By Dan Oliver, columnist

Dan Oliver

To have a chance at tasting “beers your mom would be proud of,” you will have to arrive early at this year’s Jupiter Craft Brewers Festival. The 4th installment of the annual suds event begins Saturday afternoon at its new home, Roger Dean Stadium, and online tickets have already sold out. 1500 more will be available for purchase at the gate.

New brews on tap

While the above humorous reference to motherly approval will adorn this year’s official festival T-shirts, event co-organizer Fran Andrewlevich is seriously excited about his murderer’s row lineup of killer ales and lagers set to be served at the baseball stadium this weekend.

“It’s by far the best collection of beers we’ve had in the four years of this festival, and a lot of people I know are really looking forward to this event.”

Humming Ale has Kiwi hops

Among some very rare beers on tap will be Humming Ale, a commemorative creation from Anchor Brewing, made with the unusual Nelson Sauvin hop, grown in New Zealand with similar qualities to the Cabernet Sauvignon grape. Humming Ale makes its Florida debut at the JCBF.

And that’s just for starters. Cigar City Brewing out of  Tampa is bringing along some of its more unusual brews as well, including an Imperial Stout flavored with Mayan chocolate and peppers. The JCBF newcomer took home a gold medal in its Great American Beer Festival debut in September.

Local breweries offerings

The local breweries will be out to impress as well, with special beers made just for this event, including an Imperial Coffee Porter from Brewzzi of West Palm Beach and Boca Raton, a Double Diablo Imperial Amber from Coral Spring’s Big Bear, and a Bourbon Barrel aged Milk Stout from Corner Café and Brewery in Tequesta.

Homebrew from BX Beer Depot, Lake Worth

There’s even homebrew to sample as well. The BX Beer Depot will be serving an IPA brewed especially for the occasion, while the Palm Beach Draughtsmen are serving up some “Carry my Bags Porter”.

In all, over 40 breweries will be pouring more than 150 samples of truly tasty, unique beers. In limiting the attendance to 3,300 people, Andrewlevich feels he has kept the JCBF small enough to keep the event from turning into a drinking fest while staying true to its’ original roots as a celebration of quality craft beer.

Easing the gate at Roger Dean

If you are one of the lucky 1500 at the gate, your wait should be a much shorter one than the massive lines seen at previous festivals, as Andrewlevich has doubled the amount of volunteers and ticket takers.

The Best Dressed Monk Contest, sponsored by Jupiter’s Inlet Brewing Company, makers of Monk in the Trunk Belgian Amber Ale will take center stage again with a cash prize for the winner, as will the ever popular “Silent Disco” and of course live music throughout the afternoon. And don’t forget to say “hey” to Dan the Beer Man. As host and emcee, I’ll be roaming the fest in my very authentic looking Monk’s habit. Hope to see you there.

Jupiter Craft Brewers Festival

• Roger Dean Stadium, Abacoa, Jupiter
• Saturday, Jan. 30, 1-5:30 p.m.
• Tickets: $30 at the door (cash only)
• For more info: www.jupitercraftbrewersfestival.com

Dan Oliver, of West Palm Beach, writes about beer for JanNorris.com.

Related posts:

1. Beer Man Dan Debuts Here; Jupiter Brewfest Recap
2. EatBeat: Craft Beer Sale at Cooks in Jupiter
3. Great American Beer Festival This Weekend – in Denver

And a happy, flavor-filled New Year!

About the artist: William Oellers of Connecticut created this beautiful work, titled “Old Fashioned Christmas Tree” as a papercut, also known as scherenschnitte. Oeller, originally from Germany, practices the ancient art of cutting a finely detailed image from a single sheet of paper using only scissors.

He gave me permission to include this image of his papercut on my web page as a gift to my readers. Click on the picture to go to his web site, where you can view a gallery of his other works that have been exhibited in Germany and the U.S. You also can read his bio there, and learn about the history of the art form that originated in China.

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2. Willie Norris the Cat – and the Mouse

By Dan Oliver, Columnist

I went to see the documentary movie Beer Wars, as promised last month, and left the theater with mixed feelings on the flick. But I get ahead of myself. Several members of the Palm Beach Draughtsmen home brewing club met at JJ’s Raw Bar in Wellington for an “attitude adjustment hour” prior to heading for the Regal Royal Palm 18. I mean, c’mon, you can’t watch a movie about beer without having some in you first, can you?

Beer Wars was a live, nationwide event, and the movie was introduced from Los Angeles, where a panel had been assembled for a real-time post-movie discussion. Having worked in television (thanks, I’m much better now) I admit to being impressed that the producers pulled this live theater telecast off without any major gaffes. I also admit to being not at all surprised to see no more than 10, that’s right, 10 people in the theater during the show.

Good job on technical stuff

Dan the Beer Man Oliver

As for the movie, I was again impressed by its technical elements, including nice graphics, animation and historic beer pictures and footage. You could tell it took five years to make. And it was, for the most part, a compelling story about the craft beer industry Davids battling the mega-brewery Goliaths for shelf space and customers hearts and minds.

The problem was, in my opinion, too much focus on the three protagonists, Sam Calagione, head of Dogfish Head Brewing Company, Greg Koch, the founder of Stone Brewing, and Rhonda Kallman of New Century Brewing. Both Koch and Calagione have done great things in this business and certainly deserve attention and respect.

Kallman has an impressive resume in that she helped found the Boston Beer Company, (Sam Adams) which is now the top craft beer producer in the country. But Kallman went off on her own and is now pitching Moon Shot beer, a light beer with caffeine added designed for the late night party crowd. Sorry, but she doesn’t really belong in a movie focusing on craft beer and my suspicion is she’s a close friend of the film’s director, Arat Baron. Baron formerly worked in the beer industry, but does not drink the stuff. At all.

Where was Fritz Maytag?

Fritz Maytag

So my main beef is, where was Fritz Maytag of Anchor Brewing Company, the father of the craft beer movement? Couldn’t arrange an interview with him in the last five years? And there are hundreds of other talented, knowledgable brewers around the country who possess a certain amount of wackiness which would have added greatly to this film.

That said, I believe Beer Wars is a good piece of work and definitely worth a viewing by the general public. Heck, I was ready to go hijack a Bud truck after leaving the theater.

And finally, local brewmaster Fran Andrewlevich of Brewzzi appears in the film…for five seconds, while sampling some brews at the New Belgian Brewing Company in Fort Collins, Colo. I was there that day as well, and remember the camera crew, but alas, only my still camera case on the table made it into the movie.
If you can’t beat em’, buy em’ or sleep with the enemy.

Beer Geek News: Brown Buys Fresh Beers

In a related but local story, Fresh Beer Inc. distributors of Fort Lauderdale is being purchased by Brown Distributing in West Palm Beach. Brown of course parcels out Anheuser Busch products, like the Dark Lord of the beer galaxy, Budweiser. (Just kidding, take it easy!)

But this is not a case of Goliath crushing David. Brown in fact has been taking major strides in acquiring quality craft beers in their stable, and have educated their sales staff on the finer points of ales and lagers. Word has it the deal went down at a recent craft beer conference in Boston.

The deal will keep Fresh Beer intact, with Adam Fine keeping the oh-so formal title of “Head Beerguy” and Ray Nickolaus being bumped up to sales manager. They will keep their same facilities and are not changing brands or distributing out of Brown’s facility.

Fine, who has watched Fresh Beer Inc. grow at an astronomical 40 percent per year the past three years, says this is a win, win, win situation for them, Brown and craft beer lovers. “From our perspective we get capital to help us expand and take us to the next level. They (Brown) now own the brands and will get the profits from future sales. All our people will be staying on”.

And you and I can expect to see more unique, flavorful craft beers from all of the country making their way into the South Florida market.

Related posts:

1. Dan the Beer Man: Bring Back the Draught for Beer Wars!
2. Beer Lovers: Road Trip! Tampa for Craft Brew Pub Crawl and Beer-Pairing Dinner
3. Dan the Beer Man: Jupiter Brewfest This Weekend

The latest laughter? Miller Lite is “triple hopped” – not hopped all at once like you’d probably think.

Hops flowers

See, they’re counting on you to not think. In fact, 99.9 percent of all beers made on this planet have three hop additions; the first for bittering, the second for flavor and the third for aroma. There are of course exceptions, derivations and innovations to this standard hopping procedure, but trust me, Miller Lite is not employing any of them. And if you can detect any hop character at all in this beer, please donate your nose and tongue (posthumously of course) to the Smithsonian Institute for preservation and display.

Hops vines

This is hardly surprising. Miller Lite is the same company which gave us the “brewed from the heart of the hops” phrase a few years ago, which evoked images of teams of brewing doctors performing “open hop surgery” like a MASH unit amid the vines. (Yes, hops grow on vines.)

One of the reasons Beer Men like me continue to write unfavorable things about the major brewing companies’ products is their shameless and misleading marketing strategies. Hopefully it’s a sign they’re losing enough market share that desperation is setting in. Nobody deserves it more.

And finally, in the interest of fairness, I’m sure Miller Lite IS “triple hopped” like the ad says, with one little pellet at the start, one in the middle, and one at the end.

Beer Chips: Good news, bad news

I was asked to sample Beer Chips recently and received more than I asked for. The company also sent along two other samples of its chips, Hot Potatoes (spicy bloody Mary flavor) and Chip Shots (Margarita with salt flavor). You gotta love the names, but would we love the spuds?
A good sampling situation came about after a round of golf with a couple of old friends. We were enjoying a few cold ones on the back porch when the inspiration hit me. The taste test was on! I brought out just the chips, in bowls, without the fancy packaging and without letting the other guys know which flavor was which.

Here are the results:

• Beer Chips: Good news gang, we loved em’. The Beer Chips were crisp and crunchy with a nice balance between saltiness and malt sweetness. I’ve had lots of chips in my day, as my figure attests to, and these were definitely solid.
• Hot Potatoes: While giving them a thumbs up for originality, we were underwhelmed by the Spicy Bloody Mary flavor chips. Our blind tasters thought it was some kind of odd barbecue chip. Still, they came in second.
• Chip Shots: Love the name, but the chip, not so much. Initially, I thought it was pretty tasty, combining tangy, salty and sweet all at the same time. But it quickly overwhelms the palate and our tasters were turned off after just a couple chips.

As a parting shot not meant to offend the makers of these products; if you are eating potato chips while drinking beer on a regular basis, you have the perfect formula for a bulging belly. Please enjoy both in moderation. Learn more about Beer Chips here.

A smoke and a dog?

Louis Wain's Cat and Cigar

The Smoke Inn cigar shop is hosting a Drew Estate cigar event on Friday, April 17, 6-10 p.m. in their Village Commons Mall location in West Palm Beach. Puff on your favorite stogie whilst sipping some Seadog Brewing beverages.

I double Dead Guy dare you.

Coming soon to a tap or beer store near you…

Rogue Double Dead Guy Ale: This is the second year of production for the 2XDG. The amped-up version of the original Dead Guy is sold in a 750 ml red bottle and is now vintage dated. It’s currently on tap at The Lodge in Boca Raton and Brother Tuckers in Pompano.
Stoudt’s Smooth Hoperator: A medium bodied, copper colored strong lager with a malty start and hoppy finish. A pound and a half of hops are added to each barrel. Beat that Miller Lite! At 7.2 percent ABV, it’s also much stronger.
Stoudt’s Heifer in Wheat: A cleverly named Bavarian-style unfiltered wheat beer that may evoke moos from huffing Hefe-Weizen fans. Authentic German yeast will give it the requisite clove, banana and perhaps bubble gum flavors. It’s a perfect way to welcome the oncoming furnace of our South Florida summer.

It’s about time!

A big shout out to Utah, “atta way, Utes!” for becoming the 46th state in the union to legalize…homebrewing. Some of you may not have been aware making your own brew could be an illegal enterprise, but it still is in some parts. The U.S. government made homebrewing legal on a federal level in 1978. Utah, which signed the legislation on March 24th, is the first state in 10 years to change its existing law on the matter.
The American Homebrewers Association says there are some 750, 000 homebrewers in the U.S. including about 7,000 in Utah. The other states where you can still get your picture in the post office for making the perfect Pale Ale are Oklahoma, Alabama, Kentucky, and Mississippi.

Dan “the Beer Man” Oliver writes about craft brews and other things on his mind in his bimonthly column on JanNorris.com

Related posts:

1. Beer Lovers: Road Trip! Tampa for Craft Brew Pub Crawl and Beer-Pairing Dinner
2. Beer Man Dan: Beer Wars — the Movie
3. Dan the Beer Man: Bring Back the Draught for Beer Wars!

“Are you ready for a beer war??”

Dan 'The Beer Man' Oliver

Well ready or not, it’s coming, and don’t forget your popcorn. Beer Wars is a new documentary by filmmaker Anat Baron about small, independent brewers who are “shunning the status quo and creating new beers as they challenge the corporate brewery behemoths.”

And what’s more, it’s also going to be live and local. The one-night only nationwide event will take place April 16 (day after taxes!). It will be shown at four West Palm Beach area theaters and the film will be followed by a live panel discussion simulcast from Los Angeles.

Really? 

 The panel will include Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head Brewery, Brewers Association President Charlie Papazian and beer historian Maureen Ogle, author of Ambitious Brew: The story of American Beer and will be hosted by actor Ben Stein.

Ok, a little bizarre in the chemistry department if you ask me, but I’m hooked. For those of you who can’t make it, I’ll blog back with a Siskel and Ebert-style review, (I’ll play both parts ) to let you know the directional disposition of my thumbs. Showtime is 8 p.m.

If you want to see it, the participating theaters are:

• Downtown at the Gardens 16 Cinemas, Palm Beach Gardens
• Delray Beach 18
• Royal Palm Stadium 18
• Shadowood 16, Boca Raton

I’ll be at the Downtown at the Gardens theater and will be going to the Yardhouse on the opposite end of the plaza to have a brew after the show — all are welcome to join me for a craft beer discussion at the Yardhouse. (More info to follow and a reminder about the show on my next blog.)

Battle of the Beers

My, this is quite the violent blog, isn’t it? Here’s a challenge for our South County beer brethren. Lola’s on Harrison Street in Hollywood is hosting Beer Madness every night during the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. Yes, patrons will receive six to eight samples of beers and vote for the winner. The dates remaining are 3/26, 27, 28, 29,  4/4 and 4/6. No dribbling allowed.

What’s on tap?  

• Brewzzi in CityPlace has two Belgians, a Blonde and Dubbel on tap along with an Oatmeal Stout which Brewmaster Fran Andrewlevich brewed especially for St. Patty’s Day. They should still have a few pints left. Brewzzi Boca Raton has the same Oatmeal Stout and a Double IPA to wet your whistle with. Both Brewzzi’s have their regular rotation on tap, including Boca Blonde, City Fest, Black Duke Dark and Tropical Madness.
• Brewer Matt Webster at The Corner Café and Brewery in Tequesta is pouring a Roggenbier (think Dunkelweizen with rye instead of wheat) and also an Irish Red Ale. The IPA will be back on tap in about a week. Webster and another Matt, Matt Cox of Big Bear Brewery in Coral Springs both took home some hardware from the Best Florida Beer Championships in Tampa on March 7^th. Webster won five medals, including a 1^st place for his Gnarly Barley American Pale Ale. Cox collected four awards with two 1^st place showings for his Polar Light Ale and Hibernation Pale Ale.  
•  Narragansett Beer is now available throughout the area. Ok, in full disclosure, this is not a micro brew, but there’s a great story behind it, and I had one at Swamp Grass Willy’s in Palm Beach Gardens last Friday and you know what? It wasn’t bad at all. Better than most macro-swill in my opinion. It’s also priced right for these trying economic times.
•  Also coming out ahead of the warm weather, Shipyard Summer Ale and Dogfish Head Aprihop Ale, a 7 percent alcohol apricot IPA. A new batch of Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA is hitting the shelves as well, so have at it.

Related posts:

1. Beer Man Dan: Beer Wars — the Movie
2. Beer Lovers: Road Trip! Tampa for Craft Brew Pub Crawl and Beer-Pairing Dinner
3. Great American Beer Festival This Weekend – in Denver

Dan the Beer Man Oliver

By Dan Oliver

JanNorris.com columnist
This just in… Samuel Adams has just released its Imperial series of beers and they were nice enough to send me some to sample. The Imperials are a trio of big beers including Imperial White, Imperial Stout and Double Bock. The Double Bock has been around for 20 years, but until recently has only been available seasonally.

We like it!

coriander seeds

I conducted an informal taste test at the home of a home-brewing friend and we agreed these beers are pretty darn big and pretty darn good as well. The Imperial White was probably our least favorite, although I do prefer it to Sam’s smaller White Ale. The Imperial is not just a bigger version of the White, it’s a different recipe altogether and I think it works a little better than it’s little brother, which is a Sammy-fied version of the Belgian Wit Bier style. It contains 10 different spices including coriander and orange peel.

From Russian royalty

Catherine the Great

The Imperial Stout is just that, an Imperial (very strong) Stout in the tradition of English brewers who invented it for the Russian Imperial Court of Catherine the Great (but you knew that!) Imperial Stouts have become almost exclusively the province of American brewers, with Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout from North Coast Brewery in California as perhaps the gold standard of the style here. Sammy’s Stout is no slouch though, rich, roasty, with flavors of dark chocolate and coffee, and 9.2 percent alcohol.

Malt, not hops wins

Our favorite was the Double Bock, which is not really surprising, considering it has been around so long, but has been “amped up” in alcohol to join the Imperial series. It is 9.5 percent alcohol, extremely malty, well balanced and in my opinion, regal in character. With so many “hopped-up” beers lining the shelves these days, it’s refreshing to try a beer that really concentrates on malt flavor, and with half a pound of malt per bottle, it does just that. The Double Bock also sports 320 calories per 12 ounces, so watch it —  cause it really is a meal in a bottle.

Be patient — they’ll arrive. These beers are just becoming available in our area. Total Wine in Palm Beach Gardens tells me they don’t have it yet, but will within a week or two. The suggested retail price is $9.99 per four-pack of 12 ounce bottles.

Other newbies…

Old Guardian Barley Wine from Stone Brewing Company is in the midst of its first limited release. I haven’t tried it yet, but plan to. It’s a big, big beer, 11.3 percent alcohol and 95 IBU’s (International bittering units) and meant to be savored slowly. At $6.99-$7.99 per 22-ounce bottle, it’s not too hard on the beer coupons (dollars) either for such a strong, aged ale.

Battle of Mobile Bay by Louis Prang

“Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead.” This historic if not entirely accurate phrase attributed to Union Navy Rear Admiral David Farragut was not the inspiration for Sierra Nevada’s Torpedo Extra IPA. But some would say the Chico, Calif., brewery has been like a ship navigating a mine field, taking nearly 30 years to come up with its first IPA. The reason? Sierra Nevada brews with only whole-cone hops, and didn’t want to mess with hop pellets or extracts to up the IBU’s in this ale. So they invented what they call a “hop torpedo” to dry-hop (this means adding hops after the boil) their IPA. This is another newbie I haven’t sampled yet, but plan to in oh, a couple two, three hours from now.

Tryst has the brews but go quick!

Speaking of Sierra Nevada, their new Southern Hemisphere Harvest Ale is currently on tap at Tryst, at 4 E. Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach. This is one of Sierra Nevada’s new series of ales using extremely fresh hops in the recipe. This one uses Pacific Halertau and New Zealand Motueka and Southern Cross hops as well. I tried it, and I loved it. Lots of fresh hop flavor and a malt body to back it up. Bar manager Jason Forrestall tells me it should last another ten days and will be replaced with Sierra’s Bigfoot Barleywine. Oh daddy! Tryst has the afore-mentioned Old Guardian Barley Wine on tap as well, and a killer happy hour from 4 to 7pm Monday through Friday with half-priced beers and appetizers.

What’s on tap?

It has been a long time brewing, but Monk in the Trunk Organic Belgian Ale will likely be available in bottles in the next month or two. Inlet Brewing Company of Jupiter just has to pass an organic certification process in the coming week and the final hurdle will be cleared. The locally brewed amber beer has thus far only been available on tap at area restaurants and watering holes. While I prefer almost any draft version of a beer, bottling will help Monk introduce itself to a larger segment of the craft beer consuming population. . .
Narragansett beer, which I’ve talked about in previous blogs, should be available in our area starting in mid-march. If you just can’t wait, take a drive up to Fort Pierce and head to Roy’s Liquors. Ok, you may want to call first: 772-461-3019. . .

Michelob is “turning up the wheat” with the release of a Wheat sampler pack on March 2, which will include Michelob Honey Wheat, Shock Top Belgian White, Michelob Dunkel Weisse and spring seasonal Hop Hound Amber Wheat. Wheat beers and me don’t always agree, but if you’re a fan, and there are plenty of em’ in this area, try ‘em and blog me back to let me know what you think. . .
There is also a potentially BIG announcement coming from a major beer distributor in our area about bringing in a very popular but as yet unavailable beer into the South Florida market. That’s all I can say for now but I promise to spill the beer when I get more solid information.

Related posts:

1. Dan the Beer Man: Bring Back the Draught for Beer Wars!
2. Dan the Beer Man: Jupiter Brewfest This Weekend
3. Beer Man Dan: Beer Wars — the Movie