Another day to celebrate beer is upon us and this time we will be celebrating stout. International Stout Day is on Thursday, November 3 and San Francisco will join in a with an event by Public House and Beer 47. Public House has arranged for 4 very special and hard to find stouts to be available on tap along with a selection of two rare bottles of stout.

The festivities will begin at 4pm and will last until closing at 10pm. Get there early so you don’t miss out on all these great stouts.

The special stouts on draft will include:

• Avery The Czar Russian Imperial Stout
• Firestone-Walker Velvet Merlin Oatmeal Stout on cask
• North Coast Old #38 on nitro
• Speakeasy Sutro Chocolate Milk Stout

Additionally the following rare bottles will be available:

• 2010 Firestone-Walker Parabola
• 2010 Stone Russian Imperial Stout

In addition to the stouts listed above, Public House will has a great selection of craft beer as well as a full bar. Public House is located at AT&T Park at 24 Willie Mays Plaza, San Francisco, CA 94107. For more information about the venue please visit the Public House web page.

For more information about the Stout Day Celebration at Public House please see the Facebook event page.

Whether it is your first time or your 10th time to GABF, there are a few things that you should consider before you go. Here are 15 tips and suggestions to help make your visit successful and pleasurable.

1. Drink Water

This is probably the more important thing to do, besides enjoying the beer and one great thing about GABF is the plentiful amounts of water. There are pitchers at the booths, which are constantly filled. There are water coolers almost everywhere you look. There is no excuse not to drink plenty of water during the event. Generally, I just down the water I use to rinse my tasting glass. Thinking back on last year, I likely drank at least 2 servings of water for every serving of beer.

2. Eat

Eat before, after, and maybe even during the festival. Food will help counteract the impact of the alcohol in your system.

Don’t go to the festival on an empty stomach. You won’t be able to drink much before getting sick or you’ll waste your time waiting for over-priced food instead of exploring the massive convention hall.

In 2010, I was running late so I just grabbed a couple of slices of pizza and ate them while I walked over to the convention center. Whatever it takes, eat before. By the end of the festival, each night I’m usually hungry again so I just head over to Euclid Hall, Freshcraft, or The Cheeky Monk.

When you’re eating, try to eat iron rich food, such as beef and spinach. The iron content of these foods helps you acclimate to the high altitude.

3. Arrive early and bring ID

The line to get in can take you up to 45 minutes to get through. If you arrive 45 minutes to an hour early you’ll spend you time waiting for the opening instead of wading through the line. The less time you’re in line after the doors open, the more time you spend inside.

You will not be allowed to enter without identification so don’t forget it.

4. Not allowed: backpacks, outside food, bottles, cans

Leave your backpack at home it won’t be allowed in. You can, however, bring in a small over-the-should camera bag or purse.

Outside food and drink is not allowed. You will have to dump it before you enter. The exception to the food rule is pretzel jewelry.

5. Make a pretzel necklace

The exception to the food rule are pretzel necklaces because they are considered jewelry or a part of your costume. Some folks might think these are tacky and annoying but I think it is a great way to have a sack at your disposal throughout the festival. After all, eating will help minimize the affects of the alcohol.

6. Don’t drop your cup/glass

You only get one and if you break it, you won’t be able to get a replacement. It can also cause a huge ruckus because everybody around you tends to yell out when a glass is dropped and this noise carries in the huge festival hall.

If you need help not dropping your glass, buy a tasting glass holder. These are usually a ring with a lanyard attached. I bought mine from Brew Caddy and these are usually for sale at the festival. I would, however, recommend getting them before the festival in case they sell out.

7. Don’t yell out when somebody else drops their cup

It’s annoying. Set a good example and just don’t do it. Although, if you witness a glass getting broken during the Saturday members only afternoon session, it is hard to resist saying, “awww.” Because , well, it’s sad.

8. Wear a costume

One great aspect of the GABF is the number of people wearing creative costumes. Some are as simple as creative matching t-shirts and others are as elaborate as a full beer-pint body suit. Check out my article on the Costumes of the 2010 Great American Beer Festival.

9. Take notes on paper

Last year I insisted on using my smartphone to take notes but by the end of the night I was out of power. I was fully expecting this and brought along a charger but who wants to be hanging out in the corner waiting for their phone to charge? This year, paper notes.

You might also consider a beer notebook. There are all sorts of beer taking notebooks available and some of them like 33 Beers are usually available for purchase at the festival itself. 33 Beers was developed with the Great American Beer Festival in mind so I’ll be picking up a few notebooks this year.

10. Have a plan

There is much more beer than you can drink in 3 days. There are over 450 breweries serving over 2000 different beers. In order to maximize your time at the festival, you should have a game plan. Here are some game plan ideas:

• Try only one style of beer from as many breweries as possible.
• Focus on a particular region.
• Visit the popular breweries not available in your area.
• Go to every brewery without a line. As the night goes on, this become more rare but it does happen.

If your plan is to try beer from popular breweries that do not distribute to your home town, then get their early and visit those places first. Breweries like Stone, Lost Abbey, and Dogfish Head can have very long lines.

11. Check out the Brewers Guilds stations

Each brewers guild that shows up has its own station in the festival and they server the beers of their member brewers. It is a little known fact that the beers served at these stations are different than the beers served at the brewer’s stations. Avoid the lines and check it out.

12. Bring a camera

There is a lot of interesting things to see: people in crazy costumes, elaborate booths, your friends, and maybe even your favorite beer personality. It would be a shame not to have a camera to capture the moment.

Cameras are also useful for remembering details about what you are drinking. If you’re not writing down your notes, you can use your camera to snap the name of your new favorite brewery or the beer list at a particular booth that you might want to remember later.

13. Check out the other events in the area

There are lot’s of events going on in the Denver area. Most of them center around Falling Rock Tap House, Freshcraft, and Euclid Hall but there are breweries in town and news ones opening up all of the time. Check the internet, Facebook, Twitter, or the craftbeer.com events calendar for ideas.

14. Know beer vocabulary

If you’re not quite a beer geek yet or even fairly new to craft beer, now might be a good to catch up on your beer vocabulary. Check out this article I wrote for Menuism, For Beer Lovers Only: A Craft Beer Glossary.

15. Drink responsibly

You’re at high altitude in Denver so know your limits and adjust accordingly. Drinking lot’s of water and eating regularly will help slow down the effects of alcohol but if you drink way too much nothing will help. Don’t forget to drink water when it’s not around every corner like it is at the festival.

Drink responsibly, moderately, and don’t drive.

More information

For more information, visit the Great American Beer Festival website and FAQ.

Finally, if you have any other tips, suggestions, or strategies to add to this list, please leave a comment below.

Last year, 2010, I attended my first Great American Beer Festival and one of the things that caught my attention was the number of people wearing awesome and creative costumes to the festival. It wasn’t until the last day that I started taking photos of attendees in costume. Many of the costumes had some sort of beer or beer culture theme. There were quite a few women wearing dirndls, a few men wearing lederhosen, and everybody else wore something fun or outrageous but nothing shocking.

The follow photos are just a small sample of what I saw at the festival. What are some of your favorite costumes that you saw at or maybe wore to the Great American Beer Festival?

The turn out for the event was fantastic. In addition to the other great craft beer, we enjoyed 8 IPAs on tap: Russian River Blind Pig, Bear Republic Racer 5, Ninkasi Total Domination IPA, Stone Ruination IPA, Ballast Point Big Eye IPA, Brasserie d’Achouffe Houblon Chouffe, and Ale Industries East Bay IPA. The Ale Industries IPA was a  special treat because IPA Day at Rosamunde was one of the first places to have this new beer available. It seemed to be the crowd favorite too because it sold out by about 6:30pm.

It was great time and a great opportunity to meet old friends and even make a few new friends. Special thanks to Josh Margolis, owner of Rosamunde, and Ruggy Joesten, of Yelp, for making this so successful on such short notice, only 10 days.

Thursday, August 4, 2011 will mark the first International IPA Day. All over the world, beer drinkers are gathering on this date to drink and toast hoppy, delicious, and bitter IPA beers. But when I recently heard that an event had not been planned in San Francisco to celebrate IPA, I had to do something about it. Now, together with Rosamunde Sausage Grill and Beer 47, San Francisco has an official International IPA Event!

What better way to celebrate International IPA Day than to enjoy an IPA on the patio of Rosamunde in the sunniest part of San Francisco with friends while munching on a delicious handmade sausage. Don’t forget to share your experience on all social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Google+, YouTube, and RateBeer) by using hashtag #IPADay in all of your posts.

To incent you to get started early, Rosamunde is offering $2 off IPA on draft between 5pm and 6pm on the day of the event. So don’t miss out! And when you drop by don’t hesitate to say hello, I’ll be wearing a t-shirt with a very familiar logo, the pint glass with a 47.

If you’re interesting in learning more about International IPA Day, read all of the details on Drink with the Wench.

Event Details

Rosamunde Sausage Grill

August 4, 2011
5:00pm to closing
2832 Mission St.
San Francisco, CA

Special hoppy hour:  From 5pm to 6pm all IPAs on tap will be $2 off.

Eight IPAs will be available on tap:

• Ninkasi Total Domination IPA
• Green Flash West Cost IPA
• Russian River Blind Pig IPA
• Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA
• Houblon Chouffe Belgian-style IPA
• Stone Ruination IPA (Updated Aug. 2, 2011)
• Ballast Point Big Eye IPA (Updated Aug. 2, 2011)
• All Industries East Bay IPA, special release! (Updated Aug. 3, 2011)
• 7.7% abv with 100 IBUs

Three IPAs will be available in bottles:

• Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA
• Flying Dog Raging Bitch Belgian-style IPA (I read recently that these will soon be in short supply and much harder to find)
• Mateveza Yerba Mate IPA

Special thanks to Josh Margolis, the owner of Rosamunde Sausage Grill hosting IPA Day and for pulling this together at the last minute. Also thanks to Ruggy Joesten of Yelp for offer to help spread the word about this event. Finally, thanks to Ashley V Routson and Ryan A Ross for coming up with another great way to celebrate craft beer.

Each year the Brewers Association selects a different city in which to hold the Craft Brewers Conference. This year it was held right here in San Francisco, California. Thanks to the Brewers Association both myself and Liz were given media access to cover this craft beer industry conference. The whole event was kicked off with a welcome reception at the California Academy of Science.

The California Academy of Science is museum located in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco that has a huge aquarium, indoor rainforest, a planetarium, and more. It turned out to be an excellent venue to kick off the Craft Brewers Conference. We were sipping beer under the blue glow of the aquarium and discussing the industry next to an albino aligator. No food or beer was allowed in the rainforest exhibit but it was open during the first part of the event.

The food spread was quite appetizing and the selection of beer was extensive. The breweries that were pouring were as follows: 21st Amendment, Anchor, Anderson Valley, Beach Chalet, Bear Republic, Black Diamond, Drakes, Eel River, Firehouse, Firestone-Walker, Gordon Biersch, Half Moon Bay, Iron Springs, Lagunitas, Linden St., Magnolia, Marin Brewing, Moonlight Brewing, Moylan’s, Napa Smith, North Coast, Rubicon, Russian River, Santa Cruz Mountain, Seabright, Shmaltz Brewing, Sierra Nevada, Social Kitchen & Brewery, Speakeasy, ThirstyBear, Triple Rock, and Trumer. It was a veritable beer festival for the industry and very well attended too.

For my second beer dinner of SF Beer Week, two friends, my wife, and I coordinated on which beer dinner to attend. We decided on the Sierra Nevada Dinner at Bar Crudo and it turned out to be a wonderful evening.

Bar Crudo is a small restaurant that serves all sorts of delicious seafood cuisine alongside a superb beer selection. This dinner featured seafood paired with  seasonal and special releases from Sierra Nevada. Representatives from Sierra Nevada, including head brewer Steve Dresler.

May favorite dish of the night was also paired with my favorite beer of the night and both were changes which were not reflected on the menu online. The dish was butterfish over rustini pasta (a made of name for a pasta that was very much like spaetzle ) served with Sierra Nevada 2 by 4, a barrel-aged Belgian-style quadruple blended with a Belgian-style dubbel.

I’ve provided the menu below from the evening below.

Last year for SF Beer Week I completely missed out on the beer dinner experience so I was eager and ready to sign up for at least two beer dinners. My first beer dinner of the week was on Monday, February 14, 2011 at The Summit for the Beer & Nosh Dinner, where my wife and I had a wonderful 7 course dinner.

As it turned out, I had intended to sign up for the the Almanac Beer Co. dinner at Flour + Water, but I was in such a rush that I made a small error, I signed up for the the Beer & Nosh Dinner instead. It turned out to be a wonderful mistake.

The dinner featured food by Chef Eddie Lau, desserts from Maison Mitchell, and beer from Almanac, Drakes, Dogfish Head, Highwater, Firehouse, and Speakeasy. The theme for the dinner was “Outside the Lines,” described on the Beer and Nosh website as, “a collaborative beer dinner dedicated to creativity and breaking rules that were only made to be broken anyway.”

One of my favorite dishes of the night was the cream-puff-like pastry that was made with tallegio cheese laid on top of a pineapple compote and an IPA reduction. Chef Gabriel Mitchell explained to the group that his desserts skirt the line between sweet and savory and this dessert really exemplified that.

Not only did the dinner feature great food and beer but it was also a benefit for charity, in particular The Food Pantry of San Francisco.

I would like to give a special thanks to Jesse Friedman, of Beer & Nosh, for organizing such a great event.

For your reading enjoyment I have provided the menu from the evening below, the original can be found on the Beer & Nosh SF Beer Week page. Following the menu are more photos from the evening.

Menu

scallop, ale carbonated citrus, turnip
Almanac Beer Co. Summer 2010 Blackberry Ale

uni, mint, ravioli, sweet brined cornichon
Drake’s Brett Butler Barrel Aged Triple

espresso mole pancetta, spring radish, baby carrot
Dogfish Head Bitches Brew

vadouvan, shortrib, wild mushroom, lentils de puy
SF Beer Week Collaborative Bourbon Barrel Common

tallegio, pastry, pineapple, indian spices
Highwater Brewing Retribution Double IPA

foie torchon, duck egg sabayon, candied kumquat
Firehouse Brewing Pete Support Belgian IPA

espresso, balsamic, porter featuring Humphry Slocombe Ice Cream
Speaskeasy Payback Porter infused with TCHO Chocolate

Monday Febuary 14th, 7pm
Tickets: $100 including service and tax
The Summit 780 Valencia San Francisco @ 19th

]]> http://beer47.com/2011/02/beer-nosh-dinner-at-the-summit-sf-beer-week-2011/feed/ 3 http://beer47.com/2011/02/casks-quesos-at-thirsty-bear-for-sf-beer-week-2011/ http://beer47.com/2011/02/casks-quesos-at-thirsty-bear-for-sf-beer-week-2011/#comments Fri, 18 Feb 2011 00:30:19 +0000 David Jensen http://beer47.com/?p=1751 Continue reading →]]>

This is the second year that I’ve attended Casks & Quesos and like last year this was a great event. All of the beer at this event was cask conditioned and masterfully paired with a cheese and bread.

Just like last year, Thirsty Bear set up 5 tables, each with 3 casks of beer and three types of cheese. Most of the beer was from local breweries but one surprise this year was a cask of BrewDog Dogma.

A slight change change from the previous year was that Thirsty Bear moved the event from Saturday night to Sunday at noon. They also moved it downstairs, which is much more roomy than upstairs. This made it seem much more mellow of an event although attendance was probably about the same as last year.

Another addition this year was including, at each of the tables, artisan bread, made by the San Francisco Baking Institute. The highlight of these breads was a spent-grain bread made from the spent-grains used in the brewing process by Thirsty Bear. It was a little nutty yet not too dense. It was quite delicious.

I took some time to make a few tasting notes while I was there and they are as follows:

Local Brewing IBA. This bear was brewed in Thirsty Bear’s brewery. It is roasty, earthy, and herbal. It has some floral aroma with very little citrus. It is on the drier side and has a distinct crisp bitterness. I really good take on this new style of beer.

Half Moon Bay Brewing McMaverick Scotch. Jammy, malty, very sweet aroma, almost like ollaberries and maple. It is great when paired a smoked cheese like the one provided at the event. This is a great beer and not too strong at 6% abv.

Drake’s Pinnacle Pale. Smells grassy, lemon, and resinous.  It is crisp, refreshing, and not terribly bitter.

Thirsty Bear Meyer ESB. Dry hopped w/Cascade gives it an almost mimosa like aroma and flavors.

Gordon-Biersch Heller Bock in a wood cask. Refreshing, light-bodied, a little bitterness and a little sweetness. A little woody.

If you’re interested in my coverage and photos from last year, check out Casks & Quesos at Thirsty Bear, SF Beer Week 2010.

The kick off event for SF Beer Week was the Opening Gala on Friday, February 11, 2011 and for those who made it in the doors, it was a great event. The event included over 35 brewers, many special release beers, and even a few new breweries.

Just like last year, the Opening Gala was an excellent event, in a beautiful venue, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, with several excellent breweries from all over California (but mostly northern California) pouring superb beer. Excellent food was also available for sale on the patio from 4505 Meats [home] and Tacolicious [home]. It was also great to see so many new breweries such at Almanac [home], Cherry Voodoo [home], Knee Deep [home], and High Water [home].

The beer that stood out most in my mind for the entire evening was Alamanac’s Summer 2010. It is a Belgian-style golden ale aged in oak zinfandel wine barrels with 250 pounds of locally sourced berries, mostly consisting of blackberries but also includes ollaieberries, boysenberries, and marionberries. It is fruity but not sugary sweet smelling. It has just a little sourness with citrus notes and oak. It has an earthy herbal quality to it as well. The flavors from the wine barrels came out nicely. The richness and berry aromas and flavors remind me of a nice brunch meal.

Another beer that I enjoyed was the collaboration between Knee Deep Brewing, Devil’s Canyon, and The Beer Wench. It is called Ryedenity Crisis, a black rye saison. This was a tasty and unique beer that was earthy, sweet, and chocolatey with some notes of fresh roasted peanuts topped off with Belgain saison flavors and aromas.

Finally, High Water Brewing has a beer called Hop Riot IPA. It is an IPA made with two new varieties of hops: Centra and Apollo. It is floral with a bouquet of citrus like Meyer lemons pomelo. The drier flavors and aromas are reminscent of a mimosa. It also has a fresh grassy flavor while being bitter, crisp,  and dry. The bitterness comes off with a nice spicy quality.

There were many other great beers, such as the Social Kitchen & Brewery’s White Thai Affair, Thirsty Bear’s Bearly Legal Barleywine, the SF Brewer’s Guild barrel-aged Imperial California Common ale, and many many more.

Although the SF Beerk Week Opening Gala was a great event last year, there were some changes this year that made it an even better event (and inadvertently a little worse). This year, a VIP pass was sold that allowed entry at 3:30pm, 90 minutes before the general session. I arrived a little bit late to find a line wrapped around the building. I was a bit shocked that it was moving so slow and expected to be in line for an hour. However, after about 5 minutes the line started moving quickly and we were in the doors very quickly. To whomever figured out how to make the line move faster, thank you. I think the large crowd for the VIP session just shows how popular craft beer is becoming but it also has a lot to do with the deeply discounted VIP tickets that were sold on BloomSpot.com.

During my shorter-than-expected wait in the long line, I noticed another change from the previous year. They had opened the back patio to the event area where you could find the food vendors and a few brewers pouring beer. Given that it was a beautiful, warm, sunny, San Francisco Winter day, it was an excellent touch. We probably hung out in the back for a good hour before coming back into the event hall.

Another addition this year was a panel of famous brewers from the area. It was an awesome idea but by the time the panel came on, the center was so full of people that it was difficult to hear and pay attention to what was being said. I was more focused on trying new beer.

This event, however, was not without issues. First, by the end of the night, there was not enough water. The largest debacle, however, was the misunderstanding between the Gala organizers, the venue, and the fire marshall. In short, tickets were sold with the total capacity of the venue but in the middle of the event the venue, YBCA, and the fire marshall were worried that people were not spreading themselves out enough in the space provided and cut off letting any more people in. As a result, the Gala organizers hands were tied and had to refund numerous tickets. Bottle Chasers has a good write up with some recommendations on how to make the SF Beer Week Opening Gala even better next year.