Days of the Beer, August 19

The beer for today is Minhas Craft Brewery, Barbary Coast Gold Rush.

On August 19, 1848, The New York Herald newspaper broke the news to the East Coast of the U.S. that there was gold, lots of gold, in California.

The Gold Rush started at Sutter's Mill, when James Marshall found pieces of gold along the American River, on January 24.

Originally, California was going to be an agricultural center, but the finding of gold turned those early settlers (who were farmers) into gold prospectors, practically overnight.

It wasn't until the New York Herald article that people on the East Cost started moving west.

As for the beer: Minhas Craft Brewery, is in Monroe Wisconsin. The brewery has been around since 1845, three years before the California Gold Rush. It's been through several name changes, Blumer Brewing, Huber Brewery, up to the current Minhas Craft Brewery.

The beer is a California Common (steam) beer. It's 4% ABV, so it'd be nice and refreshing for when you are panning for gold.

It's named for a neighborhood in San Francisco that was a hangout for prospectors during the gold rush. It was known for gambling, prostitution and crime.

I picked up this beer in a wooden 12 pack holder, at Highland Beverage, in Hiram Georgia (outside Atlanta). I had to go to Georgia to get some beer made in Wisconsin. I had this beer on April 4 of this year. I wasn't taking notes on the beer at the time.