A collaboration with Chez Panisse Cafe for its 33rd anniversary. Farmhouse Ale celebrates the sustainable farm. Infused with organic anise hyssop, lemon verbena blossom, and Meyer lemon leaf from Cannard Farm, this delicate, saison ale explodes with spring flavors. A peppery, citrus finish lingers in invitation to slow down. Pair with: field greens, goat cheese, a porch swing. Drink up: to start a meal, after working in the yard.

Chez Panisse Farmhouse Ale starts with a bright spicy hop aroma with yeasty notes of barnyard pushing their way through. The crisp golden color might be mistaken for a pilsner with a lively white head that quickly fades back to sparse bubbles on the surface of the beer. A sharp greeting awaits the palate as the anise and lemon add a bright and assertive note that slowly gives way to a yeasty finish filled with dusty earth tones and dry hops.

Chez Panisse Farmhouse Ale reminds me in many ways of Duvel Single (formerly Duvel Green) in that the pilsner-esque appearance delivers the expected refreshing beer, perfect for the summer, but providess so much more complexity. I could see this beer being a perfect choice before dinner with some fruit and cheese, possibly goat cheese or brie.

Calicraft’s Chez Panisse Farmhouse Ale is a limited offering, so grab it while you can. Limited to the Bay Area for distribution, foodies may want to make a trade or contact local friends to get a taste of this Alice Waters inspired beer.

Conclusion

America’s first hand-canned craft beer is a voluminously hopped mutha that delivers a hoppy nose, assertive-but-balanced flavors of pale malts and hops from start to finish. First canned in 2002, Dale’s Pale Ale is a hearty (6.5% and 65 IBUs), critically acclaimed trailblazer that has changed the way craft beer fiends perceive canned beer.

Top U.S. Pale Ale
New York Times

Gold Medal – 2010
World Beer Championships

World’s Best Canned Beer
Details Magazine

Top Five American Pale Ales
Ratebeer.com, 2005-2009

Gold Medal
Stockholm Beer & Whiskey Festival

Top Colorado Export
5280 Magazine

Dale’s Pale Ale starts with a golden body and a frothy white head which exhibits only a touch of color. the balanced aroma of floral hops and savory malts is a preview of what the beer will deliver. Caramel and nutty malt start off the flavor which slides smoothly into a floral hopping that has found the perfect balance. The finish sours only a touch as the alcohol (6.5%) peeks through but fades instantly and leaves what many might describe as “tastes like beer” on the palate.

Not only was Dale’s the first canned craft beer, it was also one that lured me to the world of craft beer in cans. While pale ale may be an outdated term for this IPA-like brew, the ability to have more than one at a time does lend to a traditional pale ale.

Oskar Blues entire line of beers is available in cans, from Mama’s Lil Yella Pils (Happy Mother’s Day to all the Mamas out there) to the dark as night Ten Fidy Imperial Stout. The lightweight package is perfect for those who love the outdoors and being able to bring a wide range of craft beer with you is only an added bonus to you favorite outdoor activity.

On the West Coast, can lovers can celebrate craft beer in cans in Reno come August. Canfest 2013 has changed dates (from November to August) and locations (now at the Peppermill in Reno) and welcomes the best of canned beer from around the country, including Dale’s and the entire lineup of Oskar Blues. I hope you enjoy this beer in a can as well as many others during AmeriCAN Craft Beer Week.

The trend in Boonville is that the weather is either pushing into triple digits or pouring rain. We missed the rain and were rewarded with glorious sun and lots of heat. Brewers and attendees alike prepared with an assortment of misters, water guns, and anything they could find to beat the heat.

As usual, the festival was kicked off with the Firkin Tappers greeting the first folks through the gate as well as Barkley Boont, Anderson Valley’s own Beer (part bear, part deer). The Firkin Tappers would continue to play around the festival with their own marching band take on a variety of crowd favorites. Also providing entertainment were the Rolling Boil Blues Band, Thorn Petals, Funkacillin and The American Economy.

For 2013, the theme of the festival was “The 80′s” which lead to a lot of bright flourescent outfits. The crowd was as large, if not larger than ever but the organization of the festival continues to improve with each year.

• Large field tents were replaced with smaller tents closer to the fence. This decentralized the people and gave them room to roam. Additionally, some breweries assigned to the tents brought their own popups and set up in the spaces between further lightening the load.
• Breweries along the stables were thinned as well with more tasting taking place in the air-conditioned room adjacent to the bathrooms. Not only did this create a fourth zone for breweries but the air conditioning was much appreciated on another scorching weekend.
• MORE! In general there was simply more of everything you love to see at a festival. More vendors were out, more food, more room, and this all lead to more fun.

While the crowd was ready to go with their 80′s attire, thankfully the beer wasn’t joining in the theme as the festival was loaded with beer pushing the envelope and driving craft beer forward. Personal favorites were Berryessa’s Humdinger, Triple Rock’s Roll Another Number Rice Session Ale and Seabright’s jalapeno infused Buxom Blonde. Another fan favorite was Two River’s Mango Cider. On a hot day like Saturday, I was also very excited to see Drake’s Alpha Session make its debut.

The fun of the Boonville Beer Festival is one that truly has to be experienced first hand. That said, I hope you get a bit of a taste of the fun here and also on the Brewed For Thought Facebook page where there are numerous photos for your entertainment. Bahl Hornin’!

When I arrived in the basement level bar/restaurant I was ushered toward the back seating area which was adorned by Belgian old-world style doorways arching into all sections of the establishment including the kitchen.  I sat at the aged wood family style table which kept me high above the room, my feet positioned on a ledge under the table.  As I looked out on the packed room, I could see Chef Patti Jackson preparing her opening dishes since the kitchen was open door to the diners.  The pass for completed dishes sits as a bar style furnishing that’s attached to the kitchen itself, with service staff picking up from the dining area directly from the Chef in the kitchen area.  This made the whole thing just that more interactive.

While the evening started with Chicken Liver Pate paired with a Gueze from Hanssens famed Lambic brewery in Belgium, it was the Smoked Mackeral Salad that came next that really set up my palette.  The Mackerel was served with an offering from Alvinne called Wild Undressed.  Most of the other beers served that night had long stories of aging, mixtures with other forms of alcohol or wooden barreling, this offering was brewed about as traditionally as is possible when dealing with a sour.  It was described, and on this night out of necessity, as “never having touched wood”.  The result was more of a clean, full bodied profile.  It pours reddish with a silky consistency, matched with the heavily salted & crushed peppered Mackerel it was a great 1-2 punch.

This was all the perfect set up for one of the real thrills of the night, the offerings from the Vapeur Brewery, both of which had been aged since 1996.  I’m just starting to discover the practice of aging beer, so it goes without saying that I’d never had anything aged that long before.  We began with the Vapeur Vantan, a Saison, it was described to us that Vapeur is the only and oldest steam powered brewery in Europe.  We were also told that as brewers, Vapeur’s tanks were constantly exposed to open air and almost no concern was placed into protecting the beer from the elements of the room.  This created an element of chance to each bottle, where it could have a slightly different flavor profile.  That was enhanced by the practice of aging which in this case, after 5-10-15 year intervals have a completely different taste altogether.  We were also warned profusely to let the beer breathe in the glass for a few more minutes so that it would properly aerate, this sort of added to the drama of the whole thing.

The first thing I noticed about Vantan was it’s aroma. I’ll be honest, I’m not the kind of guy that will stick his face in a snifter just to pick up on varied odors, I try to let the beer speak for itself and if it’s a strong enough aroma it should reach me. This definitely reached me, and in a shockingly pleasing way.  As an avid record collector and vinyl digger, I couldn’t help but notice the smell of old records or books. I’m assuming this was partially do to the cork, or perhaps wood barrels, but regardless it was strangely comforting to me. This may seem like a turn off, but matched with it’s thick blueberry notes I wanted to dive into this beer for a lot more then what I had in my glass. Paired beautifully with Chef Jackson’s Burnt Flour Pasta with Duck Sausage and White Beans, the coloring of the pasta told the story of the aging of the beer.

We weren’t done with Vapeur yet though, as Vapeur Cochonne made it’s debut with some Braised Bacon served with Dandelion Greens & Ramps. Cochonne’s story was told on it’s bottle, a cartoon of a pig that’s described as “mastrobating with a towel”. Maybe something is lost in the translation, or it’s just a poor drawing, but if you look at the bottle and don’t see that description, I’d be surprised. The bottle was passed around the table of diners and everyone got a nice laugh out of it — oh you Europeans. The beer itself was sweeter and more of a lambic in it’s style in my opinion, that was welcome paired with that delicious slab of pork. The braised bacon was delicious, the portion of skin across the top attached to the meat by a melt-in-your-mouth layer of fat. The portion was large too, which was a great notion during a 5 course meal where everything else seemed very controlled and paced, why not end that practice by going crazy with a pork protein? I’m in.

The night came to a close with a Savory Cheese Tart served with Fig & Cardomom Toast, it was paired with a delicious dessert beer from Alvinne Cuvee Freddy. Notes of Cherry, Black Cherry and Blueberry struck me with Cuvee Freddy and it couldn’t have been better placed in the meal.

All in all, the beers offered struck two general notes, rich or lambic, and that was just fine by me. It was explained that usually for April Sour Dinners they mix up sours from differing countries and tonight just happened to be 5 Belgian offerings. That was fine by me as Belgium is my Beer Spirit Country anyway. The conversation at my table was flowing and friendly, the room itself was unique in the midst of a very unique neighborhood which is hard to pull off I’m sure. Chef Patti Jackson’s dishes were well thought out and not only matched the beers in most cases, but definitely matched the confines themselves, hearkening back to European roots while hitting on a fusion to modern times as well. I walked away feeling that this was an event that was well crafted on many levels and could only take place at a venue like Jimmy’s No. 43. I’ll definitely be back for more dinners like this.

As always, the complete set of photos from the night can be found on Brewed For Thought’s Facebook page. Visit the page, like Brewed For Thought and share the photos with your friends.

\häp – Koo- VEY\ (n.) West Coast Ale brewed with a blend of the season’s best organic hops, hand-selected by Bison’s brewmaster and owner, Dan Del Grande.

Like California sunshine in a bottle, Hop Cuvée radiates a golden hue with brilliant clarity and bright effervescence.  It is a crisp, citrusy and tropical ale with a touch of pine-like bitterness and a clean, dry finish. Refreshing and sessionable, Hop Cuvée satisfies both hop lovers and craft beer newbies.  (5.5% abv | 50 IBUS).

Why “Cuvée”?

Used by both winemakers and brewers, the term cuvée indicates a blend—typically, a special blend of higher quality. Each year, “Organic Dan” will work with organic hop growers from the Pacific Northwest to select the best organic hops as well as explore the development of new organic hop varietals to be used in all of Bison’s organic beers—especially Hop Cuvée. The 2013 Hop Cuvée recipe includes Citra® and Simcoe, two new and exciting organic hop varietals not previously available as certified organic, as well the classic Centennial hop. This year’s hops were grown byCarpenter Ranches, Perrault Farms and Roy Farms, respectively.

Hop Cuvée + Food

Beers with extreme bitterness levels can strip the palate of its tasting ability, making them poor partners for most foods. Hop Cuvée was created with food in mind. Its grassy, floral and citrus hop character makes Hop Cuvée a perfect match for fresh milk cheeses, while its moderate bitterness holds up well to the mildly pungent, aged and sharp cheeses. Pairing Hop Cuvée with salty, rich and fatty foods helps to bring out its bright hop character—while its mild hop bitterness helps to ease the burn of spicy cuisines. Delicate enough to pair with sushi, yet bold enough pair with grilled meats—Hop Cuvée was made to pair with food.

Recommended Food pairings: Shellfish, sushi, cured meats, curries, Vietnamese pho, BBQ, jambalaya, fried and spicy foods, carrot cake and apple crisp.

Recommended Cheese pairings: Aged Gouda, Cave-aged Cheddar, Humbolt Fog

Hop Cuvée gets started with a sharp hop aroma that tingles the nose. The light golden color previews what is a refreshing pale ale base. Light on the palate, the hops grip the tongue from the second they wash over your palate. Pine, citrus and a rough bitterness finish the beer for a sessionable beer that hop lovers will be sure to love.

Now many beer lovers may be confused by the name Hop Cuvée. This has been applied to many sour beers recently and my original expectation was for a hop-driven barrel-aged beer. Despite not being what the name may have lead me to believe, I do like where the name allows Bison to go with this beer in the coming years.

Had Bison named this beer Organic Hop Pale (just an example, they are certainly more creative that that) customers would have expected the same beer when released in the future. With the name Hop Cuvée, Bison can select their favorite hops from each year, season, region, and still be true to the concept of the beer, a blend of their favorite organic hops.

I look forward to Hop Cuvée cooling me down on a hot weekend in Boonville and to what other blends of hops may grace the Hop Cuvée bottle in years to come. If you’re in Boonville this weekend, please say hello. If not, wait for next week to see pictures of one of the best beer festivals around.

The event was set up in the traditional fashion with the booths around perimeter and open space in the middle to socialize. In the space in the middle there were bar height tables with umbrellas scattered about as well as hydration stations. These small oases were a great relief for many who needed a few minutes out of the sun. There was also a large pop up tent with misters installed where many attendees ended up huddling underneath to escape the heat. The bathroom (port-a-potty) situation was adequate, although there were lines at times, that is to be expected at events such as this.

Now for the beer. There were 30+ breweries in attendance and it seemed that they were all prepared for the 2000+ attendees. There was a particular buzz over the local Creek Monkey Brewery based in Martinez and after sampling their Rude Boy Red Ale, I understood why there was some hype. Other delicious brews included E.J. Phair’s Face Puncher IPA, Drake’s IPA, Grand Teton’s Sweetgrass American Pale Ale, 21st Amendent’s Hell or High Watermelon Wheat, North Coast Brewing Company’s Scrimshaw and many, many… many more. I found that Calicraft Brewing Company’s Buzzerkeley was a very refreshing Belgian brew that is a bit like Champagne and was perfect for the warm day.

The entertainment was great. There was live music from two bands, Lumberyard and Petty Theft, playing American classic rock covers. There were several food vendors as well, ranging from Indian cuisine to fried pickles. The food was not included with admission ($35) but the prices were reasonable. The crowd in attendance was very mixed. Ages ranged from the retired to the early twenties, which made for great conversation. The general mood was relaxed, fun and everyone was enjoying the beautiful day. It looked like everyone was getting their money’s worth, lines in front of the booths never seemed to be very long, the longest I waited for a pour was only a couple of minutes. The Martinez Police Department was also in attendance, which was enough to discourage any riff raff.

Overall, this was an excellent event that was well planned and made for an extremely enjoyable experience. Thank you to all who made this possible by planning and brewing. I can’t wait to come back next year! Some of the proceeds from the festival will go to the Martinez Rotary Club and Foster a Dream.

See more pictures at the Brewed For Thought Facebook page. “Like” Brewed For Thought and be sure to tag yourself and your friends in the images.

ANCHOR CALIFORNIA LAGER
California’s first genuine lager reborn.

CURRENTLY AVAILABLE IN CALIFORNIA ONLY

Anchor Steam’s® roots go back to the Gold Rush, long before icehouses and modern refrigeration made traditional lagers a viable California option. In 1876, thanks to an ice pond in the mountains and a belief that anything is possible in the Golden State, a little brewery named Boca created California’s first genuine lager. Anchor California Lager® is our re-creation of this historic beer.

Made in San Francisco with two-row California barley, Cluster hops (the premier hop in 19th-century California), and our own lager yeast, this all-malt brew is kräusened and lagered in our cellars. Its golden color, distinctive aroma, creamy head, balanced depth of flavor, and smooth finish make Anchor California Lager® a delicious celebration of California’s unique brewing heritage.

The California grizzly bear on our Anchor California Lager® label is from a woodcut by Durbin Van Vleck (1833–1898), courtesy of The Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley. First published in 1856 in San Francisco, it is a superbly crafted rendering of an original illustration by Charles Christian Nahl (1818–1878), who had painted both eastbound and westbound versions of this bear. Nearly a century later, Nahl’s bear served as inspiration for the design of the bear on California’s modern state flag. Although that bear is heading west, our bear—like the bear on Boca Brewing’s historic lager label—is heading east.

FIRST BREW

2012

FIRST BOTTLING

2013

ALC. BY VOLUME

4.9%

AVAILABILITY

Year-round, California Only

MALT

2-Row Pale

HOPS

Cluster

California Lager starts with a bristly, pine-driven hop aroma. The color is a crystal clear gold with a frothy white head. A sweet kiss on the palate welcomes a light body and refreshingly hoppy finish.

The description of California Lager is short and sweet because the beer is kept intentionally simple. The 2-row malt provides a touch of nutty malt flavor but isn’t complicated by a laundry list of specialty malts. The same can be said about the cluster hops. An old strain, Clusters inspire comments like “tastes like beer” because Cluster hops defined beer for so many years.

California Lager will no doubt be a hit as it is a lighter option to Anchor Steam without sacrificing flavor or quality. Reach for California Lager while watching the Giants or while taking a break from pushing the lawnmower around the yard. For me, I’ll be reaching while listening to the sounds of Lake Chabot.

During NYC Beer Week I marked my calendar for an event called “aPORKalypse Now”. They had me at “Pork”.  I had just returned from a sanctioned work trip out of town and the very next day I found myself venturing all the way from my apartment on Staten Island to far off Long Island City in Queens.  If you know me, you already know I managed to get lost on the way there, the thought of delicious pork taunting me in my mind the entire way.  I took the wrong train to the wrong part of Long Island City, ended up walking who knows how far on foot trying to hail a cab in a portion of Queens that had more cabs then pedestrians by 10 fold, but where none would pick me up.  I reached a new level of hatred for cabbies that day as none of them would let me in the cab before I told them where I was going (which is illegal) and when I told them I needed to stay in Queens the reaction was “this is the end of my shift” or flat out laughter and speeding away.  I kid you not.  I reached a point of frustration of literally screaming out loud on the streets of the more industrial portion of Long Island City. 

But pork and beer were at stake here, I needed to focus.  I had technology in my corner and between the 3 map apps in my phone and the help of my wife from home I was able to find the 7 subway line, I was saved right?!?  No.  I got on the 7 only to find out that the train wasn’t running the full way, I had to get off and transfer to a shuttle bus.  It was never over.  So after marching for about a half hour, grabbing a train, transferring to a bus and walking up the block….finally I made it to Alewife!  I earned this.

I was immediately given 10 tickets for pork and 10 for beer and told to “go nuts”.  That’s what I needed to hear at that moment, believe me.  I immediately dug in, there were two floors full of pork and beer and an outdoor deck upstairs as well.  There was a nice mix of beer stands and pork stands with some sponsor tables mixed in, one of the odder fits was a Google lounge upstairs where people seemed to be checking their email and arguing the superiority of the Iphone with Google’s rep.  I deliberately avoided this place, besides partaking in their wonderful couch for a few moments so I could fully savor some pork.

I tried a variety of dishes, which one of the attendees explained to me were each prepared by different chefs that were normally employed by Alewife during regular service.  The dishes ranged from traditional slices of pork fresh off a face-having pig on a table to bacon wrapped short ribs.  There was even one chef filling up plastic cups with seasoned pulled pork.  As I walked in I saw the huge oven outside where at one point countless pigs were slow roasted for these different applications.  I actually overheard one of the chefs say that he had been there since 6am cooking and that was at about 8pm.  I tried an excellent pork belly & homemade potato salad first that was matched with a variety of Dog Fish Head in a welcome pairing, but I quickly figured out that there was one table that out ranked the others.

On the bottom floor one of the chefs who seemed to be working in a team was creating about a half dozen dishes on the fly.  By the time I got there he had seasoned pulled pork, some pork that looked slow roasted and that bacon wrapped short rib. He even had some cornbread to go with it.  That table was broken down long before the end of the event because they were eaten out of the building by the crowd in attendance.

I spent a good amount of my time walking up the stairs and down the stairs, and back again.  Alewife was packed and there were lots of companies unrelated to beer or pork promoting themselves.  One pourer seemed to have snuck in some of his home brew and was side-serving it at his station, it wasn’t that much to write home about, but was welcome just the same.  I mingled with long time locals to LIC, some headbangers, some folks that worked for Sixpoint and other people angry at Google.  It was safe to say it was a mixed crowd, but that added to the positives of the event.

As the night ended an awkward announcement came over the loudspeaker that loosely translated to “this event is over, kindly get out, or stay and start paying immediately”.  I don’t think I was the only one that felt strangely hearing it, if a “thank you for coming” was said, it was not played up as much as the rules for payment going forward.

I headed back into the cold New York night, snow still lightly falling to begin my journey of bus > train > boat > car all the way back to Staten Island.  Stomach full of pig based constructs, all and all, a hard earned success.

As always, the complete set of photos from the night can be found on Brewed For thought’s Facebook page. Visit the page, like Brewed For Thought and share the photos with your friends.

In typical Homebrew Chef fashion, each course of the dinner featured not just one beer but the use of beer as an ingredient throughout the dinner, even pairing beers with dishes containing different beers. Upon seeing the menu for the evening, I knew I would be in for a treat.

Upon arrival, guests were served one of two beers from New Belgium: Fat Tire and Hoppy Bock, the newest of the Hop Kitchen line of beers. Waiting at the bar were bins with Homebrew Chef popcorn. While the easy choice was the popcorn popped in the smoked bacon lard, the duck fat popped popcorn was more subtle and grew on me as we waited for the dinner to begin.

As guests arrived, Mr. Paxton put himself to work on the outdoor wood-fired pizza oven. The pizzas featured shaved fennel, Sonoma Dry Jack, olive oil, sea salt and chili while the oven was fed staves from used barrels of Russian River’s Consecration.

As we were seated, Rangers from New Belgium introduced a series of short films that inspired the three courses prepared by Chef Paxton. I felt the first course, “Unicorn Sashimi”,  was the best all around paired dish as the food and beer truly elevated one another.  ”The Man Who Lived on His Bike” was a cute video and provided my favorite plate of food, as the sea scallops were arranged as wheels on a bike made of green beans riding on the Trippel coriander sabayon. “Bird and Business” was aquick animated short but brought out the single most satisfying item of the night, a chicken and duck sausage that had all the tables talking.

The three courses were followed by a cheese plate which featured La Folie jelly and clove smoked cashews. I couldn’t stop reaching for one last cashew as the smoked flavor was sharp and acrid but made the soft, satisfying flavor of the cashew only that much more enticing.

The evening concluded with desserts galore. Beer brittle made using New Belgium’s 1554 and homemade marshmallows infused with Trippel and dipped in white chocolate lined one table while the Homebrew Chef took up a station across the room making ice cream with liquid nitrogen. The showman came out as he added the nitrogen with long tall pours, playing up the smoke as attendees crowded around for a closer look.

The dinner was amazing all around and one that beer lovers must experience. The Homebrew Chef brings a passion for cooking with beer unlike any I’ve seen before. Please, look through the pictures on the Brewed For Thought Facebook page for more on the dishes and the overall experience offered at Ramekins in Sonoma. A special “Thank You” to New Belgium for inviting me to be a part of this dinner.