The Art of Beer kicks off California Craft Beer Month

The second annual Art of Beer brought together great craft brews and art at the Fusion International Arts Center on Friday night. The event highlighted the more artistic aspects of beer – the fermentation tanks, the wort and simply the love of beer.

This year 24 breweries were present, some of them serving up to five types of beer to the 500 guests present. Absolutely delicious bites were everywhere – as long as you came early. Tuli Bistro and Roxie Deli, in particular, were very nearly attacked each time a plate of sandwiches, apps or pizza was set out.

 

  Image by: Ron Nabity

  The art on display ranged from crystal clear pictures of the brewing process by Rawi Nanakul to a piece by Eli Trujillo illustrating the undeniable draw of Pliny the Elder. Supporters of the event – both sponsors and attendees – helped Ales for Autism and Stanford Youth Solutions, both tremendous organizations that certainly know who to put first. Ales for Autism has another big event coming up Feb. 15, the Black & White Beer Ball in Santa Rosa, Calif. The next big thing for Stanford Youth Solutions is Vintage 2013 on April 25.

 

@theend by Eli Trujillo (Image by: Art of Beer) 

The Barrelworks Lounge, occupied by Firestone Walker, was a great spot off to the side to grab a table and chat with friends – new or old. Nearby, 21st Amendment Brewery had its own lounge. The area was handsomely arranged and festooned in 1930s décor. An exhibit illustrating the creative process for the brewery’s distinctive labels and boxes adorned the wall. While most mingled the evening away, the unique lounges provided a place to sit for a minute out of the path of the crowd of buzzing attendees.

Near the front stage where a silent auction took place for much of the night, Sierra Nevada was serving up the newly introduced Ovila Abbey Quad with Plums, a top pick of the evening.

North Coast Brewing Co. always brings their best for dark beer lovers. They poured Brother Thelonious and Old Rasputin. Anderson Valley was another essential stop. They were pouring Brother David’s Triple. They also have something new on their beer list, a Wild Turkey Bourbon Barrel Stout. Mad River Brewing Co. had great taps as well.

For the cider lovers out there, Two Rivers Cider Co. had two on tap, a Dry Macintosh Cider and a Blood Orange cider. The latter had a pink tinge that brought a little extra excitement to the glassware circulating the room.

Cypress Grove Chevre had cheese on hand for tasting, and the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op and The Pasta Queen had lines all night and the supplies to keep the people snacking. The porcini and truffle egg ravioli, topped with blue cheese fredo sauce and roasted hazelnuts was enough to warrant a virtual shopping trip to their site. They paired the dish with Berryessa Brewing Co.’s Belgo Dark – just imagine.

To really make the most of the night, it was best to alternate beers and chatting up brewers with talks with the artists in the room. Shannon Jane Morgan of Girl Glass Studio, paired with Track 7, had plans for an Art of Beer Glass class. Participants will be making their own beer glass and later, Morgan will buy them their first beer.

Track 7 paired up with Knee Deep Brewing Co. and created a fresh, citrusy double IPA for beer week that attendees got a chance to taste. At 100 IBUs and 9.7 percent ABV, this one’s going to be sought after during beer week. Another stop for IPA lovers was Rubicon, where they were pouring Hopsauce.

 

  Track 7 had a great double IPA on tap. (Image by: Ron Nabity)

 
Sustainability was a key word at The Art of Beer this year. Almanac Beer Co. poured “Farm to Bottle Beer” and Sierra Nevada handed out pamphlets highlighting their sustainable practices in all areas.
Magnolia Pub and Brewery, which has five casks on tap and makes a commitment to the slow food movement, seems like a great place to stop during San Francisco Beer Week, coming up next week.

 

Sustainability has become a buzzword among regional breweries. (Image by: Ron Nabity)
 
Sacramento’s Digital Town Square Forum was present for the event as well. You can replay the evening’s discussion, “The Art of Beer… and ZOMBIES!” online.

It was great to see so many breweries, artists and restaurants come together with local establishments like Brew Ferment Distill (BFD), Hook & Ladder Manufacturing Co. and Sacramento365, among many others, to put on such an enjoyable and worthwhile event.

This year, The Art of Beer served as the kickoff for the first ever California Craft Beer Month. Judging by the enormous crowd, we should continue to expect more from this event for our annual fix of art, music, discussion, goodwill and beer. With so much creativity on their side, it’s clear that this event will just keep getting better.

 

  Old Hangtown's Ale Camino (Image by: Ron Nabity)

Originally published at http://www.sacramentopress.com/headline/79180/The_Art_of_Beer_kicks_off_California_Craft_Beer_Month on February 3, 2013.

Pliny’s all around, Young & Old

It was a perfect February night. The mood was a sober, impatient anticipation, waiting for what was to come. The line was only 30 minutes, the shortest wait time of the night, and the scent of wort was wafting in the air. After a year’s wait, Pliny the Younger had been released. Fans of microbreweries, Russian River Brewing Company enthusiasts and IPA lovers alike had been waiting for this moment for months. Beer-loving Sacramentans of all ages flocked to the brewpub in downtown Santa Rosa last Friday for the annual limited release brew. Still others have plans for a microbrewery tour before time runs out, hitting up Lagunitas Brewing Company and Bear Republic Brewing Co. on the way there.

The previous year, the beer was gone in eight hours. This year, thanks to careful planning and allocating and a ban on growlers of the Younger, the beer should last for a full two weeks, from February 4th to the 17th. In my humble opinion, this plan is still doomed. I would wager that, right now, they are already running over their limit (I mean, come on, it’s opening night), plus these workers have got to be slipping an extra 10 ounces here and there in the back room.

This triple IPA is delicious and well worth the $4.50. It’s sharp, fresh, and the beautiful blend of hops just melts in your mouth. They went easy on the finishing hops which normally give aroma, so the beer has a wonderfully clear, clean taste, like water going down. That said, you should certainly watch how many you drink. Don’t forget that the alcohol level is 10.25 percent.

There was a lot of great flavor without the overwhelming bitterness that sometimes comes with a super-hoppy IPA. I would wager that this is because of a strategy of dry-hopping rather than so many starter hops. Somehow, I ended up as the DD (women always get the shaft on brewpub nights), but, fortunately, they had lovely two-ounce samples for just a fraction of the price.

Homebrewer and beer enthusiast Matt Doyle couldn’t say enough about the Younger.

“It’s cool, because they’re able to take the IPA to the next level,” he said. “More hops, more malt, but the key is that it’s not too heavy. They were able to ferment it all the way down with the use of strong, healthy yeast. That’s what’s able to put it over the top in terms of drinkability.”

By 7 o’clock, there were already people making out by the bar, no doubt due to the double digit ABV of Pliny the Younger. (Sigh… these youth, they never settle down.) Just FYI, after three “high alcohol-level” beers (i.e. Pliny the Younger), they are allowed to cut you off.

This Santa Rosa microbrewery is now at the top of my list. To be perfectly honest, I would take a stout or a nut brown ale over an IPA nine days out of 10, so that means something. Their newbies, Defenestration (yes, that’s correct, their next beer shares its name with the German word for death from being thrown out a window) and Procrastination, are coming soon and will be worth checking out.

The only thing that was odd about the place is how I kept getting confused as to which waiter was ours. There were just so many servers with thick, Burt Reynolds-style sideburns.