What a weekend! Late summer afforded Beervana more great weather after dropping about two inches of rain over night earlier in the week. Thankfully, the hops are looking healthy still, and as the daylight hours grow ever-shorter, the incomparable feeling of fall and all its festiveness begins to unfold.

Friday we got a sneak peak of Cascade Brewing’s Barrel House soon to open at the corner of Southeast Belmont and 9th Avenue. The pub will be the first of its kind featuring several sour beers on tap. Upon our inspection of the handsomely decorated new taproom, twelve delicious sours were ready for tapping, many direct from the barrels. These included Sang Noir, Bourbonic Plague, Vlad the Imp Aler, Summer Gose, Winter Gose, Nightfall Blackberry Ale, and more. Brewmaster Ron Gansberg provided us with wonderful samples from the barrel side of things that included a new Blueberry ale scheduled to be blended with a sweet wheaten base beer with a multitude of complexity. Gansberg informed us that Cascade’s focus will be to highlight the wonderful array of ingredients signature to the Pacific Northwest, especially locally grown fruit varieties. According to Cascade, if all goes as planned, the Barrel House might be open for business as soon as Read More…

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

What could be better than the kickoff of fresh hop season in the Pacific Northwest? How about a pint of freshly brewed fresh hop India Pale Ale for free. That’s right, the generous folks at Rock Bottom Brewery in Portland, Oregon treated customers to a free pint (and an honest pint no less!) of brewmaster Van Havig and company’s latest release. Havig says “We used Centennial hops this year, and the beer has a surprisingly subtle hop depth, but with plenty of hop kick.”

Oregon’s official Craft Beer Month may be July, but for those of us who treasure the natural bounties that hop harvest season can provide, there really is no time of year like September and October. Then again, there’s always something special beer-wise here in the heart Cascadia. Beervana is certainly the greatest beer city on the planet. If you’re bummed out that you won’t be attending the Great American Beer Festival this year, just relax knowing you live in Oregon where there’s beers other regions only dream about while enjoying a fresh hop beer from your back yard. Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz was right when she said “there’s no place like home.” Especially when there’s about 45 commercial craft breweries there.  Cheers!

Portland’s Rock Bottom Brewery is located at 206 Southwest Morrison Street in lovely downtown Beervana.

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

Many of you may be aware by now that I’ve been taking a little break from drinking beer. Yes, Oregon Craft Beer Month aka July was quite an intense experience and I’ve found it helpful to set aside one month a year to let my liver, kidneys, lymphatic system, and blood cleanse a bit before gearing up for the action packed harvest season that encompasses Oktoberfest and fresh hop events. We’re also jazzed about next month’s Microhopic 2 and October’s 2nd Annual our KillerBeerFest and Brewniversary parties that will undoubted reveal a scope of beers worth saving up for.

Being on the wagon doesn’t mean that beer is not still at the forefront of our daily lives. No sir. In fact, a few sips here and there are always allowable. A good example was last Thursday when our friend Theo showed up at The BeerMongers with a growler of Russian River Hop Father that returned with him from the source in Santa Rosa, California. Somewhere in the middle of the brewery’s Blind Pig IPA and their holy hyped Pliny the Elder IIPA, Hop Father managed to extract the most from each lupulin gland in true Russian River fashion. A nip of this beer set in front of me could succeed in satisfying me by smell alone.

On Saturday we rounded up a herd of beer geeks to serve as a judging panel for Blitz Bar’s 2nd Annual Brewers IPA Challenge. In fact, the event was a double IPA challenge featuring 13 imperially hopped-out samples. Fellow celebrity judges included the Oregonian’s beer writer John Foyston, the Oregon Brew Crew’s award winning zymurgist Bill Schneller, Belmont Station manager Neil “Captain” Yandow, Breakside Brewery and Oregon Beer Odyssey beer guru Ben Edmunds, and bloggers Ezra Johnson-Greenough and Ritch “SNOB” Marvin from The New School Beer Blog, Bill Night from It’s Pub Night, Charles Culp from An Ear For Beer, Jeff Alworth from Beervana, Jason Wallace from Portland Beer & Music Blog, and our own art guy, Matthew DiTullo.

The IIPA judging was a lot of fun with great music and the smell of Jack Daniel’s regional Barbecue Competition who saw the winner advance to nationals. Of the 13 IIPAs offered, a top three would prevail as decided by our panel:

Read More…

Posted under beer 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

It’s somewhat hard to believe that Oregon Craft Beer Month is about 60% complete. In one sense, the month, and summer has flown past us here in Oregon. With a late start to summer that, save for three 90 degree days, has been rather cool and reserved. However, in some ways, it’s amazing how many events have occurred so far here in Oregon, and with the biggest festival, the Oregon Brewers Festival, still to come.

For craft beer enthusiasts here in Beervana, the biggest “problem” is having too many options; multiple events each day and with only limited time and liver capacity to soak it all in. So, it is important to rely on careful planning and preparation in order to maximize the potential of each fortuitous July day. It is also key to accept the fact, that you will miss out on some events you’d really hoped to make it to, and do the best that you can. In some ways, it’s akin to a craft beer-minded tourist visiting Portland for a weekend, having never been before, and trying to sort out what places to venture. It’s a laborious task that requires both stamina and flexibility (yeah yeah, we know).

This past weekend was another big adventure in beer that really hasn’t seen a hiatus for us since… Not really sure. Between the Portland International Beer Fest (PIB) and Saraveza’s Imperial IPA Fest (IIPA Fest), we’re left anxiously looking ahead to the remainder of this wonderful month.

Portland International Beer Fest

Friday afternoon, we arrived at the fest upon the gates opening to the masses. As many have previously noted, and we have as well, arriving early on the opening day of a beer fest offers a relaxes, low stress atmosphere where you wind up running into a lot of beer geeks and industry folk who also know this virtue. So, on Friday, we scoped out the pleasant grounds of the North Park Blocks, a setting where kindly looming trees offer plenty of shade, but there is also ample sunshine to soak in if desired. This festival is well run with little notable belligerence if any.There’s a distinct culture, or perhaps aura, amongst festival goers here in Portland that focuses on community and appreciation for artisan brews. We’ve been to festivals in other regions of the country that played more like a drunk fest. In Idaho Falls, Idaho at the Mountain Brewers Beer Fest, we can recall several inebriated folks dipping their mugs in the dump bucket near the end of the festival. This is something, thankfully, you don’t see here. PIB is a relaxed atmosphere with lots of well behaved people and well behaved canines.

As far as the beer, this year’s fest was a little thinner on the mindblowing selections we’ve witnessed in years past, but this only proves the high bar to which the organizers have set for themselves. With some imported bottle beers costing multiple tickets, this year we opted to go for the taps, mostly in the one-ticket realm. Here’s what we viewed as some highlights:

Flyers Kentucky Uberfest: From Oak Harbor, Washington’s Flyers Restaurant & Brewery on Whidbey Island, this was the steal of the show for us. A traditional English-style barleywine brewed with bourbon-soaked oak chips, brewer Tony Savoy concocted with beer with inspiration from PIB organizer Rick Carpenter where it gets its name. Carpenter also runs Uber Tavern in Seattle, and this dark chestnut beer with a lavish creamy head and bold boozy oaken notes was designed initially for the bar. For just one ticket, this was one of the few beers we went back for multiple samples of.

Ninkasi Maiden the Shade: It’s easy to see why Ninkasi Brewing has a cult following here in Oregon. Not only do they have some of the nicest and hardest working folks in the business working for them but their uncanny skill at bringing generously hopped ales into the mainstream. One of the longest continual lines for PIB was the one leading to Maiden the Shade, a 7-hopped quencher with an adequate malt spine and a bounding floral nose. At 6.8%, 72 IBUs, this beer was a hit right off the bat, when it debuted last summer at the Oregon Country Fair. Also for just one token was a lesser known Ninkasi Strong Ale.

Great Divide Oak Double IPA: This beer for one ticket was well worth it, just as was Great Divide’s Chocolate Yeti Imperial Stout. Big, chewy malt character over run with a mighty hops girth and the pleasantry of creamy oakiness made this beer a stand out. Not necessarily a hard to find beer, but every brew can’t always be about rarity. This Double IPA is one you could be contented just sniffing at for a while. We’re planning a trip to Colorado in November and one of our most anticipated stops is Great Divide Brewing in Denver.

Laurelwood Workhorse IPA: Four ounces of one of the best IPAs in Portland for one ticket? Sold. Perfectly balanced combo of amplified hops and underpinning malts, this IPA rolls without too much of the catty, onion-garlic high alpha aroma hops you see trending these days. We feel this beer strikes the perfect balance and we absolutely love it. Laurelwood was also pouring their Green Elephant IPA, which is also amazing. Hop heads rejoice, for this is one hell of an India Pale Ale.

Hopworks Mystery Bourbon Barrel Aged Beer: This HUB beer could have easily been the best beer at PIB. A light, bodied, golden-orange hue with an out of this world nose of orange, tangerine, soft pine, and a flower bouquet. This beer was the last beer of the fest for us, and sent us on our way with a smile on our face. The bourbon character was quite subdued buy just hinted at in the background. Garnering both attributes of drinkability and complexity, this beer… oh, this beer…Just one ticket. Think we’ll ever see this brew this cheap again?

Unibrou Maudite: Unibrou’s Maudite is a beer we love to sip on during the autumn months. From Chambly, Quebec, Canada, this strong dark chestnut hued beer possesses a prominent malt character in both nose and flavor. Hints of orange zest,  fragrances of coriander and cloves, and adequate floral hop notes prelude a “robust maltiness and spiciness that is counterbalanced by an assertive crisp hop finish.” 8% ABV. This beer also reminds us of our pal Marc from Quebec, who we wish was here to enjoy the fest with us. Cheers, Marc!

Lompoc Bastille Day

Funny how life is filled with random adventures. This is no different in the world of craft beer. On Saturday while walking around North Portland passing out a few fliers for our upcoming BrewPubliCrawl, we noticed a van pass us by driven by New Old Lompoc owner and Bald Guy Brigade frontman Jerry Fechter. “Follow me to beer!” he yelled to us, then trumpeted to us with a vuvuzela. We obliged and found ourselves amidst the festivities of Lompoc and Pix Patisseries Bastille Day Block Party. A live band was playing to an audience of wildly adorned party-goers. It was a hopping scene with the sun shining down on a perfect July day. Our first inclination was to prospect the beer garden by the brewery where we enjoyed a newly released summer Lompeizer and Son of C-Note. We were happy to see brewers Dave Fleming, Sam Orlansky, Bryan Keilty, and Zach Beckwith all in attendance as well as Oregon Brewers Festival organizer Chris Crabb. The highlight of the party for us was poking our faces through a wooden cutout of Fechter while the rest of us watch in amusement.

Saraveza IIPA Fest

Five days of Imperial IPAs is a true test of will…and a whole hell of a lot of fun. Saraveza’s bonanza of boisterously bittered beasts was just that. Thanks to the hard work and planning of the bar staff, lead by Jonathan Carmean, Northwest Brewing News’ 2009 bartender of the year, IIPA Fest offered a wide range of such beers from what some might inaccurately perceive as a one dimensional style. Beers like Mikkeller’s I Beat YoU of Norway, brewed at BrewDog in Scotland, exhibited a big malty, chewiness, much like Southern Tier‘s ginormous Unearthly and Oaked Unearthly. Others such as Double Mountain’s Molten Lava and Alameda’s Yellow Wolf were far lighter bodied, though the hop character of these beers was equally as bodacious. In total, more than 30 IIPAs exhibited the diversity that this style can offer, while bringing forth a range of interpretations within the art form of brewing. IIPA Fest was a big success thanks to everyone who participated.

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

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

July in Oregon is a month long celebration of craft beer. No other place in the world can compare, and certainly Oregon, especially Portland, is the best place in America for craft beer–lots of it! We’ve got lots of events to attend throughout this spectacular month.

Go to www.oregonbeer.org/ocbm.

Additonal events are posted on our site to give you even more to chew on. There’s a calendar on the left sidebar of this page with current events and a link to our full month calendar that we are constantly adding to.

Check it out here!

We’ll be adding more to our calendar as the month goes on including more special meet the brewer events, beer dinners, and a special BrewPubliCrawl to close out the month. Stay tuned!

Cheers to Oregon Craft Beer!

Posted under Oregon beer, beer events

By Marc Demeule

The 17th edition of the biggest beer festival in North America is now past.  Another attack to my liver, but I’m sure that such good beers can’t be harmful.  The popularity of this event can be observed at the two 2 hour lines during the weekend.  Entrance to the festival is free, so the maximum number of participants needs to be limited to avoid an overcrowded site.  When you are lucky enough, you can take some vacation time for the opening on Wednesday.  It wasn’t my case this year, so I had to go the crowded way.  Okay!  I just used the exit to enter, pretending I was a volunteer in a booth and it worked fine so I skipped the long queue.

In Beervana, a selection of 500 beers, including 240 new brews is called a local beer store.  Nevertheless, I can assure that the selection we had for 2010 was interesting.  In addition to Québec and Ontario breweries, we were able to taste new products from Belgium, Brazil and Italy.  

The Mondial de la Bière also included a beer judging event among Quebec microbreweries.  The platinum distinction of the 2010 edition was assigned to a Pinot Noir oak aged Belgian with brettanomyces (Trippe à 3 à la Brett) from À la fut, Saint-Tite.

Gold medals have been awarded to:
- Le Saint-Bock, Montréal with RIP (Russian Imperial Porter), Sacrilège (Imperial Stout), Sacrilège Ultime (Imperial Stout) and Malédiction (Sweet Stout)
- Microbrasserie le Bénélux, Montréal with Congo (Belgian IPA) and Cuda (West Coast IPA)
- Microbraserie Le Trou du Diable, Shawinigan with La Saison du Tracteur
- Broadway Pub, Shawinigan with Sein d’esprit (German Hefeweizen)
- Hopfenstark, L’assomption with Saison Station 55
- McAuslan, Montréal with St-Ambroise Oatmeal Stout

On my own way, I did experience new brews from Brazil Cervejaria Bamberg and Cervejaria Wäls.  Italia was well represented with Birrifico Artigianale Karma, Birrifico del Borgo and Birrifico Baladin.  The Big Swell IPA from Maui Brewing reminded me great Northwest hoppy beers, so did the Dr IPA from Kuhnhenn Brewing Co.  I’ve missed La Folie from New Belgium, but had their 1554 black ale.

Quebec breweries now offer more Saison beers on their regular tap selection.  Two years ago, it was rare.  For 2010, the new trend is to spice up recipes with brettanomyces.  When will we have sour ales?  Probably in one or two years…  Hope to see you for the 2011 edition with a new location for the festival and more beers to discover in an indoor environment, so rain won’t stop us tasting.

Cheers.
marc@brewpublic.com

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

On March 20, Brewpublic put together BrewPubliCrawl, a unique meet-the-brewers pub crawl featuring eight breweries at four dynamic stops on SE Division Street in Portland. Here, we enjoyed some spectacular and unique beers while soaking in a wonderfully sunny day on the Spring Equinox. We also had the pleasure of meeting not only talented and friendly brewers, but several folks passionate about craft beer. One such person was Mary Engel, a talented writer with a vast history of writing that has been featured around the country. Engel was covering our event with her partner Nolan Hester, a photojournalist amongst other talents. Engel’s article “Oh, Hoppy Day,” covered the fun that was had during BrewPubliCrawl as well as the amazing craft brew community that exemplifies Portland as arguably the best beer city on the planet.

More recently, we heard from Engel, who was informing us that she was putting together an article about Portland aka Beervana for the LA Times. We recently were sent a link to the story and were pleased to see someone in Southern California giving recognition to Portland as a true pioneer in the beer world (we often joke that San Diego thinks they invented hops though the do not grow them).

The LA Times article, named “Achieving Beervana in Portland, Ore.,” showcases a snapshot of some of Portland’s rich craft beer culture. Portland is Engel’s new hometown and she is quite happy with her quaffing options. The article points to Portland’s number of breweries, more than any other city in the world, but focuses deeper on what makes us the best town for brew culture anywhere.

“But numbers alone don’t capture Portland’s status among true beer aficionados, the kind who would sooner quaff hemlock than a Miller or a Bud. There’s something about this most livable of cities that encourages innovation.”

Well stated. Well known beer guy, Marc Martin is quoted in the piece, as we learn of our friend’s forthcoming business. “Portland is eco-friendly, green, bicycling, Birkenstock-wearing — it’s a culture that lends itself to unusual and unique things,” says Martin.

Engel’s piece goes on to cover what most out of town publications point to. Oregon’s statistics regarding craft beer and how we consume more craft beer per capita than any other state, and how beer is replacing wine. You know, something like the info you can find on the Oregon Brewer’s Guild website.

Upright Brewing

“Achieving Beervana in Portland, Ore.” visits Alex Ganum of Upright Brewing at the Portland State University Farmers Market and experiences Ganum’s Four, Flora Rustica, and Gose. These are three brews we are fortunate to have close by. By the way things have been going for Upright, you can expect SoCal’ers to be demanding some of it soon.

Rogue Public House

The former Portland Brewing digs is now the Old Crusty home of Rogue. After some art walking, Engel and friends wind up here and are “promptly overwhelmed by the 32 beers on tap.” Here they taste the refreshing Juniper Pale Ale, Brutal Bitter/IPA,  Mocha Porter, and Château Rogue Single Malt Ale. Good calls if you’re only gonna go about 1/8 of the beer menu here.

Doing beer tourism up properly, the group pays a visit to PDX’s ultimate tourist destination, Powell’s City of Books, the largest independently owned retailer of books in the country before falling off the train of high quality brews and diving in at Tugboat Brewpub. We’ve got to wonder “Why not Bailey’s Taproom across the alleyway?” This would have been one of the best microcosmic glimpses into Beervana’s offerings anywhere citywide. Oh, well, Tugboat and its unclean Rubber-made brews are again commended on their cozy unique atmosphere, which is quite nice, as are some of their guest tap offerings on cask.

While grabbing some food at Vindahlo, an Indian restaurant, they wisely opt for Double Mountain and Oakshire pints. Great call considering these are easily two of Oregon’s best breweries.

The following day, the group enjoys a walk through Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge. Too bad Oaks Bottom pub isn’t what it once was when Jim Parker and Jonathan Carmean had a hand in it, but that is fine, because there’s always more options, including one of Beervana’s best…

Hopworks Urban Brewery

Righteously, they go for a sample tray here at HUB. Places like this are great for such tasters to experience the variety of hoppilicious brews made by some of the most talented folks in the country. We find it humoring how Engel likens owner Christian Ettinger to Elvis with “beers to swoon over.”  We’ll see how that pans out next April when they form another band. Next time you go to HUB, we may be tempted to order the burnin’ hunk o’ love brew or the organic blue suede shoes ale…perhaps a jailhouse bock. That is unless they announce “Ettinger has left the building.” Dude needs some rhinestones on his fermenters. If Ettinger is Elvis, who would Upright’s Ganum be? We suppose we’d have to say Frank Zappa. Okay, we digress…

The crew aptly highlights the mealy yet caffeinated even Grain Survival Stout, , the quintessential Cascadian Dark Ale known as Secession, and the gold medal winning IPA.

Alameda Brewing

A nice final stop on the Beervana mini-tour if Alameda, where brewer Carston Harney (Willie Nelson?) makes Portland’s head spin with aromatic hop-play. They go for the Pale Ale and Belgian-style IPA with a vegetarian burger. These are combos we often do up here as well.

This is the end of the fun for now for Engel’s out of town friends. They headed back to the airport where they conceivably could hit up a handful of other craft brew spot in PDX International. Lucky for Engel, she’s now a Beervanian, and we are happy to have her spreading the word about our great city and its great beer. To those from out of town, come visit and try your liver at all Beervana has to offer!

For more on Mary Engel, check out her bio here.

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