Weekend in Review

Another jam-packed weekend it was for Brewpublicans here in Beervana.

On Thursdays July 8, Belmont Station, with one of the most impressive calendars for Oregon Craft Beer Month (OCBM), kicked of their fourth annual sour week, known as Puckerfest, with very special event. Billed as a pre-party for the week wilds, Thursday marked the release of Double Mountain’s 2010 Devil’s Kriek. Brewed with orchard cherries grown in Hood River by brewmaster Matt Swihart, attendees were offered free samples of the brewer’s freshly picked fruits as well. Swihart and founding partner Charlie Devereux were in attendance to meet with friends and fans of the brewery. Deep amber bodied and with a well-rounded Brettanomyces yeast character, patrons had the opportunity to do some comparative sampling of this beer beside last year’s rendition. We are convinced that this is Double Mountain’s best one yet.

Also flowing from the stand-up taps at Belmont Station on this night was the Bruery’s Orchard White, a choice Belgian-style witbier brewed with coriander, citrus peel and lavender. Baker City’s Barley Brown’s Hot Blonde Ale brewed with jalapeno peppers was a light and refreshing summer-appropo golden ale exhibiting a welcomed chili spice snap without being too aggressive on the heat. The Hot Blonde won a gold medal at this year’s 2010 NABA and it was easy to see why. A keg we sampled a few weeks ago at The BeerMongers with brewmaster Shawn Kelso, kicked in less than 24 hours.

On Friday July 9, Puckerfest rocked on without missing a beat, this time with three special kegs from Jolly Pumpkin brewing of Dexter, Michigan. These rare pours included Calabaza Blanca, Oro de Calabaza, and Luciernaga. Blanca is, as the name suggests (translates literally as “White Pumpkin”), a white ale brewed in the classic biere blanche tradition and spiced with orange peel and coriander. Like most of the JP brews, it is distinctively tart and very refreshing. The Oro is a a Belgian-style strong ale aged in oak barrels and is brewed in the Franco-Belgian tradition of special golden ales. In truly JP fashion, Oro is quite peppery and effervescent with a gentle hop bouquet and the beguiling influence of wild yeast. The Luciernaga (meaning “firefly”) is another sort of hybrid brew commercially described as an “artisan pale ale brewed in the Grand Cru tradition.” With a hazy golden and carbonic body and medium hop aroma, Luciernaga is accented by the addition of coriander and grains of paradise. Spicy, tart, sour, hoppy, and somehow smooth, this was many people’s favorite of the three. However, it was impossible for us to decide which one we liked best since all three were top notch brews.

Saturday July 10 brought great weather to Portland. The three-straight 90 degree days were finally in the rearview and we were able to enjoy perfect 75-80 degree sunshine. During the day we hung out with the Daily Pull’s Brady Walen and prepped for our interview with Three Sheets alco-median Zane Lamprey who was in town on the last leg of a 53 city stand up comedy and book release tour. We prepared questions for the jokester during the day amidst picking up some special bottled brews to share with him during our interview. We were a little uncertain of how the interview would go. Since Brewpublic is dedicated to craft beer over fraternity party-esque drunkenness, we formulated an interview plan that would allow for an entertaining yet informative interview. Videographer and documentarianist Alison Grayson would capture the interview.

Before meeting with Lamprey, as mentioned, we stocked up on beer for the entertainer from a number of Oregon breweries that we thought any libation lover, not just a craft beer lover would appreciate. These included bottles of Upright Six, Cascade The Vine, Pelican Heiferweizen, Heater Allen Coastal Common, and a six pack of Caldera IPA . Just prior to our scheduled interview time, we dropped by Bailey’s Taproom to enjoy a glass of MacTarnahan’s Lipstinger. At Bailey’s we ran into our friends Bruce and Dave with BS Brewing. They were also preparing to interview Lamprey, just before we were. By the time the interview was to begin, we were already a bit McKenna’d (this is a term Lamprey uses in reference to his college buddy Steve McKenna synonymous with intoxicated). The interview was brief as we motorboated through questions and beers. Lamprey, surprisingly, wasn’t into drinking much off camera. This was understandable since he had a long night ahead of him and had already been cruising around town knocking back avocado daiquiris and other crazy concoctions for his TV show. Basically he had been on a drinking spree since the end of April when his tour kicked off. Still, he was nice enough to try some of the beers we brought before McKenna was called over to shotgun some Caldera IPAs with us.

After we left to allow Lamprey ample time to prepare for his show, we reluctantly departed our beer stash left in the green room and joined the rest of the three-quarters filled Roseland upstairs.  The show started with the ever-drunken McKenna introducing comedian Marc Ryan. Ryan’s content sought humor in STDs, DUIs, and mostly lewd material that teenage beer-bongin’ fratboys might find appealing.  Early in, we were ready to never see McKenna again. We didn’t even muster a chuckle the entire time he was on stage (and we’d been drinking and were in a good mood). Quickly realizing  that homophobia, womanizing, and drinking for the soul purpose of getting loaded were topics bolstering this show, we were in fact able to tolerate the show as long as we did in part because the other folks in the audience paid $25 to be here and, as a courtesy to our hosts, we were waiting for things to improve.  Sadly, they didn’t. Lamprey’s stand up was more fun loving and less lewd, but his go at standup was a little weak.

It was apparent that this show had a devout audience, but it simply wasn’t our cup of tea and jello shots.

Before the show was over, we had to leave for a prior engagement. It was fairly apparent from our interview and the his stage presence that Zane Lamprey doesn’t really care about the geekier side of craft beer. And, fair enough, not all people do. He projects to is the lowest common denominator, which are people who like to party. Granted this is sometimes funny, because let’s face it,  the notion of being drunk or stupid can be humorous, and travel shows where you get to peak in other cultures is at times rather fascinating. But Lamprey’s disparaging, shock-value, anything-for-attention humor was evident when he Tweeted about doing Fondue shots (dropping a shot of melted cheese into a beer and chugging it) with McKenna at the Widmer Gasthaus) reminded us of being kids and seeing that one kid eat an earthworm for a dollar, or  to make a girl scream and get his buddy to laugh. His success, we feel is partly due to his ability to be spontaneous and at times charismatic.  Despite not really enjoying the stand up show,  it was a treat to actually meet Zane Lamprey and wrap with him. Also, the Three Sheets show is rather entertaining and we are sure a lot of people would have loved to been in our shoes. Lamprey’s PR person, Karen was very cool, so big BIG ups to her!

Sunday morning we enjoyed pints of Boneyard Black 13 and Heater Allen Coastal Common at The BeerMongers while watching the final match of the World Cup.With allegiance to neither Spain nor Holland, we somehow found ourselves pulling for Holland purely based on a better craft beer selection. We weren’t the least bit disheartened when Spain ended up winning it all.

The weekend wrapped up with a great party at the Horse Brass pub to celebrate the birthday of three prevalent area beer personalities. Horse Brass founder Don Younger, accomplished beer scribe Lisa “the Beer Goddess” Morrison, and Point Blank Distributing founder Scott Willis. Together this triumvirate of  craft beer prowess celebrated 162 years of life, many of which they’ve each, in their own way, used to champion breweries in Oregon and beyond. A special tap menu of strong and hoppy brews graced the taps like Steelhead Hopasaurus Rex, Caldera Hopportunity Knocks, and Russian River Blind Pig IPA. There was even a band performing some blues numbers that had the legendary publican shaking it by the dance floor. It was a great time with lots of local beer folks like Full Sail brewmaster John Harris, Belmont Station original founder Joy Campbell, current owners Carl and Amy Singmaster, Charles and Teresa Culp, Northwest Brewing News’ John and Linda Norton, Bailey’s Taproom founder Geoff Phillips, and beer fest organizer Preston Weesner. Even Music Millenium founder Terry Currier was in attendance. Needless to say, it was a lot of fun.