Today is Dave Alexander’s 45th birthday. Dave is the co-owner, along with his wife Dianne, of the world famous Brickskeller beer bar in Washington, DC. He’s also a crack bass player who often plays with the Rolling Boil Blues Band. Join me in wishing Dave a happy birthday.

Celebrator publisher Tom Dalldorf, a young Vinnie Cilurzo and Dave at a Brickskeller fresh hop event several years ago.

Tom Dalldorf again, with the Beer Fox Carolyn Smagalski, and Dave and Dianne Alexander, at the Brewer’s Reception at Wynkoop at the start of GABF last year.

Originally founded in Roanoke, Virginia in 1890, the Virginia Brewing Company went through some ups and downs, before finally closing in 1958. Except for its final years, when it was known as Mountain Brewing, it was always Virginia Brewing. It then lay dormant and the brand name unused until 1987, when the name was used again by a microbrewery in Virginia Beach

According to a New York Times article from September 1988, the brewery was “a venture begun by Johnathan S. Miller, the deputy assistant for management and administration at the White House who resigned in May 1987 after it was reported that he had cashed some traveler’s checks for Oliver L. North.” There’s also a short review of the old place by a Chicago brewer, Jim Hodge. His review is mostly positive, his biggest complaint being the size of the place, which he describes as follows. “I would caution those wishing to follow in my footsteps that the bar at Virginia Brewing is tiny; it has a total of 6 seats and don’t be surprised if you have to stand while drinking there.” Although he also mentioned they served all their beer in frosted mugs. He reports they had six of their own beers on tap, of which he sampled a “kolsch, an IPA, an ESB, a smoked ale called ‘the Brown Bomber’, and their Halloween pumpkin ale.” The brewer may have been Wolfgang Roth, reportedly from Bavaria. That incarnation of Virginia Brewing appears to have lasted until 1992.

Fast forward another sixteen years and a rumor that began two years ago is getting closer to reality. A press release recently indicated that a grand opening is imminent at the “ZeroPak complex in Winchester, Virginia. The celebration will feature craft beers, barbecue, and live music as the microbrewery welcomes the public to its new brewhall and event space.” They’ve also hired a brewer — always a good sign for a brewery — “John Hovermale, Jr., previously of Harpoon Brewery in Windsor, Vermont.” He’s also apparently a native of Winchester, which makes this job also a homecoming for Hovermale.

From the press release:

“I was intrigued by how this one town’s brewery was so much a part of the community and vice versa,” Hovermale says. “After returning from Europe I attended the Siebel Institute of Technology, where I studied brewing. After paying my dues working in the cellar of a brewery in Biloxi, I joined Harpoon. Now I’ve come full-circle, brewing beer in my hometown.”

It’s nice to see the new owners trying to tie the modern project to the historical brewery of the same name. There’s also some additional history at Rusty Cans, from their June 2006 newsletter.

The original brewery in Roanoke, date unknown.

Early labels from Virginia Brewing Co.

For our 15th Session, the topic remains personal, but instead of profiling another person, the goal is to hold up a mirror to see ourselves. Mirror, mirror, on the wall, how did you get started in this all? Our hosts, Boak and Bailey, want to know “the moment when you saw the light. At what point did you realise you were a beer lover / geek / enthusiast? What beer(s) triggered the conversion? Did someone help you along your way, or did you come to it yourself?”

I’ve actually written about this before, two years ago. And if you think I’ve been long-winded before, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. There’s a collective writing exercise known as NaNoWriMo, which is short for “National Novel Writing Month.” During the month of November, whoever wants to participate is challenged to write a 50,000-word novel in thirty days. That works out to just under 1,700-words per day. The first NaNoWriMo took place in November of 1999 with under two dozen friends of founder Chris Baty trying to write a novel in his apartment. Last year, it’s ninth, over 100,000 people gave it a shot. Of those, 15,000 people managed to finish writing 50,000 words, which is the equivalent of a short novel of around 175 pages.

I’ve done NaNoWriMo three times, and managed to complete it each time. I skipped last year because I was in Bavaria for almost two weeks in November, but the previous three years I spent my Novembers writing even more than I usually do. It was a terrific experience each time and one I heartily recommend. It made me a much faster writer. When you have such daunting deadlines, you learn to just keep going and write through any blocks. You get into a zone where it just pours out of you, akin to a runner’s high. And that’s proved quite valuable as I take on more and more writing assignments. Plus it’s a lot of fun just to see what comes out.

The NaNoWriMo website puts it like this:

Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.

Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It’s all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.

Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that’s a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.

So why bring this up? Because in 2006, I wrote a literary memoir about growing up with beer. It was called Under the Table and subtitled A Fictional Memoir of Growing Up With Beer. What I meant by that I wrote about in a foreword, but essentially I combined events and characters, moved some dates around and changed a few details in order to make the story work better, a perfectly acceptable practice in the genre. Since I was writing on the fly, I organized it into twenty-four chapters, a case of chapters. I chose two dozen beers that I remember from my childhood and used each one as a jumping off point to trigger remembering incidents in my life, similar to the way Proust did with pastry in Remembrance of Things Past. The story is filled with underage drinking, teen sex and violent alcoholic psychopaths. Almost all of it is true, but I’m not saying which is which.

The question of how it all started for me with better beer is largely answered in Chapter 24, Jazz in the Dark. The beers were Bass Ale and Guinness that introduced me to beer with flavor. I was stationed on Staten Island with an Army Band and many of the Manhattan jazz clubs I frequented in New York City in the late 1970s had begun carrying the two. They were as different as night and day from the regional lagers that all tasted the same I had grown up on. They were the catalyst that drove me to learn more about beer and discover what else beer could be. That was exactly thirty years ago and I’ve never looked back.

The whole novel is online if you’re feeling really bored or have a long wait ahead of you in the emergency room. Be warned, it is a rough draft, literally written in one take — extemporaneously — eighteen months ago. At the end of November 2006, I crossed the finish line at 55,622 words. But although I met the challenge of 50,000 words in thirty days, I had stopped in the middle of the second to last chapter. It’s hard to explain, but once the peer pressure and self-imposed routine has ended I’ve found it near impossible to keep going on December 1. But that was okay, because there was only one person who really wanted me to finish it. Shaun O’Sullivan, from 21st Amendment, got pneumonia that same November, and was stuck at home, bored. So he ended up reading — and apparently enjoying — Under the Table. He continued to pester me for months afterwards to finish the last two chapters and it became a running gag between us. So Shaun, I’m happy to tell you the wait is over and it’s finally done, or at least the first draft is.

Since this is a post about ourselves, I pulled out this old label. It’s for a private label brand we were developing at Beverages & more shortly before I left the company. It wasn’t my idea. The VP of marketing, who himself was a Brit, came up with it and the plan was to have a line of English-style ales to complement some of the others we were working on, like Coastal Fog, Brandenburg Gate and Truman’s True Blue. I guess he thought my name sounded sufficiently English. The initial styles were to be an IPA and an ESB. Anyway, it got scrapped but I still have a few labels left and they’re fun to see. I like the fact that not only am I bitter, but Extra Specially Bitter. That’s me, alright. To read Under the Table, follow this link to the home page. You can either just scroll down as you read or use the chapter numbers in the sidebar to move from chapter to chapter. I confess I’m more than a little nervous that it’s too self-indulgent or just plain crap, but you only learn by doing and this is definitely me just going for it and giving it a try. If you do actually give a read, even just part of it, please let me know what you thought. But please do go easy on me. Not only is it as rough a draft as I could imagine, but it’s very personal, too. Constructive criticism is always appreciated but let’s not be too insulting or harsh. This is my life we’re talking about, after all. My life with beer. Cheers!

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Pyramid Brewing and Magic Hat announced today that they will merge, pursuant to a letter of intent. According to the terms of the agreement, Magic Hat will acquire Pyramid in an all-cash offer and then the two will merge.

From the press release:

The proposed transaction is subject to the negotiation and execution of a definitive merger agreement. The merger agreement will provide for a first-step tender offer for outstanding Pyramid shares by an acquisition entity wholly owned by Magic Hat, to be conditioned upon the acquisition of at least 66 2/3% of the outstanding shares of Pyramid. The tender offer, if consummated, will be followed by a merger of Magic Hat’s acquisition entity with and into Pyramid. The proposed transaction is also subject to the satisfactory completion of a due diligence review by Magic Hat of the business, financial and legal affairs of Pyramid, and receipt of necessary consents and approvals of regulatory agencies and third parties.

The closing of the proposed transaction, subject to the conditions referred to above, is anticipated to occur not later than August 31, 2008. The board of directors of Pyramid has approved the transactions contemplated by the Letter of Intent.

“The combination of these two well established, high profile craft breweries will be very complementary given our respective brand portfolios and the geographies in which we predominantly operate. Additionally, there will be a number of important benefits for Pyramid to be part of a private company versus continuing to operate as a stand alone public entity. This consolidation makes both good strategic and financial sense and is well timed, particularly as the beer industry’s competitive dynamics continue to intensify,” said Pyramid CEO Scott Barnum. “The Company will continue to have offices in Seattle, its historical home, and will seek opportunities to capitalize on the enhanced assets and capabilities of the new combined entity,” he added.

Martin Kelly, CEO of Magic Hat said, “We have a great deal of respect for Pyramid’s brand heritage, award-winning beers and its dedicated employees, and look forward to consummating this transaction, which provides both strategic and financial benefits both to Pyramid’s and Magic Hat’s stakeholders.”

Hmm, not sure what to make of this yet. I’m not generally a fan of small companies becoming bigger through merger, but who knows. There’s certainly no market overlap between the two, so perhaps it will beneficial for both. We’ll have to wait and see.

After initially posting this, an industry insider friend of mine opined offline that he knew that Alan Newman, the owner of Magic Hat, had been looking for a way to get his brands to the left coast. Pyramid has a excellent distribution network which would be very beneficial to Magic Hat in reaching stores shelves out here. Both brands do pretty well in their own markets and so perhaps there is a mutual benefit. As my friend put it, it’s “a real make-sense deal.”

Sam Calagione, the founder of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery in Delaware, is legendary for many things, not least of which is his energy. He could probably tire out my six-year old, Porter. Sam is also a consummate marketer, showman and storyteller. Ask him about walking through Chicago’s O’Hare Airport with a brick of hops. I’ve known Sam for a lot of years. He’s a terrific person, makes great beers and is a wonderful asset to the beer industry. So I was pleased when the Chronicle asked me to do one of their “Uncorked” articles on Sam. Ironically, I got the call from my editor while driving to the Lost Abbey beer dinner near San Diego where I would see Sam and be able to ask him in person about scheduling.

So before an event Monday night at the Toronado introducing, or should I say re-introducing (there used to be some Dogfish Head beers available in Southern California), Dogfish Head beers to California, I sat down with Sam and asked him a series of questions. The article should most likely run in the San Francisco Chronicle on Friday, May 9.

Afterwards, the event was a rousing success with standing room only throughout the evening. Three Dogfish Head beers will be available throughout California: 90 Minute IPA, Midas Touch Golden Elixir and their new Palo Santo Marron, which means literally “Holy Tree Brown.” They were also serving three specialty beers that won’t normally be available: Chateau Jiahu, Immort Ale and the Olde School Barley Wine. These were well paired with three different artisanal cheese; stravecchio, gruyere and a cantal. There were also local distributor folks in the back room for a chance to learn about the beers they will start selling directly from Sam. But Sam was his usual ball of energy and bounced around the bar like a bottle uncorked, shaking hands, handing out cheese and sharing his beer with the crowd. In retrospect, I’m surprised I got him to sit down for as long as I did, but it sure was fun.

Today is Suzanne Woods’ 30th birthday. I met her during my trip to Philadelphia for Philly Beer Week earlier this year. She writes online as the Beer Lass and by day is a salesperson for Sly Fox Brewing outside of Philadelphia. According to her blog, she’ll be celebrating her birthday tonight at Jose Pistolas, and is inviting people to stop by from 6-8 for a birthday toast. Check out a great photo of her in pigtails when she was five. Join me in wishing Suzanne a very happy birthday.

With Suzanne during a visit to Sly Fox Brewing at the beginning of Philly Beer Week.

Outside the Philly Bar, Sidecar, with some colorful local characters at the bar.

While attending the annual Bay Area Firkin Festival in Berkeley a few weeks ago at Triple Rock, I was again struck by this beautiful old ad for Genesee beer in upstate New York.

It’s a great play on words, and got me thinking about the phrase it’s based on: the midnight ride of Paul Revere, which in turn was the inspiration for another beer.

Anchor’s wonderful Liberty Ale, a favorite of mine, was first released today, April 18, in 1975. This date was chosen because it was the 200th anniversary of Paul Revere’s ride, as immortalized in the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem Paul Revere’s Ride, which begins: Listen my children and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five; Hardly a man is now alive Who remembers that famous day and year. Here’s how Anchor describes the beer: A special top-fermenting ale yeast is used during fermentation and is responsible for many of Liberty Ale’s subtle flavors and characteristics. Carbonation is produced by an entirely natural process called “bunging,” which produces champagne-like bubbles. Dry-hopping (adding fresh hops to the brew during aging), imparts a unique aroma to the ale. It is a process rarely used in this country today. As historians will tell you, the poem takes quite a few liberties with the true story, but because of it, Paul Revere is the only one of the three riders that night that is remembered. You can read an account on Wikipedia and there’s also ones on the Patriot Resource and Travel & History. But anything that inspires so fine a beer as Liberty Ale can’t be all bad, so let’s drink a bottle or draft of Liberty Ale tonight and toast Paul Revere. Cheers.

And to add a little culture into the discussion, this is one of my favorite paintings by Grant Wood, called The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere, also based on the poem. Grant Wood is best known for his iconic painting American Gothic but there are some other great works in his oeuvre.

Last summer, Labatt USA moved its headquarters from Connecticut to Buffalo, New York. The Associated Press is reporting that Labatt USA has now added a buffalo to their beer label to reflect their new business location. “Labatt USA President Glen Walter hand-delivered a case of the newly labeled beer to Mayor Byron Brown Thursday. In exchange, Brown proclaimed Thursday ‘Labatt USA Day.’” I can’t find an image of the new label anywhere, but I’m curious to see what it looks like. Is it a blue buffalo?

The official opening of Philly Beer Week began with the tapping of the keg by Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter. I was on hand at the mini-beer festival held at the Marketplace at East Falls. Among the produce stands were twenty brewers sampling their beers and Don Russell was signing copies of his new book, Joe Sixpack’s Philly Beer Guide: A Reporter’s Notes on the Best Beer-Drinking City in America.

Philly Beer Week organizers Tom Peters and Bruce Nichols, along with Don Russel (on the right) as Mayor Michael Nutter says a few words before tapping the keg.

Me and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter.

For many more photos from opening of Philly Beer Week, visit the photo gallery.
 

In early March, during Philly Beer Week, I visited one of Philadelphia’s newest breweries, the Philadelphia Brewing Co., located in the Kensington neighborhood.

Co-owner Nancy Barton, in front of the kegerator. The day we were there, their first beer — Kenzinger — had been tapped for the first time only two days before.

Philadelphia Brewing’s kettles wrapped in heat-saving brick, with brewer John Rehm hard at work.

The exterior of the new Philadelphia Brewing Co., from a flyer.

For more photos of the Philadelphia Brewery, visit the photo gallery.
 

After our historical walk through Philadelphia, we went to a decidedly more modern destination: Triumph Brewing’s Philadelphia brewpub location. Originally started in Princeton, New Jersey and named for the owner’s triumph over the state’s arcane laws prohibiting brewpubs that allowed them to begin brewing in the first place, their third location is the one we visited.

For more photos from my visit to the Triumph Brewpub in Philadelphia, visit the photo gallery.
 

Day two of my Philly Beer Week trip began with a walking tour of the Old City part of town with beer historian Richard Wagner, who runs the fabulous Pennsylvania Brewery Historians website. He took us around to places with historical significance, both beerwise and otherwise.

The Liberty Bell, with Independence Hall across the street through the window.

The Man Full of Troubles Tavern, built in 1759 and the earliest colonial pub still standing.

For more photos from my historical walking tour of Philadelphia, visit the photo gallery.