Crushable, Light and Fruity - Two Beers for Summer

We were recently gifted two beers to try, one a lager and one a fruited wheat beer, and we're pleased to say that we'd be happy to stock our fridge with either or find them as we dig into a cooler at a summer gathering. If that's all you need to seek some out yourself, great! Head out and grab some Zoiglhaus/Zupan's Farm-to-Market German-style Lager and Public Coast Farm Stand Series Blueberry Wheat Ale. Want a few more details first? Read on.

Zoiglhaus/Zupan's Farm-to-Market German-style Lager
This lager is the ninth beer in Zupan's Farm-to-Market series, one that began in 2015 and has produced collaborations with Coalition Brewing, Buoy Beer Company, Hopworks Urban Brewery, pFriem Family Brewers, The Commons Brewery and now Zoiglhaus takes its turn. This is the first beer in the series that has been presented in can format - 12oz cans for sale at all Zupan's Markets in 6-packs for $10.50.

Those familiar with Zoiglhaus won't be surprised to see that this beer is solidly in their German-style beer wheelhouse. Nor should one be surprised that it is very well done. Crisp and clear in appearance with a characteristic Pilsner aroma it drinks easy and finishes clean. At 4.7% ABV it goes down as gently as a summer breeze. In addition to being enjoyed on its own, we feel it would pair very nicely with a wide variety of foods.

Public Coast Farm Blueberry Wheat Ale
Our first visit to Public Coast Brewery in Cannon Beach was two and a half years ago and since then we were able to enjoy their Black Jack Bumbleberry Sour Stout at Festival of the Dark Arts in February. Having found that one to our liking, it was not surprising to find this beer to be equally well made. Pouring a stunning berry shade with the slightest hint of haze that adds to the depth of color, there is a slight acidic fruitiness up front. The mild blueberry flavor carries through, without being sweet, and a moderate level of carbonation enhances the flavor.

The beer features blueberries from Public Coast Farm, situated on 40 acres in Banks, OR. This is the first foray between the brewery and the farm but both parties are hoping that it will be the start of something ongoing. If the fat, fresh, beautiful berries that came along with the beer sample we received are any indication, things are off to a great start.

We give both of these beers two thumbs up for appealing to a broad range of palates and being packed with flavor while remaining low in ABV. Dare you to disagree. 

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)

The Best Things We Drank: April 3 - 9

This week's Best Things is dominated by fruit but used in a variety of beer styles which kept things interesting (and pretty to boot).

Yachats Salal Sour - Sitting at the top of the heap according to our taste buds is one of the first beers Yachats has bottled. We've known Charlie and Jenna for awhile and are thrilled to see their beers making it up to Portland. This one presents with a tart, fruity aroma and an absolutely gorgeous color. Made with local, wild salal berries (used by the indigenous people of Cascadia for generations) it is a clean, drinkable fruit sour. Keep 'em coming!

StormBreaker Guava Man - "Don't judge a book by the cover" definitely applies to this beer. Looking like cloudy grapefruit juice the appearance belies the delicious flavor, which is in fact pithy as well as hoppy, that is found upon drinking it.

North Coast Tart Cherry Berliner Weisse - We were surprised to see North Coast making this style of beer but couldn't pass up trying it. While we found it to be a bit on the sweet end of the fruit Berliner Weisse spectrum it was very drinkable with a real cherry flavor, the result of using real Michigan Montmorency cherries. Apparently it's a very limited release beer so if you're intrigued and see it you'd better grab it now or  settle for regretting it later.

Modern Times Black House Nitro w/Coffee, Coconut & Cocoa - A take on the brewery's oatmeal coffee stout, there is an impressive amount of flavor - mild coconut, coffee and hop bitterness - packed into its 5.8% ABV. We continue to be impressed with beer after beer from this brewery and are excited to have a newcomer that is so solid in our market.

McMenamins Captain Neon's Mango Double IPA - We loved the colorful can artwork from first glance and were very pleased with the beer inside. At 9%+ ABV it's not surprising that the aroma is somewhat boozy. What may be surprising is that it doesn't drink that heavy. The combination of dry-hopping with Amarillo, Citra, Mosaic and Chinook and use of mango puree creates a yummy, hoppy flavor that may or may not have led to the consumption of multiple cans one evening (under the watchful eyes of Thing 1 and Thing 2).

If you've had any of these beers we'd love to hear what you thought of them. And if you've had anything outstanding you think should be on our radar, let us know.

Fruit Beer Festival Turns Six & Uproots from the East Side

The Portland Fruit Beer Festival, now in it's sixth year, is putting on its big boy pants and moving from the east side into downtown. Taking place Friday, June 10th through Sunday, June 12th it's festival that has gained in popularity to the degree that a move was necessary. The original space, in the parking lot of Burnside Brewing, worked at first but over the last couple of years, even with the expansion across the street, it was easy to see that the festival had outgrown it's space. Kudos to the organizers for making the much needed move.

Disclaimer: not a representation of this year's glass

The North Park Blocks (bordered by NW Park, 8th, Davis and Everett) will be "30% larger with grass, trees, park benches and more shade." For anyone that's attended the festival those will be welcome changes to the baking parking lot surface as the festival has generally lucked out with beautiful summer weather. A couple other changes are worth noting as well - a change to the tasting glass and an expansion of hours.

It should come as no surprise to Portland festival goers that the city doesn't allow glass vessels at festivals. When the event was at Burnside they were able to use them but this year it'll be a "branded Govino cup," which according to their website "is made from a crystal-clear, ultra-thin, BPA-free polymer, which accentuates the flavor, color, and aromatics of all types of beers. It is shatterproof, reusable, recyclable and proudly made in the USA."

As for the expanded hours, that's reflected in the festival opening at 11:30am on Friday, June 10th, making for a full day instead of the partial day it has been. For those able to get to the festival before 2pm Friday, you'll be rewarded with four extra drink tickets*

Getting to pricing, walk-up general admission is $25 and includes Govino cup and 12 drink tickets while advanced general admission packages online will get you three more drink tickets (15 total) however as with most online purchases there are service fees ($2.40 in this case). $27.40 for 15 tickets in advance or $25 for 12 tickets at the door is pretty much a wash as additional drink tickets are only $1.

One final note before I leave you to prepare for the festival later this week - 4oz pours will cost 1-3 tickets depending on the beer or cider ordered. Since the festival has started the number of samples that have cost more than one ticket has increased. While it's understandable that certain beers are more expensive to make it would be nice to see in advance how much each sample will cost. Maybe that's just me but if I go to the festival thinking I'm going to spend $25-$30 and end up spending perhaps another $20 in order to try the beers I want to I'll likely be less happy than if I knew up front that the beers I really wanted were primarily going to cost more than one ticket.

Enough of my commentary, get to drinking!

Portland Fruit Beer Festival
North Park Blocks, downtown
Friday, June 10th 11:30am - 9pm
Saturday, June 11th 11am - 9pm
Sunday, June 12th 11am - 6pm
Tickets: buy in advance or at the door (cash only but there is an ATM onsite)

Untappd users: save yourself some onsite hassle and create a wish list for easier check-ins while you're there.

Peaches, Cherries and Chilies, Oh My!

At the end of last week Upright Brewing announced the upcoming release of Fantasia, one of a handful of bottles of primarily fruit-driven beers that will be released in the coming weeks. I recently spent a very enjoyable evening at Upright tasting those soon-to-be-released beers and while I'm the first to admit Upright's beers don't always make my taste buds sing, there was only one of the bunch that I wouldn't wrestle you for.

Seeing as how Fantasia, now in its fifth vintage, is just days from being released it only makes sense to start there. Peaches from Baird Family Orchards, the place Upright sources all of its fruit, are put into casks whole, with just a quick knife stab to ensure the skins are broken. Brewed in mid-2014, the beer was aged in reused casks (previously containing other Upright fruit beers) for a year before it was bottled six months ago. The result is a beer that is pale but rich in color with an aroma that in no uncertain terms lets the nose know there are peaches within. There's a mild tartness, no doubt influenced by the unique microflora of the casks, and a juiciness that intensifies as the beer warms.

Peaches and cherries, used in Hearts' Beat and Shades, are agricultural products and as such have unpredictable peak ripeness which can make planning brew days challening. It's a minor inconvenience owner Alex Ganum is willing to deal with in order to utilize the "fuck-ton of really good fruit in Oregon."

The cherries used in Hearts' Beat are a variety called Chelan which are so dark they appear nearly black and impart so much color to the beer that by the end their year in the casks the cherries themselves are very pale. While it utilizes cherries, Alex was very clear that this beer is not a Kriek, instead it brings together elements from many styles. The powerfully delicious cherry flavor has a hint of tart/sour from the Brettanomyces that was pitched as well as from Sacromyces naturally occurring on the fruit or existing in the casks.

Shades, which utilizes two lots of Rainier cherries, gives nothing away in appearance that it, too, is chock full of fruit. Rainiers are beautiful cherries in their own right but pale in color, contributing little to the color but contribute significant acidity to the beer. That combined with the three strains of Brettanomyces pitched, result in a more tart, yet equally delicious beer.

Moving from beer-typical fruits to a wine-typical fruit, Oregon Native combines skin-on estate Pinot Noir grapes of Patton Valley Vineyard with Upright's cask fermentation. In designing this beer Alex, "wanted to make a beer where you can smell it and taste it and know it's a pinot beer." Not being much of a wine drinker myself I found it to be an outstanding balance between traditional beer and wine. Alex's talent is showcased in being able to capture the pinot quality of the delicate grapes in what is distinctly a beer. As with the previously mentioned beers, aged hops (2012 Columbia stored at room temperature) were used in a purposeful plan to avoid overhopping and overpowering these fruity beers.

Going further afield to chili peppers, which are botanically fruits, is Fatali Four. Thanks to the dedication of Ritch Marvin, who has provided Upright with chili peppers every year of its production, this balanced beer should please those who are looking for a beer with a subtle but slowly growing heat. Near the end of the year-long stint this beer spends in casks (four wine and one gin) the peppers are added to give the dry, tart beer to provide additional complexity. That complexity is belied by both the aroma and the pale color, being expressed as the beer is sipped and savored.

The final beer of the tasting was the first beer Upright ever brewed, Billy the Mountain. This old ale is one that Alex describes as "a bizarre beer" and one they get a lot of shit for making. He explains, "This beer has always been really personal for me," a beer that is his take on an unforgettable beer - Gale's Prize Old Ale. The 9.5% beer is fermented with British ale yeast designed for open fermenters and is a blend of 80% "freshly brewed" (one year old) and 20% three-year-old beer. While this is not a beer that I enjoy, especially after the earlier beers that were right up my alley, I respect Alex for continuing to make it and know there are plenty of folks out there that are happy he does. Without such passion and willingness to make what they love the craft beer world would be significantly less interesting.

For details on all of the releases follow Upright on Twitter, Facebook or pop into the tasting room to enjoy any number of beers while getting the news straight from the source.

Coming Up: 5th Annual Portland Fruit Beer Festival

Attending this year's media preview for the Fruit Beer Festival, one of my favorite Portland beer festivals, it was interesting to hear how many of the nine beers we sampled used Eugene's own Nancy's Yogurt. Yogurt is one of the ways brewers are able to affordably kettle sour beers, something you can read more extensively about it over at the New School. For the purpose of this post suffice it to say that as a sour beer lover I'm all for the use of yogurt and enjoyed the beers represented at the tasting that used it.

One of those delicious brews was Ecliptic Ultra Violet Blackberry Sour Ale, a beer I feel obliged to warn you about. John Harris brewed it to showcase Oregon blackberries and it's a beauty with a secret. She'll whisper 3.5% sweet nothings when in fact she's concealing a full 7.5% ABV. Enjoy, but make sure to enjoy with caution and don't say I didn't warn you.

Fruit beers in general often have a sessionable ABV and use a lighter base beer but those looking to visit the dark side can count on this festival to come through with something. Darker fruits like blueberries and Marion blackberries were used by Upright and Alameda, respectively, in the brewing of a stout and CDA.

In addition to those dark beers there will be offerings for those interested in exploring equal opportunity drinking. If that describes you, you can look forward to cider offerings from 2 Towns, Reverend Nat's, Cider Riot and a head scratcher hybrid, Kiwi Lime fizzy wine from Hi-Wheel. What I've had from Hi-Wheel to date has been delicious and if you haven't yet tried them, you'll want to do so.

The festival runs two and a half days starting with a Friday night session. Last year it was a VIP-ticketed event but this year it will be general admission and in addition to more space across 7th Street, will hopefully help to alleviate the crowds that are sure to show up for this rapidly growing festival. My recommendation, as always, is still to get there early.

As an added bonus the non-profit beneficiary of the festival this year is the Portland Fruit Tree Project. They're one of my favorite organizations in town, one that aims to put the bounty of underutilized fruit trees to use. Volunteers scout neighborhoods early in the season and then volunteer pickers show up when the fruit is ripe. The majority of each harvest is donated to local food pantries; volunteers get to take home some of the fruits of their labor.

Portland Fruit Beer Festival
Friday, June 12 - Sunday, June 14
Burnside Brewing, 7th & E. Burnside
Tickets: $20 for a taster glass and 12 tickets

Looking Forward...To Portland Fruit Beer Festival

PDX Beer Week starts today and one of the events I'm looking forward to the most is the Fruit Beer Festival. We went the first two years but were out of town for it last year (in our defense, we were on a beer trip in Colorado). I recently had the opportunity to sample nine of the beers that will be at this year's festival and while I enjoyed all of them there were three that really made me smile.

Deschutes Peach Slap
This sour ale goes beyond just fruity, venturing into the land of spice with the addition of one pound each of juniper berries and pink peppercorns during brewing and habanero syrup at the end. The small group of us that were chatting as we sampled each beer agreed that the first sip is like Squirt soda. Not a bad thing, especially considering it's a 3.2% beer. Assistant brewer Jason Barbie used lactobacillus to sour it and while I don't know if I've had any of his creations before I'll certainly be on the lookout after the bang up job he did on this.

Laurelwood Orange You Glad I Didn't Say Banana?
I have to admit that the name had me a little scared with the mere mention of banana. Boy was I wrong! Starting off with a great aroma, this is a tart wheat that uses a Belgian wit yeast strain and required 600 lbs of citrus fruits to be processed for their zest and juice that were added post fermentation. As for the name, Brewmaster Vasili Gletos, said that they had been making hefeweizens for a few months and he has a five year old son with which Knock, Knock jokes are very popular.

The Commons Citrus Royale
I wasn't surprised to find that one of my favorite beers of the tasting came from one of my favorite breweries. Citrus Royale is a take on Biere Royale (another delicious beer), using the same base with spelt and flaked wheat and soured with Nancy's yogurt. It's tart, fruity and overall delightful!

If you haven't been to the Fruit Beer Festival before it's well worth going, even if you don't think you're a fruit beer fan. Fruit doesn't = sweet and isn't bound by the use of typical base beers. In the tasting alone there was a Belgian Dark Golden and a Grapefruit White IPA; I expect that our talented and creative brewers will surprise you with all kinds of creations at this festival.

4th Annual Portland Fruit Beer Festival
June 7th 11 am - 9 pm
June 8th 11 am - 6 pm
701 E Burnside, Portland, OR
Tickets: $20 (includes 16 oz glass + 12 drink tickets) available in advance and at the door
Beers: Standard line up + rare & rotating beers