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Received: Shock Top Wheat IPA

Posted: February 4th, 2012, 10:35pm CET by Jon

I have to say, one style I wouldn’t have expected the big breweries to delve into (even as part of their smaller “craft” branches) is the relatively-new Wheat or Belgian IPA… but that’s exactly what Anheuser-Busch has done with their latest Shock Top release: Shock Top Wheat IPA, which I received a six-pack of this week.

Shock Top Wheat IPA

This is slated to hit the shelves nationally on the 6th (Monday), and at first blush—it’s rather interesting and actually not bad at all. I’ll be drinking more and writing up review notes for it this weekend sometime.

(And no, I don’t automatically turn my nose up at macro-brewed brands remember—I’m a beer geek, not a beer snob, and I’m always interested in trying new beers—whether from A-B or the newest nanobrewery down the street.)

Some details from the press release:

The newest full-time addition to the Shock Top family, Shock Top Wheat IPA is a unique hybrid style that brings the refreshment and smoothness of a wheat beer and marries it with the crisp, hoppy bitterness of an India Pale Ale (IPA).

To create the new beer, brewmasters started with Shock Top’s signature recipe, adding citrusy Cascade and Magnum hops and dry hopping the beer for several days to give Wheat IPA the rich, hoppy aroma that is the signature of IPAs. Containing 5.8% alcohol by volume (ABV), Shock Top Wheat IPA will be sold nationwide in six- and 24-packs of 12-ounce bottles and on draught.

Which interestingly puts it at about the same level as Deschutes‘ Chainbreaker White IPA (just recently announced as the newest year-round addition to their bottled line-up).

More soon.

The Session #60: Growlers Galore

Posted: February 4th, 2012, 8:30am CET by Jon

Today is The Session‘s Diamond Anniversary! (Although technically it would be its “mensiversary” for the Latin and date geeks among you.) The Session is a monthly collaborative beer blogging event where a different host for each month suggests a topic, and on the first Friday of that month everyone who wants to participate writes about that topic. (As simple as that!) Our host then collects links to all the other Session posts for easy reading.

This month’s host is Kendall Jones of the Washington Beer Blog, and the topic he has selected is “Growlers Galore“:

These days people take growlers for granted. In my neck of the woods, growlers are a relatively new phenomenon. I don’t recall exactly when they appeared on the local beer scene but it could not have been more than eight or ten years ago. Maybe they existed in obscurity before. My memory fails me. Today growlers are everywhere. I think. Growlers are very common around the Pacific Northwest, anyway. I cannot speak to their popularity elsewhere. I’d love to know.

Tell us about your growler collection. Tell us why you love growlers or why you hate them. What is the most ridiculous growler you’ve ever seen? Tell us about your local growler filling station. Ever suffer a messy growler mishap? Anything related to growlers is acceptable.

I haven’t taken to collecting growlers in the same way that I would collect bottles, partially because I don’t have the room—indeed I did a major purge of my bottle “collection” about a year ago and I still really don’t have room for more—and partially because the growlers I have are a reusable commodity: I keep getting them refilled!

I only have a small number of growlers though: two from 10 Barrel Brewing, one a Rogue Dead Guy growler, one from Hopworks Urban Brewery, and one from Steelhead Brewing in Eugene. Those are my clean and reusable set, and all are the standard brown glass, half-gallon “jug” style without much fanfare; I have another fancier one from Southern Oregon Brewing with a ceramic flip top and metal handle that my brother gave me, but it’s not in good enough condition to fill unfortunately.

But for me these are “working” growlers: I’ve taken to always carrying one or two in the car with me on the off-chance that I’ll be near a brewery, and for the most part I’m unconcerned about the decor on the bottle. And fortunately that decor doesn’t matter as I live in a state (Oregon) that has lenient enough beer laws to allow breweries to fill any growler that comes in the door, even ones from other breweries (indeed, some breweries will fill just about any lidded container you bring in), unlike, say California or South Dakota that will only let you fill a growler if said growler is from that same brewery.

So I love having a growler on hand, but not for a collectible purpose, for me it’s almost entirely functional. Don’t get me wrong—having a Hopworks growler is cool but what’s even cooler is being able to fill it with fresh beer from Deschutes, or Brewers Union, or Barley Brown’s, or any number of other Oregon breweries anytime I’m in their neighborhood. It’s hard to beat that.

Oregon Beer News, 02/03/2012

Posted: February 3rd, 2012, 7:00pm CET by Jon

Oregon Beer Happy Friday! Here’s the beer news from around Oregon for Friday, February 3rd (and going into the weekend). I will be periodically updating this post throughout the day with news bits, so if you have something to share please contact me and I’ll get it updated.

Old Mill Brew Wërks (Bend): The original owners of the brewpub/restaurant in Bend’s Old Mill District have sold the pub to focus entirely on building out their own (production) brewery, according to a local Bend Bulletin article (which is unfortunately behind their paywall). They will be renovating the brewery space formerly occupied by 10 Barrel Brewing tentatively beginning in March, installing a 7bbl system. They’ve tapped Michael McMahon from Langley Brewing in Langley, Washington to be their new head brewer. (I’m not sure how/if the name will change considering they’ve taken the brewery out of the “Old Mill”.)

Brewpublic has a nice article on the new Golden Valley Brewery Beaverton which opened recently, giving a nice overview and introduction to the new brewpub and former Chili’s location. “The bar now offers up large TV’s to catch some sports while sitting at some tall bar tables in the middle and shorter tables around the perimeter. Speaking of the bar, Golden Valley offers a full liquor selection along with 6 wines on tap and 10 taps of their beer that they bring in from their McMinnville location. The ten selections offer some excellent variety in styles that you’d expect from a brewpub with this history.” And they just recently released their first beer brewed at the new Beaverton location, “Exit 65 IPA” which is looking to be a popular addition to the GVB lineup.

Continue reading “Oregon Beer News, 02/03/2012” »

Apocalypse Beer

Posted: February 2nd, 2012, 9:00pm CET by Jon

Welcome to the start of a new regular feature here at The Brew Site for 2012: Apocalypse Beer. This is a (mostly tongue-in-cheek) subject I’ve been thinking about for awhile and since nobody else appears to be doing it, I thought it was high time to tackle it. What follows is the introduction to “Apocalypse Beer” and I’ll be unpacking the concept over the next few weeks before getting into practical matters. Or as “practical” as post-apocalyptic brewing can be, I suppose…

Just what is an “apocalypse” anyway?

The original definition of the word refers to a writing or work which acts as a disclosure of hidden information, akin to a prophecy, and from the Biblical Book of Revelations it came to be associated with the end of the world.

Modern usage defines “apocalypse” to mean a great disaster, and commonly it’s viewed as leading to the end of the world as we know it. And while this sounds pretty straightforward, modern times and pop culture has given us a variety of apocalyptic scenarios to choose from:

Zombie epidemic
Meteor strike
New Ice Age
Technological collapse
Nuclear war
Epidemic/disease outbreak
Environmental catastrophe
Natural disaster
The Mayan 2012 “end of the world”
Alien invasion

Sort of a “Choose Your Own Adventure” for the end times, and shows that we have a (unhealthy?) fascination (obsession?) with the Apocalypse. Or rather, it shows that we have a fascination with the post-apocalypse, as much of the focus is actually on life and survival in the post-apocalyptic aftermath.

One of the most common visions of the Post-Apocalyptic world is one of a societal and often technological collapse, with survivors banding together to scavenge, forage, survive, and rebuild. Often they have to start from scratch. We get details of food (foraging, hunting, growing), defense (weapons, fortifications, building armies), building (shelter, agriculture, attempts to recreate “lost” technology), but one question has been repeatedly coming to my mind lately:

Where are the beer brewers?

Continue reading “Apocalypse Beer” »

Oregon Beer News, 02/02/2012

Posted: February 2nd, 2012, 7:00pm CET by Jon

Happy Groundhog Day! Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow today which means six more weeks of winter, traditionally. Do any Oregon brewers make a “Groundhog Day Beer”? At any rate, here’s the news in Oregon beer for Thursday, February 2. I’ll be periodically updating this post throughout the day, so if you have some news you’d like to share please contact me and I’ll get it updated.

Alameda Brewing (Portland) today is celebrating their My Bloody Valentine Release Party, their Valentine’s Day-themed Blood Orange Farmhouse Saison: “Dried orange peel and hand squeezed blood orange juice adds to the citrus and peppery essences from the yeast.” As part of the celebration, pints are available for $2 all day long, and limited-edition wax-dipped bottles will be for sale all day as well. The release party itself runs from 5 to 9pm tonight and will feature live music from the Alice Kollinzas Trio.

And speaking of Valentine’s Day events, Brewpublic and Saraveza are teaming up again for the third year in a row to present My Beery Valentine on Sunday, February 12th starting at 6pm (no tickets required to enter): “This is an event designed especially for lovers of craft beer, sweethearts, and sweettooths, and features some of the region’s best breweries concocting specialty one-off brews with a Valentine’s Day theme.Dessertif and delicioso decadent ales will be married with the tantalizing treats of Sugar Pimp, Saraveza’s own Lori Adams Clinton’s divine cupcakes. Beers brewed with fruit, chocolate, liqueurs, barrel-aged, and other fanciful ingredients will be featured from Alameda, Block 15, Breakside, Cascade, Coalition, Fort George, Laurelwood, Mt Tabor, The Commons, Upright, Vertigo, and more. If you love craft beer the way we do, you are not going to want to miss out on this event!” The beer list has also been published to the event page, and all I can say is “Wow!” Yes it’s that impressive!

Continue reading “Oregon Beer News, 02/02/2012” »

Oregon Beer News, 02/01/2012

Posted: February 1st, 2012, 9:15pm CET by Jon

Here’s the news in Oregon beer for Wednesday, the first of February. As usual I’ll be updating this post periodically throughout the day so if you have some news to share, please contact me and I’ll get it updated.

Lots of beer news going on in Bend today: Deschutes Brewery is holding their official Grand Re-opening of their expanded and remodeled Pub starting at 5pm. Owner Gary Fish will be on hand to welcome everyone, the first 1000 people in will receive a commemorative pint glass, and there will be a special “Imperial Bachelor Bitter” on tap for the opening.

And, literally across the street from the Deschutes Pub in downtown Bend, Brother Jon’s Alehouse is also opening today: this is the second location spun off from the popular Brother’s Jon’s Public House, which offers great food and an impressive taplist on Bend’s westside. The opening of their new downtown location provides another great spot for finding good beer in Bend.

Silver Moon Brewing in Bend is closed today and tomorrow (the 1st and 2nd) for a kitchen remodel, and will be back open on Friday for their new “Keg Killer” special: a single keg of Dark Side Stout barrel aged and infused with coffee and hazelnuts, that will go on tap at 4pm and only be available until the keg blows. Last week they also offered a deal where the person that orders the last pint from the keg gets a free Silver Moon pint glass, though I don’t know for sure if that is happening this week as well.

Continue reading “Oregon Beer News, 02/01/2012” »

Oregon Beer News, 01/31/2012

Posted: January 31st, 2012, 8:00pm CET by Jon

Here’s the Oregon beer news for the final day of January 2012. I think I’m finally back on track from my site troubles and I’m getting caught up (I hope!) but there always seems to be plenty of beer-related topics to write about. At any rate, I will be updating this post periodically throughout the day, so if you have some news to share, please contact me and I’ll get it posted.

Fort George Brewery (Astoria): February is Stout Month at Fort George and it’s “all stout, all month long!” The Brewery has brewed up eight different stouts to feature during the month, and in addition, “Along side the 8 Fort George House Stouts will be a hand-picked selection of regional Stout favorites such as Deschutes’ The Abyss and North Coast’s Old Rasputin to round out the all Stout “Blind Taster Tray.” Different Guest Stouts will be released weekly.” And, as part of the festivities, the New School is teaming up with Brewvana Brewery Tours to offer a unique overnight tour to Astoria and Fort George (more details at the link).

Deschutes Brewery (Bend): They are set to release Chainbreaker White IPA in bottles by late March, their “hop-forward, citrus-packed beer with an unmistakably smooth character” that was developed alongside of the Conflux #2 collaboration beer they brewed with Boulevard Brewing—though I believe this was independent of the collaboration itself. Chainbreaker, which will be available in the year-round lineup in six-packs and 12-packs, is 5.6% abv and 60 IBUs and is brewed with sweet orange peel and coriander along with the IPA profile and (I think) a Belgian yeast.

Continue reading “Oregon Beer News, 01/31/2012” »

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Some photos of Deschutes’ remodel

Posted: January 31st, 2012, 6:00pm CET by Jon

On Saturday, we were able to hit up Deschutes Brewery‘s Bend Pub for the soft opening of their expansion and remodel, and while there I snapped a few pictures. It’s really nice, and they’ve done a good job of sprucing up the older space as well.

And, later today I’m attending a media event at the Pub, so there’s a good chance I’ll have more photos (and maybe video) as well.

Update: I also added 3 pictures my wife took of the new pizzas on the menu, and wine.

Deschutes Brewery sign

New and better use of waiting area space (southwest corner of the older part of the Pub)

Older Pub space has been remodeled with an attractive archway leading to a larger bar area (no minors allowed)

What used to be additional restaurant seating in the Pub, now part of the larger bar area; former kitchen is now the bakery and prep area

New, additional station of taps at the end of the bar to better serve the new space

Upstairs banquet area, which I believe will seat 80 people, and has it's own dedicated bar. Yes, workers were still there hanging artwork.

The new banquet bar, with the full 16 taps

Deschutes Brewery pub pizza

The new wine servings; notice they've done away with stemmed glassware and instead are currently serving in "mini pint" style glasses.

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Broken Top Bottle Shop, Bend’s newest beer bar

Posted: January 31st, 2012, 12:00am CET by Jon

You might remember earlier this month I wrote about how Bend’s Abbey Pub was changing, to become the Broken Top Bottle Shop & Ale Café; this past week one of the owners commented on the blog with details on the new beer bar, and this weekend I (along with my wife and kids) was able to visit, meet the owners and get a pre-opening tour.

Here are the details from the comments:

Broken Top Bottle Shop & Ale Café will be opening our Ale Café in early February!!! (Bottle Shop coming soon thereafter!)

The Ale Café will offer a rotating 12 tap selection of craft and specialty beer, along with wine and other beverages, to be paired with delicious, healthy food, such as smoked meats, panini sandwiches, appetizers, soups, salads, as well as awesome vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options (whipped up by Chef Bethlyn Rider). We’ll also have chilled single bottle and canned beer you can purchase from our coolers to drink at Broken Top Bottle Shop or take to-go. We won’t charge you a corking fee on the bottled and canned beer you buy to drink here. And, you can buy your to-go beer as single bottles or cans, mixed-and-matched in any number, 6-packs, and 12-packs. Come on by in early February and taste some great draught beer, have some scrumptious food, and pick up some beer to go!

COMING SOON… the Bottle Shop!!

The Ale Café portion of Broken Top Bottle Shop is only the beginning!! We’ll soon be expanding into the suite next door in order to offer you over 700 varieties of single bottle and canned beer in our retail Bottle Shop. Only Broken Top Bottle Shop & Ale Café will offer this unique combination of tasty food, a variety of draught craft and specialty beer, and a grand selection of bottled and canned beer for on- and off-site consumption.

After visiting on Saturday, I have to say I’m fairly impressed with the overall plan they have laid out for the new venture and the enthusiasm the new owners are bringing to the shop/beer bar. On the one hand, the space was already set up as a beer bar, so they’ve kept much of that the same, with some repainting, a new foot rail running along the bottom of the bar, more artwork for the walls, and so on.

On the other hand, they are revamping the kitchen—adding some equipment, reorganizing for efficiency—and have added an impressive smoker/grill/roaster that will sit on a corner of the patio and offer a whole new level of food than was available before. The menu is going to be vastly expanded, and yes, there will be a focus on vegetarian/vegan options (something that—in general—Bend is largely lacking).

And of course, the expanded bottle shop is going to be the biggest change: Broken Top will be gradually moving into the space next door, which previously hosted a wine shop and tasting room, and will be able to offer over 700 different beers (as noted above)—this is going to be huge and once fully realized, may well be the largest single selection in Central Oregon. (The Brew Shop currently has at least 500 different beers, and while I don’t know specific numbers both Whole Foods and Newport Avenue Market in Bend have fantastic beer selections as well.)

They plan to be open by this weekend (yes, the first weekend in February) though that will only be for the beer bar portion. They will be open seven days a week, from 11am to until 10pm, maintaining largely the same hours as the Abbey Pub (though the Abbey was closed on Sundays).

After meeting and chatting with the owners I can say I’m fairly excited to see the new place open: they are extremely nice and accommodating, and their enthusiasm for Bend and beer is infectious. I’m looking forward to heading over there (hopefully this weekend!) and sampling the new menu while drinking some really good beer.

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Received: Widmer W’12 and Spiced IPA

Posted: January 30th, 2012, 8:30pm CET by Jon

Just before the weekend I received a big package from Widmer, containing an imperial pint glass and four beers: two of the new W’12 seasonal, Dark Saison, and two of the latest in the Rotator IPA series, Spiced IPA. The W’12 should be hitting the shelves now, and the Spiced IPA is upcoming.

Widmer big box

Widmer shipment

As in the past, the package came in large, handsome wood box filled with shredded used coasters for packing material. They also included a prepaid packing slip to make it easy to send the box and material back, which is fairly forward-thinking (the previous two packages also did this).

Widmer W'12 Dark Saison and Spiced IPA

(Sorry for the sketchy photos, apparently my camera(phone) work needs work…)

These both sound like exciting beers to try, so I’ll have reviews and notes posted soon.

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Mississippi’s second brewery

Posted: January 28th, 2012, 6:59pm CET by Jon

One of my favorite sessions at last summer’s Beer Bloggers Conference was the one about beer laws, and in particular Craig Hendry’s work in Mississippi with Raise Your Pints, an organization whose goal is to get the state Mississippi to raise the alcohol limit on beer and to legalize homebrewing. A surprising takeaway from that was the fact that Mississippi only has one production brewery, and one brewpub, in the entire state.

Word hit this week than a new brewery is looking to get started in Mississippi, in the Jackson metro area, which would have the distinction of being only the second production brewery in the state: Lucky Town Brewing Company. Event Directory Angela Blackburn sent out an email to (presumably) bloggers detailing the brewery and linking to a Kickstarter project they’ve started to help raise seed money.

Lucky Town Brewing Company is a new planned brewery in Mississippi, and although there is no brewery within 150 miles of Jackson, the craft beer community here is thriving. As many of you know, Mississippi suffers from some of the strictest beer legislation in the country, which is one reason why there is only one production brewery located in Mississippi currently. Since the laws do not allow for many to bring their beer to Mississippi, we at Lucky Town intend to give the local craft beer enthusiasts a broader choice.

And:

Lucky Town’s ultimate goal is to stay true to our home-brewing roots by producing unique, artisanal, handcrafted ales and lagers. We intend to offer at least four year round beers that will roll out in pairs, but we also will be releasing small batch brews throughout the year that will be available in smaller quantities. Small batching will allow us more freedom to experiment with ingredients not normally found in beer that you find in Mississippi, providing for an ever-evolving product range rather than a fixed seasonal schedule. Examples include the southern pit barbeque inspired stout called “Stout of the Rising Sun” which uses smoked grains combined with roasted jalapenos and Lucky Town’s unique take on a winter warmer called “What the Elf?” that has cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, orange peel, figs and vanilla in it to give it a wonderful holiday flavor. Along with these will be the small batch Kaizen Saison, an ever evolving beer used to explore new flavor profiles and push the limits of what beer can be. We will never shy away from using non-traditional ingredients. Expect plenty of things aged in unique barrels, including sour beers that will spend as much as 3 years in the barrel getting funky.

They are looking to raise $20,000, and as of this writing they’ve raised over $7500 and still have 44 days to go. (And, I’m still extremely fascinated with the growing use of Kickstarter to fund beer projects; more on that down the road.)

I think right now it must be something between an exciting and a stressful time for the craft beer community in Mississippi, and it’s definitely interesting to watch it develop (even from afar). Let’s hope Lucky Town reaches its goal and becomes Mississippi’s number two!

Deschutes Pub grand reopening is just around the corner

Posted: January 27th, 2012, 6:00pm CET by Jon

The Deschutes Brewery Bend Pub is holding their grand (re)opening coming up this next Wednesday, February 1st—you’ll recall they closed down at the beginning of the month with a wall-smashing ceremony to finish the major expansion and remodel of the Pub—and owner Gary Fish waxed rhapsodic on their blog yesterday about the expandion and the fact that the Brewery has been holding a “soft opening” that’s been going on for about a week now.

In the nearly 24 years our pub has been open here in Bend, one thing has been abundantly clear, we need more room! We need room in the dining room, as no one really wants to wait 2 hours for a table, and we need more room in our kitchen which was never intended to serve the volume of food that has been required of it over the more than two decades its been in existence.

The so-called “quiet opening” has been underway for four days. Preceded as it was by five days of “friends and family” meals intended to give our staff, with 50-odd newcomers (they’re not odd, the number is . . . ) the opportunity to hone their skills in the new space. All our regular friends have managed to find their way back after being turned away for the past 20 days. And, the deft touch of architect and contractor, owner and enthusiast have created a warmer, more welcoming space where our bar has always stood. Additionally, the new space is more; more spacious, more seats, more comfortable, more engaging, more artistic, more . . . well, just more! Whereas we are not done yet, we have more things to hang on the walls, more details of menu and service to work out, suffice it to say, we are very pleased with the results. Even our toughest customers are very pleased with our results (and that is a relief).

I have an opportunity to check the Pub out this weekend sometime, as well as attend a media event on the 31st for the re-opening. From what I’d already seen at the beginning of the month, though, I can already safely predict that the new expanded Pub and menu is going to be a big success.

Can’t wait to see it “live”!

Server move

Posted: January 26th, 2012, 9:00pm CET by Jon

Though there aren’t any more hacking issues going on with this site, I’m in the process of switching servers so even though I have a ton of beer-related things to blog about, everything is on hold for the time being until the server move is complete.

In the meantime, there are many other good beer blogs that I highly recommend also.

Worthy Brewing logo revealed

Posted: January 25th, 2012, 4:38pm CET by Jon

Chad Kennedy, brewmaster of Bend’s upcoming Worthy Brewing, revealed the new brewery’s logo on Twitter (and Facebook) the other day:

I like it, it’s a strong, clean design with detail but not too much detail.

In addition, there is also a new Facebook page for the brewery here.

Site recovery

Posted: January 25th, 2012, 5:44am CET by Jon

I’ve most mostly offline these past few days, because I was recovering and cleaning this site (along with a bunch of others) from some malicious code that got inserted into the blog files due to the server account they reside on being exploited—or, in other words, the blog was hacked.

From a technical perspective it was innocuous enough: a bit of encoded PHP code (“PHP” is the programming language WordPress is built on) got inserted into the site files that simply redirected users coming from external links to spam or malware sites. The code itself was easy to spot and subsequently easy to clear out, but it had infected a lot of files so it took time, and of course I’ve been closely monitoring the sites since cleaning things up and locking them down to make sure it didn’t happen again.

So, if you’d tried to visit this blog over the past several days by clicking on a link from another site—Google search results, for instance, or Facebook posts—then you would have been redirected to something else entirely (possibly triggering a malware warning in your antivirus program). However, visiting the site directly—typing “thebrewsite.com” into the URL bar directly, or clicking from bookmarks—bypassed this redirection so if you didn’t know better, you wouldn’t know the site had been compromised.

Anyway, everything’s back to normal for the moment so I will resume blogging shortly.

Hop Henge (2012)

Posted: January 21st, 2012, 7:14am CET by Jon

I popped open and enjoyed a bottle of Hop Henge from Deschutes Brewery this evening, and rather than write a full review I thought I’d just jot down some thoughts. This is Deschutes’ “Experimental” IPA which masquerades as an Imperial IPA; at 8.5% alcohol by volume and 95 IBUs, this certainly qualifies in the “Imperial” department—the “Experimental” comes from the various techniques Deschutes has experimented with over the years to get more hops into this beer.

This is the bottle that Deschutes sent me at the very end of last year. I had opened a bottle (that I’d purchased) on New Year’s Eve and my impressions then are largely the same now: a bit of a damp cannabis quality to the aroma (“dank”), along with a sweet and green quality with a slight cattiness that seems to be Deschutes’ hop signature these last few years.

Hop Henge is a super-drinkable beer, with a creamy, soft and pillowy malt base infused with hops—not just bitterness, but the herbal, floral, spicy character that really highlights the hoppiness without ever being harsh. Deschutes handles hops better than almost any brewery out there: they know how to bring out the character of the hops without reverting to the scalding bitterness, or cotton-candy-over-hoppiness, that I find a lot of less-than-deft Imperial IPAs to possess.

And yet there is a hop burn, and a sweet sticky body, and all the hallmarks that hopheads seeking out the next Imperial IPA are looking for. It’s terrific. Don’t miss out.

The next Session: Growlers!

Posted: January 21st, 2012, 5:00am CET by Jon

The next Session has been announced, and it’s being hosted by Kendall Jones of the Washington Beer Blog: Growlers Galore:

These days people take growlers for granted. In my neck of the woods, growlers are a relatively new phenomenon. I don’t recall exactly when they appeared on the local beer scene but it could not have been more than eight or ten years ago. Maybe they existed in obscurity before. My memory fails me. Today growlers are everywhere. I think. Growlers are very common around the Pacific Northwest, anyway. I cannot speak to their popularity elsewhere. I’d love to know.

Tell us about your growler collection. Tell us why you love growlers or why you hate them. What is the most ridiculous growler you’ve ever seen? Tell us about your local growler filling station. Ever suffer a messy growler mishap? Anything related to growlers is acceptable.

I’ll be honest, this isn’t a topic I would have thought up. But I’m digging it.

The Session takes place on Friday, February 3rd; leave a comment at the Washington Beer Blog to participate.

Oregon Beer News, 01/20/2012

Posted: January 20th, 2012, 9:00pm CET by Jon

Happy Friday! Here’s the roundup of Oregon beer news for Friday the 20th and the weekend. I’ll be updating this post periodically throughout the day, so if you have news to share please contact me and I’ll get it updated.

Bailey’s Taproom (Portland) is holding their third annual Cellarfest tomorrow, the 21st, from 4 to 11:30pm. This year there’s no admission cost or souvenir glasses, just come and enjoy the fantastic beer lineup—each beer is available in 4oz and 10oz pours, though there are no sampler trays being served. With a beer list populated by a variety of vintages of terrific beers, this is one Portland fest you won’t want to miss.

Upright Brewing (Portland): Today is the official release of Fantasia, their soured wild-style peach ale that was fermented entirely in oak barrels. The beer will be on tap when the brewery taproom opens today at 4:30, and you’ll be able to buy wax-dipped 750ml bottles of it for $20 each (with a one-case limit). Would someone like to send me a bottle? Pretty please?

Gigantic Brewing (Portland) is the subject of a good writeup today over on the New School; Ezra visited the still-in-development brewery and provides a nice overview of their general plans, and gives a (tentative) opening date of March. Also, I was noticing and commenting on brewers Ben Love and Van Havig showing up around the state brewing collaboration beers, and the final paragraph gives a reason: “Meanwhile, Messrs. Love and Havig have been bouncing around Oregon, brewing guest beers at many local breweries. The strategy behind this–other than just being fun–is that when the tasting room is ready to open but the brewery does not have a lineup of beers, they will be able to save kegs of all their collaboration beers to have on tap. So far beers have been made in collaboration with Pelican, Breakside, Oakshire, Laurelwood, and Anchorage Brewing (yes, in Alaska).”

Below Grade Brewing (Bend): They’ve bottled up and released their latest beer in their lineup, Dangerous Kate: “Newport Market is now carrying Below Grade Brewing’s newest foray into the craft beer market, Dangerous Kate, an Imperial Cascadian Black Ale (also known as a double Black IPA). This ale is not for the meek; it is big and hoppy like an IPA but has roasted malt character as well. This is a great beer for a cold winter night, in front of a crackling fire with a good book or just good friends.”

Cascade Brewing (Portland) had a really interesting week lined up: “It’s Scottish Beer Week at the BBL House starting next Monday. We’ll be serving up Mc Shagger Strong Scotch, Lil’ Bo Peat Peated Pale, Black Sheep Stout and a Scottish IPA. Next week’s Tap It Tuesday will be Soured Mc Shagger, a 12+ month old barrel aged Strong Scotch.”

Oregon Beer News, 01/19/2012

Posted: January 19th, 2012, 9:10pm CET by Jon

Oregon Beer Here’s the beer news from around Oregon for Thursday, January 19th. I’ll be updating this news post periodically throughout the day so if you have some news to share contact me and I’ll post it.

MacTarnahan’s Brewing (Portland): They have a “New Year New Beers Brewers Dinner” tonight starting at 6pm, though information seems to be scarce about this even on their own website. From what I’ve been able to glean on Facebook, it starts at 6pm (though the event page says 5 to 8), cost is $35 for four courses. The Eventbrite page to purchase tickets, with additional details like the menu, is here. The beers that will be served are Discord IPA, Outburst IPA, Smoked Lager, and Maibock—which certainly sound like new beers to me!

McMenamins (Oregon): Next Wednesday, the 25th, is the 26th anniversary of their Hammerhead flagship beer and McMenamins is promising “Pints for $2.50 all day everywhere, contests here and on the McMenamins Pubs, Breweries & Historic Hotels FB feed, giveaways in the pubs and more.” Be sure to hit them up next Wednesday and definitely have a pint of Hammerhead!

Deschutes Brewery (Bend): The grand re-opening of the Bend Pub is scheduled for Wednesday, February 1st. Along with re-tooling the menu a bit (adding pizza, for instance), it looks like there’s a lot of excitement for the new space to open up. I know I can’t wait!

Upcoming tastings, releases, and “Meet the Brewer” events:

The Green Dragon (Portland): They are hosting a Meet the Brewer with Eastern Oregon’s Beer Valley Brewing tonight from 5 to 8pm. Head brewer Pete Ricks will be on hand to answer questions and pour beer.
Hopworks Urban Brewery (Portland) will be in Beaverton tonight for a tasting: “Be sure to catch up with brewer Jaime at Monteaux’s Public House (16165 SW Regatta Lane #1000) tonight between 5 – 7 p.m. He’s bringing Secession CDA and Hopworks IPA for you to enjoy.”
Breakside Brewery (Portland) has their Brewer’s Dinner with Aquariva tomorrow, the 20th: they brewed their Italian Amber specifically to pair with this event, and for $45 you’ll be treated to a four course meal paired with the Amber as well as several other Breakside brews. Call 503-802-5850 for reservations.

Help Lew Bryson get on TV

Posted: January 19th, 2012, 6:45pm CET by Jon

I missed the boat on this the first time around, but Lew Bryson is the public face of a new Kickstarter project: “American Beer Blogger“, a proposed television show.

AMERICAN BEER BLOGGER is a half hour television series dedicated to all facets of the ever growing craft beer market. From home brewing, to micro beer; viewers will experience the very best of the craft beer culture. In each episode, Lew will visit a different brewer, each of which has their own sets of quirks and ways of doing things. Lew will talk to these brewers, get to know them, will show us first hand the various methods and techniques used in creating a craft beer. From the tiniest bottler to the largest manufacturer, Lew will get his hands dirty. Topics such as bottling, food pairing, manufacturing, distribution, history, technique (and so much more) will all be touched upon as Lew spends a day with these brewers. Some doing well in the business, others not so well. Thankfully, the DIY nature of this business can lead to some pretty different results, as Lew lends a hand and helps out in any way he can. Lew will show us all the kinds of micro-breweries currently out there. From the smallest, hippest label to large manufacturers.

The first time around, the goal was to raise $60,000 for a six-episode commitment, but they were unable to reach that goal. This time, it’s only $6000 for a pilot episode (and hopefully if that were to go well, then there would presumably be a chance for more).

And the goal will be met this time, I’m quite sure: as of this writing, with 10 days left to go, there has already been $5402 raised—which means there’s only $598 to go for the project to reach its goal. I’m pretty sure at this point the pilot will get off the ground.

Still, if you’d like to see “American Beer Blogger”, see if you can find some time to pledge to the project.

Oregon Beer News, 01/18/2012

Posted: January 18th, 2012, 9:00pm CET by Jon

Here’s the Oregon beer news for Wednesday, January 18th, but there’s also another significant milestone today that you should be aware of: the Stop SOPA movement. I haven’t blacked out the entire site today but to show support I’ve got visitors redirected to a Stop SOPA page when they hit the blog the first time, and I hope you take the time to read the page now as well. In the meantime, I’ll still be updating this post periodically throughout the day as well, so if you have some news to share contact me and I’ll get it posted.

The New School blog today has an extensive 30-minute video interview with Greg Koch of Stone Brewing posted today—and it’s only part 1 of 2, so there will be more on the way tomorrow. If you’re a fan (or not) of Stone, CDAs (or Black IPAs if you prefer), and the beer industry in general, you need to find some time today to watch.

Laurelwood Brewing (Portland): On February 8 they have a unique Collaboration Brewers Dinner event, where Laurelwood has collaborated with guest brewers to produce unique beers to match up with a five course dinner. Brewers include Vasili Gletsos of Laurelwood, Van Havig of Gigantic Brewing, Alex Ganum of Upright Brewing, and Tom Bleigh of Hopwork Urban Brewery. Tickets for the event are $50 which you can pick up at the northeast Portland and Battle Ground (Washington) Laurelwood locations. This should be an amazing dinner event you won’t want to miss.

Upcoming tastings, releases, and “Meet the Brewer” events:

The Green Dragon (Portland): Tonight is their latest Big Beer Month release from the Green Dragon Brew Crew, Alternator Doppelbock, from 5 to 8pm: “A proper dopplebock brewed with Bohemian pilsner malt and supplimented with Munich, Vienna, and carafa II malts. A triple decoction resulting in a beautiful amber color with layers of malt flavor. Hopped with German Hallertauer hops providing complexity and just enough hop character to work with this malt forward beer.” 8.3% abv.
Seven Brides Brewing (Silverton): “Another Meet the Brewer promo tonight, this time down in Corvallis at Greenberry Store and Tavern on 99W… Josiah will be on hand pouring pints of Ember and talking about Seven Brides, so if you are in the area stop on in for a pint!” (via Facebook)
Fort George Brewery (Astoria): Tonight is their Indian Food and IPA Brewer’s Dinner featuring five courses plus dessert all paired with great Northwest-style IPAs. It takes place from 6 to 9pm and costs $65 per person or $120 for a couple; I think there are still tickets available.
Ninkasi Brewing (Eugene) will be in Bend tonight at the Reed Pub (1141 SE Railroad St. just off Reed Market) from 5:30 to 7:30pm, with beer and schwag to hand out.

Fort George 1811 Lager

Posted: January 17th, 2012, 10:00pm CET by Jon

Fort George 1811 Lager When Jeff of Beervana awarded the annual Satori Award to Fort George’s 1811 Lager, I figured it was high time to dust off the review notes I had written for this beer and get them published here. (I’m actually really behind on posting beer reviews of late.)

Fort George crafted this beer last year to honor the bicentennial of Astoria (the oldest U.S. settlement west of the Rocky Mountains), in the style of a Pre-Prohibition lager. Along with their Vortex IPA it was the first of Fort George’s beers to be packaged and distributed—in cans.

From their site:

Many West Coast brewers in the 19th century had no ice, so they improvised an effervescent beer by brewing lager yeasts at higher-than-normal temperatures. Described as a “refreshing drink, much consumed by the laboring classes,” it’s the inspiration for 1811 lager.

More flavorful than most modern lagers, and fermented at warmer temperatures, 1811 is lovingly concocted from 2 row malted barley and cracked maize; corn was a popular beer ingredient in pre-Prohibition days. 1811’s hop character gives it a distinctive Northwest style worthy of Astoria’s 200-year history.

1811 Lager is 5.1% alcohol by volume, and nicely unfiltered.

Appearance: Hazy golden-straw colored [my picture picked up a lot more "orange" than "straw"], lively bubbles, two fingers of nice fine white head.

Smell: Nicely hoppy aroma—Noble hops I think, spicy and floral—along with sweet maltiness that reminds me of corn.

Taste: Really pleasant zing of hops right up front, bright, bitter and popping out; they give way to a nice solid bitterness on the back of the tongue. Peppery and spicy, overlaying neutral malt backbone. Really tasty.

Mouthfeel: Light and crisp with lots of hop zing peppering the palate.

Overall: Excellent, mellow but big hops, and “zing” is the best word I can think of to describe the character here; it’s not hoppy like a big IPA but they’ve put the spicy, peppery, bright character of the Noble(?) hops to good use. I really like it.

1811 Lager on Untappd. BeerAdvocate: 85/100. RateBeer: 3.21/5, 72nd percentile.

Oregon Beer News, 01/17/2012

Posted: January 17th, 2012, 8:00pm CET by Jon

Oregon Beer Here’s the beer news from around Oregon for Tuesday, January 17th, and the snow is falling today! Here in Bend we’re predicted to get some 8-12 inches by tomorrow and though that seems unlikely, it’s still a good time to curl up with a nice stout or better yet, a barleywine of some kind. In the meantime, I’ll be updating the news throughout the day so if you have something to share, contact me and I’ll get it posted.

The Oregon Brewers Guild posts that applications are now being accepted for Falconer Foundation Brewing Scholarships: there are two being offered for 2012, one a web-based “Concise Course in Brewing Technology” open to brewers and individuals planning to enter the brewing industry, the other is for one of three Web-based modules from the International Diploma in Brewing Technology Program and is open to professional brewers only. All applications must be received by March 23rd; only people from Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Northern California, Alaska, and Hawaii can apply. So what are you waiting for?

Bailey’s Taproom (Portland) is holding their 3rd annual Cellarfest this Saturday, January 21st: from 4 to 11:30pm you’ll get the chance to drink some beers that they’ve been “sitting on” (cellaring) for awhile, including such gems as 2007 Lucky Lab Old Yeller Barleywine, 2009 Lagunitas Brown Shugga, and Deschutes Black Butte XXI. There’s no admission cost or souvenir glasses, you can either purchase a 4oz. or 10oz. pour of any of the available beers—but no sample trays. Their event listing/beer list is here.

Speaking of Bailey’s Taproom, Draft Magazine has named it and several more (Portland) beer bars as among America’s 100 best beer bars for 2012. The others are APEX, Belmont Station, the Green Dragon, the Horse Brass, and Saraveza. Congratulations to all!

The Love of Beer—the movie about women in the beer industry, prominently featuring Tonya Cornett (formerly) of Bend Brewing and Sarah Pederson of Saraveza—is coming to Eugene next month, and Ninkasi will be a part of it: “The Love of Beer featuring women in craft brewing is featured in two screenings at David Minor Theater the evening of Feb 9. If you are coming into to Eugene for the KLCC Brewfest, show up a day early and come hang out with us! Beer and food available in the theater. Ninkasi tastings 30 minutes previous to each screening.” Incidentally, the KLCC Microbrew Festival is taking place February 10 and 11 this year.

Upcoming tastings, releases, and “Meet the Brewer” events:

Lucky Lab (Portland): Their Honey Bear Braggot tasting starts today at 4pm at their Beer Hall on NW Quimby. You don’t see too many braggots being commercially brewed so it would definitely be worth checking out.
Belmont Station (Portland): Today from 6 to 8pm they’re welcoming Moa Brewing from New Zealand. Four beers will be pouring.
Ninkasi (Eugene) will be in Bend tomorrow night, the 18th: “Tomorrow night we will be at the Reed Pub for a Ninkasi Night! Come down to 1141 SE Railroad St from 5:30 to 7:30. Aaron and Ryan will have shwag to give out.”
Hopworks Urban Brewery (Portland): “Today at both Hopworks locations we’re officially releasing Huck IPA, the Best of Show winning beer out of 277 entries from the Oregon Brew Crew Fall Classic. Winning homebrewer John Huck will be at Hopworks on Powell around 5:00, so stop in, try his beer and say hi.” (via Facebook)
Seven Brides Brewing (Silverton): They will be as Scottys in Tigard this evening for a meet the brewer starting at 6pm.

Happy hours, specials, and cheap pours:

Cascade Brewing (Portland): Today’s Tap It Tuesday features “Gold Yeller”: “This NW style sour ale is one of our lightest offerings. Subtle aromas of honey and light bright lemon greet you in the nose. Soft malt and a lemony tartness on the palate give way to multiple layers of sour and oak that dance around the finish of this beer. 7.1% ABV / $6 glass.” Tapping at 6pm.
Bend Brewing (Bend): Tonight is Locals Night, with $2.75 pints from 4pm until closing.
Silver Moon Brewing (Bend): This week’s Growler Power Hour ($5 growler fills from 4 to 6pm on Tuesdays and Wednesdays) features Hound’s Tooth Amber and Badlands ESB.
Lompoc Brewing (Portland): It’s Tightwad Tuesday at the Fifth Quadrant and the Hedge House, featuring $2.50 regular pints all day long.
Three Creeks (Sisters): They have $3.25 pints all day.

Oregon Beer News, 01/16/2012

Posted: January 16th, 2012, 8:00pm CET by Jon

Here’s the Oregon beer news for Monday, January 16th—Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. As usual I will be periodically updating this post throughout the day, so if you have some news to share, please contact me and I’ll get it posted.

The Washington Beer Blog points to the news that showed up in the Hood River News on the 12th that a new brewery is slated to open in Hood River by this summer: “Josh Pfriem, Ken Whiteman and Rudy Kellner expect their new brewery – called Pfriem Brewing Company (pronounced ‘freem’) – to be up and running by June. The three have signed into a five-year lease with the Port of Hood River to occupy the eastern portion of the new Halyard Building, and bids to ready the 5,600-square- foot space for the brewery and tasting room are due this week.” Josh Pfriem was formerly with Chuckanut Brewery in Bellingham, Washington, and most recently with Full Sail there in Hood River. In addition to the “classic hop-forward Northwest varieties” the brewery will also focus on Belgian-style ales, and in addition to the brewpub layout (with possible live music) they plan to bottle in 750ml bottles as well as distribute kegs across the Northwest.

Upright Brewing (Portland) is releasing their Fantasia specialty peach beer this Friday, January 20th, and Ezra at the New School has the lowdown: it’s 100% fermented in oak barrels that were also stuffed with peaches, and inoculated (of course) with wild cultures (lactobacillus and brettanomyces). “Bottles of ‘Fantasia’ will be wax dipped and sold in 750ml style champagne bottles for $20 a piece and $225 for a case with a 1 case limit at the brewery this Friday 1/20 starting at 4:30pm. There will also be just one 50 liter keg of ‘Fantasia’ pouring on draft on Friday.”

Fort George Brewery (Astoria): This Wednesday, the 18th, they have their “2012 Indian Food and IPA Brewer’s Dinner“, a five-course (not counting dessert!) meal paired with a variety of India Pale Ales—not just those from Fort George but from other breweries like Boneyard Beer and Russian River Brewing as well. The dinner takes place from 6 to 9pm and there are still tickets available, for $65 per person (or $120 for a pair). You can pick those up online here or call the Brewery directly.

Double Mountain Brewery (Hood River) has an experimental beer available that may not last long, but sure sounds interesting: “Just in time for the winter doldrums comes GRAVITAR, an aggressively hopped IPA that increases the earth’s gravitational pull by exact 34.2%, according to our estimable brewmaster. It’s got something to do with the experimental hop variety HBC 342 we used — a whopper of hop with citrus, passion fruit, lemon & pineapple notes. There are a mere 15 plants of “342” on the entire earth at the moment… let us know if you like it, maybe they’ll grow more. 7.2% ABV, 90+BU. Available in limited supply at fine beer bars around the Northwest, and at our Taproom for the next month or so.”

Upcoming tastings, releases, and “Meet the Brewer” events:

Cascade Lakes Brewing (Redmond): Belmont Station is hosting a tasting of the Cascade Lakes line-up tonight, from 5 to 8pm, including Monkey Face Porter, 20″ Brown, Cyclops IPA, Rosster Tail Ale, and Slippery Slope Winter Ale, and their King Kong Imperial Porter will be available on tap.
The Green Dragon (Portland) has two events this week: the next release of their “Big Beer Month” series on Wednesday, Alternator Doppelbock from 5 to 8pm; and Thursday they have Beer Valley Brewing in from Ontario for a Meet the Brewer from 5 to 8pm, where they’ll be sampling “the 2012 vintage of Highway to Ale Barleywine, Leafer Madness, Judas Yeast Winter Ale, and Delta 9 IPA.”
Lucky Labrador (Portland): Tomorrow, Tuesday the 17th, they are tasting a Braggot: “Brewer, Ben Flerchinger, is coming out with a new beer…kinda. HONEY BEAR BRAGGOT Tasting starts @ 4 p.m. Tuesday, Lucky Labrador Beer Hall, 1945 N.W. Quimby St.. Come try this truly unique “beer”!”
Belmont Station (Portland) is featuring a tasting tomorrow (the 17th) from 6 to 8pm with Moa Brewing out of New Zealand: “Taste 5 beers (4 here for the first time) from this Blenheim, New Zealand craft brewery, hosted by MOA’s own Gareth Hughes. This is our first visiting Kiwi dignitary so come welcome him and taste some fine Southern Hemisphere craft beer!”

Possible Elkton Brewing Company

Posted: January 14th, 2012, 7:26pm CET by Jon

This week I noticed this ad on Craigslist (Eugene, Oregon) which is looking for a Brew Master: “Brewer needed at Elkton Brewing Company. Send resume with history of brewing skills. Home brewers with carpentry or woodworking skills are encouraged to apply.”

Intrigued, I searched for “Elkton Brewing” and came across a skeletal website—elktonbrewingcompany.com—that has photographs that positively identify it as Elkton, Oregon, a small town of 200 about 54 miles southwest of Eugene and 37 miles northwest of Roseburg, on the Umpqua River and Highway 38 between Reedsport and I-5. On the city’s website nothing is listed for a brewery but there are four(!) wineries listed, so out of curiosity I sent off an email to the poster of the Craigslist ad (the email address listed on the website had bounced back).

Owner(?) Eric emailed back with a few hints and ideas of what they’re hoping to do with the brewery, which sounds like (in addition to the brewery itself) they’re wanting to offer a place for homebrewers to brew and showcase their talents (similar perhaps to Coalition Brewing’s “Coalator” program), though they are still in the early stages of things.

Elkton Brewing Company building

From the building picture on the about page (above), this is their location (Google Maps); if you look at it in Street View, it was clearly under construction in 2008 (the date of that particular image on Google). Currently it’s looking like a nice location, right on the main drag through town.

Hopefully the search for a brewer will pan out and Elkton Brewing will happen, joining the ever-growing rank of Oregon’s breweries. If you’re interested in being a part of it, send along your resume and help get them off the ground.

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Bites and Brews and Bend’s Pine Tavern

Posted: January 14th, 2012, 8:16am CET by Jon

Yesterday my wife clued me in to a local beer event that I had almost missed: the Pine Tavern, Bend, Oregon’s oldest restaurant (originally founded in 1936), was hosting an event with local breweries called “Bites & Brews“: a beer and food pairing event that brought in eight breweries and paired their beers with “food created by our Executive Chef especially for each beer, bringing out the natural flavors of each distinctly different Beer”.

I was able to attend, getting a ticket at the door (rather than reserved ahead of time), and I’m glad I did: it ended up being a terrific event for only $25, which was a great deal for what amounted to an all-you-can-eat-and-drink showcase of Central Oregon’s beer scene.

The breweries that were in attendance were:

Astute readers will note that one wasn’t actually local: Seven Brides Brewing is based in Silverton, Oregon (outside of Salem on the other side of the mountains); however, their rep in Bend, Aiden, is one of the brothers of the owners (they have a partnership of “three dads and two uncles” as the primaries) so it worked out well with the event.

Overall I think it was a good, successful beer event: the Pine Tavern is one of my favorite Bend restaurants, and they put together a delicious “bites” menu and did a great job organizing the (mostly) local brewers together to pour some terrific beers. I didn’t take advantage of the food as much as I could have, but what I did try—blue cheese-infused sliders, coconut breaded prawns, goat cheese and olive bruschetta, Dungeoness crab beignets—was delicious and I wish I’d helped myself to more.

But no matter— I was able to sample some beers I hadn’t yet had the pleasure of trying, and had the chance to talk to a number of brewery reps, and that alone was worth the price of admission. I started out my night with some Ching Ching from Bend Brewing (a fantastic beer, a sour Berliner Weisse-style infused with pomegranate and hibiscus) and a plate of food, and then moved into serious beer tasting and discussion.

10 Barrel: Founders Chris and Jeremy Cox and Garret Wales were present, and I chatted with them for awhile, along with sampling their Oregon Brown (a really nice, crisp and hoppy brown ale, malty with toffee character) and Pray For Snow (their winter ale, which is a strong ale with a lot of bourbon character this year). Among discussing their various “brewer acquisitions” (Tonya Cornett of Bend Brewing and Shawn Kelso of Barley Brown’s) we talked about their 50bbl brewhouse expansion which is coming right along; the actual 50 barrel brewing system should be in by Tuesday the 17th and Chris invited me to come tour the new brewery anytime after that.
Seven Brides: I had not tried but perhaps two Seven Brides brews before this night so I made it a point to sample the three that were available and introduce myself to Aiden Kelley, their Bend rep. On tap were Frankenlou’s IPA (ironically I have a bottle of this in the fridge that I have yet to open), Becky’s Black Cat Porter, and a Kölsch. The IPA was decent but not as hoppy as the IBUs on the label (105!) would suggest, the Kölsch I really enjoyed (a little rough around the edges which I kind of like in this style and a touch yeasty) and the Porter was great, with vanilla and licorice notes. I definitely need to make an effort to get over the mountains to Silverton to visit the brewery and try a lot more of their beers.
Silver Moon: It had been ages since I’ve had the chance to chat with owner Tyler Reichert, whom I knew from Bend’s old homebrew club before he started the brewery, so I couldn’t pass up the chance to visit and drink some Silver Moon beer, which for my money is some of the best beer being brewed in Bend right now. Among other things we chatted about the “IPA showdown” I participated in awhile back, the local brewery explosion, and beers I’d love to see on tap again at Silver Moon (particular the session Scottish Ale they had on tap way back in 2008—at 3.6% abv I really liked that beer). Also, Silver Moon currently has on tap “Trainwreck”, a bourbon barrel-aged barleywine that was brewed in 2010 and is 11.4% abv—which if you read this blog, you know a barleywine like this is catnip to me. I’m going to make an effort to get some of this beer this weekend.
Phat Matt’s: Other than their Golden Ale which I tried very early on, I hadn’t had the chance to really sample Phat Matt’s other beers—an IPA and a Red Ale, both of which were pouring. I was able to meet Paul Mercer, one of the partners, and chat with him a bit about the brewery and beers and what’s coming up. The big news: Phat Matt’s bottled beers are now being brewed entirely in Redmond. Previously, only the kegged beers were coming out of Redmond: the bottled beers were being contract brewed from (I believe) a U-brew facility in Belmont, California. However, Paul assures me that the very day of the Pine Tavern event was the first day that the beers were bottled in Redmond, so they were as fresh as they could possibly be. And they are decent beers: the IPA is an English-style IPA, more of a subdued, earthy and spicy hoppiness than the usual American citrus sucker punch; the Red Ale was my favorite of the two, having a nice, slight roastiness and malt backbone with a solid but complementary hopping. And, coming up, Phat Matt’s is developing a Pale Ale and a Pilsner for summer seasonal release.

I wish that I’d had more time to chat with the other brewery reps that were there, but sometimes that’s how it goes. As it was, I considered it a productive evening and well worth the $25 entry fee. I hope the Pine Tavern (or other restaurants in town) do this type of event again, I would easily attend future “Bites & Brews” pairings.

Oregon Beer News, 01/13/2012

Posted: January 13th, 2012, 8:00pm CET by Jon

It’s Friday the 13th! I’m not sure how that bodes for beer, but with lots of things going on today and into the weekend I’d venture to say “well”. As usual I’ll be updating this post periodically throughout the day, so if you have some new to share please contact me and I’ll update it here.

Golden Valley Brewery (McMinnville): Their new Beaverton location has apparently been trying out a soft opening, as Portland’s Hops & Barley Blog shared a view words and a picture: “The kitchen is backed up (shocker) but the Rye PA and Tannen Bomb are good omens for the success of the rebranding of this former Chili’s location.”

Today is the first day of the Oregon Wine, Food & Brew Festival over in Salem: two days of celebrating Oregon’s vineyards and wineries, breweries, and culinary culture, with live entertainment, demonstration, classes and more. It takes place at the Salem Fairgrounds and is $10 per day to enter; the Festival runs today from 4 to 10pm and tomorrow (the 14th) from noon to 10pm. For the $25 VIP package, you can purchase tickets online but that closes at noon. And 4 breweries will be in attendance according to their program: Astoria Brewing, Fire Mountain Brewery, Gilgamesh Brewing, and Seven Brides Brewing; Meletis Beverage Distributors will also be present in the “beer” column.

Lompoc Brewing (Portland): Today is the release of their Black Dawn III Coffee Stout, and it’s already generating buzz on the web. This is the third year they’ve released Black Dawn, a huge coffee stout that uses three pounds of beans per barrel (the beans were provided by Ristretto Roasters). In addition to the Black Dawn III (which all kicks off at 4pm), there’s quite a lineup: “There will actually be three different versions of Black Dawn III: one with all three coffees above, one with only the El Salvadoran beans, and one with only the Peruvian beans. We will also be pouring Black Dawn II, which featured Ristretto Roasters Beaumont Blend, and 2009 Pre-Dawn Imperial Stout (the base beer for Black Dawn I). We’ll have a taster tray available so you can taste all the different incarnations and compare flavors between the different coffee varietals.”

The EastBurn (Portland) has their annual Buckman-Kerns Brewfest this Sunday the 15th at noon, and it sounds like a great little fest: with Lucky Labrador, Coalition Brewing, Natian Brewing, Migration Brewing, Buckman Brewing, Cascade Brewing and Burnside Brewing all participating, the $10 entry (which includes a commemorative pint glass and four tickets) is a steal! You won’t go wrong with this one.

Upcoming tastings, releases, and “Meet the Brewer” events:

Oakshire Brewing (Eugene) has two Portland-based tastings today and tomorrow: today at Zupan’s Market on Burnside from 4 to 7pm, and tomorrow at Uptown Market from 3 to 6pm.
Speaking of Uptown Market, tonight they have Sierra Nevada Brewing in the house pouring their new Ruthless Rye from 4:30pm on.
GoodLife Brewing (Bend) is still in Portland today, doing a tasting and Meet the Brewers at Torta Landia from 6 to 9pm. They’ll be pouring their four currently available beers.
Flat Tail Brewing (Corvallis): They have a bottle release and tasting tonight at Belmont Station from 5 to 8pm. “Brewmaster Dave Marliave of this Corvallis Brewpub will pour complimentary tastes of his freshly bottled Big Fin Baltic Porter, Moustache Rye’d Imperial Rye Red, & Seriously Low Budget English Pale Ale in addition to his already available Tailgater Kolsch and Feathertop Pumpkin Stout.”
Upright Brewing (Portland): Today they are releasing their new Kopstootje over at The Hop & Vine; “Kopstootje is a Biére de Garde that has been made with the same herbs & botanicals as Bol’s Genever & we will be pairing the bier & Genever together Friday the 13th for an Awesome deal of 8 bucks! Alex Ganum of Upright Brewing & Jacob will be on hand for some conversation & toasting.” In other words, it’s a special shot-and-a-beer pairing that won much acclaim when it appeared last year.
Phat Matt’s (Redmond): They have two tastings today: In Redmond at the Cross Creek Cafe from 6 to 8:30pm, they’ll be pouring all three of their beers. And in Bend, over at Newport Avenue Market from 3:30 to 5:30 (also all three beers).

Oregon Beer News, 01/12/2012

Posted: January 12th, 2012, 9:00pm CET by Jon

Here’s the news in beer from around Oregon for Thursday, January 12th. The week is winding down, and it’s about time to start thinking about the weekend! I’ll be doing just that as I’m updating news on this post throughout the day. If you have some beer news you’d like to share, please contact me and I can get it posted.

Full Sail Brewing (Hood River): Today is the day of their “Breakfast for Dinner” January Brewmaster Dinner, featuring four courses inspired by a breakfast menu and paired with Full Sail beer. Seating for the dinner starts at 5pm and lasts until they run out; cost is $30 per person which is a pretty reasonable price for essentially a prix fixe beer dinner (especially one as yummy-sounding as this one).

It’s never too early to start looking ahead to the coming months for events, and Zwickelmania is just around the corner: Saturday, February 18th, from 11 to 4, “President’s Day weekend, dozens of Oregon breweries and brewpubs will open their doors to visitors for the state’s 4th annual Zwickelmania. Zwickelmania, hosted by the Oregon Brewers Guild (OBG), is a free statewide event that offers visitors a chance to tour Oregon breweries, meet the brewers and sample their favorite beers.” Breweries will be offering tours, tastings, and sometimes more goodies for Zwickelmania, and in Portland, Eugene, and Bend there are even organized bus tours to take dedicated Zwickelers (just made that word up!) around to the many, many breweries. Mark your calendars!

Cascade Brewing (Portland): Today is their special “Four Goses of the Apuckerlips” tasting that I blogged about the other day; these are four Gose-style beers that were brewed for each season, and each one is spiced with (besides salt) different spices. “We’ll be serving four variations of our goses in teardrop glasses for $4.50 ($5 for vintage [Autumn]), or grab a vertical flight of all four for $8. Brewers & blenders will be on hand for questions and discussion.” The tasting starts at 4pm.

Upcoming tastings, releases, and “Meet the Brewer” events:

The Green Dragon (Portland): They have a Meet the Brewer tonight from 5 to 8pm featuring Hopworks Urban Brewery. Meet Christian Ettinger, and try the four beers that will be on tap: Helles, Secession CDA, Cask DOA, and Noggin Floggin Barleywine.
10 Barrel Brewing (Bend): They will be at Uptown Market tonight doing a sampling from 4 to 7pm. They will be pouring S1nist0r, Apocalypse IPA and Precursor barrel-aged strong ale.
Oakshire Brewing (Eugene) has a tasting in Portland today at Zupan’s Market (on Belmont) from 4 to 7pm.
GoodLife Brewing (Bend): They have a Meet the Brewer taking place at the Hawthorne Hophouse in Portland tonight, from 6 to 9pm. GoodLife beers will be on special for $3 a pint during this time.
McMenamins Edgefield (Troutdale): Tonight’s Limited Edition Beer Tasting is for La Dame Poire, a beer for which “Asian pears have been soaked for over a month in Edgefield Distillery’s Pear Brandy, then infused in our popular raspberry Ruby Ale.” The tasting takes place at the Edgefield Distiller Bar starting at 5pm and lasts until the beer is gone.
Pelican Pub & Brewery (Pacific City): “Today is the day! Riptide Red Ale and Nestucca ESB have officially released. Stop by for a pint today, order from our online store or watch for them in stores near you starting next Monday.” (via Facebook)
Brewers Union Local 180 (Oakridge): “‘Frost on the Bumpkin’, our eight grain Winter Stout, has been tapped and is awaiting liberation from the cask. We also have a rare guest cask of ‘Red Ryeder’ from Block 15, which will be followed by an even rarer cask of ‘Vortex IPA’ from Fort George in Astoria.” (via Facebook)

Oregon Beer News, 01/11/2012

Posted: January 11th, 2012, 8:00pm CET by Jon

Here’s the Oregon beer news for Wednesday, the 11th of January. As usual I’ll be periodically updating this post throughout the day so if you have some news to share, contact me and I’ll get it updated.

The Green Dragon (Portland) has the latest release in their Brew Crew “Big Beer” month tonight: The Velvet Bulldozer, a strong ale split into two batches: one fermented in a Rogue Dead Guy Whiskey barrel at 8.5% abv, and the other the same blended with the beer aged in stainless at 9% abv. The tasting runs from 5 to 8pm tonight.

McMenamins (Portland): They have a special beer release happening tomorrow at the Edgefield Distillery Bar: La Dame Poire (literally, the “Pear Lady”). “[T]his Ruby has been dolled up for the winter season. Asian Pears have been soaked for over a month in the distillery’s “Pear Brandy”, and then dry hopped in our popular Raspberry Ale. An elegant fruit Ale, this beer is sure to please any sweet tooth.” There’s one keg only and the tasting starts at 5pm at the Edgefield.

And tonight, McMenamins Old St. Francis School here in Bend has a limited edition beer tasting also: Amaretto Gold. “Inspired by last year’s nutty Nutcracker Hazelnut Brown and the deliciously unique McMenamins’ Thompson Brewery creation Tequila Lime Wheat, we thought we would add a dash of Amaretto almond-flavor and touch of vanilla to our already famous Bagdad Gold.” Also starts at 5pm, and is limited to one keg.

Full Sail Brewing (Hood River): They’ve posted the menu for their Brewmaster Dinner tomorrow, the “Breakfast for Dinner” themed beer pairing dinner. With four courses consisting of things like Crab Cake Benedict, Smoked Pork Chop with Breakfast Potatoes, and Blueberry Blintz, this sounds like it would be an awesome dinner (or maybe that’s just me, I always like a good “brinner”!). $30 per person, and seating for it starts at 5pm.

Happy hours, specials, and cheap pours:

Silver Moon Brewing (Bend): Their Growler Power Hour continues today, from 4 to 6pm ($5 growler fills during that time), featuring Bridge Creek Pilsner and German Schwarzbier Black Lager.
Cascade Lakes Brewing (Redmond/Bend): At their Lodge in Bend tonight it’s Locals Night from 6 to 10pm, with $3.25 pints.
Occidental Brewing (Portland): Every Wednesday they feature $8 growler fills.
Coalition Brewing (Portland): Wednesdays they offer $2.50 pint specials all day long.
Boneyard Brewing (Bend): Wednesdays they offer $6 growler fills all day on their regular line-up of beers.
Three Creeks Brewing (Sisters): They have $3 pints and $7 growler fills from 4 to 8pm today.

Breweries with beers themed for the apocalypse

Posted: January 11th, 2012, 6:00pm CET by Jon

Because it is the year 2012 and it is popularly held as the year of the (Mayan) Apocalypse, at least two breweries so far are releasing apocalyptic-themed beers: Seattle’s Elysian Brewing and Portland’s Cascade Brewing. These releases caught my eye both because they’re clever and because I’ve got some Apocalypse-themed stuff brewing up myself.

Elysian Nibiru Yerba Mate Tripel label

Elysian is releasing “12 Beers of the Apocalypse” once a month through the rest of year; from the press release:

In a year-long run-up to the end of all time (according to the Mayan calendar), Elysian Brewing Company and Fantagraphics Books, both of Seattle, are planning a series of twelve beers, issued on the 21st of each month in 2012 and featuring the label artwork of Charles Burns. Taken from Burns’s weirdly apocalyptic work “Black Hole,” the labels will adorn Elysian’s “Twelve Beers of the Apocalypse,” featuring the creativity and unusual ingredients for which its brewing team is known. What twelve beers would you brew (and drink) if you knew they would be your last?

The three beers announced so far are:

January: Nibiru, “named for the mysterious planet X supposedly on a collision course toward Earth”, a Belgian-style Tripel with yerba maté;
February: Rapture, an ale flavored with heather tips;
March: Fallout, a pale ale made with green cardamom.

They are kicking off a Nibiru release party on Saturday the 21st from 4 to 7pm at the Capitol Hill location.

Cascade Brewing, meanwhile, is holding their annual “Four Goses of the Apuckerlips” event coming up this Thursday the 12th; Gose is of course the soured and spiced (typically with salt and coriander) wheat beer that’s been seeing something of a niche revival. From their release:

Our four Goses are designed and spiced for each season; they are light, slightly soured beers, all brewed with sea salt and various spices. Each comes in at about 5.5% ABV. Enjoy tasting how the different spices can affect the flavor profile. We’ll be serving them in teardrop glasses for $4.50 ($5 for the vintage Autumn), or grab a vertical flight of all four for $8. These will pour until they are gone. Spring Gose 2011 is spiced with wild chamomile, lemon peel and culinary lavender; Autumn Gose 2010 is spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and orange peel; Summer Gose 2011 is spiced with coriander; and Winter Gose 2011 is spiced with rose hips, orange peel and cinnamon.

How can you pass up an event called “Apuckerlips”? I wish I could be in Portland Thursday afternoon to try all of these, they sound pretty amazing. That tasting starts at 4pm.

Oregon Beer News, 01/10/2012

Posted: January 10th, 2012, 9:00pm CET by Jon

Here’s the beer new from around Oregon for Tuesday, January 10th. As usual I’ll be updating this post throughout the day with news that I find, and if you have some news to share please contact me and I’ll get it out there.

Widmer Brothers (Portland): This year’s Brewmasters’ Release “W” series beer is W’12 Dark Saison which sounds incredibly interesting (inspired by the Cascadian Dark Ale perhaps)—infusing a saison style beer with dark malts. And Sanjay over on the Not So Professional Beer Blog has the first review which affirms this: “I expect W’12 will be the first Saison that many beer drinkers will enjoy. So if you’ve never tasted a Saison, it’s time to give it a try.” I’m on the lookout.

Coalition Brewing (Portland) has a new beer on tap which if you’re a fan of nut brown ales you should check out: “Today is the day you have been waiting for….we put Mr. Brownstone on tap, in a special, limited release! Mr. Brownstone is a Hazelnut Brown Ale made with all local filberts, and it is frickin’ delicious!”

It’s still a ways off but the dates for the Portland Fruit Beer Festival have been announced: “The 2012 Portland Fruit Beer Festival will be June 9th and 10th with a special ticketed preview dinner event on June 8th!” That’s the second weekend in June, so get it on your calendar now.

Speaking of festivals, The Eastburn (Portland) is holding their annual Buckman-Kerns Brewfestthis Sunday, January 15th, starting at noon: “Come join us on Sunday January 15th at noon for the 2nd year of celebrating the excellent breweries we are so lucky to have in our neighborhood. Participants this year are Lucky Labrador, Coalition Brewing, Natian Brewing, Migration Brewing, Buckman Brewing, Cascade Brewing and Burnside Brewing! Admission is only $10 which gets you a Brewfest Pint Glass (a real pint glass, not plastic! Yeah!) and 4 tickets. Tickets are $1 each and 1 ticket gets you one taster or a full pint for 4 tickets. We’ll have great food and of course lots of great beers.”

And PDX Pipeline is giving away three pairs of tickets to the Buckman-Kerns Brewfest, you simply comment on that post to be entered to win. They’re drawing winners from the comments on Friday the 13th.

Upcoming tastings, releases, and “Meet the Brewer” events:

Oakshire Brewing (Eugene): Ice cream floats! “Oakshire Brewing and Luna and Larry’s Coconut Bliss will create their one-of-a-kind delicious floats, a combination of Oakshire Overcast Espresso Stout and Coconut Bliss’ organic, vegan ice cream. Join us for this uniquely Eugene treat. Free!” From 4 to 6:30pm at the Eugene, Cascades & Coast Adventure Center in Springfield.
Lompoc Brewing (Portland): “Join us starting at 4 pm on Friday [January 13] at New Old Lompoc for the release of 3 versions of Black Dawn III Coffee Stout, the third installment of our annual coffee stout. Our friends at Ristretto Roasters provided the coffee, cold pressing 20 lbs of their Beaumont Blend, El Salvadoran and Peruvian beans.” (via Facebook)
10 Barrel Brewing (Bend): They will be at Beaverton’s Uptown Market (the new bottle shop) on Thursday the 12th from 4 to 7pm, pouring S1nist0r Black Ale, Apocalypse IPA, and Precursor (single batch bourbon-barrel aged strong ale). If you haven’t tried the Precursor, this is a great opportunity to do so as it’s extremely limited.

Happy hours, specials, and cheap pours:

Silver Moon Brewing (Bend): This week’s Growler Power Hour ($5 growler fills from 4 to 6pm on Tuesday and Wednesday) beers are Bridge Creek Pilsner and German Schwarzbier Black Lager.
Bend Brewing (Bend): Tonight is Locals Night, which means pints are $2.75 from 4pm until closing, and appetizers are half-price from 4 to 6pm and from 9pm to closing.
Lompoc Brewing (Portland) features “Tightwad Tuesday” at their Fifth Quadrant and Hedge House locations, with $2.50 pints all day long.
Cascade Brewing (Portland): Tap It Tuesday today features “Strawberry”, a northwest-style sour aged in barrels for seven months, then on strawberries for another eight months. The tapping starts at 6pm.
Three Creeks Brewing (Sisters) has $3.25 pints all day long.

Big Horse Brew Pub / Horse Feathers

Posted: January 10th, 2012, 6:00pm CET by Jon

Back in October we made one of our semi-regular trips to Hood River to pick apples and other fruit and while there, stopped for lunch at the Big Horse Brew Pub (aka Horse Feathers). Big Horse is the third brewery within the Hood River city limits (along with Full Sail and Double Mountain), which tallies up one brewery for every 2400 people or so for the town, an amazing per-capita number (compare Bend at one every 8900 people—and we have a lot in Bend!).

Big Horse itself is housed in a large, picturesque multi-level lodge of a building that is built into a hill and backing Winans Park. To get to it you either park on the street below and climb a good number of stairs, or come in from the upper level (through the park presumably); however once you’ve made the climb you are rewarded with fantastic views of downtown Hood River and the Columbia River.

(Oddly Big Horse is one of those rare breweries/businesses that doesn’t seem to have a web presence of their own—no web site, no Facebook profile other than a Facebook “places” page—just the metadata of various review sites like Yelp and Urbanspoon that come up in a search instead.)

Climbing the stairs from the street below, there are three distinct levels to the building: the basement/cellar where (presumably) they store kegs and supplies; next the “lower” level that has a pool room, the kitchen window, and restrooms; and the upper level with the main bar and great views. There is also a wraparound deck that affords outdoor seating when the weather is nice. On the upper level there is even a small stage above the room where the Pub can host live music.

The decor and atmosphere inside is low-key, fairly typical “Northwest Brewpub”: lots of natural wood, various eclectic fixtures and decorations, friendly service. Aside from tables they also have a long booth with a raised table backing the bar, which we sat at (separated from the bar by a glass divider), with bookshelves built into the booth walls full of books and activities for kids.

Of the seven beers listed on their menu, only five were currently on tap: the two that were out were Red Fang and Vernon the Rabbit Slayer, which is a shame because I really wanted to try Vernon, a big fresh hop Imperial IPA that is a big favorite. Of the five remaining, I ordered the sampler tray, and these were my notes:

Easy Blonde: 5% abv. Hazy yellow, pale white lacy head. Tasty, a wheaty, tartish nose, but grainy and grassy in the mouth, easy to drink. Nicely hoppy for being so light.
Summer Pils: 5.1% abv. Pale, golden, effervescent. Earthy is the main impression; a little heavy for what I’d expect from a Pilsner. Not terrible, though I wish it were hoppier.
Pale Rider IPA: 6.7% abv. Brown-gold. Hoppy(ish) nose more spicy than anything “northwest” (like citrus). Flavor is earthy and full of spicy hops, nicely bitter but more English-style. An Americanized English IPA?
MacStallion Scotch: 6.9% abv. Looks right on to me, mahogany brown. A little diacetyl-y and a touch thin, but nice caramel-toffee maltiness.
Nightmare Stout: 6.5% abv. Velvety-smooth with a nose that reminds me of Guinness. Roasty, mellow, dark, easy drinking that belies its strength.

My two favorites from this group were the Easy Blonde and the Nightmare Stout, although all were fair-to-good brews. (There’s a picture of the beers in the gallery below.)

I’ll be honest, I don’t entirely remember the food, except that I think I ordered the pulled pork sandwich and I liked it: brewpub fare, but not overly heavy like many are. The lunch along with the sampler tray hit the spot as we were getting ready to spend the afternoon picking fruit; I’d love to visit again (several more times) to get an idea of other offerings and dinners.

Overall I really quite liked Big Horse; the built-into-the-hill, multi-level layout is funky and has something of an old school vibe along with the “Northwest Brewpub” atmosphere, the service is friendly and good, and the views are fantastic. I’ll return if/when I get the chance.

(Incidentally, I don’t know what “Horse Feathers” refers to even though that shows up everywhere as part of the name.)

[Show as slideshow]

Big Horse Brew Pub
115 W. State Street
Hood River, OR 97031
(541) 386-4411

Big Horse Brew Pub / Horse Feathers

Posted: January 10th, 2012, 6:00pm CET by Jon

The decor and atmosphere inside is low-key, fairly typical “Northwest Brewpub”: lots of natural wood, various eclectic fixtures and decorations, friendly service. Aside from tables they also have a long booth with raised a raised table backing the bar, which we sat at (separated from the bar by a glass divider), with bookshelves built into the booth walls full of books and activities for kids.

Easy Blonde: 5% abv. Hazy yellow, pale white lacy head. Tasty, a wheaty, tartish nose, but grainy and grassy in the mouth, easy to drink. Nicely hoppy for being so light.
Summer Pils: 5.1% abv. Pale, golden, effervescent. Earthy is the main impression; a little heavy for what I’d expect from a Pilsner. Not terrible, though I wish it were hoppier.
Pale Rider IPA: 6.7% abv. Brown-gold. Hoppy(ish) nose more spicy than anything “northwest” (like citrus). Flavor is earthy and full of spicy hops, nicely bitter but more English-style. An Americanized English IPA?
MacStallion Scotch: 6.9% abv. Looks right on to me, mahogany brown. A little diacetyl-y and a touch thin, but nice caramel-toffee maltiness.
Nightmare Stout: 6.5% abv. Velvety-smooth with a nose that reminds me of Guinness. Roasty, mellow, dark, easy drinking that belies its strength.

My two favorites from this group were the Easy Blonde and the Nightmare Stout, although all were fair-to-good brews. (There’s a picture of the beers in the gallery below.)

(Incidentally, I don’t know what “Horse Feathers” refers to even though that shows up everywhere as part of the name.)

[Show as slideshow]

Big Horse Brew Pub
115 W. State Street
Hood River, OR 97031
(541) 386-4411

Oregon Beer News, 01/09/2012

Posted: January 9th, 2012, 8:00pm CET by Jon

Happy Monday! It’s back to work for many of us so to help distract you here’s the Oregon beer news for Monday, January 9th. I will continue to update this post throughout the day with news items that I find, and if you have some news you’d like to pass along contact me and I’ll get it updated.

Deschutes Brewery (Portland): Their Portland Pub is closed today for a post-holiday employee celebration today, but will be back open for regular hours tomorrow.

Golden Valley Brewery (McMinnville/Beaverton): As I reported this weekend, the new GVB Beaverton location is slated to open on Monday, January 23rd, just two weeks away! Good news for folks in the Beaverton/Hillsboro area, and (relatively) convenient for those passing through as well, being located just off of Highway 26.

Gilgamesh Brewing (Turner) has a beer pairing dinner on January 23rd with Venti’s Cafe + Taphouse in Salem, and they have finalized the menu: three courses (with a palate-cleansing sorbet in between the first and second) paired with Gilgamesh beers (Filbert Lager, Cherry Coffee Cordial, and Blitzen Prancer Winter Ale) for $35. In addition, there will be an exclusive release of “Mega Mamba”, an imperial version of Mamba (their hopless, black tea beer).

Gigantic Brewing (Portland): The new brewery hasn’t opened yet, but founding brewers Ben Love (formerly from Hopworks) and Van Havig (formerly from Rock Bottom Portland) have been on a collaboration brewing spree around the state (as best as I can describe it from afar): brewing “Collabo Wabo” with Oakshire; with Pelican Pub for their Winter Brewers Dinner; and today with Breakside Brewery in Portland, a “Hoppy Hoppy Nanobrow” 8% abv IPA. The question is of course, where next? Hey guys, wanna come to Bend?

Upcoming tastings, releases, and “Meet the Brewer” events:

Oakshire Brewing (Eugene): Tomorrow (the 10th) from 4 to 6:30pm Oakshire is featuring “Coconut Bliss Floats” at the Eugene, Cascades & Coast Adventure Center—just what it sounds like, ice cream floats made with Overcast Espresso Stout and Luna and Larry’s Coconut Bliss vegan ice cream.
The Green Dragon (Portland): Wednesday the 11th the latest in the Green Dragon Brew Crew release for “Big Ass Beer Month” is The Velvet Bulldozer, a Belgian Strong Ale aged in a Rogue Dead Guy Whiskey Barrel, from 5 to 8pm. And on Thursday the 12th, they have a Meet the Brewer featuring Hopworks Urban Brewery.
Full Sail Brewing (Hood River): Don’t forget, their January Brewmaster Dinner is this Thursday the 12th, featuring a “Breakfast for Dinner” menu starting at 5pm and costing $30 per person.

Happy hours, specials, and cheap pours:

Lompoc Brewing (Portland): Miser Monday at the New Old Lompoc and Oaks Bottom locations yields $2.50 pints all day.
Silver Moon Brewing (Bend): Mondays are “locals” day, which mean $2.50 pints all day.
Migration Brewing (Portland): They offer $3 pints all day long.

Received: Hop Henge (2012)

Posted: January 9th, 2012, 8:46am CET by Jon

Deschutes Hop Henge I forgot to mention the beer I’d received from Deschutes Brewery last (New Year’s) weekend: the 2012 edition of Hop Henge. It came on Friday, New Year’s Eve eve, and ironically that same day I had seen it newly released in the store and had bought a bottle as well.

This is Deschutes’ Imperial IPA, ostensibly called their “Experimental IPA” that clocks in at 8.5% alcohol by volume and 95 IBUs. It’s “experimental” because Deschutes usually plays with the hop formulation in order to squeeze every last bit of hoppiness (not just bitterness) into this beer (previous years have seen such efforts as adding hops to the grain mill while crushing the grains for the mash).

And I already drank one of the bottles, split with friends on New Year’s Eve. Remembered impressions: “danker” than previous years—or, for those that dislike the adjective “dank”—more of a wet cannabis aroma to it. And it tastes pretty darn good.

Golden Valley Beaverton opening Jan. 23

Posted: January 7th, 2012, 6:50pm CET by Jon

Golden Valley Brewery has announced the opening date for their new Beaverton location: Monday January 23rd. I’d been following along on their Facebook page in my Oregon Beer News posts, where they have been posting photos of the expansion/construction, where they’ve been building out a handsome space with a lot of taps.

Golden Valley should be a welcome addition to the Beaverton-Hillsboro area, which is relatively brewery-sparse (especially when compared to Portland just a few minutes away!). Aside from a few McMenamins locations, the Raccoon Lodge (Cascade Brewing), Vertigo and Ambacht in Hillsboro, there’s really not much else (aside from bars). I’m pretty comfortable predicting that Golden Valley will do extremely well there.

The new location is at 1520 NW Bethany Blvd. in west Beaverton, just off the Sunset Highway (Highway 26).

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The Session #59: I Almost Always Drink Beer, But When I Don’t…

Posted: January 7th, 2012, 8:46am CET by Jon

It’s the first Friday of the month, and among beer bloggers that means today is the day of The Session: a collaborative beer blogging effort where a given host for the month chooses a topic, and everyone who participates contributes a post using that topic as inspiration.

This month our host is Mario Rubio of Brewed for Thought, and he’s chosen a theme that is less beer related than you might think: I almost always drink beer, but when I don’t…

So as we are all incredibly interesting people, and almost always drink beer, let’s talk about what we drink when not drinking beer. Maybe your passion for coffee rivals that of craft beer, or it could be another alcoholic beverage such as scotch. My daughter being a root beer fan would appreciate her dad reviewing a few fizzy sodas. Maybe you have a drink that takes the edge off the beer, be it hair of the dog or a palate cleanser during the evening.

Beer cocktails, wines, ciders, meads, you name it as long as it’s not beer. Try to tie it in with craft beer in some way for extra credit. Be creative and I’ll see you guys in the new year.

“When not drinking beer…” As hard as it might be to believe to someone who visits this blog regularly, I do not drink beer all the time. There are a number of alcoholic drinks I enjoy as occasional alternatives—spicy complex red wines, rustic dry whites, spicy rum, silky tequila—but the one type of drink I immediately thought of (as did many beer drinkers, I imagine) that I tend to gravitate towards is a natural for beer enthusiasts: whiskey.

It’s obvious, really, since whiskeys are for all intents and purposes distilled from beer. There are of course subsets of whiskey (which is primarily made from barley and aged in charred wood): Scotch (multiple distillations and aged at least 3 years in oak), bourbon (at least 51% corn), rye whiskey (at least 51% rye), and so on. In many ways I’m still very much a novice when it comes to whiskeys, so I’m always interested in trying new ones.

Whiskeys (Evan Williams Single Barrel and Oregon Spirits Distillers) When it comes to a regular whiskey—or, as it happens in my case, a bourbon—my “go to” is usually Evan Williams. Part of the reason, I admit, is that it’s inexpensive, especially when compared to Jack Daniels (for instance); but I found, once I started drinking it, that I quite enjoyed it and I feel in many ways it’s as good as (if not better) than some of the more expensive bourbons that I’ve tried. Their green label—a traditional 80-proof spirit—tends to be a staple in my cabinet, though I also have an excellent bottle of Single Barrel Vintage (seen in the picture) that my brother gave me for Christmas a year ago. I’ve been savoring that one, drawing it out, very much enjoying the vanilla and oaky character it possesses.

The other whiskey bourbon you’ll notice in my picture there is local: Oregon Spirit Distillers, based here in Bend, has been in operation for only a few years and while vodka is their primary product (2011 also saw a rum, an absinthe, and two cordials produced), they released their first bourbon late this past year. Being the budding liquor geek that I am (of course we already know that I’m a beer geek!) naturally I picked up a bottle; and while even I recognize that it’s a “hot” and young bourbon, I can tell there’s a lot of potential in there, and it’s vastly interesting to hold onto a bottle and taste it periodically as it matures.

Of course this is all just the tip of the iceberg; like beer, whiskey is a deep subject that can take years to explore—for instance, Michael Jackson, the Beer Hunter, also wrote a number of authoritative books on whiskey over the years. While I won’t forgo beer for the harder spirits, I still continue to explore and enjoy this other world and anytime you don’t see a beer in my hand there’s a reasonable chance there’s a bottle of whiskey nearby…

Oregon Beer News, 01/06/2012

Posted: January 6th, 2012, 9:00pm CET by Jon

Here’s the Oregon beer news for Friday, the 6th of January, and going into the weekend. What beer will you be drinking this first full weekend of 2012? As usual I’ll be updating this post throughout the day, so if you have some news you’d like to share please contact me.

This weekend seems to be “Greg Koch storms Oregon” as the Stone Brewing founder is making at least two appearances to promote both his new book and the collaboration brew with Ninkasi Brewing and The Alchemist: tonight, Koch is appearing with Ninkasi’s Jamie Floyd at Eugene’s The Bier Stein for the draft release of “More Brown than Black IPA” as well as a Tap Takeover; the Takeover starts at 5pm and the MBtB will be tapped about 7pm.

And then tomorrow, Saturday the 7th, Belmont Station in Portland is hosting Koch in a “Meet the Founder” and book signing event from 2 to 4pm. In addition to meeting Koch, there will also be several Stone beers on tap (the Vertical Epic 11.11.11, Double Bastard Ale, and Stone IPA confirmed) and there will be copies of The Craft of Stone Brewing Co. for sale.

The Commons Brewery (Portland) has an interesting set of releases this weekend, in a series dubbed “Yeast Series” (fermenting the same base beer with different yeasts): “We have two new beers we going on tap for this weekend. Both use the wort from a recent batch of Urban Farmhouse Ale, but were fermented with different yeasts. One with Wyeast German Ale yeast (reportedly Uerige) and the other with Wyeast Schelde (reportedly DeKoninck). The resulting beers show the significant impact the yeast has the beer. You can taste all three beers side-by-side for $5.” This is the kind of thing that would definitely be of interest to homebrewers (I know I’d be all over it). The Commons tasting room is open from 5 to 9 on Fridays and Saturdays.

The Lucky Lab (Portland) is celebrating the 10th anniversary of their Public House on SW Capitol Highway tomorrow: “From 7pm till Midnight there will be 2002 prices on Lucky Lab beer starting at $3.50!! Plus a special release of Winter Wonderdog.” John Foyston describes Winter Wonderdog on his Beer Here blog today: “a new winter brew described as brick red, smooth, and malty — a winter beer with a sweet and nutty profile.”

Upcoming tastings, releases, and “Meet the Brewer” events:

Pelican Pub & Brewery (Pacific City): This evening at the New Seasons Market in Happy Valley (southeast of Portland) from 4 to 7pm Pelican will be pouring their beer, and at the New Seasons Hawthorne tomorrow (Saturday) they’ll be pouring from 4 to 7pm as well.
Elysian Brewing (Seattle) will be in Portland at the Uptown Market holding a tasting: “Join PDX Dave for an Elysian Beer Tasting at Uptown Market from 4-6:45pm! Order an Elysian Dragonstooth Stout on draft and walk away with your very own Elysian pint glass.” And then, across town at the C Bar, Elysian is featuring “6 beers at 6pm on January 6. A handful of tasty selections from New Belgium, including NB/Elysian collaboration brews Trip 10 ’72 El Dorado’ & Trip 11 ‘Nigel’! The fine folks behind the recipes of these tasty treats will be on hand to join in the jovial revelry.”
Oakshire Brewing (Eugene): Tuesday, January 10th as posted on Facebook: “Oakshire Brewing and Luna and Larry’s Coconut Bliss will create their one-of-a-kind delicious floats, a combination of Oakshire Overcast Espresso Stout and Coconut Bliss’ organic, vegan ice cream. Join us for this uniquely Eugene treat. Free!” This is taking place from 4 to 6:30pm at the Eugene, Cascades & Coast Adventure Center in Springfield.

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Oakshire’s Hellshire II has some infection issues

Posted: January 6th, 2012, 4:34pm CET by Jon

Oakshire Brewing‘s recent release of Hellshire II—a barrel-aged imperial stout—appears to be dealing with a lactobacillus infection. Brewmaster Matt Van Wyk posted on the Oakshire blog:

We regret to inform you that our recently released Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout with Coffee, Hellshire II, has been found to contain some flavors that we did not intend. Through our own QC/QA program, we suspected there could be a problem. It has now been discovered through lab results conducted by our colleagues at Widmer Brothers Brewing in Portland that this beer may contain lactobacillus. In most beers, this is known as a beer spoiler and can lead to acidic and tart flavors.

Again, I’d like to apologize to you for not meeting the mark we set at Oakshire in terms of quality and consistency. We’ve assessed the situation and are confident that we can avoid similar challenges in the future. Also, please be patient with us as we traverse through this first time situation and correct it.

This sort of thing happens from time to time, even with the big breweries; remember that Deschutes Brewery’s 2009 Reserve Series (The Abyss and Mirror Mirror) dealt with a brettanomyces infection—and they’re one of the largest craft breweries in the country. It’s an inherent risk is dealing with barrels, and for my money it’s an entirely forgivable situation (unless of course it’s repeated over and over again).

Oakshire is stepping up to honor returned bottles of Hellshire II for unsatisfied customers, as well, offering the following options:

1) Keep your bottle, but consider storing it cold so that it doesn’t build more acidity.
2) Bring your unopened bottle to us at the brewery during the next Hellshire release and give us another chance. We’ll swap it out.
3) Bring your unopened bottle to the tasting room during open hours and we will trade you for an equal dollar amount of our regular bottled beer.
4) Bring your unopened bottle to the tasting room during open hours and we will reimburse you for your purchase.

You will need to bring your bottle in person, however, and do not ship it—the brewery can’t accept bottles shipped directly. Nor should you return it to your retailer, unless they accept returns on bottled beers.

I’ve had the Hellshire II (split a bottle with friends) and found no flaws with it. Though personally, in the same way that I actually liked a bit of brett in the Deschutes beers, I think I might well like a bit of lacto in this one—for me sometimes the unintentional flaws result in something new and not entirely unpleasant.

Regardless, I certainly commend Van Wyk and Oakshire for the handling of this situation—there undoubtedly are (or will be) the predictable complaints from some people about “bad” beers, but Oakshire has gotten out in front of it and is willing to accommodate folks without question, and that’s a class act.

Oregon Beer News, 01/05/2012

Posted: January 5th, 2012, 8:00pm CET by Jon

Here’s the beer news from around Oregon for Thursday, the 5th of January. As usual I’ll be updating this post throughout the day, so if you have some news to share contact me and I’ll update.

GoodLife Brewing (Bend) has a series of Meet the Brewer events coming up in Bend and Portland, and tonight is the first two—in both cities. Here in Bend, it’s taking place at Timbers Bar & Grill from 5 to 9pm; and in the Portland area, it’s at Maher’s Pub in Lake Oswego. All four of GoodLife’s current lineup will be pouring (Mountain Rescue Pale Ale, Descender IPA, Pass Stout and Scottish Heart Scotch Ale). The next Portland events will be next week on the 11th, 12th, and 13th.

Next week, the 13th and 14th (Friday and Saturday, respectively) the Oregon Wine, Food & Brew Festival kicks off in Salem: two days of celebrating Oregon’s gastronomy and drink. The Fest runs from 4 to 10pm on Friday and noon to 10pm on Saturday; admission each day is $10 (though doesn’t include samples), and gets you access to reps from Oregon’s wineries and breweries, as well as culinary demos and classes, live entertainment, and more. It’s taking place at the Oregon State Fairgrounds, and a quick look at their current exhibitors list reveals the following breweries will be there:

Astoria Brewing
Fire Mountain Brewery
Gilgamesh Brewing
Seven Brides Brewing

Pelican Pub & Brewery (Pacific City): If you were wanting to attend their Winter Brewers Dinner on the 28th featuring Ben Love and Van Havig of Gigantic Brewing (in a collaboration with Pelican), there are only 8 tickets left for the event so you’d better jump on it. The cost is $75, and sounds like a great night (the collaboration beer between Gigantic and Pelican is “Schwartz Genug”, a Baltic Porter).

Oakshire Brewing (Eugene): Van Havig and Ben Love of Gigantic Brewing sure are getting around: today they’re brewing a collaboration beer with Matt Van Wyk of Oakshire, named “Collabo Wabo.” “Serious work happening at Oakshire today – A collaboration beer brewed by Oakshire Brewmaster Matt Van Wyk and veteran brewers Van Havig and Ben Love of soon to be open Gigantic Brewing Company. Look for Collabo Wabo to be out at the end of the month!” And based on both the limes and the tequila in the picture, one can only wonder what sort of beer these three are dreaming up…

Upcoming tastings, releases, and “Meet the Brewer” events:

The Green Dragon (Portland): Tonight’s Meet the Brewer event is featuring Seven Brides Brewing out of Silverton, from 5 to 8pm. Seven Brides posted some details: “Beers tapped at 5pm and Josiah will be there to chat about the beers at about 6pm, so drop on in… Frankenlou’s IPA, Drunkle, and Brandy Barrel Aged Black Cat will all be pouring this evening!”
The Bier Stein (Eugene): Tomorrow they are featuring the release party for the Ninkasi/Stone/Alchemist collaboration beer “More Brown than Black IPA”, including a Tap Takeover with Ninkasi and Stone brews. The Tap Takeover starts at 5pm, and the MBtB will be tapped around 7pm—and as a special feature, both Jamie Floyd from Ninkasi and Greg Koch from Stone Brewing will be on hand to celebrate! (Presumably Koch is kicking off his Oregon tour as he’s appearing at Belmont Station the next day.)
The Commons Brewery (Portland): They have a Brewery Dinner on January 26th starting at 7pm, with a cost of $42 per person. “Chef Ben Meyer teams up with The Commons Brewery to prepare a four course dinner paired with The Commons beers. The dinner will be held in the brewery where we’ll have seating for 30 people.”
McMenamins Fulton Pub (Portland): The release of Black ‘Ops CDA kicks off this Limited Edition Beer Tasting, starting at 5pm. “What we can tell you is that it is a very dark beer that has a garnet hue when held to light. It first greets the drinker with an aroma that is citrusy, piney, and faintly toasty. The flavor of this clandestine ale is mellow at first with both toasted and chocolate notes. From there, its aggressive citrusy, piney, spicy & resinous hop character takes control.” It’s 6.71% abv.

Oregon Beer News, 01/04/2012

Posted: January 4th, 2012, 9:00pm CET by Jon

Here’s the Oregon beer news for Wednesday, the 4th of January. As usual I’ll be curating and posting news items throughout the day, so contact me if you have something to share that you’d like to see here.

Worthy Brewing (Bend): The upcoming brewery and beer garden proposed for Bend’s east side was featured in an article in yesterday’s local newspaper the Bulletin, detailing out additional features of the brewery project and revealing that construction should break ground by the middle of February. “Aside from the 30-barrel system and a tasting room, the brewery will feature a laboratory, a yeast-propagation area, and a beer garden where customers will be able to eat and drink, according to plans the company has filed with the city of Bend. [Brewmaster Chad] Kennedy expects the brewery to start pumping out beer by the end of 2012.” Can’t wait for this one to open!

Golden Valley Brewery (McMinnville): Their Beaverton location is coming right along nicely, with furniture in place, the bar all set, and keg washing going on—they mentioned on Facebook that they should have a firm opening date to announce by Friday this week.

Upcoming tastings, releases, and “Meet the Brewer” events:

The Green Dragon (Portland): They kick off their “Big Ass Beer Month” today featuring Big beers each Wednesday through January. Tonight’s beer is “The Count” Russian Imperial Stout. This is a 9.5% abv brewed by the Green Dragon Brew Crew back in March of last year. The release starts at 5pm.
The Green Dragon tomorrow night has a Meet the Brewer featuring Silverton’s Seven Brides Brewing. Three beers will be pouring: Drunkle, Frank N Lou IPA, and Brandy Barrel Aged Black Cat Porter, and runs from 5 to 8pm.
Ninkasi (Eugene): They have a tasting at Fisherman’s Market in downtown Eugene, with a smoked salmon burger and beer special for $7.99. That’s taking place from 5 to 8pm tonight.

Happy hours, specials, and cheap pours:

Cascade Lakes Brewing (Redmond/Bend): It’s Locals Night at their Lodge in Bend, from 6 to 10pm, with $3.25 pints.
Occidental Brewing (Portland): Every Wednesday they offer $8 growlers.
Coalition Brewing (Portland): Wednesday features $2.50 pints all day.
Silver Moon Brewing (Bend): This week’s Growler Power Hour features Hound’s Tooth Amber and Bridge Creek Pilsner. The Growler Power Hour runs on Tuesday and Wednesday from 4 to 6pm and offers $5 growler fills on those two beers.
Boneyard Beer (Bend): Wednesdays they fill growlers for only $6.
Three Creeks (Sisters): They offer $3 pints and $7 growlers from 4 to 8pm.

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Bend’s Abbey Pub changing hands, name

Posted: January 4th, 2012, 6:00pm CET by Jon

There are changes in store for The Abbey Pub here in Bend: owner Geoff Marlowe has sold Pub to a group that is planning on expanding and adding an even larger beer selection. The announcement was included in the latest emailed draft list:

Finally, as some of you know I have sold the Pub and a new group of people are coming in. This is going to be exciting to see the changes that they are going to be implementing. They are going to be expanding into the space next door and adding an expansive bottle selection. So I need to drain the above kegs, thus ALL PINTS WILL BE $3.50 until the kegs are gone! I know several are getting low so if you want the best selection get on down sooner than later. Thanks for all your support over the last 2 1/2 years. Hope to see you soon.

After emailing for more details, I learned than it’s a group of four who are buying the Pub and are planning on expanding into the space next door (a former wine bar/tasting room named WineStyles) and installing a big cooler to hold many more bottles. Tentatively, the name will be “Broken Top Bottle Shop” but as with anything else that could change.

I’m sorry to see the Pub change, its a neat space and mellow bar with good taps—and who could forget it was the only Central Oregon venue to get a keg of Pliny the Younger last year? Though I’m glad it’s not shutting doors entirely, and let’s hope the new owners are successful in the transition.

Oregon Beer News, 01/03/2012

Posted: January 3rd, 2012, 7:00pm CET by Jon

It’s the first “Oregon Beer News” post for 2012 and there’s been some interesting things going on as 2011 closed out and the new year rolled in. I’ll be collecting news and updating this post throughout the day, so if you have something to share please contact me and I’ll update it here.

Barley Brown’s Brewpub (Baker City): The big news that broke over the weekend (I wrote about it here and here) is that brewer Shawn Kelso is leaving Barley Brown’s, destined to head up 10 Barrel Brewing‘s new Boise brewpub operation. Kelso will have free reign in Boise to brew whatever he likes (presumably along with the house beers) and is likely leaving Barley Brown’s in March (according to Brewpublic).

Deschutes Brewery (Bend): The Bend Pub is now officially closed for much (or most) of the rest of January, in order to complete the expansion project; last night (January 2nd) they held a “wall smashing ceremony” to open up the passageway between the old pub and the new addition, and I was there taking video of the event. The Pub will be closed at least 2-3 weeks, though since construction projects can be unpredictable, there’s no firm date set for the re-opening yet.

Full Sail Brewing (Hood River): Next Thursday the 12th they are hosting their January Brewmaster Dinner featuring a “Breakfast for Dinner” theme. (“Brinner”!) No menu posted yet, but these dinners are typically four courses and paired with Full Sail beers (of course) and cost $30 per person; it starts at 5pm and continues until they run out.

Belmont Station (Portland) has a big event coming up this Saturday, the 7th: Stone Brewing founder Greg Koch will be visiting for a “Meet the Founder” event from 2 to 4pm promoting his book The Craft of Stone Brewing Co.: “This is the story of the 15 year history of Stone Brewing Co. with insights into the entrepreneurial story, and keys to business success. Plus stories behind EVERY Stone beer & 18 homebrew recipes for Stone beers — the largest collection ever. We’ll have copies to sell for the event. Stone 11.11.11 Vertical Epic Ale, Double Bastard Ale, and Stone IPA on tap.” (Read my review of the book here.)

Lucky Labrador Brewing (Portland): The Lucky Lab Public House location on SW Capitol Highway is turning 10 years old this Saturday, January 7th, with special prices and live music: “From 7pm till 12pm, there will be 2002 prices on all Lucky Lab beers. That means that all Lucky Lab pints will be starting at $3.50!!! Also!! There will be live music from 8pm – 11pm by local bands Wild Ones and Ish Phoenix! Come join us in celebration of the birth of our 2nd location and have a cheap pint with friends and family!!” The Public House is located at 7675 SW Capitol Hwy in Portland.

Happy hours, specials, and cheap pours:

Bend Brewing (Bend): Today is Locals Night, with $2.75 pints from 4pm to closing, and half-price appetizers from 4 to 6pm and 9pm to closing.
Lompoc Brewing (Portland) features their Tightwad Tuesday at Fifth Quadrant & Hedge House, with $2.50 pints all day long today.
Three Creeks Brewing (Sisters) has $3.25 pints all day on Tuesday.
Silver Moon Brewing (Bend): This week’s Growler Power Hour features Hounds Tooth Amber and Bridge Creek Pilsner. The Growler Power Hour runs on Tuesday and Wednesday from 4 to 6pm and offers $5 growler fills on those two beers.

Upcoming tastings, releases, and “Meet the Brewer” events:

Silver Moon Brewing (Bend): “Silver Moon will be in Portland @ Stotty’s Pub tonight, 1/3/2012, sampling out our HopFury IPA! If you’re in the area swing in for a pint of HopFury IPA from 6-8 pm. 12122 Scholls Ferry Road, Tigard” (via Facebook)
The Green Dragon (Portland): The folks at The Green Dragon have declared January to be “Big Ass Beer Month” and each week will be featuring a Big Ass Beer: Tomorrow, Wednesday the 4th, they will be releasing The Count Russian Imperial Stout starting at 5pm: “The Count has a deep black color which coats the glass leaving dark swirls on the sides when you set it down. Truly, legs to die for. A tight, creamy head and the aroma of roasted malt complement the smooth delivery of high-octane from the first sip to the last. Layers of flavors with a persistent bitterness and the lasting presence of dark roasted malt make this beer easy to identify as stout. Made with seven malts and a liberal dose of Zeus flower hops this imperial stout is worthy of the royal court although many will not remember much after spending time with The Count (muahahaha).” Stats: 9.5% abv, 106 IBUs.
Cascade Brewing (Portland): Tap It Tuesday tonight is featuring “Filbert”, a “live barrel of NW-style sour ale that started as a strong blond barrel aged for four months, then additionally aged on pressed filbert nuts for three months”—sounds quite yummy! The pouring starts at 6pm, and it’ll cost $6.50 for a glass (8.2% abv).

Video and photos of Deschutes wall smashing

Posted: January 3rd, 2012, 4:00pm CET by Jon

Deschutes Brewery is adding a major expansion to their original Bend Public House, and Monday evening they held a “wall smashing ceremony” (akin to a groundbreaking) to celebrate the final weeks of the construction process. The wall smashing took place at 9pm, and people were packing into the Pub for the event well before; I was able to get down there before 8:30 to enjoy a beer (Imperial Bachelor Bitter) and shoot some video of the event, as well as grab some pictures of the new space.

Video of owner Gary Fish smashing through the wall (following a short speech):

And, a gallery of the pictures I snapped while I was there:

[Show as slideshow]

It’s a very impressive space, easily (to my eye) more than doubling the current capacity. I already predict the balcony seating during the summer will be the most coveted spots in the house!

Shawn Kelso IS joining 10 Barrel

Posted: January 2nd, 2012, 11:26pm CET by Jon

It would appear yesterday’s speculation about the future of Barley Brown’s brewer Shawn Kelso was correct, and now the cat is officially out of the bag: Kelso will be joining 10 Barrel Brewing at their upcoming Boise brewpub.

Brewpublic has the story, and just a little while ago 10 Barrel themselves issued a press release. Kelso has been with Barley Brown’s for 11 years, and should be moving to 10 Barrel in March.

Full press release after the jump.

Official Statement
Internationally Recognized brewer, Shawn Kelso, Joins 10 Barrel Brewing
All Star Brewer to head Boise Brewhouse and Join Product Development Team with Tonya Cornett and Jimmy Seifrit at 10 Barrel

10 Barrel Brewing Company is proud to announce another world class addition to our brewing team in Shawn Kelso, former Brewmaster of Barley Brown’s Brewing. Shawn is one of the highest decorated single brewers in the country, winning 50 national medals over the last seven years. He will be the Brewmaster of 10 Barrel’s second brewpub, opening this summer in Boise, ID. Shawn will also play an integral role in all product development for the overall company, working hand-in-hand with Tonya Cornett on our 10 Barrel experimental system in Bend.

“What I am most excited about is having the opportunity to work with such world-class talent in Jimmy and Tonya. Joining 10 Barrel is a chance to jump on board with a really aggressive young company that is working hard to push the boundaries of conventional brewing in the northwest. They are providing me an opportunity to not only contribute to that growth, but to play a critical role in helping shape the direction of the company and challenging myself as a brewer. Joining an up and coming brew scene in Boise will allow me to really showcase my talents in front of a larger audience, including the entire 10 Barrel footprint” Shawn Kelso.

Un-Official 10 Barrel Statement
Big Daddy Kelso Finally on Board!!

We started talking about expanding our brewery about 2 years ago. In our first meeting, we put together an impossible to obtain wish list of the top three brewers that we’ve always wanted to work with to lead our brewery. With the addition of Shawn, the list is now complete!

Forget about their talents in brewing, there aren’t three other people anywhere that we have more fun working, playing, and drinking beer with. We are going to completely turn these three loose and see just how far they can push the beer culture. From our perspective, it’s not about all of the medals they have in their resumes; it’s about their talent, passion, and shared desire to recreate the brewing wheel. As a team, we’re super excited about making one hell of a run with our new leaders at our Boise brewpub and new brewery.

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Today is the last day Deschutes’ Bend Pub will be open for a month

Posted: January 2nd, 2012, 8:00pm CET by Jon

Deschutes Brewery Public House Deschutes Brewery is in the process of remodeling their downtown Bend Public House, and today (Monday, January 2nd) is the last day they will have the Pub open for most of the rest of January.

Accordingly, tonight they will be holding a “wall smashing ceremony” to kick off the final stages of the remodel:

This Monday we will kick off the New Year with a bang…literally. The first Locals’ Night of 2012 will be the last in the Bend Public House as we know it. Come down and join us for this monumental “Wall Smashing” ceremony on January 2nd at 9 PM as Gary Fish, owner and founder of Deschutes Brewery, takes a sledgehammer to the wall that will connect the old space with the new (see archway above). And if that isn’t enough, we’ll be tapping ONE keg of Veronica Vega’s newest creation, Imperial Bachelor Bitter, at 5pm!

There’s no definitive word on when the Pub will re-open yet (as big construction projects go, even though there’s a target deadline that doesn’t always hold for a variety of reasons) but as soon as I get word of the official date I’ll post it here.

If you’re in Bend today, get your Deschutes fix while you can! (The tasting room and Portland Pub will still be open during this time of course.)

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Shawn Kelso is leaving Barley Brown’s

Posted: January 1st, 2012, 8:19pm CET by Jon

Some interesting news to ring in 2012, as announced on Twitter and Facebook last night by Barley Brown’s owner Tyler Brown: Shawn Kelso, Brewmaster of the Baker City, Oregon brewpub, is leaving.

As many of you have heard, Shawn Kelso is leaving Barley Brown’s to take a brewing job at larger brewery. We wish him the the best of luck in his new adventure.

No further details yet of course, and I’ve got an email out to Brown to find out more. I admit I’m both awfully surprised yet not-entirely-surprised; for when the New School wrote about 10 Barrel Brewing in November, this tidbit stood out:

But if all that is not epic enough, the big news is that the groundwork has been laid for yet another new brewery and brewpub in a very different locale–Boise, Idaho. Currently the brewery’s beers are not available outside of Oregon, so the move to Boise is a surprising jump, especially as most Oregon brewers move vertically to Washington or California. The Cox brothers believe Idaho is an untapped market and Boise is just a city they like. As a base of operations, a new 10 Barrel Brewhouse along with a brewpub is to be announced this coming year and the lease has already been signed. Much like the seasonal and experimental brews they hired Tonya Cornett to brew, they have again reached deep to hire another very well-known and well-liked award winning Oregon brewer who will be relocating for the job. As of now these guys are tight lipped about who said brewer is, but believe me when I say it will be quite shocking when said brewer makes his announcement and puts in his resignation from his current brewery.

I have to admit, my first thought when I read this was, “It’s Shawn Kelso”—partially because Baker City is (relatively) close to Boise, and partially because that would be a huge coup and shocking news.

Pure speculation, of course, and when I find out more I’ll post the news here.

In the meantime, big congratulations to Kelso wherever he lands, and I’m hoping for good news for Barley Brown’s as well.

Oregon Beer News, end of 2011 edition

Posted: December 30th, 2011, 12:23am CET by Jon

There are a ton of things going on as we approach the New Year, so that even though I wasn’t necessarily planning on blogging much this week, I had to note a few of the big things in this final week 2011 wrap-up of Oregon Beer News. I probably won’t be updating this post throughout the day (though I’ll be back at it next week), but if you still have some news to share please contact me and let me know.

Deschutes Brewery (Bend) has a number of big things going on: first, come January 3rd the Bend Pub is going to be closed for most of the month while they finish up the expansion of the Pub—though this could be an indeterminate amount of time, as big construction projects go. The tasting room at the production brewery will still be open, as will the Portland Pub of course.

Then, on Tuesday this week, Hop Henge was being bottled and prepped for the Friday release at both pubs: it will be on draft, available for purchase in bottles, and of course there will be Hop Henge-themed menus as well. Normally Hop Henge is released in January, but I suspect it’s hitting tomorrow due to both the Bend Pub expansion and the trend towards releasing seasonal beers earlier to a thirsty demanding market.

Jeff at Beervana has announced the People’s Choice for his annual Satori Award: Logsdon‘s Seizoen Bretta, the Brett-aged farmhouse-style Saison. I haven’t had the Bretta yet, but I’ve had the regular Seizoen and I really like it—so I will likely be seeking out a bottle of the Bretta this weekend.

Golden Valley Brewery (McMinnville) has been posting pictures of their Beaverton expansion on Facebook this week, and it looks like things are coming along nicely. The bar looks to have at least 15 taps which is more than I believe Golden Valley normally offers at any one time; so perhaps there will be guest taps available—or maybe even the new location will have a small brewhouse of its own?

Below Grade Brewing (Bend) is now bottling their beers, and they are for sale at Bend’s Newport Avenue Market. Though they are nearly sold out of the current inventory! Below Grade is one of Bend’s newest (nano)breweries, a 1bbl “basement” brewery that was previously selling their wares only at the Farmers Market in west Bend’s Northwest Crossing neighborhood; their three house beers are the ones that made it to bottles: Validation Imperial IPA, Old School Ale, and Volksvitzen Amber (their South German Weissbock), the three I micro-reviewed here earlier this year.

What end of the year news would be complete without a Best Of or Top Ten list of some sort? The Willamette Week out of Portland has you covered, with “Oregon’s 10 Best Beers” for 2011. Even though I’ve only had five of those ten beers, I can’t say I disagree with it!

Solera Brewery (Parkdale): A couple of months ago I had speculated about this new brewery that is replacing the closed Elliot Glacier Brewpub, and over at the New School Ezra has the scoop: headed up by Jason Kahler of Hood River’s Big Horse Brewpub and John Hitt of Portland, focusing on solera-styled fermentations along with wild and sour beers. Good stuff, something to look forward to in an already-interesting beer region.

Finally, Brewpublic has a story on Portland’s new Harvester Brewing, which is dedicated to all gluten-free beers. They’re brewing with chestnuts, sorghum, oats, and can sugar (which I’m sure will expand to additional ingredients as they brew more styles). Their first bottled beer, Harvester Pale Ale in 22-ounce bottles, is on sale now at Belmont Station. Sounds interesting, and definitely a beer I’ll seek out to try in the near future.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Posted: December 25th, 2011, 9:08pm CET by Jon

Or, as befitting a beer blog, “Beery Christmas and Hoppy Holidays!” I hope everyone’s having a beer (or two, or three) with their Christmas dinner—I am enjoying a friend’s homebrew as I write this—and maybe something special later as well. (I have a magnum of 2010 Anchor Christmas Ale we’ll be opening with everyone.)

Blogging is going to be light through the rest of the year most likely (I may or may not do the Oregon Beer News daily posts, we’ll see); it’s always nice to take a break after a month of Advent calendar posts leading up to Christmas. And then I’ve got some big ideas for 2012 coming up, so I may be working on those behind the scenes this next week.

Stay safe everyone, enjoy the holidays, the good beer, and good cheer! Merry Christmas!

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Advent Beer Calendar 2011: Day 24: Port Brewing Santa’s Little Helper

Posted: December 24th, 2011, 6:00pm CET by Jon

Port Brewing Santa's Little Helper Today is the final day of the Beer Advent Calendar, and for this Christmas Eve I’ve picked something that every “Santa” might well need this very evening: Port Brewing‘s Santa’s Little Helper. This is a 10.5% abv Imperial Stout that hits the shelves around December (I picked up a bottle in Southern California over Thanksgiving last month) and is a long-standing Port Brewing tradition, having first been brewed in 1997 (14 years ago!).

Made from copious amounts of Roasted and Black Barleys, our stout invites you to share a silky black body with hints of freshly pulled espresso from the coffee house, melding with dark bitter sweet chocolate from a Belgian Chocolateer and the ash of a smoldering fire on a dark winters night.

Just remember that somewhere out there, the jolly old fat man is making a list and checking it twice. He knows who’s been naughty and nice… Might we suggest that you forgo the Milk with the cookies this year and leave him of bottle of something incredibly nice- Say like Santa’s Little Helper? Mrs. Claus would probably like some as well. That is if Rudolph doesn’t drink it all himself. Bad Reindeer.

A big and rich Imperial Stout is exactly what you’ll need as you contemplate stockings, gifts under the tree, plates full of cookies, and whatever else Santa needs helps with.

Merry Christmas!!

Untappd. Facebook. BeerAdvocate: 89/100. RateBeer: 3.91/5, 99th percentile.

Oregon Beer News, 12/23/2011

Posted: December 23rd, 2011, 7:00pm CET by Jon

Here’s the Oregon beer news for Friday, December 23rd, and going into the Christmas weekend! I hope everyone is looking forward to a merry and beery holiday, and stays safe as well! Remember than many breweries are closed on Christmas day and are either closed or are closing early tomorrow (Christmas Eve)—so stock up on your holiday libations now! I’ll be updating this post periodically throughout the day, so if you have some news to share contact me and I’ll post it here when I get the chance.

Double Mountain Brewery (Hood River) has a special Christmas treat for you: a vertical tasting of their Fa La La La La holiday ale tomorrow, Christmas Eve, starting when they open at 11:30am. Four years of vintages will be available: 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011, and it will cost $2 for a five-ounce “mini” snifter or $7 for the flight of the four. It’s limited and first-come, first-served, so don’t waste any time getting there! As a bonus, Brewmaster Matt Swihart will be “lurking” as well so you might get to pick his brain about the beers.

Have you been checking out my daily Beer Advent Calendar here on the Brew Site this month? If not, why not? Each day in December up through Christmas Eve I pick a different holiday beer, just like a real Advent calendar—only online and beer-themed. There’s one day left!

Don’t forget Belmont Station (Portland) is raffling off a bottle each of Westvleteren 8 and 12 (a couple of the most coveted beers in the world) for the low-low price of $2 per raffle ticket, with the drawing taking place Monday, December 26th, at 6pm. All of the proceeds from the raffle will be donated to the Oregon Food Bank, so be sure to buy a bunch of tickets!

Widmer Brother (Portland): They posted on Facebook that Prickly Pear Mead is on tap at their Gasthaus—notable as it’s the same type of wildflower honey (I think) that was used in their Brothers Reserve Prickly Pear Braggot (that was released over a year ago), and it sounds yummy: “Prickly Pear Mead is a rustic style honey mead with a noticable honey flavor and aroma. The honey used for the fermentation was naturally made by honeybees with the nectar gathered from the blossoms of Wild Mountain flower, giving the final product a subtle fruitiness with a hint of spiciness as well. Prickly Pear juice was added to provide an earthy-like quality to round out the sweetness. It also has contributed to the pulpy mater furthering giving this mead complexity.”

Cascade Brewing (Portland): They are previewing the next Bourbonic Plague today: “Today we’ll put on a keg of Pre-Bourbonic, a preview of the next version of Bourbonic Plague that we hope to release in the first half of 2012. The Pre-Bonic will be $7.50 a glass or $2 a taster.”

Burnside Brewing and the New School Beer Blog (Portland) are teaming up this December 31st to hold the New School 2nd Anniversary/Burnside 1st Anniversary New Year’s Eve Bash: a party featuring special beers, raffled schwag (including rare bottles of beer), and overall the party will “benefit the Pink Boots Society and feature special beers by guest breweries with a portion of sales going to the non-profit PBS organization and even a brand new one-off beer brewed by it’s members at Coalition Brewing.” The party starts at 8pm and each hour more schwag and beer will be raffled off. “Starting at 8pm Burnside Brewing will be pouring 6 out of the 8 special beers donated to The New School’s 2 Year Anniversary, the beers will be specially priced at $4 for a pint or glass with $2 of each sold going to PBS. The Pink Boots Society and Coalition Brewing’s collaboration beer of which yielded only a single 1/2 barrel will be on tap from 8pm until the keg kicks with other specialty beers rotated in as kegs blow. Almost all of the donated beers are in very short supply and should turn over quickly. At Midnight Burnside Brewing has graciously offered to tap the last only half full keg of their Gooseberry Berliner-Weisse that was barrel-aged and brewed specifically for a small release at the Portland Fruit Beer Festival early this year. The last remaining gallons of this beer will be poured free as a midnight toast for those who stick around.”

Advent Beer Calendar 2011: Day 23: Mother of All Storms

Posted: December 23rd, 2011, 6:00pm CET by Jon

Pelican Pub Mother of All Storms Today is my birthday! And as is traditional with the Brew Site Beer Advent Calendar, today’s beer is entirely a vanity pick: it may not be a Christmas beer per se (or at all), but it’s one I pick “for myself” and it’s always something special. For this year, since I have a soft spot for barleywines, and for Oregon breweries (who would have guessed?), I’ve picked Pelican Pub & Brewery‘s Mother of All Storms: a huge bourbon-barrel aged barleywine that is released once a year by the Pacific City brewery and is extremely limited—a single bottle of this 13.5% abv beer retails for $25 and before this year was (I believe) only available from the brewery itself.

There are many storms out there, all of them perfect in their own way. But there is only one Mother of all Storms and it only happens in Pacific City, Oregon. Based on Stormwatcher’s Winterfest, our English-style barleywine, Mother of all Storms spent many months aging in Kentucky bourbon barrels. Now at its peak, Mother of all Storms delivers deep flavors of toasted malt, bourbon and oak. The finish rewards with whispers of vanilla, toffee and caramel. Best enjoyed with gusts exceeding 60 mph.

This 2011 vintage is comprised of 2010 Stormwatcher’s Winterfest aged in Heaven Hill bourbon barrels; previous vintages were aged in Evan Williams bourbon barrels. (Previous years’ vintages were named “The Perfect Storm” which had to be changed due to trademark issues.) The Stormwatcher’s Winterfest is a fantastic beer on its own, rich and malty and lush, already hard to improve. But the barrel aging under the deft hand of Brewmaster Darren Welch puts “Mother” right over the top.

Untappd. Facebook. BeerAdvocate: 98/100. RateBeer: 4.03/5, 100th percentile.

Oregon Beer News, 12/22/2011

Posted: December 22nd, 2011, 9:00pm CET by Jon

Here’s the beer news from around Oregon for Thursday, December 22nd. I’ll be updating this post throughout the day so if you have some news to share, contact me and I can get it posted.

Jeff at Beervana is soliciting votes for this year’s Satori Award, his annual “enlightenment” award that is awarded “for the beer released in the previous year (roughly) by an Oregon brewery (roughly) for a regular or seasonal beer”. It’s fun and since he’s taking votes (rather that simply selecting it himself) it’s participatory; I nominated Bend Brewing‘s Ching Ching for this year’s award, for instance. You can vote on the listed beers (or even suggest one not on the list) over on the Facebook post.

Some good last-minute shopping/drinking deals are to be had: Block 15 (Corvallis) is “allowing growler fills of Figgy Pudding for hte next three days. $20/fill” (this is a great deal!), and Seven Brides (Silverton) is running a “$30 Case Special from now through New Year’s, or while supplies last”.

And Hopworks Urban Brewery (Portland) has a case sale going on today too: “Purchase a case of any of our core brands (IPA, DOA and Stout) for $36 as well as special discounts on seasonal offerings including Bike Beer Kolsch, Noggin Floggin Barleywine and Abominable Winter Ale.”

Upcoming tastings, releases, and “Meet the Brewer” events:

Cascade Brewing (Portland) has their ’08 Bourbonic Plague going on tap today at the Barrel House. This ultra-limited special (12.7% abv!) will be selling for $8 per glass.
Hopworks has their Kentucky Christmas going on tap starting at 4pm today: this is their bourbon barrel-aged Abominable Winter Ale that previously was released at the last couple Holiday Ale Festivals. Once it’s gone today, it’s gone for the season.
Fort George Brewery (Astoria) is holding a Meet the Brewer event at the Hawthorne Hophouse in Portland tonight from 6 to 9pm: “Meet the Fort George Brewers, Fort George beer specials all day and a holiday sweater contest. Schwag giveaways all night and a raffle drawing at 9pm. The raffle winner will walk away with a $50 gift certificate to the Hawthorne Hophouse and a $50 gift certificate to Forge George Brewery. Must be present to win.”

Advent Beer Calendar 2011: Day 22: Brooklyn Winter Ale

Posted: December 22nd, 2011, 6:00pm CET by Jon

Today’s beer pick comes from New York’s venerable Brooklyn Brewery: Brooklyn Winter Ale. I’ve been looking forward to including Brooklyn Brewery in the Advent Calendar since 2006, when I featured their Monster Ale barleywine; they are one of what I consider to be the “Old Guard” of American microbreweries and including their Winter Ale is especially fitting since Brewmaster Garrett Oliver’s The Oxford Companion to Beer also came out this year.

Brooklyn Winter Ale is a Scottish-style ale brewed to 6% alcohol by volume, and is malty, rich and creamy with a delicious selection of malts including Scottish Floor-malted Maris Otter, crystal malts, Aromatic malt, roasted malts, and oats.

When the days grow short and the beach recedes into our dreams, we need a very nice beer to get us through the long winter. Based on the satisfying malty ales of blustery Scotland, Brooklyn Winter Ale will have you looking on the bright side of things. Rich Scottish malts bring deep bready flavors to a beer with a full copper color, a round, smooth palate, and brisk hopping that pulls the sweet malts into balance. See – things are looking up already!

What better beer to enjoy on this first full day of winter?

Untappd. Facebook. BeerAdvocate: 83/100. RateBeer: 3.15/5, 64th percentile.

Oregon Beer News, 12/21/2011

Posted: December 21st, 2011, 9:00pm CET by Jon

Here’s the Oregon beer news for Wednesday, the 21st of December. I’ll be updating this post throughout the day with news that I come across, so if you have something to share please contact me and I’ll update it here.

BridgePort Brewing (Portland) is holding the “world premiere” of their latest beer, Dark Rain, at the Concordia Ale House tomorrow (Thursday the 22nd) from 11am until the keg blows. Concordia post a picture of the label on their Facebook page, from which we can see Dark Rain is a “Black Pale Ale” (“Hoppy with a drizzle of roasted malt”) and I think it is 5.6% alcohol by volume.

Belmont Station (Portland) is raffling off something special: “Raffling off Westvleteren 8 & 12, only $2 a ticket. All proceeds go to the Oregon Food Bank. Drawing will be December 26th @6PM. Feel lucky?” Westy 12 is widely considered one of the best (and hardest-to-get) beers in the world (though Jeff doesn’t necessarily think so), so this is something special indeed! $2 a ticket is a steal for a chance to win, plus it’s for a good cause. Don’t pass this up! (Additional detail on their events page.)

Double Mountain Brewery (Hood River) is holding a vertical tasting of their seasonal Fa La La La La on Christmas Eve (Saturday) from 11:30am to 2:30pm: “Come sample the last four years of the Fa La La! Tasters will be $2 for a 5-ounce mini-snifter, and $7 for a full flight of four Fas. We’ll be putting on one keg of each vintage, so it’s definitely first-come, first served. Brewmaster Matt will likely be lurking. And with any luck there may be some left post-Christmas, too. Happy holidays everybody!” Since Fa La La La La is an exuberantly hopped beer I’d be very curious to see how well it stands up to aging (since hoppy beers generally don’t age well as far as the hops are concerned).

Pelican Pub & Brewery (Pacific City): They have their “Mother of All Beer Tastings” coming up tomorrow, the 22nd, where they’ll be tasting an amazing lineup of vintages: Mother of All Storms 2008, 2009, and 2010, and Stormwatcher’s Winterfest 2007, 2008 and 2009. Appetizers and beers will be served cocktail-party-fashion, and it costs $40 per person, with reservations required—and today is the last day to reserve tickets! Get on it!

The Green Dragon (Portland) is releasing their Solstice Amber Ale (a Green Dragon Project Release) tonight from 5 to 8pm, to celebrate the winter solstice (which occurs tonight at 9:30pm PST astronomically speaking). This is a 7% abv ale with “bready, bittersweet chocolate & caramel malt aroma supplemented by a flowery kiss of Northwest and Czech hops.”

Happy hours, specials, and cheap pours:

Cascade Lakes Brewing (Redmond/Bend): It’s Locals Night at their Lodge in Bend, from 6 to 10pm, with $3.25 pints.
Occidental Brewing (Portland): Every Wednesday they offer $8 growlers.
Coalition Brewing (Portland): Wednesday (I believe) is their pint night, featuring $2.50 pints.
Silver Moon Brewing (Bend): This week’s Growler Power Hour features Oktoberfest Lager, Bridge Creek Pilsner, and Snake Bite Porter. The Growler Power Hour runs on Tuesday and Wednesday from 4 to 6pm and offers $5 growler fills on those two beers.
Boneyard Beer (Bend): Wednesdays they fill growlers for only $6.
Three Creeks (Sisters): They offer $3 pints and $7 growlers from 4 to 8pm.

Advent Beer Calendar 2011: Day 21: Hook Norton Twelve Days

Posted: December 21st, 2011, 6:00pm CET by Jon

Hook Norton Twelve Days Today’s beer comes from the Hook Norton Brewery in England: their Twelve Days, a festive brown ale billed as a “Strong Ale” (at 5.5% abv that’s strong for English ales). While a nutty, malty presence gives it that warming Christmas character, it also (somewhat amusingly to me) looks the part, according to the Brewery, being the color of “perfect Christmas pudding.”

Twelve Days has a dominant malty palate with nutty flavours. The use of roasted chocolate malt creates the rich colour. Hook Norton Managing Director James Clarke said: “Anyone drinking a glass of Twelve Days will quickly discover that it has the depth of character to warm even the coldest winter’s night.”

“The hop character is present in the aftertaste, which is dominated by a refreshing sweetness. It goes well with a log fire, or blue cheese, or maybe rich Christmas cake or pudding.”

While the bottled version is available year-round, the draft version makes its appearance in pubs the first of December and lasts only through the holidays—though hopefully long enough to toast the true Twelve Days of Christmas (which begin on the 25th and end on January 5th)!

Untappd. Facebook. BeerAdvocate: 86/100. RateBeer: 3.43/5, 90th percentile.

Oregon Beer News, 12/20/2011

Posted: December 20th, 2011, 9:00pm CET by Jon

Here’s the Oregon beer news for Tuesday, December 20th. I’ve noticed (and suspected) that the news is quieter this week (for obvious reasons), but there’s still stuff going on. I’ll be updating this post throughout the day so please contact me if you have news to share.

To continue with the “last minute Christmas shopping” theme I started yesterday, The Bier Stein (Eugene) has just the thing for you: “Hey, all you last minute shoppers! We have plenty of great gift ideas for that craft beer lover in your life! We have a great supply of assorted glassware, gift packs, specialty beers and gift certificates available for any amount you would like. Have a great Holiday, Cheers!”

And, Oakshire Brewing (Eugene) posted about a new “Oregon IPA” 4-pack that is on the shelves now: “New IPA Bomber boxes which include 22 ounce bottles of delicious Oakshire Watershed IPA, 10 Barrel Apocalypse IPA, Lompoc C-Note and SOB’s Nice Rack. They are retailing for around $20.00.” That’s a good price for a nice selection and coverage of Oregon’s IPAs.

Breakside Brewery (Portland) is closed today for their company holiday party, but will be open again and pouring beers tomorrow.

Ninkasi (Eugene) has posted a picture of the collaboration brew they did with Stone Brewing and The Alchemist—their “More Brown than Black IPA”—by which I’m guessing it should be hitting shelves here in Oregon soon. One to look for!

Upcoming tastings, releases, and “Meet the Brewer” events:

Deschutes Brewery (Bend & Portland) has the Red Chair NWPA release parties going on today at the Bend and Portland Pubs (all day). With draft and bottles of Red Chair available, along with swag and specially-themed menus.
Cascade Brewing (Portland) is breaking out the good stuff on Thursday, the 22nd: original 2008 Bourbonic Plague. This is one tasting you simply can’t miss if you’re in Portland. It’s 12.67% abv and $8 per glass, and the tasting starts at 4pm.
And tonight, their Tap it Tuesday is featuring “Shrieking Violet Blueberry” a strong spiced Quad barrel aged alone and then on blueberries for over 2 years total. The tapping is at 6pm, and will sell for $7 per glass. (11% abv)
Hopworks Urban Brewery (Portland) is tonight releasing their Brouwer’s Anniversary Imperial Stout, an “imperial version of our 7-Grain Stout (minus the coffee) to help celebrate the 6^th anniversary of Seattle’s famed Brouwer’s Café.” This should be an exciting beer and the tapping starts at 4pm.
The Green Dragon (Portland) has a new release tomorrow (Wednesday the 21st) as part of their “Green Dragon Project” beers: Solstice Amber Ale (just in time for the first day of winter on the 22nd!). “Just in time for the Winter Solstice, this Amber Ale boasts a bready, bittersweet chocolate & caramel malt aroma supplemented by a flowery kiss of Northwest and Czech hops. This ale complements long evenings of recollection, the celebration of longer days to come and the rhythm of Earth’s trip around the sun. Cheers!” The release is from 5 to 8pm.

Happy hours, specials, and cheap pours:

Bend Brewing (Bend): Today is Locals Night, with $2.75 pints from 4pm to closing, and half-price appetizers from 4 to 6pm and 9pm to closing.
Silver Moon Brewing (Bend): This week’s Growler Power Hour features Oktoberfest Lager, Bridge Creek Pilsner, and Snake Bite Porter. The Growler Power Hour runs on Tuesday and Wednesday from 4 to 6pm and offers $5 growler fills on those two beers.
Lompoc Brewing (Portland) (usually) features their Tightwad Tuesday at Fifth Quadrant & Hedge House, with $2.50 pints all day long today. (Though I haven’t seen a post about it specifically today.)

Advent Beer Calendar 2011: Day 20: Jewbelation 15 and 8 Malty Nights

Posted: December 20th, 2011, 6:00pm CET by Jon

Jewbelation 15 and 8 Malty Nights Today to commemorate the first day of Hanukkah (which begins at sunset) I have picked not one but two Hanukkah beers (the only two that I’m aware of, in fact): Shmaltz Brewing’s Jewbelation 15, and Lompoc Brewing’s 8 Malty Nights. Picking the two of them together was actually inspired by the teaming up of both breweries in Portland earlier this month for “The Ultimate Chanukah Beer Release” of these two beers so it seemed fitting to do the same here.

Jewbelation 15 is the 15th anniversary powerhouse of an ale from Shmaltz (of San Francisco and New York), and “15″s abound: 15 malts used, 15 hop varieties over 15 additions, and 15% alcohol by volume.

Untappd. Facebook. BeerAdvocate: 87/100. RateBeer: 3.87/5.

8 Malty Nights is a Chocolate Rye Porter from Lompoc of Portland (Oregon), a 6.5% abv beer that (in the past at least) has been aged in bourbon barrels. It’s Portland’s first (and only) Hanukkah beer.

Untappd. Facebook. BeerAdvocate: 85/100 (approx). RateBeer: 3.75/5.

L’Chaim!

Oregon Beer News, 12/19/2011

Posted: December 19th, 2011, 9:00pm CET by Jon

Countdown to Christmas! Here’s the beer news for Oregon for Monday, December 19th. I’ll be updating the news throughout the day, if you have something to share feel free to contact me and I’ll post it.

Since we’re in the Christmas countdown—only six more days!—you may of course be looking for beery gifts to purchase to put under the tree of the beer people in your life. To that end, Bend Brewing (Bend) has posted a Holiday Gift Ideas album to Facebook, while Hopworks (Portland) notes that today is the last day to shop from their online store and receive the shipment(s) my Christmas. (I’ll post more shopping items as I see them.)

Speaking of Hopworks, Ezra over at the New School has posted the list of special releases Hopworks is offering this Christmas week: starting yesterday with Noggin Floggin Barleywine (of which I picked up a bottle here in Bend this weekend!), continuing tomorrow with an Imperial Stout release, and more later on in the week. Get over to Hopworks to take advantage of these specials!

Fort George Brewery (Astoria) has a Seafood and Belgian Ales Brewers Dinner this Wednesday, the 21st: five courses of delicious seafood dishes paired with Belgian ales (both from Fort George and from Belgium) plus an “intro” beer to start the evening. The cost is $65 per person (or 2 for $120 special); I don’t know if there are still seats available as the event isn’t showing up in their online store that I can see, but you can find out by calling the Pub directly at 503-325-7468.

Deschutes Brewery (Bend & Portland): Tomorrow (the 20th) is the release parties for Red Chair NWPA at both the Bend and Portland pubs. All day long at both locations you’ll be able to pick up bottles of Red Chair (which officially comes out in January) and swag, as well as enjoy pints of same and a special Red Chair-themed menu (different at each pub).

Breakside Brewery (Portland): They brewed a Dark Lager “in collaboration with the great restaurant Pok Pok. It goes great with spicy foods and at 4.8% ABV is a perfect winter session beer.” It’s on tap now and I’ll admit it—it does sound a bit tame compared to some of the other big and unusual beers Breakside brews. However, nothing beats a well-brewed, clean lager when it comes to brewing knowledge and quality control, so I’d expect nothing less here.

Speaking of unusual, Coalition Brewing (Portland) has a somewhat cryptic-sounding beer: “Did you say Pork Bao Beer? Yup, in the works for Chinese New Year.” Yes, that refers to Chinese barbecued pork… which implies a meat-based beer.

Happy hours, specials, and cheap pours:

Migration Brewing (Portland) has $3 pints every Monday.
Lompoc Brewing (Portland) features Miser Mondays at their “New Old” and Oaks Bottom locations, with $2.50 pints all day.
Silver Moon Brewing (Bend): Monday is Locals Night, and they feature $2.50 pints all day long.
Deschutes Brewery (Bend): The Bend pub features $3.50 pints from 4 to 11pm on Mondays.

Advent Beer Calendar 2011: Day 19: Abita Christmas Ale

Posted: December 19th, 2011, 6:00pm CET by Jon

Today’s beer pick comes from the oldest brewery in the American southeast: Abita Christmas Ale from Abita Brewing. Founded in 1986, Abita is celebrating their 25th anniversary this year and is Louisiana’s premier craft brewery, located 30 miles north of New Orleans.

Their Christmas Ale is a 5.5% abv holiday treat with a piney hoppy character that calls to mind the family Christmas tree—that is to say, rather than the “traditional” spiciness that many brewers complement their holiday beers with, Abita brews a hop-forward ale.

Generally, this beer is a dark ale, however, the recipe changes each year, offering a unique product crafted with special care. Enjoy your holidays with Abita Christmas Ale. The spicy character is excellent with traditional holiday foods such as gingerbread or spiced nuts. Try some Blue cheese or a creamy Camembert with a Christmas Ale.

The only thing I’d like to see added to such a Christmas beer is pecans, though Abita already has that covered with their Pecan Ale. If you’re feeling adventurous, try blending half Christmas Ale, half Pecan Ale for that additional nutty kick.

Untappd. Facebook. BeerAdvocate: 78/100. RateBeer: 2.84/5, 34th percentile.

Advent Beer Calendar 2011: Day 18: Terminal Gravity Festivale

Posted: December 18th, 2011, 6:00pm CET by Jon

Today’s beer pick comes from Terminal Gravity Brewing in the remote, tiny Oregon town of Enterprise: their Festivale, a strong ale brewed to 8.3% alcohol by volume.

Terminal Gravity’s Festivale is in the style of British strong or “old” ales. We brewed it to be fairly dry so that it is completely drinkable and not cloying. It has huge and complex malt and hops flavors with a nice little alcoholic warmth in the finish. The color is deep ruby brown and it produces a fine cream colored cascading head. If you like strong ales, this might be one of your new favorites!

Only a handful of Terminal Gravity’s brews are bottled for distribution, and fortunately Festivale is one of them—otherwise you’d have to make the trek into the far northeastern interior of Oregon to track this one down.

Untappd. Facebook. BeerAdvocate: B. RateBeer: 3.73/5, 96th percentile.

Advent Beer Calendar 2011: Day 17: Moerlein Christkindl

Posted: December 17th, 2011, 6:00pm CET by Jon

Moerlein Christkindl Winter Warmer Ale Today’s beer selection comes from the Christian Moerlein Brewing Company in Cincinnati, Ohio: their Christkindl Winter Warmer Ale. Cincinnati has a rich German heritage which is reflected in the Moerlein beers, and Christkindl is no exception: the name literally means “Christmas” in German (as does “Weihnacht”).

This is a malty and sweetly rich Winter Warmer, weighing in at 6.95% alcohol by volume. Their description:

You’ve discovered Moerlein Christkindl – a Winter Warmer inspired by the German spirit of Holiday gift-giving. Unwrap this large malt-bodied ale with the essence of chocolate sweetness. The balanced hop finish creates a subtle spice flavor sure to excite your taste buds and bring you that cozy, warm feeling for those crisp, wintry nights. Share the warmth and enjoy the perfect brew for the season with the gift of Moerlein Christkindl Winter Ale.

Moerlein notably had the first American beer to “certifiably pass” the Reinheitsgebot purity law, and while I don’t know if Christkindl is brewed to a Reinheitsgebot-approved recipe, I’m quite sure it will have you saying, “Frohe Christkindl!” come Christmas day.

Untappd. Facebook. BeerAdvocate: B. RateBeer: 3.24/5, 76th percentile.

Oregon Beer News, 12/16/2011

Posted: December 16th, 2011, 9:00pm CET by Jon

Here’s the beer news for Oregon for Friday the 17th of December, and going into the weekend. TGIF! I’ll be updating this post throughout the day, so contact me if you have some news you’d like to share.

Pelican Pub & Brewery (Pacific City) now has their Bridal Ale on tap, and will be bottling today to be ready in a few weeks (after bottle conditioning). Bridal Ale is a vintaged 7.5% abv Bière de Garde style seasonal originally brewed to celebrate the wedding of Pelican brewer Travis Zeilstra and server Jen Pelletier and was popular enough (and award-winning enough!) to come back each year since. And relatedly, Pelican’s Le Pelican Brun is also available (both on tap and in the bottle).

Golden Valley Brewery (McMinnville) is opening a second location in Beaverton (slated to open in January) and they’ve just launched a Facebook page for the new location. They’ve posted some photos of the progress thus far and promise a firm opening date soon. I reviewed Golden Valley back in 2008 and if the Beaverton location is anything like the original, they’ll be very successful.

Flat Tail Brewing (Corvallis): The are expanding the brewing team from one to three—up until now the brewing show was run by Dave Marliave by himself, but now he’s being joined by brewer Sean Martin and cellar hand Jon Reed. “Stop by in a few weeks for Sean’s first recipes; an English Pale fermented in Cider Barrels, and a Scottish Wee Heavy fermented in our open tank.” Congrats!

Plew’s Brews (Portland beer bar located in St. John’s) is hosting their very first Annual Winter Beer Fest this weekend, starting today (the 16th) and lasting through Sunday (the 18th). The hours are 5pm to midnight Friday, noon to midnight Saturday, and noon to 6pm Sunday. Brewpublic has a great writeup, including the beer list—a solid representation of some great winter beers and some nice rarities. Pricing is pretty standard: $15 for a glass and 10 tickets, $1 per ticket for a 4-ounce pour.

Upcoming tastings, releases, and “Meet the Brewer” events:

Upright Brewing (Portland) is holding a tasting with Brewer Alex Ganum at Bottles tonight, from 6:30 to 9:30pm. In addition to the year-round offerings look for some special seasonal beers.
Migration Brewing (Portland) is debuting their new Sassy Lass Imperial Stout tomorrow (Saturday) at the brewery, from 5 to 8pm. Migration posted a bit more about Sassy Lass here; it’s 8.5% abv with 76 IBUs, and was brewed as a tribute beer to the brewer’s girlfriend.
The Green Dragon (Portland) is hosting a Christmas Vs. Hanukah (aka “Hanukah Hoedown Throwdown“) tomorrow (Saturday) from 5 to 11:30pm: “We’ll be having a Hanukah Hoedown Throwdown with Shmaltz Brewing pitting 5 of their rare Hanukah beers against 5 rare Christmas beers by Lompoc Brewing.” Reps from both breweries will be on hand and there will be prizes raffled—so even though it’s a “competition” everybody wins!
Three Creeks Brewing (Sisters) is holding a vertical tasting of their holiday beer, Rudolph Imperial Red, on Saturday starting at 4pm. This is featuring vintages from 2008 through this year, though the available slots for the tasting may already be closed (the Facebook post was added on Wednesday and they indicated there was only one slot left). Of course you can call the brewery directly at 541-549-1963 to see if that one slot is still open.

Advent Beer Calendar 2011: Day 16: Grand Teton Coming Home

Posted: December 16th, 2011, 6:00pm CET by Jon

Grand Teton Coming Home 2011 Today’s beer pick comes from the base of the Teton Mountains in eastern Idaho: Grand Teton Brewing’s Coming Home Holiday Ale 2011. This is the second vintage in Grand Teton’s annual Holiday Ale program—featuring a different cellar-able beer each year—and this 2011 edition is brewed in the style of a Belgian Tripel (the Brewery calls it a Golden Ale) that is 9% abv.

This Belgian-Style Golden Ale is rich in flavor and is designed to be a smooth and soothing sipping beer. Deep blonde in color, Coming Home 2011 uses rich malts balanced by a special Belgian yeast strain which adds notes of soft, peppery, clove-like spice character to the beer. Belgian candi sugar is used during the brewing process to give this ale a clean, easy drinking appeal. True to the Belgian tripel style, it carries deceivingly soft alcohol aromas. Don’t let the innocence fool you, this holiday ale is one to be respected. It will delight when shared with your favorite people during the holiday season and can also be cellared to warm you on any cold winter’s day. This beer should age gracefully and can be cellared for a year or more.

Each year’s edition features a different label, as well, and I have to say I rather love this year’s label featuring the vintage car being loaded up for the trip home for the holidays. Christmas in the mountains? It’s hard to beat that.

Untappd. Facebook. BeerAdvocate: B+. RateBeer: 3.74/5.

Oregon Beer News, 12/15/2011

Posted: December 15th, 2011, 8:00pm CET by Jon

Here’s the Oregon beer news for Thursday, December 15th. There are a lot of events going on today, as Jeff noted earlier in the week, particularly in Portland. I’ll be updating this news throughout the day, so if you have additional news or events you’d like to share, contact me and I’ll update this post.

Falling Sky Brewing (Eugene): I posted briefly about this new up-and-coming brewery recently (via the New School), and the Oregon Brewers Guild yesterday posted a bit more information which reminded me they are planning to open in January. On Facebook yesterday they posted that the OLCC has given their approval to the new brewery so it sounds like if all goes well they will indeed open on time. This will put the number of breweries in Eugene to six, if I’m counting correctly!

Rock Bottom Brewery (Portland): According to the Oregon Brewers Guild, Rock Bottom is celebrating a 17th Anniversary Release today: “Brewers C. Hutchins & Bolton M. will have a trivia questionaire from 1994, prizes, a new anniversary beer and cake.” Unfortunately I can’t find anything else about this, including on Rock Bottom’s own Facebook page; I know Rock Bottom is often looked down upon by the beer geeks for being a chain pub, but this seems like it would be a fun event to check out. It starts at 5:30pm.

Upcoming tastings, releases, and “Meet the Brewer” events:

Coalition Brewing (Portland): They have their inaugural movie night tonight that continues in the celebration of their Apollo Creed CDA release—but that’s not all! There is a “beer showdown” between Apollo Creed and a new small-batch “White” Wheat IPA and the movie they’re showing is the original “Rocky”—get it? Apollo Creed… Rocky… CDA vs. White IPA… Yeah. The event runs from 7 to 10pm.
The Green Dragon (Portland) is featuring a Meet the Brewer with Jason McAdam from Burnside Brewing, starting at 5pm. The beers being poured will be Burnside Alt, Oyster Strong Ale, Alter Ego 2PA, and Bacon Gas Infused Bourbon Barrel Stout. (“Bacon Gas Infused”??)
Oakshire Brewing (Eugene) will be at Belmont Station in Portland from 5 to 8pm tonight for the Skookumchuck release and meet the brewer with Matt Van Wyk. “We’ll have a limited number of bottles for sale and when they are gone that’s all there is. Plus Skookumchuck, Hellshire II, and Ill Tempered Gnome on tap in the Biercafe.”
The Hop & Vine (Portland) is featuring “Christmakuh” in conjunction with Sierra Nevada Brewing, a special tasting with proceeds helping the Oregon Food Bank. There will be eight Sierra Nevada beers on tap, including Life & Limb, Foam Pilnser, and the Ovila lineup: “The Hop & Vine and Sierra Nevada representatives will have 8 special limited beers on draft and a free Ovila chalice when you bring a new toy for the Portland Metro Toy Drive. The entrance fee is one non-perishable food item or $1 to get in going towards the Oregon Food Bank in this time of need. The incredible lineup of brews on tap include many seasonals and rarities including offerings from SN’s Beer Camp line of beers and the complete Trappist collaboration Ovila series of 4 beers available in a flight for only $7.”
Occidental Brewing (Portland) is holding a tap takeover at Bottles on Fremont in Portland, from 6 to 9pm tonight: “Six Occidental beers will pouring, including a small batch of Trippel, never before released.”
Full Sail Brewing (Hood River) has their December Brewmaster Dinner tonight starting at 5pm (and going until they run out). Cost is $30 per person and the four courses available look really tasty!
Cascade Brewing (Portland) is releasing “Frost Killer” a big Winter Warmer at their Barrel House today. It has 8.3% abv and “notes of ginger & spice & a mellow sweet finish.” As a bonus, a vintage 2009 Vlad the Imp Aler is being released today as well—get down there and get it while you can!

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Advent Beer Calendar 2011: Day 15: Scaldis Noël

Posted: December 15th, 2011, 6:00pm CET by Jon

Today’s beer pick is a Belgian Christmas classic: Scaldis Noël, also known as Bush de Noël in its native country, from Brasserie Dubuisson in western Belgium. Admittedly, “classic” might be a bit of a misnomer, as even though Dubuisson was founded in 1769, Scaldis Noël was introduced only two decades ago, in 1991—marking this year as the 20th anniversary of this Christmas beer.

This is also one of the strongest of the Christmas beers on this year’s Advent Calendar, second only to Samichlaus: Scaldis weighs in at 12% alcohol by volume. For all its strength, this is an incredibly smooth, rich beer to drink, made with generous amounts of caramel malts and candi sugar, and is pleasantly warming without the alcohol burn one would expect from such a volume.

This is also the perfect stocking-stuffer-sized bottle: 25 centiliters, or approximately 8.5 fluid ounces (one third less than the American standard bottle size of 12 ounces). With its festive packaging it would fit right in on Christmas morning!

Untappd. BeerAdvocate: B+. RateBeer: 3.67/5, 97th percentile.

Oregon Beer News, 12/14/2011

Posted: December 14th, 2011, 8:00pm CET by Jon

Here’s the news for Oregon beer for Wednesday, December 14th. We’re halfway through the week! I’ll be updating this page of news throughout the day, so if you have news to share please contact me and I’ll add it.

Full Sail Brewing (Hood River) has big things going on all around: first off, they are expanding their Brewer’s Share program to bottled releases starting in January. The Brewer’s Share series allowed each of their brewers to create a pub-exclusive brew reflecting the individuality of that brewer; for 2012 these small-batch brews will be released in 22-ounce bottles as well as on draft. The line-up of beers will be Extra Special Barney (ESB), Phil’s Existential Alt, Chris’s Summer Delight Berliner Weiss and Big Daddy J’s Malt Liquor. Look for the first of those to be released next month.

Next, their December Brewmaster’s Dinneris taking place tomorrow, the 15th, at their Hood River Pub & Tasting Room. The dinner starts at 5pm and costs $30 per person (a great deal), and features four courses of Christmas-themed dinner paired with great beers—capped by a dessert of Stout Buche de Noel with Whipped Cream paired with 2011 Black Gold Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout.

And, January also sees the release of LTD 04, a single-malt, single-hop addition to the “LTD” series lineup. This lager is brewed with only pale malt and Willamette hops and is 7% abv; it will be available from January to March. (The LTD series is a small-batch series of lager beers that are released periodically.)

Lompoc Brewing (Portland): Their 8 Malty Nights release party is tonight, celebrating the release of Portland’s only Chanukah beer (“8 Malty Nights” of course, “Lightly hopped with English style hops, this dark brown chocolate rye features a roasted chocolate flavor and a sweet finish”), and they are also featuring the Schmaltz Brewing release of Jewbelation 15, their 15th anniversary beer “brewed with 15 robust malts, 15 unique hops, and weighs in at 15% ABV.” The release party takes place at the Sidebar and kicks off at 6pm, and of course will also feature plenty of Lompoc’s other holiday beers. This one’s not to be missed!

10 Barrel (Bend): Progress on the new 50-barrel brewery is coming along, as evidenced by this (first) silo that is nearing completion, if a bit slow: “The Manufacture told us that is would take 3 days to assemble each Silo. I guess that was a joke because Chris, Jake and I are on our seventh day and it is still not completed.” We all know how projects like that can go—hopefully the next silos will go up much quicker!

Alameda Brewing (Portland) has a Hazelnut Porter on tap that simply sounds delicious: “50 pounds of locally grown, pressed hazelnuts combine with notes of chocolate to create this robust porter. It is a smooth drinking ale that is only available at the pub.”

Upcoming tastings, releases, and “Meet the Brewer” events:

McMenamins Old St. Francis School (Bend) has a Limited Edition Beer Release tonight starting at 5pm: “The Bad Boy Brown is a bigger version of a brown ale. Lots of malt flavors with hints of toffee, caramel and just enough hops to balance the sweet malt tones. On top of all that the ABV sits at just over 7%! But wait there’s more, the extra special aspect of the Bad Boy, an oak spiral was first charred over open flame and then soaked in some of our Hogshead Whiskey. This spiral was placed into 1 pony keg of our brown ale and steeped for a couple weeks!” This will be available in the main pub and their Fireside Bar.
Breakside Brewery (Portland): Tonight is the bottle release of Bourbon Barrel Aztec and Soursop Wheat, their strong ale with chocolate and chiles, and Belgian wheat beer blend aged on soursop fruit, respectively. The release runs from 3 to 6pm and in addition to having bottles available, both beers will be on (limited) tap.
Migration Brewing (Portland) is releasing an Imperial Stout this Saturday the 17th: Sassy Lass Imperial Stout. The release is from 5 to 8pm but I don’t (yet) see any details on the beer itself.
Ninkasi (Eugene) is doing a tasting in Medford tonight: “Come and taste Ninkasi Beers tonight at Beerworks on Main Street in Downtown Medford from 5-7pm. Troy will be there pouring beers.”

Happy hours, specials, and cheap pours:

Cascade Lakes (Redmond): At their Lodge in Bend, every Wednesday is Locals Night from 6 to 10pm, featuring $3.25 pints.
Occidental Brewing (Portland): Every Wednesday Occidental offers $8 growler fills.
Silver Moon Brewing (Bend): Their Growler Power Hour continues today featuring Oktoberfest Lager and Hound’s Tooth Amber Ale. The Growler Power Hour runs on Tuesday and Wednesday from 4 to 6pm and offers $5 growler fills on the two featured beers.

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Advent Beer Calendar 2011: Day 14: Page 24 Bière de Noël

Posted: December 14th, 2011, 6:00pm CET by Jon

Today’s beer is another Christmas ale from France: Page 24 Bière de Noël from Brasserie Saint-Germain in the northern region of the country. Like Jenlain’s beer, this one is brewed “in the great tradition of the North”—which led me to dig around a bit and discover that the French tradition of Christmas/holiday beer originated in Northern France. (I had thought the Jenlain entry was claiming that Christmas beers in general originated there.)

This Bière de Noël is a traditional strong Bière de Garde brewed for the holidays to a warming 6.9% alcohol by volume. Malty and rich with roasted malts, the brewery suggests it will pair well with wild game (think venison) and beef kidney, chicken stew, and other regional dishes.

In fact I’d wager this would pair even better with a bûche de Noël, the traditional French Christmas dessert (literally, “Yule log”—a special rolled cake). A warm fire, a slice of the Yule cake, and a goblet of Bière de Noël—it’s tough to get any better than that.

Untappd. BeerAdvocate: A-. RateBeer: 3.19/5, 69th percentile.

Oregon Beer News, 12/13/2011

Posted: December 13th, 2011, 8:00pm CET by Jon

Here’s the beer news from around Oregon for Tuesday, the 13th of December. As usual I’m curating the news from around the web and will be updating this post throughout the day; if you have news you’d like to share, please contact me and I’ll get it updated.

Coalition Brewing (Portland) still has free malt (and free schwag) to give away in conjunction with their new CDA, Apollo Creed: “Free Shwag! Free Malt! Join us today at 3pm to try our new CDA, “Apollo Creed” and get your hands on some Briess Malting schwag and a pound of their new malt, Midnight Wheat!”

Upright Brewing (Portland): They are releasing this year’s holiday beer, Billy the Mountain, this weekend: “Look for the new version of Billy the Mountain in bottles this weekend. This years is a blend designed to change even more over time in the bottle. You can also meet Alex and try samples of Billy & more at new St. Johns bottle shop Barrel this Friday.”

10 Barrel (Bend) is the subject of a great writeup over at the New School: news on their immediate future and expansion, including their plans to open up a brewpub in Boise. There apparently is also news to set the rumor mill churning: “[T]hey have again reached deep to hire another very well-known and well-liked award winning Oregon brewer who will be relocating for the [Boise] job. As of now these guys are tight lipped about who said brewer is, but believe me when I say it will be quite shocking when said brewer makes his announcement and puts in his resignation from his current brewery.”

Happy hours, specials, and cheap pours:

Bend Brewing (Bend): Today is Locals Night, with $2.75 pints from 4pm to closing, and half-price appetizers from 4 to 6pm and 9pm to closing.
Cascade Brewing (Portland): It’s Tap It Tuesday, and starting at 6pm they are featuring Live Cherry Bourbonic Plague: “We took a 20-month-old Thai cinnamon version of the Bourbonic and aged it a further 4 months on Bing cherries.”
Silver Moon Brewing (Bend): This week’s Growler Power Hour features Oktoberfest Lager and Hound’s Tooth Amber Ale. The Growler Power Hour runs on Tuesday and Wednesday from 4 to 6pm and offers $5 growler fills on those two beers.
Lompoc Brewing (Portland) is featuring their Tightwad Tuesday at Fifth Quadrant & Hedge House, with $2.50 pints all day long today.

Upcoming tastings, releases, and “Meet the Brewer” events:

The Bier Stein (Eugene) has a partial tap takeover and is celebrating the 15th Anniversary Release Party for Firestone Walker tonight from 6 to 9pm. “We will have 6 FW brews on tap including 15th Anniversary Barrel-aged blend! If you buy a glass of 15th Anniversary you will receive a 4 oz. sample of 14th Anniversary to have side by side(while supplies last). We will also have bottles of both 14th and 15th Anniversary available for a discounted price if you buy them together!”
Breakside Brewery (Portland) tomorrow has a bottle and draft release of two barrel-aged beers: Bourbon Barrel Aztec and Soursop Wheat. The release starts at 3pm and they will also “likely debut one or two other special new beers throughout the evening.”
Belmont Station (Portland) is hosting a “Eurobrews” tasting from 5 to 8pm: “Taste a wonderful range of Imports you may never have tried: St. Peter’s Grapefruit (yes, a wheat beer with grapefruit), St. Peters Winter Ale, Holy Grail Black Knight, Black Sheep Ale, and Xingu Black Lager. Xingu is from Brazil, the rest are from England. Your host will be Will Smith (no not that Will Smith).”
Lompoc Brewing‘s “8 Malty Nights: The Ultimate Chanukah Beer Release” kicks off tomorrow (Wednesday the 14th)—this is their release of their 8 Malty Nights Chanukah beer, teamed up with Schmaltz Brewing and the release of their Jewbelation 15. The release party runs from 6 to 10pm at their Sidebar.

Advent Beer Calendar 2011: Day 13: McMenamins Kris Kringle

Posted: December 13th, 2011, 6:00pm CET by Jon

McMenamins Kris Kringle Today’s selection is the annual Yuletide ale from the McMenamins breweries of Oregon and Washington: Kris Kringle. This Winter Warmer makes its appearance every year from roughly Thanksgiving through Christmas, and this year for only the second time ever McMenamins has made it available in bottles—last year it was an extremely limited run of only 200 magnums, and this year it was bottled in 22-ounce bombers.

The 2011 version of Kris Kringle is a hearty and robust ale with a big and bold malt complexity as well as an intense and flavorful hop profile. This “winter warmer” highlights the rich, toasty, aromatic and chocolaty malt flavors as its very sturdy foundation. Generous amounts of four different hop varieties were added in five different additions that delivers a magnificent and massive hop assault. There’s still some ginger and cinnamon added into the batch but the spices are a little more subdued than in years’ past.

It’s 6.84% abv and you can find it on tap at any of McMenamins’ many locations. The bottles, however, are only sold at a few locations I believe, but you can buy them online to be shipped anywhere in Oregon. There’s a certain fun irony in having “Santa” (aka Kris Kringle) delivered to you rather than Santa himself doing the delivering—fortunately this delivery doesn’t come via chimney!

Untappd. Facebook. BeerAdvocate: B+. RateBeer: 3.31/5, 71st percentile.

The next Session: When not drinking beer…

Posted: December 13th, 2011, 8:36am CET by Jon

The announcement for the next Session, #59 in January, has hit the net, and it’s being hosted by Mario Rubio of Brewed For Thought. The topic is perhaps a bit counterintuitive: What do you drink when you’re not drinking beer?

I almost always drink beer, but when I don’t…

So as we are all incredibly interesting people, and almost always drink beer, let’s talk about what we drink when not drinking beer. Maybe your passion for coffee rivals that of craft beer, or it could be another alcoholic beverage such as scotch. My daughter being a root beer fan would appreciate her dad reviewing a few fizzy sodas. Maybe you have a drink that takes the edge off the beer, be it hair of the dog or a palate cleanser during the evening.

Beer cocktails, wines, ciders, meads, you name it as long as it’s not beer. Try to tie it in with craft beer in some way for extra credit. Be creative and I’ll see you guys in the new year.

Next month’s Session takes place on Friday, January 6.

Oregon Beer News, 12/12/2011

Posted: December 12th, 2011, 8:00pm CET by Jon

Here’s the Oregon beer news for Monday, December 12th. We’re now less that two weeks until Christmas! (I hope you’re getting your beer shopping done!) I’ll be updating this news page throughout the day, so feel free to contact me if you have something to share.

Burnside Brewing (Portland): Tonight is their “Bones, Brews and Brown Spirits Dinner” (their very first in-house beer dinner) which blends food, beer, and “brown” spirits like Scotch and Grand Marnier in what looks to be a seven-course dinner with one of the most unique menus I’ve seen. The cost is $75 and there may yet be seats available, but you should contact Molly@BurnsideBrewCo.com to be sure.

Likewise, Deschutes Brewery (Portland Pub) is hosting their Chef’s Challenge Dinner tonight in Portland starting at 6pm; this events teams up Portland’s finest chefs with Deschutes beer and celebrity judges in an “Iron Chef-style” beer and food pairing competition. There’s a $95 fee per ticket to this event, though oddly while the EventBrite page says there are 8 tickets left, it also says the sale has ended and tickets aren’t available for purchase. If you’re interested in this event you should probably contact the Brewery directly.

Bend Brewing (Bend) is closed today for their annual employee holiday party. Don’t worry, they’ll be open again tomorrow and you can get down there to try some of the Sexi Mexi, the collaboration brew between Brewer Tonya Cornett and Homebrew Chef Sean Paxton—I had some this weekend and it’s delicious.

Vertigo Brewing (Hillsboro) has a great holiday deal on growlers through the end of the year: “From tomorrow through the end of the year we will be having a growler sale. ANY 1/2 gallon fill for only $8.00! This includes Friar Gone Wild and Arctic Blast Vanilla Porter. Sure to make any holiday party all that much merrier. Our dock sales hours are weekdays from 4:00 – 6:30 and Saturdays from 9:00 – 3:00.” You can’t pass up deals like that!

Coalition Brewing (Portland) is giving away free malt in conjunction with their latest release, a CDA: “Hey Homebrewers…who like free malt? Tomorrow we release our brand new CDA “Apollo Creed”. It was brewed in collaboration with Briess Malting with their new Midnight Wheat malt. We wil be giving away a pound of midnight wheat to the first 10 people to come in and ask for it. Use it in your next batch of beer! Apollo Creed goes on tap at 3 pm!” That’s tomorrow, Tuesday the 13th that this is going on.

Seven Brides Brewing (Silverton) is are also offering growler deals in conjunction with a local food drive: “Want to help out a great cause, and get a little something for yourself at the same time??? From now until Christmas, bring in 6 cans of non-perishable food for the Silverton Fireman’s Annual Food Drive and get $6 off your growler fill!” Seven Brides fills growlers for $12 (they sell the new growler for $20 if you don’t already have one) so this is a great deal—basically $6 growlers. Plus you’re helping out a great cause for Christmas.

Advent Beer Calendar 2011: Day 12: Saint Arnold Christmas Ale

Posted: December 12th, 2011, 6:00pm CET by Jon

Today’s beer pick comes to us from Texas’ oldest craft brewery, Saint Arnold Brewing in Houston: the malty and rich Saint Arnold Christmas Ale. Saint Arnold brews this beer in the style of an Old Ale to 7% abv; it was first brewed in 1995 and has racked up a number of awards over the years.

A rich, hearty ale perfect for the holiday season with a malty sweetness and spicy hop character. The generous use of five different malts is responsible for the full flavor and high alcohol level of this beer
Saint Arnold Christmas Ale is best consumed at 45° Fahrenheit.

Recommended pairings: Fruit cake, Christmas pudding, & squash bisque.

I can definitely get behind a beer that recommends pairing with fruitcake; and since one of the world’s leading providers of fruitcake also comes from Texas, this just seems like a natural fit!

Untappd. Facebook. BeerAdvocate: B. RateBeer: 3.4/5, 89th percentile.

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Advent Beer Calendar 2011: Day 11: Alpirsbacher Klosterbräu Weihnachtsbier

Posted: December 11th, 2011, 6:00pm CET by Jon

Today’s pick comes from Germany, but don’t let the long name in the title intimidate you: Alpirsbacher Klosterbräu Weihnachtsbier is simply the Christmas Beer (literally, “Weihnachtsbier” means “Christmas Beer” in German) from the Monastery Brewery in the German town of Alpirsbach.

This Christmas Beer is a golden, easy-to-drink Festbier that comes in at 5.6% abv and may well be inspired by Christmastime in the Black Forest region of Germany. The brewery says:

A real full-bodied beer with a long brewing tradition: since 1880, we have brewed this full-bodied, very drinkable specialty beer once a year at Christmas, from the monks’ recipe from an ancient monastery. This is a spicy beer with extra high original gravity and a special aroma hop that pairs well Christmas cookies or savory dishes alike. Whether it’s the holidays or not – the Christmas beer from Alpirsbacher Klosterbräu gives any occasion a touch of festivity and conviviality.

(Cleaned up from Google Translate.)

Untappd. BeerAdvocate: A. RateBeer: 2.75/5, 28th percentile.

Brewing Up Cocktails, winter edition

Posted: December 10th, 2011, 7:36pm CET by Jon

I forgot to include this on the Oregon beer news post this week: if you’re in the Portland area tonight, check out The Hop and Vine for a special winter and holiday-themed edition of Brewing Up Cocktails, the latest in the “series of events explores the interplay of craft beer and spirits to create a new breed of beer cocktails” masterminded by Ezra Johnson-Greenough of The New School as well as Jacob Grier, and Yetta Vorobik of The Hop and Vine. The event is from 6 to 9pm and includes an ugly sweater contest as well.

Of the seven beer cocktails that will be featured tonight, three are hot (Wassail, Hot Scotchy, Hot Choklat) and four are cold (Trade Winds Punch, Euclidean 75, Furburger, Smoked Vanilla Bean Flip). You can see the descriptions at the event page. There’s no cover charge for entry; each cocktail is individually priced.

One of these days I’ll have to make the trip to Portland to check out a Brewing Up Cocktails event, they sound really good—or perhaps I can convince Ezra to bring the event to Bend at some point(!).

Advent Beer Calendar 2011: Day 10: Anchor Christmas Ale

Posted: December 10th, 2011, 6:00pm CET by Jon

Today’s beer pick has appeared on the Beer Advent Calendar every year since I started: Anchor Christmas Ale (also known as Our Special Ale). This is the beer that established the modern Christmas beer tradition in American craft brewing: first introduced in 1975, this is a dark, spiced ale with a recipe that is different every year (and is always a closely guarded secret). The label changes each year as well, featuring a different tree:

Since ancient times, trees have symbolized the winter solstice when the earth, with its seasons, appears born anew. Our tree for 2011 is the bristlecone pine. Found high atop California’s White Mountains, bristlecones are among the oldest living things on the planet. Some date back nearly 5,000 years, to the dawn of the ancient art of brewing.

The tree is a potent symbol of Christmas, and Anchor’s distinctive labels have a simplicity and elegance that perfectly capture the spirit of the season. (You can see a snapshot of all their past labels here.)

Even though this beer is only 5.5% abv it cellars well; I have a magnum of 2010 Christmas Ale that I plan to open on Christmas this year, and last year I opened a 2009 magnum—and it was fantastic. If you get the chance, lay some bottles down to enjoy in the many years to come.

Untappd. Facebook. BeerAdvocate: B+. RateBeer: 3.56/5, 95th percentile.

Oregon Beer News, 12/09/2011

Posted: December 9th, 2011, 8:00pm CET by Jon

Happy Friday! I don’t know about you, but it’s been a long week. Here’s the news in beer from around Oregon for today, December 9th, and going into the weekend. I’ll be curating and updating throughout the day, so if you have some news you’d like to share, contact me and I can get it posted.

Several Central Oregon breweries are getting together and presenting a Holiday Seasonal Beer Showcase and Tasting in Bend on Saturday the 10th (tomorrow). GoodLife, 10 Barrel, Phat Matt’s, and Silver Moon have all brewed up small batch seasonal beers and from 8 to 10pm at Tart Bistro restaurant in downtown Bend, and for $25 you can partake in the festivities. The fee earns you a beer mug, paired appetizers, and 10 tasting tokens, and there will be raffles and brewery giveaways as well.

Bull Ridge Brewpub (Baker City) is getting close to opening their brewery portion: “Also to let you in on another little secret…….our fermenters will be complete mid January!! Our brewkettle is in the design stages. Walter is ready to go once our equipment is in place! We have samples of his own beer that you can try….. stop in and let us know what you think!”

10 Barrel Brewing (Bend) is releasing Precursor finally (considering I blogged about it last month and it was imminent), their small-batch, bourbon barrel-aged Imperial Red Ale, next week: “We want to announce that we will be relasing our first Small Batch Series beer, PRECURSOR early next week. We are shipping off a portion of the bottles early tomorrow morning to PDX and will be placing it into select local accounts early next week. Cheers, hope you enjoy it!” I opened a bottle of this on Thanksgiving (and had a sample direct from the Brewery) and enjoyed it quite a bit—it’s very strong on the bourbon and if you can get an extra bottle, lay one down for a year.

Upcoming tastings, releases, and “Meet the Brewer” events:

Laurelwood Brewing (Portland) is releasing their Framboise today at their Portland and Battle Ground locations, and apparently there are only 20 cases available—get some while you can!
Hop Valley Brewing (Springfield) is releasing their 420th batch of beer (brewed with hemp seeds, natch) to be tapped exclusively at the Bier Stein in Eugene today at 4:20pm.
Pelican Pub & Brewery (Pacific City) has their “Salmon Chanted Evening” beer dinner tonight, and they posted yesterday that “Last minute tickets still available for “Salmon Chanted Evening”. Call Courtney at 503-965-3674 for this reservations-only dinner tomorrow night.” I don’t know if they’re still available, but it’s $50 for the dinner and $62 to include beer pairings if you’re interested.
Widmer (Portland) is having a Brewers Dinner tomorrow, Saturday the 10th, at The HighCliffe in Oregon City, starting at 6pm for $30 per person. Tickets are only available at The Highcliffe, and the dinner is four courses with talk of a surprise fifth course.
Natian Brewery (Portland) will be on-hand at the grand opening of the new Uptown Market tomorrow, pouring tasters of their beer (their “Autumn” Chocolate Amber). (No hours posted that I saw.)
Roscoe’s (Portland): Today from 5 to 8pm they are holding a ”Collaboration a Trois” tasting event featuring La Citrueille Celeste
de Citracado, the collaboration pumpkin ale from Stone, Elysian, and The Bruery—not Oregon breweries, but still good beer and one you should check out.
Coalition Brewing (Portland) has their beer dinner with 23 Hoyt Restaurant tomorrow night (the 10th), a five-course beer pairing for $55 (all-inclusive). Call 503-445-7400 for more info.

Amnesia Brewing (Portland) has their Winter Ale Fest kicking off tomorrow, Saturday the 10th. It’ll cost you $20 to get in (pricing is “$20= Winter Fest glass mug and 10 tickets, $1= ticket, 2 tickets= 1/2 mug, 4 tickets= full mug.”) but that looks like a great deal for the tap list they’ve got lined up, and you can get down there anytime between noon and 10pm to enjoy the beers.

Silver Moon Brewing (Bend) is updating their Growler Power Hour deal: “This is the last week of the all week Growler Power Hour. Next week GPH will be on Tuesday @ Wednesday only. Today we’ll be holding a raffle to celebrate the last GPH Friday. @ 5 pm we’ll raffle off a Cobalt Blue Brewery Glass, a Hop Fury IPA T-shirt, and a hoodie! Get yer $5 growler fill up and a chance to win some goodies! Cheers!” They also now have a “Dark IPA” on tap called Asmodeus that is worth checking out.

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Advent Beer Calendar 2011: Day 9: Noël des Géants

Posted: December 9th, 2011, 6:00pm CET by Jon

Today’s beer pick comes from Brasserie des Géants in Wallonia, the French speaking half of Belgium: Noël des Géants, or literally “Christmas of the Giants.” The brewery adopts its “Giants” name from the medieval castle in the town of Irchonwelz in which it is housed, drawn from the feature of the large gate which can accommodate the “occasional visiting giant.”

Noël des Géants is a strong ale at 8.5% abv, and is spiced with a local herb:

The Géants Christmas beer came out in 2007, and it’s their best one yet. Rich and warming, and just a bit spicy (thanks to the delicate addition of a special aromatic herb from the region of the brewery), this festive ale has everything you want in a Belgian beer – but not the cheap sugary flavor that the more commercial breweries use to reel in a less sophisticated crowd.

Indeed, it’s decadent and rich with caramel and toffee and rummy dark fruits, fitting exactly what its name implies—a giant of a Christmas beer.

Untappd. BeerAdvocate: B+. RateBeer: 3.36/5, 87th percentile.

Oregon Beer News, 12/08/2011

Posted: December 8th, 2011, 9:00pm CET by Jon

Here’s the news for Oregon beer for Thursday, December 8th. As usual I’ll be updating throughout the day, contact me if you have news to share.

Cascade Brewing (Portland) is holding a 4-year vertical tasting of the Sang Noir today starting at 4pm, to celebrate the release of the 2010 Sang Noir. You’ll want to get in on this if possible: “Today at 4 pm at the Barrel House, we will be launching the release of 2010 Sang Noir with a four year vertical tasting of all of our Sang Noirs…. The ’07, ’08 and ’09 Sang Noirs will only be available as part of a vintage vertical, which also includes ’10 and sells for $10, with 3-ounce pours of each. The ’10 Sang Noir can be purchased separately in an 8-ounce glass for $6.50.”

Full Sail Brewing (Hood River): Their Pub and Tasting Room is closed all day today for the Full Sail employee holiday party, but rest assured they will be back open tomorrow.

Breakside Brewery (Portland) is releasing two new bottles of barrel-aged beer next Wednesday the 14th: Bourbon Barrel Aztec and Soursop Wheat. “Bourbon Barrel Aztec is an oak-aged version of the Aztec Ale. This is the second batch of this beer, and the first sold out very quickly! The new batch has a big bourbon-y nose, restrained heat, and a rich oak character. Soursop Wheat is a blend of sour Belgian beers that were aged on soursop fruit in an Old Tom Gin barrel. Soursop is a sweet and savory SE Asian fruit, and this is a complex and layered sour.” Both sound fantastic!

Upcoming tastings, releases, and “Meet the Brewer” events:

The Bier Stein (Eugene) is holding a sampling event with Redmond’s Cascade Lakes Brewing tonight from 6 to 9pm. Free samples will be poured and there will be two special small-batch beers on draft.
The Green Dragon (Portland) is hosting a Meet the Brewer for Montana’s Bayern Brewery tonight from 5 to 8pm. Bayern specializes in German-style beers.
The APEX Beer Bar (Portland) is hosting a rare tapping of Ale Industries Grand Cru tonight starting at 5pm, of 1 of only 10 1/6bbl kegs in existence: “Servings will be in a 6 oz. glass, so there will be just over 100 served.”
Widmer (Portland) is having a Brewers Dinner this Saturday the 10th at The HighCliffe in Oregon City, starting at 6pm for $30 per person: “Meet, drink, and be merry with Widmer Master Brewer, Ben Dobler, and Highcliffe Executive Chef, Chris Greer. The event will feature 4 unique courses paired with 4 Widmer products, along with a welcome reception glass of Widmer Hefeweizen. Participants will also receive a gift package containing items to commemorate the evening. Tickets MUST be purchased in advance at The Highcliffe during any of our normal business hours.” Also look for a “surprise 5th course.”
Alameda Brewing (Portland) is releasing their Papa Noel Moonlight Reserve tonight, starting at 6pm. This is the bourbon barrel-aged version of the Papa Noel Olde Ale and is available for sale in wax-dipped bottles as well. And $2 pints specials!

Southern Oregon Brewing (Medford): Brewpublic breaks the news that SOB will be releasing a new Imperial Stout in January, Black Heart Imperial Stout. “This weighty 8.5% ABV ale will be a nice addition to SOB’s portfolio of delicious beers that include Woodshed Red, Nice Rack IPA, Na Zdravi’ Czech Pils, Gold Digger Golden Ale, Old Humbug Winter Warmer, a Pale, and a Barleywine.”

Natian Brewery (Portland) will be on-hand during the grand opening of the new beer store Uptown Market in Beaverton on Saturday the 10th. “Ian will be on hand to help celebrate & to offer up some tasters of the “Autumn” Chocolate Amber & talk beer with anyone who will listen!” Uptown Market will be offering some 500 bottled beers as well as offering two taps to enjoy (or to fill a growler).

Advent Beer Calendar 2011: Day 8: Sly Fox Christmas Ale

Posted: December 8th, 2011, 6:00pm CET by Jon

Today’s beer pick comes from the great beer state of Pennsylvania: Sly Fox Christmas Ale. I first featured this beer way back on the original 2005 Beer Advent Calendar and I thought it was high time it made another appearance.

As with many Christmas seasonals, each year the beer is slightly different (due to seasonal variations in spices and ingredients used) and each year’s vintage has a unique label. And interestingly, there is a difference in alcohol between the bottled and draft versions: draft is 5.5% abv, and the bottled version is 6.5% abv.

This malty, full-bodied red ale is made with traditional mulling spices: Ginger, Clove, All Spice, Cinnamon & Nutmeg. If this one doesn’t get you into the Christmas spirit, you truly are a Scrooge.

The mulling spices listed above bring to mind mulled beer, and I’ll wager this would be a fantastic base beer for such a drink—and it’s hard to get any more “holiday” than that!

Untappd. Facebook. BeerAdvocate: B+ (2010 vintage). RateBeer: 3.32/5, 84th percentile.

Oregon Beer News, 12/07/2011

Posted: December 7th, 2011, 9:00pm CET by Jon

Here’s the beer news from around Oregon for Wednesday the 7th of December. Mid-week seems to be a slower time for news but there are still plenty of things going on across the state. I’ll be updating throughout the day so contact me if you have something you’d like to see added.

McMenamins and Brewers Union Local 180 (the High Street Brewery in Eugene, and Oaksridge, respectively) collaborated on a beer they’re calling “The Big Smoke”; Ted over at Brewers Union has blogged that he believes this is the first time McMenamins has collaborated with an outside brewery and he might be right. Being that it was brewed with Brewers Union, this is of course a cask ale and is served as such; the beer itself is a 5.9% abv smoked porter and sounds delicious.

Occidental Brewing (Portland): As posted on Facebook, “Beginning today, Wednesdays at the taproom will feature $8 growler fills. Coincidentally, our dopplebock, Lucubrator, will also make its debut today.”

Upcoming tastings, releases, and “Meet the Brewer” events:

The Brew Shop (Bend) is hosting a Ninkasi tasting tonight from 4 to 6:30pm.
Roscoe’s (Portland): Friday, December 9th, from 5 to 8pm they are holding a ”Collaboration a Trois” tasting event featuring La Citrueille Celeste
de Citracado, the collaboration pumpkin ale from Stone, Elysian, and The Bruery.
The Green Dragon (Portland) has a “Double” Green Dragon Project release tonight: “The Lugnut” and “Pumpkin Schmumpkin”, a smoked porter and a pumpkin spice amber, respectively. The event runs from 5 to 9pm.
The Green Dragon is also hosting a Meet the Brewer featuring Montana’s Bayern Brewing tomorrow (the 8th) from 5 to 8pm: “Bayern Brewing began in Missoula, Montana, in 1987. They are proud to be the only German brewery in the Rocky Mountains. Owner and Brewmaster, Jürgen Knöller, is a German Diploma Master Brewer. He began brewing in 1978 at age 16.” Sounds pretty interesting.

Deschutes Brewery (Bend) today is brewing their 10,000th batch of beer on their Huppmann Brewhouse equipment today. (It’s Black Butte Porter.) When you think about it, that’s a mind-bogglingly huge amount of beer that has flowed through their system!

Lompoc Brewing (Portland) is teaming up with Shmaltz Brewing of New York to present “8 Malty Nights: The Ultimate Chanukah Beer Release” on December 14th (next Wednesday) at the Lompoc Sidebar. Lompoc will be serving their 8 Malty Nights Chanukah beer and Schmaltz will be pouring their Jewbelation 15, their 15th anniversary holiday ale. Then on December 17th, the two brewers will converge on the Green Dragon for another holiday ale “showdown.” Don’t miss it! Lots of great beers will be pouring.

Advent Beer Calendar 2011: Day 7: Southern Tier Old Man Winter

Posted: December 7th, 2011, 6:00pm CET by Jon

Southern Tier Old Man Winter As the cold weather descends and the prospect of snow looms with the winter, it only seems fitting to turn to a beer named Old Man Winter, from Southern Tier Brewing, and thus that is our Advent Calendar pick of the day. Subtitled “a liquid winter wonderland,” this is how Southern Tier describes it:

With the onset of winter, the brewer’s mind turns to providing warmth. For our winter seasonal, we offer a rich and complex amalgam of hops and barley that will put the feeling back in your toes and lift your spirits above the snow. OMW throws a deep and inviting hue with a thickness that clings to the glass and the warmth of an open flame. Because of its high alcohol content, Old Man is a heady brew that encourages sipping and pondering its essential richness. Drink it fresh now, or cellar a few bottles to see how this old man becomes wiser with age.

This is an Old Ale style of winter brew, 7.7% alcohol by volume, and should help keep you warm when you stay up late on a chilly Christmas Eve waiting for Santa to come.

Untappd. Facebook. BeerAdvocate: B+. RateBeer: 3.49/5, 93rd percentile.

Oregon Beer News, 12/06/2011

Posted: December 6th, 2011, 8:00pm CET by Jon

Here’s the news in Oregon beer for Tuesday, December 6th. Apropos of nothing, today is Saint Nicholas Day, which is a great reason to enjoy a holiday beer (as if you needed a reason!). I’ll be updating news throughout the day, so contact me if you have something to share that you’d like to see posted.

Amnesia Brewing (Portland) is bringing back their Winter Ale Fest this year (via the New School): This Saturday, December 10th, from noon to 10pm and features 11 or so beers, three from Amnesia and the rest are guest beers. The lineup looks impressive, and the pricing is pretty standard: “$20= Winter Fest glass mug and 10 tickets, $1= ticket, 2 tickets= 1/2 mug, 4 tickets= full mug.”

BridgePort Brewing (Portland) posted a couple of announcements on Facebook: “Starting in January, BridgePort will be selling a variety pack called the “Beervana Brewer’s Box” featuring 3 bottles each of IPA, Hop Czar, Kingpin and a seasonal beer (changing each quarter). In conjunction with the variety pack, BridgePort will launch “Dark Rain” – a black pale ale – as their winter seasonal.” So they’re moving to a four-variety pack similar to what Ninkasi has been doing for a while (though on a different scale); and a “Black Pale Ale” is an interesting choice, as opposed to a full-on CDA (or Black IPA).

Lompoc Brewing (Portland) is holding a Meet the Brewer event at Belmont Station tonight from 6 to 8pm: “Dave “the Flemator” Fleming will be here pouring C’sons Greetings, C-Note, Proleteriat Red, and as a special treat, Bourbon barrel aged Old Tavern Rat. We’ll have a limited amount of Old Tavern Rat bottles for sale. The bottles have a beautiful label featuring John Foyston’s touching portrait of the late Don Younger.”

Hop Valley Brewing (Springfield) just brewed their 420th batch of beer, and the Bier Stein in Eugene will be tapping this rare beer this Friday the 9th, at 4:20pm. It’s befitting that a brewery located in the Eugene area would brew this: “Hop Valley just brewed their 420th batch of beer, to celebrate this milestone they brewed a very small batch of beer with toasted hemp seeds! If that wasn’t cool enough they cask conditioned it in a firkin! We will be tapping this super limited firkin @ 4:20pm this Friday the 9th. This will be your only opportunity to try this delectable treat!”

Hopworks Urban Brewery (Portland): Don’t forget (as mentioned yesterday) that HUB is having the release party for their Noggin Floggin Barleywine today starting at 6pm. Noggin Floggin is 11% abv and in addtional there will be 2009 and 2010 barrel-aged vintages on hand for a vertical sampling.

The Bier Stein (Eugene) has a beer sampling event this Thursday the 8th featuring Redmond’s Cascade Lakes Brewing: “Join us this Thursday from 6-9pm for a Beer trivia and sampling event w/ Cascade Lakes Brewing Company! Scott will be here pouring FREE samples of Cascade Lakes full bottle line-up, we will also have two small batch beers on draft, and Scott will be throwing down some beer trivia for prizes!”

Silver Moon Brewing (Bend): Their “Growler Power Hour” this week ($5 growler fills from 4 to 5pm, Tuesday through Friday) are Hop Knob IPA and Bridge Creek Pilsner.

The Brew Shop (Bend) is hosting a Ninkasi tasting event on Wednesday the 7th, from 4 to 6:30pm. If it’s similar to past tasting events then there will likely be a couple of Ninkasi draft specials on tap in the Platypus Pub to accompany the tasting (though I don’t know for sure).

Bend Brewing (Bend): Tonight is Local’s Night, which means $2.75 pints from 4pm to closing, and half-price appetizers from 4 to 6 and 9 to closing. Current seasonals on tap are Vanilla Porter (nitro), Scarlet Imperial Red, Ching Ching, Sexi Mexi and Axe Head Red.

Cascade Brewing (Portland): Tonight is their Tap It Tuesday, starting at 6pm: “Plum Rye, a red rye that was barrel aged for 11 months, then aged on Italian plums. Rich notes of dark plums, rye and dark caramels greet you in the nose. Dark dried plums and fruit on the palate lead to sweet, dry plum notes in the finish with hints or smoke and peat late.”

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Advent Beer Calendar 2011: Day 6: Harvey’s Christmas Ale

Posted: December 6th, 2011, 6:00pm CET by Jon

Harvey's Christmas Ale Today’s beer is the venerable Harvey’s Christmas Ale from Lewes, England. Harvey & Son (the brewery) dates back to the late eighteenth century, and their Christmas Ale has been brewed seasonally for over a quarter of a century and started winning awards in 1992.

It’s a dark Barleywine that is, according to the brewery, reminiscent of the Stock Ales of England of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries—and indeed the beer goes through an extended period of dry-hopping and cold storage before being bottled. At 8.1% abv, you could even put a few bottles away to age and enjoy next Christmas.

I should point out that I love the label as well: in a time when many breweries put gaudy, busy labels on their bottles, there’s something about the simple red and white imagery of Father Christmas (as Santa Claus is known in England) that is charming and nostalgic, like something you would find in Victorian England accompanying a Christmas Eve reading of ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas and A Christmas Carol.

And the beer is pretty good, too!

Untappd. Facebook. BeerAdvocate: B+. RateBeer: 3.45/5, 91st percentile.

Oregon Beer News, 12/05/2011

Posted: December 5th, 2011, 8:00pm CET by Jon

Happy Monday, and Happy Repeal Day! That’s right, today, December 5th, is the day the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, repealing Prohibition (and the 18th Amendment). More on that later; let’s see what’s going on in Oregon beer this week. As usual, I’ll be updating this page throughout the day, contact me if you have some news to share.

Burnside Brewing (Portland) is releasing their first official bottled beer today, with a release party at Belmont Station from 6 to 8pm. There will be three bottled beers available: “They have been a long time coming but we are pleased to announce we will finally have IPA, Oatmeal Pale and Stock Ale all available in 22oz bombers beginning next week. Belmont Station will be the first to have them and brewers and owners will be on hand to pour free samples from the bottles from 6-8pm. Also we will have our IPA and winter seasonal Permafrost on tap in the Biercafe.”

Pelican Pub & Brewery (Pacific City) has posted the menu for the “Salmon Chanted Evening” beer dinner this Friday, December 9th. As a seafood (and salmon) lover, this looks amazing! The price for the dinner is $50 by itself, or $62 with the beer pairings.

Hopworks Urban Brewery (Portland) is having a release party for their Noggin Floggin Barleywine on Tuesday, December 6th, starting at 6pm. Noggin Floggin is 11% abv, and in addition to this year’s vintage, HUB will also be offering a 3-year vertical featuring the 2009 and 2010 barrel-aged versions.

Lompoc Brewing (Portland): It’s “Miser Monday” with $2.50 regular pints at their New Old Lompoc and Oaks Bottom locations.

Silver Moon Brewing (Bend): Like Lompoc, Silver Moon has $2.50 pints all day long on Monday.

Alameda Brewing (Portland): This Thursday, December 8th, Alameda is hosting a release party for “Moonlight Reserve”, an oak barrel-aged, one-year-old version of their Papa Noel’s Olde Ale. They will have live music, $2 pints, and 150 wax-dipped bottles for sale for $6 (a great price). I don’t know what time the release party itself starts, but a comment on that Facebook posts indicates the bottles will be available for sale when Alameda opens at 11am.

Deschutes Brewery (Bend) has one of their regular “Deschutes Brewery University” classes tomorrow (Tuesday the 6th), this one on “German Beer“: “This month’s DBU will focus on German beer. Join Deschutes Brewery brewer Robin Johnson as he walks you through the various styles of German beer including Pilsners, Helles, Weizens, Dunkels and Bocks.” The class runs from 6 to 8pm at the Brewery’s Mountain Room in Bend, and costs $25 per person to attend—and there are still six tickets available. In addition to learning about beer, attendees also get to drink beer and receive a free pint glass.

Advent Beer Calendar 2011: Day 5: Cigar City Sugar Plum Brown Ale

Posted: December 5th, 2011, 6:00pm CET by Jon

Cigar City Sugar Plum Brown Ale Today’s beer comes from Florida’s most talked-about brewery, Cigar City Brewing, and perfectly fits into their lineup of big, expressive, unusual beers: Sugar Plum Brown Ale. This is a brown ale brewed with generous amounts of spices to 5.5% alcohol by volume.

Cigar City Brewing’s official celebration of Christmas. A rich-bodied brown ale forms the stage for holiday flavors which dance a festive ballet highlighted by pirouetting leaps of Christmas inspired spices. Cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, rose hips and chamomile compliment the subtle chocolate and light coffee notes of the malt and the addition of roasted carob and chicory complete the performance. Brewed once a year to celebrate the Christmas season. Pair with fresh cracked nuts, fruit cake and share with friends and family. Merry Christmas from the CCB family!

The label mentions fruit as well as the spices and while fruit isn’t specifically listed above, it’s fair to guess that plums are added to the beer as well (though historically “sugar plums” weren’t necessarily literally plums). Overall the description makes me think of a spiced plum pie which sounds delicious.

As a bonus, pair this with Nutcracker Ale to enjoy a Christmas ballet-themed beer tasting!

Untappd. Facebook. BeerAdvocate: B. RateBeer: 3.64/5, 93rd percentile.

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Advent Beer Calendar 2011: Day 4: Jenlain Bière De Noël

Posted: December 4th, 2011, 6:00pm CET by Jon

Today’s beer comes from the venerable Brasserie Duyck in France: Jenlain Bière De Noël. This is a Christmastime Bière de Garde style of beer, brewed darker than the Brewery’s flagship Ambrée, 6.8% alcohol by volume, and is rich, spicy, and flavorful—indeed I found hints of bubblegum in the flavor and found it very enjoyable.

Brasserie Duyck has been brewing since 1922 when they released their flagship ale, claiming the same recipe in use since they were founded. I don’t know exactly when the Bière De Noël was introduced, this bit from Duyck’s description gives a clue:

The tradition of Christmas beers is particular to northern France. In the years following the Second World War, the breweries used to sell an original, richer and stronger beer at the same price as year-round beers: this was their gift to their customers.

I like the imagery of that paragraph even if a bit vague (and questionably accurate in its history). Regardless, this is a lovely ale perfectly suitable for accompanying your Christmas dessert(s).

Untappd. Facebook. BeerAdvocate: B. RateBeer: 3.16/5, 65th percentile.

Advent Beer Calendar 2011: Day 3: Lagunitas Sucks Holiday Ale

Posted: December 3rd, 2011, 6:00pm CET by Jon

In the spirit of goodwill and trying new things for Christmas, today’s beer pick is Lagunitas Sucks Holiday Ale, subtitled “Brown Shugga’ Substitute.” Why do they suck?

This sad holiday season we didn’t have the brewing capacity to make our favorite seasonal brew, the widely feard BrownShugga’ Ale. So this substitute beer is a ‘Cereal Medley’ of Barley, Rye, Wheat, and Oats…. Full of complexishness from the 4 grains, and weighing in at 7.6% abv, Then joyously dry-hopped for that big aroma and resinous hop flavor.

I love Brown Shugga’, but I love a bit of self-deprecating humor and being able to roll out a good beer in the face of adversity even more. Plus how can you resist the image of the Sad Santa sugar cookie on the label?

Untappd. Facebook. BeerAdvocate: A. RateBeer: 3.64/5, 97th percentile.

The Session #58: A Christmas Carol

Posted: December 3rd, 2011, 8:45am CET by Jon

It’s the first Friday of the month and here at The Brew Site, and other beer blogs, that means it’s time for The Session: collaborative blogging around a common beer-themed topic suggested by a different host each month. This month, host Phil Hardy of Beersay suggests a suitable Christmas theme: “A Christmas Carol”

The idea for me was based loosely around the visits of three ghosts to Ebenezer Scrooge, but relayed in a post about the beers of Christmas past, present and future.

What did you drink during Christmas holidays of old, have you plans for anything exciting this year and is there something you’d really like to do one day, perhaps when the kids have flown the nest?

Do you have your own interpretation, was Scrooge perhaps a beer geek?

Or maybe it’s all one day. What will you drink Christmas morning, Christmas afternoon and what will you top off the holiday with that evening?

Ghost of Christmas Past. I’ve always made it a point to try to have Deschutes Brewery’s Jubelale on hand since I discovered good beer and in the past I considered this a “staple” holiday beer (and still do). Christmas day in my family is spent at my parents house and while most of the time the beer they keep on hand is confined to canned macro brews (not that there’s anything wrong with that), for Christmas they would always splurge and buy a couple cases of Deschutes beers—Jubelale, Black Butte Porter, Mirror Pond Pale Ale—and often I would bring homebrew along as well as a treat. But I’ve also enjoyed many a Christmas Hamms or PBR or Miller High Life as well.

Ghost of Christmas Present. In recent years I have tended towards special beers that I can share and discover with family and friends; last year, for instance, I brewed a holiday beer I called “Christmas Cheer” (inspired by fruitcake and Old Ales), and opened a magnum of 2009 Anchor Christmas Ale. Of course it’s never confined just to beer: there’s been cider and mulled wine and shots of whiskey or tequila and eggnog (hard and regular) and coffee and so on. Here’s the thing: to invoke the late Don Younger, it’s not about the spirits, it’s about the spirit. As long as I’m spending Christmas with people I love it doesn’t matter what the drink is.

Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. This year I have a magnum bottle of 2010 Anchor Christmas Ale (generously given to me for my birthday last year, from my brother) and a growler-sized bottle of Altenmünster Winterbier, both of which I plan to share. And there will be other good beers on hand too, I’m quite sure. As there will be in Christmases to come. Do I have big “someday” plans for a future Christmas? Not in particular; to spend Christmas with family and friends, to drink and share good beer and good cheer, to be happy and satiated—that’s all the future I really need.

Oregon Beer News, 12/02/2011

Posted: December 2nd, 2011, 9:16pm CET by Jon

Here the news in Oregon beer for Friday, December 2nd, and going into the weekend. I’ll be updating this post throughout the rest of this day so if you have any news you’d like to share, contact me and I’ll get it out there.

Deschutes Brewery (Bend) is having their annual Garage Sale tomorrow, Saturday the 3rd, and it’s going to be the best one yet: in addition to the usual “leftover” merchandise that they sell at these sales (discontinued and overstock items, mostly clothing and glassware), they are also offering some unique, special items available only at this sale: things like lip balm (I don’t know if it’s beer flavored or not), dog collars and leashes, flashlights, and more. The sale takes place at their Lower Warehouse at 399 Shevlin-Hixon Drive in Bend (also different from past years, where it used to take place at their Mountain Room banquet hall), from 9am until noon. Don’t miss out if you can help it!

Also in Deschutes news, this Sunday the 4th their Pub and Brewery in Bend will be closed for the day so they can have their annual employee holiday party. (The Portland Pub will still be open.)

The Holiday Ale Festival is still going strong in Portland, and continues through Sunday. Today’s limited beer releases are worth taking note of (all released at 4pm); in addition to 2009 Sang Noir from Cascade Brewing and 2010 Sour Crown from Deschutes, there are two vintages (2008 and 2009) of Hair of the Dog’s much-lauded Jim—a special blend that was only produced for the Holiday Ale Fest. Ultra-rare and based on reviews from years past, definitely a must-try if you can.

The Commons Brewery (Portland): It looks like their tasting room will open on Saturday the 3rd (tomorrow), according to this post on Facebook. “A few details for the Saturday tasting room opening: We will open 4-9pm. Cash and credit card accepted. No minors allowed (send complaints to the OLCC). Maybe a little patience-we’ll be figuring this out as we do it.” Formerly named Beetje Brewery, The Commons has been expanding (to a 7-bbl system I believe) and producing some interesting-sounding beers.

Pelican Pub & Brewery (Pacific City): The 2011 edition of their Le Pelican Brun (a Belgian-style limited release ale) is out now. “Full of intriguing malt flavors, Le Pelican Brun was conceived by the fertile imaginations of the team of Pelican brewers and inspired by the many brewing traditions of Belgium. With a deep reddish-brown color that suggests an Abbey-Style Dubbel, but a rich yeast-driven aroma reminiscent of a Saison, Le Pelican Brun serves up coffee-like, cocoa and caramel malt flavors with hints of earthiness and a captivating spiciness.” Price is $12 per bottle and you can order it online from the Brewery.

Advent Beer Calendar 2011: Day 2: Boulevard Nutcracker Ale

Posted: December 2nd, 2011, 6:00pm CET by Jon

Boulevard Brewing Nutcracker Ale The Christmas season is the traditional time (and setting) for the popular ballet The Nutcracker, and so today’s pick is, accordingly, Boulevard Brewing’s Nutcracker Ale: a rich, malty Winter Warmer that is 5.8% alcohol by volume. Boulevard describes it thusly:

Nutcracker Ale is Boulevard’s holiday gift for real beer lovers. This hearty, warming brew is a classic winter ale, deep amber in color, with hints of molasses balanced by the “spiciness” of freshly harvested Chinook hops.

About the “freshly harvested” hops mentioned above: the site lists “Wet Leaf Chinook” in the ingredients and the description from the box says:

We schedule the brewing of this seasonal specialty around the annual harvest of Chinook hops, flying them in wet from the fields to capture their pungent flavor and aroma.

Which certainly sounds like this is a Fresh Hop beer to me—something I wouldn’t have expected! Is this perhaps the only such fresh hop holiday beer?

Untappd. Facebook. BeerAdvocate: B+. RateBeer: 3.4/5, 89th percentile.

A new Beer Advent Calendar

Posted: December 2nd, 2011, 9:00am CET by Jon

This is the seventh year in a row that I’ve been doing the Beer Advent Calendar and I love to find others doing similar things—like the “real” beer calendars such as this one or this one, or other bloggers with the same ideas (Advent calendars, “12 beers of Christmas”, etc.). So I was thrilled to find that Seacoast Beverage Lab has teamed up with 2beerguys to write another Beer Advent Calendar in the same vein as what I’m doing:

[We] decided to host a collaborative Beer Advent Calendar. Each day you will read a review of a beer written by bloggers you may or may not know. Our goal was to have 30 different bloggers writing a review of a different beer, totaling 31 for the month.

I like the format as well: they’ll have a summary view of all the beers, but the review/write-up for each beer itself will reside on the other contributors’ blogs.

So fun! I can’t wait to see the beer picks they come up with, and see if there will be any crossover with the ones I’ve picked this year.

Oregon Beer News, 12/01/2011

Posted: December 1st, 2011, 8:00pm CET by Jon

Here’s the Oregon beer news for Thursday, the first of December. The Holiday Ale Festival is in its second day in downtown Portland’s Pioneer Courthouse Square, and if you’re heading down there you should check out Angelo’s write-up of must-try beers over on Brewpublic. In the meantime, I’ll be updating this post with additional news throughout the day. Please feel free to contact me if you have beer news to share.

Ambacht Brewing (Hillsboro) has their Ambacht Honey Triple coming out today, made with wildflower honey, and you can sample it directly at the brewery from 4 to 6pm this afternoon.

Standing Stone Brewing (Ashland): They have their annual holiday Barley Wine on tap—which of course sounds good enough to make a special trip to Ashland! “Our 2011 blend is reddish brown and full boded. It offers aromas of toffee swirl with vinous, prune and raisin-like flavors. This beer will warm your heart, not to mention your soul, with its big malt flavors. Best enjoyed at a cellar temperature of 50 F. 9.9% abv.”

Beer Valley Brewing (Ontario) is releasing their seasonal “Judas Yeast Winter Ale” in Portland tomorrow (Friday) the 2nd. The release will be at Saraveza from 6 to 9pm. (No stats on the beer that I can find yet.)

Seven Brides Brewing (Silverton) is holding a beer tasting/Meet the Owner on Friday the 2nd (tomorrow) at Cutsforth’s Marketplace in Canby, from 4 to 7pm: “[Josiah] will be sampling a variety of our fine locally produced ales and lagers. As a bonus, Cutsforth’s will be tapping a special keg: Weezin-ator Doppelbock and filling growlers to go. So stop by for a taste and say hi to Josiah!”

Coalition Brewing (Portland) is releasing their Lost Glove Strong Ale today—their first winter seasonal of the year. Lost Glove debuted at the Holiday Ale Fest, and is going on tap at their pub today.

Ninkasi (Eugene) will be hosting a Beer Maker’s Dinner at June restaurant in Eugene on Monday, December 12th. It will run from 7 to 10pm: “Join us by the fireplace at June for an evening of beer and food! Jamie Floyd, owner of Ninkasi Brewery, will lead a guided tour of select Ninkasi beers, paired with a delicious five course menu of seasonal goodness. Seating is limited. Call 541-968-2077″ And the menu for the event is posted as well (revealing a price of $60).

Advent Beer Calendar 2011: Day 1: Samichlaus

Posted: December 1st, 2011, 6:00pm CET by Jon

Welcome to the first day of the Beer Advent Calendar for 2011! This year’s Christmas season starts out with a bang as today’s selection is only the strongest lager in the world: Austria’s Samichlaus Bier, a 14% abv Doppelbock (Quadrupelbock?) brewed once a year on December 6th, Saint Nicholas Day, and bottled the following year. The name itself means “Santa Claus” and in my opinion is one of the quintessential Christmas beers around.

“Samichlaus” beer is brewed once a year, in each case on December 6th, and stored and matured afterwards for over 10 months before it is bottled. “Samichlaus” beer can mature for many years in the bottle; older vintages obtain a complexity and receive their creamy warm aftertaste. This beer can be served with heavy meals and desserts, particularly with chocolate – or as digestive and meditations drink. According to the Guinness Book of Records, it is the strongest lager beer in the world with 14 % alcohol and 32° original extract content.

Samichlaus has been brewed since 1980, originally by the Hürlimann Brewery in Zurich, Switzerland. The original brewery closed in 1997, but Samichlaus returned in 2000 brewed by Schloss Eggenberg in Austria.

In addition to the “classic” there is also a Samichlaus Helles that is brewed—a “light” version that is light in color only as it also tips the scales at 14% alcohol.

Untappd. Facebook. BeerAdvocate: B+. RateBeer: 3.52/5, 94th percentile.

Guess what?

Posted: December 1st, 2011, 5:55am CET by Jon

…Tomorrow’s the first day of the Beer Advent Calendar!!

I’m excited because it’s one of my favorite times of year to blog, thinking up the beers to reveal each day. Although (in true blog vs. day job fashion) I’m also (still/pertpetually) a bit behind on nailing down the beers for the entire month, and this year I haven’t done something as cool as the previous two and enlisted other bloggers and writers to contribute. Maybe for next year I’ll try to do something with Untappd and see if they’ll be willing to do badges or something similar.

Oregon Beer News, 11/30/2011

Posted: November 30th, 2011, 7:00pm CET by Jon

Here’s the beer news from around Oregon for this last day of November. Don’t forget the Holiday Ale Festival kicks off today, heralding the… well, not exactly start of the Christmas beer season, but close enough. I’ll be updating this news page throughout the day, so if you have any to share, contact me and I’ll report it.

McMenamins is releasing a special 2011 vintage “Whiskey Widow”—a special barrel-aged version of their Black Widow Porter that I reported on last month—at 2pm on Friday the 2nd at the Kennedy School Boiler Room Bar. This special edition was brewed and barreled at the Concordia Brewery by brewers Matt Carter and Kevin Lee, who will also be on hand to talk about the beer. From the press release: “Seven weeks ago part of Concordia’s batch of the 2011 Black Widow found its way into a freshly emptied whiskey barrel from our own Edgefield Distillery. For six weeks, the complex flavors of the Black Widow rested within the charred-oak barrel still swollen with whiskey. The result is the ‘Whiskey Widow’, a sublime and even fuller-flavored porter. You will experience plenty of whiskey aroma (and flavor) coupled with the obvious sensory impressions of hardwood. In spite of it’s strength, the Whiskey Widow is surprisingly smooth and approachable. All combines to make Concordia’s annual Whiskey Widow release a rich, ebony colored and full-bodied winter warmer.”

GoodLife Brewing & Bend Brewing (Bend) are releasing a collaboration beer today in celebration of St. Andrews Day, the National Day of Scotland, “Scottish Heart Scotch Ale.” The beer was brewed by BBC’s Tonya Cornett and GL’s Curt Plants, and to help celebrate the release (which runs from 5 to 9pm tonight at GoodLife Brewing) there will be bagpipers on hand to get you into the Scottish spirit.

Flat Tail Brewing (Corvallis) received and installed a shiny new 30-bbl conical fermenter yesterday, and documented some of the process on their Facebook page. Needless to say adding a fermenter of this size should up their production considerably. Incidentally, looking at their beer menu reveals some of the more interesting beers I’ve seen being brewed; more on that in a separate post.

Deschutes Brewery (Bend) is having their annual “Garage Sale” this Saturday, December 3rd, from 9am until noon. This year’s sale is taking place in their Lower Warehouse rather than the Mountain Room, at 399 Shevlin-Hixon Drive in Bend; you’ll be able to get t-shirts, glassware, beanies, sweatshirts and more at discounted rates (because many of these are discontinued items), and the Brewery says, “We’ve also got some special items for you this year that have never been released and will only be avialable at this year’s Garage Sale.”

10 Barrel (Bend): This Saturday (the 3rd) is their 2nd Annual Pray For Snow release party and parking lot party—celebrating the release of their seasonal Pray For Snow Winter Strong Ale (this year’s edition is “bigger” than last year’s and aged for three months in brandy barrels) along with live music and the sacrificial burning of the “snowman,” a six foot tall wooden figure. The party is from 4 to 9:30pm.

The beer dinners keep on coming (is it the season?): yesterday I mentioned the Wet Dog Cafe (Astoria Brewing) and Burnside Brewing hosting ones on the 8th and 12th, respectively, and today there are (at least) two more to note, from Full Sail and Coalition.

Full Sail is hosting their December Brewmaster Dinner on the 15th at their Hood River tasting room and pub; four courses paired with their beers for only $30 per person which is a great deal. It’s a holiday themed meal of course, with a “Stout Buche de Noel” for dessert (a traditional French holiday dessert, a rolled cake that resembles a Yule log).
Coalition Brewing is featuring a beer pairing dinner at 23 Hoyt Restaurant in Portland on the 10th (Saturday) with a five-course meal capped by a Pumpkin Porter Cheesecake dessert. Time and cost aren’t posted (yet), but you can find out more by calling 503-445-7400.

Silver Moon Brewing (Bend): They now have their seasonal Winter Moon Strong Ale on tap. Winter Moon is a 7.4% abv dark(er) strong ale sure to help take the chill off on those cold winter nights.

Ambacht Brewing (Hillsboro) is releasing their Ambacht Honey Triple tomorrow (December 1st) at the brewery, and you can stop by for a taste from 4 to 6pm. Of this beer, they write, “This batch is made with my own wildflower honey and has been aging in the back corner since this spring. Because we use a low-temperature mash our triple is one of the driest available, so if you are tired overly sweet triples, give this one a try.”

Gilgamesh Brewing (Turner): I missed this news earlier, that Gilgamesh has opened up a seasonal store in downtown Salem: “Beginning last week, pints, bottles, gifts, gear and other swag will be on sale at the shop in the Reed Opera House, 189 Liberty St. NE, Suite 106, Salem. Hours: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday, noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.”

Silver Moon Brewing (Bend): This week’s “Growler Power Hour” deal is for Hound’s Tooth Amber and Bridge Creek Pilsner. Growler fills between 4 and 5pm are only $5 from Tuesday through Friday.

McMenamins’ Old St. Francis School (Bend) and Cornelius Pass Roadhouse (Hillsboro) each have a “Limited-Edition Beer Tasting” event tonight: at Old St. Francis the tasting starts at 5pm and the beer is a cask-conditioned and “heavily dry-hopped” Kris Kringle; at Cornelius Pass, the tasting starts at 6pm and features a Hogshead Whiskey-aged Terminator Stout on nitro.

The Green Dragon (Portland) has a beer release tonight from the Green Dragon Brew Crew (in conjunction with the Oregon Brew Crew) for their “Falconer’s Flight Single Hop IPA.” It’s an 8% abv, 99 IBU beer using all Falconer’s Flight hops, it has “a delicate pine like aroma followed by a refreshing hint of grapefruit in each sip.” The release is from 5 to 8pm at the Green Dragon.

In the theme the last several days of (holiday) beer dinners, the Pelican Pub & Brewery is holding one called “Salmon Chanted Evening” on Friday, December 9th, in the banquet room of their Pacific City pub: “This is a reservations only dinner with limited seating featuring four courses of locally caught salmon, paired with our amazing beers. Join us for a wonderful evening in the banquet room. Cost is $50 per person and additional beer pairings can be added for $12. Call for reservations: 503-965-3674″

And in more Coalition Brewing news, tomorrow they are releasing their first winter seasonal of the year, Lost Glove—a strong ale that weighs in at 8% abv and is made with a Chilean caramel malt which gives it a “great sweetness.” Definitely one I’d like to see in Bend!

GoodLife, Bend Brewing collaboration

Posted: November 30th, 2011, 5:39am CET by Jon

I’m a big fan of collaboration brews, and here in Bend Tonya Cornett of Bend Brewing is the go-to brewer for collaboration: in addition to numerous collaboration with Sean Paxton (the Homebrew Chef), she has also brewed with Tomme Arthur of The Lost Abbey and JD Wetherspoon’s in England. And now, she’s teamed up with GoodLife Brewing‘s Curt Plants for a Scotch Ale that GoodLife is releasing tomorrow:

Come join us on Wednesday, November 30th from 5pm-9pm to celebrate St. Andrews Day, which is the National Day of Scotland, and the release of Scottish Heart Scotch Ale. St. Andrew is the Patron Saint of Scotland, and Scots celebrate this day around the world. Bag pipers will be on location to create an authentic Scottish feel and an experience that you will not forget.

This caramelized, malt forward Scotch Ale is brewed in honor of St. Andrew and is a brave, collaborative effort of two brewers, Tonya Cornett of Bend Brewing Company & Curt Plants of GoodLife Brewing Company. This beer is fantastic – Slainte Mhath! (Cheers or Good Health in Scottish Gaelic, pronounced “Slanchay Va”!)

The release party takes place from 5 to 9pm tomorrow evening (the 30th).

Oregon Beer News, 11/29/2011

Posted: November 29th, 2011, 7:00pm CET by Jon

Getting back into the swing of things with news for Tuesday, November 29th. We’re smack in the middle of the holiday season and news and events are appropriately themed (gotta love it!). I’ll be updating news throughout the day so if you have something to share contact me and I’ll get it on here.

The Holiday Ale Festival kicks off in Portland tomorrow, lasting from the 30th through Sunday, December 4th: the big winter counterpart to summer’s Oregon Brewers Festival. It takes place in Pioneer Courthouse Square in the heart of downtown Portland, and will cost you $25 for the initial tasting package of the souvenir mug and 8 tickets, with additional tickets available for $1 each. With an amazing “standard” beer list and an even more amazing limited release list, this is the place to be.

Lompoc Brewing (Portland) has their Holiday Beer Extravaganza tonight at their Sidebar—nine of their 10 holiday beers will be on tap from 4 to 10pm. (The tenth is their Chanukah beer which will be released on the 14th.) The nine that are being released are Blitzen, Brewdolph, Cherry Christmas, C-sons Greetings, Bourbon Barrel Aged C-sons Greetings, Holiday Cheer, Jolly Bock, Old Tavern Rat, and Bourbon Barrel Aged Old Tavern Rat.

The Wet Dog Cafe / Astoria Brewing (Astoria): They are hosting a Brewers Dinner on December 8th (a week from Thursday) featuring a five-course dinner paired with their beers (of course). The dinner is from 6 to 9pm and costs $50 per person (or $85 per couple). You can make reservations directly (it’s a limited-space event so don’t wait) by calling them at 503-325-6975.

Bend Brewing (Bend): Tonight is Locals Night at the brewpub, featuring cheap pints ($2.75) from 4pm to closing, and half-priced appetizers from 4 to 6pm and 9pm to closing. Currently on tap is Sexi Mexi, a collaboration beer between Brewmaster Tonya Cornett and the Homebrew Chef Sean Paxton—a beer based on Mexican chocolate and spices and chili peppers as well—not one you’ll want to miss!

Burnside Brewing (Portland) is holding their first in-house beer dinner in a couple of weeks, on Monday the 12th of December: their “Bones, Brews and Brown Spirits Dinner” featuring creative food and beer pairings while also throwing spirits into the mix. Looks like quite a menu they’ve posted, well worth the $75 it’ll cost to attend.

The Love of Beer—the documentary about women in the brewing industry predominantly featuring Tonya Cornett of Bend Brewing and other Oregon beer women—will be having its Eugene premier tomorrow night at Oakshire Brewing. The doors will open at 6:30 and the movie will start at 7:30 followed by a Q&A session with filmmaker Alison Grayson. Tickets are $7 and available at Oakshire and 16 Tons in Eugene. Incidentally, 16 Tons is tonight hosting a “Women’s Only Beer Tasting” with Grayson and several female brewers, from 6 to 9pm.

Cascade Brewing (Portland): Tonight is their Tap It Tuesday starting at 6pm, featuring “Live: Return of the Ginger”: “This NW-style sour ale is a honey rye ale that was barrel aged for 13 months with various types of ginger and lime. Ginger, lime and rye malts greet you in the nose. A cool quenching lime note is followed by a slightly sweet ginger spice and heat that sparkles on the palate. A crisp bite of ginger and a lingering honey herbal note lead to a sweet lime and slight peppery finish. 8.1% ABV, $6 glass.”

Brewery news from other blogs: Ezra at The New School has news about Baker City’s Bull Ridge Brewpub (open with guest taps, but not yet brewing) and Eugene’s upcoming Falling Sky Brewing (which I hadn’t heard of yet).

And the local (to me) Bend Oregon Beer blog has news about Worthy Brewing, including more details from brewmaster Chad Kennedy regarding brewery and beer plans. Exciting stuff, but still a ways off yet.

Oregon Beer News, post-holiday

Posted: November 28th, 2011, 10:32pm CET by Jon

…will start back up tomorrow. Being out of town and mostly offline for the week and then traveling all weekend left me with a bunch of catching-up to do all around. In the meantime, I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving holiday and is now getting ready for Christmas!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted: November 24th, 2011, 9:30pm CET by Jon

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I hope you’re having a safe and fun holiday and have plenty of beer to enjoy with your meal (of course). Some of what’s on tap for today includes 10 Barrel’s Precursor (barrel-aged Imperial Red), my homebrewed Pumpkin Ale, Telegraph Winter Ale, Fresh Hop Mirror Pond from Deschutes, Karl Strauss Tower 10 IPA, Bison Brewing IPA, and more.

Plenty to be thankful for! Have a happy holiday everybody!

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