Here in the PacNW there's no denying that cider is making a big impact on the market and we're A-OK with that. In fact there are quite a few ciders that we enjoy (which you may have seen pop up on our Best Things round up from time to time) and we're very excited that the 5th Annual Willamette Week Pro/Am is now officially the Beer and Cider Pro/Am. Last year's event featured a couple of non-beers; this year there will be eight joining the 24 beers.
The event returns to the city's best quadrant after a couple years inhabiting the North Warehouse. The 32 beverage line up will be pouring at District East (2305 SE 9th) and it will be our fourth year attending. Each year the growing number of entries reflects the growing popularity of the event. The full list of pro and amateur brewing pairs is here and like us, there's a good chance you'll see some familiar names on the Am side. The names/styles of the beers/ciders will be revealed at the event however one of the Ams is giving us a sneak peek of his collaboration.
VIP tickets get you in at Noon, are limited to 100 people and include a meal voucher for one of the food carts that will be on-site; general admission ticket holders have 1pm entrance. With either option you'll get to try all 32 entries and be able to vote for your favorite beer and cider (two separate categories). We hope to see you there!
Willamette Week's 5th Annual Beer and Cider Pro/Am
Saturday, October 14
District East, 2305 SE 9th Ave
12 - 6pm
Tickets: $55 VIP, $28 GA, $10 DD
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!
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!
Collaboration beers are fairly common place these days and with the trend continuing, it's evolving in new and interesting iterations. A friend recently gave me Whatcom Wheat, a collaboration of all nine Whatcom County (WA) breweries for Bellingham Beer Week, which starts today. In addition to some groovy, eye catching artwork on the 16 oz can, the beer itself was pretty good. Wheat beers are tricky waters for me to forge as if find strong banana and clove flavors displeasing. When I cracked this can open there was a distinct banana aroma that triggered my internal caution lights but it was for naught. Contained in the can was a well-balanced wheat beer that if it was available in my home market I'd happily buy more of.
Over the summer, as I'm sure you've heard about was the nationwide tour/campaign/distribution from Sierra Nevada - Beer Camp. Not only did they collaborate with 12 breweries across the country for their 12-pk but they went to the next level by making a national tour out of it. Even with Eugene-based Ninkasi being one of the breweries involved, Oregon missed out on being a tour stop. While I was sad about that, I was fortunate to attend a Beer Camp event at The BeerMongers where they had all 12 beers on tap. I previously blogged about my favorites, one of which came from Asheville Brewers Alliance, the only one of the bunch that was a new brewery to me. Nonetheless, Beer Camp allowed me to have beers from some breweries that aren't generally available in this market. For that alone I applaud the effort.
Recently a third collaboration caught my eye. 20+ brewers in North Carolina brewed a gose containing only ingredients from the state. I'm a big fan of that style but based on this Charlotte Business Journal article, it'll be unlikely I'll have a chance to see what this many "cooks in the kitchen" whipped up. Only eight barrels were made and beyond the World Beer Festival in Durham, NC and the breweries' own tap rooms, the only other place it will be making an appearance at is the Great American Beer Festival in Denver. The GABF pouring is one that the breweries hope will enhance North Carolina's up and coming craft beer scene. Kudos to them.
How about you, have you been noticing more and more collaboration beers? What do you think of the idea or the beers themselves if you've had a chance to try them?
