California

Today is the 52nd birthday of Ken Kelley, brewer at North Coast Brewing in Fort Bragg. Ken is the guy you see at the majority of beer festivals that North Coast participates in, as well as even some of the ones that they don’t. He’s a terrific ambassador for the brewery, and for craft beer [...]

Today is the 46th birthday of Lars Larson, brewmaster of Trumer Brauerei in Berkeley, California. Larsen studied brewing in Germany and was the prefect person to recreate Trumer Pils in the United States, one of the best pilsners made in California, or indeed anywhere, foreign or domestic. I got to know Lars much better a [...]

Alright, you caught me. It’s not the birthday of the beer style, Porter. Strictly speaking, this isn’t really a beer post but it’s my son’s 11th birthday today, but since his name is Porter I figured people wouldn’t feel too duped by the title. It is accurate, after all. One day soon, we’ll brew a [...]

Today is the 45th birthday of Terence Sullivan, the Field Educator and assistant brewmaster at Sierra Nevada Brewing. He’s been with the brewery nearly forever, and in recent years has become one of their ambassadors, traveling the country representing the brewery at numerous events, as well as coordinating Beer Camp. He’s also a terrific person [...]

I saw an early version of this video last year, but today noticed it’s up at the CCBA (California Craft Brewers Association) website. It’s in the style of Greg Koch’s original I Am A Craft Brewer video, but features all California brewers. It’s apparently on behalf of both the CCBA and Support Your Local Brewery. [...]

Today is the birthday of Jim Woods, founder of MateVeza, an organic brewer headquartered in San Francisco. I first met Jim when we were classmates at U.C. Davis for the brewing short course before he launched his unique business. All Jim’s beers are made with Yerba Mate, a South American herb that’s similar to tea. [...]

Nobody’s absolutely certain how Steam Beer was made back in the day, before Prohibition, or why it was called steam beer. Many theories abound, and in this fun, new video from Anchor Brewing, they explore some of the mythology and history surrounding Steam Beer.

Boonville’s Anderson Valley Brewing announced today that they’re partnering with the bourbon maker Wild Turkey to develop bourbon barrel-aged beers. The first will be made using their Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout. Fal Allen, with Jimmy and Eddie Russell at Anderson Valley’s brew kettles. From the press release: As part of an exclusive partnership and licensing [...]

Last night, in the continuing and ongoing celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Toronado, a bus left San Francisco from lower Haight carrying a majority of the pub’s employees (leaving behind only a skeleton crew) along with significant others and friends of the bar. After traffic slowed their progress, two hours later sixty people [...]

Today Russian River Brewing‘s newest beer is being released, and it’s been some time in the making. It’s a blended beer made with six beers, only two of which are actual finished beers made before, with the other four being brewed just for blending purposes. Some of the beers had been aging for many months [...]