As I mentioned in my previous post, I spent the first few days of this week at Affiliate Summit East in Boston. Monday was the longest and most grueling day of the conference and when it was over my co-worker Nate and I were in desperate need of a beer. While we’re both relatively familiar with Boston, neither of us knew the neighborhood we were in — the area around the World Trade Center in Southie — that well. So we decided to just hit the bricks in the direction of China Town and see what would happen.

We were almost ready to give up and just settle for the next bar we found when we happened to walk past the downtown location of Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewing Co. I now understand that Rock Bottom is a nation-wide chain of brewpubs (in fact, the largest brewpubs by volume in the country) but I didn’t know this at the time.

So we stopped in and had a pint (mine was a very tasty, light and citrusy Belgian-style ale). It really was the best way to end a very long, tiring day in a relitively unfamilar city and I considered myself very lucky to have stumbled across Rock Bottom when I did. Have you had a similar occurrence with good beer just being in the right place at the right time? Discuss.

It’s been a crazy couple of days – I just got back from three days at Affilite Summit East at the Seaport Hotel in wonderful Boston, Massachusetts. It was an exhausting, whirlwind trip but I met a lot of good people and learned a lot of great things. I’ll definitely be returning for Affiliate Summit 2009!

But, with everything going on over the last few days (and getting ready to start a new job tomorrow!), I’ve fallen well behind on my beer news. But I did want to share a few tidbits of news I’ve picked up. First, the fundraiser — which I’ve discussed before — Rock the Mike: The Freeman Brainefit, for Flying Dog Brewing’s brewery manager, Mike Freeman is on Saturday, August 23^rd at the old Flying Dog warehouse (24^th and Blake) from 7-2am. There are going to be several bands, free beer from Breckenridge, Great Divide and Flying Dog, free food and a raffle with a $20 cost at the door.  All of the proceeds from this event are going to Mike and his fiancée Jennifer. As you may remember, Mike was diagnosed recently with glioblastoma multiforme or GBM, an aggressive form of brain cancer. For more on Mike’s case, visit mikesupport.com.

Secondly, back in May I wrote about the launching of Cigar City Brewing Co. by Tampa King Pin Joe Redner and his son Joey. Well now, about 3 months shy of opening, Joey and his father have started a blog and have documented a lot of the major steps along the way “which we think would be of interest to both craft beer fans and brewers”, according to Joey. To check out the blog — which includes both general beer and Cigar City-specific news — visit blog.cigarcitybeer.com.

And lastly, congratulations are in order for Lost Abbey Brewery in San Marcos, California. Their beer “The Angel’s Share” was named the winner of the 2008 Champion American Cask-Conditioned Beer Award at the recently concluded 2008 Great British Beer Festival by CAMRA (The Campaign for Real Ale). According to BeerAdvocate,

The winner was selected by CAMRA beer experts, brewers and international beer judges from forty six beers, specially imported for the Great British Beer Festival. The Festival provides a unique opportunity to try beers from around the World alongside 450 British real ales. The international ‘Bieres Sans Frontieres’ Bar includes rare lambics, wheat beers, Trappist ales, honey, fruit and spice beers as well as a giant wooden barrel of Imperial Porter from the De Molen brewery in the Netherlands.

Second place went to Mayflower Brewings’ Porter from Massachusetts and third to Cambridge Houses’ IPA from Connecticut.

Very big & exciting news for fans of Portsmouth’s own Smuttynose Brewing Co.: A new brewery has been a discussion for Smuttynose for quite awhile (I first wrote about it back in December of ’07) as they’ve long since outgrown their relatively small Establishment on the outskirts of Portsmouth. Well, according to SeacoastOnline.com, the brewery and its owner, Peter Egelston, gained approval from all the right Planning Boards last night to move its brewery to Hampton, NH. From SeacoastOnline,

Smuttynose Brewery is moving to Hampton. The Planning Board on Wednesday night approved Smuttynose president Peter Egelston’s plans to build a bigger and better brewery in Hampton.

Smuttynose is currently located at 225 Heritage Ave. in Portsmouth in a 25,000-square-foot facility. The lot soon to be the new home of the brewery is a 14-acre property owned by Gregory and Jennifer Sancoff at 105 Towle Farm Road in Hampton.

The new brewing facility will be 42,000 square feet. On the same property, Smuttynose will convert a barn into a restaurant.

And Peter seems to be true to his word. As he told me in December, he would like the new brewery to be as “green” as possible. And sure enough, according to the article, he’s:

planning for the new brewery to meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification qualification. Some “green” technology that Egelston is considering includes the use of rainwater in plumbing and a co-generation power source, which is the use of a heat engine or a power station to simultaneously generate both electricity and heat.

No word yet on when the new brewery and restaurant will be open or if there will be any sort of grand opening celebration (but you can bet, if there is, I sure as shootin’ will be there) but I’ll keep you posted when I hear of anything. In the meantime, congrats Pete & crew; a bigger brewery can only mean more Smuttynose and that’s alright with me!

source: Smuttynose gains approval in Hampton for brewery, restaurant [SeacoastOnline.com]

If you don’t know by now, I have a particular interest in entrepreneurship and start-up companies. So I tend to keep a weathered eye on business and entrepreneurial blogs and things of that nature, and when that interest and my interest in beer converge, it’s especially fun. And that’s just what happened today. I found a story on the Business Opportunities Weblog Network about a pair of college seniors — Valjean Boynton and Campbell King — in Australia who have started a business, Kegs on Legs, which “specializes in party keg hire and delivery to a thirsty Melbourne market.” According to Business Opportunities,

“We have a passion for business and also a passion for beer, so the two things together are pretty handy,” King, 22, says.

But the neat part is that the two aren’t in it for throwing frat house keggers, as it might first appear. They’re actually dedicated homebrewers and apparently have been for years. The business idea hit Boynton and King during their first year of college and is built on the premise that it would be easier to get Kegs on Legs to provide an entire service – kegs, beer, chilling equipment, cups and, best of all, free delivery and after-party pick-up. Reportedly business is doing well and Kegs on Legs is expanding its service provision,

Apart from the beer itself, the business now also hires out professional bar staff, and a security guard service is available at parties to ensure a safe environment. The goal at all times is to promote celebration.

Sounds like a great idea; good luck guys!

[Photo by Les O’Rourke]

Hey all – my computer is currently without a hard drive for the next few days so, since I’m borrowing someone else’s, this will have to be kept short & sweet. I just wanted to make sure all you local readers knew about some important upcoming beer events here in Portland. They’re both at Novare Res (big surprise) and both on August weekends.

The first is entitled Roguepalooza and is taking place all day Friday August 15th & Saturday August 16th. Roguepalooza will feature the most Rogue beers on tap at one time outside of Oregon ever! Plus lots of “Give-aways, rare kegs, and liver transplants”.

The second event, Deutsches Bierfest, will be Sunday, August 24th, all day (and night). It promises to be Maine’s largest collection of German draught beer, ever. Featuring 23 authentic German biers on tap, including: weisse, weissebock, eisbock, doppelbock, rauch, pils, helles, keller, swarz, dunkel, kolsch, alt, and more; all served in the proper glassware.

I will certainly be at both events and expect you to be, too! If you’re going, leave a comment here and let me know to keep an eye out for you. Each event promises to be one of the biggest beer extravaganzas of the summer!