Brother David’s best in California
Anderson Valley Brewing is celebrating the fact that Brother David’s Double Abbey Style Ale won Best of Show at the 2006 California State Fair’s Commercial Craft Brewing Competition.
“We’re very proud of the Brother David’s Abbey Style Ales,” said brewery president Ken Allen in a press release. “Not only did Brother David’s Double win the Best of Show, but our Brother David’s Triple received the Third Place Bronze (in the Belgian Strong category). We think our abbey style ales stand up to just about anything the Belgians themselves are producing, and the public response to these two beers has been very gratifying.”
I think a key point here is that while we’re going to continue to call such beers Belgian style (personally I like the term Belgian inspired) they really are American beers. I appreciate it when Americans capture the elusive qualities that set some Trappist and abbey beers apart - “digestibility” for starters - but recognize that there will be differences.
Anderson Valley’s (and many other) Belgian-inspired beers certainly “stand up” to beers from Belgium, but that doesn’t mean you’ll find all you like about, for example, Rochefort 8 in the Double. On the other hand, if you love Brother David’s Double you may find that the Trappist Achel Bruin doesn’t offer all the flavors you want.
But back to the news story. Pretty cool that a Belgian-inspired beer won BOS in such a major competition. From the press release:
Certified beer judges and craft brewers from around the state chose the winners at this year’s competition from 411 California beers submitted by 74 breweries in 35 categories. “California Craft Brewers once again show us why they are leaders in the American micro brewing renaissance. They are actively pushing the industry forward with high levels of quality and stylistic innovations,” said J.J. Jackson, state fair craft brew competition organizer. He described Brother David’s Double as “a unique, stylistic beer and one that I enjoyed tasting after the judges awarded it.”
All the results (a pdf).
Brother David was first brewed in 2001 for David Keene to sell at his San Francisco landmark pub, the Toronado. The brewery began production in earnest in 2004 and Keene was on hand for brewing The Immaculate Concoction. Check out those photos. While monks who brew sometimes don different attire than their robes - something along the lines of a jump suit - when brewing you’ll never see one who looked quite like Keene that day.
