The Northern California Craft Beer Guide

by Ken Weaver, Anneliese Schmidt (Photographer)

Overview

The Northern California Craft Beer Guide is the definitive handbook to the artistry, people, and history of the region's craft beer scene. While many guidebooks rely on second-hand accounts or (worse?) provide coverage that fails to do the footwork of discerning the insipid from the delicious, this isn't one of those books. Beer writer Ken Weaver and photographer Anneliese Schmidt have invested months of precious drinking time into visiting the furthest corners of Northern California: from the latest Belgian-style beers coming out of Arcata, to the newest beer-centric burger joint in Santa Cruz, to the phenomenal brews of Central Valley nobody's ever heard of. Their goal was to create a guide that does this beer scene justice.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781937359164
Publisher:	Abrams
Publication date:	04/04/2012
Pages:	306
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 8.82(h) x 0.94(d)

About the Author

Ken Weaver is a beer writer, fiction writer, and technical editor based in Northern California. Ken received his MFA in creative writing from the University of Maryland, and his M.S. in physics from Cornell. He’s a Certified BJCP beer judge and a frequent contributor to All About Beer. Anneliese Schmidt was born and raised in Marin County, CA. She has an M.S. in physics from Cornell University. Ali is a freelance photographer and is currently a student at the New York Institute of Photography. Her beer-centric photographs have most recently been featured in All About Beer. Ken Grossman is the Founder and Owner of Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. in Chico, CA and also the author of the upcoming book Beyond the Pale: The Story of Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. (Wiley 2012).

Table of Contents

Foreword ix

Introduction 7

Largest Northern California Craft Breweries 13

Safe Travels 14

Regarding Chains 16

Explanation of Symbols 20

Region 1 San Francisco 23

San Francisco Beer Week 37

Bay Area Beer Bloggers 50

Region 2 North Bay and Wine Country 55

Lagers in America 74

Imbibing Online and Off 81

Nanobrewing 85

Cooking and Pairing with Beer 88

Region 3 East Bay 91

Organic Brewing 105

The Brewing Network 120

Region 4 The Peninsula, South Bay, Santa Cruz 129

Trouble Brewing 139

Bierschnaps, Beer Whiskey 140

Uncommon Ingredients 153

Region 5 North Coast and Lost Coast 161

Beer Festivals 169

Bottle Cap Art 172

Region 6 North 1-5, Chico, Shasta Cascade 181

Environment and Sustainability 191

Beer Communities 199

Region 7 1-80 Corridor, Sacramento, Lake Tahoe 201

Beer Education 215

Beer versus Wine 221

Barrel Aging 229

Region 8 Central Valley and Yosemite 239

Ancient Yeast 246

Hitting the Jackpot in Central Valley 249

The Art of Beer Travel 254

Festivals & Events 261

Glossary 273

Acknowledgments 279

Index 285