Doug Brent opened the meeting at 12:30 and welcomed us all.
Lisa Cheskin led the flag salute
Visitors:
- Barry Cheskin introduced Larry Fox, a prospective member
- Lisa Cheskin introduced Beth Rayman, a prospective member
- Sarah Schiltz Introduced her brother in law
- Anna Maria Valenzuela introduced Hernando Rigada
Suzanne read the poem ‘Warning’ by Jenny Joseph in honor of her recent milestone birthday
Membership and Club Business
Anna Maria Valenzuela gave her blue badge bio:
Anna Maria was born in Mexico and moved to the United States at age five.
She has been married for 41 years and they have four amazing kids, and three grandkids.
She worked for Kellogg's for 21 years, but after buying her first home she was intrigued by the real estate business. She became a real estate agent and loves it. She is a Los Gatos Leadership graduate, has served as president of Women’s Council of Realtors Silicon Valley, and is a Latino Board Leadership Academy graduate.
She believes in giving back to the community and can’t wait to keep growing with Rotary Los Gatos.
Ramon Ware then gave her the blue badge. She’s official! Glad to have you in our club, Anna Maria!
Ane Troger updated us on the nominating committee status.
She thanked David Hubbard for running the election. The nominating committee is Suzanne Boxer-Gassman, Doug Brent, Lisa Cheskin, Tina Orsi-Hartigan, and Terri Trotter. They have until Dec 8 to propose a slate of 25-26 board leaders for us to vote on.
Doug Brent did not have a Rotary family to share this week. Send him a photo of your family!
Upcoming Events
Meghan Burton invited us all to attend the annual Presidents Brunch at 10 am on Sunday December 1 at Cinnabar. Please sign up on line or let her know. We will be doing Toys for Tots so please bring a new unwrapped toy.
Our next First Tuesday social will be at the home of John and DaVonne Pencer on Tuesday, December 3 from 5:30-7:30. They host annually this time of year and it’s always a lovely holiday event. Please bring a beverage and appetizer to share.
John Walker invited us to walk with the Rotary Club in the Los Gatos Holiday Parade on Saturday December 7. It’s a great way to be with friends and demonstrate the magic of Rotary. More details forthcoming.
Service Above Self
Lissa Kreisler thanked those who have given to the Embrace a Family. There are still 12 more gifts to fulfill - look for her email if you’d like to contribute.
Thank you in advance to those coming next Tuesday to Live Oak to serve a Thanksgiving meal.
On Dec 12-15 we have another great volunteer opportunity. We need to fill two shifts per day to help with Santa visits in downtown Los Gatos. Look for sign ups.
Doug Brent thanked Lissa Kreisler and Jeff Blum for the their hard work to line up impactful service opportunities this year.
Doug then shared a video of Judy Rodriguez updating us on Project Amigo. Sponsored by 130 rotary clubs, created by Rotarians and run by rotarians, Project Amigo educates children - but also provides uniforms, textbooks, buses, and healthcare so the kids can be successful learners. They ask the kids to give back to community through service projects. Our club has supported the good work of Project Amigo for many years.
Eric Drew gave a quick report on We Heal, an organization to which we donate as a club.
Eric survived his cancer because of stem cell transplant from an umbilical cord and his foundation helps others with terminal illness to strategize solutions and find rare treatments and resources. We Heal is growing their reach by making all the information available on a substack blog, with the hope of reaching thousands instead of dozens per month.
He thanked us not only for the support for We Heal but also for our support for the Los Gatos Monte Sereno Police Foundation, as he serves as a secretary there.
Doug Brent shared the fall-themed eggs made by Randy Cobb and Kathie Benko for St Lukes
30 for 30
- Gordon Levin announced that after 5 years of hard work his sister got her documentary ‘Call Me Ted’ published and it is now streaming on Max.
- Sergio Michel, whose son is on the board of JW House, announced there is a fundraiser for them on Dec 8 at Applebees. Look for the link in Doug’s email.
- Jean-Marc Blanchard spoke on China policy last week at Air War College in Alabama to colonels becoming generals. He then visited some cousins in Paris and ate good French food.
- Ramone Ware’s daughter passed her clinical physiologist certification.
Guest Speaker
Dan Gordon - founder and CEO of Gordon Biersch - grew up in Los Altos. He graduated from UC Berkeley in 1981 with a major in brewing engineering and became a brewer at Anheuser Busch. He then earned a graduate degree in Munich Weihenstephan - a top tier engineering school as well as the oldest brewery in the world.
In 1988 he met Dean Biersch and they wrote a business plan, raised the money, and started a brewery in Palo Alto with the idea of craft beer and quality food, not pub grub. Their opening had people lining the block.
They hired a great team of over qualified people who wanted to be part of something fun - and that was key to success.
They opened a second location in San Jose in 1990- one of pioneers in proving you could make downtown San Jose a destination. They proved to be right- it put them on the register. From there they grew quickly, adding restaurants in San Francisco, Pasadena, and quickly up to 13 locations. They put a priority on good architecture and unique locations like historic buildings, and found tremendous success.
Their Honolulu harbor waterfront 1993 restaurant hired local kids and got local partners instead of from the mainland, which contributed to their long term success.
Dan showed a video of how they make beer at their plant.
It went fast, but basically: Roasted barley is the base, hops gives bitterness, (they get theirs from Germany), and yeast gives flavor (they grow their own).
It takes about 8 hours to prepare the mixture and then a week for fermentation, then 5 weeks for aging, then they do filtration to remove yeast, then the bottling.
Distributors are required to deliver it cold in refrigerators to keep it fresh.
Gordon Biersch is also known for garlic fries! They started a garlic fries spot at AT&T Park and are now at 38 sports venues. Costco asked them to do a frozen food version of garlic fries, which you can buy at the Almaden Costco.
New innovations:
Now, bottles are out of favor and cans are all the rage. 95% of craft beers are in cans. Dan brought us all free 6 packs of canned hard cider and pilsners.
Gordon Biersch has expanded. They are the 17th largest brewery in country and only 2% of their sales are Gordon Biersch made beers, meaning most craft beers you buy are part of this group. It’s hard for small breweries to go it on their own, so they help small batch breweries make it financially.
They did a big rebranding two years ago, looking for growth in the 21-35 year old market (85% of beer consumption). Retro nostalgia is super important for college students right now, so they launched new package designs and increased sales by 50%.