Click here, If you’re into that sort of thing.

Google is hosting the Life Photo Archive, with images dating back to the 1750s.  A search for “beer” reveals some great pictures. (But really, this is just pretext to post this to share with everyone I can - it’s an amazing collection.) 

“In my opinion, it’s the best beer festival on the west coast” 

This bold claim came from Tim, of William’s Brewing as well as a member of the BABC Homebrew Club.  Tim’s a big proponent of wild and brett beers, so for him to insist that this the best festival says a lot.  With Tim’s recommendation in mind, I got into a car with Zak of Shmaltz Brewing (who had a keg of Lenny on Rye on tap at the festival) and headed east across the bridge to Hayward.

After facing down the massive crowds at GABF, and the tightly packed bar at Toronado earlier in the week for the release of Firestone XII, The Bistro was a breath of fresh air.  Quite literally: the event was spread out through the bar, as well as in their regular outdoor seating area, and an additional tent setup to house the many, many taps they needed for the fifty seven something beers they were pouring. 

At the door, thirty five dollars bought entrance to the event, a tasting glass, a copy of the epic menu of beers, and ten sample tickets - one sample per ticket. Most of the barrel aged beers tend to clock in at ten percent ABV or higher - ten samples is more than enough, and made for a slightly less drunken, more connoisseur oriented event. With ten samples you have to pick and choose a little more carefully. The menu they handed out was also especially beer-geek centric: it listed the beer, the brewery, the brewer, the barrel type, how long it was aged, ABV, and finally a discerption of the beer.  Inside the tent, the line to get a sample was never more than two or three deep when I was in the main tent. Plus, they very smartly were taping the beers into pitchers, making pouring each sample easy and quick. 

Once at the festival, I found a seat with some fellow BABC’ers, and grabbed a sample of Lost Abby’s Angel Share, a beer I already knew was fantastic as a palette warmer.  As usual, it was rich and thick brew, with deep woody flavors and a hints of dried fruit.  It’s pictured here with the festival beer menu below it. 

After that, I resolved to focus on beers that I hadn’t had before, of which there were many.  My technique of selecting my next same was based largely on my dad’s style of deciding on a dish in a restaurant: ask everyone around me what they recommend, and use their enthusiasm to plan my next move. I quickly found a few favorites at the event, which I then in turn recommended to everyone else. 

Some of my top picks: 

Port Brewing’s Veritas 02: An experimental beer from Tomme Arthur, who also brewed the Angel’s Share above.  Veritas is a lighter sour beer, blended with a raspberry mead.  The resulting beer was a tart brew, with a hint of raspberry in the finish.  It was only mildly sour, but impressively balanced and surprisingly delicate. It was the second beer I tasted, but quickly became a favorite. 

Schooner Grille’s Vindecation: I love a great beer with a great story behind it, and this is one of those beers. Brewed by Craig Cauwels as a homage to Vinnie of Russian River, the name is a play on Vinnie’s (confusing) naming conventions and a contraction of VINnie who deserves a vaCATION.  The beer itself is a Oatmeal Stout with Montmorency Cherries, aged in a Brandy Barrel for twelve months.  It proudly lives up to its namesake, and hides its 12% ABV dangerously well.  Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who thought this was a great beer - congrats to Craig! 

Drake’s Impinoir Sour: It sounds like one of those pairings a stoner might come up with: “I like Imperial Stout.  I like Pinot Noir.  I know, I’ll age the stout in a pinot barrel!” However, in this case, it works.  The Pinot Barrel imparted a distinct acidity to the beer, and managed to blend nicely.

Fifty Fifty Brewing’s BART: Recommended by Steve and Gail of Beer by BART, who couldn’t resist a beer named after their favorite transportation method, this beer was a blend of barley wine and oatmeal stout, aged in a Jack Daniel’s Barrel. It was decidedly less funky than most BART trains I’ve been on. 

Russian River’s Consecration:  A new offerings form Russian River, Consecration is a dark belgian ale, aged in Cabernet Sauvignon barrels with currents. It was rich, with a slightly tart finish - and to my mind, exactly what I look for in a sour barrel ale. 

Unfortunately, they can’t all be winners. Part of the adventure of using wild yeast and long barrel aging times is that you never REALLY know what’s going to come out the other side.  Much of this can be overcome with careful blending, but many of these beers were unique, single barrel projects, and were simply letting the brett run wild to see what it created. 

Valley Brewing’s Wildcat Bourbon Barrel Sour Coffee Stout: a stout with coffee, a bourbon barrel and brett yeast - what’s not to like?  For me, a lot.  Although others raved about it, I found the sourness and coffee didn’t pair well at all. Maybe the coffee contributed too much acidity, but I found this to be too much of a good thing- that said, it was worth trying, and I applaud the creativity and experimentation. 

Marin Brewing’s Grand Funk: A wheat wine, aged in a 15 year old(!) Chardonnay barrel for 2 1/2 years(!!) this beer was appropriately named.  It was funky - really, really funky.  The aroma on it smelled like a blend of brandy, a slight hint of green apple, and paint thinner.  The beer itself wasn’t as intense as the aroma suggested, but I just couldn’t get past the smell of this brew. It’s worth noting that not everyone agrees with me on this one. 

So, was Tim’s recommendation right? I think I might amend it to being a beer geek’s favorite beer festival.  The size and scope make it a decidedly lower key affair than many other festivals, and it’s focus on barrel aged sours attract a more hardcore beer connoisseur, and a lot less of a frat boy party drinker (are you listening, Fort Mason Beer Festival?)  I was able to wait in line thirty seconds, get a sample, then return to table to enjoy and discuss with fellow beer snobs. Everyone in attendance was having a great time and enjoying the  beer.  For me, any festival where you hand your glass to someone else to take a try and they are guaranteed to sniff the aroma before taking a sip is my kind of festival. 

PS - On the way home, we made a friend on the freeway who saw my camera, and put on quite a show. 

Firestone Walker is one of those breweries that always seems to have something exciting up their sleeve.  Their ongoing experiments with barrel-brewing has led to some of my favorite beers, and some very special one-offs, such as the keg they brought to NCHF.

Now they are releasing Firestone Walker XII, their anniversary release.  It’s a blended ale with a distinct oaky flavor.  To celebrate, they threw a party at Toronado, and brought up the new release, along with some other special goodies.  Toronado quickly filled to capacity with beer geeks of all stripes, striving to try this years offering. 

Matt, the brewmaster - pictured above on the left, explained that they happened to find a keg of X, from two years ago, hiding in the back of their cold storage area.  It provided a great opportunity to compare and contrast against this year’s release, and really examine the effects of aging beer. 

XII is a big, big beer.  It’s dark and malty, with a bit of alcohol heat, and a distinct oak finish.  In contrast, the X had aged nicely, allowing the heat to dissipate slightly, and mellowed to reveal a distinctly smokey character.   Both are exceptional.  Eventually, someone produced a bottle of Firestone Walker XI as well, completing the vertical tasting set for the night. 

Sean, the Homebrew Chef (seen above checking the first glass of XII out of the cask) was on hand, and came with snacks in tow.  He had cured coho salmon roe in Firestone’s Union Jack IPA, along with some salt and sugar, and was serving it with crackers and a touch of creme fraiche.  Normally, I find salmon roe a little too briny for my taste.  But in this case, the cure had worked wonders, and the resulting roe was delicious.  Still briny to be sure, but the cure had taken the aggressiveness of the flavor down a few notches, and I loved the finished snack. 

A few other great beers from Firestone were available on tap.  Big Opal, their wheat wine, manages to sidestep the problems most wheat wines I’ve tried have: many are overloaded with phenolic flavors from the yeast, and taste like nothing but cloves and bananas.  Firestone’s has a light phenolic touch, and balances it with slight sweetness.  Also on tap was their Ibarra Buzz, a dark ale infused with coffee.  It smelled with freshly roasted coffee, and tasted like a morning cup of joe (in a good way.)  I’ve been toying with wanting to try making a coffee infused porter, and this is exactly what I’d like my own coffee brew to taste like. 

Overall, it was a great event, for a great beer.  If you get the chance, be sure to pick up a few bottles of Firestone XII, and follow Bill Brand’s advice: drink one for now, and a few to lay away for a few years to see how they age. 

Anyone else excited to see Top Chef return? The lone cheftestant from San Francisco this season is Jamie, who cooks at the excellent Absinthe in Hayes Valley. The food is great, and the last time I was there, I discovered the bar keeps bottles of Orval on hand. It goes great with the fried chick peas.

Top Chef Coverage Roundup:

Skillet Doux’s Power Rankings

NY Times Season 5 Preview

Official Bravo Top Chef Site

Amuse Biatch (No season 5 coverage is up yet.  I just want an excuse to link here.)

and last, NPR provides a guide to identifying “the most punchable face”