Booze News

I checked the booze news for the past week while I was traveling. It was a good week.

Tennessee is set to become the first state in the nation to require carding of anyone, without exception, who buys beer for off-premises consumption. Now underage drinkers will have to resort to asking older people outside the store to buy them booze, just like they always have.

A study shows that gastric bypass surgery turns formerly hefty people into alcoholic lightweights.

The EU voted that legally-termed vodka can be made from things other than cereals and potatoes (such as grapes and maple sap) as long as its labeled accordingly on the bottle. But as far as I know, every vodka that isn't made from corn proudly labels the bottle as such anyway.

A manufacturer invents a "cocktail condom" that you use to cover your drink while you leave it so that you can be sure nobody drops date-rape drugs in it while you're not looking. So it's kind of like the don't-drink-my-drink coaster, but with glue.

Someone created a pizza-flavored beer. Great idea, combining things that are commonly consumed at the same time into one tasty treat. I always pour a half gallon of milk into my cereal box and keep it in the refrigerator for the month.

It turns out that most organic certified beer isn't totally organic- most hops aren't, but you only need 95% of organic ingredients to be USDA certified. In the wake of the bad press, one hopes more hops will go orgo.

Heineken launches a new skinny, taller can for its light beer- sort of like the Virginia Slims model of package design. But wait Heineken light? Does it taste like water, with extra-extra water flavor?

Biofuel Blows Your Drinking Budget

A short piece by me in today's SF Chronicle:

Biofuel blows drink budget

Cleaner-burning biofuels made from agricultural crops may be a more environmentally sound way to deliver energy than fossil fuels, but they may also drive up the price of your favorite adult beverage.

In news stories released last week, we learned of two examples where raw materials for drinkable alcohol are being replaced by crops to produce non-potable ethanol.

The Associated Press reports that in Germany, farmers are abandoning barley in favor of subsidized crops for biofuels. Thus barley prices have doubled in the past two years, and the increased cost of the raw materials is now being passed along to beer drinkers.

In Mexico, Reuters reports a similar phenomenon. A current glut in the agave market has inspired some growers to burn their fields and plant corn to meet U.S. demand for ethanol instead. While it doesn't appear that current Tequila prices have been raised, agave can take up to eight years to mature, so the next decade could see a shortage.

As if you needed another reason to stock up.

Beer causes crime!

Two stories today are making beer drinkers look bad:

Man Accused Of Breaking Into House To Steal Beer, Shirt

DENVER -- A man was charged Tuesday with breaking into a Denver home to drink beer from the refrigerator and to steal a clean shirt in the dryer, the district attorney's office said.

Poisoned beer 'just a mistake'

Husband stands by wife and her 'depression issues'

UNION TWP. - A man whose wife is charged with trying to poison his beer with cleaning fluid said Wednesday it's all just a misunderstanding and they will stay together.

Truesdell became ill after drinking a beer at his home in the 500 block of Lemaster Drive.

His wife admitted to police that she had slipped cleaning fluid into his drink, Gaviglia said.

But Jonathan Truesdell said his wife didn't mean to poison him.

"It's just something that happened," he said.

Wine vs. Beer

Great story on Slate.com today about the dominance of wine over beer in America. Must of it the author attributes to an easier and less class-based language about wine, along with the idyllic pastoral image of wine as opposed to the industrial image and mass-production of beer.

He doesn't mention, and I don't have the numbers to back this up but pretty sure I've seen them, that the sales of microbrews are way up while the overall sales of beer are flat. He does point to an example of Bistro 8, an upscale beer produced by Budweiser that was a total flop- and implies that quality beer just doesn't sell to the American public. These two things seem contradictory. I think people just don't believe in quality beer from Budweiser and maybe the company should not have branded it as such.

Maybe part of the problem isn't that beer is industrial and wine is agricultural, but that when you think of wine, all the brands seem small- even Gallo and Two-Buck Chuck. Beer, on the other hand, seems nearly monolithic: Your choices are Bud or Miller, a cheap variation thereof (Milwaukee's Best, Genesee Cream Ale), or a microbrew at twice the price. In comparison to beer, all wine seems snooty and hand-made and that's what's selling.

Maybe beer companies, many of which own a lot of smaller brands, should put their marketing push towards those smaller brands and brews and the overall industry would benefit from connoisseurship of the consumers like wine. Because when it comes time to grab a 12-pack for the tailgate party, you're still going to buy Bud.

Line Tapping Scandal!

Wis. Bar Owner Gets Ticket for Tap

(05-24) 14:19 PDT Port Washington, Wis. (AP) --

A bar owner's attempt to avoid wasting leftover beer got him a sharp reprimand and a $172 ticket. Ray Wendt used a Miller Lite tap to serve Coors Light. He said he told customers they were drinking Colorado beer, not that from nearby Milwaukee.

"I didn't think nothing was tragic about it," Wendt said.

But police and state inspectors disagreed, fining him and sending him a letter that called the mislabeling "a major violation."

Wendt's American Legion bar normally serves Miller Lite.

But a wedding party asked for Coors Light for their reception earlier this month. Wendt ordered it, then found the tap handle he was given didn't fit his dispenser. He substituted a Miller Lite handle.

"It's not like I was pouring different liquor into a bottle," he said. "The Coors and Miller Lite cost the same."

The next morning, he served leftover Coors Light to his regulars.

"I said it was Coors Light, not Miller," he said. "I didn't lie to nobody."

He took a few days off and returned to work May 8, when two representatives from the state Department of Revenue and a Port Washington police officer conducted the annual inspection of his bar. They found the Miller Lite handle still connected to the Coors Light barrel.

State and city laws prohibit bar owners from dispensing beer from another brand's tap. The police officer ticketed Wendt, and the state sent him a warning.

Port Washington Police Chief Richard Thomas said Wendt has a well-run bar, but "the statute is pretty clear. You can't do this."

"It was an honest mistake," protested Wendt, who plans to fight the ticket.

Angel of the Morning

A couple of years ago, I wrote that the Michelada was going to be the hot new beverage of the summer. In reality, not so much. But increased chatter about the drink lately by the likes of Jordan Mackay and The Spirit World and others makes me think its got a chance.

I make it like this:

Michelada
Salt the rim of a pint glass. Fill with ice, add the juice of half a lime, a few dashes of Tabasco sauce, one dash of Worcestershire sauce, and fill with Mexican beer such as Tecate.

I wrote about the drink again recently as something that should be served at brunch. Beer and juice over ice means that it's extremely low in alcohol so you can drink them early and often, and when I have a six-pack laying around I tend to go through about half of it making Micheladas instead of just one.

The reason I post this is to encourage people to try the drink at home and to request it at bars. It's a light and simple drink that deserves to be popular.

I have Stuff in Stuff

Run screaming to your local newsstand and pick up the June issue of Stuff Magazine. You'll know it because of the scantily clad woman on the cover. Rip out all the pages until 56, where you'll see the latest riveting piece of cocktail journalism by Camper English. Now, you won't see the name Camper English anywhere on the page because they're not about bylines (just tan lines), but that's me all right.

The "article" is Yoga Pose, Drink, or Sex Position? Play along at home, but you'll have to buy the magazine (or, you know, discuss in the comments) to find the answers.

Yoga Pose, Drink Name, or Sex Position?

1. Zombie
2. Corpse
3. Downward-Facing Dog
4. Suffering Bastard
5. Throat Swab
6. Mudslide
7. Thunderbolt
8. Reverse Cowgirl
9. Wheelbarrow
10. Sleeping Beauty
11. Warrior
12. Bulldog

What I like to do for fun, since I know all the answers (not that I do yoga- I looked it up) is try to imagine what the drink recipe would be if it had one of the sex or yoga names. (Maybe the Reverse Cowgirl would be a Coors Light followed by a shot of bourbon.)

But you probably shouldn't play the game in the other direction unless you want to imagine a sex position called the Mudslide...

Non-Threatening Chatter

Are you a gay or just want to surf the internet like one? Then you should really join my groups on the website GLEE.com. It's a social networking site that's an acronym for Gays, Lesbians, and Everyone Else. I'm working with them to bring more people to the site and am in charge of the Cocktail Chatter and Wine, Beer, and Sake groups. So go sign up and say howdy (it's free, of course) and then not only will I look better to the boss-man, I won't be having conversations with myself on the bulletin boards anymore. I hate to be (typing about) drinking alone.

Another surge we don't want

Check this out: Guinness has released this new thing The Surger, which is an ultrasonic pulsing plate onto which you put a pint of Guinness so that it will create a foamy head just like real Guinness draft. Of course, to have this wonderful machine you need to buy it as part of a kit, and oh yeah the beer you use in it is different (in what way they don't say) from regular Guinness so you need to buy the special refills.

Couldn't you get the same effect by pouring a can into the glass normally?

Beer Pong

As listed in today's Chronicle:

The Wrath of Pong

Saturday from noon to 4 p.m., Jillian's in San Francisco will host an "athletic drinking event" that will surely change the image of beer consumers as lazy frat boys standing around chugging brew out of big plastic cups. Instead, the brave warriors participating in the HeyLetsGo.com Beer Pong-A-Thon will stand around a table and throw pingpong balls into big plastic cups filled with beer, and then drink the beer. Four simultaneous games will be projected onto 50-foot flat-screen televisions, and winners get two tickets to Vegas to watch the World Series of Beer Pong -- which should add the necessary drama to the event. Given that the losing team drinks more than the winning one, the thrill of victory will be shared by all.

Jillian's, 101 Fourth St. (at Howard, inside the Metreon), San Francisco; (415) 369-6100. Spectators pay $15 at the door. To register, at $60 per team of two, go to www.heyletsgo.com/beerpong.

-- Camper English

Last minute event: Meet the brewers

NEXT MEET THE BREWERS:

THURSDAY, 4/19 6-9 PM at
THE CITY BEER STORE
1168 Folsom Street It's always nice to put faces to names, especially those that craft the beer you drink. Come down to The City Beer Store on 4/19 for the latest installment of this casual monthly series from the Guild. Raise a pint or two with local artisan brewers and learn more about San Francisco craft beer.

http://www.sfbrewersguild.org

Beerbershop

The Chron has a story on a combo bar and barbershop that opened recently in SF. Though there are similar things in Portland, Oregon ("beer and a buzz special" that probably costs less than 20 bucks), this one is an upscale business that also sells men's accessories and charges a monthly membership of $65 that gets you one haircut and one trim per month. There is also free wi-fi and hi-def televisions. If you are interested in what kind of crowd it caters to, this quote has all you need to know.

"We didn't go to Stanford to own a barbershop," agreed Heywood. "We went to Stanford to learn about creating a brand."

Not that I'd drink it, but

CHOW.com has an article about how nonalcoholic beer and wine are made. Read it here.

How are nonalcoholic beer and wine made?

Put simply, you make alcoholic beer or wine, and then remove the alcohol. You do this by distilling the beverage, as if you were going to make liquor. But rather than save the booze and throw out the rest, you throw out the booze.

Beer and Bites

Beer & Bites

March 24th

1 Fort Mason

The San Francisco Brewers Guild, in association with Slow Food San Francisco, invites your to Beer & Bites, an exploration of beer brewed in San Francisco and paired with local, artisanal food.

This event will focus on tasting and pairing a wide array of San Francisco-brewed beers with some of Northern California's best artisan food, including Fatted Calf Charcuterie, Hog Island Oysters, Acme Bread, and more.

The event will benefit Slow Food San Francisco and help to support the School Garden Project at Sanchez Elementary School and other programs.

Tickets are $50 for unlimited tasting and are available here.

Save the Date: SF International Beer Festival

April 28, 2007 is the 24th Annual San Francisco International Beer Festival at Fort Mason. $55 in advance gets you free beer and food. Brewers include:

Anchor Brewing Company
Anderson Valley
Beach Chalet
Bison Brewing Company
Boston Beer/Samuel Adams
Brasserie de Tahiti Brewery
Brewery Ommegang
Butte Creek Brewing Company
Chimay
Deschutes Brewery
Devil's Canyon
Duvel
Eel River
E.J. Phair Brewing
El Toro Brewery
Farmhouse Brewing
Gordon Biersch
Green Flash Brewing
Half Moon Bay Brewing
He'brew
Hoffbrau Munchen
Kona Brewing
Lagunitas Brewing
Magnolia Brewery
Marin Brewing
Moonlight Brewing
Orgasmica Pizza
Rafter's Grille and Brewery
Redhook Brewing
Rodenbach
Rogue Brewing
San Francisco Brewing Company
Shipyard Brewing Company
Sierra Nevada Brewery
Spanish Peaks Brewing
Spaten
Speakeasy Ales and Lagers
Thirsty Bear
Trumer Braueri
Twenty-First Amendment
Warsteiner
Widmer Brothers Brewing
Wyder's Cider

Woot! Tacky device for gadget drunks

Woot.com's special of the day (Tuesday) is a pair of gadgets (Brew Master and Wine Master) for ten bucks that give you information and reviews of wine and beer. So ghetto. I so bought a set.

Cheesy Beer

Last night I went to the beer and cheese pairing at the Rogue Ales Public House in North Beach. The event was great, and a bargain for $30. We had 8 beers paired with cheeses (and in one case, chocolate). Most of them were not full pints, but that would have been way too much beer anyway. While some of the pairings were straightforward- pairing a soba ale with soba cheddar, or a beer with a cheese that was washed in that same beer, other combinations had bitter hoppy beers with strong, mild cheeses that worked together to take the edge off of either. Well done. Before each course, a brewer from Rogue and Sheena Davis from Epicurean Connection spoke about the beer and the cheese that we were about to try.

Keep your eyes peeled for this event next year and other opportunities for beer and cheese pairings.

Here's last night's menu, although there were two substitutions and I can't find my notes that say what those were.

Rogue Morimoto Soba Ale
Rogue Creamery Soba Cheddar

Bison Belgian Ale
Bellwether Fromage Blanc

Rogue Monk Madness
Laura Chenel Chevre

Moylan's Moylander Double IPA
Bellwether Farms Carmody

Lagunitas Censored
Vella Italian Table Cheese

Marin Brewing Company San Quentin¹s Breakout Stout
Chocolate, Cherries and Almonds

Rogue Mocha Porter
Rogue Creamery Blue

Rogue Chocolate Stout
Rogue Creamery Chocolate Stout

Beer, Beer, Beer!

There are more Bay Area beer events in February than any other month it seems. Get out there and get your gut on.

Strong Beer Month:

In February, Magnolia Pub and Brewery (1398 Haight St.; 415-864-7468) and 21st Amendment Brewery (563 Second St., 415-369-0900) in San Francisco team up to celebrate Strong Beer Month. Each venue will feature six house-brewed strong beers (ranging from about 8 to 10 percent alcohol by volume) on tap, including barley wines, double IPAs and imperial stouts. As an incentive to experiment, drinkers who sample all 12 brews and get a special punch card stamped by the end of the month will be rewarded with a commemorative glass. Additionally the venues will sell vintage strong brews from their cellars and offer beer and food pairings like barley wine with Colston Bassett Stilton cheese. To kick off the month, beer makers from both breweries will be bringing a couple of their kegs to the Toronado bar, 547 Haight St., on Wednesday. For more info, go to strongbeermonth.com.

The Toronado's Barleywine Festival Feb 17 - 24.


Celebrator Beer Review's Beerapalooza 2007 includes the following:

February 10–18 - Beerapalooza, San Francisco Bay Area
For information, see our Beerapalooza 2007 page here

February 10 - Hayward, California
Double IPA festival at the Bistro. 510-886-8525

February 14 - San Francisco, California
Beer and Cheese Tasting at Rogue Ales Public House. Phone 415-362-7880

February 16 - San Francisco, California
Beer and Chocolate Dinner, Cathedral Hill Hotel. 415-776-8200, ext. 7785

February 18 - Berkeley, California
CBN's 19th Anniv Party Brewer's Mardi-Gras at Trumer Brewery. More info here

Holiday Beers

Brewers plan for hoppy holidays
Camper English, Special to The Chronicle
Friday, December 8, 2006

With colder weather comes stronger and spicier beer, as brewers prepare to roll out holiday ales and winter warmers.

City Beer owner Craig Wathen, who sells a wide range of seasonal brews at his San Francisco store, says that in winter two styles of beer temporarily populate store shelves and bar taps: winter warmers and holiday ales. He says that both have higher alcohol content than brews produced for hot weather, but winter warmers are the darker and heartier of the two. Holiday ales are not usually quite as potent, but often contain added spices like cinnamon, clove and nutmeg. The spices can be added to the brew kettle if the whole batch will be flavored, or directly into the barrel if the brewer wants to spice a subset of beer.

"I think a holiday beer is more geared toward food and sharing it in a social circumstance. It's a little bit more creative. It's considered by most breweries to be their showcase beer of the year," says Wathen.

Click here to read the rest of my story on what local brewers are doing for holiday beers.

I talked to every commercial brewer in San Francisco, but unfortunately two of them were cut out for space reasons. But that's why blogs are good- supplemental material.

So here they are:

The Beach Chalet at the end of Golden Gate Park will be celebrating its 10th anniversary this December with an aptly named Ten Year Anniversary Ale according to head brewer Aron Deorsey. He said it should come in at around 10 percent ABV and describes it as a “Belgian-style strong pale ale with a medium body, deceptive alcohol warmth and subtle hop character.”

Deorsey will also release an as-yet-unnamed, unfiltered dark Belgian ale in the second week in December. That one will have raisin and plum flavors as by-products of the Belgian yeast used. Then closer to Christmas, he’ll make a spiced version of this same ale. He’ll brew a spice tea that includes fresh coriander, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice, and add it directly to a keg of the dark Belgian ale. It will be served directly from the keg.

San Francisco Brewing Company’s founder and brewmaster Allan Paul says he’ll serve his Christmas Cheer Ale in the North Beach brewery/restaurant again this year. He describes it as “an un-spiced but interesting dark ale along the lines of a porter beer, utilizing a variety of roasted malts and hops to give it a nice complex spiciness, but without the spice.”

Then for St. Stephen’s Day (December 26th) he’ll release their St. Stephen’s Bock, which is a rich, amber lager beer according to Paul. He calls it, “a rich, malty full-bodied brew without the bitterness of predominant hops.”

Will today be the best drinking day ever?

My agenda today:

Lunch: Meet the distiller of Plymouth Gin for lunch at Slanted Door

Afternoon: Christmas Ale taste-off with Fritz Maytag and gang at Anchor Brewery

Evening: The Chronicle's Food & Wine holiday party at Michael Bauer's house

I have a feeling this is going to be a good day.

Holiday Beer Events

My holiday beer article got pushed back until this Friday, but there are some events that happen before it so I'll publish them here:

• Tuesday, December 5. 21st Amendment’s Holiday Beer School. Sample five Belgian and five American holiday microbrews, paired with food from the kitchen. 563 Second Street. (415) 369-0900

• Wednesday, December 6th, 7PM: San Francisco Brewing Company’s 21st annual Christmas beer tasting. 155 Columbus Avenue. (415) 434-3344

• Saturday, December 9th, 12-3PM. Holiday beer tasting and judging with up to 14 beers. Pacific Coast Brewing Company, Oakland.