Railroad Tie Smoked IPA from Bottle Logic and Hopscotch Fullerton

Collaboration between breweries is everywhere these days. Taking personality traits from two breweries and brewing them into one beer has been very successful in both showcasing and isolating unique traits the breweries feature. But what happens when you take a restaurant known for its food and whiskey and mash their personality into a collaboration with a brewery known for innovation and pushing its limits? You get a fantastic IPA called Railroad Tie.

The brewers at Bottle Logic have made a collaboration beer with Hopscotch of Fullerton featuring cold smoked hops to celebrate Hopscotch's second-year anniversary. This beer is available Sunday November 16th at Hopscotch and it will blow your taste-buds away--especially combined with the smoked meats being offered at their anniversary party!

Bottle Logic has made a name for themselves through "Innovation" and "Invention" as their tasting room suggests--prominently featuring a portrait of Nichola Tesla, electrical engineering books, and sci-fi sketches. This IPA is nothing short of inventive science. The first thing that came to mind when I tried it was "how does one smoke hops without destroying the delicate citrus aromatics?" Brandon Buckner, Founder and Brand Manager of Bottle Logic was eager to explain the process:
"We cold smoked the hops over night. Piping in cold smoke into a container of whole Citra Hops we are able to impart the smoked flavor without exposing the hops to direct heat and leaving all those delicate alpha acids intact"

So no artificial smoke flavor? No "bacon-flavored" beer? Not at all. This beer hits you on the nose with those brilliant Citra notes and follows through with great hop flavor with just a hint of smokiness in the end resulting in a well balanced beer and a solid hitting west coast IPA.

So enough of me raving about it, here is where you can get your hands on some Railroad Tie.

This Sunday, November 16th from 3PM to 7:30PM Downtown Fullerton at Hopscotch. Come celebrate their two year anniversary with some Railroad Tie Smoked IPA and a special smoked menu featuring St. Louis ribs, Tri-tip, and chicken all by Executive Chef Linh Nguyen--proceeds benefit Coast to Coast Foundation, a community-based organization dedicated to the needs of the area's homeless and underprivileged.

Hopscotch

Craft Beer + Whiskey

136 E Commonwealth Ave, Fullerton, CA 92832(714) 871-2222

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Public Speaking and Too Much Beer

Hello, beloved readers!

There has been so much happening in my life in the past few months that I feel as though I have neglected my blog. While all my antics have been forever recorded via Instagram and twitter I can’t forget my little blog!

First of all I would like to announce that I got a fantastic job doing what I love most: helping people learn more about craft beer and helping them get the word out. I work for a company called TapHunter and they have the most amazing craft beer centered technology for breweries, bars and restaurants. My company has solutions for running a successful craft beer program be it a small sports bar or a craft beer focused pub with 150+ taps. I also write a blog for them as well at GetTapHunter.com where I talk about ways to run a successful craft beer business.

Through TapHunter I have been able to go to so many amazing events including the Firestone Walker Invitational Beerfest which was mind blowing, yet very, very hot. However, the greatest opportunity so far is truly one coming up tonight in San Diego at the Modern Times Brewing Co. in San Diego. The Voice of San Diego is hosting an event called “Crafting Beer Policy” where I will be speaking along side of some very important and influential people in San Diego’s craft beer scene including Neva Parker of White Labs and Greg Koch of Stone Brewing Co. Please check out their website for more info and I hope to see you there!

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2012 GABF Award Winners of California

I did not make it to the Great American Beer Festival this year but that's definitely not an excuse to ignore the amazing brewers and breweries that brought home a medal this year.

The following is a list of all the California based medalists! Or for a complete list of winners click here!


 Large Brewing Company and Large Brewing Company Brewer of the Year
Sponsored by Beer Institute
Pabst Brewing Company, Los Angeles, CA
Gregory Deuhs

Category: 2 American-Style Wheat Beer with Yeast, 29 Entries
Bronze: Wrangler Wheat, Figueroa Mountain Brewing Co., Buellton, CA


 Category: 8 Coffee Beer, 63 Entries
Gold: Smog City Groundwork Coffee, Tustin Brewing Co., Tustin, CA


 Category: 12 Session Beer, 67 Entries
Gold: Twerp, Pizza Port Carlsbad, Carlsbad, CA
Bronze: Bitter American, 21st Amendment Brewery, San Francisco, CA

 Category: 14 Experimental Beer, 62 Entries
Silver: Petit Obscura, Telegraph Brewing Co., Santa Barbara, CA
Bronze: Track #8, The Lost Abbey, San Marcos, CA

 Category: 15 Fresh Hop Ale, 34 Entries
Gold: Estate Homegrown Ale, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Chico, CA
Silver: HopTime Harvest Ale, Russian River Brewing Co., Santa Rosa, CA


 Category: 16 Indigenous Beer, 27 Entries
Bronze: Hot Rocks Lager, Port Brewing Co., San Marcos, CA


 Category: 18 American-Belgo-Style Ale, 71 Entries
Gold: Le Freak, Green Flash Brewing Co., San Diego, CA

Category: 19 American-Style Sour Ale, 34 Entries
Silver: Red Poppy, The Lost Abbey, San Marcos, CA


 Category: 21 Wood- and Barrel-Aged Beer, , 51 Entries
Silver: Bourbon Barrel Aged Night Sail, Island Brewing Co., Carpinteria, CA


 Category: 22 Wood- and Barrel-Aged Strong Beer, 103 Entries
Gold: The Manhattan Project, The Beer Co., San Diego, CA


 Category: 23 Wood- and Barrel-Aged Strong Stout, 65 Entries
Silver: Silva Stout, Green Flash Brewing Co., San Diego, CA


 Category: 25 Aged Beer, 24 Entries
Silver: 2004 Triple Exultation, Eel River Brewing Co., Fortuna, CA


 Category: 28 American-Style or International-Style Pilsener, 26 Entries
Gold: Gold Country Pilsner, Auburn Alehouse, Auburn, CA


 Category: 33 American-Style Lager, Light Lager or Premium Lager, 51 Entries
Gold: Pabst Blue Ribbon, Pabst Brewing Co., Los Angeles, CA


 Category: 34 American-Style Specialty Lager or Cream Ale or Lager, 34 Entries
Silver: Old Style, Pabst Brewing Co., Los Angeles, CA


 Category: 35 Vienna-Style Lager, 36 Entries
Bronze: Danish Red Lager, Figueroa Mountain Brewing Co., Buellton, CA


 Category: 44 Golden or Blonde Ale, 67 Entries
Gold: Steelhead Extra Pale Ale, Mad River Brewing Co., Blue Lake, CA

Category: 49 International-Style Pale Ale, 29 Entries
Silver: Southern Chaos, Hollister Brewing Co., Goleta, CA

Category: 52 American-Style India Pale Ale, 203 Entries
Gold: IPA, Tap It Brewing Co., San Luis Obispo, CA
Bronze: Duet, Alpine Beer Co., Alpine, CA

Category: 53 Imperial India Pale Ale, 128 Entries
Silver: Café Racer 15, Bear Republic Brewing Co. - Healdsburg, Healdsburg, CA
Bronze: Double Jack, Firestone Walker Brewing Co., Paso Robles, CA

Category: 55 Imperial Red Ale, 60 Entries
Bronze: 547 Haight - The Toronado San Francisco’s 20th Anniversary Imperial Red Ale, Pizza Port Carlsbad, Carlsbad, CA

Category: 57 Ordinary or Special Bitter, 37 Entries
Gold: DBA, Firestone Walker Brewing Co., Paso Robles, CA

Category: 60 Irish-Style Red Ale, 48 Entries
Silver: TAPS Irish Red, TAPS Fish House, Brewery, Brea, CA

Category: 63 American-Style Black Ale, 61 Entries
Gold: Wookey Jack, Firestone Walker Brewing Co., Paso Robles, CA

Category: 67 German-Style Wheat Ale, 23 Entries
Bronze: Weizeneisbock, Gordon Biersch Brewing Co., San Jose, CA

Category: 69 French- and Belgian-Style Saison, 68 Entries
Bronze: El Verano, Beachwood BBQ & Brewing, Long Beach, CA

Category: 70 Belgian- and French-Style Ale, 68 Entries
Gold: Saint’s Devotion, The Lost Abbey, San Marcos, CA

Category: 71 Belgian-Style Lambic or Sour Ale, 42 Entries
Bronze: Sans Pagaie, The Bruery, Anaheim, CA

Category: 72 Belgian-Style Abbey Ale, 86 Entries
Gold: Green Flash Trippel, Green Flash Brewing Co., San Diego, CA

Category: 73 Belgian-Style Strong Specialty Ale, 51 Entries
Silver: Rhinoceros, Telegraph Brewing Co., Santa Barbara, CA
Bronze: AleSmith Grand Cru, AleSmith Brewing Co., San Diego, CA

Category: 74 Brown Porter, 44 Entries
Bronze: Peter Brown Tribute Ale, Bear Republic Brewing Co. Factory Five, Cloverdale, CA

Category: 76 Classic Irish-Style Dry Stout, 16 Entries
Gold: Seaside Stout, Pizza Port Solana Beach, Solana Beach, CA

Category: 77 Foreign-Style Stout, 25 Entries
Gold: Starry Night Stout, Island Brewing Co., Carpinteria, CA

Category: 78 American-Style Stout, 43 Entries
Gold: Order in the Port, Pizza Port San Clemente, San Clemente, CA

Category: 79 Sweet Stout, 32 Entries
Gold: Udder Love, Beachwood BBQ & Brewing, Long Beach, CA

Category: 80 Oatmeal Stout, 45 Entries
Gold: Oats, Pizza Port Solana Beach, Solana Beach, CA
Bronze: Stagecoach Stout, Figueroa Mountain Brewing Co., Buellton, CA

Category: 81 Imperial Stout, 58 Entries
Silver: Imperial Stout, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Chico, CA

Category: 82 Scotch Ale, 44 Entries
Gold: Way Heavy, Pizza Port San Clemente, San Clemente, CA

Category: 83 Old Ale or Strong Ale, 31 Entries
Silver: Papier, The Bruery, Anaheim, CA
Bronze: AleSmith Decadence ‘10 Old Ale, AleSmith Brewing Co., San Diego, CA

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#IPAday Cigar Pairing in Santa Rosa

Join us for an evening of top ranking California IPA's and expertly paired cigars in the newest craft beer pub in Santa Rosa, Heritage Public House! Never had a cigar with your beer? You're missing out! There will be two IPA flights to choose from; a citrusy, bright flight of 4 standard IPA's, and a bold, spicy flight of 4 Imperial and Black. Each flight has the option to add a perfectly paired cigar to that style of IPA. Please come on down and celebrate #IPAday with FugglyBrew.com!

Click Here To RSVP!

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Win a trip to The Belgian Beer Festival

Attention Belgian beer lovers! Draft Magazine, Affligem, and Visit Flanders have teamed up for a Belgian vacation giveaway for two lucky people to go and attend The Belgian Beer Festival and discover what's been brewing for the past 938 years. Also, 200 lucky people will receive a tasting ritual kit with possibly the cutest “yeast chalice” ever. The kit contains a chalice perfect for 90% of your beer, a spot for your bottle, and a small glass for that final 10% of the pour so you can contrast that last bit of yeast with the body of your beer. Genius, is it not?

To enter, ask yourself this important question: What do you do with the last 10% of your Belgian Abbey beer?Then click here to enter.

Contest ends on July 16^th 2012

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2012 World Cup Award Winners of California

Every two years the best brewers are invited to come together and compete in the worlds most prestigious beer competition known as the World Beer Cup. With 54 countries entering almost a thousand more beers than 2010, this year's competition was bigger and badder than anything that we've seen before, and truly reflected the last two years' craft beer boom. Of the 95 categories judged, California won a medal in 43, and also won an overall award for champion brewery and brewmaster. Congratulations to our medalists, and here's to another two years of cranking out some of the worlds best beers.

California seriously cleaned up at the awards. The following are our champions:

Category 8: Coffee Beer, 56 Entries
Gold: Bacon and Eggs Breakfast Coffee Imperial Porter, Pizza Port Ocean Beach, San Diego, CA

Category 9: Specialty Beer, 38 Entries

Charlie Papazian

Gold: Hangar 24 Winter Warmer, Hangar 24 Craft Brewery, Redlands, CA
Bronze: Donner Party Porter, FiftyFifty Brewing Co., Truckee, CA

Category 10: Rye Beer, 29 Entries
Gold: Ruthless Rye IPA, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Chico, CA
Silver: 3 Flowers IPA, Marin Brewing Co., Larkspur, CA

Category 12: Session Beer, 33 Entries
Silver: Kellerweis, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Chico, CA

Category 13: Other Strong Beer, 35 Entries
Gold: Star Brew, Marin Brewing Co., Larkspur, CA

Category 14: Experimental Beer, 42 Entries
Gold: Petit Obscura, Telegraph Brewing Co., Santa Barbara, CA
Bronze: Where There’s Smoke..., Manzanita Brewing Co., Santee, CA

Category 15: Indigenous Beer, 26 Entries
Gold: Got Beer, BJ’s Restaurant & Brewery - Tacoma, Huntington Beach, CA
Silver: Hqt, 21st-Amendment Brewery, San Francisco, CA

Category 17: American-Belgo-Style Ale, 48 Entries
Bronze: Le Freak, Green Flash Brewing Co., San Diego, CA

Category 18: American-Style Sour Ale, 14 Entries
Bronze: Supplication, Russian River Brewing Co., Santa Rosa, CA

Category 23: Wood- and Barrel-Aged Sour Beer, 42 Entries
Bronze: Melange #1, The Bruery, Anaheim, CA

Category 36: German-Style Märzen, 39 Entries
Silver: Rocktoberfest, Rock Bottom Long Beach, Long Beach, CA

Category 44: American-Style Premium Lager or Specialty Lager, 37 Entries
Silver: Evans Original, Cervecería Mexicana, Corona, CA

Category 45: American-Style Amber Lager, 40 Entries
Bronze: Cali Common, Lucky Hand Beer, Novato, CA

Category 47: Australasian-Style Pale Ale or International-Style Pale Ale, 22 Entries
Gold: 805 IPA, Firestone Walker Brewing Co., Paso Robles, CA

Category 49: German-Style Brown Ale/Düsseldorf-Style Altbier, 29 Entries
Bronze: Real McCoy Amber, Mammoth Brewing Co., Mammoth Lakes, CA

Category 50: German-Style Sour Ale, 11 Entries
Silver: Hottenroth Berliner Weisse, The Bruery, Anaheim, CA

Category 56: French- & Belgian-Style Saison, 44 Entries
Gold: Carnevale, The Lost Abbey, San Marcos, CA

Category 57: Belgian- and French-Style Ale, 22 Entries
Bronze: Gift of the Magi, The Lost Abbey, San Marcos, CA

Category 60: Belgian-Style Flanders Oud Bruin or Oud Red Ale, 16 Entries
Gold: Oude Tart, The Bruery, Anaheim, CA
Bronze: Oud Jeremiah, BJ’s Restaurant & Brewery - Brea, Huntington Beach, CA

Category 61: Belgian-Style Dubbel, 39 Entries
Bronze: Ovila Dubbel, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Chico, CA

Category 64: Belgian-Style Dark Strong Ale, 41 Entries
Silver: Two Tortugas Belgian Quad, Karl Strauss Brewing Co., San Diego, CA

Category 65: Other Belgian-Style Ale, 41 Entries
Bronze: Rhinoceros, Telegraph Brewing Co., Santa Barbara, CA

Category 67: Classic English-Style Pale Ale, 33 Entries
Gold: Annadel Pale Ale, Third Street Aleworks, Santa Rosa, CA

Category 72: English-Style Mild Ale, 27 Entries
Silver: Alyssa’s Attitude, Oggi’s Pizza & Brewing Co., San Clemente, CA
Bronze: Nerf Herder, Pizza Port San Clemente, San Clemente, CA

Category 73: English-Style Brown Ale, 30 Entries
Gold: Longboard Brown Ale, Rock Bottom La Jolla, La Jolla, CA

Category 74: Brown Porter, 42 Entries
Gold: Double Nut Brown, Mammoth Brewing Co., Mammoth Lakes, CA
Bronze: Chocolate Porter, Bayhawk Ales, Irvine, CA

Category 75: Robust Porter, 68 Entries
Gold: Pier Rat Porter, Pizza Port San Clemente, San Clemente, CA

Category 76: Sweet Stout, 25 Entries
Bronze: Blackjack Stout, Feather Falls Casino Brewing Co., Oroville, CA

Category 78: Scotch Ale, 51 Entries
Silver: Way Heavy, Pizza Port San Clemente, San Clemente, CA

Category 80: Old Ale or Strong Ale, 51 Entries
Silver: AleSmith Decadence 2010 Old Ale, AleSmith Brewing Co., San Diego, CA

Category 81: Barley Wine-Style Ale, 62 Entries
Bronze: AleSmith Old Numbskull, AleSmith Brewing Co., San Diego, CA

Category 82: Irish-Style Red Ale, 31 Entries
Gold: Red Trolley Ale, Karl Strauss Brewing Co., San Diego, CA

Category 83: Classic Irish-Style Dry Stout, 30 Entries
Gold: Blarney Sisters Dry Irish Stout, Third Street Aleworks, Santa Rosa, CA

Category 84: Foreign-Style Stout, 37 Entries
Gold: Starry Night Stout, Island Brewing Co., Carpinteria, CA
Bronze: Voo Doo, Left Coast Brewing Co., San Clemente, CA

Category 85: Golden or Blonde Ale, 46 Entries
Gold: Foam Top, Beachwood BBQ & Brewing, Long Beach, CA
Bronze: Steelhead Extra Pale, Mad River Brewing Co., Blue Lake, CA

Category 86: American-Style Pale Ale, 84 Entries
Gold: Pale 31, Firestone Walker Brewing Co., Paso Robles, CA
Silver: Mission Street Pale, Firestone Walker Brewing Co., Paso Robles, CA

Category 89: Imperial India Pale Ale, 93 Entries
Gold: Poor Man’s IPA, Pizza Port Carlsbad, Carlsbad, CA
Bronze: Palate Wrecker, Green Flash Brewing Co., San Diego, CA

Category 90: American-Style Amber/Red Ale, 68 Entries
Bronze: Mavericks Amber Ale, Half Moon Bay Brewing Co., Princeton-by-the-Sea, CA

Category 91: Imperial Red Ale, 38 Entries
Silver: Bigfoot, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Chico, CA

Category 92: American-Style Brown Ale, 47 Entries
Bronze: Great American Brown, Pizza Port Carlsbad, Carlsbad, CA

Category 93: American-Style Black Ale, 49 Entries
Gold: Black Racer, Bear Republic Brewing Co., Cloverdale, CA
Silver: Tarantulas 2.0, Pizza Port Ocean Beach, San Diego, CA

Category 94: American-Style Stout, 34 Entries
Bronze: Achievement Beyond Life’s Experiences American Stout Brit Antrim Benefit Beer, Pizza Port Ocean Beach, San Diego, CA

World Beer Cup Champion Brewery and Brewmaster
  Mid-size Brewing Company
Firestone Walker Brewing Company, Paso Robles, CA
Matthew Brynildson

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Fred Eckhardt at the BBC 2011

I was overcome with excitement when I found out Fred Eckhardt was a keynote speaker at this years Beer Bloggers Conference yesterday. Mr. Eckhardt is a true founder of a movement and the leader in the battle for flavor. I grew up with his books on my fathers shelf, my favorite being The Essentials of Beer Styles, so as you can imagine I was quite the fan girl. Less of a formal presentation and more of a sit down story time (with beer in hand of course) Fred told us colorful stories of the American craft beer revolution. From adding hops to beer and his thoughts on session versus new high ABV beers Fred spoke of the similarities of his writing roots to us bloggers as well as touching slightly upon print journalism compared to digital journalism. Self proclaimed as “lazy” he is a great inspiration to us all and I feel very lucky to have met such a fantastic living legend.

“The beer in my hand is my favorite beer!”

-Fred Eckhardt

Sponsored by:

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#IPAday North Park Pub Crawl

Craft Beer Enthusiasts and Social Media Addicts, August 4th is IPA day (#IPAday) and San Diego's very own North Park has a celebration of it's own, raising pints along 30th street! You are invited to join FugglyBrew.com's Tatiana Peavey for an IPA day Pub Crawl. Starting at 7pm we are meeting at The Linkery and moving north along 30th and ending at the Ritual Tavern to try the debut beer from Butcher's Brewery Double Shaka Double IPA. You wont want to miss this worldwide toast to craft beer!

Stay tuned for as more specials will be posted!

The Itinerary is as follows:
7PM-The Linkery (Jay has specials in the making)
7:45PM-True North ($4 IPA's)
8:30PM- URBN
9:00PM El Take It Easy
9:30PM Toronado
10:30PM- Ritual Tavern (Butcher's DIPA Debut)




RSVP HERE!

In preparation for #IPAday make sure you're following our #IPAday pub crawl sponsors on Twitter!
Http://www.twitter.com/Goa​ts_Udder
http://www.twitter.com/the​linkery
http://www.twitter.com/URB​Nnorthpark
http://www.twitter.com/tor​onadosd
http://www.twitter.com/tru​enorthtavern
http://www.twitter.com/rit​ualtavern

Please Drink Responsibly!

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Fuggly Brew Beer Dinner 08/11

Hello Readers!
You are cordially invited to join me for my very first beer dinner! Please read and distribute the press release at the bottom at your leisure and Thank You All for being so supportive the last couple years I appreciate all the love and encouragement and I hope to see you there!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For more information, contact:

Dan Smith

Out Of The Park Pizza

E-mail: ylfamilypizza@yahoo.com

Phone: (619)569-7084

Tatiana Peavey

FugglyBrew.com

Phone: (707)813-1233

E-mail: tatiana@fugglybrew.com

Out Of The Park Pizza and FugglyBrew.com Host Local Beer Dinner Featuring Orange County Breweries

Anaheim, California, July 18, 2011 – Out of the Park Pizza and FugglyBrew.com are set to host their first O.C. Brewery Beer Dinner on Thursday, August 11 at 7:00 p.m. at its 5638 E. La Palma Ave. location featuring selections from local Orange County Breweries.

The local Beer Dinner will feature beers from Orange County's renowned Bruery, Bootleggers Brewing Co, Left Coast Brewing Co and a special six-course beer pairing menu courtesy of FugglyBrew.com author, Tatiana Peavey. The night’s courses will be served as follows: chopped Jicama salad with The Bruery Hottenroth Berliner Weisse; creamy Camembert mac and cheese with The Bruery Saison Rue; pineapple pork ribs with Left Coast Asylum; deconstructed Out of the Park Signature Chuck Norris pizza with Bootleggers Golden Chaos; Gorgonzola and nectarines with Bootleggers Knuckle Sandwich; and fresh baked chocolate cookie a la raspberry mode with Left Coast VooDoo Stout.

Owner, Dan Smith is excited to be a part of Orange County's growing craft beer scene and hopes that this is the first of many special beer events for Out of The Park Pizza .This is a must-attend event for any beer enthusiast from the budding crafty to the seasoned cellarist, this event is not to be missed.

Tickets for the event are $30 in advance and for Out of the Park Pizza Homebrew Club members and $40 at the door. Early purchases are suggested as tickets are limited and the event will reach capacity.

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Join in and celebrate IPA day!

This morning was the unveiling of the first global celebration of the IPA set for August 4^th! Creating awareness about your local brewery and their IPAs. In an effort for IPA lovers around the world to ring cheers through the air I encourage one and all to flock to their local establishments and raise a pint, as the saying goes “think global, act local.” Or as I like to say it, shut up and drink! Stay tuned for updates on twitter as on August 4^th I will be doing an IPA give away to one lucky winner! I want to give a very special thanks to my friends @TheBeerWench and @RyanARoss for doing such a marvelous job of organizing this celebration.

Please check out some fine #IPAday supporters below:

Host Breweries

     

    @bisonbrew            @Karl_Strauss              @stbcbeer

     @sweetwaterbrew        @epicbeer        @greatdividebrew 

    

         

  @NOLA_Brewing       @SWBrewery      @newhollandbrew

@foundersbrewing

Social Media Sponsors      

  

           @ratebeer                                   @untappd

                            @newbrewthursday

   

   

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Beerfest is almost here!

Beautiful Copper Vats!

I am so excited about this Saturday! My favorite beerfest in the whole wide world is being held in Boonville this weekend and I can hardly wait to see all my friends. Literally all of them, it's where old friends from my home town collide with my awesome beer industry friends and get together for a common cause- Great craft beer!!! Every year Anderson Valley Brewing Company (@avbc) hosts dozens of breweries to come out to our beautiful county and enjoy what many of us were so fortunate to have been brought up in, fantastic friends and a scenery most people only see in car commercials.

New touchscreen technology meets old

First 10 barrel system among giants

Today, I went to the brewery to celebrate my fathers birthday with an intense round of disc golf and beer. Founded in 1987 Anderson Valley Brewing Company was started in the cellar of their pub back when they served food. They started out with a little 10 barrel system that you can still find today in their fermentation hall along with their original “Coming Soon” sign posted on the outside. AVBC has stayed true to their small town roots (even though recently changing hands to new owner Trey White) and really is living up to the Mendocino County spirit. A significant amount of their power is produced through solar energy and they are expanding their personal hop crop of Cascades and Goldens to the front and back of the property. Boasting 38 acres I'm sure we'll see more peak-a-boo crops in the near future. Currently they produce 10 beers and produce a rotating “Bahl Hornin'” series that comes out only to their visitor center and some local restaurants every 4 months and have beers available in 6 different countries including Australia and China. While I was there I got to try their fantastic brandy barrel aged barleywine which brought up an important question, will we see more experimentation in barrel aged beers and sours?! Yes, we will! Rumor has it that today they brewed a Weiss that may or may not have something to do with the Chardonnay Barrels that I spied on my way out. Rumor also has it that this years Winter Solstice may or may not be spending some time being aged in bourbon barrels! I guess we'll have to see! I'm super excited and can't wait to see all the wonderful brewers, industry personnel and friends this Saturday. Cheers and have a Bahl Branchin' n Hornin'!!!

Things to come

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Drink Green and Eat Meatless Monday!

I wanted to give a big thank you to Bison Brewing Company for making me this weeks Meatless Monday and Drink Green rock star! You guys are awesome for supporting such a good cause and brewing, in my opinion, the best tasting USDA certified organic beers.

Just a quick background on Meatless Monday:

Meatless Monday started back during World War One originally to reduce consumption of the basics for the war effort. They introduced "Meatless Monday" and "Wheatless Wednesday" in attempts for Americans to do their part. During that time 10 million families, 7,000 hotels and about 425,000 grocers pledged to observe national meatless days. After such amazing results President Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman did much of the same thing during World War Two through rationing.

Today though research it has been discovered that by going meatless at least once a week you may reduce your risks of preventable diseases like cancer, heart disease, obesity and diabetes. It also reduces your carbon footprint and saves resources such as water and fossil fuel.

Bison Brewing Co. has paired this fantastic movement with a cause I know we can all stand behind: Drinking organic, sustainable and/or local beer. By pairing these two titans together you have an unstoppable revolution. To learn more about these fantastic programs please visit the links below!

Also a hearty congratulations to Bison on being on of the top "Movers and Shakers" in the Meatless Monday Movement!

Bison Brewing
Drink Green and Meatless Monday

Meatless Monday
www.MeatlessMonday.com

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Options For Cinco De Mayo

It's Cinco De Mayo, America's favorite day to indulge in the wonderfully addicting food of Mexico and of course booze! Along with all the wonderful tequila's that will be consumed so will copious quantities of Tecate's, Pacifico's, Dos Equis and heaven forbid Bud Lime. I am here just to drop a friendly note regarding alternatives to these American-style lagers and some tasty dishes to pair with them!

Cucapá, named after the native tribe of Baja California, or Cerveceria de Baja California is a first in Mexican craft beer advocacy promoting a culture for good beer and awareness that there is more to beer than just Pacifico.

The Cucapá Honey Amber (4.5%) is a beautifully sessionable beer with a rich tan color and aromas of toasty nuts and light citrus. It's flavor had a deep flavor, almost of a savory french toast, very bright and refreshing. This beer plays well with the that of lightly salted corn chips and my Mango-Avocado Salsa!

Mango-Avocado Salsa
1 Firm but ripe Avocado, peeled + diced
1 Mango, peeled + diced
1 Jalapeno, roasted+ chopped
1/3 Cup Red Onion, chopped
3 key limes
chopped cilantro to taste
2 Roma Tomatoes, diced
Salt and Pepper

The Cucapá Obsura Brown Ale (4.5%) pours a bay brown with swirls of roasted toffee and molasses aromas. It's dry nutty flavor with hints of dutched chocolate make for a lovely pairing with Carne Asada!

The Chupacabra has indeed been found in Cucapá's Pale Ale (5.8%)! A medium bodied, deep caramel colored ale with citrus and savory complexities is the perfect companion for your evenings main dish of Camarones A La Diabla or Pescado Al Mojo De Ajo.

Of all the beer's that I've tasted by Cerveceria de Baja California my favorite by far is the Cucapá Barleywine (10%). With gobs and layers of caramel and chocolate covered orange peel, this black cherry colored barleywine is the perfect night cap for your cozy Cinco de Mayo dinner.

For those of you planning to do more drinking than cooking for Cinco De Mayo and in my growing excitement for the upcoming Boonville Beerfest I would also like to tell you about my new guilty pleasure that is Anderson Valley Brewing Co.'s Cerveza Crema (5.6%). This is a super smooth, lightly sweet cream ale reminiscent of an old fashioned cream soda. I was super excited when I tried this because of it's simplicity and it's crisp finish, perfect for a hot day! If you're looking for something to pair with your fiesta's flan this is definitely the beer!

Have a fun and safe festivity! ¡Salud!

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Karl Strauss San Diego Beer Week Snippet

After a fun filled weekend in Colorado I managed to recuperate in time to take in some of the festivities in San Diego, of which there were many! At the Bloggers Conference there was one local brewery from San Diego that had truly piqued my interests and they had for a couple days leading up to the conference, and that was Karl Strauss.

A few days before the conference I was speaking to Steve Goto, a brewery rep, regarding his ideas of the three tier system (Brewer, Distributor, Retailer) and he had mentioned that Karl Strauss was indeed a mini-micro brewery. While I had through that Karl Strauss was reaching the size of Samuel Adams they have been building their fan base in San Diego, Orange, and LA counties almost exclusively.

I took a tour of their original brewery where I learned all about their “fast fermentation techniques” of using oxygen stones and medical grade oxygen to make the little yeast ferment at warp speed! After the tour of their “down town” brewery I got a chance to speak with Chris Cramer the CEO of Karl Strauss. He passionately discussed Uncle Karl's influence in the making of Karl Strauss beer, especially the origin of the Red Trolly recipe which was one of Uncle Karl's own. Uncle Karl had bases in Germany as a brewer and brought much of that influence into the recipes.

The greatest thing that interested me about Karl Strauss was the size. They seemed so big from an outside standpoint and yet were so small. In Disney's California Adventure, Karl Strauss is the only beer that is served! I was curious as to how that effected demand? Cramer calmly said they have looked into distributing farther but they're very comfortable with their size and exclusivity that they have now and maybe might look into distributing to northern California in the near future.

I participated in their Cask Night as they popped open a special San Diego Beer Week special Stout, which was fantastic. I truly recommend that if you are in the San Diego area to visit their down town location, they have so many more beers there than they distribute and the food is simply outstanding!

Karl Strauss

1157 Colombia St.

San Diego, CA 92101

(619) 234-2739 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            (619) 234-2739      end_of_the_skype_highlighting

@Karl_Strauss

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