Pic(k) of the Week: Hop-lights at the Brewmaster's Cottage

The Brewmaster's Cottage is a beer-themed 800-square foot tiny house built by renowned 'craft' beer brewmaster Teri Fehrendorf —founder of the Pink Boots Society— and her husband, Jon Graber, in Portland, Oregon.

The cottage can sleep 4 adults: The upstairs includes a master suite with king bed, walk-in closet, double sink bath, and a sunrise view deck. Downstairs there is a queen murphy-bed desk made by Hidden Bed of Oregon. Our goal with the Brewmaster's Cottage was to create something Unique, Meaningful and Beautiful. I also wanted the space to be Magical, and we have strived to build something so special you will not find a copy anywhere. In addition to the added architectural features such as a foyer with tile floor, mini-chandelier, corbelled hop archway, and steps that double as dresser drawers; the cottage also contains two fluted pilasters, lighted box display cases over the downstairs windows containing my cobalt blue glass collection, a built-in bookcase, and ...

"a box beam with hop lights (!)
separating the kitchen from the living room,"
pictured above.

****************

About the builders

• Teri Fahrendorf

  is currently the Malt Innovation Center Manager for Great Western Malt where she brews and malts on pilot-sized equipment. Teri began her beer career in 1988 after a short career as a computer programmer. She attended the Siebel Institute of Brewing Technology where she was Siebel's first woman class president. She is currently an instructor for the American Brewers Guild. Teri brewed for four commercial breweries including Steelhead Brewery in Eugene, Oregon, where she was Brewmaster for 17 years. In 2007 Teri founded the Pink Boots Society while on her epic Road Brewer journey across the USA and back. She was the 2014 recipient of the Brewer's Association's Recognition Award. Teri is a Great American Beer Festival and World Beer Cup Judge, and has also judged the Australian International Beer Awards and New Zealand Beer Awards. She is a frequent technical author and conference speaker.

  
  
• Jon Graber

  is currently North American Account Manager for Micro-Matic, where he sells the world's finest quality keg valve stems. After a distinguished career as an Executive Chef in Portland, Oregon, Jon became the first manager of, then Brewmaster of Mt Hood Brewing Company in Government Camp, Oregon for 13 years. Jon is a Great American Beer Festival and World Beer Cup Judge and has also judged the New Zealand Beer Awards. Jon and Teri met while volunteering for the Oregon Brewers Guild, where Jon was proud to produce his secret recipe beer doughnuts during OBG fundraisers, which were held at the Oregon Brewers Festival in previous years.

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Clamps & Gaskets: News Roundup for Weeks 27/28, 2017.

A bi-weekly, non-comprehensive roundup
of news of beer and other things.

Weeks 27/28
2 July - 15 July 2017

• 14 July 2017
  "Alebush": the Oxford English Dictionary 'Word of the Day,' 14 July 2017.

  n. A bunch of ivy or other plant hung up as a tavern sign.

  —Via Brookston Beer Bulletin.


• 14 July 2017
  
  • Flying Dog Brewery (of Frederick, Maryland), the nation's 32nd largest craft brewery, leaves the [U.S.] Brewers Association over a censorship dispute.
    —Via My Beer Buzz.
  • Not 'free speech,' but the bigger issue surrounding Flying Dog Brewery's departure from the Brewers Association, that few are talking about.
    —Via YFGF on Facebook.




• 11 July 2017
  In the U.S., there's the "Independent Craft Brewer" seal created by the [U.S.] Brewers Association. In the U.K., there's the "Assured Independent Craft Brewer" logo, created by the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA)

  The Assured Independent British Craft Brewer logo assures consumers the beer they are drinking has been brewed by a British Brewer who:

  Has agreed to abide by SIBA’s Food Safety & Quality standard

  Is truly independent of any larger controlling brewing interest

  Is brewing less than 200,000hl annually

  —Via The Guardian.


• 11 July 2017
  

  After 15 years, 4.9 MILLION BEERS, & 30k Brick Burgers, @RFDLoveTheBeer & the Brickskeller family are closing our doors. Cheers & God Bless.

  Renowned Washington D.C. beer bar has closed. Owner Josh Alexander said that while business has remained strong, the bar's original lease was up for renewal, and a corresponding rent increase of 10 percent was too expensive from an operations standpoint. Alexander's family opened the now-shuttered Brickskeller in 1957 (selling it in 2010), and opened RFD in 2003.

  Over its life, RFD had become an influential member of the D.C. beer community, hosting events and tap takeovers in addition to stocking nearly three dozen beers on draft and an enormous bottle selection. It all came without pretension too, as bartenders were as likely to slide a macro lager across the bar as they were to pour the newest offering from a small local favorite.

  —Via DCist.


• 13 July 2017
  Liu Xiaobo, 2010 Nobel Peace Prize laureate “for fundamental human rights," imprisoned by China, has died at 61. His calls for democratic reforms resulted in Chinese government surveillance and incarceration.

  In order for everyone to have the right to be selfish, there has to be a righteous giant who will sacrifice selflessly. In order to obtain "passive freedoms" (freedom from the arbitrary oppression by those in power), there has to be a will for active resistance. In history, nothing is fated. The appearance of a martyr will to completely change a nation's soul and raise the spiritual quality of the people. [...] Human progress relies on the chance birth of these individuals. One cannot count on the collective conscience of the masses but only on the great individual conscience to consolidate the weak masses. In particular, our nation needs this righteous giant; the appeal of a role model is infinite; a symbol can rouse an abundance of moral resources.

  —Via Washington Post.


• 13 July 2017
  Residents of the United States consume 9.3 liters (2 gallons, 3.7 pints) of pure alcohol per person per year the equivalent of 564 twelve-ounce bottles or cans of 5% alcohol-by-volume beer— ranking 27th in the world for epr capita consumption. The Baltic nation of Lithuania tops the world at 18.2 liters (4 gallons, 6.5 pints) per capita annually.
  —Via VoucherCloud.


• 12 July 2017
  An iceberg the size of state of Delaware, weighing more than a trillion metric ton, has broken off the Larsen C ice shelf of Antarctica, producing one of the largest icebergs ever recorded, and providing a glimpse of how the Antarctic ice sheet might ultimately start to fall apart.
  —Via New York Times.


• 11 July 2017
  Ex-Anheuser-Busch CEO August Busch IV arrested in Illinois when he attempted to fly his helicopter in which police found several prescription drugs, several dogs, and loaded guns: Ruger .22 revolver, Ruger .357 Magnum revolver, and Glock .357 Magnum.

  Taking the totality of circumstances into consideration, I believed (Busch) could be under the influence of a controlled substance. I advised (Busch) he was no longer allowed to get into his helicopter and fly away.

  —Via Miami Herald.


• 10 July 2017
  Georgia's Cherry Street Brewing Cooperative is the 2017 "Grand National Champion" of the U.S. Open Beer Championship.
  —Via All About Beer.


• 8 July 2017
  

  For American beer lovers, in particular, the pint-glass runneth over in terms of choice. They had 5,000 breweries to pick from this year; 35 years ago there were under 100. ¶ For the producers of beer, the mood is darker. Though the number of brands has proliferated, the number of drinkers has not. Sales have been flat for a few years and 2017 has been especially slow so far. The volumes of beer sold at stores for the three months to June 17th were 1% lower than in the same period last year, according to Nielsen, a market-research firm. ¶ The dip is the result of two problems, one old and one new. First, the consumption of wine and spirits is growing more quickly than that of beer and has been for nearly 20 years. Women are drinking more booze but often prefer wine and spirits. Men are turning to a wider range of drinks, including whisky and wine. The second difficulty is that after years of effervescent growth, craft beer has gone flat. Volumes grew in 2016, but half as quickly as in 2015 (see chart). In the 13 weeks to June 17th craft-beer sales and volumes both dropped, by 0.7% and 1.5%, respectively. It may be that craft beer has reached its natural limit both because there are only so many people who want to buy it [evidence, please!], and because there is only so much shelf-space that stores can provide.

  —Via The Economist


• 7 July 2017
  Four-year-old 'craft' brewery, Modern Times, has become California's first employee-owned brewery. [The employees own 30% of the stock.)
  —Via The Full Pint.


• 7 July 2017
  In 2015, Danish 'gypsy' brewer Mikkel Borg Bjergsø —brewer of Mikkeller beers— became homeless no more, moving into a permanent home, not in Denmark, but in the USA, in San Diego, California, in the former Alesmith Brewery facilities. Now, two and a half years later, Mikeller moves again, 2,400 miles east across the continent, to Queens, New York City. There, Bjergsø has announced he will open a 20-barrel brewhouse in Citi Field, home to Major League baseball team, New York Mets. Not really moving, this is an expansion: the larger San Diego location will remain open. Plans are for the Citi Field brewery and taproom to open in 2017.
  —Via Beer Street Journal.


• 5 July 2017
  Revisiting the 175-year history of Pilsner Urquell.
  —Via Evan Rail, at Good Beer Hunting.


• 5 July 2017
  Scientists at the University of Manchester have discovered a viable Saccharomyces yeast strain, related to modern brewers' yeast, at nearly 4,000 feet above sea level in the French Alps.
  —Via Phys.org.


• 4 July 2017
  The 4th of July holiday is tops for off-the-premises beer sales in the U.S., that is, beer sold in stores, shops, supermarkets, chain stores, etc. It ranks eighth for on-the-premises sales, that is, beer sold at restaurants and pubs. (St. Patrick's Day is first for on-the-premises restaurant/pub sales, but ninth for store sales.)
  —Via National Association of Beer Wholesalers (NABW).



• 4 July 2017
  What will Americans spend on food and drink for the 4th of July?
  • $1 billion on beer.
  • $28 million on pie.
  • $36 million on corn-on-the-cob.
  • $83 million on watermelon.
  • $116 million on cherries.
  • $568 million on wine.
  —Via USA Today, on Twitter.


• No need to re-write beer history on a beer menu, 'craft' beer pub.

  NOT true, #craftbeer taproom! Sam Adams (1984) was NOT "first micro beer every [sic] produced." That's Anchor (1965) or New Albion (1976).

  — YFGF (@Cizauskas) July 14, 2017

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A Baltimore good beer man has died.

To my Baltimore and Maryland readers: a good beer man has died. I'm saddened to report that the family of John Bates released this statement in the afternoon of 22 July 2017:

John passed peacefully today surrounded by family and loved ones listening to his favorite NOLA music. Thank you for your continued prayers and support. In John's honor, have a Sierra and listen to some Blues.

John Bates (on the left in the photo above; on the right, below) was the longtime publican of the Baltimore Taphouse. And many also remember his years, from the latter 1980s through the early aughts, behind the bar at Racers' Cafe, then one of the few places to find 'craft' beer in Baltimore County. As a longtime supporter and advocate for good beer —and local good beer— Mr. Bates introduced its pleasures to many. An all-around good guy, he was a real fan of the blues: he and his wife Kristen shared a passion for the music and city of New Orleans.

In 2004, I reviewed Baltimore Taphouse on the former online beer review site Pubcrawler, a few weeks after the pub (then called Growlers) had opened:

If you've been to Baltimore's Racer's Cafe within the last 15½ years, you may have noticed one constant —bartender John Bates. John began at this northern Baltimore beer destination (and it's still there, thriving) back in the heady days of the late '80s. Difficult to overlook behind the bar, he was the gentle giant, always informative about the goings-on of the nascent and burgeoning local beer scene, and always a calming presence in the 'kettle'.

But past tense is inappropriate. Pushing the geographical boundaries of good beer in Bawlmer, a new beer friendly bar - Growlers Pub - has staked a claim to blue collar northern Canton. John Bates and his charming fiance, Kristen, have recently set up shop in a place of their own. They rehabbed an old neighborhood Patterson Park bar, rechristened it as Growlers Pub, and began serving at the end of February. There were two taps that day- Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and DeGroens Pils.

Since then, they've installed a sparkling new 10-tap system. Now there's Guinness, Dominion Oak Barrel Stout, Anchor Liberty, Olivers Irish Red, Clipper City Small Craft Warning, Sierra Nevada Pale, Victory Hop Devil, Brewer's Art Resurrection, and Dogfish Head Indian Brown. Many of the selections change weekly.

On the 10th tap is a, well, N.A.I.L., North American Industrial Lager. John hopes to wean the long-time locals off of it. Bottles include Belgians and, of course, Natty Boh, hon.

A friend on Facebook thanked John for “all the happiness he has brought into others lives.” Which should be, after all, the real point of 'craft' beer.

For John and wife Kristen, in thanks, I shall indeed enjoy a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale AND listen to the Blues.

*****************
UPDATE:
"A celebration of John’s life will take place on August 5, 2017, from 6PM-8PM at Racers' Cafe located at 7732 Harford Road, Parkville, Maryland 21234. In lieu of flowers or donations, John would most appreciate random acts of kindness."

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Pic(k) of the week: Sign of the times?

"Keep hate out of ATL."

As seen in the Edgewood neighborhood of Atlanta (ATL), Georgia, on 17 July 2017.

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Pic(k) of the Week: Drinking Budweiser & Heineken?

Requiem for two heavyweights?

Two non-'craft' beers from two breweries who until recently had been considered 'craft,' but now not. Left to right:

• Fille de Ferme
  Brewed by Wicked Weed Brewing of Asheville, North Carolina.
  (Purchased by Anheuser-Busch InBev in May 2017.)
  • 4.2% alcohol-by-volume (abv)
  • "Foeder-rested, brettanomyces farmhouse ale. Fermented with honeysuckle and fresh orange zest."
• IPA
  Brewed by Lagunitas of Petaluma, California.
  (Purchased by Heineken in May 2017.)

  • 6.5% abv.
  • 51.5 International Bittering Units (IBUs).

*****************

What is 'craft' beer? Formalistically speaking.

The [U.S.] Brewers Association —the trade association which bills itself as "the not-for-profit trade group dedicated to promoting and protecting America’s small and independent craft brewers"— has 'kicked out' several member breweries when they no longer comported with the association's (changing) definition of what a craft brewery was.

Currently, the BA holds that ...

an American craft brewer is small, independent, and traditional.

• Small:
  Annual production of 6 million barrels of beer or less (approximately 3 percent of U.S. annual sales). Beer production is attributed to the rules of alternating proprietorships.
• Independent:
  Less than 25 percent of the craft brewery is owned or controlled (or equivalent economic interest) by a beverage alcohol industry member that is not itself a craft brewer.
• Traditional:
  A brewer that has a majority of its total beverage alcohol volume in beers whose flavor derives from traditional or innovative brewing ingredients [emphasis mine] and their fermentation. Flavored malt beverages (FMBs) are not considered beers.

It's that definition of 'independent' that, in May, the BA employed to knock-out Lagunitas and Wicked Weed. Notwithstanding —at Thinking Man Tavern, in Decatur, Georgia, on 13 July 2017— both beers, née 'craft,' still went down damn tasty.

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Clamps & Gaskets: News Roundup for Weeks 25/26, 2017.

A bi-weekly, non-comprehensive roundup
of news of beer and other things.

Weeks 25/26
18 June- 1 July 2017

At the halfway point of year 2017...

• 30 June 2017
  After eight years atop the Zymurgy poll, Russian River Brewing lost its position as brewing America's best beer (Pliny the Elder) to Bell's Brewing (Two-Hearted) ... and you won't believe what they did next! [Headline ha-ha!]
  —Via CraftBeer.com.


• 28 June 2017
  

  Can't help but be amused that any IPA with a hint of bitterness is now being referred to as "old school".

  —Via Chris Clough, on Twitter.



• 27 June 2017
  Canada celebrates its sesquicentennial.
  —Via Wikipedia.


• 27 June 2017
  One of America's great pianists, Geri Allen —who "reconciled far-flung elements of the jazz tradition"— has died at 60.
  —Via New York Times.



• 27 June 2017
  [U.S.] Brewers Association launches new seal to designate independent beers.

  In an effort to educate beer lovers about which beers are independently produced, the Brewers Association—the not-for-profit trade group dedicated to promoting and protecting America’s small and independent craft brewers—launched a new seal touting independent craft brewers. ¶ Featuring an iconic beer bottle shape flipped upside down, the seal captures the spirit with which craft brewers have upended beer, while informing beer lovers they are choosing a beer from a brewery that is independently owned. These breweries run their businesses free of influence from other alcohol beverage companies which are not themselves craft brewers.

  —Via [U.S.] Brewers Association.


• 26 June 2017
  The U.S. Supreme Court has temporarily reinstated segments of Donald Trump's Muslim-travel-to-America ban; will hear arguments on the consitutionality of the executive order in October.

  In practical terms, this means that [the executive order] may not be enforced against foreign nationals who have a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States.

  —Via New York Times.


• 22 June 2017
  The unbearable freshness of beer-ing. Why 'craft' breweries make it so difficult to determine if their beers are fresh or not.
  —Via Fritz Hahn, at Washington Post.


• 21 June 2017
  "Craft has become [a] commodity and it’s going to be OK."

  It’s a commodity in the standardization of international styles such as IPA and murk as well as in single brands like Goose Island. You can find pretty much the same beer everywhere. And if you can’t you are still seeing the internationalization of the fib of “craft” pretty much everywhere. We cling on to outdated ideas about craft and the value of any beer at our peril. We miss the actual in favour of the hype. We chase the marketed (whether from the PR consultants or the semi-pro enthusiasts) in favour of the quieter, local and lovely. The experience? Yes, it is still about the experience but that includes learning from our experience.

  —Via Alan McLeod, at A Better Beer Blog.


• 21 June 2017
  The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upholds the 3-tier beer distribution system in California, in part to protect small breweries (and small beer wholesalers). In a 10-1 decision, the court upheld California’s Tied-House law which prohibits beverage alcohol manufacturers and wholesalers from providing anything of value, directly or indirectly, to retailers in exchange for advertising their alcoholic beverages.

  This case had enormous implications for our members as well as for craft brewers across the country. If the courts had ruled in favor of the plaintiff, it would have struck down, as unconstitutional, code section 25503(f)-(h), which prohibits alcohol beverage suppliers from giving anything of value to retailers in exchange for advertising their products. Striking down this tied-house provision would have allowed retailers to charge suppliers for such things as a sign and other POS placement, in-store displays, listing of a brand on beer menus, tap handle placement and other forms of advertising. It is clear who would win in that scenario — big alcohol companies who have tremendous resources and who could easily out-spend small craft brewers, giving big alcohol further dominance in the craft beer space.
  —Tom McCormick, California Craft Brewers Association Director.

  —Via Craft Brewing Business.


• 20 June 2017
  The new irrelevance of pleasure. Neilsen/Harris/Brewbound poll finds 'Independent/Independently Owned' most important consideration for 'craft' beer drinkers. ("Enjoyable," "refreshing," "delicious," or, even, "local" not considered.)

  A total of 2,000 people (adults 21+), including 773 self-identified regular craft beer drinkers, were surveyed on 29 buzzwords. [...] The most intriguing news to share is that when asked, 'How familiar are you with each of the following terms as they relate to beer,' 81% of craft beer appreciators indicated 'independent' and 'independently owned' as the most recognized. The second-most recognized buzzword was 'traditional.'

  —Via [U.S.] Brewers Association.


• 18 June 2017
  Americans use and dispose of half a billion straws every day, contributing to five trillion pieces of plastic waste, including over 250,000 tons afloat at sea, estimated to currently be on the planet. Advocacy group The Last Plastic Straw has been founded to fight this waste.
  —Via Saveur.


• 16 June 2017
  At "Industry Leaders Discuss State of Craft" discussion hosted by website Brewbound, Hugh Sisson, founder of Heavy Seas Beer (in Baltimore, Maryland), noted that the 'craft' beer segment has matured and evolved from being a group of companies ...

  that defined themselves as the polar opposite of big beer to one that includes thousands of players competing within the confines of the beer industry. [...] We’re having growing pains. Typically when you’re having growing pains, shit happens. And we’re in that shit happens moment now. I’m still pretty bullish, but now it’s time to up your game. [...] My customer base has a loyalty to me of one six-pack. And the day that I forget that, I’m toast.

  —Via Brewbound.



You'd think if you put "#beergarden" in your name, you'd at least water the few plants in your 'garden.' pic.twitter.com/gfQNhIGfF8

— YFGF (@Cizauskas) July 10, 2017

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Pic(k) of the Week: Metal spaghetti.

Pipework at Sweetwater Brewing Company, Atlanta, Georgia, 27 February 2016.

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Today: an American symphony.

Today, considering the day, I think I'll take the time to listen to a recording of one of America's finest symphonies, the First Symphony (in One Movement) of Samuel Barber, which Barber, born in 1910, composed when he was only twenty-six years old. Barber would go on to be a prolific composer, writing in a twentieth-century post-romanticism idiom, of which this is a masterful example. He died in 1981, at age 70.

The piece is formally in one movement, yet, musically, it's tripartite. It opens with an expansively grand theme that sounds like an aural panorama of the American West.

At the 1:20 mark,

the statement of a secondary, wistful, theme.

At the 6:50 mark,

the orchestra takes off on an easy gallop, but not without some Alan Ladd-like reluctant heroics.

Around the 9:45 mark,

John Williams must have been listening when he composed his Imperial Stormtrooper theme for Star Wars.

Just past eleven minutes in,

an oboe sings a lover's theme, lovely but elegiac, over strings.

At about sixteen minutes,

Barber reworks the opening theme as a passacaglia (think waltz without schmaltz) that grows in urgency.

Barber brings all to a conclusion beginning at the eighteen minute mark,

with string and woodwind crescendos building to several terse blasts, brassy and tympanic, like affirmations of what once had been American can-do and American must-do, virtues seemingly quaint in today's America.

Barber's First resounds like the discovery of America's once wide-open spaces: parts dangerous yet promising, parts brooding but without bathos, parts brash while contemplative, the whole expressing those contradictory characters as a unitary strength, something that once had been perceived as quintessentially American.

Today, while listening, I think I'll take the time to drink a fine American beer, pure and true, without artifice...

...and enjoy our Independence Day, while I can.

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Pic(k) of the Week: Gazpacho & witbier.

For today —the first day of the northern hemisphere's hottest month of the year— here's an anodyne pleasure: soup served chilled and a beer, likewise.

Gazpacho:

a spicy soup that is usually made from chopped raw vegetables (such as tomato, onion, pepper, and cucumber) and that is served cold.

—Merriam-Webster

• Recipe 1: From scratch.
• Recipe 2: 'Cheating' with store-bought tomato juice.

**************

Some other chilled soups

• Šaltibarščiai — Mom's Lithuanian Beet Soup.
• Tart Ice-Cold Schav — Sorrel Soup.
• Vegan Vichyssoise — Chilled Potato Soup.
  [Pronounce that final 's' in "vichyssoise"!]
• Asparagus & Pea Soup.

**************

And that witbier on the table?

It's Allagash White from Allagash Brewing of Portland, Maine: an American interpretation of ...

Belgian-style wits brewed using unmalted wheat, sometimes oats and malted barley. Witbiers are spiced with coriander and orange peel. A style that dates back hundreds of years, it fell into relative obscurity until it was revived by Belgian brewer Pierre Celis in the 1960s.

—CraftBeer.com.

There may be only one beer, here, today (and tangentially, at that), but there's a surfeit of refreshment. Chilling!

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