Hoppy Halloween! Sudsy Samhain! Festive Fall! Merry Malting!

Losing leaves are the nakeding trees. Seasonal yeastwork. Plants’ vascular adapting and converting like sugars during fermentation. Fractal trees and complex flavors. Beer and rain begin to simultaneously increase on the gravities in which they pour. Boos and brews and cloud formations sometimes replaced by just one giant cloud. Dark mornings, darker nights increase. It can be harder to get warmed. But it is welcoming to be near a heat source. Perhaps soon looking forth to the next solstice bringing light back. Spicy seasonals, Oktoberfests, gourd brews, other fruit beers, doppels, dunkels, hearty browns, ambers, and even barleywines. Beware of ghouls and stale piwo. The light will return just as the longer warmer days, but now is the entrance to darker, bolder, and more assertive times. Enjoy the long spells of grey, contracted daylight hours, and even snowfall could conjur the need for items something spicy and robust. Enjoy the life of colorfully distinct seasons in Beervana. The changes we certainly welcomed and find necessary and most importantly, an undeniable excuse to brew, drink, and demand different kinds of beer.

It’s been a great summer. The hops grew tall and plump and at last, the summer has wound down. As sad as it might seem, we’ve still got some sunshine and great harvest season events to look forward to. Over the weekend, we homebrewed a hoppy treat from our fresh off the bine nuggets. We pedaled over to BiKETOBEERFEST at Hopworks before enjoying the Beer & Art event at the Portland Art Museum.

Holy freakin’ crap! There’s a lot of beer stuff on the calendar this time of year, and today is a perfect example. We just enjoyed hanging out with the crew at New Old Lompoc at their 5th Quadrant Side Bar in celebration of Oktoberfest (sure it was 90 degrees Fahrenheit yesterday, but nonetheless, an excuse to quaff is an excuse to quaff.)

Our Brewpublic calendar is stretched out with lots of fun things to do that involve sippin’ on a tasty craft brew. Here’s a look at what you might consider today if you don’t already have plans. We’ll do our best to hit ‘em all, but that isn’t always an option.

Two fellows and myself took a day out of town for an expedition in Mauricie.  350 km to taste what four breweries had to offer to our critical throats.  You like beer, or you don’t.

1st station:  Gambrinus, brasserie artisanale & bouffe sympa.  Trois-Rivières
This place is a restaurant which includes a cool brewpub.  Located near the University, it is strategic and also a good way to educate students to drink better beers.  But for now, I will say that I just don’t know… These are good beers, but I’ve just haven’t found any that would impress me.  The fact is that they changed their brewer recently, so what he is doing now is good, but just doesn’t reveal his potential.  We will have to come back when recipes will be set up, or even changed.  My preferred beer was the amber ale called Galarneau.

2nd station:  À la fût, brasseur de goût. St-Tite
Thanks to Francis the brewer.  We’ve been welcomed even if the pub was closed.  Eight homebrews were on the pumps.  Some seasonal beers are added in rotation during the year.  We had the honour to try his brand-new Belgian IPA @ 7,2% called une bière, deux goûts.  It is a sure shot!  His pale ale is refreshing and well balanced.  This brewery has only two years old and we will have to add it to our annual beer trips.

Brewpublic co-founder and Marketing Director Aaron Miles visits Spokane and the Inland Empire: part 1 of 2, Northern Lights Brewing.

Northern Lights Brewing Company of Spokane, Washington is a brewpub with which some folks from the Northwest beer scene, specifically Portland, may not be very familiar. This is because it is a good five to six hours away from Portland, and less than three hours from Missoula, Montana, by car. Located at the heart of the Inland Empire, Northern Lights is an area favorite, with solid craft brews on tap that are also available in bottles and throughout Eastern Wash and the Puget Sound area. Their brewpub is a recommended destination for craft beer lovers visiting Spokane (”capital of the Inland Empire” and the region’s most populated area).