Have you ever tried Thomas Hardy’s Ale? If you’re new to great beer and live here in the San Francisco Bay Area, there’s a good chance you’ve never had a chance.

Sadly, it’s been at least three years since this famous English ale, once the strongest beer in Great Britain, has been available here. The importer, George Saxon, of Phoenix Imports says he’s been unable to find a distributor for the Bay Area since Conquistador Distributing folded.

This is the first beer to come out in vintages, bottled once each year with the year on the bottle, whether or not the federal government believes there can be vintage beer or not. I dug out two of my columns on Thomas Hardy, one from the first day of the new millennium and one from two years ago. Check them out here.

What brought this up is that an ace beer blogger and author, Stan Hieronymus did a vertical tasting of a number of “vintage” Thomas Hardy ales, including a bottle of the original, 1968. You can find his report here and a report of an earlier tasting by Realbeer.com here.

Full disclosure. I have a couple of bottles of Thomas Hardy from a ways back, 1988 and 1987. Haven’t opened them, gonna wait some more. These are tasty creatures.

If you’re into beer and you’ve ever visited Chicago, you’ve no doubt checked out Goose Island. Well, the original brewpub on North Clybourn northwest of downtown Chicago, is closing. the problem Chicago Business.com says is a lease renewal…

Goose Island Beer to close Clybourn brewpub

By: Andrew Schroedter April 14, 2008
(Crain’s) — Goose Island Beer Co. is looking for a new home for its Clybourn Corridor brewpub after negotiations with the landlord failed to bring about a new lease deal.

The brewer of Goose Island 312, India Pale Ale and other locally produced beers has been at 1800 N. Clybourn Ave. since 1988, but its lease for about 12,000 square feet expires at the end of the year.

“The lease came due and we couldn’t come to an agreement on a lease renewal,” says Charles Malk, president of Deerfield-based CRM Properties Group Ltd., which owns the Clybourn building. “It’s that simple.”
Goose Island’s Wrigleyville location, 3535 N. Clark St., will remain open. READ MORE…

Consider this news from Coors:

On May 15, Coors Light will announce its latest and coldest innovation in beer technology – the updated - in time for summer celebrations. Through a nationwide campaign, May 15 will be declared Cold Activation Day to celebrate the new bottle, which features a brand new look – an innovative die cut packaging that indicates the beer is cold enough to drink when the mountains change from white to blue.

And this from Business Travellog.com: Beer lovers will get a kick out of Coors Brewing Company’s new cold activated packaging. The new Coors Light Cold-Activated Bottle will show drinkers when exactly the brew has reached the optimal temperature for drinking. At the perfect degree the label’s white lettering and Rocky Mountain icon turn blue. Super cool, huh?
Also, according to the press release, “The Molson Coors arm also is striving to own cold at the tap by testing a sub-freezing draught technology at bars and restaurants in a handful of cities. The tap system can pour beer at a temperature just below 32 degrees (beer freezes at approximately 27 degrees).” Even I can drink beer if it’s that cold.

Me either. wb

This is really an advertisement, but it’s for a worthy cause, rehabbing the Sonoma Communty Center. I’m going to be there with a couple of ace homebrewers and Sheana Davis of Epicurean Connection. There’s be a whole lot of beer, paired with Sonoma C0unty cheese and a chance to ask questions about beer and cheese.

The number to call for reservations is: 707-938-4626 ext. 1. The address is: 276 East Napa St., Sonoma, CA.

Here’s the scoop:

The story behind the news that Magic Hat Brewing, South Burlington, VT. , is buying Seattle-based Pyramid Breweries for $25 to $30 million is that us West Coasties may some day soon see Magic Hat beers out here. They would be brewed at Pyramid’s big brewery in Berkeley.

In interviews last week, both Pyramid’s CEO Scott Barnum and Magic Hatt CEO Martin Kelly said that though nothing has been decided (The deal is expected to close in August), the possibility exists.cTo find out a little bit about Magic Hat beers, I asked a number of people who are familiar with them. Read on:

Hi William.
I cover the Vermont beat for Yankee Brew News. I’ve known about Magic Hat, and their beers and their people since they first came out.
Their marketing has always been superlative. Founder Alan Newman possesses an extraordinary ability to define a market, determine its needs and meet them. They were fortunate to be one of the first breweries to debut an apricot-influenced beer, and #9 did for craft beer what the Mustang did for muscle cars: it caught women’s attention and drew them into the category, benefiting all craft brewers and Magic Hat in particular.

The company is very socially responsive, and besides supporting causes, it throws events that draw their home market of Burlington, Vermont together. Their Mardi Gras parade is family friendly and has got to be one of the top winter events in New England. With something like 34 floats on parade in the middle of Vermont winter, it’s an amazing event with over 20,000 onlookers.

They may have added other yeast strains over the years, but I believe Magic Hat used the Ringwood yeast strain in its early days. Their Lucky Kat IPA is year-round and is a pleasantly assertive, but not extreme, IPA. Magic Hat has enjoyed strong success in seasonal mixed 12-packs, and has used the opportunity to test new products through that package. Magic Hat’s seasonal and special releases have usually been quite good. Their Thumbsucker Imperial Stout was always enjoyable, and two or three vintages of Chaotic Chemistry barleywine still take space in my cellar.
Orlio Organic Beers are a subsidiary of Magic Hat. Like the label artwork, the beers connote simplicity and wholeness.

Full disclosure: Over the course of eleven years of beer journalism, they have bestowed honors on this writer including two amazing and memorable weekends in Burlington, Vermont! That little city rocks! Paul Kowalski

William: Yes, I get their beers regularly. They’ve made some quirky brews, as befits their brand. Some of the best, like Thumbsucker Imperial Stout, Feast of Fools Stout, St. Gootz Dunkelweizen- have unfortunately been dropped (maybe they’ll come back).

I think the #9 Not-so Pale Ale is their flagship now, and Both are just OK, not outstanding, But I like their Orlio Organics. The Common Ale is a very clean, well balanced brew, although low in hops, and the Black Lager is a very good, smooth schwarzbier. A.

Bill –They have a pretty wide range including some small batch stuff which is very good. No. 9 may be their best seller, pale ale with a hint of apricot. They do seem to go after the younger demographic with some of their regular brands.

They did a great series in black 750 bottles — humdinger I believe barleywine, imperial stout and others. Tony Forder, Editor, Ale Street News

Bill, I’d describe Magic Hat’s beers as quirky but not to the extreme extent
of Delaware’s Dogfish Head. Like a liquid version of Vermont’s other
best-known food product, Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, it’s a deliberate quirkiness that I think has a lot to do with marketing.. Usually if I’m in a bar with Magic Hat on tap or in bottles, that bar has a wide enough selection that I find myself drinking something else. It’s not that I dislike them, it’s that there’s a bunch of stuff I like better.

The beer I personally like most from their lineup is Circus Boy, a hefeweizen. What happens to it when the company merges with Pyramid would be a good question.

And, if you want an odd bit of trivia for the baseball fans of the Bay Area, one of Magic Hat’s employees is former Boston Red Sox pitcher Bill “Spaceman” Lee. G.

Hi William. I have mixed feelings about Magic Hat. At least two of the beers I’ve tried have natural flavorings in them (including their big favorite, #9), and I personally have a big problem with that (from a nutritional POV first, as a beer drinker second). I’m sure you’ll hear from someone in New England who can give you a more full review. Mike.

Bill: I haven’t been all that impressed, although I’ve also had limited experience with them. I can tell you that #9 (Not Quite a Pale Ale) sells well in this market, but the rest lag a bit (at least at the retail shop with which I am most familiar). #9 is, in effect, its “Fat Tire,” a popular beer which is what it is, a crossover beer but hardly a mind-blower. Clever imaging and wild tap handles are part of the appeal. XC

Bill: Magic Hat is just in the Atlanta market and No. 9 is doing well. Oddly enough, distributed by the A-B company here. Truth be I’m not a huge fan of the Magic Hat beers myself, but they have a huge following in the Northeast. I would highly recommend Magic Hat’s Fat Angel (a pale ale), and the Circus Boy - I think that one is a wheat. Their Number 9 I could do without (apricot beer). I didn’t realize they had grown big enough to begin acquiring other breweries. The Fat Angel is wonderful on a hot day, really a very drinkable beer.. Just don’t drink it looking for the strong hoppiness that comes with an IPA. Bob .

William, Had many of the Magic Hat beers while on vacation 2 years ago in New Hampshire and found all to be of excellent quality. #9 is a great session beer and some of their seasonal’s are excellent. One thing I did notice though, was that while we traveled the 3 state region, some of their beers I had a pubs did not have the same quality as those near the brewery. I’m not sure if this was because the locals were drinking something else, or that maybe they were using inferior caps. But other than having some minimal carbonated beers and a couple of stickers; their beers were very good. Kevin Smith

Bill,While I can’t speak for all of their selections, I have tried their #9 , which is presumably their flagship beer and a bit of a cult favorite on the East Coast. I found it to be a decent beer that was hard to place stylistically–fruity and crisp, with a sweet finish. If I were guessing I would say it is made with a good portion of wheat. Probably a popular summer beer should they release it out here. Tim Clifford

So what do you think? Have you ever tried Magic Hat beers?  What do you think about the merger. Personally, I think the merger will help Pyramid. It will remove the responsibilities of public ownership; it will give them some freedom to innovate and however good or bad Magic Hat beers are, they’re certainly innovators. That has to help Pyramid shed its too-staid image.  Post a comment here or e-mail me at whatsontap@sbcglobal.net.

The recall of defective beer bottles by Sam Adams last month cost the company dearly. Boston Beer yesterday posted a $3.7 million loss for the three months just ended, even though sales rose a very healthy 12 percent.

The company discovered that bottles from one supplier were defective and that tiny pieces of glass could chip off and fall into the beer. The recall involved all Sam Adams bottles, embossed on the base of the bottles with the following marking: The letter “N” followed by the number “35″ followed by the letters “OI”.

The company said in a filing with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission that the net cost of the recall was $8.8 million.

The story behind the news that Magic Hat Brewing, South Burlington, VT. is buying Pyramid Breweries for $25 to $30 million is that us West Coasties may some day soon see Magic Hat beers out here. They would be brewed at Pyramid’s big brewery in Berkeley.

To find out a little bit about Magic Hat beers, I asked a number of people whoa are familiar with them. Check back here in a couple of hours. I’ll post what they said here.

One of the blogs I follow is Food Gal, a blog about cooking, restaurants and food written by Carolyn Jung, who was Food Editor at the San Jose Mercury News before the most recent round of layoffs and buyouts. This week, she notes, there’s a new restaurant in San Francisco:

    New And Fishy

May 1st, 2008
From the team with the golden touch responsible for Town Hall and Salt House (both in San Francisco), now comes Anchor & Hope, a new fish house.

Located at 83 Minna St. in San Francisco, Anchor & Hope is the brainchild of the Brothers Rosenthal (chefs Mitchell and Stephen) and their best bud and front-of-the-house maestro, Doug Washington. …. READ MORE…

I was curious, so I went to the restaurant site and, of course,  Anchor and Hope
has an extensive wine list, conveniently posted on line. Nothing about beer.  So I scanned the menu and found Guinness Battered Skate Wing (skate is a fish that figures in a lot of famous dishes.) Hmm. So I e-mailed the restaurant. Do you have a beer list I asked?  Do they ever:

Draft: Drop Top Amber Ale, Anchor Steam Porter

Bottles: Alaskan Summer (Kolsch), Scrimshaw Pilsner, Franziskaner,  Alagash White , Czechvar (the Czech Republic Budvar Budweiser), Session Premium Lager (Full Sail),  St. Peters Organic English Ale 500m.

Firestone ‘Union Jack’ IPA, Dogfishead 90 min IPA, Stone IPA, Fullers ESB, Fisher Blonde Flip Top 650m, Duvel, Tremens Delerium, La Choffe, Deschutes ‘Mirror Pond Pale Ale.

Unibroue ‘La Fin de Monde’, St. Bernardus Tripel, Rogue ‘Dead Guy Ale’, Lost Coast Downtown Brown, Wolavers Brown, Three Philosophers, Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout, Ole’ Rasputtin, Young’s Double Chocolate Stout 500mL, Duchesse De Bourgogne.

Prices are middle-of-the-road, entrees in the low $20 range. Not cheap, but obviously a place to go with someone special. One question. They have great beer. Why in the hell don’t they advertise it?

Note: This is a column on Ommegang Omegeddon published last year:

The craft beer movement, like most revolutions, is happening in stages.

Way back in the ’80s, we would walk into one of the handful of brewpubs and good beer pubs in America and be pleased to sample a decent stout, an amber and just maybe a fairly low octane, British-style India Pale Ale.

These were beers with real taste that made each sip a mini-adventure. But the palate tires and craft brewers, many with homebrewer roots, are an adventuresome lot. The revolution moved on to whammo barley wines, beers so strong that they approach the strength of table wine, which averages about 13 percent alcohol by volume.

Then came beers with uber hops and high alcohol, a movement that’s still building. And reaching far back into history, there’s currently a lot of interest in barrel-aged beers, beers spiked with spices and beers brewed with wild yeast - the kind of creatures that float in the air and, for example, make San Francisco sourdough bread sour.

Which brings us to our Beer of the Week. Ommegeddon***/**** It’s from Brewery Ommegang, Cooperstown, NY. This is a brand new, edgy, wild yeast beer from a brewery owned by the Belgian brewer Duvel Moortgat.

For Bay Area beer lovers, Ommegeddon’s a heartbreaker. Supply is very limited. The brewery only made 6,600 gallons - all of it destined for the East Coast and Midwest. But Josh Charlton, of Pacific Libations,

Ommegang’s Bay Area rep, convinced the brewery to ship a few cases and kegs here.

It will be available at some good beer stores and good pubs like Luka’s in Oakland and the Toronado in San Francisco. If you want to try this one, go now. But call ahead. It’s going to go fast.

This is indeed an amazing beer. It’s a hazy, unfiltered gold with a large, lively head and a clean, malty nose, bit of spicy hops and a very subtle earthy, funky, sour undertone from the wild yeast.

The taste is very smooth, a bit of sweetness, beautifully balanced by drying, spicy hops and an unusual faint sourness from the yeast. It’s hard to tell that Ommgeddon’s fairly strong, 8 percent ABV - Miller’s 5 percent.

The beer’s a blend of pale malted barley and corn grits. Yes, corn - the same stuff used in many a mainstream American lager. Corn cuts the sweet maltiness of beer, produces a drier, smoother taste.

Unlike most American craft brewers and German brewers, Belgian and English brewers occasionally use a touch of corn, called “maiz” in most of the world. And Brewery Ommegang is thoroughly Belgian. It just happens to be a couple of miles from the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

But Ommegeddon’s resemblance to American lager is faint. Hops are mildly spicy Styrian Goldings and elegant, spicy Saaz. The beer’s also dry-hopped, a mix of hops was added during fermentation, an ancient British process that enhances hop flavor.

The last touch was adding a bit of wild yeast - Brettanomyces - to each bottle to allow a slow, if uncertain, fermentation in the bottle. Even though the wild yeast most brewers use these days comes from a commercial yeast bank, its effect on a beer is uncertain. How sour? How much unusual funk? The brewery says that the longer the bottle is cellared, the more pronounced the wild yeast funkiness. Well, if you can get a bottle, try it and see.

Ommegang also produces a trio of prizewinners year-round,

Ommegang****, a dark, Belgian-style abbey ale, Hennepin****, a lively wheat beer in the Belgian saison style, once brewed by farmers in southern Belgium in spring before mechaical refrigeration. They made it strong enough that it could last through the hot summer and remain drinkable. Also Rare Vos***, a Belgian-style amber.

Other seasonal beers include strong, dark, intense Three Philosophers****, released in winter and Witte***/****, a Belgian-style summer wheat beer.

As the days warm up, the world of beer festivals gets into high gear. Here’s a listing of some noteworthy events…

Thursday, May 8, 6-9 p.m. The Trappist, 4608th St., Oakland, CA.  Achouffe & Ommegang Glass night. $6 for the first glass of Achouffe Houblon, refills are only $5. You keep the glass. And $5 for the first glass of Ommegang Rare Vos or Ommegeddon, refills are only $4. You keep the glass. If you’ve never tried Ommegeddon, this beer alone is worth the trip.

Thursday, May 8, 5:30 p.m., Anchor Brewing hosts Charles Bamforth, Brewing Sciences Chair, UC Davis, author of a new book: Grape vs. Grain: A Historical, Technological, and Social Comparison of Wine and Beer, (Cambridge Pess, $27) Here’s a note about the the book:

Charles Bamforth is a brewing scientist. One of the best. He’s been bothered for a while with a nagging question: why do many people consider wine to be more sophisticated than beer? Is it really better? Healthier? Why do most fancy restaurants have massive wine lists and a few token beer selections?

Bamforth picks apart the complex social, cultural, and scientific histories of both beverages. He has quite a few suprising insights about the (often highly scientific) production of both beer and wine. He’s not seeking to take wine down a notch, but to elevate beer to its proper place, right next to wine, demonstrating just how healthy and complex a beverage it really is.

Anchor Brewing, 1705 Mariposa St., San Francisco. Open to the public, no charge.

Saturday, May 10, 7 p.m. CD Release Party, Ray & The Detonators, The Bistro, 1001 B. St., Hayward, CA. Not exactly a beer event, but great music and the Bistro’s outstanding beer selection right at hand.

Sunday, May 11, Conversations on Cheese, Wine & Beer. Guest Speaker: William Brand (yes, that’s me). Guest Home Brewers Matt Ridge, Ukiah, and Sean Paxton, Sonoma. Craft Brew Bar including beers from Russian River Brewing Company, Lagunitas Brewing Company, Marin Brewing Company, Moylan’s Brewing Company and Rogue Ales. Cheese provided by Sheana Davis, The Epicurean Connection. 3-4 p.m. Conversations, 4-5 p.m. Beer and cheese tasting. Sonoma Community Center, 276 East Napa St., Sonoma, CA. $20. Reservations: 707-938-4646, ext. 1. All proceeds to the Sonoma Community Center Kitchen Rebuilding Fund. This will be a free-wheeling event, with questions from the audience welcome.

Tuesday, May 13, 6 p.m. Monk’s Kettle, 3141 16th St., San Francisco, CA. Sam Adams Beer Dinner celebrating American Craft Beer Week. Three-course beer dinner with Sam Adams Brewer Grant Wood, $50. Reservations: 415-865-9523. See you there!

May 16-17 SAVOR: An American Craft Beer & Food Experience, Washington DC, Andrew Mellon Auditorium. Sponsored by the Brewers Association, the Boulder, CO. craft beer trade group to mark American Craft Beer Week, May 12 -18. This is a BIG DEAL. There will be three dinners, featuring 96 craft beers from 48 craft breweries across the country and 35 foods, prepared by Federal City Caterers in tapas-size portions. Julia Herz of the Brewers Association says pours will be two ounces; the idea is to sample the tapas, sample a beer and go on to the next beer and the next tapa. Kind of like the Great American Beer Fest with food and no medals.

Here’s a partial list of some of the brewers who will be there: Tomme Arthur - Port Brewing Company, Adam Avery - Avery Brewing Company, Peter Bouckaert - New Belgium Brewing Company, Sam Calagione - Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Greg Koch - Stone, Jim Koch - Boston Beer Company, Garrett Oliver - The Brooklyn Brewery, Hugh Sisson - Clipper City Brewing Company, Carol Stoudt - Stoudts Brewing Company and Rob Tod - Allagash Brewing Company

Lots of California brewers and their beer will be present, including 21st Amendment (San Francisco), Hoppy Brewing (Sacramento), Port Brewing (San Marcos), , Russian River (Santa Rosa) . Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing (Santa Cruz) , Sierra Nevada (Chico) , Stone (Escondido). There are all kinds of presentations and events besides thje actual dinners. I’m going, it’s one not to miss. If you think you’d like to go, get tickets now. They won’t be sold at the door. You can buy them here. $85.

Because of all the brewers in town, there are going to be all kinds of events at local pubs and restaurant. Greg Kitsock writes about them in the Washington Post.