Coincidentally, Internet week is happening in New York City at the same time as American Craft Beer Week (May 14-20, 2012). Essentially, Internet Week is a large, crowd-sourced festival with events taking place all throughout New York City. Most events are individually run by third parties.

Internet Week NY runs a program called Make the Stage, which allows anyone to enter a pitch or proposal in one of eight categories on www.makethestage.com. Each category awards two winners 45-minute slots onstage at the Internet Week NY headquarters at 82 Mercer, one chosen by public voting and the other chosen by a team of Experts in the field.

Julia Herz, Source: Craftbeer.com

This year Julia Herz, Craft Beer Director at the Brewer’s Association, submitted a talk on the “Localization of Beer”, which has been accepted and is now open for voting. Only two winners chosen per category — one chosen by public voting. Which is where all of you come in!

If any of you have a moment, and are willing, please submit a vote for Julia’s talk here. Note that voting does require you to sign up and enter your name and email address. It is a mere a 30 second quick process and they will not forward your information.

Best of luck to Julia! Cheers to Craft Beer!!!

San Francisco Beer Week, presented by the SF Brewers Guild, kicks off tomorrow, February 10th. Don’t let the word week fool you, SF Beer Week is a 10-day long extravaganza. Stamina is definitely the key to surviving any beer week, especially one as crazy and event-filled as SF Beer Week.

East Bay, South Bay, North Bay — San Francisco isn’t the only one getting the action during beer week. So how does one go about choosing which events to go to and which events to pass on?

Being an employee of a Bay Area brewery and a resident with quite the party-girl reputation, many people have been approaching me for advice. What are the hottest, can’t-miss events? And where will The Wench be? (Duh., I’ll be at the hottest, can’t-miss events!)

There are so many great events this year and, whereas I would love to attend every single event on the list, it is physically impossible for me to do so. Here is, however, the list of places that you can most definitely find me during SF Beer Week.

Friday, February 10th

Opening Celebration
Where: Concourse Exhibition Center, San Francisco
Time: 6-10pm
Admission: $55

Sunday, February 12th

The Unbirthday Beer Cocktail Party
Where: Revival Bar & Kitchen, downtown Berkeley
Time: 2-4pm
Admission: $30 for 3 beer cocktails & light tea party fare
Eventbrite: http://beermixology.com/eventbrite
Summary: This is your chance to experience beer mixology in a most unique setting. The Unbirthday Beer Cocktail Party will feature three unique concoctions crafted using St. George Spirits and Bison Organic Beers. Don’t be late for this very important date!

Monday, February 13th

Brews & Booze Threesome
Where: Thirsty Bear Brewery, San Francisco
Time: 6-8pm
Admission: $25 for 4 beer cocktails & light snacks
Eventbrite: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/2843959359
Summary: A sexy cocktail event for consenting adults. Taste a menage-e-tois of local artisanal companies: Bison Brewing, ThirstyBear, & St. George Spirits. Straight spirits and beer tasting also included in price of admission. Additional cocktails available for purchase a la carte.

Wednesday, February 15th

The Three Ring Circus
Where: Elks Lodge No. 3, San Francisco
Time: 6-10pm
Cost: $120
Tickets: threeringcircus.eventbrite.com
Summary: A Brewer’s Dinner and Sideshow Presented by Sean Z. Paxton featuring Speakeasy, Ninkasi, and Shmaltz

Thursday, February 16th

East Bay Brew Fest
Where: Pyramid Ale House, Berkeley
Time: 5-9pm
Admission: $20
Eventbrite: http://www.eastbaybrewfest.eventbrite.com
Summary: Celebrate San Francisco Beer Week East Bay-style by sipping unlimited samples from the best breweries on the east side of the bridge.

Friday, February 17th

Meet the Brewer with Tyler King of The Bruery
Where: Beer Revolution, Oakland
Time: 5-10pm

An Evening with Firestone Walker Brewing Company
Where: The Trappist, Oakland
Time: 6-10pm

(I will be running up and down the street, back and forth between these two events!!)

Saturday, February 18th

Organic Orgy
Where: Thirsty Bear, San Francisco
Time: 4-7pm
Admission: $35
Eventbrite: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/2762311147
Summary: An orgy of California organic beers from all of CA’s certified organic breweries with Bison, Butte Creek, Eel River, MataVeza, Napa Smith, Santa Cruz Mountain, Sierra Nevada (Estate Ale), ThirstyBear, Ukiah, Uncommon Brewers. Tray passed appetizers from local organic farms.

Sunday, February 19th

Celebrator 24th Anniversary Bash
Where: Trumer Brewery, Berkeley
Time: 4-8pm
Admission: $50 in advance, $70 at the door
Tickets: http://celebrator.com/anniversary/2012/

Naturally, this list is not the end all be all, and I will most likely make random appearances at several other events during the week. If you are in town and want to join me in my adventures, do not hesitate to shoot me an email: routson@gmail.com or a tweet at me: @thebeerwench! Cheers!

You’re Invited!

The Unbirthday Beer Cocktail Party

An SF Beer Week invitation even the Queen of Hearts can’t resist

On February 12th, you are invited to enter a world where time is backwards, nothing is what it seems, and everything is what it isn’t. As a part of the SF Beer Week festivities, Bison Brewing & St. George Spirits are transforming local farm-to-table restaurant, Revival Bar & Kitchen, into a Wonderland of nonsense to throw a Mad Hatter-themed party of epic proportions.

This is your chance to explore the world of beer mixology in a most unique setting. The Unbirthday Beer Cocktail Party will feature three boozy concoctions designed by Bison Brewing’s  Ashley Routson, and founder of BeerMixology.com, Revival’s head mixologist, Nat Harry and St. George’s very own “Vodka Vixen,” Andie Ferman. No worries, these mysterious tonics will not cause you to grow or shrink.

Don’t be late, for this very important date. Tea time starts promptly at 2pm and ends at 4pm. Price of admission includes three beer cocktail tickets, an array of elegant appetizers, and a raffle ticket for swag. The first 25 ticket buyers get early access to a VIP hour, featuring a tasting of organic brews and straight spirits led by the Bison and St. George crew.

Costumes, while optional, are encouraged! And sorry Alice, this tea party is for adults only, 21 & over.

Event Details
What: The Unbirthday Beer Cocktail Party
Where: Revival Bar & Kitchen (downtown Berkeley)
*** 1 block from downtown Berkeley BART station
When: February 12th, 2-4pm
*** First 25 tickets purchased get early access to VIP hour, 1-2pm
Cost: $30 online, $35 at the door.
Eventbrite: http://beermixology.eventbrite.com

San Francisco Beer Week 2011 happens to be extremely exciting for me this year, for several reasons. I recently brewed a collaboration beer called Ryedentity Crisis with Knee Deep Brewing Company and Devil’s Canyon Brewing Co. that will be exclusively available to at select accounts in the Bay Area this week. Also, I am now gainfully employed with a local brewery, which means I will be supporting them at several events. Lots of great beer will be poured all over the bay over the next few days, and I intend on drinking as much of it as physically possible. Here is a breakdown of where you can find me this week:

MONDAY — February 14th

What: “De Proef” Night.
Place: Beer Revolution (3rd st and Broadway, downtown Oakland)
Time: 6PM
Description: Largest selection of De Proef, Terrapin, and Allagash beers to have ever been poured in one location.

WEDNESDAY — February 16th

What: Bison Organic Beer Dinner
Place: Gracias Madre (2211 Mission St, San Francisco)
Time: 7-11pm
Description: Four course farm fresh organic Mexican dinner with beer pairings by Berkeley brewmaster Dan Del Grande. $60, call ahead for reservations.

THURSDAY — February 17th

What: Meet the Brewers: East Bay Brewer’s Night
Place: Barclay’s Restaurant and Pub (Oakland)
Time: 6-10pm
Description: Join for the best of the East Bay. Brewers and beers from the East Bay. Come by to meet, greet and toast.

FRIDAY — February 18th

What: Meet the Brewer Nights
Place: Beer Revolution (Oakland)
Who: Matt Brynildson of Firestone Walker
When: 6-10pm
Who: Brian Hunt of Moonlight Brewing Company
When: 8-11pm

SATURDAY — February 19th

What: WHOLE Pig Beer Dinner
Place: Cafe Biere (Emeryville)
Time: 6-10pm
Description: Ivan is going to cook two organically raised pigs in various ways, using Bison Organic Beer as an ingredient for some dishes. 4 different styles of Bison Beers will be available, including Bison’s highly anticipate Bourbon Barrel-aged Imperial Brown Ale. Cost: $100 per person, call to RSVP.

(photo credit above: David Jensen of Beer 47)

Riddle: What do you get when you brew a traditional beer style with unconventional ingredients?

Answer: An identity crisis.

And what happens when one of those ingredients contains rye?

Answer: A Ryedentity Crisis.

Knee Deep Brewing Company and Devil’s Canyon Brewing Company in conjunction with The Beer Wench are excited to announce the release of Ryedentity Crisis, a special limited release Black Rye Saison only available in a few key locations during San Francisco Beer Week.

These days, many craft brewers are stepping outside of the box, brewing beers that do not fit into any one style guideline. Many of these beers occur during collaborations, where each party brings a unique component, concept or brewing technique to the table. Some would argue that too many cooks in the kitchen spoils the broth. Too many brewers in the brewery, on the other hand, can lead to moments of genius.

This fall, Jeremy Warren, the up and coming brewmaster of Reno’s newest craft brewery, Knee Deep Brewing Company, ran into beer journalist and amateur brewer, Ashley Routson, known to many as The Beer Wench, at the Buckbean CANFEST, Reno’s International Canned Beer Festival. After a wee bit of imbibing, the two decided to team up and brew together.

Still in the process of setting up his new brewing facility in Lincoln, CA, Jeremy approached his friends at Devil’s Canyon Brewing Company, where he currently brews his fine craft beers, to join the collaboration  team.

“Between managing our own portfolio of products and contract brewing for up and coming craft breweries, little equipment time is left to experiment with new recipes and ideas. SF Beer Week is a much welcomed opportunity to step back from the daily chaos that comes with running a successful brewery and get back to one’s roots – creating something new, unique, and tasty, and what better way to do so, than in the spirit of collaboration with other like-minded beer artisans!” – Daniel Curran, Devils Canyon.

Routson spear-headed the recipe development, suggesting a Black Saison. “I am really digging the recent trend towards brewing traditionally pale styles of beer (such as IPAs and lagers) with darker specialty malts. Not only does it add interesting depth and great malt character, it also messes with the mind of the drinker. Kind of trips people out.”

But brewing a black version of a pale style is not the only characteristic that makes this collaboration beer unique. The team also decided to use rye, an unconventional malted grain for the style.

“What a better way for us to introduce ourselves to the beer and brewing community by brewing an amazing Black Rye Belgian Saison with Devil’s Canyon Brewing Company and the Beer Wench for release during S.F. Beer Week.” – Jeremy Warren, Knee Deep Brewing Company.

According to official style guidelines, this beer cannot be classified as a Saison. It doesn’t fit into any of the typical dark beer categories. And it technically isn’t a true rye beer. Essentially, the beer has multiple identities and is experiencing an intense identity crisis. Or is it a RYE-dentity crisis?

The pilot patch of Ryedentity Crisis is super limited and only available on draft at select locations in the Bay Area during San Francisco Beer Week 2011. It will be available to taste during the opening Gala on February 11th. Stay tuned for a list of locations and events where Ryedentity Crisis can be found.

Follow the collaboration team on Twitter:

@KneeDeepBrewing

@DevilsCanyon

@TheBeerWench

ABOUT KNEE DEEP BREWING COMPANY

Brewmaster Jeremy Warren is a graduate of the University of Nevada Reno. It has been said that his passion for beer helped sustain him through his college years. Jeremy has been brewing since 2006. In his brewing career to date, Jeremy has produced over 20 different beers.  Jeremy’s brews have received several awards, including the Sierra Tap House & Sierra Nevada Brewing Company Brewmaster Choice and runner up in the peoples choice at The Bistro 13th Annual IPA Festival.  Jeremy has a rapidly growing reputation and is becoming known for his unique blends and creative outlook on brewing.

ABOUT DEVIL’S CANYON BREWING COMPANY

Devil’s Canyon Brewing Company, located in the heart of the San Francisco bay area peninsula, produces award-winning, handcrafted beer and root beer centered on the most premium ingredients. Brewed in Belmont, and delivered to over 200 taps on the Peninsula and in the South Bay.

ABOUT THE BEER WENCH

Ashley is a self-proclaimed craft beer evangelist, social media maven, and beer industry professional on a mission to advance the craft beer industry through education, inspiration and advocacy. She currently works with Bison Organic Beer in Berkeley, CA. Ashley is also a freelance beer journalist who maintains her own beer blog, DrinkWithTheWench.com.

Oyster Fest
Magnolia Gastropub & Brewery

1398 Haight Street
San Francisco, CA 94117

Details:
February 11
2:00pm – 6:00pm
Admission: No Charge
Description:
Oyster and beer fans unite! 5-6 west coast varieties of freshly shucked oysters plus oysters every other possible way: marinated, BBQ’d, Rockefeller, in chowder and a Hangtown Fry, frisee salad w/quail egg & oyster vinaigrette, and yes, even rocky mountain oysters. Plus, plenty of Magnolia and 21st Amendment oyster stouts on hand, of course.

My Sour Valentine
City Beer Store

1168 Folsom Street
San Francisco, CA 94103

Details:
February 11
6:00pm – 9:00pm
Admission: $40 (Tickets on sale 1/19)
Attire: Spruce and stylish…
Description:
Pucker up baby! Here’s just a smattering of the sours we will have on draft:
*Cascade Sang Noir
*Cascade Gold Yeller
*Deschutes Dissident 2008
Ticket includes: City Beer logo glass, (8) tastes of our sour drafts, and chocolate inspired bites. Additional draft beer for purchase. Cash only.
Purchase tickets at City Beer Store.

I must apologize for leaving you all hanging on the San Diego beer week updates. I’ve recently been plagued with a series of unfortunate events and have fallen off of the Internet map.

So where were we?

I last left off with the score: San Diego = 1. The Wench = 0. Truth be told, San Diego kicked my butt on my first day of beer week. The combination of going to sleep at 7:30AM and drinking high-gravity beer for 16 hours straight did me in.

After about 4 hours of sleep, I was awakened by the smell of bacon and sound of voices coming from the kitchen. Never one to to down bacon (or pork products for that matter), I dragged my tired, hungry & dehydrated body into the kitchen. Much to my delight, another Twitter obsessed beer geek friend of ours had just arrived from the L.A. area. Unfortunate for him, his first real life impression of The Wench was a bit ugly.

But, even a massive hangover could not hold me back from San Diego beer week. And so we rounded up our ever-growing crew of Twitter beer geeks for some more beer adventures. After filling myself up on bacon, eggs and buttery biscuits from my big sis Taylor and chugging down some Duck Duck Gooze compliments of Alex, The Wench was almost ready to put the “game face” back on.

This time, we were smart about it and chartered a shuttle van. Which was actually relatively cheap and easy to do. The Beer Van’s first stop was, yes you guessed it, Stone Brewing Co. Although Firestone Walker was set to “officially” launch their latest cult beer — the 13th Anniversary Ale — on November 14th, the magical Dr. Bill used his Don Juan skills to persuade them to tap it a night early at Stone. It made more sense anyways tapping the Firestone Walker 13th on Friday the 13th.

Word of the special release spread like wild fire and Stone had a tremendous beer geek turnout for the event. Firestone Walker stepped up to the challenge and not only tapped its 13th Anniversary, but also tapped its 12th Anniversary side by side. A lucky few also got to sample the bottle conditioned 11th.

Before anyone was allowed to taste the 12th and 13th, we were first primed with the original beers that were blended to create the 13th. But, I’m getting ahead of myself. In order to understand the beer, you need to know more about Firestone first.

Since its birth in 1996, Firestone Walker has been specializing in the “rare” art of brewing beer in oak barrels. On it’s 10th birthday, Firestone Walker created the first of its Anniversary series — The 10. For the special release they created a Barrel Aging and Blending Program, which they refer to as “Quercus Alba” (which means White Oak, FYI).

THE VISION BEHIND QUERCUS ALBA

• The GOAL: To create complexity centering on oak, in a multitude of forms, by brewing high gravity beers in complementary styles, aging them in different barrel formats and then blending them together to achieve harmonious new flavors.
• The PUZZLE: To blend these various components (or lots) to create a synergistic whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. This is done with the help of a few neighboring Paso Robles winemakers who are practicing experts in the art of blending.
• The INSPIRATION: Firestone Walker’s oak brewing tradition and connection to winemaking. Of course until the advent of stainless steel, brewing was intimately linked to wood barrels and vessels. Brewing has a deeply rooted history in the alchemy of blending.
• The BARRELS: The individual lots were aged in oak barrels, many of which were hand selected from premium Kentucky spirits producers by Tom Griffin, who is extremely passionate and knowledgeable about bourbon barrels and beer. Each barrel lents its own influence to the final blend.

So shall we talk about the beer?

THE COMPONENTS OF FIRESTONE 13th:

• 39% of final blend = PARABOLA (13% abv) — Russian Imperial Oatmeal Stout aged in bourbon barrels
• 15% of final blend = VELVET MERKIN (6% abv) — Traditional Oatmeal Stout aged in bourbon barrels
• 6% of final blend = RUFUS (11% abv) — Continental Imperial Amber Ale aged in rye barrels
• 4% of final blend = SAUCERFUL OF SECRETS (9%abv) — Belgian Strong Ale aged in bourbon barrels
• 24% of final blend = BRAVO (11% abv) — Imperial Brown Ale aged in 50% bourbon barrels and 50% in brandy barrels
• 6 % of final blend = OPAL (11% abv) Wheat Wine aged in rye barrels
• 6 % of the final blend = DOUBLE DOUBLE BARREL ALE (10.9%) — Double English Pale Ale aged in 100% in retired FW union barrels

Most of us started the night out with Parabola, which made it hard to move onto anything else. After all, it was definitely the biggest and boldest of all the beers on tap that night. Parabola was thick, rich & viscous with lots of hints of vanilla, oak, toast & bourbon. It was a very warming beer, without the alcohol being too potent.

While we waited for the special tapping of the 13th Anniversary, the group of us chowed down on several of the items from the Stone World Bistro & Gardens menu. The highlight was, hands down, the beer mac & cheese — tender macaroni, Stone Porter Cheese, sun dried tomatoes, basil, Stone Smoked Porter Sausage  topped off with some baked bread crumbs. In one word -orgasmic.

As I mentioned earlier, the event had a tremendous turnout. There were many “celebrity” beer and twitter personalities in the “house” that night. These included: Greg Koch (CEO of Stone), Dr. Bill of Stone Brewing Co., several members of the Firestone Walker team, Stephen Johnson of New Brew Thursday (and his wife), my big sister Taylor Shaw, PJ Hoberman of Starting a Brewery, Kristen & Marin Emde of GoBeering.com, adorable homebrewers Renee & Jordan Rounds, beer connoisseur Alex P. Davis, talented photographer Declan, JJ Bagley of Mutineer Magazine, Chris Richards of Six Palms Entertainment and many others I cannot recall at this moment.

Photo of Renee Rounds & Taylor Shaw -- By: Declan

Declan did an excellent job of capturing the party on his camera. According to Greg Koch, I totally rocked the camera in this pic:

Photo of The Beer Wench -- By: Declan

However, I think that the best photo in the bunch is the one of Alex P. Davis and I rocking the “too cool for school” Top Gun look. Rock. Stars.

Photo of Alex Davis & The Wench -- By: Declan

I also had the honor of meeting more of of my Twitter friends at the Firestone Walker 13th event at Stone Brewing Company — including (but not limited to) @BrewBud, @IPABev and @BeerMark.

Ultimately, the Firestone 13th and 12th were tapped. A line of beer lovers desiring to be among the first to taste the 13th wrapped around the bar area. Being the lazy line hater that I am, I procrastinated getting on line. But when I realized that the line was not going to die down anytime soon, I bit the bullet and joined PJ in line — with some “line” beers in hand, of course.

The verdict? Both the 13th and 12th are extremely complex beers with multiple levels of flavor. At the time, I preferred the 12th. But this does not mean the 13th was bad, by any means. In fact, it rocked. With a little bit age, the 13th can only get better. By the looks of it, I think Stephen (New Brew Thursday) enjoyed both of his Firestone Anniversary beers …

Photo of Stephen Johnson -- By: Declan

The original plan was to follow the Firestone Walker 13th event up with a Stone Brewing Co. dinner at Kitchen 1540 at the L’Auberge resort in Del Mar. Unfortunately, unforeseeable and very understandable circumstances (including sickness) prevented Chef Paul McCabe from being available for the dinner — and the event was cancelled. I was bummed that I did not have the chance to meet Chef McCabe, but then I completely understand his situation and agree whole heartedly with the decision. And who knows, maybe Chef McCabe was lucky not to have met me — as I have a reputation for being a predator and “groupie” of extremely talented chefs.

Chef Paul McCabe (adorable, no?)

A big group of us were planning on attending the Kitchen 1540 dinner and, in lieu of completely forfeiting the event, I approached Greg Koch about organizing a substitution dinner. Greg was able to track down a substitute option — a 3 course Stone pairing menu at Suite & Tender in downtown San Diego. Lucky for us, Suite & Tender was willing to accommodate a last minute reservation for 17.

After a fantastic time at the FireStone Walker event. The Beer Van headed back downtown for a private beer dinner with Greg Koch. The pairing menu was pretty impressive. We were given two choices on three of the pairings. Being that both choices sounded amazing, it was hard to chose. So instead of choosing, Alex & I decided to order one of each course and split them.

The Menu was as follows:

FIRST COURSE

• Fish Tacos w/ Stone IPA
• Crispy Lump Crab Cakes w/ Stone Arrogant Bastard Ale

SECOND COURSE

• Baby Spinach Salad (BACON, pine nut butter, crispy shallots, crab apple & caramel vinaigrette) w/ Stone Levitation Ale
• Hearts of Romain Salad (parmesan cheese, garlic croutons, anchovies & caesar dressing) w/ Stone Pale Ale

THIRD COURSE

• Filet Mignon (garlic mashed potatoes, seasonal mushrooms) w/ 2009 Stone Old Guardian Barleywine
• Grilled King Salmon (warm potato salad, sweet onion, herb creme) w/ Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale

There was one other option, but Alex and I passed on it:

• Pan-roasted Chicken Breast (cornbread stuffing, oyster mushrooms, pan sauce) w/ Stone Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale

FOURTH COURSE

• Stone Smoked Porter Pecan Pie & Smoked Porter Fudge swirled ice cream w/ Stone Smoked Porter

The service and presentation of the dinner was slightly unusual yet, despite the last minute notice, it was executed pretty well. The food was extremely tasty — although, it was a group consensus that the beer pairings were a bit off. Not really sure what the method in the madness behind the beer — food pairings was, but at the end of the day I left the dinner stuffed to the brim with great beers and food. So, can’t really complain!

After the dinner, the group dissipated. A few people went back to Taylor’s place for a few beers. I joined Greg for a nightcap before returning to Tay’s pad. By the time I returned, everyone was asleep. Which was probably for the better since we had a big day of beer ahead of us starting the next morning. And so to bed The Wench went, with visions of Green Flash and rare beers in her head.

San Diego = 1 … The Wench = 1

Stay tuned for ROUND 3 of San Diego Beer Week! CHEERS!

For those of you who are lucky enough to follow me on twitter, you are probably acutely aware of my recent voyage to San Diego for beer week. In fact, I’m almost positive that many of you may hate me for the events I attended and the beers I tasted. Heck, I would hate me too

But for those of you who might not have been following my San Diego Beer Week adventures, have no fear, I’ve decided to write up a recap of the whole experience so that you too can hate me. Hey, they don’t call me Wench for no reason.

My SDBW story actually starts pre-arrival. This was the first time that I had ever flown Virgin Airways and I had no idea what to expect. And let me tell you, my experience was more AMAZING than I can possibly describe. The purple and red themed interior of the plan was extremely calming. The plane itself was very clean, spacious, comfortable and impressively high-tech. But the real kicker was the chain of events that occurred in flight.

The stars must have been aligned for me that morning because 1. Virgin Airways provided 21st Amendment IPA (my favorite craft beer IPA in a can) on flight 2. Virgin Airways provided FREE internet access on flight (hello, The Wench is a known Internet addict) and 3. Virgin Airways provided free satellite cable on flight …

The sequence of events went as follows: I order a delicious and frosty 21st Amendment IPA. Then I open up my laptop and immediately sign into my Tweetdeck. And then — get this — I turned on ESPN classic and, what do you know, the game on TV is the 1990 Ohio State vs. IOWA showdown. Let’s recap: awesome craft beer + free Internet + Ohio State football … throw in some bacon and I would never have gotten off that plane!

I had never been to San Diego prior to this trip. Needless to say, I was super excited to check out one of the top ranked beer cities in the U.S. And let me tell you one thing, San Diego not only lives up to its reputation — its beer scene completely blows all other cities out of the water. (This from someone who travels extensively in the name of beer). DISCLAIMER: I was in San Diego during beer week, which may or may not have biased my previous statement.

The San Diego airport was easy to move through and I was able to get in a cab to downtown in no time flat. My hostess for the weekend was my brilliantly talented and beautiful big sister, Taylor Shaw. (Technically, we were not “born” into sisterhood. Blood or not, she is family and I love her unconditionally as if she was blood.)

Tay has several years of beer connoisseurship on me and I was completely blown away by her collection of craft beers. Her normal refrigerator was loaded to the brim with beers, as were her cupboards, her wine fridge, her storage room etc. And on top of it all, she has more beer stored in a beer locker. I can only aspire to be as kick-ass as Tay one day.

The first stop on our SDBW agenda was the famous Stone World Bistro & Gardens. To come to think of it, I never did get a tour of the Stone Brewery. Oh well, just another excuse to return.

When it comes to describing the Stone World Bistro & Gardens, I cannot even being to start. I’ve never been to Disney World or Land (despite living in Orlando for 8 months). But I’m almost positive Stone World Bistro & Gardens to me is the equivalent of Cinderella’s castle to a young Disney princess obsessed girl.

The big event that we went for was the 10 year vertical tasting of Double Bastard Ale. For those of you unfamiliar with the beer, weighing in at around 10.50% ABV, Double Bastard is considered an American Strong Ale (a catch all category for “uncategorizeable” ales with high alcohol content). Double Bastard boasts a huge malt bill and a belligerent hoppiness. Both it’s hop varietals and IBU level are classified. It is not recommended for the weak of heart.

Double Bastard is most definitely an arrogant son-of-a-wench. The earlier vintages had a savage-like level of hops and insulting level of alcohol, while the older vintages were more smooth and balanced. All vintages attacked my palate with a malty vengeance. The 10 year flight of Double Bastard had me constantly questioning if I was, indeed, worthy.

Lucky for me, I’m The Wench. Double Bastard has nothing on me. I grabbed it by the balls and showed it who was boss.

In addition to tasting an epic vertical of Stone beers and seeing Stone World Bistro & Gardens for the first time, I had the extreme honor of meeting THE ONE, THE ONLY, THE FAMOUSLY  SPECTACULAR & AMAZING Dr. Bill.

Bill Sysak is one of my greatest heroes in the beer industry. I aspire to one day be as knowledgeable as him. He doesn’t know it yet, but we may get married someday.

I have an open invite to come raid Dr. Bill’s collection at his home. Which I plan on doing some time in the VERY very near future. It is sooooo worth the flight down, trust me.

Dr. Bill was not the only beer celebrity I met that day. As fate would have it, the adorable studs of New Brew Thursday filmed an episode with Dr. Bill in the Stone Gardens.

The mayhem at Stone Brewing Co. did not end with the flight of Double Bastard. While there, we ran into the husband and wife team from Kern River Brewing Company – Eric & Rebecca Giddens.

Upon discovering our beer geekness, they offered us some samples the Kern River Brewing Company JUST OUTSTANDING IPA. And naturally, being the mischievous and impatient “Being of Pure ID” that I’m become known to be, I opened up the bottle in the parking lot. Verdict? The name says it all, Kern produces an outstanding IPA!

The first day at Stone was extremely exciting. Not only did I get to rub elbows with Dr. Bill, the boys from New Brew Thursday (Stephen Johnson, Brad Kohlenburg & John Holzer) and the Giddens, I also got to meet SEVERAL of my fellow beer geek twitter buddies: Jordan Rounds, Renee Rounds, Martin Emde, Kristin Emde & Laura Johnson.

And I must admit, we are one fine looking group of geeks.

The excitement of day one did not end at Stone Brewing. Oh no, it did not not. The insanity had only just begun …

After drinking some pretty intense high gravity ales at Stone Brewing, it was pertinent that my big sister and I scavenger for food. Our grumbling pork-product craving tummies brought us to the Blind Lady Ale House, where we had the pleasure of sitting down at the bar with two of its owners, Lee and Jenniffer Chase. The pair provided lots of great insight into the local San Diego beer industry. It was interesting to here things from and insiders perspective.

That particular evening, BLAH was featuring a special beer/food pairing menu with Green Flash Brewing Co beers. Taylor and I decided to order both of the courses and share them. While we waited for the food to come out, each of us enjoyed a “aperitif” beer.

The first was bacon-wrapped Char stuffed with homemade stuffing on top a bed of micro greens in a creamy dill sauce paired with Green Flash Little Freak.

The second dish was melt in your mouth, fall straight of the bone, lamb shank in a rich gravy served over a bed of root vegetables and new potatoes paired with Green Flash Belgian Brown Ale.

After satisfying our cravings for top notch beer, food & conversation … Taylor and I found ourselves back on the road in search of more beer adventures. It wasn’t long before we found ourselves down in San Diego’s vibrant Gaslamp Quarter at JSix Restaurant, where Lost Abbey hosted a dinner & art show in conjunction with its artist, Sean Dominguez. Sean was there with his adorable son. Usually, I don’t like children. But this kid, this kid was a winner.

For a mere $20 admission, guests enjoyed passed-around hors d’oeuvres and were able to taste all of the following beers while viewing their original label artwork:

• Inferno – Oil on Canvas
• Carnevale – Chalk and Pencil
• Deliverance – Oil on Canvas Beer not yet released
• Devotion – Chalk and Pencil
• Duck Duck Gooze – Oil on Canvas

• Gift of the Magi – Chalk and Pencil
• Cuvee de Tomme – Chalk and Pencil
• Judgment Day – Oil and Canvas
• Lost and Found – Chalk and Pencil
• Angel’s Share – Oil on Canvas

• Red Barn – Oil on Canvas
• Serpent’s Stout – Oil on Canvas
• Avant Garde – Oil on Canvas
• Ten Commandments – Chalk and Pencil
• Witch’s Wit – Oil on Canvas

True to Wench form, I found myself in good company at JSix. My victim? Gordon Gerski, Brewer & Bottling Line Wrangler at Lost Abbey.

Much to Gordie’s dismay, I latched myself onto to him for the majority of the evening. As a result, I received endless pours of my favorite Lost Abbey beer — Duck Duck Gooze — as well as had the opportunity to meet the man behind the magic of Lost Abbey — Mr. Tomme Arthur.

Also present that evening was the illustrious Mr. Greg Koch, CEO of Stone Brewing Co.

The evening took a turn for the more awesome when my good friend and fellow beer blogger, Pj Hoberman, showed up at JSix. Unfortunately, PJ arrived towards the end of the event. Nonetheless, Taylor and I did our damnedest to catch him up.

Like all good times, the Lost Abbey art show had to come to an end. But this did not hinder our goals to create mayhem and reek havoc on the city of San Diego. And so the Three Stooges of Debauchery trekked onward to our last stop of the evening: Hamilton’s Tavern for the Liar’s Club Redux event.

By this point, The Wench was feeling good. A little too good because I cannot for the life of me remember what I drank. I do, however, remember eating some kick-ass chicken wings and fries. Nothing like fried food to cap an evening of amazing beer drinking, am I right?

After practically closing down Hamilton’s, it was a group consensus to take the party back to Taylor’s swank pad downtown. Being quite a few beers deep, I decided (like the mature adult that I am) that the bed sounded more lucrative than continuing with the beer drinking festivities. Unfortunately, my lovely friends did not agree with that move. And after 2 attempts to pass out, the crew was able to resurrect my half-dead body.

The night took yet another turn for the awesome when I decided to make nachos. People really need to learn not to feed me past midnight. Think Gremlins, kids. You don’t feed the Gremlins past midnight. You don’t feed the Wench past midnight. Because once you spike my blood sugar, I cannot be responsible for any of my actions.

Needless to say, the blood sugar rush from the nachos sent me into a manic state which then enabled me to drink more beer. Drinking more beer ultimately led to 2 back-to-back screenings of … wait for it … wait for it … The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

What can I say? I’m a freak for Dr. Frankenfurter. Usually, my crazed requests to watch the Rocky Horror Picture show get over-turned by my peers. But not this night. As fate would have it, another member of the twitter beer geek crew, The Mr. Martin Emde, is also a RHPS fiend.

As much as I would love to share the details of the rest of the evening with you all, there are just some things that are meant to be kept private. All I can say is that there was lots of “Time Warp” dancing action combined with shouting out various phrases at the movie. But then, if you’ve ever seen Rocky Horror live, you can probably imagine the madness that ensued.

The sun ended up coming sooner than one would expect. The “night” officially ended at 7:30AM.

The first day, San Diego Beer Week kicked my ass.

San Diego = 1 — Wench = 0

Stay tuned for ROUND 2 … Cheers!

]]> http://drinkwiththewench.com/2009/11/the-wench-vs-sdbw-round-1/feed/ 4 http://drinkwiththewench.com/2009/09/greetings-from-the-midwest/ http://drinkwiththewench.com/2009/09/greetings-from-the-midwest/#comments Wed, 16 Sep 2009 22:12:24 +0000 Wenchie http://drinkwiththewench.com/?p=1765

Where in the world is The Wench?

After driving across country, I had a little less than two weeks of “down time” (and by “down time” I really mean spending time trying to adjust to my new scenario) before embarking on a beer themed trip to the Midwest.

At first, I was only going to travel to Racine, WI for the Great Lakes Brew Fest.

After exchanging several emails with beer industry folk in the Midwest, I was “convinced” to extend my weekend trip to a 10 day Midwest beer extravaganza.

The trip began this past Friday in Chicago. Friday night I visited two great Chicago bars — Delilah’s and The Whistler. Saturday, I attended the Chicago Beer Society picnic where I was able to taste many interesting homebrews as well as perform my duty as a professional BBQ ribs judge (okay, so I’m not actually a professional judge. But I did eat a lot of ribs and voted for my favorite).

Naturally, Saturday evening was dedicated to Ohio State football.

I spent the entire day on Sunday at beer school. Well technically, I wasn’t at a school. But, I was given a full days lecture on classic and traditional beer styles from England, Belgium and Germany. Sunday evening I filmed several short beer tasting segments using beers from Merchant Du Vin’s portfolio. The segments will be released as soon as they are edited down.

This brings us to MONDAY — Finally! Although Sunday marked the beginning of Milwaukee Beer Week, I did not arrive in Wisconsin until Monday. Milwaukee Beer Week was created by GreatBrewers.com with the mission of “enhancing beer knowledge and appreciation through a series of events in the great city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.”

Monday I was lucky enough to attend the 3rd Annual World Beverage Retailer Showcase, which was co-hosted by Beechwood Distributors Inc. and GreatBrewers.com at the Harley Davidson Museum in Milwaukee, WI. The event showcased several of the world class beers from Beechwood’s portfolio. More than 75 breweries from all over the world were represented by brewers, importers and regional representatives.

Prior to the start of the trade show, I had an opportunity to attend and exclusive luncheon hosted by GreatBrewers.com with a panelist of brewers from 4 different American craft breweries (Magic Hat, Sprecher, New Glarus, Milwaukee Brewing Co.) discussing the future of the craft beer industry. Some of the hot topics discussed was included the environment, clean water issues, organic brewing, utilizing social media, emerging trends in the beer industry, brewing with exotic ingredients, gorilla marketing, word-of-mouth marketing, craft beer market share etc…

All of it was extremely interesting and each of the panelists provided some insight into the future of the craft beer industry in some way shape or form.

After an insightful and tasty luncheon compliments of GreatBrewers.com, I headed on down to the Harley Museum for the World Beverage Showcase. There I met several key people in the beer industry — distributors, importers, brewers, retailers, bloggers etc. Overall, I thought that the show was well organized and flowed very well. I was able to taste many beers (mostly imports since I will be tasting an exuberant amount of American beers at both the Great Lakes Brew Fest and the Great American Beer Festival). I took lots of tasting notes and pictures, which will be released over the next week or so in a series of posts.

Tuesday I took the opportunity to walk the streets of downtown Milwaukee — poking my head in several local brewpubs and bars. After walking in the sun for some time, I decided to cool off and relax with a rainbow flight of beers at Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewpub along the river. The beers were refreshing, yet all of them seemed to be slightly under-attenuated (not fermented entirely through).

Tuesday evening I attended two of the Milwaukee Beer Events — a Merchant Du Vin tasting at Otto’s and a beer event at Palm Tavern. Palm Tavern was definitely the highlight of the day. It features one of the most impressive beer lists that I have stumbled upon and don’t even get me started on the Bourbon & Scotch lists …

Here is the “tentative schedule” for the rest of my week in the Midwest:

Wednesday, Sept 16th = Beer dinner at Water Street in Peoria, IL

Thursday, Sept 17th = Beer cruise w/ Chicone’s in Hudson, WI

Friday, Sept 18th = Beer dinner at Fire Fly in Milwaukee, WI

Saturday, Sept 19th = Great Lakes Brew Fest in Racine, WI

If you are around the area, feel free to shoot me an email and come Drink With The Wench!

Cheers!