Another Visit Cascade Barrel House For Tap It Tuesday

Preston Weesner holding the tap for me

Last night I headed down to the Cascade Barrel House for "Tap It Tuesday" and have some beer with Nicole from Portland Beer and Music (who wrote this nice article about Cody from the Barrel House)  and her husband Paul. This week's barrel at Cascade was 2011 Kriek blended with Bourbon Quad. As luck would have it Ron Gansburg asked me to help tap the barrel! It was a great honor to be asked! Unfortunately I hit the tap like a little girl and the result was a "Sour Shower" - A new term for me.  Now,  of course, this is not the first time for me to be sprayed with beer. Having brewed beer at home and in various breweries I've been sprayed with hot and cold water, beer, sanitizer, and, of course, yeast. But there is nothing quite as sweet as  being sprayed with delicious sour beer!

 It's opportunities like these that make living in Portland, Oregon a magnificent thing indeed!

Preston yelling "Hit it like you mean it!" 

The result - "Sour Shower"

But enough about me. How was the beer? A wonderfully sour but balanced combination of cherries, malt, oak tannins, and bourbon. I highly recommend getting down to there to try this treat!

Thanks to Nicole and Paul for taking the above pictures.

Bailey's Taproom Starts Year Off Right With "Firkin Mondays" Today With Breakside Brown Porter

I noticed this on the Bailey's Taproom Blog. From their blog: Starting January 3rd, we’re making the term F’in’ Mondays stand for something you can exclaim with a grin rather than a grimace. Each and every week, we’ll be tapping a brand new firkin cask brew from some of Portland’s best microbreweries.


Here’s a [January's] schedule of our first firkin cask beers, starting on the first Monday of 2011:

3rd – Breakside Brown Porter
10th – Laurelwood Workhorse IPA
17th – Alameda Black Bear XX Stout
24th – Rock Bottom (Undecided Brew)
31st – Hopworks Secession CDA

Being a big fan on cask ale this sounds like a splendid way to start of the week (and the 2011)!

For more in for go to Bailey's Taproom's blog here.

Hope to see you there

Beer Of The Year? Perhaps.

Cascade Maker's Mark Single Barrel (Straight) Bourbonic.

Ladies and Gents I give to you my nomination for beer of the year: Cascade Maker's Mark Single Barrel (Straight) Bourbonic.  Cascade Barrel House tapped it last night as part of their "Tap It Tuesday" program. Last night my buddy Marc and I made out to the Barrel House to try this amazingly balanced and tasty beer.  If you live here in Portland and haven't been to Tap It Tuesday you owe it to yourself to go! They usually have the barrel on for at least a week (I think, maybe 2).  Get down there and try it!  What a great Christmas present from Cascade to the patrons of the Barrel House!

Nicole (and her husband Paul) over at Portland Beer And Music were bestowed the honor of tapping the barrel and wrote a nice post about it.  Check it out. I know there are going to be a lot of lists of best beers of the year soon, this beer and Cascade's Gluek Kriek (served hot with an orange slice studded with cloves and a sugar cube)  sits at the top of mine.  What beers are on your list?

 We also made it over to Belmont Station last night where they had all the ('05 thru '09) Epic beers from the now closed Roots Brewing.  It was rare treat get to try these beers again.  My favorites were the '05 and '06. If they still have them on tap you should head over there and try them!

Of course the only picture I got was of the Bourbonic (even that was an after thought)! Too much great beer to taste! It was truly a great night to be in Portland!

Hopsichord in Portland - Friday 12/10

If you read about my Beer Camp Experience at Sierra Nevada you may be wondering about the beer that we brewed. I am proud to announce that the first keg will be pouring at Belmont Station this Friday, December 10 (there will only be two other kegs in Oregon: one at the Bier Stein in Eugene and the other at the Highland Stillhouse in Oregon City).

Sierra Nevada's first consumer Beer Camp appears to have been a success as they will be taking entries for second edition beginning May, 2011. See http://www.sierrabeercamp.com/ for more details or come down Friday and I will tell you all about it! Sierra Nevada representative Jeff Eder will also be on hand to answer any questions.

Holiday Ale Festival Preview And A Few Picks

Another post about the Holiday Ale Festival? One might think that the HAF is my favorite festival of the year. Well I guess that would not be too far from the truth. It is hard to believe that it's Holiday Ale Festival time again. 2 PM today in Pioneer Courthouse Square.

A few days ago I was lucky enough to attend the media preview for the event.  I'm going to just give you my picks from the preview and a few other tidbits since time is running short (I'll be heading down to the fest after I write this post)

First my picks from the preview -

• Block 15 Brewing - Figgy Pudding Olde Stock - This is 1 of 2 different versions of this beer. The brewer explains here. 
• Bear Republic Brewing - Ebewesner Scrooge - Very nice balance sour with smokey complexity.
• Cascade Brewing - Sang Noir - Sour cherry & whiskey goodness. What else can I say?
• Coalition Brewing  - Lost Glove - This is a hoppy strong ale with balance malt profile. I recommend it as a change of pace from the other strong and sour beers.
• Lompoc Brewing - Franc'ly Brewdolph Belgian Red - Very tasty blend of malt and oak. Aged  in Cabernet Franc barrels for 13 months and then blended with 2010 Brewdolph. Nice.

There are quite a few others to talk about but as I said time is short. For more great reviews and information check out these blogs:

• It's Pub Night
• The Not So Profession Beer Blog
• The New School Beer Blog
• Brewpublic
• Portland Beer 
• Portland Beer And Music
• The Daily Pull
• 999 Beers

Also here is a list of the special rare beer tappings:

Wed. 2 pm
1- 2005 Samichlaus
2- 2009 New Belgium Love
3- 2008 Oskar Blues Ten-Fiddy
4- Firestone 14th Anniversary

Thurs. 2 pm
1- Lompoc Brewing 8 Malty Nights
2- Deschutes Oak Aged Jubel 2000
3- North Coast Brewing 2008 Old Stock
4- Cascade Brewing 2009 Sang Noir

Fri, 2 pm
1- BridgePort Brewing Old Knucklehead 2003
2- TBA
3- 2008 Jim
4- 2009 Jim

Sat. 2 pm
1-Dogfish Head Festina Peche 2008
2- Fort George North III (2009)
3- Cascade Brewing 2007 Barrel Select Baltic Porter
4- TBA

There you have it! Have fun and I hope to see you down at the festival. Cheers!

2010 Holiday Ale Festival Beer List with Descriptions

Here is the list for the Holiday Ale Festival with descriptions as well as beer stats that Chris Crabb of the Holiday Ale Festival sent to beer bloggers  and other media type folks. I've been playing around with publishing google docs as a way to blog more. I apologize if this looks kind of weird.



Tomorrow afternoon there is a media preview that I am very much looking forward to attending! I'll let you know what my picks are this year.

The HAF just published this list with distributions on their site here. It's much easier to read too.

2010 Holiday Ale Festival Beer List

The list is up for Holiday Ale Festival and it's only a month away! This list is straight from their website with some changes in the spacing. There are a few typos like the of 2 beers as Holiday Ale for the brewery. I did put a question mark on those. The HAF is becoming one of my favorite festivals of the year and I’m once again looking forward to this event! 

I'll look over this list and post about a few I'm itching to try.

2010 Brewery List

10 Barrel Brewing Co - Pray For Snow • Strong Ale Alameda Brewing Co - Papa Noels Moonlight Reseve • Strong Ale (Olde Ale) Alaskan Brewing Co - Alaskan Barley Wine ~ Vintage 2008 • Strong Ale (Barley Wine) Bear Republic Brewing Co - Ebeweesner Scrooge • Sour Ale Beer Valley Brewing - Ho Ho Ho Slapper • Strong Ale Block 15 Restaurant & Brewery - Figgy Pudding, Olde Stock • Specialty Beer (Brandy Barrel Aged Strong Ale with Figs, Spices & Brettanomyces) Boneyard Beer Company - Femme Fatale • Sour Ale ( sour red brown with raspberries and cranberries) Breakside Brewery - Breakside Belge d'Hiver • Strong Ale (Belgian-style Barley wine/Super saison) BridgePort Brewing Co - Old Knucklehead • Strong Ale (Barley Wine) Buckbean Brewing Co - Very Noddy Lager • Dark Lager (Imperial Schwarzbier) Buckman Village Brewery - TA • Specialty Beer Cascade Brewing - Sang Noir • Sour Ale (Bourbon Fruit Sour Red) Coalition Brewing - Lost Glove • Strong Ale Collaborator - Aegir's Cauldron • Smoke-Flavored or Wood-Aged Beer (Barrel aged porter) Columbia River Brewing Co. - Paddlers Porter • Porter (Chocolate - Vanilla Bean Baltic Porter) Deschutes Brewery - TBA • Belgian Strong Ale Double Mountain Brewery & Taproom - tbd • Dark Lager Eel River Brewing Co - 2009 climax noel • Specialty Beer (strong belgian hybrid) Fifty Fifty Brewing Co - Concentrated Evil • Belgian Strong Ale (Strong Dark Belgian brewed with raisins, exotic sugars) Firestone Walker Brewing Co - Special Barrel Blend • Strong Ale Fort George Brewery and Public House -North the Fourth • Strong Ale Gilgamesh Brewing - Cranberry Saison • Belgian and French Ale Hazel Dell Brewpub - Steins Chrismas Ale • Specialty Beer (Dark Chrismas Ale) Holiday Ale  (Hair of The Dog) - JIM 2010 • Strong Ale (Strong Ale Blend) Holiday Ale(?) - Moore Holiday Ale • Specialty Beer (Imperial Pilsner) Hop Valley Brewing Co - Festeroo • Strong Ale (Old Ale) Hopworks Urban Brewery - TBD • Strong Ale Lagunitas Brewing Co - Bourbon-Barrel Aged Russian Imperial Stout • Stout (Russian Imperial Stout) Laht Neppur Brewing Co - To Be Determined • Stout Laurelwood Brewing Co - Black Pepper Belgian Pale Ale • Belgian Strong Ale Lompoc Brewing Co - Franc'ly Brewdolph • Belgian Strong Ale (Belgian Red) Lucky Labrador Brewing - Pavlov's Russian Imperial Strout • Stout McMenamins - Parson Brown • English Brown Ale (American Brown / Winter Warmer Hybrid) Migration Brewery - Nor'Easter • Belgian Strong Ale (Belgian Winter Speciality) Natian Brewery - Winter IPA • India Pale Ale (IPA) New Belgium Brewing Co Lips Of Faith mix of kegs • Strong Ale (Various beers) Ninkasi Brewing Co - Unconventional • Stout (Imperial Stout with Lavendar , Taragon, and Heather) Oakshire Brewing - Very Ill Tempered Gnome • Strong Ale Rock Bottom Brewery -Blitzen • Belgian Strong Ale (Belgian Style Tripple) Seven Brides Brewing - Weezin-ator • Specialty Beer (Doppelbock) Shmaltz Brewing Co. - Jewbelation Blend • Strong Ale Southern Oregon Brewing Co - Mrs. Claws • Strong Ale Stone Brewing Co - Stone Smoked Porter W/ Vanilla Beans • Porter (Spiced ) Three Creeks Brewing Co - Rudolph's Imperial Red • Strong Ale (Imperial Red) Vertigo Brewing - Special Chocolate Porter • Porter (Chocolate Porter) Widmer Brothers Brewing Company - Black Dynamite • Specialty Beer (Lemon, Chocolate, Peppercorn, Baltic Porter)