In case you missed it (and your liver might thank you if you had), Lucky Lab’s Barleywine and Big Beer Fest this year was a huge success. Everything you’d expect from a beer festival, the selection was exceptional, the atmosphere was welcoming, and the crowds were not overwhelming.

The event kicked off for the 13th annual installment on Friday March 5 at noon and lasted until 11PM before recommencing again the next day, again at noon. We did not attend the first day of the festival in fear of us not being able to return for our volunteer shift Saturday. Saturday the weather was spectacular, and a bicycle ride across town to the fest was invigorating. The warm sun shined through the partially opened garage door of the spacious brewpub on NW Quimby Street; a hearty and well needed beer fest was underway. A few people made their way to the tables as the event kicked off. These folks were the beer geeks who live for this kind of thing, some of whom were still recovering from the previous day’s samplings.

Today, Monday March 8, 2010 you can taste Ninkasi’s Spring Reign seasonal release and and their year-round line-up of Total Domination, Believer Imperial Red, and Tricerahops Imperial IPA. Spring Reign and a very rare small keg of Critical Hit Barleywine will also be featured on draft. If you didn’t try the The Critical Hit at Lucky Lab’s Barleywine fest this weekend this is your last chance. We tried it there and highly recommend it to any fan of big, hopped-the-hell-out brews!

Get your stunt liver primed for this coming Friday and Saturday, March 5 and 6. You’re gonna need it. Lucky Lab is hosting the thirteenth annual Barleywine and Big Beer Festival at their NW Quimby brewpub. The spacious setting is the perfect venue for such an event. In the leading city for craft beer, this brewpub isone of Portland, Oregon’s finest.

A recent tour of the cooler thanks to brewer Ben Flerchinger revealed nearly 60 beers waiting to be tapped. More are still on there way. According to the Lab technician, the average alcohol by volume of all these brews is 9.89%. Hot damn!

Check out the New School blog’s preview and picks for this year’s festival. There’s a list of the beers there, too.

The Barleywine and Big Beer Fest will occur at 1945 NW Quimby in Portland, Oregon.

Zwickelmania weekend was awesome! Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough time to visit every spot that we wanted to. Still, we did hit up some favorites. Here’s what went down:

Heater-Allen at Bailey’s Taproom

Yesterday I was riding my bicycle down through NE Portland and noticed Migration Brewing, a soon-to-be-open brewpub at 2828 NE Glisan. I’d met with brewer and co-founder Michael Branes a while back at Belmont Station and had read a post about the new spot from Bill at It’s Pub Night. Branes began brewing professionally at Barley Johns Brew Pub in Minneapolis, Minnesota and has been actively brewing beer for the past six years in Portland.  For the last three years, he worked as a distributor with Mountain People’s organic beer and wine distributing company. Branes’ partners in crime are McKean Banzer-Lausberg and Colin Rath. Banzer-Lausberg, a former pub manager at Lucky Lab, will run in-house finances, employees and kitchen management. Rath will handle bar management, outside marketing, and oversee community-based programs. His involvement with the Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) makes him a great fit for this outpost.

In celebration of all that is dark and hoppy (without too much roast, of course), Belmont Station officially kicks off their Cascadian Dark Festival at their Bier Cafe.

WED JANUARY 20 – SAT JANUARY 23 3-11PM CASCADIAN DARK FESTIVAL

Is art just imitation of life? If so tonight you can drink in life at the Portland Art Museum where artist and beer lover Eric Steen presents an event that marries the experience of enjoying beer and art. During this one night event, you can sample three new beers from Laurelwood, Lompoc, and Lucky Lab in the museum’s Exterior Sculpture Garden. A brewer from each of the three Portland microbreweries received a tour of the museum’s collection, selected an artwork, and made a beer that will complement that artwork. Sounds nutty? We think so, and that is why we will most definitely be there. According to PAM, this beer sampling is part of a one night event called “Shine A Light: A Night at the Museum”, an event that will host a number of performances, time-based art actions, music, and more. It costs $12 to get in, but the beer is free. Did we mention there’s art there, too. For more information visit www.portlandartmuseum.org

Once again it is September and this means the curtain is drawing closed on summer and the hops are ripe for the pickin’. At the Lucky Labrador, the annual Mutt Hops Pickin’ event was underway with a greater turn out than ever before. People from the community and friends of the Lucky Lab hauled in their homegrown bines to share not only in the labor and its fruits, but in an atmosphere of community and friendship at the heart of craft beer.

Folks like Daniel Klug make the event what it is today by showing up and selflessly contributing to an environment that has maintained Lucky Lab as a true public house where house made beer flows to dedicated patrons. Klug, an ornamental iron worker and traditional blacksmith began helping with the picking ceremony eight years ago when his business White Hart Forge was a stone’s throw away from the Hawthorne pub. Today, he works eight miles south of the pub but remains loyal to the semblance of local color that continues to define the event. “It’s as much about the people and the friendships as it is about the beer and the hops” says Klug. Like Klug, Lucky Lab brewer Ben Flerchinger carries much of the same sentiment. “I love it.” he says. “(The picking event) is awesome. It’s a very community-oriented event. People know each other and those who don’t make new friends. It brings the community together.”

Portland’s Cheers to Belgian Beers festival is back for the third consecutive year to celebrate the wonder of the Belgian beer style. All brewers participating will employ the same yeast strain to illustrate the diversity of styles that can be concocted from the Wy’east 3822 Ingelmuster ale yeast. This yeast, formerly known as Dutch Castle, is a unique Belgian ale yeast that lends a banana-clove/phenolic spiciness to the beers it helps to brew. You can expect many of these brews to lean toward the tart, astringent side of the palate.

2009’s event is the first year that all Oregon Brewers Guild members, including breweries outside the Portland Metro area, were be able to participate in submitting a beer to the friendly competition.

A “People’s Choice Award” will be determined by the sampling masses with the winning brewhouse earning homecourt for next year’s event and the option to select the yeast strain the 2010 charity beneficiary.

Port Barrel-aged Lucky Lab Pavlov Imp Stout

Lucky Lab brewer and big dog Ben Flerchinger just got us drooling again.  This time, over the latest bottling, the Lab’s Port barrel-aged Imperial Stout known as “Pavlov.” The brew also features Northern Brewer, Fuggles and Goldings hops to round out a big, bad-ass robust malt underpinning. Flerchinger gave us this description of the brew:

Huge flavor from the roasted barley balanced with hints of vanilla from the barrel gives way to notes of raspberries and black currants from the Port. This is all followed by underpinnings of chocolate, caramel and licorice. With a head of dark coffee color, it’s all wrapped up with a finish of esters and warming alcohol.