Snackdown 2017 for PDX Beer Week

Once again, Portland Beer Week closed down with the official closing event where Portland Beer Week and Gigantic Brewing present SNACKDOWN!, a food and beer pairing event where 10 of Portland’s best 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 winners will be awarded the SNACKDOWN Belt.
Snackdown 2017 for PDX Beer Week, a food and beer pairing event with a wrestling theme offering 10 Portland chef and 10 Oregon brewers working together Snackdown 2017 for PDX Beer Week, a food and beer pairing event with a wrestling theme offering 10 Portland chef and 10 Oregon brewers working together. Herb of Loyal Legion served as MC and got all the brewer/chef teams to take turns doing a little smack talking throughout the event - possibly while all participants were sporting wrestling themed costumes, most enthusiastically by John Harris of Ecliptic Brewing and Ben Love of Gigantic Brewing shown here

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Baker’s Dozen Coffee Beers & Doughnuts Next Weekend

I wanted to give you a heads up before the tickets sell out for Brian Yaeger’s Baker’s Dozen Coffee Beers & Doughnuts Festival!  Taking place next week from 10 AM – 3 PM on Saturday March 12, 2016 at Culmination Brewing, this was a fantastic event I attended last year that had me wired for the rest of the day thanks to all the caffeine from the coffee beers and all the sugar from the doughnuts.

Baker's Dozen Coffee Beers & Doughnuts 2016

This year, the festival again takes place at Culmination Brewing, which just recently won Best  New Brewery of the Year at the 2016 Oregon Beer Awards. With 20 some taps, of which 3/4 of them are their own beers which span a wide variety of styles, it’s hard to believe this brewery is less than a year old but already pumping out classics as well as always tweaking and experimenting too.

Culmination Brewing Chalkboard at Culmination Brewing with the Beer List on June 20, 2015 Bar inside of Culmination Brewing Bar inside of Culmination Brewing
These photos are back before they put the chalkboard on the wall atop the tap – I’ve been visiting since they first opened!

Culmination Brewing is family friendly and dog friendly, and has several comfy outdoor seats to enjoy the good weather (as well as easy street parking in a lot or nearby streets in the neighborhood just off out SE Sandy), as well as a dozen seats at the bar and tables inside as well. It is really like a neighborhood brewpub, but with an impressive list of brews.

Outside seating at Culmination Brewing Outside seating at Culmination Brewing Outside seating at Culmination Brewing

For $24 a person (purchase your tickets online at Mercury Tickets before they sell out – they are only selling 400 of these 21+ beer tickets), at the Baker’s Dozen Coffee Beers and Doughnuts festival you get access to a thirteen 4-oz samples of baker’s dozen (13) coffee beers as well as samples of all thirteen different doughnuts from thirteen different breweries and local Portland doughnut shops all in one place.

Bakers Dozen Coffee Beer & Doughnuts festival (coffee beer and local donuts from all over PDX) at Culmination Brewing  Bakers Dozen Coffee Beer & Doughnuts festival (coffee beer and local donuts from all over PDX) at Culmination Brewing

And, it can be family fun! They are offering a Doughnut Decoration Station for kids and non-kids. Local roasted normal coffee will be provided too, along with live music. You can purchase additional beverages beyond the 13 coffee beers and/or house-made breakfast sandwiches too.

Here’s more of a glimpse of what this upcoming festival can be like, based on the Baker’s Dozen Coffee & Doughnuts Festival last year.  I collected multiple donuts on my plate so I could try pairing them with the various beers on the checklist you get when you check in in whatever order I want.

Bakers Dozen Coffee Beer & Doughnuts festival (coffee beer and local donuts from all over PDX) at Culmination Brewing Coco Donuts Espresso Donuts were my favorite donuts from the Bakers Dozen Coffee Beer & Doughnuts festival (coffee beer and local donuts from all over PDX) at Culmination Brewing Bakers Dozen Coffee Beer & Doughnuts festival (coffee beer and local donuts from all over PDX) at Culmination Brewing Bakers Dozen Coffee Beer & Doughnuts festival (coffee beer and local donuts from all over PDX) at Culmination Brewing Bakers Dozen Coffee Beer & Doughnuts festival (coffee beer and local donuts from all over PDX) at Culmination Brewing Bakers Dozen Coffee Beer & Doughnuts festival (coffee beer and local donuts from all over PDX) at Culmination Brewing

Here’s a pro tip: when I went, I took ziploc bags with me because even with them cutting up the doughnuts into sample sizes of 1/2 or 1/4 of a doughnut, there was no way I could eat 13 doughnut morsels, so I took some home by putting them in the bag!

For a preview of some of the participating breweries brews and doughnuts check out the Brewpublic Article here on the 2nd Annual Bakers Dozen.

Unfortunately I’ll be out of town for the festival so will miss it, which just means I’ve freed up a ticket for you that you should snap up ASAP. Have you been to Culmination yet? Have you paired coffee beer and doughnuts before? Who is your favorite Portland doughnut provider? Do you spell doughnut or donut?

Culmination Brewing

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Beer on Rainey Street in Austin, Texas

I’ve decided to once in a while try and participate in #TravelTuesday, where on Tuesdays I will try to share some travel tips of places I’ve visited. I’m sure you won’t be surprised if a lot of the travel tips comprise of deliciousness in the form of food and drink.

I always seek out local when I travel. That’s certainly true of food, and the next thing I look for tends to be beer. When I was on a brief couple day stay in Austin, Texas for work, I picked out a hotel that was walkable to Rainey Street on purpose. I was fortunate in that my co-worker let me pick where to go, and we were off to two specific places I had in mind, and we knew and agreed that the goal was local beer.
Twisted X Senor Viejo, a beer I enjoyed at Craft Pride Banger's Sausage House and Beer Garden in Austin, Texas: Brewdog Paradox Smokehead, where Smokehead Whisky is infused into the beer to add atlantic smoke, peat, and oak to the flavors of roasted toffee of the Imperial Stout. 10 % ABV, from Fraserburgh, Scotland

The first stop was called Craft Pride. It’s very casual – they only serve food if you count going to the back patio and going to the pizza truck there as “food service”. You may see a little sandwich board with a beer joke out on what barely qualifies as the sidewalk of Rainey street, so don’t bother wearing heels on this street.
Craft Pride, serving all and only beer crafted in Texas Craft Pride, serving all and only beer crafted in Texas. Patio area in the back of Craft Pride where there is a pizza truck and possibly live music A beer joke at Craft Pride

The main attraction here is the beer chalkboard above the bar, which boast all and only local beers. You go up to the bar to order, and you can feel free to ask them for recommendations which may result in getting a little taste or two before investing in a full glass.
Almost 50 beers up on the board at Craft Pride beer bar, serving all beer and only beer crafted in Texas

A closeup of the menu options categorized as Outside the Box at Craft Pride:
A closeup of the menu options categorized as Outside the Box at Craft Pride, Austin TX

You can also get small pours to make your own beer flight.
Taster tray at Craft Pride, Austin Taster tray at Craft Pride, Austin Taster tray at Craft Pride, Austin

It definitely does have a very local feel, which I loved, down to the granola-y tattooed bartenders during my two visits (I couldn’t try all those beers, even sharing with my co-worker, in one visit) and chatting at the bar with other beer drinkers about Portland and Austin and in general craft beers. Although they are very Texas proud, there is no beer douchery or snobbery here – it’s all a friendly community – unless you come in here trying to ask for cocktails and shots. Go down the street to another place bros.

We got hungry and needed to eat, and wanted something besides just pizza. So the next stop I had was only a few minutes walk down further on Rainey street to Banger’s Sausage House and Beer Garden. The size of Banger’s is probably twice the size of Craft Pride on the inside, and four times as big of an outside patio, including a little doggie-care gated area and an actual stage for the live music they host.
Banger's Sausage House and Beer Garden in Austin, Texas Banger's Sausage House and Beer Garden in Austin, Texas

If you love beer, you will probably be like me where these two places are enough of a stop already and you will be unable to visit anymore. That’s because both stops of Craft and Banger’s have a HUMONGO beer selection – in truth you could just stay at one beer bar if you wanted. To give you an idea, Banger’s has 100 beers to choose from, and Craft’s board had almost 50 beers. In particular, Banger’s Seasonal and Limited Beers impressed me with beers I had never seen in Portland or other cities and I cursed a little bit that I was nearing my liver limit for the day (particularly after I ordered the Brewdog Paradox Smokehead, where Smokehead Whisky is infused into the beer to add atlantic smoke, peat, and oak to the flavors of roasted toffee of the Imperial Stout at 10 % ABV, from Fraserburgh, Scotland).
Example of some of the Banger's Seasonal and Limited Beers

But when it comes down to the menu, I really loved the options at Banger’s, which also happens to, as they advertise at least, have the largest sausage selection in Austin. I wish we had come to Banger’s for a second time during my trip (we went to another beer place that I was not as impressed with and will not mention here) because there is more on the menu I wanted to try, and I definitely plan to come back here again. To give you an idea, during our visit we ordered the

  • Dak Bulgogi (Bulgogi Chicken Sausage topped with sriracha, kimchi, oyster sauce, cilantro, carrots, and jalapenos on a kolache bun with a side of soy caramel lime and house made kimchi salad and sun dried shrimp chips),
  • Drunk Chicken (sausage with beer, Serrano peppers, red pepper flakes, cilanto, and more beer),
  • Jalapeno Mac and Cheese with Cheddar, manchego, jalapeños, bread crumbs, and bacon lardons, and
  • Fried Cheese Curds (Wisconsin cheese curds breaded & fried, served with a side of Olaf Sauce).
    Dak Bulgogi, Bulgogi Chicken Sausage topped with sriracha, kimchi, oyster sauce, cilantro, carrots, and jalapenos on a kolache bun with a side of soy caramel lime. Served with a house made kimchi salad and sun dried shrimp chips. From Banger's Sausage House and Beer Garden in Austin, Texas Drunk Chicken (sausage with beer, Serrano peppers, red pepper flakes, cilanto, and more beer) From Banger's Sausage House and Beer Garden in Austin, Texas Jalapeno Mac and Cheese with Cheddar, manchego, jalapeños, bread crumbs, and bacon lardons. from Banger's Sausage House and Beer Garden in Austin, Texas Fried Cheese Curds, Wisconsin cheese curds breaded & fried, served with a side of Olaf Sauce. from Banger's Sausage House and Beer Garden in Austin, Texas

Other options that tempted me included Turducken (sausage with Turkey Duck and Chicken), they even had TWO veggie sausage options alone (one of which was a Beet and Goat cheese veggie sausage) with the 4 traditional and 6 exotic/wild game sausage options (including a Duck Bacon and Fig, or a South Texas Antelope and Venison Merguez), and that was not all the menu offerings either like Fried Chicken, Jalapeno Cream Corn with Onion Gratin, a Housemade Snickers Ice Cream Jar…
Sausage options at Banger's Sausage House and Beer Garden in Austin, Texas Example chicken sausage options at Banger's, Austin Texas

I highly highly recommend both these places if you are in Austin and looking to try some local beer. I know I can’t wait to go back to these two places whenever I’m back in Austin next! The hotel we stayed at was the simple but comfortable Holiday Inn Austin-Town Lake Austin, which was very conveniently walkable to Rainey Street but affordable, and close to highways for our other business. Other hotels nearby include the Hilton Garden Inn Downtown, Hampton Inn and Suites Downtown, and Radisson Downtown among others in the walkable vicinity.

Have you ever been to Austin, and if so did you try any local Texas beer there?

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