Zwickelmania 2014 Overview

To start your Zwickelmania 2014 Overview, let’s start with the date. 11am-4pm, February 15, is Zwickelmania. This event occurs all throughout the state of Oregon, not just in Portland.

In case you have never heard of it, it is the annual one day a year sponsored by the Oregon Brewers Guild where breweries in Oregon open their doors for visitors to sample one (or possibly more) of their beers and often offer tours of their breweries and have brewers on hand to answer question about their process- all for free!

Zwickelmania 2014 is Saturday Feb 15 all over Oregon

There are even shuttles (most are free, only the three Rogue shuttles in Portland  are $5 for all day designated driving) that you can take to brewpub crawl to visit multiple breweries. Check out the list of breweries and a map of the shuttles here at the Oregon Craft Beer website. They have a great map of the entire state of Oregon listing all the brewery open houses and events statewide.

This year, I’m going off to Eugene for Zwickelmania to attend the Oakshire Brewing’s Hellshire IV release party/Hellshire IV Day and Barrel-Aged Beer Fest. We plan to take advantage of doing a little getaway, both for Valentine’s and because it’s a 3 Day President’s Day long weekend. This Oakshire festival offers more than 50 barrel-aged beers from breweries around the country, live local bands and food carts. F and I are big fans of barrel aged beers, so this seemed right up our alley.

You can see the list of available beers on their Facebook event for this. Oakshire’s Hellshire is a series of beers matured in spirits barrels {bourbon, whiskey, and brandy} and released every February. There is also several other breweries in Eugene that are open besides Oakshire- and a Rogue shuttle could possible help us travel to also visit Rogue, Falling Sky Brewery, McMenamin’s High St, Ninkasi, and Hop Valley Brewing.
"Hellshire

I also know some people are heading out to Astoria for the Fort George Festival of the Dark Arts which features feature 55 specialty stouts to also celebrate the fact February is Stout Month. Other breweries in Astoria include Buoy Beer and Rogue at Pier 39. If you are interested, last I checked tickets were still available for a Brewvana tour that is going to this festival from Portland and can provide VIP Tickets to the festival AND transportation to and from Astoria and lodging for the night if you are interested!
Fort George Festival of the Dark Arts

But you don’t necessarily have to go that far- there are so many wonderful breweries in Portland alone – which is why there are FIVE shuttle bus routes to help you visit various breweries. BeerMusingKris helpfully made a Google Map of everything- check out the link to it on her blog post “Can You Tell Me How to Get, How to Get to Zwickelmania?”

You don’t even necessarily have to take a shuttle- as I recapped in a post last year my little group of friends walked or just used the Streetcar between Upright Brewing, Hair of the Dog Brewing, Cascade Brewing for a palate cleanser of sour beers, Harvester Brewing (which is entirely dedicated to being gluten-free both in beer and their gastropub), and The Commons before finishing up at Base Camp Brewing. I thought there were excellent beers to be had at all those stops.
Visiting Hair of the Dog Brewing and tasting their beers  during Zwickelmania 2013, this is Adam Enjoying sample #3 of Blond Bing Blond Ale with Cherries at Cascade Brewing during Zwickelmania 2013
Photos from Zwickelmania 2013 at Hair of the Dog Brewing and Cascade Brewing sampling

In the Zwickelmania of 2011 (with my more amateur blog recapping), I took the shuttle with a friend, and one of the stops included Laurelwood Brewpub where they offered up pairings of beer samples with sweet desserts!

Very awesome- such as below, with a chocolate cupcake with chili is paired with the Laurelwood vanilla porter, and our favorite pairing a smokey ginger and bacon cookie sandwich with maple cream filling, paired with the bourbon barrel aged Olde Reliable barley wine.
Zwickelmania 2011, at Laurelwood Brewpub where they offered up pairings of beer samples with sweet desserts! This is a chocolate cupcake with chili is paired with the Laurelwood vanilla porter. Zwickelmania 2011, at Laurelwood Brewpub where they offered up pairings of beer samples with sweet desserts! This is smokey ginger and bacon cookie sandwich with maple cream filling, paired with the bourbon barrel aged Olde Reliable barley wine.

Other stops at the time in 2011 for the Brewvana shuttle also included Columbia River Brewing, Alameda, Upright and then we had more beer/dinner at Burnside Brewing. Trust Brewvana to pick out some pretty cool breweries, and their bus is awesome- I’ve been on it a few times since being introduced at Zwickelmania by taking some of their beer tours! This year, Laurelwood is on their route again- as are Ecliptic for instance, and other cool breweries!

So there is a list of some of the places I visited that I recommend. There are other breweries participating too- consult what is convenient or interesting to you.

Wherever you decide to go to enjoy Zwickelmania, follow me on Twitter, Instagram or Untappd to see what I’m up to, and be sure to share your experience on Twitter and Instagram using the #zwickel14 hashtag.

Is there a brewery you are planning to visit for Zwickelmania this year?

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Portland Beer & Cheese Fest 2013

Welcome to photos of Portland Beer and Cheese Fest 2013, returning for the 2nd year yesterday and finishing off PDX Beer Week was the Portland Beer and Cheese Festival! I loved it last year (see my post it on last year), and this year was another winning repeat. The event, which was again all by advanced ticket so as to control the amount of attendees and prepare tastings accordingly, paired 10 beers from 10 local breweries each with an artisan cheese courtesy of World Champion Cheesemonger  Steve Jones of Cheese Bar and in addition Chop butchery provided complimentary charcuterie at a table for your own savory meat cleanser/complement as needed. I mean, just look at Chop’s amazing meat board, which they kept filled during the event!

Portland Beer and Cheese Fest 2013: charcuterie provided by Chop Butchery Portland Beer and Cheese Fest 2013: charcuterie provided by Chop Butchery Portland Beer and Cheese Fest 2013: charcuterie provided by Chop Butchery

The event takes place at the Commons Brewery, although as noted the beers come from a variety of breweries.

Here were the ten pairings of this event:

  1. Pfriem Family Brewers: Wit, paired with Fern’s Edge Dairy Mt. Zion, raw goat, Oregon. The Wit was a light beer that was refreshing and had a good yeasty body, even a bit of spice characteristic to it that was paired with the aged Mt Zion cheese whose little bits of crystallized crunch that like with this Wit, offered some surprise pockets of flavor in what you assumed was going to be mildness.
    Portland Beer and Cheese Festival, beer and cheese pairing, The Commons Berwery, Steve's Cheese, Pfriem Family Brewers Wit, paired with Fern’s Edge Dairy Mt. Zion, raw goat, Oregon
  2. Solera Brewery: The Fez (sour farmhouse blend), paired with Central Coast Creamery Goat Gouda, goat, California, was my favorite pairing of beer and cheese with the slightly dry crumbly Gouda being brought to life with the tartness of the Fez, while the Gouda tamed the sour a bit. I love this beer by itself, but kept taking little nibbles of the cheese and then washing it down with the beer and being amazed at how the two came together into something new.
    Portland Beer and Cheese Festival, beer and cheese pairing, The Commons Berwery, Steve's Cheese, Solera Brewery The Fez sour farmhouse blend, paired with Central Coast Creamery Goat Gouda, goat, California
  3. Double Mountain Brewery: Pink Peppercorn Saison, paired with Ancient Heritage Hannah, raw sheep and cow, Oregon. I love both of these, and could easily just drink that Pink Peppercorn Saison with its long tail of slight pepperyness tickling my tongue by itself all summer long. I am a fan of Ancient Heritage Dairy and the toasty nutty flavors of the Hannah, but I was not picking up how they were working together, just that they were both really good individually and together they were still good, just not adding up to anything new that I could perceive. I was still quite happy to have found something from Double Mountain I like, as their very hop-forward styles in their beers and my personal preference of not loving IPAs and bitterness have usually meant their beers and I have not gotten along (although F loves them and typically gets passed the beer to further enjoy after I only get through 20% of it).
    Portland Beer and Cheese Festival, beer and cheese pairing, The Commons Berwery, Steve's Cheese, Double Mountain Brewery Pink Peppercorn Saison, paired with Ancient Heritage Hannah, raw sheep and cow, Oregon
  4. Upright Brewing: Vienna Lager, paired with Vintage Cheese Company Mountina, raw cow, Montana. I was surprised at how much I liked this Lager style beer, it had more flavor and malt and toast characteristics than I originally judged from the name and thinking about the lagers of Sam Adams and Asia. The Mountina cheese that I thought had a nice butteryness and grassiness while being reminiscent of an Emmentaler cheese in its slight sweetness, bringing out a little bit more of the also slight sweetness in the Vienna Lager.
    Portland Beer and Cheese Festival, beer and cheese pairing, The Commons Berwery, Steve's Cheese, Upright Brewing Vienna Lager, paired with Vintage Cheese Company Mountina, raw cow, Montana
  5. The Commons Brewery: CCB ESB, paired with Neal’s Yard Dairy Montgomery’s Cheddar, raw cow, U.K. Usually I find a cheddar is pretty strong in profile to have with a beer by itself (though SO mysteriously heh if it’s on a cheeseburger, game on!). And, I don’t often like ESB because the bitterness can be more pronounced sometimes and it depends when the balance of the malts kick in (despite the name, the Extra Special Bitter is supposed to be more balanced, not just more bitter). But I was surprised that I really liked The Commons CCB ESB in that it had some fruitiness to it that reminded me of how balanced crafted classic cocktails use bitters but add a kick- this ESB had a unique flavor profile, and it paired well with the cheddar providing more emphasis on the fruitiness and maltiness that seemed to not need a cheeseburger to bring out some savoryness. I was really impressed.
    Portland Beer and Cheese Festival, beer and cheese pairing, The Commons Berwery, Steve's Cheese, The Commons Brewery CCB ESB, paired with Neal’s Yard Dairy Montgomery’s Cheddar, raw cow, U.K.
  6. Widmer Brothers: Alt, paired with Willamette Valley Cheese Company, Boerenkaas, raw cow, Oregon. The Altbier, as you would expect, was light and smooth, with some hoppiness to it. The buttery softness of the Borenkaas tried to counter this hop but given my preference of not liking a lot of hop, I had to help this one along with some Chop charcuterie. I think I had 3 helpings of the Chop bourbon chicken liver mousse on little toasts.  I have no problem eating that whole wrapped pate they still at the Portland Farmers Market just by myself.
    Portland Beer and Cheese Festival, beer and cheese pairing, The Commons Berwery, Steve's Cheese, Widmer Brothers Alt, paired with Willamette Valley Cheese Company, Boerenkaas, raw cow, Oregon
  7. Block 15 Brewing: Visage de Palm, Biere de Garde, paired with four-month Manchego, raw sheep, Spain. The sweet funkiness of the Visage de Palm and the pairing with nutty tangy Manchego made sense, but was even better with more Chop salami thrown into the mix. I often lean towards their pates but this time I also had the opportunity to sample all their salamis and am in love.
    Portland Beer and Cheese Festival, beer and cheese pairing, The Commons Berwery, Steve's Cheese, Block 15 Brewing Visage de Palm, Biere de Garde, paired with four-month Manchego, raw sheep, Spain
  8. Breakside / Gigantic Brewery: Portland Beer Week India Wild Ale, paired with Quadrello di Buffala, water buffalo, Italy. I was getting tired. You can see from my punchcard this is my 9th beer, and the hop was enjoyed by others but not me particularly. The Quadrello di Buffala was the most pungent cheese among all the pairings, and the fact it had this bit of barnyard seemed to go well with the beer’s wild hoppiness for a very earthy experience
    Portland Beer and Cheese Festival, beer and cheese pairing, The Commons Berwery, Steve's Cheese, Breakside and Gigantic Brewery Portland Beer Week India Wild Ale, paired with Quadrello di Buffala, water buffalo, Italy
  9. Oakshire Brewing: Auslaufen Rauchbier (cherry wood smoked ale), paired with Rogue Smokey Blue, raw cow, Oregon. The Rauchbier had a very light smoke, and the smoke from the Rogue blue cheese with its creamy saltiness echoed that smoke
    Portland Beer and Cheese Festival, beer and cheese pairing, The Commons Berwery, Steve's Cheese, Oakshire Brewing Auslaufen Rauchbier (cherry wood smoked ale), paired with Rogue Smokey Blue, raw cow, Oregon
  10. 10 Barrel Brewing: Herbes des Provence Baltic Porter, paired with Black Sheep Creamery Mopsey’s Best, raw sheep, Washington. We chose to start out with this beer and hey, I like Porters and the fact that it had this herbiness in the tasty cheese was a unique start. Together, the pairing complemented it like the cheese was the “topping” or “steak crust” if you will to a substantial flavorful entree of that porter. I had never heard of this beer so felt special that I was able to be the first to try it at this event as F became the first to check in after he entered it onto Untappd database.
    Portland Beer and Cheese Festival, beer and cheese pairing, The Commons Berwery, Steve's Cheese, 10 Barrel Brewing Herbes des Provence Baltic Porter, paired with Black Sheep Creamery Mopsey’s Best, raw sheep, Washington

I enjoyed the Portland Beer and Cheese Fest, just like last year. It was never so crowded that there were more than a few people in front of me, and most of the time I could just walk up and ask for my taster and sample. The Punchcards helped suggest an order as well as provide information about the beer and cheese that would be in the pairing. Similar to last year it was still hard to balance the glass of beer while eating the cheese while standing, but understand it takes up space to have barrels or cocktail tables that could otherwise be occupied by people standing.

I still think it is one of my favorite beer events all year, and particularly it brings out a generally sophisticated beer drinking crowd that wants to think and savor what they are having rather and how everything tastes than just taste a lot of beer (no WOOoooos during the entire event!). I saw several brewers and Steve mingling and checking in to ensure everyone has enough for the pairings and everything is running smoothly as well as answer questions. I  hope this event will three-peat next year!

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