IT WAS A BEERY GOOD YEAR

San Diego Craft Beer News Snippets plus a Year in Review by the Brewers Assn.

Favorite News Snippets from 2014:

From the staff of West Coaster Craft Beer Magazine and website

(www.westcoaster sd.com) and other sources:

           

ALESMITH’s Tony Gwynn tribute beer is reaching all time highs in popularity. The beer, San Diego Pale Ale .394, references Gwynn’s career-high batting average in 1994. After a few tasting sessions and meetings earlier this year, the Baseball Hall of Famer and his family decided they wanted Peter Zien and his crew to create a hop-forward beer with light body and color. AleSmith first released the beer to the public on June 6 at Padres Beerfest, ten days before Mr. Padre passed away.

A portion of the proceeds goes to the Tony and Alicia Gwynn Foundation, created in 1995 — the same year as AleSmith — to improve the lives of local children through social, academic, and economic programs.

Because of the beer’s popularity — 119 six-packs were sold quickly during San Diego Beer Week — AleSmith will continue ramping up its production. The beer has been on tap consistently at The Bar Key in North Pacific Beach, and according to TapHunter, it’s on at Brothers Provisions as well.

FAMILIAR FACE BACK TO BREWING

By Mike Shess, publisher, West Coaster Craft Beer Magazine:

Long time head brewer for Rock Bottom La Jolla and former President of the San Diego Brewers Guild Marty Mendiola is setting off to start Second Chance Beer Company. Opening in 2015, the brewery will be located in the Rancho Bernardo area of San Diego County and feature his English Brown, Irish Red and Robust Porter recipes.

Welcome back, Marty Mendiola

Under the auspices of Rock Bottom, Marty’s earned a hearty share of accolades from the two major brewing competitions: the annual Great American Beer Festival (GABF) and the bi-annual World Beer Cup (WBC). His Longboard Brown won Gold at the 2012 WBC and 2009 GABF, Silver at the 2010 WBC and Bronze at GABF 2013. Moonlight Porter earned Gold medals at GABF 2013 & 2011, and a Silver award in 2010. Two different Red recipes: Rudolph’s Red and Ragtop Red won as well, with a 2010 Gold World Beer Cup award and two GABF Bronze medals (2013/10), respectively.

Three World Beer Cup awards and seven Great American Beer Festival medals is a very respectable amount of hardware for a small brewpub brewer. Larger breweries tend to hold the recipes of their brewers as proprietary. Even if Marty’s beers aren’t the exact same as his Rock Bottom recipes, it’s a safe bet that the beer brewed at Second Chance will be world class.

As San Diego County nears 100+ breweries, Marty and his business partner, Curtis Hawes, are optimistic in regards to over-saturation and competition. “Marty has been brewing in San Diego since before brewing was cool,” says Hawes. “He has over 15 years’ professional experience here, he attended the UC Davis Master Brewers Program…If you look at places like Denver and Portland, you see there is always will be room for another great brewery…” Marty adds, “[the] Carmel Mountain / Rancho Bernardo area is far from saturated.” Keep an eye on Second Chance’s Facebook page for updates.

Track active and in-planning breweries on West Coaster’s Brewery Watch list.

www.westcoastersd.com

HOT NEWS IN 2014--(L-R): 

Chuck Silva, Green Flash brewmaster, 

Alpine’s Pat McIlhenney and 

Green Flash co-owner Mike Hinkley 

toast the merger of these two icon 

San Diego County craft beer brands.

MERGER MEMO: Green Flash founders, Mike and Lisa Hinkley and Alpine Beer Company founders, Pat and Val McIlhenney announced that their breweries had agreed to share resources, knowledge and experience.  Both the McIlhenneys and the Hinkleys view the affiliation as mutually beneficial, and are committed to supporting each other for the success of both breweries. 

Each company will remain independently operated and maintain its distinct brand and culture.  Pat will remain Alpine’s President and Brewmaster to oversee all operations of Alpine Beer Company while also ensuring Alpine beers continue to meet his unwavering standard of quality, whether brewed at the Alpine or Green Flash facilities.  The most notable change will transpire over the next several years, as Alpine beer will become available to their legions of fans from across the country who have only experienced the greatness of Alpine beers while visiting California.

NATIONAL CRAFT BEER REVIEW-- As the New Wear arrives, let’s take a look back on how craft brewers fared in 2014.

            “It’s remarkable to see how beer has evolved in the past century. Year over year we’re seeing tremendous growth in the craft beer sector and 2014 proved that craft beer is moving into the mainstream,” said Bart Watson, chief economist, Brewers Association. “Consumers are making a conscious choice to buy and try the plethora of options produced by small and independent craft brewers.”

·         U.S. brewery count returns to historic levels. In November, the United States passed the mark of 3,200 brewers in the country and the number of brewery licenses reached the highest ever, topping 4,500 in the first sixth months of the year. Thirteen states (CA, CO, WA, OR, MI, NY, PA, TX, FL, WI, IL, NC, OH) now have more than 100 breweries each.

·         Breweries are opening at a rate of 1.5 per day. In addition, there are more than 2,000 breweries in planning.

·         Craft brewers were the growth point in the overall beer industry. Through June of 2014, craft brewers enjoyed 18 percent growth by volume. Numerous data channels are showing continuing double-digit growth for craft in the second half of the year.

·         India Pale Ales (IPAs) remained the most favored craft beer style. According to retail scan data, IPA is up 47 percent by volume and 49 percent by dollar sales, accounting for 21 percent volume share of craft and 23 percent dollar share of off-premise beer sales. Additionally, the style was the number one entered category at the Great American Beer Festival®.

·         Variety packs had a strong year with craft beer lovers. Retail data also indicates that variety packs are up 21 percent by volume and 24 percent by dollar sales, equating to nine percent volume share of craft and seven percent dollar share.

·         Craft beer appreciators are becoming as diverse as craft beer itself. Data indicates that 38 percent of households bought a craft beer in the last year versus 29 percent in 2010. Additionally, women consume almost 32 percent of craft beer volume, almost half of which comes from women ages 21-34. Hispanic populations are demonstrating increased craft engagement as well.

“More and more breweries will spur innovation, meaning there will be even more offerings on hand for beer geeks and beginners to enjoy,” Watson added. “Not to mention more opportunities to explore and support local breweries, which has a profound impact on the economy at the regional, state and national level.”

Note: Figures are a compilation of data provided by the Brewers Association, Symphony IRI and Nielsen. The Brewers Association will release a comprehensive annual analysis of craft brewer production in March of 2015. 

Beer lovers are invited to learn more about the dynamic world of craft beer at CraftBeer.com and about homebrewing via the BA's American Homebrewers Association. Follow us on Twitter.

The Brewers Association is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, or marital/familial status. The BA complies with provisions of Executive Order 11246 and the rules, regulations, and relevant orders of the Secretary of Labor.

WARM PANCAKES FOR A COLD MORNING

Sour Cream Pancakes from PBS's Kitchen Explorers

COZY UP—Place the link below in your browser for a cozy feel good stroll through PBS’s Kitchen Explorers world of pancakes.

All shapes all sizes.  Delicious.

http://www.pbs.org/parents/kitchenexplorers/2014/10/07/13-favorite-pancake-recipes/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=PBSOfficial&utm_campaign=KE-13-Pancakes

MEDIA MONDAY / WHY OUR CALENDAR IS OUR CALENDAR

Editor’s Note: This guest blog on the history of modern calendars is from WebExhibits.org, an interactive museum of science, humanities, and culture.  Launched in 1999, the site can be found at http://www.webexhibits.org/

Evolution of Our Calendar from Pope (1582) to Playboy (1954)

Pope Gregory XIII dedicated his papacy to implementing the recommendations of the Council of Trent. By the time he reformed the Julian calendar in 1582 (using the observations of Christopher Clavius and Johannes Kepler), it had drifted 10 days off course. To this day, most of the world uses his Gregorian calendar.

Before today’s Gregorian calendar was adopted, the older Julian calendar was used. It was admirably close to the actual length of the year, as it turns out, but the Julian calendar was not so perfect that it didn’t slowly shift off track over the following centuries.

But, hundreds of years later, monks were the only ones with any free time for scholarly pursuits – and they were discouraged from thinking about the matter of "secular time" for any reason beyond figuring out when to observe Easter. In the Middle Ages, the study of the measure of time was first viewed as prying too deeply into God’s own affairs – and later thought of as a lowly, mechanical study, unworthy of serious contemplation.

As a result, it wasn’t until 1582, by which time Caesar’s calendar had drifted a full 10 days off course, that Pope Gregory XIII (1502 - 1585) finally reformed the Julian calendar.

Ironically, by the time the Catholic church buckled under the weight of the scientific reasoning that pointed out the error, it had lost much of its power to implement the fix. Protestant tract writers responded to Gregory’s calendar by calling him the "Roman Antichrist" and claiming that its real purpose was to keep true Christians from worshiping on the correct days. The "new" calendar, as we know it today, was not adopted uniformly across Europe until well into the 18th century.

Here are a few more historical aspects of our calendar.

Has the year always started on 1 January?

In some ways, yes. When Julius Caesar introduced his calendar in 45 B.C.E., he made 1 January the start of the year, and it was always the date on which the Solar Number and the Golden Number were incremented.

However, the church didn’t like the wild parties that took place at the start of the new year, and in C.E. 567 the council of Tours declared that having the year start on 1 January was an ancient mistake that should be abolished.

Through the middle ages various New Year dates were used. If an ancient document refers to year X, it may mean any of 7 different periods in our present system:

1 Mar X to 28/29 Feb X+1

1 Jan X to 31 Dec X

1 Jan X-1 to 31 Dec X-1

25 Mar X-1 to 24 Mar X

25 Mar X to 24 Mar X+1

Saturday before Easter X to Friday before Easter X+1

25 Dec X-1 to 24 Dec X

Choosing the right interpretation of a year number is difficult, so much more as one country might use different systems for religious and civil needs.

The Byzantine Empire used a year starting on 1 Sep, but they didn’t count years since the birth of Christ, instead they counted years since the creation of the world which they dated to 1 September 5509 B.C.E.

Since about 1600 most countries have used 1 January as the first day of the year. Italy and England, however, did not make 1 January official until around 1750.

It is sometimes claimed that having the year start on 1 January was part of the Gregorian calendar reform. This is not true. This myth has probably started because in 1752 England moved the start of the year to 1 January and also changed to the Gregorian calendar. But in most other countries the two events were not related. Scotland, for example, changed to the Gregorian calendar together with England in 1752, but they moved the start of the year to 1 January in 1600.

What is the origin of the names of the months?

A lot of languages, including English, use month names based on Latin. Their meaning is listed below. However, some languages (Czech and Polish, for example) use quite different names.

Month, Latin name, Origin

January
Januarius          
Named after the god Janus.

February  
Februarius        
Februa: the purification festival.

March       
Martius              
Named after the god Mars.

April          
Aprilis                
Named either after the goddess                                                  
Aphrodite or the Latin word aperire, to open.

May           
Maius                 
Goddess Maia.

June          
Junius               
Goddess Juno.

July           
Julius                
Julius Caesar in 44 B.C.E.

Prior to that time its name was                                                 
Quintilis from the word quintus,

fifth, because it was the 5th month in                                                                   the old Roman calendar.

August      
Augustus          
Emperor Augustus in 8 B.C.E. Prior                                                                       to that time the name was Sextilis                                                                         from the word sextus, sixth, because                                                  
it was the 6th month in the old                                                                                 Roman calendar.

September                           
From the word septem, seven,                                                                                 because it was the 7th month in the                                                                       old Roman calendar.

October                                 
From the word octo, eight, because it                                                                     was the 8th month in the old Roman                                                                     calendar.

November                           
From the word novem, nine, because                                                 
it was the 9th month in the old                                                 
Roman calendar.

December                             
From the word decem, ten, because it                                                                   was the 10th month in the old                                                  
Roman calendar.

Why does February have only 28 days?

January and February both date from about the time of Rome’s founding. They were added to a calendar that had been divided into ten month-like periods whose lengths varied from 20 to 35 or more days. A winter season was not included, so those period lengths are believed to have been intended to reflect growth stages of crops and cattle.

When introduced, January was given 29 days and put at the beginning of the calendar year. February was given 23 days and put at the end. Then, for an undetermined period shortly after Rome’s founding, months were said to have begun when a new moon was first sighted. At some later time, month lengths were separated from lunations and again became fixed. At that time, February’s original length was extended by five days which gave it a total of 28

Why does the Playboy Playmate of the Year and Calendar appear in January?

Playmate of the Year
Kennedy Summers

The "duh" answer is because January is the first month and that's the best way to start any calendar.  But, in the magazine industry, January is one of the toughest months to sell advertising because the selling period is during the year end holidays.  Madison Avenue's attention is hard to get during the party season.  So, magazine's make sure they make their January issues special.  Playboy puts its popular Playmate of the Year feature in that month to ensure advertisers show up.