Celebrate Central Oregon’s Proud Brewing and Distilling Tradition This Weekend At The Little Woody

This year’s beer lovers’ festival to feature bourbon from local and national distilleries

Bend, Oregon – August 30, 2010 – The Little Woody was created in 2009 to commemorate one of Central Oregon’s cultural hallmarks — beer — and it’s back thanks to popular demand. The one-day event drew more than 2,000 craft beer enthusiasts last year to sample brews from local breweries, meet the brewmasters and sing the praises of great beer.

Due to the overwhelming interest, the second annual Little Woody Barrel-Aged Brew Festival will return to the Des Chutes Historical Museum in Downtown Bend — but this time for two full days on Friday and Saturday, September 3-4.

The Little Woody celebrates the ancient barrel brewing technique as adapted by craft brewers in Central Oregon and the Pacific Northwest including Deschutes Brewery, Ninkasi, McMenamins, Three Creeks and Bend Brewing.

Some of the beers these fine local breweries will be slinging include Firewater Red from Three Creeks, made by combining Firestorm Red and an ‘09 Barley wine aged in a Pinot Noir barrel for 9 months, and Barrel Head, the popular McMenamins Hammerhead aged in a Hogshead whiskey barrel for over 4 months and then cold conditioned for another 2 months, resulting in a hoppy ale with a hint of fruit in the nose but a dry and woody finish.

This year the festival will also feature oak barrel-aged bourbons from Basil Hayden, Weller, Jefferson, Bulleit and Evan Williams Single Barrel. The Bendistillery will also be sampling their line of vodka and gin as well as mixing a few cocktails, and a selection of Oregon wines will be available.

WHAT:The Second Annual Little Woody Barrel-Aged Beer and Bourbon Festival, featuring local brews, local bourbons, local food vendors and live music from local favorites The Moon Mountain Ramblers and Portland’s Jack Straw.

WHEN:Labor Day Weekend, September 3 from 5 -10pm and September 4 from 12pm -10pm

WHERE:Des Chutes Historical Museum lawn in Downtown Bend

COST:Admission to the event is $5 or $6 with a commemorative glass. A tasting package is $15, which includes glass, entry and 10 tokens. Bourbon tasting is $30 for six tastes. A portion of the event proceeds will benefit the Des Chutes Historical Society.

The Little Woody would like to thank all of our sponsors for their support to make the Little Woody 2010 a success: Nature’s Whole Food Marketplace, The Source Weekly, Perez Design, Mutineer Magazine and Bendistillery.

About The Little Woody

In the past, brewers served beer that had been aged in oaken casks. Now, brewers are turning to these historical techniques for adding depth of flavor to their beers. The Little Woody celebrates this ancient brewing technique as adapted by American craft brewers, featuring beers aged in wine barrels, whiskey barrels and oak barrels, which uniquely flavors and intensifies the beer. In addition to showcasing the wide variety of barrel-aged beer from local and regional microbreweries, this year’s Little Woody will offer bourbon tasting from some of the region’s finest distilleries. For more info, please visit www.thelittlewoody.com.

About Lay It Out Events

Lay It Out Events is a full service event production company. In addition to producing Northwest Community Bend WinterFest presented by Mt. Bachelor, Balloons Over Bend, The Bite of Bend, and The Little Woody, Lay It Out Events provides event production services and is available for contract events. For more information please visit www.layitoutevents.com or www.thelittlewoody.com.

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

The BeerMongers will be teaming up with many local businesses to raise money for the Oregon Food Bank and have FUN. The Scavenger Hunt will take contestants all around Portland in search of clues to victory and wonderful prizes. Beermonger Scavenger Hunt teams should consist of 2-4 adults (over 21 please). The fee is $20 per person and that includes a limited addition PDX Scavenger Hunt T-Shirt, a raffle ticket, prizes and re…freshments with all proceeds going to the Oregon Food Bank. Registration forms are available on our website www.thebeermongers.com or at the store and the deadline to sign up is September 6th. Here is the schedule for PDX Scavenger Hunt September 11th:

11am to Noon: Sign-in and plan your route around PDX while enjoying a FREE Thomas Kemper Draft Root Beer.

Noon: “Shoot-Gun” Start

Noon to 4pm: Hunt around PDX for clues, solve riddles and acquire prizes, all Hunters must return to the Beermongers by 4pm.

4pm to 5pm: Enjoy some Free samples of Anderson Valley brews while the Mongers volunteers count the points and decide the winners.

5pm: Awards Ceremony! We will be giving out prizes for the three teams that acquire the most points. There will also be a prize for” most creative team theme.” The prizes will include awesome beer, beer related goods, and gift certificates to some of our favorite local businesses.

5:30pm to ??? Party, to the victors go the spoils but maybe they will share!

Samples clues:
1. Take a picture of your team in front of Apex Bar
2. Bring evidence (receipt) for anything purchased at the Hop & Vine on Sept. 11th
3. Find out from the staff of Bailey’s Taproom what the very first beer they ever sold was.

Posted under beer events, events

Well, one of the biggest beer weekends in Beervana has come and gone and we somehow managed to survive. In fact, this year’s Oregon Brewers Festival (OBF) – four days of craft beer-fueled fun (not to mention the largest all-craft beer festival in the country) – broke its own record for attendance this year, according to a Twitter post from festival organizer Chris Crabb. Crabb and company invest a lot of time and care not only into OBF featuring more and more great beers each year, but in assuring continual growth is still able to comfortably accommodate droves of humans at Tom McCall Waterfront Park. In fact, the organizers are already prepping for next summer’s fest, scheduled to take place July 28-31, 2011 (OBF is always the last full weekend of July). Check out some of our photos from OBF here.

This past Friday, we enjoyed a special open house at the new Hair of the Dog (HOTD) digs located at SE Yamhill at Water Street. This was our second glimpse at brewer-owner Alan Sprints’ spacious new brewery since attending Fred Fest this spring. As he’s generously done each year on the Friday of OBF, Sprints and his staff offered samples of HOTD beers including the no hops gourd brew Greg, Blue Dot Imperial IPA, Fred, Adam, Doggie Claws Barleywine, and a special Cherry Adam in addition to a lovely spread of snacks. It was great to see the work that the brewery has put forth including the installation of many brewhouse components and an attractive bar in the front space. We look forward to enjoying more beers here in the near future.

Later in the day on Friday, which was a very warm day, we ventured over to Belmont Station‘s Biercafe for a special event featuring the music of Lagunitas Brewing founder Tony Magee. While folks enjoyed the air conditioned pub space, special Lagunitas brews like Lil Sumpin’ Sumpin’, a wheaten summer IPA, and a delicious Fusion II, described by Magee as a “strong mild ale.” Essentially, it was a 4.5% mild brown ale with a gratuitous helping of West Coast hops.

Also pouring at Belmont Station was a number of specialty brews from Green Flash Brewing of Vista, California. Green Flash brewer Ryan Pearson was in house to greet folks and discuss the featured beers of the night: an Imperial IPA, Barleywine, and two new to Portland brews, a Summer Saison and a Citra Session Pale Ale. The latter was another low ABV beer with a big dose of pungently dank hops.

To make the time at Belmont Station even cooler, 21st Amendment co-founder Nico Freccia was on hand while samples of the San Francisco brewery’s Hell or High Watermelon Wheat ale (a favorite at the OBF), Live Free of Die IPA, Monk’s Blood Belgian Ale, and the new to cans, Back in Black IPA (a Cascadian Dark Ale).

On Saturday, Full Sail‘s Riverplace brewpub at McCormick & Schmick’s held its annual gathering while celebrating the birthday of Brewmaster John Harris. Friends of the brewery, including notable Oregon brewers like Full Sail’s Phil Roche, Ninkasi’s Jamie Floyd, Widmer’s Rob Widmer, Rogue’s Brett Joyce, and Hopworks’ Ben Love, beat the heat with newly released Full Sail brews that included the A Pleine Voile Saison and the Sanctuary Belgian-style Dubbel. Folks were kindly offered seasonal IPAs and the Vesuvius Tripel on tap in addition to buckets filled with ice and two kinds of the brewery’s Session ale in signature stubby bottles. Cigars were passed out and Harris was toasted to a happy birthday song and a big cake.

On Saturday evening The BeerMongers and Brewpublic hosted a special meet the brewers event highlighting MacTarnahan’s Brewing. For this night, Mac’s Amber and Summer Grifter IPA poured on tap while bottle samples of the Lipstinger Saison and brand new Ink Blot Baltic Porter were made available for sample in bottles. Brewers Tom Bleigh, Vasilios Gletsos, Eric Wathen, Ryan Pappe, Steve Fraser, and brand manager Mark Carver were in the house for this fun event. Also in attendance were Boneyard Beer brewers Tony Lawrence and Clay Storey. Look for more Boneyard and Mac’s Beer on tap this week at The Mongers.

Sunday marked the conclusion of the OBF as we headed north to Seattle to catch a baseball game between the Seattle Mariners and Boston Red Sox. As is usually the case when the Red Sox come to Seattle, more Boston fans are in the stands than are Mariners (the M’s being in last place in their division doesn’t help their cause at this point in the season either). Before hitting the game, we visited Elysian Fields near the ballpark. Here we discovered less Elysian brands gracing the taps as in years past. Many guest taps were made available. In fact more guest taps now than Elysian’s own. It was also disheartening to be served beer at a not packed bar in plastic cups. We feel doesn’t appear to exhibit regard for the environment. Still, being offered were the likes of Elysian’s The Wise ESB, Zephyrus Pilsner, Perseus Porter, Dragonstooth Stout, Men’s Room Original Red, Bifrost Winter Ale, Avatar Jasmine IPA, and our option, Immortal IPA on cask.

At Safeco Field, we were excited to discover more craft beer on tap than ever before, most of which was regionally produced. Despite a hefty $8.75 price tag for 20 ounces of brew, it made us happy to be able to decide between more than your typical Bud, Bud Light, Coors, Coors Light, etc, that you see at many sporting arenas. Luckily things are changing for the better in America’s beer world, and leave it to the Pacific Northwest to lead the charge. Beers of interest that we noticed included Lazy Boy Pilsner and IPA, Alaskan Summer and Pale, MacTarnahan’s Amber, Pyramid Haywire Hefeweizen, Sierra Nevada Pale, Hale’s Kolsch, Snoqualmie Grand Slam Amber, Skagit River Skullers IPA, Dick’s Best Bitter, and our pick, Fremont Brewing’s Summer Solstice, a great sessionable pale ale with a big floral hop aroma. A nice thing about Safeco, despite the expected sporting event beer price gouge, is that spectators are permitted to bring their own food into the arena. This helps soften the blow of steep beer prices for those who plan ahead.

After the game ended, and the Mariners took a 4-2 win, we headed back to Portland, Oregon aka Beervana in attempts of surviving the final week of Oregon Craft Beer Month. Cheers!

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

Hopworks Urban Brewery releases their new seasonal What the Helles? during a party at Apex Bar Tuesday night July 13th from 5-9pm. Hopworks brewers will be in attendance with the Hopworks Bike Bar to pour this new seasonal lager. Brewed with Organic Pilsner and Munich malts for a clean, crackery malt flavor and Saaz and Hallertau hops giving it a spicy, grassy hop flavor, this beer is perfect for a long summer session with friends, clocking in at 4% ABV. On the other spectrum of flavor, Evelyn’s Imperial Sunshine (Imperial IPA) will be on the second bike tap. Come by and drink up!

Apex Bar is located at 1216 Southeast Division Street in Portland, Oregon for more information, call (503) 273-9227

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

During a recent twelve day Great Belgium Beer Tour, brewers from Green Flash Brewing Co. of San Diego County, California and Brasserie St. Feuillien of Le Roeulx, Belgium teamed up to produce the first-ever collaboration ale between American and Belgian family-owned breweries. The beer will be called Bière De L’Amitié, or Friendship Brew, and will be released in the United States in this month.

Dominique Friart, Administrator Deputy (C.E.O.) of St. Feuillien, visited Green Flash on a 2009 trip to the United States. Green Flash had collaborated with several U.S. breweries on special ales in recent years with great success, brews many Belgian-inspired ales, and has a great admiration for Belgian tradition. Mike Hinkley, Green Flash CEO, jumped at the chance to suggest the collaboration to Ms. Friart. After several conversations, both parties grew excited about the prospect of this brewing adventure.

A brewing date was scheduled for March 9, 2010. Over the months leading up to the brew, Chuck Silva and Alexis Briol, Green Flash and St Feuillien’s brewmasters, set out to create a brew that would bring together five generations of Friart Family traditional Belgian ale and the cutting edge and innovative brewing techniques used at Green Flash. Chuck Silva said, “Brewing with Alexis at St. Feuillien was a great honor, lots of fun, and I think we created a fantastic brew. This is a convergence of great Belgian tradition and Green Flash innovation.”

Bière De L’Amitié is a Blond Belgian Strong Ale, brewed with St. Feuillien’s traditional yeast and secret spices. For a Green Flash-style modern twist, rye and wheat malts were added to the mash and American Amarillo hops used in a late boiling kettle addition. Then the beer was dry-hopped with more Amarillo for even more hop flavor, aroma and zest. The ABV is 9.5%. The beer will be available in 750ml. cork-finished bottles, and on draught.

Posted under beer releases, press releases

By Sean “Seany Wonton” White

Many Oregonians were recently shocked to hear that a new interpretation of a 30-year-old law has shut down the Oregon State Fair homebrew and home winemaking competition.  Here is an article from KATU.com outlining the recent happenings.

In a nutshell, the law states that homebrew and homemade wine are only legal for the “making or keeping of naturally fermented wines and fruit juices or beer in the home, for home consumption and not for sale.”  This is very vague and simplistic language, but if taken literally (and unimaginatively, in my opinion), someone could interpret that as being legal to brew and drink only in the brewer’s home.

To the average homebrewer or beer geek, it may feel like a Gestapo-like crackdown has occurred in the land of Beervana.  It almost feels like we’ve stepped into a “Bizarro World” where neo-prohibitionism is right around the corner, but the situation is more nuanced than that.  And, what would surprise most homebrewers is that the OLCC is sympathetic to our issues.  They understand the importance of homebrewing as a tradition and an Oregon cultural benchmark. They want to see homebrew competitions take place, and are working to help write new laws that will clarify the old language to support our events.

I spoke with Christie Scott, the Public Affairs Specialist of the OLCC about the situation.  According to her, the OLCC received many inquiries recently from different groups that were organizing homebrew competitions, inquiring as to the actual legality of their events.  One of these was the Oregon State Fair.  The actual legal interpretation of the 30-year-old law was made by the Oregon Department of Justice, not the OLCC. The OLCC then informed the Oregon State Fair that yes, according to the Justice Department the homebrew competition was actually illegal, and the State Fair made the decision not to have the homebrew competition.

Here is a written response from the OLCC on their Facebook page.

Christie Scott says the OLCC is not looking to bust homebrew competitions or clubs for holding events.  But, they operate on a “complaint based” system, and would be required to investigate any complaints they receive.  This could spell trouble especially for any bar or brewery hosting a homebrew event, as it could jeopardize their brewing or liquor license.  This has major immediate repercussions for most homebrewers.  Two local homebrew clubs, The Oregon Brew Crew and PDX Brewers have already sent out notices to members that until further notice, no homebrew is to be brought to meetings.  The OBC Fall Classic homebrew competition has also been canceled this year, and Alameda, the brewery where I work, will have to postpone a homebrew competition that we were planning to hold in September.

A coalition of Oregon homebrew clubs and the AHA (Link: http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/) are working with the OLCC, and state legislators (specifically Representative Mike Schaufler and Senator Floyd Prozanski) to introduce new laws that will allow homebrewers to transport their beers outside of the home. The AHA has experience in legal advocacy for homebrewers (they just helped pass a similar law in Washington last year).  But, the next Oregon legislative session is not until January of 2011.  That means no homebrew comps until next year.  More importantly than the loss of competitions, what will a homebrew club meeting look like without homebrew?  It’s a sad situation, and only time will tell how the clubs will deal with it in the mean time.

Some homebrewers have already decided to take matters into their own hands by organizing events that are not officially affiliated with a club or a business.  I think this is commendable and really speaks to the “DIY” spirit of the hobby.  I hope to see more events organized in homes, and who knows what the lean times may inspire in us?  Maybe certain clubs will shift their events to home or non-business environments for the remainder of the year.  It would be hard to do with a club of 100+ members, but easy to do for a meeting of 20 or so people.

Until next year, I propose that we all just stop peeling the labels off of our re-used commercial bottles.  That ought to throw any law enforcement entities for a loop.

Posted under Oregon beer, beer events, beer news

On July 1st, pint glasses of beer were raised statewide to celebrate the kickoff of Oregon Craft Beer Month. This special 31 day party highlights a year-round phenomenon of abundant craft beer in our fine state. With seemingly countless craft brew-centric events from Astoria to Ashland, Klamath Falls to Ontario, this fifth annual month-long celebration is unlike any other in the world. Perhaps the most notable toast to inaugurate yet another OCBM was a special toast at McMenamins Hillsdale Brewery & Public House coordinated by the Oregon Brewers Guild and president Brian Butenschoen. At this location, Oregon’s first brewpub since Prohibition was opened to the masses. For the July 1, 2010 toast, McMenamins’ co-founder Brian McMenamin was on hand to read words of his late father, himself a lover of beer.

At the McMenamins Hillsdale kickoff several brewers and brewery representatives were in attendance to celebrate the prosperity and growth of their trade that has accounted for a health portion of the state’s economy and livelihood. Last year marked the first year in which Oregon surpassed 1 million barrels, an apparent sign of our continued success and devotion toward craft beer. Oregon ranks in the top five in the country for craft beer produced, consumed, number of breweries, and breweries per capita. In Portland, more breweries exist than in any other city on the planet!

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

After nearly a decade at NE 40th and Sandy Boulevard, Laurelwood Pizza Company, the first public house property in a successful branch of pubs, will be closing its doors for good. The Hollywood District brewpub was at the forefront of the family friendly, organic and sustainably minded model that we see today at their other locations and at places like Hopworks Urban Brewery (HUB). In fact, HUB’s founder and brewmaster, Christian Ettinger cut his teeth putting out some nationally recognized award winning beers at Laurelwood Pizza. Moreover, Ettinger was brewing beer in this space before Laurelwood took over, In over a year prior to Laurelwood’s run began in 2001, the young brewer was producing beers for Old World Pub & Brewery. “I basically started in the ashes of a failed brewpub. I was hired to help develop (Old World).” said Ettinger in a past interview. “It went out of business and Laurelwood opened on the same site and took over the lease. And I represented the landlord for that space just to show the tenants what kind of potential that place had. I saw that it was really underutilized by the former management. You can see what happened with a good operator and with good beer.” In 2003, Laurelwood acquired current brewer Chad Kennedy who brewed with Ettinger and eventual took the reigns at their brewmaster. The addition of Kennedy proved a seamless transition and his role in the company is undoubted as invaluable as anyone’s at Laurelwood.

As it turns out, the current landlord has been trouble for Laurelwood, and this is big part of the decision to move on. Laurelwood co-founder Mike De Kalb says the brewpub signed a 10 year lease with options.  “We never got along (with the landlord) since probably day number 30″ says De Kalb. “It’s too bad, but we’re moving forward.” De Kalb and company recently finalized the sale of Laurelwood Pizza to a brewery from Utah known as Sun River Brewery. After Monday July 5th, 2010, the business will change hands. As a final hoorah and thanks to all of the patrons who made the family establishment a success, Laurelwood will be offering happy hour prices all night.

In a recent newsletter email, Laurelwood made the following statement:

For many of us the original Laurelwood Public House and Brewery on NE 40th and Sandy Boulevard was our first Laurelwood home. We opened in March of 2001 and in 2007 when we took the main production facility and pub up the street, the 40th location became Laurelwood Pizza Company. We have had a great run with so many great memories and great beers! We feel so fortunate that we have made so many friends and literally watch many of our employees and customers children grow up. For nearly ten years you have helped us make Laurelwood a staple in not only the Hollywood District but also all of Portland and we want to say thank you. So this Monday, July 5th from 5pm-10pm we want to invite all of you to come out and raise one last pint of beer with us in memory and in honor of all the great times we had at our original brewery! Thank you all for so many great years!

As you probably know, July is Oregon Craft Beer Month and Laurelwood has a lot planned. De Kalb says two of the biggest events include a firkin and cheese pairing on July 7th at Laurelwood’s NW 23rd Ave Public House and a Luau to happen on July 28th at their NE 51st and Sandy Blvd brewpub.

For a list of more events happening at Laurelwood, visit www.laurelwoodbrewpub.com

Posted under Oregon beer, beer news, brewpubs

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

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