Category : Events

Empire Strikes Back

March 3rd, 2010

I’m sure the movie is the first thing you think when you see the title of this post, but in fact it’s the name of the latest limited-release beer from Double Mountain Brewery. In fact they’re holding release parties tomorrow and Friday, and thanks to the Bend Beer Blog I know that Friday’s release party is being held here in Bend, at Brother Jon’s Pub.

(I’d completely overlooked this, since I saw the “Moon & Sixpence Pub” in Portland as the first location and assumed it was all Portland.)

I had to read this line about the beer from the Double Mountain blog and smirk, though:

EMPIRE STRIKES BACK is a concept beer that answers the question, “what happens when you make a big Northwest-style IPA with all-English malt and hops?”

Um, you have a traditional English IPA?

Yes, completely snarky because it’s a silly concept question. But to be fair, it’s Double Mountain, so I’m sure the beer will be very good.

The release party at Brother Jon’s is from 5 to 9pm Friday, the 5th.

Oregon Brewers Festival 2010 beers

March 2nd, 2010

The beer list for this year’s Oregon Brewers Festival has been posted, and it’s pretty impressive! There are all the usual suspects, of course, but there are a few standouts that caught my eye:

• Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale from Boulevard Brewing
• Hibiscus Ginger Beer from Caldera Brewing
• Dogfish Head (TBA)
• Exit 4 from Flying Fish Brewing
• Sofie from Goose Island
• Le Freak from Green Flash Brewing
• Strawberry Cream Ale from Laht Neppur Brewing
• Coconut Porter from Maui Brewing
• 7 Grain Saison from The Bruery
• Reggae Junkie Gruit from Upright Brewing

Seems like a lot of new appearances in this group, and it’s always nice to see far-reaching breweries making an appearance at the Brewfest.

There’s a nice showing of some of the (relative) Oregon newcomers as well: Hop Valley, Mt. Emily Ale House, Natian Brewery, Seven Brides Brewing, Southern Oregon, Upright, and Vertigo. (Did I miss anybody?)

All in all, based on the list in place so far, looks like it’s shaping up to be a great ‘Fest this year.

Great Arizona Beer Festival

February 16th, 2010

I did not know that Arizona has had a “Great Beer Festival” that’s been going on for more than two decades—Arizona not generally being known as a big brewing state—but indeed they do: early next month the 22nd annual Great Arizona Beer Festival is getting underway in Tempe. (I also just posted the press release about it, which caught my eye.)

March 6th and 7th is the Festival, and $40 will get you in and get up to 23 three-ounce tasters. It’s all for a good cause, too: 100% of the proceeds will benefit Sun Sounds Foundation of Arizona, a reading service for people who are blind.

There are a ton of other events besides just beer tasting, too—look at the press release for the list. And you can take a look at their beer list; while there are some big names on that list it looks like there is a very good amount from Arizona brewers (and possibly other Southwest brewers—I’m not as well-versed in my U.S. Southwest brewer geography as I am for the Pacific Nothwest. For obvious reasons).

Zwickelmania 2010

February 1st, 2010

Zwickelmania in Oregon is back again this year:

This President’s Day weekend, dozens of Oregon breweries and brewpubs will open their doors to visitors for the state’s 2nd 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.
When: Saturday, February 13th, 2010 from 11-4 pm

It’s a celebration of Oregon’s brewers, and there’s an impressive list participating this year (be sure to check out the details to see what each brewery has planned), including:

• Heater Allen Brewing: “Release of Hugo Bock, free tastes of Smokey Bob out of the lagering tank and $1 tastes of everything else.”
• Oakshire Brewing: “Tours on the hour and 10, that’s right, TEN different beers on tap! Devour will be on hand selling their grilled sandwhiches, soup and tater tots.”
• BridgePort Brewing: “$2.75 pints between 11-4pm along with brewery tours on the hour”
• Deschutes Brewing (Bend): “Guided brewery tours from 12 to 5, samples of 2009 Super Jubel+brewer on hand to answer questions.”
• Full Sail Brewing (both locations): “Take a tour and sample a pairing of “Collin’s Dark Secret” the newest Brewers Share beer and artisian chocolate, a great Valentine’s weekend treat. Guided Brewery Tours at 12, 1, 2, 3 and 4PM”
• Pelican Pub & Brewery: “Meet 3 brewers who will be offering brewery tours and beer samples from the fermenter.”
• Raccoon Lodge: “Sampling beer from the Zwickel+beers from the barrel and promises of alchemy demonstrations as well.”
• Southern Oregon Brewing: “Tour and complimentary flight of tasters for people who take the tour at 4 pm.”
• Three Creeks Brewing: “Brewery tours on the hour and the Brewer will be on-site with tastings and beer discussion all day.”
• Widmer Brewing: “Widmer Brothers Brewing will have free tours of their state-of-the-art brewing facility, offering complimentary tastings and appetizers paired with the beers. They will offer special release beers not available anywhere else along with their standard beers. Kurt and Rob and their brewing staff will be on site giving tours. They will have t-shirts, pint glasses, and other gear for sale.”

Holiday Ale Festival

November 29th, 2009

The Holiday Ale Festival up in Portland (Oregon) kicks off this week: from Wednesday, December 2nd through Sunday the 6th, Pioneer Courthouse Square will be overrun by beer seekers anxious to try out 50-plus wintertime beers. This is one of those festivals I’ve never been to (the timing isn’t so great for me) but I really want to go; in recent years this has grown to be one of the Oregon beer fests to attend.

In addition to the “standard” taps that will be pouring—most of which look frankly incredible—they also offer special “limited release” pours which are always the talk of the Fest:

In addition to the 45+ winter seasonals at the event, each year we go deep in to the cellar to bring out a few rare kegs. In most cases, these are rare or vintage brews typically limited to just a single keg, so timing is of the essence if you want to get your tastebuds on these. We hope you are here for them all.

These limited release beers are only tapped at set times each day and when they’re gone, they’re gone. And “limited release” means just that—some of these, like Hair of the Dog’s Commemorative Jim blend is made exclusively for the Fest and is simply not available anywhere else.

The Holiday Ale Festival will cost an initial $20 for the required tasting package: commemorative mug and 10 taster tickets. Additional tasters are $1. Pretty standard pricing for Fests these days—and note, the limited release beers will cost two tickets for a taste instead of one.

News and link roundup

October 23rd, 2009

Odds and ends in review for the end of the week.

• Canfest was today. I first mentioned Canfest last month: held in Reno by Buckbean Brewing, the “International Canned Beer Festival”  brought microbrewers from all over who can their beers. There was judging and a $35 entrance fee. I was hoping for some judging results but since they lasted until (at least) 10:30pm tonight, I doubt they’ll be online before sunrise.
• Here in Bend, the Master Brewers Association of the Americas (there’s a mouthful!) is holding their Northwest District fall meeting today and tomorrow (Friday and Saturday). Looking over their schedule makes me wish I could have attended (if I was a Brewer, of course). How did I not know this was taking place?
• John Foyston had a nice piece online last Friday that I forgot to link to: The OGs of Oregon Brewing. Nice rundown of, as he calls it, Oregon beer’s “Old Guard.”
• I know I said next week’s Theme Week was going to be Bière de Garde, but I’m switching gears and going with French Beer instead. Once I’d posted that the wheels started turning and kept coming back to beers from France.

The Abyss Release Party: November 3rd

October 16th, 2009

Deschutes Brewery is kicking off their Abyss Release Parties at their Bend and Portland Pubs on Tuesday, November 3rd.

But that’s not all! On their Facebook fan page, they are announcing more here in Bend:

The wait is almost over. The Abyss 2009 release party at the Bend pub will be on Tuesday, November 3rd, at 5:30 PM. This will be your chance to purchase the first bottle of the season, try a three year vertical tasting and purchase the new t-shirt.

Three year vertical tasting. That’s going to be awesome.

Brewpublic’s one-year and Elysian’s Pumpkin Fest

October 9th, 2009

There’s a couple of events going on in the Pacific Northwest this weekend that I am candidly envious of (mostly because I can’t make it to either).

The first is Brewpublic’s First Anniversary:

In celebration of our first Brewniversary, Brewpublic is pleased to announce two events featuring one-of-a-kind craft beers, art and giveaways. These two special events were planned with you the reader in mind. Please come join the Brewpublic team and fellow Beervana Brewpublicans in a toast to fine craft beer, yeast, malt, and the pursuit of hoppiness.

Tonight they had their anniversary party, and tomorrow they kick off an amazing grassroots (I assume it’s grassroots—it’s a blog, right?) beer fest:

On this special night during Portland’s Fresh Hop weekend, Brewpublic has curated a line-up of never tasted before beers from the Pacific Northwest. Barrel-aged brews, Belgian-style specialties, and other one of a kind and one-off brews. Most of these beers will not be available again. Bailey’s provides a great environment for tasting these beers and they will be offered in 10 oz and 20 oz imperial pints, as well as sample trays.

Go check out the beer list on that link. Yes, it’s pretty amazing. I’m jealous!

But seriously, Brewpublic has been off to an amazing first year and it’s a terrific blog. Keep up the good work, guys!

The other event I’d love to attend someday is Elysian Brewing’s Great Pumpkin Festival:

In addition to the Night Owl, the festival will showcase The Great Pumpkin Imperial Pumpkin Ale, Dark o’ the Moon Pumpkin Stout, Hansel and Gretel Ginger Pumpkin Pilsner, Jack o’ Bite Barrel-aged Strong Scottish Pumpkin Ale, Mr. Yuck Sour Pumpkin Ale, Bete N’Owl Dark Belgian-style Pumpkin Ale, and a few others, all from Elysian’s brewers. In addition, 16 guest pumpkin beers will be poured from several Seattle-area brewers as well as special efforts from some of America’s best and most innovative brewers.

The high point of each GPBF is the 4 o’ clock tapping of the Great Pumpkin, a huge gourd filled with pumpkin ale which has been sealed up with wax and allowed to undergo a second fermentation before having a tap hammered home for serving. Patrons line up dozens-deep to enjoy and comment on the year’s effort.

[Description from Beer Northwest.]

The fest runs the 10th and 11th at Elysian’s Capitol Hill brewpub. Sounds pretty great; most breweries don’t even brew one pumpkin beer per year—so Elysian is like, king of the pumpkin beers.

(They really need a website for the event though.)

Oregon GABF Winners

September 26th, 2009

Today was the awards ceremony for the Great American Beer Festival, and among all the great beers that were judged (some 3300 across 78 categories), a number of Oregon breweries brought home medals. Here’s who won what (alphabetical order):

• 10 Barrel Brewing (Bend): Bronze for S1NIST0R Black Ale in Category 13, “Out of Category – Traditionally Brewed Beer”.
• Barley Brown’s Brewpub (Baker City): 2 medals! Silver for Shredder’s Wheat in Category 2, “American-Style Wheat Beer”, and Bronze for Tumble Off Pale Ale in Category 45, “American Style Pale Ale”.
• Bend Brewing (Bend): Silver for Outback X in Category 77, “Old Ale or Strong Ale”.
• Cascade Brewery (AKA the Raccoon Lodge, Portland): 2 medals in the same category! Category 19, “Wood- and Barrel-Aged Sour Beer”, the Gold for Bourbonic Plague, and Silver for Vlad the Imp Aler.
• Deschutes Brewery (Bend): 3 medals! Silver for Mirror Pond Pale Ale in Category 43, “Classic English Style Pale Ale”, Bronze for Belgian-style Quad in Category 66, “Belgian-Style Abbey Ale”, and Bronze for Black Butte Porter in Category 68, “Brown Porter”.
• Full Sail (Hood River): Gold for Session Black Premium Lager in Category 35, “American-Style Dark Lager”.
• Hopworks Urban Brewery (Portland): 2 medals! Gold for Organic Ace of Spades Imperial IPA in Category 48, “Imperial India Pale Ale”, and Gold for Organic Rise Up Red in Category 49, “American Style Amber/Red Ale”.
• Laurelwood Brewing (Portland): 2 medals! Bronze for Organic Deranger Imperial Red in Category 50, “Imperial Red Ale”, and Gold for Space Stout in Category 71, “Foreign Style Stout”.
• Oakshire Brewing (Eugene): Silver for Overcast Espresso Stout in Category 6, “Coffee Flavored Beer”.
• Pelican Pub & Brewery (Pacific City): 3 medals! Silver for Kiwanda Cream Ale in Category 40, “Golden or Blonde Ale”, Silver for Surfer’s Summer Ale in Category 42, “English-Style Summer Ale”, and Bronze for MacPelican’s Wee Heavy Ale in Category 76, “Scotch Ale”.
• Rogue (Newport): 2 medals! Silver for Imperial Chocolate Stout in Category 5, “Herb and Spice or Chocolate Beer”, and Silver for Mocha Porter in Category 69, “Robust Porter”.
• Widmer (Portland): 2 medals! Silver for Hefeweizen in Category 3, “American-Style Wheat Beer With Yeast”, and Gold for W ‘10 in Category 13, “Out of Category – Traditionally Brewed Beer”.

All in all, that’s 22 medals that Oregon brewers won. Awesome job and congrats to all the winners!

The best way to congratulate them, of course,  is to stop by and drink some beer.

Canned Beer Week 2: Canned Beer Festival

September 23rd, 2009

Apparently there’s going to be a Canned Beer Festival taking place on October 23rd in Reno, Nevada, and being put on by Reno’s own Buckbean Brewing Company. I picked up the story from KevBrews, who in turn ran the press release itself.

Buckbean Brewing Company, Nevada’s largest production microbrewery, will bring to Reno this October the first ever CANFEST – Reno International Canned Beer Festival, the first international beer judging and tasting for canned beer, to take place at the Grand Sierra Resort & Casino, Oct. 23, 2009.

Buckbean, a company that packages their beers in environmentally-friendly 16 ounce aluminum cans, hopes to shed light on the various breweries across the US that distribute their brews in cans and crush the many myths regarding beer in cans. Proceeds from the event will benefit The Nature Conservancy and the Great Basin Bird Observatory.

The competition will commence and finish in the Grand Sierra Theater October 23, from 6:30 p.m. -10:30 p.m. Judging will take place prior to the public tasting. Celebrities from the beer world will judge the beers individually, based on categories still to be decided. Beer seminars, beer and food pairings and a forum of brewers that can beer are planned.

Tickets will cost $35 and they plan to have a number of “canning brewers” there, to enter their beers for the competition.

The Little Woody, Bend, Oregon

September 14th, 2009

Saturday, the 12th, I attended Bend’s first barrel-aged beer festival, The Little Woody (announcement, beer list). It was held downtown, in the lawn and parking lot of the Deschutes Historical Museum, which turned out to be a decent location—I was there early and by the time I left (3pm), it was filling up and I’ve heard that it was elbow-to-elbow standing room only later in the evening. (The fest ran until 10pm.)

All seven Central Oregon breweries were well represented, all of them having two beers on hand, at least one of which was barrel-aged. Regular beers cost one token, and wood-aged beers cost two; tokens were $1 each or you could get 10 with the $15 entrance package. ($6 by itself would get you in with a commemorative glass.)

In addition to beer, there were four food vendors there: pizza, Mexican, vegetarian, and Ben and Jerry’s. I had lunch before I went down there, but had I not, I would have actually like to have seen more food choices available.

It was a beautiful day for the fest, I met up with friends and had a good time. I made it a point to taste all of the barrel-aged beers available (at that time); here’s the rundown:

Reaper’s Demise (McMenamins Old St. Francis School): An Oktoberfest-style beer aged 40 days in a McMenamins Hogshead Whiskey barrel. 6.2%. Sweet and mellow with a nice understated, blended whiskey character.

Firewater Red (Three Creeks Brewing): A Northwest Red Ale aged one month in a Hogshead Whiskey barrel. 5.8%. Fairly pronounced whiskey characters in the nose and mouth, much darker than you’d expect for a “Red” ale, though the color might have been influenced by the barrel. It should be allowed to warm up to appreciate it more.

Bourbon Barrel RIPA (10 Barrel Brewing): A blend of 10 Barrel’s IPA and a Red Ale, aged “several months” in an oak bourbon barrel. 7.5%. I found it more hoppy than “woody”. Some bourbon character was coming out as it warmed up.

Skookum Strong Wood (Cascade Lakes Brewing): A version of their Skookum Creek Strong Ale aged for nine months in a Jim Beam barrel (which was there at the fest—it’s in the picture below). 7%. I found this to be a really good beer, malty and mellow and full of smooth vanilla whiskey notes—I was very impressed. I would definitely look for more of this if it was bottled.

Bourbon Bite Porter (Silver Moon Brewing): Their regular Snake Bite Porter aged in a “fresh bourbon oak barrel.” 5.2%. I only had a taste of this from someone else’s glass, and it was disappointing from a wood-aged standpoint—only a little bourbon character, more of a smokiness but otherwise a regular porter.

The other barrel-aged beer Silver Moon had at the fest, The Nekkid Creeper, wasn’t tapped yet—they were planning on tapping it later in the day, so I never had the chance to try any.

Barrel X (Bend Brewing Company): A special release of their already-limited Outback X, aged for a year in a barrel. 9.1%. This is a sour beer—think Deschutes’ The Dissident and similar sour brown ales. I asked if this was intentional, or an accidental by-product of aging on the wood—they assured me it was intentional. It was actually not a bad beer (from my limited experience with sours), but it needs more time to age and mellow—I was getting some paint thinner notes off of it.

Bourbon Barrel Quad and Mirror Mirror (Deschutes Brewing): The Quad is the same beer than I reviewed here and was just as good; the Mirror Mirror (reviewed here) was the star of the fest. It’s aged really well even in the relatively short time since the spring; creamy and rich and smooth, with subtle vanilla and bourbon. There’s a lot of maturity in this beer.

There was live, local music on the lawn; early in the day there was more interest in the beer than the music, I think.

All in all, I think this was a good first effort. There were a few snags that I think could stand to be corrected: no minors were allowed at all, for instance, but there would have been no problem with kids present that I could see (at least, say, until 6 or 7pm). There was also no beer alternative: I know a “beer festival” is expected to only serve beer, but there could have been a winery or two represented—especially since wine ages in wooden barrels, there could have been some sort of tie-in in that regard. The Oregon Brewers Festival has a “Root Beer Garden”, that serves up free root beer to designated drivers—something like that could be a possibility also.

I’m looking forward to seeing where this evolves for next year.

Beers on tap at The Little Woody

September 8th, 2009

I had previously posted about Bend’s barrel-aged beer festival coming up this Saturday (the 12th), The Little Woody. It’s taking place downtown at the Deschutes Historical Museum lawn from noon until 10pm, and features one or more barrel-aged beers from all of Central Oregon’s microbrewers.

I also requested and received the beer list for what’s going to show up this Saturday—except for my other blog, I haven’t seen this show up anywhere else.

Here are the beers:

Bend Brewing

Barrel X
A limited release of our award winning Outback X aged for a year in a bourbon barrel. This is a deep mahogany beer with an aroma of rich malt balanced by hops and alcohol in the background. It fills the mouth with a medley of prickly hops, dry roasted malt and toasted oak.
O.G. = ?
Alc. by vol. = ?
IBUs = ?

Cascade Lakes Brewing

Skookum Strong Wood
This is a special version of our Skookum Creek Strong Ale. It starts out a medium-bodied strong ale with a noticeable hop presence. There are four hop varieties and eight different malts in this beer that provide the hop presence and malt complexity our region is known for. We then aged it in a bourbon barrel for 9-plus months, which lends notes of vanilla and toffee.
O.G. = 1.068
Alc. by Vol. = 7%
IBUs = 50

Paulina Lake Pilsner
This is a classic German style pilsner that’s light straw in color and well hopped with European noble hops, and fermented to a low final gravity. This leads to a beer with few residual sugars to create a dry crisp lager with higher hop bitterness and aroma than your typical American Lager. A perfect palette cleanser during a day of drinking barrel aged beers.
O.G. = 1.045
Alc by Vol = 4.5%
IBUs = 30

Deschutes Brewery

Lost Barrels of Mirror Mirror
After releasing this inspired barely wine last April as part of our Reserve Series, we found some “lost” barrels in the back corner of the warehouse. So, we set aside this special 100 percent barrel-aged version of Mirror Mirror for occasions such as this. This was brewed at our main brewery in a barrel previously used by Domaine Drouhin with Millenium and Cascade hops and four different malts.
O.G.= 1.102
Alc. by vol = 10.7%
IBUs = 51

Bond Street Bourbon Barrel Quad
A celebration of a classic Belgian-style ale with a Deschutes twist made with loving care in our Bond Street Pub using three different hops and two different malts. The barrel from which this beer originates was originally used to age bourbon by Makers Mark for 15 years.
O.G. = 1.087
Alc. by vol. = 9.3%
IBUs = 19

McMenamins Old St. Francis School

Reaper’s Demise Oktoberfest
This traditional Oktoberfest-style ale was aged in a McMenamins Hogshead whiskey barrel to help give a nice roundness and oaken flavor to an already malty and somewhat sweet beer. A medium hop flavor and aroma add nicely to the smooth aftertaste of whiskey while sipping the Reaper’s Demise. Beware as you might not get much work done harvesting the fields once you indulge yourself in this creation.
OG = 1.059
Alc. by vol. = 6.2%

Silver Moon Brewing

The Nekkid Creeper
This is an old-style strong ale aged several months in a fresh bourbon barrel with a fresh a floral aroma thanks to a generous Goldings dry hop and late kettle addition. Vanilla and oak dominate the nose along with alcohol due to the high gravity of this beer. The flavor is full bodied and mouth layering with a strong English malt background, toasty and bready. This beer is a dark mohagony in color and low in carbonation.
ABV = 9.1%
IBUs = 110

Bourbon Bite Porter
Our award-winning Snake Bite Porter aged in a fresh bourbon oak barrel. The aroma is that of roasted coffee, chocolate and a slight smokiness thanks to the black patent and chocolate malts, which satisfy the oakiness of our robust porter. Finishing dry, this porter has a big-mouth feel, along with the vanilla and sweet bourbon flavors, the roasted smoke character smoothes and compliments. Jet black in color a low carbonation level ensures a smooth tantalizing experience.
ABV = 5.2%
IBUs = 20

10 Barrel Brewing

Bourbon Barrel RIPA
A unique and generous blend of Ten Barrel’s original IPA and Rusty Barrel Red Ale, aged for several months in an oak bourbon barrel. This beer is deep amber in color with smooth ruby highlights. It has a full-bodied mouth feel that’s malty with hints of caramel and toffee. The beer uses six different types of malts and four hops to create a balanced hop bitterness and flavor, mingled with a smooth blend of bourbon, oak and vanilla.
Alc. by vol. = 7.5%
IBUs = 62

Three Creeks Brewing

Firewater Red
A big, balanced Red Ale with Northwest attitude, aged in a Hogshead Whiskey barrel. It took six malts and just over 10 pounds of hops (Columbus, Cluster, Willamette and Centennial) to create this Red ale that starts dry, offers a hint of malt sweetness in the middle and finishes with just the right amount of hop bitterness and evidence of whiskey that we were looking for.
OG = 1.058
Alc. by vol. = 5.8%

In addition, the Central Oregon Homebrewers Organization has two beers that will be available: both stouts, one is aged in a rum barrel and one in a whiskey barrel.

Every single one of these beers sounds really promising.

The Little Woody is coming, September 12

August 30th, 2009

With a name like “The Little Woody“, you have to wonder exactly what it is I’m writing about. It’s a Barrel Aged Brew Festival that’s coming to Bend on Saturday, September 12.

This festival will feature hand crafted, wood aged beer as well as one specialty brew from all of Central Oregon’s seven breweries. The Little Woody will be the place to be September 12, 2009. Festival goers will enjoy live music, great food, a wood carving exhibition and beer tastings throughout the day and into the night.

The Little Woody will take place in downtown Bend on the lawn of the Des Chutes Historical Museum located on the corner of Wall Street and Idaho. Event hours are Saturday September 12th from 12pm-10pm. Admission to the event is just $6 and includes a commemorative glass. A tasting package is available for $15 and includes a commemorative glass and tasting tickets. A portion of the event proceeds will benefit the Deschutes Historical Society.

Background: This year’s Bend Brew Fest (which normally happens in mid-August) was canceled for “restructuring” (not the least of which was caused by a conflict with the OLCC), so The Little Woody was initiated in its place. (Actually, I have no idea if TLW was specifically dreamed up to fill in the lack of Fest gap, or if it was already in the works.)

All of Central Oregon’s microbreweries are participating: Deschutes Brewing, Bend Brewing, Cascade Lakes Brewing, Silver Moon Brewing, McMenamins Old St. Francis School, 10 Barrel Brewing, and Three Creeks Brewing.

Of them all, Deschutes is obviously the old hand at barrel-aging beers, but I’m curious and excited to see what the others (particularly Bend Brewing) come up with.

The venue might be a bit worrisome, though; the Historical Museum lawn is decent-sized but a big turnout might be crazy. And the parking will be awful—don’t plan on parking anywhere within three blocks.

Other than that, it should be fun.

Cuisinternship

August 27th, 2009

There’s been a number of other blogs mentioning this already: Travel Oregon is promoting a “Cuisinternship” contest wherein winners get to participate in a week-long “cuisine internship” under a variety of categories. I’ve posted the press release here. Since this is a beer blog, however, I must point out one of the seven internships is with Jamie Emmerson of Full Sail Brewing; you basically get to follow him around for a week and help him make beer.

(Two other categories that would likely be of interest to beer folks—they certainly are to me, anyway—are “Winemaker” and “Distiller”. The wine internship is with Penner-Ash Wine Cellars, and the distilling one with Bendistillery.)

Oh, did I mention the week-long trips are all expenses paid?

The full itinerary of the Brewmaster Cuisinternship can be found on its contest page. Definitely looks like it would keep you busy. Unfortunately, I don’t see any slot for “develop a beer”: how cool would it be for the winner to help create a unique (limited release) beer to serve in the pub?

Thinking about Beer Weeks

August 17th, 2009

On Saturday I posted a press release about San Diego’s first Beer Week, which will be taking place November 6th through the 15th, and thought it was worth promoting beyond just the press release. Really, I’m kind of surprised it took San Diego this long to start a beer week; seems like every other major metro area has one (Oregon has a whole month), and SD has a huge beer-centric culture going on there.

Their schedule is a little sparse yet, but I expect that to change over the next couple of months. (Likewise their website is a bit sparse, several “coming soon” pages still.) It should be one of the November beer highlights if you’re on the west coast. Hopefully.

And naturally, thinking about a Beer Week prodded me into realizing that today is the third Monday of the month, and I should have had a Theme Week organized. Unfortunately, I don’t; consider it the final month in a “summer vacation” but I’ll definitely be back strong with Theme Week in September.

In fact, I already know what it’ll be next month: Canned Beer Week II. There have been additional developments in the canned craft beer segment, with new craft beers available now that weren’t here before. In particular, New Belgium’s canned Fat Tire has made it to Oregon, and I think it would be interesting to do a side-by-side tasting of bottled Fat Tire with canned Fat Tire.

And no, I’m not a Fat Tire hater.