Big taste can emerge from tiny breweries. The 2nd Annual Nano Fest is a celebration of entrepreneurial Brewers who limit their output to fewer than 996 barrels or less per year.

Nano Fest will feature 25+ nano brewers, including:  Natian, Heater Allen, Upright, Oregon Trail, Brewers Union Local 180, Block 15, Buckman Village Brewery, 3 Creeks, Captured by Porches, Fearless, Issaquah Brewery, Panty Dropper, Fremont, Breakside, Coalition and more.  Festival goers will sample some of the most unique and hard-to-find beers available in the Beervana.  A variety of local food cart favorites, such as Namu, Domo Dogs, Superdogs and Koi Fusion, will be on hand when the need to feed arises.

In anticipation of this event the Green Dragon will be tapping a select few of these brews each day of the week leading up to the festival.  Visit the Green Dragon all week long as we tap Cascadian Dark Ale, Red Fury Ale, Russian Imperial Stout and more!

Nano Fest is a 100% dog-friendly event and owners are encouraged to bring their companions with them.

Profits will be donated to Buckman Arts Focus Elementary School, a neighborhood school that enhances the intellectual, social and academic development of its students through music, art, theater and creative movement. The Buckman School is located less than a mile from the Green Dragon.

Admission is $10.00 and attendees will receive 5 taster tickets. Additional taster tickets will be sold for $1.00

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

By Frank James

Attending a beer fest should be about the joy of discovery. Of course, you can simply gravitate to the usual suspects, the familiar beers you know and love, the ones you’re certain will  quench your thirst in a most pleasant fashion.  Or you can revel  in  what beer fests should  actually be about: discovering new and interesting beers and tastes and breweries.
Last year’s Green Dragon NanoFest was one of those occasions when I was lucky enough to enjoy the latter kind of experience.  It was one of those weird little accidents, as I just happened to be driving through the area, saw the beer tents, the crowds and decided to stop by and see what all the commotion was about.  As is usually the case, I ran into a friend, we chatted and she encouraged me to sample her fest favorite: an imperial IPA by some little brewery called Block 15.  She knows her beer, and her tastes generally line up with mine, so I went off in search of this supposedly tasty brew.  I was out of luck. The beer had been so popular, according to the owner/brewer who was manning his own taps, that they’d ran out the first day.  He added however, that they did have a nice rye beer, their Superfly Rye.

As I began to walk away, to search for a more appetizing alternative, Nick Arzner shifted into full sales mode and began extolling the beer’s virtues in such reverent and scrumptious tones that I stopped dead in my tracks.  What the heck, I thought,  even though I generally don’t like rye beers, experimenting with styles you may not like is what beer fests are all about. He poured a sample, I tried it, and drinking that beer was a true revelation.  That typical dry rye spiciness was smoothed out with a hint of caramel sweetness that balanced it very nicely. To my utter shock, I ended up having another couple of samples and then a full cup. From that point forward I began to check  for his beers in places like Belmont Station and Bailey’s Taproom, establishments that carried Block 15 beers.  A day trip down to the Corvallis brewpub followed and I was hooked.  Block 15 beers gained a prominent spot on that exclusive list:  it was one of those  beers I’d drive a few miles just to find a pint of it on tap.

I don’t think I’m alone in that regard.  Even though the Corvallis brewpub has only been open since the spring of 2008, they’ve already established a niche as nice little brewery that consistently pours very tasty, and often unique, high quality beers. If one of their beers is on tap at one of the local bottle shops, taprooms or pubs, they don’t seem to stick around very long. Someone else, besides me, seems to be drinking a lot of their beer… and they’re doing it pretty quickly also.  Block 15 received a nice bit of recognition this spring when they won Read More…

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

(Or Where I Feel Comfortable Taking My Sometimes Cranky Weimaraner)

By Frank James

One of life’s quandraries for dog-owning beer lovers is what to do with your pooch when you want to go out to have a cold one. For Portlanders, the answer is pretty simple: take Fido with you. Here in dog-friendly Portland, the real question becomes a matter of where to take Fido.

Obviously, you never want to go someplace where you have to drink bad beer. And if it’s a hot, sunny day, the numero uno factor is whether the place has sufficient shade, cause roasting like a lizard in the desert is a no-go from the very start. (No need for further tanning here.) Location is always another factor that comes into play in one fashion or another.

And as important as any issue is whether your pooch actually likes the place, as nothing will ruin a pleasant pint like an anxious, unhappy dog. Now, if you own your typically easy-going, no-drama Lab, just about any place that will allow you to park your pooch under the table is okay. But if you have a dog who can be just a little finicky, you have to be a bit more selective. So, as I go through my decision making process, Binx, who can be more than a little finicky, gets a heavily-weighted vote.

Binx, a 6 year old, rescued Weimaraner, pretty much runs my life. Or at least he seems to think so. He’s a great dog, but he definitely has a very well-defined sense of his likes and dislikes and he’s pretty upfront about expressing his opinion about those issues. He lives to chase the chattering squirrels who tease him in our back yard and at the parks where he patrols like a manic, furry pinball, bouncing from tree to tree as he glares up at his tormentors. But he thinks chasing inanimate objects like sticks and balls and Frisbees is about the dumbest thing any self-respecting Weimaraner could ever do. He loves ice-cold, fresh water -preferably filtered by Brita – but will literally turn his nose up if he’s presented with old, tepid water that came from a tap, no matter how thirsty or hot he may be. He loves little dogs, but is extraordinarily wary of Great Danes, especially if there is more than one around at a particular time. A true Oregonian, he hates the hot sun and will literally run to find shelter in the coolest shade around, where he’ll plant himself until he’s forced to move. Binx also has certain favorites when it comes to the Portland area’s craft beer establishments. How do I know? Am I merely attributing anthropomorphic traits to a mute, four-legged creature who wouldn’t know one bar from another?

Possibly, but as any dog owner knows, it’s pretty easy to figure out whether your dog likes something or someone or a particular location. Their posture, their ease – or discomfort – and whether they are happy or displeased about being in a particular place becomes pretty apparent, pretty quickly. In fact, if a dog owner can’t tell whether their dog likes a certain place, they aren’t paying attention. All you have to do is watch them closely and you’ll get all the information you need. What are the spots that rank as Binx’s favorite spots, ones that I also enjoy? What are the craft beer establishments with outdoor seating that Binx feels most comfortable? And why?

This isn’t a “best craft beer establishment to take your dog to…” listing. No, it’s much more subjective, as it is simply a list of the places I like to go to because I know that my dog is most comfortable at those places. There are specific reasons, and I’ll note those reasons, but the establishments I’ll describe are simply the places Binx really likes and I’ll let you know why he likes the particular establishment. He’s a funny dog. He’s very friendly, but he also hates to be bothered by other dogs who can’t take a hint when he tries to nicely tell them to bug off. He’ll tolerate a certain amount of guff from another dog, but then he will lose patience. Binx usually has a very friendly, goofy, silly posture – he’s never started a fight or incident in the three and a half years I’ve owned him – but if another dog refuses to simply leave him alone, he will get this look that reminds me of Robert DeNiro’s Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, when Travis says : “You talking to me? You talking to me?” And that is usually enough to motivate a too-curious dog to move along. But obviously, I prefer frequenting places where that type of mini-drama is unlikely to unfold, where Binx can just chill, scavenge leftovers from our meals and get a cool drink of water.

Now, the human in this equation does get a vote. These places are on the list because they all serve good beer, either their own or via a series of taps that are consistently of good quality. But ultimately, if Binx likes the place, it’s cool with me.

Read More…

Posted under Oregon beer, brewpubs, places to drink beer

By Frank James

Last night was the opening of the Buckman Village Brewery – though I’m sure it will always be referred to as the Green Dragon Brewery – and it was a grand old time for the Green Dragon Pub. The opening brought out a full house, lots of local beer geeks and a local television reporter who could best be described as an artificial creature impersonating a human being. (The make-up they plaster on male television reporters is frightening stuff, really and truly something that should be reserved for Halloween. or the confines of a TV studio.)

Three new beers were available tonight, and the pub gladly offered tasters of all three beers to all pub patrons. This was a very nice, un-Rogue-like touch, and it allowed the curious to sample all three before deciding on a particular pint.

First up was the Buckman IPA which will probably become the brewery’s signature beer. It is a solid, quaffable beer with the clean citrus hop flavor that finds a lot of favor here in the Northwest.

I always compare any new IPA to my local favorite, Laurelwood’s Workhorse IPA. This beer is similar in some ways, though it lacks the sharp hop edge that makes the Workhorse such a tasty beer. It’s probably more similar to Read More…

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

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

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

Gilded Dragon is a tribute to the return of warmer, clearer days. As golden
as the summer sun, this strong ale invites with an intermingling of floral
and citrus aromas. Sound bittering from Magnum hops plays out with a
substantial malt and slightly caramel foundation. Generous additions of
Cascade and domestic Tettnanger hops contribute a spicy citrus warmth to the
finish that will have you in the mood to get out and celebrate the season.

Gilded Dragon is made with American 2 Row, Crystal 10, Crystal 40, Magnum,
Cascade and Tettnanger hops and Wyeast 1056 American Ale Yeast.

45 IBU, 9 SRM, 8.1 ABV, 17 Plato

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

By Oakshire Brewmaster Matt Van Wyk

As the summer season peaks its little sun drenched face around the corner, so does beer festival season (although the copious winter beer events seem to be keeping us equally busy these days). Surely brewers in Oregon are looking forward to NAOBF, PIB, OBF and other acronym labeled, beer rinsed weekends. But let us not forget the smaller and often equally as successful (from a ‘kick ass beer standpoint’, not a ‘make money for the owner of the fest’ sorta standpoint) events that are becoming part of the Oregon Beer Scene. In the last month we have experienced the Green Dragon’s Cask Festival and the Portland Cheers to Belgian Beers (PCTBB) held this year at Hopworks (HUB). Both of these fests were firsts for me, and for Oakshire. We sent a Watershed IPA cask to Green Dragon and La Ferme, a farmhouse ale to PCTBB and were very pleased to be honored with a top six vote in the people’s choice awards at PCTBB.

You’ll note the last time I spoke with you here in the hallowed halls of Brewpublic, I pointed out that the beer diversity, in a general sweeping stereotypical brush stroke, is very shallow. But, I followed that up with the realization that there really is a lot of different types of beer to be found in Oregon. It’s just that the bounty of Northwest IPAs cloud our beer goggles. And recently at PCTBB, and prior at the Green Dragon, further cleared my goggles and helped me realize that the beers that Oregon brewers are producing is not only of high quality, but is creative and diverse at the same time.

First of all, the cask fest at Green Dragon was held in April and I attended the second session. Several of the beer writers in Portland have weighed in on the good and the bad and the ugly, so I won’t waste bandwidth recapping the event, but instead will highlight a few points. Many reviewers seemed less than impressed with the festival, and perhaps Portlanders were as well, considering the attendance was rather low. Or was it that many don’t care for lower carbonated, warmer beer? I don’t know the answer, but what I can tell you is that many of the cask conditioned beers I tried were spot on and great examples of real ale. It was also nice to have Steve from Cheese bar on site to provide small cheese plates (which were part of your entry fee along with the choice of a bacon chocolate bar or a Kobe dog.) I just wish there were more than 17 beers available. Certainly more breweries need to be making cask conditioned ale, Oakshire included. Were there things that could be changed for next year? sure. No fest is perfect euphoria, right? And I’ll make some suggestions next year to Sam and crew now that I have experienced the fest. Bottom line, though, is that more people need to make real ale in Oregon.

Next was Cheers to Belgian Beers this last Saturday. Other than the fact that HUB did a great job of hosting this event, the highlight of the day was that I was originally under the assumption that the population of beer drinkers in Oregon that appreciated Belgian-inspired ales was so slim that I didn’t think many breweries made Belgian style beers. With thirty plus beers ranging from wild beers, to spiced beers, to traditional Saisons, there was a lot to choose from. And the way that each brewer succeeded in getting a unique performance from the same yeast is a nod to the talent that is Oregon Brewers. I was surprised that the yeast expressed itself so differently, but impressed as well. On Saturday, I started out by trying all the wild/sour beers and was impressed with many, but none more than Big Horse. Tart, complex. funky, fruity. Well done. Double Mountain and Full Sail are on my list of Hood River breweries that I need to get to, but now I have another to explore for sure.

Even the near misses for my palate at PCTBB were creative endeavors that I might not have attempted myself (no hops, uber session beer, and unique fruiting.) All in all, this was a fun afternoon drinking up the talent that is around us. And of course a special shout out goes to my friend Nick Arzner and his head brewer Steve who took the People’s choice award for their multi-barrel aged dark Belgian Ale. Not only was it creative and balanced, but delish to boot. And as has been tradition, Nick gets to pick next year’s yeast strain. Let’s just hope for me he gets to host too. It would be a closer trip! (Editor’s note: Read more from Nick Arzner himself here)

So, there’s some real brief thoughts from my world. Now, as I finish this up and go finish packing for the 14th annual Boonville Fest (which could become my fave), let me know, what’s your favorite “smaller” Oregon beer festival? One of the two aforementioned? Rogue’s Brewer’s Memorial Ale Fest? One of the fresh hop fests? Sasquatch? Oregon Garden Beerfest? Or something other that I should be going to? Chime in. No NAOBF, OBF, PIB or Holiday Ale Fest, they’re too big. And more importantly what makes it better? What needs to be changed?

Cheers!

OakshireMatt

Follow Matt on Twitter at http://twitter.com/OakshireMatt

also, you can follow Oakshire’s blog at http://oakbrew.com

Posted under Beer personalities, Oregon beer

“Just wanted to let you know we’ll be at Green Dragon tomorrow night,
Thursday the 29th, from 6 – 8pm for Meet the Brewer!  We’ll have three
beers on tap – Destinatian Honey Red Ale, Everday IPA, & Lumberjane
Stout.  If you haven’t met us or have and want to stop by and say hi,
please come on by, try some beer and chat it up!

Hope to see you there!

Thanks!”

-Natalia
www.natianbrewery.com

Posted under events

We just caught wind of a new development in the Portland brew scene. It was announced yesterday by an undisclosed source that the Green Dragon Pub & Bistro, which was at the forefront of controversy in late 2008 when it was purchased for pennies on the dollar by Rogue, has yet again been sold. This time it is  to Philadelphia’s Steaks and Hoagies. Supposedly due to an overwhelming number of unsellable kegs left over from meet-the-brewer events, The Green Dragon, still currently managed by Rogue, will change over to the hands of Philadelphia’s two years from today on April 1, 2012, which some scientists also believe is the end of life on earth.

In a recent blogpost by The Portland Go-sipper, a subsidiary of TMZ,  Philadelphia’s founders Steve and Amelia Moore, who have current locations in West Linn and Sellwood, are eager to find a new niche in the heart of Southeast Portland. A source representing Philadelphia’s: “We’re jazzed to beef up our brewery and claim a steak in the inner Portland market.” Philadelphia’s, who have been brewing world renowned, uncontaminated beers since 1994 has big plans with the availability of the small on-premise brew system of Green Dragon. There’s been some speculation of collaboration brews coming down the pipeline with Tugboat Brewing and Mash Tun. Our undisclosed source on  behalf of Philadelphia’s mentioned a vision to brew a rendition of Tugboat’s Chernobyl Imperial Stout with cheese steak sandwiches in the boil as well as in the pickle jars for extra conditioning. “This will give them more of the flavor profile that people identify with these brewers…something mouthwatering yet quenching.”

When we reached out to Rogue on behalf of this unbelievable news, we received a retraction and clarification letter from constructional defects lawyer Brian “Schwepp” Schweppenheiser, who still refers to us as “brewrepublic.” While not denying the story, he assures us that Philadelphia’s will uphold the name tag and 14-ounce pint policies of Rogue Nation. “Schwepp” is still in legal battles currently over Rogue’s use of the term “Schweppervescence” for a repackaged version of their red ale. Look for a full story on this breaking news on The New School Beer blog as things unravel. An undisclosed source also said that Philadelphia’s hopes to eventually help Rogue be removed from New School’s enemy’s list.

Happy April!

Posted under beer news