The first annual International Beer Bloggers & Online Media Conference has been announced to take place in sunny Boulder, Colorado, November 5-7, 2010.

Montana-based Zephyr Adventures is the organizing force behind the blogger rally. Zephyr owner Allan Wright and company have been running active tours around the world for the last 14 years. With roots in guided adventures related to hiking and trekking, biking, skating, and more recently wine adventuring, Zephyr now expands their scope to include the world of beer. According to their website, there are already a dozen “early adopters” registered for the three day event. The Beer Bloggers Conference (BBC) lists three main reasons why this event is a must attend for any beer blogger: 1) There is limited availability of room. For the inaugural Wine Blogger’s Conference (WBC), tickets were swooped up surprisingly fast and BBC organizers expect even more momentum with this one. 2) It will be an outstanding experience. The WBC was a huge hit with a great review by attendees, and Zephyr says this will likely be even better. 3) Zephyr and BBC promise excellent content. Says the organizers “We have received many inquires about the content and already about 10 suggestions for good speakers and subjects.” Some topics covered will be: how to monetize your blog, using WordPress more efficiently, how beer blogging differs in Europe versus North America, how to increase your blog’s readership, how social media ties in to search engine optimization, using video in your blog, and how to interview a beer industry subject. BBC also promises great keynote speakers for the event.

All of this sounded great to us and we were just about to sign up and make plans for the event, but we wanted to learn a little bit more. So, we spoke with Zephyr Adventures and BBC founder Allan Wright to get further insight into what might sway any blogger, reporter, or beer lover on the fence about this unique experience.

Tell us a little bit about the inspiration behind starting the International Beer Bloggers & Online Media Conference. How did the concept come about and what was your role in developing it?

Allan Wright: My company, Zephyr Adventures, started the first-ever Wine Bloggers Conference back in 2008. The conference has been extremely successful and is now in its third year. We have been planning to duplicate this by creating a Beer Bloggers Conference for over a year and finally got it off the ground.

Who else was involved with the conceptualization and development of the conference?

AW: Zephyr Adventures is the main organizer of the conference. However, we initially approached the Boulder community to see if they would be interested to host and got some excellent initial support from the Boulder Convention and Visitors Bureau. Two local breweries (Oskar Blues and Boulder Beer Company) also signed on to provide meals (and beer) to conference participants and these folks have been very helpful in getting the conference off the ground.

From my understanding, Zephyr Adventures is the creator of the conference and behind the concept. Your website until now appeared heavily centered around biking, skating, and wine. On Zephyr’s site it says “we don’t try to be all things to all people. Instead, we only run tours we think are outstanding vacations where we are the experts.” Do you consider yourself a beer expert? What is your background with beer?

AW: This is a great question. No, we are not beer experts. To be honest, we were not wine experts either three years ago when we started the Wine Bloggers Conference, although we are pretty versed in the wine industry now. We are, however, experts in organizing and creating events. This is what will allow us to put on a fantastic Beer Bloggers Conference. We will reach out to the beer and beer blogger communities to make sure the event is also excellent in terms of beer and the beer industry. Give us a couple years and we will not only be experts in the beer industry but we’ll also probably be running active beer tours.

Seeing that Zephyr is based out of Montana, why was Colorado chosen as the location for this event?

AW: Seven years ago we at Zephyr Adventures gave up our physical office and have had a virtual office ever since. We find it is more efficient and creates a better lifestyle. While the company is based in Montana, where I used to live, I now live in Boulder. Since Boulder is a beautiful town with a strong tech community and 10 local breweries within the city limits, it is also an excellent place to host a beer bloggers conference. The conference will likely move to new locations in future years.

As stated on the Beer Bloggers Conference website: “The cost of the conference is $95 for citizen beer bloggers (those unaffiliated with a business or organization), $195 for industry beer bloggers (those whose blog is affiliated with a brewery, retail store, or other business or organization), and $295 for non-blogger participants (industry, media relations professionals, friends and family, etc). ” As reporters on craft beer, why should someone who is able to get free entry to most beer events, like GABF, be willing to pay for this event?

AW: This conference is more than a beer event. For one thing, two fantastic dinners are included in addition to a lot of beer. More importantly, the conference is educational by nature and will include keynote speakers, educational sessions, and breakout topics all tailored to beer bloggers and those involved with online and social media. This is not just a beer tasting event but a chance for bloggers and others interested in beer blogging to learn about their trade.

What can a success blogger/beer reporter expect to take away from this conference?

AW: Attendees can expect to take away three things: 1) A fantastic weekend full of fun, food, and beer. 2) An excellent opportunity to meet other beer bloggers, whom they might know only via the internet. 3) Knowledge to improve their trade and become better bloggers.

What do you see as the highlights of this three day conference?

AW: The highlight of the conference itself will likely be the Live Beer Blogging. This is an incredible event at which attendees will be seated at round tables in a grand ballroom. Each table will have one brewer who will have five minutes to pour and talk about his or her beer while the participants blog, Tweet, or Facebook about the beer they are tasting. After five minutes, the brewers rotate to the next table in a sort of “speed dating” format. The atmosphere of the event is amazing, the instant online exposure for the breweries is excellent, and everyone leaves having had a great time.

Tell us about some of the speakers at this year’s event? Are they only those from Colorado? Any Portland bloggers/speakers to be involved?

AW: We do not yet have a list of speakers for one very good reason: we let participants themselves decide what topics they want to hear. This is a conference for bloggers and they should have a say in the content. I am even now collecting suggestions for keynote speakers and content topics. We will ultimately put these to a vote of participants. Speakers will come from the Boulder tech community, from the beer industry, and from among the ranks of bloggers themselves. Sample topics could include using video in a blog, using social media to improve Search Engine Optimization, making a website accessible to mobile browsers, how to use WordPress more efficiently, how to monetize a blog, how to conduct an interview with someone in the beer industry, how to write a beer review, etc.

Please add anything else I may have missed. Thank you for your time!

AW: I left what I think is the most important idea for last. The beer industry is gigantic and yet most consumers get their information about beer via paid advertisements from the big players. There is an opportunity out there for beer bloggers individually and as a group to become a powerful force in educating and shaping the buying habits of beer drinkers. However, for this to happen individual beer bloggers need to produce a quality product that consumers will trust and beer bloggers as a community need to have a strong, coherent image so people actually seek out their opinions. This is not just about individual bloggers but about gaining credibility and influence as a group. The Beer Bloggers Conference can help make this happen and simply having a conference is one step in the right direction.

Thanks, Allan. You’ve convinced us. We’ve just booked our trip!

Posted under beer events, beer news, beer tools

Last month when we visited Corvallis, Oregon (Thanks to Visit Corvallis) to tour the breweries in town, we found brewtopia in a place that wasn’t on our itinerary. After a wonderfully festive and inspiring night kicking it at Block 15 tasting a plethora of unique and satisfying beers, our next morn was a bit groggy. During the celebration of Block 15′s second anniversary, we met so many friendly folks, many who loved beer as much as we do.

One particular gentleman we met who we really liked was Drew Salmi of Corvallis Home Brewing Supply. On our last day in Corvallis, Drew invited us to check out the store where he and founder/mentor Joel Rea have been providing supplies and educating the region in the ways of beer, soda, cheese, vinegar and wine making since 1997.

Thanks to Drew, we were fortunate to get a tour of the shop on Sunday, when the it is normally closed to the general public. The front of the Corvallis Home Brew Supply also houses an impressive selection of beer and wine as well as some cider and sake. In the shop you’ll find the proprietor’s own wines and brews. Upon our visit, we discovered a popular Oyster Stout on tap as well. In the understory of the shop, a surplus of bottles and supplies were kept in cool dark storage alongside and miscellany of wine barrels and beer carboys filled with maturing tipples. Here we found Drew’s hidden stash of Pelican’s Perfect Storm barleywine aged in bourbon casks (This beer is now going to be called “the Mother of All Storms” due to name confusion with Oakshire’s Perfect Storm Imperial IPA). Though we didn’ t have much of a stomach for drinking so early, we sucked it up and enjoyed our first pour of this strong, bourbonous beast.

Great conversation and great beer at a great shop in Corvallis…the rest is history. We strongly recommend paying a visit next time you’re near Corvallis. You’ll be happy you did.

Thanks to Drew Salmi, Joel Rea, The Corvallis Home Brew Supply for their hospitality. Check ‘em out online at BrewBeer.cc

Posted under Beer personalities, Distilling, Oregon beer, beer and food, beer tools, craft cider, places to drink beer, saké

Beginning March 20, 2010, Oregon Beer Odyssey (OBO) will offer classes, tastings, and events designed to promote beer appreciation and education. Classes will be held at sites around Portland, including notable bottle shops such as The Hop and Vine, the Wine and Spirit Archive, Saraveza, Bailey’s Taproom and The Beer Mongers.

In March and April, class topics will include Oregon Beer Odyssey’s signature, introductory class Tasting and Talking About Beer, and one entitled Great Beers of the Northwest.  Future classes will include style-specific workshops and overview courses on the great beers of Belgium, Germany, England, Scandinavia, and Italy. Oregon Beer Odyssey’s full class schedule is available on its website (www.oregonbeerodyssey.com) and on Facebook.

According to founder and co-owner Ben Edmunds, “we hope to teach people to be able to talk about the flavors they discover in beer and to introduce people to beers and styles of beer that they otherwise might not know. Our classes are targeted at everyone from the beer knowledgeable to beer novices.” Starting in April, Oregon Beer Odyssey’s will be headquartered at the corner of SE 12^th and Division, in the same building as The Beer Mongers and across the street from soon-to-open beer bar Apex.

About Oregon Beer Odyssey:

Oregon Beer Odyssey was founded in 2010 by Ben Edmunds, Jason Yale, and Robert Bosworth. We are an LLC dedicated to promoting appreciation and knowledge of craft beer through formal tastings and classes. We are the first business in Portland entirely devoted to beer education.

Our classes aim to educate a broad audience about the diversity and quality of craft beer, both from the Northwest and around the world. In an intimate, small-group setting, customers can enjoy themselves, while sampling world-class beers. We value our independence. Unaffiliated with any specific brewery, we are not tied to serving any specific type of beer or promoting any single company. Our recommendations and classes feature the honest and unfiltered opinions of a highly beer-knowledgeable staff.

Posted under Beer personalities, Oregon beer, beer events, beer tools, places to drink beer, press releases

Brewpublic’s Marc Demeule and his homebrewing friends had a one of a kind brewing session, in extreme conditions of the Quebec winter.

We decided to brew an extreme IPA with all the leftover hops we had.  For a 50 liter batch, we included 20,8 oz of whole and pellet hops.  We also threw in all of our leftover home grown hops (maybe a half pound of Mt Hood).  With an anticipated 140,9 IBU, according to ProMash, we only expected something that could be drinkable, but extreme too.  If you want the complete recipe, just e-mail me.

The particularity of that brewing session was that we had -10ºC in the garage and the vapour generated created condensation that could contaminate when cooling.  Let’s say that when a functional ventilation system is added to the garage, it will be better.  Insulating the mash tun is also necessary to keep a constant temperature.  The funniest thing was when we realized that we had no water to cool our beer.  Frozen pipes!  Even with a torch, no water from the outdoor access.  It is so nice to live in a Nordic weather country.  A brand new home garden hose bought at the nearest hardwork center saved our batch by hanging from the ceiling to finally chill the beer (and the entire house) for a little while.  Always brew when you’re wife is gone to avoid problems…

The result is a double IPA, 8%.  Amber, good foam holding.  The cereal taste is present, enough to balance the taste for few seconds before you feel and explosion of hops, resinous, herbal taste.  It will never possible to brew that again, but we will appreciate it down to the last drop.

Santé.

marc@brewpublic.com

Posted under beer me, beer tools

Those creative beer-lovin’ wordsmiths at BS Brewing aka the Champagne of Blogs have devised a handy new contraption just in time for the holidays. Say hello to 33 Bottles of Beer, the outfit’s first official product.

This handy “beer sketchbook” aids in a beer geeks note taking with its own unique web-like “flavor wheel” and spaces for the notes. Covering much of the same criteria that many beer judging websites like Ratebeer.com and Beeradvocate.com, this personalized, crafty and handsome little book fits easily into your pocket if you squeezed into a beerfest or simply on the go.

If you are as last minute as we are about your holiday shopping, make sure to scoop at least three of these for that special craft beer lover in your life. Plus, you’ll be supporting one kick ass Portland beer blog!

These books retail at $4 each or 3 for $10. Buy ‘em at www.33beers.com or at cool beer shops like Saraveza or Belmont Station. Beery crisp sips and a hoppy brewed beers!

Posted under beer tools

Rock Socks

We just received an email from beer enthusiast Erica Easley, the founder of  Rock Socks, a company dedicated to creating stylish and comfortable foot socks. She’s developed a new flashy, comfortable sock that expresses one’s love for the heavenly malted beverage. Says Easley:

I thought you and your readers would get a kick out of my retro, 70′s-inspired Beer socks. They are super stretchy (designed to be unisex, they fit women’s size 7 – men’s size 13.5 and to the knee on anyone 5’2″ – 6’2″), super comfy (made of a high-quality cotton-poly-spandex blend with a cushion foot and just enough spandex to stay up without squeezing your leg) and 100% Made in the U.S.A.

They are available for sale for $9.95 in a number of places, including online through www.rocksocks.net, as well as at The Red Light Clothing Exchange in Portland.

Go online and get yours today! Prost!

Posted under beer tools

On a late spring day a beer fridge was converted into a keggerator. I cellared many of the stronger brews that were in the beer fridge, put the rest in the kitchen’s food fridge, and employed the help of my buddy Dave to get the new home appliance pouring.

Two holes were drilled into the fridge-one in the front door for the pour spout and one on the side for the CO2 connection. We also drilled a hole into an adjacent storage closet in the garage for the gas line to run through.

Mike Moscarelli (photo by John Foyston)

After the initial holes were drilled, we paid a visit to Portland’s premiere brewing supply stop, F.H. Steinbart Company. Steinbart’s has been around since 1918, making it the oldest brewing supply shop in the United States. At Steinbart’s tap line master Mike Moscarelli, who has done some impressive work at places like Deschutes of Portland and New Old Lompoc’s Hedge House got me going with the essentials needed to get my keggerator going. After the lines and gas were all ready there was just one thing still missing…

The Beer

HUB brewer Jaime Rodriguez

Where to go to get a keg in Portland?  Well, there’s always the option of visiting a number of local brewpubs. This is usually the best call, since it really does support the local brewer directly and cuts out the middleperson. For selection, there’s the option of visiting great beer shops like Belmont Station or John’s Marketplace who both have lists of available kegs on line. But, being that it was already late in the afternoon, local was the key. Living close to Powell Boulevard in Southeast Portland, it made perfect sense to hit up Hopworks for my brew. Brewer and standup dude Jaime Rodriguez just finished up a long day in the brewhouse, but was happy to take time out of his brew to set me up with a quarter barrel of Hopworks’ Original Red. Gravidly packed with ambrosial hoppiness, the Red was the key to unlock the fortune of this day. Thanks a ton to Jaime-who also hits the skins for Southern Highway-and banjoist/brewer Speck Speckenbach for setting a brother up. Thanks also to Mike at Steinbart’s and my homie Dave for hookin’ me up (literally!). Now who wants some of this beer?!

Posted under beer to do list, beer tools

Oregon’s Brewpub guide, Brew-Ha! is back again with the 2009 edition.  This year’s Brew-Ha! is bigger than ever and features an events and festivals calendar for the entire forthcoming year.  There’s also 146 listing of brewpubs, productions breweries, and taprooms statewide.  Also, a foldout map with Portland metro insert give users an idea of where the various hot spots are located across the state.  There’s even some interesting facts relating to the Oregon Brewers Guild, the benefits of the craft brewing industry in the state, and a history of Oregon craft brewing time line dating back to 1852.

We are quite pleased to have such a helpful guide that features upstarts such as One Horse Brewing in Gaston and Pale Horse Brewing in Salem.  Despite more than four pages of McMenamins listings and no mention of Bailey’s Taproom, the guide serves Oregon natives and tourists alike with helpful information and colorful adds of some of the best brew locations in our great state! Pick one up today at places like the HorseBrass Pub, BridgePort, and Lucky Lab.

Posted under Oregon beer, beer tools

Lorren "Lolo" Lancaster, Green Dragon founder (Morrison)

Brewpublic just spoke with Lorren “Lolo” Lancaster regarding the potential Rogue take over of the Green Dragon Pub and Bistro.  Lancaster, a 1/3 owner of the popular Southeast Portland beer geek hangout is well known and liked by the community of regulars who frequent the Green Dragon.

When I asked Lancaster about the recent news of a potential selling of his beloved bar, he says, “I am great.  I feed off the energy.”  Lancaster says  “I only found out about Ed (Schwartz) and Rogue (planning a deal) ten days ago.  I wondered why (Schwartz) didn’t come to me first.”  Lancaster has retained lawyers to help him keep the Green Dragon’s independent character.  “I got a copy of the agreement Rogue hit Ed with” says Lancaster. “Ed’s going to receive a paper that I intend to purchase within 30 days.”  Currently Lancaster maintains that he is meeting with business investors.  “I expected Ed would have come to me first, but he didn’t” says Lancaster “He said he wanted $225,000 to get out.  That’s way too cheap.   The Dragon made almost half of that in September.  September was our one-year anniversary. No businesses make money in the first year.” Lancaster also claims that the Green Dragon is about two weeks out on permits for the brewhouse to be legally operational. “This is (Schwartz)’s first rodeo. I’ve been in this business for thirteen years” says Lancaster, 39, whose last job was as a brewer with Deschutes in Bend for four years.  Before that, Lancaster spent four-and-a-half years as the lead brewer for Anderson Valley in Boonville, California.  He also brewed briefly with Star Brewing of Portland.  Lancaster served for more than three years as draft technician with F.H. Steinbarts. “I’ve never burned a bridge” says Lancaster, who remains in contact with most of his former employers.

Lorren "Lolo" Lancaster @ Green Dragon

According to Lancaster, the papers for the Green Dragon to change ownership to Rogue could be signed tomorrow.  “I have nothing against Rogue” he says.  “Jack Joyce (founder, CEO) is a business man.   (Rogue) is just seeing a sweet deal.  It is like a classic automobile collector finding a desirable car for sale way under-price.  You can’t blame them for trying to move in on it.”  It appears that Lancaster’s most upset with Green Dragon’s current majority owner, Schwartz.  “All Ed wants is his money.  He doesn’t care about beer stuff” says Lancaster.  “This is my life.  I don’t want to be some guy in an office shuffling papers around.  I want to brew!”

Allegedly, Rogue will began conducting interviews tomorrow at their Flanders Street Pub in NW Portland with current Green Dragon employees.  “Rogue’s Manifesto basically states that they will never bow down to corporate breweries” says Lancaster (referring to Rogue’s Declaration of Independence). “I am going to apply for a dishwasher job and see if I am qualified.”

Lancaster is unclear what Rogue’s main interest is in a purchase of the Green Dragon, other than its obvious popularity amongst craft beer lovers.  Distiller Kieran Sienkiewicz was recently laid off from Integrity Spirits, a company that Schwartz is also a minority owner in, and shares the building with Green Dragon.  Lancaster says Jerome Chicvara is behind the move to let go of Sienkiewicz.  Chicvara, a Full Sail investor, craft beer representative for Maletis Beverage and former CEO of Portland Brewing is a majority investor in Integrity.  “In my opinion” continues Lancaster “Rogue is looking at the distillery and sees it outselling them about ten-to-one.  That could very well be what they are most interested in.”  Sienkiewicz and current Integrity distiller Rich Phillips are both former distillers for Rogue.

Lancaster appears quite optimistic about the future.  “I recently spoke with Rich Wolfe, my mentor” he says.  Wolfe is the head of Siebel Institute of Technology’s economic advisory board. “He gave me a lot of great information.  He’s a good cat, super smart and informed me of my rights.”  Lancaster summates his feelings for the Green Dragon saying “My passion for beer, like others’ creates it own reallity.  Always changing and evolving like society.  Beer is an inherent part of culture.  I wanna brew!”

Posted under Beer personalities, beer tools

Idunware Beer is a software that allows users to store information on beer, much in the same way as sites such as Ratebeer.com or BeerAdvocate.com.  As an off-line tool, Idunware, developed by Henrik Morell of Copenhagen, Denmark, allows users to access their own customizable beer notes without the use of the Internet.  This allows for private, non-commercial, and sortable beer data to be stored for use at anytime without fear of viruses or criticism.  Morell’s goal is to provide customers with the best products and service available and to make things easy and logical in the current technological era.  I spoke with the man behind Idunware to find out more and to garner an understanding of his appreciation for craft beer.

What is your interest in beer/craft brewing?

Henrik Morell: My interest is a curiosity for what a beer can be and how a brewery can have a special idea about the taste of a beer.

I’ve noticed there are a lot exciting breweries popping up in Denmark.  What are some of your favorites?

HM: I would mention: Bryggeri Skovlyst. If I should recommend some beers it could be the “Birkebryg” (with sap from birch) and the India Pale Ale. Ørbæk Bryggeri. It is an old and innovative small brewery from 1906 – just to mention that you don’t need to be young to be interesting.  GourmetBryggeriet (from 2005). The brewery has a high stable quality.

There are a lot of people from Denmark on Ratebeer and Beer Advocate with several beer ratings (Ungstrup on Ratebeer has 11,000+,  more than anyone else).  What does your software offer these people that Ratebeer and Beer Advocate don’t for free?  In other words, why should people buy Idunware?

HM: Idunware Beer is a personal tool and not a community tool. But of course it can be used as the notes you use to collect your opinion before it is shared with other people.

I think it is nice not always to be online: you could for example use it with a laptop on the beach with a cool bag full of craft beers. It can also be used among friends tasting beer together.

Henrik Morell

I think notes about what I have bought is a bit personal and don’t need to be published on the Internet. Moreover, I think the novice often would like to build up an experience before he or she likes to share it on the
Internet. The first problem is to remember the beer you have tasted.

What do you foresee with the success of this software?

HM: If people like and buy the software it will be possible to extend it with the features called for by the users. I hope to get a lot of input from the users.

Where does the name Idunware come from? Idun + (soft)ware. According to Nordic mythology, Idun was the custodian of the apples, which were believed to maintain eternal youthfulness.

If you were stranded on a desert island and could only drink one beer for eternity, what would it be?

HM: Chimay Grande Reserve.

For more information on Idunware Beer go to their website: http://www.idunware.com/

Posted under beer tools