The Hoppy Times

SAN JOSE - "For the very first ever International Beer Festival in San Jose, attendance amounted to about 15,000 people on Saturday, and about 23,000 on Sunday in the beautiful downtown Guadalupe River Park! This was more than we had expected; so I guess it's not bad for a first year event", comments Dan Dougherty one of the people responsible for putting on this new annual event.

Those lucky enough to know about it, and make the trek downtown, had an opportunity to sample beer from 62 domestic breweries - 37 of which were from California - and 96 different beers from around the world!!! For those of you who have access to the world wide web, feel free to check out http://www.realbeer.com/sjbeerfest for some cool pictures from the festival. "I believe this festival can best be described as a perfect blend of the San Jose America Festival held on the 4th of July weekend in the same park, and the Small Brewer's Festival in Mountain View", comments Troy Paski.

There were five bands each day playing an assorted array of music from the 11:30 opening, and until closing at 6:30 each day. In addition, there were thirteen local restaurants on-site with some of their best food available for the hungry consumer to munch on throughout the day. Lastly, if all this wasn't enough, they had a wide selection of hand- crafted merchandise available for people to browse through and purchase if they took a liking to it...

"With the aroma of those hand-crafted stogie's in the air, music in the background, a beer tent designed with the consumer in mind, I am hard pressed to find a better alternative to spending a weekend out in the sun such as this festival, concludes Martketing Manager Andy Brinck.

“Hope to see you there next year”, finishes Troy!!!

Aug 18th - Marin Music Festival, San Rafael, CA

“This second annual event was some kind of music festival, and the weather didn’t get too hot either”, comments Ken Papai a new member to the growing Hoppy Crew list... “Being backstage with Charlie and Pat was a trip, not too mention talk about turning the clock back almost 30 years”, adds an excited Ken.

“Hanging out Backstage was Wavy Gravy, Chet Helm, Good Dog artist guy, New Riders Purple Sage guy (rhythm guitarist Johnny Dawson), Rock (the Dead’s early manager), and probably several others (I was hoping against hope for Carlos Santana to show up). In addition to the musicians backstage, we had several micro's available such as: Hoppy Face, Pyramid “hefeweizen”, and Bluewater Red”, comments Ken. “I thought $25 was a lot to get in, but was surprised the crowd was as large as it was... I guess the call of Marin Music and perfect weather made the crowd sway to the max and go with the flow”, concludes Ken.

HALF MOON BAY - The Hoppy Crew took its show on the road last month, and spent a couple of evenings in Half Moon Bay getting the local people there acquainted with the new Liquid Sunshine™ Blonde Ale; all while having a GENUINE Hoppy night!!!

The crew's first stop on the road was at the Bad Otter. Being a fine, foggy, Thursday evening, the music on-tap consisted of three fun bands with the theme for the evening as Joey, the proprietor, put it - Head Banger Beach Music... The crew raffled off some t-shirts to those who were tasting samples of the new Liquid, and at times could be found focusing on the music rather than promoting their new beer... Tons of fun was had, and the crew has made it known that they are eager to go back and listen to some progressive beach music! So if you are in the neighborhood, stop by, introduce yourself, have a pint of Hoppy, and say hello to Joey for us...

The crew's next stop, on a perfect Tuesday evening, was at Cameron's Inn. With softball going on down the street, the crew being graced with the rare appearance of two beautiful Hoppy Babes took a "top-down" ride to the ball park in Cameron's mustang to cheer the local teams on!!! Cameron, spent some of the evening snapping pictures in an effort to build a Hoppy wall of fame. If you'd like to be part of this, stop in, order a pint of Hoppy, and see if you can get your picture taken next to the Hoppy tap-handle! In addition, if you are road weary, hungry, or just want to get away for an evening, this is a GREAT place to spend a night away from home!!!

If you have yet to encounter either of these places, both offer excellent food and exciting entertainment. Therefore, when you are town, you should make an effort to stop by and enjoy what each place has to offer!!!

The Bad Otter
108 N. Cabrillo Hwy (PCH 1)
Half Moon Bay, CA 94019
415.726.7160

or

Cameron's
1410 S. Cabrillo Hwy (PCH 1)
Half Moon Bay, CA 94019
415.726.5705

WILLOW GLEN - With the successful release of their second product - Liquid Sunshine™ Blonde Ale - in July, the Hoppy Brew Crew has come up "in world record time" with yet another unique brew that is totally out of this world. "The package is the first indication that this brew is not of this world", comments graphic "brew" artist Dave Luke. "Troy gave me guidelines as to what he was envisaging with this new brew, and after a great deal of effort this summer, we came up with a really unique package", adds Dave.

As far as the beer goes, "it can be described as a really light, dry, delicious black stout", adds Josh Williams one of the Hoppy Brew dudes involved with the early prototype batches... "This beer may be black as coal, but once one tries it, it is very easy to drink not just one - but many pints", adds Josh. "In addition, the hop nose provided by the Columbus hop is just so unique for this type of beer! I think this is the type of beer that will get the average consumer past their fear of drinking a "dark" beer; just because of some preconceived ideas that all dark beers are too heavy or have too much flavor... Anyway, if everything goes according to plan, this new brew should start showing up on local store shelves around mid-October", concludes Josh.

For those who are interested, you can almost bet that Bill Shaheen at Willow Glen Liquors, located at 1110 Lincoln Avenue (Lincoln & Willow), in San Jose will be of one of the first guys to carry it locally. Feel free to give him a call at 408.292.8180 for details as to when he will have this unique new brew in his store.