Photo:
Credit: Gail Williams

The brewers and friends, left-right, Vic Kralj, proprietor, The Bistro, Hayward, CA.’; Rod Tod, Allagash, Portland, ME., Adam Avery, Avery Brewing, Boulder, CO.; Tomme Arthur, Port Brewing-The Lost Abbey, San Marcos, CA., Vinnie Ciluzo, Russian River, Santa Rosa, CA. and Cynthia Kralj. Not pictured, he’s hidden behind Cynthia, is Sam Calagione, Dogfish Head, Milton, DE.

Beer dinner puts the spotlight on barrel-aged beer

I couldn’t attend what, no doubt, was one of the stellar beer dinners of the year, in San Francisco last Sunday, April 20, 2008: Beer Chef Bruce Paton’s Dinner with the Brewmasters: Five Guys and a Barrel dinner at the Cathedral Hill Hotel.

Fortunately, Gail Williams and Steve Shapiro, the intrepid creators of beerbybart.com, the Web site that shows one how to get to most every decen beer venue in the Bay Area by BART, Caltrain, bus and foot, did go and furnish this account.

Gail took the photo above and has more on her Flickr site.
At my suggestion, they went through the courses one by one. Take over the reporting now Gail and Steve:

This was a remarkable event, created by “the beer chef, Bruce Paton,” last week… “Five Guys and a Barrel” a dinner featuring Allagash White, Russian River Blind Pig IPA,Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA , Avery The Maharaja, Allagash Interlude, Russian River Supplication, Port Brewing Cuvee de Tomme , Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron, Avery The Beast Grand Cru, Lost Abbey Older Viscosity, then a toast with the intensely sour rustic concoction the brewers of all of the above blended after a trip to Belgium together — “Isabelle Proximus”

Beer Chef’s Hors D’Oeuvre Selection
Allagash White and Russian River Blind Pig

Hors D’Oeuvre — included three intense little soups, two in small glasses and one in white Chinese soup spoons — the artichoke and mushroom was a delectable wonder to behold. beers were Allagash White is a very approachable refreshing beer to have with food… andVinnie’s Russian River Blind Pig — ok, not a lot to say except that this is still my favorite IPA on the planet, not to be dethroned by the lovely IPAs to come..

First Course
Citrus Cured Curraun Blue Sea Trout with Accoutrements
Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA and Avery The Maharaja

It was really amazing, sea trout is a form of salmon and it was served with little dabs of sauce. It was a wonderful palate of flavors. Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA - a delightful unexpected nutty flavor came thru in
the double IPA in this pairing,

Avery The Maharaja — more floral, perhaps better with the salmon-like dish at hand and the delicious smattering of sauces and roe.

Second Course
Selection of Artisanal Cheeses with House Made Condiments
Allagash Interlude and Russian River Supplication

Both beers were fabulous. And as we ate the brewers were telling stories about their trip to Belgium. Lots of fol de rol and guy stuff. Three amazing cheeses — We’d love to find out what they were.

Allagash Interlude was the more delicate and seductive of these two complex and interesting sour beers, and now I’d try it with any flavorful cheese.

Russian River Supplication was much bolder and more rustic … it did sort of pray for or even demand my full attention, so the name makes more sense to me now. For me, in each course there was a closely paired beer, and an odd couple that sort of triangulated off of the more tightly paired beer. This was an awesome effect.

Third Course
A Study in Duck
Port Brewing Cuvee de Tomme
Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron

Various forms of duck including a seasoned”duck ham” with Port Brewing Cuvee de Tomme — the room adored hearing Tomme say “cuvee de me” and Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron — made in a rare incense-like jungle wood container. It’s fascinating that wood is becoming so important in craft beers. Our table loudly wished he’d said “cuvee do moi” but had no complaints with the pairing.

Fourth Course
Warm Chocolate Mocha Cake with Blood Orange Sabayon and Fig Syrup
Avery The Beast Grand Cru
Lost Abbey Older Viscosity

Steve: The Older Viscoscity was wonderful It worked so well with the chocolate. Just a beautiful pairing. They were counterpoints to each other.

Gail: Was that delicious! Avery The Beast Grand Cru — this was the beer I’d have had if I had
skipped dessert, but the Lost Abbey Older Viscosity completely went with the chocolate and citrus — this pairing was one of those amazing combos that knocked both of us out of the park. Again, The Beast became the counterpoint for me.

The final toast
Isabelle Proximus

Gail: Isabelle Proximus is the 5 guys beer — five American brewmasters who play at a high level with Belgian beer styles went to Belgium and brought back some magical mystery bacteria! There’s something so amusing and delightful about the concept.

Isabelle Proximus is complex, intense — tough after the sweet course, but quite the experience! thank goodness I’ve been letting Vinnie, Tomme and all the guys educate my palate in this direction… this was no beginner’s Belgian… It was demanding but terrific. Hooray for five guys plus Bruce!

Steve: There were a number of sour beers. It was a treat. It gave us such a wide diversity of beer styles, big and sweet, intense and sour.

Post dinner: Afterward we went to the hotel bar in order to leave with Blind Pig on the palate. The fact that that beer is nearly always availble from the hotel bar puts the Cathedral Hill Hotel at Van Ness and Geary on the mental map of SF beer fans.

Final note from me: Except for Isabel Proximus, every one of these beers can be purchased here in the Bay Area. Don’t know where? E-mail me at whatsontap@sbcglobal.net and ask for our 2008 Northern California Retail Beer Store List. Bruce Paton has lots more dinners coming. Sign up for his e-mail list here.

Passover ends at 8:28 p.m. PDT tonight (Sunday, April 27, 2008) and I intend to celebrate with a bottle of Petrus Aged Pale. A friend’s coming with a bottle of Black Lightning Porter from Lightning Brewing, Poway, CA. and I have a sample bottle from Avery (Boulder, CO.) of Samael’s Oak Aged Ale, 15 percent ABV.

The Lightning Web site desxribed Black Lightning Porter this way:

Black Lightning Porter: (ABV 8.5%) A Baltic Porter (Fall Seasonal)
We have created our Black Lightning Porter to have intensely rich malt aromas with strong notes of chocolate and coffee. This has been by the judicious blending of 9 different malts, the bulk of which are from classic UK maltsters. Even though many breweries will add coffee and cocoa extracts to produce these effects, we feel this cannot replace the subtleties experienced by using only malted and then roasted barleys.

Here’s what Avery says about Samael’s:

Samael’s Ale is a super-caramelly, oak aged English-style strong ale. Perhaps the least hoppy (sacrilege here at Avery!!) beer we’ve brewed, to accentuate the malt. The oak is very apparent in this rich and high gravity ale, adding additional depth and complexity with a woody and cask-like nose and a pronounced vanilla flavor on the palate. Notes for 2007 - With the addition of an additional roasted malt, Samael’s now delivers subtle bitterness to add balance to the natural sweetness.

Oh yeah, there’ll be a few bottles of homebrew as well. Hallelujah.

Two auctions I’m following are the 1987 J.W. Lees Harvest. Bidding closes Monday. No one has bid so far, it’s still at $9.99.  I’m gonna bid on  it tomorrow. This should be an excellent beer, worth more than $10.

On my KQED Belgian Beer Tour of San Francisco and Oakland, there’s been a bit of activity. Price is now up to $403. Bidding ends tomorrow

Dogfish night at the Toronado was a rousing success. By 7 p.m. when I left, the place was jumping. Toronado had (and most likely still has) six Dogfish Head beers on tap.

Three are being distributed in bottles/4 packs in the Bay Area (but not in the East Bay or in San Mateo County). Problem is supply. Dogfish has alloted the distributor here, DBI one container load a month. Period.

The three, as I said earlier are 90 Minute IPA, Midas Touch and Palo Santo Marron.

Besides those, the Toronado also has 2006 Chateau Jiahu, 2007 Immort Ale and 2007 Olde School Barley Wine.

Toronado proprietor David Keene with a glass of Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA

Curious about this unusual trio. Here’s some info from the Dogfish Web site:

Chateau Jiahu: Let’s travel back in time again (Midas Touch was our first foray), this time 9000 years! Preserved pottery jars found in the Neolithic villiage of Jiahu, in Henan province, Northern China, has revealed that a mixed fermented beverage of rice, honey and fruit was being produced that long ago - right around the same time that barley beer and grape wine were beinginning to be made in the Middle East!
Fast forward to 2005…. Molecular Archeologist Dr. Patrick McGovern of the University of PA calls on Dogfish Head to re-create their second ancient beverage and Chateau Jiahu is born.
In keeping with historic evidence, Dogfish brewers used pre-gelatinized rice flakes, Wildflower honey, Muscat grapes, barley malt, hawthorn fruit, and Chrysanthemum flowers. The rice and barley malt were added together to make the mash for starch conversion and degredation. The resulting sweet wort was then run into the kettle. The honey, grapes, Hawthorn fruit, and Chrysanthemum flowers were then added. The entire mixture was boiled for 45 minutes, then cooled. The resulting sweet liquid was pitched with a fresh culture of Sake yeast and allowed to ferment a month before the transfer into a chilled secondary tank.
8% abv
Truly, a unique beer.Immort Ale: Vast in character, luscious & complex. Brewed with peat-smoked barley, this strong ale is brewed with organic juniper berries, vanilla & maple syrup. It’s aged on oak and fermented with a blend of English & Belgian yeasts.
11% abv
40 ibu

Olde School Barley Wine: Bold, yet smooth! Fermented with dates and figs, this bone-crusher has a completely unique flavor.
15% abv

But wait, there was more. With the help of a Dogfish staffer, the Toronado assembled three cheeses to pair with the beers, which were served in mercifully small white wine glasses. First plates and the beer went to employees of the two distributors DBI and Mesa in the Toronado’s back room. Then Sam Calagione and Toronado Proprietor David Keene poured out the first official glasses from the bar and it quickly became a wild, wild night.

Hint: Next time you’re in this amazing establishment, tip the bartenders well. They work their asses off. You’d have a bit of attitude to if you worked as hard as they do.

Everyone was glowing Monday night, including David Keene. Dogfish Head’s beers create some real excitement; people are interested and we’re glad to have them here, he said.

It’s passover and I didn’t taste the beers; friends said the 90-Minute IPA was dynamite, just about right for a strong IPA. Olde School was obviously big, but seductive with lots of sweetness that hid the alcohol. Immort Ale was very drinkable and Chateau Jiahu was wildly different, no one was sure what to think.

I remember tasting it last year at the Great American Beer Festival. Here’s what I wrote then: Hazy gold color, chrysanthemum nose, malty taste, wild, spicy follow. Besides, Greg Wiggins, of Mid-Atlantic Brewing News www.brewingnews.com, says, “It goes well with Chinese food. I know; I tried it,” he said.

Sam Calagione, the founder of Dogfish Head, says it will be bottled this month and some of it, no doubt’s headed to the Bay Area. Well, this will be one to bring to a party, huh.

It’s Monday night about 5 p.m. (April 21, 2008) and I’m in the back room at The Toronado in San Francisco in advance of the big event welcoming distribution of three Dogfish beers in the Bay Area for the first time: 90 Minute IPA, Midas Touch and Palo Santo Marron. But it’s Passover and I, curses, am drinking bottled water.

Sam Calagione, who founded Dogfish Head in 1995 after spending his college years as a homebrewer, devising stronger and stronger and weirder beers is also there. He’s tall, lithe, with a deep tan and a stubbly start of a beard. Women would definitely call him a hunk.

He’s drinking a soda. Sam was one of the featured brewers at Beer Chef Bruce Paton’s sold-out Five Guys and A Barrel beer dinner Sunday night at the Cathedral Hill Hotel on Van Ness. There was a whole lot of very strong beer consumed. More on that in a later post, hopefully tonight if I have the energy.

The San Francisco Chronicle is going to do a BIG DEAL on Sam. Jay Brooks is writing the piece and he has a sheaf of questions to ask. Chron photog Katy Raddatz is unwinding a roll of background paper and setting up lights. I told you it’s gonna’ be a big deal. So I have literally seconds to talk to Sam, whom I’ve interviewed many times before. He’s invariably polite and quite brilliant. Brilliant, hell, from a journalist’s standpoint, this guy’s a walking sound bite.

Me: You’ve been on a book and beer tour through California for the last few days. (The book is He Said Beer, She Said Wine. You can find my interview in the San Jose Mercury News with the authors here. How’s the sophistication of California beer drinkers compared with the rest of the country?

Sam: California is amazingly craft beer savvy…The beer IQ of the average California beer consumer dwarfs the average elsewhere. They not only understand craft beer, they have real preferences. They’ll tell me, ‘Yeah, I like hefes and ipa’s or I like imperial beers and extreme beers. They have a broader understanding of beer styles out here.

My friends with breweries out here, like Tomme Arthur (Port Brewing/Lost Abbey), Greg Koch (Stone), Vinnie (Cilurzo, Russian River) and Ken Grossman (Sierra Nevada) have done great leg work in educating people to experience a wider breadth of styles. Because of what California craft brewers have done, breweries like ours that play on the outer edges of the craft beer world have a chance.

Me: So what’s the deal with Dogfish? Why’s it taken so long to get your beers out here?

Sam: We were in Southern California seven or eight yers ago. Our friends at Stone Brewing distributed us. But we grew so fast on the East Coast that we couldn’t keep up. The East Coast distributors got pissed at us. They said, ‘Stop selling beer out West until you can supply us around here.’

Well, we’ve just completed a $9 million expansion, We did 55,000 or 60,000 barrels last year and we’re on pace to do 75,000 or 80,000 this year. So we’re back.

Me: What are your biggest sellers?

Sam. We’re a little different than many craft brewers. We have four best-sellers: 60 Minute IPA is 40 percent of our sales, 90 minute IPA is 20 percent, Midas Touch and Indian Brown are about 10 percent each. 90 minute is 9 percent alcohol, 90 IBUs. It’s got big malt and hops and it’s our fastest-growing brand. It’s on track to pass overtake 60 Minute by 2010.

Here in California, we’ve come in initially with just three, 90 Minute, Midas TouchPalo Santo Marron and . They’re all in four packs, all 9 to 12 percent, so they have great shelf stability and can make that cross country journey in good shape.

Going into Georgia, we had great anticipation and within a month of opening distribution there Georgia became a top 10 market for us. The excitement here in California is even greater than it was in Georgia. I’m really hopeful and excited that our off-centered ales will be embraced by California beer drinkers.

LAST NOTE: Bob Stahl of DBI Distributing, the San Francisco distributor, says a four pack of 90 Minute IPA will have a suggested retail of $11.99, Midas Touch, $12.99; Palo Santo Marron, $13.99.

Are you a pub owner? Bob says a half-barrel will cost $200. For comparison, a half barrel of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is $110.

CORRECTION: I typo’d the name of the Dogfish distributor for Marin and Sonoma counties. It’s Mesa Beverages, Santa Rosa. Sorry about that. b

PHOTOS: Top - The crowd at the Toronado Monday night marking the beginning of distribution of Dogfish Head beers in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Below: Sam Calagione hoists a pint of Dogfish at the Toronado. He’s standing in front of the Chronicle’s background paper. 

Credit: Photos by William Brand

A gigantic, utterly succulent and delicious pastrami sandwich at The Refuge San Carlos, CA. This humungous baby cost $12 and worth every penny, especially when paired with a flagon of St. Bernardus Abt 12., just one of the beers from The Refuge’s well-stocked cellar.

Photo: Matthew Sumner, San Mateo County Times

IF YOU LIKE GREAT BEER AND REALY GREAT pastrami, the kind one usually can find only in New York City, then crank up hupmobile and go to the The Refuge, 963 Laurel St. in San Carlos. Where’s that? It’s on the San Francisco peninsula. Check out the map.

Prorprietor Matt Levin makes the pastrami and stocks his cooler with some of the best Belgian beer available anywhere.

Here’s Bay Area News Group Food Editor Nick Boer’s review…

Pastrami impossible: Fine dining redefined

By Nicholas Boer
Staff writer
Article Launched: 04/18/2008 12:11:05 AM PDT

For anyone other than our readers in San Mateo, it might seem like a stretch to suggest a trip to San Carlos for a sandwich. After all the (totally killer) Reuben is $16, and you need to factor in $8 for a drink, a few bucks for a tip, and another $20 for five gallons of gas (the trip took 50 miles from my workplace in Walnut Creek; slightly less back home to Livermore). If you’re in for a bite, you’re in for $50.

But this is more than a meal. It’s a rich cultural experience. The pastrami, thick hand-carved slices, rivals any found on my deli tour of New York City. The Belgian beer selection is also second to none. The 20 French wines by the glass cover tantalizing ground. There are Jewish classics — sparked by a chef’s fresh imagination — such as chopped liver and chicken noodle soup. Alongside regional favorites such as cheesesteak sandwiches, you’ll find European cheeses and charcuterie. You can order a Single with Cheese ($12) after your Sauteed Foie Gras ($16). Or have a Cobb Salad ($10) and a Creme Brulee ($6).
If this seems jarring, off-kilter “… Welcome to the Refuge. Read more…

Here’s my take on the beer…

THE BEER: The Refuge is definitely not light lager land, and that’s fortunate. The food here tends toward rich and mildly spicy, and you need a beer with legs to match the intensity of the food.

Fortunately, there’s an awesome list of Belgian beers that pairs nicely, especially with the pastrami. Two that worked well were St. Bernardus ABT 12 and Duchesse de Bourgogne (and you thought wines had complex names). St. Bernardus ($9) is great beer: huge, creamy, long-lasting head, a spicy nose with hints of herbs, chocolate and vanilla. But be cautious, it’s strong: 10.5 percent, double the strength of an ordinary lager.

The Duchesse ($9) — Duchess of Burgundy in English — is totally different. It’s a mildly sour Flemish brown ale. There’s an initial hit of sweetness with a sour edge that grows in intensity. It’s a nice counterpoint to the rich sweetness of the pastrami. Those are just two of the 14 excellent beers on offer. The management serves free two-ounce samplers, so try a variety.
-

It’s finally happening. Dogfish Head’s beers, well three of them, are officially being distributed in the San Francisco Bay Area, starting now.

The official kickoff is this coming Monday, April 21 at 6 p.m. at the Toronado, 547 Haight St., San Francisco.

Dogfish founder Sam Calagione will be on hand. The official name of the event is “Olde Beer and Moldy Cheese.”

Toronado will be pouring:

• 2007 Olde School Barleywine, served with Fiscalini Bandaged Cheddar (This cheese is a famous, raw, cow’s milk cheese from Modesto (Yes, Modesto).
• 2007 Immort Ale with Isle of Mull Cheddar. (This is a cheddar from the Isle of Mull in Scotland.) Immort Ale, Dogfish says…

Vast in character, luscious & complex. Brewed with peat-smoked barley, this strong ale is brewed with organic juniper berries, vanilla & maple syrup. It’s aged on oak and fermented with a blend of English & Belgian yeasts.
11% abv
40 ibu

• 2006 Chateau Jiahu with Berkswell cheese. (Berkswell is a very famous. sheep’s cheese from Coventry, England.) ….Well let me quote from Dogfish….

Preserved pottery jars found in the Neolithic villiage of Jiahu, in Henan province, Northern China, has revealed that a mixed fermented beverage of rice, honey and fruit was being produced that long ago - right around the same time that barley beer and grape wine were beinginning to be made in the Middle East! Read more…

There’s a tiny hitch about all this: Dogfish has a distributor for San Francisco, for Marin and Sonoma, but no one in the East Bay or the Peninsula or the South Bay Damn.For now those of us among the 2.8 million people who live over here who like Dogfish Beers will have to trek to San Francisco.

Oh yes…the Dogfish beers being distributed here initially are…
90 Minute Imperial IPA, Midas Touch, and Palo Santo Marron. Read about them here….

Photos: Gail Williams, Steve Shapiro of beerbybart.com at The Trappist, holding the pub’s extensive beer list. It’s a book.

Below: A glass of De Glkazen Toren Saison d’Erpe-Mere.

Made it to to The Trappist in Oakland Saturday afternoon with Steve and Gail from beerbybart.com. This place rocks. Wound up discovering two new-to-me beers one spectacular, the other quite interesting.

Chuck Stilphen, who owns The Trappist along with business partner Aaron Porter, poured us the first: De Glazen Toren Saison D’Erpe-Mere. It’s touch, from the city of Erpe-Mere, and it’s an ale.

This is one brewery that’s showing the world that Holland is no longer a country that produces endless bland lagers.

It’s a beautiful beer, a clear, pale gold with a spicy nose. There’s a slight initial sweetness fading quickly into a long, drying follow with a mounting sourness. It’s not mouth-puckering, just adds some interesting balance. The finish is so dry that I’m guessing it might have some coriander. I give it ***1/2 stars.

According to the brewery Web site, the brewery, which means ” the glass tower” was founded in 2004. The founders, a lawyer and a mathematician who was a town alderman met in 1988, and “discovered they had a common passion: beer.”

They became homebrewers and dreamed of opening a brewery, but they lacked training. So they abandoned their careers and enrolled in a three year brewing course at CTL Institute in Ghent, Belgium. Ergo, they brew ales in the Belgian style.

The saison, which they say is in the style of Hainault province, the westernmost province, which borders France and is the original home of the style. This is a beer to savor. Don’t know if it can be found here in bottles, but I’m gonna look.

Gail discovered the second beer, Jolly Pumpkin La Roja. She found in buried in The Trappist beer list, which is bound and about an inch thick.

Jolly Pumpkin Artisian Ales is a craft brewery in Dexter, MI. Their focus is Belgian-style ales with an emphasis on ancient Belgian styles. La Roja’s an American version of a Flemish brown (or red, you call it) ale like Duchesse de Bourgogne.

The Duchess is a blend of new and barrel aged beer, so it has a most unusual sweet-sour balance that some of us (me) like and others despise.

La Roja’s a blend of beer barrel aged from a few months two to three years in oak, but not blended with just brewed beer. So, there’s zero sweetness. It’s very, very tasty: a pleasing sourness, lots of vanilla and oak. I give it ***

Photo: Jolly Pumpkin La Roja Label

Darren at bayareabrewing.com points out I’ve missed a couple of important events upcoming, one here in Oakland, one in San Francsaco:

(Maybe already sold out.)
The Trappist - Meet the Brewer
When: Mon, Apr 21, 6:00pm – 11:30pm
Where: 460 8th Street, Oakland CA 94607 (The Trappist)
Description: Beer & Cold Plate pairing with Allagash Brewing Company
Founder & Brewer Rob Tod. This is a “Private” event and only 25
tickets will be sold.

SF Brewers Guild - Meet the Brewers
When: Tue, Apr 15, 6pm – 9pm
Where: 1195-A Evans Ave., San Francisco, CA (Speakeasy Ales and Lagers)
Description: Meet the Brewers is a unique opportunity to get to know
the local artisans behind the craft beers of San Francisco. These
casual gatherings are held once a month (from 6-9pm) and rotate among
SF Brewers Guild breweries as well as a few other good beer
establishments in the City. Brewery tours are given at 6pm, followed
by an informal gathering of San Francisco brewers and beer lovers.
Bring your questions and comments and learn more about San Francisco’s
great beer-making tradition. Make it a monthly tradition of your own.

Late note: adding two more items…meet the brewer at The Trappist, SF Brewer’s Guild monthly sesssion

OK, I lag when it comes to calendar items. Hell, I was nearly late to my own wedding _ I was in San Pablo trying to strike a deal with the Salvadoran proprietor of a damaged goods store for a sports coat. This is truth. Twenty five years ago I was a free-lancer just back from Mexico and had no money. I got a deal and wore the sports coat for many years. And I got to the wedding with two hours to spare.

All right. Here we go. Got additions. Post ‘em here or shoot me an e-mail at whatsontap@sbcglobal.net

Saturday, April 12 Hop Rhizome Festival, Bistro, 1001 B. St. Hayward. 11a.m. until. Proprietor Vic Kralj will have a lengthy list of hoppy beers on tap, plus live music and barbeque all day. He’s also selling hop rhizomes at a nominal cost. Take some home and “grow your own.:” The Bay Area once was a big hop-growing region, but an infection spread through the hop fields and the last commercial hop fields — in Sonoma County — were plowed over in the 1940s. See you there! Info: www.the-bistro.com.

April 12, 2 p.m. Book Passage, San Francisco Ferry Building Store 1 Ferry Building, #42. San Francisco, CA 94111 Book signing, demonstrations, by He Said Beer, She Said Wine authors Sam Calagione, founder of Dogfish Head Brewing, Milton DE. and Marnie Old, director of wine studies at the French Culinary Institute in New York City. I caught them at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver last year. It’s quite a demonstration. Check out my interview with the authors and a couple of recipes in the San Jose Mercury News.

The book is absolutely excellent, discusses pairing both wine and beer with all kinds of food. Wine likes fatty food, beer can handle heat. I kind of sort of knew that, but now I really understand the concept.

April 1t, 6 - 9 p.m., Speakeasy Ales & Lagers, 1195A Evans Ave., San Francisco, CA. Meet the Brewers, San Francisco Brewers Guild, Meet the Brewers is a unique opportunity to get to know the local artisans behind the craft beers of San Francisco. These casual gatherings are held once a month (from 6-9pm) and rotate among
SF Brewers Guild breweries as well as a few other good beer establishments in the City. Brewery tours are given at 6pm, followed by an informal gathering of San Francisco brewers and beer lovers. Bring your questions and comments and learn more about San Francisco’s great beer-making tradition. Make it a monthly tradition of your own.

April 16-19 Craft Brewers Conference & BrewExpo America, San Diego, CA,.this ends with announcement of the World Beer Cup winners, beers submitted by brewers around the world in many categories. Like the GABF, this Brewer’s Association event is professionally judgeed in blind tastings.

April 20, - Brewmasters’ Dinner: Five Guys and a Barrel featuring Russian River, Port Brewing, Avery, Allagash and Dogfish Head, Cathedral Hill Hotel, San Francisco, CA. - SOLD OUT.

Darren at bayareabrewing.com points out I’ve missed a couple of important events upcoming, one here in Oakland, one in San Francsaco:

April 21, 6 - 11 p.m. <strong>The Trappist - Meet the Brewer</strong>
The Trappist, 460 8th Street, Oakland CA 94607 Bee and Cold Plate pairing with <a href=”http://www.allagash.com/”>Allagash Brewing Company</a>
Founder & Brewer Rob Tod. This is a “Private” event and only 25
tickets will be sold. MAY BE SOLD OUT.

April 23, 6:30 p.m., Spring Brewmaster’s Dinner, Sacramento Brewing, Town and Country Village, 2713 El Paseo Lane, Sacramento, CA, $50. Five courses. Reservations: 916-485-4677.

April 25-26, 4th Annual Oregon Garden Craft Brewfest, Oregon Garden, Silverton, OR. Friday 5 p.m. to 11 p.m.. Saturday from noon to 11 p.m., $10. Includes food and live music. Participating breweries include Rogue Ales, Siletz Brewing Company, Lost Coast Brewery, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, Pelican Pub & Brewery, and Ram Restaurant & Brewery, as well as Fox Barrel Cider Company and Vitis Ridge Winery. Live music includes the Joe McMurrian Quartet with Jimmy Bott; Ty Curtis; John Koonce; Lloyd Jones; J.R. Sims & the Texas Special; and Franko and the Stingers. Info: (503) 874-8100.

April 26, Smithsonian, Washington D.C. , Behind the Barley Smithsonian Seminar with Jim Koch, (Boston Beer, Sam Adams), Paul Shipman (Redhook) and Charles Finkel, founder of Merchant du Vin and proprietor Pike Street Brewing. Info: www.residentassociates.org

April 26 25th annual San Francisco International Beer Festival, Fort Mason, San Francisco, CA. This three-hour-long, (7-10 p.m.), $60 benefit at Fort Mason for a small private nursey school, Telegraph Hill Cooperative Nursery School, is sold out, the Web site says. Oh well. Always another fest, huh.
www.sfbeerfest.com

\

A recent Pleasanton Hotel dinner featuring the beers of Lagunitas.

April 30, 7 p.m., New Belgium Brewmaster’s Dinner, Pleasanton Hotel Restaurant, 855 Main St., Pleasanton, $50. Info: 925.846-8106. The hotel’s talented young chef pairs New Belgium’s eclectic beers with several courses.

Here’s the menu:

Frito Misto of calamari, rock shrimp and tilapia
with banana pepper butter sauce
Paired with Mothership WIT Organic Wheat Beer

Italian Sausage Calzone on balsamic dressed greens
Paired with Blue Paddle Pilsener

Fat Tire Marinated Bistro Filet on boursin whipped potatoes with broccolini and carrot-fat tire reduction
Paired with Fat Tire Amber Ale

Arugula Dressed with Goat Cheese-1554 Vinaigrette,
Herb marinated artichoke hearts and croutons
Paired with 1554 Brussels Style Black Ale

Pear and Apple Crisp ala mode with trippel caramel sauce.
Paired with Trippel Belgium Style Ale
www.pleasantonhotel.com

May 10, Oregon Micro Brew Festival, Corvallis, OR
www.oregonwi.com/events/events.cfm

May 10 Boonville Beer Festival, Boonville, CA 707-895-BEER www.avbc.com. This one is a lot of fun. You can camp out overnight. Beers from many craft brewers, live music. It’s a hoot. More info to come.

May 11, 3-5 p.m., Sonoma Community Center, 276 East Napa St., Sonoma, CA. Conversation With William Brand., and Northern California brewers, $20. Includes cheese and beer tasting, beers, cheese selected by Sheana Davis, The Epicurean Connection. Reservations: 707-938-4626. More about this to come.