Last month, Sterling Epicure published Brewed Awakening, the first book from Imbibe features writer and beer columnist Joshua Bernstein. Though the world of beer books is already a crowded one, Bernstein’s book definitely stuck out to me as one of the best of the bunch. In fact, here’s what I had to say about the book upon it’s release;

Now, I know that there’s a lotof craft beer books out there. The trick these days isn’t to write about the topic well, but to approach it in a new, interesting way. I went into Bernstein’s book a skeptic (”joy, another *yawn* book about the growth of craft beer”), and came out a true believer.

The genius behind Brewed Awakening is that it doesn’t waste time covering topics explored by dozens of other beer books. Bernstein doesn’t devote chapters and chapters to the fall and rise of good beer in America, the history of brewing, how to homebrew and the science behind beer. Instead, he speeds through them in a couple of pages. The real meat of the book is the here and now of craft brewing, with hundreds of interviews with industry insiders and reviews of plenty of brews.

The book dances from topic to topic, profiling styles new (Cascadian Dark Ale) and old (Gose), and devoting pages to recent trends like barrel-aging and “green” brewing. Where many beer books are devoted to brewing’s history and recent past, Brewed Awakening has both feet in the present of the industry with an eye on the future. It’s hard to say if the writing will feel as vital five or ten years down the road, but right now it’s a comprehensive overview of the craft beer landscape in 2011.

The author was kind enough to take a few minutes away from his book tour to answer a few questions for the Hop Press.

Josh Christie: As the world of craft brewing seems to be exploding in popularity, the number of beer books coming out every year is increasing practically exponentially. How does Brewed Awakening differ from the beer guides and “best beer” books already out there?

Josh Bernstein: When I set out to write Brewed Awakening, I took a long, hard look at the state of beer books. I noticed that there were tons of bucket-list beer books on the market, as well as plenty of books detailing the lengthy history of brewing. I didn’t want to simply follow this template with a few tweaks.

Instead, I feel that the most compelling part of craft brewing are the character that create the beer. Thus, I decided to focus on telling the stories of the brewers, bar owners and drinkers that are driving the revolution.

The short answer is, 18 months from start to finish. But I’ve been covering the craft beer industry for about six or seven years now. I’ve spent that time interviewing hundreds of brewers, bar owners and passionate drinkers, which has given me a great feel for the pulse of craft brewing in America and around the world.

For the book, the trick was making sure the information felt vital. So, I took a bit of a crystal-ball approach with certain trends that I saw as taking off: black IPAs, the rise of ancient styles of beer, saisons, etc. For people that are constantly surrounded by great beer, we often forget that craft beer is still a very small part of the beer landscape. For instance, IPAs are only now really reaching critical mass at supermarkets.

Indeed. Up until the final deadline, I was keeping close tabs on the information in my book. I had to change brewers’ titles, the names of beers, seasonal-release schedules and on and on. But there comes a point when you just have to stop and send the book into the word.

Nonetheless, I feel confident that I created a document that will stay current and vital for several years to come. The thing is, I’ve focused on the stories of the people, and the stories of their struggles, passion and creativity won’t go out of date.

One of the greatest things about craft beer is that it’s fun. Oftentimes, this gets lost in the mix when people focus on the minutiae: ABVs and IBUs, wild yeasts and bourbon barrels. Look, I love this stuff as much as the next beer geek, but beer should enable conversation, not be the sole topic of conversation.

Thus, I tried to interject the subject matter with humor and, hopefully, a fun, engaging voice. For seven years, I wrote a weekly column for the New York Press, where I was able to develop an idiosyncratic writing voice.

I started my writing career covering the bar beat, spending my evenings bending elbows at bars. Over time, I became less interested in spending my endless nights at the bars and I became more interested in what was being served behind the bar—namely, craft beer.

More and more, my stories gravitated to craft beer. I approached the subject matter from a more objective, journalistic perspective, but with a dash of humor and fun. Soon, my gigs at the Press led to assignments from Time Out, then Imbibe and New York and, eventually, Gourmet.com hired me on to man their online beer coverage. One thing led to the next and, over time, my book publishers noticed my writing and, well, the rest is history.

As I mentioned earlier, the heart of the craft-brewing movement is the brewers and bar owners that are flying in the face of common sense. The industry is made up of a million David-vs.-Goliath stories. To me, these tales are the most engaging component of the craft beer revolution. Yes, that pint tastes terrific, but what was its journey from the brewer’s head to the kettle?

The world of craft beer is, obviously, one filled with one-of-a-kind events and big personalities. What were some of your favorite experiences white researching and writing your book?

Overall, I was struck by just how far and wide craft brewing has infiltrated America. Yes, we talk about cities such as Portland, Oregon, and Seattle with reverence, but it’s spots like leafy Athens, Ohio, where Jackie O’s makes marvelous barrel-aged beers, as well as Worth Brewing in teeny-tiny Northwood, Iowa, and the wild yeast magicians at Hooksett, New Hampshire’s White Birch that are bringing craft beer to cities where it may not been so commonplace. This is not an urban movement. It’s a national awakening of craft beer consciousness.

We were trying to find a way to utilize all the available space on the book. The publisher had the idea to make a poster of sorts, but I struck upon the idea to make the map of selected drafts. To be honest, the map was a bit of a logistical nightmare to make, but I think it turned out super-well in the end.

You can buy Brewed Awakening wherever fine books are sold, including your local independent bookstore, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon.

Some basic stats about New England and the 2011 GABF:

• Total breweries in attendance: 466
• Breweries from New England attending: 14

So, New England apparently made up a very small chunk (3%) of the nearly 500 breweries pouring brews. (At some point, I want to map out all the breweries in New England and figure out what percentage of all the craft breweries in the U.S. they represent, but I digress…) But they were there, alright. And, it turns out, they were winning some serious medals.

This year, there were 7 medals awarded to New England Breweries (out of the 249 medals awarded) which included 3 gold medals, 1 silver and 3 bronze. [See a list of all the 2011 winners]

New England breweries winning medals in 2011:

• Cambridge Brewing Company – Heather Ale (Herb and Spice Beer) [Bronze]
• Samuel Adams – Chocolate Chili Bock – (Chocolate Beer) [Silver]
• Samuel Adams  - Chocolate Bock – (Chocolate Beer) [Bronze]
• Smuttynose Brewing Company  - Wheat Wine Ale (Other Strong Beer) [Gold]
• Allagash – Confluence (American Style Brett Ale) [Gold]
• Samuel Adams – Octoberfest (German Style Marzen) [Bronze]
• Samuel Adams - Latitude 48 Hallertau Mittelfrueh (English Style IPA) [Gold]

Number of GABF medals awarded to New England Breweries from 2007-2011

I was honestly surprised to see a downturn this year after a three-year trend but then I thought further. I’ve read a few bloggers say that there was a disappointingly few number of actual brewers pouring, so this may be evidence that there were external factors that might have made make it less likely for a brewery (especially a small one) to attend. Additionally, the number of craft breweries in attendance (14 this year) from New England is down from 16 the previous year. Without data on the number of beers entered each year, I’m not sure what to make of the trend.

What does make me happy though is that there are breweries that are pretty small still making an appearance and picking up some honors. This year, I think that Cambridge Brewing Company embodies the throngs of small brewers in New England who make some excellent beer. The remaining 2011 New England winners are significantly larger in size and distribution, adding some validity to the theory that this year may have been more difficult for the “little guys” to enter. Last year, medals were awarded to many more small-scale New England Breweries (including Portsmouth Brewery, Prodigal Brewing (NH), The Alchemist (VT), Haverhill (MA) and Trinity (RI)).

Some food for thought. For me, I’m proud of all of the wonderful beer made in New England, whether it gets shipped out to Colorado to be judged or not. Cheers!

One of the first things you learn in the pursuit of good beer, is the difference between lagers and ales – to recap, ales are fermented at warm temperature and utilize a strain of yeast called Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This yeast is the same as that used in bread and wine making (although individual strains have important differences, they are still the same species). In contrast, lagers are fermented at cooler temperatures for a longer time, lending the finished product fewer esters and a generally “cleaner” product. The strain of yeast used for lagers is called, S. pastorianus (S. carlsbergensis in some older sources) long standing question has been, “What makes these strains of yeast different?”.

Lager yeast

Several groups have taken a crack at this problem, and a few years ago, the genome of the lager strain Weihenstephan 34/70 was sequenced, revealing that the strain was an allotetraploid – basically a hybrid, consisting of some genetic material from the ale-type S. cerevisiae and some genetic material from another yeast type (S. bayanus). This genome analysis revealed that the S. bayanus type DNA was important for several of the known characteristics of lager brewing, particularly sugar uptake efficiency, high sulfite production (that sulfurous flavour that some young lagers have is important for flavour stability), and production of sugar polymers that are important for yeast flocculation.

Even with this knowledge, it was unclear where the S. bayanus type DNA in the lager yeast genome came from… extensive surveys had never found a yeast that was identical to that found in the S. pastorianus.  The Portuguese group seems to have solved this problem, identifying a yeast strain that is 99.5% identical to the S. bayanus portion of the domesticated lager yeast genome – a strain they term S. eubayanus.  Intriguingly, although the well-established origin of lager brewing dates to 15th century Bavaria, the yeast found by the Portuguese group was found on beech trees in Patagonia.

Huh?  Patagonia?  This result was a little surprising to both the researchers and to others who follow this sort of thing, but it may make sense from an ecological point of view.  Trees serve as hosts to a number of bacterial pathogens, some of which produce galls on the tree – these galls divert sugars from the plant to the pathogen, thereby giving the pathogen an energy source.

Beech tree gall - source of S. eubayanus. Photo credit: Diego Libkind

Yeast of the Saccharomyces genus are well-adapted to growing on concentrated sugar sources, and so these galls are often also colonized by yeast that make use of the abundant sugars present.  Hardwood trees at middle/northern latitudes are often colonized by yeast that are tolerant of both cold (cryotolerant) and that prefer warmer temperatures (thermotolerant), due to the seasonal nature of the climate.  In contrast, the beech trees on the Patagonia plateau experience more or less constant low temperatures year round (average temperature 6-8°C) and so we might expect selection for more cryotolerant species in this environment.

The authors propose that sometime during the 15th century, yeast from these Patagonian strains somehow made their way to a brewery and formed a hybrid with the ale-type S. cerevisiae then in use.  These hybrids were then under positive selection within the brewery environment and became enriched over time.  The main problem with this model as I see it is that there was no trans-Atlantic trade between Patagonia and Europe until at least the early 16th century with most settlement coming much later.  This discrepancy leaves a sizable 150-200 year gap in the record between the recorded beginnings of lager production in Bavaria and any sizable trade between Europe and Patagonia.  Although it’s clear that the authors have found the true source of the non-cerevisiae portion of modern brewing strains (genetics doesn’t lie), I suspect that these strains evolved after the original low-temperature brewing strains that were in use from ~1400-1600.  It is possible that other hybrids of cold-tolerant European yeast may have formed early but have since been lost due to competition from better adapted Patagonian hybrids. Further molecular archaeology may shed further light on these possibilities (anybody out there have any samples of lager from the 15th century?).  No matter how you slice it – the discovery of the yeast responsible for lager production is something worthy of raising a toast.  Prost!

The calendar for beer festivals in Maine is getting more crowded every year. The Maine Lakes Brew Fest, Central Maine Brew Fest, Ebenezer’s Belgian Beer Festival and the perennially popular Maine Brewer’s Festival are big happenings every summer – and that’s not to mention all the smaller events put on by breweries and restaurants. Just a month ago, the Maine Brewer’s Guild joined the fray with Craft Beer Comes to Boothbay.

On Labor Day Weekend, there’s one more big momma of an event to mark on your calendar – the first-ever Portland Brew Festival.

Advertised as Portland’s “newest  and most exciting brew festival,” the Portland Brew Festival is bringing over 25 breweries (and 75+ beers) to the Old Port on September 3rd and 4th. Breweries from all over New England will be in attendance, from newbies like Baxter Brewing to stalwarts Narragansett Brewing and Shipyard. Also in attendance are a couple cider- and mead-makers, as well as a handful of homebrewers.

Tickets to any of the events’ three sessions – Saturday evening and Saturday and Sunday afternoons – are $30.

The Portland Brew Festival does a lot of things I really like at beer shindigs. Multiple afternoon sessions make for a slightly less rowdy crowd (less pre-gamers), and a generous number of drink tickets mean you can sample without feeling too stressed about your choices. Good food and a huge number of breweries (and cider and mead brewers) add that variety that can be missing at smaller fests.

Coupons to restaurants in Portland, a foodie paradise, ain’t bad, either.

Event organizer Mak Sprague was kind enough to answer some questions about the event for the Hop Press.

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How did you come to craft beer in Maine? Do you work in the business, or are you simply an advocate for good, local beer?

I’m a novice home brewer so I’m definitely a fan of craft beers, and of course, whenever I travel, I love to sample local beers, preferably on location at the  brewery.  My folks have been hosting the annual Maine Boatbuilders Show and Portland Flower Show for 25 years, and it seemed like time to bring a festival of this kind to the city.

Nationally and locally, beer festivals are becoming more popular every year. How is the Portland Brew Festival different than the other Maine beer fests?

Maine has some awesome beers and nearly every festival in the state focuses on just these great in-state brewers, but I made the conscious decision to invite brewers from across the region–there are so many up-and-coming brewers and unknowns who should be known… I want the people who come to this festival to leave with an “aha” moment about a brewer or beer or cider they discovered here.  I’m also coming at this from a homebrewer background.  I’ve been to a number of festivals, but never one where they are brewing live at the event.

Which brewers will be attending the Portland Brew Festival? Is the aim to showcase a specific type of craft brewer, or Maine and New England brewers in general?

It’s all about regional and beyond.  We’re excited about so many of the exhibitors:  Naragansett out of Rhode Island; Switchback Brewing from Vermont; and Tuckerman Brewing from New Hampshire.  Of course, it wouldn’t be a Maine festival without our own Shipyard, Baxter Brewing, Sea Dog, and Sebago Brewing.   We are still adding participants, and the lineup is strong and very regional, as hoped.

Maine-made mead and cider have really taken off in the last year or two here in New England. Will any meaderys or cidermakers be in attendance?

Absolutely. Woodchuck Cider [Vermont]; Fatty Bampkins and Kennebec Cider [Maine]  are confirmed along with Portland’s own Maine Mead Works, and we hope to add others in the next week or so.

The information on the festival notes that it includes “home-brewing supplies and demonstrations.” How will homebrewers be involved with the event?

The exhibitors will be showcasing equipment and supplies, and the experts will be on hand to answer brewing questions and help folks either get started or move to the next level in their brewing.  The tractor-powered cider equipment that my father and I built has been delivered to the buildings, and we are bringing in equipment so we can brew beer during the event.  That should put a great smell in the air.

How are your sponsors – Maine Today Media, Sail Maine and LiveME – involved with the fest?

Maine Today is being a fantastic media partner and really helping us promote the event.  LiveME is our official apparel provider and we are working with Sail Maine to support their grassroots sailing programs.  A portion of the ticket sales will be donated to this great cause… it’s a natural fit.

Are ticket sales capped at a certain number of attendees?

No more than 2,000 tickets will be sold per session…we want folks to have the space and time to move around and engage with the exhibitors, and we believe that is a comfortable number.

What does a ticket to one of the sessions buy an attendee? Are beer samples limited to a certain number of drink tickets?

First off, as they come through the front door, each visitor will get a show program with 24 tear-out drink tickets.  Each brewer has their own page describing their brews so that readers can decide where they want to go.  We will have 2 buildings of brewers and another building just for homebrewing displays and live brewing on-site.   BBQ and other local fare will be for sale on site, and the program will have discount coupons to various places within walking distance in the Old Port so folk can create their own after-party.

Is it exciting to be able to host an event right in the heart of the Old Port?

I’ve been dreaming about this for years–I ‘m very excited and really looking forward to a successful event where attendees leave looking forward to the next one!

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For more information on the first Portland Brew Fest, check out portlandbrewfestival.com.

The summer is a great time for festivals, parties and brouhahas, and that definitely includes the world of craft beer. About a week ago, I had the pleasure of attending two first-time beer events here in New England. It’s a hell of a lot of fun to attend beer-centric functions on their first time out. Sure, you inevitably run into a few kinks that get ironed out as the years go on, but that first time crackles with the excitement of attendees and organizers who are thrilled to kick off a new tradition.

The main event was Craft Beer Comes to Boothbay, an event that pulled together well-nigh every brewery in Maine. For three hours on July 30th, more than 20 breweries poured beer inside and outside the nearly-finished Boothbay Craft Brewery. The impressive cadre of Maine brewers were joined by very special guest from Delaware – Sam Calagione and Dogfish Head. For those that don’t know, Calagione’s Maine connections run deep – the brewery is actually named for a chunk of Southport Island. As much fun as it was to see Sam holding court at the Dogfish booth, it was an even bigger joy watching the man sample – and geek out about – beer from Maine brewers big and small.

And the beer. My friends, the beer. Though this was the first time for this fest, the brewers all brought their A-game in a big way. Most every brewery had plenty of their flagship beers running through their taps: Baxter with Pamola and Stowaway, Maine Beer with Peeper, Sheepscot with Pemaquid, et cetra and so on and so forth. On top of this standard fare, there were some real treasures in the bunch. Sebago brought some of their Frye’s Leap dry-hopped with Citra, and Marshall Wharf poured bourbon barrel aged Old 58. Dogfish ran 120 Minute IPA and Bitches Brew through Randalls filled with coffee and hops.

There were even a couple brand-new brews in the bunch. Rising Tide introduced Atlantis, a smoked black ale, and Allagash poured (the apparently festival-only) Mattina Rossa. There was also a Rising Tide – Allagash – Maine Beer collaboration in the form of Backseat Lovin’, a Belgian Rye Pale Ale.

In terms of actual setup, the event ran incredibly smoothly considering the 700+ attendees. A quick trip from the local fire department parking lot put everyone at the festival, and the line at the gate moved quickly. Three large tents on the front lawn covered most of the brewers’ booths, and Atlantic and Dogfish holed up inside the brewery. Off to the side, a free spread of Southern BBQ was available for munching. An occasional line popped up here and there, but for the most part there was absolutely no waiting for beer. By design or happy accident, festgoers didn’t have any drink tickets for samples – you could just approach a booth and sample away. The outfit that catered the event was pouring the actual beer samples, so most of the brewers were either wandering the event or at their booths answering questions.

In my profile of the Boothbay Craft Brewery, I tried to stress how important local involvement is to the Mitchells. This was absolutely apparent in the event, which involved both Maine brewers and local businesses. Boothbay’s Spruce Point Inn provided the barbecue, and free desserts came from Mc Seagulls Restaurant and Boathouse Bistro. Shuttles, an essential part of any beer event, were sent by Wiscasset Ford, Spruce Point Inn and Rocktide Trolley. If the measure of an event’s success is an invested community, I expect Craft Beer Comes to Boothbay to be around for a long while.

As I alluded to in my intro, there were a couple kinks that come with a first-time fest. The fact that brewers weren’t pouring their own beers wasn’t a big deal, except for when their booths got abandoned. Once or twice, I had a question about a beer that couldn’t be answered simply because no one from the brewery was at their table. The lack of a great sound system made Sam and Win’s speeches about halfway through the event tough to hear if you were paying attention and impossible to decipher if you weren’t nearby.  A map of the event would have been a plus, and I spent a good chunk of time getting the lay of the land and navigating the fest. However, as these were the biggest problems at Craft Beer Comes to Boothbay, it would be tough to call it anything but a success.

When you arrive at the Boothbay Craft Brewery, the first things you see are a 100-year-old car and a 200-year-old building. Next are the names of other businesses – and other breweries – plastered all over the brewhaus. They’re the first signs that the BCB isn’t a by-the-numbers brewery. Win Mitchell, co-founder and head brewer, will be the first to agree.

“We’re kind of doing something a little different than your average brewery.”

Lori and Win Mitchell, founders of the Boothbay Craft Brewery, are long-time residents of the Boothbay region. The seeds of the brewery were planted in 2005, when the couple was still running the Lobster Wharf restaurant in Southport. The restaurant was one of the first in Maine to put 60 Minute IPA on draft, and the move sparked a close friendship with Dogfish Head founder Sam Calagione. As the craft beer movement fermented in the ’00s, the couple bought the Vintage House in Boothbay with designs on creating a brewpub and craft beer destination.

More than a little inspiration was taken from Calagione, who remains a close friend and sage adviser to the Mitchells.

Construction of the Boothbay Craft Brewery will be complete this summer, and Boothbay will join Maine’s increasingly-crowded beer scene. The explosion of artisan breweries in the Pine Tree State isn’t a bad thing – the Mitchells are quick to note that their brewery wouldn’t exist without the help of others in the industry.

“The whole philosophy behind the Boothbay Craft Brewery is the collaboration in the industry and among businesses in our community,” noted Win. Brewers from Maine and beyond have pitched in throughout the development of Boothbay’s new brewery, sometimes with physical contributions and often simply with advice and encouragement.

This collaboration and positive attitude was the driving force behind the brewer’s eventual tagline – Imperial Attitude Ales.

“Our definition of imperial attitude is being able to help people, pick them up rather than push them down, collaborate whenever they can, and have a positive outlook on life in general,” explains Win. It came as a response to the negativity that is often directed at entrepreneurs – it’s going to be too hard, too difficult, too expensive. “We thought – why can’t people look at it the other way and say ‘yes, it’s going to be difficult, but how can we help you through this?’”

Think the platonic ideal of Imperial, rather than the Empire from Star Wars. This is imperial in the sense of big ideas, big projects, big beers, and a can-do attitude.

The collaborative attitude at the Boothbay Craft Brewery goes far beyond lip service. When I toured the still-under-construction facility last week, Win and Lori pointed out again and again the pieces provided by locals and other brewers. It’s not a stretch to say that if all these things were removed, the place would be little more than an empty lot.

The shingles on the side of the brewhaus were donated by locals George and Naomi Whitten. Matt Cole, an area builder, donated some beams for the building and some crew to help shingle the place. Fellow Lincoln County business Barry Concrete poured the cement floor, and even the brewery’s mascot – a 1928 Model T Ford – was donated by Frank Fassett (who donated time as well – Fassett was working on the brewery when I visited). The rooftop cupola came from down the road in Portland, and can be seen from the road; the brewer plans on shining different color lights through the glass depending on what’s fermenting.

Even the keystone for the Rumford oven in the back of the brewery came from Win and Lori’s uncle, a donation that earned him free pizza for life.

The skeleton of the two-story building, built with classic heavy post and beam construction, is perhaps the strongest testament to the community spirit. All the timber in the building (sawed by the Mitchells – one of the fringe benefits of having a saw mill) is from fallen trees, so no trees were cut to make the brewery. Every beam belongs to an individual, a family, or other businesses, mostly from the Boothbay region but some from as far away as Massachussetts.

Rob Tod donated some trees from behind Allagash Brewing, and the local Hyde School (which the Mitchells’ son attends) threw in a few. Another came from just down the street from Smuttynose. Scores of local families gave up fallen trees for the brewery – after last winter, many were happy to clear out the lumber. Most every beam in the brewery is softwood spruce and pine, though one of the only hardwoods came from the off-centered Calagiones.

Every beam and every post has the donor’s name carved into its side so that visitors can see how a community came together to make this place a reality.

To the delight of beer geeks, there’s also a cellar hidden under the brewery. Train tracks seem to end at a ramp in front of the building, but the ramp cleverly flips up to reveal a cellar. Jokingly called the“underground beer railroad,” the cellar room will be home to special aged beers and events.

The Boothbay Craft Brewery is still a few months from having beer available to the public, but Mitchell’s pilot system has been brewing away. Like the rest of the current crop of Maine breweries, the BCB is a departure from the English-style beer that has defined the state for so long. The planned launch brew is a pale ale, “633.” Named for the region’s phone exchange, the hoppier-than-average APA will clock in at a fitting 6.33% alcohol by volume.

Win filled me in on two other brews that are further down the pipeline. Approv-ale, an amber, was originally brewed for a Boothbay Planning Board site visit. The other is a yet-unnamed imperial porter, an “imperial attitude ale” that happens to be Lori’s favorite style.

As for brewing credentials, Win is a long-time homebrewer who graduated from the Siebel Institute of Technology’s Master Brewer program. He’s also spent some time brewing at Dogfish Head, another benefit of friendship with the Calagiones. In terms of capacity, the brewery is starting out with some cellaring tanks and two 10-barrel fermenters.

Though the Boothbay Craft Brewery won’t be up and brewing for a few months, the “Craft Beer Comes to Boothbay” event on July 30^th will be the brewery’s first turn in the spotlight. The Boothbay brewers are hosting the event on their property.

Featuring 22 Maine brewers, the event is a true celebration of the beer brewed in Maine. Nearly 50 beers will be on draft, including a special collaborative brew from Allagash, Rising Tide and Maine Beer. Along with the beer is a massive BBQ spread, and all the dishes are (of course) cooked with beer.

Though the Boothbay Craft Brewery is hosting the event, it is being organized by the Maine Brewer’s Guild. All the proceeds go to the MBG, and the event has proven to be so popular that it’s helping the guild in unexpected ways.

“We were hoping five or six brewers would come down for the event,” said Win. Not only is every brewery coming, but “a couple breweries joined just so they could come. Shag Rock joined, Oxbow joined.”

Tickets to the festival are $50, and include beer samples, traditional southern BBQ, and a commemorative tasting glass. The event runs for three hours, from 1:00 to 4:00. The brewers booths will be split between the exterior and interior of the BCB, so attendees can get a first-hand look at the brewery in progress.

More information – and tickets – are available at MaineBrewersGuild.org.

Organizers are expecting between four hundred and five hundred attendees, and hope that the event is a big enough success that it can become an annual festival.

Fittingly, a man who helped kick off the Mitchell’s brewery and has his own connections to Boothbay won’t be missing out. In the spirit of collaboration, the fest is welcoming Dogfish’s Sam Calagione as a special guest.

This is the fourth year of the fest, and the event has seen solid improvement every year. Since moving to the SWTC in 2009, each year has meant an increase in floor space and in tickets sold. This year, the floor expanded beyond the space used last year, but attendance remained capped at 5,000 people per session. A bit of expansion might not seem like much, but the crowd was noticeably more spread out than last year. I suffered no accidental beer showers or stepped-on toes this year, which may be a beer fest first.

All my observations are for the single afternoon session of the ACBF. It’s arguably the most mellow of the three sessions, so notch up the rowdiness a bit when thinking of the two evening sessions.

The beer selection, always a high point of ACBF, offered a bit of something for everybody this year. All said and done, there were 106 breweries present, pouring over 500 beers. There was a great mix of high-octane andsession brews, and brewers didn’t seem afraid to break out the rare stuff at such a big event. There were, according to beer pro Norman Miller, some 18 breweries that didn’t even have distribution in Massachusetts. That number was significantly higher if you ask about beers lacking distribution in Maine. Rest assured, every attendee could find something they couldn’t find at home.

That said, I was happy to see Maine well-represented among the 100 brewers. Allagash, Atlantic, Geary’s, Gritty’s, Kennebec River, Peak Organic, Sebago, and Shipyard all had booths set up, as did relative newcomers Baxter and Maine Beer Co. My little state made up a good 10% of the brewers represented – not too shabby!

It’s a list that I’ve fiddled with since leaving the ACBF, but I think I’ve nailed down my five favorite beers on tap. In no particular order (with my scribbled tasting notes);

• Martha’s Exchange C-Dah Pilz; A pilsner aged on cedar. Crisp, light and flavorful. Slight lemon citrus flavor. Clean palate cleanser mid-fest.
• Lawson’s Acer Quercus; A collaborative brew between the Bruery and Lawson’s. Brewed with oak cubes, Vermont maple syrup and maplewood smoked malt. More maple than a pancake. Rye spice. Absolutely unique.
• Surly Five; All-Brett dark ale aged in wine barrels. Loads of flavor – cherry, plum and wild Brettanomyces funk. craftycarl21 nailed it in his review.
• Franklin’s Tennessee Tuxedo; Stout aged in Jack Daniels. Totally scratched my whiskey itch for the fest. Chocolate, vanilla and, of course, Jack Daniels flavors. I’ll be trading for a bottle of this one.
• Boulevard Brewing Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale; Saison, dry-hopped with Amarillo. Spice and citrus. Super-balanced. Wonderful dry finish.

Lines for the booths remained a sticking point for some attendees, but I can’t say I ever ran in to any problems. The big name brewers like Dogfish Head, Stone, Surly, and Goose Island had the longest lines, but even these moved at a good clip. A pleasant surprise was how short the lines for some brewers remained throughout the festival. Some breweries with fantastic beer but perhaps less-known names – Boulevard, for example, and Franklin’s and Martha’s Exchange and a host of others – were easy to approach throughout the fest. A couple of the brewers looked like they could use an extra hand or two pulling taps, but staffers filled in where they were needed for the most part.

Even the bathroom situation was a marked improvement in 2011. Last year, drinkers were funneled into scores of (frankly, overwhelmed) Port-o-Pottys outside the trade center. This year, there were a number of bathrooms open inside the venue, and a bank of portable toilets outside proved to be much less noxious. It’s still a beer fest with plenty of libations pumping though people’s bodies, so bathroom lines did pop up. Compared to last year, though, they were non-existent. Short of forcing the SWTC to install more bathrooms, I don’t know how the lines could be managed any better.

Usually, I end these event recaps with a couple things I think organizers could do to improve things next time around. This year, I can’t really think of anything. If next year’s American Craft Beer Festival is a repeat of 2011, I’ll be thrilled.

Though I do have one question for my fellow attendees; what’s with all the “WOO!”s? Really? Every single year?

Check out the gallery for all my shots from the festival. They are, no doubt, of the sterling quality you expect from an iPhone in a fluorescent-lit convention center.

Four years into it’s life, the American Craft Beer Fest (ACBF) remains the east coast’s largest beer festival. In three three-and-a-half hour sessions – one on Friday the 3rd and two on Saturday the 4th – attendees are able to try craft beer from breweries all over the US. The number of beers and breweries at the ACBF is up again this year, with 106 brewers and 509 beers currently listed.

Need the vitals? The American Craft Beer Festival is a yearly fest at Boston’s Seaport World Trade Center, just a quick jog from South Station. Tickets are $45 a pop ($50 at the door) and fest-goers to unlimited 2oz pours, a commemorative tasting glass, and a guide to the event. At the time of this posting, there’s still a few tickets available for the Friday and Saturday evening sessions. Once you’re in the event, there’s beer-infused food for sale at concessions, along with swag from most of the brewers. Each session also features a seminar that runs for about an hour. Seminar entry costs a few bucks extra, but buys you a 6-month subscription to Beer Advocate magazine, beer tastings during the seminar, and “Exclusive ‘Cut-the-Fest-Line’ privileges.”

The seminars are all moderated by Andy Crouch, and offer titles as varied as “American Craft Beer SmackDown,” “Learning to Love Lagers” and “Conquering Your Fear of Dark Beers.”

As I’ve done for the last few years, I’ll be shipping off to Boston on Saturday to cover the event. Last year my compatriots Carla and Steve reported on the event along with me, but I’m headed down solo in 2011. So, my fellow Ratebeerians, I ask you – what would you like me to cover at the ACBF this year? Any beers from the beer list I have to seek or, or any I should avoid at all costs?

As always, I put my trust in the wisdom of the crowd.

As much as ACBF is about the future (and present) of craft brews every year, it’s also an excellent time to look back at America’s brewing roots. From the first pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock because of a beer shortage to the microbrewing explosion that started a few decades ago, American history is entangled with beer history. Here’s a couple books that offer a look at the tale of American beer – craft and otherwise – since the 1500s.

Beer in America
by Gregg Smith

If we’re looking at the history of American beer, we’ve got to start way back in pre-American 1587. Gregg Smith offers an astounding overview of how deeply the first generations in the colonies and states were involved with beer. Some of the trivia – like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson’s brewing habits – are already part of brewing pop culture, but there’s plenty of surprises in Beer In America for readers. Beer may occasionally get elevated a bit too much (here’s an important event in American history and, hey, everyone happened to be drinking), but there’s no doubt that beer is as much a part of the states as Betty Ross and apple pie.

Gregg Smith’s narrative is a lively retelling of early American history. It portrays beer as a major player, and brilliantly reconstructs the cultural and political context out of which it rose. One of the most important but little-known aspects of early American history is the role of beer in our country’s founding and formative years. This definitive account of beer’s impact on people and events that shaped the birth of a nation will astonish readers. Beginning with the pre-colonial era and ending with America’s emergence as an industrial power, this book is a fresh and swiftly flowing adventure. Among his many surprising revelations are the reason the Mayflower really landed at Plymouth; our first prohibition; brewing in the colonies; George Washington and Thomas Jefferson as homebrewers; and forging the Constitution after hours over beer.

Ambitious Brew
by Maureen Ogle

Smith covers brewing from the 1500s to the mid-19th century, and Maureen Ogle picks up right where he left off to bring us up to the present day.Ambitious Brew charts the history of American beer, “from the immigrants who invented it to the upstart microbrewers who revived it.”  It’s hard for me to oversell the importance of this book if you’re interested in American beer history, as it’s simply essential reading.  Ogle delivers on the promise of the book’s subtitle and delivers a comprehensive book on the story of the beers, craft and macro, of the good ol’ USA.

In the first-ever history of American beer, Maureen Ogle tells its epic story, from the immigrants who invented it to the upstart microbrewers who revived it. Beer might seem as American as baseball, but that has not always been true: Rum and whiskey were the drinks of choice in the 1840s, with only a few breweries making heavy, yeasty English ale. When a wave of German immigrants arrived in the middle of the nineteenth century, they promptly set about re-creating the pleasures of the biergartens they had left behind.

Just fifty years later, the American-style lager beer they invented was the nation’s most popular beverage—and brewing was the nation’s fifth-largest industry, ruled over by fabulously wealthy titans Frederick Pabst and Adolphus Busch. But when anti-German sentiments aroused by World War I fed the flames of the temperance movement (one activist even declared that “the worst of all our German enemies are Pabst, Schlitz, Blatz, and Miller”), Prohibition was the result. In the wake of its repeal, brewers replaced flavor with innovations like marketing and lite beer, setting the stage for a generation of microbrewers whose ambitions reshaped the drink.

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Red, White and Brew
by Brian Yaeger

Part personal travelogue, part beer history lesson and part brewery handbook, Yaeger drove around the county, visited 37 different breweries, and did in-depth profiles and interviews at fourteen of them.  This is one of my favorite beer books, and offers an awesome look at the wild range of personalities that make up the craft brewing landscape.

Great American Craft Beer
by Andy Crouch

On the first page of his new beer guide Great American Craft Beer, Andy Crouch writes “with the bounty of amazing beers available in every corner of America, never before has there been a better time or place to be a beer drinker.” Thus begins one of the best cases for American exceptionalism that I’ve read in years – not in the traditional political or social sense, but in the realm of brewing and beer. Great American Craft Beer isn’t just a new book to add to the increasingly crowded family of “beer guides.” The compendium is a love letter to craft beer in the US of A, and that there’s enough to fill a 300+ page book is a testament to a brewing movement that’s barely thirty years old.

The bulk of Great American Craft Beer - about 2/3rds of it’s considerable girth - is devoted to profiling nearly 350 American beers across dozens of styles.  This guide to great beers is bookended by chapters titled “Exploring Beer” (an overview of the history of beer and brewing in the US and abroad) and “Enjoying Beer” (which covers proper glassware, beer tasting, pairing beer with food and great American bars). Taken together, the book becomes a comprehensive guidebook like The Naked Pint or Tasting Beer instead of another endless list of beers. It’s worth mentioning that the foreword to Great American Craft Beer was written by Sam Calagione, which is always a treat.

Great American Craft Beer takes readers on a passionate and informative journey through the most palate pleasing ales and lagers produced in America today. Built on the inalienable truth that there is a beer out there for everyone, the book directs readers to focus on the flavors they already enjoy tasting, such as sweet fruits, roasted coffee, or bitter hops. More than 80 styles and 340 beer profiles are accompanied by full-color photographs and illustrations of the beers and beer labels. This unconventional approach allows drinkers of all experience levels to step right up to the bar and order their next pint with confidence.

Both a personal guide and companion to the exciting world of American craft beer, this unique book touches upon several subject areas, including not only beer, but food, travel, history, and the stories and personalities of those who brew America’s best beers. It includes 25 perfect pairing recipes and profiles of some of the best brewpubs in the country.

Like Yaeger’s book, I gave Great American Craft Beer a longer look when it came out last summer.

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Looking for some some more specific brewing histories? Never fear, I’ve got you covered. More than a couple brewers have decided to put out histories of their craft enterprises. Depending on your tastes, you can pick up;

• Peter Krebs’ Redhook: A Microbrew Success Story
• Rob Burton’s Hops and Dreams: The Story of Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.
• Hindy and Potter’s Beer School: Bottling Success at the Brooklyn Brewery
• Sam Calagione’s Brewing Up a Business: Adventures in Beer from the Founder of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery
• Jeremy Cowan’s Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah (on the history of Schmaltz / He’Brew

The books are almost all written by people close to or involved with the breweries, so they do tend to have a bit of a rosy viewpoint. Still, they’re all entertaining and enlightening reads.

Sure, you can celebrate ACBF by sitting at a pub with a craft beer and watching the game. But why not brush up on the half-millennium of American craft while you’re having a pint?

The Hop Press proudly supports American Craft Beer Week (May 16-22)

What can you do?
*Sign the Beer Drinker’s Declaration of Independence
*Attend an event near you!

The judging panel consisted of nine individuals including beer writers, BJCP certified judges, Ratebeerians, and unaffiliated brewers from the Toronto area – I have no idea why I was chosen, but it was a pretty great experience to sit around for a few hours on a Saturday morning trying samples of cask IPA with a group of friendly and knowledgeable folks.  The bracketing system was arranged to encourage a bit of friendly competition, with brewers from a given geographical area appearing in each bracket.

We were tasked with the job of culling the initial list of brews down to a more reasonable number of entries for the public judging that takes place in rounds 2 and 3.  All of the beers were served in flights of four beers at a time with each beer identified only by a number.  I was quite impressed at how much dedication was given to the idea of the sampling being done completely blind.  All of the casks were fitted with cask covers to prevent anyone from divining the identity of any individual cask based on brewery markings and the panel was served in a different room entirely.

We used the BJCP scoring sheets to keep score – which was markedly difficult for me after 6+ years of rating solely on the ratebeer scale.  One advantage is that this approach is weighted more to things like flavour and aroma and away from appearance.  Mouthfeel doesn’t even figure into the BJCP sheets and there is less wiggle room for personal preference the way there is with the RB overall score column.  In spite of this, I did my best to remain consistent throughout the scoring round.

We did a reasonable amount of chattering throughout, trying to figure out which hop might be the dominant feature, but in general, we were focused on getting through the samples in a reasonably timely manner.  Despite the different palates involved, it was pretty clear which beers we thought represented the best of the competition as well as those that had missed the mark.  For me, my personal favourites were numbers 11, 18,  20, 21, and 22.  These were all beers that I gave scores of >3.5 to, which is sort of my benchmark for things I’d gladly drink again.  After the results were released, these beers turned out to be Great Lakes Karma Citra, Flying Monkeys Godsmacked IPA, Niagara College School’s Out IPA, Durham Hop Addict, and House Ales Notorious IPA.  The eventual winner of the competition, including two rounds of public judging led to the crowning of Great Lakes Karma Citra IPA as the eventual winner of the contest – which was also the beer that the judges had deemed the best in the initial round – a rare convergence of tastes as far as these sorts of things go.

Once the judging round was over, most of the judges stuck around for a good part of the day – usually a reasonable sign of quality brew and the crowd continued to thicken until I left the bar.   People were in a good mood, despite the shoddy weather and with beers like these on display, it’s really no wonder why.  Although it’s taken a long time for the hops to arrive in Ontario compared with our west coast friends, they are definitely here to stay.