Beer Musing's Picks for PDX Beer Week

Yesterday we looked at the official foods for PDX Beer Week. Today we look at the PDX Beer Week events we're most excited about, most of which also have a food component.

Fruit Beer Festival - Last year was the first year we missed this festival, which temporarily moved across the river. The festival returns to its original home at Burnside Brewing Friday, June 9 - Sunday, June 11 with nearly 30 fruit beers and cider. The Friday session (4-9pm) will offer 20 of those and most likely, a smaller crowd. Ticket options are $20 for a plastic cup + 12 drink tickets OR $25 for a branded glass + 14 tickets and apply to all three days of the festival.

Sweet & Sour Dessert Pop-Up - Taking place at McMenamins 23rd Ave Bottle Shop on Tuesday, June 13, the event features Culmination Peche, Edgefield Dry Hopped Sour and Ruse Noctuary Sour. The three beers will be paired with three delicious desserts from Grains of Wrath Brewing's Chef Fabiola. A limited number of tickets are available for purchase at the Bottle Shop ($16).

Culmination Brewing at the Woodsman Tavern - Also on Tuesday is a beer pairing dinner featuring the PDX Beer Week beer, Hop Berry IPA brewed by Culmination, served with the amuse of Henderson Bay Oysters, along with five other beers and food courses. Tickets are available here for $60.

Sweet & Sour encore - On Wednesday, June 14 Chef Fabiola moves over to Saraveza for a similar event, this time featuring Block 15 Love Potion #9, Fort George 3-Way IPA and Ex Novo Cactus Wins the Lottery.

StormBreaker Beer & Wings Pairing - We haven't yet gotten around to trying StormBreaker's smoked wings but this may just be the push we needed. All day on Thursday, June 15 they are offering five smoked wings, each with a different sauce, paired with five different beer tasters.

Portland Beer & Cheese Fest - We missed this event, which is returning to Culmination for a second year, last year as we were in Silverton taking in the Oregon Garden Beer Fest. In its sixth year the festival take place on Saturday, June 18 and offers 10 beer and cheese pairings carefully selected by our favorite cheesemonger, Steve Jones. In addition to beer and cheese there will be complimentary chocolate and charcuterie samples. General admission ($35) and VIP ($45) tickets here.

Now just because we're excited about these events doesn't mean we'll make it to them all. Just like that letter you sent to Santa as a kid, this is a wish list. We'll see what kind of stamina we have.

Bottle Caps

Some bottle caps are plain, some are utilitarian in design, while others are unique and distinctive to a degree that at a glance one is able to recognize the brewery and/or specific beer. Those in the latter category, like the labels and artwork on some bottles, are great marketing tools. But once the bottle has been recognized, purchased and the time comes to drink the beer most bottle caps are simply pried off and tossed aside. That is unless the person prying the cap off has a future crafty/artistic project in mind.

One application that I've seen with increasing regularity is using the bottle caps to create interesting bar or table tops. Both Saraveza Bottle Shop & Pasty Tavern and Occidental Brewing have done this and I never fail to take some time looking over the bottle caps in front of me whenever I visit.

Another use is for jewelry. Beer Babes Bottle Cap Art makes very cool earrings out of bottle caps - ones they've collected or you can supply your own. I currently have two pairs and can't wait to have the next pair made.

Photo courtesy of Double Mountain

A third use is to make a piece of wall art. Double Mountain Brewery & Taproom in Hood River recently posted a picture of the wall art version of their logo they crafted out of bottle caps.

If you're a bottle cap saver like I am, regardless of whatever those bottle caps might be used for in the future, prying them off with minimal damage is the best policy. I was given the heads up about how to do this by the Beer Babes. Go to Home Depot or your favorite home improvement/hardware store and pick up one of these. I swear it'll be the best $.50 you've spent in a long time, or possibly ever.

An Evening at Saraveza

It's as Much the Beer as the Drinking of It

Pliny is a Big Deal. Just like Three Floyds Dark Lord, Surly Darkness and a host of other beers that have transcended the confines of their bottles and kegs. Their names now conjure up visions of the faithful turning parking lots and bars around the country into beer geek extravaganzas. Whether or not you agree with the beer's exalted status, it's hard to argue that there are some beers that the beer-iverse has decided are a Big Deal.


But back to Pliny. Years ago of course, there was just Pliny the Elder (which I'm pretty sure I've had but it's been a long time and a multitude of fantastic beers have passed through my parted lips since then so forgive me for not being 100% sure). Then Pliny the Younger came onto the scene, vying for attention.
From the get go, there has been plenty of debate about how the Younger stands up to the Elder. Since I've yet to have them side by side, I'll step aside and let others continue that debate. What I can say though is that after having the Younger for the first time Sunday afternoon at Saraveza, this is a great beer in its own right.


Part of my lack of Pliny tasting has been that it is such a Big Deal and as much as I love geeking it up with a bunch of other beer lovers, most of the Pliny events have been at relatively small venues not designed for the popularity of such an event. Yes, I want the beer. No, I do not want to be crushed by a bunch of rabid folks to get the beer.


Sunday afternoon offered exactly the kind of low key environment that I enjoy. Saraveza was lucky enough to get an additional 1/6 barrel keg from the distributor and decided to announce, on only hours notice, to only their email list, when it would be available. No Twitter announcement. No Facebook announcement. And from the look of things during the first hour or two, those in the know abided, without prompting, to conform to the manner in which Saraveza chose to disseminate the information.


It was a very pleasant tasting where there was room to move, no jockeying for a seat and no roar of the crowd over which you'd be hard pressed to hear what your fellow beer geek was saying. The bonus was two beers from Hollister, which I've never heard of and never tasted, but thoroughly enjoyed. I'll get some Elder later.