July is undoubtedly the most festive month regarding beer in Oregon, as it is most other places in the Northern Hemisphere. The hot weather this week has beckoned us to indulge in the refreshing brewhas like no other time throughout the year. This week, the weekend started a bit early. The Oregon Brewers Guild Dinner kicked off the week of grand brews on Wednesday. We pulled an early shift in pouring to help out, and were reciprocated by receiving the t-shirt/glass/tickets to enjoy the latter half of the wonderful event. From the pouring end, it was great to see the pillars of the Oregon brewing community congregate to celebrate the freedoms that spawn creative and flavorsome brews unlike those from most anywhere else on the planet. Serving folks like Deschutes Brewmaster Larry Sidor, Fifty Fifty Brewmaster Todd Ashman, Beer Valley Brewmaster Pete Ricks, and Oakshire Brewmaster Matt Van Wyk. Pretty damn cool if you ask me. This who’s who event was pretty fun and the only down side of the pouring portion was people asking for samples without providing tickets.  Still, it was a hoot. On the tasting end, the five tickets I received were redeemed for the following brews:

Double Mountain Red Pilsner, Wakonda Sneaker Wave Imperial Pilsner (I was fortunate enough to snag the last pour from this 1/6 barrel keg…very bold), Ram Big Horn Pauliny Pils (from Salem, very nice!), Upright Flora Rustica (some fool from Shelton Brothers import company said Upright was terrible…more reason to distrust importers), and Rogue’s Maierfest lager (very smooth and enjoyable).

On Thurdays, the early weekend proceeded with a stop at Bailey’s Taproom for a Chuckanut meet the brewer special event. Brewer Josh Pfriem and beer guru Jim Parker were on hand to talk beer and share some phenomenal German-style brews from the Bellingham brewery. On hand for the first time in Oregon was a Dunkel, a Marzen, a Kolsch, and a Helles. Chuckanut also had a Dortmunder on tap at the big fest (OBF) on the Waterfront. Legendary Rogue Brewmaster, John Maier was on hand at Baileys during the Chuckanut event. At this point it was obvious the OBF weekend was getting rolling.

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:

If you are a beer geek in the Pacific Northwest, you’d have to be living under a rock to not know the importance of July for craft beer in Oregon. For the fifth consecutive year, the Oregon Brewers Guild headed by Brian Butenschoen has organized a magnificent schedule of events to highlight the significance of craft brew in our great state. Butenschoen notes that the summer is undoubtedly the most successful month for craft brewers in the state. “It’s not surprising considering the weather here” says Butenschoen, who was on hand raffling off t-shirts and prizes at the Horse Brass Pub on the month’s kick off party. “(Craft beer) makes its peak in July and August. Since we started doing this five years ago, we’ve had a proclamation from the governor and mayor.” A parade of brewers kicks off the Oregon Brew Fest during the last weekend of July.  the inspiration was taken from the Brewers Association’s American Craft Beer Week. For Butenschoen and others dedicated to promoting the craft that is so vital to Oregon’s economy July involves a lot of hard work but is also very much worth it. “It’s Craziness, but a good kind of crazy” he says. “The Brewer’s Dinner that kicks off the OBF is the closest thing to the brewers reception at the Great American Beer Fest. Lots of different specialty beers.” Butenschoen explains that the fest is really about the brewers. The dinner is a great way for industry people to gather in one spot in a great environment, Tom McCall Waterfront Park. “It’s more of a gathering than a sit down dinner” he says. “It’s nice to be on the river drinking good beer with friends.”

Beer Valley's Pete Ricks

Celebrating the second year of his brewery, Pete Ricks of Oregon’s eastern-most brewery, Beer Valley will be on hand at Belmont Station this Wednesday, March 25, 2009 from 6-8PM. I talked to Ricks over the weekend and asked him about the brief history of Beer Valley out in what would otherwise seem like a no-man’s land for beer.  “It’s been good.” he told me. “We doubled our production since last year and expanded distribution into Western Oregon.”