Two more reasons why the Bay Area is a better ‘Napa of Beer’ than Denver

Time magazine published an article a few days ago about beer touring in Denver, which asserted that Denver is the best place to do a tour like this.  While I fully support ‘beervangelizing’ to the non-beer fanatic public, I questioned whether Denver is the best locale for a beer tour like this.  I still think Portland would be the best choice, and barring Portland, the Bay Area, San Diego, or Philadelphia. 

I think the Brewers Association might agree with me that the Bay Area is a hotter beer locale than Portland right now given the awards announced this morning at the Craft Brewers Conference. 

• Vinnie Cilurzo of Russian River Brewing Company in Santa Rosa, California, was awarded the Russell Schehrer Award for Innovation in Brewing for “demonstrating creativity, excellence in brewing and substantial contributions to the craft brewing community.”
• Michael Lewis of University of California, Davis, was awarded the Brewers Association Recognition Award.  He is the Professor Emeritus of Brewing Science at the University of California, Davis and has over 30 years of teaching experience. 
• And to be fair, I have to concede that the 3rd award given did go to a Coloradan.  John Carlson of the Colorado Brewers Guild received the Defense of the Industry award. Still….

Anyway, regardless of what this might say about the Bay Area vs. Denver, the real point here is that there is some awesome beer here in the Bay Area and a lot of it is at Russian River Brewing Company.