By Kim Schimke

Beercation: traveling to new beer destinations in search of deliciousness. Okay, so that may be my definition, but neither Webster nor Wikipedia has yet to adopt this term, so I’m improvising. In the past couple months; I have been fortunate enough to take two major beercations; one to LA and the other to Boston. Both were incredibly successful. What makes for a successful beercation you ask? I have thrown together some tips so you may be equipped to take and fully enjoy a beercation of your own.

I may not be a craft expert, but beercations are something I have pretty much specialized in since I was knee-high to a grasshopper. Growing up with my craft loving parents, I’ve been traveling around the country hitting up brewpubs, breweries, and bottle shops for quite some time. I’ve picked up a thing or two and have now acquired a beercation bag of tricks. It’s important to keep in mind that though a hoot and a half, beercations also take preparation, just like any other vacation. Read More…

Posted under Beer Education, beer humor, beer me, beer tools, Beer Travel

We’re now midway through the 3^rd Annual Eugene Beer Week with many more fun and exciting events left to take place throughout the Eugene area. Brewpublic was able to make it to Eugene to take in a few of the festivities over the past couple of days.

The nice attribute that Eugene Beer Week offers is that most, if not all of the events are very affordable. The events are geared for both the beer geek and the beer novice just beginning to understand what craft beer is all about. You can take in a free sensory analysis class at Ninkasi Brewing conducted by Jamie Floyd, a few various beer dinners for $35, a Whiskey Barrel Beer Fest with free admission and the list goes on. From my vantage point it’s a week worth of fun, easy going, casual beer events that anyone can attend and make a good time out of it without draining the pocketbook.

Once in Eugene our first stop was the newly relocated and much Read More…

Posted under beer and food, Beer Brewing, Beer Education, beer events, Beer personalities, beer releases, beer reviews, brewpubs, Oregon beer

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Posted under Beer Education, Beer personalities, Washington Beer

A few months back I wrote an article for the Brewers Association’s website CraftBeer.com about the ever elusive and often overlooked brown ale. In this piece titled “Brown Ales: The Overlooked Spectrum of Beer”, we take a look at this non-definite style of beer that can range anywhere from an English Mild Ale to a Belgian Oud Bruin.

Like red ales, brown ales are defined by their color rather than a specific flavor profile or ingredient bill (though these factors absolutely play into the characteristics of such a beer). In Brewpublic’s ongoing series, “Best of the Browns”, this third installment looks to a local expert to provide us with some of more insight into browns. This expert is Bill Schneller of the Oregon Brew Crew. Schneller is a mentor to many aspiring brewers through his encouragement and on-going education. With a refined palate, Schneller, a national Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) judge, humbly refers to himself as a homebrewer and amateur beer historian, though anyone who has spent anytime with him knows there is much more to the man.

Some months back we caught up with Bill Schneller to discuss brown ales, their history and the range of flavors and styles they encompass. Read More…

Posted under beer and food, Beer Education, Beer personalities

The Beer Traveler, Charlie Herrin visits Doug Weathers, the owner of Sodbuster Hop Farm just north of Salem, Oregon in the Willamette Valley,for a tour of their facility.

Posted under Beer Education, Beer personalities, beers on film, Oregon beer

Posted under Beer Education, beer humor, beer to do list, beer tools

Enjoy Oregon’s finest beers from over 20 breweries at the inaugural

 McKenzie Cider and Craft Beer Festival! 

Friday, November 2nd

5pm – 11pm

and

Saturday November 3rd

12 noon – 11pm,

Family time 12 noon -5pm

Willamalane Event Center
250 S 32nd
Springfield (map)

• Beer tastings from your favorite breweries
• Live Entertainment
• Vendor Market Place
• Restaurants

Posted under Beer Education, craft cider, events, Oregon beer, places to drink beer

Enjoy Oregon’s finest beers from over 20 breweries at the inaugural

 McKenzie Cider and Craft Beer Festival! 

Friday, November 2nd

5pm – 11pm

and

Saturday November 3rd

12 noon – 11pm,

Family time 12 noon -5pm

Willamalane Event Center
250 S 32nd
Springfield (map)

• Beer tastings from your favorite breweries
• Live Entertainment
• Vendor Market Place
• Restaurants

Posted under Beer Education, craft cider, events, Oregon beer, places to drink beer

Sara Hancock

By Sara Hancock

The other day I was listening to Under the Influence on CBC Radio and the topic was sex and advertising. The host, Terry O’Reilly, made reference to Old Milwaukee’s decision to revive the brand by introducing the Swedish Bikini Team. While this ploy did in fact pique interest in the beer it also created problems behind the scenes where the female workers at the brewery felt a hypocritical stance was being taken; sexual harassment is not okay in the work place but bikini clad blondes were the perfect spokespeople for the brand.

Old Milwaukee insisted they were merely parodying the cliché T&A beer ads of the eighties BUT the parody still incorporated beautiful women with ample T&A front and centre (and rear I suppose). Somewhat skeptical of this rationale, the female workers sued the company. Read More…

Posted under Beer Education, British Columbia Beer

By Sara Hancock

The more you delve into the world of craft beer (i.e. the more you drink) the more familiar you become with the spectrum of styles and tastes out there in the beer world. Some tastes are good and some not so good and then every once in a while, when a blue moon rises, the magnetic poles reverse, and your house plants die, you get something a little …well …off. Not off in the way I sometimes feel like my hop heavy beers taste like lilac soap but off in the way that your beer smells and tastes like rotting vegetables or rubbing alcohol. Before I took my home brewing course I would have merely written off said ales as crappy beer I don’t like but now I realize that when things go wrong in the brewing process there a specific chemical changes that result in your beer tasting ‘off.’ Read More…

Posted under Beer Education