When Brewpublic celebrated our first year by throwing two big parties, we wanted to make certain that the beers being tapped were special. Naturally, we also wanted to go with one-offs and unique brews for our KillerBeerFest held at Bailey’s Taproom. Caldera Brewing of Ashland, one of our favorite breweries on the planet hooked us up with a keg of their Rose Petal Imperial Golden Ale. When we spoke with Caldera founder Jim Mills, he told us “I don’t know how it’s going to go over, but (the consumers) just want to try something new and crazy and different.” Well, it appears Mr. Mills was on to something. Since this statement in September of 2009, Caldera has not only increased the popularity of there spectacular craft beers in a can (these regularly include their IPA, Pale Ale, and Ashland Amber so far), but they’ve initiated a special seasonal lineup of brews known as the Kettle Series. These 22-ounce bottles feature the likes of a refreshing Lawnmower Lager, spicy yet light Ginger Pale Ale, shockingly labeled, complex Vas Deferens, a lupulin smack in the face known as Hopportunity Knocks, and the gold medal winning Rauch Ur Bock.

Now, with the help of mobile bottlers Green Bottling, Caldera is soon to release the Rose Petal Imperial Golden Ale, proving that craft beer consumers are game for creative and imaginative styles. Made with 11 pounds of rose pedals and two liters of Bulgarian rose water, Mr. Mills says “this beers tastes like a party at Grandma’s house.” This smooth yet dangerously delicious beer should be available throughout the summer. Now you can make Caldera a part of your KillerBeerFest as you see fit. Prost!

Posted under Oregon beer, beer news, beer releases

It’s the time of year for Northwestern beer lovers to sate their palates with drinkable, refreshing, and hoppy brews that complement the longer and warmer days to come. The brewers at Laurelwood in conjunction with Green Bottling have just bottled up some of their delicious Wry Pale Ale.

Wry Pale Ale re-creates the American Pale with just a touch of rye malt. A generous dose of Cascade and Amarillo hops and a bit of dry hopping gives this ale an original flavor. The addition of a small amount of rye malt adds a unique dry and slightly spicy character to the beer making it exceptionally drinkable ale.  Brewmaster Chad Kennedy says, “The Wry Pale is actually one of our brewers’ favorites. It’s a super smooth beer with just the right touch of hops to make it a great beer for the warmer months.”

5.6 ABV / 40 IBU / 13 O.G.

Grab a 22-ouncer today!

Posted under Oregon beer, beer news, beer releases, brewpubs, press releases

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

Tonight at Belmont Station Southern Oregon Brewing (SOB) founder Dr. Tom Hammond will introduce the brewery’s new labels and their Nice Rack IPA in bottles for the first time. Brewpublic recently visited Medford, Oregon with Green Bottling to help with this bottling. Other freshly bottled brews from SOB will include their flagship Pin-Up Porter, Woodshed Red, Pale Ale, Gold Digger Lager, and a phenomenal limited release 2008 Barley Wine featuring a blend of Wild Turkey and Jack Daniels barrel-aged brew. According to Belmont Station, SOB will have the Nice Rack IPA on draft this evening.

Here’s a video of Green Bottling at Southern Oregon Brewing:

Belmont Station is located at 4520 SE Stark Street in Portland, Oregon. For more info call (503) 232-8538

Posted under Beer personalities, Oregon beer, beer events, beer news, beers on film, press releases

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 visits BridgePort Brewery to check out the new Highland Ambush Scotch Ale, the latest in their Big Brew Series.

In this video, BridgePort’s assistant brewmaster Jeff Edgerton explains the work that went into producing this new barrel aged beer.

First brewed in the 1980s as a special beer for the BrewPub at BridgePort, Highland Ambush is making its triumphant return more than 20 years later. Stuart MacLean Ramsay, then pub manager, conceptualized the brew to pay homage to his Scottish heritage. This year’s Highland Ambush takes inspiration from the original ale using NW pale ale malt along with a Scottish crystal and roast malt.  The hopping rate of Highland Ambush has been toned down to help highlight the complementing vanilla from the American oak bourbon barrels and caramel-toffee malt nuances. Reddish-Brown in color, Highland Ambush will warm the coldest of toes and noses this holiday season.

Join the brewery for the beer’s release on Thursday, December 17 from 5 p.m. – 8 p.m. at the BridgePort BrewPub + Bakery in the Pearl at 1313 NW Marshall St.  Be the first to sample this year’s Highland Ambush, a great compliment to the Scottish themed special menu for the night.

BridgePort’s Highland Ambush Scotch Ale Stats:
IBU’s:  40      ABV:    6.8%    Color:  Reddish-Brown
Ingredients:    Pale and Carmel Malts.  UK Golding Hops.
Description:    This beer will have a rich malt taste complementing vanilla flavors from the American oak barrels along with a bitterness attributed to the UK Golding hops.

Posted under Oregon beer, beer releases

The past weekend could have been one of the best beer weekends to date. But to be perfectly honest the memory is a tad jogged. Down at the Holiday Ale Fest in Pioneer Square, it was amazing how many friends and brewquaintences you can run into, and even better, it’s great to meet new people and get their perspective on beer and life (which to us is pretty much synonymous). Laymen and brewers clicked their plastic HAF mugs amidst intermittent roars that rumbled through like “the wave” at a baseball game. As always, it is essential for the craft beer enthusiast to get down under the tents early. In fact, our weekend really started on Wednesday, as the organizers of the HAF did a nice job of preparing for the swarms of festivalgoers by adding this extra day.

Whenever there’s a cool festival in town, the fixture beer outfits around the city step up their game as well offering a great line-up of seasons. Between our few sessions at the Ale Fest, we made a few essential stops to the Horse Brass pub to pull back from the mayhem that would inevitable ensue down at Pioneer Courthouse Square. On Friday we also happened over to New Old Lompoc’s 5th Quadrant SideBar to meet with event staff coordinator Amy Casanova. She and the other nice folks at Lompoc helped Brewpublic raise nearly $800 for start-up community radio station KZME during our Cocoa Hop. We are grateful for Amy and Lompoc’s contribution in this noble cause, and also to all the brewers and chocolaters who gave of themselves, their time, and their products.

While at the 5th Quadrant we witnessed the brewers and Green Bottling put the yummy seasonal C-Son’s Greetings into 22-ounce bombers. We were also reminded of Lompoc’s upcoming 8 Malty Nights event coming up on the 11th to kick off Chanukah.

Further north, we found ourselves over the border in Vancouver, Washington to pick up some essentials at By the Bottle and check out the collaboration brewing of Salmon Creek Brewpub‘s owner/brewer Larry Pratt with Seattle brewstar Tom Munoz. Munoz, a former brewer with Silver City teamed up with Pratt to put together a one-of-a-kind pale ale that should be ready to drink at Salmon Creek in a few weeks. See you there!

Later on Friday, we had a blast over at Belmont Station for a meet the brewer night with Bear Republic head brewer Peter Kruger. The Healdsburg, California brewer, we found out, has roots in Oregon brewing. Kruger was one of the early brewers at Full Sail in Hood River. Former Full Sail brewer Charlie Devereux of Double Mountain was on hand to say hello to his old friend and greet him with a growler of DM’s delicious Fa La La La La winter ale.Bear Republic’s delicious array of specialty and mainstay brews were the highlight of the night, and at the front and center was a Clobberskull wine barrel aged strong ale brewed with 10% split peas. Apparently the beer has a great history, and is of a recipe revitalized in Randy Mosher‘s pioneering book Radical Brewing.

While at Belmont Station, we also meet with Michael Branes of Migration Brewing, one of Portland’s newest breweries. Branes, who worked for some time at Mountain Peoples Distribution, was join by fellow Mountain People’s Oregon sales manager Tim Ensign, who was pouring samples Bear Republic brews as well.

Saturday, as blogged about earlier found us back under the hearkening tents at 11AM stat for twitterworthy special tappings of select Bear Republic beers like the Trebuchet, a Belgian trippel aged in 100-year-old cognac barrels and two special fruited “The Grizz” super brown ale–one with nectarines and another with blackberries–to accompany the might Old Baba Yaga that was kickin’ ass since Wednesday. The boozier than all ungodly sin Trebuchet was the first thing to hit my stomach on this fair day. A brewer friend said it was too much “nail polish” for him, but to me, I rendered it my breakfast of champions. Several other wonderful beer rounded out my HAF weekend. I have to admit this was the best one yet. In fact, despite others’ gripes, I honestly didn’t experience on dud in the lot.

After escaping the mob scene that was Pioneer Courthouse Square, we trudged off some of the liver burn by hoofing a few miles home to Southeast. We were not extinguished yet. There was still Green Bottling‘s holiday party at the cozy Horse Brass. Here, several local brewers raised a tall one to the great year and to Jack and Mike‘s successful year of bottling up some of Oregon’s finest like Lompoc, Full Sail, and Laurelwood. After just a few more lighter beers to rehydrate (Full Sail and Sierra Nevada’s Pale Ales), this one was in the bag.

Sunday was relatively mellow, save for a few brews shared with fellow blogger D.A. of Beer Around Town. All said and done, I think I may just hybernate until the ’10 Barley Wine and Big Beer Fest.

Posted under beer events

Just got word from Mike Weksler of Green Bottling that he is bottling up 20 bbls of 10 Barrel Brewing’s GABF bronze medal winning Sinistor Black Ale.

Here is a commerical description of the beer:
We craft our S1NIST0R BLACK ALE using a special German dehusked black malt that is free of astringency, giving the beer a rich black color without the traditional dark beer characteristics. You will notice subtle hints of chocolate with an easy drinking balance on the back end. In the glass the dark color may look intimidating to some, but don’t let this beer fool you. Our unique combination of malts creates a very light body and smooth finish.

Posted under beer news

Though we’ve yet to try any of their brews, Oregon craft brewer newcomer Pale Horse Brewing of Salem has just put some more of their beer in bottles. This time, its the Hopyard Dog IPA. The Hopyard Dog will join the ranks of Pale Horse Stout and Hillybilly Blonde in 22 ounce bombers. Green Bottling’s Mike Weksler says his mobile bottling team filled 150 cases of the India Pale. Weksler says of the Hopyard Dog: “It’s a really nice balanced IPA. Something for everyone.” Cheers!

Green Bottling's Mike Weksler

Pale Horse Brewing is located at 2359 Hyacinth St. NE in Salem, Oregon

Posted under beer news

Says Green Bottling’s Mike Weksler “Yesterday we bottled 737 cases of the 2009 Hop Harvest for Bridgeport.” Weksler adds “This year the beer has a slightly different taste. It’s got a toasty flavor to it.”

Who’s all in?  This beer is one of Oregon’s finest fresh hop brews, and there’s a lot of good ones. As I type this, I sip on this years Deschutes Hop Trip.  Mmmm! We are geeked to try the Barley Brown’s Wild Hop American Strong Ale at Bailey’s on October 10 and revisit the Standing Stone Wet Hopped Red Ale. Speaking of Standing Stone, I just returned from Ashland to pick up some special brews for Brewpublic’s October 9th Brewniversary Celebration at Saraveza and the KillerBeerFest at Bailey’s Taproom on October 10th. Anyone who’s made this trek on a limited schedule knows how that goes. Look for some more beer updates soon.

From BridgePort:

This year’s beer is brewed using freshly picked hops from Goschie Farms in Silverton, Ore. This is the first year that Hop Harvest Ale will be brewed with hops from Goschie Farms which has been growing hops for over 100 years and are certified Salmon Safe in its growing practices. The hops were freshly picked on August 31 and used to make four brews that will be blended and packaged for sale and tasting.

Posted under beer news