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

This year’s Oregon Brewers Festival (OBF) promises to be the biggest and best to date.  Make sure to get down to Tom McCall Waterfront Park this weekend and discover an unbelievable assortment of craft beers.

Several interesting beers were provided to us at the media preview led by Noel Blake on Thursday. In addition, the festival offers a spectrum of seemingly endless brews worthy of any beer lover’s undivided attention. Some highlights available at the festival included:

Caldera’s Hibiscus Ginger Beer:  Here’s a beer with a focus not on hops, but rather on ginger root, beets, and hibiscus flowers. This light golden  4.7% ABV brew also makes use of Belgian candi sugar and 2-row and Carafoam malts. While this beer might not be for everyone, it certainly gets points for uniqueness, as well as a balance of both complexity and drinkability. We love it!

Rock Bottom Oud Heverlee: With deep malt flavors, this Belgian-style brew made with dried tulips and specialty-aged “vloer suipt” Sterling hops. Peppery, floral, and mildly fruity, this beer is another shining example of Portland Rock Bottom’s imaginative spirit and brewing know-how lead by brewmaster Van Havig.

Collaborator Sunstone Pilsner: The Oregon Brew Crew in conjunction with Widmer Bros provides a platform for talented homebrewers to showcase their talents to the public on a commercial scale. This year’s Collaborator was a distinct spin on the traditional German-style Pilsner. Brewer David Haynes designed this 35% wheaten lager with the end result being, as media guide Noel Blake states a “perfect summer Pils.”

Upright Brewing Reggae Junkie Gruit: If you read the virtual pages of Brewpublic, you know how much we love Upright. This brew uses no hops, just an assortment of herbs and spices such as organic spelt berries, hyssop, bitter orange peel, Sichuan peppercorns, and lemongrass. The base malts of organic pale and Munich result in a pleasant 5.2% ABV summer quaffer. Upright also featured a special gin barrel aged brew exclusive to the Buzz Tent in limited quantities.

The Bruery 7 Grain Stout: Can Orange County, CA’s The Bruery do any wrong? We’ve yet to find a beer from them that we didn’t love. This Belgian-style Saison is no exception. Brewed with Two-row pale malt, rye, oats, unmalted wheat, flaked rice, flaked maize, and spelt, and moderate portions of Magnum and Sterling hops, here we have a very balanced warm weather brew. An astringent finish with residual spice character are highlights of this beer’s architecture. Cheers!

Widmer Captain Shaddock Grapefruit IPA: Named for a certain Captain Shaddock who some credit with bringing grapefruit (actually pomelo) to Jamaica in the late 18th Century. This particular Widmer brew makes use of the experimental GFX-75 hop, whose flavor is likened to grapefruit. And, even more interestingly dried grapefruit peel was added to the end of the boil to accentuate more of the citrus character in this dark amber colored 60 IBU brew. Hats off to Widmer for continuing to try new things and keeping our beer interesting.

Oakshire Overcast Espresso Stout: This award winning beer is available year round from the brewers at Eugene’s Oakshire Brewing. Made with five types of grain and Chinook and Willamette hops, this beer is cold-pressed with locally roasted organic espresso coffee. The result is a bold, dark, roasty coffee brew with additional notes of chocolate and rich maltiness. Perfect for a cold day, its also a great breakfast brew to get you going in the morning.

Double Mountain The Vaporizer: Hopheads rejoice for this beer, that was the first keg to run dry at this year’s brewers dinner. Now a year round offering from the Hood River brewers, The Vaporizer is a pale golden-bodied ale with Pilsner malts and copious amounts of citrusy US Challenger hops. A dry, clean, refreshing finish leaves us wanting more and more!

Cascade Summer Gose: An absolute must have at this year’s Oregon Brewers Festival, Cascade’s Summer Gose is a light quenching tart beer inspired by a tradition originated in the village of Goslar in Lower Saxony, Germany and launched by great popularity in nearby Leipzig. Imagineer Ron Gansberg and his talented staff of brewers utilize the standard high portion of wheat malt in the Gose. Citrus notes and the addition of salt and coriander spice meld to provide a wonderful summer seasonal perfect for the hot days on the waterfront. Look for other seasonal versions of the Gose as the months pass. Each brewed with interesting original ingredients.

These beers are just the tip of the iceberg at OBF. Discover your favorites this weekend at Tom McCall Waterfront Park. For more information on the OBF, visit the website at www.oregonbrewfest.com

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

Each year the Oregon Brewers Festival (OBF) grows its selection to a more and more mind boggling level. Last year’s addition of a buzz tent meant that in addition to the more than 80 “regular” festival beers, folks can try almost 50 additional specialty and one-off flavors. The lists on the OBF points to a total of 130 beers! This leads to a very important question. Which beers should I try? Even if one attends all four days of the festival, that means drinking about 33 different beers each day would be required to try them all. Understandably, many beer lovers, especially those living in Beervana have had many of the local offerings at OBF as well as those on the stores’ shelves. So, for argument’s sake, let’s say a person has previously tried even half of the beers pouring at OBF, that’s still about 16 different beers a day. It’s quite conceivable that this can be done, but in reality, most folks don’t make all four days of OBF and the beers are not all available at times conducive to anyone’s particular schedule. So…it’s rather probably that trying every beer at OBF is out of the question. Hence, how does one formulate a plan of attack for OBF? We’ve found some answers in a few different approaches.

Taking it as it comes approach

Everyone has her own way of approaching a beer festival; expectations vary from one attendee to the next. A fun and relaxing way to enjoy the festival is to arrive early before crowds, long lines, and hot weather arrive. Not only does this keep stress levels low, it often allows for the pick of the litter when it comes to the beer (save for the buzz tent beers that tap a specific times throughout the weekend). While some folks navigate a carefully pre-mapped course toward their goal brews, others take pleasure in moseying around the grounds and opt for an seemingly appealing beer when they find it at its station. Again, keeping in mind that it is not necessary, probably, or healthy to try every beer available.

Methodological approach

This approach is one many uber-beer geeks employ when festival going. The great thing about the OBF is its comprehensive website; very informative with detailed lists and descriptions of the beers. And, to the staff’s credit, it is usually quite accurate. By scoping out the bucket list brews of the fest, and those you simply haven’t tried before, a methodological beer enthusiast can expand her palate and learn of more exciting styles.

It’s safe to say that the buzz tent will be rocking with beer geeks aiming to get their paws and palates on the brew that will certainly make their Beer Advocate or RateBeer pals envious. In fact, we’ve got our sights on some brews in the buzz tent that we hope to taste if our schedule permits. However, it’s always important not to put to much pressure on yourself or to have ultra high expectations in the event a scheduled keg fails to show. After all, things happen, and that is part of life.

Our approach to OBF tends to lie somewhere in between the “taking it as it comes” and “methodological” approach. We enjoy revisiting beers we know we’ll love while targeting those we’ve yet to experience. Find a way that works for you, and remember, it’s a beer festival in the middle of summer, so it should undoubtedly be fun.

That being said…

Leaning a little on the methodology side of things, we’ve found some beers that we figure most Oregonian beer drinkers haven’t tried yet since these brews are not readily available in the market (if available at all). We hope to try the following brews at this year’s OBF:

Read More…

Posted under beer events

Thursday July 22, 2010 marks the beginning of the Oregon Brewers Fest weekend and, in true Beervanian style, more and more great beer events keep piling up. If you haven’t already scored your ticket for the sold out brewers dinner, there’s still a heap of other fun events that should spark your interest. Here’s some ideas for Wednesday, July 21, 2010:

Deschutes Brewery OBF Kick-off at The EastBurn – One of Portland’s premier craft beer spots, The EastBurn, known for their beer belly dinners and infamous $2 Tuesdays, invites you to join them on their outdoor patio where the folks from Deschutes Brewery will be here presenting some interesting brews. The lineup will include Mystery Hop IPA, Streaking the Quad and Miss Spelt. This event runs from 7-9PM.

The EastBurn is located at 1800 SE Burnside Street in Portland, Oregon. For more information, call (503) 236-2876.

Rogue Premier Pour of “21″ – Rogue Brewmaster John Maier has brewed 21 different beers for the 21 years of the Oregon Brewers Fest. This year’s one-time brew is an Olde Ale, called 21 Ale, to be released at the Horse Brass Pub, and is dedicated to OBF founders Art LarranceTeddy Peetz. 21 Ale will also be available in limited 750ml ceramic flip-top bottles. Release begins at 5pm. and

The Horse Brass Pub is located at 4534 SE Belmont Street in Portland, Oregon. For more information, call (503) 232-2202.

Oakshire Meet the Brewer at Bridgetown Beerhouse – Meed Oakshire Brewmaster Matt Van Wyk at the Mississippi neighborhood’s favorite craft beer bottle shop, Bridgetown Beerhouse. Try the refreshing summer Line Dry Rye, as well as some year round favorites like the award winning Overcast Espresso Stout, Watershed IPA, and their Amber Ale.  Tasting runs 4-6:30PM.

Bridgetown Beerhouse is located at 915 N. Shaver Street in Portland, Oregon. For more information, call (503) 477-8763.

Deschutes Quasimodo Tapping – As previously mentioned, Deschutes’ Portland pub is tapping a different special beer  each day through the end of OBF weekend. Tonight’s specialty is their Quasimodo soured quadruple ale. With a deep orange body and bubbly white head, Quasimodo possesses a nose of orange zest, candi sugar, honey and medium tartness. The taste is likened to puckering cherries, raspberries, and persimmons. On tap all day at the pub.

Deschutes Portland Pub is located at 210 NW 11th Avenue in Portland, Oregon. For more information, call (503) 296-4906.

For a more complete list of events going on, check out the Oregon Brewers Guild’s calendar.

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

There’s lots going on at Upright Brewing in July in celebration of Oregon Craft Beer Month. Every Friday a special barrel-aged beer is to be featured in the tasting room. On July 2, 2010, brewers Alex Ganum and Gerritt Ill tapped a special 14-month barrel-aged Six with Brettanomyces Lambicus. If you missed the North American Organic Brewers Festival, you might want to pay Upright a visit to quaff on a special barrel-aged Seven with hibiscus, rose hips and rose petals. Future Friday barrel tapping will include:

Friday July 16th – Hungarian oak barrel-aged Four with homegrown yarrow and rose flowers

Friday July 23rd – “Old Tom” gin barrel-aged Apricot Anniversary beer

…And there’s even more going on with these guys:

July 12 – Puckerfest

Meet the brewers of Upright at the Belmont Station for their annual week-long sour ale celebration with three special beers from Upright. Proceeds from the event are benefiting Habitat for Humanity. Belmont Station is located at 4500 SE Stark Street in Portland, OR.

July 14 – Gruit debut at The Beermongers

Tired of hoppy beer? Probably not, but come down and check out the first release of 2010’s Reggae Junkie Gruit anyhow, a brew made with lemongrass, sichuan peppercorns, orange peel and hyssop in place of hops. For those of you who need humulus lupulus a keg of our extra hoppy Engelberg Pils will be there. 6-8 pm at The Beermongers located at 1125 SE Division Street in Portland, OR.

Saturday July 17 – Brewing up Cocktails

At The Hop & Vine Saturday afternoon a special selection of cocktails made with beer will be available to enjoy, one of which being made with Upright’s barrel-aged Four with homegrown yarrow and rose flowers. More info can be found at Liquidity Preference and The New School. The Hop & Vine is located at 1914 N Killingsworth Street in Portland, OR.

Monday July 19 – Special keg release at Victory Bar

Starting at 7 pm Monday join Upright at Victory for the special tapping of Late Harvest, the brewery’s newest release. It’s a blend of four farmhouse-style brown ales brewed with spices and matured in Pinot Noir barrels throughout the fall and winter. The eighty cases bottled will be released at the brewery (date TBA) while one of only three kegs will be on tap at the excellent Division street bar. Victor is located at 3652 SE Division St. (37th & SE Division) in Portland, OR.

July 22 – 25 – Oregon Brewers Festival

The last weekend of July as always is the biggest local beer festival, typically during a pretty hot time of the year. To quench your thirst try Upright’s Reggae Junkie Gruit, a special hop-less brew made with a blend of lemongrass, sichuan peppercorns, hyssop and bitter orange peel.  In case you were living under a rock, this event is the biggest beer fest in the Pacific Northwest and on the West Coast! More info about beers at OBF here.

Sunday July 25 – The Hop & Vine Dinner

We’re planning a four or five course dinner paired with some of our farmhouse-style beers for that Sunday evening. Details to come or check with The Hop & Vine.

For more events, make sure to visit Upright Brewing’s official website: www.uprightbrewing.com

Upright’s tasting room is open at 4:30-9PM Fridays, 1-6PM Saturday and Sunday afternoon and also between 6PM

Upright is located at 240 N Broadway, suite 2, Portland OR  (503) 735-5337

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

Twenty-three years ago, three local microbreweries – Portland Brewing Co., Widmer Brothers Brewing Co., and BridgePort Brewing Co. – conspired to put on a microbrew festival in the city of Portland. The goal was to bring beers from outside the local market for Portlanders to drink. Microbrews were still fairly new, with only 124 craft breweries across the nation. Festival organizers wanted Portlanders to be able to compare local microbrews with those from other regions, so they would see what was happening elsewhere in the nation.

Thirteen breweries participated in the first year, with a total of sixteen beers on tap. The anticipated attendance was 5,000. When it was all said and done, more than 15,000 poured through the gates. The festival was overwhelmed by the sheer number of people. The weather was hot, and so was the refrigeration, leading to a great quantity of foamy beer. It didn’t matter. People loved the Oregon Brewers Festival!

Fast-forward 23 years: today there are more than 1,400 craft breweries in the U.S., and the Oregon Brewers Festival has thrived, becoming one of the nation’s longest-running and best loved craft beer festivals. It is the premier summer event for anyone who loves craft beer, or is visiting Portland in July. Located on the west bank of the Willamette River, with towering Mt. Hood as a backdrop, the Oregon Brewers Festival is quintessentially Portland, and the ideal venue to relax with friends and sip some suds.

The Oregon Brewers Festival is a true reflection on the immense popularity of American craft brewing, and the fact that the festival continues to draw vast crowds 23 years after its inception is a strong testament to the public’s loyalty toward craft brews. More than 70,000 people will flock to Tom McCall Waterfront Park from all around the world this summer, generating an economic impact of approximately $1.5 million for the city of Portland. The purpose of the Oregon Brewers Festival has always been to provide an opportunity to sample and learn about craft beer. The number of breweries participating has more than quadrupled from that first year, now with 81 craft breweries from across the county showcasing a score of beer styles ranging from Amber to Wit.

In terms of operation, little has changed since the early days of the Oregon Brewers Festival. Volunteers (now numbering 2,000) pour the beer; industry exhibitors explain key ingredients; homebrewers visually describe their craft with on-site brewing; and vendors offer beer-related merchandise.

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

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

Oregon Craft Beers from breweries not featured at the Oregon Brewers Festival!

Posted under Oregon beer, beer events, 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

Brewpublic just caught wind of the beers that will be featured this year at the Oregon Brewers Festival Buzz Tent. This will be the first year for this tent that will showcase uber-geek beers, cellared specialties, one-offs, and other brews you might never see again. OBF’s Chris Crabb explains “This year, we’ve switched it up by asking the brewers to create not only the (one featured OBF brew) beer, but the buzz as well.”These beers are highly prized, very expensive, and our selection is very limited in quantity. Many of the brewers of these beers will be on hand in the tent to talk up their product.”

The list of beers is mind blowing for anyone who loved this sort of thing. Here’s more details we received in a press release from Chris:

The Buzz Tent will be open on Friday, July 24 and Saturday, July 25 from Noon to 4:30 pm each day. Admission is separate from the festival. A ticket costs $20 and includes a punch card good for eight four-ounce tastes. The ticket will give you tastes of six different buzz beers, plus two tastings of your choosing. Because of the different quantities of product on hand, we can’t guarantee what beers will be pouring at any single time, but we can guarantee they will be fantastic! Look for the chalkboard outside the tent, or follow the Buzz Tent on Twitter: @OBFBuzzTent.

We will be selling a total of 2,000 tickets to the Buzz Tent: 1,000 per day. The tickets are first come, first serve. Tickets can be purchased on site starting Thursday, July 23 in the “Tokens Only” lines on the south end of the mugs/tokens tent. You must purchase a Friday and/or a Saturday ticket. The Buzz Tent itself is located in between the Mug/Tokens Sales and the South Beer Trailers.

Admission to the Buzz Tent does not include a mug. Just use the mug you are using to sample all of the other beers at the festival. To whet your whistle, here’s a sample of what will be pouring in the Buzz Tent this weekend:

Alameda Horseshoe Hefeweizen, Alaskan Barley Wine Anderson Valley Huge’r Boont, Ballast Point Sour Wench Tart Blackberry Ale #1, Beer Valley Black Flag Imperial Stout 2008 Fresh Hop edition, Blue Frog Barrel Aged Strong Amber Peligroso, BridgePort 2008 Stumptown Tart in firkin, BridgePort BBL Ebenezer, Cascade Brewing Sang Royale, Cascade Brewing Gold Yeller, Cascade Brewing Night Fall, Cascade Brewing Gose, Cascade Brewing Mouton Rouge, Deschutes Bourbon Quad, Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron, Fearless Strong Scotch, Fifty Fifty Imperial Eclipse Stout (barrel aged for 180 days in Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon Barrels), Firestone Walker Double/Imperial Union Jack, Full Sail 1998 Old Boilermaker Bourbon Barrel Aged Barleywine, Grand Teton Brewing Howling Wolf Weizenbock, Laurelwood Organic Deranger Imperial Red, Laht Neppur Spiced Waitsburg Winter Warmer, Lazy Boy Pomegranate Belgian Golden Ale, Lompoc Barrel Fermented LSD, McMenamins West Linn Largo Laws Treasure Strong Scottish, McMenamins Crystal Ballroom Obama Nation Domestic Schwarzbier, McMenamins Old St. Francis Base Camp Coffee Stout, McMenamins Oak Hills Das Schwertz Maibock (Whiskey Barrel Aged), Moylan’s Brewing Co. Batch #1000 Double Kilt Lifter, New Belgium La Folie, Oakshire Glen’s Hop Vice Imperial IPA, Redhook Raspberry Tripel, Rock Bottom Rod Flanders, Stone 13th Anniversary, Sprecher Brewery Bourbon Barrel Scotch Ale, and Widmer X-114 IPA.

Check out my write up on last year’s OBF here.

Posted under beer news