zwickelmania 2011

This past weekend was the annual Oregon Brewer's Guild Zwickelmania event, when breweries across the state open their doors for tours of their facilities and tastes of their beers. There are way too many stops to see in a day, even among the ones within city limits, so this year I decided to limit myself to a few of my favorite inner east side breweries.

I started out by meeting a few friends at Hopworks, where we lined up in front of the large overhead doors of the brewery, and received free pint glasses and tasting tickets for the tour. I enjoyed a hopworks IPA from the bike bar out front, and when our assigned time came, a group of us pushed in to start the tour. Working out way through the workings of the brewery, we were invited to taste several types of malts, as well as secession and a new maibock. Of all the stops we made throughout the day, hopworks was the most organized and informative of the bunch. The free swag and ample tastes were a big plus too. It was a great way to start out the day.

From Hopworks, we drove north to the Cascade Barrel House, where we parked for the day to continue the tours (and drinking!) safely on foot. On the production side of the brewery, we grabbed some tasting cups, and were treated to several tasty options, straight from the barrel. The first was a soured honey rye, that we were told would be blended with lime and ginger in the future. From there we tried a spiced sour belgian quad, and finally a a sour tripel that had been aging on raspberries for the last few months. We also were able to check out the climate controlled barrel aging rooms and take a peak of some of the beers that cascade currently has up it's sleeve.

After Cascade, we headed toward the river to see what was going on a few blocks away at hair of the dog. We arrived just as the rogue tour bus (which carried crowds we tried desperately to avoid all day) was about to leave. To kill a little time as the crowd filtered out, I enjoyed a doggie claws on tap from the bar out front. Eventually, we made our way back to the brewery, where there were tastes of Adam and blue dot (as fresh as it gets!) straight from the tank. The event at HotD was very loose and self-guided, which allowed time to poke around and explore a bit. Among my favorite parts of the stop was looking through the various barrels aging in the back to see what we might expect from Alan in the future. Some barrels were clearly marked like the latest batch of Michael and Fred Flanders shown here to the left. Others were marked a little more cryptically, which left one to speculate about their mysterious contents.







From hair of the dog, we went north a little bit to check out one of Portland's newest breweries, Burnside Brewing. The tastes that were being handed out for the event were of their Oatmeal Pale, but Jason was kind enough to take me into another part of the brewery and let me try his new stout a few days before its debut. The pale I had (and had enjoyed) in the past, but the stout was a new experience for me. Chocolaty and delicious for sure. After the tastes and a little peeking around, we set out once again for another brewery.

The last zwickel event we hit was further north still, over at Upright Brewing. It's always fun taking someone new to Upright; navigating your way through the quiet and mostly empty building to the basement were the noise of cheerful drinkers and the smell of wort greet you from down the hall. It was pretty packed inside, and the line was long for beer, but it was a worthwhile stop none-the-less. I had the upright coffee stout for the first time.




After all that drinking, we were ready for food. We walked south back to Burnside and ate a bunch of pizza at Sizzle Pie. Full and drunk, my comrades made the right decision after dinner and threw in the towel. I ended up back at Cascade for a bit, and then closed out the night at Sassy's. It was a long day.

zwickelmania!

Yesterday was the second annual zwickelmania event here in Oregon. This year I made it out to three breweries to check out their brewing facilities, ask questions about their beers, and of course, try a couple of samples.

Top on my list was checking out what was going on over at Cascade Brewing. For being so far out in SW Portland, away from all the other breweries participating in the event at the same time, the cascade event was well attended. We began our tastings with samples of their latest bottlings, Sang Rouge and 09 Apricot. I had tried the sang rouge previously on Super Bowl sunday, and it was as nice as I had remembered it. The apricot was a new experience for me and it was both delicious and as sour as one could hope for. From the bottle tastings, we moved into the barrel aging portion of the brewery, and tried a couple of samples of various beers directly from the souring barrels. In this portion of the tasting, we sampled a special barrel aged version of their summer gose, a sour tripel, and a sour red. The triple was my favorite from the bunch, and definitely the most sour as well. While we we drinking these samples, we talked a bit about the status of the cascade barrel house, and how the new facility will take the brewery to the next level when it comes to capacity and versatility. One of the interesting things to me about the barrel house is that they have three independently temperature controlled rooms that will allow aging to occur at precise temperatures; something the current facility doesn't allow them to do.

From the tasting barrels, we made our way past barrels and barrels of aging beer, some individual stocks, and some blends, including the infamous vlad the imp aler, and then down onto the brewery floor itself. Here we tried another gose right from the bright tank, as well as a fantastic sour made with the meat of roasted apricot pits and berries. This beer was definitely one of the highlights of the day. The last beer we got to sample at Cascade was their sour cherry pie, which is one of the beers used to produce their delicious kriek. I was shocked, when it tasted exactly as the name would imply... like sour cherry pie. Cherries were expected, but the malts and remaining sugars added a taste not unlike the crust of a fresh made pie. Awesome!

Before leaving, we hit the bar and ordered a glass of the Apricot each. What a great way to end a great tasting!

From Cascade, we drove into northeast portland to check out what was going on over at Upright Brewing. At Upright, I tried a sample of the holy herb, got a glass of the auld reekie, and sampled Billy the Mountain. The crowd here was of a really good size, and it was neat to see it overflow the tasting room and into the brewing area. This was also the first time I got to check out the open tank fermenters through a big window of course). It's a pretty neat set-up.

From Upright, it was over the bridge to Deschutes for the last tour we'd see of the day. The tour itself wasn't too exciting, and only included one beer sample, but the guide was very knowledgeable, and we learned some pretty good stuff. While at the pub, we each got a glass of Jubel 2010. I was expecting this to be the same as the super jubel of years past, but the barrel aging and whatever else they did differently for this version really made it stand out. I've read reviews online of descriptions that include HotD "adam"-like, and I think that's really spot on. A different beer to be sure, but definitely in the same vein. I'll be grabbing several of these to enjoy later.

Other than zwickelmania, I've had some other beery stuff going on since my last post. Pat and I went over to Full Sail for their Top sail imperial porter horizontal tasting. We got to try both the blended top sail, and the original unblended stock beers used to make it. Makers Mark top sail, Stranahans top sail, and Four Roses top sail. The Stranahans barrels made the nicest beer in my opinion, but the blend was a close second. In the past I've been pretty critical of the barrel aged Full Sail beers, but this one really grew on me this year. I don't know if it's better this time around, or if my tastes have just changed, but I think this beer is a real winner, and I've already stocked up on bottles.

At the superbowl, we tasted several great beers. Cascade Sang Royal, Cascade Sang Rouge, Russian River Consecration, Nogne O dark horizon batch 2, brooklyn local 2, hopworks secession, and widmer deadlift IPA. Trying all the sour beers side by side was great. The Sang Royal was great. The Sang Rouge was similar, but with a bit more stinky cheese. The consecration was great as always, but the Cascade beers definitely held their own against it. It would be hard to pick a favorite out of the three. The dark horizon was probably the beer I've held onto the longest before cracking into it. I've had this one for a year or two now, so I figured it was time. Turns out it wasn't! At 17.5%, one would expect this beer to come off a bit boozy, but after a couple of years aging, I would have expected it to mellow a bit. Feeling the heat coming off this thing really puts into perspective just how well crafted Black Tuesday was - with a well hidden, yet higher ABV... fresh.

black tuesday

I met up with Ian and Bryan, one last time before Ian left to go back to California. First, the guys came back to the house to check out the beer cave. Fortunately for everyone involved, they came bearing a black tuesday. We quickly got to work on it, Ian having cracked off the excessive wax and pouring it's contents into 3 glasses. It was very much the same as I remembered from the dock sale, except I had enough to truly savor and pick apart this time. Splitting one of these bottles 3 ways is perfect. It's just too big a brew to fully enjoy in quantities larger than this I think.

What can I say that hasn't been said before? Nothing. This is a huge beer, and although the alcohol is masked exceptionally well, there's still no denying it; it's a monster. You smell and taste the bourbon without experiencing the heat on your palate. It's chocolatey, there are the hints of vanilla from the oak, it's thick and viscous. Those are descriptions you could give most barrel aged RIS's, but this one is different. Thick, velvety, smooth. You can feel the alcohol surge into your veins like a shot of hard booze. Although there's no burn on the palette, this one quickly warms you from with in. I found myself murdering the pronunciations of longer words; what's the ABV on this thing again? Oh, 19.5%, that explains it.

After sipping on our black tuesdays, we decided to open one more bottle to cut the thick malty coatings in our mouths before going to taste saisons. Ian chose my cascade cuvee du jongleur. I've had this sitting for quite some time, so I'm not sure how it compared to a fresh batch, but it was the perfect follow-up to the black tuesday. The sour acidic bite flushed the sweet boozy black tuesday coating from our mouths. This beer had all the sour I had hoped for. It delivered more of an apple like flavor than I've experienced in previous sours; similar to the flavor that Fred picks up when it's from the wood. Delicious, and a crisp clean way to end a mini session.

Next we were on our way to the Upright Brewing tasting room. None of us had ever been there, but I had read many good things about this place, and thought it would be a good way to send Ian off. We made our way out to north broadway, and although we had a bit of trouble finding the place, were still inside in pretty good time. If anything, the difficulty we had finding this brewery only stood to add to it's charm. In the basement of the relatively new (and vacant) leftbank project, in an unfinished subterranean concrete cave with make shift seating (and standing) areas, and surrounded by industrial brewing equipment and aging barrels, this place felt more like a secret speakeasy than a public brewery. We decided to start with a sample tray to share. The tray consisted of the four, five, six, pure wit, fatali four, and flora rustica. I'd had the four, five, and flora rustica before, but never side by side. It was enjoyable tasting them this way, especially since we first tasted them "blind" and then found out what we were drinking. I had a hard time picking a favorite, but to me, it came down to 4, 6, fatali 4, and flora rustica. The easiest to pick from the bunch was the fatali, which is probably one of the best done chili pepper beers I've tried to date. In the past, with things like rogue chipoltle, the peppers were present, but underrepresented I think. There was no doubt that this beer was full of hot peppery warmth. The differences between the standard 4, 6, and flora rustica were more subtle. If anything, I think that's an endorsement for the six, which had significantly more alcohol than the four, but hid it just as well.

Another great day in Portland!

bottle craft, new beers

Yesterday I spent the day teaching myself how to cut open glass bottles. I'm starting to get the hang of it. I have all sorts of projects I'd like to construct now that I possess this new skill, but for now, I've started simple with one of my practice bottles and just cut the top off, polished the edges, and called it a planter. The best bottles to work with are going to be the ones with screen printed labels because they'll hold up to the elements (and dish washers) for a long time. That leaves me with bottles like rogue, stone, alesmith, hub, st. bernardus, red stripe, corona, etc... I can't wait to see some of these projects through.

Last night I went over to Belmont Station, and had a Cascade Old Yeller and an Upright Seven. Both were fantastic. I was particularly fond of the cascade beer. They keep cranking out fantastic sours.