Last week at the conclusion of the Craft Brewers Conference in Chicago, the biannual World Beer Cup (WBC) was held.  This global competition with a majority of American entries, has run since 1996 with an ultimate goal to create “greater consumer awareness about different beer styles and flavor profiles while promoting international brewing excellence.” A panel of certified beer judges were in place to honor the top three beers in 91 categories with gold, silver, and bronze awards. The World Beer Cup, one the most prestigious beer competitions in the world, witnessed 13 Oregon breweries take home medals in 2010. Here’s a look at some of the winners.

WINNERS

Oregon breweries claimed six gold, four silver, and three bronze medals at the 2010 WBC, second to only California who claimed 45 medals (but also entered 185 more beers than Oregon). Among the Oregon winners, was Bend Brewing Company (BBC). Accomplished brewmaster Tonya Cornett continued her winning ways for BBC. Cornett won top honors in the strong ale beer style category for its Outback X, a beer Cornett describes as demonstrating “roasted malt with hints of hops in the nose leading to a rich, roasted malt flavor with a background of dried fruits and sherry.”

“The Outback X was originally brewed for our ten-year anniversary,” Cornett explains. “We re-brewed it because people liked it so much, and I am thrilled that it just keeps doing as well as it does.” This is the third gold medal for Outback X.

This year, 642 breweries from 44 countries and 47 U.S. states vied for WBC awards, making for the world’s largest-ever commercial beer competition. Winners were selected by an international panel of 179 beer judges, including Cornett, who served a first-time WBC judge this year. “Sixty-five percent of the judges are from other countries,” she says. “I felt really fortunate to judge alongside and learn so much from them.”

In addition to the gold medal win for Outback X, Cornett garnered glory for her traditional stein lager recipe, which won a silver medal for Lost Abbey Brewery of San Marcos, California. Cornett teamed with award-winning Lost Abbey Head Brewer Tomme Arthur last year to brew two versions of traditional stein lager using molten rocks to set the wort to boil. Hot Rocks Stein Lager, created by Cornett and brewed by Arthur, took silver at WBC.

BBC has won 12 brewing competition medals in the last four years. This is Cornett and BBC’s sixth gold. In 2008, Cornett was honored as the first woman to win the title of World Beer Cup Small Brewpub Brewer of the Year. BBC simultaneously won Small Brewery of the Year. “I am actually better known in the international brewing community than I am in Bend,” jokes Cornett.

Shawn Kelso of Barley Brown’s Brewpub in Baker City, Oregon, much like Cornett, has been proving that it doesn’t take a large brewery to rake in medals. Kelso, on Barley Brown’s four-barrel brew system took home gold for Shredders Wheat, in the American-style wheat category. The same brew that landed the brewpub a Silver at the 2009 Great American Beer Fest (GABF) was now at the top of the pack. Look for more great beers from Kelso and Barley Brown’s to come. Rumor has it the brewhouse could be seeking out a larger brew system in the 10-15 barrel range to keep up with increasing demand for their delicious brews.

Caldera Brewing of Ashland scooped up two wins at this year’s WBC including a gold medal for their Rauch Ur Bock in the Smoked Beer category, and a silver medal for their Pilot Rock Porter in the Brown Porter category. Look for more innovative releases from brewer Trevor Kemp and Caldera founder Jim Mills. The brewery has recently kicked of their Kettle Series in 22-ounce bottles. This series includes the Rauch Ur Bock, so you can also taste the gold medal winner. Also in the Smoke Beer category, Rogue Ales of Newport snagged a silver for their Smoke Ale.

The Pelican Pub & Brewery and Brewmaster Darron Welch won a silver medal for MacPelican’s Scottish Style Ale at this year’s WBC. The staple Pelican brew won the medal in the Scottish-Style Ale category and was one of 29 entered.

“As an experienced World Beer Cup judge, I can say that this year’s event was one of the most competitive I have seen,” said Welch. “The quality I saw even in the preliminary rounds was very high and there were lots of outstanding beers that didn’t receive medals. The fact that MacPelican’s Scottish Style Ale was honored this year is extremely flattering.”

Upright Brewing and founder brewer Alex Ganum won a bronze medal for their Gose, a mildly tart wheaten ale, in the German-style Sour Ale category. For Ganum, this is his first WBC win, but hey, it’s only the first year his brewery has been in existence. We expect a lot more bling-bling for him in the future.

Hopworks Urban Brewery (HUB) continues to do well in just a few years since opening to the public. HUB claimed a silver medal at WBC for their Organic Velvet ESB in the  Extra Special Bitter or Strong Bitter category. Look for Christian Ettinger, Ben Love and company to accumulate a healthy collection of beer competition medals as time goes by.

Widmer Bros took home two WBC rocks this year. Their Drop Top Amber was crowned with the gold in the Ordinary Bitter and their original Alt pocketed a bronze in the German-Style Brown Ale/Düsseldorf-Style Altbier circuit.

Rounding out the Oregonian wins Full Sail of Hood River receiving a gold in the American-Style Dark Lager field for their Black Session; Deschutes nabbed a gold for their well-known Bachelor Bitter in the Special Bitter or Best Bitter field; Hop Valley of Springfield sealed the bronze honors for their DD Blonde, American-Style Wheat Beer.

Congratulations to all the winners at this year’s World Beer Cup. Prost!

Posted under Oregon beer, beer events, beer news

Shazbot! The folks at Fanno Creek are at it again. During the last weekend of February, the Tigard, Oregon brewpub will be hosting the second Nano Beer Fest and the first annual Winter Nano Beer Fest to celebrate the success of small breweries throughout Oregon.  The three day festival will house big beers from eleven small breweries under heated tents. The summer event may have been overshadowed by the Oregon Brewers Fest which ran during the same time (last weekend in July) but now, there’s no excuse to miss out on the wonderful selection of beer to be pouring from some of the best breweries in the Pacific Northwest. Further, with the way the weather has been going here in the Willamette Valley, we’re not even sure heated tents will be necessary. It’s Spring! Here’s the anticipated highlights:

Mt. Tabor Brewing: This is the public’s first chance to sample a brew from this awesome new brewery. Fresh off of being approved by both the OLCC and TTB, owner Brian Maher and brewer Eric Surface are anxious to showcase what they’ve been brewing in their Montavilla brewhouse. During this weekend, thirst patrons will get to try MTB’s Rocket Blonde Ale. Look for MTB’s beer around SE Portland soon at places like the Canton Grill on 82nd and Division. For more info on these guys, check out their new blog that recently went live at www.mttaborbrewing.com.

Double Mountain: These guys don’t bottle their beer, but if they did, they’d probably have trouble keeping up with the demand. Since opening their doors in Hood River, Oregon nearly three years ago, they’ve received nothing but glowing reviews from beer dorks like us. They will be presenting two brews at Winter Nano including brewer Kyle Larsen’s Imperial Chaos Double Stout and the cult classic IRA (India Red) formulated with big floral hops and a unique yeast strain by senior brewer Matt Swihart.

Bend Brewing: This cozy little brewhouse, one would suspect, is living in the shadow of Deschutes just across the street in Bend, Oregon. However, the contrary is true. Brewmaster Tonya Cornett is a world renowned architect of aesthetic and artful beer styles. Cornett’s Outback X Old Ale is a resinous and  raisinous beast that took home a silver medal at the last Great American Beer Festival. Those who didn’t get to Bend for Zwickelmania should not miss out on this sipper.

Fort George Brewery: This is probably the last year these guys will qualify for Nano considering a massive expansion that will have them taking over an entire city block in Astoria and increasing to a 30-barrel outfit. That’s good news! Look for their highly sought after Cavatica Imperial Bourbon Stout named for a spider who protects the sacred brew house. Like bourbon and deep dark complexity in your brew? This one’s for you.

Oregon Trail Brewery: It’s not everyday you get to drink the beers from this cool Corvallis brewhouse. For the fest, they’re bringing a smoky rauchbier.

Block 15 Brewery: Probably the best brewery to come along in Oregon in quite sometime. Also located in Corvallis, if you haven’t made the pilgrimage down there to check out their killer beers and their farm fresh food, you are seriously doing yourself a major disservice. Brewer and founder Nick Arzner will feature B15′s Weizenbock, a bold, sweet wheaten brew fitting for the occasion.

Caldera Brewing: Old Growth Growth Imperial Stout. Need we say more? Caldera is Southern Oregon’s most prolific and imaginative brewery. Probably our favorite, too. President Jim Mills and brewmaster Trevor Kemp have a wealth of experience in the Oregon craft brew community and to date, we’ve never had a bad beer from them. Easily one of the best breweries we’ve ever experienced and this double stout is one of the best ever!

Upright Brewing: We probably write about Upright more than any other brewery. Not only is it because they are great dudes, but their beer is out of this planet! Auld Reekie, named by beer scribe Abram Goldman-Armstrong (nickname of  Edinburgh Scotland),  is begrimed with chewy peat malt notes but light enough to throw back a few. Just another shining example of how boundless the collective imagination of brewers Alex Ganum and Gerritt Ill is.

Oakshire Brewery:” “Ill Tempered Hoppy Brown” is what the description on the fest’s website reads. We suspect this is the same as the breweries Ill Tempered Gnome, a feisty dark amber bodied hop genius with a frothy off-white head. Hops, check. Malts, check. Killer freakin’ brew. Hailing from Eugene, Oregon, head brewer Joe Jasper is kicking ass with the beers down there.

Heater Allen Brewery: Seasonally released Hugo Dunkler  Bock from HA is named for brewmaster Rick Allen’s wife’s grandfather, Hugo Effenberger, who moved to Tillamook County from Germany in 1883. Allen’s descriptor of the beer nails it: “Hugo displays strong malt character, with earth, anise and chocolate notes, and a slightly sweet finish. This lager can complement any number of dishes, from salads to cheese to chicken.” Our mouth is already watering just thinking about this complex lager.

Calapooia Brewing: Rising from the ashes of Albany’s Oregon Trader brewery, Calapooia has become a household name for beer geeks in the area (the name kind of sounds like “Cala-Boo-Yah! which is fitting). Two of their seasonals will be on tap at Winter Nano. These will be Ol’ Lickspigot Barley Wine and  Kringle Krack Strong Ale. If you live by the philosophy of “Go big or go home,” then you might want to wrap your head around these giants. Boo yah!

See all you nano geeks at Fanno Creek!

Other details:

When: February 26th – 28th, 2010 – 11:30 a.m. to close

Where: Fanno Creek Brewpub on Main St. in Tigard, OR

What: Eleven small breweries from the Pacific Northwest

How much?: $2 per mug / $1.25 per 4oz taster

Grub?: Full menu available!

Posted under Oregon beer, beer events, beer news

Founder Jim Mills packages Caldera's first bottled beer

Ashland, Oregon’s Caldera Brewing has added a new dimension to their craft beer repertoire, a line-up of seasonal craft brews soon to hit shelves for distribution…in bottles. A pioneer in canned craft beer, Caldera is the first Oregon brewery to can their product since the craft beer revolution. Beginning with their brightly hopped Pale Ale and now also selling their India Pale Ale and Ashland Amber in cans, the brewery has won over the hearts and taste buds of several Northwest beer lovers. Now, with the help of Green Bottling, who works with more than 17 Northwest craft brewies, Caldera will feature a special seasonal line-up of beers in 22-ounce bottles. Known as “the Kettle Series,” this rotating assortment of brews, according to brewmaster and founder Jim Mills will feature eight different beers annually.

Caldera’s first bottling from Brewpublic.com

Lawnmower Lager: The first bottled beer by Caldera for distribution, this beer is a refreshing deviation from the gratuitously hopped beers many people refer to when they think of the brewery. Living up to its name, the Lawnmower is a crisp, clean super-lite 3.9% ABV session brew perfect for the warm days ahead. Mills says the beer should retail around $2.99 on the shelves.

Hopportunity Knocks: Here’s a wonderful 6.8% ABV India Pale Ale different from Caldera’s well known IPA in a can. Brewed exclusively with Centennial hops and a variety of malts, this beer is all about a rich, unbridled hop flavor and aroma (100+ IBU) without overpowering bitterness. This is aided by the use of a hopback to steep the boatload of hops. The smell in the brewhouse when this beer is brewing is unbelievable!

So far, the two aforementioned brews are the only ones to be bottled. In less than a month, others will also be packaged. According to Mills, here’s what we can expect to see in the Kettle Series in months to come:

Rauch UR Bock: “Should be one of the most smokey beers on the market. 7.4% (ABV)”

Ginger Beer: Beloved draught offering with a distinct yet not overpowering presence of ginger in a light crisp bodied brew. 4.7 ABV %

Old Growth Imperial Stout: One mother of a rich, complex, chocolaty brew, OGIS is another draught favorite.  8.8% ABV.

Vas Deferens: “8.1%  (ABV) Belgian-style strong ale brewed with orange bitters and blood orange zest.”

We’ll just have to wait and see what other flavors Caldera bottles up in the future. In an interview Brewpublic did with Jim Mills last September, he said “I’ve always been into experimenting with different ingredients but in the last year I’ve been super-inspired all of a sudden. But all of a sudden I was just going buck wild with the recipes.”

Mills also says their Hibiscus Ginger Beer will be hitting the market in cans this summer sometime this summer. Hell yeah!

More on Caldera:

The brewery was  incorporated in 1996 and began selling kegs the following year.  In 2005, Caldera gained statewide popularity for becoming the first craft brewery in Oregon to can their beers. Operating in a 6000 square foot building on the southern side of town, the brewhouse is a 10 barrel system with fermentation tanks ranging from 10 to 60 barrels. One thing that sets Caldera apart from many other Northwest breweries is the incorporation of fresh whole flower hops into the brewing process. The brewery states that “whole flower hops have a cleaner taste than pelletized hops.” There’s no doubt that founder Jim Mills has a passion for fresh, dank hops. However, his brewery has an expansive palate and a passion for producing a wide range of beer styles as you can see.

Posted under Oregon beer, beer news, beer releases

Brewpublic recently visited Caldera Brewing‘s new taproom in beautiful downtown Ashland, Oregon. There we met with founder and head brewer Jim Mills to learn more about one of Oregon’s best breweries that resides a stone’s throw from the California border. Caldera is Oregon’s first microbrewery to can its own beer and has aadding to the bold flavor profiles to give them a seemingly cult following around Beervana.

At the recently remodeled taproom, which has been through a few incarnations including the original home of Rogue, we enjoyed quaffing beers on the back patio which, according to Mills, is the biggest patio in town. Under the shade of trees and a bridge in a relaxed brookside setting, we learned about the history of Caldera and the man who made it what it is today. Caldera opened on the 4th of July of 1997. Mills informed us that the brewery sold their first keg on August 28 of that year. Fittingly, on August 28, 2009 Caldera celebrated its 12th anniversary out back on the same patio with live music and delicious hand crafted beer.

Tell us about your background with beer and what brought you to this point with brewing.

Jim MIlls: It pretty much started when I was in third grade and my cousing was homebrewing. This was probably the late 70s. He made like a dark, amber, brown sort of beer that was like 7%. Also, my dad always gave me sips of his beer growing up. And I remember tasting that and going “Oh my God, that’s real. They’re not fuckin’ around. This is the shit right here.” So from that point on, I was like, okay, homebrewing-that’s how it’s done. I moved (to Ashland) when I was 19. I was in college still. So I just started homebrewing and kept bugging the old manager here at the old Rogue brewery to give me a job. I finally got a job bartending and working in the kitchen. Then I started washing kegs for free just to learn how to brew, get in there. I was brewer’s assistant for a while. Then I was head brewer here in ’94-’95. Then in 1995, I started my business plan. The flood of ’96-’97 was here and Rogue at that point pulled all of their equipment out and it became Siskiyou Pub. It was a multi-tap, not a brewpub. We just purchased it on July 1st of this year. We did a pretty extensive remodel and opened on July 27th.

How did you settle on calling your business Caldera?

JM: It’s basically Spanish for “boiling kettle” and it’s our logo, the calderon or kettle. Since it was Spanish, it was easier to trademark (laughs). I had two other names but they were both taken so that was number three. At the time, my attourney said “I like this one better anyways.” So it was pretty cool (laughs). It’s hard as hell for some people to say. Ross from Walkabout is Australian and always says “Cal-dur-uh.”

Since you started in the 90s, how has the beer scene changed to what it is here today?

JM: One thing I noticed is that we had a strong homebrew club here and after I started Caldera, the homebrewers started dropping off one by one. They said it was just easier to buy good beer than to make it. So I’ve noticed that change because most towns have a really strong homebrew club. Portland, Eugene, and even Medford, I think, has a pretty good following. There’s hardly any homebrewers in this town. I mean, there’s a few, my electrician being one, but its not like it used to be where there was twenty guys and we’d host the meetings and whatnot. That’s one thing. I think the other thing-its not really just in this town but in general, but in Oregon and across the nation-the third wave of breweries…we’re the second wave..you know Ninkasi and some of the guys in Enterprise and whatnot…they’ve made the big guys step up. Like BridgePort is doing that Kriek now. They would have never done that ten years ago. We’ve always done off the wall beers. I think that’s what I’ve noticed. It’s a tertiary wave of brewers coming in and spurring all the other breweries to get unique and creative because that’s what the consumers are wanting right now. Like this Rose Petal beer. I don’t know how it’s going to go over, but (the consumers) just want to try something new and crazy and different. So that’s kind of the major changes, I think.

Other than the homebrews that you tried early on in life, what other beers did you try that captivated your imagination from a brewer’s perspective?

JM: Well, of course, the old standard. And when you call Sierra Nevada Pale Ale “the old standard”, it’s got to make Ken (Grossman) pretty happy and proud I guess. Using whole hops is one way I’ve modeled my brewery after Sierra Nevada. It’s a cleaner product. But I really like the fact that through all of their expansions, and they would expand like crazy, that pale ale stayed pretty much the same. This last year the hops are a little bit different, but really, for the past twenty years, it’s been spot on. So Sierra Nevada, the old standard, but also a lot of the Belgians and Germans-Lambics, German Marzens and lager beers are my favorite beer of all styles. So it’s a combination of different things.

You have a lot of imaginative styles like the Rose Petal Golden Strong Ale, the Ginger Pale Ale, the Hibiscus Ginger, and you rotate the Calderon Brew each year…

JM: Calderon brew is a Halloween beer that’s a different style every year.

Do you have any beer styles you’ve been thinking about brewing in the future that you haven’t done before?

JM: We used to brew oatmeal stout. We’re going to brew that on Thursday. We’re going to bring that back for the pub and a couple of other accounts. We’re also going to do an IPA #2 that will be a bigger IPA like a 1.060 gravity and use all Centennial hops and we’re going to dry hop it also. We’re going to make it scream in your face, not so balanced. Southside Strong is an old strong ale we used to make and is named after the south side of Mt. Ashland. We’re going to be bringing that in the next month. We’ve also got an imperial stout. Over the years we’ve done imperial stouts differently. Last year’s was the first traditional Russian Imperial stout we’ve done. But before that we did them with pink peppercorns, lavendar, and chocolate. The year before that we did black currants, dates, and white peppercorns. And the year before that was black peppercorns we used lager yeast. So, yeah, we’re always messin’ around.

Very bold and innovative; not afraid to take some chances…that’s what we love, it’s what Brewpublic is all about!

JM: I’ve always been into experimenting with different ingredients but in the last year I’ve been super-inspired all of a sudden. But all of a sudden I was just going buck wild with the recipes.

Caldera, when we think of Oregon, has really been at the forefront of the craft beer in the can movement. How far do the cans get distributed and what go you interested in chosing cans while so many others have been using glass bottles?

JM: We are the first and only brewery in Oregon so far to use cans. We started with our Pale Ale in 2005 in the spring. The IPA was in August 2007, and just this past spring, the Ashland Amber. We chose it because up until 2005, nobody making canning lines were making small enough ones. It was either a quarter of a million dollars. Cask Brewing Systems out of Calgary came up with two small canning lines including a manual that basically we started with and is a nightmare…I never drank more beer in my entire life doing that filling one at a time…three people doing 16 cases an hour…

What about MacTarnahans? They had cans, was that similar?

JM: No, they contracted their canning out. We were the first to do it ourselves here in Oregon…the first since Blitz. So after that we got an automated system with two people doing about 60 cases an hour. So that’s a lot better. We got into canning for two reasons: the affordability of a canning line. Cans are a better package than a bottle because it completely blocks all of the sunlight out, the airs are really low. It’s lightweight, easy to recycle, easy to pack in, pack out, you can take them to beaches, poolside. There’s just so many advantages. There’s only one disadvantage, and that was educating the public that you could get good beer in a can, and we’re starting to finally do that, especially with some of these other breweries jumping on board and putting their beer in cans. The problem can also be that you’re dedicated to buying a truckload of cans at a time and they come in nine foot palates, and there’s 25 of them. So it’s a full trailor or cans. So you need to have the space to store them and most pubs don’t have the space. Some microbreweries like us have the space.

Now that Caldera has settled into a groove with their canning operation and things with the new taproom have started flowing smoothly, Mills believes he has more freedom to get nutty with some of his recipe development. So expect to see more innovative and bold brews from the Southern Oregon brewery. Mills also revealed that he will soon be launching eight different 22-ounce bottles of off-the-wall seasonal brews including the beloved rotating Calderon Brews. A ten barrel tank will continue to be used to prop up yeast and develop delectable new styles.

Try Caldera’s Ginger Pale Ale at Brewpublic’s Brewniversary Party @ Saraveza on October 9th and their Rose Petal Golden Strong Ale at our KillerBeerFest @ Bailey’s Taproom on October 10th.

Posted under Beer personalities, Oregon beer

Oskar Blues: A canned beer pioneer

The first thought that leaps into many folks’ minds when they hear the phrases “canned beer” or “beer in a can” is the proverbial old swill that Pa used to drink after a hard day of work.  Perhaps quite fitting for this Pa character to be sittin’ in his favorite arm chair in a wifebeater watching the boob tube, or out on the porch counting cars.  These days the perception of Pa and his metal-clad accessory is changing thanks to breweries like Oskar Blues Brewing Company of Lyons, Colorado, who started hand-canning their flavorsome microbrews in 2002 and haven’t looked back since.  With full-bodied craft offering such as Dale’s Pale Ale, Old Chub Scottish Ale, and Gordon, a double red IPA, the microbrewer was the first of its kind to can its product. From those days of two-at-a-time hand-canning, OB first thought the idea of putting a “bold, hoppy pale ale” in a can to be humorous and claim it made them “laugh for weeks.”  This pale ale named after main man Dale Katechis changed a lot of misconceptions about canned brews.  Says Katechis: “We discovered that the belief that cans impart flavor to beer is a myth. The modern-day aluminum can and its lid are lined with a water-based coating, so the beer and the can never touch.”  The use of cans on quality brews serve other advantages over bottled brews.  “Cans, we discovered, are actually good for beer. Cans keep beer especially fresh by fully protecting it from light and oxygen. Our cans also hold extremely low amounts of dissolved oxygen, so our beer stays especially fresh for longer. Cans are also easier to recycle and less fuel-consuming to ship.”  Today, the Oskar Blues is still hand-canning their delicious beer, but with a more advanced mechanism that allows for five cans at once to be filled and sealed.

Caldera Brewing Company of Ashland, Oregon began canning their floral, bitterly hopped pale ale in 2005 and now offer their award winning IPA in the same format.  The can-only brewery notes some overwhelming advantages of the format such as “Cans chill quicker and keep the cold longer, are lighter in weight, are easier to store, don’t break, and are easier to construct pyramids and model airplanes from.”

Other breweries are catching on to the advantages of placing their beer in cans. 21st Amendment Brewing of San Francisco, California has been canning it’s Hell of High Watermelon Wheat Ale and Brew Free or Die IPA for a few years and plans on distributing the beer sometime in the next year.  Also, New Belgium Brewing of Fort Collins, Colorado began canning their Fat Tire Amber Ale in May of 2008.  No word on when the can version of this beer will be widely distributed. Stay tuned…

Posted under beer reviews