Lighted Logo in Bar

News Flash!  They are opening tonight, Monday, August 1, 2011, at 5:00pm!

I had the opportunity to visit the Dust Bowl Brewing Taphouse before their public opening on Friday and for a private opening on Saturday evening, compliments of brewmaster Don Oliver.  I took a bunch of photos to share what will soon be available to the greater Turlock area.  This place rocks!

The Dust Bowl Taproom will be opening sometime in the week of August 1-5.  Be there!

Dining Tables in the Taproom

Sidewalk Patio Seating

The Lighted Bar

Comfy Chairs to Enjoy an Ale

The Tap Menu

Hops and Grain!

Mr. & Mrs. Lazy Brewer

Brewmaster Don Oliver and Me

My Son of Wrath Double IPA (I named this ale:)

Taproom Food Menu (Click to enlarge)

Taproom Beer Menu (Click to enlarge)

View of the Taproom

Flight of Tasters

My French Dip Sandwich and Beer Battered Onion Rings

They Pour Honest Pints!

The Bar

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Lazy Brewer Photo Galleries

A photo gallery from the Lazy Brewer’s San Diego adventure has been posted.  Enjoy:)

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My NHC Support Group, Steve, Me and Stephen!

Day three, the last day of NHC, has been amazing.  I attended four sessions led by brewing legends and another about homebrew club management and organization.  Today I attended the following breakout sessions:

Homebrew Club Organization Panel moderated by Drew Beechum

High Gravity Brewing with Patrick Rue of The Bruery

Recipe Building and Competition Tips with Gordon Strong

Collaboration Beers with Greg Koch of Stone Brewing

Workshop on American Hops with Matt Brynildson of Firestone Walker Brewing

The homebrew club panel was informative.  We’re looking for this kind of info as our club, The Central Valley Brewers Guild, grows.  Steve and I attended and we pulled a few good nuggets out of the session.  There was talk of having a pre-NHC workshop for homebrew club leaders at next years NHC in Seattle.  I’m definitely up for that:)

Greg Koch of Stone Brewing with his eyes covered!

Simply put, Greg Koch, of Stone Brewing, is an manic, crazy genius!  He body surfed our session and I’m proud to say that at one point I supported his left buttock as he passed over head.  It was a lively session with much info and frivolity.  My first NHC quote of the day came from the session.  During the Q&A session, someone asked if there was a chance of Double Bastard becoming a year-round Stone offering, rather than becoming available at the beginning of the holiday season in early November.  Greg quickly replied that it is offered at the “Beginning of Double Bastard season.” A great off the cuff line:)

The best session of the day was led by Matt Brynildson.  He is so much the “every man” brewer and relates incredibly well to the homebrewing community.  His session on American hops was full of useful information and statistics on American hops and their use in brewing craft and homebrewed beers.  He also offered up the best ale selection of any session I attended at NHC this year, and German style hefeweizen, Hemp Ale, Union Jack and Double Jack.  Thankfully I had saved my daily alcohol allotment for this session:)

Matt Brynildson of Firestone Walker Brewing

The second quote of the day came from this session during the pouring of Matt’s ales.  One of the NHC pouring volunteers, with (good) attitude, said to us, “I’ve got a lot of beer back there. You guys have got to hurry the hell up!” in our sampling drinking:)

We’re off to the Grand Banquet and Awards Ceremony in a bit.  Hopefully my barleywine and vanilla porter will bring home the gold!  Cross your fingers for me!

Me, Matt, and Stephen - taken by Dr. Tommy's son!

Cheers to Matt! Thanks for the awesome ales!

The volunteers make this conference as good as it is! Thanks!

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Yeast for a Year!

So today was a Charlie Sheen day at NHC.  Winning!

At tonight’s Pro Brewers night, the lovely Mrs. Lazy Brewer won a year’s worth of yeast from White Labs!  There were twelve certificates, each good for two vials of White Labs yeast!  Two raffle tickets were called, with no one responding and the third call was her ticket!  Life is good:)

Today I attended the following breakout sessions:

Brewing on a Budget with Chris Graham of MoreBeer

Hop Boil Chemistry with Colin Kaminski of Downtown Joe’s in Napa

Choosing the Right Yeast with Chris White of White Labs

Brenda and her (my:) Yeast!

All the sessions were good, but I really enjoyed the brew nerdiness of the hop chemistry and yeast sessions.  Very good info:)

On a sad note, the Town and Country Resort Hotel shooed the gourmet food trucks off their property.  Seems like a money grab move to capture the conference attendees food dollars.  Very very uncool…

The Hospitality Suite Brew Board, beers 17-30

30 handles at the Hospitality Suite

The Three Beerscateers! Onf for all and all for beer!

The conference opening toast!

My Twitter beer buddy @BrettGlenna

What the hell? A line for the mens room?

Incredible Hospitality Room Portable Cold Box with 30 handles!

The Floor of Pro Brewers Night

Me, Vinnie Cilurzo, a big-assed bottle of Temptation and Steve

Mark, Maggie, Steve and Brenda

Mr. & Mrs. Lazy Brewer

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2011 NHC Conference Flyer

Yesterday was a travel day to the 2011 National Homebrewers Conference in San Diego.  The drive was long, but uneventful, other than me just about dozing off while driving in Fresno.  I haven’t had an issue staying awake while driving for probably 25 years, but this morning I was just wiped out.  Brenda took over the driving from Fresno to Bakersfield, and while I didn’t actually sleep, I drifted on the edge of consciousness for about an hour and a half.  We got to the Town and Country Resort Hotel, the conference host, just before 3 o’clock, checked in, went and picked up our NHC registration materials, beer schwag and three lovely bottles of ale:)  Shortly after that we were enjoying our first complimentary ales from the conference hospitality room.  We visited with Steve and Maggie for a bit and then decided to head out to check out Green Flash Brewing’s new tasting room.  This will also be their future brew house in the coming months.

Green Flash Brewing Tasting Room

While the Green Flash tasting room doesn’t actually serve food, on the evenings they are open, one of San Diego’s gourmet food trucks parks outside the tasting room and serves up incredible fare.  Tonights food truck was Devilicious.  We enjoyed lobster and cheese sandwiches, fabulous burgers, BBBLTs ( the extra Bs were for all the extra bacon they throw on the sandwiches), truffled parmesan fries and some Fried Yumminess (tonight’s rotating Fried Yumminess was deep fried cheeseburger and pickle balls:)  The ales at Green Flash were incredible.  I had a Hop Head Red, a Green Flash Imperial IPA, a West Coast IPA and a taste of something they call Palate Wrecker – another IIPA.  All in all, it was a great way to ease into a three day beer conference.

The opening toast for the 2011 National Homebrewers Conference takes place at 1:00 pm today.  After that, there are three breakout sessions, and at 8 o’clock, the Pro Brewers Night starts, where over 45 craft breweries will be providing unlimited pours of their best.  Additionaly, the conference organizers worked with many of the San Diego gourmet food trucks to provide a mobile “food court” each evening of the conference.  Yum!

Green Flash Tasting Room

Having two of my beers in the final round of the National Homebrew Competition will make Saturday night’s Grand Banquet (a beer dinner – go figure:) and National Homebrew Competition Award Ceremony a special event.  Cross your fingers for my Beanilla Porter and annual barleywine!

Fun times ahead!

Fried Yumminess!

Green Flash Imperial IPAs

Green Flash Ales

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New hoses, quick disconnects, HopRocket and Therminator

It’s been a while since I posted. Maybe because I haven’t brewed since the holidays.  Maybe because I’ve been busy with life.  Maybe because a major upgrade to my brewing system has me avoiding all things brewing – other than consuming homebrew.

Last Christmas, Mrs. Lazybrewer put a Blichman Therminator and Thrumometer under the tree for me and this year followed it up with a Blichmann HopRocket, and an additional March pump.  Over the last year I’ve picked up new stainless steel quick disconnects and high temp tubing, getting ready for the transition from my immersion chiller to a new plate chiller cooling system.  Yes, that’s right.  It’s taken me fifteen months to move from an old school wort chilling system to a new shiny high tech chilling system.  Because I’m a creature of habit – set in my ways – a stick in the mud!

It’s finally happening!  Today I spent a couple hours building new hoses and attaching male QDs to “devices” and kettles.  I’m 95% ready (I just need to get a couple 3/4″ F/F couplers for the water side of the Therminator) and plan of doing a water-only dry run on Saturday, followed by a Cookie Dough Brown Ale brew on Sunday or Monday.  I know that it’s going to be a worrisome brew day for me with the change.  I have well over a hundred brew sessions under my belt with my system, and current immersion chiller, and the plate chiller looks to be far more complex to manage and keep clean and sanitized.  Part of my hesitation over the last year has be concerning keeping the Therminator clean and not being the single point of infection failure for my brews.  I’ve read way too much on cleaning and sanitizing plate chillers on the web, and several of my closest brew buddies have been using plate and counterflow chillers for years without a single infection.  But still, I’m nervous, because I’m a creature of habit – set in my ways – a stick in the mud! I’m sure 5-10 brews from now, the Therminator will be my new habit, but getting there will wear on me a bit:)

I am looking forward to using the HopRocket, infusing my IPAs with oodles of hop goodness, but that’s a couple brews down the road.  I want to get the new chilling regime down first before introducing a new variable.

Where's Waldo?

On a side note, we just got back from a Northern California brewery road trip.  We enjoyed stops at Russian River Brewing, Bear Republic Brewing, Anderson Valley Brewing, North Coast Brewing and on the way home, a drop-in at Lagunitas Brewing yielded a single release tapping of Waldo – which they bill as their hoppiest beer ever.  We spent two nights at The MacCallum House in Mendocino, and enjoyed great beer, wonderful food and spirited companionship – with some of the best people in the world!

Life is good!

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Lagunitas Little Sumpin' Sumpin' Ale

Brenda and are are escaping the hot Central California summer heat with a road trip to Mendocino. We’re staying a couple nights at the MacCallum House Inn, in downtown Mendocino, and hitting a couple breweries I’ve wanted to visit, for quite some time, on the way north.

First off, we’ll be stopping in Petaluma to visit Lagunitas Brewing Company. I’ve heard wonderful things about their taproom and I’m really looking forward to a visit.

Next, we’ll be stopping for lunch at Santa Rosa’s Russian River Brewing Company, where hopefully I’ll leave with a growler or two of Pliny the Elder – and maybe even Pliny the Younger.

Pliny the Elder

Eventually, we’ll wind up in Mendocino, after about a five hour drive, and take it easy for the rest of the evening. The next day, we’re hoping to head over to Boonville, and visit Anderson Valley Brewing Company for ales and lunch – followed by a bit of wine tasting on the way back to Mendocino. Somehow, I’m also hoping to fit in a visit to Bear Republic Brewing, in Healdsburg. And maybe – just maybe – a stop at Marin Brewing Company, in Larkspur on the way home.

This is an anniversary trip for us. I’m looking forward to spending some time with Brenda – over some quality ales.

Life is good!

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Brenda's Deschutes Brewing Tattoo

Brenda and I wanted to try a new beer festival this year and I’ve kind of looked at the Monterey Beer Festival for the last couple of years.  We bought tickets about six weeks before the event and they arrived just a couple days after ordering them on the web.  That was a good sign!  We booked a room at our favorite place to stay in Monterey, the Merritt House Inn, and we were good to go.  We tried to find friends to join us, who didn’t already have something going on the weekend of June 5-6, but it was a busy time for all.  That was a bad sign!

Saturday morning we jumped in the Audi TT Roadster and headed for the coast. The weather was unseasonably warm for Monterey when we arrived.  We checked into the Inn, and then drove over to the Monterey Fairgrounds.  We arrived about an hour after the festival started and were amazed to see a line to get in that was probably 2000-3000 people deep!  We followed a car into the actual fairgrounds and ended up parking in the arena – with only twenty other cars:)  We went to the end of the line, only to hear someone in front of us mention that there was another line at the main entrance that was much shorter, so we headed up to that area.

Cheap Shitty Tasting Cup!

After another fifteen minute wait, with an ID check and bag pat-down, we received out wrist bands and (incredibly cheap shitty little (no offense intended to the Solo cup folks – I use your stuff all the time.  Offense intended for the Monterey Beer Festival folks for using such an unclassy  tasting container for this event!)) plastic Solo taster cups – and were told not to lose them.  That was a bad sign!

Once we actually hit the beer fest area, the first thing we noticed was the sea of humanity, 94.3% of who were between 21 to 26 years of age.  By 1:45 pm, many were obviously well on their way to a serious hangover.  Another bad sign!  We smooshed our way through the crowd to the center corral of tables, only to discover that all of the beer in that area was being served in a frantic, non-stop manner, by MBF folks wearing “Volunteer” t-shirts – not folks from the various breweries.  There were cases of unrefrigerated beer stacked behind the poures, who were serving out of the open cases/six-pack holders that had had ice poured on top of the open cases.  Again, that was a bad sign!

MBF sea of humanity!

A couple of the breweries’ beers I specifically went to taste, most notably Goose Island, were nowhere to be found.  These best of the bunch were ales from Ninkasi Brewing and Deshutes Brewing. Additionally, I finally tasted Sierrra Nevada’s Tumbler Brown Ale, which was good, but not as great as  I had hoped. We worked our way around the booths, waited in looooooong lines, and had probably six or seven tasters of beer.  By 3:30, many of the booths were out of beer (Sierra Nevada was closing up by this time) and it just further lengthened the remaining lines as the fest goers flocked to the booths that were still pouring beer.

Peter B's IPA - Yum!

We left about 3:30 and headed back to Peter B’s Brewery, in the Portola Plaza for a quiet ale.  I had a couple of their awesome IPAs and we noticed that several other more vintage MBF attendees (not in the 21-26 year age bracket:) also stopped by to an ale.  After relaxing on Peter B’s patio, we headed over to the wharf for a quiet dinner, where I enjoyed a nice porter with my mussels and sand dabs.  It was a great way to cap off a somewhat disappointing day at the Monterey Beer Festival.

Sand Dabs for Dinner!

All in all, we probably won’t be going back to the Monterey Beer Festival.  The overly young crowd, focused on quantity, not quality, the long lines, the fact that many beer offerings were gone long before the end of the event, and the fact that the MBF folks seem to have over-sold the attendance, will probably keep us for going back in future years.  This is more of an event for those folks looking to get sloshed on mass quantities of beer, not those who are looking to taste several quality ales.  I’m sure there are thousands of people who really love this annual event, but it’s just not what I look for in a beer festival.  My BrewBuddy Stephen has mentioned the different nature of beer festivals in the past and I wasn’t really sure what he was talking about, but there is a definite difference between a Beer Festival and a Brewer’s Festival.  I’ll be attending the latter type of event in the future.

There were positives, though.  The food was excellent.  We had a couple wonderful sausage sandwiches.  There were several high quality breweries there – though I think the quality of their ales was lost on most of the attendees.  Finally, it was good to see that MoreBeer had a booth (it was good to chat very briefly with Jesse) serving some homebrew – that was well received by the attendees.  And hey, at the end of the day, I was in Monterey with my sweetie:)

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Pub Crawl Ticket

Our homebrew club, the Central Valley Brewers Guild, is looking into a Sacramento pub crawl, where the participants are delivered, and returned home, by Amtrak.  We are looking for alcohol responsible methods of transportation to ensure that our crawlers are returned home safely, as well as not endangering the public at large.

The CVBG Founders have been discussing this for some time now and we finally decided to make a trial run to see if an Amtrak pub crawl is feasible.  We checked train schedules and made reservations (a bit funky as you can’t print tickets made by web reservations – come on Amtrak, it’s a new century!) by phone.  The train departed at 10:34 pm on Saturday and was scheduled to arrive in Sacramento at 12:30 pm.  The return train departed at 4:55 pm, so we knew going in that time would be tight.  Four and a half hours, and four potential pubs in downtown and midtown Sacramento sounded just short of undoable.  Additionally, we were looking at moving 18-20 blocks either by foot or exploring public transportation options.  Our idea was to head out to the farthest pub on the list, Rubicon Brewing Company, and then work our way back towards the Amtrak station.  Our fear is that keeping 30+ pub crawlers somewhat organized, and moving between pubs with such a tight schedule, will be similar to herding cats.  The possible pubs on the list included Rubicon Brewing Company, Pyramid Alehouse, Brew it Up and River City Brewing.

Rubicon's Hop Sauce

We arrived at the Denair Amtrak station about fifteen minutes before the train was supposed to arrive.  Once we boarded, we paid the conductor for our reserved outgoing tickets.  We were told to just pick up the return tickets when we hit the Sacramento station.  About twelve minutes later we picked up Steve at the Modesto Amtrak station.  Modesto has a relatively new, and very nice Amtrak station with a ticket counter, so we will probably buy advance tickets there for the real rail pub crawl.  All went well until we were about eight miles out of Sacramento.  They were working on the tracks, and we sat for almost twenty minutes while workers moved equipment and allowed a freight train to pass.  That kind of delay on crawl day would be a huge blow to the agenda.

Once we arrived in Sacramento, we lined up to buy return tickets and burned probably another fifteen minutes.  We discovered that Regional Transit buses would get us within a couple blocks of Rubicon Brewing Company.  Better yet, the Amtrak conductors could provide us with free transfer passes for the buses.  You just ask for them before you leave the train.  Too bad we didn’t know that.  Stephen was able to get four passes and we had to pay for the others.  We arrived at Rubicon about 1:30 ready to imbibe.

Mmmmmm! Bacon Cheeseburger!

I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Rubicon had their wonderful imperial IPA, Hop Sauce.  It is served in a 10 ounce goblet and they will only serve you two. I started with a Hop Sauce, followed by a couple of Rubicon’s exceptional IPAs. Rubicon’s IPA is definitely in my top five IPAs for its wonderful flavor and drinkability.  Stephen went all Belgian on us and even introduced Brenda to a sour beer she really enjoyed.  We enjoyed a leisurely lunch and picked our waitress’ brain on bringing 30+ crawlers in on a Saturday afternoon.  We decided that the curb-side outdoor seating would probably best fit our group.

After lunch and ales, we headed back over a block or so to a RT bus pick-up area and rode a bus back to the head of the Westfield Mall and one of my favorite brew pubs, River City Brewing.  RCB has awesome food, decent ale (but no IPA…) and great atmosphere.  I particularly enjoy grabbing and ale or two on a warm day and sitting in their outdoor seating and watching the mall traffic wander by.  Time was getting short, so we ordered up a round of ales and headed outside.  Strangely, while we waited at the bar for our beers, one of the folks sitting there asked if we were on a pub crawl.  Go figure!  After a quick ale, it was time to head back to the Amtrak station to hop on board the 4:55 pm train home.  The ride home was uneventful and we had one last ale on the train to cap off the day.

Feeling Empty and Sad...

Looking back, my impressions of the day are as follows…

I was surprised how many people actually ride Amtrak in California’s central valley.  Pleasantly surprised:)

Four and a half hours is a pretty short timeline for a pub crawl.  Even without our 20 minute Amtrak delay, we’ll probably need to cut the pubs down to three to fit the alotted time.  Rubicon is a must (they have the best ale of the four pubs, in my opinion:), as well as River City, since it is only two blocks from the Amtrak station and it will be pretty easy to move a lubricated crowd onward on a moments notice.  That leaves either Pyramid or Brew it Up to axe.  Since we didn’t have time to visit either one, we may need to go back and do further research.  I’m sure both of the establishments have their upside so we really need to enjoy a pint or two in each to get a feel for the atmosphere – and their ability to handle a group our size.

Feeling Full and Happy!

Additionally, I was really impressed with the friendliness, and helpfulness, of both the Amtrak conductors and the Sacramento RT bus drivers.  They could tell we were “out of towners” and offered friendly advice freely – all with a smile.  I was pleasantly surprised:)

Finally, we are seriously considering two paths for the day of the pub crawl.  One is the 4.5 hour run of three brew pubs. The other, for folks more dedicated to the ales, is a “Crawl Over” where we stay at the Capitol Plaza Holiday Inn – literally crawling distance from River City Brewing company:)

We’ll be presenting this information, as well as doing more research, for a late spring pub crawl to our homebrew guild. We’ll also have some work ahead of us setting up the logistics of the day with the various pubs we visit.  We’re hoping to have a couple of the brewers on hand for tours and Q&A.  Not exactly sure how that will play out on a Saturday, but we want to give it a shot for the good of our guild.

River City Brewing Guys

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Dust Bowl Brewings BevMo Tasting

Friday night, a group from the Central Valley Brewers Guild descended on our local BevMo for a tasting with our local up and coming brewery, Dust Bowl Brewing.  It was exciting to see our buddy, Don Oliver (of Sam Adams Longshot fame), standing in the 6′ x 6′ tasting box as we entered the store.  The box was already full when we got there, so we had to wait a few minutes to work our way in for tastes of his Hops of Wrath IPA, and two other pre-production brews, a white ale and a buckwheat ale.  The Hops of Wrath IPA is great, and I particularly liked the white ale.  Don told me he backed way off on the coriander for a more subtle spice profile in the ale.

We probably over stayed our welcome, but I was able to enjoy at least half a dozen tastes and Don was as gracious as always – answering questions and shooting the breeze during lulls in the action.  Don is also welcoming the CVBG with open arms for our September 2nd gathering, by opening up his brewery to us.  This guy remembers where he came from:)

Several of the CVBG folks wrapped up the evening by having dinner at our local Applebees, where Dust Bowl Brewing’s Hops of Wrath is on tap.  Here’s to hoping Dust Bowl Brewing continues to make inroads into local (and not so local:) pubs and restaurants.  These guys rock!

And congrats to Don on his upcoming wedding.  His girl was smart enough to wait and see him actually become a professional brewer before committing!

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Trailer Park IPA Tap Handle

I brewed Sunday.  I winged it.  It felt good.

Usually I spend several days getting ready for a brew session, but Sunday I played it by ear.  Saturday, I went and saw Paul Thorn at the Sonora Blue Festival.  He kicked ass!  We saw him in an hour-long workshop, where it’s just Paul and an acoustic guitar.  John went with me, and I successfully requested “Give Them Their Roses” in honor of John’s dad’s recent passing.  He was touched – and now he believes in Paul Thorn.  Paul Thorn is the best musical artist you’ve never heard of!  We enjoyed Don Oliver’s, of Dust Bowl Brewing’s, Hops of Wrath at the festival and supported the local boys:)

I came home Saturday night, filtered and measured my brewing water, and then got up early (not Steve early:) Sunday morning and weighed and milled my malt.  I used my standard single hop ale malt bill, and then just winged the hops.  You may know me as the Lazy Brewer, but those close to me would probably call me the Anal Retentive Brewer.  I like to know what is going on waaaaaaaay in advance, so this was a stretch for me.  And I enjoyed it!  I just used some of my favorite hops and matched the standard bittering levels of my single hop ales.  The ale is still currently unnamed.  This was my 88th batch.  Here’s the recipe:

Trailer Park IPA
14-B American IPA
Author: Mark Ranes
Date: 8/09/09

Size: 10.08 gal
Efficiency: 75.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 317.28 kcal per 16.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.071 (1.056 – 1.075)
Terminal Gravity: 1.018 (1.010 – 1.018)
Color: 7.27 (6.0 – 15.0)
Alcohol: 7.03% (5.5% – 7.5%)
Bitterness: 63.3 (40.0 – 60.0)

Ingredients:
20.0 lb Pale Malt(2-row)
4.0 lb Vienna Malt
10.0 oz Crystal Malt 10°L
6.0 oz Crystal Malt 40°L
1.0 lb Cara-Pils Dextrine Malt
0.5 oz Summit (17.0%) – added during boil, boiled 60.0 min
1.5 oz Northern Brewer (8.0%) – added during boil, boiled 45.0 min
1.0 oz Northern Brewer (8.0%) – added during boil, boiled 20.0 min
1.0 lb Corn Sugar
2 ea Whirlfloc – added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
1.0 tsp Yeast Nutrient – added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
2.0 oz Northern Brewer (8.0%) – added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
2.0 oz Cascade (5.5%) – added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
2.0 oz Northern Brewer (8.0%) – added during boil, boiled 0.0 min
2.0 oz Cascade (5.5%) – added during boil, boiled 0.0 min
2000 mL White Labs WLP002 English Ale Starter
3.0 oz Northern Brewer (8.0%) – added dry to primary fermenter
4.0 oz Cascade (5.5%) – added dry to primary fermenter

This ale is currently cranking away in my fermentation fridge.  When I open the fridge’s door, wonderful aromas escape:)

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Arriving at Alcatraz

Friday afternoon, after a quick lunch at Pier 39, we queued up at Pier 33 to catch the ferry to Alcatraz.  I was surprised how windy it was on the bay, but the ride over to the island was uneventful.

A standard 5 x 9 foot Alcatraz cell

Once we got to Alcatraz, we headed up to the actual prison building and after going through the shower area (don’t drop the soap:), we picked up the iPod-like self-guided audio tour units and spent about 90 minutes checking out all things Alcatraz. I was unaware of the extensive military history of Alcatraz, and the years it spent as a prison were incredibly interesting. The tour is well worth the time and expense.

We spent night with our friends Eric And Patty, in Moraga, and we enjoyed several vintage barleywines that Eric had been cellering.  We chilled and then enjoyed a 1992 Old Knucklehead, 1993 Old Crustacean and 1999 Bigfoot.

Three vintage barleywines!

The Old Crustacean had lost its carbonation, but was tasty just the same. The best of the bunch was the Old Knucklehead with wonderful sherry-like flavors.  The Bigfoot was also quite nice:)  We also enjoyed several Speakeasy Big Daddy IPAs.

Three warm Brewfesters!

Saturday morning we headed over to the Orinda BART station and caught a train to the San Francisco Embarcadero station.  We walked two blocks to the ferry building and bought round-trip tickets to Larkspur Landing. The ferry over to Larkspur was filled with twenty-something kids who were enjoying the gamut of swill beers on the way over to the Brewfest.  After getting off the ferry in Larkspur, and a five minute walk to the Larkspur Landing courtyard, we bought our Brewfest wrist bands and hit the event.

Toast! A couple Old Rasputin Russian imperial stouts and a wheat ale

Larkspur Landing courtyard is arranged in a crescent shape, with all of the businesses arranged around the outside.  There were many great breweries that were arranged around the inner rim of the courtyard, under canopies.  The weather was warm, in the mid-80s, and there were lots of attendees, so we spent a fair amount of time just navigating around the event, and waiting in lines for samples.  We were some of the more vintage folks in the crowd.  We spent a fair amount of time grabbing a sample, and then enjoying it in the limited available shade.

My one rant with this event, and brewfests in general, are the fools who get to the front of the line, get their taster glass filled, and then stand there and talk forever to the brewery folks.  Jeez – once your glass is full, get the hell out of the way! There are people waiting patiently in line behind you!

Me and Vinnie Cilurzo - my hero!

The highlight of the day for me was chatting with Vinnie Cilurzo, of Russian River Brewing Company.  Vinnie is a rock star in the craft brewing industry, and I’ve been fortunate to hear him speak recently at NHC, as well as briefly chatting with him at this event.  Russian River makes one of my top five favorite ales, Pliny the Elder, and I got to tell Vinnie that he is one of my heros:)

The 9th Annual Microbreweries Battling Breast Cancer Brewfest was a great, well organized event and I suspect we’ll attend again in the future.  Using public transportation to travel to the brewfest is the easy, and responsible, way to go:)

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The 2009 National Homebrewers Conference was without a doubt one of the best organized conferences, on any topic, I’ve ever attended – and working in the education field, I’ve attended my share of conferences.  I was really pleased with the variety of the breakout sessions, as well as the fact that everything started and ended on time.  Timeliness sounds like a given, but when it comes to conferences it is an often overlooked aspect.    The Oakland Marriott was a gracious host for NHC and they seemed to roll well with 1100 people wandering around with ale, armfulls of brewing stuff, crazy costumes and generally eccentric people.  Finally, considering that alcohol was a key component of the conference, I was very pleased to not see a single incident of stupidness or assholiness by conference attendees.  Amazing:)

Jay and Shannon from Utah

I had the opportunity to meet some really nice folks, like Jay and Shannon from Utah.  Rights like homebrewing are something that I take for granted, living in California, but I found out that Jay and Shannon were just recently legally allowed to homebrew in Utah.  They can now let the aromas of wort and boiling hops flow liberally from their brew house without fear of a visit from the local police department.  It amazes me there there are still antiquated laws on the books like prohibiting homebrewing in several states.  It’s really sad.  Jay and Shannon sat next to me at the Grand Banquet last night and I really enjoyed their company (and they put up with my jabs at Utah very graciously for most of the evening:)

Brett Glenna - my Twitter buddy!

I also got to meet up with someone I’ve been Tweeting with for a while, @BrettGlenna, and we got to visit a couple of times.  We talked about setting up a future beer exchange.  Brett has access to many east coast ales I’ll never be able to buy in California, and I found out he’s a bit of a hophead.  Boy, is he in for a treat with some of the aggressive west coast IPAs I have access to!

Stephen and I are already kicking around the idea of attending the 2010 NHC in Minneapolis.  I should be ready for a beer by then:)

Even though I previously facetiously blogged about coming home today to lovingly open arms on Fathers Day, I’m happy to report that it was indeed the case.  I had a shower of Fathers Day gifts from Brenda and DawBoy, and a nice “Happy Fathers Day” phone call from Meagan ( I drove past her apartment building, within 100 yards, leaving Oakland this morning)  this afternoon.  Brenda made a wonderful rigatoni dinner and we shared a lovely bottle of Merlot (yea, I said I was going to give my liver a break today, but Italian food screams for a glass or two of nice red wine!)

I also picked up my new iPhone 3GS, and I’m pleased to report that the migration went smoothly.  I simply backed up my previous iPhone and then restored the backup image on the new iPhone 3GS via iTunes and everything was there – even all my apps were in their same locations on the various screens.  Bravo, Apple for making things as simple as they should be!

The upgraded camera, with spot auto-focusing and metering, and 30 fps video are incredible.  The voice dialing (that should have been included in the iPhone Day 1) works perfectly and I was able to dial 3 out of 3 contacts perfectly each time, with no training.  Amazing!

Anyway, it’s good to be home:)

Here are the last couple of pictures from NHC:

Stephen, with his second wind - after a rough bout with Club Night

Sean Paxton - the Homebrew Chef

View of Oakland from my hotel room on departure day

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Commercial Hop Production and Sales and Its Effect on Homebrewers with Ralph Olson (of Hop Union)

The Equipment Geek with Kent Fletcher

Maintaining Ideal Yeast Health: Nutrients Yeast Need with Dr. Tobias Fischborn (of Lallemand, Inc.)

Yeast: Build Your Own Library with Maribeth Raines

Yeast: Ask the Experts Panel moderated by Justin Crossley (of the Brewing Network), with Tobias Fischborn (of Lallemand, Inc.), Dave Logsdon (of Wyeast), Maribeth Raines, and Chris White (of White Labs)

My family left for home late this morning and I’m already missing them…

As promised here are some random pictures from the last 24 hours:

Charlie Papazian preparing to introduce Sierra Nevada Brewing's founder, Ken Grossman

Ken Grossman leaving the stage after the keynote

The Going Pro Panel Team

My favorite people at Pacific Coast Brewing for Friday night's dinner

Mmmm! Pliny the Elder and Green Flash Tripple

BOAT - Brewery On A Trailer

Some Guy

The Brewing Network interviewing Charlie Papazian

NHC Club Night crowds

More NHC Club Night crowds

Eddy didn't come to NHC, but I'm missing his cute underbite!

The BN's Bevo and Some Guy

Some Guy and Mike McDole

Me, Peter and Some Guy

Me, John Palmer and Some Guy

Me, Jesse from MoreBeer and Some Guy

This is what Some Guy looks like after staying for one too many ales at Club Night

Yeast - Ask the Experts Panel

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Sam Calagione

We saw a presentation at 9 a.m. this morning with Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head that was great.  Sam is a fantastic presenter and a really funny guy.  He described how they originally developed their continuous hopping process for the 60, 90 and 120 Minute IPA. Sam said he originally found a vibrating hockey game board (you remember these from the 70′s, right:) at a Salvation Army store and had an idea to use it to vibrate a bucket of the hop mix for the IPA.  Unfortunately, the steam from the boil toasted the game board and then the brewer had to continuously throw in handfuls of the hop mix.  Eventually, they developed another automated system, but it was very cool to hear how the innovation process for those ales happened.

Sam also shared some Dogfish Head ales – Midas Touch, 90 Minute IPA and one of my top five favorite ales, Palo Santo Marron.  Noting like ales for breakfast:)

Here are the sessions I’ve attended so far:

Wood Fermentation and Aging with Matt Brynildson for Firestone Walker

Funkification: a 100% Brettanomyces Spontaneously Fermented Mind Dump with Vinnie Cilurizo

Extreme Fermentables with Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head

Advanced Homebrewing & Science with Ray Daniels and Randy Mosher

Thinking about Recipes with Ray Daniels and Randy Mosher

Going Pro Panel moderated by Justin Crossley (of the Brewing Network), Tomme Arthur (of Port Brewing and Lost Abbey), Vinnie Cirluzio (of Russian River Brewing), Sean O’Sullivan (of 21st Amendment Brewing), John Pinkerton (of Moon River Brewing)and Keith Lemcke (Vice President of Siebel Institute)

Here are some additional random photos from the last two days.  More to follow!

Sam Calagione, Me, Ken Grossman and some guy who stuck his head into the picture:)

Charlie Papazian and me at the Pro-Brewers Night

At Pacific Coast Brewing

The Back Bar at the Trappist in Oakland

Sam Calagione

Allagash Hugh Malone Belgian IPA at The Trappist

Jamil Zainasheff leading the NHC opening toast

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Stephen and I are off to the National Homebrewers Conference, in Oakland, tomorrow.  The conference is being held at the Oakland Marriott City Center, and there is a BART station right across the street, so the family is joining me to take in the sights of the city.  Stephen and I are staying one night longer than the family so that we can take in the Grand Banquet and National Homebrew Competition Awards Ceremony.  We’ll be heading home on Sunday (Father’s Day) where we’ll be showered with the love of our children and partner parenting units.  I will need to stop on the way home, at my local AT&T retail store, to pick up my new 32 GB iPhone 3GS (happy Father’s Day from me to me:)

The conference schedule looks interesting and comprehensive.  I can’t wait to hit the conference floor.  I just hope my liver holds out for three serious days of all things beer and homebrewing!

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After Beer Wars...

Last night a few of the Central Valley Brewers Guild folks and I went to Merced to see the movie event, Beer Wars. There were a total of 10 people in the audience for the movie, and from what I’ve read, this was pretty typical of the theaters across America. Some theaters experienced technical issues with the viewing, but our theater did a decent job of making it all happen.  I think what I took away from the movie was the absurdity of the three tier system of beer distribution in America. There are breweries, distributors and retailers. Basically, while the brewery may want to get their ale in my hands, ultimately, it is the middle man – the distributor – who controls what I will find on tap at an ale house or a retail outlet like my bottle shop or even BevMo. The distributors usually have relationships with one of the big three breweries (AB, SAB Miller/Coors), and so push the products their “parent” wants them to sell – not necessarily what the consumer wants. It a sad state.

The movie itself was interesting, but I had some gripes with it.  They seem to have chosen an questionable story line to follow with Rhonda Kallman’s Moon Shot.  It’s a caffeinated beer – focused at those folks who want to be wired and drunk at the same time.  I just can’t put this stuff into the category of craft beer.  I understand how it fits in with the theme of the movie, but then I was very confused with her efforts to sell out to the the Big Three.  She’s not about craft beer – she’s about marketing.  Hell, even her old partner Jim Koch, turned her down for financial assistance.  Sadly, much – too much – of the movie was showing her efforts to get her foot in the door at the ale house level.  I’d have liked to see the movie focus more on a couple other craft brewers than her.  Even with all this in mind, I found it uncomfortable seeing the Alstrom Brothers slam her efforts on a live stage event after the movie.  It was unnecessary.

It was still fun to see some of my beer heroes up on the big screen.  Charlie Papazian, Sam Caglione, Greg Koch, Jim Koch made the film.

My Tri-Tip Sandwich and fresh chips

We started the evening at Bubba’s Big Bad BBQ in Merced.  I had a Tri-Tip sandwich with a couple Union Jack IPAs.  The food was wondeful and Firestone never fails to please.  We’re heading back here tonight for a brewery tour of Rascal Creek Brewing, where our buddy Don Oliver is currently brewing their ales.  We’re looking forwad to getting the back story on this from Don:)  We’ll have dinner and ales again.

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Easter Ales

We headed over to the Brew Barn for our traditional Easter gathering.  All the regular faces were there:)  I took some ales over for the event – a Rubicon IPA, a Deschutes Hop Trip Pale Ale and an Oskar Blues Gordon Imperial IPA.  Stephen broke out a special bottle of Sam Adams Imperial White Witbier.  Obviously, there was also some wonderful homebrew thrown in with lunch.

The weather was wonderful and we ate out on the patio.  Stephen made the most wonderful lunch for us – prime rib sandwiches, grilled asparagus, several different salads and we took my mom’s party potatoes.  We shared ales, had a relaxed meal and visited while digesting.

Easter Lunch - Prime Rib Sandwiches

We really wanted to take Eddy, but he has his last round of puppy shots tomorrow the vet has strongly suggested not taking him too far afield until he has wrapped up his vaccinations.  He was glad to see us when we got home.  Lots of slobbery kisses followed:)

It is so nice to have holiday meals where you are considered family.  Thanks buddy:)

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Mash Destruction IPA Tap Handle

I recently listened to the March 16, 2009, podcast of The Brewing Network’s, The Jamil Show – Can you Brew It: Green Flash West Coast IPA. This is an IPA I really like, with a strong malt backbone, aggressive bitterness and full of intense hop flavor.  I took the show’s recipe for a six gallon batch and extended it out for ten gallons, trying to maintain the IBU levels, the ABV and color rating.  It will take tons of hops, all of which I have on-hand.  It calls for a malt I’ve never used before, Carastan, so it’s a bit of an adventure, also. The Carastan appears to be very dark for its 30/37 Lovibond rating – much darker than Crystal 40.  I’m just a bit wary of it, but the brewer at Green Flash uses it in their recipe, so I’ll definitely give it a shot.

I’ll be brewing this hop beast on Saturday.  Originally, I had planned on brewing tomorrow, and the starter is ready to go, but tomorrow is the first day of my Spring Break and I just want to veg out.  I have some keg and carboy cleaning that needs to get done, too.  Saturday morning I’ll be lighting the burners about 9:00 a.m.

Here’s the recipe:

Mash Destruction IPA
14-B American IPA
Date: 4/11/09

Size: 10.32 gal
Efficiency: 75.0%
Attenuation: 79.0%
Calories: 309.1 kcal per 16.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.070 (1.056 – 1.075)
Terminal Gravity: 1.015 (1.010 – 1.018)
Color: 8.45 (6.0 – 15.0)
Alcohol: 7.26% (5.5% – 7.5%)
Bitterness: 95.4 (40.0 – 70.0)

Ingredients:
26.5 lb American 2-row
1.0 lb Carapils Malt
2.0 lb Carastan
1.25 oz Simcoe (13.0%) – added during boil, boiled 90.0 min
0.5 oz Simcoe (13.0%) – added during boil, boiled 60.0 min
0.5 oz Columbus (15.0%) – added during boil, boiled 60.0 min
0.5 oz Simcoe (13.0%) – added during boil, boiled 30.0 min
0.5 oz Columbus (15.0%) – added during boil, boiled 30.0 min
0.5 oz Simcoe (13.0%) – added during boil, boiled 15.0 min
0.5 oz Columbus (15.0%) – added during boil, boiled 15.0 min
1.0 tsp Wyeast Nutrient – added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
2.0 ea Whirlfloc Tablets (Irish moss) – added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
2.0 oz Cascade (5.5%) – added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
1.0 oz Simcoe (13.0%) – added during boil, boiled 1.0 min
1.0 oz Columbus (15.0%) – added during boil, boiled 1.0 min
0.5 oz Amarillo (8.5%) – added dry to primary fermenter
0.5 oz Centennial (10.0%) – added dry to primary fermenter
0.5 oz Columbus (15.0%) – added dry to primary fermenter
0.5 oz Simcoe (13.0%) – added dry to primary fermenter
0.5 oz Cascade (5.5%) – added dry to primary fermenter
2000 mL Starter White Labs WLP001 California Ale

Notes
Mash in at 150 degrees.

Seven day primary fermentation at 72 degrees.  Mash out at 168 degrees.

Dry hop with mix of five hop blend at 64 degrees for seven days.

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Stephen and the Ladies

This Saturday evening, we hosted a dinner for our best buddies to join us for dinner and ales in lieu of our neighbor’s annual Halloween party.  John and Robyn throw the best Halloween party, but after five years they took a year off.  We decided to host a dinner party and I put some tri-tip and shrimp in the smoker, and everyone else brought their best to support the meal.

Bell's Two Hearted Ale

But the best of the evening was the ales that Maggie brought back from Washington DC – particularly the Bell’s Three Hearted Ale I’ve been wanting to taste forever.  Maggie brought back well over a case of ale through airport security, and even educated the TSA as to the virtues of homebrewing!  You gotta love someone that can do that

Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA and Bell's Special Cream Stout

She and Steve showed up with lots of Bell’s Two Hearted Ale (and left me a six-pack), some Bell’s Special Double Cream Stout, some Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA, some Weyerbacher Simcoe Double IPA and a bomber of Legacy Brewing’s Hoptimus Prime Double IPA.

Weyerbacher Simcoe Double IPA

The Two Hearted Ale was wonderful (and my clone was pretty much spot-on:), but the highlight of the ales was the Simcoe Double IPA.  It has an ass kicking malt bill, balanced out by a piney, resinous hop character.  Steve and I are committed to try and brew this beast using my Blue Flame malt bill and subbing in Simcoe hops all the way through the brew.  I may brew this on Veterans Day.

Legacy Brewing's Hoptimus Prime

All in all, the evening was a great mix of friends, good eats and wonderful brews.  The whole evening was like an Old Milwaukee commercial -  it doesn’t get any better than this!

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