Previewing the Portland Fruit Beer Festival

Now in its 8th year, the Portland Fruit Beer Festival returns to its original home at Burnside Brewing on the east side after a one-year excursion across the river. Pouring more than 50 interpretations of fruit beer/cider, the offerings will span a variety of styles from sours and lagers to IPAs and stouts, utilizing all manner of fruits from commonplace to obscure. We recently had the opportunity to try a sampling of the beers/ciders that will be poured at the festival and were impressed both by the brewers' creativity and their skills.

Juicy/Fruited
Cider Riot! Everyday Passionfruit - A back-sweetened, semi-dry cider, it is a less tart version than last year's and displays the mild flavor of passionfruit in an easy-drinking 6% cider.
Claim 52 Skrrrrrt - Using a mild Gose base, one could easily mistake this 4.2% pineapple and passionfruit beer for a glass of juice. A very tasty glass of juice.
Finnriver Berry & Bard - Combining heirloom, organic Washington apples with Olympic Peninsula rhubarb and aronia berries grown at Finnriver Farm the result is a fruity yet tanic/dry cider.
Hopworks Strawberry Milkshake IPA - Light-handed use of strawberries and lactose meld with berry-forward Australian hops and tropical Pacific NW hops in this 7.4% fruited IPA.
Reverend Nat's Blood Orange Viva La Pineapple - Taking things to another level, Nat put his festival-exclusive version of blended apple and pineapple juice into a slushy machine. So drinkable and fun, beware of a brain freeze!
Von Ebert Starcloud - Starting with their Sector 7 IPA made with Mosaic, Simcoe, Citra and Galaxy hops, tropical starfruit was added, resulting in a smooth and lovely 7.1% hazy IPA.

Hint of Fruit
Buoy Saison de Gewurtz - The buckwheat Saison base beer spent five months in Willamette Valley Pinot Noir barrels with house Brettanomyces cultures spiked with Oregon-grown Gewurztraminer juice. For the first mixed culture project released, Buoy is starting off with a bang. Make sure to have this delicate 4.9% offering early on.
Gigantic Brewing Gigantic & Juice - An updated version of the G&J made last year, the lightly juiced beer contains balanced amounts of pineapple, tangerine and grapefruit.
Widmer Strawbarbaric IRA - One doesn't see many India Red Ales in general and this version brings together strawberries and rhubarb with "red fruit nuanced hops" - Hull Melon, Mandarina Bavaria and more. 

Tart/Sour
2 Towns Easy Peasy - The first citrus cider from 2 Towns, it's a limited release offering that drinks like adult raspberry lemonade with a tartness coming from the Meyer lemons and Lactobacillus culture.
Allegory Sunshine Slammer - This POG (passionfruit, orange, guava) was crafted with a session outdoors in mind, deriving its sourness from a Lactobacillus pitch. One of the more [deliciously] sour offerings we tried!
Great Notion Blueberry Muffin - Known for their kettle-soured Berliner Weisses, it has a bright, blueberry tartness that if one has the chance, pairs well with an actual blueberry muffin.

Unexpected
Lompoc/Fruit Beer Fest/Repurposed Pod collaboration Cacao Cream Ale - Cacao pods are generally thought of as the starting point for chocolate but using the juice from the fleshy portion of the fruit and the cacao nibs from the seed portion this beer is a mind-expanding creation. Hazy apricot in color with an aroma that hints mildly of chocolate, this cream ale is perfectly fruity and drinkable. Representatives from Repurposed Pod were involved in the blending process and Lompoc is only the second brewery in the U.S. to use their Cacao Juice (Tired Hands in PA being the other). 
Migration Manhattan Transfer - If you're looking for a cocktail, Manhattan Transfer is the beer to have. The 7.9% cocktail beer was fermented on freshly emptied rye whiskey barrels with "heaps" of cherries and vermouth-infused oak and botanicals.

The festival starts on Friday with a five-hour preview session (20-ish beers/ciders) and goes into full festival mode Saturday and Sunday spanning Burnside Brewing's parking lot, a portion of NE 7th Street and the parking lot adjacent on the west side of the street. 30 core beers and ciders will be pouring throughout with three to four rotating rare and special tappings. Pours will range from one to three tickets in cost with additional tickets available for purchase.

Portland Fruit Beer Festival
Friday, June 8th 4 - 9pm
Saturday, June 9th 11am - 9pm
Sunday, June 10th 11am - 6pm
Tickets on sale in advance and at the door, $20 (BPA-free, non-breakable Govino branded plastic cup + 12 tickets) or $25 (collectible branded glass + 12 tickets)

Cranberries for the Holiday Table

'Tis the season for cranberries to lend their festival color to holiday spreads. Beyond their vibrant color, their late fall harvest lends reason to see these berries popping up this time of year. So tart, these are one of the few berries that are not suitable for eating fresh, on their own. Instead they make their way into juices, baked goods and jellies/compotes/sauces. Ingrained in our mind is the hand-ground cranberry-orange compote Grandma always used to make for Thanksgiving dinner. Also ingrained is memory of how bitter it was to a child's palate. But palates change and our experience with cranberries has greatly expanded.

This year, starting with the great pairing we found during our recent cheese and beer pairing, and continuing with additional cranberry beer, cider and cheese coming across our radar we felt compelled to round up some of these festive-looking goods. By no means is this a comprehensive cranberry round up, even in the realm of cheese, beer and cider, however all of these should be relatively easy to find should something here catch your eye.

The Goods
- Portland Cider Company Cranberry
- Lompoc Barrel-Aged Cranberry Saison
- North Coast Berliner Weisse Cranberry-Quince
- Long Clawson Wensleydale with Cranberry
- Trader Joe's White Stilton with Cranberries
- Cinnamon sugar won tons*

For those that read our beer and cheese pairing post, you already know that we were enamored with the combination of North Coast Cranberry-Quince and Long Clawson cheese. The addition of the cinnamon sugar won tons gave the pairing an added boost and provided an edible vehicle for the cheese. The white Stilton wasn't a complete bust with the beer and may appeal to those who prefer a more savory flavor profile.

We recently had a chance to try Lompoc's Cranberry Saison along with a specially created slider, a pairing we enjoyed but a much easier to recreate pairing would be picking up a bottle of it and a hunk of white Stilton. The pairing, like with the Berliner Weisse, leans savory and is also nice with cinnamon sugar won tons, especially considering the crumbly nature of the cheese (which we think would be great on a salad or as a component of an apple pie crust).

Finally, Portland Cider Company Cranberry, a cider that was brought to our attention by the company was certainly the most vibrantly colored drink of the three. With an aroma reminiscent of Kool-Aid and a flavor we found to fall between juice and Kool-Aid, this is a gateway cider. We preferred it with the white Stilton, which helped to balance the sweetness, but have a hunch that it would be really good with apple pie. Why is there never an apple pie around when you need one?

So whether you're hosting a gathering or attending one this holiday season, making a festive contribution is as easy as grabbing a bottle and a hunk of cheese. Simple can be delicious.

*Cinnamon sugar won ton chips
1 package square won ton wrappers (found in the produce section of Fred Meyer or elsewhere)
4 Tbsp butter, melted
cinnamon sugar (1/4 cup sugar + 3/4 tsp cinnamon)

Cut won tons in half, corner to corn, transforming the squares into triangles.
Brush one side with butter, flip over and brush the second side with butter. Fold in half and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Place on ungreased baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 3-4 minutes, or until the edges start to become golden. Turn over, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and bake for another 3-4 minutes or until the edges are golden.

A Look at Lompoc's Holiday Seasonals

This holiday season Lompoc will be offering seven seasonal beers plus Barrel Aged Cranberry Saison, the latter of which will be available starting this Friday, November 17th. Since that will be the first beer available, we'll start there. 

Available on draft and in 500ml bottles, Lompoc's Barrel Aged Cranberry Saison is a "Belgian style ale brewed with fresh cranberries and aged one year in port barrels that infused the beer with a drinkable tart and spicy flavor and subtle notes of port and oak. Pale and wheat malts keep it light, while the peppery yeast and noble hops lead to a tangy finish." 

Starting off with a beautiful, peachy color and slight barrel/funk aroma we found it to be nicely balanced between Saison characteristics and the contribution to the flavor from the cranberries. The very drinkable 5% beer it would be a great starter to any meal and a beautiful addition to a holiday spread. Friday's release will be accompanied by the Sage Derby Turkey Sliders chef Mark Otey created to pair with the beer. $3.50 each they are on the substantial end of the slider spectrum and combine many flavors of the Thanksgiving table into a sandwich.

Moving on to the holiday seasonals, we were able to try out five of the seven at a preview earlier this week (Blitzen and Brewdolph were still in the stable getting ready for their debut at the Holiday Beer Extravaganza on the 27th). Ranging from the 7% Top Shelf, Old Sport to two, 9.4% versions of Old Tavern Rat this year's beers offer a variety of flavor profiles.

Top Shelf, Old Sport is a Belgian style dubbel that we found to exude an aroma that was almost winey and attributable to the eight months the beer spent in Maryhill Winery Cabernet Sauvignon barrels. The flavor profile is of an old library combined with a smoking room and the warmer it gets, the more complex and delicious it becomes.

Lump of Coal may be an imperial porter but we got a strong CDA aroma and initial flavor to match. As it warmed the flavor of the 200 lbs of  sour cherries the 1/6bbl batch of beer was aged on started to show itself.

Switching over to the most hoppy offering was C-Sons Greetings Double IPA. The 8% beer is quite similar to last year's version with plenty of bitterness from the seven "C" hops used. This is the only other seasonal beer that will be available in bottles, this in 22oz format.

Finally, the two versions of 2016 Old Tavern Rat, a barleywine that has been aging for a year. One version spent eight months in Maryhill Winery Port barrels and thus offers an aroma that is part barleywine and part port. Tasting to us slightly less boozy (they're both 9.4%) than the non-port barrel version it got our slight favor in a head-to-head tasting. The caveat is that the non-port version was outstanding paired with Moonstruck milk chocolate with sea salt and toffee that was thoughtfully brought and shared by one of the other attendees.

Barrel Aged Cranberry Saison Release
Friday, November 17
4-11pm

Holiday Beer Extravaganza
Wednesday, November 27
4-11pm

Both events take place at LompocSidebar ~ 3901 N Williams.

2 Days, 10 Events (at least)

We have a busy beer weekend coming up with at least 10 beer events taking place, all of which we'd be at if we could clone ourselves. Alas, science still has a long way to go in that area. Thankfully the science of brewing fantastic beer is well developed so make your plans and enjoy!

Friday
Cascade Brewing Sour Fruit Fest - This festival actually kicked off on Wednesday and will run through Sunday, at both the SE Belmont location and the SW Raccoon Lodge. There will be 50 exclusive Cascade fruit sour beers rotating through the festival, 25 daily at Belmont and 10 daily at the Raccoon Lodge. Noon - close daily through Sunday.

Roscoe's Stout Summit - As with all their summits, this one will start Friday and run through the weekend or until the kegs blow. A full tap list is pending but the preliminary list includes some that were at last weekend's Festival of the Dark Arts and others that weren't. Taster trays available. 2pm - Sunday 8pm.

Montavilla Brew Works beer release - Conveniently located just blocks from Roscoe's, the folks at Montavilla are combining the release of their Dark Cherry Porter with the 28th anniversary of Johnny Cash's San Quentin Prison performance. Beer at 3pm, concert showing at 5:30pm.

Three Magnets/Logsdon Tap Takeover at Beer Belly - We'll be honest, we were involved in setting up this event and we want to have great turn out. Beyond that Three Magnets and Logsdon make great beer and this is an opportunity to try over a dozen of beers, many which are difficult to find elsewhere. 4pm - close.

Saturday

Hillsdale Brewfest (aka Battle for the Belt) - This long running festival, now in its 24th year, has been a great time every time we've attended. Yes, it's a McMenamins-only beer festival but this is where you'll see the best of what the brewers at each of the 22 McMenamins locations that are participating can turn out. It's a sample-style format, available by the tray (each tray containing 11 beers) and not only does the winner get bragging rights but also the championship belt. 11am - close.

Zwicklemania beyond Portland - The zwickling continues this weekend, the first time for the Oregon Brewers Guild to have expanded the open house-style event to two weekends. Breweries outside of the Portland metro will be open so if you're in the mood to hop in the car there are plenty of options to choose from. Pick a direction and go. 11am - 4pm

StormBreaker 3rd Annual Brewstillery Festival - We talked about this in detail on Tuesday and you can read that here but the short of it is that there will be 21 beer + spirit pairings. Noon - 8pm (VIP entry at 11am).

Lompoc Black Out Beer Festival - In the 5th edition of this event there will be 25 dark beers - porters, stouts, coffee beers and black IPAs - inside Sidebar and in the heated tent in the adjacent parking lot of Fifth Quadrant. Noon - 10pm.

Triple IPA Fest at N.W.I.P.A. - If big, hoppy beers are your thing, this is the place to be. And if trying all of them is your thing, you're in luck. Beers will be poured in 2oz sizes, up to six at a time. 2pm - midnight.

PDX Bottle Share - Open to anyone, this rotating-location bottle share takes place this time at John's Marketplace in Multnomah Village. The standard "entry fee" is one bottle (typically a 22oz/750ml) and it's a great opportunity to try a variety of beers the generous folks in the beer community have acquired. 2pm

Celebrate 20 Years with Lompoc

Bryan Keilty (L) & Jerry Fechter (R)

Zwanzig Fest, a four-day celebration to mark Lompoc Brewing's 20th anniversary, begins today. Zwanzig means "20" in German and along with being the name of the celebration, it's the name of the bitter Märzen ale that is a nod to Lompoc's very first brew, Erst Ale. The beer, brewed with the help of local beer writers, has a malty body with eight hop additions and was designed to bring back memories of enjoying pints on the New Old Lompoc patio.

During the brewing there was plenty of chatting, including a look back at the last 20 years, with owner Jerry Fechter and head brewer Bryan Keilty. Jerry acknowledged that they can't rest on their laurels and must find ways to stay "cool, hip and exciting." That's a tall order for any brewery but especially in a craft beer-rich market like Oregon. The smaller, younger breweries have to maintain the balancing act of brewing enough beer to be profitable while not over extending themselves with the purchase of new equipment should sales decrease. "Old guard" brewpubs like Lompoc face competition from new bars and growler fill locations, making it harder and harder to draw people in. Competition also comes from other brewpubs serving great food although in hiring head brewer Bryan, Lompoc also gained a CIA (Culinary Institute of America) trained chef.

Therefore answer to the question of how to stay relevant is far from a straightforward one. Jerry made it clear that expanding sales geographically isn't something they're interested in and there has been a shift in the sale-ability of bottled beer. Lompoc started out with 22-ounce bottles and has moved toward 12-ounce bottles as the larger format bottles have seen flat, and even declining, sales. There's also been a shift in the beer that sells the best; it used to be their flagship C-Note but these days it's Proletariat Red. The preferences of the consumer are a moving target but the answer to relevancy may lie in beers that don't readily fit into a traditional style.

Zwanzig, while dubbed a bitter Märzen ale, is such a beer and the next four days offer plenty of opportunities for you to try it. Swing into one of the Lompoc pubs, grab a pint (or featured taster tray) to receive a raffle ticket for a drawing of Lompoc swag and perhaps chat with Jerry and Bryan who will be at all of the 4pm tappings.

Lompoc Brewer's Dinner

Lompoc Brewing is holding an eight-course Brewer's Dinner June 22, giving folks a couple days to recover from PDX Beer Week before tucking into an evening that will include pan seared duck breast, dessert crepes and cheeses. Head Brewer Bryan Keilty, who was a chef before he became a brewer, collaborated with Chef Mark Otey on a menu that offers a wide range of flavors both in the food and the beers they're paired with.

Last week I had the opportunity to sample three of the dinner's courses and to put it bluntly - YUM! The tasting started out with the first course, yellow fin ahi tuna tartar with julienned English cucumbers and pears prepared in the uke style, paired with Cranberry Saison. The pear and soy sauce added a mild sweetness to the tuna tartar with the cucumbers giving it a refreshing crunch, all of which matched the beer in intensity - a great, light start to a multi-course meal. The Cranberry Saison is a great summer beer, clocking in at an easy drinking 5% ABV with enough cranberry flavor, from the cranberry puree added at the end of fermentation, to balance the Saison base.

We then skipped ahead to the third course, micro green salad tossed in a vinaigrette made from agrumato, apricots and pink peppercorns, paired with Mystical Apricorn Belgian Pale Ale. Besides the great name, this beer has a complexity from the pink peppercorns (added at the end of the boil) and the apricot puree (added at the end of the fermentation) that complimented the vinagrette dressing the salad. Another light pairing overall with the beer presenting more assertive Belgian characteristics.

The final course sampled, pan seared duck breast with brandy cherry glace de canard and a roasted cashew and duck confit risotto on roasted seasonal vegetables, paired with 2012 Black Mamba Sour Stout, was decedant deliciousness. Both the beer, aged for four years on sour cherries, and the glazed duck smelled amazing. It was hard not to snarf both up in an instant. I'm not sure which I could have consumed more of, the 4.5% sour stout that while thin for a standard stout is perfect for a sour version, or the duck in its meaty-not-sweet cherry glaze.

We were also treated to a taste of the beer for the fourth course, Straight Outta Hopton IPA (another great name!). It's a collaboration with two loyal Lompoc customers that isn't so intensely hoppy that it will overpower the sorbet it will be paired with at the dinner, but with enough hop character for this hop head to  want to order a pint of it.

Tickets for the dinner are $65/person and available by calling 503-288-3996 or stopping by Fifth Quadrant. Full menu and details can be found on the Facebook event.

Brewer's Dinner
Lompoc Sidebar
3901 N Williams
Wednesday, June 22 6pm

Our Beer Girl

It's not a loss; it's a change. A change even more profound than moving halfway across the country to a city where we knew no one. It was just the three of us and now the two of us have to figure out how to exist without the third.

I know, this doesn't sound like much of a beer-related post and no, I haven't decided to give up the most delicious beverage on the planet. This is a post for me so if you decide to stop reading now, that's ok; I promise we'll be back to regularly scheduled programming soon. Otherwise, I appreciate you hanging in there with me.

Yesterday we said good-bye to our furry child, the one who had defined us for over 13 years. As I was searching for a particular picture I ran across one of our favorites of our little beer girl.

Just like you shouldn't let human children drink a full bottle of beer, we would never have given that much to our furry child. But, just like many of the parents I know, a sip, dip of the finger into the glass...well, I don't see a darn thing wrong with that. For as long as I can remember our girl was a beer girl and the hoppier the better even though those hops never failed to make her sneeze.

So on the day we said good-bye I guess it's only fitting that we'd already had beer plans. They weren't just any beer plans, though; they were in fact plans that involved a movie and three IPAs. We weren't sure we were going to go, that'd we'd be ready to have a bit of fun, but as the afternoon progressed we knew it would be better to be out than at home so off we went.

It wasn't an uber beer geek event but there were folks we knew there and it was a good beginning to the next stage. And the beer was good, thanks to the brewing team at Lompoc headed up by Bryan Keilty. The IPAs, The Spy Who Dry Hopped Me, Dr. Hop and From Lompoc With Love, of course are named to play off Bond movie titles. Our girl spent many hours watching Bond films with us and she would have loved to have sneezed her way through all three of the beers with us.

For the Love of Citrus...IPAs

We're coming into the height of citrus season and while I love a juicy, red grapefruit to start off and brighten dreary winter days, come later in the day I want my grapefruit to come from a bottle. No, I don't want a glass of grapefruit juice, what I want is a citrus-forward IPA bursting with bright flavor up front, finishing with a pithy bitterness.

One of my current favorites and a great local representation of this is Lompoc Pamplemousse Citrus IPA. In addition to four hop varieties - Centennial, Chinook, Meridian and Tettnang, they also use actual grapefruit juice to create the combination of citrus pop and delicious bitterness that makes my taste buds sing.

In case you were wondering about the name, "pamplemousse" isn't just some long, slightly odd word that Lompoc created but is actually the French word for grapefruit. Fitting, right? From there Lompoc has had some fun with things, creating a mascot, Sir Pamplemousse, which you may have seen at local Lompoc events. He's the leader of the Kingdom of Lompoc and according to "legend" a scurvy old French sea captain was the first to discover grapefruit on the island of Barbados, to which Lompoc celebrates with this beer.

Clocking in at an almost-sessionable 5.8% ABV there's plenty of flavor bang packed into a beer that you can enjoy more than just one of. Perhaps tonight would be a good night to do just that. I mean look at the colors on the label, looks like a "Go, Ducks!" kind of beer to me.

Lompoc Holiday Beer Preview

Whether you want to admit it or not, the holidays are nearly upon us. Thankfully folks like those over at Lompoc have been brewing up some delicious hop juice to help us get through the season.

Earlier this week I had a chance to try out eight beers that will be released the first week of December. They ran the gamut from lager to porter, Belgian to Imperial IPA and included two that utilized local sour pie cherries. It's no surprise that the hop-forward, piney C-Sons Greetings was a favorite. Many consider this beer to be Lompoc's flagship seasonal and it is one of only two of the holiday seasonal offerings that will be bottled.

Going to another end of the flavor spectrum, Holiday Cheer, a robust vanilla porter, was delightfully roasty with a lingering chocolate flavor. The presence of the beer in this year's holiday lineup will be good news for some and sad news for others as it means that 8 Malty Nights will be sitting out until next year. I would argue that even if you're sad about 8 Malty Nights, you should give this one a chance, especially if there's any to be found on nitro.

The tasting also offered a side-by-side comparison of Old Tavern Rat and Bourbon Barrel Aged Old Tavern Rat. The beers, named for none other than the original tavern rat, Don Younger, are 9+% ABV barleywines. While I generally prefer BBAs, in this comparison I found the non-BBA more pleasing and if you trust my palate you'll be happy to know that this is the other one that will be available in bottles.

With the variety of seasonal offerings from Lompoc there's sure to be one that you'll enjoy as well as one your buddy, your Uncle Joe or your sister-in-law Amy will be happy to tip back. So stop in at Lompoc starting the first week in December, check out their beer at the Holiday Ale Festival and enjoy.

Lompoc at Beer

Last night we again took advantage of our new location, this time striking out to the west a few blocks to visit Beer. Open for less than a year, Beer is a beer bar with 10 taps and plenty of bottles to choose from. We had been there a couple of times previously but this was the first time it was nice enough to enjoy the small sidewalk patio. We went to meet up with a couple of friends and there was the extra bonus that Lompoc brewers Brian and Irena were on hand with four of their beers pouring.

With it being such a lovely, warm evening I couldn't resist starting out with Saison The Beach even though I'm not much of a Saison fan in general.

Saison The Beach: Golden in color, this Belgian Style Farmhouse ale had grapefruit zest, candied ginger and black peppercorns added to the brew for a citrus and peppery finish, while the Belgian Farmhouse yeast strain added spicy, earthy notes. 5.8% ABV

The beer turned out to be fairly mild on the Saison characteristics with the ginger and citrus coming to the forefront, resulting in a beer I really enjoyed.

The other three pouring were Electric Sheep IPA, Bourbon Barrel Peach Wheat and Dark Side Porter.

Electric Sheep IPA: The 5th in our Sci Fi IPA series was named for Phillip K. Dick's novel, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" Bright amber in color with a citrus and tropical fruit aroma and flavor, there is a slightly resinous and piney hop bitterness. 6.8% ABV

Bourbon Barrel Peach Wheat: Brewed in September 2012 and fermented in Heaven Hill Bourbon Barrels with 200 pounds of peaches for a strong peach aroma with hints of oak that finishes slightly tart. 5.8% ABV

Dark Side Porter: This robust porter is black in color and features a soft roastiness in the nose, with hints of toffee, a slight nuttiness and rich chocolate flavors. 6.2% ABV

I tried Mag's IPA and was surprised to find that I enjoyed my Saison more. Something about the hops used just didn't do it for me and I would have liked there to have been more carbonation. The Bourbon Barrel Peach Wheat was however quite good. Starting out with a huge bourbon aroma, the flavor was more subdued with a slight tartness in addition to the peach flavor. If there could have been even more tartness and any hint of carbonation it would have really hit it out of the park. Perhaps Lompoc will brew this again with a couple of tweaks (hint, hint, pretty please).

Generally I would have ordered up the porter but with the warm evening surrounding me I just couldn't get behind the style. Instead I followed up on the tart seed that the Bourbon Barrel Peach Wheat had planted and went with Myrtle from The Commons.

If you haven't yet checked out Beer, find a time to stop in. While they don't serve food, right next door is Meat Cheese Bread and next to them is a Thai place called Sunee's. We've had food from both before and they each get two thumbs up. Oh, and if you're an equal opportunity drinker there's Enso Winery on the same block.

Lompoc Holiday Beers Preview

Last night I had a chance to taste Lompoc Brewing's holiday beers and hear from owner Jerry Fechter, head brewer Bryan Keilty and brewer Josh Merrick. As the tasting kicked off Jerry addressed the unspoken, yet probably most asked question these days: How are things coming with the NW 23rd location? The answer was that construction is moving along and Lompoc hopes to get into their space shortly after the New Year with an anticipated opening in May or June. That facility will not house any brewing operations but they plan to add a couple more tanks at the Fifth Quadrant location. And for those who remember and love some of the quirky aspects of the old Old Lompoc, look for "the toilet" to make an appearance in the new space.

Back to the matter at hand - the holiday beers! If you recall from last year Lompoc presented a staggering 10 holiday beers for drinking enjoyment. That begged the question of whether they would continue to up the ante and go for a full 12 beers to coincide with the well-known 12 days of Christmas. Alas, that's a pretty big order, one that even St. Nick might struggle to fill. Instead we tasted our way through six of seven holiday beers for 2012.

Jolly Bock - 7.3% ABV - While the beer is technically a lager the color, a deep amber, the aroma, that of a red ale, and the maltiness from the generous amount of Munich malt used to brew this beer might lead you to believe otherwise.

8 Malty Nights - 6.5% ABV - This is the third year this chocolate rye has been made. 90 cases of it were bottled last Friday with 2/3 of it going to Maletis so look for it in stores in the next 7 - 10 days.

Franc'ly Brewdolph - 7.6% ABV - Over a year in the making, this Belgian style red ale was brewed in October 2011 with Ardennes yeast and then aged in Cabernet Franc barrels. It will be available at this year's Holiday Ale Fest.

C-sons Greetings - 8% ABV - A holiday beer for Lompoc for 10 years, this hoppy brew, loaded with pine and citrus, was my favorite of the bunch. While I'd love to see it a year round beer, Jerry commented from a pub owner perspective that having an "8% beer available all the time makes no sense." Fair enough.

Old Tavern Rat - 9.4% ABV - Named for moniker of the late Don Younger, this is a barley wine that aged for nearly a year before being released. Last year a bourbon barrel aged version was released and there is already some of this version in barrels for release next holiday season.

Bourbon Barrel Aged Wee Heavy - 7.5% ABV - A collaboration brew with LOLA, the Ladies of Lagers and Ales, it spent nine months in Heaven Hill barrels. Margaret Lut was on hand to talk about the beer, which gives off a huge bourbon aroma and is one you'll want to let warm up to fully appreciate.

The seventh beer, Blitzen, wasn't available for tasting as it was still in the fermenter. It is a spiced golden ale and should weigh in at 4.6% ABV.

Some of the beers are starting to hit shelves so grab and drink your annual favorites as you see them. For the official kick off mark your calendars for Lompoc's Holiday Release Party on Tuesday, November 27 (which is also Holiday Ale Fest Eve). And for anyone trying to squeeze out every last bit of fresh hop season, get to Sidebar soon for the last of their Fresh Hopped Harvest Man Red - it's delicious!