So let’s take a tour of some of the Oregon breweries that might be lesser-known but have something unique to offer—and in doing so provide yet more reasons why Oregon is a world-class Beer Destination (with the capital of Beervana, of course).

Brewers Union Local 180

This tiny brewpub located in the tiny mountain town of Oakridge shares a certain distinction in the Oregon brew scene: it’s the only Real Ale pub in the entire state, which means all of their beers are cask-conditioned and only cask-conditioned.

Ordinarily you’d expect to find something of this nature to be found in Portland (Oregon’s beer capital), but the fact that it’s located off the beaten path certainly adds to the appeal. Fresh, original cask-conditioned beers? Yes please.

48329 E. 1st St.
Oakridge, OR 97463

Pelican Pub & Brewery

The Pelican has hands-down the best location of any brewery ever: on the beach in Pacific City. And when I say “on the beach,” I mean literally on the beach: you can walk out the back door onto sand and the beach volleyball court, and directly down to the water. Pacific City’s beach is a popular destination for surfers (cold water surfing, that is), and is the launching and landing point for the town’s dory fleet (there is no natural bay there, so the tiny dory boats launch and land directly from the beach at high tide).

The beach is alluring, but so is the beer: Pelican has been brewing award-winning beers from one end of the style range to the other, from their acclaimed Kiwanda Cream Ale to their recent Perfect Storm, a 13.5% barleywine aged in bourbon barrels that sold for $20 a bottle, only available directly from the brewery.

33180 Cape Kiwanda Drive
Pacific City, OR 97135

Caldera Brewing Company

Oregon’s premier canning microbrewery is located in the scenic, Shakespeare-infested town of Ashland—which itself is a beautiful stretch of Southern Oregon that is itself a destination. The canned beers are standard fare: Caldera Pale Ale, IPA, and Ashland Amber. But Caldera brews much more than those—interesting, creative beers with ginger and peppercorns and orange and chocolate.

I was going to write that you can only sample these from the brewery in Ashland—but a quick check of their website revealed that they’ve started bottling in 22-ounce bombers just last month (no word on availability). But don’t let that stop you—Ashland alone is worth the trip.

540 Clover Lane
Ashland, OR 97520

Elliot Glacier Public House

Located in the tiny community of Parkdale, just south of Hood River, Elliot Glacier has by all accounts a location and a view that almost rivals that of the Pelican Pub: you can sit on their back patio and be regaled with a magnificent view of Mount Hood. The Public House itself is small and unassuming, enjoying the laid-back agricultural surroundings of the area.

Parkdale is only about 17 miles from Hood River, so you’ll be able to take in Elliot Glacier and Double Mountain (below) all in the same day.

4945 Baseline Dr.
Parkdale, OR 97041

Upright Brewing

When you hear, “traditional farmhouse brewing with open fermenters,” Oregon is probably not high on your list of locations where you’d find such breweries. But Upright Brewing in Portland could be on the track to change that: I know of no other brewery in Oregon using open fermenters for all of their beers.

In addition to the lineup of Belgian- and French-inspired farmhouse ales, Upright is brewing up some eye-opening styles: a Gose, an Oyster Stout, an English Old Ale dosed with Brettanomyces. The tasting room is only open on weekends, so plan your trip accordingly.

240 N. Broadway
Portland, OR 97227

McMenamins (various)

Yes, I’ve cheated a bit here: McMenamins owns brewpubs and more all over the Pacific Northwest so technically they qualify as more than one visit on this list. But some of their properties are so unique that I couldn’t resist. Here are several of their destinations you have to visit:

• The Edgefield: McMenamins’ estate destination, a coverted “poor farm” in Troutdale that features not only a brewery and a vineyard and winery, but a distillery as well.
• The Kennedy School: an historic elementary school in Portland converted to a hotel, restaurant, theater pub, brewery, and more.
• White Eagle Saloon: an early Portland landmark known for its (formerly) rough reputation and shady past, rumored to be haunted.
• The Old St. Francis School: I had to pick one from Bend, you know! This former Catholic school property was converted to a hotel, with restaurant, several bars, a theater pub, and guest cottages.

The Raccoon Lodge/Cascade Brewing

It’s almost not possible to be a beer geek on the west coast and not have heard of Ron Gansberg and the amazing beers he’s brewing at Cascade Brewing: American Wild Ales, simply put, with an emphasis on barrel-aging and blending. Oh, you’ll find the standards at the Raccoon Lodge, but it’s the Belgian-inspired beers you’ll be talking about.

7424 SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy
Portland, OR 97225

Block 15 Brewery

The most I know about Block 15 is something that is likely to be inflammatory to the beer geek community: blogger Dave Selden called it the “next Russian River.” Our own Lisa Morrison gave Block 15 some similar love last month in her writeup of the Corvallis breweries. Corvallis is a big college town, but Block 15 is brewing anything but “frat boy beer”: a sour Wit, a bourbon-barrel 15% Belgian stout, and the requisite Imperial IPA, to name a few.

They aren’t afraid to experiment, and they definitely aren’t afraid of barrels: both wine and spirit barrels are on-hand in their “barrel library,” and a good overview of the various styles and ingredients they’ve been playing with to date can be found on their blog. The next Russian River? Maybe.

300 SW Jefferson Ave.
Corvallis, OR 97333

Double Mountain Brewery and Taproom

Located in Hood River, Double Mountain has an old-school funky beerhouse vibe to go along with their funky beers: not “funky” in a bad way, but in the unique twists to style they’ve been brewing. From a beautiful Kölsch to an “India Red Ale,” to some notable Krieks brewed with local cherries, Double Mountain has a solid beer geek following around Oregon.

There’s lots to like in Hood River and the surrounding area, too, so while you’re coming for the beer, you may stick around for a bit more.

8 Fourth Street
Hood River, OR 97031

Heater Allen Brewing Company

This small operation located in the Willamette Valley’s city of McMinnville had the distinction of being Oregon’s only all-lager brewer for awhile (now I believe they’ve brewed a few ale styles, as well). In a craft beer market dominated by ales, going all-lager is a risky move, but it’s been paying off for them so far and they’ve been gaining a following in Oregon.

Visits to the brewery are more-or-less by appointment only, so call ahead before you go.

907 NE 10th Ave.
McMinnville, OR 97128

“Collection” might be a bit of a misnomer here; while these are actual, bottled beers, they are not ones that I will ever open and drink: I picked them up some dozen or more years ago from a wine shop (that also dealt in occasional beer) that was going out of business, and even at the time I knew they were dubious at best. As far as I know, they have never been stored properly, and I’ve even left them out on display (storage isn’t a concern for me since I never intend to open them).

Yes, that is a beer that was brewed in the U.S.S.R.: Russkoye, “Premium Russian Lager Beer. Brewed and bottled at Obolon Brewery, Kiev, U.S.S.R.” Yes, there is a hammer and sickle on the label. (Circa 1990)

Kulmbacher Schweizerhofbräu. 5.69% alcohol by weight. “Original Bavarian Bock.”

A pair of “River City” beers (Dark and Gold), from Sacramento, River City Brewing Company. (Though I don’t know if it’s the same as the modern brewery.) (Circa 1983; they sold for $2.99 a four-pack, according to this.)

New Amsterdam Amber Beer. “Brewed by the West End Brewing Company, Utica, NY. For the Old New York Beer Company, 809 Washington St., New York, NY 10014. New Amsterdam Amber is a traditional New York beer of the 1800’s and is hand-brewed in small batches using a blend of Crystal and Roasted Malts and Cascade and Hallertauer hops.”

Lorimer’s Traditional Scotch Ale, from Lorimer’s Breweries Ltd., Edinburgh, Scotland. 5.3% alcohol by weight.

Charles Wells Bombardier Ale, from Charles Wells Ltd., Bedford, England

There’s a large percentage of you right now cringing and imagining an ice-cold can of [insert American Macro Industrial Lager here] and thinking, “No way.” A smaller (but hopefully growing!) percentage of you are nodding and thinking of that can of Oskar Blues Gordon, or Maui Coconut Porter, or 21st Amendment Monk’s Blood you enjoyed recently. You know.

Good beer can come in a can.

Oskar Blues Grill & Brewery was the first American craft brewer to can their beers, starting back in 2002. (There were a few brewers before that who contracted out the canning of some of their brews; Oskar Blues was the first to do it all in-house.) There is a whole list of good reasons why brewers could (and should) can their beers, but for Oskar Blues, the real reason was, “Why not?”

They were wanting to start packaging their beers, and an unsolicited fax from Canada’s Cask Brewing Systems planted the idea to can them. In other words, once they were done laughing over the idea, they came to “Why not?”

The rest, of course, is history, and Oskar Blues now offers a lineup of six canned beers: Dale’s Pale Ale (their flagship beer), Gordon, Old Chub, Mama’s Little Yella Pils, Ten FIDY, and their newest, Gubna Imperial IPA. Has canning hurt Oskar Blues’ beers? Not likely: all of them rate incredibly highly on RateBeer, and I can attest from personal experience that they are worth the high marks.

Despite the stigma associated with cans, they have a number of advantages over bottles that are hard to ignore:

• The aluminum is completely opaque to light, meaning the beer cannot become lightstruck (or “skunked”), a perpetual problem for bottles (particularly the green and clear ones);
• Cans are much lighter than bottles, which makes them easier to pack around with you and more economical to ship;
• Cans are more ergonomically efficient than bottles: they are stackable, (mostly) uniform in size and shape, and smaller than bottles;
• They chill down more quickly than bottles (since glass is an insulator);
• You never have to worry about broken glass (which makes them especially appealing to the environmentally-conscious outdoors crowd).

On the other hand, two of the main drawbacks to cans are the fact that canning is more expensive for a brewery than bottling, and homebrewers can’t re-use cans to package their beers.

Another notable canning microbrewer is 21st Amendment Brewery, who have been canning their beer since 2006 and have become a strong voice in the canning advocacy; with the release of their Monk’s Blood (a strong Belgian dark ale), they wrote:

Monk’s Blood is the first installment in our new Insurrection Series, a limited edition, four-pack release of a very special beer that rises up in revolt against common notions of what canned beer can be.

Monk’s Blood was released to great acclaim among the Brewerati late last year and is currently sitting in RateBeer’s 94th overall percentile—not too bad for a beer than comes in a can. The other two regular offerings are their perennial favorite Hell or High Watermelon Wheat (this beer is huge at the Oregon Brewers Festival each year) and Brew Free! or Die IPA (a tasty, hoppy American-style IPA).

So how does canned beer compare to bottled beer? Aside from simply trying some canned craft beers yourself to judge, the next best thing you can do is a side-by-side comparison of a can and a bottle of the same beer. While this might seem counter-intuitive, I know of at least three breweries that are producing both bottled and canned versions of their beers: New Belgium Brewing (Fat Tire Amber Ale), Big Sky Brewing (Moose Drool and Trout Slayer), and Anderson Valley Brewing (Poleeko Gold Pale Ale and Summer Solstice Cerveza Crema).

I actually did a side-by-side tasting of Big Sky’s Moose Drool last September, and chronicled it on my other blog. The big surprise of that tasting is that I found the canned Moose Drool to be the superior beer. It was a bit darker, richer, with a creamier body and more chocolate notes than I found in the bottle. I highly encourage any beer drinker to seek out and try the canned versus bottled side-by-side like this; it will help put to bed any notion that canned beer is in some way inferior.

Although than perception is on its way out; more and more craft brewers are canning their beers, and these are good beers too. And this past October, Buckbean Brewing Company of Reno, Nevada (of which you can read a bit about from Hop Press compatriot Ken Weaver here) hosted the first-ever Canfest, a canned beer festival with a Who’s Who of craft brewers in attendance. When there’s a beer festival, you know it’s becoming mainstream!

Finally, here’s a list (current as of last fall) of microbrewers who can their beers (credit to Charlie Papazian on a Beer Examiner article):

• 21st Amendment Brewery
• Anderson Valley Brewing
• Arctic Craft Brewery
• Big Sky Brewing Company
• Blue Mountain Brewery
• Bohemian Brewing Company
• Breckenridge Brewing Company
• Buckbean Brewing Company
• Butternuts Beer & Ale
• Caldera Brewing Company
• Carolina Beer and Beverage
• Coastal Extreme Brewing Company
• Cottrell Brewing Company
• David’s Ale Works
• Four Peaks Brewing
• Harvest Moon, Belt
• Heiner Brau, Covington
• High Noon Saloon, Leavenworth
• Kettlehouse Brewing Company
• Keweenaw Brewing Company
• Mammoth Brewery
• Maui Brewing Company
• Micro Packaging Solutions, Flagstaff
• Milwaukee Ale House, Milwaukee
• Mudshark Brewing Company
• New Belgium Brewing
• New England Brewing Company
• New South Brewing Company, Myrtle Beach
• Northwoods Brewpub and Grill
• Old Capitol Brew Works
• Oskar Blues
• Pete’s Place, Krebs
• Prescott Brewing Company
• Pug Ryan’s Steakhouse & Brewery
• Rochester Mills Brewer, Rochester
• SKA Brewing
• Sleeping Lady Brewing Company
• Sly Fox Brewing
• Southern Star Brewery, Conroe
• Spilker Ales
• Steamworks Brewing
• Stone Coast Brewing
• Surly Brewing Company
• Thunderhead Brewing Company
• Tommyknocker Brewing Company
• Top of the Hill Restaurant & Brewery
• Ukiah Brewing Company
• Uncommon Brewers
• Upslope Brewing
• Warbird Brewing Company
• Wynkoop Brewing Company, Denver

If you know of any others, let me know in the comments!

(Let me amend: writers getting samples, press junkets, sponsored trips, and so on is old hat in the industry—even the beer industry. It’s part of the business. But when, like me, you enter this field from a new and different angle—the blog—receiving these sorts of perks can be surprising and exciting.)

This was all prompted by a package I received Friday from Pyramid Brewing:

A sixer of Spring Fling Pale Ale, Haywire Hefeweizen, and Audacious Apricot Ale.

This is hardly the first beer package I’ve received as a result of blogging, but it’s the first related to this Hop Press blog; as near as I can tell, I believe all of the Hop Press writers have received (or will receive) these same samples.

Do we all need to write about them? No; while I always make sure to disclose any and all samples and packages I receive, I’ve made it clear that I reserve the right to not write about anything I’ve been sent, if I so choose, and that I may well write something negative (if it’s warranted). This is simply common sense, and (again) old hat as far as traditional media is concerned, but every now and again the issue crops up in the blogging community and sparks lively, er, discussion.

But let me confess: I love getting samples. On one level I know it’s simply business and SOP, but even so I’m not so used to it that it’s still a novelty and I get excited when a new package arrives. It is a perk that keeps the blogging interesting, and while I might sound blasé when I disclose the latest marketing arrival, in reality I’m still amazed that I’m getting this stuff.

All right, enough gushing; hopefully the elephant in the room has been considered and done away with. In the meantime, keep an eye out for Pyramid ale reviews from the other Hop Press writers; if it hasn’t been beaten to death by this time next week, I’ll have a comprehensive review of these three beers.

Zwickelmania is a “free statewide event that offers visitors a chance to tour Oregon breweries, meet the brewers and sample their favorite beers”—but it doesn’t end at simple brewery tours: many of the participating breweries are going above-and-beyond for the celebration. And beer lovers in Portland, Eugene, and Bend will have a free shuttle bus available to take them around to various breweries.

The official time for the event is from 11am until 4pm. And, in case you’re wondering what a “zwickel” actually is, it’s the (sterile) valve in the storage tank that allows brewers to pull off samples of the beer.

Here are some of today’s highlights you’ll find across the state:

Deschutes Brewery (Bend): Tours on the hour from 12 until 5, with one of the brewers on-hand to answer questions, and they will be offering up samples of their 2009 Super Jubel.

McMenamins Old St. Francis School (Bend): “Enjoy 1000 Mile Journey Baltic Porter. This is a celebratory batch of beer marking the 1,000th batch brewed here onsite at the Old St. Francis Brewery! It is a big porter with sweet undertones and strong body, made with a lager yeast not typical for the porter style that gives a unique crisp finish.” (Source)

Double Mountain Brewery (Hood River): “Co-owner Charlie will be leading free tours at 12, 1, 2 ,3 and 4pm, with tank tastings and a beer & cheese tasting. You even get a complimentary pint glass, all FREE.” (Source)

Full Sail Brewing (Hood River and Portland): “Be sure to swing by Full Sail, take a tour and sample our new Brewer’s Share beer, Collin’s Dark Secret, paired with artisan chocolate. (A great Valentine’s weekend treat.) Guided Brewery Tours at 12, 1, 2, 3 and 4PM” (Source)

Hopworks Urban Brewery (Portland): “At HUB we’ll be giving brewery tours every 30 minutes, tasting beer directly off our tanks in the cooler and playing washoes.”

Lompoc (Portland): “Fifth Quadrant will have a few special beers available in the brewery, two brewers on hand for tours and questions, plus fresh zwickel pulls off the bright tanks. Sidebar will also be open with six taps pouring and special food available. Over at the New Old Lompoc on NW 23rd, there will be some special beers in the brewery and in the pub. Two brewers will be available for tours, zwickel tastes, special food and all around general fun.” (Source)

McMenamins Crystal Ballroom (Portland): “At the Crystal, try a beer brewed specifically for the event and inspired by a performance by Storm Large with the Oregon Symphony happening the same day as Zwickelmania called “Crazy Love” — hence, our special brew is Crazy Love Belgian-Style Blonde Ale.” (Source)

Raccoon Lodge/Cascade Brewing (Portland): “For Zwickelmania, we will be tasting select beers from the oak barrels. We will taste the Spring Gose from the Zwickel, as well as the Noyeaux…a blend of White Port barrel aged Strong Blond Ale on Raspberries blended with Noyeaux…apricot nut infused Tripel.” (Source)

Widmer Brewing (Portland): “Widmer Brothers Brewing will have free tours of their state-of-the-art brewing facility, offering complimentary tastings and appetizers paired with the beers. They will offer special release beers not available anywhere else along with their standard beers. Kurt and Rob and their brewing staff will be on site giving tours.”

Southern Oregon Brewing (Medford): Tour and complimentary flight of tasters for people who take the tour at 4 pm.

Fort George Brewery (Astoria): “Open to the public for tours all day. 8 stouts on tap that you can order up individually or by tasters trays of 8. Stout and possibly IPA out of the Zwickel.” (Source)

Heater Allen Brewing (McMinnville): “We will be open and pouring free tastes of Smokey Bob out of the lagering tank.  We will also be releasing Hugo Bock and pouring the rest of our beers.  $4 to taste all 5 beers.  Noon to 5.” (Source)

Ninkasi Brewing (Eugene): Will be open to the public and be doing tours of the plant, our new tasting room and will have some hard to find beers to taste.

Oakshire Brewing (Eugene): “At Oakshire, we’re cracking the doors one hour earlier than usual and waiting for your arrival. We’ll have tours, food to purchase and nearly a dozen beers on tap. Additionally, I saw kegs of Cascade Conundrum, Perfect Storm, and Bourbon Barrel Aged IPA-if I can claw them away from our sales force, I’ll see if we can include them as well!” (Source)

There’s something for everyone!

Regionalism?

Since the Super Bowl and American football are peculiarly American institutions, one possible theme you could go with are all American-brewed beers—in fact, you may run into people who insist on it. I’m not such a stickler on this—good beer is good beer, no matter where it’s from—but most of my suggestions here are in fact American beers.

Another fun theme is beers from the city each competing team is from: Indianapolis, Indiana for the Colts, and New Orleans, Louisiana for the Saints. Since I am totally unfamiliar with either city, however, I’m going to pass on making any recommendations in this regard—that way I can maintain some shred of credibility with the Beer Illuminati.

Pre-Game

The hours leading up to the actual start of the game call for easy drinking to pace yourself—in other words, session beers! I would go with anything in the alcohol-by-volume-range of 5(ish)% and lower, and go with several easy-drinking styles:

• Cream or Golden/Blonde Ales, Kölsch: You will almost always have friends who drink American Macro Lagers, but since you’re reading this it’s a fair assumption you’re not stocking any of that for your Super Bowl party. Instead, introduce them to similarly-light but much-more-flavorful styles of craft beers. Suggestions:
  • New Glarus Spotted Cow
  • Great Divide Samurai Ale
  • Pelican Pub & Brewery Kiwanda Cream Ale
  • Ballast Point Yellowtail Pale Ale
• Brown Ales: I think Brown Ales are underrated, actually; you don’t see many popping up on the “Best Of” lists, but a good Brown is fun to drink, pairs well with all sort of foods (thinking of pre-game snacks here), and isn’t necessarily too scary to the Beer Naïfs. There are some big, strong Brown Ales out there, but I suggest sticking with the session-strength ones. Suggestions:
  • Surly Bender
  • AleSmith Nautical Nut Brown
  • Moose Drool Brown Ale
  • Samuel Smith’s Nut Brown Ale
  • Smuttynose Old Brown Dog
• Pilsners: Again, not the bland American Macro Lagers, but the flavorful, hoppy excursions into the style. Suggestions:
  • Victory Prima Pils
  • Scrimshaw Pilsner
  • Samuel Adams Noble Pils
  • Pilsner Urquell
  • Brooklyn Pilsner

Kickoff

Time to ramp it up as the game starts, move beyond the session beers and into more serious territory. But be careful about overdoing it even so—it’s still early enough that you don’t want to be dozing on the couch by halftime.

• American Pale Ales and IPAs: Great go-to beers for just about any occasion, they can range from easily drinkable to intensely hoppy and offer up more of an experience than the lighter session beers—but don’t go for the Imperial or Double IPAs yet. Suggestions:
  • Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
  • Three Floyds Alpha King
  • Stone IPA
  • Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA
  • Widmer Drifter Pale Ale
• Porters: Great for the dark beer lovers without being overbearingly strong in alcohol or overly heavy. Pair up a good Porter with some little smokies and you’ve got a winning combination. Suggestions:
  • Deschutes Black Butte Porter
  • Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter
  • Fuller’s London Porter
  • Founders Porter
• Wheat Beers: Undoubtedly some of the “lighter beer crowd” won’t be jumping on the previous two suggested styles, so a good wheat beer can be just the thing here. And it doesn’t have to be light and dull, either—kick it up a notch and introduce some interesting variants, like Witbiers or even some darker wheats (think Dunkelweizen). Suggestions:
  • Three Floyds Gumballhead
  • Bell’s Oberon Ale
  • Allagash White
  • Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat

Halftime

Now we’re getting daring and unconventional: everyone’s getting up for the halftime break (though many are undoubtedly watching the show as well), getting food, talking excitedly about this play or that catch, and it’s time to introduce some fun beers, and some experimental ones. After all, the halftime show on TV doesn’t have to be the only flashy thing going on.

• Smoked Beers: Some people will taste smoked salmon or bacon and love these beers, some people will taste an ashtray and hate them.
  • Alaskan Smoked Porter
  • Stone Smoked Porter
  • Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Märzen
• Imperial Pilsners: This is an interesting style, to be sure: double-strength Pilsners, sure to get people talking. Suggestions:
  • Rogue Morimoto Imperial Pilsner
  • Samuel Adams Hallertau Imperial Pilsner
  • Juxtaposition Black Pilsner
• Barrel-aged Stouts: What gathering of beer drinkers would be complete these days without some sort of barrel-aged stout geekery?
  • Grand Teton Black Cauldron Imperial Stout
  • Deschutes The Abyss
  • Goose Island Bourbon County Stout
  • Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout
• Saisons: A solid Belgian style that doesn’t necessarily have to be as flashy or as gimmicky as some of the other styles, but can be just as exotic to the average beer drinker.
  • Saison Dupont
  • Boulevard Saison Brett
  • Ommegang Hennepin
  • Lost Abbey Red Barn Ale
  • Jolly Pumpkin Bam Bière

Second Half

After the halftime show the day is winding down; the game still has two quarters to go but everyone’s satiated from lots of food and lots of beer up to this point. A few may even be, er, dozing on the couch (*cough* floor *cough*) after the Halftime Beer Lineup. My suggestion: it’s time to start easing back; throw back a glass of water or two and work through the beers you have left over a bit more slowly. If you’re still looking for ideas, then I suggest going with some classics:

• Anchor Steam Beer
• Brooklyn Lager
• BridgePort IPA
• Goose Island Honker’s Ale
• Rogue Shakespeare Stout

And of course if you’re still feeling adventurous, then it’s the perfect time to break out the sipping beer: Barleywine! February is an ideal month to enjoy a good Barleywine, and there are ample choices to choose from. My suggestions:

• Sierra Nevada Bigfoot
• Hair of the Dog Fred
• Victory Old Horizontal
• AleSmith Old Numbskull
• J.W. Less Harvest Ale

Post Game

Drink water. Lots of water.

Many of us beer geeks are like that. (Though not all of us; my Hop Press compatriot, Steph Weber, coincidentally just mentioned yesterday that she is not a fan of aging beer.) We have a stash of beer squirreled away somewhere (mine is closet space under the stairs) that we keep adding to with the intent of “drinking it someday.” (Or to hold vertical tastings, or for bragging rights, or whatever.) All well and good, but where do we draw the line? At what point do we get diminishing returns on our collecting?

I got to thinking about this as I was drinking a bottle of Pliny the Elder the other night. (The latest shipment of Pliny had arrived at Whole Foods a couple of weeks ago.) On the label, Russian River Brewery goes out of their way to make sure that you drink Pliny fresh (and DO NOT AGE):

Respect your Elder: keep cold, drink fresh, do not age! Pliny the Elder is a historical figure, don’t make the beer inside this bottle one! Not a barley wine, do not age! Age your cheese, not your Pliny! Respect hops, consume fresh! Does not improve with age! Hoppy beers are not meant to be aged! Keep away from heat! If you must, sit on eggs, not on Pliny! Do not save for a rainy day! Pliny is for savoring, not for saving! Consume Pliny fresh, or not at all!

Bear in mind that Pliny is an 8% beer—strong enough to stand up to a little aging. But it’s the hops in the beer that won’t: Pliny is intensely hoppy with fresh grapefruit and hop resins and unfortunately, hops in fact don’t age well. So RRB’s stance is Pliny should be enjoyed fresh and as hoppy as it was intended.

Contrast with Deschutes Brewery’s practice of late, of putting a “Best After” date on their Reserve Series of strong beers:

We had been struggling with date coding our Reserve Series beers because we knew they could cellar well for several years, just how many we could not yet be certain. It is likely, that with some, they may last for a decade or two, or more. So, last year we started date coding our Reserve Series bottles with a “Best After” date that was set one year from bottling. We thought the beers were better off having a year to age and would only improve from there. Well, people were certainly confused. “Is it ok to drink before one year?” “Will it make me sick?” The answers are simple, no it will not make you sick (Unless you drink too much and we all know we drink responsibly, don’t we?) And, yes it is ok to drink before one year.

And of course you can age other beers that Deschutes’ Reserve Series; I’ve been aging some Jubelale for the past few years (recall the vertical tasting I did a couple of months ago), and I’ve rather inadvertently aged a few bottles of last year’s Hop Henge Batch #1 and Red Chair IPA—both are hop-forward beers that may or may not stand up well to cellaring. (Only tastings will tell!)

Besides those, I have in my beer stash: four years of The Abyss (though only two bottles of the first 2006 release); at least one six-pack of last year’s Bigfoot Barleywine from Sierra Nevada; a case (minus two bottles) of Rogue Imperial Porter; just shy of a case of Rogue’s Sesquicentennial Ale (Ashland bottle); a bottle or two each of Trader Joe’s Vintage Ale for 2008 and 2009; a couple bottles of Goose Island’s 2008 Bourbon County Stout; and a few other odds and ends.

When does the aging end and the drinking begin? Do you follow the Pliny school of thought, or the Reserve Series? Lately I’ve been drifting a bit from the Reserve Series column to the Pliny column: beer is meant to be drank. But there are some styles of beer that are worth aging; it’s not an absolute either way for me.

(Translation: I’m going to start drinking more of these beers rather than compulsively holding on to them, packrat-style.)

My rule of thumb: if it’s a big beer (8%+ alcohol by volume), and particularly a malt-forward beer (stouts, porters, barleywines, strong Belgians), aging is good. Hop-forward beers should be consumed relatively fresh. Imperial/Double IPAs are kind of a gray area; aging them will lose much of the hop intensity but it might provide a very interesting experiment. (And of course there’s always wiggle room to break these rules!)

Where do you fall on the Pliny/Reserve Series scale?

Why is that? Why not experiment with the drinking process in the same way brewers experiment with the brewing process? After all, if adding coconut to my Cream Stout during secondary fermentation makes it better, it stands to reason that adding things to the beer after it’s “finished” can be just as good.

Of course I’m not the first to travel this road: we’re all familiar with the “Beer Cocktail”, the practice of using beer as the base alcohol in a mixed drink. And there are styles that have historically had additives, er, added when drinking: Berliner Weisse is traditionally doctored with sweet syrups (raspberry and woodruff are common); Gose is spiced with salt.

Less familiar is the concept of “mulled beer“, beer that is variously mixed with spices and/or fruit (and possibly other additives) and heated. I would guess that most people familiar with mulled drinks think of them in terms of wine, which is the more common association with mulling. But beers can be mulled too, with pleasing results.

I began thinking about this topic while reading Gregg Smith’s Beer in America: The Early Years, the chapter on Beer Drinks describing the various colonial beer preparations—many of which would raise many a modern eyebrow. In this historical context I would call these drinks “mulled” rather than “cocktails”, and I thought it would an interesting idea to explore.

The most basic way to mull your beer is to simply heat it up and serve it hot. The classic example of this is a beer intended for this very purpose: Unibroue Quelque Chose, an uncarbonated strong cherry ale brewed as a winter beer with heating intentionally in mind.

I don’t have any Quelque Chose, but I do have a homebrewed Apple Ale that I’d been wanting to try heated: a chocolatey brown ale brewed with about eight pounds of apples, cinnamon, and vanilla—a combination that seems a natural fit for serving warm. So in the spirit of experimentation (and the purposes of this article) I warmed some in a saucepan and recorded my impressions:

Fragrance really opens up and it’s a bouquet of fruit and alcohol/yeasty notes. Take a sip and it’s a similar impression—it brings out really aromatic compounds rolling around the mouth, almost volatile in character. Almost a bit more tart (sharp), and the heat brings out some more bitter from the chocolate malt. Interestingly, it gets less harsh as it cools (to “warm” from “hot”).

More traditional methods of mulling beer involve adding spices and perhaps fruit as it heats: roasted apples is a common choice in recipes, along with cinnamon and nutmeg. There is a traditional holiday drink along these lines called “wassail” (not to be confused with Full Sail’s seasonal Wassail Ale) which combines a bottle of strong wine with the equivalent of a six-pack of beer, spices, and roasted apples, and is served hot.

However, there’s another variation of mulling recipes that invokes the colonial drinks described in Beer in America: in addition to the spices and sweeteners (sugar, honey, and/or syrups), eggs are added.

That’s right: eggs.

It sounds off-putting at first, but if you like a good eggnog, then it’s likely you would like this also. Think of it as a “beernog”. A typical colonial preparation of the drink would involve beating eggs and sugar (or molasses or other sweetener) together into a froth, perhaps with a bit of rum or gin, then blending that with hot beer in a large mug. A common practice also was to plunge a red-hot poker (called a “logger head”) into the mix until it boils and spits.

Intriguing, to be sure—but how does it taste?

As it happens, the first result on Google for “mulled beer” is a recipe on wikiHow that incorporates an egg into the beer—and since I already tried a heated plain version of my Apple Ale (think of it as a “control” sample), I knew I had to try this one.

The preparation and recipe is simple: in your saucepan, combine the beer (in this case, another bottle of my homebrewed Apple Ale), and a pinch each of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves. Set it to heat on the stove over medium-low heat (I stirred occasionally).

While the beer is heating, prepare your egg: you only use the yolk, so separate it from the white and add two teaspoons of sugar, and whip it until it becomes creamy in consistency and very light yellow. I used normal table sugar, but I don’t see any reason you couldn’t use brown sugar or some other alternative.

The next step is the most important one: you need to temper the egg with the hot beer to prevent the egg from coagulating—in other words, if you just mix the hot beer and egg mixture all together at once, the egg will scramble.

To temper the egg, ladle a few tablespoonfuls of the hot beer into the egg while whisking briskly; then do a few more tablespoons, whisking, until the egg and hot liquid is thoroughly mixed and warmed up. Then, and only then, can you gradually pour the egg mix into the hot pan of beer, stirring constantly.

Let it heat for a few more minutes, but at this stage the mulled beer is basically ready to drink. Taste it, and add honey if you want it sweetened up a bit. When you’re satisfied, pour the drink into a mug and enjoy.

Of course I took notes about this drink as well:

Takes on a coffee-ish aroma, creamy, and in fact reminds me of a coffee nudge or similar. There’s a nice hint of apple and spice in the aroma, too. Taste: still has the fruity apple flavor, somewhat tart and reminiscent of the first “control” drink. Creamy sweet texture to it, kind of a “hot eggnog” thing and the spicing is very nice—creamy nutmeg, tangy clove, the spicy cinnamon all interplay well together. Honestly the fruitiness of the apple is a little distracting—something malty rather than fruity would work well here. Overall, rich and enjoyable and nicely different, worth doing again.

I think I would go with a maltier beer with no fruit for this type of formulation; I have some homebrewed Pumpkin Ale which I think would be really good, but I can imagine other styles working equally well here: Bocks, Brown Ales, Belgian Strong Dark Ales, Winter Warmers, Wee Heavies, and so on.

I’m not sure how a strong hop character would play here; part of me thinks that mulling a highly-hopped beer wouldn’t taste good, another part isn’t so sure. I suppose some more experimentation is in order!

And I encourage all of you to experiment with your beer as well; after all, there’s no reason we have to be constrained to simply opening a bottle and drinking the beer—get creative! Try mulling your beer in various ways: sometimes with fruit, sometimes with eggs. Perhaps simmer an Old Ale with some dried cranberries and a touch of allspice. Or perhaps combine eggs and rum with a Milk Stout and a dash of vanilla.

Who knows—mulled beer could be the next big thing.

Bend, like any region, has its share of bars and taverns, and this being Oregon, most places in town will have at least a couple of local microbrews on tap (Deschutes is popular, of course, but 10 Barrel, Bend Brewing, and Silver Moon are all often found as well). But for my purposes, I’m highlighting those places that focus on the beer—or at least, moreso than usual.

The Abbey Pub

The Abbey Pub is the one place in Bend that is actually focused on being a beer bar first, all else second. They have no official website, and on the web the site you can find the most information about it is, ironically, one of my blogs: Hack Bend.

The owner, Geoff Marlowe, is a friend of mine and I’ve been following with interest the Abbey since before it opened. Geoff is a fellow beer geek and homebrewer, and knows beer: the Abbey has some 12 taps available, always rotating with new selections of interesting and well-chosen beers. There is also a bottle selection so if what’s on tap isn’t of interest to you, chances are you’ll find something in the cooler.

The beer is paramount here; there is but one TV (behind the bar) and there’s a food menu, but it’s limited: sandwiches, appetizers, a salad, like that. So far the food that I’ve had there is good.

Hours are Monday through Saturday, 11am until 10pm (closed Sundays). When you walk in, you’ll notice that the place doesn’t look like it was intended to be a beer bar: that’s because it wasn’t, it was formerly an ice cream parlor. Talk about an upgrade!

The Abbey Pub
1740 NW Pence Ln.
Bend, OR 97701
(541) 323-2337 (323-BEER)

The Blacksmith

The Blacksmith is actually an upscale restaurant that happens to feature a really good beer bar (as well as many other libations, of course—they are the only place in Bend that I know of that is serving absinthe, for instance). The Blacksmith underwent renovations a couple of years back and one of their goals was to establish themselves as a premier beer destination.

For an idea of what they have to offer, you can check out their draft list and their bottle list; I’m not sure how completely up-to-date they are because I know that they were selling (up until recently at least) vintaged bottles of The Abyss—2007, 2008, and 2009—as well as offering vertical flights of same, which aren’t showing up on their site.

Yes, it’s upscale and a bit more expensive; but the bartenders are good and the beer is worth it.

The Blacksmith
211 NW Greenwood Avenue
Bend, OR 97701
(541) 318-0588

Astro Lounge

The Astro Lounge rates a mention because, while they are more of the trendy-bar-slash-club type of place, they are making an effort to put good beer on tap: I found Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA, a Lagunitas beer, and something else there recently (unfortunately I just don’t remember what—insert beer drinking joke here).

It’s small-ish and hipster-ish and they serve up good deals on good drinks, and intimate live music can often be found there on weekends.

Astro Lounge
147 NW Minnesota Avenue
Bend, OR 97701
(541) 388-0116

Brother Jon’s Public House

This is a newer establishment on Bend’s westside that is focusing on offering good food and good beer and is a definite destination for beer geeks looking for a great lunch with reliably good brews. I’ve been in once, early, and had a Bloody Mary, so I can’t give specific beer tips. I do know, however, that they are currently offering Double Mountain India Red Ale on tap, and that right there speaks to the fact that they are working on getting the good beer.

As a bonus, their just up the street from where 10 Barrel Brewing is building their new brewpub, so there are two good reasons to visit the westside.

Brother Jon’s Public House
1227 NW Galveston Avenue
Bend, OR 97701
(541) 306-3321

Bend Draft House

The Bend Draft House is the newest of all, a pub-slash-sports bar up on Bend’s northside shopping district looking to make a splash in the beer scene. I’ve only visited once here also, and one thing that stood out was that they had a nice selection of beers from Silver Moon Brewing—more such selection I’ve seen in Central Oregon outside of Silver Moon itself.

And looking over their Facebook page (which I linked above), they’re listing an impressive lineup of beers they’ve been getting on tap: Walking Man Homo Erectus Imperial IPA, He’Brew Rejewvenator, and more. Seems like another visit might be in order soon…

Bend Draft House
63455 N. Hwy 97
Bend, OR 97701
(541) 312-3233

Koch and his Stone Brewing partner Steve Wagner announced online recently (via a video blog) that Stone was interested in possibly establishing a brewery in Europe: nothing more than saying they were interested in exploring the possibility and opening up the process so everyone could participate (figuratively speaking). Yet the news of this announcement exploded like wildfire across the online beer news and blog community. For days following the late-December video post, most beer sites were abuzz with the news proclaiming “Stone Opening New Brewery in Europe.”

Generating interest of this level is quite a feat, considering the announcement was the equivalent of, “We think this would be cool, let’s talk about it.”

When I was in San Diego the week after Christmas, I contacted Koch to see if he would be available to meet and sit down for a chat-slash-interview. He very generously agreed to sit down with me, and I made my way up to Stone Brewing’s World Bistro & Gardens, enjoyed a Stone Levitation Ale, and then met with Koch.

On Europe, social media, and advertising

Naturally one of the first things we talked about was the Europe Announcement, and how Stone is pushing hard on the grassroots nature of social media and word of mouth to promote their beer— “marketing without marketing” is a term I come back to. Stone’s Europe Announcement is a great example of this: leveraging huge amounts of interest and attention online with minimal effort.

Yet, “there was only one mention in traditional media, the [San Diego] Union Tribune,” Koch told me.

Will there in fact be a European Stone Brewery in the future? “We were just contacted by the French embassy this week [week of the 28th], out of the blue—something I didn’t see coming,” said Koch. “But definitely something we would explore.”

Koch has famously stated that Stone has never advertised (as part of their overall philosophy)—at least, they haven’t advertised in traditional media. Stone is very active within the community, and participates in a lot of charity events—and there is certain advertising that will go along with such events.

“Instead of wasting ad time on people” who need to be convinced to drink their beer, they opted instead to go the word of mouth route: the people who want the beer will find it. “It was always intentional.” They practice what they preach—so much so that they even have a full-time Social Media Coordinator. (I don’t know of any other breweries who can claim this.)

And it’s working for them; I saw a statistic recently that Arrogant Bastard is the number one selling beer in 22-ounce bottles in the country.

On “Beer Celebrities” and collaboration brews

There is no doubt that in the beer world, Greg Koch is one of the premier celebrities—so naturally I had to ask the “elephant in the room” question and find out his take on the issue.

“I think it’s a reflection that craft beer is coming into its own and getting the recognition it deserves,” Koch said.

Does he recognize his own stardom? Of course; he even uses it “to a certain degree; if I’m making an appearance at an event we’ll announce that to help promote it.” Beyond that, he finds the celebrity consideration “flattering” and positive for all involved, not just himself.

The notion of celebrity brewers seems to go hand-in-hand with collaboration beers: big names getting together to brew something unique and fun. And Stone has been at the forefront of brewing collaboratively lately, producing five so far with two more imminent this year. With the exception of Bashah, the beer Stone brewed with Scottish brewer BrewDog, these collaboration beers have all been the efforts of three brewers.

Koch approaches brewing collaborations from a music metaphor (not surprising, as he came from the music business before founding Stone): you take each of these brewers who are like musicians, each producing something great individually, with their own harmony and style. You never know how three of them together could work, you want the right fit, but when they start working together, it’s like a three-part harmony that meshes and combines into a result that’s greater than the sum of its parts.

Incidentally, there are two planned collaboration brews coming up this year so far: one at the end of this month with 21st Amendment and Firestone Walker, and another coming up in March, with Dogfish Head and a third brewer (unfortunately, I can’t make sense of my notes on the name of this third party—such is the perils of being a blogger stuck in the limbo between being an amateur journalist and raving fan. I’ll email Koch for clarification on this and update accordingly) Bill Covaleski of Victory Brewing.

On Arrogant Bastard

I was curious if, when they launched what is now their flagship beer, Stone had any troubles getting the name and/or label approved? “None,” said Koch. “We had no trouble with it at all… No, it was originally banned in Ohio and Indiana for being ‘obscene.’” Koch laughs about that now. “I fought it; there’s nothing obscene about ‘bastard’ and it was completely ridiculous.”

In fact, early on, Arrogant Bastard was enthusiastically endorsed by Bastard Nation, a civil rights organization for adoptee rights. They loved the beer, and Stone even donated some to one of their events. Koch was proud of the association, though nothing has come of it in recent years.

We talked about a few more things, and all in all Koch was kind enough to give me about 45 minutes of his time. It’s not often the CEO of a company is willing to do that when a blogger emails him out of the blue, so this is another big (and public) “thank you” to Greg Koch. Greg, if and when you make it up to Oregon, let me know and I’ll buy the first round.