Chef Matt Christianson of Urban Farmer Restaurant has partnered with Upright Brewing owner and head brewer, Alex Ganum, to celebrate summer’s quintessential ingredients: Beer and Barbecue. Chef Matt and Alex have collaborated on a five-course dinner that pairs Oregon Dungeness crab, Wagyu beef and Afton Field Farm chicken with farmhouse inspired beers that are brewed just a few miles from the restaurant in the Rose Quarter’s Left Bank Project.

Posted under Oregon beer, beer and food, events, places to drink beer

I know what you might be thinking. How can there be only five? Well, believe me, there’s a lot more. But for the sake of brevity in a state of seemingly endless craft beer options, five seems like a nice round number. Besides, I am really confident that you will be pleased with these five. Of course, there will always be the people who say “I don’t like hops” or “I don’t like sours.” Well, than, this list might not be for you and your more narrowed palate. However, if you’re like me and love all craft beer, these five, I am confident, you will find are nothing short of spectacular.

The Reinheitsgebot, for those unfamiliar, is a Bavarian purity order dating back to 1516 that decrees that only three ingredients be allowed in beer: water, malt, and hops (back then they were unaware that yeast, a microorganism, was in fact present). You will notice that most beers still being produced in Germany and throughout modern day Bavaria follow this regiment. I can obviously see some upside to such a movement, however, in the spirit of fun and innovation, I tend to side with the Belgians, who love to get jiggy with a beer. Fruit, spice, and other adjunct ingredients can really liven up a brew, and on top of this, as a food item, why should beer be singled out and forever simplified? Don’t get me wrong, a clean Marzen or Pils with the straight ahead recipes of yore can be just a much rewarding as a zany spice/fruit beer. But loosening the laws of Reinheitsgebot, to me, just simply allows for more exploration and innovation, which, I suppose I often find myself having an inclination towards.

This list does not consist of all Oregon beers, either. It is simply a list of five beers that have been or are available in the Oregon market that you should be enjoying. If you are a brewer or brewery employee reading this and realize that your brewery doesn’t have a beer on this list, please relax. You surely make good beer, and, after all, there are literally thousands of delicious beers out there. I am simply offering up a microcosm of malty yumminess that I feel you must try. It is now your goal to taste the following beers:

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Posted under beer reviews

Celebrate the release of Upright Brewing‘s long awaited new limited bottling of Late Harvest. Join the brewers at the Upright Tasting Room on Sunday August 8, 2010 during the regular Tasting Room hours of 1-6PM.

Late Harvest is a Pinot Noir barrel-aged farmhouse-style brown ale brewed with pomegranate seeds, grains of paradise and Tasmanian peppercorns, all of which produced a tart, complex and balanced beer. The aroma and flavor are both reminiscent of some Italian-style bitters with an herbal and spicy character while it maintains a rich grain profile by heavy use of caramel malts and rolled barley. Late Harvest was brewed August 11, 2009 and barrel-aged for over 8 months before yielding only 75 cases being cellared at the brewery until it’s release. 7% ABV

Save some for us!

Upright Brewing is located at 240 N Broadway, suite 2 in Portland Oregon. For more information, call (503) 735-5337.

Posted under Oregon beer, beer events, beer releases, places to drink beer

Maybe you know The Hop & Vine for their touted food or the pairings. Maybe you know the place because you love craft wine and beer and make it a destination for a multiplicity of craft libations. Hopefully, you know it. In August 2008, proprietor Yetta Vorobik brought a new vibe to the North Killingsworth Street’s Overlook neighborhood, bringing a potpourri of artisan aliment and potation. Others have since followed in Vorobik’s footsteps, making the once somewhat secluded and workaday corner a destination for foodies of all the city’s five quadrants.

Thursday August 5, 2010 marks The Hop & Vine’s second anniversary, with a special day of events to thank faithful customers and hopefully allure new ones. An expanded back patio allows for outdoor relaxation at picnic tables while barbecued treats sizzle. Beginning at 3PM, The Hop & Vine will feature an assortment of special drinks, live music, and mouthwatering foods to pair. Beer geeks will be pleased to get their first taste of Breakside Brewery‘s beer, a German-style Gose dubbed Gator Boots Gose, named for Vorobik’s official business LLC. The pub will also feature Upright Brewing‘s Old Tom Gin barrel-aged beer that made a big splash at the Oregon Brewers Fest’s buzz tent.

We sat down with Vorobik to ask her more about The Hop & Vine’s past two years and what she foresees for its future.

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Posted under Beer & Music, Beer personalities, Oregon beer, beer and food, beer events, places to drink beer

This year’s Oregon Brewers Festival (OBF) promises to be the biggest and best to date.  Make sure to get down to Tom McCall Waterfront Park this weekend and discover an unbelievable assortment of craft beers.

Several interesting beers were provided to us at the media preview led by Noel Blake on Thursday. In addition, the festival offers a spectrum of seemingly endless brews worthy of any beer lover’s undivided attention. Some highlights available at the festival included:

Caldera’s Hibiscus Ginger Beer:  Here’s a beer with a focus not on hops, but rather on ginger root, beets, and hibiscus flowers. This light golden  4.7% ABV brew also makes use of Belgian candi sugar and 2-row and Carafoam malts. While this beer might not be for everyone, it certainly gets points for uniqueness, as well as a balance of both complexity and drinkability. We love it!

Rock Bottom Oud Heverlee: With deep malt flavors, this Belgian-style brew made with dried tulips and specialty-aged “vloer suipt” Sterling hops. Peppery, floral, and mildly fruity, this beer is another shining example of Portland Rock Bottom’s imaginative spirit and brewing know-how lead by brewmaster Van Havig.

Collaborator Sunstone Pilsner: The Oregon Brew Crew in conjunction with Widmer Bros provides a platform for talented homebrewers to showcase their talents to the public on a commercial scale. This year’s Collaborator was a distinct spin on the traditional German-style Pilsner. Brewer David Haynes designed this 35% wheaten lager with the end result being, as media guide Noel Blake states a “perfect summer Pils.”

Upright Brewing Reggae Junkie Gruit: If you read the virtual pages of Brewpublic, you know how much we love Upright. This brew uses no hops, just an assortment of herbs and spices such as organic spelt berries, hyssop, bitter orange peel, Sichuan peppercorns, and lemongrass. The base malts of organic pale and Munich result in a pleasant 5.2% ABV summer quaffer. Upright also featured a special gin barrel aged brew exclusive to the Buzz Tent in limited quantities.

The Bruery 7 Grain Stout: Can Orange County, CA’s The Bruery do any wrong? We’ve yet to find a beer from them that we didn’t love. This Belgian-style Saison is no exception. Brewed with Two-row pale malt, rye, oats, unmalted wheat, flaked rice, flaked maize, and spelt, and moderate portions of Magnum and Sterling hops, here we have a very balanced warm weather brew. An astringent finish with residual spice character are highlights of this beer’s architecture. Cheers!

Widmer Captain Shaddock Grapefruit IPA: Named for a certain Captain Shaddock who some credit with bringing grapefruit (actually pomelo) to Jamaica in the late 18th Century. This particular Widmer brew makes use of the experimental GFX-75 hop, whose flavor is likened to grapefruit. And, even more interestingly dried grapefruit peel was added to the end of the boil to accentuate more of the citrus character in this dark amber colored 60 IBU brew. Hats off to Widmer for continuing to try new things and keeping our beer interesting.

Oakshire Overcast Espresso Stout: This award winning beer is available year round from the brewers at Eugene’s Oakshire Brewing. Made with five types of grain and Chinook and Willamette hops, this beer is cold-pressed with locally roasted organic espresso coffee. The result is a bold, dark, roasty coffee brew with additional notes of chocolate and rich maltiness. Perfect for a cold day, its also a great breakfast brew to get you going in the morning.

Double Mountain The Vaporizer: Hopheads rejoice for this beer, that was the first keg to run dry at this year’s brewers dinner. Now a year round offering from the Hood River brewers, The Vaporizer is a pale golden-bodied ale with Pilsner malts and copious amounts of citrusy US Challenger hops. A dry, clean, refreshing finish leaves us wanting more and more!

Cascade Summer Gose: An absolute must have at this year’s Oregon Brewers Festival, Cascade’s Summer Gose is a light quenching tart beer inspired by a tradition originated in the village of Goslar in Lower Saxony, Germany and launched by great popularity in nearby Leipzig. Imagineer Ron Gansberg and his talented staff of brewers utilize the standard high portion of wheat malt in the Gose. Citrus notes and the addition of salt and coriander spice meld to provide a wonderful summer seasonal perfect for the hot days on the waterfront. Look for other seasonal versions of the Gose as the months pass. Each brewed with interesting original ingredients.

These beers are just the tip of the iceberg at OBF. Discover your favorites this weekend at Tom McCall Waterfront Park. For more information on the OBF, visit the website at www.oregonbrewfest.com

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

Wednesday July 14, 2010 offers a lot of options for Beervana craft beer lovers. Here’s a look at where and what you could be quaffing on this fine day:

Upright Reggae Junkie Gruit Release and Meet the Brewers – Upright Brewing has been turning the Oregon craft beer world upside down with some unique and fantastic beers. Since they opened just over a year ago, brewers Alex Ganum and Gerritt Ill have taken imaginative brewing to a new level. Known well for their French farmhouse style brews, on this fine evening at The BeerMongers, the Upright boys release their seasonal noteworthy hops-free herb beer known as Reggae Junkie Gruit. Brewed with a tantalizing blend of lemongrass, sichuan peppercorns, orange peel and hyssop, the gruit is another in a long list of innovative beers that Upright continues to put forth. Also tapping is a grassy loaded-with-hops Bavarian Engelberg Pils. 6-8PM.

The BeerMongers are located at 1125 SE Division Street in Portland, Oregon. For more information, call (503) 234-6012

Cascade Brewing Night at Puckerfest, Belmont Station – Puckerfest rolls on with more tart and wild brews than you can shake a stick at. Cascade brewer and sour champion Curtis Bain presents three very special sour ales on this night: The Manhattan Transfer, special blend of Pale Quad aged in Heaven Hill barrels, Tripel, and Sour Pie Cherry Kriek;  Noyeaux, a blend of Belgian spiced blonds, aged in white port barrels with raspberries and toasted inner pits of apricots used for the Cascade Apricot Ale; and the highly acclaimed dark, puckering, and complex Sang Noir. If you haven’t been by Puckerfest yet this year, what are you waiting for?! 6-8PM.

Belmont Station is located at 4500 SE Stark Street in Portland, Oregon. For more information, call (503) 232-8538.

Imperial IPA Fest Kick-off – Do you love hops? If so, this night is for you. In fact, the next five days are a dream come true for you. With more than 30 IIPAs being tapped throughout the week, Saraveza begins IIPA Fest with a bang. Tapping tonight: Beer Valley Leafer MadnessBlack Madness (a special blend of Leafer and the boisterously lupulin’d Black Flag Imperial Stout), Laurelwood Green Mammoth (debuting!), Oakshire Glen’s Hop Vice, and Ninkasi Tricerahops (gold medal winner at North American Beer Awards 2010). Brewer-owner Pete Ricks of Beer Valley, Oregon’s easternmost brewer, will in be in attendance, as will Laurelwood brewmaster Chad Kennedy. Folks with free tickets will receive a free Saraveza 32 ounce mason jar and get a fill for the price of a pint. Brewpublic is proud to sponsor this event. For more information go to http://brewpublic.com/events.

Saraveza is located at 1004 N. Killingsworth Street in Portland, Oregon. For more information, call (503) 206-4252

Hopworks Happy Hour Beer Pairing – Join Comune Accanto and the brewers of Hopworks Urban Brewery for a special marriage of happy hour delicacies and HUB’s award winning brews.

FRITTO MISTO – Fried shrimp, calamari, fennel, lemon and olives, Hub Lager

ROASTED APRICOT AND ARUGULA SALAD – With pancetta and aged balsamic vinegar, Evelyn Sunshine Imperial IPA

HOUSE MADE RABBIT & ROSEMARY SAUSAGE – With slow cooked sweet peppers ,onions and crispy polenta, Deluxe Organic Ale

TAGLIERINI ARRABIATA – With local porcini mushrooms, chiles and tomatoes, Survival “7 grain” Stout

LOCAL CHERRY AND BLUEBERRY CROSTATA – With basil crème fraiche gelato, Velvet Underground Imperial black ESB

HUB’s famous beer bike will be on hand as well with pint specials. Bon appetit!

Comune Accanto is located at 2838 SE Belmont Street in Portland, Oregon. For more information, call (503) 235-4900

Posted under Oregon beer, beer and food, beer events, beer releases, places to drink beer

There’s lots going on at Upright Brewing in July in celebration of Oregon Craft Beer Month. Every Friday a special barrel-aged beer is to be featured in the tasting room. On July 2, 2010, brewers Alex Ganum and Gerritt Ill tapped a special 14-month barrel-aged Six with Brettanomyces Lambicus. If you missed the North American Organic Brewers Festival, you might want to pay Upright a visit to quaff on a special barrel-aged Seven with hibiscus, rose hips and rose petals. Future Friday barrel tapping will include:

Friday July 16th – Hungarian oak barrel-aged Four with homegrown yarrow and rose flowers

Friday July 23rd – “Old Tom” gin barrel-aged Apricot Anniversary beer

…And there’s even more going on with these guys:

July 12 – Puckerfest

Meet the brewers of Upright at the Belmont Station for their annual week-long sour ale celebration with three special beers from Upright. Proceeds from the event are benefiting Habitat for Humanity. Belmont Station is located at 4500 SE Stark Street in Portland, OR.

July 14 – Gruit debut at The Beermongers

Tired of hoppy beer? Probably not, but come down and check out the first release of 2010’s Reggae Junkie Gruit anyhow, a brew made with lemongrass, sichuan peppercorns, orange peel and hyssop in place of hops. For those of you who need humulus lupulus a keg of our extra hoppy Engelberg Pils will be there. 6-8 pm at The Beermongers located at 1125 SE Division Street in Portland, OR.

Saturday July 17 – Brewing up Cocktails

At The Hop & Vine Saturday afternoon a special selection of cocktails made with beer will be available to enjoy, one of which being made with Upright’s barrel-aged Four with homegrown yarrow and rose flowers. More info can be found at Liquidity Preference and The New School. The Hop & Vine is located at 1914 N Killingsworth Street in Portland, OR.

Monday July 19 – Special keg release at Victory Bar

Starting at 7 pm Monday join Upright at Victory for the special tapping of Late Harvest, the brewery’s newest release. It’s a blend of four farmhouse-style brown ales brewed with spices and matured in Pinot Noir barrels throughout the fall and winter. The eighty cases bottled will be released at the brewery (date TBA) while one of only three kegs will be on tap at the excellent Division street bar. Victor is located at 3652 SE Division St. (37th & SE Division) in Portland, OR.

July 22 – 25 – Oregon Brewers Festival

The last weekend of July as always is the biggest local beer festival, typically during a pretty hot time of the year. To quench your thirst try Upright’s Reggae Junkie Gruit, a special hop-less brew made with a blend of lemongrass, sichuan peppercorns, hyssop and bitter orange peel.  In case you were living under a rock, this event is the biggest beer fest in the Pacific Northwest and on the West Coast! More info about beers at OBF here.

Sunday July 25 – The Hop & Vine Dinner

We’re planning a four or five course dinner paired with some of our farmhouse-style beers for that Sunday evening. Details to come or check with The Hop & Vine.

For more events, make sure to visit Upright Brewing’s official website: www.uprightbrewing.com

Upright’s tasting room is open at 4:30-9PM Fridays, 1-6PM Saturday and Sunday afternoon and also between 6PM

Upright is located at 240 N Broadway, suite 2, Portland OR  (503) 735-5337

Posted under Oregon beer, beer events, beer releases, brewpubs, places to drink beer

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

Posted under Oregon beer, beer events, events

Every Friday in July you can try a special new Upright beer release!

Posted under Oregon beer, beer events, brewpubs, events, places to drink beer