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| SkookumBrewery: Our new robust porter with coffee and vanilla on tap today, cheers | | 12/9/2011 8:23:11 PM |
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| SkookumBrewery: @Skookumbrew2011
The offical Skookum twitter is now http://t.co/Tn5Ab0cg | | 11/26/2011 6:43:39 PM |
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| SkookumBrewery: Shortly we'll be adding a coffee porter, vanilla porter, and coffee vanilla porter - all based off of our ' beerlaboration' with our new... | | 11/24/2011 11:31:46 PM |
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The Brew Site Oregon Beer News, 02/07/2012 | Here’s the beer news in Oregon for Tuesday, February 7th. 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 and I can get it updated.
If you were planning to attend the Ninkasi Brewer’s Dinner for the Civil Liberties Defense Center at The Granary in Eugene tonight, be aware that it has been postponed; no word on why the event had to be postponed but if you’d like to know when they event will be rescheduled you can contact CLDC directly.
Planning has begun for this year’s Corvallis Beer Week, and this year the CBW takes place from September 10th through the 16th (Monday through Sunday). Mark your calendars and plan accordingly!
Continue reading “Oregon Beer News, 02/07/2012” »
| | 2/7/2012 7:00:29 PM |
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The Brew Site Widmer Spiced IPA | The second of the two beers I received from Widmer last week is their latest offering in their Rotator IPA series, Spiced IPA. This one has an interesting provenance, as it is (as far as I know) the first collaboration beer Widmer has brewed with a homebrew club that isn’t the Oregon Brew Crew; the recipe for the unusual beer originated with the homebrew club, QUAFF out of San Diego.
Widmer explains:
In the spirit of collaboration, we teamed up with San Diego’s Quality Ale and Fermentation Fraternity, or QUAFF for short, to brew Spiced IPA, a beer that offers an intriguing twist on the West Coast’s favorite style. Blending familiar flavors with unexpected ingredients, this hop-forward yet balanced IPA is brewed with malty assam black tea, ginger, cinnamon, clove, star anise, black pepper, and cardamom. The beer and the spices come together, much like the brewers behind it, to create on amazing brew.
Essentially the beer is spiced with a complex, chai-like tea—combining the black tea and spices to high effect, and in fact as part of the gimmick of the PR package I received, there was included a bag of what is essentially this tea mix for which I could brew up tea with, and get a sense of how the spices would present normally. (Similar to having a bag of loose hops on hand to smell, taste, and so on.)
Spice IPA finished out at 7% alcohol by volume. It’s also new enough that I’m not sure it’s hit the shelves yet.
Appearance: Crystal clear copper-golden color, with a fine series of bubbles rising to feed the off-white head.
Smell: Black tea along with light citrus hops; other spicing that reminds me of cloves, orange peel, sweet tea; cotton candy hops.
Taste: Bitter-forward flavors that combine resiny hop stems with strong black tea and some fruity notes. Very earthy and maybe a touch of tobacco. Very interesting and characterful, lots of layers (though “tea” is the predominant essence for me).
Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied with a spicy, earthy, bitter aftertaste.
Overall: I keep sipping to explore the spicing, it’s earthy and complex and much more “savory” than “culinary” (or dessert-y) which definitely is appropriate for this style… assuming this is a “style”…
Spiced IPA on Untappd. BeerAdvocate: 4.1/5 (only 2 reviews so far). RateBeer: 3.8/5 (only 1 review so far).
| | 2/7/2012 5:00:19 PM |
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The Brew Site Oregon Beer News, 02/06/2012 | Happy post-Super Bowl Monday! Did you all unlock the “Brew Bowl XLVI” badge on Untappd? Back to work today… and here’s the news for February 6th. I’ll be updating this post throughout the day, so please contact me if you have news to share.
The Broken Top Bottle Shop is now open in Bend—in fact they opened Saturday late afternoon to a large, eager crowd. We stopped in for dinner and beers, and we very impressed overall; there were a few opening night snafus but all were entirely understandable. They are going to be a valuable addition to Bend’s craft beer scene.
McMenamins Edgefield (Troutdale): They are continuing to showcase the distillery/brewery connection this month with their limited edition tasting coming up this Thursday the 9th, featuring “The Widowmaker”: “Shortly after Halloween, we filled a freshly emptied Hogshead Whiskey barrel from our own Edgefield Distillery with a limited-release Black Widow Porter. For a month, the complex flavors of this wicked ale mingled with the whiskey barrel, resulting in a beer that marries the two — it is sublimely full-flavored with plenty of whiskey aroma and flavor, coupled with hints of vanilla and oak.” The tasting starts at 5pm and lasts until the beer is gone; in addition you can get tastings of the Edgefield Distillery’s Hogshead Whiskey along with The Widowmaker, and the brewers and distillers will be on-hand to answer questions about it.
Continue reading “Oregon Beer News, 02/06/2012” »
| | 2/6/2012 6:00:30 PM |
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The Brew Site Widmer W’12 Dark Saison | This year’s Brewmaster’s Release “W” series from Widmer Brothers Brewing—the W’12—is Dark Saison, a French farmhouse-style ale with a roasted nuttiness to it. But don’t let the “dark” part fool you: unlike that other unusual “dark” beer style rising in popularity, this isn’t anywhere near black or even that dark a brown, but rather a deep amber colored ale. And this one is of course one of the bottles I received from the Brewery.
The beer is 5.5% alcohol by volume, and Widmer says:
Inspired by the classic French Farmhouse ale, our interpretation of the Saison style gets its dark color and deep ruby hue from a hint of caramel and dark chocolate malts. While the beer is darker than many examples of the style, the citrus spice of Saaz hops provides a perfect balance of complex fruity esters with earthy and spicy notes. Dark Saison finishes slightly tart with a drying, clean, and pepper-like finish.
Jeff notes that this will likely be the first Saison that many Americans try, since it’s getting nationwide release—and I can’t think of any other widespread commercial Saisons with that much general reach either, can you?
Appearance: Amber-brown color (mahogany), clear, with a skiff of light tan foam.
Smell: Spicy and peppery, fairly fragrant—I notice the aroma from a distance—along with a nicely floral note. A nutty aroma?
Taste: Dry, white pepper with a touch of cracked black pepper, and a bit of roast to it, almost a nuttiness. A spicy, earthy bite to it, but it’s very clean, with perhaps a tiny bit of astringency.
Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied and dry, with a thin(ish) feel to it on the tongue.
Overall: This is a nice, “mainstream” saison, I think. Nothing flashy but fairly easy drinking.
W’12 Dark Saison on Untappd. BeerAdvocate: 84/100. RateBeer: 3.28/5, 65th percentile.
| | 2/6/2012 5:00:50 PM |
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Beer - Topix.net Charlize Theron Has Excellent Taste in Beer | In a world where Spike Lee has his own variety of Absolut and Will Ferrell devotedly shills for Old Milwaukee , it's important to point out when the intersection of celebrities and booze actually results in something encouraging. | | 2/6/2012 3:06:13 PM |
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Beer - Topix.net PUBSPY: O'Neill's, Sutton | I, like many fellow members of the beer appreciation society, would be loathe to include any 'chain pub' in my top ten. | | 2/6/2012 11:06:30 AM |
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Beer - Topix.net Matthew Tully: The dawn of a new day in Downtown Indy before Super... | Plenty of reporters in the past week have covered the glitz and swank of the Super Bowl's nighttime scene -- the Playboy and ESPN bashes, for instance, and the celebrity parties and club-hopping. But since the only reason I'm ever awake at 1 a.m. is to cuddle my sleep-averse infant son, I decided to cover the other end of the day: the dawn. | | 2/5/2012 7:22:48 PM |
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Beer - Topix.net SF's Dogpatch pier district braces for renewal | There's a hidden corner of the City by the Bay where rusted cranes used to build WWII battleships loom over dilapidated artist studios, where working-class fishermen bob up against first-class ocean liners docked for repair. | | 2/5/2012 11:03:44 AM |
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Beer - Topix.net Beer is booming business in Grand Traverse area | ADVANCE FOR MONDAY, FEB. 6- In a photo from Jan. 26, 2012, Kaleb Longworth, assistant brewer/distiller, uses a saccharometer to check the percentage of sugar in wort at the Northern United Brewing Company on Old Mission Peninsula in Traverse City, Mich. | | 2/5/2012 11:03:43 AM |
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Beer - Topix.net Beer is booming business in Grand Traverse area | His family poured almost $500,000 into the old railroad depot off Eighth Street in Traverse City, and in February he'll open the Filling Station Microbrewery. | | 2/5/2012 11:03:42 AM |
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Beer - Topix.net Two glasses of wine or beer a day 'doubles the risk' of mouth cancer | Warning: A new advertising campaign will warn that drinking two large glasses of wine a day triples the risk of mouth cancer Drinking two large glasses of wine or two strong pints of beer a day triples the risk of developing mouth cancer, according to a new Government campaign. | | 2/5/2012 2:44:33 AM |
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The Brew Site Received: Shock Top Wheat IPA | 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.

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.
| | 2/4/2012 9:35:54 PM |
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The Brew Site The Session #60: Growlers Galore | 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.
| | 2/4/2012 7:30:56 AM |
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The Brew Site Oregon Beer News, 02/03/2012 | 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” »
| | 2/3/2012 6:00:23 PM |
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The Brew Site Apocalypse Beer | 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” »
| | 2/2/2012 8:00:40 PM |
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The Brew Site Oregon Beer News, 02/02/2012 | 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” »
| | 2/2/2012 6:00:53 PM |
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The Brew Site Oregon Beer News, 02/01/2012 | 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” »
| | 2/1/2012 8:15:57 PM |
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Please be courteous to Skookum Brewery's neighbors by abiding the posted speed limit of 10 MPH. Normal Tasting Room Hours: Friday 3:00-7:00PM, Saturday 2:00-5:00PM
Note: The sign that says Skookum at 17th Dr and 200th St NE has been removed.
Kegs for sale. Please call for current prices.
360-652-4917
Please call anytime for Growler fills.
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