When many folks think of of commercial brewing in Portland, Oregon, thoughts often point toward the craft beer pioneers such as Widmer Brothers, BridgePort, and even back to the industrial giant Henry Weinhards that has been reincarnated as a MillerCoors product brewed elsewhere. These larger production facilities have served to supply a greater population of beer drinkers throughout the region and today, their omnipresence is felt at all four corners of the country. However, in the 21st Century, we are seeing more and more focus on locally minded efforts. Much like the craft beer culture evident in brewpubs throughout Bavaria and the United Kingdom, there seems to be a movement here favoring locally produced community-oriented watering holes that gives each neighborhood its own unique identity.

Here in Portland, we are becoming more familiar with these one of their kind brewing public houses that focus on the establishment and the immediate community that lives within walking or biking distance to the taps. Places like Tugboat Brewing, Mash Tun, Coalition, Migration, and Breakside Brewery have made their niche one of a neighborhood. More than just in the beer itself, these destinations are public houses that gather community and serve as a platform for social interaction.

So with the mantra of buy local, drink global in mind, will Portland move toward a more community-centric mentality? We’re already seeing this began to happen with craft beer bottleshops. In just a few years, we’ve witnessed many new ones pop up. The BeerMongers, Saraveza, Hop and Vine, Woodstock Wine and Deli, Bridgetown Beerhouse, and the soon to open Bottles are all examples of how a specific neighborhood district can support the ever-burgeoning thirst of its citizens. So why not with craft brew? Some of this may be due to the fact that many people of Beervana have rather discerning palates and expect quality and consistency in their beer. And, quite frankly, some nano brewpubs simply can not or choose not to make this a focus. However, with the rising demand and comprehension of what defines quality beer, we are starting to recognize a higher output of competent artisan beer. Folks are realizing that just because one has the basic fundamentals in place to ferment wort doesn’t equate to that being something many of us want to drink. Our palate for many of us here is one that appreciates quality and understands the multifaceted nuances surrounding craft beer culture.

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Posted under Oregon beer, brewpubs, places to drink beer

As you may have already heard from reading John Foyston’s The Beer Here column in the Oregonian, BridgePort Brewing Company‘s Brewmaster Karl Ockert has announce that he will be stepping down from his post at the end of the month. While this might be sad new for those who have worked with Ockert since BridgePort’s inception back in 1984, folks should be happy to know that Ockert will continue to be a force in the craft beer community and will still be around Beervana.

Ockert’s decision to leave BridgePort was due to an offer to become the technical director for the Master Brewers Association of the AmericasRay Klimovitz decided to retire after a long tenure in the brewing business dating back to 1970. Klimovitz served in research and development for Stroh’s corporate breweries. Ockert says “(Klimovitz) is a very knowledgeable guy.” At 78 years young, Klimovitz decided to pursue other ventures. Now, Ockert is capitalizing on an opportunity he says he can not pass on. “It isn’t something that comes up everyday,” says Ockert. “I knew that if I passed on this (position with the MBAA) that it would be a decision I would regret for the rest of my life.” (MBAA). Former director

In his new role as technical director with MBAA, Ockert will be putting together classes key in education efforts relating to craft beer at a variety of levels. “We’ll try to reach out to all sectors of the brewing industry” he says. “We try to collaborate under the flag of the more you educate, share, and innovate, the more you learn.”

Beginning in 2011, Ockert plans to help implement a beer certification program designed to educate wholesalers, servers, and others a all levels of the craft beer world. Topical facets of the education will involve proper draft maintenance and the nuances of service and presentation. By providing a more rounded understanding of the complete culture of craft beer, Ockert expects positive results. His background as an educator was not only evident at his post with BridgePort, but also as a classroom teacher at Portland Community College (PCC). At PCC, he taught beer style classes. “The were usually six to seven week courses where I made a lot of friends” he says with a smile. “I was spreading the word of the gospel.” The classes he will be putting together for the MBAA will include beer server certification programs that enable not only the folks in the brewhouse, but those serving the beer to talk intelligently about the beer. “The ultimate goal is to set up a consulting business and to help brewers, smaller brewers, and get back to doing more writing” says Ockert. So what are other requirements of his new position. “Traveling. They want me to learn Spanish because I’ll be in places like South America” he adds. ” I’d love to spend longer periods of time in Europe to learn more of the Belgian, German, and U.K. cultures.” Ockert also notes that his wife is from Northern Ireland. “I like the idea of small upstart breweries like the BrewDogs of the world” he says.

When Ockert departs from his position as brewmaster, BridgePort will be in good hands. Assistant Brewmaster Jeff Edgerton will take the reigns on an interim basis, and it is looking like he’ll make the transition quite smooth. Edgerton worked in quality assurance for Blitz-Weinhard for many years before adding a dozen more years to his resume at BridgePort. “Jeff knows the plant very well” says Ockert. “He’s very dedicated, and we have a great group of people.”

Despite partaking in a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity with the MBAA, Ockert admits he will miss elements of his job at BridgePort. “I will miss working actually making beer” he admits. “Talking with the people at BridgePort everyday who I’ve come to know quite well, I will certainly miss that.”

Ockert started his illustrious brewing career more than 25 years ago when he was hired by Richard and Nancy Ponzi, two winemakers who saw a need for craft brewing. Today, BridgePort still uses the tagline “Oregon’s Oldest Craft Brewery.” Ockert worked for seven years at the old BridgePort before leaving in 1990 to pursue other interests. In 1995 BridgePort was acquired by The Gambrinus Company, owned by Carlos Alvarez. Ockert says he wanted to get back into production brewing after a six year hiatus, and Alvarez’s vision helped make the move even easier. “He wanted to raise the bar” says Ockert of Alvarez. “I heard some good things about Carlos, and with his success running the Corona Importing Company.” Things changed right off the bat in 1996 as BridgePort  expanding its capacity from a 600 barrel a year facility to, in 2001, that of 100,000 barrels. “We replaced the whole brewhouse” Ockert says. “Mill, handling equipment, natural gas instead of steam boilers, fermenters, piping, everything.” Ockert and the crew were working nonstop seemingly around the clock to get the new brewhouse installed. In fact, he says he was involved with 35 different upgrade projects simultaneously. “We added the bottle shop, cellars; it was a fast and frenzied pace.”

Also in 1996, BridgePort developed a new beer that would forever change the face of brewing. BridgePort IPA. The idea is credited to Phil Sexton, and Australian brewer who had been working on the style for some time. “It was a fun thing working on this new style with Phil” says Ockert. “He pointed out that this is the biggest hop growing section in the world, so we should make a big, big hoppy beer. In 1996, 50 BU was huge. (The IPA) had a lot of flavor in addition to aroma. I remember when (John) Foyston came by and said ‘I can smell that from here.’ There wasn’t anyting on the market like it.”

In 2000, BridgePort won a gold medal and grand champion trophy at the London Brewing International for this innovative IPA. It was for certain that this would replace the BridgePort Ale, a mild brown ale, as the brewhouse’s flagship offering.

Since the heyday of BridgePort’s original IPA, Ockert has recognized the evolution of the American craft beer palate when it comes to hops. According to the brewer, in 2009, a judge at the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) in Colorado wrote on a comment sheet that the beer was “Not appropriate to style. Not hoppy enough.” Ockert says that what was once labeled as an IPA is now often recognized as an American Pale Ale. He feels the palate does evolve and that our taste buds “get up to it.” With larger craft breweries such as Stone, Dogfish Head, and Ninkasi continually pushing the hops envelop, BridgePort has recognized this trend and a few years ago came out with Hop Czar, an Imperial IPA at 8% ABV and a big 85 IBUs. Due to popular demand, the Hop Czar moved from being a seasonal 22-ounce release, to a year-round offering, now available in six packs of 12-ounce bottles.

So where will the future of malt and hops take us? No one is quite certain. BridgePort will continue to produce the now classic styles of beer that people in the  might not perceive as innovative, but the world of craft beer has the first wave of craft brewers such as  Phil Sexton and Karl Ockert to thank that they were just that. Karl, you’ll be missed, but we’ll be seeing you around.

Posted under Beer personalities, Oregon beer, beer history, beer news, brewpubs

By Ben Kilduff

When is it ever appropriate to pay $9 for a pint of everyday craft beer? When it is part of a bigger experience – like my first Red Sox game.

Despite the Red Sox loss on Saturday (1-5), the overall game-day festivities were amazing! Seattle traffic is infamous in the Pacific Northwest so the best thing to do is ask a local. And the best local is a bartender at Duck Island Ale House. My girlfriend Katherine and I stopped in at Duck Island for a pre game brew. Adam was our heavily tattooed bartender and he couldn’t have been nicer. The beer list was great! I choose a Pike Double IPA and Katherine choose a Lucifer. I asked about the Lucifer tap tower, as I have never seen one before. Adam said that it is one of only three still around, but after Brouwerij Het Anker bought the name, recipe, and rights to Lucifer from Brouwerij Riva S. A. in 2008, nobody knows were two of the three are. Lucifer is a Belgian Strong Pale Ale. It is surprisingly creamy and a wonderful beer. You would not know that it is 8.5% ABV.

The other thing that I enjoyed about Duck Island was all of the extra tap handles hanging from the ceiling. Very cool place! After getting directions to the ballpark from Adam, we headed out.

We found great parking and started looking for beers in the ballpark. There were the normal selections of Budweiser, and such, but we were looking for craft. We found the likes of Bridgeport, Redhook, Pyramid, and Dick’s. Nine dollars for these was a little steep. Then I thought how many times have I paid for over-priced candy and soda at the movies? A lot. We don’t get to go to a baseball game very often so this was a treat, and despite the high prices we were going to treat ourselves.

After the game we hit Uber Tavern located right down the street for Duck Island. We found this to be a adequate beer bar with bottles to-go. We could not end the night without saying thanks to Adam and had just one more beer.

There were other beer-centric places in Seattle that I would like to visit, but they will have to wait til next time. This trip was definitely worth the $9 beers, and the Mariners deserved to win the game.

Posted under beer events, beer reviews, press releases

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

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

BridgePort will host a Stumptown Tart release party Thursday, May 6 at 5:30pm at the BridgePort BrewPub in the Pearl at 1313 NW Marshall St. Free and open to the public, attendees can be among the first to try free samples of the new brew while supplies last and purchase a limited-edition 22-ounce bottle of Stumptown Tart. Guests will also be given the opportunity to meet the Stumptown Tart herself, bottle model Bernie Dexter, as we celebrate another year of this tasty brew. Bernie will be at the BrewPub to sign bottles, posters, and provide festive eye candy to all in attendance.

BridgePort’s Stumptown Tart Stats:

IBU’s: 14 ABV: 7.7% Color: Reddish-Pink OG: 17.6

Ingredients: Pacific Northwest pale malted barley, Pacific Northwest malted wheat, German hops, 2,000 pounds of Oregon Red Raspberries, Belgian yeast. 50% Belgian Tripel aged in wine barrels one year blended with Belgian Tripel and Raspberries.

Description: A Belgian Framboise style Ale infused with Oregon Red Raspberries. A strong, fruit driven Framboise with hints of raspberry, oak and spicy Belgian yeast flavors with a light, refreshing finish.

Posted under events

Be the First to Sample this Year’s Stumptown Tart Featuring Two-Thirds of a Pound of Raspberries per Case

BridgePort Brewing Company, Oregon’s oldest craft brewery is releasing its third generation Stumptown Tart. The new brew is a Belgian Style Framboise infused with 2,000 pounds of Oregon Red Raspberries grown at Willamette Valley Fruit Company in Salem, Ore. This year’s Stumptown Tart varies from years past as it blends an aged oak barrel and a fresh Belgian Tripel. Stumptown Tart is touted as a brew that hits the drinker upfront with fresh fruit flavor and finishes with the spicy, oak flavors of the two blended ales. Don’t be fooled by this pretty face as each bottle is 7.7 ABV (alcohol by volume) while still staying light on the tongue, making this a great summer brew.

BridgePort will host a Stumptown Tart release party Thursday, May 6 at 5:30pm at the BridgePort BrewPub in the Pearl at 1313 NW Marshall St. Free and open to the public, attendees can be among the first to try free samples of the new brew while supplies last and purchase a limited-edition 22-ounce bottle of Stumptown Tart. Guests will also be given the opportunity to meet the Stumptown Tart herself, bottle model Bernie Dexter, as we celebrate another year of this tasty brew. Bernie will be at the BrewPub to sign bottles, posters, and provide festive eye candy to all in attendance.

BridgePort’s Stumptown Tart Stats:

IBU’s: 14 ABV: 7.7% Color: Reddish-Pink OG: 17.6

Ingredients: Pacific Northwest pale malted barley, Pacific Northwest malted wheat, German hops, 2,000 pounds of Oregon Red Raspberries, Belgian yeast. 50% Belgian Tripel aged in wine barrels one year blended with Belgian Tripel and Raspberries.

Description: A Belgian Framboise style Ale infused with Oregon Red Raspberries. A strong, fruit driven Framboise with hints of raspberry, oak and spicy Belgian yeast flavors with a light, refreshing finish.

New 22 ounce bottles of Raspberry Stumptown Tart bottled by Green Bottling and BridgePort

Posted under Oregon beer, beer releases, press releases

Oregon Trail Brewery and Old World Deli in Corvallis, OR

Last weekend on our action packed travel to Corvallis, we learned that the college town was about more than just Oregon State Beavers and their prosperous Division 1 sports programs. The seat of Benton County, Corvallis is home to over 50,000 people as well as a thriving craft beer community.

Orange and black lights up the streets where the Beaver faithful seem to never waiver from cheering on their favorite school. In fact Oregon State University offers a Fermentation Science option that is approved by the Institute of Food Technologists program. In recent news, Indie Hops, an Oregon  supplier of aroma hops, donated $807,000 toward a new program for aroma hop research at the university in the College of Agricultural Sciences. In total, the hops merchant has provided over $1 million toward hops breeding and chemistry research. This is not only good news for OSU and Oregon, but it’s great news for much of the North American craft beer community.

Besides being a major player in the Willamette Valley’s beer ingredient realm, Corvallis is home to three commercial breweries (soon to be four) and a homebrewing supply and bottle shop.

Oregon Trail Brewery is the city’s oldest craft brewery. Originally founded in 1987 by homebrewer Jerry Shadomy behind the same space that today still houses the Old World Deli in a spacious old hotel building erected in 1910. With the help of building owner Ted Cox, who also ran a homebrewing supply shop in the space, Shadomy was successful in getting the first incarnation of Oregon Trail up and running. This was at a time when the only other commercial breweries in Oregon were BridgePort and Widmer in Portland. In 1989, Oregon Trail’s Brown Ale was awarded a Beer of the Year award by Fred Eckhardt, who was the Oregonian’s beer columnist at the time.

In an interesting setting where three tiers of gravity-drawn brewing aided in the production of local beer. The 7-barrel brew system was obtained from Hart Brewing of Kalama, WA (later to become Pyramid Brewing).   In 1991, current owner Dave Wills, a supplier of hops for the brewery from his company Freshops, bought out Shadomy though he had little hand in the initial brewing process. Shortly after expanding from around 300 barrels to over 1000 annually, a series of personal problems for Shadomy and some unwanted bacterial infections in the beer led to the brewery’s closure in 1992.

In 1993, Wills took the reigns for Oregon Trail, and with the help of Jerry Bockmore, a founder of the now defunct Yamhill Brewing Company (where today resides the Green Dragon Pub and Bistro), a talented area brewer, found the money and energy to rebuild the great brewhouse. Their revitalized Oregon Witbier with orange peel and coriander spice was quite popular in a world of wheat and fruit beer. At the time, the beers were available in 22 ounce bottles, and in 1994 and 1995, Oregon Trail’s brown ale scored a silver medal at the GABF (Great American Beer Festival) in the heyday of Pete’s Wicked.

Today, Wills continues his entrepreneurial spirit by running multiple businesses including his Freshops company that he’s been at since 1982, and a Christmas tree farm. The current production of the brewhouse is about 500 barrels a year, about 90% of this being on draft, and a small percentage being the Wit in 22′s.

During our visit to the garret, we met Don Pfeifer, a retired microbiologist who is serving as Oregon Trail’s lab tech. Pfeifer was taking plate counts and continuing assurance that the brewery doesn’t fall victim to the contamination issues of the past.

Before leaving brewery the jovial and spirited Wills provided samples of his flagship Wit as well as a chewy and robust  Brown Ale, a distinctly flavorsome Ginseng Porter, and a particularly less assertive, light IPA. We were also able to talk him into a pour of the Bourbon Porter, a rich, boozy, bourbon-forward highly sought after beer.

Old World Deli, in the same building as Oregon Trail Brewery

Thanks to Dave Wills, Don Pfeifer, and Lillian MacNamara for taking time to show us a piece of Oregon brewing history. We hope to see the brewery continue to grow and perhaps once again find themselves on the stage of the GABF.

Thanks also to  Melinda Stewart the kind folks at Visit Corvallis who arranged our meeting with Wills and aided in our trip to Corvallis.

For more on the history of the Oregon Trail Brewery, visit: http://www.oregontrailbrewery.com/index.php?s=history

Here is a video from Oregon Trail we found on their website:

Posted under Beer personalities, Oregon beer, beer history, places to drink beer

One of Oregon’s most anticipated brew events kicks off this Saturday. On February 13, 2010, the second year of Zwickelmania, a celebration of craft beer, gives thirsty beer lovers across Beervana an inside glimpse into daily Oregonian brewhouse operations and even better, provides them with tastes of what we love.

Running from 11 am to 4pm, Zwickelmania, in conjunction with the Oregon Brewers Guild, is a free statewide event that offers visitors a chance to tour Oregon breweries, meet the brewers and sample their favorite beers.

Here’s some highlights of this year’s Zwickelmania that we recommend you check out if you get the chance.

Caldera Brewing: In Oregon’s deep (Ashland, Oregon) , beer lovers can meet founder and president Jim Mills at the pub, try a range of Caldera’s wonderful brews including their Rose Pedal Golden, Ginger Pale, Dry-hopped Orange, Hopportunity Knocks, Lawnmower Lager, Pilsner, and more. Also, get sick deals on beer. Mills says “I’ll be at the brewery for Zwickelmania selling cases of cans for $20. Shirts, hats, goodies also available.”

Caldera Brewing Company, 540 Clover Lane, Ashland, OR 97520

Caldera Tap House, 31 Water St #2, Ashland, OR 97520

541-482-HOPS

Fort George Brewery: Speaking of expansion, the good folks at Fort George Brewing in picturesque Astoria, Oregon are growing their brewery to a full city block, increasing volume to a 30-barrel system, and planning to unleash their citrusy, piny hop treat, Vortex India Pale Ale, in tallboy (16-ounce) cans. Yeah, we can’t wait either! Head brewer Jack Harris says “Spencer (Gotter) will be brewing Nut Red Ale and giving brewery tours on Saturday. We will be sampling the Illuminator Dopplebock out of the magic zwickel.” On top of all this, February is Stout Month at Fort George, and this means a buttload of grubbin’ dark roasty treats and killer guest taps (Oskar Blues Ten Fidy, Stone RIS). You don’t have to be a Goonie to wanna do the truffle shuffle over these brews!

1483 Duane Street Astoria, Oregon 503-325-PINT(7468) fortgeorgebrewery.com

Vertigo Brewing: Hillsboro’s nano brewers, Vertigo will be serving up an assortment of their scrumptious brews including the Razz Wheat, Schwindel Alt, TBD Blonde, High Altitude Amber, Friar Mike’s IPA and High Dive Rye. But since the brewery is so small, brewer Mike Haines says “these could change rapidly as we go through the kegs.” Get it while the gettin’s good.

21420 Northwest Nicholas Ct., Hillsboro, OR 97124 www.vertigobrew.com

Ambacht Brewing: Hillsboro, Oregon’s other nano brewery, Ambacht, has been under the radar for some time. After lots of preparation and recipe development, the beer is finally ready to pour. Meet brewer Tom Kramer and sample an assortment of their unique beers including a Belgian-style pale ale called Ambacht Golden Ale, available at the brewery in 750 ml bottles for purchase.

1055 NE 25th Ave Suite N., Hillsboro, Oregon 503-828-1400 http://ambacht.us/

Oakshire Brewing: For those of you who will be in the Emerald City aka Eugene, Oregon, make sure to hit up one of Oregon’s best breweries, Oakshire. Brewmaster Matt Van Wyk, Co-Founder Jeff Althouse, and Head Brewer Joe Jasper will all be on hand to talk shop, give tours fill corn cans and provide good cheer. It also looks as though these guys might have the most impressive line-up of anyone for Zwickelmania: Oakshire Amber, Watershed IPA,Overcast Espresso Stout,Two Wheeler IPA, Frog’s Wort Pale Ale, Ill Tempered Gnome, Harvest Ale, Red Nugget, 09 Sasquatch, Duck Billed Platypus, Cascade Conundrum, Perfect Storm, and Bourbon Barrel Aged IPA! Hot damn!

1055 Madera St., Eugene, Oregon 97402 www.oakbrew.com

Hopworks Urban Brewery: Assistant Brewmaster Ben Love tells us that HUB will be doing brewery tours every half hour, sampling beer off the zwickel in the cooler (as expected) and on the Bar Bike and playing washoes!!!!! The brewpub will also be unveiling a new lager called For Those About to Bock.

Full Sail Breweries: Two location (Hood River and Portland, OR) will feature some rare treats including a new Brewers Share handle Collin’s Dark Secret (based on FS Packaging Manager Collin Godkin’s recipe) paired with artisan chocolate. Guided Brewery Tours at 12, 1, 2, 3and 4PM.

Full Sail Tasting Room and Pub, 506 Columbia Street, Hood River, Oregon 541-386-2247

Full Sail at Riverplace, 0307 SW Montgomery, Portland, Oregon 503-222-5343

www.fullsailbrewing.com

Gilgamesh Brewing: Turner, Oregon’ start-up brewery has been receiving quite a bit of buzz of late. Their presence at the Oregon Wine, Food, & Brew Festival at the fairgrounds in Salem last month made quite an impression on folks. Amidst an expansion process that will grow the nano brewery from a one-barrel system to a seven-barrel system, the Gilgamesh crew will take time out of their busy schedule to serve up free samples and sell growlers at the Willamette Valley Vineyards’ Pinot & Chocolate Celebration in Salem. In a recent email, Gilgamesh said “This is sure to be a great day with some of Willamette Valley Vineyards’ special Pinot Noir that is only served to the public this one day of the year. There will be different companies with chocolates and candies… and now GILGAMESH BREWING! We will have our Chocolate Mint Stout (naturally!), as well as two other brews on tap so please come on out to visit!” We sure hope the other brews  will be their Black Mambabeer brewed with black tea (instead of hops) and tangerine peels, or maybe their Cranberry Saison. Either way, beer geeks near Salem who like off-the-wall brews should check this out!  Please see Willamette Valley Vineyards’ site if you need more info – http://www.wvv.com/whatsnew/#events210.

Pyramid Breweries at MacTarnahan’s Taproom: The NW Portland brewery will offer two separate tasting tables in the Taproom for Pyramid and MacTarnahan’s brands as well as complimentary three-ounce samples of six different beers including Mac’s new Spine Tingler Belgian-Style Tripel and Pyramid’s latest Ingnition Series release, a “Barbed Wire” Imperial Hefeweizen. There will also be complimentary light appetizers, a short walking tour of facility culminating in a sample of Haywire Hefeweizen from the Zwickel on a brite beer tank.Brewers Tom Bleigh, Vasilios Gletsos, and others will be on hand to discuss offerings.

2730 NW 31st Ave.,Portland, Oregon 503-228-5269 www.macsbeer.com

Upright Brewing: Always feels like Zwickelmania at Upright. These guys love making imaginative beer with a don’t give a damn attitude. Brewer and owner Alex Ganum says Upright’s first Zwickelmania event will highlight a firkin of the Four, a wheaten farmhouse ale, dry-hopped with a pinch of Mt. Rainier hops. Brewer Gerritt Ill will be pouring bottles of random Upright favorites as well.They will be rockin’ until 6PM as well.

240 N Broadway, Portland, Oregon 503-735-5337  www.uprightbrewing.com

Cascade Brewing: Stop by the Raccoon Lodge and say hello to the Ron Gansberg, Curtis Bain, and Chris Baggenstraus of Cascade who are taking time out of their very busy schedule to unleash some unbelievable brews. Recognized globally for their sour, lactic, and fruit and spice infused recipes, this could very easily be the hot spot for this year’s Zwickelmania.  Brewmaster Gansberg discloses “For Zwickelmania, we will be tasting select beers from the oak barrels. We will taste the Spring Gose from the Zwickel, as well as the Noyeaux…a blend of White Port barrel aged Strong Blond Ale on Raspberries blended with Noyeaux…apricot nut infused Tripel. We will also release this years Apricot and Sang Rouge for tasting and sale from the bottle!” Servus!

7424 Southwest Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway Portland, Oregon (503) 296-0110 www.raclodge.com

New Old Lompoc: Stop by the 5th Quadrant brewery for a special tasting experience at one of Portland’s best breweries. Brewer Bryan Kielty says “We’ll have the Lompoc Lounge set up in the brewery and have two beers on tap there. Brewery tours given by Dave Fleming and myself and tasting off of different tanks from 11:00AM-5:00PM. SideBar will be open 11:00 AM-9:00PM with a bunch of crazy beer on tap (Bourbon Barrel Aged LSD, 69 Baltic Porter, Double Dry Hopped Cnote, and Old Tavern Mouse). We will also be serving pulled pork sliders at SideBar.”  This is a must stop for craft beer lovers!

3901 N. Williams, Portland, Oregon (503) 595-1876 www.newoldlompoc.com

BridgePort Brewpub: What would a Zwickelmania be without visiting a piece of Oregon’s craft beer history? Bob Negele, general manager of retail operations at BridgePort tells us

that we have “some compelling reasons to come by BridgePort this Saturday as part of the Zwickelmania Celebration:

* First 50 people who come into the brewpub between 11:30am – 4:00pm with two cans of food for donation to the Oregon Food Bank will receive free of charge a BridgePort growler; all they need to do is pay $11.00 for a fill. Regularly a $27.00 value

* We encourage everyone to bring cans of food to be donated to OFB, we’ll be offering $2.75 pints from 11:30am – 4:00pm

* We’ll conducting brewery tours on the hour 12-4pm.

* Great food specials that day.”

1313 NW Marshall St., Portland, Oregon (503) 241-7179 www.bridgeportbrew.com

Bend Brewing: Central Oregon’s finest microbrewery, Bend Brewing will offer a special tour of the downtown bend brewpub. On this special day, Hophead IPA and Outback X will be pouring on tap. Also with a collaboration between Tonya Cornett and Homebrew Chef Sean Paxton. called Desert Rose will be available. This distinctly refreshing offering is based on a Berliner Weisse but brewed with dried cranberry and hibiscus. If you can, don’t be ridiculous…be it! Days like this we wish we had a private jet and personal pilot.  Prost!

For a complete listing of 2010 Zwickelmania events visit http://www.oregonbeer.org/zwickelmania

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

More Top 5 lists. You gotta love it!

Looks like fellow blogger, Jeff over at Beervana, has posted his own short list of highlights/trends in beer in 2009. Here is our own take on the matter.

Top 5 Oregon Beer Stories of 2009

1. The announcement of 19+ breweries and brewpub opening in Oregon in 2010 (Beer Around Town, Beervana)

2. Representative Ben Cannon’s 1900% beer tax increase fails

3. Zwickelmania on Oregon’s Sesquicentennial  <3

4. BridgePort and Widmer share 25 years in brewing

5. Brewpublic celebrates one year anniversary with a Birthday party at Saraveza and KillBeerFest at Bailey’s Taproom.

Top 5 Beer Trends of 2009

1. Sour Beers - Pucker up! This style is gaining momentum.

2. Collaborator Beers - How many brewers does it take to make a kick ass beer? Apparently, at least two.

3. Cascadian Dark Ales - Many Black IPAs were released this year. A great style or an ingredient bomb? What to call them Cascadian Dark Ales or ??? but definitely not Texan Brown Ales. When brewed well, their flavor is roasty, malty but with a nice hoppy presence.

4. “Green” Brewing - Isn’t brewing already a pretty green process? Now, how does someone market it so consumers feel better about themselves. All in all, it is better to go green then to go … ???

5. Expensive Scandinavian/non-traditionally beer country Imports – There seemed to be an increase of these hitting the market in 2009 with many different styles produced. How about we Oregonians grow the hops and you Scandinavians sell them back to us in a super hoppy beer and we pay out the nose for them. Oh, how good you taste, though!

Top 5 Oregon Brewer Interviews By Brewpublic of 2009

(yes, we like to float our own boat, deal with it!)

1. Larry Sidor, Deschutes Brewery (insight to a true hop head and great brewer that brought you beers like Abyss and Dissident)

2. Jason Kahler, Big Horse Brewery (the only known interview w/ Jason)

3. Matt Swihart, Double Mountain (who doesn’t love Double Mountain)

4. Nick Arzner , Block 15 (a great interviewee and brewer)

5. Jim Mills, Caldera (the man who brought canned beers to Oregon)

Honorable mention: Dan Carey with New  Glarus, who showed Brewpublic some great hospitality and amazing beers!

New Year’s Eve Brewpublic will reveal its Top 10 (yes, 10 not 5) beers of 2009. Stay tuned for the finale of our Top Beer Lists.

Posted under beer awards, beer me