(Press Release)
SAN FRANCISCO—Members of the San Francisco Brewers Guild have united once again to create a unique beer for SF Beer Week 2015, which runs from February 6 – 15, 2015. This year’s collaboration beer was made at Fort Point Beer Company, and it’s called Swept by Fire (6.2% ABV). It will make its debut at the SF Beer Week “Opening Gala” on February 6 (“Opening Gala” is now sold out), and then be released at select bars and restaurants throughout the Bay Area. For up-to-date SF Beer Week 2015 event information, please visit sfbeerweek.org.
Swept by Fire pays tribute to San Francisco’s historic brewing industry, which was devastated on the morning of April 18, 1906. At precisely 5:12am, San Francisco was tossed into chaos. The great earthquake struck, and the ensuing fire destroyed 80% of the city. The profound loss of life and destruction altered lives, businesses, and entire industries. San Francisco’s brewing industry was thriving at the time. 25 breweries were operating, and according to the American Brewers Review, 14 of them were either badly damaged or destroyed. They included the Albany Brewery, Willows Brewery, Wreden Brewery, and Anchor Brewery, just to name a few.
Theodore Rueger, from Benicia Brewery, visited San Francisco shortly after the fire ended. He walked for miles among the ruins to see what happened to his colleague’s breweries. In one location he observed “a kettle standing on a hill, the only thing to indicate that the Anchor Brewery had been there.” Despite the tragedy and hardship, many of the brewers bounced back, and served thirsty San Francisco citizens as they rebuilt this great city.
Swept by Fire honors these brewers. In simple terms, the beer is a hoppy smoked pale ale, but what it offers is quite delicate and complex. Pale and Munich are the primary base malts. Then the smoky component was added using beechwood-smoked malt from Brewers Supply Group, and charred almond wood supplied by Smokestack at Magnolia Brewery. The logs were charred at Fort Point and placed in the brew kettle during the whirlpool phase of production.
On the hoppy side of things, Mosaic, Mandarina Bavaria, Citra, Galaxy, and El Dorado hops were added during the boil phase. Then, while the beer was in a secondary fermentor, it was dry-hopped with generous amounts of Hallertau Blanc, Citra, and El Dorado. Special thanks to Cellarmaker Brewing for their Citra donation, and to our friends at Knee Deep Brewing in Auburn, CA, for offering their Galaxy hops.
The finished beer is 6.2% alcohol by volume, and contains 42 IBU’s. Fort Point brewmaster, Mike Schnebeck, described the color as “rich goldenrod, with sticky tropical and sweet citrus aromas, leading into a mellow sweet smoke flavor upfront, that flows into a soft bitterness escorted by cool fruit and pine.”
Please see the beer label for Swept by Fire below. For detailed information regarding the San Francisco Brewers Guild and SF Beer Week 2015, please visit: sfbrewersguild.org and sfbeerweek.org.
About San Francisco Brewers Guild
The San Francisco Brewers Guild formed in 2004 as a non-profit 501 (c)(6) during a renaissance in American craft brewing. Our mission is to restore and preserve San Francisco’s brewing heritage and unite those who make local beer with those who love it. The Guild achieves this by educating the public about craft beer, organizing and hosting events such as SF Beer Week, Brews on the Bay and Meet the Brewers, advocating for the craft beer industry in city government, donating services and product to local charities, and partnering with artisan producers in the food, beverage, hospitality and agricultural industries.
Guild breweries include: 21st Amendment Brewery, Almanac Beer Company, Anchor Brewing, Bartlett Hall, The Beach Chalet, Cellarmaker Brewing Company, Cerveceria de MateVeza, Fort Point Beer Company, Headlands Brewing Company, Magnolia Brewing, Pine Street Brewery, Pizza Orgasmica & Brewing Company, San Francisco Brewing Company, Social Kitchen & Brewery, Southern Pacific Brewing, Southpaw BBQ, Speakeasy Ales & Lagers, ThirstyBear Brewing Company,and Triple Voodoo Brewing.
Sponsors of SF Beer Week 2015 include: Whole Foods, 21st Amendment Brewery, The Abbott’s Cellar, Ale Arsenal, Anchor Brewing, The Alembic, Almanac Beer Co., The Ave Bar, Baeltane Brewing, Bay Area Beer Socials, The Bay Brewers’ Guild, The Beach Chalet, Bear Republic Brewing Company, Beer Advocate, The Beer Connoisseur, Best Label, BevMo!, Brewers Supply Group, Cicerone, City Beer, Cleophus Quealy Beer Company, DBI Beverage, Diving Dog Brewhouse, DPEM, Drake’s Brewing, Eat Drink SF, Fat Angel, Firestone Walker Brewing Company, GigaYeast, Half Moon Bay Brewing Company, Handles Gastropub, Healthy Spirits, Hops & Hominy, The Jug Shop, La Trappe Café, Magnolia Brewing, Marin Brewing Co., Matagrano, Morris Distributing, The Monk’s Kettle, Noc Noc, Pacific Coast Brewing Company, Pi Bar, Public House, Pyramid Breweries, Rosamunde Sausage Grill, Santa Rosa, Sierra Nevada, Social Kitchen & Brewery, Slow Club, Speakeasy Ales & Lagers, The StandBy, Sudwerk Brewing Company, The Sycamore, ThirstyBear Brewing Company, Trumer Pils, Union Bank, Visit Tri-Valley, Wendel Rosen, The Willows, and Woods Beer Company.