Brewstillery, the beer and spirits pairing festival from StormBreaker Brewing, kicks off its fifth year this Saturday, February 23 offering 22 beer and spirits pairings to attendees. The festival is something founders Dan and Rob had in mind from the beginning with Dan saying that they wanted to provide “an opportunity for people to try things they wouldn’t usually try.” We’ve certainly found that to be true every time we have attended and again recently when we had a chance to preview some of the pairings.
Both the beer and spirits lineups are diverse and wide ranging. From sours to IPAs to porters on the beer side and rums to whiskeys to liqueurs on the spirits side, it’s likely that even the most seasoned drinkers will come away from the festival having tried something new to their palate.
We don’t want to give away all the festival’s secrets but here are a few of the pairings that hit the mark with us.
Amigos e Amigas (Pono Three Amigos + Engenho Bruiti Dona Branca)
Three Amigos is a Mexican-style Lager made with a touch of agave to bring out the slight sweetness in this cane spirit from Brazil. We loved the overall light, simplicity of this pairing and highly recommend it as one of, if not the first, pairing festival goers try.
The Filbert in the Rye (Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar + Rogue Oregon Rye Malt Whiskey)
Back in the day Rogue’s Hazelnut Brown was one of our favorite beers. Since then our palates have matured and we are generally far less enamored with it than in the past. In this pairing, with Rogue’s spirit arm of the company providing Rye Malt Whiskey, the beer returns to some of its old glory.
Brewstillatron (StormBreaker Peter Hazel-rial Brewstillery 5 IPA + Rose City Citrus Vodka)
It’s no secret that we’re fans of IPAs and their sub-group hazy IPAs. While we enjoyed this beer on its own, the vodka trumped it in terms of citrus goodness. Together the two play off one another with the combination being slightly botanical and definitely delicious.
Wild Basin (Wild Ride Laughing Face Imperial Coconut Porter + New Basin Light Strong Whiskey)
This pairing is best described as “vacation in a glass” and not surprisingly with the use of an imperial coconut porter, is dessert-like. One of the few pairings we preferred boilermaker-style, save this until towards the end of the festival to sip upon and savor.
In addition to offering imbibers a unique pairing experience, the event benefits Dollar For Portland, an organization that assists those with financial burdens due to medical and hospital debt, and Sierra Nevada’s Resilience IPA, with StormBreaker’s one-of-a-kind Westward Whiskey barrel-aged version.
Tickets for the one-day event are available online until 10 am the day of the festival and for you, dear readers, at a price of $20 when you use the code “beerandwhiskey5” for general admission; $40 for VIP when you use the code “brewstileryVIP5”.
General admission: festival beer tasting glass and 10 tickets with Noon entry
VIP: festival beer tasting glass, festival whiskey snifter, 15 tickets and 11 am entry to mingle with brewers/distillers
5th Annual Brewstillery Festival
Saturday, February 23 Noon - 8pm
No comments:
Post a Comment