Russian River Brewing
2023 California Craft Beer Summit Closing Session
These photos were taken Wednesday morning, March 22, the final day of the California Craft Beer Summit, put on by the California Craft Brewers Association (CCBA) at the Safe Credit Union Convention Center. While there were a couple panels/workshops held earlier in the morning, I waited a couple hours and headed over for the final “Tap Talks” featuring the Pink Boots Society and the closing keynote featuring Sierra Nevada’s Ken Grossman and Russian River’s Vinnie and Natalie Cilurzo.
The morning also included a pretty nice brunch and several of the breweries that had booths on the expo floor seemed to bring out special brews that may have been leftovers from earlier events that they did not want to lug home. And by “leftovers” I mean beers that were probably left over from Sunday’s Rare Beer Tasting, but no one was complaining. Continue reading
12th Annual IPA Festival at Naja’s Place Photos
These photos were taken Thursday afternoon at Naja’s Place, on the International Boardwalk, where day one of their 12th Annual IPA Festival was held. As usual, the event featured IPAs of every type, from Sessions to Quads.
The weather was a typical, slightly cool, May Gray day, which may have accounted for the slow start to the event, but my Instagram and Facebook feeds seemed to indicate that as working stiffs got off work, Naja’s seemed to get a little more crowded.
Thursday was the kickoff event, with today (Friday) being their Locals Collaborations day, and Saturday being Pizza Port day which will feature a special IPA brewed for Naja’s Place. The event runs through the 25th. Continue reading
8th Annual Pliny Fights Cancer Charity Raffle Results
These photos were taken Monday afternoon at Beachwood Blendery in Long Beach, where they held the drawing for their 8th Annual Pliny Fights Cancer Charity Raffle. As you are most likely aware, the beginning of February is when Russian River’s triple IPA, Pliny the Younger is released. It is highly sought after and usually requires trying to find a place that received a keg from Russian River, then figuring out the day it will be tapped and dealing with the inevitable lines. Beachwood BBQ & Brewing decided to do it a little differently. For eight years now they have been selling raffle tickets to get a 16oz pour for $5.00 with the proceeds going to the Melanoma Research Foundation in memory of a long time Beachwood friend, Tony Carbone who passed away in 2008 from Stage 3 Melanoma.
Like past years, the drawing was streamed live via the Four Brewers podcast and like last year, 200 winners were picked. This year, the raffle collected more than $7,000, bringing the total raised since the beginning to close to $93,000! Continue reading
7th Annual Pliny Fights Cancer Charity Raffle Results
These photos were taken Monday afternoon at the Beachwood Blendery in Long Beach, where employees, friends, and family gathered for the drawing of the raffle tickets sold for Beachwood’s 7th Annual Pliny Fights Cancer Charity Raffle which is done in memory of a long time Beachwood friend, Tony Carbone who passed away in 2008 from stage 3 melanoma.
This morning, Beachwood BBQ & Brewing held their drawing for the 7th Annual Pliny Fights Cancer Charity Raffle at their Long Beach Blendery location. To enter the contest, one could purchase a ticket for $5.00 for a chance at a full pint of the 2018 Pliny the Younger. This year Beachwood raised over $10,000 from the ticket sales; which means they have raised over $85,000 over the past seven years for the beneficiary of the raffle, the Melanoma Research Foundation. The drawing was streamed live via the Four Brewers podcast and like last year, 200 winners were picked. Continue reading
Sonoma Pride Tour
Sonoma Pride was originally conceived by Natalie and Vinnie Cilurzo of Russian River Brewing in July 2015 to celebrate living and working in Sonoma County. Since then they have released two beers annually under the Sonoma Pride brand. After the wildfires of early October, Russian River began brewing Sonoma Pride, a blonde ale, with all the proceeds from that beer going to help victims of the wildfires. To ensure the monies they raised went to the people that need it, they teamed with the King Ridge Foundation to begin a fundraiser for the victims of the Sonoma County wildfires. In a show of unity, more than 60 craft breweries and craft beer related businesses joined in to donate a brew that proceeds would be donated from; to date they have raised over $400,000.
When I left Sparks I had friends to visit and breweries to see, so I headed west on I-80. As there had been snow overnight, it made for a very scenic drive. Continue reading
GABF Begins: Day One
These photos were taken Thursday evening at the Colorado Convention Center, where the Brewers Association is holding their 36th annual Great American Beer Festival (GABF). The event runs through Saturday.
If you have never attended GABF, think what it might be like to be a kid locked overnight in a candy factory; where would you begin? That is precisely the predicament I faced as I entered the huge venue, filled with 800 breweries pouring more than 3800 beers. In a word, it is a little overwhelming; I probably wandered around for close to 30 minutes, chatting with friends from various Southern California breweries and taking photos before I had my first beer. I did not want to spend my time drinking beer I can easily get at home, but with 800 breweries to choose from, where do you start? Continue reading
6th Annual Pliny Fights Cancer Charity Raffle Results
These photos were taken Monday afternoon at the Beachwood Blendery in Long Beach, where employees, friends, and family gathered for the drawing of the raffle tickets sold for Beachwood’s 6th Annual Pliny Fights Cancer Charity Raffle.
To enter the raffle, you could buy a $5.00 raffle ticket at the Seal Beach or Long Beach restaurant locations. Winners will receive a full pint of the 2017 Pliny the Younger; those that were not picked can feel better knowing that their donation is going to a good cause, the Melanoma Research Foundation. Beachwood founder and co-owner Gabe Gordon stated that this year’s raffle brought the total raised over the past six years to almost $75,000. Continue reading
Photos from the 2nd Annual Summit Beer Festival
These photos were taken Saturday at Matsuyama Japanese Fusion in Roseville, and the 2nd Annual Summit Beer Festival which was held at the Capitol Mall in Sacramento.
While I knew I would be attending the Craft Beer Summit, I was undecided as to whether or not I would be attending the Summit Beer Festival because I have friends that are a lot closer to Sacramento than I am and I really wanted to visit them. On Friday I discovered that the Summit Beer Festival was just a few blocks from my motel; when I realized that the festival did not start until 3:00 PM I figured I could drive 20 minutes to Roseville and visit my friend Song Kim, the owner of Matsuyama Japanese Fusion. I have mentioned Matsuyama once before here; suffice it to say, if you enjoy sushi and are anywhere in the Roseville area, you owe it to yourself to visit Matsuyama Japanese Fusion. You will not regret it; be sure to tell Song I sent you. Continue reading
5th Annual Firestone Walker Invitational Photos: FWIBF16
These photos are from the 5th Annual Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival (FWIBF16) which was held this past Saturday afternoon at the Paso Robles Event Center and featured about 50 breweries and 200 craft beers from around the world as well as foods from 33 local area restaurants.
The Firestone Invitational is one of, if not the best run craft beer events I have ever attended. I remember attending last year’s Invitational and being quite surprised to learn that it was only the fourth one as it was run so smoothly; from ensuring ticketed attendees were in the gates and ready to go by the time the event officially started, to making sure water was readily available no matter where you happened to be in the venue. If I did not know better, I would have guessed that they had to be doing it for 10 years instead of four.
Since this was my second opportunity to attend the Firestone Walker Invitational, I used my experience from last year to make this year’s event even more fun. Continue reading
8th Annual IPA Festival at Najas Place
It is that time of year again; Naja’s Place in Redondo Beach began their week-long 8th Annual IPA Festival on Wednesday afternoon. The event will feature well over 100 IPAs from around the country.
We headed there early Wednesday afternoon as this was not my first rodeo, and Naja’s fills up fast every year as hopheads descend upon the International Boardwalk at the Redondo Beach Pier.
Each day of the event will feature a special IPA; Wednesday’s was Russian River’s Pliny the Elder. Thursday will feature Dogfish Head’s 120 Minute IPA; Friday will have El Segundo Brewing’s Hop Plunge and their anniversary beer El Segundo El Cinco Del Segundo. Saturday will be Pizza Port day featuring more than 20 of their specialty IPAs. Sunday will feature Knee Deep’s Simtra Triple IPA, with Monday’s featured brew being Russian River’s Blind Pig and Tuesday will have Pliny the Elder again. Continue reading