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!
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.
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.
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.
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
The new wine servings; notice they've done away with stemmed glassware and instead are currently serving in "mini pint" style glasses.
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.
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.
You might remember earlier this month I wrote about how 
