By Matt Van Wyk, Brewmaster of Oakshire Brewing

As the craft beer industry continues it’s meteoric rise through the adult beverage category, one can’t help notice the scores and scores of specialty, one-off, rare, barrel aged beers being produced across the country.  Whether you are a fan of Three Floyd’s Dark Lord or Portsmouth’s Kate the Great or you regularly receive shipments from the Bruery, you know what I am talking about. If you trade HotD for Surly’s Darkness or Lost Abbey’s Cable Car for Cigar City’s Hunahpu Imp. Stout, you have an idea what I mean. The amount of special collectible beers is growing out of control, and I know because I raided my cellar over the Thanksgiving Holiday and the 15 awesome beers I pulled out barely left a dent. (I have a slight issue with saving beer though).  At Oakshire, we have begun two series of barrel aged beers, Hellshire, which is our spirits barrel aged series of beers and Brewers Reserve, which is very small quantity, mostly wild beers aged in wine barrels. Skookumchuck, our first release  blended wild ale and a Eugene Water and Electric Board Centennial Celebration beer, was released on November 18th and will make a brief appearance Thursday December 15th at Belmont Station.  These beers will mostly be sold out of the tasting room as our friends at Upright Read More…

Posted under Beer personalities, beer releases, beer tools, vintage beers

One of the coolest legacies any brewer has ever left behind is that of Wild Duck brewer Glen Hay Falconer. Though the man is no longer with us in person, his spirit lives on through the Falconer Foundation which greatly helps in the furthering of aspiring brewers’ education. Here’s the details from the organization for the next scholarship program. The deadline is soon approaching, so those interested are encouraged to get after it: Read More…

Posted under Beer Education, beer news, beer tools, press releases

It is amazing. One of the most action packed craft beer days of the year is unquestionably going to be Saturday August 20, 2011. Where to begin? Well, I’ve got a list of stuff you should consider. As for me, I will be at my dear friends’ wedding and attending my niece’s first birthday party. But here’s the lowdown on what you might consider: Read More…

Posted under Beer & Art, Beer & Music, Beer personalities, Oregon beer, beer and food, beer events, beer news, beer releases, beer tools, beers on film, brewpubs, places to drink beer, sports and beer

When it comes to great summer beers, or just great brews in general, a top destination to fulfill your warm weather wishlist is The Bier Stein in Eugene, Oregon. Crowned by Beer West Magazine as having the best bottle selection on the West Coast, it’s hard to argue with the fact that The Stein has remained a solid resource for some of the region’s best brews since opening in 2005. The shop not far from the University of Oregon campus houses more than 1,000 different bottles of craft beer and ten unique rotating offerings on tap. Further, The Stein’s owner in Chip Hardy not only sells the good stuff – he brews it.

A huge part of the vibe at The Bier Stein can be attributed to Dave Stockhausen, the manager of the joint who is as knowledgeable and passionate about craft beer as anyone in the business. Stockhausen runs much of the daily operations at The Stein and is to thank for the execution of much of Hardy’s wonderful vision. We pulled Stockhausen aside from his duties for a moment to get a recommendation on a splendid mixed sixer of brews he has recently shelved at The Bier Stein. Here’s six beauts approved by Stockhausen that you might want to snag before they’re gone: Read More…

Posted under beer me, beer to do list, beer tools

Here’s a quick plug for our friend Christopher Baker at Eyeluvbeer. We’ve known Christopher from his days of banging the drums in the band Ross (Beach) & The Hellpets. Turns out, like most of us Oregonians, he’s also a big beer geek. Eyeluvbeer is an apparel and sticker company based here in Portland. You may have recognized their signature logo, an eyeball, followed by a heart, followed by the outline shape of Oregon, followed by a frothy mug of beer. The t-shirts have been making their way around Beervana. If Christopher has close to as much success as the person who started the stickers depicting the state of Oregon with a heart inside, we figure he’ll fair quite well. Read More…

Posted under Beer personalities, beer tools

Get the most out of your fine bottle of  Bavarian hefe with this pouring tip from Chow.com

Posted under Beer Education, Beer personalities, beer tools

I’ve recently come to the conclusion that maintaining Brewpublic has become more of a blogging endeavor. Still, I’ve got to bring you your content each day. What’s going on in Oregon beer? That’s for all of us to answer. My partner Aaron and I spent much of recent times getting the word out about Brewpublic’s latest Meet the Brewers Pub Crawl (aka BrewPubliCrawl) going down on Saturday March 19, 2011. This event will include a plentitude of choice Oregon craft brewers. We’re uber excited to aid in a fun event sponsored by Full Sail, Hopworks, Laurelwood, Widmer, Lompoc, Ninkasi, Southern Oregon Brewing, and 10 Barrel Brewing.

Tuesday wasn’t only $2 pint night at The EastBurn, it was also a night in which we Read More…

Posted under Beer personalities, beer events, beer news, beer to do list, beer tools

By Brandon Boyd

With the tremendous growth in the craft beer market, more and more customers are enjoying a wide variety of beer styles and dumping their old familiar brands for offerings from new and innovative breweries.

This growth not only brings new customers, but also new competitors as the market grows. At this time, more than ever before, breweries have an opportunity to capture a bigger piece of this expanding pie. One way to go about this is to experiment with new hop varieties, and/or esoteric beer styles like farmhouse, sour and barrel-aged beers. These revived offerings give the consumer something new to taste, something different they may not have experienced before. This strategy can go awry when too much effort is being placed into beer that may not ever become a staple style for the consumer, who ultimately stocks the fridge with beer with a more every-day drinkable style.

At a recent beer event, I found myself, a lover of esoteric styles, searching for something simple and a little more “drinkable” when all that could be found were Read More…

Posted under Beer personalities, Oregon beer, beer tools

My brother Mario sent me a link to this “mad invention” developed by GrinOn Industries of Montesano, WA. Founded by 28 year old workaholic Josh Springer, the start-up company gained recognition on YouTube with the display of their world record-breaking invention known as the BottomsUp beer dispenser and beer cup. Granted, there are Read More…

Posted under beer news, beer tools

Beer has quickly become the bearded nerd’s equivalent of wine: Something about it inspires passionate arguments about nerdy arcana such as the shape of brewing vats and hops growing seasons. The pursuit of perfect suds can be seen blossoming at your local grocery store, where beer aisles are bursting at the seams with mind-numbing levels of variety.

So here, we present you with something perfect for lazy beer nerds: An infographic to tell you the best beers, according to category.

The infographic was the brainchild of designer Ben Gibson and book editor Patrick Mulligan — the same people behind this fabulous chart of rapper names.

The two of them met at a publishing house, where Gibson was designing covers for books that Mulligan was editing. (Sounds — and looks — a heck of a lot like the story of Co favorite Doogie Horner.) Just a couple weeks ago, they launched Pop Chart Lab — which sells the beer infographic as an 18″x24″ poster, for a mere $25.

Perfect for use as a cheat sheet for lording beer knowledge over your friends at the used record/books/clothing store. (Cliff Kuang)

Posted under beer me, beer tools