Craft Brewers Conference: Keynote and Opening Session, 5.3.2012

Brooklyn Brewery Sorachi Ace (Saison) for the morning toast    

This morning I woke up at the ass crack of dawn* to make it to the keynote and opening speakers at the Craft Brewers Convention.  There were a handful of speakers including Mayor Jerry Sanders, Congressman Peter DeFazio, Paul Gatza (Director of the Brewers Association), and the keynote by Steve Hindy, founder of Brooklyn Brewery. Since keynotes are kinda you-had-to-be-there kinda things, I just wanna share some interesting factoids I picked up. I mean, I have to act like I earned this badge, right??

In 2011:

• Craft beer was up 1.3 million barrels
• Brewers sold 11.5 million barrels
• There were 250 new brewery openings
• There are 915 breweries in planning
• 270 breweries brew less than 100 barrels
• 174 microbreweries opened; 12 closed
• 28.4% growth in microbreweries
• There are 367 more breweries than in 2007
• 179 craftbrewers are canning 73 styles of beer
• There are 1940 total craft breweries operating. Of those, 1083 are brewpubs, 789 are micros, 88 are regional crafts
• The top three styles by sales (in order) are Seasonals, IPAs, and Pale Ale. This is the first year that IPAs outsold Pale Ales. 
• California leads in breweries with 280 followed by Washington (134), Colorado (127), Oregon (121), Michigan (102)
• Vermont leads in most breweries per capita. 

So there ya go and now you know. Now I'm off to get a more direct education about all of these fantastic brews. 

*I know 7:45 isn't the "ass crack of dawn" to most people, but when going to bed early means 3:30 a.m., it is.

Craft Brewers Conference: Opening Reception @ San Diego Zoo, 5.2.2012

Last night, the Craft Brewers Conference kicked off with an opening reception at the San Diego Zoo. As I picked up my badge from the Town and Country, I overheard a brewer laughing. "Yeah, I called my wife and told her we were taking a field trip to the Zoo." While all of the exhibits were closed, there were plenty of beers to be had. The breweries brought out their big dog beers and, well, it is hard not to try one of everything- and in some cases- two or three of the same. Since I'm not close to a beer expert nor a beer snob, I'll just say there was only one beer I had a hard time drinking because it was a little too smoky, everything else was pretty damn good, though Harlot by Societe takes my choice for most appropriate name, based on how I was feeling after I drank it. I pretty much just shot photos of the beers I tried and I'd say if you can get your hands on any of these, you'll find yourself in a happy (and hoppy) place.

Craft Brewers Conference: O'Brien's Events for CBC Week

As Mike Bebee mentioned in his previous post, there is a whole slew of events going on this week for the Craft Beer Conference and the World Beer Cup taking place right NOW in San Diego! I am trying my best to find some time this week to sneak over to the conference, but I thought it would be worth sharing some of the incredible events lined up at one of my favorite bars in San Diego, O'Brien's Pub. Check the event list after the break.

Wednesday, 5/2: Firestone, Sierra Nevada and Nor Cal Night with a cask of Hollister Porter. We have a ton of great specialty beer from Northern California from the likes of Marin, Russian River, Speakeasy, Bear Republic, Drakes, Firestone and Sierra Nevada. Some of the beers are already on tap like the Bear Republic Roggenbier (Rye Beer) and Drake's Denogginizer double IPA. Tyson has been working with Sierra Nevada and Firestone to bring in some great specialty beers, so be sure to check the Facebook page for what he will be tapping that night. The cask from Hollister will be a special treat you will not want to miss. Look for Cesar's awesome Taco Night specials from the kitchen.

Thursday, 5/3: Ballast Point Smoking Hot Night. When we did this event earlier in the year for our anniversary in January, it turned out to be one of my favorite Ballast Point nights at the pub. The boys at the brewery have mixed up some very special beers for us including 2 amazing casks - Habanero Sculpin and Black Eye (Big Eye and Black Marlin blend) with Scorpion Peppers. On tap we will have Black Marlin Porter with cocoa nibs, chipotle and orange peel, Indra Kunindra Curry Stout (it has cayenne peppers in it), Wahoo Wheat with lime, ginger and red thai chilis (it makes you want to eat curry), Yellowtail with roasted serranos, Calico with dried guajillos, Smoke Screen Smoked Helles with Jalapenso (brewer Colby Chandler's faux chipotle ale - a smoked beer with jalapenos, instead of a beer with smoked jalapenos. Very clever that Colby) and finally a new creation that I am very excited about - Navigator Doublebock with dried cascabel and habanero peppers. I got to smell the dried peppers for this beer and the dried fruit aromas were insane, I can't wait to try it.

Friday, 5/4: Artisinal Imports Night with La Trappe, St. Feuillien, Bosteels, Urthel and Bockor (makers of the Cuvee des Jacobins). Unfortunately, Lodewijck from La Trappe is sick and did not travel to San Diego for the conference. So I am working to see who will be at the pub representing the breweries. Look for more updates later in the week on Facebook and Twitter. We will have lots of great draft beer and several batches of the La Trappe Barrel Aged Quadrupel no matter what along with the very tasty St. Feuillien Grand Cru, which is on the bottle list now.

Saturday, 5/5: Green Flash Day at the Pub. We have a number of great specialty beers tucked away from this wonderful brewery including Winter's Folly, Imperial IPA, West Coast IPA, Hamilton's 5th Anniversary Ale, Barleywine and bottles of the delicious Rayon Vert (Green Flash in French). We will also be getting a keg of the Founders/GFBC collaboration White IPA and Chuck just might send a few other goodies our way as well.

Tom Nickel
O'Brien's Pub
Bailey Barbecue
Julian Brewing Company
San Diego International Beer Festival

Things To Do In San Diego: Craft Brewers Conference Edition

It’s no secret that as craft beer lovers we have an embarrassment of riches here in San Diego with the seemingly endless supply of great brews from amazing local breweries. But this week is enough to get even the most dedicated SD beer fan drooling over as the top brewers from all around the nation visit America’s Finest City for the 2012 Craft Brewers Conference. Now, all of the “official” CBC events are limited to conference attendees only, but if you don’t have a badge that’s no reason to miss out on some great opportunities to sample some beer not typically (if ever) available in Southern California.

Most of the craft beer bars around town have a full slate of special kegs and casks on this week available to ALL of us, not just badge holders. It’s a schedule so packed that I’ve even heard of some breweries asking some bars for “the special favor” of putting their beer on for one night this week. This list is in no way exhaustive and is just a small sampling of what what caught my eye or what will be the most popular and widely anticipated events around town. I’d recommend getting there early and often. If I missed anything too great to pass up be sure to let me know on the twitters (@mikebeebe). For even more CBC Events (some official, some not) check the Conference’s event weppage here: http://www.craftbrewersconference.com/cbc-week-events or the calendar over at http://www.craftbeer.com/pages/news-and-events/calendar. Again, I’m only posting two or three per night and only through Friday, but rememeber there are a TON of additional options out there. Drink up! (Events after the jump)