Barley's Smokehouse in Grandview is hosting their ninth annual Mini Real Ale Festival on May 14. This event is traditionally one of the best in the area for fans of real ale - smooth, un-carbonated beer direct from a cask or firkin.  Barley's beers are featured, but it's the guest list that usually steals the show.  The list for this year's festival is still in the works, but so far there are some impressive names: Flying Dog, Southern Tier, Troegs, Bells and Founders are all scheduled to have beers there (and hopefully brewery reps as well!).

Tickets are on sale now at the Smokehouse and online: http://www.barleysbrewing.com/smokehouse/index.htm

SF Beer Week begins in just under a week on February, 11 and promises to fulfill the hopes and dreams of craft beer lovers everywhere. 

Head over to the event’s website to create a profile and then plan your own itinerary for the week by choosing from the massive list of events that make up Beer Week. It automatically creates your schedule for the week organized by location and date and even includes a map.

The events start early and end late. It’s really a full week of beer paradise. I’ll be attending "Beerunch" at the Public House which is attached to AT&T Park and will feature a morning of beers from breweries like Dogfish Head and Russian River paired with brunch while Game 5 of the world series is replayed on 22 flat screen TV’s.  As a sour beer fan, I was sure to mark down Pucker Up: A Sour Beer Tasting at the Jug Shop on my calendar and there is no way I’ll miss out on 12% Imports Night at The Trappist in Oakland. 

Beer Week also means great food from gastropubs like Magnolia plus beer and food pairings from some of San Francisco’s best restaurants . The Oyster and Stout Celebration at Anchor & Hope promises a night of $1 oysters and stouts of all styles. I’m probably most excited for the beer, cheese and chocolate night at Rogue Ale House in North Beach:

"The Epicurean Connection & Rogue Ales Public House will host a Rogue Beers, Artisan Cheese and Handmade Chocolates tasting. A flight of 6 Rogue Ales with special guest brewers, paired with Artisan Cheeses and Handmade Chocolates and finish with a Chocolate Rogue Stout Cake will be served to all! Recipes included!"

Recipes included? Chocolate Rogue Stout Cake? Oh boy. That will go well with beer ice cream being served every day of the week at Humphry Slocombe. 

Be sure to follow HopHunter on Twitter and Facebook because I’ll be posting about each and every SF Beer Fest event I attend!

The Pub in Beavercreek, Ohio is hosting a beer dinner with Tom Griffin, affectionately known as "The Barrel Guy" for his business supplying barrels for aging to breweries large and small. Tom has traveled all over the country to supply bourbon barrels and barrels of other varieties for beer aging, including working with Goose Island and Founders breweries. Tom was recently featured in an article in DRAFT magazine, which can be read here: http://draftmag.com/magazine/articles/169.

This looks like it will be a great event as Tom is sure to bring some very special beers from his travels and they'll be paired with four food courses and a feature presentation from Tom.

The Pub is part of the Tavern Restaurant Group which owns The Pub restaurants in Rookwood (Cincinnati), Beavercreek (Dayton), Polaris (Columbus) and Nicholson's Gastropub in downtown Cincinnati among others. Tom will be speaking at the other restaurants (except Columbus) earlier in the week.

Event Details:

- Thursday, January 20th @ 7:00pm
- Four 10oz Beers
- Four Food Courses
- $50 per person (this does not include tax or gratuity)
- Tom Griffin will be the keynote speaker to share his stories about life on the Bourbon Barrel Road.

Those who are interested should call Pub Beavercreek for reservations at 937.320.1199

Our Goose Island tasting and food pairing last month was a big hit and everyone there had a good time. It's hard not to have a great event when you feature great beers like Sofie, Matilda, Pere Jacques and Night Stalker. We've put together a little video of the event so those who couldn't make it can see what they missed! Don't miss out on our next event -- sign up on the site now to be notified first!

The Columbus Beerfest earlier this year must have been a success as they've already announced plans for next year's Beerfest, along with a new Winter Festival.  The Columbus Winter Beerfest will take place January 15, 2011, while the larger 2nd Annual Columbus Beerfest will be one week earlier next year on May 20 & 21, 2011.

No update on the website yet, but I expect more info there soon: http://www.columbusbeerfest.com

We also saw on Twitter an announcement of a cool craft beer festival in Cincinnati by this same group that will actually be on a bridge over the Ohio river.  More details on that soon.

Barley's Smokehouse in Grandview is starting their annual Hop-IPA-Looza on June 24th, when all their taps turn into IPAs until they run out. It's a fun time to sample some great IPA's from around the country and there's no tickets or anything to buy - just show up and have some great beers. The sooner the better for some beers though. There's no telling how long some of these are going to last.

The beer list is pretty impressive and includes some great ones:

• Bell's Hopslam
• Boulder's Mojo Risin' Double IPA
• New Holland's Oak Aged Mad Hatter
• Flying Dog's Raging Bitch
• Green Flash's West Coast IPA
• and many more!

More details on the event here: http://www.barleysbrewing.com/smokehouse/index.htm

HopHunter.com is hosting a private tasting and food pairing event with Goose Island! This very limited event will feature four fabulous Goose Island beers and four cheese or hors d'ouvres specially selected to pair with the beers. The regional representative for Goose Island will be on hand to discuss the beers and how they are paired, as well as answer questions.

Four Beers - Four Perfectly Paired Foods - One Really Fun Event!

Date: July 30, 2010
Time: 7:30 pm
Location: HopHunter.com - 11 Price Ave., Columbus, OH 43201
Cost: a $20.00 per person donation is requested to hold your reservation.

This is a private party and by invitation only, but as a HopHunter.com reader, we wanted to let you know. If you're interested, sign up on hophunter.com and we'll get an invitation and further details out to you.

The first annual Columbus Beerfest was held this past Friday and Saturday at the Columbus Convention Center. After some initial hesitation based on early reviews of the Friday tasting, the Saturday session turned out to be quite fun and a really good beer event.

While in New York a few weeks ago, we made our way up to Pleasantville, NY for the Captain Lawrence Brewery's 4th Anniversary Party. It was a really fun event and the weather could not have been better.

The brewery is a pretty cool little place, but I didn't get to see much of it because of the party. That's ok, there's always next time. We sampled the Pale Ale, "Liquid Gold" and their summer seasonal, Kolsh. All were very tasty and I managed to get a few bottles of the Imperial IPA home in my suitcase. I'll hold on to those for a special occasion.

Here some short video clips of the event:

Barley's Smokehouse in Grandview held their 8th annual Mini Real Ale Festival on Saturday and as it has been in the past, it was a really good event. Last year I would have described it as a great event, but this year's, while still really really good, seemed like a bit of a letdown.

The biggest issue may have been the start time. 11am is really early for a day of drinking to start. I get it, they wanted the festival crowd out of there in time for the dinner crowd, but how about noon to 4? The bulk of the crowd seemed to come after noon anyway and I think it contributed to the slower than usual ticket sales.

The beer selection was very impressive as usual, but there seemed to be some notable absences.  No Great Lakes, only one Bell's selection, and Left Hand Brewing sent the wrong keg - Oops. It seems Great Lakes didn't have time to participate, but no Lake Erie Monster was a disappointment.

On the bright side, there were some beers that were a very pleasant surprise for me. Ohio Brewing Co's "Twice Bitten" strong ale was really nice, and Thirsty Dog's "Hop Dog" was especially good. It's a pale ale made with Belgian yeast, so it has a nice blend of that Belgian flavor along with a flavorful American pale ale.  Kudos.

Don't get me wrong - I'll attend this event every year for as long as they have it. You can't get this many beers on cask at one time during many other events, and no other event in Columbus. If you like cask beers, this is one event in Columbus not to be missed.