Zwickle to Your Heart's Content

Fall in love with Beervana’s craft brews all over again this Valentine’s Day.  Zwicklemaniacs from around Oregon will find most brewery’s opening their doors to folks wanting an inside peek at the behind the scenes operations.  Here’s a look at some breweries you might want to tour (And for a more comprehensive listing, visit the Oregon Brewers Guild site). All of these events are going down on Saturday February 14, 2009.

Mike Haines of Vertigo Brewing of Hillsboro has just informed us that the brewery will be open from 1-4PM  offering samples of their new to the market brews including Apricot Cream Ale, High Altitude Amber Ale, Razz Raspberry Wheat, and their flagship Friar Mike’s IPA.  Vertigo is located at 21420 NW Nicholas Ct. Suite D-7, Hillsboro.  For more info, call 503-645-6644.

Deschutes Breweries of Bend and Portland are giving tours and providing samples. In Bend: 901 SW Simpson Avenue tours will occur from 12:00 – 4:00PM  with the gift shop and tasting room open from 12:00 – 5:00PM.  In Portland:  210 NW 11th Avenue. Brewery Open House and Tours available 1-4pm. For more information, call 503-296-4906.

BridgePort Brewing will be offering complimentary samples of the 2008 Hop Harvest. Todd Fleming will be onsite to conduct brewery tours during the day. Zwicklemaniacs need only to express an interest at the pub bar for one of the three tours we’ll conduct that day at 1, 3, and 5PM. 1313 NW Marshall, Portland. For more information, call 503-241-7179.

New Old Lompoc‘s newest brewer Zack Beckwith just informed us that the Northwest brewery has been pumping out tons of brand new and classic seasonals. This weekend Lompoc brewer Jon Berry will be hosting Zwickelmania at the 5th Quadrant location (309 N. William, Portland) with bottles of Bob’s Braggot, a blend of brown ale and dark honey mead, for sale.  Beckwith also informed us that the Munich 69 Baltic Porter is also on tap. The New Old Lompoc (1616 NW 23rd Avenue, Portland) is currently pouring the ’08 Old Tavern RatAngel’s Rest, a Belgian Biere de Garde.  “Also, we’ll be unleashing Black Dawn, a 7.1% ABV foreign export stout in the next few days and soon after that a special Inauguration Day IPA, that as the name suggests is brewed on inauguration day every four years” says Beckwith. as well as

Cascade Brewing will be rolling out the release of the 2008 Kriek, offering brewery tours, barrel tasting and Sang Noir have on tap. It’s like Zwicklemania every day in Ron Gansberg‘s lair, and the fun had on this day should be no exception. All this is happening at the Racoon Lodge and Brewpub at 7424 SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway in Portland from 1-4PM. For more information call 503-296-0111.

Hair of the Dog is a brewery that the big geeks don’t wanna miss.  It has a cult following by all the beer heads.  Brewer and owner Alan Sprints will be open to Zwicklers from 1-4PM.  The brewer is located at 4509 SE 23rd in Portland (don’t try to Mapquest it, just ask someone in the know).
Portland, OR 97202
503-232-6585

These are just the tip of the iceberg.  Make sure to check the entire list of Zwickle events all the events going on Saturday!

Oh, and for sips and grins, here’s lyrics to a Zwicklemania song we wrote.  It is a parody of the song “Maniac” by Michael Sembello featured on the soundtrack for the movie Flashdance.

Just a P-town girl on a Saturday night, lookin’ for the brew of her life
In the A-B world no one sees her at all, they all say she’s crazy

Pullin’ pints to the beat of her heart, changing woman into life
She has stepped into the Zwickle zone, when a brewer becomes a brew

It can sparge you like a batch, that means to induce air or gas
On a mash between will and what will be

She’s a Zwickle maniac, maniac on the brewhouse floor
And she’s samplin like she’s never quaffed before
She’s a Zwickle maniac, maniac on the brewhouse floor
And she’s tastin like she’s never had a pour