Portland Beer and Cheese Festival 2014

June 22, 2014 by 9 Comments

Last Sunday, we once again (just like my recap in 2013 and my recap in 2012) spent Father’s Day (after calling my dad earlier in the morning of course) with a visit to the Portland Beer and Cheese Festival 2014. This is one of my favorite beer festival events all year because it pairs tastes of beers with cheese. The event draws beer lovers rather than those who just want to drink beer, and we are more serious about trying to discern the detailed flavors in beer and cheese. Also, I love cheese. LOVE.

Portland Beer and Cheese Fest 2014 poster

This year, the location of the event changed from The Commons Brewery to Burnside Brewing as The Commons is in the works of setting up a new bigger and better tasting room (very excited for them! Can’t wait!). Despite the location change that had us in the less photogenic brewing garage of Burnside (but also meant we had access to some of the tent covered outdoor tables and could get food and more beer at Burnside if we wish), and the crazy heavy rain that day, it was still a great event. Particularly, I really appreciated that there were more places to be able to put down my plate of cheese and beverage rather than having to hold them the entire event.
Beer and Cheese Pairing station at Portland Beer and Cheese Festival 2014 Beer and Cheese Pairing station at Portland Beer and Cheese Festival 2014

This year Chop took a break to actually spend Father’s Day as a father (good for him! And I had stopped at the PSU Farmers Market earlier and procured my pate for later!). Don’t worry Olympic Provisions was on hand with a meatastic display of charcuterie for participants to graze on to balance out the beer and cheese tastings. Special shoutout on the “meat flowers” that were in the display (you can see one though slightly picked from in the last photo bottom right) as they offered their pork pistachio pate, sweetheart ham, mortadella, and various salami.
Olympic Provisions was on hand with a meatastic display of charcuterie for participants to graze on to balance out the beer and cheese tastings Olympic Provisions was on hand with a meatastic display of charcuterie for participants to graze on to balance out the beer and cheese tastings Olympic Provisions was on hand with a meatastic display of charcuterie for participants to graze on to balance out the beer and cheese tastings Olympic Provisions was on hand with a meatastic display of charcuterie for participants to graze on to balance out the beer and cheese tastings

And now, for the greatness of cheesemonger Steve of The Cheese Bar using his genius for good in pairing cheeses with beer. I write this post not only for those of you in the future who may be searching on the internet and wondering what this event was about and whether you should buy tickets to the 2015 event (the answer is a resounding YES), but to also encourage you that in the meantime, this is a tremendous theme for any get together. Have everyone bring a beer from a brewery, bring a cheese, and then everyone enjoy! Here are some examples of pairings you might consider… And obviously, if you would like any advice, Steve is your man.

This year the pairings included:

The Beer and Cheese Pairings:

  1. Breakside Brewing Pilsner with Vintage Cheese Company Mountina (cow – Montana)
    Portland Beer and Cheese Festival 2014, a pairing of beer and cheese, here Breakside Brewing – Pilsner with Vintage Cheese Company – Mountina – cow – Montana
    This was one of my favorite pairings of the day. I loved the light well flavors of the Pilsner that was true to the style but yet also seemed to transcend it with more forward flavors then the typical lagers that leaned more towards malts with a slight sweetness. I probably would have never thought to order this beer if I saw it because of the style. But then paired with the earthy and nutty Mountina it was very tasty and would please anyone and I actually would recommend these two. As an aside, just the day before I sampled their seasonal Passionfruit Sour and it’s a fantastic summer beer, light, low alcohol, but very tasty and you can definitely taste the passionfruit and so well balanced. I encourage you to grab some! Meanwhile, that Mountina is a cheese that goes well with a wide variety of beers- I’ve had the cheese several times, and I know from other events Steve has paired it with beers in the past two Portland Beer and Cheese Festivals and at the Rookery with other German style beers such as Hefeweizen and Kolsch styles, not just lager styles.
  2. Pfriem Family Brewers Saison with Satori Pastorale (cow and sheep – Wisconsin)
    Portland Beer and Cheese Festival 2014, a pairing of beer and cheese, here Pfriem Family Brewers Saison with Satori – Pastorale – cow and sheep – Wisconsin
    The Pfriem Saison’s grassiness was complimented well with the similar country field earthiness of the Sartori cheese that was sharp yet creamy and also had little crunchiness of aged cheese crystals. I adore cheese crystals.
  3. Upright Brewery Black Lime Saison with Central Coast Goat Gouda (goat – California)
    Portland Beer and Cheese Festival 2014, a pairing of beer and cheese, here Upright Brewery Black Lime Saison with Central Coast – Goat Gouda – goat – California
    I wasn’t able to detect any lime or citrus going on here, but I can always get behind a gouda, and gouda and beer is a very safe win in terms of pairing. When we bring a cheese plate to any of the Bailey’s Taproom beer festivals, we always have a gouda as the rich nut and earth flavors of goudas go well with many styles of beer.
  4. Burnside Brewing Company Spring Rye with Gruyere d’savoie (cow – France)
    Portland Beer and Cheese Festival 2014, a pairing of beer and cheese, here Burnside Brewing Company Spring Rye with Gruyere d’savoie – cow - France. Also, Olympic Provisions charcuterie
    It was around this point I also needed some charcuterie to accompany the tastes. This whole plate was heavenly, with the tones of rye and coriander from the beer and which are present in the Olympic Provisions meats just a perfect match (in my photo you can see the chorizo salami, but that’s because in my mouth as I was taking this photo I had already stuffed the Italian style cacciatore salami that you had seen on the right side of the table in my other photos earlier), and the buttery, salty and savory Gruyere being the icing and sprinkles to this plate that was just destined to be together.
  5. Firestone Walker Brewing Company DBA (Double Barrel Ale) with Ferns Edge Mt. Zion (goat – Oregon)
    Portland Beer and Cheese Festival 2014, a pairing of beer and cheese, here Firestone Walker Brewing Company DBA with Ferns Edge – Mt. Zion – goat – Oregon
    This was the only beer that wasn’t local, as Firestone Walker is from California. However, the brewer David Walker was on hand during Portland Beer Week so I understood how this toasty English Special Bitter type ale that balances hops and malts equally in the taste profile got on the list. The Ferns Edge Mt. Zion is delicious, but I am a huge fan of Ferns’ Edge Goat Dairy and I think their best cheeses are their various chevres and want to see more of that dammit. In this case, although I do I like the cheese, I thought the flavors overwhelmed the DBA rather than complimenting or contrasting them. I like other Firestone Walker beers (particularly their proprietor’s vintage series like Parabola, Sucuba, Stickee Monkee) and would probably pass on the DBA in the future as it is ok but not outstanding in my opinion.
  6. The Commons Brewery Dunkelweiss with Quadrello di bufala (water buffalo – Italy)
    Portland Beer and Cheese Festival 2014, a pairing of beer and cheese, here The Commons Brewery Dunkelweiss with Quadrello di bufala – water buffalo – Italy
    The Quadrello di Buffala is a pretty funky soft cheese, but this bit of barnyard paired with this Dunkelweiss combined for a very earthy experience that was a whole new experience. This is one of those great pairings where you have each one individually, and then when you combine them on your tongue it becomes a whole new flavor,  in this case of caramel and buttery cream. I love when a pairing births something entirely new like this and is a surprise!
  7. Hopworks Urban Brewery and Worthy Brewing Portland Beer Week Collaboration Session IPA with Hook’s 5-Year Cheddar (cow – Wisconsin)
    Portland Beer and Cheese Festival 2014, a pairing of beer and cheese, here Hopworks Urban Brewery and Worthy Brewing – Portland Beer Week Collaboration Session IPA with Hook’s 5-Year Cheddar – cow – Wisconsin Portland Beer and Cheese Festival 2014, a pairing of beer and cheese, here Hopworks Urban Brewery and Worthy Brewing – Portland Beer Week Collaboration Session IPA with Hook’s 5-Year Cheddar – cow – Wisconsin
    This Hook 5 Year Cheddar is a great match to any hoppy beer. Unfortunately I am not a big hop fan (West Coast IPAs can be very happy bitter) so I admit I passed this beer on to F (he had given me his Quadrello anyway as it was too soft and pungent for him) so don’t have as much to say here except that if you are looking to match an IPA, an aged cheddar is your best bet.
  8. Double Mountain Brewery Carrie Ladd beer with Isle of Mull Cheddar (cow – Scotland)
    Portland Beer and Cheese Festival 2014, a pairing of beer and cheese, here Double Mountain Brewery Carrie Ladd beer with Isle of Mull – Cheddar – cow – Scotland Portland Beer and Cheese Festival 2014, a pairing of beer and cheese, here Double Mountain Brewery Carrie Ladd beer with Isle of Mull – Cheddar – cow – Scotland
    The Carrie Ladd is a yeasty porter, which is nice that it focuses on celebrating roast rather than strong chocolate and smoke flavors like many porters do (or perhaps I’ve just had a lot of porters that are strong in those flavors, and I’m a sucker for any vanilla porter on a menu so probably is also self selection). The Isle of Mull cheddar seemed to further emphasize the yeast while also providing a little contrast with a bit of sharpness. Do those photos seem like an eye test (first focusing on the beer, and then the cheese) – for some reason even though only I had been drinking my cameraphone decided it couldn’t focus on both at the same time.
  9. Widmer Brothers Brewing Smoked Schwarz with Idazabel (sheep – Spain)
    Portland Beer and Cheese Festival 2014, a pairing of beer and cheese, here Double Mountain Brewery Carrie Ladd beer with Isle of Mull – Cheddar – cow – Scotland
    Of all the cheeses, the Idazabel here was my favorite, and was a cheese I had never had before and has a subtle smokiness to it, which is why it complimented the smoke of the smoked schwarz beer here.
  10. Gigantic Brewing Company Too Much Coffee Man Black Saison paired with Kirkham’s Lancashire (cow – England)
    Portland Beer and Cheese Festival 2014, a pairing of beer and cheese, here Gigantic Brewing Company Too Much Coffee Man Black Saison paired with Kirkham’s – Lancashire
    This was my favorite individual beer of the festival, with it’s strong coffee and chocolate roasty flavors in the beer. Add the buttery Kirkham Lancashire and I think I can have this for breakfast instead of coffee and buttered toast or english muffins. Oh man, that would be a serious awesome breakfast.
  11. Lompoc Brewing Bourbon Barrel Aged Dark Side Porter with Cascadia Creamery Glacier Blue (cow – Washington)
    Portland Beer and Cheese Festival 2014, a pairing of beer and cheese, here Lompoc Brewing Bourbon Barrel Aged Dark Side Porter with Cascadia Creamery – Glacier Blue – cow – Washington
    I am a big fan of barrel aged beers, and although the flavors of this Lompoc beer were nice, I’m spoiled in that I had tried many a bourbon barrel aged beer, and in comparison this one had a thinner taste then what I’ve experienced before. It did have a great nose. For a stronger flavor beer like this, a strong creamy and salty blue cheese like this Glacier Blue is the perfect contrast and counter for the beer. I was only too glad to take F’s Glacier Blue as he is not a fan of blue cheese. If you see me and also don’t want your blue cheese, please feel free to pass it on to me.

Logistically, I am a big fan of these events that have these punchcards that do double duty in providing some information as well as making me feel quite accomplished when I have completed my beer and cheese report card. I highly recommend the Portland Beer and Cheese Festival next year!
Portland Beer and Cheese Festival 2014, an event pairing beer and cheese, here Lompoc Brewing Bourbon Barrel Aged Dark Side Porter with Cascadia Creamery – Glacier Blue – cow – Washington Portland Beer and Cheese Festival 2014, an event pairing beer and cheese, and you can graze on Olympic Provisions charcuterie

This Sunday is another punchcard day as I attend the Portland Monthly Country Brunch (unfortunately already sold out) that includes little tastes of brunch as well as a Bloody Mary Smackdown. You can look forward to that report next week (my report on it last year will explain why I’m so excited about it, though the mention of Bloody Marys is really enough isn’t it?)!

Which of these beer and cheese pairings do you think you would have enjoyed?

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Portland Fruit Beer Festival Beer Preview

June 5, 2014 by 2 Comments

This is it! It is the countdown to the Portland Fruit Beer Festival– which kicks off this Saturday, June 6 11am-9pm until the end of Sunday, June 7 11am-6pm. Tickets are already on sale at $20 general admission Saturday or Sunday (the admission includes one 16oz glass you keep and 12 drink tickets). This is an all ages festival.

As I’ve summarized before in my June roundup of Portland events, this unique beer festival features almost 50 fruit beers and ciders, with many beers/ciders have been brewed specifically for the Fruit Beer Festival so this may be your only chance to try them.

Portland Fruit Beer Festival 2014 poster

Well, technically it starts with a special VIP session they are holding on Friday evening, which for $30 (only $10 more than the regular admission on Sat/Sun) from 4-9pm and limited to 300 VIP guests you get access to the fruit beers without everyone else (or less of them, a lot less of them in the way!), and there will also be a few special tappings (4 of the 26 beers are tapped especially for Friday).

The fruits featured are a wide range of fruits: you can see the list here at New School which has descriptions with the beer. There is also another special list of 25 Rare Rotating Tap list of one-off or vintage kegs of just 5 gallons each, and some are listed with the tentative times they will be tapped so you can make your drinking plans now.

Because you do that right? You look over the list of beers for a festival and start noting which ones you want to try, which ones you really really want to try, and then when you attend the festival get in line for the beers in that order to make sure it doesn’t run out and you aren’t disappointed?

And maybe if you have fellow drinking partners, you plan out a drinking strategy so no one is getting 2 of the same beer and you can each wait in different lines and come back and share tastes for most efficient tastings? Right?

I nearly fell out of my chair when I was reading my email and saw I was invited to a media preview of some of the beers that will be tapping at the Portland Fruit Beer Festival by Ezra/Samurai Artist (Ezra Johnson-Greenough), the king of the Portland Fruit Beer Festival. Well, I don’t know if king is the official title, but he does organize the whole thing. He seems to be doing double duty by modeling a PDX Beer Week T shirt also here.
Samurai Artist aka Ezra Johnson-Greenough kicking off the event and already wearing a PDX Beer Week shirt at the Portland Fruit Beer Fest Media Preview with sneak peeks of 10 of the beers

I do drink a lot of beer (well of everything- I like to say I don’t discriminate/yearn to be learn and enjoy all deliciousness). Ok, mom, don’t worry, I take that back. I don’t drink a lot, but I have tried a large variety, maybe once twice a week, and maybe Bailey’s Taproom/Upper Lip is like my Cheers.  But I don’t blog much about it, as there are much better beer writers out there, including official media source The Beer Here at the Oregonian and  already mentioned The New School (which are my main sources for beer news) and then for more personal stories of beer rather then just event announcement I often read Beer Musings from Portland by Kris (who also sometimes writes for Oregon Beer Growler).

I was shocked that I would try to fit into such beer expert company.

Thankfully, I was able to pull in another contributor to this blogpost… a beer know it all who also works at Deschutes and Bailey’s/UL Ryan Spencer, who also sometimes contributes to Serious Eats and apparently Cicerone. So official beer expert. Thanks so much Ryan for helping me out with this, especially as I already had tickets to see a show that night and had to leave a little early.

As part of the media event, Ezra and some brewers let us taste 10 of the beers that would be at the Portland Fruit Beer Festival. It felt to me like a secret meeting as we stood around in the back of Burnside Brewing drinking out of plastic cups as the beers were poured from growlers. Each brewer talked a little about the beer and maybe the inspiration for it while inevitably shuffling their feet or other nervous tics which made for terrible pics so I eventually gave up. But I got a few pics of the first few brewers, heh! There was no place to set the cup down (except for the floor) in this secret beer meeting so I don’t have any pics of the beer, except in the brewer’s hand.
Bryan Keilty from Lompoc Brewing explains Lompoc Brewing's Pear'n Kramer sourced their pears for this brew from the backyard of someone's mom! Burnside Brewing Nero's Fiddle uses a proprietary blend of apples, one of them being a Roman Beauty that inspired the name Nero, at the Portland Fruit Beer Fest Media Preview with sneak peeks of 10 of the beers

Some Tasting Notes

So here are our notes of the Portland Fruit Beer Festival Beer Preview tasters we tried, ranking in order of fruit beer love.

  1. Citrus Royale from The Commons Brewing – Portland, OR
    Style: American Sour ABV: 5.8% ABV IBU: 11
    A sour spelt based beer with Navel Orange, Murcott Mandarin, Meyer Lemon peel and orange and lime juice. One of the most exciting beers at the preview and one to look out for is The Common’s Citrus Royale. This beer is a variant of The Common’s Biere Royale released last year, but with a variety of citrus fruits rather than currants. While retaining the same base beer and “house” lacto culture acquired from Nancy’s Yogurt as last year, the sourness and fruit character are restrained in comparison; allowing for the base beer to shine through with pleasant citrus undertones. The citrus character is derived from a blend of naval orange, meyer lemon, mercott mandarin juice added throughout fermentation creating a flavor profile reminiscent of a mimosa.
  2. Mayme B from Alameda Brewing – Portland, OR
    Style: Belgian Dark Golden 6.6% ABV 45 IBU’s
    The Mayme B is a Belgian Dark Golden bier brewed with Mamey fruit (Pouteria sapota). This tropical fruit native to the Caribbean and Central America has a flavor which could be described as a mix of sweet potato and pumpkin topped off with maraschino cherry and almond twist… or at least that’s what the brewer said. I didn’t detect the cherry, but the sweet potato, pumpkin, and hint of almond I was able to detect, and it gave it a bit of “chewiness” that I really liked. Meanwhile the rest of us were just like “what… what is this fruit?” And he’s like “It’s like a football but like a papaya” and probably formed his hands to make a football shape three times. Apparently he discovered this fruit while on his honeymoon in Mexico, but he was able to source the fruit from Florida, but I don’t think he’ll be doing a lot more of these so get it while it lasts! The 100 pounds of mamey was added post boil in the kettle and also post fermentation, along with Belgian Pilsner malt, Special B, and the Belgian yeast (he apparently really like this yeast, as it’s the 3rd beer he’s brewed with it). For a fruit beer, this was completely unexpected and unique which is why I gave it bonus points for originality and creativity as well as the taste.
    "The
    The size of a Mamey fruit as described by the Alameda brewer at the Portland Fruit Beer Fest Media Preview
  3. Peach Slap, from Deschutes Brewery – Portland, OR
    Style: Sour Ale with Peaches ABV: 3.2% IBU: 22
    Peach Slap is a crisp light Belgian ale that starts light, gets a little complexity with his love of gin gimlets and so he added a floral quality with the addition of juniper berries and peppercorn. And then, along with peach puree, there’s the surprise heat thanks to peach habanero syrup. The base beer is light but bubbly and sweet like drinking a sparkling berlinerweisse so is super tasty. This is also a top pick for me and is sure to be a crowd pleaser, though some might complain it leans more towards soda than beer (in fact, before the peach habanero the brewer worried it was like liquid fruit roll up but with the syrup at least it was more like soda), but that wouldn’t be me, and then I’ll just drink your glass for you, thanks.
    Telling us about his love/inspiration of gin gimlets and the use of peach habanero syrup in the Deschutes Brewery Peach Slap Sour Ale with Peaches, at the Portland Fruit Beer Fest Media Preview with sneak peeks of 10 of the beers
    Telling us about his love/inspiration of gin gimlets and the use of peach habanero syrup in the Deschutes Brewery Peach Slap Sour Ale with Peaches
  4. Aren’t You Glad I Didn’t Say Banana? from Laurelwood Brewing – Portland, OR
    Style: Citrus Wheat Ale ABV: 4.4 IBU:14
    Another beer to look out for at the festival will be Laurelwood’s Orange You Glad I Didn’t Say Banana. Drawing inspiration from both Laurelwood’s year round hefeweizen and Brewmasters Vasili Glestsos’s son’s love of knock-knock jokes, this beer is another citrus bomb that emphasizes pithy/rind flavors rather than juice. Laurelwood added 12 gallons of juice and over 6lbs of citrus zest from a myriad of fruits including oranges, lemons, limes, and grapefruits. The fruit flavor is supported by a prominent wheat character derived from the same base beer used to make laurelwood’s hefeweizen, the only difference being the fruit addition and the use of wit yeast versus hefe yeast.
  5. Boysen The Hood from Gigantic Brewing – Portland, OR
    Style: Golden Tart Boysen Belgian ABV: 6.4 IBU: 19
    This year Gigantic Brewing was one of a few breweries smart enough to brew a beer which met the requirements for both Cheers to Belgian Beers and The Fruit Beer Fest. Boysen The Hood is a basic Belgian golden ale brewed with pilsner and wheat malts. However, this beer deviates from the norm in that it was kettle soured for 24 hours and then aged on fresh Oregon boysenberries. The result is an easy drinking light Belgian ale with notes of blackberries and strawberries reminiscent of a Berliner weisse.
  6. Lacerta Frambuesa from Ecliptic Brewing – Portland, OR
    Style: Belgian Framboise ABV: 6.5 IBU: 20
    Lacerta is the lizard constellation, as brewer John Harris has a constellation theme going. He was also quick to note this is not a framboise, it’s a frambuesa. So pay attention and get it right! The base beer is a light ale made in the Aztec style then infused with Cocoa Nibs in the mash and at fermentation 100 pounds of raspberries were added.The Cocoa nibs definitely add an unusual additional flavor. Although this beer will debut at the Portland Fruit Beer Festival, John made enough that we may see it at his brewery sometime after.

    Brewer John Harris of Ecliptic explaining this is not a framboise, it is a frambuesa beer, that he brewed 
  7. Up From San Antone from Widmer Brothers/5 Stones Artisan Brewery – Portland, OR + Cibolo, Texas
    Style: Grapefruit White IPA ABV: 6.6% IBU: 55
    The Widmer/5 Stones collaboration beer is the second beer in a series of collaboration beers Widmer plans to release throughout the year. This collaboration is with 5 Stones, a small brewery in Texas that specializes in brewing with fresh produce and non-traditional ingredients. Named after a line in the song “Amarillo by Morning,” the name is a nod to the location of 5 Stones and the usage of Amarillo hops. Up From San Antone is a combination of a classic NW White IPA and Belgian Wit, similar in style to Deschutes Chain breaker White IPA. Widmer juiced and zested over 100 lbs of fresh grapefruit with coriander to impart a strong grapefruit character that comes across more bitter and pithy as opposed to juicy, both emphasizing the bitterness of the fruit and hops.
    Widmer Brewers chatting about Up From San Antone, their Grapefruit White IPA at the Portland Fruit Beer Fest Media Preview with sneak peeks of 10 of the beers
    Widmer Brewers chatting about Up From San Antone, their Grapefruit White IPA at the Portland Fruit Beer Fest Media Preview with sneak peeks of 10 of the beers. Also, of the brewers that actually wore the brewery shirts to as to be easily identified, they have the nicest ones. This kind of insightful coverage clearly differentiates me from other beer blog coverage.
  8. Pi Beer from Fort George Brewery – Astoria, OR
    Style: Fruit Wheat Beer ABV: 5% IBU: 3.141592653358979323846264338372950288419716939937510
    For Fort George’s PFBF entry this year the brewery took a traditional approach to fruit beers with a low alcohol wheat beer and the addition of strawberries and rhubarb. Named after the beers low IBU value of 3.14, Pi Beer has a big strawberry aroma with a hint of tannic acidity from the rhubarb. The fruit aroma however falls short in the flavor of the beer letting the wheat character shine through. Where Fort George succeeds is in Pi Beer’s drinkability making it a refreshing beer on a hot day.
  9. Nero’s Fiddle from Burnside Brewing – Portland, OR
    Style: Graff ABV: 7.0%
    Burnside Brewing and EZ Orchards Cidre collaborated to blend a whole bunch of apples- including Roman Beauty, Pink Lady, and Granny Smith apples, the Roman Beauty being what inspired the name Nero. The apples were slightly fermented per French Style cider and whirlpooled directly into the kettle.
  10. Pear’n Kramer from Lompoc Brewing – Portland, OR
    Style: Golden Ale ABV: 5%
    Description: The origin of these pears is a story of friendship- they came from the backyard in Salem, and were hand picked by the brewers and bartenders of Lompoc themselves last summer. In fact, the Kramer name comes from the name of the mother whose backyard they relieved of those 40 pounds of pears. I guess you can say the type of pear used in this beer is “Backyard Pear”. This beer fermented in stainless stell with those pears which were just quartered so skin and all for 5 months before being transferred to another stainless steel tank for conditioning where it was inoculated with a touch of gueuze. There is something a little local farmstead beer about this beer which is charming.

This wasn’t available to taste, but Abe (Abram Goldman-Armstrong) gave us a little drinking break as he talked about Cider Riot and their contribution to the Portland Fruit Beer Fest. It is one of the rare taps to be opened on Saturday afternoon and made especially for the festival. Inspired by Michael Jackson the beer writer who would sometimes use this descriptor, this cider called Hedgerow Fruits uses dessert apples then blended with black currants and black prunes.
Abe (Abram Goldman-Armstrong) describes how Cider Riot's contribution of the Hedgerow Fruits fruit cider (apples AND black currants and prunes) was inspired by beer writer Michael Jackson. At the Portland Fruit Beer Fest Media Preview with sneak peeks of 10 of the beers

The Fruit Beer Festival, as before, will be held Burnside Brewing. Burnside Brewing will be open and you can also get food via Pulehu Pizza with their grilled pizzas, as well as Bunk Sandwiches.

Attending Beer Festival Tips

  1. The earlier you arrive at the festival the better so as to not have as many lines and in case certain beers run out for the day. I almost always arrive at the beginning and so can be gone in a few hours unless I’m waiting for rare beers to rotate in.
  2. Keep in mind you don’t have to pay admission both days- you just need to bring back your glass from the Saturday and buy extra drink tickets as needed.
  3. My recommendation is to scope out what beers you want- particularly for the rare beers, if it says which day it is being tapped you may want to plan for that day. As I noted earlier, rank which ones you really want to try and try to get those first.
  4. Keep in mind to have a little bit of water with you in order to cleanse your palate and not get dehydrated.
  5. If you go with friends who aren’t squeamish about sharing, you can taste even more by each person calling what they are going to go get and you mark it off the list! If there are ones you particularly want you can always get a second one on your own!

 

WHAT: Portland Fruit Beer Festival

WHEN: Saturday, June 6 11 am-9 pm until the end of Sunday, June 7 11 am-6 pm

WHERE: Burnside Brewing at 701 E Burnside St, Portland, OR 97214

TICKETS: On sale at $20 general admission. You can also buy admission at the door. The admission includes one 16 oz glass you keep and 12 drink tickets.

 

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Fruit Beer and Cheese

April 23, 2014 by 2 Comments

I attend lots of different beer events all throughout the year, but don’t usually post about them- most of the time I might do a promotion post just to get the word out for an event I think needs to be shared, but not a recap. Untappd is my main beer outlet.

I also have been purposely avoiding writing about my favorite beer bar, which is like F and my Cheers, because we don’t want it to get too crowded. However, I really enjoyed a recent event at The Upper Lip, and thought I would share anyway to give props to what an amazing beer event it was and to encourage more like this from them or from anyone!
Breakside Brewing / 10 Barrel Brewing Fruit Beer event at The Upper Lip with cheese pairings by the awesome Steve of Cheese Bar

Perhaps when you think about fruit beer, you think of just a bunch of girly beer that tastes sweet and like juice and not much like beer at all. I hope not- and I think that the Portland Fruit Beer Festival, now returning for its 4th year, has helped a lot with that misconception.

I thought I would write this post about the beers at this event I just attended, just to reinforce that fruit beer is awesome, and what it can entail.

This event was a Breakside Brewing / 10 Barrel Brewing Fruit Beer event at The Upper Lip with cheese pairings by the awesome Steve of Cheese Bar. I have enjoyed many a Breakside beer and been to a few of their events since they are here in Portland, but 10 Barrel Brewing is harder to get as they are based in Bend and their fruit beers don’t usually make it here to Portland. Even better, with the price of admission, besides getting tasters of 8 beers we would also get 4 cheeses that were specially paired!
Breakside Brewing / 10 Barrel Brewing Fruit Beer event at The Upper Lip with cheese pairings by the awesome Steve of Cheese Bar

The first pairing was Fresh Ladysmith a cow cheese from Samish Bay, WA. I’ve had this cheese several times- not just because Steve seems to love pairing it, but because it just goes well with so many beers. During Thanksgiving I saw it at a co-op in San Juan WA and bought a 1/2 pound that was gone by the Sunday we were heading back. I also really enjoyed many of their other cheeses while at the The Wedge Cheese festival.

The Fresh Ladysmith was paired with the Breakside Gooseberry Wheat and the Breakside Peach Pale.  The Gooseberry Wheat was a wheat ale with pureed Oregon gooseberries from Oregon Fruit Products and had a subtle tartness to the wheat beer. Meanwhile, the Peach Pale offered a lot of hop flavor (specifically Citra and Amarillo) and had a nice peach nose but I didn’t detect much peach flavor.
Upper Lip Fruit Beer with Cheese Bar beer and cheese pairing, Breakside Gooseberry Wheat was a wheat ale with pureed Oregon gooseberries from Oregon Fruit Products and had a subtle tartness to the wheat beer. Paired with Fresh Ladysmith a cow cheese from Samish Bay, WA Upper Lip Fruit Beer with Cheese Bar beer and cheese pairing, Breakside Peach Pale offered a lot of hop flavor (specifically Citra and Amarillo) and had a nice peach nose but I didn't detect much peach flavor. Paired with Fresh Ladysmith a cow cheese from Samish Bay, WA

Next was the pairing of Pastorale from Sartori of WI, a sheep and cow milk cheese with the Breakside Kriek with Brett and the 10 Barrel Strawberry Crush. In this berry face-off, the 10 Barrel was the winner with its strong fresh strawberry puree flavor and it is so sad that this was a one-off keg made exclusively for this event. I hope they made more of it. A lot more. This was my favorite beer of the event.
Upper Lip Fruit Beer with Cheese Bar beer and cheese pairing, Breakside Kriek with Brett, pairing of Pastorale from Sartori of WI, a sheep and cow milk cheese Upper Lip Fruit Beer with Cheese Bar beer and cheese pairing, 10 Barrel Strawberry Crush with its strong fresh strawberry puree flavor and it is so sad that this was a one-off keg made exclusively for this event. I hope they made more of it. A lot more. This was my favorite beer of the event. Paired with Pastorale from Sartori of WI, a sheep and cow milk cheese

The next cheese pairing was Adnatou from Black Sheep, a WA sheep and cow cheese. This was paired with the Breakside Beaujolais Avec Brett and the 10 Barrel Apricot Crush. Both of these beers were amazing- the Beaujolais Avec Brett is a strong ale with a bit of sourness thanks to being fermented wild yeast  and bacteria and use of Oregon grown Gamay grapes. It was really enjoyed by some at my table, while I was hoping for a bit more sourness. Meanwhile, the 10 Barrel Apricot Crush was my second favorite beer of the event with its complexity of flavors.
Upper Lip Fruit Beer with Cheese Bar beer and cheese pairing, Breakside Beaujolais Avec Brett is a strong ale with a bit of sourness thanks to being fermented wild yeast  and bacteria and use of Oregon grown Gamay grapes. Paired with Adnatou from Black Sheep, a WA sheep and cow cheese Upper Lip Fruit Beer with Cheese Bar beer and cheese pairing, 10 Barrel Apricot Crush. Paired with Adnatou from Black Sheep, a WA sheep and cow cheese

The last pairing was the Smokey Blue cow cheese from Rogue Creamery OR. I admit I actually started with this cheese and its beers because I had really been curious about these two beers the most. The beers here were the Breakside Smoked Apple Ale and the 10 Barrel Cucumber Crush. The Smoked Apple Ale was a mix of smoked malt, freshly pressed apple juice, and apple pie spices but I guess I built it too much in my head as I was disappointed by how subtle the flavors were.
Upper Lip Fruit Beer with Cheese Bar beer and cheese pairing, Breakside Smoked Apple Ale was a mix of smoked malt, freshly pressed apple juice, and apple pie spices
On the other hand, the Cucumber Crush was all you would expect it to be in terms of being super light and refreshing, like cucumber water but so much better because it’s a BerlinerWeiss beer (all 3 10 Barrel fruit beers here, and all the beers of their Crush series, are Berliner Weiss style which then have various fruits added). I would drink this all summer long if I could get it.
Upper Lip Fruit Beer with Cheese Bar beer and cheese pairing, 10 Cucumber Crush was all you would expect it to be in terms of being super light and refreshing, like cucumber water but so much better because it's a BerlinerWeiss beer (all 3 10 Barrel fruit beers here, and all the beers of their Crush series, are Berliner Weiss style which then have various fruits added). Paired with Smokey Blue cow cheese from Rogue Creamery OR.

This was a fantastic event- I loved that it offered tastings of beer with cheese pairings, and it was incredible to be able to get access to 10 Barrel Crush series beers. The event was ticketed and sold out, which allowed us plenty of room up stairs to enjoy sitting at a table and chatting with other beer and cheese aficionados in a relaxing atmosphere without the usual loud “wooooos” or lines of a normal beer fest. No worrying about balancing a drink and cheese here!

There is a confirmed rumor first published by Brewpublic and then confirmed by Eater that 10 Barrel will be opening a pub here in Portland in the former Mellow Mushroom space by mid-summer, and I eagerly hope that the rumors turn out to be true!Of course depending on what they do with the space whether it’s mid-summer or end of this year or who knows when we’ll have to see.

I should also let you know that this coming Saturday the 26th that Bailey’s Taproom is holding their annual Germanfest– check out the beer list and see if you are interested! Usually I am torn between attending Germanfest and the Eat Mobile food cart festival, but this year they moved Eat Mobile to Sunday the 27th, so I will be at Germanfest this year. This 4th annual GermanFest will feature German style beers brewed by Oregon breweries as the name suggests (including 10 Barrel German Sparkle Party Berlinerweiss and Breakside Ice Smoked Eisbock) with general admission beginning at 2 PM and until close (you purchase beers as you order them, no admission fee).

There are a few advance entry VIP tickets for $20 (which is what I got). These tickets include five tastes but also allow entrance two hours earlier from 12-2 PM, providing a less frenzied experience as well as guaranteeing a seat somewhere in a far less crowded bar. I also like to bring a cheese plate with me to enjoy the beers, but as Baileys doesn’t serve food you can also feel free to order Santeria Mexican food from next door.

If you are interested in trying some fruit beer, also check out the taps at Breakside Brewing as some of these beers are available (check out the video below that highlights how they made the fruit beer in partnership with Oregon Fruit Products).

Finally, be sure to look forward to the Portland Fruit Beer Festival– tickets for this June 7 – 8 event are already on sale at $20 general admission Saturday 11am-9pm or Sunday 11am-6pm, or go for $30 VIP admission on Friday June 6 4-9pm and limited to 400 VIP guests + supposedly a few special tappings.

The festival will be held Burnside Brewing at 701 SE Burnside again. Burnside Brewing will be open, so you can still get a cheese plate to compliment your beers, or my personal favorite their cohiba cigar and/or beer cheese curds on their menu!

Aren’t you inspired to have some cheese and beer now? I am just writing this post! If you would like some tips on pairing beer and cheese, check out this great post “Cheese and Beer Pairing Tips From Steve Jones of Portland’s Cheese Bar” from Serious Eats with pointers from Steve while at this event himself (and also photos from this event!)

What kind of fruit beer would you want to try?

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Zwickelmania 2014 Overview

February 12, 2014 by 2 Comments

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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Two Goats Brewery, Horseheads Brewery, Fly Creek Cider Mill

October 14, 2013 by 6 Comments

So after talking about Surfing Goat Dairy in Hawaii, I wanted to transition to Two Goats Brewery, Horseheads Brewery, and the Fly Creek Cider Mill and Orchard. These were part of a trip to upstate New York I took at the end of September in order to witness the beautiful wedding of Sarah and Jarrett at the Seneca Springs Resort over looking Seneca Lake.

First of all, what are the chances within a month I would be visiting another place with goat in the name? Two Goats Brewing is in a prime location along the Route 414 which winds along the east side of the Seneca Lake (one of the Finger Lakes, several lakes that are long and narrow facing north-south, and almost looks on a map like finger scratches), on the same road as many wineries for when you want a break from circling the wine country around this lake, sampling wines.

The Two Goats building, a renovated barn, is set back a little bit from the road on a rocky unpaved road so make sure you slow down so you can make the turn. But, you’ll soon see why- the tasting room sits back on the top of a hill overlooking the lake, and they have a big deck in the back where you can enjoy your beers with the view.

View from the back deck of Two Goats Brewing View from the back deck of Two Goats Brewing

Two Goats feels like a dive bar inside- random sized bar art covering all over the walls, darts, the only food are roast beef sandwiches, there are dollar bills all over the ceiling. When we visited they had 6 of their own beers available, including two mixes: one which I tried was called the “Dirty Butt”, which is a mix of their two beers the Dirty Shepard Brown and Cream Ale. I also really enjoyed the Whiskey Richard, has the complexity of whiskey aging from Finger Lakes Distilling barrels (the distillery is just down the street!) but oatmeal stout base still clear in the flavor profile. They also have a nice bottle selection. Everything is very reasonably priced at about $4-6 for draft or $3.5-8 for various 12-16 oz bottles, $12 for 22 oz bottles.

Two Goats Brewing Two Goats Brewing

The sun came out eventually from behind the clouds, and then I was able to enjoy the sunset from their back deck.

View from Two Goats Brewing back deck View from Two Goats Brewing back deck View from Two Goats Brewing back deck View from Two Goats Brewing back deck

While at the bar of Two Goats, the bartenders highly recommended we visit Horseheads Brewing. It was vaguely on the way to Cooperstown, so we decided to make it an after lunch stop. We were really glad we did- it is a very unassuming lil tasting room that is bare bones- just shelves of many kinds of glasses and growlers, a small cooler with some of their bottles, and then a standup bar that fits maybe 6 people where you can go through a tasting of their beers. The tasting fee is $3 or $5, the pours are the same but you get to keep the tasting glass and so the difference in price really correlates with which of the many tasting glasses you want to take with you!

We were able to taste 8 beers, many which were great beers- particularly outstanding was the well balanced Pumpkin Ale (a steal at only $5.99 a bottle), the nicely nutty Newton Brown, the well layered in flavors Lager-Rhythm Dark, and a spicy but not overly so (again, consistent balance) jalapeno beer Hot-Jala-Heim. We were also fortunate enough because a bottle was open by another visitor (who eventually bought a whole case of them!) to taste the dangerously delicious but high ABV Domination barleywine. If you are in the area, take a break from the wine and try this great little bare bones hole in the wall tasting room!

Horseheads Brewing in Horseheads New York Beer sample at Horseheads Brewing, NY - Chemung Canal Towpath Ale Beer sample at Horseheads Brewing, NY - Pale Expedition Ale Domination Ale by Horseheads Brewing. Domination Ale by Horseheads Brewing. Doesn't taste boozy like the 12 percent abv it is!

After reaching Cooperstown by late afternoon, we stopped for about an hour at the Fly Creek Cider Mill and Orchard. What does this have to do with goats, or cheese, or beer? Not much. Well, Fly Creek does have a huge marketplace store which includes at least a hundred different dip mixes (sampling is encouraged), all sorts of james and creamed honey and hot sauces and salsas, cake and bread mixes, apples, fudge, and yes local cheeses (I really liked the Applewood Smoked Sharp Cheddar). It was a lot of fun snacking through, trying so many products of New York state. They also have various fruit wines and hard ciders. Nothing says fall to me as much as fresh apple cider- and the pamphlet even offers you coupon for a free tasting of an apple cider slushie!

Apple Cider Slushie at Fly Creek Cider Mill Apple Cider Slushie at Fly Creek Cider Mill Apple Cider Slushie at Fly Creek Cider Mill

They also had a back area where you could feed geese and ducks. The kid in me was so so thrilled to have them nubbing out of my hand. I was very stubborn about feeding them- I had not a single quarter, but then found a change machine by the barn and tried several different dollar bills (doing the normal trying to straighten and smoothing in between tries), very very determined to get more quarters so we can feed all the ducks and geese along the fence, not just the ones by the deck over the pond. I was also very into even distribution among the fowl. But it was worth it! They had a interesting variety of geese and ducks, including ones I have not seen before.

Feeding 25 cents worth of corn kernels to geese and ducks at Fly Creek Cider Mill Feeding 25 cents worth of corn kernels to geese and ducks at Fly Creek Cider Mill Feeding 25 cents worth of corn kernels to geese and ducks at Fly Creek Cider Mill, like this duck with a fro Feeding 25 cents worth of corn kernels to geese and ducks at Fly Creek Cider Mill

I also loved how fluffy these Sebastopols geese were. Apparently they have a curled feather “mutation”, but seriously… I just call it FLUFFY!

Feeding 25 cents worth of corn kernels to geese and ducks at Fly Creek Cider Mill Feeding 25 cents worth of corn kernels to geese and ducks at Fly Creek Cider Mill Feeding 25 cents worth of corn kernels to fluffy Sebastopols geese at Fly Creek Cider Mill Feeding 25 cents worth of corn kernels to fluffy Sebastopols geese at Fly Creek Cider Mill Feeding 25 cents worth of corn kernels to fluffy Sebastopols geese at Fly Creek Cider Mill Feeding 25 cents worth of corn kernels to fluffy Sebastopols geese at Fly Creek Cider Mill

Do you like feeding animals and going to the petting zoo… even if you don’t have kids, or if you take your kids you get your own times for petting of animals for the childlike thrill part of yourself?

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