Charity malt blend for the brew
Three brewers and a beer writer on Pink Boots brew day
Pink Boots Brew Day — end of the all day drop in event to support the organization for women and nonbinary people in the brewing industry. #laughingmonkbrewing in San Francisco.
We see you.
Dave and Shawn (who flew up from San Diego county for the night) smiling with the old “garage service “ neon on the wall behind the bar. Shawn is holding a glass of beer
Toronado bar interior, with two glasses of Cantillon in the foreground
Betsy, Arne, Dave, Vic, Pauly. (Paulie? Paul anyway) pose for a group shot inside the Toronado, dressed warmly, with smiles
In SF Dave Keene showed up at his pioneering craft beer bar, the Toronado, and hung out with old friends Monday. Tonight, Tuesday, he’ll be around again in the evening. Meanwhile if you wanna buy the bar and the building, you know what to do. We have our fingers crossed for someone to step up
Infrequently but still sometimes usefully at beerbybart.com for the Bay Area beer culture. We got a national award for one thoroughly reported post in the height of the brewer/maker/locavore/anti-multinational swill era. That was such an honor
Toronado pub sign and a Chimay Sign outside the Toronado - a 37 year old craft beer pub -one of the first anywhere - in San Francisco. The T, as some regulars call it, is now listed for sale
One of the big surprises of proposed sale of the OG craft pubToronado is asking price. 1.76 million for building and biz in the lower Haight seems cheap, right? Maybe structural issues? Even with a bargain, property taxes may make it hard to keep beers affordable under new ownership. Ch ch changes
In recent years, many people have decided to spend the first month of the year on an alcohol hiatus. That’s not great for breweries—and honestly, holing up isn’t great for people, either. So this year, whether you’re drinking or not, try #PubJanuary instead.
So they researched and reinvented porter rather than coloring Steam. And not in the index, specific to Steam, p103: May 1970…Fritz began adding caramel malt which he called dark malt… instead of coloring…” 1968 switched from 6row to 2row and gave up Cluster hops for Northern Brewer. Excellent book!
Jeff, Gail here. Frm above mentioned book p126, after refs to English porters brought round the horn pre & post gold rush, “Baruth and Shinkel continued the brewery’s porter tradition in 1896…”When Fritz bought it the “dark steam” was caramel colored. He cancelled it because it was cheating.
Maybe there are historic grain bills or recipes out there? For oldtime hops, people have mentioned the stray small town porch hops in California taste more like Cluster? Somebody know about that? Anyway, Anchor let their yeast evolve and pasteurized to package so NO yeast lab versions are a match.
Yeah it was all over the west coast before refrigeration made German and East coast brewing temperatures possible. No ice houses on the coast.
A historic version that is hippie era SF Steam has to be a light amber lager with Northern Brewer hops at a higher than lager temperature (lager it well). An interpretation for the 1890s? Have at it. It was competing with more expensive pilsners in the local marketplace by then.
Highly recommend The Anchor Brewing Story by Burkhart. A core volume for your USA beer history library. Fritz Maytag chose Northern Brewer hops for the only surviving example. He did not use the famously infected yeast from the old brewery when he bought it. So if you want to brew history…
The hazy is a super-peachy nectaron ipa. The Pilsner is German style with all the classic attributes. Mmmm, good
Two beers in glasses on a pub table. One dimpled mug reads “Small Gods Brewing / Sidney, BC” the other, a Pilsner glass, reads “Sometimes the only answer to death is lunch. -JH”
Finishing up a long weekend in Victoria BC (recommended) with a bite and two lovely beers at Small Gods Brewing (recommended)
Closeup of well-worn page. Entry in beer bible menu book says Wort is pronounced “wirt” and explains it is what brewers make to then be fermented into beer by yeast. Many Americans pronounce wort like “wart” for no known reason
Monks Kettle left SF and opened in the Rockridge district of Oakland (near BART) Enjoying our first visit … we went with Belgian and North Bay choices. Liking the pronunciation guide on their beer bible. Yep, “if you can say ‘work’ you can say ‘wort’
#bayareabeer #beereducation
Yay! Keep on beer traveling.
Simple plaque at Freewheel Brewing to honor Malcom by first name. Four cask beer engine handles. Redwood City California.
On an errand down the peninsula we stopped by Freewheel Brewing, one of the few Bay Area breweries with a focus on English styles and proper cask serving. Had a nice beer with London in its name - clearly an homage to London Pride. And I like the plaque to their founder, may he rest in beer glory
What a cool thing to do. How do you search through starter packs to see if there’s a similar one in another destination?
Read an interesting take on why Trump loves tariffs. Didn’t fact check but the premise is that the president can create a tariff then exempt certain industries or even companies. Another way to punish “enemies” (i’m glad he’s not a Prohibitionist) But would he have the granularity to reward donors?
Poster for Nov 16 SF CRAFT BEER event at the new Beer Hall, in the spot that used to be Mikkeler Bar SF. 4 to 10 pm. 34 Mason St Saturday.
No Brews On The Bay event this season but Beer Hall is stepping up to host an event with the breweries of SF proper.
Typing on a very bouncy bus ride! Wanted to plug trying a good NA stout with a shot of nice dark rum. With a proper stout the alcohol is getting up too high for my preferences. I think there’s a ton of potential. -Gail
Agreed. First time I got a sample 6 pack of
