Drake's Brewing Co. Blog

THE DRAKE'S BLOG HAS MOVED!

2011-03-04T14:06:00.000-08:00

Yup. The Drake's Brewing Co. blog has moved.
Please go to www.drinkdrakes.com to read the latest posts. Thanks!

Lots of Beer Brewin'

2011-02-25T14:16:00.000-08:00

We may still be fighting with our livers a little bit, but with SF Beer Week behind us, the brewers are back in full swing at Drake's.

Just a little recap on the previous week in the brewery:

We brewed, filtered, and packaged a lot of beer!

There are new batches of IPA, Hopocalypse and Red Eye fermenting away in our tanks, just to name a few

We're finishing off the week with some Denogginizer, which is boiling away in the kettle as I type this

Something new and exciting also happened this week-- we completed the first ever bottling run of our alpha monster Hopocalypse! It's a beer we're very proud of, and apparently you love it too since we won a bronze medal with Hopocalypse at The Bistro's Double IPA Festival, in addition to being voted The Best In the Bay at Barclay's Battle of the Bay last week. Very cool!

* Fresh bombers of Hopocalypse are hitting the shelves soon, so look out for it.

Anyway, that's all for now from the production floor at Drake's. Next week is First Friday, so I hope to see some of you there. Until then....

Alexandra

Nyack Barleywine 2011- get it while it's hot... and it's hot

2011-01-26T14:31:00.000-08:00

Drake's Nyack Barleywine is ready to roll out for the season.

Nyack is a big beer to fight back the chill of winter... not that the Bay Area has seen much winter weather these last few days, but I'm sure it will descend upon us once again...

Originally brewed in San Francisco at 20 Tank Brewery (1989-2000), this beer is all about revival. San Francisco's emblem has a phoenix on it to symbolize how the city has risen from the ashes many times over.

And so became Nyack Barleywine, a beer that stands for the city of San Francisco, and is rising out of the ashes of 20 Tank Brewery.

At 12% ABV, this ruby-red American Strong Ale tops itself off and invites you in with a white, frothy head. It's deep roasty, caramel mouthfeel combines with strong citrus esters on your palate. This is a Big beer with Big flavors of malt, hops & heat!!! We used closed to 2000 lbs of different malts to make up the grist, and a total of 25 lbs of hops (Magnum, Centennial, Chinook). Enjoy a glass of Bay Area history, enjoy Nyack Barleywine. We suggest that it be served in a half-pint snifter or goblet.

Cheers!

SF Beer Week- Drake's Events- Sau & Brau

2011-01-19T11:15:00.000-08:00

As many of your are aware, San Francisco Beer Week is fast approaching. That means events galore around the Bay Area. Drake's has planned a special event for all of you Drake's-fans:

Sau & Brau Pig Roast & Barrel-Aged Beer Tasting

Join us at Drake's Brewing Company on February 16, from 6-9pm for tasty bites and a sampling of Drake's beers, including six different barrel-aged beers.

The Chop Bar is catering this feast, so show up hungry and ready to get your roast on.

Tickets are $40 each, plus a small handling fee, and should be purchased in advance at Sauandbrau.eventbrite.com

Feel free to contact us if you have any additional questions.

The Hopocalypse is here!

2011-01-18T19:35:00.001-08:00

We knew it was coming, we just weren't sure when. And now it's here-

This liquid revelation is a deep orange monster that is loosely filtered to keep the integrity of the malt and hops intact. Equal amounts of two-row malt and English Pale malt are combined with Vienna and Rye malts, then balanced with Cascade, Simcoe & Chinook hops for flavor. We then dry hop it with additional Cascade, Simcoe & Chinook hops. Enjoy the massive aromatic revelation and prophetic flavor of this beer now and forever after.

Swing by the brewery or your favorite local pub for a pint of the good stuff. Also available in 22 oz bottles in the near future- we'll keep you informed.

Cheers!

100+ IBUs
9.3% ABV

Drake's receives Good Food Award for Denog

2011-01-17T15:47:00.000-08:00

Last Friday night marked the first ever Good Food Awards. GFA grants awards to outstanding American food producers and the farmers who provide their ingredients. Check out their site for more information.

Amidst a variety of other fermented foods-- charcuterie, cheeses, coffees, chocolates, pickles, preserves and beer-- Drakes went home with the GFA beer award for Denogginizer.

It's about that time of day to crack open a bottle of Denog and cheers to that.

Soooo much beeeer... but who's complaining?

2011-01-14T12:40:00.000-08:00

With the holidays over, it's time to get going on the new year, and with the new year, comes many "resolutions." To keep things simple, but also go big, Drake's has but one resolution: BREW A LOT OF BEER! More precisely, brew more beer than last year, our best year yet, thus helping you drink lots more delicious beer (isn't that your New Year's resolution?)...

With beer drinking on the mind, here is an update of some seasonals, new brews & bottle releases coming up:

Hop Salad- 8% ABV- An aggressively hopped Double IPA that is fruit forward with a salad of pine, citrus and floral aromas and bitterness. Medium carbonation levels with a slightly yellow head. Don't expect to get by putting a small amount on your plate (... your palate), this one's an all-you-can-eat buffet of liquid alpha goodness (use used Magnum, Simcoe and Summit hops). Loads of two-row barley and a small amount of Caramalt make up the grain bill. Now available on draft at select pubs in the Bay Area and Southern California. Get it while you can, this lunch date won't last forever!

Hopocalypse- 9.3% ABV- Large amounts of American two-row malt and English pale malt are combined with Vienna, Rye & Crystal malts, then balanced with German Magnum, Simcoe and Chinook hops. Then, of course, more hops! -- as we dry hop it with additional Simcoe and Chinook. Finally, this deep orange monster is loosely filtered to keep the integrity of the malt and hops in tact. Enjoy the massive aromatic revelation and prophetic hop flavor of this beer, now and forever after. Available in bottles and on draught. Due out soon- I'll let you know!

Drakonic Imperial Stout- 8.75% ABV - A big, malty beast of a beer that exemplifies the way we roll here at Drake's. Two-row malt is blended with chocolate malt, roasted barley and dark Crystal malts to make up the grist. Only one hop addition, Columbus, for bittering, is added so that the abundance of malt in this beer can shine through. Enjoy the dense brownish head, the silky maltiness, the flavors of licorice, coffee and chocolate rounded out with a slightly dry finish. Here's to those who don't fear the mighty!

And remember, the Drakonic Imperial Stout is coming out in bottles! While I can't give you an exact bottle release date yet, you know I'll keep you informed.

Soooo much beeeer... but who's complaining?

Drake's is proud to help put on the CollaBEERation Dinner, with Triple Rock Brewery and Jupiter-Berkeley, taking place on January 26th. The four course dinner will be paired with more than six beers from Drake's, Triple Rock & Jupiter, plus you'll get to meet the chef and several of the brewers. Again, soooo much beeeer... and again, who's complaining?

Interested in joining us? Tickets are $50 (includes tax & tip), plus a small handling fee
Buy tickets in advance at http://collabeerationdinner.eventbrite.com
Unfortunately, we're only able to accommodate 30 guests, so be sure to get your tickets while you still can!

With the weekend only hours away, try to keep your resolutions in mind... and we'll be sure to keep ours as well!

Cheers til next time,

Brittany

Have a Jolly Holiday & a Denogginizing New Year!

2010-12-22T12:55:00.000-08:00

Hey Drake's fans,

Some of you may have seen the Twitter post... we finally started whipping up some Hop Salad! Simcoe and German Magnum hops, Caramalt, Two-row barley... just to name a few enticing ingredients that will create a hefty beer around 8% ABV. Sounds like lunch to me... I'll keep you updated on when this beer will be out and ready for a lunch date.

A little beer knowledge, in case you were wondering:

* Simcoe hops are mostly for bittering, but have a clean, light pine-like aroma, and a slight citrusy flavor. Alpha acids 12-14%
* German Magnum hops don't have much of a distinct aroma character, and are therefore often used as bittering hops. Alpha acids 12-14%
* Alpha Acids- huh? Alpha acids are found in the flowers of hop plants and are the source of hop bitterness. The alpha acid rating on hops indicates the amount of alpha acids as a percentage of total weight of the hop.

RECIPE-TIME!

Anyone in need of a fun, beer infused recipe for an upcoming holiday party? I found this recipe for Lager Steamed Thai Turkey and Shiitake Mushroom Dumplings with Pale Ale Sweet & Sour Dipping Sauce on Craftbeer.com. The recipe was originally published in Lucy Saunders' The Best of American Beer & Food, a great book that teaches you all about beer and food pairings (another great holiday gift idea...).

While I didn't use a lager to steam the dumplings (I used an ale), they still tasted delicious. So for my attempt at the recipe, maybe it's better to call it Ale Steamed Thai Turkey and Shiitake Mushroom Dumplings...

You can find the recipe by following the link above to Craftbeer.com

For the cooking beer, I used several different Drake's brews. For the dipping sauce, you'll need 12 oz of a pale ale. While Drake's does have the 1500, a dry-hopped pale ale, this beer would be too overpowering to cook this dish with, especially since you boil down the beer for a bit. This results in even more intensified hop flavor (i.e. bitterness), so you have to be careful about cooking with hopped up beers. Hoppy beers in cooking should be used like spices- a little goes a long way. So, even though it's not the same style as a pale, I used Drake's Blonde Ale- light, crisp, slight hop notes.

Moving on to the dumplings, you'll need 36 ounces of a Pilsener or amber lager- Again, I diverged from the suggested lager and went with Drake's Amber ale instead.

I paired the dumplings with Drake's IPA. When it comes to pairing food with beer (as opposed to cooking food with beer), hoppy beers can balance lighter, sweeter dishes like these dumplings (instead of overpowering them, as is often the case in cooking with IPAs). However, unique in that they're seemingly light dishes, dumplings pack a flavor punch that can keep up with the strong flavors of an IPA. Bottoms up!

Still looking for holiday gift ideas?

Don't forget your Drake's Holiday Gift Bag!
These gift bags make perfect for gifts for party hosts, as well as family & friend craft beer lovers.
* Deluxe- $30- Includes a bottle each of Jolly Rodger 2010 and Denogginizer, Drake's t-shirt, Drake's pint glass, Drake's coasters & a Drake's sticker patch.
* Basic-$12- Includes a bottle of Jolly Rodger 2010 or Denogginizer, Drake's pint glass, Drake's coasters & Drake's sticker patch.

Please order at least 48 hours in advance- order by 12/23 for pick-up by 12/29

Upcoming Events & Other News
* Just in: twenty-four Drake's & Triple Rock brews will be on tap in Seal Beach on December 23. If you find yourself near Los Angeles this week, check 'em out!
Check out www.drinkdrakes.com and Craftbeer.com for more information on this event and other upcoming events.
* Drake's Taproom is closing early on December 24- please call before stopping by!

Hope you all have a Jolly Holiday and a Denogginizing New Year!

Drake's Updates!

2010-12-01T16:38:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday, got extremely stuffed with good food, and washed it down with some craft beer!

Drake's First Friday Event

Drake's First Friday Event is this Friday, December 3 from 4-8pm. This week's event helps out McKinley Elementary School in San Leandro. $5 donation at the gate gets you in, $15 gets you a Drake's pint glass and 3 full-pour beer tokens. More tokens can be purchased separately. In addition to Drake's beer, we'll also be enjoying Emergency BBQ, so come hungry! For more information, click here.

Need some holiday gift ideas?

It's that time of year again- the nights are longer and the days are colder. The holidays are rolling in, we're surrounded by family and friends, and we're giving out gifts a plenty.

The holiday's can be overwhelming and stressful, so we're helping you out by creating two special Drake's Holiday Gift Bags for your friends and family... and you!... filled with Drake's beer and apparel!

Drake's Gift Bag Deluxe- $30 - Includes a Drake's pint glass, t-shirt, a bottle of Jolly Rodger 2010 Imperial Red Ale, Denogginizer IIPA, Drake's coasters and a Drake's sticker.

Drake's Gift Bag Basic - $12 - Includes a Drake's pint glass, a bottle of Jolly Rodger 2010 Imperial Red Ale OR Denogginizer IIPA (your choice!), Drake's coasters and a Drake's sticker.

Or, if you feel like making your own gift bag, swing by the brewery to pick out some goodies like Drake's T-shirts, pint glasses, growlers, and cases of your favorite Drake's beers.

To order a gift bag, please email brittany@drakesbrewing.com, and allow 48 hours before pick-up.

Unfortunately, we cannot ship these gift bags, but what a great reason to swing by the brewery for a beer!

Please note we're closed on December 24 and December 31.

See below for retail sales hours.

Cheers!

Brews Reviews and Other Happening's

* Check out Brewed4Thought's review on Jolly Rodge

* Last month, Drake's won the People's Choice Award at The Bistro's 5th Annual West Coast Barrel Aged Festival for our Wyld Stallyn. Thanks to everyone who voted!

* Drake's Chinookian Dark Ale should be ready to go this Friday- if we're lucky, we'll have some on at First Friday! Also look for Chinookian on draught at accounts in the Bay Area starting next week.

Retail hours (i.e. case and keg purchases only)

Monday's & Tuesdays- Closed (accept for keg orders)

Wednesday's & Thursday- 12-5:30pm

Friday's- 12-7pm

Tasting Room Hours (i.e. come drink beer!)

Monday's & Tuesday's- Closed

Wednesday's & Thursday's- 3-5:30pm

Friday's- 1-7pm

Thanksgiving is coming!

2010-11-22T13:54:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is just around the corner!

Which means it's time to eat and eat and drink and eat and drink and drink and then eat some more (at least that's how my Thanksgivings are...)

Beer is a great drink to pair with Thanksgiving dishes. And, not only pair, but cook with. However, you don't want to throw just any old beer style in with the stuffing or gravy- cooking with beer takes a little work. And, while you can drink whatever beer suits you with Thanksgiving dinner, if you do want to set up some great beer and food pairings you'll need to plan ahead a bit.

For example, last year, I didn't think twice about what beer I'd be drinking with dinner. I stuck my head in the beer refrigerator and pulled out a big, dark, hefty beer- by that I mean 15% ABV, 107 IBUs- one of the most filling beers I've ever had. Although the beer paired nicely with the food flavor-wise, suffice it to say that this beer was not a great pick while stuffing my face with triple helpings of mashers and turkey- this resulted in a near-literal interpretation of a beer-food coma!

This year, in addition to having a few selections of beer at dinner, I'm planning on throwing some beer into a few of the dishes. Some of you reading this might not be so sure about cooking with beer- well, let me digress for a few minutes to discuss a little history about beer and why beer is an amazing ingredient.

Once upon a time, beer was considered food. It all started many, many years ago in the Middle East, when the ancient peoples began cultivating barley. They found that when boiled, the grain tasted much better (sweeter). The thick sugary soup eventually became a thick malted brew. Depending on the region a beer was made in, certain spices, herbs and other ingredients were added to make the "dish" taste better.

Beer has come a long way since those days. For awhile, beer was pushed aside as people made way for wine at the dinner table, but, as Randy Mosher will point out in his introduction of Lucy Saunders' The Best of American Beer & Food:

"with it's vast range of strength, color, bitterness, sweetness and aromatic delights to work with, it is a rare food that fails to find a beery partner... matching up beer and food is really about using common sense and paying attention."

And so we arrive here today, a society full of craft beer, beer pairings, beer chefs, beer dinners, and beer as an ingredient. Beer can play many roles in cooking and baking. I came across a great article called "Tips for Cooking with Beer" by Kate Heyhoe of Global Gourmet, that summarizes how beer can be used in cooking. Here are some of the main points:

Beer flavors food in 3 ways:

1. Bitterness from the hops

2. Sweetness from the malt

3. Yeast from the beer has tenderizing enzymes

Some guidelines to consider:

1. An all-beer meal is usually NOT a good idea

2. There is no need to pair a dish with the same beer you used to cook with

3. Sweet foods benefit from the bitterness of hops

Use sugary veggies like onions, carrots, corn etc. and even add some sweetener like molasses, honey, or sugar

4. Hop bitterness helps counteract the richness of creamy, oil-

based or cheesy dishes.

Use sparingly as you would a squeeze of lime or vinegar

5. Acidic foods can compliment the sweet flavors of beer, adding depth and balance

Think tomatoes, citrus fruits, vinegar and mustard

6. Yeast is a great tool for battering and baking.

Breads and pancakes benefit from very yeasty brews, which can lighten the texture and make for soft, delicious crusts

7. Beer tenderizes meats (enough said!), making for great marinades

8. The more beer is cooked and reduced, the stronger the flavor will be. If the dish requires long cooking and reduction, avoid using too strong a brew.

9. Pale Ales and Nut Brown Ales are good for starters. IPAs are often too bitter for cooking.

10. For newbies to beer cooking, robust dishes are a great way to start so you can learn to distinguish the effects beer has on the dish. Then, you can experiment with the more subtle effects beer has on more refined flavorings.

Now that I've divulged to you the briefest version of beer and food history, let's figure out how this applies to Thanksgiving dishes.

Beer can be used to prepare any number of Thanksgiving dishes including the turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, sweet potatoes, gravy, cranberries, and even pecan pie.

Regular potatoes, which can be both rich and creamy or sweet (or both!), are nicely prepared with an IPA or pale ale. As stated above, the hoppy character of these beers can balance the sweetness and richness of a dish. The flavors in sweet potatoes and yams, on the other hand, will be accentuated by a malty beer such as an alt beer or dubbel because yams are a little sweeter than regular potatoes, but still have a very earthy flavor.

Stuffing can be prepared in a number of ways because the bread absorbs whatever flavors the ingredients contain. You can make a rich stuffing to go with a more simple entree, or a simple stuffing to go with a rich entree. In general, you'll want to stick with maltier beers when making stuffing (examples: brown ale, ESB, bock) because a hoppy beer will only intensify when cooked and reduced, and the bread will absorb most of the hop bitterness.

Perhaps the most common way to prepare veggies with beer is the beer-batter them. However, fried foods can be a little too rich for Thanksgiving, along with all the other big flavors of the meal. Depending on how you like your veggies prepared, you could make a light "sauce" with beer, vinegar, butter and some other seasonings to toss with almonds and blanched veggies (I suggest green beans).

When preparing the gravy, throw in a little bit of a mostly-malty beer, with a slight hop-kick to blend well with the earthy yet rich flavors of gravy.

The light flavor of cranberries, with their touch of bitterness, are well complimented with a light wit or wheat beer. Try and find a beer with some spices like clove and nutmeg, and also light enough that no malt or hop characters dominate the flavor.

Turkey can be prepared in so many different ways, and beer can aid in it's preparation. Just remember, the longer you cook something in beer, the more the beer is reduced and the flavors shine through. If you're preparing a recipe that involves cooking the turkey for a long time, I suggest using a lighter beer, like a Hefeweizen, rather than a stout or a predominantly hoppy beer.

While you still might think it sounds crazy, beer in pie is delicious. Definitely go for a big-flavored, malty beer, with some spices or chocolately qualities, and very little hops.

If you're interested in trying to incorporate beer into some of your Thanksgiving dishes, but you aren't quite sure where to start, check out the Homebrew Chef's (Sean Paxton) website. After looking at his site, I've decided to make Roasted Garlic IPA Mashed Potatoes for my Thanksgiving dish, with some Drake's IPA:

(yum!)

If you aren't going to incorporate beer into your dishes, you can always just drink it (or do both!). Being as it is the season to spread holiday cheer, I'm going to turn that cheer into rosy cheeks, and bring some Drake's Jolly Rodger, Denogginizer and a growler of our George Brett Sour Ale. They should pair nicely with the big, flavorful dishes of a Thanksgiving feast.

While I know I've gone into some serious depth about beer and Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving is one of my most favorites times of the year. Family and friends coming together, lots of home-cooked meals, colder weather, and some craft beer to warm us up. Yes, I am very thankful for all of that!

Cheers 'til next time!

Brittany

The Great Debate and what Drake's did About It

2010-11-15T13:48:00.000-08:00

While the weather isn't acting like it's Fall yet (at least not in the Bay Area), Drake's started to brew up a great Fall beer- the first batch of a very special IPA.

Some of you may have heard of a "Cascadian Dark Ale." You may have also heard of a "Black IPA" or an "India Black Ale." And if any of these titles are familiar to you, you've maybe heard about the ongoing debate about which one should be the official name for the style of beer. For those of you who haven't heard of any of this, here's a little history on the issue.

People hailing from the Northwest believe "Cascadian Dark Ale" best suits the beer style. According to a posting on Craftbeer.com by Matt Van Wyk from Oakshire Brewing Company in Eugene, Oregon (part of the "Republic of Cascadia," i.e. the Northwest- does this include Northern California? That's a debate unto itself...), a Cascadian Dark Ale should have a flavor balance between a big "Northwest" hop aroma, meaning "citrusy, piney and resinous," some sweet malty flavors, hints of roasted malt, chocolate malt, or some caramel notes, and a dry finish. Here are some of the other reasons, according to Van Wyk, to call this beer style a CDA:

1. Using the term "black" and "pale" in the beer name is confusing to a consumer
2. It does not taste just like an IPA
3. Asking for an IBA in a noisy bar or restaurant sounds too much like IPA and may cause confusion, resulting in receiving the wrong beer
4. Many of the ingredients for a CDA should be sourced from the Cascadian region
5. Many early pioneers of the style come from the Cascadian Region

Indeed, some very interesting and unique points Matt...

Proponents of dubbing the beer style Black IPA or IBA obviously feel differently than Van Wyk. This video, Cascadian Dark Ale Debate, created by Michael Dawson and Jake Keeler of BrewingTV, is a great resource for more in depth information on the issue.

Personally, I don't really care one way or another. I understand why the Cascade region wants to call the beer a Cascadian Dark Ale, and I can even understand why the beer style should be called that across the board (if most of the main and defining ingredients are from Cascadia, why not call it a Cascadian Dark Ale? We call some beers "English Bitter" and "Irish Red," so why can't Cascadia call their version of the beer what they want?). BUT I can also see why a more general name like Black IPA or IBA is desirous- you don't have to make a dark beer with roasty characteristics and similar to an IPA in hop profile with Cascade hops...

... and that's exactly what Drake's did!

Drake's response to this debate was to come up with their own name and even their "own style." After all, the Drake's motto is "Drink Different..." This beer isn't meant to be a statement in favor or against either side of the debate. It's just meant to be an awesome beer with big flavor and hop aroma.

And so, without further a do, I introduce to you our Chinookian IPA. A DARK, HOPPY ale, reminiscent of an India Pale Ale, made with a variety of hops including a hefty dry-hopping dose of Chinook and Centennial hops. The batch should be ready for retail accounts within the next few weeks. When it does come out, it would be fun to drink alongside some tasters of Cascadian Dark Ales/Black IPAs- you know, just to see if there is a difference...

And don't you worry, I'll be sure to let you know when Drake's Chinookian hits the bars in the Bay Area.

Cheers 'til next time!

Brittany

P.S. Just for the record, the beer on the left is the "Cascadian Dark Ale" and the beer on the right is the "Black IPA"...

Thank the Beer gods it's Friday!

2010-11-12T11:36:00.000-08:00

Hello fellow beer-lovers!

I want to fill you in on some Drake's happenings.

We had several Jolly Rodger release parties this week at beer bars throughout the East Bay. In addition to two draft release parties on Monday and Tuesday, beer revolutionaries gathered together for the release of Jolly in bombers at a beer bar near Jack London Square. I took some video footage of our Sale Manager, Dow Tunis, giving a little speech.

Drake's Brewing Co. Jolly Rodger 2010 Bottle Release Party

UPCOMING EVENT
The Bistro in Hayward is hosting their 5th Annual West Coast Barrel Aged Beer Fest this Saturday, November 13. We'll be pouring several Drake's barrel aged beers (see below). Hope to see you there.

Here's the line-up for the Barrel festival:

Brett Butler- Aged 10 months. 9% ABV. A Belgian Triple aged in a Pinot Noir barrel and briefly exposed to the San Leandro atmosphere. An excellent lead-off hit when going into sour left field. It was the year of the pitcher this last year, but this beer still hits with a budding tartness that balances the body.

Wyld Stallyns- Aged two and a half years. 7.9% ABV. This black beauty watches over two great ones, Josh Theodore Logan and Brian S. Preston, Esquire, who super-soured some excellent Imperial Stout and ESB beers and blended them together.

Volte-Face- Aged one and a half years. 5.5% ABV. A Sour Belgian Blonde & Sour Amber do the flip-flop of sour tastes. Belgian imparts the "trebly & high-end" character, and the Amber comes in with an early sourness.Diplomatically revolutionary to each other.

The Creator has a Master Tape- Aged one year. 6.0% ABV. Two-beers in one single-barrel blend of American Red and Porter cellared in a Port Barrel.

Kadath Decoded- Aged three years. 10% ABV. In this dream sequence, a wine barrel mixture of eighty percent Imperial Stout aged in French Oak Pinot Noir and Merlot barrels is blended with twenty percent Barleywine aged in a French Oak Grenache barrel.

TAPROOM OPEN TODAY!

Our taproom is open from 1-7pm today. Bring yourself, your friends, and even a snack if you so desire.

Cheers, til next time!

Brittany

The New Drake's Blog

2010-11-09T12:03:00.000-08:00

Greetings!

For those of you loyal Drake's blog subscribers, and those of you newcomers, I have something exciting to share with you...

...I’m changing up the style of this here blog.

I’m going to be including a lot more about what's going on at the brewery, with the people who work at the brewery, with the Bay Area beer scene, the California beer scene, the US beer scene... heck, even the world beer scene! I’ll also be throwing in some brewer's blurbs, food and beer pairings and recipes, and more. So, be sure to subscribe to the Drake’s blog if you haven't already-- subscribing makes reading the blog nearly effortless, meaning, it's time to relax with a nice cold Drake's beer...

And while you enjoy that beer, why don't I take a few moments to tell you who “I” am and what’s going on at Drake’s.

My name is Brittany, and I’m new here at Drake’s. I recently moved back to the Bay Area from beautiful Boulder, Colorado. I'll be helping out with Sales and Marketing. You’ll probably see me around the brewery, at events and, very likely, at pubs around the Bay Area.

A Guide to the Blog

1. Brewery Happenings

2. New Beer Alert

3. Beer & Food Pairing

4. Current events, Hop Topics & Legislative Matters

* Hop Topic- Women, Craft Beer & the Beer Bloggers Conference 2010

BREWERY HAPPENINGS

Last Friday, we hosted our First Friday Event. Beer was flowing, people were in TGIF-mode and Emergency BBQ provided us with some tasty dinner. For those of you who didn’t make it, or are newcomers and would like to attend the next Drake's event, find out more on the website. Be sure to sign up for our e-newsletter for monthly brewery news. For those of you who did go, feel free to share some of your stories and pictures on our Facebook page!

NEW BEER ALERT!!!

Drake's Jolly Rodger 2010: Our holiday beer, is being released this week. Every year, Jolly Rodger comes to us in a different style, and this year, it's an Imperial Red Ale, a big, malty beer with a huge hop aroma. Hmmmm, hops... Weighing in at 8% ABV, this beer is sure to satisfy you hop-heads, malt-lovers, and those who like a nice kick-in-the-head every now and then. Jolly will be available in stores in 22 ounce bombers, and on draught around the Bay Area sometime later this week, so keep your ears and eyes open.

Alpha Session Ale: Looking for a beer with a bit lighter alcohol content? (What? Why? Just kidding! We all enjoy a great-tasting beer with less alcohol so we can drink A LOT MORE of it!) Our brewers created Alpha Session Ale with the same big flavors as an IPA, but lower alcohol content… so you can drink more of them. I’m definitely not complaining about that...

BEER AND FOOD PAIRING

Ravioli with a Creamy Carbonara Sauce

For you foodies out there, you may have already realized how well craft beer goes with food. Even if you haven't experimented with craft beer and food pairings yet, it's never too late to start. Craft beer has earned its place at the table, and I’m here to experiment with you. That being said, I’m no expert (though I wish I was...), and if you have any suggestions or beer and food pairings of your own, share them here. While I am proud, I enjoy constructive feedback, so dig in…

With winter right around the corner, leaves falling off of trees, rain, and frost covering everything in the mornings, I was in the mood for something warm and rich. Hoppy beers help cut through rich dishes, balancing out the meal. When I got home last night, after sitting in some painful Bay Area traffic for an hour and deciding to skip out on my trip to the grocery store, I ended up finding inspiration for the perfect dish—ravioli with a creamy carbonara sauce. This recipe took me an hour from start to finish, and that was with me being distracted on the phone, chatting with my family, browsing the internet and enjoying a beer… point being, it could probably take you as little as thirty minutes if you were motivated.

Ingredients

Serves 3-4

1 bag ravioli

1 cup milk or cream

3 tbsp chopped garlic

3 tsp flour

3 tsp Dijon mustard

3-4 mushrooms, diced

¼ cup yellow onion, diced

1/3 cup diced ham (lunch meat works great!)

½ cup shredded Parmesan or Asiago

2 eggs

Salt

Pepper

Red pepper flakes

Rosemary

Tarragon

Basil

Directions

Boil the water (extra salted and a bit of olive oil). Add ravioli. Cook for about five minutes.

Mix milk/cream, flour, Dijon, and a bit of salt and pepper in a bowl. Saute onions in a little olive oil in a sauce pan over medium heat for 3-4 minutes (just before they caramelize). Add garlic and cook for about one minute. Add milk mixture, and whisk in to combine. Let sit on low heat, stirring occasionally. Do not let boil! Add dash of tarragon, rosemary, salt and pepper, basil and red pepper flakes, and diced mushrooms while it heats up and thickens (about 15 minutes).

In a separate bowl mix eggs, shredded cheese, salt and pepper.

Saute ham in a separate pan until crispy.

After ravioli is cooked, drain all but 1/8 cup pasta water. Reserve in separate container. Return ravioli to low heat and warm up. Pour thickened milk sauce onto ravioli and mix. Pour reserved pasta water into egg mix, whisk quickly, then pour over ravioli and stir. Add ham and mix up. Let heat for about a minute or two and turn off heat. Let sit for several minutes, then serve.

I tried this dish with Drake’s 1500, IPA and Jolly Rodger 2010. First, I tasted it with the 1500. While the floral hop aroma and taste are enjoyable, neither complimented or helped the dish. I moved on to the IPA and found a similar problem. Both the 1500 and the IPA have huge hop characters that actually overpowered the dish (much to my surprise). However, I realized that my dish wasn’t as rich as a traditional carbonara or cream sauce is because I used lunch meat ham, which is pretty lean, instead of bacon, and low fat milk instead of cream. I thought maybe I’d botched up the pairing, when I came to the Jolly Rodger. One sip and I knew I’d hit the jackpot. The malty character of the beer, mixed with its higher alcohol content, and hoppy undertones from being dry-hopped, cut the mild-richness of the dish while adding other big flavors and a touch of sweetness.

Let me know what you think about this pairing, and add any of your own suggestions in the comments section.

CURRENT EVENTS, HOP TOPICS & LEGISLATIVE MATTERS

Current Events

Pumpkin beer? Sure. Sweet potato beer? Uhhh... sure? Fullsteam Brewery in Durham, North Carolina makes a sweet potato beer each year, and now breweries like Allagash Brewing Company out of Maine, and The Bruery in California are trying their hand in the unique beer style. Read more here.

Breweries are poppingup all over California, especially in the Bay Area. Southern Pacific Brewing, currently under construction, will hopefully be open in early February. Check out the article here.

San Diego Beer Week is in full swing. For more information on events and what's going on in So Cal, click here.

Beer = the rise of civilization? Archaeologists have long been proponents of the belief that ancient peoples domesticated grains to turn them into beer, and new evidence strengthens the claim even more. Recently, archaeologists found indications that people traveled great lengths to procure grains despite the tedious process necessary to make them edible, combined with the knowledge that feasts were central to community-gatherings, support the hypothesis that grains were being turned into beer. Read the full article here.

On November 18, the San Francisco Museum & Historical Society will present the William C. Ralston Corporate Award to Fritz Maytag and Dave Burkhart on behalf of Anchor Brewing Company. Read more about Maytag and Burkhart.

Hop Topics

Women, Craft Beer & the Beer Bloggers Conference 2010

Last weekend marked the first ever Beer Bloggers Conference. Staged in Boulder, Colorado, the conference was set up for beer bloggers to gather and discuss trends, barriers, and leading ideas in the beer blogging world.

Of all the topics discussed, one session sparked quite a debate. Several women spoke on how to attract more female beer blog readers. The session quickly turned into a discussion on whether or not female-oriented beer blogs and groups are appropriate and necessary, or if they divide female and male craft beer drinkers even more. Sites like Girls' Pint Out and Ladies of Craft Beer help educate new and veteran female craft beer drinkers alike. They provide an atmosphere where women don't feel intimidated discussing and learning about beer. One blogger, Jim Pavlik (writer of Central State Asylum) wrote in response to the session, "Women are a marginalized group. This marginalization is exaggerated in the world of beer where women are always sexualized commodities meant to sell beer, not drink it." Sites like GPO help more women feel comfortable taking part in the craft beer world, but do they further the stereotype that female craft beer drinkers are different than male craft beer drinkers?

Jennifer Litz of Girls' Pint Out makes a strong statement in a recent blog post about why she does believe in female-oriented craft beer sites. She explains how many brewers and industry members, both men and women, ask her why she created a divisive site that separates women from men. She retorted with "It's as divisive... as Boy's Poker Night," and then went on to explain that the real focus should be about the discrepancy between the number of male versus female craft beer drinkers, and how Girls' Pint Out is helping to close the gap by educating women about craft beer, but in a fun way. Litz sums up her point with the following: "Female craft beer consumers can't agree on a unified representation of themselves, because there isn't one. The overly dramatic, emotionally charged spat going on right now quite ironically ignores this point. We are all different, and we should politely accept it... In fact, the cat-fight is looking a lot like an old school beer ad's dream. Just Photoshop us in a vat of 'Fizzy yellow beer.'"

Here's my take on the issue: I'm a woman (or a girl, lady, female). I'm 5' 1", I'm muscular, I run, I love craft beer. Sometimes, when I go into a restaurant and want to order beer, the server suggests something light, like a Blue Moon (offensive). I get raised eyebrows occasionally from strangers while I peruse the beer selection at the grocery store. Most of my girl friends cringe at the thought of "grabbing a beer," (oh no, the calories! Because apparently there aren't calories in other alcoholic beverages...). Most of my guy friends stare at me with wide eyes and open mouths when I start talking about the beer process. My parents used to think this "beer thing" I liked would pass. Their friends aren't quite sure what to think about my being involved in the beer industry-- a mix of aw and confusion ("So, uh, do you actually... brew the beer?") And while me brewing beer isn't the craziest idea in the world (aside from the fact that I have almost no upper body strength and because I've actually never brewed beer before... at least not yet!), a female brewer is a rare gem. Whether that's a result of stereotypes or the ratio of females in the craft beer industry, I don't know. What I do know is that more and more women are enjoying craft beer and working in the craft beer industry. However slowly we're moving, we're still moving in the right direction.

My advice to women getting into craft beer-- do what makes you happy and the most comfortable. If you want to, join a group like Girls' Pint Out, or, don't. I lived in Boulder for the last four years, which is where I met craft beer. While I knew most of my female friends weren't interested in the the good stuff, that didn't stop me from learning everything I could about beer. In fact, I love it when a person sizes me up (me being kind of small and whatnot) and asks in shock if I actually drink beer. YES! And I show them my pearly whites because I've just taught them a few lessons. One, girls like beer. Two, you can love beer and be a petite woman. I am a woman. I have womanly tendencies. I talk like a woman. I dress like a woman. I enjoy being a woman. I LOVE craft beer. And, I proudly own all of that.

To sum up, I don't care what method you prefer in terms of getting into craft beer- just get into it!

Legislative Matters

The Beer Maker Dinner bill, A.B. 2134, put forth by the California Small Brewers Association, has become law. According to Support Your Local Brewery, "The legislation allows licensed brewers to conduct and participate in events featuring craft beers paired with food called 'Beer Maker Dinners.' Such consumer events may be held a restaurants that purchase a brewer's products. This measure creates a tied-house exception similar to one in existing law for winemakers." Read more about this bill here.

California State Proposition 26 passed, requiring a two-thirds vote to pass new taxes and fees, and thus provides a defense for small craft brewers who already have the burden of high taxes. Read more here.

The CARE Act of 2010 (Comprehensive Alcohol Regulatory Effectiveness Act of 2010) is being reviewed by the House of Representatives (H.R. 5034). The bill was introduced in late Spring of 2010 due to wholesalers' concerns. According to the Brewers Association, as the bill currently stands, the CARE Act "would amount to an abandonment of Congressional authority over interstate commerce in alcohol beverages. It will undermine existing federal authority over taxation, product composition, labeling, advertising and importation of goods from other nations... H.R. 5034 invites states to enact inconsistent laws that needlessly raise costs and impede small brewers' efforts to expand into new markets." To read more about the bill, click here.

Well loyal readers, our time here is up. I'll be back next week with more on Drake's, the beer world, and another food and beer pairing. Feel free to leave some suggestions for future pairings, and any other comments you have. Cheers, and hoppy drinking!

Brittany

NOVEMBER DRAKE'S FRIDAY COMING UP!

2010-11-02T11:04:00.000-07:00

The next Drake's Friday will be held November 5th, from 4pm to 8 pm. For more information go to our Fridays Page at drinkdrakes.com

SEPTEMBER SPECIALS!

2010-09-03T18:07:00.000-07:00

SPECIALS & SEASONALS BEERS THIS MONTH:

Look for these beers on tap at your local East or West Bay pub or restaurant.

DRAKE'S A. M. WHEAT -- 6.0% ABV 20 IBU's -- This American Wheat is made with 40% Wheat malt in addition to the two-row barley and biscuit malt. It is dark yellow to light amber in color with a light and crisp flavor of wheat malt without the cloudiness normally associated with a wheat beer (because it is filtered) Very light bitterness, toasted almond, dry finish. The name comes from the fact that we mashed in at 6:30 am on the morning. You gotta get up pretty early in the morning in order to brew a great late Summer beer- Enjoy!

DRAKE'S GRAIN BRAIN ALE -- 11% ABV -- A Ryewine-style ale brewed similar to a barleywine ale but we used a HUGE malt bill of Rye malt and Two-Row barley. Peach-amber in color with an ivory foam head, a distinct rye flavor with citrus/malty tones sweet maple or molasses mouthfeel. Slight hop bitterness, with big, brash, and boozy ester flavors that will remind you of brandy or cognac, so beware! This stuff will go right to your brain. We suggest it be served in half pints.

DRAKE'S CHINOOKIAN ALE -- 7.5% ABV -- The tale of this beer comes straight out of the Northwest, where the legendary Cascadian Dark Ale-style (and controversy) was born back in the 1990's. Some call it a Dark IPA, others a Black IPA-you decide for yourself. We used two-row barley, Honey malt, caramalt, crystal malt for the base, and a combination of chocolate rye & chocolate malt for the color and roastiness. The hops were German Magnum, Cascade, and a ton of Chinooks. The flavor and mouthfeel is definately a roasty to sweet maltiness, with a noticeable hop bitterness reminiscent of an IPA. Medium carbonation, brownish white head with a slight opalescent black color.

DRAKE'S PALE RYDER -- 6% ABV 25 IBUs -- Exceptionally drinkable! This is an American Pale Rye ale that uses 30% Rye malt. It is straw to light golden in color with mild bitterness, crisp & refreshing with a dry finish. A welcomed late-Summer brew. The name was derived from the Clint Eastwood movie Pale Rider, in which he plays a mysterious, nameless preacher who appears out of nowhere to assist the local gold prospectors that are being targeted by a local landowner intent on getting the gold for himself.

...... and back by popular demand in mid-September, Aroma Prieta IPA!

Thanks for reading, (And drink'in Drake's!) -- The Drake

NEXT DRAKE'S FRIDAY - SEPT 3RD

2010-09-02T18:15:00.000-07:00

START YOUR LABOR DAY RIGHT!

The next Drake's First Friday event is on September 3rd from 4- 8 pm. More info here.

Drake's opens it doors again for our first Friday of the month event. Food, music .... and beer! Join us! Starting at 4 pm we will have at least eight brews pouring, and this month 3 different beer stations!

COST:
$5 Donation at the gate. 21 and over please. (Children, with their parents of course, are OK to enter.) $15 for a Drake's logo tasting mug and 3 tokens for full pours. More tokens can be purchased separately.

FOOD:
For Drake's Fridays, the brewery crew likes to have food available to the public that goes great with beer. This month, we'll have those awesome duo you see outside your favorite watering-hole at 2 am. Serving up great street food will be...for an encore performance.... the TACO GUYS! The boys will be serving up delicious gourmet tacos, and at a great price. Check them out at http://www.facebook.com/pages/THE-TACO-GUYS/257824054004

OTHER STUFF:
Tours will be available by the brewers. Some tables & chairs will be provided, but as always feel free to bring your own seating if you''d like, tailgater-style!

A BENEFIT FOR THE SAN LORENZO ASSOCIATION OF TEACHERS & STAFF (SLATS): Your $5 donation at the gate, plus the net proceeds of the beer sales, will go to supporting the programs and scholarships of this local teachers organization. SLATS volunteers will be working the gate, patrolling the parking lot and generally helping out. Drake's is proud to be working with non-profits and local community to raise money for great causes!

GENERAL INFO:
- Please park in the main West Gate Center lot, in front of Walmart & Sports Authority, and walk back to the brewery (see link to map, at the bottom of this email).
- Please, leave you pets at home. And kindly respect our neighbors and their customers in the West Gate Center.
- Sorry, but we can no longer accept old beer tokens (from 2008 and prior years).

MAYBE HOPOC SHOULD BE YOUR NEXT PINT?

2010-08-14T12:30:00.000-07:00

The great beer site YOUR NEXT PINT put up a very nice post about Drake's Hopocalypse IPA. Thanks Ashley!

Check it out: http://ht.ly/2oYHM

PLETHORA OF IPAs FOR AUGUST!

2010-08-14T12:17:00.000-07:00

First & Foremost! DENOGGINIZER DIPA NOW IN 22s! But... we have to say that we've had a hard time keeping bombers of the infamous Denogginizer Double IPA in stock, since we started bottling it in late June. More is now in the fermenter and will be bottled before the end of the month.

SPECIALS & SEASONALS BEERS THIS MONTH:

DRAKE'S HOPOCALYPSE ALE – 9.3% ABV, 100+ IBUs - This Liquid Revelation is a deep orange monster that is loosely filtered to keep the integrity and faith of the malt & hops intact. Equal amounts of American two-row malt and English pale malt are combined with Vienna and Rye malts, then balanced with Cascade, Simcoe and Chinook hops for flavor. We then dry hop it with additional Cascade, Simcoe, and Chinook hops. Enjoy the massive aromatic Revelation and prophetic flavor of this beer now and forever after.

DRAKE'S BASS AKWARDS IPA - 7% a.b.v - Our Bass Akwards IPA is a hop forward IPA with huge citrus & piney characters. The nose is reminicent of fresh cut grass, pine, and citrus from the hop resins but balanced off with a light malt flavor. A base malt of American two row barley is combined with Caramalt to makeup the grain bill. The original recipe called for Simcoe (S) Saaz (S) and Amarillo (A) for the bittering Hops, and Simcoe (S) Spalt (S) and Amarillo (A) for the flavoring and aromatic hops. One of the brewers commented on the fact that the bittering & flavoring hops they used both spelled "ass" backwards... and the name of this beer was born- Bass Akwards IPA.

AROMA PRIETA IPA - 6.5% a.b.v. (6.9 on the Richter Scale) - This liquid temblor is an agressively hopped IPA that is the second in our "World Series of Hops" program. (The first was Aroma Coma in 2009.) Using a basemalt of Two-Row Barley, Rye, Wheat, Crystal, Pilsen & Honey Malts, we are able to achieve a lighter body than our regular IPA but one with a larger magnitude of hop aroma & bitterness. 32 lbs of hops (German Magnum, CTZ, Citra, Chinook & Centennial) will shake your taste buds for a minimum of 10-15 seconds! The pine, citrus & floral aromatics then settle down for a smooth & gentle finish.

These beers can be found at a few of our select East Bay accounts (ABC laws won't let us post where... but, send us an email and we can "legally" give you the info!) Thanks for reading!

-- The Drake

AUGUST FIRST FRIDAY EVENT, Friday the 6th, 4-8 pm

2010-08-03T20:57:00.000-07:00

AUGUST FIRST FRIDAY AT DRAKE'S!

Drake's opens it doors (and parking lot) again for our first Friday of the month event. Food, music .... and beer! Join us! Starting at 4 pm we will have eight of our regular brews pouring, plus some great specials. It'll be Hops, hops, and more hops! Bass Akwards IPA, Aroma Prieta IPA. All pre-the Bistro's IPA Fest (maybe the Hopocalypse too!) Try'em before the Fest!

COST:
$5 Donation at the gate. 21 and over please. (Children, with their parents of course, are OK to enter.) $15 for a Drake's logo tasting glass and 3 tokens for full pours. More tokens can be purchased separately.

FOOD:
For Drake's Fridays, the brewery crew likes to have food available to the public that goes great with beer. This month, we'll have those awesome duo you see outside your favorite watering-hole at 2 am. Serving up great street food will be the ... TACO GUYS! The boys will be serving up delicious gourmet tacos, and at a great price. Check them out at http://www.facebook.com/pages/THE-TACO-GUYS/257824054004

OTHER STUFF:
Tours will be available by the brewers. Some tables & chairs will be provided, but as always feel free to bring your own seating if you'd like, tailgater-style!

A BENEFIT FOR THE SAN LEANDRO EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION:
This event is a fundraiser is for the San Leandro Educational Foundation (SLED). Your $5 donation at the gate, plus the net proceeds of the beer sales, will go to supporting the programs of this great local fundraising arm for the San Leandro Schools. SLED volunteers will be working the gate, patrolling the parking lot and generally helping out. Drake's is proud to be working with non-profits and local community to raise money for great causes!

GENERAL INFO:
- Please park in the main West Gate Center lot, in front of Walmart & Sports Authority, and walk back to the brewery (see link to map, at the bottom of this email).
- Please, leave you pets at home. And kindly respect our neighbors and their customers in the West Gate Center.
- Sorry, but we can no longer accept old beer tokens (from 2008 and prior years).

NEXT DRAKE'S FRIDAY - July 2nd

2010-06-30T09:09:00.000-07:00

START YOUR FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION AT DRAKE'S!

Drake's opens it doors (and parking lot) again for our first Friday of the month event. Food, music .... and beer! Join us! Starting at 4 pm we will have eight brews pouring, plus our summer Belgian-style ale "La Resistance".

COST:
$5 Donation at the gate. 21 and over please. (Children, with their parents of course, are OK to enter.) $15 for a Drake's logo tasting mug and 3 tokens for full pours. More tokens can be purchased separately.

FOOD:
For Drake's Fridays, the brewery crew likes to have food available to the public that goes great with beer. This month, there will be some great grilled sausages, plus non-alcoholic drinks & bottled water, served up by the Boy's & Girls Club volunteers.

OTHER STUFF:
Tours will be available by the brewers. Some tables & chairs will be provided, but as always feel free to bring your own seating if you'd like, tailgater-style!

A BENEFIT FOR THE SAN LEANDRO BOY'S & GIRL'S CLUB:
This event is a fundraiser is for the San Leandro Boy's & Girl's Club. Your $5 donation at the gate, plus the net proceeds of the beer sales, will go to supporting the programs of this great local organization. Club volunteers will be working the gate, patrolling the parking lot and generally helping out. Drake's is proud to be working with non-profits and local community to raise money for great causes!

GENERAL INFO:
- Please park in the main West Gate Center lot, in front of Walmart & Sports Authority, and walk back to the brewery (see link to map, at the bottom of this email).
- Please, leave you pets at home. And kindly respect our neighbors and their customers in the West Gate Center.
- Sorry, but we can no longer accept old beer tokens (from 2008 and prior years).

DRAKE'S FRIDAY - MARCH 5TH

2010-02-22T09:48:00.001-08:00

BE AT THE BREWERY!

Drake's opens it doors (and parking lot) for its second big Friday event of 2010! Food, music .... and beer! Join us! Starting at 4 pm we will have eight brews pouring, including our late-winter beer, "Drake's Belgian Trippel". We'll be here, rain or shine. Hope you will be too!

COST:
$5 Donation to San Leandro's Bancroft Middle School at the gate. 21 and over please. (Children with their parents, of course, are OK to enter.)
$15 for a Drake's logo tasting mug and 3 tokens for full pours. More tokens can be purchased separately.

STREET FOOD:
Drake's will have some great food on hand from one of your favorite local street food trucks. Come hungry!. This month it is: Food by Roli Roti, the fabulous mobile rotisserie operation. Check them out at www.roliroti.com

OTHER STUFF:
Some great tunes from our house DJ, and some interior space in the brewery to hang out in (in case of less than perfect weather). Tours will be available by the brewers. Some tables & chairs will be provided, but as always feel free to bring your own seating if you'd like, tailgater-style!

A BENEFIT FOR SAN LEANDRO'S BANCROFT MIDDLE SCHOOL:
This event is a fundraiser is for the Parents Club of Bancroft Middle School in San Leandro. The Parent's Club provides volunteer support and funds to help offer school activities that might have otherwise been cut in this time of shrinking school budgets. Volunteers from Bancroft will be working the gate, patrolling the parking lot and generally helping out. Drake's is proud to be working with the schools and local community to raise money for great causes!

GENERAL INFO:
•Please park in the main West Gate Center lot, in front of Walmart & Sports Authority, and walk back to the brewery (link to map).
•Please, leave you pets at home. And kindly respect our neighbors and their customers in the West Gate Center.

SF BEER WEEK & DRAKE'S FRIDAYS RETURN!

2010-02-04T21:36:00.000-08:00

THE DRAKE’S FRIDAYS Returns – FEBRUARY 12th! From 4PM to 8PM

Beer Week! A Benefit! Bill Brand Tribute Beers!

BRINGING FRIDAYS BACK WITH A BANG! SF BEER WEEK MARQUEE EVENT and the POURING OF THE "BILL BRAND TRIBUTE" SERIES OF BEERS.

Drake's Brewing Co., in conjunction with SF BEER week, has become the location where more than 10 “Bill Beers” will be poured as a tribute to craft brewing's late great friend Bill Brand. Brewers around the Bay Area have agreed to brew a special beer in Bill's honor, to be served at their own breweries during the week (all different styles -- just beers that the brewers think Bill would like to drink!). Each of these brews have been named for Bill, who was, so sadly, fatally injured while headed home from an event during last year's inaugural SF BEER Week. Drake's will be the only place you'll be able to find a sampling of the Bill Brand Tribute Series in one place! Come, enjoy yourself, and raise a glass to Bill!

The Bill Brand Tribute Beers will be pouring from these breweries:

• Triple Rock Brewery - Bill Brand IPA
• Tied House - Bill Brand Bourbon Barrel Porter
• Valley Brewing Co. - Bill Brandbic - Valley’s Calambic
• Firehouse Brewery – Bill Brand Imperial Red
• Black Diamond Brewing – Bill Brand Dark Mild
• Iron Springs Brewery – Bill Brand Hoppy Dark Lager
• Linden Street Brewery - Bill Brand Burnt Oak Dark Lager
• Gordon Biersch Brewing – Bill Brand Barrel-Aged Blend
• Devil’s Canyon Brewing - Bill Brand Brown Ale
• Marin Brewing – Bill Brand Bourbon Barleywine
• Drake’s Brewing – Bill Brand Barrel-Aged Blend

STREET FOOD Drake's will have some great food on hand, from some of your favorite local street food trucks. Come hungry and work your way through the line-up.

Mexican - La Pinata (Alameda) lapinata.com
BBQ - Emergency Beer BBQ (Belmont) emergencybbq.com
Asian - Seoul on Wheels (SF) seoulonwheels.com
Sweets - Cupkates (Berkeley)Featuring StoneHenge Stout cupcakes! cupkatesbakery.com
Gourmet Rotisserie Meats - Roli Roti (Oakland) roliroti.com

OTHER STUFF: We'll have the Washoes lanes set up, some great tunes from our house DJ, and some interior space in the brewery to hang out in (in case of less than perfect weather). Tours will be available by the brewers. Some tables & chairs will be available, but as always feel free to bring your own seating if you want, tailgater-style!

A BENEFIT FOR SAN LEANDRO'S WASHINGTON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: This event is a fundraiser is for the Parents Club/Dad's Club of Washington Elementary School in San Leandro. The Dad's Club provide manpower and money to help fund school activities that have been cut in these lean times. Members will be working the gate, patrolling the parking lot and generally helping out. Drake's is proud to be working with the local community to raise money for great causes!

COST:
$5 Donation to Washington School to get in the gate. (Children with their parents free)
$15 for a Drake's tasting mug and 3 tokens for full pours... or taster tickets for nine 3 oz. tastes. More tokens and tastes can be purchased separately.

GENERAL INFO:

Please park in the main West Gate Center lot, in front of Walmart & Sports Authority, and walk back to the brewery (map here)
Eight Drake's Beers will be available, including Hopocalypse our present seasonal (a Double IPA).
Please, leave you pets at home. And kindly respect our neighbors and their customers in the West Gate Center.

-- Thanks for reading!

BARREL BLENDING WITH BEER & NOSH

2010-01-26T17:28:00.000-08:00

FOR SF BEER WEEK

A blog post just up by Jesse Friedman, author of the wonderful beer site "Beer & Nosh". It is about the blending (and sampling) of a barrel-aged beer here at Drake's, for the "Mostly Barrel-Aged Beer Dinner" at Scala's Bistro in San Francisco. An event to be held during the 2nd annual SF BEER Week. Go here to read it!

For more info on attending the dinner, to be held Wednesday, February 10th, at 6:30 pm, go here.

Image by Jesse Friedman. Look for more great food & beer images at www.beerandnosh.com

Thanks for reading!

DRAKE'S HAS A SIGN?

2009-12-12T12:00:00.000-08:00

After Twenty Plus Years ...... Drake's Is Out in the Open!

Most people don't know that Drake's Brewing Co. is located in the old powerhouse building of San Leandro's former Caterpillar factory. What is now the "West Gate Center", was a previous industrial site that was reused and renovated as a shopping & business center some 25 years ago. Tenants include Home Depot, Sports Authority, See's Candies, and Walmart. Shoppers have no problem finding those places. But, those of you that have visited the brewery can attest to the fact that Drake's is a tough find the first time. Driving around (& around & around...) til you finally spot (or miss...) what might be a brewery in a metal building at the back corner of the huge complex. (The pallets of kegs often out in our parking area is usually what tips people off that they have arrived at Drake's.)

What has made finding our location even more difficult all these years, is the lack of a sign on the building. The only signage has been a small "Drake's Brewing Co." crudely hand painted on the door to the tasting room. (Looks like the work of a drunk man, really.) The way we have described getting to the brewery has been something along the lines of "Drive behind the Walmart to their loading dock, then look for the grain silo". See the pic of our building on the right hand side of this blog... nothing to let you know you've reached Drake's. Yesterday, after 3 days of work, that all changed. We are a clandestine brewery no more!

Quite a milestone. Drakes has a real sign. Actually three of them. Here's some shots of the signs being installed. Notice our new "mark" (the round red circle) that you will find soon on the new Drake's labels and bottle caps.

Lastly, thanks to google maps we have also been able to mark exactly our location in the center. Check it out! So, finally after 20 years, we think we've solved (most of) the problem of finding Drake's!

Thanks for reading! -- The Drake

FIRST 2009 JOLLY ROGER TAPPED

2009-11-25T12:15:00.000-08:00

Drake's holiday ale, Jolly Roger, was tapped for the first time this year... at 5pm, Tuesday, November 24th, at Cato's Alehouse in Oakland (3891 Piedmont Ave.) The Drake's brewers were there, including Assistant Brewer Morgan Phillips who designed this year's Jolly Roger. For 2009 Jolly Roger is a Imperial Brown. Jolly Roger has been a holiday time tradition all the way back to the first years Drake's was in business. (The name comes from the original Owner/Brewmaster Roger Lind.) Scroll down to see previous post about the recipe for this year's Jolly. Another great year, and another great beer!

Image: Morgan is on the left, Brian Thorson, Assistant Head Brewer on the right.

Thanks for reading! -- The Drake

BARREL-AGED LINE UP FOR THE BISTRO, SATURDAY NOV. 14TH

2009-11-13T21:01:00.000-08:00

The Bistro Barrel Aged Festival - November 14, 2009

For the Bistro event Josh & Brian have a triple play of beers, with a baseball theme, honoring the great Kansas City third baseman (and hall of famer) George Brett

"George Brett Triple" - A Belgian Triple aged in a Pinot Noir barrel for 2 years. Unblended, unspiked with Brett, yet extremely sour imparted from the barrel itself. 8.75% abv

"Pine Tar Barleywine" Named after George Brett's meltdown when the Yankee's Manager Billy Martin, and the umpires accused him of using too much pine tar on his bat after hitting a home run. Two year old Barleywine aged in a Grenache barrel. Unspiked with any other yeasts. Very oakey from the barrel. 10% abv

"K.C. Blues - Blueberry Stout" 6 year old Imperial Stout aged in a Merlot barrel, with Blueberries added and Brettanomyces spiked. 9% abv

From the Bistro website: "There will be over 70 beers on tap, live music and party BISTRO style with BBQ smokin' and beer flowin' - 11am - 7pm - street closed for extra room. Enjoy Sang Matiz will play at 4pm" www.the-bistro.com

Thanks for reading!

-- The Drake

2009 JOLLY ROGER IN THE TANK!

2009-10-30T09:41:00.000-07:00

FIRST BATCH BREWED ON OCTOBER 29TH

Traditionally, Jolly is different every year (last year it was an Imperial Red). Morgan Phillips, Drake's assistant brewer, was given a big assignment by Josh & Brian. Formulate and brew this year's Jolly Roger!

This just in From Morgan:

"Everything went great with Jolly yesterday. It came in at 22.2 Plato so if the yeast attenuate at their listed capacity it will be about 9.5% abv. With beers this size it's hard to estimate because it could easily go either way as much as a half a percent. We should know for sure in about ten days.

As for the beer itself I'm very pleased with how it came out so far and it should be very good. It's an Imperial Brown I modeled off an English Brown recipe I've done before. Some of the ingredients are English and it is English inspired, but this big boy is very American. The color is a very rich maple brown that doesn't seem to have red or orange highlights, just brown. The flavor is rich toffee with toasty notes underneath which should give a nice play between malty sweet and dry flavors in the mouth. The mouth-feel with be full and a little sweet, but there are plenty of hops to balance that out. I went with Magnum for bittering and a duet of Chinook and Willamette for flavor and aroma".

Jolly Roger should be on tap at your local East & West Bay taphouses, starting around November 20th.

Thanks for reading!

-- John

WHERE'S DRINKDRAKES.COM?

2009-10-15T11:59:00.000-07:00

NEW WEBSITE IN THE WORKS

For those of you that keep up on these kinds of things... you might have noticed that the old drinkdrakes.com website is no more.

We finally got around to transferring the url, and are busy creating a new website. Nothing too elaborate. But, expect to see more information about the brewery, it's history, our staff, and the beers we produce.

We'll keep you up-to-date on the latest seasonals, and events at the brewery. Look for it to go live in a few weeks!

Thanks for reading!

-- The Drake

DRAKE'S AUTUMN FEST IN LIMITED RELEASE

2009-10-13T09:29:00.000-07:00

Josh & Brian have just kegged up our single batch of Autumn Fest, Drake's Fall seasonal. An American version of a Fest-style Bier. Amber color, medium bodied, and a smooth flavor. This beer is the brother from another mother of the famous beers of Munich. Fest Beers are usually brewed in anticipation of an upcoming festival (Oktoberfest, Fall, or Autumn, Spring, etc...) We used a kolsch yeast (but it is not a kolsch-style beer) 18 IBU's (relatively low). Spalt & Saaz Hops 5.75% abv

Currently can only be found on tap at our sister brewpubs Jupiter & the Bear's Lair Campus Pub (at UC Berkeley), in Berkeley. Coming to a few other select pubs & restaurants in the East Bay, the Peninsula, & San Francisco.

THE EVIDENCE: DENOGGINIZER TAKES SILVER AT THE GABF

2009-10-12T14:45:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, Drake's infamous Denoggin- izer Double IPA earned some hardware in Denver. We've been waiting for the official awards photo from the Brewers Association, operators of the Great American Beer Festival. We now have the shot, so here it is! Josh & Brian accepting the Silver Medal for Denogginizer, in the Imperial India Pale Ale catagory.

To learn more about this great beer. See a previous blog posting on how Denogginizer came to be.

We plan to have Denog in 220z. bottles available later this fall. Molly & John are putting the final touches on the label right now.

Thanks for reading!

-- The Drake

DRAKE'S WELCOMES NEW SALES MANAGER DOW TUNIS!

2009-09-06T19:08:00.000-07:00

We are happy to announce the new Drake's Sales Manager. His name is H. Dow Tunis IV, and is a resident of Albany, just north of Berkeley. Dow is a familiar name in the Bay Area brewing scene, and certainly a familiar face around the J & R Martin brewing organization. Dow ran our Twenty Tank Brewery in San Francisco, from the mid-nineties, til its close in 2000. He also put in a stint getting the Bear's Lair Pub in the Student Union at UC Berkeley up, running and operating smoothly, starting in 2001. He is an avid craft beer aficionado, and a committed foodie as well.

We are very happy to have Dow back in the fold, at Drake's Brewing Co. Dow is in charge of all draft and package sales in the San Francisco Bay Area. To start, he is busy getting to know all our present draft accounts. Drake's is committed to the self-distribution of our draft products in our "Home Market" of the East Bay and San Francisco. It's a lot more work for the brewery, but we think it is essential to stay close to our accounts and customers, and to keep it local (as it should be). You'll see Dow at most beer festivals & events that Drake's attends, so stop at the booth and say hello!

If you are interested in putting Drake's on tap, give Dow a call @ 510-568-BREW, ext 1, or he can be reached at dow(at)drakesbrewing.com. You can also follow Dow on twitter! Click here.

Thanks for reading -- John

WE SAY GOODBYE TO BRAD

2009-08-24T00:01:00.000-07:00

Bradley Robbins our excellent brewer and draft sales guy, has punched out on the Drake's time clock for the last time. Our history with Brad goes way back. Brad started out working in the kitchen at Triple Rock over 8 years ago. With time he moved into the brewery, training under Head Brewer Christian Kazakoff. Brad made a huge contribution as the Assistant Brewer under Christian.

Brad left Triple Rock a few years ago to follow his wonderful girlfriend Jordan to England, where she attended the London School of Economics. Brad landed a job at Oxfordshire Ales, in Marsh Gibbon. Before he knew it, he was promoted to Head Brewer! After Jordan's graduation, and a lot of Oxfordshire ales brewed, the couple came back to the Bay Area last October. Just in time to nab the position of draft sales rep/brewer right after our purchase of Drake's. Brad has done a huge amount to bring Drake's draft back to local tap houses and restaurants, after a period where the emphasis had been more on expanding the bottled products of the brewery. He has also been essential in the brewery, helping Josh & Brian with the greatly expanded brewing schedule.

Well as things have it, Jordan is now Brad's fiancee. She just got a great job in Ft. Collins, CO. So, the couple is on the move again. We can't thank Brad enough for all his contributions to Triple Rock, and now Drake's Brewing Co., over the years. Luckily, they are moving to a great brewing town and we expect Brad will be back in the brewing scene without delay.

Thanks Brad!

Here's a photo of Brad (top left) with Head Brewer Josh Miner, and at last Spring's "Fallen Heros" fundraiser at Jack London Square.

-- John, Reid, Roy & everybody at Triple Rock & Drake's

BREWED FOR THOUGHT DROPS BY DRAKE'S

2009-08-23T09:02:00.000-07:00

Mario, of the great beer blog "Brewed for Thought" came by Drake's the other day to taste our latest one-off IPA, known as the "Aroma Coma". He wrote up a real nice post on his visit. Here's a link to the blog post. Thanks Mario!

BETTER BEER BLOG VISITS DRAKES

2009-06-05T18:18:00.000-07:00

Peter of the wonderful blog www.betterbeerblog.com came by last Friday for a tour and tasting at the brewery. I know...don't give us a bad time about the Friday tasting event.... we're working on it! He posted a real nice feature on Drake's.

Peter also got roped into a little game of Washoes along with Marcel of www.craftondraft.com

Click here to read about Peter's visit to Drake's!

BOONVILLE LINE-UP

2009-05-01T12:37:00.000-07:00

ONE OF THE BEST BEER FESTS IN THE USA!
-------
Expect to see brewers Josh, Brian, and Brad at the Boonville Fest on Saturday. As was reported on Twitter, they'll be bringing Drake's IPA, Drake's Double-Dry-Hopped IPA, the 1500, and the Drake's Dry Rye. Josh just left the brewery, and he decided to throw on the truck a few more things to pour. We'll also have some Denogginizer, a little Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout, and some Barrel-Aged Batch 2000 too. Be sure and ask for it!

Thanks for reading! -- The Drake

DRAKE'S DOUBLE DRY!

2009-04-23T21:12:00.000-07:00

TRY THE DRAKE'S DOUBLE DRY (HOPPED) IPA!

We double dry-hopped a batch of our regular IPA (with Chinook, Cascade, & Columbus) - once on 3/30 and then again on 4/6. The result, we think, is a delightfully tasteful, aromatic, and altogether wonderful beer. Lots of nose and flavor! Additionally, we decided to leave it unfiltered to retain all its luster and character.

So...... a "double scoop" of Chinook and Cascade hops were added. This means an additional 16 pounds people! Or, put another way... more than a pound of extra hops per barrel! Drake's Double Dry can be found at a few select area pubs for a short time.

Cheers! And, thanks for reading. -- John Martin

BEER VS. WINE TONIGHT!

2009-03-25T10:04:00.000-07:00

Henry's in Berkeley - 2600 Durant Avenue, Berkeley, CA

Chef Eddie B has put together a wonderful four course meal, with four beers and four wines. Rodger Davis of Triple Rock has put together the beers.

Drake's and Triple Rock will battle Enos Winery and Berkeley's A Donkey and a Goat Winery to see who emerges victorious in the age old battle of beer vs. wine. Drake's brewers Josh & Brian will be serving Drake's Dry Rye (our one-off seasonal) and Drake's Imperial Stout. Triple Rock will weigh in with Pinnacle Pale Ale, and the fabulous TRB Dragon's Milk, poured by Rodger. Meet and Greet starts at 5:30, dinner at 6:30. Cost is $45.

See henrysberkeley.com Call for reservations 510-809-4132.

Thanks for reading!

-- The Drake

EXPEDITION TAPPING THIS MONDAY!

2009-03-20T19:28:00.000-07:00

2009 Expedition Ale Release

Join the brewers and the rest of Drake's crew at Barclay's Pub on Monday evening March 23rd, to tap the first keg of the 2009 Expedition Ale. Tapping at 6 pm.

From Brian --

It's that time of year again; the time to go on an Expedition well worth taking. This beer is certainly one of my favorites to brew and drink. It is somewhat hard to classify stylistically. Somewhere between a typical red or amber in color, this beer usually surprises people with its hearty & unique malt and hop characteristics.

Aside from the typical crystal and cara malts added to an amber, look for the oats and black malt lurking in the background. We've added a generous amount of West Coast style hops (Cascade and Chinook) throughout the brew to take you on a malty and hoppy trip . This brew weighs in at 6.75% ABV & a nice 60 IBUs.

As for the history, of Expedition, we've had to do a little digging in the brew logs.... It was Drake's batch # 375, brewed by Mike Manty in Jan '96 (Mike was at Drake's 1994-1996).

Prost!!

-- Brian

Expedition will be soon available on draft in a few Bay Area pubs and restaurants for a short time. We also have bottled a limited release which is now available at the brewery and will be found in a small supply at the best local beers outlets. Barclay's will have the only kegs of Expedition til the week of March 30th. Barclay's is located at 5840 College Ave., Oakland. www.barclayspub.com

DRAKE'S DRY RYE!

2009-03-04T19:38:00.000-08:00

JUST KEGGED!

Josh & I wanted to do a beer that explored the subtle aspects of rye, such as it's mouth feel, aroma, and augmentative flavors in a tasty beverage.

Drake's Dry Rye is a clean American rye ale, made with just under 30% Rye to allow the subtleties of rye to come out entirely. Furthermore we wanted to combine the complementary qualities of American Centennial and Amarillo flavor hops. When more than 20% of a recipe has rye in it, there's a distinct oiliness to the beer, which in this case we wanted to combine it with the hop oiliness from essential oils that beer enthusiasts know very well already.

But, it doesn't stop there; it is pretty well-known that rye has been typically added to beer to impart a dry mouth feel, but it can add other interesting aspects to a beer. Some people say that there's a bit of light spiciness and herbal qualities from the grain. Others say there's a slight sourness when the grain is used in beer. There's also the different creamy head on it as well. One of of the Drake's brewers (which one, I wonder?) is somewhat of a hophead .... so one day he said to himself, "why not join some of the similar qualities of the two ingredients in an exploration of rye and hops together"? This beer is the result. Hope you like it!

Drake's Dry Rye will be available in better bay beer bars soon! We'll give an update on this blog where you can find it.

Thanks for reading! -- Brian

HERE'S TO SF BEER WEEK!

2009-02-18T10:00:00.000-08:00

And what a week it was!

Drake's was involved in more than a half-dozen different beer events over the week. Thanks to everybody who pitched in to organize the week, and to those that participated (breweries and beer lovers)! Also, thanks to Josh, Brian, Brad, & Dave for all the help during the week.

The week finished up with the great "Best of the West" Beer Festival put on by the Celebrator Beer News. (See photo.) Looking forward to next year!

-- John

BARREL-AGED LINE UP AT JUPITER & TRIPLE ROCK

2009-02-10T09:30:00.000-08:00

SF BEER WEEK EVENT

TODAY! Tuesday, February 10th, at 4 pm

Here's the line-up for Jupiter & Triple Rock's Barrel-Aged Beer Night, starting this afternoon at 4pm. Rodger Davis and the gang has put together an incredible list of local, regional, national, and imported barrel-aged beers for you to try. Scroll down to a previous post, to get info on the Drake's barrel beers being poured.

Also, Sour Sunday went great! Everybody enjoyed the great variety of Sours that Rodger gathered. Special thanks to Josh, Brian, Jono, James, Jesse, George, Claudia & Rodger for pouring! The Barrel-Aged Night is going to be just as great!

Here's what's going to be poured today:

Allagash - Curieux
Ballast - Sea Monster
Beach Chalet - Dubbel
Blue Frog - XXX
Bruery - Blend
Dogfish Head - Palo Santo
Drakes - Frankenwine
Drakes - Impinoir
Drakes - (Anti?) Sideways Stout
Firestone Walker - Saucerful Secrets
Green Flash - Dbl. Bbl. Stout
HeBrew - Lenny on Rye
Hitachino - XHShochuCask
Iron Springs - Barleywine
Ithaca - Oaked Nut Brnown
Magnolia - Trippel
Mayfield - XXX
Moylans - Hopsickle
Sac. Brewery - Wheatwine
Schooners - Old Woody
Speakeasy - Hunter's Point Porter
Stone - 07 Vertical Epic
The Bruery - Blend
Thirsty Bear - Imperial Stout

Drake's barrel beers will be served with a variety of other local & imported barrel-aged beers at Triple Rock & Jupiter on Tuesday Feb 10th, from 4 pm til the beer runs out! Twenty bucks buys you a logo tasting glass and four pours of any style at either location. Four bucks per pour after that. If you attended the "Sour Sunday" event, bring your tasting glass! It's good for both events. For info on Jupiter visit www.jupiterbeer.com To learn more about Triple Rock go to www.triplerock.com For a flyer on the event click here.

Thanks for reading! -- The Drake

RAISE A GLASS TO BILL BRAND!

2009-02-10T09:01:00.000-08:00

Last night at 7 pm, at the Drake's, Triple Rock, Iron Springs Beer Dinner, Tom Dalldorf lead us all in raising a glass to William Brand.

If you haven't heard, our great friend & "What's on Tap" blogger, Bill Brand, was critically injured Sunday night in a SF Muni accident.

We concur with Bobby G., who said in the comment section of Bill's blog, "we know you're tougher than a Muni train". Our thoughts are with Bill and his family. We are excited to hear this morning that his condition has stabilized.

Here's to a speedy recovery Bill! Can't wait to see you back out and about on the trail of great beer!

-- John Martin

SOUR BEER SUNDAY!

2009-02-07T19:29:00.000-08:00

We just got the list of beers from Triple Rock Head Brewer Rodger Davis, for tomorrow's Sour Beer event at Jupiter & Triple Rock. Boy what a line-up! Here it is. And hey, congratulations to Rodger for just winning silver , for his IIMAXX ale, at the Bistro Double IPA Fest!

(If you checked this list Saturday night it included beers scheduled for the Tuesday Barrel-Aged Beer Night at Jupiter & Triple Rock, as well. This is the list for Sunday only. Thx.)

Ballast Point- Sour Wench
Bethelham - Framboise
Brewmaster - Signature Ale
Cantillion - Classic Gueuze
Cantillion - Kriek
Cherish - Rasp.Lambic
De Ranke - Cuvee
De Ranke - Kriek
Deproef - Seasonal
Desuhutes - The Dissadent
Drake's - Cherry Port
Drake's - Blueberry Port
Drake's - Brettamber
Drie - Gueze
Duchesse - De Bourgogne
Echte - Kriekenbier
Gordon Biersch - Hefe
Haandbryggeri - Haandbakk
Ithaca - Brute Golden
Jolly Pumkin' - Wit
Jolly Pumkn' - La Roja
Jolly Pumpkin - Stout
Monks Café - Sour Ale
Moonlight - 60 to life
Moonlight - Sourpuss
Petrus - Old Brown
Petrus - Aged Pale
Reinaert - Flem.Wild Ale
Rodenbach - Grand Cru
Russian River - Consecration
St.Somewhere - Dubbel
The Bruery - Blend
The Bruery - Berliner Weisse
Valley Brew - Effingreat
Zoetzuur - Flemish Red

Some great Drake's sours will be served with a variety of other local & imported sours at Triple Rock & Jupiter on Sunday, from 1 pm til the beer runs out! Twenty bucks buys you a logo tasting glass and four pours of any style at either location. Four bucks per pour after that. For info on Jupiter visit www.jupiterbeer.com To learn more about Triple Rock go to www.triplerock.com

Thanks for reading! -- The Drake

SF BEER WEEK EVENT - BARREL-AGED BEER NIGHT

2009-02-07T10:26:00.000-08:00

Triple Rock & Jupiter to hold 1st Annual Barrel-Aged Beer Night!

This Tuesday some our Drake's barrel-aged beers will be coming out of the cellar, to be poured at the Triple Rock Brewery and Jupiter barrel-aged beer event, for SF Beer Week. Here's the line up!

Barleywine Aged in a Grenache Barrel (our "Frankenwinebarrel", Frankenwein in a wine barrel) Aged in barrels for 1.25 years. Strong raisin and brandy like aromas. Flavor is vinous with a little chocolate and cinnamon. Finishes strong at 10+% abv with a slightly astringent mouth feel from the wood. Served at Jupiter

Imperial Stout Aged in a Merlot Barrel (we call it "Anti-Sideways Stout")
Aged 1.25 years. Aroma of molasses and earthy red wine. Flavors of coffee and roasted malts with a full body and smooth subtle finish. Served at Triple Rock

Imperial Stout Aged in Pinot Noir ( a k a "Impinoir Stout")
Aged 1.25 years. Very vinous aroma of ripe fruitiness blends well with the chocolate of the Imperial Stout. Flavor expresses the character of the wine well with only a touch of oak from the barrel. Full bodied with crisp finish. Served at Jupiter

These Drake's barrel beers will be served with a variety of other local & imported barrel-aged beers at Triple Rock & Jupiter on Tuesday Feb 10th, from 4 pm til the beer runs out! Twenty bucks buys you a logo tasting glass and four pours of any style at either location. Four bucks per pour after that. If you attended the "Sour Sunday" event, bring your tasting glass! It's good for both events. For info on Jupiter visit www.jupiterbeer.com To learn more about Triple Rock go to www.triplerock.com For a flyer on the event click here.

Thanks for reading! -- The Drake

SF BEER WEEK -- "SOUR SUNDAY "

2009-02-06T09:00:00.000-08:00

DRAKE'S BARREL-AGED BEERS AT TRIPLE ROCK & JUPITER

SF Beer Week Events! Drake's sister brewpubs, Triple Rock & Jupiter are holding two barrel-aged beer nights during the week. In this post we'll talk about the first one........

SOUR SUNDAY!

Both Jupiter & Triple Rock will be pouring a vast array of barrel-aged sours, this Sunday February 8th. Drake's will be there with some great beers that Josh & Brian have been aging.

Port Barrel-Aged Stout with Cherries This is Drake's Imperial Stout, aged 5.5 years on top of cherries in a port cask. Aromas of cherries, raisins and oak, with an earthy flavor and sour finish. This beer will be served at Triple Rock

Port Barrel-Aged Stout with Blueberries Same Imperial Stout brew, also in the cask for five and a half years, but aged with blueberries. Similar oak and aged characters as the cherry beer, but blueberry flavors stand out in the aroma & flavor. Full bodied, with a sour, and crisp, finish. This beer will be served at Triple Rock

Its Fity Part Deux Here's a description from Brian: "Fity % 2.5 yrs barrel-aged BrettAmber and Fity % 1 yr barrel-aged Belgian Tripel (aged in seperate barrels). Drake's BrettAmber is a lightly-hopped American Amber Style ale (5.8% original ABV) that is brewed with brown and chocolate malts, then aged 2.5 years in a Merlot barrel and infused with Brettanomyces yeast (in mid 2006). Its deep and robust mustiness is a result of taking on quite a bit of the barrel's characteristics. The balancing remainder of the mix in "It's Fity" is a Belgian Tripel (8.5% original ABV), which is brewed with additions of sugars, biscuit malt, and rye malt. The Tripel is aged 1 year in a Grenache barrel with no additional yeast infused. It is starting to really take on some sourness from the barrel as well. Together they present a perfect mixture of two distinctly different styles of beer." This beer will be served at Jupiter

These Drake's sours will be served with a variety of other local & imported sours at Triple Rock & Jupiter on Sunday, from 1 pm til the beer runs out! Twenty bucks buys you a logo tasting glass and four pours of any style at either location. Four bucks per pour after that. For info on Jupiter visit www.jupiterbeer.com To learn more about Triple Rock go to www.triplerock.com

-- The Drake

DRAKE'S AT HENRY'S

2009-02-04T13:19:00.000-08:00

DRAKE'S, TRIPLE ROCK, & IRON SPRINGS GET TOGETHER AT HENRY'S IN BERKELEY FOR SF BEER WEEK

Henry's Beer Dinner, Monday February 9th at 5:30 pm

The brewer connections between a handful of great local breweries crash together on Monday, February 9th for Chef Eddie Blyden's Brewer Dinner at Henry's. As some might know, Christian Kazakoff of Iron Springs brewed at Triple Rock for ten years. Rodger Davis, now head brewer at Triple Rock, was head brewer here at Drake's until last year. Josh Miner, former assistant brewer, came back to be head brewer after Rodger left. At the top of the heap of this beer dinner is of course Eddie Blyden, who is well-known for his stints at the great 21st Amendment Brewery and the Alembic in San Francisco.

THE FOOD..... AND THE BEER

Eddie and the brewers have come up with a great beer dinner menu. It starts out with a black bean & Scharffenberger cocoa soup with smoked ham & cinnamon black cream. This is served with Drake's Hefeweizen & Triple Rock Pale Ale.

The salad course is Bitter greens with toasted walnuts, Reggiano parmesan, shaved milk chocolate & balsamic vinaigrette. The beers served with this course are Iron Springs Boot Jack Brown & Drake's Amber.

There are two choices for entrees: You may order the "Triple Rock Porter braised Niman Ranch Beef Stew" with winter root vegetables and house-made egg noodles. The beers served with this entree are Triple Rock Brown Ale and Iron Springs Pilsner. The other entree is "Wild Mushroom Risotto" with cocoa nibs and ricotta. This is served with the great Drake's 1500 (an extra hopped pale, that's lighter in body & alcohol than a typical IPA).

Ah... Dessert! it is vanilla pudding with English cookies, served with Iron Springs oak-aged Barley Wine (2006) & Triple Rock Chocolate Milk Stout.

The Henry's Brewers Dinner starts at 5:30pm with a meet & greet with the brewers. Hors d'oeuvres will be served, and each brewery will present a style of beer for tasting. Dinner will begin at 6:30. The cost is $45 per person. Reservations needed. Call Joseph White @ 510-809-4126 or use opentable. Henry's is in the Durant Hotel at 2600 Durant Ave. Berkeley.

DRAKE'S BREWERY "DOCK SALES"

2009-01-21T15:49:00.000-08:00

A quick note on beer available to buy at the brewery..... Drake's is happy to offer cases & kegs of Drake's beers at great prices, "off the dock".

CASES: Drop by Thursday & Friday afternoons and pick up some cases of Drake's beers here at the brewery! For the winter season, and because we aren't holding the Friday Tastings, we are offering Drake's Blonde, Amber, and IPA for $25 a case (plus tax & crv). Hefeweizen will be back in bottles in a few weeks at the same price. Come in soon! Once we start up the Friday Tastings again, these prices will probably have to go up a bit. We also have Drake's Imperial Stout available in 500 ml bottles for $5.00, or in cases of 12 for $57.00

KEGS: 15.5 gallon kegs of Drake's beers are also available for pick-up off the dock. Right now we have in stock our Blonde, Amber, IPA 1500 and Hefeweizen. We do keep a few 5 & 7.9 gallon kegs in stock, but you might want to call first, as we often run out. We have a very limited supply of picnic taps available.

WHAT NO GROWLERS? We are presently putting together a new fill area at the brewery. We expect growlers will be available in the coming weeks. We'll post to this blog once Growlers are back!

Thanks for reading! -- The Drake

DENOGGINIZER Now available!

2009-01-14T17:50:00.000-08:00

Welcome to The Drake's Brewery Blog!

A great way to start the new Drake's blog, is to announce the 2009 release of Drake's Denogginizer! Next to our Jolly Roger holiday seasonal, Denogginizer is Drake's most anticipated beer of the year.

What is is: Drake's Denogginizer is a big, bold, Imperial IPA. Hopped with an abundant amount of Simcoe & Amarillo, with a touch of Ahtanum & Chinook. Mashed with Crystal malt and Caramalt for color and flavor, and to help balance out the hop assault. Denog is our most powerful regular offering, at a whopping 10% ABV and 100 IBUs!

History: Denogginizer was first brewed in 2004 by Rodger Davis & Josh Miner. The name came about due to a little issue during fermentation..... The brewers came in one morning to find that their new double IPA had developed a serious problem. The huge amount of hops in the fermenter (dry-hopped) had clogged the pressure relief valve (PRV) of the tank. This caused a rather worrisome pressure increase. Something had to done ... and fast. After a quick roshambo with Rodger, Josh found himself on a ladder at the top of the tank preparing to pop the tri-clover clamp to release the PRV..... and the pressure. The resulting lift-off of the PRV (and subsequent ricochets) cause Rodger to crack the wry remark (as only Rodger can) .... that Josh just about got "de-noggin-ized". So, of course, after this experience they had the name for their new Imperial IPA! (No brewers were hurt creating this brand name.) The story has a great ending though.... in 2005, Drake's Denogginizer was chosen as the best beer at The Bistro Double IPA Festival. It was all worth it... (eh, Josh?).

Where you can find it: This week Denogginizer can be found on tap in the East Bay and SF at: Ben & Nick's, Barclay's, The Trappist, Triple Rock, The Bistro, EJ Phair, Toronado, Fireside, Bear's Lair, Jupiter, Cato's, Looney's Smokehouse, Meridian, Porky's Pizza Palace, & Lucky's Pizza. (If your planning to visit one of these pubs to try a Denogginizer, call first to make sure they still have it on tap.)

-- The Drake