6th NW Coffee Beer Invivational

Last Saturday saw the sixth installment of the NW Coffee Beer Invitational beer festival take place at Goose Hollow Inn in SW Portland. Once again festival organizers Dave and Jean Fleming were blessed with a dry January Saturday, although as thoughtful stewards they provided a fully tented and heated space for beer lovers to enjoy creations of 20 breweries.

With the exception of Kiitos Brewing, all of the participating breweries hailed from Oregon and southern Washington. "What’s the deal with Kiitos then?", one might ask. The answer is that they took home gold at GABF in 2018 in the Coffee Beer category with their Coffee Cream Ale. Had Bend Brewing not been at this festival with their Coffee N Cream Coffee Blonde, Kiitos would have gotten our nod for “best light coffee beer.” As it was, Bend Brewing offered a beer that had a great coffee cream aroma and a perfectly balanced, mild flavor and was more to our liking.

Two of the beers at the festival spoke to this imbiber saying, "I'm meant to be drank with food." The first was Von Ebert’s Hegel Sipped Coffee in Bamberg, a Roggenbier (smoked beer) with beech and cherry wood smoked malts. The smokiness of the malts came through and although a bit more body might be nice, what would be really nice would be to have this with food...like Von Ebert’s delicious wings. 

The second food beer in our mind was from Fire on the Mountain Brewing. While we didn’t find much coffee character in the beer, the flavor spot-on matched its name: Mole Stout. The fact that they committed to the assertive flavor profile is to be commended and we think that although FotM is known for their wings, this might be mighty tasty with tacos. Or perhaps a taco pizza special at their Fremont location.

The remaining three beers that we particularly enjoyed were all on the darker end of the spectrum.
Sunriver Brewing His Dudness - Inspired by The Dude and his love of White Russians, this was the embodiment of a beer White Russian.
Wild Ride Brew Co. Nutty Joe Jr. Porter - Hazelnut isn’t a flavor we often see in beer (or at least used well in beer) but we still have a soft spot in our heart for it that goes back to our early craft beer explorations and Rogue Hazelnut. That beer and this beer likely taste nothing alike but Joe Jr. reminds us of the feeling we got back then drinking Rogue’s beer.
Ruse Brewing The Stages of Dawn - For having the highest ABV of the beers at the festival, 9.4%, it most certainly did not drink like it. The creamy imperial oatmeal breakfast stout came close to feeling as though it was being served on nitro, enough so that we would really hope to find it being poured that way in the future.

Thanks to all the breweries and coffee roasters that participated in this festival! It's one of our favorite and a great way to start a new year of beer festivals.

Brunchin' at Burnside

Brunch is a big thing in this town. If you're thinking "duh" or "really" just keep in mind that this comes from the perspective of a non-native Portlander, who although feels this place has become home, still has a bit of outsider's perspective. 

We don't go out to brunch often, usually only when we have visitors in town, and when we do we typically avoid the popular/high visibility places. Waiting, hungry and in need of coffee, is not a way to start the day especially when there are tons of great places to brunch. Depending who we're brunching with determines if we're looking for a place with great [insert favorite dish of our visitors], a place with stellar bloody marys/mimosas or some other factor. If we were going out on our own a deciding factor might be a place that has a great morning beer on tap that pairs well with food. In that case, enter Burnside Brewing.

Burnside opens at 11am daily, including on the weekends when the brunch menu is available. We recently had the opportunity to try out some of Chef Richard Watt's brunch items, one of which we really dug with a new offering from the brewery side of Burnside, Wau, Nessie! 

First seen at the NW Coffee Beer Invitational 2018 at Goose Hollow Inn, and now available at their pub, it is the second collaboration beer in Groundwork Coffee's 'Brewers Series'. The Coffee Wee Heavy Ale features Groundwork's organic single origin Papua New Guinea roast, a medium roast coffee, from the Wau Co-Op. It  was one of our favorite beers at the festival and is overall, one of the best Scottish ales we've had. Malty and caramelly as one would expect from the style, the coffee further balances the beer so that instead of being cloying it whispers, "coffee...you like coffee in the morning...come drink this in the morning."

Going back to the brunch item that we found to pair particularly well with it is the Smoked Trout Hash. What it's lacking in visual appeal it more than makes up for with smoky flavor. Not a fan of smoked fish? Then perhaps you'll dig on their Chilaquiles, a pile of loaded tortilla chips served in a cast iron pan (think nachos that are better eaten with a fork), or the simply seasoned, carb-o-licious Crispy Potatoes. 

If you're more of a sweet-for-breakfast person then the Donut Bread Pudding is for you. It's usually listed on the specials chalkboard near the door but even if it isn't, ask your server. Created from buttermilk and blueberry (usually) donuts from their neighbors down the street, Delicious Donuts, this cinnamony treat somehow manages to avoid being overly sweet and retains the airiness familiar to most donuts. The "icing" on this "cake" is a super dense whipped cream that looks and tastes closer to ice cream than the whipped cream we're used to. 

While we hope you enjoy the Wau, Nessie! as much as we did, if you are there for brunch and hope to get anything else done for the day you may want to have just one. It goes down far easier than many 10% beers, a quality that speaks to the skills of the Burnside Brewing team. 

Through February 7th $1 from each Wau, Nessie! sold will be donated to the Cafe Femenino Foundation, an independent non-profit organization that funds community betterment grant requests proposed and managed by women in coffee-producing regions around the world.

One last note, perhaps as you rearrange your weekend plans to fit in brunch at Burnside, is that all day Sundays IPAs are a mere $3. So whether you go for the beer, go for the food or go for the killer Sunday price on IPAs, consider Burnside the next time you're heading out for brunch.

First Festival (for us) of the Year

A favorite beer? No. A favorite style of beer? Maybe. A favorite brewery? Not one, but there are a few that hold a special place in our hearts. A favorite beer festival? Possibly and it would be this one, the NW Coffee Beer Invitational. 

Let us count the ways/reasons we love this fest:
#1 Dave Fleming is a great guy and without fanfare, has carved out a day in the depths of winter to hold this festival. He also seems to employ some wizardry to allow the day, which for more years than not, has been blessed by the winter sun.
#2 Coffee and beer are our two favorite beverages. We get giddy when they come together and love to see the creativity expressed by the brewers at this festival.
#3 The festival tends to contain breweries that are often not present at other festivals. In that group is Chetco, which this year is joined by "new kid" Allegory, the Labrewatory, Yachats and more.
#4 Last but not least, this festival is often the first one of the new year that we attend. There's just something about putting the crush of the holidays behind and resetting for another year of festival fun. 

In this fifth year of the festival, organizers Dave and Jean Fleming wanted to do something special so they invited festival-favorite breweries from the past four years to collaborate on a beer. Brewed at Buoy with Ristretto Roasters coffee, the raspberry mocha brown beer will be available only at the festival and at the participating breweries' locations.

The festival remains at its original location, the parking lot of the Goose Hollow Inn. The support of and partnership with the restaurant "has been key" to the festival according to Dave. For attendees, holding the festival in the same location year after year means they know what to expect, including what works best for them to get there (and back home safely). The inner SW location is in close proximity to downtown and has a Max Station that is basically at their doorstep, serviced by the blue and red lines. It also serves a full menu on festival day, including "The Best Reuben on the Planet."

As for the price, this year's incremental increase to $20 for a festival glass, 10 taster tickets and access to 22 total offerings (19 breweries, 1 cidery, 1 meadery and the special collaboration beer) remains reasonable. For those keeping track:
2017 - $15 admission with 8 tickets and 16 participating breweries
2016 - $15 admission with 8 tickets and 15 participating breweries
2015 - $15 admission with 8 tickets and 15 participating breweries
2014 - $12 admission with 6 tickets and 12 participating breweries

Additional tasting tickets will be available for $1. Dave let on that there will be a few barrel-aged beers this year that will cost two tickets so you may need a few depending on your approach to the festival. We'll be pairing up, sharing the samples, and depending on what really tickles our fancy, may need to get some tickets to go back for seconds. 

Starting today the festival will be posting the name and description of a few of the beers coming to the festival each day on their Facebook event. Check out today's post for details on the three below that have beer names attached. To make sure you get the latest, indicate that you're "interested" or "going" to the festival receive update notifications. 

Brewery line-up:
Allegory Brewing - Starless Sky Coffee Stout
Ancestry Brewing
Burnside Brewing Co
Chetco Brewing Company
Coalition Brewing
Deschutes Brewery
Fire On The Mountain Brewing
Fremont Brewing
Hopworks Urban Brewery
Labrewatory
McMenamins Breweries
Migration Brewing Company
Nectar Creek - Top Bar
Oregon City Brewing Company - Creamy & Dreamy
PINTS Brewing Company
Portland Cider Co.
Stormbreaker Brewing
Sunriver Brewing Co.
Three Creeks Brewing Company
Wayfinder Beer
Yachats Brewing + Farmstore

NW Coffee Beer Invitational 2018
Saturday, January 27 12-7pm
Goose Hollow Inn, 1927 SW Jefferson
Tickets: $20 (available at the door only; cash and credit card accepted)

The Best Things We Drank: October 16 - 22

We're going back to the sour well this week with five of the six beers making our list in that camp.

Little Beast Dream State - Receiving one of our highest ratings this first fruit beer from Little Beast is outstanding. Generally strawberries are one of our least favorite fruits to be used in making a beer but the 100lbs of hand-picked Oregon strawberries displayed their heady aroma up front and with their lush fruit character following the mid-palate funk. It would be easy to drink the full 375ml bottle by one's self but we were fortunate enough that the person that shared it with us was feeling generous. 

pFriem Bosbessen - Switching berries to blueberries, they impart a gorgeous color and tart blueberry aroma into this barrel-aged lambic-style ale. That's where they depart and the funk goodness takes over, dominating the flavor in the most delicious way.

Almanac Tropical Galaxy - The name Almanac is nearly synonymous with sour/wild beers although this one is distinctly different from many of the fruit-forward ones we've enjoyed before. A dry-hopped farmhouse aged in oak barrels with mango, lime and coconut the aroma is pretty funky with a flavor that is both smooth and balanced between the various components. 

Our next two beers come from the same brewery - Urban Family - but couldn't be more different.
Guava Dawn, displaying a bright color from the pink guava that also infuses the aroma, it is subtly balanced by the Brett, Sacc and Lactobacillus mixed culture it was fermented with. The result is mimosa-like and crushable.

Dark Perennial goes to the dark side of sour beers with a nearly opaque color, a combination resulting from the blackberries, boysenberries and Midnight Wheat. The rhubarb contributes tartness, which often makes for a bit of an astringent mouthfeel, but here is pleasantly overpowered by the Midnight Wheat to provide the a velvet mouthfeel we've not before experienced in a sour beer. A fantastic winter sour.

Departing the sour train, the final beer making this week's list combines our second favorite drink - coffee - to create the most recently enjoyed lovechild of this union.

Ruse Grizzly Menace - A robust coffee porter that was conditioned on cold brew from Coava, the aroma is all coffee with a combination of coffee and chocolate characteristics in the flavor. Complimenting the aroma and flavor is a silky mouthfeel that could be associated with the use of lactose but here it comes from oats. While we love lactose for the mouthfeel and sweetness it imparts, the use of oats is more appropriate for a porter base and keeps the result from being sweet. We've had IPAs, sours and now a coffee porter from Ruse and we're thoroughly impressed with all of them. You can bet we'll be visiting their space along the orange Max line once it's open, currently slated for early 2018.

The Best Things We Drank: CA Vacay Edition

This week's best list is dominated by beers we consumed while taking a long weekend vacation to the Orange County, CA area. We drank plenty more than made the list (Portland still wins at beer) but there were definitely some remarkable beers had during the trip as well as some we had before we skipped town to soak up some much needed sun.

Phantom Carriage Broadacres with Passionfruit - We get some Phantom Carriage in the Portland market and knew that they did a great job with sours so finding ourselves in the vicinity (Gardena, CA), we couldn't resist stopping. The brewery is unique, being part café and part haunted cellar (complete with horror movies playing) and overall damn cool. This was the best of the beers consumed there and sour to the max. The passion fruit used in this iteration of Broadacres gives it just enough mouthfeel to take some of the sour bite off.

Barley Forge Wedding Tackle - Somewhat stumbling on this brewery (aka using a "search nearby" map function for breweries), we found ourselves surrounded by really great beer and a hopping taproom on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon. The huckleberries used in this sour blonde ale were present from the start - both in giving it a beautiful color and on the nose - and carried through to the flavor. The lightly, brightly sour flavor was enhanced by the cherry wood it was aged on.

Barley Forge Nom Nom - We'd be hard pressed to pick a favorite between this hefeweizen and the sour, both incredible beers at easy drinking ABVs. A well crafted hefe, its classic characteristics are there and enhanced by the mango that was slightly present on the nose and more prevalent in the flavor. This is a very crushable beer that would be perfect for sunny, summer drinking.

Block 15 Cosmic Cold Brew Double Ristretto - Block 15 does amazing stuff with hops but their coffee game is equally strong. Starting out with an aroma that is all coffee, followed by a smooth mouthfeel and finishes with a lovely lingering milked-coffee flavor.

Firestone Walker Bretta Rose Batch 3 - A beer we'd had a year ago and thoroughly enjoyed, it seemed a great prelude to heading out to celebrate 14 years of wedded bliss. The extra year of age did nothing to diminish, and perhaps even enhanced,  the tart, fruity yum that is so delicious.

Honorable mentions go out to Stone for their Tangerine Express, enjoyed with breakfast on the first day of vacation at a sports bar, Tustin Brewing and Gunwhale Ales. If you find yourself in the area with limited time Barley Forge is definitely the place to hit. Gunwhale, a somewhat sterile feeling taproom, and Tustin, a neighborhood hangout filled with TVs for sports fans, are fine and we wouldn't steer you away from either, just keep in mind Barley Forge is where it's at in the Costa Mesa area.

Beer & Girl Scout Cookies Pairing Year IV, Part II

Last week, on Pi Day, we dove in to part II of this year's Girl Scout cookies and beer pairing. On the docket were:
- Thin Mints
- Caramel de-Lites/Samoas
- Do-Si-Dos/Peanut Butter Sandwich
- Tagalongs/Peanut Butter Patties
- Toffee-tastic (gluten-free)

Since our venue happened to have 2013 Alaskan Brewing Barleywine on tap and previous years had taught us that chocolate cookies, which were most of what we had in front of us that day, went well with darker beers like this Chris had to go for it. Although four years old, the beer retained a boozy profile that ended up working well with the Thin Mints, the mint negating that booziness and the beer amping up the mintiness of the cookies. Another big boy - the 18% Dogfish Head World Wide Stout - also found a companion in the Thin Mints. Mag, not one for big beers like these, found Half Acre Daisy Cutter pale ale to be a nice complement to this staple of the cookie line up.

Samoas, a cookie some of our pairing group love and others really don't, can be challenging to pair both because of the overt sweetness and the coconut. Here we found Cascadia Ciderworkers Berry's combination of blackberry, blueberry and cranberry to be quite complimentary to the coconut, to such an extent that the caramel and chocolate flavors nearly vanished. The big Dogfish Head stout also paired well with the overt sweetness of the cookie and the 18% ABV balancing one another.

Switching from chocolate to peanut butter, the Cascadia cider also went nicely with the Tagalongs to provide a peanut butter and jelly sandwich flavor combination. Working off of our love of coffee and coffee beers we opened a beer from a new-to-this-market brewery, Modern Times, their Black House coffee beer. Presenting a strong roasty aroma and flavor it enhanced the peanut butter qualities of this cookie, muscling the chocolate component to the back seat. Once again, diverging from a similar flavor profile and towards a complimentary one, the Half Acre Daisy Cutter hit the mark.

The other peanut butter cookie, Do-Si-Dos, went best with Modern Times Black House, the combination being reminiscent of a cup of coffee and a slice of toast topped with peanut butter. Sounds like a good way to start the day, right? Chris happened to have a Golden Road 329 (lager) open and while the beer itself was sweeter on its own than he would prefer it actually worked with this cookie, confirming Craft Beer & Brewing's recommendation of a malty lager.

Finally, the sole gluten-free cookie of the bunch, Toffee-tastic. It's a cookie that we unanimously like on its own, in large part because of its strong butteriness. It was due to that butter profile (similar to Trefoils) that it worked with and was balanced by the Alaskan Barleywine. With the Modern Times coffee beer it was similar to enjoying an iced coffee and a butter biscotti. And for the an all around gluten-free experience we recommend Magner's Original Irish Cider. The apple-toffee combo played off one another, each enhancing the flavors of the other.

Huge thanks to Chris for procuring the cookies, especially the out of market ones, and being an eager participant along with Mag and the many friends who helped consume All. These. Cookies.

3rd Annual Baker's Dozen This Saturday

Coffee and doughnuts are delicious. Coffee BEERS and doughnuts are more delicious. This Saturday 13 coffee beers, made with coffee from independent local roasters, and 13 doughnuts from local shops will be available in a mix 'n match format at Culmination Brewing for the 3rd Annual Baker's Dozen. Due to the popularity of the event this year their will be two sessions, the first from 10am to 1pm and the second 2pm to 5pm, with 350 tickets available per session.

We had a chance to try a few of the offerings (a full list of the beers, including a honey mead from Oregon Mead & Cider, and the doughnuts is below) earlier this week and what we had was outstanding! Block 15 makes amazing beer, often amazing hoppy beer, but their Cosmic Cold Brew is no less amazing. This complex beer drinks like a creamy, coffee milk stout and paired exceptionally with the equally complex Bourbon Bacon Breakfast Fritter from Blue Star. No fluffy doughnut, it has a hearty backbone from the shredded Yukon potatoes and just-right mix of flavors from the sage, black pepper, bacon and bourbon maple glaze. We also tried A Beer Called Death, which if this is what death is like we're happy to skip to the front of the line. Prominent local beer guru John Lovegrove teamed up with McMenamins Thompson Brewery in Salem to make an imperial stout that uses 7 cups of Kenyan single origin cold brew per 1/2bbl keg. It's good enough to drive to Salem for but why when you can have it at this event WITH doughnuts?

Tickets are $27 (plus fees) online/$30 at the door (IF they haven't sold out) and include samples of each beer and doughnut. In order to be able to power through and not go into a diabetic coma, most of the doughnuts will be quartered. The Culmination kitchen, led by chef CJ Mueller, will be cooking up savory breakfast proteins for purchase.

DRINK IT
Alameda "Coffee & Donutella" pale ale with Kainos Coffee
Block 15 "Cosmic Cold Brew: Double Ristretto" stout with Bespoken coffee
The Commons "Coffee Schwarzbier" black lager with Stumptown Coffee
Culmination "Velvet Elvis" nitro stout with Ole Latte Coffee
Georgetown "Gusto Crema" cream ale with Caffe Umbria
Gigantic "Mons Meg" coffee Scotch ale with Coava Coffee
Great Notion "Blueberry Pancakes" stout with Clutch Coffee
Kona "Pipeline Porter Reserve" porter
Labrewatory "Dirty Hippie" milk stout with Ristretto Roasters
McMenamins/John Lovegrove "A Beer Called Death" imperial stout with McMenamins Roasters
Modern Times "Bourbon-aged Monster Park with Coffee" imperial porter with Modern Times Coffee
Montavilla Brew Works "Bipartisan Porter" porter with Water Avenue Coffee and Bipartisan Cafe
Oregon Mead & Cider TBD

CHEW IT
Annie's, Devi's Foodcake
Blue Star, Bourbon Bacon Breakfast Fritter
Bowery, Apricot Hamantaschen ("Kosher as f*#$" in honor of Saturday being Purim)
Coco Donuts, Vermont-style cider
Churros Locos, churros (making them fresh, onsite during the festival)
Delicious Donuts, TBD
Donut Byte Labs, Whiskey Creme Brulee
Joe's Donuts, cherry fritter
Namu, malasada (Hawaiian-style)
NOLA, apple fritter
Rocking Frog Café, cinnamon cake
Stacatto, Prince of Darkness (triple chocolate donut hole with Coalition Loving Cup maple cream filling & Vietnamese iced coffee glaze)
Tonalli's, powdered

The Best Things We Drank: January 16-22

Last week was a BUSY one over here - talking about beer events, attending beer events and then over the weekend judging beers in Bend. With all that going on the Best Things fell by the wayside. To make up for that we'll double up starting off with the middle of January.

This was an exceptionally good week for beer with the highest notes all coming from Oregon breweries. Some of these are more readily available than others but with a little looking any of them should be available.

Culmination Oregon Kara Sakura - Brewed for the Japanese market, specifically the Cherry Blossom Festival, most of it was shipped to Japan with the remaining, limited supply available in their tap room. It was brewed with wild yeast, Oregon cherries and rose hips from Jasmine Pearl Tea Company (just down the street from Culmination) with the result being a delicious, mild sourness.

Burnside Gin & Joose - Saisons aren't generally at the top of our list but put them in gin barrels and ta-da, magic! This French Saison aged in Ransom gin barrels with peaches, strawberries and lavender is a complex beer that is both imminently drinkable and something to covet.

Crux Stout - Dark as one would expect from a stout, Crux puts their own twist on this style with a beer that has great body and mouthfeel to compliment the dark coffee-chocolate-caramel flavors. The simple name belies the obvious craftsmanship that went into the brewing of this beer.

Saison Facile behind, dry hop in front

de Garde Saison Facile and the Dry Hop Cuvee version - de Garde is a bit of a polarizing brewery both in terms of their beers and their availability. One may recall that when they started very little was distributed; to get it meant a trip to Tillamook or friends who would bring some back. These days the supply is more abundant although the most special beers still require a trip. This rings a sour note for some. For others the sour notes in their beers, which we're a fan of, come across as one-dimensional. To each their own. This beer, or rather these two beers, that Chris shared with us were a fun back-to-back comparison. Both were great tart beers but the Dry Hop Cuvee slightly edged out the other providing stronger citrus notes and less effervescence.

Ordnance Of Chimpanzees Porter - Ordnance makes an appearance on the list for the second consecutive week with a coffee beer that uses Home Town Coffee Roasters coffee and has the aroma and flavor of cold brew. The name is a bit weird but has a great story. Coffee fiends will want to swap out their morning brew for this! And at a drinkable 5.3% perhaps you can.

Style preferences, at opposite ends of the color and flavor spectrum, once again showed themselves this week. Dark and coffee anchored one end with light, fruity and sour at the other. We might be somewhat predictable but we do keep it diverse.

Super Saturday: 5 Awesome Events

Saturday will be a GREAT day to be a beer lover in Portland! And we'll be out of town...but in another good beer town (Bend). So that you can plan your day, here's a rundown the things we'd be deciding between. Do one or do 'em all!

4th NW Coffee Beer Invitational
Saturday 12-7pm
Goose Hollow Inn
1927 SW Jefferson Street

 

This is the event I am most bummed to miss! Being a coffee fiend and having attended for the first three years breaking the streak is bittersweet. This year the event will feature 14 breweries and 2 cideries inside a cozy tent in the Goose Hollow Inn parking lot. The location makes parking challenging but historically this has been one of the most enjoyable festivals we've attended due to both the small size of it and, duh, coffee beers! Dave Fleming and his wife Jean bring the neighborhood feel of the Goose Hollow Inn to the tent for a festival where you're likely to see more people you know than you have time to chat with (especially if you're going to make it to any events beyond this one). Tickets are $15, available at the door only, and in the past the two of us have been able to drink through all of the beers by sharing.

Artisinful! The Portland Beer and Chocolate Festival
Saturday 12-5pm
Culmination Brewing Company
2117 NE Oregon Street

There's always something beer-and-food going on at Culmination and after last year's success Artisinful! is returning for its second year.  Tickets are required to attend ($21) and include entry to the Chocolate Hall where 8+ local chocolatiers will be sampling and selling their chocolate, a $5 certificate good toward the purchase of chocolate, tasting glass and four tasting tickets. The tap line up will include 10+ beers that either have chocolate in them or have been selected because they pair well with chocolate. Call it an early Valentine's celebration or preparation for Valentine's Day but if you love chocolate we're told this is a not-to-miss event (which is expected to sell out again this year although tickets were still available as of 7am Friday).

New Moon Mandarin Release Party & Chinese New Year Celebration
Saturday 4-11pm
Reverend Nat's Hard Cider
1813 NE 2nd Avenue

Technically not a "beer" event, most beer drinkers also at least dabble in cider and for our money, Reverend Nat's makes some of the best. New Moon Mandarin was made by "channeling the best champagne mimosas" using heirloom apples  that were fermented with a champagne yeast and blended with orange and lemon zest, a complex background of chamomile, fennel, coriander and cardamom, finished with a touch of orange blossom honey. The cider will be available on tap, in bottles to go AND through a special randall with fresh mandarins. To accompany the cider Chinese Lucky Dragon Food Cart will be slinging crab puffs, Buddah skewers, pork belly bao, pork and vegetable pot stickers and mar far chicken wings.

Stout Bout IV: Awards Ceremony & Public Stout Tasting
Saturday 1-5pm
Baerlic Brewing Co.
2235 SE 11th Avenue

With home brewing nearly as big as commercial brewing (maybe bigger) this is one of the events throughout the year that celebrates the two. From 1-3pm attendees can sample and vote on 12 stouts that were advanced from the Portland Brewers Collective Stout Bout Home Brew Competition for free and purchase raffle tickets. For the second half of the event winners, both People's Choice and those from the judges, will be announced along with raffle winners.

Base Camp's Collabofest
Saturday 2-8pm
Base Camp Brewing Company
930 SE Oak Street

This event showcases the collaborative spirit and creativity of 15 of Portland's breweries. Attending the event means all of the beers will be available in one space but if you don't make it they will be popping up at the breweries around town in the coming days/weeks. General admission tickets are $25 +fees and include festival mug, beer festival passport and 8 tasting tickets. For those looking to get a jump on things, $40 +fees VIP tickets allow for early entry at 1pm and an upgrade from festival mug to a festival branded Miir stainless pint along with the aforementioned items.

If you're going to try to make it to all five events, godspeed. There are sure to be motivated folks who will do so; others (like us if we were in town) would probably just pick one (maybe two) to fully enjoy. But whatever you do, pick at least one (for us, if for no other reason). Cheers!

Third Time is a Charm at NW Coffee Beer Invitational

While the first two years of the NW Coffee Beer Invitational were good, in its third year it was even better. The overall quality of the beers continued an upward trend and it was great to see some new breweries in the mix. Some tickled my taste buds more than others so without further ado, my top four.

Fire on the Mountain Brewing - Caffe Corretto - "A rich stout conditioned with fresh cold pressed coffee from Spella Caffe. Further aging on star anise, vanilla and a splash of Sambuca replicates the traditional and delicious Italian coffee drink in beer form. 6% ABV" I'm in the camp that loves anise flavor and this one hit all the right notes for me.

Feckin Irish Brewing - Feckin Shipwreck - "This is what would have been drunk by sailors shipwrecked off the Caribbean islands circa 1750. Its roots are made of Feckin's Double Irish Oatmeal Porter. The addition of coffee, from Happyrock Coffee Roasting, unlocks notes of rum, fresh coconut and vanilla beans. 6.7% ABV" Here, too, is a beer which is a like/dislike depending on your stance on coconut. It's not as overpowering as something like Oskar Blues Death By Cocount or Town Hall Three Hour Tour and may be even more deliciously drinkable from the standpoint that the coconut is more subtle and the ABV lower.



The man of the hour, Dave Fleming.

Buoy Beer Co. - Coffee Brown Porter - "This brew combines perfect elements to create a flavorful beer for you to pair with breakfast or to warm up with on a rainy day. Oats and roasted barley build the beer's rich foundation and in the secondary conditioning. Additions of hazelnut and Columbia River Coffee Roaster's dark roast coffee bring distinctive flavors to the brew. 6.5% ABV" Outstanding combination of beer/coffee/oatmeal that screams to be drunk for breakfast. At that ABV one might just get away with doing so.

Widmer Brothers Brewing - Brrrbon with coffee - "Brrrbon is the winter seasonal Brrr placed in a single use Bourbon barrel with a fresh charge of live yeast for secondary fermentation followed by 13 months of aging. The beer was able to find its way deep into the staves of the barrels and suck out every last drop of bourbon flavor and essence. Then we added a half pound of Stumptown Ethiopian Duromina coffee per keg. Chocolate, chocolate covered cherries, vanilla, coffee and bourbon dominate the nose. Those flavors continue across the palate with a fulfilling smooth finish. 13.1% ABV" A beer this big could come across hot, unbalanced or simply too much but this one does none of those things and drinks more like 8%. Dangerously delicious.

Didn't make it to the festival? Here's the information I have to date on where and when you can find beers you missed.

54° 40' - Due to its popularity they'll be brewing more, which will be available in their taproom in Washougal most likely by 2/10.

Burnside Brewing - Per their 2/3 Facebook post, it is currently on tap.

The Commons - Only one keg is left, which will be available in their taproom, possibly as early as this week and is on tap as of 2/4 per their Facebook post.

Everybody's Brewing - They'll be bottling their entry in 22oz bottles this week with first availability at The BeerMongers and Belmont Station.

Lompoc - It's currently on tap at all Lompoc locations (and it just so happens Miser Monday is taking place today at Lompoc Tavern and Oaks Bottom Public house...yeah for $2.50 pints!).

Lucky Lab - Only one keg is left and it is going on today (2/1) at the SE Hawthorne location only.

NW Coffee Beer Invitation Preview

There is entirely too much beer goodness going on in Portland this Saturday and you'd better have a damn good reason if you won't be attending at least one of them. Not one to over commit myself where beer festivals are concerned, I'm only planning to be at one and that's the NW Coffee Beer Invitational.

This is the third year of the festival put together by Dave Fleming and the third year I'll be attending. The past two years have been blessed by unseasonably beautiful January weather (like we had earlier this week), a boon for an outdoor, albeit tented affair. Again this year there will be 16 beers available, all made with locally roasted coffee, that have the added bonus of being sessionable - 7% ABV or less.

The festival has been posting the beer line up to their Facebook page over the last couple weeks with just a few remaining to be revealed. Here's the CliffNotes version:

10 Barrel Brewing - On Sinful Grounds
54 40' Brewing (9 Bar Espresso) - Stromtrooper Schwarzbier
Buoy Beer Co - Coffee Brown Porter* made with Columbia River Coffee Roaster
Burnside Brewing - Joe Mum is So Roasty (bourbon barrel-aged wheat stout)
Cascade Brewing (Oblique Coffee) - Oblique B&W Stout
The Commons Brewery (Stumptown Coffee Roasters) - Coffee Pumpernickel Rye
Deschutes Brewery (Nossa Familia Coffee) - Augusta's Porter
Double Mountain Brewery (Heart Coffee Westside) - Space Jitters Coffee Imperial Stout
Everybody's Brewing (Stoked Blue Bird Coffee) - Cold Press Porter
Feckin Irish Brewing - Espresso Milk Porter*
Fire on the Mountain Brewing (Spella Coffee) - Caffe Corretto
Gigantic Brewing (Coava Coffee Roasters) - Koffee Brown
Lompoc Brewing (Nossa Familia Coffee) - Brazilian Blonde
Lucky Labrador Brewing - Let's Dance Lager
Pints Brewing - yet TBA
Widmer Brothers Brewing - yet TBA
*Beers exclusive to the festival

I'd love to have you join me at the festival but in case coffee beers aren't your thing or you're an overachiever who wants to hit more than one event, the other happenings on my radar:
Culmination Artisinful! Beer & Chocolate Festival 12-6pm
Baerlic 3rd Annual Stout Bout 1-6pm
Base Camp's 2nd Annual Collabofest 2-8pm
McMenamins Hammerhead 30th Anniversary (includes four variations on tap at 23rd Avenue Bottle Shop)

NW Coffee Beer Invitational
Goose Hollow Inn
12-7pm
$15 admission includes tasting glass + 8 tasting tickets

NW Coffee Beer Invitational - Year Two

I don't know what kind of magical powers Dave Fleming possesses but somehow both last year and this year he has arranged for the day in January of his beer festival to be one of the warmest, most beautiful days of the whole month. Kudos to him for taking a risk on an outdoor festival (albeit tented) in the middle of winter and for creating a festival that couldn't be more Pacific Northwest themed. Coffee beers aren't for everyone but apparently there are more than enough of us that are interested in seeing how some of our favorite breweries incorporate locally roasted coffee into their beers.

This year there were 16 beers available, up from 12 last year, and being brutally honest I only enjoyed about half of them. But the actual enjoyment of the beer in my glass is only part of the equation. I'm a good beer geek, always on the search for the new thing, the beer I've never had before and I know that they're not all going to be winners. Some just weren't for me, some I think could have been better crafted, yet I give everyone an A for effort for creating something I haven't had before.

It's hard for me to pick my favorite but the four that were the cream of the crop in my opinion were:
Barley Brown's Barley's Imperial Breakfast Stout - An oatmeal stout using beans from Sorbenots Coffee in Baker City, this definitely tastes like chocolatey breakfast in a glass. I'd had the regular version of the beer before and it was good but this bigger, 8.5% ABV version, really does go to the next level.

Chetco Brewing Company Black Thunder - I'm a big fan of CDAs and for me this was the love child of a CDA and a stout. Brewed with Signature Coffee from Humbolt it was a more roasty version of a stout.

Fire on the Mountain Spanish Coffee Mudd - FotM is one of our favorite eateries in town so I'm familiar with most of their beers and have had their Electric Mud chocolate oatmeal stout on many occasions. I've also been known to enjoy a Spanish coffee from time to time and they nailed the flavor profile, with beans from Spella Café, while containing the booziness to beer range.

Elysian Brewing Cthulhu Imperial Oak Aged Coffee Stout - I won't go back on my word, this beer was brewed before the recent hubbub, but as soon as I saw it in the lineup I said to myself, "This will be the last Elysian beer I drink." And it was a hell of a good-bye beer with great coffee aroma and flavor, in part from the Stumptown Cold Brew used, and that's what I want to remember about Elysian.

Besides the beer I had a great time seeing friends from some of the participating breweries and plenty of fellow beer geeks. Gathered around the sunniest of the tables (we were first in line so we quickly snagged it) it was a great afternoon chatting about the beers and what everyone had been up to since we'd last seen one another.

The unexpected highlight was having brewer/owner Mike Frederick of Chetco Brewing Company out of Brookings, OR join us. His beer is distributed by Alebriated, which is owned by a friend of mine, and he was able to stop at the festival as part of a larger trip around the area. For brewing out of a 468 square foot facility he's doing good work. The fact that his beer made my tops list had nothing to do with meeting him yesterday, that was just the icing on the cake.

Fourth Saturday in January & Four Beer Fests In Portland

Winter is supposed to be low season for beer festivals, right? Apparently the folks in Portland have turned a blind eye to that news and forged forward with (at least) four beer fests taking place today. Who knows, there may in fact me more that I just tuned out after realizing that I was going to have a tough decision to make seeing as how I've not yet obtained the ability to clone myself.

CellarFest at Bailey's Taproom
In its sixth year now, Bailey's will be pulling "a bunch of old beer from our cellar." The beers range from barley wines to sours to stouts but they have one thing in common - they're all big boys with nothing clocking in at any less than 8%.

Collabofest at Base Camp Brewing
Presented by #PDXNOW, Travel Portland's current marketing campaign, the fest will offer 10 different collaboration beers from local breweries. With gose, hefeweizen, sour and radler beers, the offerings are the polar opposite of Bailey's line up.

NW Coffee Beer Invitational at Goose Hollow Inn
Coffee and beer are my two favorite drinks so when Dave Fleming introduced this festival last year I quickly hopped on board. Clearly a successful endeavor, the number of beers has been upped from 12 to 16, all made with locally roasted coffee.

Westmoreland/Sellwood Winter Brew Fest at Portland U-Brew & Pub
This festival, now in its fourth year, offers a combination of six beers made by Portland U-Brew and four made by other breweries. Most will be big, over 9%, and all winter beers.

So can you guess where I'll be? Those of you who know me well probably answered correctly - I'll be at the coffee beer festival. If, and this is a big if, knowing that I'm usually not good for much after a festival, I have any energy left I may wander over to Base Camp, seeing as how we live within stumbling distance from there. Whatever your plans are, cheers to craft beer, friends!

Beer & Coffee Preferences: Are There Any Correlations?

For some time now I've been curious to know if there is any correlation between beer preference and coffee preference. I prefer both boldly flavored - IPAs and sours are my favorite beer styles and my coffee, a dark roast with no added cream or sugar, please.

Looking at the full version of this infographic* finally prompted me to whip up a quick post and short survey to see what your preferences are.

So if you wouldn't mind, take a couple minutes to fill out my six-question survey. Then check back next week to see what others had to say about their preferences. Or don't.
 
*The infographic is less about beer and coffee than how their ingredients, alcohol and caffeine, effect the brain. That being said, it's one of the better infographics I've seen.

Beer + Coffee = Happiness

As a coffee drinker and a beer drinker I consider coffee beers as the perfect union. I don't recall what my first coffee beer was but two that have been around for a while are Surly Brewing Coffee Bender and Furthermore Oscura. I don't get many of either these days but thankfully I've seen a considerable uptick in the number of coffee beers in this market.

Over the weekend I stopped in at Bailey's Taproom and had an amazing one - Old Town Brewing Ol' Joe. Brewer Bolt Minister has been turning out great beers in general and this is just another example of his fine work. Technically it's an old ale brewed with coffee, thus the 7.25% ABV, which is likely the reason for the amazing mouthfeel. Combined with great flavor, this is a beer I hope to enjoy more of.

Beyond coffee beers that have the expected dark color both Cascade Brewing Black & White Oblique Coffee Stout and Harvester Coffee Pale Ale are delicious head scratchers. They have a color you would expect from a pale ale or IPA so that's what you would expect from the flavor. But no! A second taste, this time with one's eyes closed, and you would swear that the color must be a dark brown or black.

All of this coffee beer talk leads me to a festival coming up this Saturday. Goose Hollow Inn, on the west side of downtown, is putting on the NW Coffee Beer Invitational. Since I first heard about it a couple months ago it's something I've been looking forward to. The festival will showcase the work of 12 brewers that incorporated locally-roasted coffee into their entry. If you enjoy coffee beers I'm pretty sure you don't want to miss out on this.

NW Coffee Beer Invitational
Saturday, January 25th 1:00 - 7:00 pm
Goose Hollow Inn
1927 SW Jefferson St., Portland
$12 admission includes a festival glass (actual glass) and six tasting tickets

Black Dawn x4

Those that know me well know I drink three beverages: coffee, water and beer. If it was an option, I’d happily swap out my morning coffee for a nice coffee beer some days but…well…the current employment situation would frown upon that. So instead, it’s straight up hot, black caffeine in the morning with the cold, hoppy (sometimes) caffeine once I’m off the clock. That said, I am a huge fan of the brews that can combine two of my three beverages (all three I suppose if you factor in the water content of both coffee and beer) into a product that is greater than the sum of its parts.

When I got the notice from Lompoc last week that they were not only releasing Black Dawn III, but three versions of it AND would be pouring Black Dawn II and 2009 Pre-Dawn Imperial Stout I was pretty excited. I wasn’t able to make it the day of the release so I missed out on the Pre-Dawn (described as a “coffee-less imperial stout”), leaving me with four coffee beers to try.

Each of the four poured with a great, creamy head and beautiful black color. I couldn’t wait to start in on them.

Black Dawn II – Beaumont Blend

-         This beer had the most aroma (once it warmed), was full in body and in flavor without any coffee or chocolate malt bitterness.

Black Dawn III – Beaumont Blend, El Salvadoran beans and Peruvian beans

-         The aroma was of bitter coffee, with a more pronounced chocolate flavor than BD II yet still resisting any bitterness in the flavor.

Black Dawn III – El Salvadoran beans only

-         This beer was more stout than coffee but exceptionally good and drinkable.

Black Dawn III – Peruvian beans only

-         Initially this had the most pronounced coffee aroma (which faded as it warmed) but strangely, the weakest coffee flavor. While providing excellent mouthfeel, the coffee flavor that there was carried the most bitterness of the four.

In my book, all four were solid, drinkable coffee beers. As for which one I’d recommend, that depends on how you like your coffee and how you like your beer. If you want more beer than coffee, either the El Salvadoran (if you’re feeling stout-y) or the Peruvian (if you want a smooth, light body). If you want a greater coffee kick to your beer without bitterness the Black Dawn II or the triple blend (if you want more pronounced chocolate) will serve you well. I’d quite happily take any of the four set in front of me.