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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Portland Beer & Cheese Fest 2013

June 17, 2013 by 13 Comments

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!

KPTV – FOX 12

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