Category: Pacific Northwest

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Merideth’s Year in Beer Top-10

By now you have already read Chris’s top-10 beer experiences from the Year in Beer. And now, you’re getting mine.

We decided on two different lists primarily because we have differing criteria upon which we base our determination of what is the “best”. Our lists overlap a bit and since I had the honor of publishing mine second, I risk looking unoriginal. Please bear with me as I offer to you my top-10 experiences from the Year in Beer (in no particular order).

Meeting our friends Matt and Michelle
Meeting them in Alaska for the first time, Matt and Michelle helped create a great kick off to the Year in Beer. Had it not been for a shared love of beer and our determination to pull this whole endeavor off, we would have never met them. It’s reassuring to realize that you’re not the most geeky of all the beer geeks in the world.

Getting stuck at Pug Ryan’s
Going to a pub and expecting to catch a cab home is not always a given, as we found out at Pug Ryan’s in Dillon, Colorado. There are apparently no cab companies in Dillon. Completely shocked and dismayed, I felt like a big city folk mocking the small mountain town, but it really was just absolute surprise. The owner was good enough to offer us his bartender as a ride home. Thanks, Chris the Bartender!

Showing our German friends around Munich
It was a bit strange and even a little awkward to have known Munich better than our German friends. Chris acted as tour guide and successfully wrangled our group to several of our favorite Munich beer halls. Wolfie thought Chris was the best tour guide he had ever had, even if he was the only one he had ever had.

Surviving 9 days of drinking real ale
I can’t say that our trip to England made me want a hand pump in my house, but surprisingly my complaining was minimal during the trip. I think I had a German-style lager on only a few occasions. Quite a personal accomplishment. You afraid of a little taste lager girl?

Volunteering at Great British Beer Festival
We had no idea what the beers were. We couldn’t handle the money without turning over every coin to check the denomination. But festival goers and fellow volunteers alike were incredibly nice and it was a fun time. Plus, where else can you watch a guy in drag sing traditional English drinking songs?

The Year in Beer tastings
Packing the beer for travel home is always a pain and not one of my favorite activities. However, our Year in Beer tastings made it all worth it. The tastings united the Monterey Peninsula beer community and I really enjoyed sharing our discoveries with others. Those others are now people I consider to be my friends.

Wearing my dirndl to Oktoberfest
Despite being cold, I felt very festive being at Oktoberfest in my outfit. This year, I participated in Oktoberfest, not just attended it.  Now if I can only get Chris in some lederhosen.

My Birthday
I’m not thrilled about careening towards 40, but what better way to celebrate a birthday than a trip to one of the best and most famous beer cafes in the world, ‘t Brugs Beertje. Daisy and her staff were awesome and I even have a little stuffed brown bear to commemorate the occasion. If he only had a beer in his hand…

The Kerstbierfestival
Our kind of festival. Out-of-this-world beer in a mellow, yet lively and fun atmosphere. Dignified without being douchey. We met a few new people and ran into Tom Peters. “Dank u” to the festival organizers for creating a great event.

Developing an appreciation for Belgian beer
For those of you who know me, know that I am generally defined by what beer I don’t like and Belgians were at the top of the list. Not so anymore. I think they’re pretty darn good.

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The Year in Beer Top 10 – Chris’ List

With the Year in Beer now over, we would be remiss not to come up with a list of top 10 experiences from our amazing year. The original plan was to come up with a combined list, but within the first minute of discussion, it was clear that wasn’t going to work. So, here is my list not necessarily in order…

The Kerstbierfestival
Our kind of festival where great beer, friends and conversation seem to be the focal point. Maybe the perfect end to the Year in Beer.

The “Four”
I still need to come up for a better name for our July-October stretch of the Year in Beer. In these months we went to four of the premier beer events in the world; Oregon Brewers Festival, Great British Beer Festival, Oktoberfest and Great American Beer Festival. A lot of beer geeks would be happy to make all four in their lifetime; we did it in consecutive months.

Anchorage in January
The first month for the Year in Beer and there was some worry about how it would turn out. Not only was Anchorage’s beer culture quite amazing, the community was so nice and welcoming. We couldn’t have started the year in a better fashion.

Cologne, Munich and Vienna
After the Bergkirchweih beer festival, we joined our friends Ute and Wolfgang for Flogging Molly shows on consecutive nights in Cologne, Munich and Vienna. Day one was Kölsch, day two was beer gardens with liters of beer and day three was our first visit to Vienna.

Hallertau Hop Tour
One of the fringe benefits of the Year in Beer was that we got a tour of the Hallertau hop growing region by Anheuser-Busch’s European hop guy, Willy Buholzer. Thanks to Willy for being a great host and hop guide.

The Beer Bars
The Year in Beer gave us the opportunity to go to some of the best beer bars in the world… Toronado, Monk’s Cafe, Standard Tap, Brouwers, Falling Rock, Kulminator, Arendsnest, In de Wildeman, ‘t Brugs Beertje, Cafe Delerium, Liar’s Club, Cafe Amsterdam, O’Brien’s… to name a few.

Visiting All Seven Trappists
One of the main goals of our December trip was to visit all seven Trappist breweries. The worry was that in December, the six that were open to the public, would have limited hours or be closed. The beer gods were smiling down on us as we were able to visit all seven and drink the beer at the six that were open to the public.

Philadelphia
One of the side trips we made during 2008. Big thanks goes out to the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing  Corporation for inviting us out for Philly Beer Week. If they hadn’t, we would still be talking about someday we need to get to Philly. We knew about Monk’s Cafe, and it is truly amazing, but there is a lot more to Philadelphia’s beer scene than just Monk’s.

Seeing Our Friend Win Beer Drinker of the Year
Another 2008 side trip… Being into beer, for me, is not just about the beer, it is also about the great friendships you make. And to be on hand to see our friend, Matt Venzke, win Wynkoop’s Beer Drinker of the Year, was not only a great time but was worthy a Top 10 Year in Beer experience.

Merideth
OK… this is probably number one. I got to spend the Year in Beer with my best friend and better half. It truly doesn’t get better than that.

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New beergeek.TV Episode – OBF and Beyond

YiB-7“OBF and Beyond” is the latest Year in Beer episode of One Pint at a Time.

This was our ninth time at the Oregon Brewers Festival and there is still a buzz of freshness about it. For us, OBF has always been about good friends and good beer. Over the years,  a bevy of other beer events have grown up around the festival, including  tastings, beer dinners, and golf tournaments. The whole month of July is now dedicated to beer as Oregon Craft Beer Month and OBF is its culmination.

This year, we volunteered pouring beer at the festival, which was great fun and it put a whole new perspective on things.

Another highlight of the trip was the nine breweries we visited, which put us both over the 400 brewery milestone.

For all the episodes of One Pint at a Time go to beergeekTV.

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403 and Counting

I am happy to announce that I, too, am a member of the 400 Brewery Club! I even have the shirt to prove it. The shirt says “I have been to 400 breweries. Ask me how.” Luckily no one did ask me because I haven’t figured out an answer. I am currently taking suggestions on a witty response to that question. To suggest a response, please e-mail me.

YiB-7On Saturday, we went on a little van trip with some friends up to the Hood River area. I couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful  day as we headed east on Hwy 84 for my date with destiny.

The first stop was Elliott Glacier Brewhouse in Parkdale at the foot of Mt Hood. We celebrated my 400th by sitting outside in the glorious sunshine with an incredible view of the snow capped peak. The beer was good and the company and setting made it memorable… certainly much more memorable than #300.

Then it was on to the Hood River for the meat of the tour.. three breweries all within walking distance of each other.

YiB-7First stop was Big Horse Brewpub on the hill overlooking the town. Big Horse was a rest stop as we had more 3 breweries to go. We just ordered a sampler tray.

Walking down the street brought us to Double Mountain Brewery.  A smallish brewpub, the bar area was crowded so we got to sit in the expansive garage area made even better when they opened the door. While they are more known for the IPAs Hot Lava and Molten Lava, I was happy to share a pitcher of excellent Kölsch with our friends.

With finished up the Hood River portion around corner at Full Sail as several of our party had never been there. We are always amazed by the ‘new’ Full Sail because we can remember our first visit in 1994 to the ‘rustic’ version.  Thanks to our friend Rowdy, it was our first ‘industry’ party and we got to meet beer personalities such as Bill Owens.

YiB-7We ended an almost perfect day with the highlight brewery; Walking Man Brewery in Stevenson, Washington. Walking Man has excellent beer, including a Kölsch and a Black Cherry Stout. The standout, however, was the Big Black Homo, an imperial IPA made with black malt. Believe me, we got a lot of mileage out of double entendres on that one! The joke is that the imperial IPA is called Homo Erectus and all the beers they derive from it have a play on the name… for example, the bourbon aged version is called “My Old Kentucky Homo”.

The setting was great and we felt like we were hanging out in someone’s backyard, complete with the neighbor playing his bagpipes on the other side of the shrubs. The brewer Jacob was generous enough to offer us a tour of the brewery and Bob, the owner, joined us for a pint. Another great day in my beer world.

We had an early flight home on Sunday and a short week before heading to England, so after five breweries, we called it a day. And a great day it was…

 

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Giving Back

It is always a good feeling to be more than a festival goer at something like Oregon Brewers Festival and Friday was the day that we became contributors to the effort.

YiB-7We started the day bright and early out at the golf course at McMenamin’s Edgefield for the 4th Annual Sasquatch Brew Am. The tournament pairs brewers, beer celebrities and beer fans in a suds filled romp around Edgefield’s par 3 course.

The event is a fundraiser for the Glen Hay Falconer Foundation. Glen Hay Falconer was the brewer at Wild Duck in Eugene who died in 2002. The foundation was set up to provide “opportunities for professional and aspiring brewers to further their knowledge and expertise.”

This was our first time out to the BrewAm and we went as observers, but those who participated definitely looked like they were having a good time. If you make it to Oregon Brewers Festival in the future, you need to add this event to your schedule. Knowing how to play golf is not required.

YiB-7Unfortunately, we had to leave the BrewAm early because we were volunteering at the festival. We were very excited because we got to be more than ‘bread cutters’. This time we actually poured beer.

The key to the success of any beer festival is the army of volunteers who do everything from take your money to pour your beer. And OBF is no different.

We arrived early enough at the volunteer tent to be able to choose the beer we wanted to pour. We learned from Mark Angelus and his wife Jennifer that you wanted to pick a beer that was in the shade; an important tip for what was going to be a warm day.

And the beer we chose was 21st Amendment’s Hell or High Watermelon Wheat because it was in the shade and Shaun O’Sullivan thought it would be cool if we poured his beer.

The one thing we forgot was that Watermelon Wheat is one of the most popular beers at OBF, so we worked our asses off for four and a half hours. However, being so busy did make the time go faster.

I would encourage everyone to consider volunteering at a beer festival… it is fun and rewarding.