Portland Beer and Music - The 1st Year

Today marks the 1 year anniversary of when I started this blog.  Unlike last year, I have the day off today.  Last year I was working New Year's Eve day and it was incredibly slow at work.  I had spent the previous year or two reading all of the established beer blogs in town and thought I might start my own.  I figured I would give it a little twist by adding in my other passion, which is music.  So, on that slow work day I set up the blog and wrote my first post which outlined the beer selection at some of the music venues in Portland.

I had no idea what would become of the blog.  I certainly did not think anyone would read it.  I didn't even know how long I would keep doing it.  I didn't know much about Twitter at the time and did not think to create a separate Twitter handle for the blog - I just went with my personal account that I had set up beforehand - @jwall4.  Oh well.

Funny thing is that somehow people found the blog and a few of you decided to actually read it. I have to thank Angelo at Brewpublic and Jeff at Beervana for helping spread the word about my blog from the beginning and throughout the year.  The best part of this blog has been getting to know the great people within the Portland craft beer community.

As the blog took shape, I made an effort to post 2-3 times a week.  Looking at the archive numbers on the right side of the screen, I did a pretty good job of sticking to that.  The only exception is September and October, which coincides with the birth of my second daughter in September.  It certainly took a couple months for my family to catch our breath but we are humming along now.

The music has taken a backseat to the beer.  I figured that might be the case when I started the blog.  I find it much easier to review beer events and new beers than I do to review concerts and albums.  The average beer geek has a pretty wide range of styles of beer they are willing to drink, but more often than not a more narrowed approach to music.  Not everyone is going to have the same taste in music as I do.  While you might be willing to read about a style of beer or a brewery that is not your favorite, you likely do not care as much as I do about a Brooklyn based Indian rap duo that may or may not be a joke.  Regardless, I will try to bring back more music posts into the mix.  Hopefully I have turned a few people on to the music that inspires me.

Big changes are in the works here at Portland Beer & Music.  I am not quite ready to announce them, but will do so in the coming month.  I am excited to have welcomed on a great contributor in Nicole K. who has written some fabulous articles and will continue to do so.  She has developed friendships with a number of brewers, bartenders, and other industry folk which is a great addition to the blog.  I can tell by the numbers that readers have connected with her posts.

No big party for the anniversary.  I plan on celebrating with my family tonight by letting my oldest daughter stay up late to watch the East coast NYE celebrations on TV at 9:00, sharing a bomber from the cellar with my mom, popping a bottle of champagne for my wife, and getting my dad one of his beloved ambers.  Have a fun, safe night and we will see you in 2011.  Cheers!

Christmas in Seattle: Part 2 - Old & New. Good & Bad.

When I was not exploring West Seattle over the holiday, I was revisiting some old favorites and experiencing some new places around Seattle.  Both lead to good and bad moments.  First, the good. 

Another place I was eager to visit was Fremont Brewing Company.  This relatively new brewery is located in my brother's old neighborhood.  My first visit was this summer just before he moved to West Seattle.  I really enjoyed the beers I tried on that visit and was eager to return.  However, they were closed on the 24th and 25th.  With a full plate of activities on the 23rd, I new I was not going to be able to make it to the brewery.  Several places had their excellent Interurban IPA on tap during my visit, but I was hoping to get my hands on their winter seasonal Abominable (I knew I was unlikely to find a wood aged version outside the brewery).  I was stoked when I walked into Elysian Capitol Hill to find Abominable as a guest tap.  This dark, roasty winter ale with chocolate flavors has a nice pop of hops.  It was thoroughly delicious and went down smooth, which was a good thing as we only had a short stop at the Elysian before dinner at nearby restaurant Crush (good but not outstanding). 

I made up for ordering a guest tap at Elysian by stopping into the Elysian Tangletown on Christmas Eve for lunch.  I enjoyed a decent Belgian IPA called Backhanded Compliment before they decided to close up and handed me my check without asking if I'd like another.  I cannot blame them though.  It was Chistmas Eve and it was dead in there. 

After lunch, I had about an hour before Naked City Brewery and Taphouse opened a little further north.  This is where I gripe about the insufficient use of Taplister.  In that hour, I managed to visit 3 respected craft beer bars and find nothing exciting on tap.  Now, I am not blaming the bars for not having good beer on tap.  They all had respectable taplists just nothing I wanted to waste my limit liver space on.  I checked all 3 bars on Taplister before leaving the Elysian and none of them had updated taplists.  Disappointing to say the least.  I just do not understand why craft beer bars would not take use of this application, which would steer traffic to their store (I am looking at you Latona Pub, Bottleworks, and 74th Street Alehouse).  Well, I did get some last minute groceries at Safeway before standing outside Naked City waiting for them to open the doors.

Naked City opened after we had moved to Portland.  Intentions to stop in on previous visits to Seattle were never fulfilled.  This time I was seated right at opening and had about an hour before I had to meet my wife (shopping of course) and head back to the house for dinner.  They had about 6 house beers on tap and a sampler tray would have been a perfect way to introduce myself to the brewery, especially since I was rolling solo and with limited time.  Sadly, they do not offer samplers.  Still not sure why certain breweries decide not to offer these.  I would have gladly paid a little more for the chance to try each beer.

Oh well.  I had a small taste of several of the beers and decided on small glasses of the smoked porter and the cherry ale.  The smoked porter had a good, strong smoke flavor over a well built base porter.  It just lacked a little balance.  I am glad I only had a glass.  A pint seems like it might have been a bit much.  The cherry ale sure had the appearance of a cherry stout to me.  However, more than one person who ordered at the bar asked for a "stout" and was asked if they wanted the stout on nitro (a guest tap) or the Everybody's Brewing Oatmeal Stout.  Not once was the cherry stout offered.  Anyway, it was decent.  The cherry flavor was a litttle thin and seemed as though it was from an additive.  It did not come close to one my favorite beers - Walking Man's Dark Cherry Stout.  I only had small tastes of a few of the other Naked City beers but based on my limited experience it seemed like the lineup was solid but not stellar. 

All in all, a great visit to Seattle.  If I learned one thing, it is that West Seattle has a great craft beer scene with one of the best pubs (Beveridge Place Pub) and bottle shops (Beer Junction) in all of Seattle.  The only thing missing in West Seattle is a great brewery.  And a movie theater.

Christmas in Seattle - Part 1: West Seattle

My family spent several days with my extended family in Seattle over Christmas weekend.  We had a great time at my brother's new West Seattle home overlooking the Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains.  I took advantage of babysitting from the Grandparents to visit some of my favorite Seattle beer spots (my wife and I spent a year in Seattle before moving to Portland) while also visiting some new craft beer establishments.  Sorry for the stock photos, I was too lazy to take pictures of beer places over the holidays - except for this one from my brother's deck:

I will start with the new places I visited in my brother's West Seattle neighborhood.  I had heard great things about Beveridge Place Pub and it was easily the pub I was most eager to visit.  I managed to first sneak in on the 23rd in between lunch and heading to see the Picasso exhibit at the Seattle Museum of Art (which I highly recommend).  The layout of the pub is fantastic.  The main room is a chill area with couches, tables, and bar height tables extending back from the large wooden bar.  Books line a counter along wall and old/new beer paraphenalia adorn the walls.  The adjacent room has pool tables, foosball, darts and a couple of TVs playing sports.  The intervening wall does a great job of keeping the disparate activities in the two rooms separate.

They were having a small rare beer event with about a half dozen special beers in addition to the lengthy regular taplist, and I was glad to see La Petite Mort from Black Raven Brewing.  This dark Belgian Stong Ale has a nice yeasty aroma with good spice and dark fruit flavors.  Black Raven is putting out some great beers.  I wanted to try and make the trek out to Redmond to visit the brewery but just didn't have the time.  I went with another Black Raven beer - the fantastic Trickster IPA - when we returned to Beveridge Place on Christmas night.  The place was packed and full of life.  My favorite part of this place, besides the great taplist, is the liberal attitude towards "service" dogs.  After being confined to the bottom floor of the house for several days, my dog was so happy to join us at the pub for some beers.  I look forward to visiting BPP whenever in West Seattle.

My brother had me open one of my gifts early on the 23rd.  It was a case of varied beers from the local West Seattle bottle shop - Beer Junction.  He knew I would head straight there on Thursday and buy a bunch of beers that don't make it to the Portland market to enjoy over the holiday.  It was a great gift.  The owner had selected the beers and did a great job of mixing seasonals and regular standouts, mostly from Washington brewers.  Just like any beer snob, I had to exchange a few bottles - a couple are available in Oregon and a couple were from breweries that are not my favorite. 

photo: Washington Beer Blog

I was really impressed by Beer Junction, which is just a block off the main drag of West Seattle.  The space is quite large and well organized by beer style.  The coolers are well lit and they had an impressive selection of beers.  I picked up a few bottles of Lost Abbey beers and beers from new Seattle brewery Epic Ales.  Beer Junction does weekly beer tastings on Thursday nights.  After a visit on Christmas Eve to Bottleworks found the coolers empty and the lighting poor, I was ready to switch my allegiance to Beer Junction.

A couple of other places on West Seattle deserve a quick mention.  I managed to steer the crew towards Porterhouse for lunch, knowing that it has an extensive taplist.  Alas, the room was really cold and the smell of gas from the adjacent gas station was just too much.  We ended up down the street at Circa Neighborhood Grill and Taphouse.  This cozy little bistro had a surprisingly well crafted taplist and even offered a great sampler: 3 beers for $5.  The samplers seemed to be close to 8 ounces each.  It was a great way to get familiar with a couple of beers from Seattle brewery Schooner Exact and try Port Townsend's winter beer. All were solid.  Meanwhile, my brother was really impressed by the 21st Amendment Fireside Chat.  The food at Circa was very good and the portions were huge.  I have not seen Circa mentioned much in the craft beer press but it should be.

Up next:  A mix of new and old.  Good and bad.

An Epic Night at Belmont Station and Cascade Barrel House

By: Nicole K.

Tuesday December 21, 2010, was another night in Portland where two of the most high profile beers to ever be brewed in Portland were back on tap. Cascade Barrel House saw the return of Bourbonic Plague, but this time it was from a single-barrel, instead of the commonly known blended version. Epic Ale returned with a vertical of ’05-’09, tapped at The Bier Café at Belmont Station.

As with most rare and special events at The Bier Café, there was standing room only prior to 5:00pm, the start of the event. Epic Ale, brewed by Craig Nicolls of the currently closed Roots Organic Brewery, has been a staple amongst beer lovers for years. Most Decembers of the past brought the release of the current year, a vertical tasting, and bottle sales. Craig was kind enough this year to collaborate with Belmont Station to bring the community another December of Epic Ale tasting. Most people seemed to have already made their decision on which vintage was their favorite before ordering their taster tray, which was at the extremely reasonable price of $12. Last year ’06 was my favorite, but this year ’05 was my favorite, with the oak penetrating every part of my mouth. I heard several debates about which year or sets of years were better and how each was maturing, but this is the only beer that I have ever seen large numbers of people really defending their argument with an unusual amount of passion. It isn’t like there were fights breaking out, but very stern conversations were being had pitting ’06 against ’08 and ’07 against ’09 and every other combination that you can imagine. The best part of Epic Ale is how passionate people have become about this rarity, that if you are not cellaring, one can only hope to be in the position of having the opportunity to argue about vintages.

The craft of Ron Gansberg’s sour beers at Cascade Barrel House just keep getting better and better, and I believe that they are going mainstream at this moment. Tap-it Tuesday is quickly becoming a weekly tradition for many people, but add a little Bourbonic Plague to the mix and it becomes a party. Ron tapped the first barrel for the initial Tap-it Tuesday and ever since then, there have been guest tappers. Tapping the “Brewer’s Reserve, Straight Plague,” was yours truly. Me, your friendly Portland Beer and Music correspondent and my husband, Paul had the opportunity to tap the barrel.

I have seen it done so many times, but holding heavy metal while somebody bats the club at your hand was a little disturbing, but only for a split-second, because that is how long the entire process takes. The Straight Plague did not spray too much, but I have seen some barrels spray beer up to 6 feet out. The beer was a great addition to the existing offerings and gives Bourbonic Plague fans the opportunity to understand how the beer comes together through blending. The Gluek Kriek served hot is still available this month. Put that with a rare taste of Straight Bourbonic and you have the ability to taste two of the most profound beers of 2010.

Planning Your Beery Christmas in Portland & Seattle

Staying with the hectic holidays theme, today I thought I would take the legwork out of trying to figure out when your favorite watering hole is open over the Chistmas holidays. You may have some extra time off from work. You may have some beer loving family and friends coming into town for the holidays. You may need somewhere to escape the drama of the holidays. Either way, I took to calling establishments in both Portland and Seattle so that you don't have to do so. You can thank me later. I mainly stuck to bars and pubs. There are just too many breweries and brewpubs to call each one.

First off, let me award the inaugural Portland Beer & Music Yule Log Awards to Portland's The Beermongers and Seattle's Beveridge Place Pub for being open throughout the holidays, including Christmas day. Apex in Portland may get added to the list as they said they might be open on Christmas day. Everybody else is closed Christmas day so I won't repeat that information below. Feel free to use the comments section to add additional establishments.

Portland

The BeerMongers: No closings (see above).  Open 11 am - 11 pm on Christmas Eve and Christmas.

UPDATE:  Roscoe's:  According to Snob Ritch, they are open both Chistmas Eve and Day.

Belmont Station: The store is open on the 24th 10 am -6 pm. Bier Cafe closed on 24th.

Horse Brass: Closes at 6 pm on the 24th.

Saraveza: Normal hours on the 24th.

Concordia Alehouse: Closes at 10 pm on the 24th

Apex: Normal hours on the 24th. Closed on the 25th but may change.

Hop & Vine: Normal hours on the 24th. Closed 25th-27th.

Bailey's: Normal hours on the 24th. Closed New Year's Eve and Day.

Seattle

Beveridge Place Pub: No closings (see above).  Open 6 pm - 2 am on Christmas day.

Brouwer's: Closed 24th & 25th

Fremont Brewing: Closed 24th & 25th

Naked City: Normal hours on the 24th.

Elysian: Fields closed on the 24th. The other Elysian locations have reduced hours on the 24th.

Bottleworks: Normal hours on the 24th.

Beer Junction (West Seattle): Normal hours on the 24th.

Black Raven: Open 12-6 pm on the 24th.

Latona Pub: Closed early on the 24th.

The Beermongers on Christmas Eve-Eve

The holidays can be a crazy time. Sometimes you just need to get away from it all. No better way to do that than at your favorite watering hole. As I hear about events or closings around the holidays, I will do my best to let everyone know about them. Up first - some great winter beers at The Beermongers right before the frenzy. I have had the chance to try all of these except for the Jolly Pumpkin offering and urge you to do the same - they are all worthy offerings (the following descriptions are from the staff at The Beermongers) :

On December 23rd from 4-11PM, The BeerMongers will be tapping five holiday ales just before the frenzy of family gatherings, wrapping paper and food comas. All beers will be available in 6oz and 12oz pours, except Fa La La La La which will also be served in 20oz pints. I’m keeping this short, so here’s the important stuff:

Block 15 Figgy Pudding This is the beer that inspired the event. A complex English Barleywine, aged in freshly emptied Brandy Barrles with mission figs, Ceylon cinnamon and nutmeg. 11% ABV, 43IBU

Double Mountain Fa La La La La One of my favorites each winter, Fa La La La La will satisfy the hopheads in true to form Double Mountain fashion. 7.6% ABV, 83 IBU

Hair of the Dog 2010 Doggie Claws A classic west coast style Barleywine, Doggie Claws is brewed with British crystal malts, Mt.Hood wild flower honey, as well as Amarillo and Simcoe hops. 11.5% ABV, IBU 70

Jolly Pumpkin Noel De Calabaza A Belgian Dark Christmas Ale aged in oak barrels with characteristics of dark fruit, malt sweetness along with the expected Jolly Pumpkin funk. 9%ABV

Lompoc Bourbon Barrel 8 Malty Nights This chocolate rye porter was brewed for Hanukkah in 2009 and then aged in bourbon barrels for nine months. 6.5%ABV

An Inside Look into Mt. Tabor Brewing with Eric Surface

By: Nicole K.



Ten months after opening Mt. Tabor Brewing, brewer and “beer pimp” Eric Surface is producing more beer than he planned. There has been such a demand for the flavors of Mt. Tabor Brewing that expansion is already on the horizon. There are restaurants and bars that have dedicated tap handles to the brewery, but for other establishments, they are just taking what they can get. The plan is to get more beer to the regular customers while expanding the current customer list.








Each beer has a unique story that goes with the names. For example, the Asylum Ave IPA is named after a nickname given to Hawthorne Blvd. The first time that Flathead IPA was brewed a screwdriver fell in the tank. Eric’s personal touch is not only in the name, but also in each beer. Asylum Ave IPA, currently the most requested Mt. Tabor Brewing beer, does stand out among Northwest IPA’s. That is a difficult thing to do considering the availability of highly hopped beers in Oregon.


At first thought, three stouts seem like too many, but if you design them well and each with a unique flavor, then the more the stouts the better. In order to get the Calf Stout, Little Bull Stout, and Siberian Bull Stout right now, it is a little tricky. Eric has to brew it on a one-barrel system, self-distribute and then as a customer, you have to get it during the right season and at the right place, whether it is one of the regular restaurants or a specialty beer festival. Therefore, with small batches of product and the increase in demand there is nowhere to go but out. Not up, but out to more people demanding Mt. Tabor Brewing beers.


Mt. Tabor Brewing is currently investigating an expansion with a larger brewing system and a tasting room. The quick success is making national attention with an article in American Brewer, a publication about “The Business of Beer.” Eric is hoping to, “right some of the wrongs about nanobreweries,” in the feature. I spoke with Eric about how he is doing now and how his is feeling about the current success of the brewery. As with many nanobrewers practicing in Oregon, Eric has a full time day job, besides being a full time brewer. Brian Maher, owner and “beer taster,” is in the same situation. Sometimes they have had to email recipes back and forth, while on the road for work. Even when a recipe is final, there has to be a brewing schedule. The brewing schedule works around day jobs and family activities, early morning and late night brewing is common. However, they knew that flexibility would be part of their new lifestyle when the brewery opened. With Eric brewing and Brian keeping up equipment, and their day jobs and kids activities, there is no better example of teamwork during the start–up of a brewery working on a one-barrel system.


Since Eric knew from the beginning that he would need to be flexible, it is not shocking the hours that he works. He is also realistic about how much product he can put on the market. Eric says to, “undercommit and overdeliver.” This way he is able to have control over what goes out to the public. He says, “I want to make good beer,” and ensuring that he does not overpromise on what he can deliver, he can stand behind the quality of every keg that leaves the brewery. Mt. Tabor Brewing is one of many breweries that have opened in the last year. When asking Eric about where he sees the Oregon craft beer scene in two years, he has a hopeful answer. “I see the European style. Every neighborhood will have a brewpub and there will be smaller breweries to serve the neighborhood.”

Look forward to more beer from Mt. Tabor Brewing. The reason that demand has increased in such a short period is the planning of each beer and the quality control measures that Eric uses with every batch. Because of Eric’s process and talent as a brewer, Mt. Tabor Brewing beers have amazing depth, but are meant to be enjoyed.

My Top 10 Albums of 2010

It is that time of year. Time to reflect on the music that was released this year and take up bandwidth with top 10 lists. So, I will throw my top 10 albums of 2010 into the pile. I do not consider myself a music reviewer, so I am not going to try and review the albums. I am just going to list the albums that were in heavy rotation in my world (in no particular order - sort of - the top 5 are certainly my favorites from the year):

LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening

Local Natives - Gorilla Manor

Sufjan Stevens - Age of Adz

The National - High Violet

The Black Keys - Brothers

Wolf Parade - Expo '86

Beach House - Team Dream

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

The Roots - How I Got Over

Cloud Cult - Light Chasers

My top 5 concerts of the year:

LCD Soundsystem - The Roseland, Portland
Arcade Fire - Memorial Coliseum, Portland
Sufjan Stevens - The Schnitz, Portland
Local Natives - SXSW, Austin
Broken Bells - parking garage and Stubb's at SXSW, Austin

Most anticipated albums of 2011:

Radiohead, My Morning Jacket, Cold War Kids, Fleet Foxes, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, The Shins, Beastie Boys, Okkervil River (?)

Review: CIvil War Day Beer Events

By: Nicole K.

The Beer Mongers recently celebrated their first anniversary and they are doing better than ever as far as special events. Besides the ever changing bottle line up, more uncommon kegs are showing up. The Beer Mongers did a wonderful job during Oregon Craft Beer Month setting up Meet the Brewer events. Now there is an even stronger focus on providing beers that are not offered in Portland on a regular basis. On Saturday December 4, they created a unique event that coincided with the Civil War. The Un-Civil War pitted two beers each from Eugene and Corvallis in a battle of the beers. I am not sure if there was a clear winner, but the competition was great.

Eugene featured Ninkasi’s Oak-aged Total Domination and Oakshire’s Belly of the Beast Imperial Red. From Corvallis were Block 15's Nebula, Naked Oat Stout and a wit from Oregon Trail. Even though you may have had some of these beers in the past, you probably have not had all of them. Starting with the wit, because of the low gravity, it was surprisingly drinkable, with few flaws that generally occur in American Wit beers. A special thanks to The Beer Mongers team that not only drove to Corvallis to pick up the kegs for the event, but who are driving back there to return them. Regardless of how anyone judged the four beers, the concept was excellent and the execution perfect.

Cascade Barrel House has another beverage that defies the norm. The Glueh Kriek or Glowing Cherry is served hot with a clove-poked orange slice and a sugar cube. The first thing that you think of is apple cider, because of the clove, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Cherry cider would be a fair comparison. It is another must try from Ron Gansberg, who continues to push the envelope with unique brews, and it warms your body as you sip the hot liquid.

Belmont Station hosted the owner and brewer of Barley Brown’s out of Baker City, Oregon. The beer featured that evening was a horizontal tasting of their Sled Wreck winter ale, but perhaps more compelling was the number of fans who came out to enjoy the beer and meet brewer Sean Kelso. I met Sean during Oregon Craft Beer Month and had plenty of time to talk to him, as there were was not a massive showing of people. However, after the GABF medal and increased distribution to the Portland area, his fan base has dramatically increased. The Biercafe was packed before 5:00pm, which was the official start time of the event. Eager people were discussing the variations of the Sled Wreck with the original, original with Belgian yeast as well as 2009 versions with wood chips and whiskey wood chips and when Sean made his entrance, all eyes were on him. Congratulatory comments drenched Sean, while he smiled and was courteous to every patron. People were telling their tales of the trips they have made to Baker City and were thankful to have him in Portland. This is a true story of success and based on the turn out, Sean will be maintaining his celebrity status for a long time.

Deschutes Abyss Release

Wednesday morning saw the release of the 2010 Abyss from Deschutes Brewery. Like several recent beer releases, it was a subdued affair. I am not sure if this is a reflection of the ever-increasing number of amazing brews produced in this region or whether it has to do with the early hours of these recent releases. Regardless, I arrived about 10 minutes early to find myself about seventh in line as we waited outside in the slow drizzle. The only clue as to what was to happen was a small flyer on the door announcing the release along with the sale of vintage bottles from 2007 ($25!) through 2009.






Promptly at 11 am the doors opened. After picking up my limit of the 2010 release and a few vintage bottles for a friend (I am lucky enough to still have several vintages in the cellar), I took a seat at the bar. The pub was offering a vertical draft tasting: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2010 on nitro.

Clockwise from bottom right: 2007, 2008, 2010, 2010 nitro, 2009

I thought the 2008 was the best of the lot. It had a great aroma with a hint of fruit and the taste was perfectly in balance. The oak, espresso, and chocolate notes were really playing off of each other. The 2010 nitro was my next favorite - so smooth and creamy. The regular 2010 is pretty fantastic right out of the gate. Much better than 2009 was at release.

I found the 2009 and 2007 to be less than stellar. The 2007 has lost it's nose and had an astringent aftertaste. The 2009 just seemed to have lost any punch. I heard from several people later that day at the Holiday Alefest that many bottles of 2009 had soured (I haven't experienced that yet with any of my cellared bottles, thankfully). This draft version had not soured but seemed to have mellowed too much.

It was a fun experience to do a vertical of such a great beer. With a belly full of vintage and fresh Abyss, I headed across the river to pick up and ride home my new cargo bike from Joe Bike. My kids are gonna love riding in this beauty when the weather is nicer. Of course the minute I stepped out of the shop to ride it home it started raining.

Holiday Alefest 2010 - Day 1

The first day of the Holiday Alefest is in the books. It was a bumpy opening. Before I get to that, let me get to the important part of letting you know some of my favorite beers from the day.

Lucky Lab - Pavlov's Russian Imperial Stout: a thick, black complex stout with a twist from the Pinot barrels.

Oakshire - Very Ill Tempered Gnome: a great boozy winter warmer with some fruity/citrus hints

I heard good things but didn't get around to trying: Hopworks, Collaborator, and Jewbelation. And there are my earlier picks from the media preview.



Unfortunately, that was it from the regular lineup that I can really recommend. I had 4 other regular beers and they were not great. The Fort George North IV is all spruce tips. The Deschutes Streaking the Quad was acetone, acetone, acetone. The Firestone Walker Union Barrel Fermented Porter had good flavors but was thin bodied. Update: I forgot I tried a little bit of Lagunitas' Brown Mashuggana which was a cross between a drain cleaner and a digestif. Another to avoid.

The two special tappings I did get to taste were both great - Firestone Walker 14th Anniv. and 7 Brides Dark and Dangerous stout. The FW 14 is done. Not sure if the 7 Brides might be available again on Thursday.

I had some real issues with the festival after the first day. The scheduled special tappings didn't make it. They were wheeling kegs into the festival and into position while the festival was opening, which lead to certain kegs not having settled adequately. Once they secured other special tappings, they were not announced and even the twitter announcement was well after they were tapped. They didn't even have a sign to let you know where the FW 14 was on tap.


The whole issue surrounding keeping your wristband on all weekend was trumpeted over and over again at the festival, which to me just cheapened the experience. I have never before been asked to show my wristband at a beer festival. It happened to me twice yesterday. It made me think it was not about the OLCC but about the organizers wanting to get the outrageous $15 entry/mug fee out of each and every person that walks through that door. I think that is a poor decision. Fewer people on the fringe of craft beer will be willing to pay that exorbitant fee and thus will not walk through that door. Which means less tasters or full mugs will be sold and some people will not return as much as they normally would.


I will be interested to see how this new approach (I don't remember all this trouble in previous years) will work for the organizers. On a final note, if you are going to force people to keep a wristband on for a full 5 day festival, how about you make it less obnoxious, not force the staff to put it on as tight as a tourniquet, and maybe spring for a little nicer wristband? Now excuse me while I put on a Brewpublic wristband and long sleeve dress shirt to cover my HAF wristband at work today.

Lompoc Holiday Beers Release = Surprise Art Show

I arrived a few minutes early to the Lompoc Holiday Beers release party at The Sidebar yesterday. I stumbled into the tail end of a surprise unveiling of a new painting of Horse Brass publican Don Younger that was commissioned for above the fireplace. A fitting tribute to a legend in the Portland beer scene. Here is Don toasting to himself:

You owe it to yourself to visit the cozy confines of The Sidebar soon. With the winter weather settled in, there is no better place to drink some great beers - in a fireside leather couch surrounded by barrels and watching the Blazers game. Not to mention that the holiday beers released were quite delicious, especially the Bourbon Barrel Aged 8 Malty Nights.