Rogue Ales has broken ground on the Rogue Malt Floor located on the Rogue Micro Barley Farm in Oregon’s Tygh Valley Appellation.

The Malt Floor will be a Heritage-malting operation in which Rogue Farm barley will be soaked, floor-germinated, hand-raked on the malt floor, roasted in a brick hearth, and bagged in small batches. Rogue Brewmaster John Maier plans on developing 4-6 varieties of floor malt that will be used in the brewing and distilling of Rogue Ales, Porters, Stouts, Lagers, and Whiskies.

Floor malting began in the 19th century but was gradually replaced by automated equipment that helped reduce labor costs. With the establishment of the malt floor, Rogue joins a select handful of floor maltsters in Germany, England, and the Czech Republic that continue to carry on the heritage malting method.

The Malt Floor will be complete and operational in August — in time for the Rogue Farm barley harvest. Complimentary tours of the Malt Floor will be provided and will also include tours of Rogue rock, Rogue-henge, Rogue creek, and the Rogue fishing pond.

The Rogue Nation Department of Agriculture remains committed to saving the terroir of Oregon hops and barley, one acre at a time, by growing its own.

For more information on the Rogue Malt Floor, Farm tours, or Rogue’s Grow Your Own revolution, contact the Rogue Department of Agriculture at 503.241.3800.

Posted under Oregon beer, beer history, beer news, press releases

Beach dunes of Florence, Oregon

Okay. Here’s where I spot a rare event on our favorable beer calendar.  The Wakonda Meet the Brewer event at the Green Dragon (now run by Rogue) is a rare chance to palate the Central Oregon Coast brewery’s offerings. Formerly of Alaska, the somewhat obscure Oregon production brewery will make a trip to Portland, a three hour drive from Florence. We received the announcement from Ross Baechle at Rogue about this event.

Baechle says: “Wakonda Brewing will be joining us this coming week!  The information is as follows.

Green Dragon Brewpub presents “Meet the Brewer” Tuesday December 30^th 2008, featuring Juanita Kirkham of Wakonda Brewing from 6:00p to 8:00p.

Wakonda Brewing is a production brewery out of Florence, OR that opened in 2004.  They recently added a tasting room that opened in October of 2008.

This is only the second time Wakonda’s beers have been poured in a Portland pub.

Featured beers:       Timberbeast IPA

Beachcomber Cream Ale

Black Elk Stout

The Green Dragon is located at 928 SE 9th Ave Portland, OR 97214.

I hope you had a great holiday!”

Florence in Coastal Oregon

Posted under beer events