Schwarzenfreude is a first-ever collaboration brew with the Pelican Pub & Brewery and Gigantic Brewing Company. Founded by former Pelican brewer Ben Love and Van Havig, Gigantic is a new brewery scheduled to open in SE Portland this Spring.

Schwarzenfreude was designed and brewed for the Read More…

Posted under Beer personalities, Oregon beer, beer releases, brewpubs, press releases

Beer Release

Kronan the Bourbarian

Bourbon Barrel-Aged  Baltic Porter

Monday, February 14th – 5pm

Deep like the Baltic Sea and as massive as the Swedish ship Kronan sunk in its icy waters, our Bourbon Barrel-Aged Baltic Porter emerges from the depths after being stowed away for a year in Buffalo Trace Bourbon barrels.  This beer brings to the surface a frothy tan head and rich aroma combining malt notes of chocolate, caramel and dark fruit with the essence of vanilla, smoke and oak of Bourbon.  Made with bottom fermenting lager yeast, Kronan the Barbarian is as rich and strong as an Austrian actor but with more complexity.

19 Plato        9.2% ABV     25 IBU

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

Join us at Sidebar this Friday from 4 to 10 pm as we release Batch 69 Baltic Porter on draft and in 22 oz bottles. This strong, dark beer has hints of chocolate and black licorice. It was brewed with a lager yeast strain, giving it a much cleaner, smoother finish than a traditional porter. It weighs in at 7% ABV. Bottles retail for $5 in house.

Also on tap at Sidebar this weekend: Franc’ly Brewdolph, Dry Hop Condor, Pre-Dawn Imperial Stout, Upsetter Belgian Barleywine and C-note, plus free appetizers.  Sidebar is located at 3901 N Williams Ave – see you there!

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

About a year or so ago, a longtime  Mainer friend of mine informed me of a little brewer in Down East Maine that I ought not to miss out on. Spending the past few weeks in the doldrums of Dover-Foxcroft in Central Maine, I’d grown accustomed to the bite of a cold wind, an impending degree of snowfall, and the blinkered terrain of limited craft beer offerings. A a few days of unremitting cold, wind, and flurries,  the weather finally halted and I set off with my father to the seaport village of Belfast to encounter the offerings of Marshall Wharf Brewery.

Established in 2007, Marshall Wharf has more than filled the void that now that Belfast Bay Brewing Company left (ShipyardBrewing now produces the brand out of town). Spearheaded by craft beer visionary David Carlson, Marshall Wharf has turned to a team of brewers headed by former Belfast Bay brewer Dan McGovern to put forth some of Maine’s finest spectrum of delectable brews. Here, a stone’s throw from the harbor by Belfast’s charming colonial downtown, Marshall Wharf’s handy 7-barrel brewhouse roils forth some flavorsome cutting edge beer tipples.

At Marshall Wharf, we met with the amicable Carlson, production brewer Jared Mahrunic, and a staff of clued-up and inspired folks offer a range of modern and traditional beer styles that appease both the furrow browed fisherman, and the progenies like those who subscribe to Brewpublic’s venturesome outlook. About an hour-and-a-half drive where I’d been staying in the shiretown of Piscataquis County, Belfast’s lone brewery announced the New Year’s release of a special barrel aged Cant Dog Pale Ale constituted of 25% barrel aged beer and 75% fresh ale, exercising a portion of two year old esterous brew laid down in twelve year old Elijah Craig bourbon casks. In addition to Cant Dog, Marshall Wharf will be releasing two other bourbon-aged ales.

Carlson, obliged my aspiration to sample this spectacle slated to be unveiled to the public on New Year’s Day 2011 by offering up a taster of this divine potion. Rampant with compounded notes of caramel, vanilla, wood, and bourbon, the beer, was by some standards young, yet immediately gratifying. “Barrel aging has become a hot trend” says Carlson. “ We had the opportunity to get some decent bourbon barrels. And though blending is new to us, we’re quite pleased with the result. And it is easy to taste why. Carlson says that Marshall Wharf has served beer enthusiasts from New Hampshire and Massachusetts who are becoming more and more aware of the beers at his quaint 400 square foot brewery. Well known Maine craft brew outposts such as Novare Res and the Great Lost Bear in Portland, Maine have opened tap space to Marshall Wharf’s patent biddings.

Unlike many traditional Maine craft breweries, Marshall Wharf steers clear of exhausting English yeast varietals like Ringwood and Nottingham, and have opted for a mellifluous and fruity Chico ale strain while tinkering with divergent Belgian sorts. Next door at Carlson’s Three Tides Restaurant and Bar, a Marshall Wharf’s inventiveness runs the gamut of savor with about 25 mainstay, migratory, and chance-taking pickings.

A sampler tray at Three Tides exposed the likes of Read More…

Posted under Beer personalities, beer news, beer releases, places to drink beer

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

For several years, a group of brewers have been brewing unique, distinctive beers in an experiment of sorts that aims to demonstrate the diversity in brewing styles, techniques, and ingredients. Todd Ashman of FiftyFifty Brewing Company, Truckee, CA initially created the Collaborative Evil group with industry friends Zac Triemert Co-President and Co-Founder of Lucky Bucket Brewing Company, La Vista, NE and Matt Van Wyk, head brewer for Oakshire Brewing Company, Eugene, OR. This group did not collaborate in the way other groups have worked together in the past. They simply agreed upon a specific beer style and would each incorporate their own unique ingredient or technique in their respective brews. No parameters or recipes were set and the results were interesting, diverse, and delicious. The beers were then entered into the Great American Beer Festival, the most prestigious beer competition in the country. The goal was to earn medals of course, but also to give festival goers a glimpse into how each brewer has his own style and interpretations in the world of beers.

Over the years, the group has grown to include a total of eight brewers from across the nation. Unique ingredients or techniques have included exotic sugars, a variety of honeys, and wood aging. At the GABF, the response has been positive from judges and festival-goers alike, there has even been a Bronze medal awarded to one of these entries. An enthusiastic crowd has been seeking out each brewers Collaborative Evil brew and appears to be quite fun for those who set out on the search.

This year, the brewers have agreed to create an Imperial or Baltic Porter. This style is characterized by big rich malt and roast character (or not in the case of Baltic) and higher alcohol content than other styles of Porter. This year’s style will lend itself to complex beers with Read More…

Posted under Oregon beer, beer events, beer news, beer releases

After recently returning from New England on a fun filled beerhunting adventure, we were pleased that our bounty of bottled acquisitions arrived, like us, safe and sound. Of course, to make room for two big boxes of beer, we needed to do a little spring cleaning. With the beer fridge stocked to its maximum capacity and the boxes in our cellar toppling one another, we decided the best option for us would be to invite a few friends over to help us tipple away the surplus.

Down into the understory of our home where spiders keep watch of cellarable beer safely resting in a cool, dark environment, we filed in, one by one, until upwards of ten of us made it in. Previously this evening we’d started a fire in our backyard, but unwittingly wound up congregating in the most unusual nooks of our abode. With trusty tap deck and dusty old mixtapes from a past era, we had the simple pleasure of dwelling in a space that brought to mind adolescence…except for the part about the craft beer.

Of course, the guests brought some choice offerings of their own, so addition quaffing was in order. At one point the mini tastival developed into a Saison event before transgressing into a showcase of Baltic Porters. We knew we could count on the Oregon Beer Odyssey‘s Ben Edmunds to provide some choice libations, as well as the Daily Pull‘s Brady Walen and Jessica Pickul. It was a great opportunity to catch up with friends we felt like we hadn’t seen in eons and meet kind folks we look forward to sharing more great beers with in the future. . Though we had only been gone two weeks, being remiss of the Pacific Northwest’s unparalleled atmosphere of people and brews made it seem like an eternity.

As might be expected, as hearty beer flowed, inhibitions waned and more stowed away bottles where un-topped. The fire we built in our backyard burned alone as we found our sanctuary in the dirt-walled depths of our trusty cellar.

“If the roof fell through, I would be happy. If the plumbing piping broke, it would be a different story.” -Jessica

Posted under beer reviews, places to drink beer

Brewpublic has just received news of what beers New Old Lompoc will be providing for thirsty crawling for this Saturday’s BrewPubliCrawl at their Hedge House location.

The beers at the Hedge House will include: Batch 69 (a Baltic Porter), Saison the Beach, Old Tavern Mouse (a small beer version of the Old Tavern Rat), and a vintage keg of Simcoe Survivor Belgian IPA.

Brewer Zach Beckwith from the NW 23rd location will be on hand to meet and greet the crawls when they arrive.

The New Old Lompoc Brewers (Zach Beckwith in yellow)

The Hedge House is also a great stop to grab some food if you get hungry and also has a great outdoor patio. The weather is expected to be sunny and about 70 degrees Fahrenheit!

If you are planning on attending the BrewPubliCrawl paying in cash would really help the bars and save time for everyone. Please know your limits. There’s a lot of beer to be had. Make arrangements in advance if you need a ride. Designated drivers, taxi cabs, and public transportation are encouraged. Pace yourself and have fun! The Hedge House is only the second stop of the crawl. We look forward to seeing you there!

The Hedge House is the second stop of the crawl and is located at 3412 Southeast Division Street. Meet brewer Zach Beckwith here between 1:30-3PM Saturday March 20, 2010.

Posted under beer events, beer me, beer news

Zwickelmania weekend was awesome! Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough time to visit every spot that we wanted to. Still, we did hit up some favorites. Here’s what went down:

Heater-Allen at Bailey’s Taproom

Our weekend began on Thursday at downtown PDX’s best beer bar, Bailey’s Taproom, where a special meet the brewer event was underway. McMinnville, Oregon’s Heater Allen Brewery owned three taps on this night. Arguably the finest lager producing brewer in the Pacific Northwest, Heater Allen’s Rick Allen was on hand for the release of his brewery’s Hugo Bock. In addition, Allen’s Bavarian-inspired Schwarzbier and Pilsner were also pouring. Allen told us that his Smoked Bob, a rauch version of his esteemed Bobtoberfest Marzen was to debut at the brewery during Zwickelmania weekend. The brew will make its Portland debut at a meet the brewer event at Belmont Station on March 10.

Cascade Brewery at the Raccoon Lodge

We made an early Friday visit to the Raccoon Lodge to try some delicious new beers. Highlights: Spring Gose that featured chamomile and two different kinds of lavendar from Sequim, Washington; the lastest Apricot Ale on tap in at the bar; a piquant saison; and a special Noyeau blend put together by brewmaster and friend Ron Gansberg. The esteemed Curtis Bain was also on hand, as was brewer Ben Edmunds of start-up Breakside Brewery. We have yet to visit Cascade Brewing without having one hell of a good time.

Full Sail River Place

This was our favorite from 2009′s Zwickel-fest. This year’s tasting was solid, but unlike the previous one, there was no ten year old bourbon-aged Old Boardhead Barleywine. Still, there was a great brown ale, the latest in their Brewers Share Series called Collin’s Dark Secret.. The chocolaty robust ale was designed by Full Sail packaging manager Collin Godkin and paired excellently with shaved Belgian chocolate that was offered. Seasoned brewer Phil Roche was on hand to talk beer. Free pint glasses were given out as well. Good times!

Rock Bottom Brewery

Speaking of seasoned brewers, there’s none quite like Rock Bottom’s Van Havig who was on hand pouring four grubbin’ beers off the RB zwickel. Havig, one of Beervana’s finest, offered up two IPAs, featuring Cascade and Centennial hop varietals. RB’s Blitzen Tripel and a new Baltic Porter also flowed in the upstairs brewhouse. Rock Bottom is the kind of place where many beer geeks might not visit due to the preppy clientele, but for the real heads who appreciate superbly crafted beers that span a variety of styles,  it’s  a must visit.

Deschutes Portland Pub

Forget about it! This place emphasized on the “mania” in Zwickelmania. Insanely long lines warded us off from joining the queue for free samples. Last year we enjoyed getting a close-up peak at Deschutes’  beautiful Bavarian-style copper brew kettles. Instead, we linked up with uber-geeks Charles and Theresa Culp and Marc Martin over a snifter of the Jubel 2010 and a pint of their new Hop in the Dark Cascadian Dark Ale (actually labeled as such instead of a Black IPA, yeah!). We also ran into The Daily Pull crew who joined us for our last stop on the Zwickel tour. If you haven’t check out Brady Walen’s new beer blog, you need to. It’s a wonderful resource for those in search of Pacific Northwest craft beer insight.

NW Quimby Lucky Lab

We biked over to one of Portland’s best brewpubs to visit Ben “Grandmaster Flerch” Flerching who was giving thirsting beer tourists a glimpse into the 15-barrel brewhouse of Quimby’s Lucky Lab. Samples of the Single Hop Galena IPA and the Pavlov Imperial Stout. Spectacular! Also got a taste of a special new quadruple IPA called Son of Gold Yeller that was a pleasant accident aka double Super Dog . Look for it at the Barleywine & Big Beer Fest coming to the brewpub in March!

Brewpublic and Saraveza’s My Beery Valentine

Serving as a Zwickelmania after party, the My Beery Valentine event welcomed a healthy gathering of beer geeks to a benefit to raise money for Mercy Corps Haitian Relief. The Saturday and Sunday event was a huge success thanks to the friendly, knowledgeable, and hardworking staff at Saraveza. Northwest Brewing News’ Bartender of the Year Jonathan Carmean and the lauded Tyler “the Elder” Vickers were amongst the celebrity servers on hand at this event. Brewpublic curated an assortment of Valentine’s Day appropriate beers from top Oregon Breweries for this one-of-a-kind menu. Highlights included Upright Four Play tart cherry Saison, Cascade sour Noyeau blend, New Old Lompoc bourbon barrel fermented Cherry Stout, Vertigo Razz Wheat, Oakshire Two-Wheeler Red IPA, Widmer W’10 Cascadian Dark Ale, Fort George Sunrise Oatmeal Pale Ale, and the buzz  beer of the event, a delectable Black Raspberry and Chocolate Stout from Block-15 Brewpub known as Love Potion #9. Thanks to owner Sarah Pederson and her lovely staff for a wonderful weekend! A portion of the beer sales and a variety of generously donated desserts from Sugar Pimp and organic chocolate from Equal Exchange helped raise a nice chunk of change for Mercy Corps Haiti Relief Fund. Thanks to all who supported!

Posted under Oregon beer, beer events, beer reviews

It’s not easy being a beer nut, but sometimes it can be fun as hell. Gettin’ geeked out on seasonals, one-offs, and, in general, brews I’ve never had before, is what it’s all about. Granted, the liver takes a toll for rewarding the palate, but in the end, it’s as publican Don Younger once said “It’s not about the beer, it’s about the beer.”

So, amidst scrambling about to shore up the final touches on Brewpublic’s big weekend, we performed a bit of quality assurance work. After a night of merriment…I mean Q.A. in the garage with Bailey’s owner/publican Geoff Phillips, the next morning was again filled with obligatory beer hunting.

Our first stop was Deschutes Brewpub in Portland where we picked up a couple cornies of beer for the weekend. Cam Cameron delivered us a barrel of King Cone Wet Hopped Pale Ale for our Brewniversary event at Saraveza, and one of the sticky Hop Henge #6 for our KillerBeerFest at Bailey’s.

After shoring those up, we returned to Bailey’s to drop of keg and Geoff. There we bumped into Dylan Goldsmith of Captured By Porches, who was providing the pub with one of the best named brews around, the Invasive Species IPA. Here, the brewer who recently made his brewing abode in St. Helens, Oregon, literally gave me the shirt off his back. If you haven’t seen CBP’s new label design and t-shirt, you must. It is quite artful.

After our stopover at Bailey’s Brewpublican Jay and I dipped over to Amnesia to sample a freshly brewed Goldy Hops fresh hop brew. Simply delicious and picturesque was this unfiltered beer that shortly sat illuminated in the afternoon sun beaming down on the brewpub’s beer garden. After our quick brews, we grabbed a keg of Copacetic IPA and headed north to Saraveza to deliver the Deschutes keg.

At Saraveza, we met with head pasty chef Spence Lack. One of the nicest guys around, we were obliged to no lack of suspense with a sampling of some of the great beers that Saraveza had on tap. This included a lavendar infused Ninkasi Transcendence Ale, Cascade’s Prequinox IPA, BridgePort’s Hop Harvest ’09, and a robust Bear Republic Heritage Scotch Ale. All of these were excellent.

Even further north across the Columbia River in Washington, we paid visit to our pal Arlene Nunez at By the Bottle to pick up some collaborative beer coasters. While we were there, we though it was only fitting to stock up on several bottles of fabulous hand crafted beer. Southern Tier favorites like Creme Brulee, Cherry Saison, and Pumking were obtained alongside other heavy hitters such as Victory’s Baltic Thunder Porter, Dogfish Head’s Theobroma cacao brew, and some other palatable knick knacks.

After returning from beer paradise, we partnered up with our boy Matthew DiTullo who has been diligently working on a video art piece for Brewpublic’s Brewniversary event to quaff and film. Back at the bat cave we unlidded said Southern Tier and Victory brews and I dragged some Northwest favorites from my cellar. Many money shots were captured and a great session of high quality grog was enjoyed. We even made room for a special pour of the Murai Family’s Nigori Genshu Sake. It kind of urks me when people use texting language for effect (e.g. LOL, BRB, etc) but all I can say about this day is OMFG!  TTYL.  -Angelo

Posted under beer me