Fanno Creek Brewpub of Tigard, Oregon again hosts their semiannual Nano Beer Fest starting Friday August 6. The three-day event is slated to feature beer from fifteen Oregon breweries. While not all of these brewers are necessarily nano breweries (for example, Fort George now runs on a 30 barrel system), the festival itself might be safe to call nano. The event will allow craft beer lovers to sample a variety of styles from brewers from all parts of the state, like Beer Valley in Ontario, Walkabout in Central Point, Fort George in Astoria, Three Creeks in Sisters, and many others scattered throughout our vast landscape.

In addition to the three days of craft beer enjoyment, Nano Beer Fest will host an array of artists showcasing a wide range of media.

Some highlights pouring at Summer Nano Beer Fest 2010 include Walkabout Worker’s Pale, Caldera Dry-hopped Orange, Double Mountain Devil’s Kriek, Bend Brewing Black Diamond Dark Lager, Heater Allen Dunkel, and Fort George Sunset Pale Ale. Most of the brews at this fest you might be able to find on tap regularly around Portland, but in Tigard, this is a really cool showcase of craft beer. Further, the event promises great weather and should be a lot of fun.

For more details and to see a complete list of beers pouring at Summer Nano Beer Fest 2010, visit their website: www.nanobeerfest.com

Summer Nano Beer Fest takes place August 6-8, 2010; 11:30AM until close. Fanno Creek Brewpub is located at 12562 SW Main Street in Tigard, Oregon. For more information, visit their website, or call (503) 624-9400.

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

For a moment we considered doing a month in review. We still might, but there’s just so much to reflect upon for the past Oregon Craft Beer Month (OCBM), we aren’t sure where we would. With several awesome festivals and unique events, OCBM 2010 was undoubtedly a huge hit filled with wonderful beers, memories, and the great people who make craft beer in Oregon the best month of beer appreciation anywhere in the world.

As previously mentioned here in the paper-free pages of Brewpublic, almost every day during the month of July featured multiple events and made for tough decisions about which event(s) to attend. Of course, there are worse problems in the world to deal with than an overabundance of spectacular beer.

This past weekend marked the final hurrah of OCBM, and as you might expect, there were at least a handful of noteworthy craft beer events worth involving oneself in. Bailey’s Taproom’s AnniBrew3 Barrel-aged Beer Fest was a go-to goings-on for the uber geeks that didn’t want to pass on once in a lifetime vintages of brews organized by proprietor Geoff Phillips and his faithful. Rogue’s Bones and Brew was a hot ticket item for those around Portland’s Pearl District looking to soak in some perfect summer weather, live music, and partake of the luring scents emitting from the grill. Concordia Ale House’s now well-known Concordia Cup was another chance for hop heads and S.N.O.B.s (Supporters of Native Oregon Beer) to blind taste a dozen different imperial IPAs (all brewed here in the fine state of Oregon) and help to decide which brewer will represent us in February’s Beer Brawl versus California and Washington.

For us, we were locked on our six hour meet the brewers pub crawl, aka BrewPubliCrawl. Featuring twenty breweries and some of their representing brewers. The crawl kicked off at Red Fox, a pub we haven’t spent much time at in the past. Not necessarily a beer geek pub, Red Fox serves up some of the best bloody Marys in town. However, they regularly carry Double Mountain and Laurelwood beers on tap. A third tap is devoted to Trumer Pils. Double Mountain and Laurelwood brewmasters Matt Swihart and Chad Kennedy, respectively, arrived at the noon kickoff time to meet and greet a healthy early crowd ready to get a day of craft beer under its belt. Laurelwood’s Deranger Red and Double Mountain’s Hop Lava seemed like a perfect beginning to this big day.

After a while enjoying the relaxed vibe at Red Fox, the crowd pushed on to nearby Saraveza pub, one of Portland’s finest destinations for beer geeks. Always replete with great service and excellent beer selections, Sarveza revealed Hopworks Velvet Underground Imperial Black ESB, Seven Brides Emily’s Ember Amber Ale, Fort George Vortex IPA, Heater Allen Bobtoberfest, Ninkasi Radiant Summer Ale, and more.

The next stop on the crawl was at Lucky Lab’s Overlook location where Deschutes Sage Brush Pils, Migration Pale Ale, Lompoc’s C-Note, Alameda’s Yellow Wolf IIPA, and a special Lucky Lab Pilsner, brewed for Pacific Rivers Council, were pouring in the eastern room at the venue. A great day made outdoor seating optimal in front of the establishment on N. Killingsworth. This fabulous weather would make the next stop perhaps the best of the day.

The pub crawl commenced at The Hop & Vine just a block away from the Overlook Lucky Lab. Here, jockeyboxes where set up in the spacious backyard where folks could relax and gather. On tap: a new Boneyard Beer RPM IPA, a new MacTarnahan’s Ink Blot Baltic Porter, Cascade Nightfall Blackberry Sour Ale, Widmer Gose, Natian Organic Golden Ale, Upright Auld Reekie Smoked Brown Ale, Vertigo Apricot Cream Ale, and Oakshire La Ferme Belgian-style Farmhouse Ale. All of these beers were excellent and it was great to have the brewers all on hand. At 6:00PM, Ninkasi founding brewer Jamie Floyd addressed the crowd and got everyone pumped up about the bounty of Oregon beer that makes our state so badass.

Thanks a lot to everyone involved in making the OCBM closing ceremonies so much fun. Thanks to Mother Nature for a tremendous day, all of the brewers for their time and top notch brews, and to staff at Red Fox, Saraveza, Lucky Lab, and The Hop & Vine for making this event a success!

Time for a liver cleanse now…

Check out more photos from BrewPubliCrawl and OCBM and more at http://brewpublic.com/photos

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

This year’s Oregon Brewers Festival (OBF) promises to be the biggest and best to date.  Make sure to get down to Tom McCall Waterfront Park this weekend and discover an unbelievable assortment of craft beers.

Several interesting beers were provided to us at the media preview led by Noel Blake on Thursday. In addition, the festival offers a spectrum of seemingly endless brews worthy of any beer lover’s undivided attention. Some highlights available at the festival included:

Caldera’s Hibiscus Ginger Beer:  Here’s a beer with a focus not on hops, but rather on ginger root, beets, and hibiscus flowers. This light golden  4.7% ABV brew also makes use of Belgian candi sugar and 2-row and Carafoam malts. While this beer might not be for everyone, it certainly gets points for uniqueness, as well as a balance of both complexity and drinkability. We love it!

Rock Bottom Oud Heverlee: With deep malt flavors, this Belgian-style brew made with dried tulips and specialty-aged “vloer suipt” Sterling hops. Peppery, floral, and mildly fruity, this beer is another shining example of Portland Rock Bottom’s imaginative spirit and brewing know-how lead by brewmaster Van Havig.

Collaborator Sunstone Pilsner: The Oregon Brew Crew in conjunction with Widmer Bros provides a platform for talented homebrewers to showcase their talents to the public on a commercial scale. This year’s Collaborator was a distinct spin on the traditional German-style Pilsner. Brewer David Haynes designed this 35% wheaten lager with the end result being, as media guide Noel Blake states a “perfect summer Pils.”

Upright Brewing Reggae Junkie Gruit: If you read the virtual pages of Brewpublic, you know how much we love Upright. This brew uses no hops, just an assortment of herbs and spices such as organic spelt berries, hyssop, bitter orange peel, Sichuan peppercorns, and lemongrass. The base malts of organic pale and Munich result in a pleasant 5.2% ABV summer quaffer. Upright also featured a special gin barrel aged brew exclusive to the Buzz Tent in limited quantities.

The Bruery 7 Grain Stout: Can Orange County, CA’s The Bruery do any wrong? We’ve yet to find a beer from them that we didn’t love. This Belgian-style Saison is no exception. Brewed with Two-row pale malt, rye, oats, unmalted wheat, flaked rice, flaked maize, and spelt, and moderate portions of Magnum and Sterling hops, here we have a very balanced warm weather brew. An astringent finish with residual spice character are highlights of this beer’s architecture. Cheers!

Widmer Captain Shaddock Grapefruit IPA: Named for a certain Captain Shaddock who some credit with bringing grapefruit (actually pomelo) to Jamaica in the late 18th Century. This particular Widmer brew makes use of the experimental GFX-75 hop, whose flavor is likened to grapefruit. And, even more interestingly dried grapefruit peel was added to the end of the boil to accentuate more of the citrus character in this dark amber colored 60 IBU brew. Hats off to Widmer for continuing to try new things and keeping our beer interesting.

Oakshire Overcast Espresso Stout: This award winning beer is available year round from the brewers at Eugene’s Oakshire Brewing. Made with five types of grain and Chinook and Willamette hops, this beer is cold-pressed with locally roasted organic espresso coffee. The result is a bold, dark, roasty coffee brew with additional notes of chocolate and rich maltiness. Perfect for a cold day, its also a great breakfast brew to get you going in the morning.

Double Mountain The Vaporizer: Hopheads rejoice for this beer, that was the first keg to run dry at this year’s brewers dinner. Now a year round offering from the Hood River brewers, The Vaporizer is a pale golden-bodied ale with Pilsner malts and copious amounts of citrusy US Challenger hops. A dry, clean, refreshing finish leaves us wanting more and more!

Cascade Summer Gose: An absolute must have at this year’s Oregon Brewers Festival, Cascade’s Summer Gose is a light quenching tart beer inspired by a tradition originated in the village of Goslar in Lower Saxony, Germany and launched by great popularity in nearby Leipzig. Imagineer Ron Gansberg and his talented staff of brewers utilize the standard high portion of wheat malt in the Gose. Citrus notes and the addition of salt and coriander spice meld to provide a wonderful summer seasonal perfect for the hot days on the waterfront. Look for other seasonal versions of the Gose as the months pass. Each brewed with interesting original ingredients.

These beers are just the tip of the iceberg at OBF. Discover your favorites this weekend at Tom McCall Waterfront Park. For more information on the OBF, visit the website at www.oregonbrewfest.com

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

Brewpublic announces another special meet the brewers pub crawl. You might remember back on March 20, 2010 when we brought you the first of this kind on SE Division Street in Portland. Now, we’ve got a crawl, also with four craft beer bars, less distance to cover, and even more brewers to meet while you enjoy a plethora of great brews.

What: Meet the brewers pub crawl (aka BrewPubliCrawl). 18 Oregon brewers will be on hand for this exclusive 6 hour event, each with a refreshing and unique offering designed especially for the commencement of July (Oregon Craft Beer Month). Four craft beer loving bars will open their doors as normal, but on this day with a lot more artisan brews to share. We’re really excited to have you check this out!

Where: N. Killingsworth Street, Portland, Oregon.

The crawl starts at the Red Fox bar (5128 North Albina Avenue); moves to Saraveza (1004 N. Killingsworth Street); then Overlook Lucky Lab (1700 N. Killingsworth Street); and ends up at The Hop & Vine (1914 N. Killingsworth Street).

When: Saturday July 31, 2010 Noon until 6pm. Brewers with beers at each stop will be on hand for 1.5 hours at each stop. (Red Fox Noon-1:30PM; Saraveza 1:30-3PM; Overlook Lucky Lab 3-4:30PM; The Hop & Vine 4:30-6PM)

Why: Because we are nutty about Oregon Craft Beer and love our community and the artists who brew great beer here in Oregon. Also, we want to toast another great Oregon Craft Beer Month that is closing out on this day.

Other Details:  No tickets are required for this pub crawl. Folks 21+ will be able to purchase beer from the bars like you’d normally expect. The entire pub crawl route from start to finish is just 0.7 miles. Brewers in attendance with their beer pouring include: Alameda, Boneyard Beer, Cascade, Deschutes, Double Mountain, Fort George, Heater Allen, Hopworks, Laurelwood, Lucky Labrador, MacTarnahan’s, Migration, Natian, New Old Lompoc, Ninkasi, Oakshire, Seven Brides, and Vertigo. Also, Bailey’s Taproom’s 3rd anniversary barrel fest is happening on this day and we strongly recommend that you visit them for some of the rarest and most unique beers as well!

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

Saraveza’s Imperial IPA Fest has been one hoppilicious ride. Occurring amidst the throes of the Portland International Beer Fest, the IIPA Fest is a showcase of some of the best boldly hopped strong ales from all over the country, mostly featuring Oregon brews, and a few imports. Tonight, Sunday July 18, 2010,  is the closing night for the five-day bevy of brews, and is capped with some of the most anticipated doubly dank dosed doozies of the week.

Gorge Night at the IIPA Fest is slated to present some of the best brewers stationed near the Columbia River Gorge. These include “Big Phat Homo” from Walking Man of Stevenson, Washington, “Molten Lava” from Double Mountain of Hood River, and the premier of  “Big Brother” from Everybody’s Brewing of White Salmon, Washington.

The remaining IIPAs that fill out the lineup on this night are some of the highlights of the fest that Saraveza has been holding back for this finale. These include:

Mikkeller “I Beat yoU” (København, )and Schmaltz He’Brew “Lenny’s R.I.P.A.” (New York, NY)

In Sunday’s Bullpen the staff is holding Oskar Blues “Gordon” (Lyons, Colorado) and  Mad River “Steelhead” DIPA (Blue Lake, CA)

Jonathan Carmean

IIPA Fest organizer Jonathan Carmean of Saraveza says  “We started seeing some very excitin Imperial IPAs coming out and thought we’d do it up; make it an excersize in decadence.” So if you’ve missed out on this five day big brew bonanza, you must attend tonight. Carmean adds “We’re very happy with this year’s success. It’s a great start. I look forward to improving upon it and making it bigger. It’s a fun way to shameless ebrace a style a that boldly showcases what this region has to offer. We love our sours and Saisons at Saraveza but we certainly have a powerful taste for the hops, too. And, this week has proven that we are far from alone in that club. We’ve had a couple breweries make  IIPAs specifically for the event, and having some of the brewers in the house each night has made all the difference because this is all about community. Sarah (Pederson, Saraveza proprietor) understands this, and I’m so grateful she trusts myself and the rest of the staff to carry that vision forward.”

So are we! Hope to see you tonight!

Saraveza is located at 1004 N. Killingsworth Street in Portland, Oregon.

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

Saraveza and Brewpublic Present: A special closing night to a week of spectacular imperial IPAs at Saraveza concludes the beers of Walking Man, Double Mountain, and Everybody’s Brewing. Meet the Brewers! Taste their art! Get hoppy!!!

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

Another jam-packed weekend it was for Brewpublicans here in Beervana.

Belmont Station

On Thursdays July 8, Belmont Station, with one of the most impressive calendars for Oregon Craft Beer Month (OCBM), kicked of their fourth annual sour week, known as Puckerfest, with very special event. Billed as a pre-party for the week wilds, Thursday marked the release of Double Mountain’s 2010 Devil’s Kriek. Brewed with orchard cherries grown in Hood River by brewmaster Matt Swihart, attendees were offered free samples of the brewer’s freshly picked fruits as well. Swihart and founding partner Charlie Devereux were in attendance to meet with friends and fans of the brewery. Deep amber bodied and with a well-rounded Brettanomyces yeast character, patrons had the opportunity to do some comparative sampling of this beer beside last year’s rendition. We are convinced that this is Double Mountain’s best one yet.

Also flowing from the stand-up taps at Belmont Station on this night was the Bruery’s Orchard White, a choice Belgian-style witbier brewed with coriander, citrus peel and lavender. Baker City’s Barley Brown’s Hot Blonde Ale brewed with jalapeno peppers was a light and refreshing summer-appropo golden ale exhibiting a welcomed chili spice snap without being too aggressive on the heat. The Hot Blonde won a gold medal at this year’s 2010 NABA and it was easy to see why. A keg we sampled a few weeks ago at The BeerMongers with brewmaster Shawn Kelso, kicked in less than 24 hours.

On Friday July 9, Puckerfest rocked on without missing a beat, this time with three special kegs from Jolly Pumpkin brewing of Dexter, Michigan. These rare pours included Calabaza Blanca, Oro de Calabaza, and Luciernaga. Blanca is, as the name suggests (translates literally as “White Pumpkin”), a white ale brewed in the classic biere blanche tradition and spiced with orange peel and coriander. Like most of the JP brews, it is distinctively tart and very refreshing. The Oro is a a Belgian-style strong ale aged in oak barrels and is brewed in the Franco-Belgian tradition of special golden ales. In truly JP fashion, Oro is quite peppery and effervescent with a gentle hop bouquet and the beguiling influence of wild yeast. The Luciernaga (meaning “firefly”) is another sort of hybrid brew commercially described as an “artisan pale ale brewed in the Grand Cru tradition.” With a hazy golden and carbonic body and medium hop aroma, Luciernaga is accented by the addition of coriander and grains of paradise. Spicy, tart, sour, hoppy, and somehow smooth, this was many people’s favorite of the three. However, it was impossible for us to decide which one we liked best since all three were top notch brews.

Saturday July 10 brought great weather to Portland. The three-straight 90 degree days were finally in the rearview and we were able to enjoy perfect 75-80 degree sunshine. During the day we hung out with the Daily Pull’s Brady Walen and prepped for our interview with Three Sheets alco-median Zane Lamprey who was in town on the last leg of a 53 city stand up comedy and book release tour. We prepared questions for the jokester during the day amidst picking up some special bottled brews to share with him during our interview. We were a little uncertain of how the interview would go. Since Brewpublic is dedicated to craft beer over fraternity party-esque drunkenness, we formulated an interview plan that would allow for an entertaining yet informative interview. Videographer and documentarianist Alison Grayson would capture the interview.

Before meeting with Lamprey, as mentioned, we stocked up on beer for the entertainer from a number of Oregon breweries that we thought any libation lover, not just a craft beer lover would appreciate. These included bottles of Upright Six, Cascade The Vine, Pelican Heiferweizen, Heater Allen Coastal Common, and a six pack of Caldera IPA . Just prior to our scheduled interview time, we dropped by Bailey’s Taproom to enjoy a glass of MacTarnahan’s Lipstinger. At Bailey’s we ran into our friends Bruce and Dave with BS Brewing. They were also preparing to interview Lamprey, just before we were. By the time the interview was to begin, we were already a bit McKenna’d (this is a term Lamprey uses in reference to his college buddy Steve McKenna synonymous with intoxicated). The interview was brief as we motorboated through questions and beers. Lamprey, surprisingly, wasn’t into drinking much off camera. This was understandable since he had a long night ahead of him and had already been cruising around town knocking back avocado daiquiris and other crazy concoctions for his TV show. Basically he had been on a drinking spree since the end of April when his tour kicked off. Still, he was nice enough to try some of the beers we brought before McKenna was called over to shotgun some Caldera IPAs with us.

After we left to allow Lamprey ample time to prepare for his show, we reluctantly departed our beer stash left in the green room and joined the rest of the three-quarters filled Roseland upstairs.  The show started with the ever-drunken McKenna introducing comedian Marc Ryan. Ryan’s content sought humor in STDs, DUIs, and mostly lewd material that teenage beer-bongin’ fratboys might find appealing.  Early in, we were ready to never see McKenna again. We didn’t even muster a chuckle the entire time he was on stage (and we’d been drinking and were in a good mood). Quickly realizing  that homophobia, womanizing, and drinking for the soul purpose of getting loaded were topics bolstering this show, we were in fact able to tolerate the show as long as we did in part because the other folks in the audience paid $25 to be here and, as a courtesy to our hosts, we were waiting for things to improve.  Sadly, they didn’t. Lamprey’s stand up was more fun loving and less lewd, but his go at standup was a little weak.

It was apparent that this show had a devout audience, but it simply wasn’t our cup of tea and jello shots.

Before the show was over, we had to leave for a prior engagement. It was fairly apparent from our interview and the his stage presence that Zane Lamprey doesn’t really care about the geekier side of craft beer. And, fair enough, not all people do. He projects to is the lowest common denominator, which are people who like to party. Granted this is sometimes funny, because let’s face it,  the notion of being drunk or stupid can be humorous, and travel shows where you get to peak in other cultures is at times rather fascinating. But Lamprey’s disparaging, shock-value, anything-for-attention humor was evident when he Tweeted about doing Fondue shots (dropping a shot of melted cheese into a beer and chugging it) with McKenna at the Widmer Gasthaus) reminded us of being kids and seeing that one kid eat an earthworm for a dollar, or  to make a girl scream and get his buddy to laugh. His success, we feel is partly due to his ability to be spontaneous and at times charismatic.  Despite not really enjoying the stand up show,  it was a treat to actually meet Zane Lamprey and wrap with him. Also, the Three Sheets show is rather entertaining and we are sure a lot of people would have loved to been in our shoes. Lamprey’s PR person, Karen was very cool, so big BIG ups to her!

Sunday morning we enjoyed pints of Boneyard Black 13 and Heater Allen Coastal Common at The BeerMongers while watching the final match of the World Cup.With allegiance to neither Spain nor Holland, we somehow found ourselves pulling for Holland purely based on a better craft beer selection. We weren’t the least bit disheartened when Spain ended up winning it all.

The weekend wrapped up with a great party at the Horse Brass pub to celebrate the birthday of three prevalent area beer personalities. Horse Brass founder Don Younger, accomplished beer scribe Lisa “the Beer Goddess” Morrison, and Point Blank Distributing founder Scott Willis. Together this triumvirate of  craft beer prowess celebrated 162 years of life, many of which they’ve each, in their own way, used to champion breweries in Oregon and beyond. A special tap menu of strong and hoppy brews graced the taps like Steelhead Hopasaurus Rex, Caldera Hopportunity Knocks, and Russian River Blind Pig IPA. There was even a band performing some blues numbers that had the legendary publican shaking it by the dance floor. It was a great time with lots of local beer folks like Full Sail brewmaster John Harris, Belmont Station original founder Joy Campbell, current owners Carl and Amy Singmaster, Charles and Teresa Culp, Northwest Brewing News’ John and Linda Norton, Bailey’s Taproom founder Geoff Phillips, and beer fest organizer Preston Weesner. Even Music Millenium founder Terry Currier was in attendance. Needless to say, it was a lot of fun.

Posted under beer events, beer reviews

Join Double Mountain founders and brewer rock stars Charlie Devereux and Matt Swihart for a special release party of their 2010 Devil’s Kriek sour ale brewed with cherries grown on Matt’s orchards. This distinct event at Belmont Station Bier Cafe will allow folks to enjoy a glass of the 2010 Kriek alongside a vintage 2009. Draft only. This will serve as a seemingly perfect pre-party for Belmont Station’s week-long wild and sour beer bonanza known as Puckerfest.
Belmont Station again expects long lines for this popular event. In order to ensure a shorter wait time, Devil’s Kriek will be cash only.

(L to R) Amy Singmaster, Matt Swihart, Charle Devereux, Carl Singmaster

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

Join the brewers and founders of Double Mountain Brewery of Hood River at a special release party for their Devil’s Kriek, a tart cherry Belgian ale you won’t want to miss out on!

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

Posted under beer and food, beer events, events