Today, Sunday June 27, marks one of Oregon’s favorite brewery’s 22nd Anniversary. Deschutes is throwing outdoor parties at their Bend and Portland brewpubs to celebrate. This also marks the release date of their Reserve Series Black Butte XXII Imperial Porter. These two events will feature live music, food and beer for all at their biggest outdoor parties of the season. Deschutes’ giant traveling barrel on wheels known as “Woody”, will be present at the Portland pub.

Unfortunately, we recently learned from employees that this year there will be no Black Butte XXII in bottles. From what Brewpublic learned, this was due to an issue with the cocoa butter in the beer that coagulated in the bottle and had to be disposed of. This also raises the fear of rancidity as well. At this time, it has not been reported as to how much this mishap has cost Oregon’s largest brewery. Kegs of Black Butte XXI, however, will be available, yet limited to the Deschutes pubs in order to  regulate the quality and to assure no problems arise. Look for more information on the Black Butte XXII situation as we learn more…

Visit the pubs to try the new brew on draught, which is reported to be quite delicious. There will also be specials on an array of other fine Deschutes brews and those exclusive to their pubs.

Also, check out the great  music line up in Portland: Deschutes Brewery 22nd Birthday Party

Bands:

5:00-5:45pm Velvet Hustle

6:00-6:45pm Kinder Bison

7:00-7:45pm Mosley Wotta

8:00-9:00pm Water & Bodies

We’ll see you there!

June 27, 2010 / Portland 5 pm – 10 pm; Bend 12 pm -10 pm

Deschutes Brewery & Public House, NW 11th Avenue, Portland, OR
Deschutes Brewery & Public House, 1044 NW Bond Street, Bend, OR

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

This year’s Fred Fest was quite interesting to say the least. Not only was it an excuse to drink special beers while supporting a noble charity and celebrating the birthday of an American and Portland beer icon, but it was an opportunity to get a look at Alan Sprint’s new Hair of the Dog Brewing location.

Beneath the Morrison Bridge, not far from the Eastside Waterfront, and nestled into an unsuspecting neighborhood of industry and warehouses,  Hair of the Dog lives on. After joining a queue of craft beer enthusiasts that spanned around the block from the south side entrance, we passed our time in line chatting it up with others who were just as geared up to see what was to come.

Finally to the front of the line and in through the doorway where open garage doors let setting sun shine in, we entered, received our taster cup, food and raffle ticket, and quickly caught wind of this year’s buzz beer. Word was out that a special 2002 Wild Duck Barleywine was drawing quite a line around the corner and toward the back. We raced over to where this beer brewed by the late Glen Hay Falconer was located. Back into another long line.

Apparently the keg was pouring rather foamy, causing the line to take longer than expected. Still, when you hear of a beer like this, you must endure to ensure not missing out on a once in a lifetime tasting. And, happily, the mighty brew was well worth the wait. Picking up the age in an expected and pleasant mild oxidation, the notes of honey, caramel, and surprisingly sharp hops dazzled in this mighty brew that was not even included in the pre-game list of beer to be poured. Before we knew it, this beer was gone, and it made us quite pleased to get in on it.

The two jockey boxes adjacent to the Wild Duck tap were virtually empty of people. It was as if the buzz beer had drawn all attention away from anything within a ten foot radius (sans for the line). This was a perfect opportunity to pony up to the Rogue John John Juniper Pale Ale aged in Spruce Gin barrels. A unique and rather interesting beer, John John was a nice balance of light flowery notes and a subtle woody, almost minty twang. The other tap on this island was Rock Bottom’s Maude Flanders. While a few people really seemed to enjoy this, like we enjoy sours ourselves, the cutting acetic nail polish remover fumes were a little overwhelming four our preference. Still, a rather interesting specimen.

As great as the beers were, it really was the ambiance created by elated and enthusiastic beer lovers sharing in a passion that the man of the hour, Fred Eckhardt helped to create. Not just in Portland, Oregon, but on the West Coast and throughout the land where good beer is brewed, served and/or adored. Hair of the Dog founder and brewer Alan Sprints and a team of happy-to-serve volunteers did a spectacular job. Considering the mayhem of opening his new brewery and restaurant coupled with the pressure to organize this charity event for folks with high expectation from brew, Sprints did a great job putting the pieces together and churning out one hell of a fun time. Even if the festival didn’t pan out the way anyone had hoped, though it did live up to our expectations, the bottom line was that it was a success in providing 100% of the proceeds to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

Other beer highlights from Fred Fest:

After the Wild Duck Barleywine, Cascade’s 2010 The Vine was perhaps the most talked about brew of the night. This Northwest Style Sour Ale is a blend of soured Triple, Blonde Quad and Golden ales that have been refermented with the fresh pressed juice of white wine grapes. The beer spent many months in lactic fermentation and aging in small oak barrels. Firestone Walker’s Parabola was another brew that is always special to taste. The abysmally dark black brew has been a major component of past anniversary blends and is one of our most aggressive offerings from the Paso Robles, California brewery. Featuring bold bourbon and tobacco aromas and a rich dark chocolate, charred oak flavor, is best enjoyed in moderation and is a perfect beer to pair with those chocolate dessert favorites like Fred’s beerthday cake or his beloved M&M candies. This 13% ABV brew is one of the most intense Russian Imperial Stouts we’ve ever had the pleasure to drink.  Hopworks’ Ben Love mixed some of the Parabola with some Hair of the Dog Cherry Fred From the Wood, for a blend dubbed FireWood (or something like that). One thing we learned on this night, don’t let Hopworks brewers blend beer. HUB’s Organic Radkeller, a mix-up of lemon drink and lager was utterly atrocious. While we’ve enjoyed this radler blend at the brewpub, something about it stewing a keg for a length of time lends to a flavor best described as “grody.” Still, give ‘em points for trying.

Speaking of intensity, Roots’ 2006 Epic Ale might have taken the cake in this category (as well as paired with it pretty decently). Nearly four years of aging later, this big boy employs about 60 pounds smoked malt flavored over cherry wood soaked in glenlivet, cognac and cherry juice that lends wonderful smoked toffee and cherry notes both to the palate and the nose and a warm bitter sweet finish. With over 1,700 pounds of malt and 65 pounds of hops, this beast lives up to its name. The 2006 vintage is weighed in at 13.5% ABV.

Mixed reviews were in for the Oregon Trail SoBoChePo, or Sour Bourbon Cherry Porter, but we simply loved it. Not the kind of beer to consume in large quantities, but certainly nothing we’d want to shy away from, SoBoChePo was a great balance of desirable craft brew complexities that all shined within one glass. Some acetic notes expected for such a boozy brew, but not as cutting as the Maude. The cherry character was nicely balanced, not overly sweet, while the meshing of fruit tartness, creamy tannins, and warm bourbon intermingled spectacularly.

Deschutes Double Black was another beer of interest. Not a particular favorite of the night due to a somewhat overly aggressiveness and some rough off-notes, but bold as all sin, and ready to keep you guessing about what the hell was going on with this mammoth incarnation of Black Butte Porter. Our thought was it was similar to Black Butte XX, but without the taming coffee and cocoa nibs. Still, perhaps another go in the ring with this beer could prove a new opinion. The thing with tastings like this is that there’s so much damn tasty high alcohol brews, that palate fatigue is not uncommon to set in early. Still, being in a fun beer geek atmosphere made us feel right at home and fully contented.

To view more photos from Fred Fest 2010 by Brewpublic, click here.

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

Deschutes brewmaster, Larry Sidor, has a background that may surprise some. For someone who has come up with such boldly innovated recipes at Deschutes such as The Dissident and The Abyss, many may not guess that Larry got his start at the Olympia Brewing Company.

“I spent 23 years at Olympia. You name it I did. It started as a journeyman situation after I graduated from OSU with a degree in the food sciences. From there I did a six-month brewing apprenticeship and performed every aspect in brewing possible. After that I was sent to Siebels, and back at that time it was a four-month course. When I returned I was named project assistant brewmaster at Olympia.”

From there Larry was promoted to Operations Manager for the entire brewery and during that time Pabst bought out Olympia. Larry remained with the company and became the R&D Manager, QA Manager, wrote and developed contract brewing situations and even brewed in Japan and China. Larry brewed such brands as Stroh’s, Lone Star, Lucky Lager, Brew 102 and even the Beer Beer (the can just said “Beer” on the side) and of course all the Pabst’s Brands.

In 1997, Larry quit his position at Olympia/Pabst without another job lined up. He confessed that he had had enough of the revolving door of ownership. Recently, I had a chance to meet with Larry and talk about his past, where he is at now and how he sees the future of craft beer.

Margaret Lut: So how did you transition from Olympia to Deschutes?

Larry Sidor: Well, I am an Oregon boy. At least a Northwest guy. I love it out here. I grew up in Corvallis and spent my formative years in La Grande. I ended up going back to Corvallis and graduated from Corvallis High and then went to Oregon State University. When I quit Olympia without a job and went home to my wife and told her and she was like “OK, that is nice” “She was completely OK with it. So I starting looking around for a job and a hop dealer in Yakima offered me a job and I thought “Oh that sounds great! I have always wanted to learn more about hops.” I ended up spending seven years in Yakima in the hop business. I worked in technical sales and operations of pelletizing hops. One of my greatest accomplishments was pretty much revolutionizing hop pellet production. I made a lot of changes to improve pelletization and starting running a super critical carbon dioxide plant that extracted the essential ingredients in hops. Then it was put in a can. Not very glamorous but very interesting from a technical standpoint.

Here at Deschutes, I use a little bit of hop extract here but we are a whole hop user here. Occasionally I might use a pellet or two but only when whole hops aren’t available for what I want to do. While working at the hop farm someone from Deschutes called me and asked if I was interested in getting back to brewing. My response was “OK, when is the interview?” So I came down for the interview and it was right in the transition of getting ready to open this brewhouse (Bend production brewery) and it was really like the perfect fit.

Oh, here is another great story of how I decided Deschutes was the right choice:
I was looking through (different beers) my beer fridge and I was thinking, ‘Wow they use whole hops. They use whole hops. They use whole hops.  Hmm…they use pellets, but I’ll forgive them” and it occurred to me that I am naturally drawn to beers made with whole hops. I can notice the beers that are made with pelletized hops and those made with whole hops and I lean towards those beers made with whole hops. So when Deschutes called me up I was like well I always have Deschutes beers in my fridge. It is funny how you kind of go down a path that you don’t really know you are going down until you open up that door on the beer fridge and you go “Oh wow … whole hops!”

ML: Before you came to Deschutes were you brewing or home brewing in Yakima?

LS: No, I copped out. I bought a vineyard and starting making wine. When I was looking for a place to live in Yakima I found a place that had 3 acres of wine grapes. When I was at OSU I interned at a winery and it was my dream to someday own and operate my own vineyard. I sold most of the grapes to other vineyards and legally you can make 200 gallons of wine a year so that is what I would do (three whites and a red) and it was awfully fun. I would call up my friends and they would come and we could have a big spread. They would bring their campers and it would just be this big gathering of folks. I soon realized that my food bill was bigger then what it would cost to hire commercial pickers. So the following year I hired commercial pickers and people were like “What are you doing?!”. So the year after I would have people waiting in the parking lot waiting for the grapes to ripen for harvest.

ML: Having a winemaker’s background (temporarily) how did that transition into brewing? Did you bring your winemakers background into brewing, as far as the Dissidents or anything else?

LS: Absolutely, but I really bring more of my experience of brewing at Olympia and I also bring a whole load of information and technique from my days in the hop industry. I mean, I know more about hops then I care to admit. I spent seven years just living the dream of working with hops. So I am connected with the hop industry from a technical research stand point and from knowing growers and basically knowing how the system works. For example, you know the latest hop shortage, well guess what; we had no hop shortage here. In fact, we actually sold hops back into the brewing community to help them out. For us, the shortage was no big deal. I have a hop contract for the next 5 years already planned.

As for wine making and how it has helped me out in this job. The barrel information I had accumulated from wine making has helped. We get barrels from Hedges Cellars, his brother used to be my chemist at Olympia. So when I need grapes or wine barrels they are always there for me. A good friend of mine owns King Estates, east of Eugene, so you know, same thing. Through out the industry, wine and beer are kind of woven together. There is this great sharing of information between ex-beer guys that are now wine guys and vice-a-versa. So the two vineyards I mentioned, they have about 15-20 year careers in the beer industry so they understand the beer industry and so now they have 10 years of wine making under their belts and it is pretty good to be able to share that information.

Winemaking is fairly simple compared to making beer but wine growing is very complex. So I think that the agronomics of growing wine grapes is the most technically challenging part of making wine. If you look at beer making, we go from a very light Kolsch-type beer to a very dark Imperial Stout like Abyss and the wine folks can’t claim that. They play in this little flavor profile here and we have flavors that will just blow you away. That is why working with Brett or Acetobactor or some of the other funky yeast is just amazing. We can layer those flavors in our advantage where the wine makers can’t really do so. The wine consumer has a very close mine where the beer drinkers, especially those who like the The Dissident, The Abyss, Black Butte XX, etc. are like “Bring it on!” We don’t have limitations like the wine industry does so it is pretty rewarding and pretty darn cool. We can go play while they have to labor.

ML: When did you know craft beer was your path?

LS: I live to make beer. When I was in Olympia, and I know people don’t think this is right but they make great beer. They had great processes and it was a fun, entertaining, and wonderful place to work. I had a lot of creative outlet there, definitely not anywhere close to here, the yellow fizzy beer consumer was pretty picky and you couldn’t go too far out but one of the fun things I did at Olympia was I made a beer called Olympia Dark. I went from making it once a beer to making it year round. At Deschutes there is no boundaries. The boundaries we have are how do we get it done.

A focus project I am working on right now is making a Belgium Quad. We have made them off and on over the past few years and right now we are on batch number four. We have yet to make one that we are proud of.

ML: Which was the batch at the Portland Cheers to Belgium Beers?

LS: That was batch number three. For me what it was missing was the layering and the complexity of what I really wanted. The yeast we had to use, well…. We had some problems with that yeast. Once we figured out how to use it though, it was one of those situations where the horse was out of the barn type things. It was a great learning experience. Stay tuned, when you are at the Oregon Brewer’s Festival this year, they are having a Buzz Tent. We have three beers we are going to contribute. An Organic Sour Amber Ale, it’s going to be fairly hoppy and I will be curious to hear what the feedback will be on this one. For the buzz tent we will have a quad that has been aging in 14-year old bourbon barrels and for the event itself we will have a beer called Miss Spelt. I am very enthused with the Miss Spelt. I don’t think it will take the beer bloggers by storm or anything, it is not meant to be that kind of beer. It is meant to be a more full-bodied wheat style beer made with spelt that has notes of banana, clove and bubble-gum. Spelt is an ancient grain that has a very unique cereal flavor to it. When I first started brewing it, I used 50% spelt and it was way too much. It tasted like liquid bread. Since then we have cut back to where it is now and I don’t think I will mess with the formula anymore. One of the keys in making that beer for us has been how to manage the fermentation. We think we are there.

ML: Is this going to be Deschutes “Hefeweizen”?

LS: I don’t think we are going down that pathway. I think it is its own unique beer. We have never had ambitions to get into the Hefeweizen game. There are no spices in it so we are not trying to do the Belgium Wit type thing either. We are trying to let the yeast speak for itself really. We don’t want to call it a Hefeweizen, so we are messing around with some concepts. When you asked about creativity and this will make some people mad, but I don’t even look at style guidelines. One of my most anguished days is entering beers in the Great American Beer Festival. We simply don’t fit into the beer judging guidelines for most any beer that we make. I don’t really pay attention to it, it doesn’t really matter to me. We can call something a Pale ale or a Porter, Stout or an Imperial Stout but for example we make a beer called the Red Chair IPA and we call it an IPA because we don’t really know what else to call it. There are people out there that want to identify with a particular style. Red Chair is not really a Pale and it is not really an IPA, its just good beer. I think that from a creativity standpoint we are definitely doing the right thing. Maybe from a consumer confusion point we need a little education. But I like the way we do it. We strive to make a great beer for the consumer and we struggle putting a label on it or a verity or brand.

Another project I am working on right now is a gluten-free beer. I got a call from one of my brewers and he went “Larry, I don’t even want to call this beer gluten-free. I just want to put it out in the pub and call it beer. Larry, you can put a tag on it but I don’t want to call it gluten-free.” And I said, “Wow, you are that proud of that beer that we can do that.” And he said “Absolutely!” (That beer is the gluten free Wiess beer and it is on tap at the Portland pub as of this past weekend.)

ML: Do you have any beers that have inspired you along the way?

LS: Oh, there is a long list! Bridgeport IPA is a great IPA and the first time I ever tasted Black Butte Porter that was a turning point in my brewing career. A lot of the Belgium beers are just…. Wow. The Westmalles, to the Westvelterens, they are just incredible beers that make you wonder how did they do that. Some of the beers out of Germany and Pilsner Urquell were very inspiring beers for me back in the day and Guinness. I was in Germany in the early 1970′s and the beers of Munich were just amazing. One my more recent experience was going to Bamberg and visiting Schlenkerla and having their smoked beer. Their rauch beer was just incredible. Every place you turn in the beer industry there is inspiration. Someone is making fantastic beers, just waiting to be discovered. I back to the CBC and went to where Brooklyn beers are made and Cooperstown and Ommegang and Allagash and had some fantastic beers there. Inspiration is everywhere. We could talk for days on that subject.

ML: So what do you enjoy drinking these days?

LS: Allagash and Russian River just to name a few.

When I go out I don’t want to drink Deschutes, I know what it tastes like and I am not out to do QA to see if the beer traveled well or not. I want to try other brewer’s beers and see what is out on the market. I end up ordering some samples and analyzing the beers to the point to where I know the server gets frustrated with me and wants me to just decide what to drink.

Although, I will never pass up a chance to drink Dissidents or Abyss. I think Red Chair is a revolutionary beer. The marriage of malt and hop aroma and hop flavor without the rip your tonsils out type of bitterness that usually has to come with those kind of beers. The hop aroma in that beer just keeps coming back as you drink it. Where with bitter backwards beer that is somewhat unbalanced from a malts stand point, the brewer has gone way to far with the bitterness approach because they think that if it is bitter that people will like it.

Stay tuned for the second part of the interview where Larry tells of his passion for hops, Salmon Safe not organic hops and trends he sees coming to brewing.

Posted under Beer personalities, Oregon beer

Deschutes Brewery sent out their most recent Bitter Truth Newsletter this month.  It is an informative, colorful, and well-designed update of many of their happenings around Bend and Portland.  It also lists several newly released and soon to be released beers of interest.  Among these are the Luckiest Lager, a German style lager with a bountiful supply of hops , the Old Samhain (Sah-win) Halloween nitro brew, six different fresh hop beers, and the Big Red Double Cinder Cone barleywine.  Perhaps, the most intriguing new offering to soon be released is a Wild Plum Stout brewed with sour wort and tart plums.  Mmm.  If the puckeringly sweet flavor of the Dissident Oud Bruin was any indication of how well Deschutes does sours, then this could be nothing short of spectacular.

I phoned Deschutes’ brewmaster Larry Sidor at the brewery in Bend this morning to find out more.  Sidor informed me that the Wild Plum Stout will be release soon and will be a pub only brew.  “We made about twelve and a half barrels of it” said Sidor.  “The plums are from our refrigeration mechanic.   He grew them in his yard and we felt it was something we should work on.”  So, about 20-25 pounds of plums were handpicked and run through a wine grape crusher.  The hand-cranked quarter-inch press extracted the sugar and tart qualities from the fresh fruit.  “(The stout) has a sour wort with a Lactobacillus culture in it.  We put about two or three gallons into the mash.”  So how did it come out?  Said Sidor: “When I tasted it, it was pretty darn tart.”

Larry Sidor Deschutes brewmaster

So when can Portlanders expect to get their palates around this imaginative new beer? “Whenever we brew anything, we send a few kegs (to Portland)” said Sidor, “We netted about ten barrels.  Two or so will be sent to Portland.”  According the the brewer, the beer was brewed on the week of October 1st at 17 degree plato.  Around 200 lovibond, the beer possesses a rich black body.  “We used a lot of roast barley, special B, and we went a little crazy and threw a little candy sugar in it, too.”  This beer promises to be real unique.

While I had Mr. Sidor on the phone, I asked him about this winter’s Reserve Series brews.  The undeniable success of the Abyss Imperial Stout over the last few years has made called for its perennial return.  “We started with a couple hundred barrels (in 2006)” said Sidor. “We didn’t know how the public would react.  Beers we personally love as brewers don’t always make it.  There’s the marketing, pricing point perspective, etc.”  But to his delight, and that of several craft brew enthusiasts, Sidor said “the stuff just evaporated.”

Taking a year to prepare for, this year’s Abyss  is slated to be unveiled around November 15 in handsome wax-dipped 22 ounce bottles.  Blended from bourbon barred-aged and pinot noir barrel-aged batches, the Abyss varies each year.  “It is different each year due to variation in blending process and barrel availability” said Sidor. “It’s a similar issue that wine makers have. If I don’t like a blend, I’ll alter it some until I get it right.” The 2008 release makes use of Maker’s Mark barrels.  2009′s blend, already brewed and waiting be barreled,  will have its own distinct personality. “We will use a whole lot of Stranahan’s bourbon barrels” claimed Sidor.  Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey is produced at craft distillery that contracts with Oskar Blues Brewing of Lyons, Colorado to make some delicious brew.  Sidor informed me that Deschutes will obtain 30 or 40 barrels from Stranahans.

In addition to these captivating brews, Deschutes plans to bring back the warm and hardy Mirror Mirror barleywine as a part of its Reserve Series.  The oak-aged bohemoth will be available again in 22-ounce bottles in March or April 2009 for the first time since 2005.  To make thing even better, the brewery is maturing a Big Red Double Cinder Cone for bottling in this series.  Further, they are working on another run of the Black Butte XX Imperial barrel-aged Porter to celebrate their upcoming 21st anniversary.  Sidor said his hands are full of specialty projects and mainstay beers at Deschutes.  They even have a follow-up batch of Dissident Oud Bruine slated for release sometime in 2011.

Posted under Uncategorized