PDX Beer Week 2016 Highlights

This Thursday kicks off PDX Beer Week 2016, which lasts from June 9 to June 19. Yes, this is actually more than a week, but it’s been like that for years and I can’t complain about having more days to have more events to celebrate Portland beer. For these eleven days of fun, the events range from those showcasing new beers or particular beer styles to special collaboration food inspired or to be paired with beers. There are beer events for the beer geek like seminars, but there are also beer events that are accessible even to the casual or novice beer drinker like beer sampling.

In fact, there are quite a few limited edition collaborations available to celebrate Portland Beer Week 2016 that are beyond just drinking beer or beer events. Check out these special one off concoctions available at multiple locations throughout the duration of the 11 days of June 9-19.

• Portland Brewing & Double Mountain‘s official beer of the 2016 Portland Beer Week – Subcontinental IPA. This is a ~7% ABV northwest IPA brewed with Indian spices like pepper, cardamom, clove, cumin and saffron. These spices highlight the beer’s biscuity malt base and tropical fruit hop notes, and I was surprised as the beer warmed a bit how the spices became more prominent and really tasty, particularly the cardamom and cumin for me. You can find 22 oz bottles at local beer bottle shops as well as Whole Foods who is doing a special free tasting at all their Portland Whole Foods locations on Friday June 10 and Wednesday June 16, as well as of course at the Portland Brewing and Double Mountain taprooms.
  
• Bunk Sandwiches Beer Week Fried Chicken Sandwich, a SubContinental IPA brined buttermilk fried chicken with bacon scallion aioli, hot sauce, maple & Pickopolis pickles. Available at Bunk Wonder during beer week. There is another beer sandwich, a sloppy joe made with Good Life Cash stout, is also available at Bunk Bar Water.
  
• HOT LIPS Pizza’s Beer Bratlips, a pizza with Smoked Carlton Farms bratwurst simmered in Subcontinental IPA with Tillamook extra-sharp cheddar, fresh onions, mozzarella, and a garlic Parmesan base finished with whole grain maple mustard glaze. This will be available at all six HOTLIPS pizza locations.
  
• I tried Beer Bratwurst especially made for the Portland Brewing Taproom by SP Provisions using about 30 gallons of beer for every 100 pounds when making the bratwurst, and then the sausage is further cooked by simmering it in the beer and then you can enjoy it with the beer mustard!. Definitely for me this bratwurst is the best food pairing with the beer itself – or any beer, any time of year,
  
• Blue Star Donuts S’more Beer donut, an IPA chocolate mousse filled donut with toasted marshmallow topping. I mean, just look at this beauty.
  
• Salt & Straw Ice Cream’s Garam Masala & Hops, a special ice cream that uses a combination of Indian spices and hop that match the same ones used by the Subcontinental IPA, plus chunks of dark molasses cake. This was my favorite of all the 4 beer “foods” inspired by the beer I tried! This flavor is available exclusively at Wiz Bang Bar at Pine Street Market.
  

I have attended events of PDX Beer Week every year -and here’s a summary of events I wanted to highlight during this beer celebration week. For the full list of PDX Beer Week events, see their PDX Beer Week 2016 Events Calendar.

• For any of you IPA lovers, El Segundo Brewing from California is having a launch party Thursday, June 9 6 – 10 PM starring their very hop forward, taking place naturally at beer bar N.W.I.P.A. Then a week later, also at N.W. I.P.A., on Friday June 17 5 PM on attend the 3-Way IPA party that offers the 3 Way IPA on tap as well as IPAs from all three of the 3 Way IPA collaborators of Fort George, Barley Brown’s, and Melvin Brewing
• Pair beer and food at a great value on Thursday June 9 6 – 9 PM. For $40 per person at The Beer Belly Dinner with Ecliptic at Eastburn you get 5 courses paired with five Ecliptic beers – see the menu at the link. Proceeds from the dinner will benefit The Jeremy Wilson Foundation, a nonprofit health and service organization supporting musicians and their families during medical emergencies.
• One of my favorite beer festivals every year is the Portland Fruit Beer Festival. This year it has finally moved from the Burnside Brewing parking lot, which it has outgrown, to the shady North Park Blocks (NW 8th and Davis) with 40% more room and did I mention shade? Running from Friday, June 10 – Sunday June 12 this festival offers fruit beers, ciders for the gluten free, food trucks for eats and live music, and is all ages.
  
  I’ve highlighted Portland Fruit Beer Festival beers in the past in 2015 and 2014 and I’m going this year as well. I often go multiple times because of special tap beers they tap over the days. This year 29 breweries and 7 cideries are offering 36 regularly pouring taps of beers, plus 24 additional rare and rotating tap lines. Look for my personal picks list on Thursday and which I’ll update after attending on Friday!

  It is the perfect Sunday Brunch beer @FruitBeerFest just tapped the special One Tun Tomato Michelada by @HopworksBeer Totally Radler plus chili powder, Worchestershire sauce, house made blood mary mix, and tabasco combine superpowers #pdxbeer #portlandbeer #pdxbeerweek #beer #craftbeer #oregonbeer #fruitbeer #fruitbeerfest #PFBF #hopworks #hopworksurbanbrewery #brunch #sunday

  A photo posted by Pechluck Laskey (@pechluck) on Jun 14, 2015 at 11:24am PDT

• For an alternate festival, celebrate  at the 1 night Rye Beer Festival with 20 Rye Beers from 20 participating breweries and Rye Beer Cocktails at Eastburn from Friday June 10 from 4 PM – 2 AM. Part of the proceeds of the Rye Beer Festival will benefit the Children’s Cancer Association. This year, highlights of the Rye Beer Festival include a whiskey back card offered for $10 that includes (3) 1/2 ounce shots of Russell’s Reserve Rye, Knob Creek Rye and Wild Turkey Rye and Jacob Grier will be creating a special rye beer cocktail combining specially brewed Rye Beer Festival official beer Back Pedal Brewing’s Oatmeal Ryesin Cookie beer with rye whiskey and other ingredients and other cocktails. At 10pm the fest will offer live music from The Cure cover band The Xploding Boys (no cover of you’re in by 8:30, and remember the proceeds go towards a great cause anyway). 
• For a different take on beers in a new way, the Randallized Beer Fest being held on Saturday June 11 (free, just pay for what you drink) at Imperial Taproom offers local beers poured through Randalls containing a variety of interesting ingredients to add new twists of flavors.
• If you love Sour Beers, Saraveza Bottle Shop and Pasty Tavern on Saturday June 11 and Sunday June 12 all day will be pouring Cascade Brewing as part of a Cascade Invasion that includes a special Saraveza blend as well as Elderberry Blond, Nectarine Dream, Rose City Sour and Mixed Plum while also “putting out a massive selection of vintage Cascade bottles that we’ve been hoarding” for you to purchase.
  
  For a more serious sour beer education, attend the Sour & Wild Ale Seminar presented by Oregon State University and panelists like Trevor Rogers (De Garde Breiwng), Christian de Benedetti (Wolves & People), Alex Ganum (Upright Brewing), Matt van Wyk (Alesong Brewing & Blending and formerly Oakshire) and Ben Edmunds (Breakside Brewery) at Tuesday, June 14 at 5:30 PM at Upright Brewing.
  There’s even a sour beer festival, courtesy of Imperial hosting the Sour Solstice Sour Beer Festival on Saturday June 18 and a dozen sour beers to choose from on tap.
  
  If you’re really into bourbon barrel aged Cascade, although not technically part of Portland Beer Week, Cascade is having Bourbon Barrel Week.5 from June 7-19 at Cascade Brewing and Raccoon Lodge.
• I always want to promote beer pairings with food, so if you’re out in the Happy Valley area come out on Sunday June 12 3 PM – 6 PM to the Happy Valley Station Food Cart Pod with Alameda, Base Camp, Coalition, and Culmination breweries bringing beer out to the 24 food carts in a structure location, and the food carts will be offering Open House Special where Food Samples are $1, $2, & $3 so you can try all the food carts.
• There are always new breweries opening up in Oregon so it may be heard to track them all. Thankfully there is the 101 on the newbies all at once that you can attend via the  New Oregon Breweries Showcase, this year happening at Bailey’s Taproom on Monday June 13 noon – midnight. The showcase will introduce you to 11 new breweries from Oregon, all opened within the last year and you will get a chance to meet the brewers and owners 5 – 8 PM as well as enjoy beers from newcomers Wolves & People Farmhouse Brewery, Alesong Brewing & Blending, Ruse Brewing, Freebridge Brewing, Ancestry Brewing, Public Coast Brewing, Great Notion Brewing and more TBA. I will be at this event if you want to say hi!
  
• Another exciting beer pairing dinner is Maya Lovelace of Mae PDX and her fried chicken with six beers from Breakside, Ballast Point, and Fremont on Monday June 13 7 PM at Old Salt Marketplace. See the menu here that includes family style dinner with Carolina gold risotto with morels, ramps, and shelling peas; Buttermilk brined chicken skillet fried in 3 fats (bacon fat, chicken fat, and lard), Pimento mac and cheese, and Brown sugar pound cake studded with bourbon barrel smoked cocoa nibs, macerated strawberries, buttermilk vanilla whipped cream. See the link for the full dinner and beer pairing list and if there any of the tickets left!
   
• How about Barrel Aged Beer and Bacon? Also on Monday June 13 6 PM – 11 PM Saraveza Bottle Shop and Pasty Tavern welcomes Fremont Brewing with BBF (Bacon Best Friend) Zeph from Proletariat Butchery passing out FREE samples of his delicious meat as Fremont brings taproom only and barrel aged beers with them for Fremont Bacon Night.
  
• Also on Monday June 13 is an opportunity to see how beer pairs with sushi when Roscoe’s and Miyamoto Sushi pair up to offer four courses of sushi paired with pFriem Family Brewers Oude Kriek, Crux Fermentation Project Apricot Wild Farmhouse Ale, The Commons Brewery, and Breakside Brewery. The cost for the 4 courses of Sushi and Beers is $25, just  show up any time at Roscoe’s between 4:30 and 8:30 PM or until they run out.
• If you are a Belgian Beer aficionado, look to the 5th Annual Battle of the Belgian beers with 4 Belgian beers versus 4 US Belgian-inspired styles on Tuesday, June 14 between 5-9 PM at Bazi Bierbrasserie with $15 for all eight 5 ounce tasters.
  The next day, on Wednesday June 15 Bazi presents the annual Mussels from Brussels with five breweries (Breakside , Fat Head’s, Lompoc, pFriem, and Upright), five secret sauces created by each brewery for dipping in one pound of mussels served with fries, and paired with their Belgian-inspired beer, and you judge who is the winner. Seating for you/audience judges will take place every 30 minutes between 5:30-8:30 PM.
• One of my favorite festivals all year is this one pairing Beer and Cheese at the Portland Beer and Cheese Festival (already sold out!), this year at the on Saturday, June 18 1 – 5 PM at Wayfinder Beer. Expertly pairing samples of beer with a sample of cheese times ten. 10 different beers from 10 different breweries with 10 amazing cheeses paired by Cheesemonger Steve Jones of Cheese Bar. Your ticket price include sample of each plus complimentary samples of Xocolatl de David artisian chocolates and charcuterie and meats from Wayfinder chef Rodney Muirhead. To get an idea of the experience, check out my recap of last year’s event.
   
• A new closing event for Portland Beer week this year is SNACKDOWN! on Sunday June 19th 12 – 4 PM at The Evergreen event space above Loyal Legion. SNACKDOWN! is a food and beer pairing event where 10 of Portland Chefs and 10 Oregon Brewers are paired into 10 Brewer/Chef teams to make their greatest snack and beer pairing. Guests will choose their favorite pairing and the winning team will be awarded the SNACKDOWN Belt! This event is designed to be more loose than a traditional beer pairing dinner. DJ Rev Shines will be keeping the party live, while the atmosphere is styled like a WWF style Smackdown with brewers and chefs hyping their pairing on the mic – possibly while sporting wrestling themed costume. WHAT? Yeah I will totally be there.
  
  The 10 Brewer/Chef teams include:
  • Nomad / Gigantic Brewing
  • Bollywood Theater / The Commons Brewery
  • Lardo / Heater Allen Brewing
  • The Bent Brick / Block 15 Brewing
  • Old Salt Marketplace / Ex Novo Brewing
  • Toro Bravo / Hopworks Urban Brewery
  • Kim Jong Grillin / Breakside Brewery
  • P.R.E.A.M. / Ecliptic Brewing
  • Biwa / Buoy Beer
  • Loyal Legion / Portland Brewing/Double Mountain

Are you going to any of the Portland Beer week events? Do any of those beer inspired items sound like something you want to try?

Disclosure: I attended a preview of the Limited Edition Portland Beer Week treats and a Portland Fruit Beer Festival media preview, but I was already planning on writing the Portland Beer Week post before the media previews, and I was not asked or compensated for this post and I purchased/pay my own way at any PDX Beer Week events I attend. I will always provide my honest opinion and assessment of all products and experiences I may be given. The views and opinions expressed in this blog are entirely my own.