The Bier Stein of Eugene, Oregon is proud to present a very special event featuring our Belgian guest François de Harenne: Directeur Commercial of the Orval Trappist Brewery. As one of only seven Trappist Monastery breweries in the world, Orval is unique and highly respected by writers, beer judges, and beer lovers worldwide. Please join us for a presentation about the monastery and brewery alongside a degustation (tasting) of this amazing treasure. 8:00 pm sharp, with a chance to meet François following the presentation.

Posted under Beer personalities, beer events, events, places to drink beer

Please join us at Belmont Station as we welcome our guest François de Harenne, Directeur Commercial of the Orval Trappist Brewery in Florenville, Belgium to the City of Roses. Stop by the Station for your chance to meet François and learn about the fascinating history of Orval. 4500 S.E. Stark St. Portland, OR 97215; (503) 232-8538. 7:00 – 9:00 pm.

Posted under Beer personalities, beer events, events, places to drink beer

Merchant du Vin and The Beer Mongers are pleased to announce very special visit from our guest François de Harenne, Directeur Commercial of the Orval Trappist Brewery in Florenville, Belgium. This weekend marks the first anniversary of The Beer Mongers, a popular new addition to the Portland beer scene. We will kick off the event at 4:00 pm sharp with a presentation about the brewery and monastery, to be followed with an informal “meet and greet” session. Beermongers will also be hosting a very special “aged” Orval Trappist Ale tasting that promises to be enlightening and entertaining. 1125 SE Division, Portland, OR 97202; (503) 234-6012. 4:00 – 6:00 pm.

Posted under Beer personalities, beer events, events, places to drink beer

From the folks at Gilgamesh Brewing:

DRINKING GOOD IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD!

Thanks again for all of your support!
The Radtkes
Lee, Eileen, Mike, Kari, Nick, Lani, Matt & Megan

Posted under Beer personalities, Oregon beer, beer events, events, places to drink beer

Tuesday, August 31, New Old Lompoc will be having a Meet the Brewers event at Oaks Bottom Public House at 1621 SE Bybee from 5 to 8 PM.  Join (from left) Zach, Dave (aka Chowdah), Jerry, Bryan & Sam as they release Bourbon Barrel Aged Dagda.  Sure, it’s a wee bit early to release our St. Patrick’s Day seasonal, but it’s so darn good we can’t wait!  Brewed in February ’09 and aged in Bourbon barrels for a year and a half, this Pan-Gaelic Red Ale has a malty body with caramel flavors and a touch of smoke with a tart finish (7.5% ABV).

Lompoc will also be pouring ’07 Fresh Hop Harvest Man Red, which was brewed in Sept. ’07 with 100 pounds of Crystal fresh hops.  It is malty and full bodied with a deep, rich red color (7.8% ABV).  And try our Barrel Fermented C-Note – we took our number one selling beer and fermented it in a vintage white English oak barrel (6.9% ABV).  As with all of our Meet the Brewer events, there will be free appetizers, so come on down and say hi to the gang!

Posted under Beer personalities, beer events, events, places to drink beer

By Frank James

Attending a beer fest should be about the joy of discovery. Of course, you can simply gravitate to the usual suspects, the familiar beers you know and love, the ones you’re certain will  quench your thirst in a most pleasant fashion.  Or you can revel  in  what beer fests should  actually be about: discovering new and interesting beers and tastes and breweries.
Last year’s Green Dragon NanoFest was one of those occasions when I was lucky enough to enjoy the latter kind of experience.  It was one of those weird little accidents, as I just happened to be driving through the area, saw the beer tents, the crowds and decided to stop by and see what all the commotion was about.  As is usually the case, I ran into a friend, we chatted and she encouraged me to sample her fest favorite: an imperial IPA by some little brewery called Block 15.  She knows her beer, and her tastes generally line up with mine, so I went off in search of this supposedly tasty brew.  I was out of luck. The beer had been so popular, according to the owner/brewer who was manning his own taps, that they’d ran out the first day.  He added however, that they did have a nice rye beer, their Superfly Rye.

As I began to walk away, to search for a more appetizing alternative, Nick Arzner shifted into full sales mode and began extolling the beer’s virtues in such reverent and scrumptious tones that I stopped dead in my tracks.  What the heck, I thought,  even though I generally don’t like rye beers, experimenting with styles you may not like is what beer fests are all about. He poured a sample, I tried it, and drinking that beer was a true revelation.  That typical dry rye spiciness was smoothed out with a hint of caramel sweetness that balanced it very nicely. To my utter shock, I ended up having another couple of samples and then a full cup. From that point forward I began to check  for his beers in places like Belmont Station and Bailey’s Taproom, establishments that carried Block 15 beers.  A day trip down to the Corvallis brewpub followed and I was hooked.  Block 15 beers gained a prominent spot on that exclusive list:  it was one of those  beers I’d drive a few miles just to find a pint of it on tap.

I don’t think I’m alone in that regard.  Even though the Corvallis brewpub has only been open since the spring of 2008, they’ve already established a niche as nice little brewery that consistently pours very tasty, and often unique, high quality beers. If one of their beers is on tap at one of the local bottle shops, taprooms or pubs, they don’t seem to stick around very long. Someone else, besides me, seems to be drinking a lot of their beer… and they’re doing it pretty quickly also.  Block 15 received a nice bit of recognition this spring when they won Read More…

Posted under Beer personalities, Oregon beer, brewpubs, places to drink beer

With nearly 50 breweries and seemingly countless pubs within the city limits, seeking out the best of Portland’s craft beer hot spots can be a daunting task. But now, thanks to Pubs of Portland Tours, such an undertaking will be much easier to tackle.

Founded by craft beer experts Marc Martin and Charles Culp, Pubs of Portland Tours will be open for business starting on September 1, 2010. We at Brewpublic can attest to the depth of knowledge that both Martin and Culp bring to their latest endeavor. Martin has a Masters Degree in Education, but more importantly, he is walking beer encyclopedia. Not only will he tackle the intricacies of the brewing process, but he will offer a practical and historical understanding of the brewing environments the tours will cover. Culp is equally as savvy of all things beer and has worked as a professional brewer in his home state of Texas. Both men will undoubtedly do a great job of providing an intimate and fun atmosphere for exploring, learning, and quaff the best that Portland has to offer. Tours are designed for between 2 and 12 guest in most cases, and five hour tours (times and group sizes are flexible) run less than $30.

On a truncated sneak peak of the Pubs of Portland Tours designed for members of the media, we were accompanied by our friend John Foyston of the Oregonian. The tour kicked off at Pioneer Courthouse Square and made its first stop at downtown Portland’s Rock Bottom Brewery where Martin provided an interesting history of the building and the neighborhood. After some delicious seasonal samples that included a wonderful Black Toad IPA and a Cascadian Pilsner, our group hopped on the Max Train where we quickly linked up with the city Street Car and landed at the uber-cool Deschutes Public House & Brewery. At Deschutes, we met with brewer Cam O’Connor and several friendly staff members who provided us with samples of the brewery’s Fresh Squeezed IPA featuring dank Citra hops, the lupulin-loaded Hop Henge Imperial IPA Batch 8, and a new Bourbon-aged Graveyard Stout featuring nine different specialty malts.

Normal tours would have lasted much longer than ours, but we had to depart early. All that is needed to participate in the fun-packed tours will be a Tri-Met public transportation fare and a passion for great beer.

For further information on this affordable, eco-friendly experience by true professionals, check out their website: www.pubsofportlandtours.com or call (512) 917-2464 between 9AM and 6PM Monday through Saturday.

Posted under Beer personalities, Oregon beer, beer history, beer news, places to drink beer

We continue with our interview with Stone Brewing Company co-founder/owner Greg Koch. In this concluding episode, Koch talks about the ever-expanding San Diego beer scene, his take on American Style India Black Ales (Cascadian Dark Ales, Black IPAs what have you), making beer mustard in an ethically challenged world, staying humble, beer media, and future releases coming down the pipeline as well as future collaborative efforts.

Posted under Beer personalities, beers on film

Most craft beer geeks are familiar with the beers of Stone Brewing Company. Since 1996, the San Diego area brewery has been challenging beer drinkers to expand their idea of what beer can be. With statements like “Fizzy yellow beer is for wussies,” Stone’s repertoire of brews often runs well above the average alcohol by volume standard set by the vanilla macrobreweries. Though their sharply hopped IPA and Pale Ale are considered Stone’s flagship beers, it is perhaps their Arrogant Bastard Ale that has captured the intrigue and dominated the palates of innovation within the burgeoning craft beer uprising. This American strong ale makes the statement to consumers on the bottle that “You’re not worthy.”

A combination of brilliant marketing, sharp imagery, and risk-taking recipe development has been a proven formula for success for Stone. Instead of yielding to the idea that compromise is necessary to lure in leary-palated beer consumers, Stone has always operated on the philosophy of simply making the bold and robust beers that they like to drink, and in return, a huge following of dedicated followers has emerged.

In 2006 Stone moved from a modest industrial park brewery (now home of Lost Abbey Brewing) in San Marcos to an expansive custom-designed facility in Escondido. The new location currently has a capacity of more than 70,000 barrels per year, with capacity expandable up to 250,000 barrels, and includes an on-site bottling line. The new location also features a restaurant known as Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens, a 300+ seat establishment which features a large outdoor patio and 1-acre gardens. Here, Stone serves a rotating menu of food—concentrating on organic, free-range and local ingredients—and beer from Stone, local San Diego and regional California craft brewers, and other specialty breweries in the United States and abroad. The brewery also houses a “Stone Company Store” where Stone merchandise can be purchased in addition to 2L and 1L growlers which can be filled with Stone’s seven year-round beers and special releases.

In June 2008, Stone Brewing became improved their eco-friendly approach when they lined their brewery roof with solar panels. This is said to have cut their energy costs in half. According to the brewery, the 1,561 roof-mounted solar modules will offset more than 538,000 pounds of carbon emissions over its lifetime, which is equivalent to planting 204 acres of trees.

On top of all this, Stone has been a regular champion of Beer Advocate, repeatedly voted by readers and contributors as the best brewery on the planet. And it’s easy to see why. With touted release offerings like the Vertical Epic line-up which sees a new style released each year from 02-02-02 through 12-12-12. Collectors and connoisseurs have been known to pay a pretty penny for past vintages from this series on sites like Ebay. In addition, Stone has been eager to work collaboratively with brewers from around the world like Nøgne Ø of Norway, BrewDog of Scotland, Mikkeller of Denmark, and several well respected American breweries such as Dogfish Head (Delaware), Victory (Pennsylvania), Firestone Walker (Paso Robles, CA), Maui Brewing (Hawaii), and Jolly Pumpkin (Michigan).

Recently, Stone co-founder Greg Koch visited Portland, Oregon to investigate America’s craft beer mecca. Here Koch made appearances at a variety of brewpubs and craft beer bars around the city while hosting events at Belmont Station, The Eastburn, and Concordia Ale House. Brewpublic met up with Koch at The BeerMongers for an exclusive two-part interview. In this interview, we learned much about the brewery, and the man behind its collective vision.

Stay tuned for part two of this exclusive video on Brewpublic.

Posted under Beer personalities, beers on film

Through our friends at By The Bottle in Vancouver, Washington, we recently found out about a forthcoming brewery in Vancouver, Washington. Known as Loowit Brewing Company, the undertaking is a partnership between avid homebrewers and longtime friends Devon Bray and Thomas Poffenroth. Says Bray “We’ve been homebrewing together for about 7 or 8 years. The brewery is still essentially in the planning stages but we’ve been operating with full commitment to start a brewery, which is why we’ve made the monetary commitments that we already have. Location will be on the west side of Vancouver somewhere…the east side is a wasteland of strip malls.”

To begin, the Loowit will be Read More…

Posted under Beer personalities, beer news