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” »

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).

A Zimbabwean Water Resources Minister stunned fellow legislators when he blamed mermaids for two incomplete water dam projects.

Captain Lawrence Brewery proprietor Scott Vaccaro is joined by family and area elected officials at ribbon cutting ceremony of company's new Elmsford location.

The Mallard Pub in Worksop has been nominated North Notts CAMRA's Pub of the Year.

Damian Brown, left, and Chris Gallant crisscross Manhattan and the Bronx delivering their signature brew, The Bronx Pale Ale.

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” »

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.

Cleveland, OH -- The cheapest beer on the shelf: If it lacks that flavor or the punch you're looking for, an Ohio entrepreneur says she invented the fix for it.

Less people may be talking about Will Ferrell Old Milwaukee beer Super Bowl ad than the other commercials, but that's only because it only aired in Nebraska.

The dogs of Hollywood have tugged on the hearts of America. First it was Uggie in The Artist and now on Super Bowl Sunday it is Weego, the beer fetching hound in Rescue Dog .

ORGANISERS of the eighth Pendle Beer Festival are raising a toast to the thousands of real ale drinkers who made it the best yet.

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.

A new brewery is on the scene in Eugene. Falling Sky Brewing opened quietly in late January.

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.

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” »

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” »