A long weekend away in the San Francisco Bay Area recharged our beer batteries while allowing us to soak up some much needed sunshine.

Thursday involved trekking out the PDX International in order to fly out to Oakland for a much needed getaway. Before departing, it was necessary to hit up Laurelwood’s airport pub for a a bowl of chili and a delicious pint of the resurrected Workhorse IPA. Not long after boarding a small Alaskan Airlines plane decked out in Oregon Ducks design, the stewardess offered up complimentary pours of Full Sail’s Black Session Lager. After a few cups of this delicious nectar, the landing gear dropped and we touched down at our destination: Oakland International Airport.

The Beer Read More…

Posted under beer reviews, places to drink beer

Day two in Denver brought the opening day of the Great American Beer Festival and the first of four sessions occurring throughout the extended weekend. After getting our media credentials and before heading into the fest at 5:00PM, we settled in across from the Colorado Convention Center at Row 14 (on 14th Avenue) where we enjoyed the tapping of a handful of fresh hopped seasonals. Unique fresh hop favorites of the day included Crabtree Chunkin Pumpkin and Breckenridge Palisade Peach Wheat. Other tasty fresh hop brews pouring were from jockeyboxes such as the grubbin’ Steamworks Colorado Proud Pale. Left over from an earlier event were the beers of Bull & Bush like their Hop Carl session IPA and Captain Midnight Black Saison.

As soon as 5:00PM came, we Read More…

Posted under Beer personalities, Oregon beer, beer events, beer history, beer releases, beer reviews, places to drink beer

While in New England, I had the exciting opportunity to sample some unique brews worth mentioning. On the East Coast, since hops are not in quite the abundance that they are here in the Pacific Northwest, brewers often rely on showcasing other nuances and complexities possible in great craft beer and often pay homage to the Belgian and English practices, yet with their own unique spin on things. Thanks a Read More…

Posted under beer reviews

The hunt for the next best craft beer never ceases for a Brewpublican. In wintry dark days of New England where I am currently exploring, there seems to be another treasure around every corner. After leaving Vermont, I found myself in the commonwealth of Massachusetts on the North Shore with the 2 Beer Guys. Founded by Sean Jansen and Ian Cowpar, I first met these cats through Sean’s wife, my high school friend Amber (the fact that she shares a name with a favorite beer style, as I understand it is simply coincidence). Along with Amber and Sean’s brother Ryan (also a contributor to the 2 Beers Guys blog), I met all these passionate beer geeks at last month’s Beer Bloggers Conference in Boulder, Colorado (on a side note, the next BBC will be held, as just announced, August 19-21, 2011 in Portland, Oregon).

After renting a car in Burlington, Vermont, I made my way Read More…

Posted under beer reviews, brewpubs, places to drink beer

The first time we visited the Great Lost Bear in Portland, Maine, we knew it was a place we would make a point to revisit when back in town. Reminiscent of the U.K.-inspired Horse Brass pub in our Portland it immediately presented an atmosphere exuding great craft beer culture.

Nearly as old as the good ol’ Brass, the Bear has been serving up tasty regional microbrews and artisan imported brews since 1979. About two miles from the city’s touristy Old Port District, the establishment is unassuming from the outside, but within its wall lies a history of Old World style and New World innovation. Bedecked with a plethora of breweriana and inviting beer signage, the Bear’s telltale indicator of greatness is a framed photo of the mighty Michael Jackson upon his visit to this destination for every enthusiast of barley art.

Housing sixty-five taps of wonderful beer, the Bear regularly features four beer engines and a constant supply of unique Allagash offerings. All About Beer Magazine justly claims this establishment to be one of “125 Places to Have Beer Before You Die.” With regular events centered around a love for beer, the Bear maintains a rotating array of Belgian and Extreme Beer selections guaranteed to excite anyone from the newby quaffer to the seasoned connoisseur.

Some advantages the bar offers include a long-standing smoke-free environment and a diverse spectrum of food offerings that cater to both carnivores and strict vegans. The local weekly, The Portland Phoenix, named The Great Lost Bear as having the best burger in the city. They also offer tasty housemade soups and hearty burritos to pair with a frothy cold one.

Upon our last visit, we enjoyed a cask pour of Allagash Black, a Belgian-style stout brewed with German 2-Row barley, torrified wheat and oats, and balanced by a large addition of Belgian dark candy to give the it a full and silky mouthfeel. Roasted malts give this stout its classic chocolate, toast and malty taste, and contribute to chocolate notes and a hint of roasted coffee in the aroma. The Black is fermented with a Belgian yeast strain and refermented in the bottle with the methode champenoise to make this beer truly unique.

Many of the beers offered at the Bear are those brewed in Maine. Tempting offerings here include Sebago Runabout Red Ale, Belfast Bay Lobster Ale, Gritty McDuff’s Black Fly Stout, and Atlantic Brewing Bar Harbor Real Ale. During the warmer months, one can enjoy themselves on the establishment’s outdoor patio. There’s a little something for everyone at the Bear. If you find yourself in Portland, Maine, make sure to pay them a visit. You will not be disappointed.

Posted under beer and food, places to drink beer

While enjoying the stay in New England, Brewpublic had the privilege of visiting Allagash Brewing in Portland, Maine. Here, we discovered a variety of Belgian-inspired beers unlike any others found stateside. At Allagash, we visited with brewmaster Jason Perkins to learn more about the brewery’s success with their mainstay favorites as well as some innovative new brews, including work with spontaneously fermented brews produced in their koelschip (cool ship).

Here is part two of this exclusive interview:

Posted under Beer personalities, beer events, beer news, beers on film

Brewpublic, on a recent trip to New England, made certain to stop at Allagash Brewing Company in Portland, Maine.

As mentioned on their website, Allagash, since 1995 and behind the vision of founder Rob Tod, has brewed a unique variety of traditional and experimental Belgian-style beers made with a dedication to craftsmanship and quality.

All of the bottled beers at Allagash are bottle conditioned. In a temperature controlled cellar, the beers begin a new fermentation process in the bottle and naturally carbonated the brews. Allagash’s focus on traditional Belgian character craftsmanship sets them apart from the majority of American breweries. It is a long, expensive and traditional process that the brewery adheres to in order to put forth an amazing product worthy of admiration from the biggest beer geeks around the world.

While at Allagash, we had the distinct pleasure and honor of meeting with brewmaster Jason Perkins. Perkins, 35, is in his twelfth year with the brewery, and has perpetuated the longstanding tradition of the artisan brewhouse.

Recently, Allagash has made waves in the international beer community by taking their spirit of experimentation to the next level by brewing a 100% spontaneously fermented beer in the tradition of the Belgian Lambics. In December of 2008, Perkins and company brewed the first two of their spontaneously fermented beers at Allagash. In brewing these beers they employed an authentic process paying homage to the classic Belgian Lambic tradition, including the use of a Koelschip (cool ship), which was built on premise, specifically for these spontaneous beers.

The brewery explains:

The process begins with a specialized decoction mash, which utilizes the addition of both two row barley and raw, unmalted wheat. After the mash and sparge, we add aged hops during the boil, which are traditionally used because they impart many of the beer stabilizing benefits of hops without contributing bitterness. The use of aged hops (aged a minimum of three years) necessitates an unusually long boil of over four hours.

After boiling, rather than cooling the beer in a sterile environment and adding a brewer’s yeast culture, the hot wort is pumped to a cool ship in a special room designed specifically to make these beers. The cool ship is a commonly used tool in Belgium, but is rarely seen beyond Belgium’s borders, if at all. It is a large, open tray that is 12 feet long, 8 feet wide and 1 foot deep. Once in the cool ship the hot wort spends the night cooling from near boiling temperatures to about 60 degrees Fahrenheit. To facilitate the cooling process, windows in the cool ship room are left open overnight. The cool Maine air, containing natural bacteria and wild yeast, drifts in and cools the wort. As soon as the wort is cool enough, the natural airborne yeasts and bacteria are able to survive in what will eventually be the spontaneously fermented beer (it is these natural yeasts and bacteria which will ferment the beer, rather than a yeast added by the brewer).

Next, the wort is pumped back into a brewery tank, where it will spend one further day before it is pumped into special French oak barrels. Within one to three weeks, spontaneous fermentation begins in the oak and will continue for over one year. After the yearlong fermentation this traditional beer will age in French oak for at least one more year, sometimes with the addition of fruits, before it is finally bottled.

You may have noticed less of Allagash’s fine beers on the shelf in the Pacific Northwest marketplace. This is related to the overwhelming demand that has brought the focus of their push toward a more localized front. Hopefully in the not so distant future we’ll begin to see more of Allagash’s bottles and kegs seeping their way back into the finer establishments around Cascadia. Until then, you’ll just have to do as we’ve done and pay a visit to the source.

Thanks to Jason, Kate, Naomi, and the entire staff at Allagash for their hospitality and a wonderful tour of the brewery.

Stay tuned for an exclusive Brewpublic video interview with Allagash brewmaster Jason Perkins.

Posted under Beer personalities, beer news, beers on film

After spending three days in the Maine woods, we headed out in search of any kind of craft beer. In Bangor, Central Maine’s most populated region, we made two stops. First, we hit up Sea Dog Microbrewery and Pub, an old haunt from way back when. These days, Sea Dog is owned by Shipyard Brewing Company and most of the production has moved a few hours south in Topsham.  The beers, like many of New England’s classic ales, are brewed with the ringwood yeast. This yeast lends itself to an astringent mouthfeel and often a prominent diacetyl presence.

At a nice location on the Penobscot River the pub featured an assortment of seafood options along with other standard pub fare. In the summer months, Sea Dog’s outdoor river view deck is one of the best atmospheres in town to enjoy a beer.

While at Sea Dog, we tried the newly brewed Summer Ale, a light golden ale with signature butter notes and dry mouthfeel. We also explored a mildly hopped Pale Ale with even more pronounced diacetyl flavors. The last beer ordered, a Hazelnut Porter, for us, was unfinishable. Artificially sweetened with a sugary flavoring and riddled with more diacetyl than the first two beers, this is a beer we’d characterize as a drain pour.

With decent food options and a nice location in the heart of the Queen City, Sea Dog is a brewery we hope will improve their beers because it is one of the first craft breweries we were drinking in Maine.

After catching a baseball game at Husson College in town, we headed back into downtown Bangor to visit a beer stop recommended by old friends. At the Whig & Courier, Bangor’s 2007 choice for best neighborhood pub, an assortment of area beers run the taps as well as a few standards such as Guinness, Bass, Harp, Miller, and Coors. Short of Allagash Brewing, there’s really not much to drool over when it comes to Maine’s craft beer selection where diacetyl is king. At Whig & Courier, named for an old city newspaper, we opted for Geary’s Bangor’s Best, a standard pale ale for the area. Other options were Atlantic Brewing’s Blueberry Ale, Magic Hat’s Circus Boy, a Casco Bay Seasonal, a Shipyard Seasonal, and Marshall Wharf Brewing.

Posted under beer reviews, brewpubs, places to drink beer

At the eastern edge of the White Mountains National Forest, near the shores of Lake Kezar, rests the quiet town of Lovell, Maine. Here, in a restored farmhouse adjacent to a beautiful golf course surrounded by groves of white pine trees, we came to Ebenezer’s Pub. Named for town founder Ebenezer Kezar, Ebenezer’s, run by Chris and Jen Lively, came highly regarded at the upper echelon of beer stops on the planet.  And, it lived up to the hype, perhaps even exceeded it.

Ebenezer's owner Chris Lively pours a beer

Tap after tap of mindblowing and mouthwatering beers left us baffled as where to begin. Chris, our friendly, knowledgeable, and passionate host recommended two outstanding draught offerings: Pannepot 2007, a dark unfiltered sipper with lots sugary dark fruit richness,  and Cambridge Benevolence, a rich chestnut colored beer mildly tart and quite dry from a Brettanomyces inoculation.

Speaking with Chris was worth the travel alone. His mind was a database of craft beer dating back to the 1930s. Halfway through our Pannepot, Chris opened up a less turbid bottled version for comparison. Other great beers we had the fortune of enjoying included a Dogfish Head and Biggoarlo collaboration brew known as My Antonia, a hazy golden-straw Imperial Pilsner with a world of complexity from a variety of herbs used–honey, anise, clover, and chamomile notes throughout the experience.

After Ebenezer’s small crowd locals began to dissipate, Chris kindly offered us an exclusive tour of his KILLER cellar. Was this brewtopia? It sure felt like it. In the understory of the farmhouse, we bared witness to unfathomable beers while we sipped from a rare Allagash #9.  This special spontaneously fermented Koelschip blend was made with local tart cherries and is regarded by Chris as one of his personal favorites. Glowing hazy orange hued with a wonderful tart and malty fruit melange, the #9 would prove to be a highlight of our New England beer pilgrimage.

As much as we wanted to be reporters while at Chris’s fine establishment, we decided to let ourselves go and soak in this once in a lifetime experience. We anticipate returning in the future, but considering how off the beaten path Ebenezer’s is, we’re not sure when that will be. Fortunately we captured some exclusive video of this rare experience. Even Chris manned the camera and provided us with some lighthearted special footage.

After wrapping things up in the wee hours of morning, we were kindly offered board at a gorgeous lakeside cabin in Lovell. Here, three kind locals unveiled another refuge for craft beer lovers. A kind gentleman named Joe, his brother Jim, and their friend Arnold introduced us to Joe’s delicious homebrews served from his very own wood crafted basement pub. Joe also opened some cellared beers for us as well including a bottle of Flying Dog’s Wild Dog, a tart Doppelbock. All of these experiences with these kind folks and these great beers culminated to surpass our already high expectations of  this evening. Is Ebenezer’s truly the world’s best beer bar? Perhaps. Is Ebenezer’s the most passionate establishment when it comes to craft beer? Undoubtedly.

Coming next: a video tour of Ebenezer’s cellar with Chris Lively.

Posted under Beer personalities, places to drink beer

SBS Imports is pleased to announce the arrival of the two newest beers in the De Proef line-up, Van Twee Belgian Ale (collaboration with Bell’s Brewery) and Witte Noire Imperial Amber Wheat Ale.

Van Twee (From Both) is the third beer in the Brewmaster’s Collaboration Series. Previous collaborations included Signature Ale with Tomme Arthur of Port Brewing/Lost Abbey and Les Deux Brasseurs with Jason Perkins of Allagash. Van Twee was co-designed and brewed by John Mallet of Bell’s and Dirk Naudts at De Proef. It is a deep amber-chocolate colored porter-dubbel hybrid, with Michigan sour cherry juice and brettanomyces in the secondary fermentation. Layers of rich chocolate and coffee notes are followed by underlying sweet-sour cherry fruitiness with a long finish. It is reminiscent of the famous filled chocolates of Belgium. It is available in cases of 6/750ml cork-finished bottles and 20L kegs. Suggested retail price is $16.99 per bottle. Alcohol 7.5% by volume.

Witte Noire Imperial Amber Wheat Ale is another unique style interpretation created by SBS’ President Alan Shapiro along with Brewmaster Dirk Naudts. Witte Noire is a companion to the highly acclaimed La Grande Blanche Imperial White Ale, blending darker malts along with wheat in the grain bill. Witte Noire is a rich chestnut brown color with a full tan head. It features light roasted porter-like notes on the front pallet followed by a round, soft middle. Clove-like spice notes dominate the elegant finish. It is perhaps a Belgian interpretation of the classic wheat doppelbock beers of Germany. Witte Noire is available in cases of 6/750ml cork-finished bottles, with a suggested retail price of $9.99. It is 7.5% alcohol by volume.

“Our goal with both the Brewmaster’s Collaboration and Brewmaster’s Collection series is to bring products of unique taste profiles to discerning Belgian beer enthusiasts,” noted Shapiro. “I believe these beers are exceptional additions to De Proef range available in the U.S.”

Highly regarded Belgian brewing engineer and professor, Dirk Naudts, founded the De Proefbrouwerij in 1996. He crafts each batch in an 11HL (9 U.S. barrel) brewhouse that blends state-of-the-art technology with traditional methods. Prior to creating DeProef, Naudts was the Brewmaster at Roman Brewery in Oudenaarde, Belgium and Brewmaster at the prestigious St. Lieven brewing program in Gent, Belgium. SBS Imports is based in Seattle, Washington and was founded by specialy beer industry veteran Alan Shapiro in 2002. IN addition to De Proef, SBS also imports Aspall Cyders from Suffolk, England and Batemans Ales from Lincolnshire, England. More information is available at www.sbs-imports.com.

Posted under beer releases