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Surviving the Hopocalypse

Tuesday, February 5th, 2013

The dust has settled, the port-o-potties are gone, and the forklifts are milling about like any other day. The Hopocalypse occurred, and you survived it. Because you, sir or madam, are a winner.  You looked it square in the eye, and it blinked.  And then you took a swig of the biggest, baddest IPA the East Bay has to offer.  So here’s to every last one of you craft beer drinkers and Hopocalypse survivors. Thank you all for coming out this weekend, as well as to Fist of Flour, Me So Hungry, and Fiveten Burger for helping everyone take on our hops.

And if you missed out, don’t fret. Hopocalypse Green Label will be out in stores, bars, and other beereries in the not-too-distant future, and we will have a few more Brew Rhino kegs trickling out first-come-first-served style through the Barrel House, so you can check in when it opens back up on Wednesday.

Now… get to stocking up on bottled water and cab fare, because SF Beer Week starts Friday. But in the meantime, check out our Hopocalypse photo gallery below (or on Flickr or Facebook, if that’s how you roll). Oh, and our apologies to the guy who told us he was supposed to be at work.


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Hopocalypse Release 2013

Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013

It’s in the tanks. It’s preparing for the onslaught of thirsty beer hoards. It will be ready. Will you?

Drake’s Hopocalypse DIPA and Hopocalypse Black Label Triple IPA will be returning on Saturday, February 2nd, 10am to 9pm, at Drake’s Barrel House.

Doors will open to the Barrel House at 10am.
Hopocalypse DIPA (9.3% ABV, 100+ IBUs) will be available on tap, on cask, in 22 oz bottles (1 case per person limit), in growlers (2 per person), and in Brew Rhino kegs (limited availability, first come first served).
Hopocalypse Black Label (12.5% ABV, 100+ IBUs) will be available on tap, on cask, and in 22oz bottles (2 per person limit) at the Barrel House only.

For the hungry, Fists of Flour Wood-Fire pizza, Me So Hungry, and Fiveten Burger will be stopping by to crank out good grub for your beer-filled stomachs.

Expect casks of Hopocalypse, brewery tours, great food, Hopocalypse swag, and enough hops to send you to the end of days tasting the dank hoppy deliciousness forevermore.

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Posted in Barrel House, beer, Brewers, Brewery, Drake's Brewing, Event, Hopocalypse, Release, San Francisco Beer Week | No Comments »

Jolly Rodger 2012 Release Approaches

Thursday, November 1st, 2012


 As the winds rise and the chill begins to fall on the Bay Area, the brewers at Drake’s beckon forth again their swashbuckling seasonal Jolly Rodger from the fog. On Saturday, November 10 at 12pm at Drake’s Barrel House, this year’s incarnation of our always bold Jolly Rodger will emerge from the tanks to greet craft beer fans on tap and in 22 oz. bottles.

Fans of Jolly Rodger will know that this brew has over the years taken many forms and styles. Now, after years of scallywagging about and dallying with any style that caught its fancy, good ole JR is returning to it’s original form, an American Barleywine.

Originally crafted as a holiday brew that Drake’s brewers could get behind, Jolly had all the warming powers of malt and alcohol, minus the strange holiday beer ubiquitousness of overpowering pie spices, and finished with the open handed smack of bold Northwest American hops.

The 2012 Jolly Rodger is full-bodied with rich caramel malt undertones and mild biscuit malt character. Sufficient additions of West Coast hops balance the malt with pine needle aromatics and satisfying bitterness.

Release Event Details:
When: Saturday, November 10 from 12-9pm
Where: Drake’s Barrel House- 1933 Davis St., San Leandro, CA 94577
Food: Oakland’s Fist of Flour Wood-fire Pizza
Beer Availability:
Jolly Rodger will be available on tap, on cask, in growlers (2 per person), in (very limited) 5 gallon kegs (1 per person), and in 22oz bottles (6 per person limit).
We will also be pulling some barrel-aged Barleywines from our barrels to put on tap at the Barrel House for a Drake’s Barleywine Flight opportunity for the beer geeks to drool about.

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Drake’s October News: Mission Pub Crawl, 5 New Beers, and Drake’s Fatted Calf Beer Sausages

Monday, October 8th, 2012

Coming October 25: Mission Exxpedition A San Francisco Pub Crawl

 

The Beers of Fall from Drake’s

Before even mentioning the brewery construction, the move to a 24-hour brewing schedule, and the conversion over to our new larger batch sizes, the brewer’s have been a busy group with some new fall releases.

This fall prepare yourselves for new beers from Drake’s with the release of several new seasonals, one-offs, and new bottes all for your enjoyment.

1. HausFest Festbier- 5.5% ABV, 24 IBUs– Just released last Friday at Flocktoberfest, our one lager of 2012, the HausFest Festbier is currently our brewers’ go-to pint. HausFest is a lighter-style Märzen and our version of the classic German Oktoberfestbier. Fresh toasty aromas of Vienna and Munich malts jump out of the glass alongside subtle spicy noble hops with a round, smooth mouthfeel and clean, dry, and crisp finish. **2nd year brewed. Draft only**

2. Batch 4000- 5.5% ABV, 48 IBUs– To commemorate our latest milestone batch we took a hint from the harvest season and spiked our hop-forward 1500 American Pale Ale with fresh wet-hops (Simcoe and Citra) in a hop-back and the dry hop. Look for it at both the Bistro Wet-Hop Fest this Saturday and at Toronado’s Wet-Hop fest on the 17th. **One-off. Draft only**

3. Drake’s Exxpedition Imperial Red Ale- 8% ABV, 70 IBUs– Since the beginning Drake’s brewers have sought to create beers that transcend the brews that have come before. Our original brewer Roger Lind created our long standing seasonal Expedition, a hoppy American Red Ale, back when the punch of American hops were less that normal in your typical red ale. Now, our brewers are taking that beer to the next level for its “Double X” rendition, Exxpedition Imperial American Red Ale. Ruby red from crystal malts and roasted barley, this beer delivers rich caramel nots and just a hint of roast. Additions of citrusy, resinous West-Coast hops and an abundant dry-hop then punctuate the malt with intense flavors and aromas of grapefruit with a clean bitter finish. **Annual Seasonal**

 

 

4. Drake’s Jolly Rodger 2012- 9.6% ABV, 75 IBUs– After years of scallywagging about from port to port and dallying with any stayle that cought its fancy, the 2012 edition Drake’s Jolly Rodger is returning to its original style, an American Barleywine. Our 2012 Jolly Rodger is full-bodied with rich caramel malt undertones and mild biscuit malt character. Sufficient additions of West Coast hops balance the malt with pine needle aromatics and satisfying bitterness. Welcome home old friend. Yo Ho. **Annual Seasonal**

 

 

 

 

5. Drake’s Black Robusto Porter- 6.3% ABV, 35 IBUs– Drake’s Black Robusto is a deep, dark “Robust Porter,” a beer style know for being darker, fuller-bodied, and higher in alcohol by volume than a standard Brown Porter. Our Black Robusto goes down smoothly with flavors of bittersweet chocolate and slight roast from Crystal and Chocolate malt dominating. A touch of spicy, herbal hop character from Willamette hops balance out the the finish. Drake’s Black Robusto has long been a year round part of our draft-only line-up, but coming this fall we will begin to bottle this beguilingly dark brew in 22oz bombers. You’ll start to see the bottles first at the Barrel House, then around the Bay Area and slowly moving outward. **Year-Round**

 

 

Drake’s Beer Sausages at Fatted Calf

The masters of all things pork and meaty have done it again with very very tasty results.

For our Flocktoberfest Event last Friday, Taylor Boetticher, the mad genius behind Fatted Calf charcuterie shops in Napa and San Francisco crafted 2 different types of sausages flavored with our beers.

Starting this weekend (possibly today), out of the grace of all things beer-soaked and pork-filled, you will be able to get your hands on Drakonic Imperial Stout laced Pork sausage or Amber infused Duck sausage at both Fatted Calf stores (Napa and San Francisco) and at their various Farmers Market spots.

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Drake’s 4000- The Wet-Hopped Batch

Wednesday, September 19th, 2012

A few years back our brewers hit a milestone. It was time for their 15ooth batch. What transpired is now a big part of Drake’s history, and the 1500 with its aromas of juicy grapefruit and pine needles and its refreshing crisp bitterness remains one of our favorite beers to enjoy all year long.

Given our growth over the last few years, it didn’t take long for us to repeat the 1500 batch feat and in 2011, we came upon our Batch 3000. So to pay homage to the 15-hundo (as it is affectionately called by staff), we decided to riff on the recipe to create a dark/black/cascadian/whatever pale ale… in essence, a dark 1500.

Now, just about a year+ later, we are at batch 4000… right around hop harvest season as it turns out. So, on Saturday Alex and Jesse took to the brew deck and brewed a batch of 1500 that was subsequently wet-hopped with fresh Simcoe hops in a hop back (pictured below). Later, the beer will receive a healthy dose of fresh Citra in the dry-hop, and near the beginning of October, the brew will be ready for your imbibing pleasure (as well as the Bistro’s Wet-Hop Festival).

So keep your eyes open then for our next milestone batch salute to 1500– Drake’s 4000. Cheers.

 

Posted in 3000, Barrel House, beer, Brewers, Brewery, craft beer, Drake's Brewing, Release | 1 Comment »

Drake’s Flocktoberfest 2012

Monday, September 17th, 2012

Oktoberfest is approaching, and as far as we’re concerned any holiday season that basically revolves around great beer and sausage is flockin’ chill in our book. Still, we find that most of the time we can do without wearing leather shorts and the polka.

But that’s what’s so great about being American… we can do whatever the flock we want. At Drake’s we’re doing Oktoberfest our way, keepin’ the large quantities of Fest Beer and seasoned encased meats and ditching the leather underwear and accordions. It’s Flocktoberfest again and we’re planning to rock out.

On Friday September 28th from 6-9pm, come to Drake’s Barrel House for your chance to Oktoberfest our style.

That night we will be releasing our seasonal HausFest Oktoberfest beer- a lighter, balanced version of the classic Marzen style. Made with Pilsner, German Munich, and Vienna malt hopped with classic German Spalt hops, HausFest is golden orange in color with an enticing aroma of biscuity malt and spicy noble hops with a crisp dry finish.  5.5%, 28 IBUs

A limited number of Drake’s Flocktoberfest .5L Beer Steins will be available for purchase, and throughout the evening we will fill your stein with pints of our HausFest and year-round beers for $4.50 (strong and barrel-aged excluded).

For your noshing needs, we have partnered with Fatted Calf to make two kinds of Drake’s Beer Sausage made with pork or duck that we throwin down on the grill. Vegetarians, no worries, we grabbed some vegan sausages from Rosamunde for you to get into the flockin’ spirit too.

Lastly, here to help us ditch the polka for the night, our friend DJ TophZilla will be throwin’ down tracks of punk and rock to kick the festing to the next level of awesome.

Pre-Order Tickets are sold out, but there will still be some steins and sausages available at the Barrel House starting Friday at 6pm. (For those that miss out on the steins, we still have plenty of perfectly good pint glasses that are quite good at holding beer.

Time to Fest the flock out at Drake’s. Prost!

21+ only.

No Pets allowed (Service Animals welcome)

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Posted in Barrel House, beer, Beer Fests, craft beer, Drake's Brewing, Event, food and beer pairing, Release, Seasonal | 1 Comment »

Our First Rye Whiskey Barrels

Friday, June 8th, 2012

We here at Drake’s are pretty big Rye Whiskey fans. If you asked all of us, it would probably be in the top 5 beverages for most folks here. That’s why this week was pretty excellent. We just received and filled our first Rye barrels from Heaven Hill distillery in Bardstown, Kentucky.

We filled 2 of these beauties with Drakonic and the third with our Moscow’s Burning Smoked Imperial Stout. The fourth barrel there is Heaven Hill Bourbon filled with Barleywine. This time the wait is going to seem very long… we want it now! Cheers.

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Posted in Barrel House, beer, Brewers, Brewery, Drake's Brewing | 1 Comment »

One Year with Drake’s Barrel House

Monday, June 4th, 2012

We can hardly believe it, but we are coming up on the one year anniversary of the Drake’s Barrel House this month. One year of pints, pitchers, and tasters with Gabbi and the rest of the DBH staff. One full year of proving to the world just how awesome hangin out in a warehouse behind a Walmart and Sports Authority can be.

It’s been pretty cool to have a place to host our friends, fans, and beer community, and they have given us and our humble beer-haven more support than we could have ever imagined. So, basically, what we’re sayin’ is… Thanks guys! It’s time to party.

Come out Saturday, June 23 starting at 12pm and lasting all day til 9pm to help us celebrate one full year at the DBH. For the occasion, our brewers are releasing a special, limited release, the DBH Anniversary Sour- a blend of two barrels of sour Cabernet Barrel-Aged Belgian Single. Tart and sour with hints of oak and cabernet and a touch of funk, this beer is a sour beer lover’s dream. For all the non-sour fans, we will have the full line-up of Drake’s ales flowing from Blonde all the way to Drakonic and everything in between.

Food including Filipino fare from our friends Yumsilog food truck and others will be available throughout the day, and we are happy to have local band Clangin’ and Bangin’ (who killed it during Sau & Brau) back again for seconds from 6-9pm.

So BART, bus, or get a ride and come on down for a few beers with us as we raise our glass to one great year and hopefully many, many more.

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Posted in Barrel House, craft beer, Drake's Brewing, The new Drake's Barrel House | 10 Comments »

Drake’s News Update: Father’s Day, Alpha Session, and Aromas

Wednesday, May 30th, 2012
Dad’s Day at Drake’s
IMG_0540Father’s Day approaches. Time to toast the guy that (likely) let you taste your first sip of beer. 

To honor that gift and the many more your Dads have given over the years, we suggest you get down to the Barrel House on Father’s Day (so long as you’re over 21… sorry kiddos). 

Sunday, June 17th, we will have a special firkin of a beer we’ve named “Father Knows Best”- a blend of bourbon-aged and regular Drakonic with espresso added. Also, the first 5 people that come into the barrel-house with their Dad will get their old man a pint on us. Also, whoever brings in the best picture of themselves with their Dad will win a Drake’s Growler + Beer Fill of your choice (bonus points if you are drinkin’ beer with Dad in the picture, extra bonus points if you’re drinkin’ Drake’s with Dad in the shot). We will announce the winner at 3pm along with a full bar toast to all Dads. 

James and Co. from Fists of Flour pizza will be here making pies for Pops. The Barrel House opens at 12pm and closes at 7pm on Sundays. 

**As always the DBH is 21+ only**

For more Barrel House info including current tap list, food truck & events calendar, hours, and retail sales, click here.

Alpha Session Available Now

Our latest addition to our annual seasonal line-up, Drake’s Alpha Session, is now available on tap and in stores throughout California. 

Just a warning, our hoppy session ale (3.8%, 50 IBUs) is catching on, and going fast. Get some while you can. 

If you want information on how to find Alpha Session near you, feel free to give us a call 510-568-2739 or contact us through the website at www.drinkdrakes.com.

Aromas Coming… early August 

Aroma Coma 2
 This year… the Coma doesn’t stand alone. We’re shakin’ things up.
Coming in early August 2012, Aroma Coma and Aroma Prieta. 
Sister beers, entirely different hops. Stay tuned. 

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Posted in Barrel House, Brewers, Brewery, Drake's Brewing, Event, Seasonal | 1 Comment »

SF Beer Week 2012- Twas Epic- Our Highlights

Tuesday, February 21st, 2012

This year’s Beer Week was by all accounts the most phenomenal showing by breweries and attendees across the Bay Area in the week-long event’s history (we would know, we were there). With something along the lines of 300 events throughout the tumultuous ten days, Bay Area beer lovers smelled, sipped, paired, guzzled and enjoyed craft beer in every way imaginable, and many many of them did it all with us.

We did a staggering 22 events from food pairings to pig roasts to good ole beer fests and blind tasting competitions, and it was pretty excellent to see several of our fans at more than a few of our events.

As we couldn’t possibly cover the vast amount of excellent things that happened throughout the week without spending far too much time on this blog post (still have beer to brew…), here are a few of the highlights as we saw them from Monday on.

Monday: Beer and Cheese Pairing at Mission Cheese. This tiny cheese shop helped us pair 5 beers with 5 cheeses, and the results were so delicious that we must share said pairings for your own cheese & beer adventures to come.

Pawlet (cow’s milk) with 1500 dry-hopped Pale Ale.
Aged Tomme with Hopocalypse DIPA.
Ocooch with Dire Straits 2012 Barleywine.
Classico Goat Cheese with Drake’s Amber.
Windemere Cheese (known as the Bacon of cheeses) with Moscow’s Burning Smoked Imperial Stout.

 

 

 

ALSO on Monday: We again participated in the Annual Barclay’s Pub Battle of the Bays with our 1500 and Hopocalypse battling it out in taste duals with foes from the other side of the Bay. For the second year in a row we emerged the big winners. 1500 won the American Pale Ale category; Hopocalypse won the double IPA category; the East Bay took the most votes over the West Bay; and we took home the most votes overall, along with this sweet trophy to adorn the Barrel House.

 

 

 

Brewer Alex with our guest of honor

Wednesday: Our Sau & Brau Part Deux, whole hog pig roast was for the second year in a row a huge success. Our friends at Chop Bar in Oakland showed up early to start the two whole pigs roasting away, and come 6pm most folks were waiting just outside the Barrel House for their pig and beer fix.

Gabbi was excited to tap the special Drakonic firkin.

 

 

 

This year we had the added bonus of over 22 beers on tap (up from 6-7 beers from the first year) for attendees including both the Hopocalypse DIPA,  Hopocalypse Black Label TIPA, our Barrel-Aged Festival Award winner Brette Davis Eyes, The Good Sh*t Barleywine blend, a specialty firkin of Drakonic Imperial Stout with Blue Bottle Espresso and TCHO chocolate nibs added to name a few. We also had our Barrel House decked out with plenty of room for folks to hang out, drink up and pig out. Another cool addition this year was the inclusion of the piano and drum duo “Bangin’ and Clangin‘” who provided just the right tunes to go with the high spirits of the night. Really really can’t wait to do this night again next year.

The Full Meal. Om Nom Nom.

Everyone was lovin' it. Great folks, great pig, great beer.

Jacob and Kirby from Bangin' and Clangin' are awesome.

Drake's Brewer Chris Dunstan, Triple Rock Head Brewer (and former Drake's Brewer) Jeff Kimpe, and Buffalo Bill's Head Brewer (and former Drake's Brewer) Mike Manty.

Thursday: Somehow we ended up all over the Bay Area on this night. Folks enjoyed some barrel-aged beers alongside tasty spirits at Bloodhound in SOMA in San Francisco. Brewer Alex joined a host of other Bay Area brewers at the Cal Academy of Sciences for their SF Beer Week Nightlife which brought out over 2600 people (whoa). On this side of the bay, Head Brewer Brian did our meet the brewer segment at Beer Revolution, and was joined by owners John Martin and Roy Kirkorian as well as our sales rep Dow with a hefty list of cool beers including a few barrel-aged beauties. Finally, we joined our brother breweries Triple Rock and Jupiter at the first ever East Bay BrewFest at Pyramid in Berkeley for a night of East Bay craft beer love.

 

Lots of people came out to get a rare taste of the Jack & Jolly.

Friday: The Return of Jack & Jolly, our Jack Daniels Barrel-aged Jolly Rodger, for another round. Three kegs only were tapped simultaneously at 6pm in three different locations throughout the Bay Area including our own Drake’s Barrel House, The Page Bar in SF, and Iron Springs Brewery in Fairfax. This year’s version was our 2009 Jolly Rodger Imperial Brown Ale aged in Jack Daniels barrels- malty and smooth with flavors of mild smoke, tobacco and a hint of tang from the sour mash whiskey engrained in the barrel. Complex and completely satisfying.

Also on Friday, we were once again entered into a beer battle at Barclay’s Pub in Oakland for their IPA challenge. We faced off against other Bay Area hoppy offerings in a blind-tasting, and again, we took the top prize. You like us, you really like us. Thanks!

Brian hung out and tried some Poppy Jasper from El Toro Brewing Co out of Morgan Hill, CA.

Saturday: While we grilled and chilled here at the Barrel House with Bourbon Bros. BBQ and Fists of Flour pizza, Brian headed south to meet some folks in the South Bay for the 3rd annual Meet the Brewer event at the Tied House/Hermitage. We don’t make it down to the South Bay too often yet, so it was cool to see a bunch of new faces and brewers. Added plus, the 5 food trucks at the brewery were dang tasty.

 

 

 

Drake's, Triple Rock and Jupiter set up together for Celebrator.

 

 

Sunday: As no highlight reel of SF Beer Week would be complete without mentioning the closing event, we must applaud the folks at Trumer Brauerei and Celebrator Beer News for once again pulling off a closing fest that exceeded expectations all around. Road weary and beer soaked from the week, we pulled into Trumer on Sunday afternoon, but it did not take long for us to perk up. A great line-up of Bay Area brewers came out once again with some incredible beers to send off SF Beer Week right. Also, those beer donuts were just incredible (with Trumer Pils cream inside… mmm).

Yeah...

And so it ended with a bang and not a whimper, and after a brief Presidents’ Day of rest (for most of us… Alex and Chris still brewed all day yesterday), we are back to business. In fact, today we did a big tank move in which a 60 bbl bright tank and a 60 bbl fermenter headed over to the new cellar via crane.

Also, Sacramento folks, if this post made you jealous, no worries, Sac Beer Week kicks off Thursday, and we will have events all week with some of our northern neighbors. Cheers.

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Posted in Barrel House, beer, Beer Fests, Brewers, Brewery, craft beer, Drake's Brewing, Drake's Staff, Event, food and beer pairing, Jolly Rodger, San Francisco Beer Week, Sau and Brau, SF Beer Week, SFBW | 1 Comment »

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