Blog #17 - The Reality

The drive from Chico to Madera is a long, flat and unimpressive 4 hour waste of time. Yes the Sierra Nevada mountains can be beautiful during the winter and spring, but the rest of the year they are clouded in a dirty mixture of agriculture dust and carbon monoxide. To pass the time, I subjected my dad to nonstop ramblings of how exciting it would be to run a specialty bottle shop in Fresno. Imagine every week working with a distributor and trying to obtain the latest and greatest releases from everyone's favorite breweries: Stone, Three Floyd's, The Bruery, Sierra Nevada, Russian River, etc.

In true 'father' form, my dad put my dreams to the test by playing devil's advocate and asking every question possible regarding location, inventory, distribution, bookkeeping, & demographics. Well, most of the questions I came up with at least a halfway decent answer, good enough for the car ride home. But none of them would hold up under scrutiny let alone convince an investor or bank rep to loan me money. And I hadn't even begun to crunch real numbers. Electricity costs were probably high because of the refrigeration units. Inventory had to be expensive because of all of the single bottles that had to be purchased. And most important, I had no idea if the Fresno/Clovis area could even support a craft beer retailer.

By the time we arrived home, the idea had faded into a faint memory and although I would think back on the possibility every now and then over the next 7 years, I would never seriously re-examine it until 2010.

Next...Resurrecting An Idea

Blog #16 - The Idea

The Birth of an Idea -
Ah...the initial stage of being an entrepreneur. Everything is a possibility, all ideas are in perfect form, and the world is your oyster (whatever that means). At some point, though, you have to allow reality, facts and figures, to begin creeping in and infiltrating your all too perfect dream. Oh well, that's when the work begins and that can be just as exciting as the dreaming stage if done right.

Somewhere between 5 to 8 years ago, my cousin Mike escorted my father and I to a wonderful little store in Chico, California called "The Brew Guild". The location wasn't perfect, and the exterior was very unassuming, but interior layout was grand and the product was mouth watering. I do believe it was the first beer specialty store I had ever set foot in. Before this is was mainly beer, wine & spirit liquor stores that appeared dusty and careless. They may have carried a large selection of craft beers but they played second fiddle to gallon jugs of table wine and 24 packs of Coors Light. The Brew Guild was on an entirely different level.

As I have mentioned before, I think of craft beer like a comic book collector views the newest release of Iron Man or a classic must have Silver Surfer #1. I bide my time, collecting tastes 2 or 3 in a sitting, knowing with a smile on my face that this is a collection that cannot possibly ever be complete in my lifetime. And that is the way I like it. What fun would it be if the chase ever ended?

The Brew Guild consisted of, from what I can remember, an entire wall of refrigeration units that displayed individual 12 and 22oz bottles from around the world. One section of the store contained dozens of different styles of glassware in which to enjoy the hundreds of beers that I had never heard of before. I think they were organized by country of origin, which didn't matter at that point in my life because I was extremely ignorant of 90% of the world of craft beer. After walking the store several times, I made the tough decision of picking only 2 beers I had never tasted. On my way out I was already planning my next trip up to Chico to visit this Mecca of sorts with a little more money in my pocket. Money and knowledge would be my two weapons of choice used to launch a proper assault on this place.

Next...Dad And His Damn Reasoning

Blog #15 - The Legend of Anchor Brewing

With the news of Fritz Maytag selling the famed Anchor Brewery to a couple of investment/marketing goofballs making the rounds in the beer industry, I need not let my gut reaction get the best of me.

I call them goofballs at first because their background seems to reek of annoying Studio54, Smirnoff sipping (actually Sky Vodka), yuppie type ads that only promote how hip you will look drinking berry flavored malt beverages while trying to shout your conversation over the latest Jay-Z crap playing in the background.

But hey, maybe these guys, who I have seen in a half dozen photos and never a beer in hand, might turn out to be the next best thing for Anchor since Liberty Ale (considered the first American IPA). This tiny bit of optimism rests on the rumor that they want to open a "Center of Excellence" somewhere in the Bay Area. I could see a Brewer's Mecca of sorts in Golden Gate Park or somewhere near AT&T Park. I will give these guys a chance, but they better bring their A-game and not try any new marketing tricks that involve 'light beer', 'fruity' beers (not that fruit can't be an ingredient, just not at Anchor) or any other tactics that taint the Anchor name.
We Generation Y'ers grew up with Anchor and we respect what Fritz has accomplished. We will be watching you guys...with Steam, Liberty, Porter and Christmas Ale in hand.

Blog #14 - Beer List

The only thing I have had time for lately is updating my ongoing, ever-growing, massive beer list that I have been keeping alive for almost 10 years now. It seems I remember peeling labels off of bottles from a round-the-world pack from World Market in 2000 and taping them in my first beer journal (sadly the one I did not use on my 48-State Tour of '99).

I am a collector. I always have been and there is something about adding to a collection and then standing back and admiring your hard work. Yes that's right...I said drinking over 630 individual beers and then creating a monster database that includes beer name, brewery name and company (can be different), style, ABV, date tasted, draught or bottle, brewery city, state, and country and special notes, is a difficult task.

And at 630, I know I still have dozens of pages of notes I haven't entered yet from the Great American Beer Festival, Boonville, Firestone Anniversary & Oaktoberfest, Worthogs, and the countless pub crawls dad and I do every year. So at least I am not bored. Far from it...this is one of the great things I love about "hunting" down great beer. The adventure, and the list, continues.

Miles "On his way to Bear Republic, Lost Coast & Wild River this weekend" Wilhelm

Blog #013 - Intro to Beer Tasting

On August 28th we had our first tasting group session. I invited everyone in the Fresno/Clovis area that I have met in the past 5 years that I thought might enjoy talking and tasting.

It was a Friday night and there were 6 of us total (I think that had to do with it being about a week's notice). The layout of beers included Hen's Tooth from GreeneKing-Morland Brewing, Liberty Ale from Anchor Brewing, Freestyle Belgian Style Blonde from Black Diamond (which I can't find on BeerAdvocate), Sierra Nevada's Anniversary Ale, Lost Abbey's Carnevale Ale and an Duchy Originals English Ale from Wychwood Brewery.

Now I know that we had zero organization and the beers were not of a similar style or from a single brewery. But tonight we are going to spend some time discussing how to better organize future tastings and what the members want to achieve. I am bringing Paddy's Irish Style Red Ale from Moylan's and the next beer in the Coney Island series from Schmaltz: Human Blockhead. Thanks in advance to Zach Reinhold for offering to host tonight's mixer.

Blog #012 - Beer Summit?

I know that everyone and their mother has commented on last week's 'Beer Summit' at the White House involving Pres. Obama, VP Biden, Officer Crowley and Prof. Gates. Whether or not I believe this meeting was worth the hoopla or not, we can all agree the choice of beer was less than inspiring.

Bud Light, Sam Adams Light, Buckler Non-Alcoholic & Blue Moon. The Sam Adams & the Blue Moon are barely decent choices, both consumed by the Cambridge guests (Sam Adams was a last minute substitute for Gates' usual Red Stripe). The president disappointed millions of beer drinkers and home brewers by choosing Bud Light, not only because of its lack of flavor but because AB is now completely owned by foreign companies. And unless the Vice President has a health condition that will not allow him to consume alcohol, he might as well be sipping lemonade instead of Buckler; what a waste.

After a little research just to back this blog up, I discovered a plethora of beer stores carrying a multitude of beers in the Washington D.C. metro area, all right down the street from the White House. Some of my summer brew recommendations would have been: Sierra Nevada's Kellerweis Hefeweizen @ Chevy Chase Wine & Spirits, Allagash Fluxus 2008 (Witbier) @ Rodman's Discount Gourmet Grocery, Odd Notion (Summer 09) from Magic Hat @ The Wine Specialist, and Southern Tier Heavy Weizen (unfiltered Imperial Wheat Ale) @ Modern Liquors, Inc.

All delicious brews that would have caught the attention of beer lovers, brewers and teetotalers alike. I would like to personally volunteer my time to the president so that the next Beer Summit starts off on the right foot.

Blog #011 - The Mystery Purchase

I met up with someone last week that I had been meaning to see for a few months now. I decided in March to look around on BeerAdvocate for anyone in the Fresno area that might come close to appreciating beer as much as I do. My long term goal was to form a tasting group, the kind that exists everywhere else in the country, just not Fresno.

I never had an opportunity to meet up with Rich at the Boonville Beerfest in May, but he emailed me recently regarding a personal shipment of beer he had received from down south; the San Diego area specifically. Having just returned from a trip to Oregon where he secured several cases of Rogue and Deschutes, Rich was at the breaking point, within his storage closet and with his wife. I agreed to drop by and give him a hand with a few bottles. Here is the list of treats I now hold:

-Alpine BC - Alpine Ale 5.5%

-Great Divide - Titan IPA 6.8%

-Caldera Brewing - Pale Caldera Ale

-Ballast Point - Dorado Double IPA 9.1%

-Port Brewing - 3rd Anniv. Ale 10%

-Port Brewing - Brother Levonian 6.5%

-Deschutes - Red Chair IPA 6.4%

-Deschutes - Hop Henge IPA 8.75%

-Ballast Point - Victory At Sea 10%

-Avery Brewing - The Czar Imperial Stout 10.77%

-Lost Abbey - Carnevale Ale 6.5%

The only one I have had before is the Titan IPA from Great Divide but Rich threw that in the mix for free. I plan to have at least 3 tastings with Dad and more than a few hours of discussion on what makes these beers so sought after. Now if I could only get my hands on a Dark Lord.