the fourth. The fourth was The Reverend. A quadrupel style that weighed in at 10% and was chock full of dark candi sugars and smokiness. It almost seems the beer took on characteristics of barrel aging. Fairly comparable to Allagash.

The fourth beer on the list was The Kaiser. This was an imperial Oktoberfest, which had flavors of cherries and currants. It appears that Avery dislikes the apple-sweetness of the ur-Marzen flavor as much as I do. Good job. I have secret plans for the persecution and excommunication of marzen beers. Ask me how you can join the revolution.

The sixth beer was the Avery IPA. It poured light-golden in color, and had notes of grass, citrus, and a light malt finish. Not a bad IPA.

Next up, we sampled The Czar. The Czar is an imperial stout with inspired flavors of grassiness, caramel, and alcohol. Although this beer weighs in at over 11, there should only be a light alcohol presence. This beer was a little too over the top and I felt it missed some key flavors of a stout.

The eighth sample we tried was the Hog Heaven. It poured dark amber, with abundances of citrus, flowers, light malts and caramel. This year's Hog Heaven was much better than last year's. This beer is very similar to Sierra Nevada's Bigfoot, but uses Columbus hops instead of the other 3cs (cascade, centennial, and chinook).

By now my palates had already faced the firing squad, but what the heck, bring out another beer. The penultimate beer was The Maharaja, an imperial IPA. Excellent, excelent imp IPA with flavors of citrus, flowers, and yellow grapefruit.

Last up, was a big boy, Samael's Ale. Although the site reads, 14%, the bottle we received read at over 15. This was my favorite of the night. Oak, wheat, and caramel flavors dominate this beer. Although this beer is more of a true barley wine, it carries the label of an English Strong. I just wanted to plop myself in front of a fire with a cigar. Very well done.

Overall, the beers at Avery Brewing were excellent and I look forward to the next tasting at Manderes.

Bear Republic

On Saturday, June 7, several hop heads and guests made the trek to the Santa Rosa area to partake in some tasty beverages at the Brew Fest. However, the experience at Bear Republic deserves its own entry. Amazing. If anyone has time, can you please copy and paste pictures where applicable from the Hop Heads meetup site. Thank you. My computer is having problems with several sites and this is one of them. My laptop is part of the UN and therefore waterboarding is not permissible. I will have to find another form of torture to get my machine to cooperate. Maybe if I threaten it with Vista fixes????

At 8:30 AM, Bob, the two Pauls, and I left from the not so scenic Natomas in search of better beer. At 10:30, we arrived at the Bear Republic Brewery in Healdsburg. The brewery, which normally does not except visitors prior to 11 AM on Saturdays, opened its doors half an hour early for the Hop Heads.

Our host for the day was Ryan, he had a very good understanding of how things worked at Bear Republic. Shortly thereafter, Leeanne, Shawn (aka Irish Girrrrl), and Mitch teleported to Santa Rosa and met the other four of us as an away team. Ryan offered us all a pint of our choice. I started with the Black Mamba. Any likeness to any character played by the uber-hot Vivica Fox from any Quentin Tarantino film is totally coincidental. About the beer, very similar to Allagash Black, but with more Belgian yeast flavor. A definite winner. Several others had the Rebellion Pale, another great beer. If you love the taste of yellow grapefruit from the Simcoe Hop, y'all need to bow down and Rebel. 100% Simcoe. Hoo-ah.

Ryan began to explain the history of Bear Republic. It seems the original members were bicycle enthusiasts and that is how the Bear started. Huh? Isn't this supposed to be about beer? Patience. At this event, Ricardo, master brewer and owner, his girlfriend, and the other founders had a table, where they secretly poured beer to hydrate from the hot sun (as opposed to the cold one). Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately for them, the secret soon got out and they had a huge line behind this table thirsting for a tasty beverage. The table received infamy when a local Santa Rosa media reporter dubbed it the "Highlight of the Event" the following morning. But what beer would command such a line of epic proportions? The eventual flagship of Bear Republic, Red Rocket Ale.

Ryan then led us on a tour of the brewery. The first stop was the mash tun and the 16 barrel wort kettle, which only produced 15 barrels at a full boil. So why don't they call it a 15 barrel kettle? Anyhow, something seemed wrong. Bear Republic shouldn't have to rely on that kettle alone, they produce too much beer. Turns out they have another site. Somewhere in Santa Rosa behind a Costco. Maybe we should make a scavenger hunt out of this clue.

After the mash and kettle tour, onto the fermenters. They have a shipload of those. Six if memory serves correct. Gotta love the fermenters. That's where beer sits before people like you and me turn it into pee, give or take a couple of weeks depending on the beer. So after the fermenters, Ryan showed us the special secret storage room. The room had about 20 barrels of beer aging on firkin (cask). We inquired about the ones labeled as barley wine, and it appeared they were going to age for about 20 more years. Actually, I think Ryan only said two years. That would be awesome, though, a 20 year old beer.

We thanked Ryan for the tour and headed inside. Our food awaits. The Hop Heads felt like royalty. Beer, a tour, and food waiting when we get back. Don't you just love it when you get back from a tour and there is food waiting at your table? I had the chili. Now, for those who have never been to Bear Republic, this is not your garden variety type of chili. Bear Republic made theirs with wild boar. The chili was excellent. Not as gamey as you would expect so don't be afraid to try it. Definitely less gamey than venison.

After finishing the Mamba, I partook in the Black Raven Porter on nitro. This beer is not available in stores, some places feel it is discontinued (don't hate on me beeradvocate), and you cannot receive this beer with five proofs of purchase. The porter should be their new flagship. Very close to flawless, and it will be my new standard for American Porters (12b for all you beer nerds out there). Lightly roasted malts with a touch of coffee, light chocolate and little to no bitterness on the mouthfeel. Nice creamy flavor from the nitro pour too. I would highly suggest to leave this beer on nitro. Not sure if you would get some of the same characteristics on CO2 (adds moderate texture, richness, and creaminess). Bravo Ricardo.

It was already high noon. Time to head to the Santa Rosa beer festival. If you are lucky, I will probably post the activities from the event on Wednesday. In the meantime, be safe, and Go Lakers!!!!

El Toro Brewing Co.

I recently visited El Toro Brewing Co. in Morgan Hill. I LOVED their Deuce Imperial IPA - highly recommended. Check out my pics and hit them up if you're in the area.

Cheers,

Andi

Hop Shortage, Will it Hurt the Wallet?

The story of the 2008 hop shortage began in 1992 when worldwide hop acreage hit its all-time maximum at over 236,000 acres. Good times. Since bumper crops led to a great excess of hops, craft brewers did not need hop contracts with farmers or hop wholesalers; they could purchase hops at will.

On the other hand, farmers got the short end of the stick. Their excess supply was converted to hop extract, which remains stable for years if stored properly (say in a refrigerated warehouse or silo similar to the hop room in Sierra Nevada). The cans of extract were often sold at a loss due to overhead, which eroded the profitability of farming hops. Seeing how it sucks to lose money, farmers converted their hop acreage to more profitable crops or selling their land to developers overseas.

By 2006, worldwide hop acreage shrunk to about 113,000 acres. Some of the reduction in hop acreage was due to higher alpha varieties being introduced and hop products with better utilization being developed, but low prices were the main culprit. Fast forward to last year's harvest. Unusual weather in Europe caused the 2007 hop crop to fall below expectations. Germany and England's crop performed as expected, but the harvests in Czechoslovakia and Slovenia fell 30% below expectations. Hop farms in this region were devastated by a hail storm just prior to harvest.

Why didn't someone see this coming? Well, some folks did, but nobody accounted for hop inventory. Roger, the master brewer of Lodi Beer Company, pieced together the puzzle for the Hop Heads. Macro-breweries who manufacture piss-water and large craft breweries who make decent beer have contracts with farmers or hop wholesalers. Typical contracts provide these companies with adequate hop supply for day-to-day needs and a 'standing inventory' in case of line expansion, experimentation, research and design, and insurance against hail on the fourth of July followed by a stampede of elephants and one baby zebra.

In the early 2000s, contracted breweries did not feel the need to maintain their standing inventory. Seeing the decrease in acreage in 2006, contracted breweries immediately restocked their standing inventories to hedge the risk of a shortage. Fast-forward to 2007 and non-contracted breweries got screwed. Hop prices on the open market skyrocketed when distributors realized there was no shot in hell that supply would meet demand. Hops that sold for $2-3/lb in 2006, started to sell up to $26 a pound. Further, since the Euro is currently strong versus the US dollar, European brewers had an economic advantage over their US counterparts. European brewers bought up much of the hops on the open market.

Unfortunately, nobody can correctly assign an accurate number to the hop deficit. Not only are non-contracted brewers hosed, but home-brewers like yours truly, suffer too. Okay, so how much more will I be shelling out for my favorite 6-pack of craft brew? Several media sources and bloggers typically report that beer prices will increase by at least $1 to $2 per six-pack, I hypothesize that prices will not materially increase in the near future. I must be insane, but maybe there is a system to my crazy-ass logic.

First, non-contracted breweries will still compete with contracted macro and craft breweries (I.E. Sierra Nevada, Sam Adams, and Russian River are contracted). The term contracted usually means paying a fixed price for a supply of goods or services. Contracted brewing costs will not change and they will still pay the same price to produce the same amount of beer (as long as their malts are contracted too, but this will be a separate article probably in 2010).

According to Roger, hop inflation has eroded the cost of production. A 10-gallon batch of ale this year, costs as much as a 15 gallon did two years ago! Since non-contracted breweries face higher costs of production, we will most likely see less product on the shelves.

Okay, but won't non-contracted craft breweries raise prices to offset their short supplies? Would you be willing to pay an extra $2 for your favorite six-pack of non-contracted microbrew? Maybe, but the rest of America does not enjoy craft beer as much as the Hop Heads. My answer to the question above is: not likely. Let's face it America is in a recession. In order to save money to pay for gasoline or groceries, people will substitute these purchases with cheaper beer including Poors, Crud, and Filler or stay with contracted craft brews like Sam Adams, Sierra Nevada, etc. With an economic downturn in mind, non-contracted breweries cannot afford to raise prices or else they will ultimately lose customers. This is why I believe we will see less product on the shelves.

Okay swami, so what does the future hold? Fortunately, growers, hop dealers and brewers are all looking for a solution to the problem. New acreage is currently being planted, but it takes 2 years in the US, and 3-4 years in Europe, before new hop acreage will produce yields. About 5,000 acres were planted in 2007 and potentially another 15,000 acres will be planted in 2008, but getting farmers to convert land to hop acreage can be difficult. Planting new hop acreage requires that the farmer invest in trellises and forego at least a year of producing something they can sell. In addition, a brand new hop farm would additionally require the purchase of the harvesting machines and ovens for drying hops, and these cost millions. Don't hit the panic button just yet, but you may need to savor your beers.

Manderes - The Allagash Tasting

First off, make your way to any tasting that Manderes offers. There was a reason the greater Sacramento area voted them the #1 beer bar. The staff is excellent and the food is great.

On Wednesday, May 14th, Manderes hosted Allagash Tasting. For those of you unfamiliar with Allagash, they are a brewer based in Portland, Maine who specializes in Belgian style craft beer. Joining me that night were three other hop heads including Sheelagh, Tara, and Jason. Jason brought along his father, Jack, to give him the west coast beer dinner tour.

Onto the beer. Team Allagash brought out the White as the lead-off hitter. Allagash White is a Belgian Wit with notes of apricot, citrus, honey and nutmeg. Normally an excellent beer, but ours had a slight fault. While it is common for the style, our sample had moderate notes of acetylaldehyde, which was most likely caused by debris at the bottom of the beer or simply cannibalistic yeast. The beer tasted like green apples and if you drink enough, you don't get a hangover. While this is a novel concept, we did not exactly look for that flavor. Excellent observation Jack. While this is normally one of my favorite offerings from Allagash, I was a little disappointed, but realizes it happens.

The second beer we sampled was the Musette. The Musette is a barrel-aged Scottish ale. If you enjoy a nice, dark firkinized beer with ample amounts of whiskey flavors and hints of smokiness, this might be the brew for you.

The third pour was the Black. The Belgian Black is similar to a stout, but Allagash adds dark candi sugar and uses a Belgian yeast strain. The flavor on this beer contained dark chocolate and bits of roasted malts. However, the ester and sugar flavors consistent with Belgian beers did not stand out. This may be a good introduction beer to try if you are squeamish about Belgian esters.

Fourth up, the Interlude. I am not going on break, I am talking about the beer. This was one of the more interesting beers of the night simply because I can't compare it to anything. Another barrel aged beer, but aged in Syrah and Merlot barrels. This beer uses two types of Belgian yeasts: one deemed as typical and the other a farmhouse. I can describe this as somewhat resembling a lambic with notes of cherry, oak, citrus, and a mouthfeel of slight sourness. Interlude is its own style and I'd welcome the opportunity to try another one. Excellent job.

Number 5 is a Hop Head favorite, Allagash Curieaux. Aged in Jim Beam Bourbon barrels, with ample smokiness, and extra ummpphhh from tripel aging, it makes you appreciate the time and effort put into this beer.

The next one Four should have been served two tastings ago, but I'll let that go. Aptly named, Four is aged four times, uses four Belgian yeasts strains, several types of candi, and will make you pee four different colors (that may not be correct as a source from New England provided that information to the Herald). For those of you unfamiliar with this beer, it pours an opaque orange, with a light head, and has notes of oakiness, coriander, pear and honey. Surprisingly, it drinks fairly light for a quadrupel, which everyone enjoyed.

The seventh pour came from the Odyssey. No, not the book written by Homer or the reception hall/restaurant where my parents got married. Aged in American Dark Barrels, this beer is dark brown with notes of chocolate, oak, honey, and biscuit (bready). The mouthfeel was fairly tangy and gave a nice warming sensation. This was definitely a beer to be enjoyed in a snifter.

We were done tasting the Allagash, but Brent and Dave always remove the rubber bands and bring out the stash. The first bonus beer was the Fantome Brise Bon Bons. The crew at Fantome concocted a hard-hitting saison with lots of biscuity, malty goodness, with heavy notes of citrus. As expected, the mouthfeel had lots of sweetness, followed by bits of tartness from the bittering hops (they gotta appear somewhere!). A nice slow sipper to be enjoyed amongst friends on a hot summer afternoon.

The last of the bonus beers was the 90 Minute Dogfish Head. Hailing from Delaware, this is an east coast IPA. Lots of grassy notes at first scent, but most of them disappear in the taste to give way to a well-balanced malt complexion. A very easy drinking IPA for all palates. A great reason for craft drinkers to be excited that Dogfish Head got their license to distribute in California last month.

I had a great time at the tasting and enjoyed all of Allagash's beers.

Celebrating the Women of Brewing at Rubicon

Last Saturday was the Women in Brewing Festival at Rubicon in
Sacramento. 11 beers were on tap, all brewed by women in the brewing industry.
As I recall we had the following (if I'm off, I apologize, I didn't write them down):

• 1 from Stone - Vanilla porter
• 1 from Bear Republic - Crazy Ivan
• 2 from Sierra Nevada Nevada - Ruthless and Swartzbier
• 3 from Moylans - Dry Irish Stout, Pomegranate Wheat, and
  Hopsickle
• 2 from Rubicon - Brown Eyes, Daughters of the Revolution
• 2 from Lost Coast - Alleycat and Great White

The Hop Heads started around noon as a modest group of four, gathering at a small table on the patio. As we slowly grew, we struggled to find seats for us. Rubicon apparently had a huge influx of customers just before noon, which left
them understaffed and the kitchen backlogged with orders. This is not an usual occurrence for Rubicon. However, the beer, the food, and the location are always worth such inconveniences. Hop Heads came and went throughout the day, with a constant attendance of about 7 at any given time. I'd guess we had about 13 or so in total.

Now back to the beer! The entire selection was awesome, as expected. Here I would normally talk about the various beers, but instead I want to talk about the brewers....two of them, actually. At the far end of the patio, Laura Ulrich (brewer for Stone) and Denise Jones (brewmaster for Moylans) were enjoying some fine ales. I figured, "what the heck," and walked over to say
"hi."
I was pleased at how receptive they were upon my introduction. I talked with Laura about how refreshing her vanilla porter was on that hot day. I explained to Denise that I still wasn't up to the grade to enjoy her Hopsicke, but Moylander DIPA was right up my alley. She insisted I try it again today; so of course I did. The conversation moved to growing hops. I learned a lot from them, along with Dave Hopwood, Stone sales rep. Later on, Denise came by to talk about using fruits in beers, like in her pomegranate wheat.


Throughout the day, ladies in roller skates wielding squirt guns were cruising up and down the sidewalk while passing out fliers. Who were they? They are the Sac City Rollers, our local roller derby team, passing out their 2008 Schedule! Later we saw several of the derby girls blindfolded while roller-skating in tandem down the sidewalk. This was one of the right of passage (so to speak) events for the new members of their team. They provided great entertainment and conversation as we enjoyed the fine ales
on tap.

I have to say, this was a great event overall. Great conversations, great food, and of course, great beers!