Saturday February 19th 2011 was the third annual Zwickelmania. Zwickelmania is hosted by the Oregon Brewers Guild (OBG) and is a five hour statewide event in which many breweries throughout Oregon open their doors and offer visitors a chance to tour the breweries, meet the brewers, and sample their favorite beers… Various shuttle buses sponsored by Rogue or Brewvana drove different routes to take those who didn’t want to drive or bike/wanted to visit multiple breweries on a route in a row from stop to stop… and did I mention all for free? Amazing.

Each brewery has different offerings. The ones that I specifically set my sights on for my first time doing Zwickelmania were first choice, Laurelwood, that was offering cupcake and beer pairings. Meanwhile, Alameda’s free tastings were 2 beers: My Bloody Valentine (a Blood Orange Saison), and Caffeinated Bear (a special keg of their award winning Black Bear XX Stout infused with 3 pounds worth of cold-brewed Kobos coffee per keg) sounded interesting. Fellow enjoyer of deliciousness H wanted to see Columbia River Brewing (new to Portland and they had purchased the location of Laurelwood Pizza) and Upright (which we had both separately kept wanting to visit, but neither of us had ever been), both of which were also on the same route as my two top picks, so we headed out at 10:30 to start our brewery open house adventure on the N/NE route.

We decided to start with Columbia River Brewing. After parking the car along a neighborhood street, she risked my life by dashing out in front of an approaching car to cross the street but was cautious about crossing in front of a car that had to turn onto the street from a driveway. We still ended up at Columbia River Brewing before they opened at 11, and tried to casually peruse their food menu (highlighted by an offering we saw of a Black Angus Beef burger stuffed with bacon and cheese) and waited a few beats after they opened the doors.

This was their first time on Zwickelmania as well, and after they generously poured pretzels and some sliced hye roll onto serving platters and offered glasses of water, Rick the brewer took us on a tour. He talked about the various barley he uses- he sometimes will even mix them, and he has in his recipe book more then 80 some recipes, some which are 200 years old. He also told us about how he became a brewer, which started with a short apprenticeship in England where he fell in love with beer and brewing while on vacation and started learning the ropes right there on vacation. Unfortunately we only had 30 some minutes before the shuttle was scheduled to stop, so we left as the group was starting to get samples directly from the tanks.

Smelling and tasting the samples of the grains ingredients that can be used in the beer recipes. I found it endearing that they were labeled using obviously hand-torn paper from a notepad that advertised a drug (Clavamax- which is an antibiotic for dogs and cats!). Also, their old school tanks, which are not automated/computerized – the only technology is monitoring the temperature.

Next stop was Laurelwood Public House and Brewery. They had advertised that they would be pouring four, but they actually gave out samples of five, although only four were officially paired with a dessert item. The beer samples included the Organic Expresso Stout, Beer X, and Vanilla Porter at one table, and at a smaller stand the Moose and Squirrel Imperial Stout and the Bourbon Olde Reliable Barleywine. This was definitely the highlight for me of all the brewery stops.

The chocolate cupcake with expresso whipped cream was paired with the Laurelwood organic expresso stout. The expresso stout has a coffee taste profile to it that comes out quite clearly, while the cupcake was moist and perfect. Ok, I had two of them. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was true of other tasters too… we got there 20 minutes before the Laurelwood posted opening time of noon, but they were already pouring and tasting, and a little bit later they had to bring out the big refills of the food, and those cupcakes were being displayed on the real working instead of the pretty trays. That tray made such a welcoming sight for your eyes though upon first entering the crowded little tankroom (though we saw a loft lounge on the 2nd floor!)

The chocolate cupcake with chili is paired with the Laurelwood vanilla porter. The chocolate cupcake with chili just had a little bit of that chili dusting on the cream to balance out the sweet and bitter that was present in the vanilla porter. Meanwhile, the dried cherry and orange peel chocolate bark was paired with the Laurelwood Beer X so that the fruit tartness could further add to the complexity of Beer X. I also used the bark to balance out the Moose and Squirrel Russian Imperial Stout, which was too bitter for my liking.

Our favorite pairing of the day was the smokey ginger and bacon cookie sandwich with maple cream filling, paired with the bourbon barrel aged Olde Reliable barley wine. The cookie was huge and chewy, and since the barleywine has a bitter finish, the sugar on the ginger cookie could add a bit of sweetness along with the maple cream, while the little pieces of chopped bacon in the cookie gave it a bit of savory salt

Next stops, and with less pictures, were Alameda and Upright. Alameda‘s offering My Bloody Valentine, a Blood Orange Saison, was amazing. I was expecting more blood orange undercurrent to it, so it was not quite what I expected, but still a beer to kick back and enjoy. Meanwhile the Caffeinated Bear (a special keg of their award winning Black Bear XX Stout infused with 3 pounds worth of cold-brewed Kobos coffee per keg) definitely had upped the intensity of the coffee flavor- up to tasting like it had a shot of expresso in my beer- without enough of the roast and chocolate to smooth it out, though I’m someone who likes sugar and cream with my coffee and would never drink a plain expresso.

At Upright‘s basement tasting room, we shared a $6 tasting tray (they had about 10 beers to choose from, though only half were their own and others were guest) as well as tasting a beer tapped from the tank by a brewer for free. Then we rode the Brewvana shuttle for the last time back to Columbia.

Thanks Brewvana, for the transport and the complimentary pretzel necklaces and bottled water, and we’d be interested to see what kind of tours you’ll be putting together (they open in April). The photo of the art on the top of the bus ceiling tells you their attitude towards beer.

Finally, it was time for food. We decided on Burnside Brewing- thanks H! We started with fries and she with oatmeal pale ale and I with the apricot wheat and scotch bonnet pepper ale. That pepper ale is basically like super jacked up pepperjack beer- difficult to drink on its own, but it actually was fine with my entree until I was full. On the other hand, we appreciated how the oatmeal added a touch of smooth cream, just a touch, to the pale ale. Fries were nothing special- just absorbers of grease (and alcohol, so there is that). Tossing this in a little bit of truffle oil or parmesan or garlic or adding interesting dips like cheese sauce or curry would have made this so much better. The fries, essentially, need something else.

For our entrees, H had the excellently executed Duck Menage a Trois which was cooked perfectly to crispness while still being moist with juices, while my super meaty and savory Thundering Stampede 3-meat meatloaf was also really good. My meaty entree of meatloaf was enhanced by the addition of buffalo and elk and then the whole thing wrapped in bacon made for some complex savoryness. The meat was accompanied along with some slightly undercooked fingerling potatoes (too bad, as I wanted it to wipe up all the juice on the plate) and the vinaigrette dressed greens which balanced the savory of the meat with just the right amount of acid. Did I mention how meaty savory good the meatloaf was? Great great entrees.

Just like the appetizer though, the dessert also disappointing. The description, Bacon-Maple Ice Cream Banana Split with Chocolate Stout Sauce, intrigued us from the start. I was expecting a stronger bacon profile- like chunks of bacon- with the ice cream, those flecks weren’t cutting it. Fifty Lick’s bacon ice cream is far superior. Still, if I wanted some good food with my beer and not just adequate food, as long as you’re ordering an entree, Burnside does offer more substantial complex entrees then any other brewery I’ve visited so far. It is gastropub rather then comfort food pub grub, aka restaurant quality entree that might draw you here even without the beer offerings (although the atmosphere here is standard northwest brewery- exposed ceiling, minimialist industrial with lots of wood to warm it up). Too bad the appetizer and dessert are still at the typical brewpub level, so not as standout and leads to an uneven menu.

Burnside is still so young though, so much potential is there. And, after reading the yelp reviews later, I wish I had tried the appetizer of Cohiba- I had noticed it when reading the menu but passed since I was interested in the entrees. The cohiba is a raved about offering of Duck Confit, crispy crepe, wrapped in collard greens. Maybe when we go back and get their dry Irish Stout, which was still on deck when we visited?