Stone Brewing goes upside down, Yuengling arrives and Double Jack returns
In a normal year, October would mark the end of Munich’s Oktoberfest and the arrival of Halloween, pumpkin brews and fresh hop beers.
Unfortunately, fresh or wet hop beers made with those freshly picked hops seem less likely to be as plentiful this year. I like to call them beerjolais nouveau, because they’re best when fresh and available for only a short time. That short life span means most are served in kegs — at festivals (canceled), big parties (banned) or bars (still closed). The only fresh hop brews we’ll likely see this year will be from bigger breweries, which package their fresh hop beers in bottles or cans.
While we wait for the world to open up again, here are a few bits of happier news.
NEW DIRECTION » You’re not imagining things. Stone Brewing’s first advertising campaign — it’s called “Leave No Stone Unturned” — has a gimmick. All the labels for its bottled beer are being printed upside down, so they stand out on the shelf. Upside- down cans are coming next.
YUENGLING NEWS » If you’re an East Coast transplant, you may be missing one of Pennsylvania’s most iconic beers. Founded in 1829, Yuengling is the nation’s oldest still- operating brewery. It just announced a joint venture with Molson Coors to distribute its beer on the West Coast. Molson Coors will brew Yuengling beers for the Western market, with rollout expected to begin in mid-2021.
NEW SIPS » Los Angeles’ Eagle Rock Brewery has teamed up with Norwalk Brew House and hip-hop artist 2Mex on a collaboration beer called Love Fights Back. It’s a blonde ale brewed with guava, mango and citrus zest. Henhouse Brewing distributes Eagle Rock’s beer in Northern California so four-packs of those 16- ounce cans should be available in the Bay Area. They’re packaged with a QR code to download 2Mex’s “Let’s Take a Walk.”
Firestone Walker’s imperial Double Jack IPA, which was discontinued in 2016, is back once more — thanks to beer lovers who constantly asked for it. It’s a great beer, and I’m very happy to see it in production again in cans. Brewmaster Matt Brynildson created a double IPA that’s improbably well-balanced, with four hop additions followed by a triple dry-hopping process. The result has wonderful grapefruit and tangerine aromas and rich West Coast double IPA flavors.
Christmas still may be a few months away, but Anderson Valley Brewing Co. just released its Winter Solstice seasonal, with the idea that it wants to get the year 2020 over with as soon as possible. At 6.9% alcohol by volume, Winter Solstice is the brewery’s take on a winter warmer. It’s brewed with Northern Brewer and Chinook hop varieties and hints of toffee, vanilla spice and caramel to enjoy during both the cold days and long nights of winter, and the mild weather of fall, too.
BEERVENTURES » There are still very few true beer events on the horizon, but some virtual festivals and happenings are being planned in their place. Among them: The Great American Beer Festival’s virtual events begin Oct. 16, with additional deals and events from now through Oct. 18. Learn more at greatamericanbeerfestival.com.
Talk about a scary moment. The Fields family was facing the real possibility of having to cancel its annual Pirates of Emerson Halloween haunt at the Alameda County Fairgrounds, unable to make dollars and sense of the reduced capacity and other social distancing restrictions that would need to be in place this year.
“We wouldn’t have been able to put the numbers through to justify opening up,” says Brian Fields, who has helped run this popular haunt with his parents, Patty and Karl, for 29 years.
Instead of throwing in the towel, they decided to do something different — something bold — that would work in this COVID-19 age.
“Being the creative family that we are, my dad Karl, Patty and myself put our heads together and came up with this idea of doing this drivethru,” Fields says.
So load up the car, remember to buckle in tight and get ready to be scared as the Pirates of Emerson evolves into something new for 2020. This massive drive-thru haunt, which covers nearly 10 acres at the Pleasanton fairgrounds, opened to the public this weekend and runs Thursday through Sunday through Nov. 1.