Holiday Beers, Hedge House’s Last Call – Beer Events Week of November 27

Holiday beers at Lompoc Sidebar and the 22nd annual Holiday Ale Festival, Lompoc Brewing’s Hedge House’s last call along with the rest of the Portland area craft beer events for the week beginning November 27, 2017.

Lompoc Holiday Beer Extravaganza
4-11 pm, Monday Nov. 27, Lompoc Sidebar, 3901 N. Williams Ave.:
Joing the Lompoc crew for the release of six holiday beers, including some old favorites and some new styles, plus a preview of their Holiday Ale Festival beer. Top Shelf, Old Sport, a 7 percent dubbel described thusly: “One sip of this rich, malty Belgian style Dubbel and you’ll find yourself transported to a padded Corinthian leather chair by a fireplace, perhaps polishing your monocle, or discussing the day’s business with your fellow club members. Quaffing from a snifter of this dark brown ale, you’ll think of Victorian-era aristocracy and large oak laden libraries as you relax and enjoy strong notes of caramel, raisins, prunes, dates, and oak. Aged for eight months in Maryhill Winery Cabernet Sauvignon, the complex and robust yet delicate flavors of this ale compel you to take a sip, then nod and proclaim to your nearest chum, “Top shelf, old sport!”

Last Call at the Hedge House
Tuesday Nov. 28, Lompoc Hedge House, 3412 SE Division St.;
The good old Hedge House is going away after more than a decade on Division St., the victim of increasing development on Division and more competition. Join the crew Tuesday for a last beer and fond memories of one of Portland’s great summer beer gardens…here’s what I wrote back in late October 2003, when the Hedge House was just a gleam in Jerry Fechter’s eye:

NO PLACE LIKE HOMEY — A sneak preview of the new Hedge House suggests that the future is going to be within walking distance.

“I think this is the wave of the future — the return of the local,” owner Steve Woolard said at last Sunday’s preview. “We’ve had the dark caves of the ’60s and the ’70s and the big theme pubs. What people really want now are family and neighborhood places that are just a few blocks from home.”

Woolard, who runs the Spring Beer & Wine Fest, owns the 1914 house at 3412 S.E. Division St. that has been transformed into about as homey a pub as a person might hope for.

Jerry Fechter of the New Old Lompoc is the force behind the new pub. Over the past few months, he’s transformed the 800-square-foot house into an Arts and Crafts-style pub: all earth tones, hardwood floors, Mission-style fixtures and a 36-foot-long wrought iron hop vine that curls around two walls. Woolard said its cost amounted to probably 10 percent of the renovation budget, which hints at the amount of work these guys did on their own, as did the ladders, paint gear and woodworking tools that still filled one of the bathrooms Sunday.

The place was a hair salon called the Pink Lady for a couple of decades, Woolard said, with shag carpeting on the inside and Pepto Bismol pink paint on the outside. Then a psychic set up shop and lived in the house. “Most developers would’ve torn the place down,” he said, sipping a Chimay on the spacious new deck on a perfect late-October afternoon.

There’ll be a minimal kitchen, 10 taps (seven New Old Lompoc beers, one guest craft beer, a cheapie and a cider, Fechter said) and wine available. The pub will be nonsmoking inside (smoking permitted on the deck and front porch) and all-ages through 8 p.m. or so. And it’ll be open when? Very soon — as soon as city inspectors sign off on the paperwork, and the last of the sawdust is swept away.

Which won’t be soon enough for the pub’s many neighbors, who flocked by the preview. Think how popular it’ll be when they can actually buy a beer.

Dark Days at The Upper Lip
3-11 pm Tuesday Nov. 28- Saturday Dec. 2, The Upper Lip, 720 SW Ankeny St.;
Baileys tribute to Imperial Stout returns with five days of rotating tap events at the Upper Lip, upstairs from the taproom:
Tuesday: Dark Days Oregon Kickoff
Barley Brown’s Barrel Aged Don Vanuchi 2016
Culmination Multnomah County Stout
Fort George Matroyshka 2016
Oakshire Hellshire VII
Pelican Father of All Tsunamis
pFriem Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout 2016
Wednesday: Dragon vs. Rhino
New Holland Dragon’s Milk
New Holland Dragon’s Milk Reserve: Mexican Spice Cake
New Holland Dragon’s Milk Reserve: Mocha Mint
Alesong Rhino Suit 2016
Alesong Mocha Rhino Suit
Alesong Vanilla Rhino Suit
Thursday: DARKfish Head
Dogfish Head –
World Wide Stout
World Wide Stout 2013
Oak Aged Vanilla World Wide Stout
Beer for Breakfast
Siracusa Nera
Friday: Dark As FFF
Fremont Bourbon Barrel Aged Dark Star
Fremont Bourbon Barrel Aged Dark Star: Coffee Edition
Firestone Walker Velvet Merkin
Firestone Walker Parabola
Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout
Founders Canadian Breakfast Stout
Saturday: Epically Dark
Epic Big Bad Baptist
Epic Big Bad Baptista 2016
Epic Double Barrel Big Bad Baptist 2016
& more TBA…

Inaugural BrewLights
5 p.m. Wednesday Nov. 29, Oregon Zoo; 21 & older only; photo ID required; sold out.
The zoo will host its first-ever BrewLights, a one-night-only ZooLights with more than 25 breweries, wineries and cideries represented. Admission includes a souvenir light-up cup and complimentary tastings throughout the zoo. Food will be available for purchase from some of the area’s favorite food trucks, including Verde Cocina and the zoo’s own signature elephant ears. Visitors may remain on zoo grounds until 10 p.m.

22nd Annual Holiday Ale Festival
11 am-9:30 pm Wednesday Nov. 29- Saturday Dec. 2, 11 am-5 pm Sunday Dec. 3,  Pioneer Courthouse Square, 701 SW Sixth Ave.; $35 includes 2017 glass and 12 tix. 21 & older only.
Portland’s favorite winter beer fest and the only outdoor winter beer festival — held in heated tents, of course —  in the Northwest will feature 55 craft beers, ciders and meads for 2017, all of which are made or blended specifically for the fest, which also includes a number of Meet the Brewer events and specialty and rare beer tappings.Most full pours costs four tickets, and a taster costs one ticket. Certain limited release and special tappings may not be available in full pours, or may cost extra tickets. Additional taster tickets can be purchased for $1 apiece. Previous years’ mugs or glasses will not be filled. Express re-entry requires a wristband and the 2017 tasting glass, and is subject to the festival’s capacity.