House Spirits Distillery - Rooted in Craft Beer

"It takes a lot of beer to make whiskey." We're not sure who first said it but up until recently we took it to mean that distillers drink a lot of beer. While we'll leave them to say yea or nay, we've also learned that it literally takes a lot of beer, albeit without hops, to distill down into whiskey. So much that House Spirits in SE Portland utilizes 15 tons of malted barley per WEEK. Read on for a look at why they feel their beer brewing roots are integral to the whiskey they make.

Christian Krogstad and John Foyston

Founder Christian Krogstad, a Seattle native who attended the Siebel Institute and said his early years were greatly influenced by Redhook, moved to Portland in 1991. Right out of the gate he signed on with McMenamins Edgefield, which had just opened its brewery onsite. He spent quite a few years in the craft brewing world before he made the decision to apply his combination of education and experience brewing beer to distilling spirits, malt whiskey in particular. Those years instilled in him a deep understanding of the innovation that started the craft brewing movement in the Northwest and it was that innovative mindset, not Scottish tradition as one might suspect, that House Spirits is based on.

The self-funded enterprise began in 2004 in a modest facility adjacent to Roots Brewing (which closed in 2010) in SE Portland. Roots was the first, followed by many other local breweries, that allowed House Spirits to use their brewing system to make the basis for their whiskey, what is know as a wash. For those unfamiliar with the whiskey making process, a wash is similar to beer but what distinguishes a wash from beer is the time it takes to make it (far shorter) and that no hops are added. As mentioned before, however, they use plenty of grain in the fermentation of the approximately 8% ABV wash, 15,000 gallons of which is produced weekly. 

Christian's brewing background led to his choice to use all Northwest 2 Row Pale Ale malt as well as his choice of yeast. Instead of a standard distiller's yeast, the House Spirits wash is made with an ale yeast that he feels imparts a better flavor in the final product. In addition to drawing on his brewing background to choose ingredients, he has also assembled a team of distillers that, save one, worked for a brewery before signing on with House Spirits. The brewing knowledge that each member of the team brings with them is part of their lineage, linking them in a very concrete way to their brewing roots.

In 2015 House Spirits moved from their original SE facility to a much more roomy facility, intentionally selected to keep them in SE. The facility boasts a 30bbl brewing system and four 100bbl fermenters and is 10x larger than the original space. While no longer bursting at the seams and having a greater need to use the brewing set ups at local breweries like when they were making washes at Roots Brewing, Christian continues to partner with local breweries. Alameda, Breakside, Fort George, Migration and Green Dragon have all worked with House Spirits. In fact when Breakside opened their Milwaukie location they wanted to get plenty of practice on their new, larger brewing system. It wasn't beer that was first made however, it was a House Spirits wash. 

Christian pulling whiskey samples from the Frankie Claus barrel

Another ongoing relationship involves Migration's Frankie Claus, an imperial Belgian chocolate stout. Initially Migration got a whiskey barrel from House spirits and aged a run of Frankie Claus in it. Once the beer was emptied out of the barrel it went back to House Spirits where they decided to fill it with three year old Westward whiskey. After sitting in the barrel for a year the whiskey was pulled out and House Spirits released a stout whiskey. With both parties deeming it successful, this cycle has continued with the same barrel, now on the fifth filling of it. 

Just as we've found ourselves entranced listening to brewers talk about their history, their beer, their projects for the future, so, too were we entranced listening to Christian talk about House Spirits. If the brief picture we've provided you from our visit has whet your whistle for more then it's time for you to experience it yourself. Tours are available daily, public classes covering a variety of different topics occur every week or two and private classes/events are available.

The Best Things We Drank: May 29 - June 4

This week's list starts with two beers that were enjoyed at the 11th annual Cheers to Belgian Beers festival last week.
Migration Quinn and Juice - A take on "gin and juice" this Belgian Strong Pale aged in Old Tom Gin barrels starts out with the gin botanicals in the aroma and drinks very smooth, both with a surprising mouthfeel and pleasant flavor that belies the 9.2% ABV.

Baerlic Black with Two Sugars - We love coffee and coffee beers and this one is a great one for sure. From the get go the coffee is present in the aroma and follows through to a flavor that is similar to cold coffee with heavy cream and just a dash of sugar.
And while both are great on their own, should you find yourself in the presence of both, have a little fun and blend them in a one-to-one ratio.

The remaining three beers are wildly different in style but find common ground in being wildly good.
Culmination Lime Tea - Culmination's gose game is strong and this one brings in one of our favorite citrus flavors - lime. Perfectly light for summer, the flavor is of a lime sickle.

Fort George 3-Way IPA - The latest edition in Fort George's 3-Way series is a collaboration with Great Notion and Reuben's Brews out of Seattle. And it might be the best since the first couple with its juicy flavor and great mouthfeel.

Sam Adams Kosmic Mother Funk Grand Cru (2105) - This beer achieved a very rare 5 out of 5 stars in our book with so much amazing dark fruit, tart, yumness. Huge thanks to Sean for an amazing beer lineup during his birthday party at The BeerMongers, with this being just one of the gifts he gave to those that showed up.

Tomorrow begins PDX Beer Week and Portland Fruit Beer Festival runs Friday through Sunday, both of which we'll look at in greater detail in the next two posts so make sure to check back for a preview.

Recommendations for 2017 Cheers to Belgian Beers

Today is the second (and final) day of the 2017 Cheers to Belgian Beers festival at the North Warehouse. We went yesterday and while we only had 17 of the 70+ beers we're happy to share recommendations based on the things we drank.

We, along with a majority of the folks we compared notes with at the festival, easily put pFriem Abrikoos and Crux In the Pocket on the "don't leave the festival without having these" list. Abrikoos was new to us and is a fantastic Lambic-style beer that’s a very drinkable 5.5%. In the Pocket, a red wine barrel aged Saison with Brett and a beer we'd had recently (bottles of it are around town) is also very drinkable...but with nearly double the ABV at 9.9%.

Two others that hit high notes with us were Baerlic Black with Two Sugars and Migration Quinn and Juice. Coffee is our second favorite beverage and Baerlic's masterfully crafted beer drinks like a cold version of it, with a luxurious splash of heavy cream (although there isn't actually any in it) and a touch of sugar. The hook on the Migration beer for us is that on the rare occasions we drink hard liquor, gin is our go-to. This beer displays the aroma of those botanicals and is accompanied by a surprising mouthfeel to create a dangerously drinkable package weighing in at 9.2%.

We happened to be drinking with one of our friends who is supremely talented when it comes to blending beers. Yes, that may be blasphemy to some but if you're game we highly recommend blending, in a one-to-one ratio, Baerlic Black with Two Sugars and Migration Quinn and Juice. It doesn't sound like it would work but trust us here, it does.

The other blending might be a little more intuitive but it's the ratio that is important here. Start with Ex Novo Are You Afraid of the Dark?, a Saison fermented with boysenberries and black currants, and add just a splash of Gigantic The City Never Sleeps black Saison. Start with a small splash and add another if needed to get to that perfect black beer base that's complimented by the berry flavor of Afraid.

With that, get on with the drinking and cheers!

Cheers to Belgian Beers
North Warehouse, 723 N. Tillamook
Saturday, June 3 Noon - 8pm
$20 (glass + 8 tickets)

3rd Annual Brewstillery Festival

On Saturday StormBreaker Brewing will host the third edition of their Brewstillery Festival which will feature 21 total pairings from 19 breweries and 19 distilleries. The beers range from sessionable 4% offerings all the way to big boys approaching nearly 12%. We attended a preview of the event last week, sampling six of the 21 pairings and have some suggestions.

#1 Start off with the Coalition/New Basin pairing. Take a sip of each - the Loving Cup Maple Porter and the "Strong" American light whiskey - if you'd like but then combine the two. The result is a very drinkable "beer cocktail" with the vanilla, caramel and oak flavors of the whiskey fortifying the maple notes of the beer.

#2 Follow that pairing up with Great Notion/Bull Run. One whiff of Great Notion's Double Stack and you'll think you've walked into a diner that specializes in pancakes drenched in syrup. Add to that the warmth of the straight bourbon whiskey and you've got a dream adult breakfast drink.

#3 Try some other pairings, then towards the end make sure to have Migration/House Spirits. The pairing features 2015 Frankie Claus aged in a House Spirits' Westward single malt cask and Straight Malt Whiskey finished for 8 months in the same cask once the beer was emptied out. The French cocoa powder used in the beer pairs superbly with the whiskey and if we were to decide to get into whiskey, a pairing like this would definitely be our gateway.

While the event is designed for the pairings to be consumed together, it's completely up to attendees to decide if that's what they want to do. The beer and spirit samples are purchased separately (most being 1 ticket each) so if spirits just aren't your thing, go and drink only beer. Or if there's one of the pairings where the beer or spirit doesn't speak to you, just order the one that does. Choose Your Own Adventure.

Tickets to the festival are $20 for regular admission in advance/$25 at the door and include the beer tasting glass pictured on the left and 10 tickets. For the VIP experience it's $40 in advance/$45 at the door and include the whiskey snifter seen on the right, early entry (11am) and 15 tickets. As is standard with ticketed festivals, additional drink tickets will be available for purchase, $1 each.

In a town where beer festivals abound this is perhaps the most unique, the Most Portland Festival. Not only do we have laws that allow such a festival but we have a culture of collaboration among crafters, especially those who craft lovely libations.

Celebrating the (Tasty) Craft(s) at Migration

Migration Brewing and eight other Portland breweries will be Celebrating the Craft of brewing beer Thursday evening in the Annex space. In addition to a line up of rare and unique beers there will be a special food menu showcasing a collaboration between Ben Meyer of Old Salt Marketplace and Travis Surmi of Migration. Here's what you can expect to enjoy.

BEER (served by the pint)
The Commons Viognier Grisette - buckwheat based table beer with brettanomyces and viognier wine juice added, 4.8%
Fat Head's Semper FiPA - big Citrus and pine notes from our use of Citra and Chinook hops, 6.5%
Coalition Space Funk - citrus IPA in barrel aged with brettanomyces, 7%
Hopworks Cedarcalifragilous - imperial red with cedar boughs added in the hopback, 8.5%
StormBreaker Barrels Full of Chocolate - imperial brown ale with cocoa nibs added, 9%
Great Notion Mandela IPA - brewed with Citra, Mosaic and dry-hopped 100% with Nelson Sauvin hops from New Zealand, 7.2%
Breakside Carte Blanche - gin meets Brett meets hops in this beer that is a blend from beers as old as 26 months and as "young" as 16 months, 7.7%
Baerlic Dark Thoughts - black IPA brewed with cold-steeped roasted malts for an eerily smooth darkness, 6.66%
Migration TBA - did you really think you could get all the goods here? Nah, come to the event!

FOOD
Loaded Potato Fritters - Ben’s bacon, aged cheddar, chives, crema $5
Fried Avocado - pickled fresno chilies, lemon aioli, cilantro $7
Fried Brussel Sprouts - black pepper garlic jam, Ben’s bacon, shaved dry jack $6
Potted Pork Rillette - crusty bread, house pickles, Old Salt Market mustards $7
Migration meat(s) Old Salt - a collaboration meat and cheese board with all the fixings $16
Kale Caesar - dino kale, shaved parm, chickpea croutons, pepper-lemon vinaigrette, hazelnuts $8

Besides just celebrating great beer and food 10% of the evening's proceeds will benefit a non-profit that is likely familiar to many local beer drinkers - the National Brain Tumor Society. Brought to our attention by Brewpublic founder Angelo De Ieso II and his fight against the Oligodendroglioma tumor that has taken up residence in his skull, this is one of the most delicious ways to contribute to his fight. So grab a friend or three and head over to try all the beer and food!

Celebrating the Craft
Thursday, January 26th starting at 6:00pm
Migration Brewing
2828 NE Glisan St.

Beer & Cookies: Sweet Local Bites & Beer

To start this week of decadence (a.k.a. #CBC2015) off I present you with a pairing of local craft beer and cookies.

Sunday was National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day and two of my favorite foodies were contestants in Franz's grilled cheese competition. It was held at Migration Brewing and going into it all I knew was that I was looking forward to trying all four of the grilled cheese creations. What I didn't know until after the Franz folks checked my I.D. and stamped my hand was that I'd also be getting tickets for two free pints of beer!

The sandwiches were amazing but what was possibly even better is that I found two of Migration's beers are killer with Franz's Frosted Party Animals. I don't know that I would have ever on my own thought to pair little frosted cookies (but only the white ones, not the pink ones) with a schwartz beer but when there are bags of cookies on every table in sight it's impossible for me to resist.

Mag had a pint of Terry's Porter on nitro and combined with the cookies it was like (chocolate) milk and cookies. It was the sweeter of the two pairings, with the roastiness of my Too Schwartz countering some of the cookie sweetness but if you have a chance to try either - Do It!

To see a bunch of drool-inducing pictures of the grilled cheese event head over to Instagram and search #franzgrilledcheezeday.