If you’re not one of the lucky lads or lasses who will be in attendance for the country’s biggest and baddest beer fests, aka Great American Beer Fest (aka GABF), fret not. The 29th installation of the GABF September 16-18 might offer over 2,200 beers to try which is more than you’ll likely find at any other single festival, but after all, who can drink 2,200 beers in three days (We’re imagining a few friends contemplating it).

This month, do what so many people around the country are doing, take a staycation. Yes, it’s that catch word you’ve likely heard promoted from advocates of living local, but it certainly is good for the economy, and in these rougher economic times, it might be just what you need to enjoy the fruits of the Pacific Northwest, in our humble opinion, one of the greatest places to live on the planet.

Here’s a look at some events coming up in September that you might consider attending if you love Oregon craft beer Read More…

Posted under Beer & Music, Oregon beer, beer and food, beer to do list, brewpubs, places to drink beer

‘Tis the season for fresh hops. There’s no where else like the Cascadia and the Pacific Northwest when it comes to ripe citrus, piny alpha hops. To celebrate this year’s harvest, The Lucky Lab is encouraging you to get your savory homegrown strobiles together and bring ‘em over to their Hawthorne Beer Hall on September 2nd starting around 3PM. Hops supplied will be used to brew The Mutt, a special hop mix-up brew brewed by brewers Ben Flerchinger, Abby Sherrill, and Casey Lyons. This annual co-operative picking is a great gathering of beer and hops lovers. Complimentary pitchers of beer will be provided and wort-brined chicken wings will be ready around 5PM.It is encouraged that pickers wear long sleeves and gloves.

Help the Lucky Lab break last year’s record of 215 pounds of fresh picked hops (which doubled 2008′s total). Tell your friends and bring those hops!

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

From Ben Flerchinger, brewer at the Lucky Lab:

“Join us Thursday to pick hops off the vine for our annual fresh hop brew, The Mutt. Bring your backyard hops or come pick with your new friends and their hops. Festivities start at three and continue until the hops are picked and ready for the next days brew. BBQ and brews will be served to help fuel the picking.”

Posted under Oregon beer, beer awards, brewpubs, events, 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

The dog days of summer aren’t over yet! On September 11, 2010, starting at 10 AM, hundreds of cyclists will take to the streets of Portland to ride in the third annual Tour de Lab, a bicycle tour of the four local Lucky Lab brewpubs, in support of the DoveLewis Emergency Animal Hospital. It’s sure to be the perfect combination of Portland favorites: bikes, beers and four-legged friends.

Ride Highlights

* Riders can choose from two route options: an 18-mile “Puppy” course (visits three pubs) or a 30-mile “Big Dog” Hill Climb Challenge (visits four pubs).

* Riders will earn their dog gear (collar, nose) at rest stops and enjoy human treats as they make their way to the finish line festival – the Dog Park at Lucky Lab Northwest.

* All-you-can-eat hot dog bar at the finish line.

* Commemorative Tour de Lab etched pint glass and a complimentary pint of Lucky Lab’s handcrafted ale for all participants.

* Gigantic “Best in Show” costume contest will award prizes for the best costumes in the categories of “dogs” and “things that dogs chase.”

More Information

* Discounted online registration before September 10 is only $35

* Registration fee for children is only $10

* Riders may register on site the day of the event

* Registration and ride details at TourDeLab.com

* Contact: 503.459.4508 (for the general public)

About DoveLewis

Tour de Lab is a benefit for the DoveLewis Emergency Animal Hospital, Portland’s only non-profit emergency animal hospital open 24 hours per day and 365 days per year. DoveLewis partners with the area’s leading veterinarians to provide critical care, education and community outreach. More information: DoveLewis.com

Posted under beer events, events

The dog days of summer aren’t over yet! On September 11, 2010, starting at 10 AM, hundreds of cyclists will take to the streets of Portland to ride in the third annual Tour de Lab, a bicycle tour of the four local Lucky Lab brewpubs, in support of the DoveLewis Emergency Animal Hospital. It’s sure to be the perfect combination of Portland favorites: bikes, beers and four-legged friends.

Ride Highlights

* Riders can choose from two route options: an 18-mile “Puppy” course (visits three pubs) or a 30-mile “Big Dog” Hill Climb Challenge (visits four pubs).

* Riders will earn their dog gear (collar, nose) at rest stops and enjoy human treats as they make their way to the finish line festival – the Dog Park at Lucky Lab Northwest.

* All-you-can-eat hot dog bar at the finish line.

* Commemorative Tour de Lab etched pint glass and a complimentary pint of Lucky Lab’s handcrafted ale for all participants.

* Gigantic “Best in Show” costume contest will award prizes for the best costumes in the categories of “dogs” and “things that dogs chase.”

More Information

* Discounted online registration before September 10 is only $35

* Registration fee for children is only $10

* Riders may register on site the day of the event

* Registration and ride details at TourDeLab.com

* Contact: 503.459.4508 (for the general public)

About DoveLewis

Tour de Lab is a benefit for the DoveLewis Emergency Animal Hospital, Portland’s only non-profit emergency animal hospital open 24 hours per day and 365 days per year. DoveLewis partners with the area’s leading veterinarians to provide critical care, education and community outreach. More information: DoveLewis.com

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

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

Here’s a look at some events happening around Beervana on Tuesday July 20, 2010 that you might consider. That is, if you have it in you…

Cascade Meet the Brewer – Join imagineer and brewmaster Ron Gansberg, Curtis Bain, and Cascade Brewing‘s talented staff to experience first hand a bit of sour magic as well as some hoppiness. The BeerMongers, in a series of meet the brewers going on this month will be tapping a keg of Cascades Summer Gose, a light, mildly tart beer perfect for summer and accented with a bit of salt and coriander spice. We’ve tried it and think it’s the best rendition of this year they’ve made yet. Also pouring will be Cascade’s generously hopped Summer Solstice IPA brewed especially for Oregon Craft Beer Month and the great summer weather. 5-8PM.

The BeerMongers is located at 1125 SE Division Street in Portland, Oregon. For more information, call (503) 234-6012.

Over the Edge – Belmont Station kicks off their week-long alternative to the Oregon Brewers Fest…or, as we like to think of it, a supplement. “Over the Edge” is a celebration of Oregon breweries that will not be in attendance at the OBF (Strange, that there are any not attending). It is recommended that you follow the bier cafe’s Twitter to get up to the minute tappings like Bend Brewing’s Eclipse Black IPA, Calapooia Devil’s Hole, Hop Valley Alphadelic IPA, Gilgamesh Chocolate Mint Stout, Boneyard Bone-a-Fide Pale, and Barley Brown’s cask conditioned WFO IPA. Special brewer tastings will be going on throughout the week and weekend. Find out more at www.belmont-station.com. Event kicks off at 3PM.

Belmont Station is located at 4500 SE Stark Street in Portland, Oregon. For more information, call (503) 232-8538.

Alameda Open House – Visit the Alameda Brewhouse and brewer Carston Haney for some special vintage samples from the brewery’s cellars, as well as cask pours of house favorites. Alameda will also be offering brewery tours throughout the day. Check ‘em out 4-8PM.

Alameda Brewhouse is located at 4765 NE Fremont Street in Portland, Oregon. For more information, call (503) 460-9025.

Lucky Lab Meet the Brewer – Stop by Lucky Labrador Beer Hall‘s Northwest Quimby location and meet brewers Ben Flerchinger and Casey Lyons and see why this brewpub is one of Portland’s most beloved. The brewers will be tapping special beers made especially for Oregon Craft Beer Month and will have some house favorites like Super Dog and Triple Threat IPA in house as well. Don’ t miss out on this opportunity! 4-9PM.

Lucky Lab‘s Quimby pub is located at 1945 NW Quimby Street in Portland, Oregon. For more information, call (503) 517-4352.

MacTarnahan’s Firkin Tapping – The brew team at MacTarnahan’s lead by head brewer Vasilios Gletsos celebrate Oregon Craft Beer Month with this month’s second tapping of a special dry-hopped Mac’s Amber from a cask barrel served to you right at the pub at Mac’s Taproom. If you haven’t experienced this rendition of the perennial gold medaling brew, now’s your chance. Bungs fly at 5pm.

MacTarnahan’s Taproom is located at 2730 NW 31st Avenue in Portland, Oregon. For more information, call (503) 228-5269.

Fred Eckhardt’s 19th Annual Beer & Cheese Tasting – Fred Eckhardt, author of “The Essentials of Beer Style,” says that the combination of wine and cheese leads to a “train wreck in the mouth.” Once again,Mr. Eckhardt will make his case that beer is the superior pairing with cheese at the 19th Annual Beer & Cheese tasting event at the Rogue Public House and Distillery in Portland’s Pearl District. During the event, Eckhardt will lead participants through a decadent multi-course tasting featuring predominantly Oregon hand-crafted beers and cheeses. Starts at 6PM.

Rogue Public House and Distillery is located at 1339 NW Flanders Street in Portland, Oregon. For more information, call (503) 222-5910.

Posted under Oregon beer, beer events, brewpubs, 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

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