Pacific Brew News

I got the text message Monday that Peter and Brittney Hoey were on their way to the hospital, time (some might say ‘finally’) to give birth to their first born. The message was simple, “OK, this time it’s for real“. The next morning (1/29) a follow up announcing Lorelai’s birth, at 10:56 AM [...]

Beer Enthusiasts, mark your calendars.
In checking new TTB approvals, I found that Port Brewing just received label approval for their Shark Attack Double Red, which is due to be released in February according to the man in charge down there, Tomme Arthur. This is a 9% big red ale and this is the first [...]

I ran across an interesting (mildly) piece in BrandWeek about A-B plans to tout their import brands in the near future. While it focused a bit on their ad campaigns, I found it interesting that the import market had such a seemingly big lag in late 2007 – growing only 1.8% versus the 2.4% [...]

If you’re a fan of Ani DiFranco, you’ll know that lyric. It isn’t really a life-guiding statement for me, but more and more it seems like a good idea. Why? I don’t fully know, but it just seems necessary – and not just for beer. Reading a few blogs today got [...]

Yes, that’s right, Russian River’s famed Pliny the Younger is on tap, as of today. This won’t last too long, so if you can make it out there in the next couple of weeks, do so. For those who don’t know, Younger is Vinnie’s “Triple IPA”, a hopped up super beer with more [...]

We left our house mid-afternoon on Friday, headed to Monterey – our favorite winter destination of the past 7 years or so. We go primarily to see the monarch butterflies on their winter migration, they arrive in November and leave in February. I’ll get to that later, but for now, let’s start from [...]

I made my first trip into Total Wine today, a chain-type place that has done well for itself back east and is now coming into California. I have only a few thoughts.

While the beer selection is vast, there is little that we haven’t seen before. That said, there were a few nuggets there [...]

Just returning from Phoenix, where the DRAFT offices are, and I already miss the near-perfect weather they’re having there this time of year – sunny, cool (not cold), clear and clean. The city’s already humming with anticipation for two major events happening next weekend: the Super Bowl and FBR Open – each bringing in [...]

I’m back in Phoenix doing some work for the next issue of DRAFT, so don’t expect a whole lot from here this week. I woke up this morning around 4:30, left the house at 5 and was on a plane at 6. Upon arriving at 9 it was straight to the office where [...]

Last night found me and my lovely wife in Sacramento’s most beloved brewery, Rubicon, for what we thought would be a quick drink before getting home at a reasonable hour. We were both a bit tired and looked forward to a relaxing weekend ahead of us – we were clearly not out for a [...]