The Brookston Family Blog
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Not the amendment itself, of course, but the San Francisco brewpub had its fifth anniversary party today and we took the kids. The brewpub’s balcony was set up just for kids, which worked out well for us.

Owners Nico and Shaun in prohibition era costumes announce the beginning of festivities.

Porter in the kids area.

Porter tries on a Hulk hat.

Outside Porter tries his hand at bubbles.

With excellent results.

Friends Dave, Fal and Pete at the party.

Brewer Shaun opens a bottle of something yummy.

Saturday morning I woke up feeling refreshed and very glad I made the trip to Portland this year. It felt great to just let go and enjoy myself without worrying about the kids. Lisa and Mark took Tom and me to a really cool place for lunch called Concordia Ale House. Besides having a fabulous beer selection and great food, it had the added advantage of being on the way to the airport.

Me, Tom, Mark & Lisa in front of the three pink elephants. There’s an interesting story about the mural. It turns out that the building used to be a speakeasy called the Pink Elephant. The mural was discovered during renovations hidden behind several layers of wallpaper and paint along with an old matchbook that gave away the original name.

The last few years, Elysian Brewing Co. of Seattle has been hosting an after-fest gathering at Stumptown Coffee, just a few blocks from Waterfront Park. This year my cousin Matt, who recently moved to Portland, and Sean, a great friend who also lives there met me at the festival after work and the three of us ambled over to Stumptown in the early evening.

Celebrator writer Lisa and our co-host for the evening, head brewer Dick.

My cousin Matt and my buddy Sean.

Outside Stumptown, from left, Lisa’s hubby Mark, John from Full Sail, Jessie (who’s party we went to the night before), and Jessie’s girlfriend.

Sean’s wife Ann came to pick up Sean toward the end of the evening.

Friday began early at the media tasting at 11 a.m. Noelle Blake, whose winning recipe became Ommegang’s Three Philosophers, generally leads the tour taking newspaper, tv, and us beer writers around the empty festival and tastes all of us on some of his favorites.

From left, the other Bob B., Celebrator editor Tom, Celebrator writer Lisa, and John, a reporter from the Oregonian.

This year the Celebrator booth had its back to the water and, as usual, we were next to the good people of HopUnion.

With Tom, behind our booth.

Me and Ralph, from HopUnion.

By our booth, from left, John (head brewer at Full Sail Brewing), Tom, and Fred Bowman, co-founder of Portland Brewing Co.

Some of the beer highlights of the festival included (in no particular order):

Yuzu’s Belgian-Style Golden Ale (Elysian Brewing)
Black Gold Imperial Stout (Full Sail Brewing)
Organic Deranger (Laurelwood Public House & Brewery)
Flip-Flop Pilsner (Walking Man Brewing)
Halo (Widmer Brothers Brewing)

There were many other fine beers, a lot of which I’d tasted before so this list is essentially only beers which were new to me.

In the afternoon, I took a short break from the festival to visit a view-master dealer I’ve gotten to know through eBay. He brought out some cool stuff for me to see and some to even buy to add to my collection.

Greg, with some of his stuff.

Tom and I left Oakland at 5 a.m and 11 hours later arrived in Portland just in time for the beginning of the Oregon Brewers Festival.

Chris, the P.R. goddess for the festival, and Tom, my ride to Portland.

We were at the fest until nine then had dinner at Lauro, a cool mediterranean restaurant near my friends Lisa and Mark’s place. After that we went to Root’s, a new Portland brewpub (where I had a terrific Imperial IPA) and then to a party at Jessie’s place (Jessie used to be a bartender at the Toronado in San Francisco). Also there were Vinnie and Natalie from Russian River Brewing, among others.

Tomorrow way freakin’ early I’m leaving for a quick trip to Portland, Oregon for the Oregon Brewers Festival. It’s probably the second best beer festival in the country (after GABF), and I’m looking forward to seeing many beer friends. I’ll be driving up with my former Celebrator boss Tom and then flying back Saturday afternoon in time to meet Sarah and the kids at Safari West in Sonoma County.

Because I’m traveling light, I won’t be able to post to the blog until I return home on Sunday. So look for several days worth of postings either Sunday evening or first thing Monday morning.

Our friends, Randy and Pamela, recently tied the knot in Kauai, which is our favorite Hawaiian island. Pamela is the Celebrator’s long-suffering (we tease her endlessly) copy editor. Publisher Tom threw a little Celebrator party at Tommy’s Mexican Restaurant in San Francisco, the best place north of the border for tequila.

The happy couple, Randy and Pamela.

The Celebrator gang at Tommy’s.

Graphics Director Ken and Kathy’s delightful daughter Lucy, after downing her own pitcher of margarita’s with a straw.

I spent the afternoon at San Francisco’s 21st Amendment Brewery near the ballpark in China Basin. I was there to interview founders Shaun & Nico for a profile which will be in the next issue of the Celebrator Beer News. 21st Amendment’s five year anniversary is in August of this year.

Shaun & Nico in the front of their brewpub.

After the beer festival, the brewery hosts a dinner for the participating breweries and local beer family. Several local pigs are caught in the wild and cooked in banana leaves in coals buried in the ground for a full day. A delicious feast is then put out Saturday evening before the post-festival revelry begins in earnest. Many of the remaining kegs of beer can be found at campsites throughout the brewery grounds as everyone parties well into the night. Unfortunately, this year the rain began lightly during the feast. By nightfall, it was raining heavily, effectively dampening the festivities. With the addition of Mother’s Day being the following morning, fewer revelers braved the elements well into wee hours as is usually the case. We huddled in our sleeping bag and fell asleep to the sound of rain beating on our tent. But it was still a great time.

In the Anderson Valley horse-drawn wagon next to the bonfire after we ate.

Porter kicks around a ball with some of the brewers after the festival.

Here’s a Quicktime movie of Porter kicking a ball with some of the brewers after the festival. The brewer he kicks the ball to at the end is Beach Chalet head brewer Aaron (or is that Erin - I can’t remember). You can either download the movie to your desktop or just click on the link to play it in your web browser (assuming your web browser has the quicktime plug-in installed).

During the first part of the beer festival, we watched Lucy, our friends Ken and Cathy’s 2-year old daughter, while they were on stage with the Rolling Boil Blues Band, which is the Celebrator Beer News house band. After our walk in the morning, Porter fell asleep during the walk to the festival and slept through the first hour or so of the shindig. Lucy and Alice played together and it turns out Alice really needs a doll. She seemed very taken with Lucy’s doll and kept playing with it. Once Porter woke up, he and Lucy chased each other around a nearby tree, played with a large stick and generally had a great time. It was nice seeing him actually interacting with another kid and seemingly getting along so well.

Lucy, Sarah and Alice at the fest.

Porter and Lucy holding hands!?! What’s up with that?

Braving the threat of rain, we left Friday afternoon for the 9th annual Boonville Beer Festival in Mendocino County, about two hours north of our house. Boonville is, however, while not in the middle of nowhere, certainly near it. This was Porter’s third trip to the festival, which takes place on Saturday afternoon. Each year we camp on the brewery’s beautiful grounds, which are opened up to brewers and other beer worthies. In the morning Porter woke up earlier than usual. I took him for a walk so Alice and Sarah could sleep in, which they did - until 10!

Passing the infamous Cyndee on our way to see the horses.

Back at the campsite, Porter begging for a Svenhard Cinnamon Horn, with last nights beer remnants visible in the foreground.

This weekend is the 9th annual Boonville Beer Festival and we’ve started getting our stuff together for our annual camping trip to the festival. Porter uncharacteristically decided to wear my Anderson Valley Brewing hat.

Aw, shucks, maam. This ain’t no ten-gallon hat, it’s pint sized, like me.

Last night was the 17th annual Celebrator Beer News party, which was held at the Trumer Brauerei in Berkeley (it’s the former Golden Pacific Brewery). I worked the front gate most of the night and had a chance to see many, many good beer friends. Here are a few photos from the event.

Vinnie and Natalie from Russian River Brewing Co. presented to Tom Dalldorf (middle), owner of the Celebrator, a Balthazar of their yummy Damnation Ale in honor of the magazine’s 17th anniversary. A Balthazar is 12 liters or contains about 16 normal bottles of beer.

Ron Lindenbusch, from Lagunitas Brewing Co. in Petaluma with a friend from New York along with yours truly.

Matt Salie, formerly with Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. and now recently relocated to the Sacramento area with Trumer Brauerei.

Stephen Beaumont and his friend Maggie, both in from Toronto, Canada for the event.

Today is the beginning of the annual Barleywine Festival at San Francisco’s Toronado. I thought I’d make a quick appearance this morning to say hello to old friends and drink a few yummy beers. I saw a lot of people and had a few nice beers. I wish I could have stayed longer, but before long it was time to get back to the kids.

Melissa Myers, brewer at Drake’s Brewing Co. in San Leandro.

Me, pleasantly sandwiched between good friends Lisa Morrison and Mark Campbell, down from Portland for Beerapalooza week in the Bay Area.

On Saturday, we continued our tasting of barleywines and also tasted a flight of smoked or rauchbiers. The cast was almost the same at Celebrator HQ.

Top row, from left: Me, Pete Slosberg, and Tom Dalldorf. Bottom row, from left: Bob Coleman and Paul Marshall.