Hopworks Urban Brewery will present a new beer at BikeToBeerFest this Saturday, August 28. Named Piledriver, it’s a Belgian ale, aged in barrels with lots and lots of cherries. It’s a truly unique treat. The beer pours reddish-brown with a bright, near-white, frothy head. Aesthetically, it’s a very pleasing beer, as it looks very appetizing just sitting there in a teardrop glass. A tart cherry aroma explodes when you take that first sniff; it almost overwhelms. Interestingly, there’s almost no bourbon scent at first impression. However, when that first taste hits your tongue, the bourbon is right up front. It’s not harsh or overbearing, but you know it’s there. Very quickly, though, the tart cherry flavor begins to round off and smooth out the bourbon. That tart sweetness, together with a hint of the bourbon, is the distinct impression of the beer, initially.

But, even though the bourbon flavor is very much forward as you first sip the beer, it recedes very quickly, as the beer stays in your mouth and then as the beer warms in the glass. With each sip, the bourbon is less pronounced, while the tart sweetness of the cherries, along with the astringency and slight bitterness of the tannins, become the more prominent flavors. Eventually, the bourbon almost hides in the background, while the blend of different, competing flavors – the bourbon, the tart cherries and the tannins – works in concert to give a very complex and pleasant taste.

A very nice beer that I’m looking forward to seeing on tap at the fest.

The facts on the beer:

17.7 plato, 18 IBU, 8.5 ABV (higher alcohol from fermentation of cherries and alcohol from bourbon barrels)

Aged for 18 months in 4 different barrels:

- Heaven Hill Bourbon

- Maryhill Sauvignon with 60# of sour cherries from Fruithill in Yamhill

- Maryhill Cab barrel with Brett Bruxellensis

- Maryhill Cab barrel with Brett Lambicus

Andre The Giant vs. Roddy Piper

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

Bikes, Beers & Live Music Event Benefit Bicycle Transportation Alliance and Sunday Parkways

Nothing sums up the culture and spirit of Portland like local craft beer, bikes and live music. And all of those are coming together at Hopworks Urban Brewery’s (HUB) BikeToBeerFest on Saturday, August 28.

BikeToBeerFest is a family-friendly, bike-in Oktoberfest celebrating Portland’s bike culture. The $2 entrance fee benefits the Bicycle Transportation Alliance and Sunday Parkways. The event features 15 local and organic HUB beers, live music, entertainment and games for children, bike building demonstrations, BMX stunt riders and the famous “Huffy Huck” bike toss competition.

BikeToBeerFest is taking place at Hopworks Urban Brewery, located at 2944 SE Powell Blvd. and runs from noon to 10 p.m. HUB is closing the parking lot and encouraging everyone to ride their bikes to the event. For more information see: www.hopworksbeer.com/bikes

Schedule of Events:

Noon

Ongoing Kids’ Bike Games until 2 PM

Hand built Bike Showcase until 6 PM

2 PM

Flatlanders (BMX trick riders)

2, 3:30, 5, 6:30 and 8 PM

Live music on the Hopworks Keg Stage

3:30, 5 and 8 PM

Huffy Toss Open Competition

6 PM

Goldsprints Roller Races

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

Art & Beer at the Portland Art Museum

is on Oct. 15th. I’ve invited Hopworks, Coalition, and Rock Bottom to make beers inspired by artwork in the museum. The actual paintings have not yet been approved by the museum, but they should be by the end of the week. I would be happy to keep you updated on that.

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

Do you love delicious, spice-tastic wings? Do you love big, bold, mind-blowingly smooth organic beers? Then you shouldn’t miss out as Hopworks heads to Fire on the Mountain on Burnside to debut our Galactic Imperial Red alongside the best wings in town. The Hopworks bike bar will be on site pouring this hopped out, rich, red beauty along with Crosstown Pale on the bike, and HUB Lager on the Fire taps. All beers are only $3.00 (12 oz Galactic, 16 oz Pale & Lager). And there just may be a special Fire on the Mountain/Hopworks Beer Wing Sauce…

And look for Galactic on tap Wednesday 18th at Hopworks

Galactic Imperial Red Ale

——————————————————-

Our Galactic Imperial Red boldly goes where no Red has gone before. We gave it all the Centennial and Cascade hops we’ve got to bring the floral and citrus flavor and aroma to Warp 5. With a rich caramel malt structure strong enough to withstand any blackhole and a warming finish that can stave off the cold of space, one sip and you’ll be calling it Number One.

9.3% ABV 21 Plato 100+ IBU

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

Portland’s organic and carbon-neutral beers now available in most of Cascadia region

Hopworks Urban Brewery (HUB) recently expanded distribution of its beers to British Columbia and Seattle. Kegs and bottles of the company’s organic, sustainably-produced beers can be found in leading taphouses, bottle shops and markets in both regions.

Christian Ettinger

“We wanted to share our beer with these markets to demonstrate great tasting beer can be made in an environmentally responsible manner,” said Christian Ettinger, brewmaster/owner of Hopworks. “Our goal is to grow regionally while raising the high standards of our beer even further. One of the ways we do this by adding new tanks to maintain our cycle times while increasing capacity.”

Last year, Hopworks expanded its brewing capacity with the addition of two 40-barrel fermenters increasing the brewery’s potential annual output to 10,000 barrels.

Hopworks Urban Brewery is located at 2944 SE Powell Boulevard and is open Sunday through Thursday from 11AM-11PM and Friday and Saturday from 11 AM to midnight. For more information, visit Hopworks online at www.HopworksBeer.com or call (503) 232-4677.

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

As you might suspect, Brewpublic takes a lot of time and energy. Thankfully, we’ve got some great sponsors who have been supportive of our efforts. Without these proponents who have a love for community and an appreciation for what we do, Brewpublic would be much more difficult to maintain. We don’t do this enough, but we would like to take a minute to thank the following supporters of Brewpublic:

Thanks to these awesome sponsors for their support as well as to past sponsors. If you haven’t visited these businesses or checked out their beer yet, you really should. And, please tell them that Brewpublic referred you.

If you would like to support Brewpublic by becoming a sponsor please visit our Support Us page. It’s a great way to show the Oregon and Northwest craft beer community that you like what you read here while getting great exposure for your business doing so.

Thank you!

Brewpublic

Posted under beer me

Hopworks oktoberfest celebrating Portland’s bike culture!    Any and all who made it out know that last year’s fest was jam packed with bikes, bands and beer and this year’s going to be even better!  In addition to 15 Hopworks beers on tap, the fest will also feature:

• 5 bands on the Keg Stage
• A Hand-built Bicycle Show
• Competitions
• Entertainers
• Goldsprints Roller Races
• Kid Games
• Bike Toss
• Washoes
• BMX Trick Riders
• More!

As always, Biketobeerfest proceeds go to the Bicycle Transportation Alliance and the street-freeing Sunday Parkways.  Stay tuned for details, and mark your calendar so you can ride to the event with your family and friends and revel in organic beers, live music and Portland’s rich bike community!

Cheers!

Christian and Crew

Posted under Beer & Music, Oregon beer, beer events, 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

Well, one of the biggest beer weekends in Beervana has come and gone and we somehow managed to survive. In fact, this year’s Oregon Brewers Festival (OBF) – four days of craft beer-fueled fun (not to mention the largest all-craft beer festival in the country) – broke its own record for attendance this year, according to a Twitter post from festival organizer Chris Crabb. Crabb and company invest a lot of time and care not only into OBF featuring more and more great beers each year, but in assuring continual growth is still able to comfortably accommodate droves of humans at Tom McCall Waterfront Park. In fact, the organizers are already prepping for next summer’s fest, scheduled to take place July 28-31, 2011 (OBF is always the last full weekend of July). Check out some of our photos from OBF here.

This past Friday, we enjoyed a special open house at the new Hair of the Dog (HOTD) digs located at SE Yamhill at Water Street. This was our second glimpse at brewer-owner Alan Sprints’ spacious new brewery since attending Fred Fest this spring. As he’s generously done each year on the Friday of OBF, Sprints and his staff offered samples of HOTD beers including the no hops gourd brew Greg, Blue Dot Imperial IPA, Fred, Adam, Doggie Claws Barleywine, and a special Cherry Adam in addition to a lovely spread of snacks. It was great to see the work that the brewery has put forth including the installation of many brewhouse components and an attractive bar in the front space. We look forward to enjoying more beers here in the near future.

Later in the day on Friday, which was a very warm day, we ventured over to Belmont Station‘s Biercafe for a special event featuring the music of Lagunitas Brewing founder Tony Magee. While folks enjoyed the air conditioned pub space, special Lagunitas brews like Lil Sumpin’ Sumpin’, a wheaten summer IPA, and a delicious Fusion II, described by Magee as a “strong mild ale.” Essentially, it was a 4.5% mild brown ale with a gratuitous helping of West Coast hops.

Also pouring at Belmont Station was a number of specialty brews from Green Flash Brewing of Vista, California. Green Flash brewer Ryan Pearson was in house to greet folks and discuss the featured beers of the night: an Imperial IPA, Barleywine, and two new to Portland brews, a Summer Saison and a Citra Session Pale Ale. The latter was another low ABV beer with a big dose of pungently dank hops.

To make the time at Belmont Station even cooler, 21st Amendment co-founder Nico Freccia was on hand while samples of the San Francisco brewery’s Hell or High Watermelon Wheat ale (a favorite at the OBF), Live Free of Die IPA, Monk’s Blood Belgian Ale, and the new to cans, Back in Black IPA (a Cascadian Dark Ale).

On Saturday, Full Sail‘s Riverplace brewpub at McCormick & Schmick’s held its annual gathering while celebrating the birthday of Brewmaster John Harris. Friends of the brewery, including notable Oregon brewers like Full Sail’s Phil Roche, Ninkasi’s Jamie Floyd, Widmer’s Rob Widmer, Rogue’s Brett Joyce, and Hopworks’ Ben Love, beat the heat with newly released Full Sail brews that included the A Pleine Voile Saison and the Sanctuary Belgian-style Dubbel. Folks were kindly offered seasonal IPAs and the Vesuvius Tripel on tap in addition to buckets filled with ice and two kinds of the brewery’s Session ale in signature stubby bottles. Cigars were passed out and Harris was toasted to a happy birthday song and a big cake.

On Saturday evening The BeerMongers and Brewpublic hosted a special meet the brewers event highlighting MacTarnahan’s Brewing. For this night, Mac’s Amber and Summer Grifter IPA poured on tap while bottle samples of the Lipstinger Saison and brand new Ink Blot Baltic Porter were made available for sample in bottles. Brewers Tom Bleigh, Vasilios Gletsos, Eric Wathen, Ryan Pappe, Steve Fraser, and brand manager Mark Carver were in the house for this fun event. Also in attendance were Boneyard Beer brewers Tony Lawrence and Clay Storey. Look for more Boneyard and Mac’s Beer on tap this week at The Mongers.

Sunday marked the conclusion of the OBF as we headed north to Seattle to catch a baseball game between the Seattle Mariners and Boston Red Sox. As is usually the case when the Red Sox come to Seattle, more Boston fans are in the stands than are Mariners (the M’s being in last place in their division doesn’t help their cause at this point in the season either). Before hitting the game, we visited Elysian Fields near the ballpark. Here we discovered less Elysian brands gracing the taps as in years past. Many guest taps were made available. In fact more guest taps now than Elysian’s own. It was also disheartening to be served beer at a not packed bar in plastic cups. We feel doesn’t appear to exhibit regard for the environment. Still, being offered were the likes of Elysian’s The Wise ESB, Zephyrus Pilsner, Perseus Porter, Dragonstooth Stout, Men’s Room Original Red, Bifrost Winter Ale, Avatar Jasmine IPA, and our option, Immortal IPA on cask.

At Safeco Field, we were excited to discover more craft beer on tap than ever before, most of which was regionally produced. Despite a hefty $8.75 price tag for 20 ounces of brew, it made us happy to be able to decide between more than your typical Bud, Bud Light, Coors, Coors Light, etc, that you see at many sporting arenas. Luckily things are changing for the better in America’s beer world, and leave it to the Pacific Northwest to lead the charge. Beers of interest that we noticed included Lazy Boy Pilsner and IPA, Alaskan Summer and Pale, MacTarnahan’s Amber, Pyramid Haywire Hefeweizen, Sierra Nevada Pale, Hale’s Kolsch, Snoqualmie Grand Slam Amber, Skagit River Skullers IPA, Dick’s Best Bitter, and our pick, Fremont Brewing’s Summer Solstice, a great sessionable pale ale with a big floral hop aroma. A nice thing about Safeco, despite the expected sporting event beer price gouge, is that spectators are permitted to bring their own food into the arena. This helps soften the blow of steep beer prices for those who plan ahead.

After the game ended, and the Mariners took a 4-2 win, we headed back to Portland, Oregon aka Beervana in attempts of surviving the final week of Oregon Craft Beer Month. Cheers!

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

It’s somewhat hard to believe that Oregon Craft Beer Month is about 60% complete. In one sense, the month, and summer has flown past us here in Oregon. With a late start to summer that, save for three 90 degree days, has been rather cool and reserved. However, in some ways, it’s amazing how many events have occurred so far here in Oregon, and with the biggest festival, the Oregon Brewers Festival, still to come.

For craft beer enthusiasts here in Beervana, the biggest “problem” is having too many options; multiple events each day and with only limited time and liver capacity to soak it all in. So, it is important to rely on careful planning and preparation in order to maximize the potential of each fortuitous July day. It is also key to accept the fact, that you will miss out on some events you’d really hoped to make it to, and do the best that you can. In some ways, it’s akin to a craft beer-minded tourist visiting Portland for a weekend, having never been before, and trying to sort out what places to venture. It’s a laborious task that requires both stamina and flexibility (yeah yeah, we know).

This past weekend was another big adventure in beer that really hasn’t seen a hiatus for us since… Not really sure. Between the Portland International Beer Fest (PIB) and Saraveza’s Imperial IPA Fest (IIPA Fest), we’re left anxiously looking ahead to the remainder of this wonderful month.

Portland International Beer Fest

Friday afternoon, we arrived at the fest upon the gates opening to the masses. As many have previously noted, and we have as well, arriving early on the opening day of a beer fest offers a relaxes, low stress atmosphere where you wind up running into a lot of beer geeks and industry folk who also know this virtue. So, on Friday, we scoped out the pleasant grounds of the North Park Blocks, a setting where kindly looming trees offer plenty of shade, but there is also ample sunshine to soak in if desired. This festival is well run with little notable belligerence if any.There’s a distinct culture, or perhaps aura, amongst festival goers here in Portland that focuses on community and appreciation for artisan brews. We’ve been to festivals in other regions of the country that played more like a drunk fest. In Idaho Falls, Idaho at the Mountain Brewers Beer Fest, we can recall several inebriated folks dipping their mugs in the dump bucket near the end of the festival. This is something, thankfully, you don’t see here. PIB is a relaxed atmosphere with lots of well behaved people and well behaved canines.

As far as the beer, this year’s fest was a little thinner on the mindblowing selections we’ve witnessed in years past, but this only proves the high bar to which the organizers have set for themselves. With some imported bottle beers costing multiple tickets, this year we opted to go for the taps, mostly in the one-ticket realm. Here’s what we viewed as some highlights:

Flyers Kentucky Uberfest: From Oak Harbor, Washington’s Flyers Restaurant & Brewery on Whidbey Island, this was the steal of the show for us. A traditional English-style barleywine brewed with bourbon-soaked oak chips, brewer Tony Savoy concocted with beer with inspiration from PIB organizer Rick Carpenter where it gets its name. Carpenter also runs Uber Tavern in Seattle, and this dark chestnut beer with a lavish creamy head and bold boozy oaken notes was designed initially for the bar. For just one ticket, this was one of the few beers we went back for multiple samples of.

Ninkasi Maiden the Shade: It’s easy to see why Ninkasi Brewing has a cult following here in Oregon. Not only do they have some of the nicest and hardest working folks in the business working for them but their uncanny skill at bringing generously hopped ales into the mainstream. One of the longest continual lines for PIB was the one leading to Maiden the Shade, a 7-hopped quencher with an adequate malt spine and a bounding floral nose. At 6.8%, 72 IBUs, this beer was a hit right off the bat, when it debuted last summer at the Oregon Country Fair. Also for just one token was a lesser known Ninkasi Strong Ale.

Great Divide Oak Double IPA: This beer for one ticket was well worth it, just as was Great Divide’s Chocolate Yeti Imperial Stout. Big, chewy malt character over run with a mighty hops girth and the pleasantry of creamy oakiness made this beer a stand out. Not necessarily a hard to find beer, but every brew can’t always be about rarity. This Double IPA is one you could be contented just sniffing at for a while. We’re planning a trip to Colorado in November and one of our most anticipated stops is Great Divide Brewing in Denver.

Laurelwood Workhorse IPA: Four ounces of one of the best IPAs in Portland for one ticket? Sold. Perfectly balanced combo of amplified hops and underpinning malts, this IPA rolls without too much of the catty, onion-garlic high alpha aroma hops you see trending these days. We feel this beer strikes the perfect balance and we absolutely love it. Laurelwood was also pouring their Green Elephant IPA, which is also amazing. Hop heads rejoice, for this is one hell of an India Pale Ale.

Hopworks Mystery Bourbon Barrel Aged Beer: This HUB beer could have easily been the best beer at PIB. A light, bodied, golden-orange hue with an out of this world nose of orange, tangerine, soft pine, and a flower bouquet. This beer was the last beer of the fest for us, and sent us on our way with a smile on our face. The bourbon character was quite subdued buy just hinted at in the background. Garnering both attributes of drinkability and complexity, this beer… oh, this beer…Just one ticket. Think we’ll ever see this brew this cheap again?

Unibrou Maudite: Unibrou’s Maudite is a beer we love to sip on during the autumn months. From Chambly, Quebec, Canada, this strong dark chestnut hued beer possesses a prominent malt character in both nose and flavor. Hints of orange zest,  fragrances of coriander and cloves, and adequate floral hop notes prelude a “robust maltiness and spiciness that is counterbalanced by an assertive crisp hop finish.” 8% ABV. This beer also reminds us of our pal Marc from Quebec, who we wish was here to enjoy the fest with us. Cheers, Marc!

Lompoc Bastille Day

Funny how life is filled with random adventures. This is no different in the world of craft beer. On Saturday while walking around North Portland passing out a few fliers for our upcoming BrewPubliCrawl, we noticed a van pass us by driven by New Old Lompoc owner and Bald Guy Brigade frontman Jerry Fechter. “Follow me to beer!” he yelled to us, then trumpeted to us with a vuvuzela. We obliged and found ourselves amidst the festivities of Lompoc and Pix Patisseries Bastille Day Block Party. A live band was playing to an audience of wildly adorned party-goers. It was a hopping scene with the sun shining down on a perfect July day. Our first inclination was to prospect the beer garden by the brewery where we enjoyed a newly released summer Lompeizer and Son of C-Note. We were happy to see brewers Dave Fleming, Sam Orlansky, Bryan Keilty, and Zach Beckwith all in attendance as well as Oregon Brewers Festival organizer Chris Crabb. The highlight of the party for us was poking our faces through a wooden cutout of Fechter while the rest of us watch in amusement.

Saraveza IIPA Fest

Five days of Imperial IPAs is a true test of will…and a whole hell of a lot of fun. Saraveza’s bonanza of boisterously bittered beasts was just that. Thanks to the hard work and planning of the bar staff, lead by Jonathan Carmean, Northwest Brewing News’ 2009 bartender of the year, IIPA Fest offered a wide range of such beers from what some might inaccurately perceive as a one dimensional style. Beers like Mikkeller’s I Beat YoU of Norway, brewed at BrewDog in Scotland, exhibited a big malty, chewiness, much like Southern Tier‘s ginormous Unearthly and Oaked Unearthly. Others such as Double Mountain’s Molten Lava and Alameda’s Yellow Wolf were far lighter bodied, though the hop character of these beers was equally as bodacious. In total, more than 30 IIPAs exhibited the diversity that this style can offer, while bringing forth a range of interpretations within the art form of brewing. IIPA Fest was a big success thanks to everyone who participated.

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