Brewpublic will be heading south this weekend to visit the beer hot spots in Eugene and Corvallis. As expected, the weekend here in Beervana promises a slew of great tasting opportunities that you might regret missing out on. Even if you don’t happen to find a keg much hyped Russian River Pliny the Younger before it blows, you might want to seriously consider making it out for the following pours:

Upright Brewing’s Oyster Stout Release Party

Another weekend has come and gone. This past one involved Spring-like weather in mid-February, something we are lucky to enjoy here in the Pacific Northwest. The cherry trees blossoming and several others budding made it clear that the coldest and darkest days of winter here are finally behind us. This lends itself to better accessibility to better beer. And, as you might expect, we took full advantage of this golden opportunity.

Friday

Friday kicked off with more of the same fantastic weather that would ensue all weekend long. The perennial crocuses made an appearance to soak up the warm sunshine along with a number of other budding plants that had remained dormant all winter. We enjoyed it the same, opening the glass facing on the screen door to let the warmth of this pseudo-spring in.

One of Oregon’s most anticipated brew events kicks off this Saturday. On February 13, 2010, the second year of Zwickelmania, a celebration of craft beer, gives thirsty beer lovers across Beervana an inside glimpse into daily Oregonian brewhouse operations and even better, provides them with tastes of what we love.

Running from 11 am to 4pm, Zwickelmania, in conjunction with the Oregon Brewers Guild, is a free statewide event that offers visitors a chance to tour Oregon breweries, meet the brewers and sample their favorite beers.

Here’s some highlights of this year’s Zwickelmania that we recommend you check out if you get the chance.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but how many beers is it worth? Who knows. Here’s some pictures we took or came across this week that we thought you would like to see. We also included a few words on each.

The Big Three. Taken on a cellphone camera, we ran into three of Oregon’s brewing big dogs. Curtis of Cascade, Alex of Upright, and Brett of Rogue were at Upright’s tasting room before the last Trailblazers home game against Utah. Curtis a Utah native, forgive him, was happy to see the Blazers fall to his Jazz. Alex was pouring his unique Turkey on Rye brew, a sour chili and chocolate beer unlike anything we’ve ever had.

Separated at Birth? Two great beer minds and all around jovial dudes . We made a visit to Saraveza for a special meet the brewer event featuring Matt Van Wyk of Eugene’s Oakshire Brewing. The brewery brought their new Smokin’ Bagpipes Scotch Ale, Two Wheeler Red IPA, and other delicious faves like Very Ill-Tempered Gnome and Collaboration Eviler. These were served by Van Wyk’s long lost cousin Jonathan Carmean aka Oregon bartender of the year.

The Elder: Tyler the Elder is one of the best barkeeps of all-time. Filling out the all-star line-up of Saravazian sluggers, the Elder and Jonathan Carmean are like the Bash Bros from the Oakland A’s in the 1980s (sans the steroids). Having great beers is not all it takes to run a cool bar. Having a cool atmosphere with great staff is what sets Saraveza ahead of the pack. Thanks for the Sang Noir, sir. Respect your elders.

Only in Portland (in the US): Whilst traipsing about the streets of Southeast Portland, Oregon, I noticed this empty bottle of Kasteel Rouge off the sidewalk by a convenience store. At first I thought it must be a bottle of Mad Dog 20/20 or some ghetto booty liquor, but lo and behold, it was a bottle of Belgian joy. I don’t think I’ve seen a bottle of Flemish Red just tossed to the side like this. Cheap beer and empty potato chip bags, sure, but this is a bottle I’d keep in my window sill for a while in remembrance.

Dog’s Digs: We stumbled across this photo on Alan Sprints’ Facebook page. Sprints is the founder and brewer of Hair of the Dog. The brewery is moving to a new close-in Southeast location. Looks like there’s a lot of work a head for the esteemed brewery, but it looks like there will be plenty more space to do what they do best.

Four Play: Upright Brewing have been turning a lot of beer geeks’ heads lately. Brewers Alex Ganum and Gerritt Ill have seemingly boundless imaginations when it comes to recipe creation and flavor development. This week a special soured version of their wheaten Four Ale was drawn from Pinot Noir casks where added cherry fruit gave the brew a one-of-a-kind profiile. It was then bottled for further conditioning. Look for a special keg of this beautifully tart beer at Brewpublic’s upcoming My Beery Valentine event over Valentine’s Day/Zwickelmania weekend (February 13 and 14). Super limited bottles will arrive in future months as well. Stay tuned.

Super Jubel: Once every ten years Deschutes Brewing releases the Super Jubel, a jacked up rendition of the brewery’s beloved winter warmer ale. We saw this picture from a post on Deschutes’ Twitter page and it made us smile.

Friday: Cascade’s Deluge

Where o where to begin? Another great weekend in the books. Thanks to the much appreciated Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, it resumed until Tuesday. Friday was the second straight bottling day over at Cascade Brewing at the Raccoon Lodge. Here, Ron Gansberg and a small ensemble of beer geek henchmen bottled up 500 cases of this year’s Apricot Ale in 750 ml bottles. The tart and resonantly fruited beer is brighter flavored than last year’s batch without losing any of its vibrant olfactory luminosity. Still, the beer needs some time to condition. According to Gansberg, about a year and a half.

As always here in Beervana, the weekend was chock full of wonderful brews to enjoy. For us, we were lucky to also enjoy said brews with great folks who live and breathe craft beer here at craft brewing’s epicenter.

The weekend sometimes starts on Thursday (heck, sometimes it never really ends), and this past one was such a doosie.

On Sunday January 10, 2010, Upright Brewing will be unveiling their latest in a series of limited bottling releases. This time it is a highly anticipated traditional old ale known as “Billy the Mountain.” For the relatively new brewery it is batch number one. Billy was brewed in March 2009 and has matured in PinotNoir barrels along with with a special strain of Brettanomyces yeast (Claussenii). According to Upright founder Alex Ganum, only 50 cases will be available. Since a cease and desist order was placed on Lagunita’sPetaluma, California, who featured a series of beers named for Frank Zappa albums and depicting their artwork, Upright remains the only Zappa-inspired beer on tap anywhere. The label for Ganum’s brew, like his others, was designed by Ezra “Samurai Artist” Johnson-Greenough. Says Ganum “We just brewed the second batch last week and will likely have it ready sometime next year.” Brewing of

In addition to this bold barrel-aged old ale, Upright is also releasing their German-inspired Gosebier. Folks who attended Brewpublic’s Portland Brewers Gose Tasting at Victory in December were able to get a sneak taste of this wonderfully unique beer. Gose is an unusual German style of beer brewed with 50% malted wheat and is slightly soured. The Gose also makes use of coriander and salt to provide a distinctly quenching light alcohol (around 4 or 5% ABV)referesher. For more on Gosebiers, check out an earlier post here.

Americans have always been ahead of the pack when it comes to extremism, excess, and imagination. Our craft beers are no exception and our passion for those who strive to develop new and innovative brewing techniques and recipes goes unmatched. Here is a look at some beers with the spirit of ingenuity and fearless adventurousness that might not appeal to all, but will intrigue those,like us, who have an appreciation for creativity.

New Belgium Tart Lychee: Hats off to the work this Fort Collins brewery has done with their Lips of Faith series, a line-up wild yeast beers. Unfortunately, many folks think of Fat Tire from the mainstream brands of this brewery when they

The people have spoken. Here’s what some brewers, beer geeks, and bloggers have to say about the best beers of 2009.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Sarah Pederson – Owner, Saraveza Bottle Shop & Pasty Tavern. Portland, Oregon.

Those of you who read this site and do not frequent Jeff Alworth’s Beervana blog are likely few and far between. Alworth’s knack for words reveal a truly mindful respect for craft beer. The Satori is his year-end award allocated for a singular beer that shines above the rest in the readily available Oregon marketplace. After staging a public poll for which he takes his readers’ tastes into consideration, Alworth crowns a champion. This year, unsurprisingly, his declaration heralded the fabulous work of Alex Ganum end company at Portland’s Upright Brewing.

With any beer preference polling, you can count on campaigning and ballot-stuffing, but in the end, it was Alworth who made the final stamp. As unsurprising as a single brewery claiming multiple people’s choice awards in the pages of Northwest Brewing News, or the fact that Ashville, NC could actually challenge Portland, OR for thee “Beertown USA” (still laughing about this one), you can count on a push via social media to sway the projected public opinion relating to such superlatives. Thank goodness, our man, Jeff, had good sense to disregard such clicksmanship. He writes:

Four is a truly original beer, though its lineage is long. I suspect that a time-traveler could take this beer to Southern Belgium in the 1880s and, with its wheat and lactic zing, it would be recognizable to the locals who loved tart, rustic beers. Nothing like it is regularly available in Oregon, and it is a great addition to our slate of regular beers. I’m pleased to call it my Satori Award winner for 2009–and I hope it will continue to be brewed here for a good, long time.