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Just popped into Amnesia brewing to fill a Memorial Day growler, and couldn’t resist sitting down with a Sour Power Cherry Ale (not available in growlers, went with Copacetic IPA there). Nicely tart and strong cherry flavor, but there is a strange cinnamon spice thing going on that seems unneccessary to me. Still, a good place to hang out while my wife shops on Mississippi.
1: Found these great photos of the apparently abandoned Pabst Brewery on WebUrbanist.com. A beer castle! Man. If only I had a few million dollars to renovate that place. Maybe I can convince the McMenamin’s to move east…
2: Also came across this link to the 10 Best Beer Names Ever. Heh.
The dirty white tent ruffled and snapped in the hot wind. Inside, a mystery, a holy revival waiting to be borne here upon the wild plains. All of us cowboys lined up in silence, clutching our hats and wearing dirty boots, squinting against the flying grit. All we wanted was to come inside, where for once in this cold life, perhaps a strange preacher could bathe us in the glow of the everlasting, for which we had searched so long.
Except for some minor details, this was roughly how I interpreted the hushed, electric wait before the tent swung open for Fredfest 2008. I felt like the only virgin in the bunch, and was almost certainly the only one not wearing a beer-themed shirt. The line stretched 150 long. Dave had stopped speaking in the moments before the opening, but his eyes were glinting in a dangerous way. The tent swung open to a cheer heard all the way across Holgate, and in we filed. They put wristbands on us before we entered Willy Wonka’s factory, but at that point I don’t think any of us would have cared if it was a damned cattle-brand. Beer and beer nerds were about to come together inside Hair of the Dog brewery in a perfect storm of oak aging, turkey legs, and Honey Buckets, ideally in that order.
As if a $50 ticket didn’t buy enough already (endless beer, food, good company, and all guilt-free…it’s for charity!), it also gets you entered in a raffle. I understand there was some kind of super Traeger grill as a grand prize, which everyone was talking about as if it were the technological equivalent of owning your own Stargate. Dave ended up winning some delicious aged brew, because Dave always wins something.
The man of the hour himself, the great Fred Eckhardt raises a toast in front of his brew-shaped cake. The cake was an impressive achievement, although it looked like it had suffered some major structural damage in an earthquake. With nothing to support it but good karma, apparently, the mighty dessert stood for the entire celebration.
These kinds of scenes happened a few times (this one was a happy b-day toast to Fred), and with only 200 folks in the whole joint, it felt more like a big friendly barbeque than anything. A barbeque, that is, drenched in the best beer you can imagine, and crawling with paunchy, middle-aged dudes with no responsibilities for a day. Is this PERFECT or what?
Hey, here’s a picture of our friend, uh, our friend…nope, it’s just Some Guy standing with Fred. Some Guy was real insistent about getting multiple pictures taken with Fred, no matter that it was with Dave’s camera. I tried to explain to Some Guy that if he got his picture taken in that hat he was wearing, then everyone would know he owned a hat like that, but he wouldn’t listen. I assume he had a lot on his mind, what with the Renaissance Fair coming up.
Hey, here’s the picture we actually wanted to take, minus the small problem sitting directly in front of Fred, which I’m sure can be photoshopped out. It’s the BS Brewing crew, minus Andrew, and including Fred, Lisa Morrison, our new friend Jon Shervey, and the gent in back (whose name escapes me), who is an owner of the marvelous Belmont Station.
There are many other stories from our too-brief journey into the magical world of the Hair of the Dog brewery. Jon Shervey getting an aged, spectacular HOTD Fred upon entering (as we all did), and commenting simply, “It’s a respect thing.” A perfect moment sharing a smoke outside with the great Don Younger (or Beer Jesus, if you prefer), a drunk 45-year-old taking a faceplant while giving his also-grown buddy a horsey ride, and this priceless exchange between, yes, Don Younger and a visibly tipsy Fred Eckhardt:
Fred: You guys are pouring some pretty substantial beers here. I hope I remember this in the morning.
Don: (just laughs and smiles)
I mean, that pretty much sums it up. Happy birthday, Fred.
The fabled day approaches, and I just got an e-mail from Preston Weesner, one of the organizers, containing the beer lineup for FredFest 08. You might want to grab some paper towels, unless you have a drool-proof keyboard.
Courtesy of the incredibly imaginative people at CadaverBlender (via deadspin)
We’ve all been there, some sporting event or music festival featuring ridiculously long lines with a $6 cup of flat Budweiser waiting at the end and figured there has to be a better way to get a drink.
Well the guys over at CadaverBlender just got back from the infield of the Kentucky Derby where they came up with a great solution: the booze sandwich. While many places will let you bring in your own food, most frown upon bringing your own adult beverage, so the simple solution is make your booze look like a meal.
Here it is in a nutshell: Fill a 16 oz. water bottle with your booze of choice, hollow out a nice, appropriate sized French roll, insert bottle, add some lettuce, possibly some meat around the edge, wrap the sandwich in Saran Wrap and I bet not a single security guard in the country will hassle you at the bag check.
Here’s a couple photos (courtesy of CadaverBlender)
Remember, please drink responsibly.
Uh oh. Sarah’s leaving me to attend this by myself (well, with three other BS’ers), and now there’s this incredible list of auction beers - one of which literally has my name on it … anyone else headed to FredFest on Saturday? I seem to have an extra ticket if you need one, or perhaps I will give it away in a contest …
Online Rare-Beer Auction Supports FredFest 2008
Beer aficionados across the nation will be reaching for their wallets this weekend when rare beers and vertical collections will be highlighted at the first-ever FredFest Online Beer Auction.The auction starts at 3 p.m. PDT Friday, May 9 and begins to wrap up at 3 p.m. PDT Sunday, May 11. The auction is designed to run concurrently with FredFest 2008 - a celebration of the 82nd birthday of Fred Eckhardt, the Dean of American Beer Writers, which is taking place May 10 at Hair of the Dog Brewing Co., in Portland.
“FredFest started as a surprise 80th birthday party for Fred, but is coming back around in its third year as a fundraiser in the memory of fellow beer scribe and friend, Michael Jackson,” said FredFest co-organizer Lisa Morrison.
Each year, Eckhardt is asked to choose a charity for FredFest. This year, he chose Parkinson’s Resources of Oregon, a local affiliate of the National Parkinson Foundation. Jackson had been battling complications from Parkinson’s disease when he died last summer.
The first-ever FredFest online auction was the brainchild of Hair of the Dog owner Alan Sprints, Ben Love of Hopworks Urban Brewery and Matt Maples of Liquid Solutions bottle shop.
Here is a sampling of some of the lots up for auction:
- Hair of the Dog Dave 1994 (375 ml)
- Hair of the Dog Adam #1 1994 (12 oz.)
- Full Sail Old Boardhead Vertical: 1998 & 1999 (12 oz.), 2001-2007 (22 oz.)
- Pike Old Bawdy Vertical: 1996-1998, 2006-2007 (12 oz).
- AleSmith: Old Numbskull (750 ml), Grand Cru (750 ml), Horney Devil (750 ml)
- Lost Abbey: Older Viscosity (375 ml) Angelâ s Share (375 ml), Lost and Found (750 ml)
- Rodenbach Alexander 1991 (330 ml) and Rochefort 10 1999 (330 ml)
- Westvleteren 12 1997 (11.2 oz.)
- Anchor Brewing Commemorative Michael Jackson’s 60th Birthday Beer (1.5 L)
Other breweries included in the auction are Avery, Midnight Sun, J.W. Lees, Big Time, Fish Tale - and more. An entire list of auction items and more details can be found at www.liquidsolutions.blogspot.com.
I dropped off my entries into the Sam Adams Longshot contest at FedEx Kinko’s Wednesday morning. According to Sam Adams’ web site, shipping beer is allowed by most commercial carriers if the beer is being shipped for analytical purposes. Still, they make it very clear that shipping beer to their three drop locations nationwide should not be done via USPS, and both FedEx and Kinko’s web sites make it clear that alcohol is not supposed to be shipped (with exception above).
Not trusting your average FedEx customer service specialist to be aware of the arcana of alcohol shipping (ok for analysis, not for consumption), I decided to tell a fib if I was asked what my packages’ contents were. Bruce told me he wrote “Beer Supplies” on his slip; I thought I’d try “yeast samples.”
Sam Adams didn’t make my life any easier - the shipping address was for “Sam Adams Homebrew Competition” c/o “Beer, Beer and More Beer,” in Riverside, California, and the clerk did ask what was inside. I replied with my canned “yeast samples,” which he followed up with “But not liquid, right?” I think he may have been hinting that I should respond in the negative (which I did) a la the gun store clerk in Beavis and Butthead who asks repeatedly “You boys eighteen? … Let me try this again … you boys eighteen?”
In case you’re wondering, I sent in my English brown ale in two variations, one of which was bottled with a Torrefazione Palermo coffee bean in each bottle (”Bitter Seed Brown”). Bruce sent in his Blueberry lambic and an old ale. We’re both looking forward to getting our judging sheets back, which is a really nice benefit of participating.
I love the idea of this contest, which puts the winner’s beer into mass production by Sam Adams, and sends the finalists to GABF for free, but it seems some of the mechanics could be more finely tuned. Maybe they could add dropoff points in each state? It’s not as if they don’t distribute nationally - maybe the delivery chain could work backwards just this once.
Did you enter the Longshot contest this year or in years past? How’d you handle the shipping dilemma? Must we all be liars?
As a former resident of Southern California, I used to be quite familiar with weekend trips to Las Vegas. Now that life has slowed down a bit and getting there is a little pricier than a three hour drive, I get out to Vegas about every other year…. but earlier this week that’s exactly where I found myself. Vegas.
One thing I figured is this will be a vacation away from good beer, and for the most part I was right. The beer of choice in Vegas seemed to be Bud Light in the aluminum “bottle”; talk about a beer wasteland… with one notable exception, The Hofbrauhaus
Designed to be a faithful recreation of the Hofbrauhaus in Munich (I wouldn’t know, I’ve never been), Eryn said it did look similar, which in Vegas I suppose is good enough. Here’s what I do know, this place was fun and the beer was good.
Pardon the photo quality, all I was armed with was my camera phone. Here’s a general interior shot, as you can see, it’s got a high ceiling making the place feel nice and open. The beer garden was closed for a private reception full of what I can only describe as drunken nerds. We arrived in town on a Sunday, so the place wasn’t packed, I’d say the room was running at about 40% capacity but I could see on a Friday or Saturday a packed house. 
Arriving on Sunday also meant I missed the tapping of their seasonal Maibock on Friday. Checking in at a healthy 7.2% ABV, the Maibock was surprisingly light with a nice malty body. Unfortunately they wouldn’t serve it in a liter mug, so here’s Eryn with our puny half liters of Maibock and Dunkel.
Like any good German beer hall there was a band. The photo may not tell the whole story, but I think it is safe to say these Austrians do quite well with the ladies. I don’t understand why the dude in the lower right is wearing a lei in a German beer hall.
The food also exceeded expectations. We ordered a sausage sampler plate seen below featuring some of the best frankfurters I’ve had this side of Ottos along with an excellent Brat and a chicken sausage. We also enjoyed a schnitzel with some delicious german potato salad.
After the Maibock, round two arrived in the form of a liter of the Dunkel. Sweeter and with a little bit of caramel, the Dunkel was another excellent beer.
As you can see, it’s BS Brewing approved.
So, with all this beer flowing, fun music playing and plenty of toasts, what do you think happens, even on a slower Sunday night? That’s right, lots of dancing on tables and benches. Although not this guy, another did do enough table dancing and high fiving people he eventually got cut off, so don’t go completely crazy. Drink responsibly.
Overall, if you’re looking for beer that isn’t Heineken, MGD or Michelob Amber Bock and you want to soak up a little of that faux-Vegas Octoberfest feel, I recommend the Hofbrauhaus Las Vegas as a refreshing change from the noise and clutter of the Strip.
The Hofbrauhaus is located on Paradise Road, across the street from the Hard Rock and is open from 11 to midnight on weekends (Fri & Sat).
Disclaimer: My meal and airfare was paid for by me; lodging was courtesy of my wife.
Thom, Bruce, Amanda and I met up for lunch at Deschutes’ new Pearl district location today. The grand opening is on Friday, but apparently the restaurant has been open since Monday, and I’d advise a quick trip later today or tomorrow if you want a peek at it anytime soon. With all the buzz this has been getting, plus a Friday opening, plus a swanky downtown location … do the math.
The space is, quite simply, amazing, with a huge open feeling and tons of natural light from the windows on the South and West walls. Exposed beams, concrete floors, and the other Pearl District de rigeur architectural features are there, but the brewery has gone a bit more Oregon than Pearl in the finishing details. Much has been written already about the wood carvings (they are really cool), but I haven’t seen much about the wall memorabilia, which includes the original label artwork for beers like Black Butte Porter (pronounced “byoot” for the midwesterners in the audience, rather than the much funnier, but possibly offensive, pronunciation, “butt”), Cascade Lakes Organic, and others, as well as a pretty good collection of awards near the restrooms. The effect is really tying the new location to the brewery’s long history in Oregon - Mirror Pond was my first love, and hanging out in the place brought back some nice memories, and not in the faux antiques way TGI Fridays does … it felt real, and sincere.
The food was also fairly Oregon in nature. Thom and I both had the Elk burger, which we both agreed was a little bland, but decent. The sweet potato fries (Yes! They have sweet potato fries!) were just this side of overdone, but it’s a little too soon to pass judgement on the kitchen, I think. I had a Mirror Pond/mango Kumamoto oyster shooter that was delicious, if a little too done up for my tastes. Being the Pearl, there were some pretty pricy entrees on the menu: a lobster ravioli for $21, and a beer-braised NY steak for $26. A little rich for lunch, methinks, but I might give that steak a whorl some night on the town …
And what about the beer? They have all the standard offerings on draft in the long bar, as well as some pub exclusives: Bachelor Bitter, Rootin’ Tootin’ Low Gluten Ale, St Tanith (a fruity-tasting high octane Belgian-style ale), 2005 Mirror Mirror, and Kilgorian Vanilla Porter, which was unfortunately tapped out by the time we got there. The last three are all served in snifters for $3.50, but 20 oz. pints of the others are a reasonable $4.25 (hey, it’s the Pearl district). Half pints are $2.50, and a six-pack sampler tray is $6.00.
On the way out is a nice little gift shop with t-shirts, hats and some glassware I’ve never seen from Deschutes.
All in all, a pretty nice place within shouting distance of Powell’s, a streetcar stop, Pearl District shopping … I think Bridgeport and Rogue have gotten a very strong competitor in the neighborhood. By comparison, Rogue looks ratty (and smoky - why?), and Bridgeport out of the way with over the top decor. Bridgeport still has the edge on food, though. For now …