Farmer’s Reserve No. 3

As we’ve brewed our various beers over the past eighteen months, we’ve regularly stashed away beer in what is now an impressive collection of 250 various wine and spirits barrels. We check on each barrel regularly and wait for just the right time to say, “ready”.  After more than a year of waiting, we are thrilled to release the first three beers in our new 375ml Farm to Barrel Series.

Barrel Noir

This oak-aged ale is our love letter to bourbon barrels. Barrel Noir is a sumptuous, inky ale that celebrates the velvety texture and subtle heat that only Kentucky charred oak can impart. Born from a blend of American imperial stout and Belgian-inspired dark ale aged in bourbon barrels, this rich brew can be paired with braised beef dishes and dark chocolates. Enjoyed best in front of a warm fireplace.Barrel Noir

Farmer’s Reserve No. 1

Our first California wild ale is brewed with a blend of Cabernet & Muscat Grapes from Alfieri Farms, Concord grapes from Hamada Farms and plums from Twin Girls Farm—all located in the fertile San Joaquin Valley. Aged for over a year in used wine barrels, this sour ale blends rich flavors of the 2011 autumn harvest with farmhouse funk. Enjoy with aromatic Taleggio cheese and rich duck confit.

Farmer’s Reserve No. 2

This barrel-aged ale is a celebration of the California autumn harvest. Brewed with heirloom pumpkins from La Tercera Farms in Bodega Bay, crisp Fuyu persimmons from Hamada Farms in the San Joaquin Valley and fresh ginger from the Santa Clara Valley, then aged for over a year in white wine barrels to create a deliciously complex wild ale. Enjoy with delicate white fish and roasted squash.

We’re happy to announce that we are bringing our beers to sunny Southern California starting January 1st, 2013! We’ve partnered with California Craft Distributors to distribute our Farm-to-Bottle beers in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties.  We’re thrilled to be expanding availability outside of the Bay Area and getting our craft beers into the hands of our thirsty Southern California friends.

Southern California has a phenomenal craft beer scene, and we’re very excited to become a part of it. In addition to our seasonal and upcoming barrel-aged offerings, our California Table Beers including Honey Saison, citrus-infused Extra Pale Ale and new Biere de Chocolat are all perfect pairings for Southern California’s sunshine, beaches and year-round delicious seasonal produce and cuisine.

SoCal restaurants, bars, retailers and beer lovers—interested in getting some of our hand-crafted ales?  Drop us a note and we’ll make it happen. Cheers!

We’re proud to introduce our year-round, farm-to-bottle California Table Beer Series.

Our Honey Saison and Extra Pale Ale are the first Almanac brews available year-round in convenient 12oz. bottles. Perfectly balanced, these beers are brewed with California barley, hand-selected additions from local farms, citrusy hops and a touch of oak. Whether shared with friends over a celebratory dinner or afternoon picnic, we invite you to enjoy a new line of beers that could only come from California. Available in bottles and draft in Northern California starting late August 2012.

Honey Saison : 4.8% ABV

Our Honey Saison is a beer for all seasons. Brewed with Bay Area honey from Marshall Farms, wheat, California two-row barley, French oak and fresh, local ginger root for a hint of spice. Balanced with earthy Mount Hood and Saaz hops, this is a refreshing brew enjoyed best with your favorite seasonal fare.

Extra Pale Ale : 6.0% ABV

Our Belgian-style Extra Pale Ale is brewed with heaps of sweet Mandarin oranges from Blossom Bluff Farms and California two-row barley. We dry-hop with generous doses of aromatic Cascade and Columbus hops and finish the beer with a hint of lightly toasted American oak.

Taylor tasted our new Biere de Mars with Fennel and almost instantly knew what he wanted to do with it.  Building on the fennel base already in the beer, he created a lightly smoked cooked salami that layer beer and fennel on top of the natural sweetness of the pork.  Finally the stuffed salami is lightly smoked and steamed in the beer for one last layer of beer-goodness.

Sliced thin on a crostini with a small salad it’s a great accompaniment to the beer, puling out the earthy fennel flavors and bitter backbone.  Available this spring at the SF & Napa Fatted Calf stores.

Here is how he made it:

Local black cod is seared, then moved to the oven to finish.

In another pan he cooked a handful of seasonal beans, including Haricot Vert, Romano, Cannellini and Cranberry beans.

He added fresh shiitake mushrooms, and a stock made of mushrooms and Umeboshi – cured and pickled Japanese plums. The cured plums added a slight sweetness to balance the earthiness of the mushrooms.

The finished dish is topped with shiso leaf, to bring out even more aromatics.

After 11 months of aging in red wine barrels, our beer was ready for blending. We pulled samples from every barrel to taste and compare. Different barrels received different amounts of fruit, and some, no fruit at all. The variation from barrel to barrel was astounding. Some were sweet, others were dry. Some had spicy hints of coriander, while others embraced their berry nature. All of them were delicious.

The sugar levels of each barrel were measured, and calculated out to inform the final blend.

The barrel-aged stock was then blended with fresher beer, giving the final blend it’s bright, mildly hoppy character, while maintaining the berry aromas and oaky depth. Once we were happy with the final blend, all of the barrels and fresh beer were transferred into a large mixing tank, and we were ready to bottle.

Bottling a beer, for those who have never done it, is an amazing amount of work. Since we’re naturally carbonating using fresh yeast and sugar in the bottle (also called conditioning), we found ourselves relying on the local resources that being close to wine country afford us. A small mobile bottling truck came down and set up shop. Normally used for still and sparkling wines, we included a few extra pieces of equipment to accommodate our large beer bottles, trained a large team of volunteer family and friends on how the process would work, and set off. Here are a few of our volunteers, ready to go to work:

First, fresh yeast and sugar were added to the mixing tank, providing the basis for our refermentation in the bottles.

Then we were ready to fill. Hand-numbered labels with a unique bottle number and bottling date were prepared by volunteers with legible  writing. (thus precluding Jesse or Damian from doing this step!)

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One final quality check, then it’s off to the bottles.

First, each bottle is flushed with CO2, to keep the beer from oxidizing in the bottle.

Then each bottle is filled with beer. When full, a final hit of CO2 gas clears any remaining air out of the head space at the top of the bottle.

Then the bottles are capped with oxygen-barrier caps.

And finally labeled on both sides.

Each bottle then gets a hat—a cover that provides both a nice aesthetic finish and one final layer of protection against the outside world.  The caps are heat-shrunk onto the bottle with heat guns.

Finally the bottle number stickers are applied, and the bottles are loaded back into their boxes.

As I write this, all of our bottles are getting the sauna treatment, and resting quietly in a warm room.  The balmy temperatures (80º+) will encourage the yeast to get to work, providing the final carbonation and layer of complexity to our beer.

After a couple of weeks, the bottles will be moved back to the cold room, stopping the carbonation, and then, finally, our beer will be ready for you to drink.  Look for bottles in your local fine bottle shops and restaurants starting June 30th.

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