My Picks for Portland Fruit Beer Festival 2016

June 9, 2016 by 5 Comments

I’ll be at the festival on Friday [this post and the top picks list updated Friday 9PM after attending], but going in, here are my recommendations for the Portland Fruit Beer Festival 2016. If you haven’t heard of the Portland Fruit Beer Festival, it is part of Portland Beer Week (as I wrote about earlier this week) and is taking place this year from Friday June 10 – Sunday 12th at the North Park Blocks (entrance on NW Davis between 8th Avenue and Park Avenue). This is a move from the past at Burnside Brewing’s parking lot to a 40% larger space, plus now there is shade! As before, the Portland Fruit Beer Festival is also all ages, though you have to be of legal age to drink beer or cider.
Portland Fruit Beer Festival 2016 Poster

    • The hours of the festival are
      • Friday June 10th 11:30 AM – 9 PM
      • Saturday June 11th 11 AM – 9 PM
      • Sunday June 12th 11 AM – 6 PM
    • Cost of the festival are
      • Free admission to non-drinkers.
      • Advanced General Admission $25 for a 12 oz official Portland Fruit Beer Festival cup and 15 drink tickets (those who arrive Friday before 2:30 PM get an additional 3 drink tickets). The cups are plastic glasses.
        Portland Fruit Beer Festival 2016 plastic cup Portland Fruit Beer Festival 2016 plastic cup
      • At the Door General Admission $25 for a 12 oz official Portland Fruit Beer Festival cup and 12 drink tickets, but it is cash only at the door
      • The sample pours of the fruit beers and the ciders will be 1-3 tickets for a 4 ounce pour. When I was there on Friday, there were 12 beers that were 1 ticket a pour, and most were 2 tickets with a few smaller kegs being 3 tickets.
      • You can purchase additional drink tickets for $1. Cash only.
      • Once you have your wristband and cup, you do not need to pay to re-enter any of the days – you only need to have bring back the cup and drink tickets to drink.
      • In addition, you can purchase 12 ounces of beer via $3 can of Burnside Couch Lager and $4 cans of  Burnside IPA from Burnside Brewing’s Burnside Can Garden inside Festival. Cash only.

"4 Cider Riot taster at the Portland Fruit Beer Festival

My personal picks for the Portland Fruit Beer Festival 2016: note that although some of my samplers are modeled in last year’s festival glass, this year since they are in an outdoor park the 2016 glasses will be plastic similar to the Holiday Ale Fest.

I make my selection based on how appealing the combination of beer and fruit sounds, particularly rewarding uniqueness. When I taste the beer I look for balance but importantly also being able to clearly taste the fruit, and any fruity characteristics that come from hop or yeast doesn’t count it must be the fruit added in the brewing process. So many of the beers in the entire Festival lineup are decent beers I’m sure, but I’m looking for distinguishing fruit as a flavor thread as part of the beer. Here’s my top 10 list of what I look forward to…

  • The Commons: Butterflies Hovering a Saison with pineapple and kaffir lime leaves 5.9% ABV I’m a fan of The Commons farmhouse style beers. With the pineapple it may sound sweet, but was more lime.
  • Culmination Brewing: Sun Rey, a tea Radler brewed with Jasmine Pearl tea soda, lime and raspberries and kettle soured with lacto for a tart and refreshing summer sipper that offers tartness from the raspberries, citrus from the pineapple and lime, and additional depth of tea flavor. I tasted it at the media preview and wanted more! 4% ABV and 5 IBUs.
    Portland Fruit Beer Festival taste of a fruit beer as I pondered my Recommendations for the Portland Fruit Beer Festival 2016
  • Ex Novo Brewing: Cactus Wins the Lottery. Ex Novo felt that cactus deserved its day in the sun – or more honestly, apparently they heard the phrase on some Youtube video and wanted to brew a beer so they could use the meme saying. So this is reverse engineered beer to fit the name of a tart refreshing Berliner Weisse with the fruity punch of prickly pear cactus. They made 30 barrels of this so a few bottles may be found only after the festival at some bottle shops and New Seasons and Whole Foods. ABV 4.2%
    Ex Novo Brewing: Cactus Wins the Lottery. Ex Novo felt that cactus deserved its day in the sun - or more honestly, apparently they heard the phrase on some Youtube video and wanted to brew a beer so they could use the meme saying. So this is reverse engineered beer to fit the name of a tart refreshing Berliner Weisse with the fruity punch of prickly pear cactus.
  • 54-40 Brewing: Cucumber-Honeydew Bright Ale Crafted with nearly 400 lbs of honeydew melon and well over 100 cucumbers! I already love cucumbers as it is as I find them perfectly refreshing, and was really impressed as both the cucumber and honeydew truly comes through on this beer. 5% ABV 12 IBU
  • Fort George: Chasing the Dragon is a light bodied blonde Kettle sour with Dragonfruit, and black currant added post-fermentation. Slight sweetness with a tart finish where you start with a weird fruitness (maybe the dragonfruit) and finish with the black currant flavors. 5.4% ABV
  • Ruse Brewing: Patchwork (Strawberry Basil Tart) pours a pretty pastel pink and this tart ale is kettle soured then conditioned with a touch of basil and a copious amount of local strawberries which really come through in the nose and when you drink it, impressive since strawberry is so much work to get into beer with it’s delicate fruit! 4.8% ABV
  • 10 Barrel Brewing: Plum Spectacular, from Tonya comes a small batch kettle sour made especially for the Portland Fruit Beer Festival. It has a crisp, clean, assertive sourness with plums.  6.4% ABV and 10 IBU
  • 2 Towns Ciderhouse: 2 Thorns is a collaboration cider when 2 Towns Ciderhouse and Portland Thorns FC teamed up to create “Two Thorns”using fresh-pressed Northwest apples, Oregon grown blackberries, raspberries, & rose petals with a special Vinho Verde Portuguese yeast to create a striking floral and berry cider that I found refreshingly tangy. 6.2% ABV
  • Finnriver Farm & Cidery: Black Stave, special edition of Finnriver’s popular flagship Black Currant Cider, farmcrafted with organic Washington Granny Smith and Pink Lady apples, fermented dry, stave aged for depth and then married with an oaked, funky currant ferment for an extra special depth level of flavor. A limited release of the award winning, contemporary dark fruit cider made with wood. 6.5% Abv.
  • Portland Cider Co.: Boysenberry Hop blends Oregon boysenberry with an off-dry cider infused with citrus spice New Zealand hops. This is the first in Portland Cider Co.’s summer hop series limited release ciders and even though it looks very fruit forward like “screw the apples just me boysenberry is the star”, the actual flavors when we tried it were well balanced and not as sweet as it may appear as the hopped cider counter the fruit well.
    Portland Fruit Beer Festival taste of a cider as I pondered Recommendations for the Portland Fruit Beer Festival 2016
  • Reverend Nat’s Hard Cider: Spicy Mango Tepache (Pineapple Cider) is not actually a cider using apple at all, but all fermented pineapple, this year returning with a mango twist with the addition of Ghost Peppers and fresh mango juice to definitely make a spicy tepache with a great burn. Traditionally you mix this partially with beer so its’ 2/3 Tepache and 1/3 beer – not sure which would be the perfect beer mixer for this, though several of us at a media tasting also whispered how this would be so perfect at brunch with sparkling wine mixed in. 3.2% ABV

Honorable Mention: Sixpoint: Raspy Sauce (Raspberry Berliner-Weisse w/ Raspberry-Jalapeño syrup) made a special variation of the Sixpoint Lil’ Raspy for this year’s Fruit Beer Fest using Sixpoint Raspberry-Jalapeño syrup. I enjoyed this beer. F and I debated whether it should make the cut because he thought it was a cheat to use the syrup. However, berline-weiss beers are served with syrups, so I think it’s ok that it gets it’s extra raspberry  and spicy kick. 4.3% ABV
Portland Fruit Beer Festival 2016 Sixpoint Raspy Sauce beer, a special variation of the Sixpoint Lil’ Raspy for this year’s Fruit Beer Fest using Sixpoint Raspberry-Jalapeño syrup Portland Fruit Beer Festival 2016 Sixpoint Raspy Sauce beer, a special variation of the Sixpoint Lil’ Raspy for this year’s Fruit Beer Fest using Sixpoint Raspberry-Jalapeño syrup
On the Rare/Rotating Beers and Ciders list (with small kegs rotating throughout – see the full beer list with the rare beers list here in pdf), I hope I might be lucky enough to be around to taste the Breakside: Bourbon Barrel Aged Sour Rye Beer with Coconut

Food options at the festival will include

  • Hot Lips Pizza will be offering their pizza as well as sodas. Their specialty pizza includes their limited edition PDX Beer Week specials pizza, Beer Bratlips, a pizza with Smoked Carlton Farms bratwurst simmered in Subcontinental IPA with Tillamook extra-sharp cheddar, fresh onions, mozzarella, and a garlic Parmesan base finished with whole grain maple mustard glaze that also has beer in the mustard.
    HOT LIPS Pizza's Beer Bratlips, a pizza with Smoked Carlton Farms bratwurst with Tillamook extra-sharp cheddar, fresh onions, mozzarella, and a garlic parmesan base finished with whole grain maple mustard glaze
  • BUNK Sandwiches bringing their famous Pork Belly Cubano as an option and they usually have a seasonal vegetarian option and a grilled cheese too
    Bunk Sandwiches, Tommy Habetz, Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Apple Chutney, Gruyere & Horseradish sandwich
  • Urban German Grill offering bratwurst and pretzels
    North American Organic Brewers Festival, Urban German Grill North American Organic Brewers Festival, Urban German Grill
  • Fifty Licks Ice Cream brings you dessert with ice cream and sorbetsThe best dressed ice cream man I've ever seen... Chad Draizin of Fifty Licks and his ice cream truck

Do you like fruit beers? Do any of the beers I listed intrigue you, and what would be your ideal combo for a fruit beer – what kind of fruit?
4 ounce taster pour at Portland Fruit Beer Festival

Disclosure: I attended a media event to sample some of the Portland Fruit Beer Festival 2016 beers and ciders, but I purchased my own admission/tickets to the festival, and have been attending and highlighting this festival for years! I will always provide my honest opinion and assessment of all products and experiences I may be given. The views and opinions expressed in this blog are entirely my own.

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PDX Beer Week 2016 Highlights

June 6, 2016 by 4 Comments

This Thursday kicks off PDX Beer Week 2016, which lasts from June 9 to June 19. Yes, this is actually more than a week, but it’s been like that for years and I can’t complain about having more days to have more events to celebrate Portland beer. For these eleven days of fun, the events range from those showcasing new beers or particular beer styles to special collaboration food inspired or to be paired with beers. There are beer events for the beer geek like seminars, but there are also beer events that are accessible even to the casual or novice beer drinker like beer sampling.
Portland Beer Week June 9-19th 2016

In fact, there are quite a few limited edition collaborations available to celebrate Portland Beer Week 2016 that are beyond just drinking beer or beer events. Check out these special one off concoctions available at multiple locations throughout the duration of the 11 days of June 9-19.
Portland Beer Week 2016 special beer inspired food Blue Star Donuts S'more Beer donut, a chocolate beer mousse filled donut with toasted marshmallow topping.

  • Portland Brewing & Double Mountain‘s official beer of the 2016 Portland Beer Week – Subcontinental IPA. This is a ~7% ABV northwest IPA brewed with Indian spices like pepper, cardamom, clove, cumin and saffron. These spices highlight the beer’s biscuity malt base and tropical fruit hop notes, and I was surprised as the beer warmed a bit how the spices became more prominent and really tasty, particularly the cardamom and cumin for me. You can find 22 oz bottles at local beer bottle shops as well as Whole Foods who is doing a special free tasting at all their Portland Whole Foods locations on Friday June 10 and Wednesday June 16, as well as of course at the Portland Brewing and Double Mountain taprooms.
    Portland Brewing & Double Mountain's official beer of the 2016 Portland Beer Week - Subcontinental IPA. This is a ~7% ABV northwest IPA brewed with Indian spices like pepper, cardamom, clove, cumin and saffron Portland Brewing & Double Mountain's official beer of the 2016 Portland Beer Week - Subcontinental IPA. This is a ~7% ABV northwest IPA brewed with Indian spices like pepper, cardamom, clove, cumin and saffron
  • Bunk Sandwiches Beer Week Fried Chicken Sandwich, a SubContinental IPA brined buttermilk fried chicken with bacon scallion aioli, hot sauce, maple & Pickopolis pickles. Available at Bunk Wonder during beer week. There is another beer sandwich, a sloppy joe made with Good Life Cash stout, is also available at Bunk Bar Water.
    Bunk Sandwiches Beer Week Fried Chicken Sandwich, a SubContinental IPA brined buttermilk fried chicken with green onion & bacon aioli, hot sauce, maple & pickles. Available at Bunk Wonder during beer week. Bunk Sandwiches Beer Week Fried Chicken Sandwich, a SubContinental IPA brined buttermilk fried chicken with green onion & bacon aioli, hot sauce, maple & pickles. Available at Bunk Wonder during beer week.
  • HOT LIPS Pizza’s Beer Bratlips, a pizza with Smoked Carlton Farms bratwurst simmered in Subcontinental IPA with Tillamook extra-sharp cheddar, fresh onions, mozzarella, and a garlic Parmesan base finished with whole grain maple mustard glaze. This will be available at all six HOTLIPS pizza locations.
    HOT LIPS Pizza's Beer Bratlips, a pizza with Smoked Carlton Farms bratwurst simmered in Subcontinental IPA with Tillamook extra-sharp cheddar, fresh onions, mozzarella, and a garlic parmesan base finished with whole grain maple mustard glaze. This will be available at all six HOTLIPS pizza locations. for Portland Beer Week 2016 HOT LIPS Pizza's Beer Bratlips, a pizza with Smoked Carlton Farms bratwurst simmered in Subcontinental IPA with Tillamook extra-sharp cheddar, fresh onions, mozzarella, and a garlic parmesan base finished with whole grain maple mustard glaze. This will be available at all six HOTLIPS pizza locations. for Portland Beer Week 2016 HOT LIPS Pizza's Beer Bratlips, a pizza with Smoked Carlton Farms bratwurst simmered in Subcontinental IPA with Tillamook extra-sharp cheddar, fresh onions, mozzarella, and a garlic parmesan base finished with whole grain maple mustard glaze. This will be available at all six HOTLIPS pizza locations. for Portland Beer Week 2016 HOT LIPS Pizza's Beer Bratlips, a pizza with Smoked Carlton Farms bratwurst simmered in Subcontinental IPA with Tillamook extra-sharp cheddar, fresh onions, mozzarella, and a garlic parmesan base finished with whole grain maple mustard glaze. This will be available at all six HOTLIPS pizza locations. for Portland Beer Week 2016
  • I tried Beer Bratwurst especially made for the Portland Brewing Taproom by SP Provisions using about 30 gallons of beer for every 100 pounds when making the bratwurst, and then the sausage is further cooked by simmering it in the beer and then you can enjoy it with the beer mustard!. Definitely for me this bratwurst is the best food pairing with the beer itself – or any beer, any time of year,
    SP Provisions bratwurst is especially made for Portland Brewing, and includes using about 30 gallons of beer for every 100 pounds when making the sausage, and then the sausage is further cooked in the beer and then you can enjoy it with the beer mustard. Definitely for me this bratwurst is the best food pairing with the beer itself - or any beer, any time of year! SP Provisions bratwurst is especially made for Portland Brewing, and includes using about 30 gallons of beer for every 100 pounds when making the sausage, and then the sausage is further cooked in the beer and then you can enjoy it with the beer mustard. Definitely for me this bratwurst is the best food pairing with the beer itself - or any beer, any time of year!
  • Blue Star Donuts S’more Beer donut, an IPA chocolate mousse filled donut with toasted marshmallow topping. I mean, just look at this beauty.
    Blue Star Donuts S'more Beer donut, a chocolate beer mousse filled donut with toasted marshmallow topping. Blue Star Donuts S'more Beer donut, a chocolate beer mousse filled donut with toasted marshmallow topping.
  • Salt & Straw Ice Cream’s Garam Masala & Hops, a special ice cream that uses a combination of Indian spices and hop that match the same ones used by the Subcontinental IPA, plus chunks of dark molasses cake. This was my favorite of all the 4 beer “foods” inspired by the beer I tried! This flavor is available exclusively at Wiz Bang Bar at Pine Street Market.
    Salt & Straw Ice Cream's Garam Masala & Hops, a special ice cream that uses a combination of Indian spices and hop that match the same ones used by the Subcontinental IPA, plus chunks of molasses cake Salt & Straw Ice Cream's Garam Masala & Hops, a special ice cream that uses a combination of Indian spices and hop that match the same ones used by the Subcontinental IPA, plus chunks of molasses cake

I have attended events of PDX Beer Week every year -and here’s a summary of events I wanted to highlight during this beer celebration week. For the full list of PDX Beer Week events, see their PDX Beer Week 2016 Events Calendar.

  • For any of you IPA lovers, El Segundo Brewing from California is having a launch party Thursday, June 9 6 – 10 PM starring their very hop forward, taking place naturally at beer bar N.W.I.P.A. Then a week later, also at N.W. I.P.A., on Friday June 17 5 PM on attend the 3-Way IPA party that offers the 3 Way IPA on tap as well as IPAs from all three of the 3 Way IPA collaborators of Fort George, Barley Brown’s, and Melvin Brewing
  • Pair beer and food at a great value on Thursday June 9 6 – 9 PM. For $40 per person at The Beer Belly Dinner with Ecliptic at Eastburn you get 5 courses paired with five Ecliptic beers – see the menu at the link. Proceeds from the dinner will benefit The Jeremy Wilson Foundation, a nonprofit health and service organization supporting musicians and their families during medical emergencies.
  • One of my favorite beer festivals every year is the Portland Fruit Beer Festival. This year it has finally moved from the Burnside Brewing parking lot, which it has outgrown, to the shady North Park Blocks (NW 8th and Davis) with 40% more room and did I mention shade? Running from Friday, June 10 – Sunday June 12 this festival offers fruit beers, ciders for the gluten free, food trucks for eats and live music, and is all ages.
    Portland Fruit Beer Festival 2016 Poster
    I’ve highlighted Portland Fruit Beer Festival beers in the past in 2015 and 2014 and I’m going this year as well. I often go multiple times because of special tap beers they tap over the days. This year 29 breweries and 7 cideries are offering 36 regularly pouring taps of beers, plus 24 additional rare and rotating tap lines. Look for my personal picks list on Thursday and which I’ll update after attending on Friday!

  • For an alternate festival, celebrate  at the 1 night Rye Beer Festival with 20 Rye Beers from 20 participating breweries and Rye Beer Cocktails at Eastburn from Friday June 10 from 4 PM – 2 AM. Part of the proceeds of the Rye Beer Festival will benefit the Children’s Cancer Association. This year, highlights of the Rye Beer Festival include a whiskey back card offered for $10 that includes (3) 1/2 ounce shots of Russell’s Reserve Rye, Knob Creek Rye and Wild Turkey Rye and Jacob Grier will be creating a special rye beer cocktail combining specially brewed Rye Beer Festival official beer Back Pedal Brewing’s Oatmeal Ryesin Cookie beer with rye whiskey and other ingredients and other cocktails. At 10pm the fest will offer live music from The Cure cover band The Xploding Boys (no cover of you’re in by 8:30, and remember the proceeds go towards a great cause anyway). 
  • For a different take on beers in a new way, the Randallized Beer Fest being held on Saturday June 11 (free, just pay for what you drink) at Imperial Taproom offers local beers poured through Randalls containing a variety of interesting ingredients to add new twists of flavors.
  • If you love Sour Beers, Saraveza Bottle Shop and Pasty Tavern on Saturday June 11 and Sunday June 12 all day will be pouring Cascade Brewing as part of a Cascade Invasion that includes a special Saraveza blend as well as Elderberry Blond, Nectarine Dream, Rose City Sour and Mixed Plum while also “putting out a massive selection of vintage Cascade bottles that we’ve been hoarding” for you to purchase.
    Saraveza's Flight of Five Chili and Smoked Beers for Fire & Brimstone... Burnside Sweet Heat always glows in the glass it seems (front right)
    For a more serious sour beer education, attend the Sour & Wild Ale Seminar presented by Oregon State University and panelists like Trevor Rogers (De Garde Breiwng), Christian de Benedetti (Wolves & People), Alex Ganum (Upright Brewing), Matt van Wyk (Alesong Brewing & Blending and formerly Oakshire) and Ben Edmunds (Breakside Brewery) at Tuesday, June 14 at 5:30 PM at Upright Brewing.
    There’s even a sour beer festival, courtesy of Imperial hosting the Sour Solstice Sour Beer Festival on Saturday June 18 and a dozen sour beers to choose from on tap.
    Sour Beer Solstice for Portland Beer Week 2016
    If you’re really into bourbon barrel aged Cascade, although not technically part of Portland Beer Week, Cascade is having Bourbon Barrel Week.5 from June 7-19 at Cascade Brewing and Raccoon Lodge.
  • I always want to promote beer pairings with food, so if you’re out in the Happy Valley area come out on Sunday June 12 3 PM – 6 PM to the Happy Valley Station Food Cart Pod with Alameda, Base Camp, Coalition, and Culmination breweries bringing beer out to the 24 food carts in a structure location, and the food carts will be offering Open House Special where Food Samples are $1, $2, & $3 so you can try all the food carts.
  • There are always new breweries opening up in Oregon so it may be heard to track them all. Thankfully there is the 101 on the newbies all at once that you can attend via the  New Oregon Breweries Showcase, this year happening at Bailey’s Taproom on Monday June 13 noon – midnight. The showcase will introduce you to 11 new breweries from Oregon, all opened within the last year and you will get a chance to meet the brewers and owners 5 – 8 PM as well as enjoy beers from newcomers Wolves & People Farmhouse Brewery, Alesong Brewing & Blending, Ruse Brewing, Freebridge Brewing, Ancestry Brewing, Public Coast Brewing, Great Notion Brewing and more TBA. I will be at this event if you want to say hi!
    New School presents the New Oregon Breweries Showcase 2016
  • Another exciting beer pairing dinner is Maya Lovelace of Mae PDX and her fried chicken with six beers from Breakside, Ballast Point, and Fremont on Monday June 13 7 PM at Old Salt Marketplace. See the menu here that includes family style dinner with Carolina gold risotto with morels, ramps, and shelling peas; Buttermilk brined chicken skillet fried in 3 fats (bacon fat, chicken fat, and lard), Pimento mac and cheese, and Brown sugar pound cake studded with bourbon barrel smoked cocoa nibs, macerated strawberries, buttermilk vanilla whipped cream. See the link for the full dinner and beer pairing list and if there any of the tickets left!
    Skillet Fried Chicken with Crystal Hot Sauce and the gorgeous skillet of Creamed Corn with Summer Savory and Smoked Soy Skillet Fried Chicken with Crystal Hot Sauce
  • How about Barrel Aged Beer and Bacon? Also on Monday June 13 6 PM – 11 PM Saraveza Bottle Shop and Pasty Tavern welcomes Fremont Brewing with BBF (Bacon Best Friend) Zeph from Proletariat Butchery passing out FREE samples of his delicious meat as Fremont brings taproom only and barrel aged beers with them for Fremont Bacon Night.
    Fremont Brewing Tap Takeover at Upper Lip Schwag!
  • Also on Monday June 13 is an opportunity to see how beer pairs with sushi when Roscoe’s and Miyamoto Sushi pair up to offer four courses of sushi paired with pFriem Family Brewers Oude Kriek, Crux Fermentation Project Apricot Wild Farmhouse Ale, The Commons Brewery, and Breakside Brewery. The cost for the 4 courses of Sushi and Beers is $25, just  show up any time at Roscoe’s between 4:30 and 8:30 PM or until they run out.
  • If you are a Belgian Beer aficionado, look to the 5th Annual Battle of the Belgian beers with 4 Belgian beers versus 4 US Belgian-inspired styles on Tuesday, June 14 between 5-9 PM at Bazi Bierbrasserie with $15 for all eight 5 ounce tasters.
    The next day, on Wednesday June 15 Bazi presents the annual Mussels from Brussels with five breweries (Breakside , Fat Head’s, Lompoc, pFriem, and Upright), five secret sauces created by each brewery for dipping in one pound of mussels served with fries, and paired with their Belgian-inspired beer, and you judge who is the winner. Seating for you/audience judges will take place every 30 minutes between 5:30-8:30 PM.
  • One of my favorite festivals all year is this one pairing Beer and Cheese at the Portland Beer and Cheese Festival (already sold out!), this year at the on Saturday, June 18 1 – 5 PM at Wayfinder Beer. Expertly pairing samples of beer with a sample of cheese times ten. 10 different beers from 10 different breweries with 10 amazing cheeses paired by Cheesemonger Steve Jones of Cheese Bar. Your ticket price include sample of each plus complimentary samples of Xocolatl de David artisian chocolates and charcuterie and meats from Wayfinder chef Rodney Muirhead. To get an idea of the experience, check out my recap of last year’s event.
    Portland Beer and Cheese Fest 2015, pairing of Firestone Walker Lil Opal with Ferns Edge Mt June goat cheese from Oregon along with some Olympia Provisions charcuterie and Woodblock Chocolate Portland Beer and Cheese Fest 2015, pairing of Fat Heads Rye bock with Willamette Valley Cheese Brindisi cow cheese from Oregon
  • A new closing event for Portland Beer week this year is SNACKDOWN! on Sunday June 19th 12 – 4 PM at The Evergreen event space above Loyal Legion. SNACKDOWN! is a food and beer pairing event where 10 of Portland Chefs and 10 Oregon Brewers are paired into 10 Brewer/Chef teams to make their greatest snack and beer pairing. Guests will choose their favorite pairing and the winning team will be awarded the SNACKDOWN Belt! This event is designed to be more loose than a traditional beer pairing dinner. DJ Rev Shines will be keeping the party live, while the atmosphere is styled like a WWF style Smackdown with brewers and chefs hyping their pairing on the mic – possibly while sporting wrestling themed costume. WHAT? Yeah I will totally be there.
    Snackdown Portland Beer Week 2016 Closing Party
    The 10 Brewer/Chef teams include:

Are you going to any of the Portland Beer week events? Do any of those beer inspired items sound like something you want to try?

Disclosure: I attended a preview of the Limited Edition Portland Beer Week treats and a Portland Fruit Beer Festival media preview, but I was already planning on writing the Portland Beer Week post before the media previews, and I was not asked or compensated for this post and I purchased/pay my own way at any PDX Beer Week events I attend. I will always provide my honest opinion and assessment of all products and experiences I may be given. The views and opinions expressed in this blog are entirely my own.

 

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PDX Beer Week 2015 and other Drink Festivals of June

June 8, 2015 by 6 Comments

This year, PDX Beer Week 2015 falls upon this coming Thursday June 11 – Sunday June 21. Yes, it’s more than an actual week/7 days, but I have forgiven that long ago. You can see the full event list here, but I wanted to point my personal top picks. And, not all of them even involve drinking beer – there is for instance, also beer food.

Beer and Food

  • My favorite event of PDX Beer Week is always the Portland Beer and Cheese Festival. I always go to this event, and you can see my previous recaps from the Portland Beer and Cheese Fest 2014, then 2013, then 2012. As usual, it falls on Father’s Day (Sunday June 21st) from 12 – 5 PM. This year it takes place at the new The Commons Brewery location on 7th and East Belmont. For $35, you get to try 10 paired craft beers and cheeses: the 4 ounce samples of beers come from 10 different breweries and your cheesemaster for the pairings is the famous Steve Jones of Cheese Bar and Chizu.
    Portland Beer and Cheese Festival 2014, a pairing of beer and cheese, here Pfriem Family Brewers Saison with Satori – Pastorale – cow and sheep – Wisconsin 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 Lompoc Brewing Bourbon Barrel Aged Dark Side Porter with Cascadia Creamery – Glacier Blue – cow – Washington
    As in the previous year, you can enjoy complimentary free charcuterie from Olympia Provisions. And new this year you can also nosh on complimentary chocolate from local makers Woodblock Chocolate.
    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 Portland Beer and Cheese Festival 2014, an event pairing beer and cheese, and you can graze on Olympic Provisions charcuterie
    This is a 21 + only event. Tickets are on sale now and they usually sell out so buy ahead of time.
    Portland Beer and Cheese Festival 2015
  • For an alternate Father’s Day celebration where you can bring the whole family, consider the Father’s Day Brewgrass and BBQ. On Sunday June 21st Portland Brewing is celebrating dads with live Bluegrass music from 1 – 4 PM, BBQ Specials all day, and kids eat for free from their kids menu with each paying adult.
    This entire month of July 2014, Portland Brewing is donating a portion from every case or growler of ZigZag River Lager (growlers must be purchased at the Portland Brewing Co Taproom, cases must be purchased in the state of Oregon) sold back to our Northwest waters via Sandy River Basin Watershed Council. This entire month of July 2014, Portland Brewing is donating a portion from every case or growler of ZigZag River Lager (growlers must be purchased at the Portland Brewing Co Taproom, cases must be purchased in the state of Oregon) sold back to our Northwest waters via Sandy River Basin Watershed Council.
  • There are two Food Cart + Beer events on the calendar for PDX Beer Week. These events will be hosted by Steven Shomler, author of the book Portland Food Cart Stories and the new book Portland Beer Stories, as well as the host of Tasty Tuesday Radio Show on Portland Radio Project. Steve is a great guy who really goes into the stories behind food and beer, aka the people, the idea, the passion and hard work. He has invited other Portland culinary authors to these events, and the Food Carts at these respective Food Cart Pods are working on special dishes to go with the beer.
    • June 17th 6-10 PM the Food Carts and Beer event is at the Carts on Foster Food Cart (52nd and Foster) featuring beer from Sasquatch Brewing Company with additional watering hole beverages by Pod Bar, fantastic breakfast and brunch food from Egg Carton, the crazy good burgers from Angry Unicorn, and desserts and sweets by the food cart Sugar Shop.
      The Angry Unicorn food truck's Unicorn Burger, made with Unicorn meat a magical meat with ground bacon, strips of bacon, cheddar on a Krispy Kreme glazed doughnut
      The Angry Unicorn food truck’s Unicorn Burger, made with “Unicorn meat” a magical meat with ground bacon, strips of bacon, cheddar on a Krispy Kreme glazed doughnut
    • Then, June 18th 6-10 PM the Food Carts and Beer event takes place at Pod 28 (28th and Ankeny, just off of Burnside) featuring the beer of Coalition Brewing and Pod 28 participants like the outdoor beer garden with Captured Beer Bus, the tortas of Guero Food Cart, grilled pizza from Pulehu Pizza, and vegetarian and Middle Eastern food from Wolf and Bear.
      Pizza and breadstick from Pulehu Pizza along with beer from The Drinking Lot
      Pizza and breadstick from Pulehu Pizza
  • Throughout June 11 – June 21, Bunk Sandwiches is offering 2 sandwiches, with Bunk Bar Wonder serving both and Bunk Bar SE Water only serving the official Portland Beer Week Sandwich. Check out pics of the sandwich (as well as the ice cream and donut I mention below) at the beer blog Portland Craft Beer article Portland Beer Week Special Creations Preview
    • Official Portland Beer Week Sandwich: Beer Braised Brisket & Gravy Po Boy with Bitter Green Slaw and Herb Salad (made with Good Life Pass Stout) – $11 (Available at Bunk Bar Water and Wonder)
    • Extra Credit Beer Sandwich: Deluxe Queso Dip with Beer Braised Brisket (mMade with Good Life Pass Stout) – $8.50 (Available only at Bunk Bar Wonder)
  • The Portland Beer Week Ice Cream comes Salt & Straw and is a Citra Hop Ice Cream made from Breakside Tall Guy single hop Citra IPA and specked with actual Citra hop flakes. Available at special Portland Beer Week parties only, such as the Portland Beer Week & Fruit Beer Fest Kickoff Party & Pig Roast at Eastburn on Thursday June 11 6-9 PM or the Fremont Brewing & Breakside Brewery: Beer, Ice Cream, Donut Party on Saturday June 13 5-8 PM at Belmont Station.
  • The Portland Beer Week donut is the Blue Star Donuts Hopworks IPA cake donut with crumbled salty pretzels and is available starting June 11.

  • If you are looking for more sweetness than the donuts, consider pFriem Beer & Dessert Pairing Flight . All PDX Beer Week from June 11 – June 21 you can visit Bar Vivant/Pix Patisserie to try a flight of Pfriem Family Brewers beers paired with three bite-sized Pix desserts. Available all week for $20.
  • The 3rd Annual Mussels from Brussels at Bazi Bierbrasserie on Wednesday June 15 5 – 9 PM features 4 Oregon breweries each creating their own secret sauces to be used with 1 pound of mussels served with fries, and paired with their Belgian-inspired beer. Who will win the title of “Mussels from Brussels”? The previous two times this event was held, Upright Brewing won – will it be a three-peat? Tickets will be sold for one of the multiple seatings, which are in shifts.
  • If you are looking for a beer pairing dinner, The Lion’s Supper features Firestone Walker beer and David Walker, co-founder/owner of Firestone Walker Brewing and is hosted by Old Salt Marketplace with food by Chef Greg Smith from Grain and Gristle. Reserve your seat for Thursday June 11 6:30 pm ($75 per person for 5 courses and beer pairings) by emailing alex at oldsaltpdx.com
  • Sounds like a very nice Father’s Day gift: a reservation for the Lompoc Beer Whiskey Cigar Dinner at Radio Room on Tuesday June 16, 2015 7:30 PM The price of $69 you get a four course meal with Lompoc beer and High West Premium Whiskey pairings and at the end of the night a handcrafted cigar. Tickets available at 503-287-2346 or info at radioroompdx.com.

Beer Festivals

  • Rye Beer Fest at Eastburn from Friday June 12, 2015 4 PM – Saturday June 13, 2015 2 AM. The Festival is a benefit for Dawn to Dusk paddle fund for the Children’s Cancer Association. This festival, as expected from the name, feature more than 20 rye beers as well as rye cocktails, rye themed food and live music. The $10 admission fee includes a commemorative rye beer fest pint glass and eight beer tickets.
  • Portland Fruit Beer Festival in the lot of Burnside Brewing Co. featuring fruit beers, so it’s really one of a kind already, and add to that nearly every beer or cider featured at the festival have been brewed specifically for the Fruit Beer Festival, so a lot of one-off unique beers you may only see here this one time and that’s it. This festival is all ages and includes on-site food vendors though you could also choose to dine at Burnside Brewing’s restaurant. The festival runs in the evening on Friday June 12 4 PM – 9 PM and then opens at 11 AM – 9 PM on Saturday June 13th 11 AM – 9 PM, then on Sunday June 14th 11 AM – 6 PM. Cost is $20 for 12 tickets and a glass, tickets are on sale now. This years festival is 40% larger in space as they have expanded to an additional lot. I will have a post on Wed with some highlights from the Fruit Beer Fest list.
  • This free event (pay for the beer you drink) is The New School presenting their annual New Breweries Showcase at Bailey’s Taproom and The Upper Lip. Featuring 10 breweries that have opened within the last year from all over the state of Oregon with two beers featured from each one of the new breweries. The event runs all day but you can meet-the-brewers and The New School team from 5-8pm at Bailey’s.
  • I am pretty excited about the free event (pay for the beer you drink) of The Weird Beer Bonanza at Imperial Bottle Shop & Taproom on Wednesday June 17 5 – 10 PM. The event promises to offer beers that have interesting combinations, such as
    • Upright Orange Dream – farmhouse ale with an addition of Townshend’s No.72 herbal tea
    • Breakside Cedarbaumbier – amber wheat ale made with foraged Western red cedar tips and fresh ginger
    • Fort George Spruce Budd – a hopless brew made with nothing more than organic two-row malt and Spruce tips for ingredients
    • Ninkasi Ground Control Imperial Stout – brewed with yeast that’s been to space and back, hazelnuts, coca nibs and star anise
    • Payette/Ninkasi Magic Gardens Asian Pear and Lemongrass IPA
    • SixPoint Ever Upward Fuji Apple Wheat
    • Coalition Dill Dose Sour Pickle Ale
    • Oakshire Raspberry Ginger Berliner Weisse
    • 13 Virtues Morocco Mole Dunkel
    • Burnside Silence of the Lambs Irish Stout brewed w/ Grilled Lamb Hearts

    Imperial Bottle Shop and Taproom presents The Bruery and Coquine Beer Pairing Dinner. Here for course 4, Bruery Geriatric Hipster Club - beer equivalent of an Old-Fashioned; oak, bitters, orange peel

  • Then a few days later, on Saturday June 20 12:00 noon to Sunday June 21 10 PM Imperial Bottle Shop & Taproom is at it again with the Sour Solstice Berliner Weisse & Gose Festival. Taste 10 tart and refreshing, German-style sour wheat beers brewed by breweries across the States. They promise to have a selection of syrups for use in Berliner Weisses, including woodruff, Oregon berry, peach and others. Tickets will be $20 and include entry, commemorative glass, and 5 drink tickets.

Not PDX Beer Week… but also other Beer Events coming up…

There are two other events that are coming up, as long as I’m talking about beer.

  • The Oregon Garden Brewfest falls upon June 19 – June 21 this year, though given the location of the Oregon Garden in Silverton it’s not really part of PDX Beer Week. The festival is held indoors, but you can also explore the 80-acre botanical garden with your beer, so it’s lovely. The Oregon Garden Brewfest boasts 68 breweries, and live music, and on Sunday only since it’s Father’s Day, minors will be allowed (not allowed Fri or Sat).
  • The Portland International Beerfest at Holladay Park by the Lloyd Center on June 26 – 28, 2015. As previously the 3-day beer festival specializes in 200 world-class beers, several which are rare, hard-to-find, exotic beers. The beer festival is free to enter, has free parking, AND is across from the Max. You have to pay for any beer you drink, and the festival proceeds benefit Pet Cross and includes live music and some games (real darts, ping pong, croquet, cornhole, various other pub games etc.). A chance to try some rare beers and bid on baskets/snuggle puppies for charity? I’m there.
    "International International Beer Fest
    There are usually copies of the beer list at various bars (you will probably come across it at establishments you visit during PDX Beer Week in fact) – it is printed almost like a newspaper – so you can peruse the list and see what interests you.

Not Beer… but also other Delicious Liquid Celebrations of Portland coming up…

There are two other events for June that are not beer, but still full of delicious liquid celebrations.

  • Cider Summit on Friday June 19 and Saturday June 20 at the Field Neighborhood Park in the Pearl district. This year’s event will feature over 150 ciders from producers around the country and around the world to sample in 4 ounce pours.
    Reverend Nat's Hard Cider booth Atlas Cider Co ciders in bottles
    There will also be entertainment via live music, a special Fruit Cider Challenge that you can vote on ciders brewed specifically for Cider Summit, and the DoveLewis/Unleashed by Petco Dog Lounge. The event is 21+ only, but dogs of all ages will be allowed on event grounds.  Tickets are $30 in advance and $35 (cash only) at the door and are available online via Stranger tickets – admission includes a 5th anniversary souvenir tasting glass, 8 tasting tickets, and a $1 donation to the event beneficiary pool.  Cider Summit Portland benefits the Northwest Cider Association, The Institute for Myeloma & Bone Cancer Research, DoveLewis Emergency Animal Hospital, and the Cascade Blues Association.
    Attending Cider Summit with a sample of cider to try. The event is 21+ only, but dogs of all ages will be allowed
  • On Thursday June 25, is the return of Saké Fest Portland. This classy celebration of sake takes place inside the Sentinel Hotel in Downtown Portland in The Governor Ballroom. Admission includes all food and all saké sampling stations (24 producers, and over 130 samples of saké, plum wine and beer varieties) as you learn how to pair the traditional Japanese drink with a wide variety of food, including cheese, desserts, chocolate and a wide range of fusion, Asian and continental cuisines.
    Sake flowing from Sake Fest 2014. Image courtesy of 750 Media Sake flowing from barrels at Sake Fest 2014. Image courtesy of 750 Media
    Photos by Hung Q Phan
    There are two tiers of tickets (both on sale now), Regular and the limited Early Admission. Some of the amazing participating restaurants include biwa and Noraneko, Chizu, Smallwares, Yakuza Lounge, American Local, Hokusei Sushi and more, as well as craft artisans representatives from Batch PDX, Yume Confections, The Meadow, Uwajimaya, and others to offer 19 different tables of food pairings. Saké is not a beverage you often get to sample so many varieties at once, so this Saké Fest is really a unique opportunity to learn what is out there and start to decode the mysterious types and labels to better pair with your sushi and more!

 

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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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