Found Treasure: International Beer Day

August 6, 2021 – Let me be among the first to tell you: Happy International Beer Day. 

I can’t think of a more glorious way to celebrate than a frothy bucket of brew news, starting with the item I’m most excited for: Destination craft beer spot Sante Adairius Rustic Ales has a new food program, which came on line less than three weeks ago.

Todd Parker (former chef at Santa Cruz’s Bad Animal and Manresa) and Zane Griffin (former Adairius beer-tender and beverage director at now defunct Assembly)—lead the way, bringing an allegiance to local produce with them. 

Popular offerings to this point include sourdough pretzels, merguez hot dogs, ‘nudja deviled eggs and sandwiches like the BLAT with housemade Japanese milk bread and Benton’s Bacon (the former among the sausages and breads all done in house, the latter a rare non-local item but one that Parker prizes mightily, and with good reason). 

Expanding options and Detroit-style pan pizzas, courtesy of Pizza Pals, are on the way as the kitchen and accompanying ventilation is built out.  

“We don’t have a full kitchen yet, but we have a full menu,” Parker says. “We want it to be a place where you can have a good meal and it’s not just supplemental snacks. We’re proud of what we’re doing and it’s going to keep getting better.” 

The Rustic Ales Kitchen is open noon-8pm Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday, and until 9pm Friday-Saturday. More at rusticales.com

Other beer news that’s bubbling up in sync with the holiday, from three cities and two states, appear here:

When nachos be your business—and you’re so obsessive about said biz that you spend months tweaking recipes as do Nacho Bizness co-owner/operators Brittani Reid-Bristol and Steb Montez—it would be understandable if beer were an afterthought.

But the cult hit which grew up quick, moving to downtown Monterey just a beer-burp’s distance from Alvarado Street Brewing, has a striking lineup on tap.

They currently flow Coronado Brewing’s Salty Crew, two Discretion Brewing options (a Stefano Italian-style pilsner with a touch of hops and Hefe Good Day), two from Almanac Beer Co. (tasty Love Hazy IPA and barrel-aged Strawberry Sournova), and another from fast-rising San Jose-based Narrative Fermentations (Citraveza)

They also pour a non-beer surprise in KYLA, a sugar cane fermented, 8 percent sparkling mojito spinoff that its creators call “a Hokkaido twist on the classic Havana highball.”

While we’re here, this Sunday the Nacho Bizness tastemakers introduce something new with a brunch juggernaut that goes where ‘chos don’t, but with the creativity the Bizness brings to everything. 

Think birria hash and eggs covered in mouthwatering consume, chile verde breakfast burritos, chile colorado chilaquiles, and top-shelf Champagne and Rosé.

It is a ticketed event, though serving will extend until the food runs out. 

More at instagram.com/nachobiz831 or nachobiz.biz.

Today Smog City Brewing Company and Alvarado Street Brewery debut Park Hopper Hazy IPA. That would be thirst-inducing enough for beer lovers, but it gets better from there.

Proceeds to support Parks California’s Parks for Everyone initiative, which builds opportunities for all people to access and connect with the outdoors.

The breweries have a clean 1,000 cases in position for today’s Aug. 6 release and expect to sell out in less than three weeks. (I’d bet they go even quicker.) 

Smog City, Alvarado Street and Parks California began collaborating as fellow members of 1% for the Planet, a program which encourages businesses to donate one percent of sales to environmental causes via nonprofit partners. 

“We’re always eager to collaborate with businesses that are willing to create something new for a good cause,” Parks California Director of Community Engagement Myrian Solis Coronel says. “Alvarado Street Brewery and Smog City Brewing Company have been incredible partners because they believe in the power of business to have a positive impact on our communities and the land around us.”

Cheers to that.

More at asb.beer.

Speaking of tasty IPA, yesterday was National IPA Day. 

I know this because a savvy new brewery from across the country sent me some of their proudest new India Pales to commemorate the moment.

The Long Island operation’s stuff isn’t not available on the shelf here, but if you have an IPA-head in your life (including yourself) you can have them shipped.

One element that 2Pac would appreciate: Blue Point brings a definite West Coast-style to its East Coast ales. 

I’m into the piney Blue Point OG (like Alvarado Street, it can claim a medal from the Great American Beer Festival), but I also would feel good showing up at a party with grapefruit-driven Mosaic IPA, or the Spectral Haze with a powerhouse roll call of Mosaic, Denali, Simcoe, Comet, and Huell Melon hops. 

At the same time, craft nerds out there would be most intrigued by the way-too-mellow for-8.5-ABV Peripheral Drift, part of Blue Point’s Innovation Series. It comes infused with botanical terpenes from popular cannabis strain Mango Kush, which is just levitating, even if the beer contains no cannabis. 

More at bluepointbrewing.com.