Professor Good Ales

Written by Tom Becham

Photos courtesy of Kristin Rea Photography

On Saturday, June 19, 2010, the City of Ventura saw its first (and thankfully not last) Salute! Beer Festival. Salute! was hosted by Joby Yobe and the Ojai Beverage Company, an outlet for fine beer which will have its own article in coming weeks. (I also gather that Joby intended this festival as a sort of reward to his regular customers.)

The festival was held at the Ventura State Beach Park, an ideal location with perfect weather on the day of the event and it drew about 2,500 people.

All proceeds from the festival were donated to FOOD Share, an organization that provides meals to over 50,000 people per month in Ventura County. So, it was not just an event to promote and enjoy great beer and food, but one to help the increasing numbers of the less fortunate in our own community.

Naturally, as can be gleaned from the title of the festival itself, the focus was not just on good beer, but how it complements good food, as well. So, this was not just an Oktoberfest style event with beer and sausages and pretzels (nothing wrong with that, but beer can be so much more.).

Indeed, VIP tickets to the event (as well as press passes, which I was lucky enough to obtain) entitled the bearer to enjoy food and beer pairings of gourmet quality. The very first pairing featured a beer called Saison du Buff, a collaborative effort from Stone Brewing, Victory Brewing and Dogfish Head. A fairly typical Belgian farmhouse-style saison, but spiced with parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme (insert your own Scarborough Fair joke here). It had the somewhat funky nose of most saisons, but the taste was somewhat like drinking in mouths full of garden herbs, in a good way. The dish paired with this beer was prepared by Ojai Beverage Company’s own chef, Jerret Gilden, and consisted of a seared sea scallop topped with pancetta, and a mushroom ragout in filo dough with feta cheese and spinach, all served over a bed of garlic and basil-spiced red lentils and tomato. Paired with that particular dish, the spices in the beer POPPED, and the beer became spectacular.

Further hammering home the point of joining quality beer with tasty food was the inclusion of Stone Brewing’s Cicerone “Dr.” Bill Sysak as a guest speaker at the event. Mr. Sysak coordinates all the taps and the cellar at the Stone World Garden and Bistro in Escondido, California, and has some renown in the West Coast beer world. I will also be featuring an interview with “Dr.” Bill in coming weeks.

Indeed, many other excellent area restaurants provided samples of some of their signature dishes at the festival. But Professor Good Ales is primarily about beer, so let me tell you about the beer at this festival.
Continue reading “Ventura, California hosts first annual Salute! Festival to Celebrate Finely Crafted Beer and Food”

Amongst that yeast, once upon a time, there was a brewer. Maybe in this case he SHOULD have killed it?

Written by Professor Goodales

Note: the Professor prefers to post, not write. This site is for you, not the Professor. But there seems to be a lack of reference material on this important topic.

Let’s say you suck at what you do: brew. You want to suck even more. What to do. What to do. You ask, “How do I kill my beer yeast?”
Continue reading “The Technical Edge: How to Kill Your Beer Yeast”

Image courtesy beerhistory.com

Written by Mike Brunsfeld, THE Beer Guy

You know what sucks almost more than no beer? Being served by a bartender, at a brewpub, who knows little about beer and she or he knows even less about the brews brewed at their brewpub. Now if it’s a multi-tap bar, well I’ll cut them a little slack. 30 plus rotating taps plus hundreds of bottles that shift brand names? Hey, it’s tough! Just give me what I asked for, not you think I’ll put up with instead. If the tap’s suckin suds from the bottom, well come tell me. Don’t just pour and assume.
Continue reading “One Bitchin Brew Blog”

Wiki Commons picture: “Mayflower in the fog.”

From Nat Shapira’s four part series (as of now) for Enterprisenews.com

(Click on link above for rest of article.)

Authoritative accounts of the voyage of the Mayflower to the New World note that the original destination of both ship and passengers was Virginia, and that either bad navigation or stormy seas, or both in combination, caused the Mayflower’s crew, fearing insufficient beer on the return trip to England, to put the Pilgrims ashore at Plymouth, 600 miles from their intended destination.

As much as rare roast beef, beer was considered to be the Englishman’s food, and beer was regarded as an Englishman’s due. Beer was a healthier drink than water and was consumed from morning to night by everyone in all classes of society, from babes in arms to the elders seated by the kitchen fireplace.

Continue reading “Colonial Beer”

Without intent, I have collected well over 1,000 beer bottles since the early 70s. When something finally had to be done about the cheap paneling in this old modular, I had a choice. Tear down the walls while, oh, so carefully, replacing the often rotted 1X3s. Or: cover them with… The Bottle Collection.

Frog N’ Hound Pub Ale

What possesses a pub/bar owner to have someone brew a bland beer when there’s plenty of “bland” to be had? I mean you’d think you’d want something distinctive, but no… so many: not all, are mediocre’ ale versions of Bud. Showing the owner really doesn’t understand those who love craft beer… or that those who drink bland swill may be convinced to “try” in this case… but their brand loyalty trumps good taste and common sense.

Such is the case with Frog N’ Hound, if I remember right. I am assuming it was brewed for a pub, since I had it at a place of the same name, once again “if I remember right.” Been a while. Sadly I seemed to remember it may have been brewed by the brewer at one of the best brewpubs on the east coast, in Willimantic, CT. If so I can’t fault the brewer: I know him… he’s damn good.

Probably brewed this way “by request.” Not “horrible,” just not worth the sip. Then, on a recent visit to Willimantic, I found out that the main brewer for Frog N’ Hound wasn’t David, thank the beer Gods. Since he was stuck in the brewery I didn’t get a chance to ask what he did know about it, And the bartender acted as if I was as ancient as a mummy for even having quaffed Frog N’ Hound. I didn’t dare tell her about the dusty as a mummy bottles from the Bottle Collection: some from the 60s and 70s.

Oh, wait, I did tell her. See what drinking really good beer does?

Frog N’ Hound had a nice label, but that was about it.

Stop by Willimantic Brewing instead. Oh, and expected to see pictures of Willimantic soon, just to further tempt you to stop by. Anything from their taps would be a far, far better quaff than…

Written by Rick Blankemeier forExaminer.com

The Wynkoop is releasing a special beer brewed in conjunction with the Tutankhamun The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs exhibit that runs June 29 – January 11, 2011 at the Denver Art Museum.
Continue reading “The Wynkoop introduces Tut’s Royal Gold”