Several weeks ago my wife and I finally made the trek out to Prineville in the heart of Central Oregon (true story; Prineville was the region’s “metropolis” over a century ago) to check out Solstice Brewing, Prineville’s one-and-only brewpub. Though open for a about a year and a half now, they’ve only been brewing their own beers in-house for a few months, so with a free weekend we decided it was time to visit. The … Continue reading →
The other day Deschutes Brewery held their official release celebrations for their newest year-round addition to their core beer lineup, Deschutes River Ale. I wasn’t able to attend, so to commemorate the occasion I finished up the bottles that Deschutes sent to me previously and have this write-up by way of proxy. Yes, I said “finished up the bottles” plural: unlike many high-gravity, high-octane beer releases that make the news of late, Deschutes River Ale … Continue reading →
San Francisco Beer Week is an amazing extravaganza of beer and community that resonates throughout the Bay Area and this year’s ran from February 8-17. For the launch of this incredible event… I thought it would be fun to instead pay visit my old home of San Diego for the weekend! I lived in San Diego for about 10 years and while I honestly never particularly liked living down there I have enjoyed my visits … Continue reading →
It occurs to me that both Widmer and Deschutes are currently releasing sessionable low-alcohol beers named or themed after rivers—in Deschutes case their 4% abv Deschutes River Ale is a true session beer, while Widmer’s Columbia Common Spring Ale is 4.7% abv (not quite a true “session beer” by Lew Bryson’s definition) and though named (at least in part) for the Columbia hops used in the beer, it also shares its name with and bears … Continue reading →
It’s been a fair amount of time since I got a chance to visit a brewery solely for a beer release party so when I got a postcard announcing the coming of the Hopocalypse at Drake’s Brewing I knew I had to taste the end of days. The Barrel House, where the event was being held, is located in the loading docks of a mall in San Leandro, California and the posted start time was … Continue reading →
