Spring has sprung as so have several new craft beers that are sure to quench the palate of enthusiasts during the warmer days ahead. Here’s a look at several new beer labels from across the Pacific Northwest that we are greatly anticipating getting our hands on: Read More…
Posted under Beer & Art, beer me, beer releases, California Beer, Oregon beer, Washington Beer
This post was written by Angelo on April 4, 2013
Press Release:
Hood River, Oregon – Full Sail Brewing has just announced the release of the next beer in their new rotating line of classic ales called the Pub Series. The second beer in the series, Extra Special Bitter (ESB) is a medium-bodied ale with caramel complexity and a crisp hoppy finish. This new series features ales that had only previously been available at Full Sail’s Tasting Room & Pub.
“For as anyone lucky enough to stop for a pint at our Pub in Hood River, Oregon, knows it’s a spectacular place to share a beer with friends. The Full Sail Pub Series captures that experience in a bottle and lets you share it with all your friends. Each selection will be available for only 90 days before the next gets its turn to shine. Just like each epic season in the Gorge,” said Irene Firmat, Full Sail Brewing’s Founder and CEO. Read More…
Posted under beer news, Beer personalities, beer releases, Oregon beer, press releases
This post was written by Angelo on April 3, 2013
Two established brewmasters in the Oregon craft beer community have re-banded for the creation of a new beer recipe. Former McMenamins, Deschutes, and Full Sail brewmaster John Harris joined Golden Valley Brewery (GVB) brewmaster Mark Vickery to develop Valley Red Imperial, a double red ale releasing today at GVB’s two pubs.
John Harris’s career in brewing spans more than years and three brewing empires. So, it’s no wonder why so many people look up to Harris when it comes to the art of brewing, and many brewers owe the man a lot when it comes to setting them on their 
path. One such brewer is Mark Vickery, brewmaster at Golden Valley Brewing of McMinnville, Oregon.Vickery cut his teeth brewing under Harris at Deschutes before assuming his current role as the brewing lead at GVB.
“Many brewers and brewery’s today stand on (Harris’) shoulders.” says Vickery. “One of the first pub brewers at McMenamins, John’s Hammerhead remains to this day one of there best selling ales.”
The first Brewmaster at Deschutes Brewery, Harris is credited with developing the recipes for Mirror Pond Pale, Black Butte Porter and Jubelale. “After a long run at the Pilsner Room for Full Sail Brewing Harris creativity lifted off.” adds Vickery, “Too many to Read More…
Posted under beer events, Beer personalities, beer releases, Oregon beer, places to drink beer
This post was written by Angelo on February 7, 2013
Press Release:
Hood River, Oregon – After over a year of aging deep in the cellar of their brewhouse, Full Sail Brewing will release their 2013 vintage Bourbon Barrel Aged offering, Full Sail Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout. This highly anticipated release from the Brewery’s vintage barrel series has been a Full Sail brewing tradition since 1998. Every year since, the Full Sail crew brews an imperial style dark ale and fills roughly sixty oak bourbon barrel casks, then waits patiently for a year.
According to Full Sail Brewmaster Jamie Emmerson, this beer was brewed in December of 2011 and has since aged in Kentucky Bourbon casks from Maker’s Mark, Four Roses, Jim Beam. This extended aging presents hints of vanilla and allows the Stout to pick up the flavors of the wood, bourbon and oak. The aging combined with the robust character of the Imperial Stout make for an extraordinary and wonderful taste experience. It has a strong roasted malt character and a full body. Chocolate and caramel nuances blend with the hops for a smooth Imperial Stout. It cellars well, Limited availability in 22oz. bottles and draft. Available February 2013 until it’s gone! ABV 9.6% IBUs: 40 (Formerly known as Black Gold)
Wood barrel aging is an art form. When done right, Read More…
Posted under beer news, beer releases, Oregon beer, press releases
This post was written by Angelo on January 24, 2013
Press release:
Hood River, Oregon – Full Sail Brewing has just announced the release of their latest video “Full Sail Brewing: Beer, Water & Responsibility. A great brew begins with great water. Full Sail is located in Hood River, Oregon at the base of Mt. Hood, where pristine water literally flows from the springs on the mountain. The video was filmed at and around the brewery, celebrating both the breweries exceptionally low water use and the beauty of the environment that inspires this commitment to preserve this valuable resource.
“When we look out from our brewery we can see both the Columbia River and the snow-capped peaks beyond, highlighted up against the clear blue skies. We feel so lucky to work in this truly amazing place. It would be impossible to live and work in the Columbia River Gorge and not be inspired by the sheer Read More…
Posted under Beer Travel, beers on film, Oregon beer, press releases
This post was written by Angelo on January 23, 2013
As we move into the new year, we see no slowdown in the number of new beers shooting down the perpetual pipeline. It’s growth, growth, and more growth. Popular craft breweries of the Northwest such as Widmer, Ninkasi, Redhook, and Pyramid are getting more and more prolific to cater to the exponentially excited interest of craft beer drinkers. Craft lagers in particular appear to be a returning trend in this post-Prohibition era. It may be less cost effective than brewing ales since these bottom-fermenting brews take more time to condition properly, but just like barrel-aged offerings, our palates are worth the wait.
By looking through these new releases, we see a few other trends such as more fruit, chocolate, and vanilla infused releases, rye beers, and of the lagers, the IPL style is taking shape as a strong contender for a potential new American Brewers Association category.
Many new breweries are always popping up, like the heavily hyped Read More…
Posted under Beer & Art, beer news, California Beer, Oregon beer, Washington Beer
This post was written by Angelo on January 16, 2013
Press Release:
Hood River, Oregon – Full Sail Brewing has just announced the release of a new rotating line of classic ales called the Pub Series. “Anyone lucky enough to stop for a pint at our Pub in Hood River, Oregon, will tell you: It’s a spectacular place to share a beer with friends. The Full Sail Pub Series is our attempt to capture that experience a bottle and share it with all our customers who have not had a chance to see us first hand. We can offer you a taste of our pub in this rotating series of classic ales previously enjoyed only by our guests at the brewery. Each selection will be available for only 90 days before the next gets its turn to shine. Just like each epic season in the Gorge,” said Irene Firmat, Full Sail Brewing’s Founder and CEO.
The first beer in the series is Read More…
Posted under beer releases, Oregon beer
This post was written by Angelo on January 8, 2013
The Great American Beer Festival has concluded for 2012 and the Pacific Northwest won its share of awards.
Award-winning brewers received prestigious gold, silver and bronze medals in 84 beer categories covering 134 different beer styles (encompassing subcategories), establishing the best examples of each style in the U.S. Winners were chosen from 4,338 competition entries from 666 breweries, hailing from 48 states, Washington, D.C. and Guam.
Matching its largest field of entries to date, this year’s GABF competition saw its biggest panel of judges ever, with 185 beer experts from 11 countries participating, with assistance from 120 competition volunteers.
Of these many categories, entries and winners, Oregon brewers accounted for 24 medals, including four from Baker City’s Barley Brown’s Brewpub, who also took home an impressive silver medal in the American IPA category that led all categories with 203 entries. In their first year entering beers into the competition, Burnside Brewing of Portland took home a gold medal for their delicious Sweet Heat in the fruit beers category. Also, a first year entrant, Harvest Brewing, also of Portland took home a bronze medal for their gluten-free Pale Ale. Other multiple medal winners at this year’s GABF from Oregon included Laurelwood, Pelican, 10 Barrel, and Full Sail. Also of note, Commons Brewery and Logsdon Farmhouse Ales won silver and gold respectively in the American Brett category.
Here’s a look at all the Oregon winners from the 2012 GABF: Read More…
Posted under beer events, Oregon beer
This post was written by Angelo on October 14, 2012
ALEIAS
Brewed by Boneyard Beer in collaboration with John Harris long time Oregon Brewmaster.
Tony Lawrence, Boneyard’s Brewmaster and Co-Owner, and John Harris met up many moons ago back in their days at Deschutes Brewery. Back then John hired Tony to “wreck his life” as a cleanup brewer. Now 22 year’s later Tony is rocking it down at Boneyard Beer. He called up John and said “we need to brew a beer together and ferment it in the “Harris” tank.” John said the what tank? Tony explained that he names his tanks at Boneyard after people. John said “Wow. you named a tank after me”
So on September 10th Tony and John met up at Boneyard to brew a India Wheat Ale (IWA). Featuring a good portion of wheat malt along with pale malt and a touch of crystal then hopping it well beyond Boneyard’s RPM IPA. Simcoe and Amarillo were used exclusively throughout the process. Aleias IWA has a crisp malt character with loads of citrus and tropical hop flavor coming from using 3.5 pounds of hops per barrel. Aleias was dry hopped 3 times. Only 40 barrels of this 7.1% beer were produced. Get it while you can!
Aleias will be released on October 4th
Roving release party. Come hang with Tony and John.
5pm Belmont Station
6:30ish Horsebrass Pub
8:00ish Apex
Posted under beer news, Beer personalities, beer releases, events, Oregon beer
This post was written by admin on October 4, 2012
By D.J. Paul
With the recent arrival of fall along with harvest season comes a special time for Pacific Northwest craft beer drinkers, Fresh Hop Fests. This past Saturday was the kickoff with the granddaddy of them all with the 9th Annual Hood River Hops Fest.
Saturday morning arrived with sunshine and warming temperatures that made for a great day of drinking some fabulous fresh hop beers. Fortunately the fear regarding the smoke from the area’s wild fires did not affect downtown Hood River on Saturday thanks to some nice westerly winds that arrived later on Friday afternoon to move the smoke eastward. Getting a pre-fest breakfast in at Egg River Café made for a great start to the day. After this satisfying breakfast, a short stroll downtown to Double Mountain Brewery & Taproom took place to pick up some of their freshly filled bottles of Killer Red Fresh Hop IRA and Killer Green Fresh Hop IPA.
From there a walk to the Hood River Hops Fest was in order. Gates were set to open at noon and there was a lengthy line forming when we walked up at 11:50 a.m. We decided to wait for the line to recede a bit so we ventured across the street to Full Sail Brewing to try their fresh hop Hopfenfrisch. This clean, crisp fresh hop lager hit the spot to get the ole’ body flowing again from the imbibing that took place during the previous night. After our round of beers we Read More…
Posted under beer events, beer reviews
This post was written by DJ on October 2, 2012
