Category: USA

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.

On 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.

First 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.

We 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…

 

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.

We 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.

Unfortunately, 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.

 

I am proud to say that I joined the 400 club last night with Hopworks Urban Brewery being the milestone brewery added to my tally. A couple of friends joined us as we enjoyed the HUB beers. And we even ran into our father and son friends, Ben and Matt, who we met last year at the festival.

But I am jumping ahead, as I need to update our travels with our arrival in Portland on Wednesday.

We left Astoria Wednesday morning, but not without running into Chris from Fort George. Having missed him the night before, it was good to run into Chris, even if it was just to say ‘Hi’.

Our first stop in Portland was Alameda Brewhouse, located in the Beaumont Village area of Northeast Portland. Here we enjoyed lunch and a sampler set as well as a conversation with the owner Matt Schumacher. The highlight beer for us was the lager.  This sounds kind of boring but in the current world of hops and barrels, a nice crisp lager is a welcome change.

Then, we rambled down the road to Amnesia Brewing, located in what looks like an old garage. Good beer, good sausages and a great neighborhood location are what stood out for us.

But with the preliminaries over, it was time for the Beer Festival events to begin.

The major event for Wednesday was the Brewers Guild Dinner. The kickoff to the Oregon Brewers Festival, the dinner features some beers not found at the festival in a relaxed atmosphere. This gives you time to hook up with friends and try to figure out when to hang out during the rest of the week.

The beers were weighed heavily towards Belgians, barrels  and sours, but I was able to get Super Dog from Lucky Labrador again.

We were up bright and early on Thursday for the Brunch hosted this year by Widmer at PGE Ballpark. Not to criticize the host location of last year, but this year’s venue was much more enjoyable. It was a beautiful morning and to be able to relax out in the sun was great. It did wonders for rejuvenating our tired bodies.

Then, of course, there was the parade. I was just jealous that I wasn’t able to be a monk.

The finale of our festival on Thursday was the media tasting. Last year, they walked us around the festival and got us drunk. This year we got to sit in a tent and the beer was brought to us. Despite the change, the same result happened.

We sampled 17 beers and many were on my list of beers I wanted to try. For me, the standout was Ginger Ale from Caldera because I really like ginger. Other beers of interest were the Porter from Bell’s, Love Fish Abbey Dubbel from Flying Fish and the Calypso Ale from Roots; a beer made with apricots and scotch bonnet peppers.

We did spend a few more hours at the festival on Thursday mainly because Thursday is the most relaxed day and the toilets are still clean.

And we ended our day with the 400 milestone.

Today brought more exciting things, including our volunteer shift, but Merideth will tell you about that later.

 

It was one year ago at the Oregon Brewers Festival that Chris and I got our first taste of being part of the media scene. We felt like we didn’t really belong and it was all so exciting.  We kept thinking that we would be exposed any minute as the fakes we were and we would be humiliatingly stripped of our media badges. How things have changed for us over the last year! I still sometimes feel like a poser, but overall, I think we feel a lot more comfortable. And it’s still very exciting for us.

Tonight, the festivities begin with the Brewers Guild Dinner and we will be in a bit of work mode. Of course I use the term ‘work’ loosely. We’ll be drinking beer.

Not only is this trip the anniversary of our “coming out” as beer media, but we will also be hitting another important milestone. Chris and I will visit our 400th brewery. We began our countdown by driving the 2 hours to the Oregon coast and the quaint historical town of Astoria.

We went straight to The Wet Dog Cafe/Astoria Brewing Company for beer and lunch. We then walked the beaches of where the Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean. It was beautiful and the force of the waters was surprisingly strong and loud. When I mean loud, I mean not only the water, but also the scream of the Caspian Terns. A sound that was kind of neat at the beginning became more tiresome as the day and night wore on. In a group, they sound like a cat fight or babies crying. Despite the call of the wild, we just enjoyed being in the fresh Oregon air.  A nice change from the Basin Complex fire induced smokey air of home.

For dinner, we went to Fort George Brewing to drink beer (what else?) and to see Chris, the owner/brewer. We first met Chris and his beer earlier this year in Alaska and were looking forward to seeing him again. Unfortunately, he left the pub about 15 minutes before we arrived, but we were still able to enjoy a few jars of beer (yes, jars), tasty food, and a game of Scrabble.

One of the cool things about Fort George, besides the great beer, is that they serve everything in mason jars. Wine (what’s that?!) was served in small ones, beer in regular sized ones, and even the “growlers” were large jars. Very interesting and quite novel.

In preparation for the big days and nights coming up, we hit the bed early. Plus, Chris got up at 3am yesterday, so needless to say, he was a bit tired. Today, we head back to Portland and will be visiting Amnesia Brewing and Alameda Brew House before going to the brewers dinner tonight. Our count right now is Chris: 397, me: 396. We’ll keep you posted.

 

The Year in Beer visits Portland, Oregon in July as we attend the 21st Annual Oregon Brewers Festival. Portland is a mecca for craft beer in the United States and the OBF is arguably the best craft beer festival.

This will be our ninth time and what keeps us going back is not only the great beer, but also the people. We will be seeing tons of old friends and most likely meeting some new ones as well. Plus, the weather is always glorious.

Best of all, both us should be reaching our 400th brewery on this trip.

Our festival schedule includes:

• Wednesday night Brewer’s Guild dinner
• Thursday brunch and parade to the opening of the festival
• Friday watching the Sasquatch Brew Am
• Volunteering for the 12:00-4:30pm shift on Friday

Our non festival plans include heading out to Astoria to check out the two brewpubs: Fort George Brewing and Astoria Brewing.

On Saturday, we are also planning on doing the Mt Hood/Hood River loop where we will hit four breweries: Elliot Glacier Public House, Big Horse Brewpub, Double Mountain Brewery and Walking Man Brewery. We are trying to organize this as a larger tour so if you are interested, please email me.

We expect another great time in Portland, so join us if you can!