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

This week long Imperial IPA Fest will feature an assortment of special bold hoppy treats, including the brewers who made them.

This night will feature Pete Ricks of Beer Valley in Ontario, Oregon, and Chad Kennedy of Laurelwood Brewing

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

The next Beer Tasting will be July 15th, our guest brewery will be BEER VALLEY from Ontario Oregon.

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

Oregon’s first meet-the-brew pubcrawl was a huge success. The culmination of great people, great beer venues,  outstanding beer, and spectacular weather was the perfect recipe for one hell of a time!

Victory Bar proprietor and barkeep Yoni Laos adds special beers to the chalkboard. You can always count on exceptional beers at Victory, but today was even more special. The pub usually opens at 5pm, but on this special day, Victory opened at noon to accommodate droves of thirsty craft beer drinkers. Brewers Matt “Speck” Speckenbach and Ben Love of Hopworks Urban Brewery (just down the street) were on hand to debut their new For Those About to Bock lager. From Double Mountain in Hood River, Oregon, Kyle Larsen was on hand to showcase his pitchy, booze-a-licious Imperial Choas Double Stout. Lots of other delicious geek-friendly beers adorned the taplines including Le Trappe Isid’or, Mt. Shasta Lemurian Lager, Mikkeller Single Hopped Centennial IPA, and Southern Tier Hoppe Imperial Extra Pale Ale.

After a great reception for the brewers at Victory and an hour and a half at the inaugural stop, the crowd dispersed and headed west down SE Division Street to stop #2 at New Old Lompoc’s Hedge House. The Hedge House is a beloved neighborhood watering hole and dining destination where the delectable beers brewed at two Lompoc breweries can be enjoyed. For this first day of spring, the sun was shining bright and the outdoor patio and lawn seating was a bonus.Pouring at the Hedge House were some brewhouse specialties including Lompoc’s peppery Saison the Beach, a tropically scented Simcoe Survivor Belgian IPA, the 69 Baltic Porter lager, and a handful of other quenching Lompoc brews. Lompoc’s NW 23rd brewery’s Zach Beckwith was on hand to greet the crawlers, many of whom made this their lunch stop as well.

Onward to stop #3 at Bar Avignon where Full Sail Brewmaster John Harris was on hand in his own neighborhood. Harris, a seasoned pro in the brewing industry has been an inspiration to many brewers climbing the ranks. His Full Sail Hop Pursuit was pouring at Avignon. The beer is a vibrantly hopped pale ale with no apologies. Quite refreshing and appropriate for such a day. To make things even better, Fort George brewer Spencer Gotter made the trek in from Astoria, Oregon to greet folks. Fort George’s Vortex IPA, a boldy hopped, yet well-balanced Northwest brew was featured to the delight of the crawlers. Avignon prepared special toasted hazelnuts for the event that went perfectly with the grubbin’ beers.

Finally, the crawl made its way to the stop #4, the last stop, at The BeerMongers. Though the bottleshop and pub has only been around a few months, they’ve been making quite a splash in the neighborhood. On this fine day three breweries were on hand to partake in the festivities. Walking Man brewers Jacob Leonard and Dan Munch made the trip from Stevenson, Washington to exhibit their sought after Big Black Homo Imperial Cascadian Dark Ale and to unveil a special new sour wheat ale known as Foot Funk. From the far expanse of Eastern Oregon, Barley Brown’s owner Tyler Brown and Brewmaster Shawn Kelso made the long haul to deliver two special beers: WFO India Pale Ale and the 2009 Great American Beer Festival bronze medal winning Tumble Off Pale Ale. From even further away, Oregon’s easternmost brewery Beer Valley’s Pete Ricks came through with the debut keg of his new Rosebud IPA. Ricks also brought a special blend of his Black Flag Imperial Stout and Leafer Madness Imperial Pale known as Black Magic. Not a less than killer beer in the whole bunch, this served as the perfect closure to a perfect day.

For more pictures from BrewPubliCrawl No. 1, visit our photo page

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

We knew when we began organizing our BrewPubliCrawl last year that we needed to get Walking Man Brewing on board. Not only are their beers some of the best on planet earth (no exaggeration!), but the names are appropriate and often quite clever. They usually pay homage to humans and our ability to put one foot in front of the other. An apparel item sold at Walking Man’s brewpub in Stevenson, Washington is an homage to their vastly popular Homo Erectus Imperial IPA and reads “Brewed in celebration of being erect for two million years.” Some of their other wittily named brews include Olde Stumblefoot, Perambulator, Somnabulator, Biped Red, Heaven’s Gait, Abbey Road, and Knuckle Dragger.

We are elated to have brewers Jacob Leonard and Dan Munch on hand for the SE Division Street BrewPubliCrawl. These gents and two home run hitting brews will be at The BeerMongers with the likes of Barley Brown’s and Beer Valley. In total, eight breweries and their brewers will be on hand for this event hosted by the four best beer bars on SE Division Street.

Here’s what Walking Man is bringing to the event:

Big Black Homo Imperial Cascadian Dark Ale: We make it a point to  hunt this beer down every time we hear of it’s existence. It’s kind of like Big Foot, the sightings are rare and sometimes out of focus. A spin on Walking Man’s beloved Homo Erectus, Big Black Homo is best described by Leonard as follows:

Big Black Homo is an Imperial Cascadian Dark Ale. It’s an aggressively dry-hopped version of Homo Erectus with an addition of English chocolate malt, and German De-Bittered black malt. We dry-hop with A-LOT of Columbus hops. It’s 8.5% ABV and 100 IBU’s. It smells like oily dank Northwest hops, and has an interesting light chocolate and rich malt backbone.

Also along for the peregrination will be a one-of-a-kind sour wheat brew we helped to cognominate “Foot Funk.” Of this unique specimen, the brewer bids…

“Foot Funk (I like this by the way) is something that we have been working on for about three years. It’s our American wheat ale, Crosswalk Wheat, that has an addition of orange blossom honey, bitter, and sweet orange peel in the kettle, then was inoculated with the Lambic blend of yeast and bacteria, and left to age in an oak barrel. We never really expected anything out of this, but are very happy with the end beer. It’s got strong Brettanomyces aroma, with a slight sour lactic acid “zing.” It’s very light golden color, and has flavors reminiscent of tangerines, peaches, and funky Brett character. It also has a subtle neutral oak character, that balances the acidity. It’s fun and strange, and I am really excited to get some feedback on it. We have about two more kegs of it and are kind of sitting on them, because we want to serve them at something special. Foot Funk is 5%ABV, and 18 IBU’s. Not that the IBU’s really matter.”

Make sure to walk, crawl, jaunt, or stroll over to The BeerMongers for great beer, and pay a visit to Walking Man’s Brewpub, recently named the 15th best in the world by RateBeer.com.

Walking Man, Beer Valley, and Barley Brown’s beer and brewers will be at The BeerMongers (1125 SE Division St.) from 4:30-6pm on Saturday March 20, 2010. For more information visit our events page.

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. The BeerMongers is close to the #4 and #70 bus lines. Pace yourself and have fun! We look forward to seeing you there!

Posted under Beer personalities, beer events, beer releases

As you are probably aware (seeing as how you’re a beer geek reading this), there’s a lot going on craft beer-wise in Cascadia during the month of March. Really, there’s always a lot going on here. It seems the fun never ends. Here’s three can’t miss events that we recommend you attend for the love of great beer.

March 13 Double Mountain 3rd Anniversary Party

One of Hood River’s top three best breweries, Double Mountain, has been turning heads and captivating palates big time. Now just three years deep in the game, they’re throwing a blow out not to be skipped. Starting at noon on Saturday March 13 and lasting until 11PM, there will be lots of great DM beer, an array of great live music, and delicious food. All this under a heated tent outside of the brewpub. Read more at our earlier post here. We’ll see you there!

March 14 Fort George 3rd Anniversary Party

Another spectacular Oregon brewery, Fort George of Astoria, celebrated their third anno the very same weekend. Much like the Double Mountain blast, there will be great food, great music, and yes, great beer. Special musical guests Ma Barley will be performing later on in the evening and will have a special Fort George Jingle to share with the crowd. All of this while Fort George begins to beef-up their production with a newly acquired 30-barrel brewhouse. Check out more on this celebration at the Fort on their blog.

March 20 BREWPUBLICRAWL / Meet-the-Brewers

Okay, so we are tooting our own horn, but this event is really about the art of beer and the artists who brew them. Eight breweries will be providing beers and brewers for this one-of-a-kind event taking place at four of Division Street (Portland)’s finest craft beer pubs. From noon til 6PM (possibly later) eight all-star breweries including Fort George, Double Mountain, Hopworks, Beer Valley, Walking Man, Barley Brown’s, Full Sail, and New Old Lompoc will rock Division Street in SE Portland. For more information, visit out events page.

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

On a Friday we left Portland heading eastbound toward the Southeastern corner of Washington State. As previously mentioned, any trip along the gorge demands a stop at Double Mountain Brewpub in Hood River. Here we visited our friend Charlie Devereux who shared a hoppilicious pint of Killer Green and a sweet and sour snifter of Devil’s Kriek. After this needed pit stop an hour or so out of town, we continued on our way east along the I-84. Hood River is the dividing line where you can see the climate change from temperate rain forest to high desert. Douglas-Fir trees are replaced with Ponderosa Pines and wet green terrains evaporates into pillowing glacial pastels. The town also marks the end of craft beer abundance in Oregon. Dispersed along the Interstate are some great pours such as Barley Browns in Baker City and Beer Valley in Ontario, but for the most part, once you pass Hood River, you will find your self in Bud Country where cowboys and ranchers are as commonplace as tumbleweeds and livestock.

Beyond The Dalles, we crossed the Columbia River into Washington and headed up US-97 toward Yakima past giant wind turbines through a surreal country of breath taking views and rolling colorful hills. From afar the white windmills look minuscule and unimposing, but up close, they are truly domineering and appear as though they are straight out of a sci-fi movie. Jagging through no man’s land past small towns like Goldendale, many familiar names of towns and streets appeared on roadsigns and on our trusty road map. Names like Simcoe and Ahtanum make the mouth water. There was even the idea of the town of (Hop)Zilla being related to a once produced Bert Grant’s double IPA.

Eventually the landscape leveled out as we headed east on the I-82 near Topponish. From here more agricultural impact became evident. Sights of barren hopyards, unharvested corn crops, and the smell of pumpkins and peppers were quite nice. However, further east, the stench of cow and chicken manure was not nearly as pleasant.

As the sky drew its curtain for a fall evening to set in, we approached Sunnyside, Washington, a blue collar farm town with an overwhelming cowshit odor.  We were at least rewarded with the most fabulous and daring beers of our entire journey. Snipes Mountain. Situated in a large log hunting lodge, Snipes Mountain is home to some of the best beers in the Pacific Northwest. Brewer Chris Miller, formerly of the now defunct Pacific Rim Brewing Company in Seattle, has an uncanny talent for concocting some of the most innovative beers we’ve ever had the pleasure of wrapping our palates around. Miller’s Coyote Moon Brown took home a bronze medal at the 2009 Great American Beer Fest. The low alcohol mild ale is a perfect session beer with a full-bodied character. Even better, we came at the right time to quaff on Miller’s Harvest Ale which won 1st Place at this year’s Yakima Fresh Hop Festival after finishing second in 2008 (This is especially noteworthy considering the Yakima Valley is the country’s number one producer of hops). With a delicious bouquet of Simcoe and Citra hops, the highly drinkable floral ale was the zenith of an incredible day.

We were giddy with craft be delight as Miller gave us a special tour of the brewhouse where barrel-aged specialties like an Imperial Coyote Moon aged in oak left a creamy residual on our tongues. There were even some other experimental hop beers we were grateful to sample out of the brite tanks.

Coming soon: Interview with Snipes Mountain brewer Chris Miller.

Posted under beer reviews

For a while there, there was some talk about taking a break on the beer consuming once Oregon Craft Beer Month aka July was over. Well, it seems as though things may have slowed down for a bit following the Oregon Brewers Festival, but with so many interesting events and deliciously innovative brews, there’s really no telling when the fun will end. We don’t suspect it will. Afterall, this is Oregon. Get ready for some hops.

Earlier this month, thanks to Rogue Ales, we were able to get a tour of three different hop farms in the Willamette Valley. A group of beer media folks organized by the kind folks at LAC Communications congregated at the Green Dragon Pub and Bistro in the late morning and set sail down the I-5. Amidst samples of tasty Rogue beers, our first destination was their Independence farm where 250 acres of humulus lupulus is grown. Our propitious and prescient field guide was Dustin Oswald, an employee of the Rogue empire, who showed us around the historic farm where, at one time, 1,000 acres of resinous brewers spice grew to the heavens. In a brief history lesson, we discovered that this very region was once the hops capital of the world. It’s still not too shabby.Currently there are about 6,000 acres of hops grown in Oregon. Farmer John Coleman and his family who manage the Rogue plots in Independence and St. Paul have a stronghold on approximately 20% of the market and are one of the biggest hop growers in the world. In Independence, a half century ago, before the arrival of automated harvesting machinery, some 40,000 to 50,000 people would show up to the farm here to hand pick the hops. Times have changed obviously from the look of things. Today the Colemans run a vast array of farming from grass farming to dairy to beans, hazelnuts, an other vegetables.

An interesting fact about this farm is Rogue’s involvement in all steps of their brewing process from field to bottle. Rogue claims to be the only vertically integrated brewery in America and they could very well be the only one in the world. This hands on approach to their trade has afforded them success worldwide and allowed for the expansion of craft brewing as both a concept and as a practice.

Looking out over the placid landscape, our friend Lisa Morrison noted that hops are “a graceful plant.” And she is quite right. The pace of life out here on the farm is quite relaxed and the Dead Guy Ale tastes a little better.

After leaving Rogue’s Independence farm, we headed northeast to Mt. Angel, Oregon where Annen Brothers and Goschie farms reside. I was family with Mr. John Annen’s dynamic hops operation from last year’s tour I received from Hops 2 You’s Jeff DeSantis. With Hops 2 You, smaller bails of hops are provided to microbreweries like Laurelwood, Upright Brewing, and others. DeSantis and his family also hold a stake in Silverton’s Seven Brides Brewing-Oregon’s brewery with the nearest propinquity to a hop growing site.  DeSantis and his brother Ken were on hand to share some amazing Seven Brides beers on tap while providing a spectacular tour of the facility during the actual harvest. Migrant workers participated in various stages of the process from de-husking to drying. Each year the same families make the pilgrimage from a village in Mexico to assist Annen in these duties. Annen Brother is now five generations of hops farmers deep. The original family moved here from Germany in the late 19th Century. Today, they’ve turned hop farming into both a science and an art. Ten different hop varieties are harvest throughout different periods in the late summer–Tetnanger, Rainier, US Saaz, Newport, Fuggles, Willamette, Cascade, Centennial, Liberty, and Nugget.

While at Annen Brothers’ Farm, in Mt. Angel, our group met with Gayle Goschie of Goschie Farms of Silverton. Similar to Annen Brothers, Goschie Farms has a rich family history of hops dating back to the 1880s. The Goschies have made quite an effort to uphold sustainable practices that make Oregon a leader in the way we approach a balance within our environment. Realistically, growing certified organic hops is quite difficult due to pests and mildew concerns. However, Goschie has allotted a portion of their 300+ acres of farmland to growing them. Perhaps even more noteworthy, is the employment of ecologically mindful practices that make Goschie Farms certified as “Salmon-Safe.” Salmon-Safe is a not-for-profit Portland based organization that certifies fish friendly farms in Oregon’s Willamette Valley and is one of the nation’s leading regional eco labels with more than 50,000 acres of farm and urban lands certified. The key for farms like Goschie is to consider every aspect of planting, nurturing, and harvest to ensure the welfare and restoration of agricultural and urban watersheds. Hops grown at Goschie are used by notable Oregon craft breweries like Deschutes.

Heard it through the hop bine:

Today Deschutes will be picking up fresh hops from Goschie Farms to produce a variety of scrumptiously hopped treat included their Hop Trip. Hop Trip is a seasonalbeer featured in Deschutes’ Bond Street Series available in bottles and on tap at the two Deschutes brewpubs.

Tom Bleigh and Vasilios Gletsos of Pyramid Brewing in Portland made a trip to the hop yards on Friday to collect 100 pounds for fresh Cascade cones for a special Wet Hopped Macs. Bleigh told us that the beer will be racked on September 8 and will be unveiled at the Great American Brew Festival in Denver. Look for it after that at Mac’s Taproom in Portland. Should be delicious!

We spoke to Pete Ricks of Beer Valley Brewing, Oregon’s easternmost brewery in Ontario. Ricks is gearing up for a two special fresh hops beers. Once again you will find specially hopped versions of their monstrous flagship Black Flag Imperial Stout with high alpha Tomahawks and the Leafer Madness Imperial Pale Ale. Last year’s brew featured fresh cones of Columbus hops. “We might switch it up this year” said Ricks. “Last year’s (Black Flag) was really bitter. It took a few months for it to calm down.” Look for these brews in specially stamped bottles in coming months as well as at some area Fresh Hop events on tap.

We have also been informed that Laurelwood is anticipating brewing three wet hop beer including ones with Cascades and Willamettes or Tetnangers.

Matt Van Wyk, brewmaster for Oakshire Brewing also informed us that the Eugene brewery will be brewing three different wet hop ales including “Black, red, orange. Cascade, Nugget, Chinook respectively.”  We can’t wait!

You can check out these hoppy treats at these special tastivals:

• October 3 – Hood River Hops
• October 10 – Oaks Park, Portland
• October 17 – TBD, Eugene

Noon – 9 p.m., Admission is free; glasses are $5, and individual tastes are $1 each.

Also, if you happen to be in Washington State on October 3, you can attend the Yakima Fresh Hop Fest. For more information visit http://www.freshhopalefestival.com/index.html

Posted under Oregon beer

July is undoubtedly the most festive month regarding beer in Oregon, as it is most other places in the Northern Hemisphere. The hot weather this week has beckoned us to indulge in the refreshing brewhas like no other time throughout the year. This week, the weekend started a bit early. The Oregon Brewers Guild Dinner kicked off the week of grand brews on Wednesday. We pulled an early shift in pouring to help out, and were reciprocated by receiving the t-shirt/glass/tickets to enjoy the latter half of the wonderful event. From the pouring end, it was great to see the pillars of the Oregon brewing community congregate to celebrate the freedoms that spawn creative and flavorsome brews unlike those from most anywhere else on the planet. Serving folks like Deschutes Brewmaster Larry Sidor, Fifty Fifty Brewmaster Todd Ashman, Beer Valley Brewmaster Pete Ricks, and Oakshire Brewmaster Matt Van Wyk. Pretty damn cool if you ask me. This who’s who event was pretty fun and the only down side of the pouring portion was people asking for samples without providing tickets.  Still, it was a hoot. On the tasting end, the five tickets I received were redeemed for the following brews:

Double Mountain Red Pilsner, Wakonda Sneaker Wave Imperial Pilsner (I was fortunate enough to snag the last pour from this 1/6 barrel keg…very bold), Ram Big Horn Pauliny Pils (from Salem, very nice!), Upright Flora Rustica (some fool from Shelton Brothers import company said Upright was terrible…more reason to distrust importers), and Rogue’s Maierfest lager (very smooth and enjoyable).

On Thurdays, the early weekend proceeded with a stop at Bailey’s Taproom for a Chuckanut meet the brewer special event. Brewer Josh Pfriem and beer guru Jim Parker were on hand to talk beer and share some phenomenal German-style brews from the Bellingham brewery. On hand for the first time in Oregon was a Dunkel, a Marzen, a Kolsch, and a Helles. Chuckanut also had a Dortmunder on tap at the big fest (OBF) on the Waterfront. Legendary Rogue Brewmaster, John Maier was on hand at Baileys during the Chuckanut event. At this point it was obvious the OBF weekend was getting rolling.

On Friday, Hair of the Dog hosted a special open house event with their rich line-up of brews and a few specialties unavailable to the public until just recently. A Flanders Fred poured alongside a Bourbon-barrel aged Fred. The Bourbon Fred was definitely the buzz brew at this intimate gathering. 2008 Glen Hay Falconer scholarship winner Patrick Murphy tended the taps as a long line of beer geeks awaited samples of the highly sought after brews of Brewmaster Alan Sprints.

After Hair of the Dog, we journeyed over to Belmont Station for a nutsy (in a good way), event. Green Flash’s Brewmaster, Chuck Silva was on hand to share bottle and tap pours of his wonderfully floral hop-driven brews. Boulevard Brewing of Kansas CIty was at the station as well, with lots of delicious offerings, including the summery Single Wide Pale Ale. Carston Haney, head brewer of Alameda Brewing was also at Belmont Station talking about his new dank Imperial IPA, and it was reported that Rogue’s John Maier was at the beer depot earlier on this day. Wow! What a beer undertaking.

On Saturday we were attending a wedding of a dear friend in Vancouver, Washington, where BridgePort IPA flowed like water and the summer heatwave rolled on into the night. After the wedding, we paid a special visit to our friend David Nunez of By the Bottle, Southwest Washington’s premier bottled beer stop, and sampled some great summer beers before catching up with a Heaven and Hell blend involving a 2007 Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA and their 2008 Worldwide Stout. Talk about bold!

On Sunday, we pretty much just chilled out (well, as much as we could with a window-AC unit) and made a quick stop at Upright Brewing’s new tasting room where we hung with our friends/brewers Alex Ganum/Gerritt Ill and caught up with McMenamin’s best brewer Corey Blodgett (now brewing at St. Francis School in Bend, Oregon) and his fiancee Anastasia. Upright will be bottling some of their Shelton Brothers-hated beers on Tuesday.  Brewpublic will be there!

Concluding sunday, a visit to the Horse Brass was needed to sop up more of the phenomenal hoppy brew list of late. This included Astoria’s Bitter Bitch and Stone’s 13th Anniversary Imperial Red. So, as all the outtatowners head back to whereever they are from following this big brew weekend, we smile knowing it is just another day in Beervana. We some riders!

Posted under Oregon beer

Beer Valley's Pete Ricks

Celebrating the second year of his brewery, Pete Ricks of Oregon’s eastern-most brewery, Beer Valley will be on hand at Belmont Station this Wednesday, March 25, 2009 from 6-8PM. I talked to Ricks over the weekend and asked him about the brief history of Beer Valley out in what would otherwise seem like a no-man’s land for beer.  “It’s been good.” he told me. “We doubled our production since last year and expanded distribution into Western Oregon.”

Ricks, a self-proclaimed extreme brewer, hails a monstrously hoppilicious 11% ABV imperial stout, the Black Flag, as Beer Valley’s flagship brew. At Wednesday’s event in Portland, Ricks will unveil a year old Black Flag on draught as well as some special bottles of the brew fresh-hopped and fresh-hopped Leafer Madness, a pale ale injected with copious amounts of floral hops.

I asked Ricks what running a brewery out in Oregon’s eastern high desert, a stone’s throw from the Idaho border has been like. “Everyone in the area has been very supportive.  Other brewers like Barley Brown’s (of Baker City, Oregon) have been making great beer, too.”  Beer Valley has also been getting recognition elsewhere. “Our beer in eight states with about 15 distributors” says Ricks. “We were very well received recently at the Philadelphia Beer Fest.”

So what does the future behold for Beer Valley? Says Ricks: “We are doing OBF (Oregon Brewers Festival) in July with a special super dry-hopped Leafer Madness.  We are also planning to do more in Oregon, Washington, and California.  We are already in California, Yakima, and Tri-Cities, and hope to push more into the Seattle area soon and are working on filling out areas in Eastern Oregon like Bend.”  If you are unable to make it to the event on Belmont Station, a five hour drive to Baker City will allow you growler fills at the production brewery.

For an indepth interview with Pete Ricks from last April, click here.

Posted under Oregon beer, beer events