Here’s a look at what’s on tap at Concordia Ale House in Portland.

Posted under places to drink beer

1. Crack grains

2. Ship beers for trade

3.  Rate beers

4. Book flight to Brussels

5. Pick up Beer Hunter videos at library

6. Check Bailey’s twitter

7. Find my inner German

8. Send invoice for beer writing

9. Condition homebrew

10. Go to Stephenson, WA

Posted under beer to do list

Some tasting experiences are beyond words, others don’t deserve mentioning for fear of remembrance.

A group of my friends, all past or present employees of Belmont Station, got together to share a variety of interesting brews.  BridgePort’s latest release Raven Mad Imperial Porter was a deliciously hopped robust porter featuring a 3-D Hitchcock-esque label replete with viewing glasses hanging from the neck.  Aged in Pinot Noir and Bourbon barrels and blended, the Raven is always welcome at my chamber door. I brought a bottle of Silver City’s Sasquatch Stout, a burnished onyx lather of chocolate malts, generously hopped, and topped with a fluffy tan head. This beer is not carried by distributors and is currently unavailable in Oregon.   There was also a bottle of 2006 BFM Abbaye de Saint Bon-Chien, a Swiss sour ale also featured at this year’s Portland Internation Beer Festival.  This brew poured a handsome orange body with a cloudy, wispy head.  With a nose of sweet cherries, pears, and other fruity esters, this brew was a pleasure to experience and quite a contrast to the darker beers.  The Bon-Chien is the the bomb shee-it!

Ok, then things got out of hand.  Someone thought it would be a good idea to delve into the taboo realm of beer blended with clam juice. The “beer” that is Chelada is another Anheuser-In-Bev concoction, I’d gander is indicative of either desperation or an identity crisis rather than a model of innovation. Alongside the ranks of Bud Lime and Bud Light Chelada is a ruddy salmon/ruby grapefruit juice color with a nose of a Manhattan trash barge on a mid-summer’s day. My friends, heaven love them, are a pack of fearless brewsaders, who share my attitude of “try anything twice…to be sure.”  However, on this fair evening, I had to opt out of drinking a clam beer.  Couldn’t do it.

Here’s some photos from the tasting:

Waste of a glass

Mmm clam juice

Posted under beer reviews

Is there anyone in Portland (or the entire brewniverse) who isn’t completely hyped for this year’s Hair of the Dog November sale?  It’s a time when the production brewery opens its doors to the masses to quaff samples of special HOTD treats and purchase limited quantities of vintage ales. According to founder and brewer Alan Sprints, the 15th Anniversary Sale will feature the release of a new batch of Fred from the Wood, 2008 Doggie Claws and a small amount of Cherry Adam from the Wood.  Says Sprints: “Come join me and my family to celebrate another year. I will have shirts, hats, and some vintage Beers available as well.”

Brewed since 1994, Adam is a recreation of a historic beerstyle. Originally made in Dortmunder, Germany, it was the first beer Sprints produced when he opened Hair of the Dog. Rich in flavor, Adam is best served as a dessert beer. It is great with chocolate or cigars, or just a warm fire and good company. It has 10% alcohol by volume and 50 IBUs. Now in limited quantities, the beer aged in oak barrels with the addition of cherries promises an interesting if not wonderful new complexity.

Hair of the Dog’s 15th Anniversary sale happens November 15, 2008 from 10AM until 4PM @ the Brewery (4509 SE 23rd St. in Portland, OR).

For more info, go to: http://www.hairofthedog.com

To read a 2007 interview Angelo conducted with Alan Sprint of HOTD, go to: http://angeloregon.diaryland.com/

Posted under beer events

Here’s a look at the fine beers that house the 20 tap at Bailey’s Taproom

Subject to change. Current as of 10/24/08

Bailey’s Taproom is located at 213 SW Broadway, one block south of W. Burnside in downtown Portland, OR

Hours: Monday-Saturday 4PM-12AM

Posted under places to drink beer

MustLoveBeer.com is a social networking site founded in 2008 by designer Mark Domnick. Domnick is also the creator of MustLoveWine.com, which currently features more than 4800 members. The sites are free to use and are similar in many ways to MySpace, Friendster, and Facebook, but with a primary focus on beer and the people who love it. People on these sites are encouraged to share their ideas on their favorite libation, chat, comment on each others profiles, and compose blogs.

Web designer and MustLoveBeer founder Mark Domnick

Currently the sites are in their youth, but Domnick has big plans for its future. Domnick, 42, was born in East Boldon, a small village in northeastern England between Newcastle & Sunderland in Tyne and Wear. His family moved to the United States when he was an adolescent. Although not born stateside, Domnick considers himself an American. He has spent many years in places like West Palm Beach and San Diego before settling in Reno, Nevada where he has lived the last three years. His enterprise, Two Budz LLC, features a dozen niche sites, mostly dedicated to dating, with a handful focusing on food and drink. I recently spoke with Domnick about his work with MustLoveBeer.com to find out more about himself and the site.

What was your interest in developing the MustLoveBeer.com social network?

Mark Domnick: I started a few sites around the same time. All niche social networks. We have been tweaking the code on MustLoveBeer.com so that it is a super easy site to navigate. Once we have finished that we will be adding a beer review section where members can add reviews of the beers they have tried and the public can find direction in what beers to look for when shopping.

How long has the site been around?

MD: The site went up earlier this year. I am just beginning now, after enhancing the coding, to give it most of my time and grow it into a social network of avid beer enthusiasts.

What does it take to sign up for the network?

MD: The sign up process is quite simple. Just answer a few questions to make a basic profile and you are in. We try to keep it to a minimum on sign up as we want you to be able to check the site out. You can always go back and edit your profile at any time and make it as detailed as you want. You can also write a blog, post albums, post events, join or make your own groups and interact as you wish. Yes, the site is completely free.

Two Budz LLC features mostly dating mostly networks. Is MustLoveBeer.com anything like that (a dating site for beer enthusiasts)?

MD: No, it is not, but I suspect over the course of time we will have people meeting up and entering into relationships. We are not a dating site but do want beer enthusiasts to make friends and in the course of making friends we often find that a friend can become a lot more than that.

What kind of things do people communicate about with your site?

MD: Since we are just getting our foothold the site could really go in any direction. Our goal is to provide a site where beer enthusiasts can find other beer enthusiasts to chat with, make friends with and discuss beer. To help facilitate this further we will be adding a forum to the site in the near future.

Are you a real beer geek or just someone who saw beer and wine as a marketing opportunity?

MD: I am a wine geek and becoming more of a beer geek. When I was a kid living in England the train we took to school went right past the Newcastle Brown Ale Brewery. Stunk to high heaven but ever since I was younger I have always been a fan of Newcastle Brown Ale. Right now, I am getting more into micro brews and learning their nuances and flavor variations.

Do you homebrew?

MD: Not at this time. Between the GF and work I barely get a chance to sleep. Not that I am complaining. I seem to thrive on four hours of sleep.

What is your palate for beer/favorite beers?

MD: I do not think my palate is diverse enough yet to give a totally accurate answer on that. I tend to go for beers that are medium bodied and will try anything in order to further grasp my likes and dislikes. Some of my favorite beers are; Racer 5, Pacifico, Kalik, Blanche de Chambly, Anchor Old Foghorn and Stone IPA.

What separates MustLoveBeer from the bigger, more populated sites like Ratebeer.com or Beeradvocate.com?

MD: They are both great sites and I have made good use of them myself. I think what makes us different from them is that we are looking at it from a more social networking angle. They have tons of information on beer and I hope we will have an equally substantial beer knowledge base but our main goal is providing a venue for beer enthusiasts to meet and interact. We want to be a friendly, member driven community.

After talking with Mark, we signed up for a free account on MustLoveBeer.com and we wish him the best.  Sign up today and chat with Mark and others who must love beer.

Posted under beer me

Seems like this is the season to be celebrating the hop flower and all its splendor.  We here at Brewpublic have been posting a lot about love for lupulins, making creative beers without them, and even the sad idea of a world without them.  Since the harvest has been, well, harvested, it looks like a good year for those with a taste for hoppy grog.  Brewers from all around the world and across the country have reaped the benefits of the sticky nugs that are native to the Pacific Northwest.  Here’s a glympse at what we consider “must have” beers for hop heads.

Moylans Hopsickle IIPA: We’d have to be living in a cave with druids sippin’ gruits to overlook this wonderfully robust hop monster (9.2% ABV). Perhaps the most floral and complex big beers of our time, this “Triple India Pale Ale” from Novato, CA is gushing with Tomahawks, Centennials and Cascades and dripping with a spectrum of refreshing potency.  Deep orangy amber body reveals sticky resinous notes that linger for days.  You can actually feel the high alphas warming your temples after a hardy dose of this brew.

Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA:  Dubbed an IPA, this so-called beer plays more like hop schnapps.  An occasional release rarity from the brewery that uses the tag “Off-centered beer for off-centered people”, we laugh to think of this gigantuan as “an unbalanced beer for unbalanced people.”  Boiled for two hours while continuously being spiced with high-alpha Northwest hops (you’re welcome, Delaware), the 120 is brewed to 45 freakin’ plato!  The end result is a whopping 20% ABV and well over 120 IBU.  The Dogfish Head proclaims this beer to be “the Holy Grail for hopheads.”   We’re not sure about that, but we believe it’s undoubtedly worth your attention.

Port Brewing Hop-15: From San Diego, a town known for making exaggerated use of the Northwest hop, Port Brewing’s Hop-15 was originally craft by brewers Tomme Arthur and Jeff Bagby in 2002 in celebration of the brewery’s 15th anniversary of Pizza Port’s Solana Beach location.  Making use of 15 sticky hop varietals added to the boil every 15 minutes, the Hop-15 is a year-round product of Port (we can see the hop fields shrink as we drink this beer). Winner of 2008′s Alpha King Award at the GABF, the 9.7% ABV bohemoth is a real kick in the taste buds.  Port Brewing 2nd Anniversary quadrupel IPA and their amazingly green High Tide Fresh Hop IPA are in the same ballpark of steroidal Lupulin Humulus as the 15.  Puckering good times!

Ninkasi Tricerahops:  From the hopalicious Eugene, Oregon brewery that brought you Total Domination IPA comes this richer, hoppier, more complex bludgeoning of resinous, floral hop delight.  Ninkasi Brewmaster Jamie Floyd rolls with “hops, hops, and more hops” and enough malts to balance the bill.  At 8.8% ABV and well over 100 IBU, the Tricerahops is a stampeding hop bomb featuring delicacies and intricacies often devoid of many super IPAs.  Citrus, grapefruit aromatics couple with delectable choice grains to put forth one Oregon and the nation’s best double IPA.

Avery Hog Heaven:  From one of the coolest breweries in the United States, Avery, comes a beer labeled as a barleywine, but we know better. The barleywine title can often scare away those not looking for a overly malty offering. Granted, the big pig weighs in at 9.2% ABV, but the 104 IBU is greater than even that of the brewery’s boozier Maharaja Imperial IPA (10.54% ABV, 102 IBU).  Hog Heaven’s smooth caramel and citrus hop flavors mesh to form a world class piece of liquid candy that demands a second visit to the trough.  After drinking this brew, we often wonder if pigs really can fly.

Beer Valley Leafer Madness: From the Eastern-most part of Oregon comes this greener than life Imperial IPA.  Such a maddeningly hopped beer scoffs at the idea of a hop shortage with a balmy 100+ IBUs and over 9% ABV. When asked about the difficulty of incorporating this bold new beer to the line-up considering a shortage, brewer Pete Ricks admits to feeling lucky about locking in a contract. “Dr. Bill Pengelly of Brewers Supply Group kind of saved our ass this year. It’s been kind of a tough year to start a brewery. Barley prices have doubled. Hop prices are anywhere from triple to tenfold where they were a year ago. Some breweries weren’t able to get hops this year, so we feel very fortunate.” Look a fresh hop version of this brew signified by special green bottle caps.

Posted under beer reviews

Tugboat Brewing Company of Portland is a quaint and affable public house with an interesting assortment of house brewed American real ales.  Made in the tradition of the classic English styles, Tugboat’s specialties and guest taps often play second fiddle to the cozy, relaxed atmosphere of the pub.  In the alley of SW Ankeny just off Broadway in downtown Portland, Tugboat is stumbling distance from an array of true-to-Portland establishments such as Mary’s Club, a famed strip club just around the corner, Sauce Box, a swanky cocktail lounge with down tempo DJs and perusing hipster-chic regulars, and the neighboring Bailey’s Taproom with its twenty microbrews on tap served in a clean, open coffeehouse environment.  Tugboat, with it’s charm, comes grit and a lived-in living room space where hunkering down in a candle-lit booth with one of their many books is as normative as boisterous laughter shared over a cloud of cigarette smoke.  The staff are friendly with a tight knit charismatic fervor that illuminates even the most shrouded, musky corners of what is a real public house.  For the beer geek, the Tugboat is a worthy stop, featuring a fair assortment of unpasteurized, unfiltered Anglican grog brewed in their on-site brewery.  This consists of Rubbermaid horse trough mashtun visible from inside the pub.  Italian pickle buckets are used as fermenters.  This “open barreled” set-up, may be a clue to some of the inconsistencies and off-flavors of the Tugboat beer line-up, but beer snobbery is not what they are about, and if you are, they offer a nice selection of guest taps ranging from Caldera Red to Fishtale WInterfish, Anchor Porter to Klamath Basin Pale.  For the Beer Advocate or Rate Beer critic, the Tugboat will likely not score high, but still shines as a diamond in the rough of sorts.  Most of the beer geeks will be in the cleaner, tidier Bailey’s Taproom across the way lost in their laptops, taking notes of the latest greatest seasonal release.  Both places have their charm, mind you, but Tugboat is it’s own entity.  Like a time warp to a fictional pulp novel or a scene from Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, Tugboat seems like the kind of pub where lost dreams are reminisced about and old friends catch up until the wee hours.

As for beers, here’s a look at some of the beers you might find at Tugboat:

Tugboat Amber Ale: Poured a murky to light amber with no body.  Caramel malt notes, thin and watery.  Slightly acidic and dull as sin.  Difficult to fully palate over the plume of smoke in my general vacinity.

Tugboat British Brown: Another somewhat drab offering from this cool location.  Dark amber body with no head.  Mild hops presence, but quite homebrew-esque.  Flat body, with a mild whiff of lemon-grapefruit and red wine in the nose.  Syrupy, but thin.  Quite yeasty and unbalanced.

Tugboat ESB: One of the more popular offerings here. Foggy copper color (at least that is how it appeared in the darkness of Tugboat’s tap house). Strong, floral hops in the nose.  The body was a little washed in the finish.  Hoped for more bitterness or caramel maltiness.  Also a bit homebrew-ish and under carbonated.  Overall a decent drinkable beer, but nothing to write about (oh wait I am).  Try it at least once.  Maybe mine was slightly off.

Tugboat Coffee Brown: Poured a ruddy, muddy thin brown body with next to no head.  Nose of java and stale wet malts.  Same ameteur brewing qualities as other house selections.  Faintly nutty and faintly carbonated.

Vintage Belgian Ale: The more than kind barkeep, Linsel at Tugboat let me sample the remainder of this beer from a mason jar he had left for himself after the keg had blown.  A wild yeast sour ale, unlike anything purposefully made at the brewpub.  Aged for eight months, possessing a tart lactic zing that surprisingly was more than delicious.  Fruity notes of cherry and creamy vanilla yogurt lingered all over the tongue.  Very nice beer.  Wonderingn why they don’t make this one more.

All Hallow’s Ale: Available for the spooky times around Halloween, this bitter cask brown ale had a promising hops presence of an English IPA and a malty underpinning to contend with the creamy yeast strain.  A bit under-developed in the overall balance, but still one of Tugboat’s best.

Chernobyl Imperial Stout:  Here is my favorite excuse to go to Tugboat.  The Chernoble Stout!  Just saying the name makes me smile and melt…uh…sorry.  Neep abyssmal opaque hue with no evident head.  Faint alcohol in nose, sweet and roasty.  Slightly chocolate and liquorish on the tongue with hints of smoke and candy in the finish. To think this beer came out of a Rubbermaid bucket is astounding!  This beer, in my humble opinion rivals the Dogfish Head World Wide Stout.  I know that you beer geeks will think I am crazy by saying this, but isn’t it true that a lot of your opinions on beer are formulated by what you read on beer rating web sites anyways?  Perhaps this beer is as inconsistent as the rest and my sample coupled with my experience just did it for me.  Who knows.  What I do know is that Tugboat is worth a try.  If you are like me and secondhand smoke is not your friend, give it a few months when the statewide ban takes place.  Tugboat rocks!

Posted under brewpubs

Three Skulls Ales is a new Seattle brewery from the creative minds of Baron Brewing LLC.  Brewer Jeff Smiley has been creating flavorful German-style brews for the last six years is taking another direction with his craft.  Smiley maintains that the Baron Brewing brands are going nowhere and views this as an opportunity to pursue a passion for other worldly styles.   According to Smiley: “We will be treating Three Skulls Ales as a separate brewery brewed in the Baron facility.  I’m a huge pirate fan and decided pirate themed beers would be fun to make.”  Three Skulls will unveil three new ales on draught beginning in November and plans to have bottles of the grog available by the end of the year. Here’s a glimpse at what you can expect from Three Skulls Ales:

Black Bonney is a porter named after Anne Bonney, one of the few women pirates.  She was as fierce as any other pirate!

Pillager’s Pale is a Northwest-style pale ale.

CutThroat Red is a red ale with a touch of rye to enhance the flavor.

Posted under brewpubs

…and other unhopped beers about town.

Having No Hops Means More Than a Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes Film About Basketball

As you may or may not know, a gruit (or grut) is an herbal mixture used to flavor beers.  Often beers with such a mixture bear the name themselves.  Predating the use of hops as the primary spice herb for beer, it has been written that gruits were phased out in Europe as universal grog between the 11th and 16th Centuries.  In 16th Century England, a distinction was made between ale, which was unhopped, and beer, brought by Dutch traders.  Nowadays, the term “ale” is used to describe a brew made with the top-fermenting yeast, rather than it being unhopped.  Commonly in possession of some slight narcotic effects, the herbs used for gruits throughout Europe included yarrow, sweet gale, mugwort, heather, and Marsh Laborador Tea. Other adjunct herbs utilized include ginger, caraway, and marjoram.  In Finland, a brew known as sahti employs twigs and juniper berries and twigs in place of or addition to hops, and sometimes uses bread in place of malt.  This phenolic, banana-scented brew lives on today, though traditional gruit is mostly defunct.  However, since the microbrew revolution in the 1990s, a variety of unhopped beers have made a comeback.  And, while still not commonplace, some amazing examples exist today and are available for your consumption right here in the Brewpublic.

Fraoch Heather Ale: This beer’s rich history is nearly as impressive as the drink itself.  Its large scale revival occured in the mid-1980s when Scottish brewer Bruce Williams employed the aid of a Gaelic speaking islander to translate an old family recipe for “Leann fraoich” or “heather ale.”  Archaeologists have found evidence of fermented alcoholic beverages made from heather flowers as early as 2000 B.C. Following centuries of war, Scotland was forced under English rule in the 18th Century.  At this time, several facets of Scottish heritage were lost to ordinances such as the banning of bagpipes, the forbidding of the Gaelic language, and for brewers, an “Act of Union” meant the abolition of brewing.  The Act stated that only beer made from malts and hops was allowable under such rule.  In Gaelic, no word for “hops” existed. Williams’ efforts to preserve a vital aspect of the faded culture in the late 20th Century resulted in the abundance of malty sweet and spiced herbal delight.  Also making use of sweet gale, the light amber brew possesses a flowery, peat essence and a dry vinous finish. This 6.5% ABV beer is meant to be enjoyed slightly chilled and pairs well with baked and stewed foods.  Today, William’s line-up of beers such as the Gozet (Gooseberry), Kelpie (Kelp), Alba (Pine), and others make up an array of flavorfully crafted herbal brews.

Jopen Koyt:  Often referred to as a “traditional ale”, this Dutch gruit has been brewed by DeProefbrouewerij in Lochristi, Belgium since 2006.  Before then, it was a product of Van Steenbergebrouewerij.  This deep malty amber-brown bodied brew’s recipe dates back to the early 15th Century in a time and place that hops were not used. This “Golden Age” of Dutch brewing had many guarded gruit recipes from villages around the area.  In Haarlem, where this beer has been made, preserved public records indicate the social significance and regard for this tasty brew. With oats, wheat, and barley added to the mash, the Koyt is seasoned with distinct herbs for balance.  With a gingery root nose, the complexity of this mystical beer is unfurled further upon each sampling.  Today’s version is a richer, darker rendition of the beloved Koyt.  Herbal anise spicy notes linger on the tongue and the 8.5% ABV body makes for a worthy cellarable companion.

Jopen Adriaan: Another gruit from Jopen, the Adriaan is a witbier with a twist. Light crisp and herbal, this Haarlem, Netherlands brew is named for the ancient windmill depicted on the label.  The historic windmill has laid in ruins in the center of town for centuries.  Proceeds from beer sales are being put toward restoring it.  The beer, on the other hand is anything but dilapitated.  Fresh, orange peel essence rises from Adriaan’s hazy orange body and small bubbly white head. Great aroma of floral herbs and hints of citrus, apple, and vinegar complement a carbonic, effervescent mouthfeel, and moderate 5% ABV make this a great summer quaffer.

Nørrebro Old Odense:  Danish brewer Anders Kissmeyer of Nørrebro Bryghus in Copenhagen, Denmark made this collaboration beer with the imaginative brewer Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head Brewing of Milton, Delaware. Nørrebro is the common name of the multi-ethnic society located beyond Copenhagen’s historic city center. Kissmeyer and Calagione’s beer is a traditional Dane-style brew that they discovered on an obscure web page with a translation of a 15th Century gruit ale recipe from the town of Odense. The beer’s ingredients include pale and dark barley malt, oats, fine syrup, smoked dark syrup, fir branches and fir bark, wood sage, hyssop, blackthorn berries, woodruff and star spice. The beer is quite sour due to the potent “herbal juice” hand squeezed into the kettles during the boil. The beer’s commercial label describe the beer as an “ale brewed with maple syrup and herbs.” It is said that the Odense style is somewhat like a Belgian Lambic beer, but defies all categories of commonly known beer.  It’s hazy orange body and small off-white head reveals an almost indescribable amalgamation of flavors ranging from tart to herbal, to sticky sweet. If you get the chance to try this beer, certainly do not pass it up.

Roots Organic Gruit Kolsch: The imaginative brewing minds of Roots Organic Brewing
in Portland, Oregon conceived this flavorful summer solstice release (sorry if you are reading this in the off-season).  Conceived by owners Jason McAdam and Craig Nicholls, this light copper-golden beer is “a look back to the time before hops were used in beer.”  According to lead brewer Chip Conlon, this unique beer is a  “blend of lavender, grains of paradise, sweet gayle, sweet orange peel, chamomile, and mugwort” that replace the hops for a subtle and complex herbal, slightly spicy palate over a crisp. effervescent, refreshing pale Kolsch.  Conlon also says that the Kolsch, a twist on the traditional Cologne, Germany refresher, makes use of these fresh herbs in additions to the boil, much like a “normal” beer would with hops.  A sip of Roots’ Gruit Kolsch is a taste of summer and another great example of why Portlanders love craft brew.

Roots Organic Burghead Heather Ale:  Unique from nose to finish, this hopless wonder beer seems to vary somewhat from one batch to the next.  A bright, luminescent golden-yellow hue with no head, the Burghead starts off the palate sweet while finishing out quite dry and piny. A popular brew of yore, often in the form of honey wine, the Roots version also uses organic honey with the heather tips.  The certified organic beer is always on tap as a year-round offering at the brewpub and the brewers promise it to be the most interesting beer you’ve ever had. Head over to Roots right now and have one!

For more information on gruits, check out gruit guru Alexandre Bessette’s website gruitale.com.  To learn more about Sahti, Michael Jackson’s Beer Hunter is a great place to start.

Posted under beer reviews