Thinkies on Oregon Brewers Fest

Yesterday was an exciting day as Kris and I hit our first beer fest, Oregon Brewers Festival ("OBF"), since moving to Portland. The fest has a good reputation and given that this IS Portland after all, our expectations were very high. Of course, being who we are, we couldn't simply enjoy the fest for what it was. Noooooo. We had to go and immediately compare every detail to some of our favorite fests like Great Taste of the Midwest and Autumn Brew Review. I assumed OBF would stack up well or even surpass these other fests. I was wrong. Here's why:

Sense of Excitement
OBF is a four day event and you don't need to buy tickets ahead of time.  That means, if you want to go to the fest, you can get in.  But wait!  Why's that a bad thing, you ask?  It's not, I guess.  But instead of having a fest filled with die-hard beer fans who are very excited to be there, you get a mixed crowd of families, casual drinkers, fanatics, etc.  Again, that's not a bad thing, but it detracts from the overall mood of the crowd (e.g. enthusiasm).  There was no countdown nor ragged cheer when the gates open.  Some people don't like how some fests can turn out to be exclusive events, but if you're fortunate to get a ticket, I think this makes the fest all the sweeter.  Yeah, there's a flip side to this that sucks.  But there's no denying a sense of excitement when you hold the hard-to-get-ticket.  But, this is made up, in part, with enthusiastic, random yelling (see below).

Beer Shirts
What?  Yeah, I said it.  Beer shirts.  Kris and I saw very few folks wearing beer shirts, hats, etc.  I mean, what's a beer fest without folks supporting their home team or favorite pub or whatever.  Based on the crowd, this could have been any kind of outdoor event.  I like seeing the beer geek crowd all decked out.  Hell, it's like going to Comic-Con and not seeing Storm Troopers or Spidey running around.  A certain important element is missing from the ambiance.  Also, and this is weird, as I was wearing a Surly work shirt (a very common thing to wear at GTotM or ABR), I got asked about five times about Surly beer, as though I was the brewer.  "What did you bring to the fest?"  "How long have you guys been around."  What the hell?!  I didn't ask the short white dude wearing a Pryzbilla jersey if he liked playing for the Blazers.  Goofy as hell, man.

No Food
No food could be brought into the fest.  Now, normally this doesn't really bother me much, although I think it's a bad idea.  But this means that all the creative pretzel and sausage necklaces had to be left at home.  I mean, what's a beer fest without pretzel necklaces???  And I didn't get a chance to eat any too-warm meat and cheese.  Thankfully, we did see a few guys who snuck in pretzel necklaces.

Volunteer Servers
All the beer was served by volunteers.  Many of these volunteers were quasi-knowledgeable about beer, but given that any Joe off the street could sign up to be a volunteer, many of them were clueless.  It doesn't help that most of them were serving beer about which they probably knew nothing.  So, there were no opportunities to chat with anyone who knew anything about a particular beer, brewery, etc.  You could get a tasty beer, but you certainly couldn't learning anything else about the beer/brewery.  But I can live this.  What I find unconscionable is the servers leaving full and partially filled pitchers of beer sitting in the hot sun when there was shade available.  Christ, if you gave a damn at all about beer, you wouldn't do that.

No Beer Stands
Beer at OBF was stored in large semi trailers and pushed through coolers into pitchers from whence they were poured into ones cup.  Tables were lined up, end to end, with the crowd on one side and the serving volunteers on the other.  Now, this is an efficient way of doing things and pretty common.  But it really lacks character.  I like when breweries get to set up their own little stands or personalize their spaces.  It tells you something about them and adds to the overall experience for attendees.

One Beer Per Brewery
Aside from special offerings in a buzz tent, each brewery/brewpub had one beer on tap at the fest.  There was no chance to explore several offerings from a place you'd never heard of or had the chance to visit, thus giving you a chance to evaluate the spectrum of their offerings and setting your overall level of interest in their beer.  Instead, you get a limited picture and run the risk of basing your opinion on a brewery/brewpub based solely on the merits of one beer.  Summit and Surly were both at this event.  Summit had their Horizon Red and Surly had Bitter Brewer.  Well, okay, Surly had Four in the buzz tent as well, but the damn yokels running the fest had the wrong beer hooked up for several hours, thus giving folks the wrong beer.  We learned this when someone told me, because I was wearing a Surly shirt, that my Russian Imperial Stout (at least he was in the right ballpark) was way too pale and underflavored.  *sigh*  But I digress.  If you were to base your opinion of Summit and Surly based on your sample of Horizon or Bitter, you'd really have missed the mark with respect to what these breweries are really doing with their beer.

Random Yelling
If you've been to a beer fest in MN, then you know that when you hear the roar of the crowd roll from one end of the grounds through the other or roll out in ripples from some central point, some pour sucker has dropped his/her beer glass and broken it.  You immediately get a warm glow from 1) not being that pour sucker and 2) being part of a superior majority of drinkers able to hold on their glasses.  OBF had a similar rolling-wave of yelling, but given that the tasting cups were plastic and the event was held on a grassy area, I'm not sure what caused the yelling.  Was it simply someone dropping a beer?  I made numerous inquiries but was disappointed by the blank-stare, shrugged-shoulder responses I got.  I was happy to hear the random roar of the crowd, but disappointed that I couldn't confirm why.  That didn't stop Kris and I from enthusiastically joining in the random yelling, though.

No Bagpipes
I know there are many haters of bagpipes.  But I, for one, like a little bagpipe at my beer fest.  'nough said.

In Retrospect
I look back at what I've just written and can't help but feel that I've been too negative.  At the end of the day, OBF was a reasonably well-run, affordable, accessible, comfortable beer fest.  It was a good time and I drank quite a few tasty beers.  But it lacked the overall level of excitement and beer-dork ambiance that I'm used to having at premier beer fests.  Given the abundance of beer fests in Portland, I'm hopeful that we'll find some that provide the atmosphere we're looking for.  But as long as we've got good beer to drink, I think we'll be okay.

Great Taste: Kris Says...

I’m happy to report that I can tell you what my first two beers of the fest were (Piece IPA, followed by Surly Bourbon One). What I can’t tell you however is what some of my last beers were. But, such is the way of beer fests.

I’m also happy to say that although there were a lot of beers I realized I had missed upon opening up my cheat sheet the following morning, I tried a lot of new things and enjoyed nearly all of them. One category that there seemed to be quite a lot offered in, and I partook in, was that of the meads and ciders. White Winter is a pretty standard player at beer fests and I know Aeppeltreow Winery has been at the Great Taste in years past. B. Nektar Meadery, however, is newer and Dragonmead Brewery for the first year brought a mead along with their beer, which turned out to be a grape mead (pyment). It was amazing, but at 13% + this one could really knock you out. The pear was my favorite from Aeppeltreow and the vanilla-cinnamon from B. Nektar was surprisingly well balanced (plus, they had some super cool black girly tanks!). White Winter always makes a quality product but compared to the others they were a bit stingy on the samples.

To balance out my sweet tooth I also had plenty of IPAs including Lake Louie’s Kiss the Lips and Emmett’s Jaw Jack. Both gave me the hop fix I was looking for.

I’ve been coming around to the sour beers so couldn’t resist trying Lakefront’s Rosie (on completely the other end of the world from locally loved Barley John’s Rosie) and Jolly Pumpkin’s Roja Du Kriek. Their tables were nearly next to one another so I was able to do a head to head tasting and although Rosie is a lambic-kriek hybrid, it still put Roja to shame. There was a clear difference in quality although Roja was certainly a prettier girl. Looks aren’t everything!

With only a few exceptions, I steered clear of the Minnesota breweries. It's not because they don’t produce a quality product but because I’m lucky enough to get them on a regular basis. Instead I tried to focus on things that at best I can find at quality beer bars or during a run across the river to Hudson, at worst, things I likely won’t be tasting again until the next Great Taste.

Sitting in the rain for 1 ½ hours and sweating my ta-tas off aside, it was again another great Great Taste that I’m thrilled I was able to go to. Thank you, Beer Gods, and please remember me again next year.

Oh, the anticipation!

In less than 24 hours we’ll be making our way to Madison and in just slightly over 48 hours that which is the Great Taste will be underway. And I’m just giddy in anticipation!

Since the start of the week I’ve been rabidly checking the MHTG website for the program to be posted. Almost as a tease, they posted a combo map/listing of brewers Monday. That didn’t do much to scratch the itch so back I went again and again until mid-day Wednesday when the program appeared.

Being the geek I am, I had to sacrifice a few tree limbs and print the darn thing out. I’ve already given it an initial once over and later today I’ll be going back with a more detailed eye, already mapping out who I should hit first, who I want to make sure not to miss and who has said they will be doing special releases. Of course, as brewers are wont to do, some offerings will change and there will likely be plenty more special releases brightly written on chalk/white boards at the event.

Although the weather forecast (93 degrees!, are you kidding me?) has put a bit of a damper on my excitement it has also fueled the planner in me to try to figure out ways to mitigate the heat. The last couple years the weather has been pretty good, but there was one a few years back that was sweltering and we ended up leaving early, staggering back to our hotel. With any luck, some bit of self control and proper planning, will reduce the chances of that happening again. But really, the weather is secondary; THE GREAT TASTE IS ALMOST HERE!!!

They're Heeeerrrrreeee!!!

Praise be to the Beer Gods for once again shining their favor upon me. Glorious Beer Gods, in your honor I shall kill 10 bulls and sacrifice 2 virgins. Or, um...do a happy dance and then drink some really good beer.

Oscura, lovely Oscura (and other goodies)

Thanks to our beer loving (and beer sharing) friends Kat and Scott who came over for some grilling Thursday night I found out that Furthermore’s Oscura has made its way into bottles and into local liquor stores. They were kind enough to share two of their stash but that was really only enough to tease me so I decided yesterday I would have to go get some for myself.

That meant going to my local Cellars where Jason scared me for a minute telling me he thought they only had one six pack left. Thankfully upon checking he found three more, making it possible for me to go home with the two six packs I had intended. I was really tempted to buy all four of them but that seemed a little too greedy, even for me. Even with Oscura being at the top of my coffee beer list right now I know there are others out there that would like to be able to take some home, too.

As always tends to be the case, I couldn’t just leave with what I came for. I stayed for a while, chatted about the new, yummy treats that had come in and then had to make some hard decisions about just how much I really needed. In the end I went with their suggestion of a bomber of Southern Tier’s Imperial Pumking and also picked up a bomber of their Crème Brulee. Having had an excellent Crème Brulee beer recently at the Great Taste in the Real Ale tent I was excited that this might be from the same folks.

As it turns out, when I checked the Great Taste information, the Crème Brulee there was made by Kuhnhenn and is called Crème Brulee Java Stout where Southern Tier’s is called Crème Brulee Imperial Milk Stout. I’m still hopeful because if Southern Tier can even do half as good as Kuhnhenn did, this should still be one darn good beer.

Yay for Beer!

The 2008 Great Taste of the Midwest was a great taste indeed.

We (we being me, Kris, Scott and Kat) started the weekend off on Friday with lunch and beers at Ale Asylum. That was our second time there. If you're in the area, you must stop in. All the beers were excellent and the place has a great atmosphere. Dave and Sharon caught up with us there and the six of us bummed around the rest of the evening together. We also made some new friends in the chatty, beer-enthusiast crowd. That seems to a be a common theme at beer bars and beer events.

Our next stop was a newer joint in town, The Malt House, that opened in June. A fellow named Bill Rogers, former president of the Madison Hombrewers and Tasters Guild (as I'm told), owns the joint. It's a humble beer bar with a pretty good selection of beer. They had a nice variety of beer, including two from Stone Brewing. It's a little bit off the beaten path (i.e. it isn't downtown) but a worthy destination.

We ended Friday night, unfortunately, at Capital (which was in walking distance of our hotel). They had live music and a festive crowd, but it wasn't much of a beer lover's event. They shut things down at 9 P.M., which I guess was okay since we weren't having much of a good time there anyway. One highlight was that Scott and I bumped into a fellow beer loving Minnesotan, Jason (I believe, anyway. I'm bad enough with names as it is, but put a few beers in me and I can't remember my own.). He was wearing a Surly shirt, which drew our attention. Like I said before, it wouldn't be a worthy beer event if we didn't make new friends.

The weather on Saturday ended up being perfect for the Great Taste. It was sunny and warm with a nice cooling breeze. And yet there was a dearth of scantily clad, buxom women. That was the only downside. Many buxom men, but too few buxom men. *sigh* We met up with Cal and Al of Blue Nile fame in line. As usual, the folks running the Great Taste were extremely organized and put on a very well run event.

The group didn't hang together inside as everyone ran off to all corners to chase their favorites or try new stuff. We bumped into one another from time to time...just enough to share recommendations and highlights. I had absolutely no plan this year and simply wandered around trying random stuff. For me the highlights were Gray's bourbon barrel aged stout and Ohio Brewing's dopple alt. That's not to say I didn't have a lot of other great beers, but those two stood out as being especially good and from breweries to which I had not had much, if any, previous exposure. I had a chance to chat a bit with Omar of Surly and Jeff of Flat Earth as well, but mainly I sought out beers we can't get in Minnesota. Scott and I bumped into Jason again and I spent much of the afternoon chatting w/ some fellows from Michigan. And, as usual, the evening ended pretty early for Kris and I. All that sun and beer is good for the soul but tough on the body.

The Countdown has Begun

24 hours from now we will be nearing our destination of Madison! The ultimate goal is of course the Great Taste but we're heading out a day early to allow some additional time to savor the delicious hop based treats Wisconsin has to offer.

I've been busy doing my job collecting information on all the places we could go and I'll be passing the second half to that task - figuring out where we will go - to the rest of the group tomorrow. In the meantime I'll continue to dream about all the goodies I anticipate finding this weekend.

Happy drinking, whereever you may be doing it!

They're almost as good as gold

At long last our two Great Taste tickets arrived in the mail today! For those of you who may have forgotten, Mag and I each sent in a request for 2 tickets. Mag got his request promptly returned and sadly unfulfilled. I've known for a few weeks now that someone, hopefully the Madison homebrewers, had cashed my check. So every day I've been checking the mailbox, sure that today must be the day they would arrive. (Lately I was becoming more and more convinced that the mailman stole them.) Thankfully I was wrong and when I opened the mailbox today, there they were.

Truth be told we had a back up plan which involved our very generous friends offering up their extra two tickets so the question of our attendance at the Great Taste wasn't in question. It was more a matter of it we would need to take them up on the offer or not. Now the only question is do we just go down for the festival or take Friday off work and do some pre-festival drinking in the Madison area?

The Dog Days of Summer- Drink Some Dog

Last weekend, on our way to a night of games with friends, we stopped by our local Cellar’s in Eagan. As always we got some great information from the guys that work there as we were selecting our poison for the night. Mag and I each selected a new one to try, both of which happened to be made by Flying Dog. Mag’s choice was Double Dog Double Pale Ale (only in a 4 pack) and I chose Road Dog, a Scottish Porter. Double Dog is a big beer, coming in at 85 IBUs and 10.5% ABV. Take time and slowly enjoy this big, full beer. Road Dog is more along the lines of your standard beer in alcohol content however the label has a great little slogan “Good Beer No Shit.” Yep, somehow these lucky Dogs slipped “shit” by the label Nazi’s that usually catch things like this. Both are great beers worth picking up next time you need some Dog.

And as a side note- THE GREAT TASTE OF THE MIDWEST IS LESS THAN 3 WEEKS AWAY…YAHOO!

Oh happy day!!!!

I’ve been waiting for so long for this wonderful day to arrive and it’s finally here! Today my tickets for the Great Taste of the Midwest arrived! For the last couple of weeks I’ve been eagerly checking the mail box every day hoping to find tickets. I knew they should be coming since my check was cashed but I was starting to get a little concerned that someone had hijacked the mailman and taken them. But upon rifling quickly through the rest of the junk that was delivered today I spied the bright yellow envelope containing the tickets. Now I can look forward spending August 11th with 5,000 other beer lovers in beautiful Olin-Turville Park enjoying beer after delicious beer. Maybe if the beer gods have shined favorably on you and you are one of the other lucky ticket holders I’ll see you there. With that thought and the weekend just around the corner I think a beer is in order.