The Last Week in Beer in Review

It has been an action packed week in Portland for PDX Beer and Music. Instead of giving you the low down in words. I figured I would give the review in picture form. First up, the IIPA challenge at Blitz Ladd:

The Cream of the Crop in Beer Blogging: from left to right - Jeff Alworth (Beervana), Bill Night (It's Pub Night) and John Foyston (Oregonian)

Taster Tray at Blitz Ladd IIPA Challenge

Bill won this New Belgium bike in a raffle

After a $100 donation to charity, Angelo took over the bike

On Friday I headed to the coast. After hiking the Fort to Sea Trail with my daughter, we headed to Fort George Brewery for lunch. The new patio and tank look awesome:

Here is a look at the building they are renovating which will hold their canning operation. Looks like they have plenty of work to do:

On Saturday, the family headed out to Hopworks Urban Brewery for the Biketobeerfest. Besides having our first fresh hops beer of the season, we enjoyed some other great beers, music, and fun.

Angelo of BREWPUBLIC enjoying the

sounds of Boy Eats Drum Machine

My girl working on a masterpiece at Biketobeer

The crowd at Biktobeerfest

Listen to the new Sufjan Stevens EP and anticipate the new LP

Sufjan Stevens has released a new EP titled All Delighted People. The EP contains 8 songs and clocks in at nearly an hour. The album won't be released in stores until this fall but is available for digital download now for only $5 at Sufjan's bandcamp website. You can also stream the EP for free at Paste Magazine.

Stevens also announced the release of his next full length album The Age of Adz which will hit stores on October 12. Don't forget that Sufjan is playing Portland at the Schnitz on October 29th. Tickets are on sale now. See my previous post for more details.

Fresh Hops Season - My Favorite Beer Season!

Fall is my favorite season. I love the cool, crisp air. The leaves changing color. Football. Halloween. Fall has it all. Add to that list hops harvest and fresh hops beers. For the uninitiated, here are the fresh hops cliff notes:

Hops grow like crazy during the summer. They are harvested in late summer/early fall. The vast majority of commercial hops are dried (often in pellet form) for use in brewing throughout the year. In recent years, breweries near to the hop fields (lucky for us in the NW) have begun using hops to brew beer within hours of harvesting them - thus "fresh" or "wet" hops beers. The unprocessed fresh hops contribute more floral, earthy flavors to beer. Here is a nice NY Times article from 2009, featuring many local brewers, for more in depth analysis.

So, why is fresh hops season my favorite time of the year on the beer calendar? Let me explain.

1. I really enjoy the beers. I look forward to that earthy aroma and fresh, almost grassy flavor.

2. Fresh hop beers showcase the brewer's skills. In order to let the fresh hops take center stage in these beers the brewer has to tone down the IBUs. Hopbombs are not the way to go to showcase fresh hops. As a result, you have more subtle, complex beers. It is a tightrope to walk between a good beer with earthy flavors and a bad beer with that taste of decomposition. I like that challenge for the brewer.

3. Variety. Sure, the overwhelming majority of fresh hops beers all fall into the ale category and most of those are pale ales. But, there is a nice variety of styles from ambers and reds to IPAs and CDAs. Stouts and pilsners have even popped up. Even within each style is a wide variety of interpretation from each brewer. Hell, even the same beer from the same brewer can taste different from keg to keg or depending on when in the season you get a taste.

4. New beers are released almost everyday at peak season. I like nothing more than trying new beers. Even if brewers follow the same recipe from year to year, the hop crop will result in a different flavor profile every year. Add to that new recipes and you can basically drink nothing but new, exciting beers for 4-6 weeks. Part of the excitement is finding out when and where these beers have been released into the wild. The rise of Twitter will make it even easier this year to get that new fresh hops fix.

Now that I have got your mouth watering and you are pining for a fresh hop beer, let me tell you where to get them. As I said before, Twitter is gonna be your best friend. Full Sail tweeted last week as they began brewing their first batch of Lupulin for 2010. Hopworks already tweeted that they were brewing a Fresh Hop Pale for this Saturday's Biketobeerfest. That should be the first fresh hop beer on tap for the season, and is reason enough to attend this great event.

Full Sail usually produces a few versions of Lupulin, each showcasing a different hop. Deschutes produces several different versions of fresh hops beers, including the bottled Hop Trip. Last year Deschutes crafted an amazing Fresh Hops Mirror Pond, which was widely regarded as last years best fresh hops beer.

A few of my favorite events take place during fresh hops season. First up is Lucky Lab's Hop Harvest (Thursday, September 2nd per Brewpublic). Lucky Lab SE trucks in all of the hops grown at the different pubs, brewers backyards, and elsewhere to the back patio. Everyone is invited to help pick the hops and several people show up with their own homegrown hops to donate to the cause. Beer and often food are supplied by Lucky Lab. This is a great event that really emphasizes the community aspect of brewing.

My daughter helping out at Lucky Lab's Hop Harvest 2009

The poorly named Fresh Hop Tastivals take place in Sisters (9/25), Hood River (10/2) and Portland (10/9) this year. After moving around locations, the Portland festival found a great spot last year at Oaks Amusement Park. I had a great time at the festival last year. A total of 44 fresh hops beers were on tap. The site had plenty of room with a huge tent and plenty of greenspace along the river. The niche status of fresh hops beers keeps the crowd civilized and I didn't hear a single "tent yell" last year. The Hood River festival is also a great time, often with a few brewers not at the Portland version.

Another great event during fresh hops season is Belmont Station's Fresh Hops Beer Week. Some of the best fresh hops beer from the NW take over the taps at Belmont Station's bier cafe. A great way to catch up on some of the brews you have missed. As you can see, fresh hops season has a lot to offer. Get ready!

Coalition Brewing Co. - A Welcomed Addition

After working 8 straight days, I was more than ready for a day off last Wednesday. I had thoughts of making a long overdo trip out to Astoria. However, I quickly realized what I needed most on that day was some sleep. So, I slept in. Then I joined some friends for some wakeboarding off of Sauvie Island. By the time I made it back into the city in the early afternoon, I was starving and thirsty. A perfect time to make my first visit to Coalition Brewing Co. (I link to their facebook page because their website seems to be a work in progress).

Coalition has been open for 8 weeks at this point. Several of my beer blogging colleagues have written up recent reviews (including Beervana, It's Pub Night, Brewpublic and The New School), which will give you a great deal of information that I will not repeat. The crew took over the space at SE Ankeny and SE 28th Ave. that Noble Rot restaurant used to occupy and set up their sleek brewpub. Brewing is done across the strip in a small building they share with a call center.

They have made good use of the small space. A small bar and an adjacent barstool height communal table provide plenty of seats for sharing beer with new and old friends. Four or five sit down tables fill out the space, which is complimented by nice brewing photography. The space spills out onto the adjacent sidewalk when the large garage door is rolled up. I arrived after the lunch crowd and shared the sidewalk tables with a few others enjoying a nice cool summer afternoon.

I received excellent service. I was pleased that they were willing to supply me with a sampler "tray" of 6 of the 7 beers on offer. I was also excited to have arrived the day the new Maple Porter went on tap. Also on tap were a red, pale ale, ESB, bitter, IPA, cream, and stout. My sampler included all but the cream, which I later sampled before I left. All of the beers are well crafted.

As some have remarked before, there is some similarity between the red, pale ale, and the quite hoppy ESB. But, I found nuances in each that set them apart. The stout was very good and, despite little oats in the recipe, I caught a nice oatmeal flavor. The maple porter was excellent. A solid dark porter base with a hint of sweetness from the maple on the backend. As the weather cools, I can see this being a beer for which I regularly return to Coalition.

They have had recent changes to the menu. I never tried the original menu items and I can only speak of the dishes I ate. I had the sandwich on special which consisted of slow cooked pork cheek, citrus slaw, avocado and cilantro cream with a small side salad. It was fantastic. The pork was incredibly tender and perfectly cooked. The slaw, cream and avocado all worked together to compliment the pork. I finished off with a bowl of strawberry balsamic ice cream which was so good.

I was able to chat with owner Elan Walsky and general manager Megan Letter while I was there. They are super friendly and very excited about being a part of their neighborhood and are encouraged by a strong start. Work should begin shortly on a large deck in the adjoining lot along the east wall of the brewpub, which will increase capacity significantly. The deck will be covered and provide some shelter during the rainy months. If you have slacked like I did and haven't made it out to Coalition, now is the time.

2nd Annual Blitz IPA Brewer's Challenge

I am excited to be one of the judges for The 2nd Annual Blitz IPA Brewer's Challenge. The event runs all weekend at Blitz Ladd. This will be a fun weekend mix of great beer, BBQ, and music. And it is all for a good cause - The Bald Face Truth Foundation. The foundation was started by local sports columnist and sports talk radio host John Canzano. It supports school arts, education and athletics by helping pay for extra-curricular activities.

Aside from some great BBQ and some live tunes, there will be some great IPAs on offer. Here is the list:

Dogfishhead 90 Minute, Stone Ruination, Lagunitas Hop Stoopid, New Belgium Belgo, Deschutes Hop Henge, Diamond Knot Industrial IPA, Full Sail Spotless IPA, Pike Double IPA, Bridgport Hop Czar, Pyramid CDA, Mad River Double IPA, Natian Special IPA, McMenamins Special IPA, and Concordia IPA.

Hop Henge recently won the Concordian Cup at the Concordia Ale and is always a well crafted IIPA. New Belgium's Belgo is a recently released Belgian IPA. Dogfishead 90 minute is legendary, etc...

Drinking great beer while eating BBQ and listening to live music all while supporting a good cause is a great way to spend the weekend. Come out on Saturday after 5 pm and laugh at all the beer bloggers judging the beers!

Arcade Fire - Ticket Presale

Arcade Fire is coming to Portland on Thursday, September 30th. Unfortunately, they are playing the sound challenged Memorial Coliseum. Beggers cannot be choosers, I guess. Here are the ticket details:

PRESALE:

Thursday, August 19th 10am - 5 pm.

Password: ROSEQUARTER

$40

Link to tickets

Tickets go on sale to general public on Friday, August 20th at 10am.

For The Sophisticated Beer Snob

If you read this blog, this product is for you. My favorite part is that "I (heart) BEER" is written both right side up and upside down. As if it is written properly for anyone that might see you in your boxers to know that you do in fact LOVE BEER, and it is written upside down so that when you look down at your boxers it reminds you, the wearer, that you do in fact LOVE BEER.

If for some reason you do not already have underwear proclaiming your love for beer, Old Navy has got you covered! If this pair is just too bold, you could always settle on the beer mugs:

Perfect Friday

Having to work all weekend was not such a bad thing given the heat. One thing that helped me get through the weekend was that I enjoyed what may have been a perfect Friday afternoon/evening. It all started with an early exit from work which allowed me to head straight to Hair of the Dog's new tasting room to meet my wife. The tasting room officially opened on Friday at 2 pm. I arrived to find the big garage door wide open and Charles from An Ear for Beer at the bar. I settled in and ordered a glass of Blue Dot IPA. They also had on tap: Fred, Adam, Greg, Doggie Claws, and Cherry Adam.

This was my first visit inside the new tasting room, as I had not been able to make it to previous open houses for FredFest or during the OBF. The space is really well done with a beautiful U-shaped wooden bar and plenty of tables. Vivid colors adorn the walls and the kitchen is pretty open. One of the servers told me the kitchen should be up and running in about 2 weeks.

A pretty good crowd was present at 4 o'clock, including one of my neighbors and his Friday afternoon pub crew. They usual meet at the Green Dragon but had switched venues for the opening of HOTD. The highlight of my visit was a magnum bottle of 16 year old Adam from the Wood which was generously passed around the room for free samples. This was the first batch of barrel aged beer owner and brewer Adam Sprints ever brewed. It was still fantastic with that sharp barrel aged, bourbon flavor. Make sure you get on down to the new tasting room. It is located at 61 SE Yamhill St. and is open Wed-Sunday from 2-8 pm.

Blue Dot IPA and 16 year old Adam from the Wood

Since the kitchen was not running yet at Hair of the Dog, my wife and I walked across the street to grab some happy hour grub at Clarklewis. I had recently read an article about using squash blossoms in a salad. Clarklewis happened to have fried squash blossoms on the menu, which were pretty damn good. We had several great plates of food, which were highlighted by an awesome ice cream sandwich. Perfect for a hot summer day. I passed on the happy hour beer - Old German Lager.

From Clarklewis we headed over to Green Dragon so I could grab another pint. I have not been frequenting Green Dragon as much as I used to and my visits were usually weekdays for lunch. It was quite a shock to walk into the Dragon on a Friday afternoon to see the patio completely packed. We took a seat inside and I had an underwhelming Golden Valley Brewing Chehalem Mountain IPA. The disappointment of the beer was quickly forgotten as I got a text from a friend who was headed out to his houseboat off of Sauvie Island to do some wakeboarding.

We left the Dragon, picked up our daughter from school, grabbed our bathing suits and were off to Sauvie Island. The evening ended with burgers, Widmer Drifter pale ale, and some great wakeboarding as the sun went down.

A perfect summer evening in Portland!

Deschutes Street Fare and Upcoming Music Happenings

Street Fare - already crowded shortly after opening

The Deschutes Brewery Street Fare last night was crazy successful. We arrived at 5 o'clock on the dot and there was already a line to get inside the closed off street. Once inside it was tight quarters the whole time we were there. When we left before 7 pm it was one man out, one man in at the entrance. The problem was a combination of the size of the crowd and the fact that the food and beer stations were set up on the street instead of the sidewalk adjacent to the Armory Building. This took up a lot of the limited street space. I am guessing this event went really well for all involved and most importantly for the charity Morrison Child and Family Services. If they do something similar in the future I hope they select a larger space.

Langhorne Slim and Chris Funk busk the Street Fare

Several of the food and beer pairings were quite fantastic. My wife and I bought a sampler pass and one entry ticket, which allowed us to try 8 of the 10 pairings. Money well spent. I thought the Hop in the Dark really complimented the Whiffies Mozzarella and BBQ Pork Fried Pies. The contrast of the sweet flaky pie and rich meaty filling worked well with the contrasting dark malts and bitter hops. The Garden State Meatball Sliders paired well with the Sagebrush Pils. Pilsners work so well with food and these sliders were excellent. The Maibock had a nice edge that cut into the maple from the Flavour Spot sausage or pecan maple waffles, which kept the maple from overpowering the dish. This worked well. I also enjoyed all of the ice cream flavors from Oregon Ice Works and thought they worked well with the Hop Henge. Although, I felt the Black Butter Porter Chocolate flavor was a bit too bitter.

It really was a wonderful event and I hope a lot of money was raised for Morrison Child and Family Services. I hope my fellow beer bloggers, many of whom received VIP passes to the event which allowed them free food and beer, made or will be making a contribution to this worthy cause!

We did not stay long enough for any of the music acts on the main stage. We did get to enjoy some of the other musicians busking, most notably Langhorne Slim and Chris Funk. It was really cool to watch them perform literally standing next to the small crowd. Langhorne Slim just moved to Portland. After rocking Pickathon last weekend and then hitting the Street Fare, hopefully he has a good impression of Portland. I know I do.

The crowd on my way out - at capacity!

Seeing the buskers made me long to see some live music. So, I went digging around the internets to see what was coming our way. The fall music schedule is starting to shape up very nicely. To not overwhelm, I decided to list some interesting shows in the in August and early September leading up to MusicFest NW:

8/14 Rodrigo y Gabriela @ Edgefield

Temper Trap @ Roseland

Cool Kids and Wavves @ Berbatis Pan

8/15 Dirty Dozen Brass Band @ Dante's

Tokyo Police Club and Freelance Whales @ Aladdin

8/20 The Hold Steady @ Crystal Ballroom

The Swell Season and Black Francis (aka Frank Black) @ Oregon Zoo

8/22 Kimya Dawson and Thao with The Get Down Stay Down @ Holocene

8/28 Bob Dylan @ Edgefield (8/29 too)

Boy Eats Drum Machine @ Hopworks Biketobeer Festival

8/30 Dum Dum Girls @ Holocene

8/31 Vampire Weekend, Beach House and Dum Dum Girls @ Edgefield

9/3 Lynyrd Freakin Skynyrd!!!! @ OR State Fair

9/8 - MusicFest NW starts....

One fall show on the horizon I want to draw attention to is Sufjan Stevens is playing Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall on Friday, October 29th. General tickets went on sale this morning.

Sufjan Stevens (photo courtesy madelien)

UPDATE: Monqui productions tweeted that Arcade Fire is playing Memorial Coliseum on September 30th. I will post details when I learn more.

Two Quickies...

I just wanted to get a quick note out to let people know about a couple of things happening tonight.

1. Vieux Farka Toure @ Aladdin Theater: The son of great Malian guitarist Ali Farka Toure brings his brand of world music to Portland tonight. While his dad was known for an African style of blues, Vieux has more variety and plays everything from rock to dub to noodle happy jam band songs. His 2009 album Fondo is critically acclaimed and he released a live album this year. He also rocked the house in front of the world at the recent World Cup in South Africa. 8:00 pm. $15.

2. The "Beervana" episode of the OPB series Oregon Experience airs tonight on OPB at 9:00 pm. This short 30 minute documentary touches on the history of brewing in Portland. Always worth a viewing if you have not seen it (or even if you have).

So, set you DVR to record "Beervana" and head out to see Vieux Farka Toure tonight.

Deschutes Brewery Street Fare

Let me start this post by emphasizing that this is not just a rehash of some press release. In fact, I have never received a press release from Deschutes Brewery and doubt they even know this blog exists. I am just really excited about the Deschutes Brewery Street Fare happening this Thursday from 5-9 pm. Once again Deschutes is shutting down Davis Street between 10th and 11th Avenues. It has been my experience that when they do this good things happen (anniversary parties and OBF brunch/parade for example).

This time Deschutes is inviting some friends along for the ride. Ten of the best food carts in town will take over Davis St. next to the Deschutes pub and there will be food and beer pairings at each cart. This is cool. This is the type of event that needs to happen more during Oregon Craft Beer Month or Portland Beer Week if that ever materializes.

The Carts: Potato Champion, Whiffies Fried Pies, The Grilled Cheese Grill, Ali Baba's, Mum's Kitchen, Slow & Low, Garden State, Oregon Ice Works, Pyro Pizza, and Flavour Spot. Deschutes has released a few of the food and beer pairings on their Twitter feed and they look good. A sampling: Mum's Kitchen Garlic Pork Curry with Fresh Squeezed IPA; The GCG Jalapeno Popper Sandwiches with Green Lakes Organic Ale; Whiffie's BBQ Brisket with Mozzarella paired with Hop in the Dark; Garden State Meatball Sliders paired with Sagebrush Classic Pilsner.

UPDATE: Matt over at portlandbeer.org has the full list of food and beer pairings.

Now if that isn't enough to make your evening, Deschutes is throwing in some great live music. Local acts Sallie Ford and the The Sound Outside and Ages and Ages (could that sentence be more confusing with so many uses of the word "and"?) will take to the main stage. In addition, some great talent will be busking the scene including Langhorn Slim and Chris Funk (from the Decemberists), members of Y La Bamba, and Loch Lomond. These are some great bands and musicians!

The event is all ages. I will have my little ankle biter at the fare and I have been showing her pictures of Ezra and King C. from The New School. She should be ready to attack on sight. Entry to the event is $5 and that gets you one beer and food pairing. Additional pairings are $4. A great deal is the Sampler Pass which gets you admission to the event and 7 pairings. Tickets are available online at the Deschutes website or at the gate. All of this great food, music, and beer plus the money goes to a great cause: Morrison Child and Family Services. See you on Thurday!

The Weekend: Vancouver and Mt. Tabor X-Ray IPA?

I had a nice long weekend to spend with the family. In fact, it is still going strong. With no travel plans, we took advantage of the weekend to mostly relax at home. We did venture across the river and into downtown Vancouver, WA for the first time. After living in Portland for 3 years it was about time. Coincidentally our visit came on the opening night of the Art in the Heart Festival. Main Street was closed to traffic and there were artists, musicians, and even a beer garden. Nothing to write home about here, which was a recurring theme in Vancouver.

Our first stop was Ice Cream Renaissance, an artisan ice cream shop in the Uptown neighborhood. Unfortunately, they were closed due to a family emergency. We walked around the neighborhood and we stumbled upon Pop Culture, a shop that specializes in soda pop. Advertising over 300 different sodas, I was disappointed by the selection. I did not find anything I haven't seen elsewhere in Portland at standard grocers or local restaurants. Pop Culture also had a weird vibe and seemed to be a huge teen Goth hangout. They do have Dublin Dr. Pepper, which like Mexican Coke is made with pure cane sugar. I highly recommend it and it is usually available at Kenny and Zukes Sandwich Works on NW Thurman.

We moved on to Mint Tea, a small bistro which also serves tea, beer and wine. They have a good selection of beers available and a nice large patio. Mint Tea is hosting a homebrew tasting event called MashFest on Sunday, August 29th. Next we headed into downtown Vancouver. Esther Short park is very nice with a huge lawn, a nice water feature, and a playground. The adjacent "farmers market" had maybe 7 booths with only 2 actually selling produce.

We walked towards the art festival and stopped into Salmon Creek Brewery for a rest and a beer. I had never heard enough good things about this place to make a special trip across the river and now I know why. Granted I only tried two beers but both were mediocre. I settled with a small snifter of Brother Larry's Belgian, which came across as a dubbel without much complexity or spice. The food menu was completely uninspired. So much so that we skipped eating anything. I inquired about the cheese plate and was told it included swiss, pepper jack, american and cheddar. Seriously? The place just had a weird feel with little ambiance.

At this point I needed something to leave me with a good impression of Vancouver. Luckily I had the ace in the hole - By The Bottle. I had heard great things about not only the bottle shop itself but the owners David and Arlene Nunez. I was lucky enough to meet Arlene during my visit and she took me around to each cooler and pointed out the beers that were not distributed in Oregon. She gave me knowledgeable advice on which beers to seek out. She was eager to have me sit down for a beer from their beautiful new taproom and even brought me a small sample. Unfortunately, I had the family with me and will have to save that for another day. But, I did pick up 7 great beers that I look forward to enjoying soon.

On Saturday afternoon I attended a party for my wife's work. As always, I was worried about the beer selection. As we were walking up, the host was directing another guest back to the beer and wine. He mentioned they had some great beer available and that the IPA was particularly impressive. I was intrigued. Come to find out that there were three beers on tap - a blonde, a pale ale, and an "X-Ray IPA". Yes please. I was stoked. I quickly grabbed a taste of all 3 and settle into a half pint of the IPA. They were all well made and I figured they were homebrews. I later tweeted how much I loved Oregon and that fact that you show up at a hospital party and find 3 homebrews on tap. Well, I received a quick reply informing me that they were not homebrews but in fact Mt. Tabor Brewing beers!

In fact, brewer Eric Surface was in attendance at the party but I unfortunately missed out on talking to him before he left. What a treat though. I had not had the chance to try their beers yet and here I stumble upon 3 of their beers on tap at a house party for a bunch of radiologists. I will make it a point to seek out more Mt. Tabor brews soon.

Unbelievable. Between this and the recent 21st Amendment party I stumbled upon at Sellwood Riverfront Park during OBF, I think someone is trying to tell me something. Now, if I can just figure out what it is?