HOPWORKS URBAN BREWERY CELEBRATES THIRD ANNIVERSARY

HOPWORKS URBAN BREWERY CELEBRATES THIRD ANNIVERSARY

Portland’s Sustainable and Organic Brewpub Offers Specials All Day on March 30

Founder and Brewmaster Christian Ettinger

PORTLAND, Ore. – As a thank you to loyal customers and craft beer enthusiasts, Hopworks Urban Brewery (HUB) is celebrating its third anniversary by offering $2 pints, food specials and 20 percent off all HUB merchandise on Wednesday, March 30.



Over the last three years, Hopworks has grown into one of Portland’s most popular and successful brewpubs. And coming later this summer, the brewery will open its second location, Bike Bar, on North Williams in Portland. Located in the net-zero energy Eco-Flats building, Bike Bar will be more of the same great organic beer and locally-sourced food featuring two beer gardens for socializing and watching the bikes on Williams roll by.

BikeToBeerFest

Last year marked the second BikeToBeerFest, featuring bands like Hillstomp and Boy Eats Drum Machine, as well as numerous local bike builders and the amazing Flatlanders BMX trick riders.  The festival drew more than 4,000 fans to HUB’s back parking lot for beers, bikes and bands. BikeToBeerFest returns for its third year on September 17 to again raise money for Sunday Parkways and the Bicycle Transportation Alliance while delivering more of the same great entertainment.

Other notable achievements for Hopworks Urban Brewery:

-       Last year HUB expanded distribution into both British Columbia and the Seattle market.

-       Hopworks produced 6,500 barrels of beer, roughly more than 1.6 million pints of beer.

-       For the fourth consecutive year, Hopworks was named the Best Brewpub in Oregon by Northwest Brewing News.

-       HUB Organic Lager was named the “Best Draft Beer in the World” by Men’s Journal magazine.

-       Hopworks purchased water restoration certificates from the Bonneville Environmental Foundation to offset all of its annual water use, restoring 1.8 million gallons of water to the Deschutes River.

-       HUB recently broke ground on a brewery expansion to bring in additional fermenters and increase annual brewing capacity to more than 10,000 barrels a year.

HUB is located at 2944 SE Powell Blvd. and is open Sunday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to midnight. For more information, please visit Hopworks online at www.HopworksBeer.com or follow on Twitter @HopworksBeer.

Laurelwood Celebrates 10 Years

Portland's first certified organic brewery, founded in March 2001 by Mike De Kalb and Cathy Woo-De Kalb, Laurelwood has grown from its original 7 barrel Laurelwood Public House & Brewery. In 2007 Laurelwood relocated to the former Sylvia's Dinner Theater (5115 NE Sandy Blvd.) and upgraded to a 15 barrel brewery to help keep up with growing demands. In 2009 they opened a new pub in Battle Ground, WA that includes a 2 barrel "Nano" brewery to allow experimentation on new and innovative beer recipes. Laurelwood is also represented at PDX Airport on Concourses A and E as well as at Portland's Rose Garden Arena. During this time they have sold the original location and shuttered the NW pub.


On Friday, March 18th Laurelwood will be celebrating their 10 year anniversary from 5-11pm at their Sandy location. The party will feature Live Music, $2.50 Pints, and Family Fun. The party is sponsored by Taplister who just announced an In App upgrade that will allow users to view beer ratings and descriptions from RateBeer.com.

Laurelwood will also be releasing 2 new beers to the public: The "Big O" Organic Pale Ale and Imperial Workhorse IPA. I was fortunate to attend a preview of these beers and must say that Laurelwood is following their reputation of producing solid NW beers.

"Big O" on the right, Hop Monkey on the left

The Organic Pale Ale will be replacing the Hop Monkey in their year round lineup. I had a chance to try both of these beers side by side. They are nearly identical in appearance but the Organic Pale drinks smoother with less overpowering hops and seemed more attenuated. These factors create a better balance than the Hop Monkey and create a sort of Cascadian Session Ale. Laurelwood also brought 1 of the 3 experimental Pales that they brewed to develop the new recipe to last week's Meet the Distributor night at Bottles. That beer was again a little more assertive than the final product which features a mellow smoothness that is highly quaffable.

On another end of the spectrum is the Imperial Workhorse IPA. The original gravity was bumped up from 17º Plato to 19.5º Plato resulting in an ABV of about 9.5%. To balance this out, the hops were increased to contribute about 15 more IBUs over the standard Workhorse. This beer contains plenty of hops presenting a firm bitterness and a pleasant resinous character. The malts provide a good balance with some sweetness coming through. I overheard mention that no hop extract was used but that some hop pellets were ground up before use in hopes of better utilization. Not as cloying as this year's Green Mammoth but also lacking some of the over the top aromatics of that brew, this fits in nicely between that and their standard IPAs.

Another new beer that they had on tap was a Mexican Mocha (which I was told tastes eerily similar to an actual Mexican Mocha). Brewed with South American specialty malts, cinnamon, coffee, cocoa nibs, and Serrano peppers, this deep amber brew was quite impressive. The nose consisted of chocolate with a hint of the Serranos, and malty sweetness. The taste followed with initial sweetness followed by the cocoa and a hint of heat and spices as it rolls off the tongue.

 Laurelwood will also be bottling the Hooligan Brown Ale just in time for our local Football club's inaugural MLS season (that's the Portland Timbers in case you've been under a rock). Other new bottles to look for this coming year are the Organic Pale Ale and Stingy Jack Pumpkin Ale.

Upright Brewing celebrates 2 Year Anniversary and Four Play Bottle Release on 3/20

I can't believe it's been 2 years since Alex opened Upright Brewing. Last year's anniversary party was a lot of fun and there were some great beers poured, one of which was last year's Four Play. The beers from Upright just keep getting better, so I'm really looking forward to this year's party!


Upright Brewing celebrates 2 Year Anniversary and Four Play Bottle Release on 3/20

Sunday March 20th 1-6pm
Upright Brewing
Leftbank Project 
240 N. Broadway Suite 002
Portland, OR 97227
http://www.uprightbrewing.com/

Oregon's only farmhouse inspired craft brewery Upright Brewing is turning 2 years old and celebrating with a party on Sunday March 20th from 1-6pm at the Tasting Room. The party will also mark the return of perhaps the breweries most anticipated annual release Four Play a sour farmhouse cherry wheat beer aged in Pinot Barrels.

About Upright Brewing
During the last two short years the small production brewery just east of the Broadway bridge has been devoted to producing some of Portland's most diverse range of beers, focusing on a French/Belgian inspired farmhouse-style, but brewing without inhibition as evidenced by their historic takes on English Old Ale and Oyster Stout or their authentic German Gose and Engelberg Pilsener.

Upright recently added three new tanks, using one to produce a year-round hop forward German-style pilsener for draft only. It's called Engelberg Pils, a nod to Mt. Angel where all of the brewery's hops are sourced. The other two tanks will enable the brewery to produce more one-off draft beers and also allow production of at least eight annual seasonal bottled batches throughout the year. As always, the numbered beers that Upright has focused on since the beginning will continue to be fermented in our unique open-top tanks. The new year has also brought expanded distribution for Upright's beers with Lime Ventures now bringing the bottles and occasional draft beer to the Northern California market adding even more west coast cities that include north to Seattle and Vancouver, B.C.

About Four Play
In celebration of the brewery anniversary, it's becoming tradition to release Four Play, a very Belgian-esque beer based on Upright's wheat beer (named Four) but barrel-aged for a year with cherries, souring yeasts and bacteria. Four Play is blended from former pinot noir barrels that yield a rosy looking sour ale with wonderfully complex aromas and flavors. It's always a limited release and the 2011 batch is represented by only 67 cases and 3 kegs, all of which the brewers believe is their finest and suitable for cellaring up to 5 years.

About the 2 Year Anniversary Party
In addition to the extremely rare Four Play one of only 3 kegs on draft Upright will also be releasing something even more rare in bottle, last years Apricot Anniversary Ale aged in Ransom Spirits Old Tom Gin Barrels of which there are less than 3 cases of 750ml bottles. To top it off look for a special cask of this years edition of the World Beer Cup award winning Gose stuffed Dry Hops and extra Salt.

Follow Upright Brewing:

Website
http://www.uprightbrewing.com/

Twitter
http://twitter.com/#!/UprightBrewing

Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/UprightBrewing

Blog
http://uprightbrewingblog.blogspot.com/

2nd Annual SE Division Street Meet the Brewers BrewPubliCrawl

More than a dozen Oregon brewers and their beer will be available at Brewpublic's 2nd annual Meet the Brewers Pub Crawl.

Beervana, Portland, Ore. March 4, 2011 - Brewpublic is excited to announce the second annual SE Division Street Meet the Brewers BrewPubliCrawl, the original Oregon meet the brewers pub crawl. It’s taking place on Saturday, March 19, 2011 from noon to 7:30PM. Like last year’s inaugural event, the 2011 event will feature special Oregon brews on tap with brewers in the house to talk about their creations.

The venues for this year’s event will again include some of SE Division Street’s best craft beer spots: Victory Bar, Lompoc Hedge House, Bar Avignon, Beer Mongers andBlitz Ladd. Participating breweries include: 10 Barrel, Alameda, Barley Browns, Block 15, Beetje, Burnside, Cascade, Coalition, Double Mountain, Fort George, Full Sail, Hopworks, Laurelwood, Lompoc, MacTarnahan’s, Migration, Southern Oregon, Upright, Widmer, and more!

To cut the lines and help the bars serve crawlers easier, tokens will be sold at each venue which can be exchanged for the special Crawl beers during each stop. Brewpublic volunteers will be on hand at each venue to sell tokens.

Event Cost: $12 includes all access wristband and ten drink tokens. Event wristband gets you access to the special deals on special brews available at each location and entry into the raffle for beer gear. Additional tokens can be purchased at each location for $1. Entry and token purchase is CASH ONLY. ATM locations will be provided in the crawl guide.

The current schedule is:

Noon – 1:30PM: Victory Bar

Hopworks, Double Mountain, Breakside, Oakshire

1:30 – 3PM: Lompoc Hedge House

Specialty and exclusive brews from New Old Lompoc

3 – 4:30PM: Bar Avignon

Full Sail, Fort George, Upright

4:30 – 6PM: The BeerMongers

Barley Brown’s, Block 15, Migration

6 – 7:30: Blitz Ladd

10 Barrel, Alameda, Burnside, Beetje, Cascade, Coalition, Laurelwood, Lompoc, Ninkasi, Southern Oregon, Widmer, and more!

Brewpublic encourages all crawl patrons to drink responsibly and never drink and drive.

Further, we are pleased to announce our partnership with Brewvana Brewery Tours who will be providing shuttles to and from the Crawl. The schedule is:

Pick up at Plew’s Brews (8409 N. Lombard, St Johns) 11AM

Pick up at Saraveza (1004 N. Killingsworth) ~11:30AM

Pick up at Concordia Ale House (3276 NE Killingsworth) ~12Noon

Pick up at Laurelwood Pub & Brewery (5115 NE Sandy Blvd) ~12:30PM
The Brewvana Brewery Tours Shuttle will return to the above locations as well as the Jupiter Hotel at the following the below final venue departures:

Pick up at The BeerMongers (1125 SE Division) 6PM

Pick up at Blitz Ladd (2239 SE 11th Ave) 7:30PM

Discounted rooms will be available at the Jupiter Hotel (800 East Burnside). If you are interested in staying  here at the special Brewpublic rate, use codeword “BEER” when booking. For room reservations call (503) 230-9200.

About our event sponsors:

Full Sail Brewing Company – Independent and employee-owned, the Full Sail Brewery is perched on a bluff in Hood River, Oregon, overlooking the most epic wind and kite surfing spot in the world. At this very moment their specialists in the liquid refreshment arts are crafting barley and hops into your next beer. Swing by and sample their awarding winning brews, grab a bite, and soak up the view. Guided brewery tours free of charge daily at 1, 2, 3 and 4 p.m. Open Daily @ 11:30 a.m. Serving Lunch and Dinner.

Hopworks Urban Brewery - Hopworks Urban Brewery (HUB) is Portland’s first Eco-Brewpub. HUB offers an assortment of award winning, world-class beers made from organic malts and locally-sourced hops on draught and in bottles across the Pacific Northwest and at the brewpub on SE Powell Blvd. In early summer, Hopworks will open its second location, Bike Bar, on N. Williams, expanding the company’s love of beers, bikes and the environment.

Laurelwood Brewing Company – “Since our opening in 2001 Laurelwood Brewing Co. has been committed to sustainability. Brewing Portland’s first certified organic beers, all of which are made with Pacific NW organic malt and regionally sourced grown hops. The brewery is certified organic by the Oregon Tilth and all of our water use is offset by credits from the Bonneville Environmental Foundation. The breweries spent grain and yeast are used as animal feed while the spent hops are composted. As native Pacific Northwesterners, our pubs are committed to using local farmers, purveyors & to support the sustainability and organic movement.”

For more details about this event and other Brewpublic functions, please contact Angelo @ Brewpublic (dot) com. (503) 449-4522. Cheers!

Last year's pub crawl was a blast! We are looking forward to this one!

Roscoe's Stout Summit - Tonight Friday, February 25th

It's time again for another beer summit at Roscoe's. This time they're featuring stouts! Here is the info via our friend Jeremy over at Roscoe's:


Roscoe's Stout Summit is coming up on Friday Feb 25th at 5PM. If you
are a stout-lover (or even if you aren't) come down and taste 12
amazing stouts on tap. Some of the Breweries (and beers will include):
Fort George (Badda Boom), Caldera (Old Growth Imperial Stout),
Oakshire (Heart Shaped Box), Nectar Ales (Brewed by Firestone Walker) (Black Xantus),
Deschutes (Mash Tun Madness), Double Mountain, Upright Brewing, Boneyard Beer, and
more.

As always, there will be 5 ounce taster trays available so that you
can do some side-by-side tasting.


Sounds like a great line up! I'm planning on checking it out. Hope to see you there.

KLCC Microbrew Festival

From klcc.org:

KLCC 89.7 FM is a public radio station licensed to Lane Community College in Eugene, Oregon. With 81,000 watts of power, KLCC 89.7 FM is the most powerful public radio signal in Oregon.

KLCC serves more than 88,000 listeners each week within a 100 mile radius of Eugene. Besides our main transmitter in Eugene, we have translators in four communities throughout Western and Central Oregon (Cottage Grove, Oakridge, Riddle and Sisters), and five sister stations -- KLBR in Bend, KLFO in Florence, KLCO in Newport, KLFR in Reedsport, and KMPQ in Roseburg -- all broadcasting KLCC programming.

Ted and co. pouring the Mutt (I love delicious, fresh cask ale at a festival)

For the past 10 years KLCC has been hosting the Microbrew Festival at the Lane County Fairgrounds, continuing the tradition of the original Easter Seals fundraiser. Proceeds from the event benefit the listener supported public radio station. Entertainment included Ty Curtis Band and Jacob Merlin. 50+ breweries featured over 120 various beers and cider.

Third Place: Block 15 (Corvallis, OR)

Second Place:Silver Moon (Bend, OR)

The festival has included a Collaboration Brew since its inception, this year's was titled "A Session Beer." Block 15, Brewers Union Local 180, Hop Valley, High Street, Ninkasi, Oakshire, Steelhead, Track Town Ales, and Valley Vintner & Brewer participated this year. Each brewer started with a base of Glen Eagle Marris Otter malt then picked a single hop to differentiate their offering. A variety of yeasts were employed amongst the breweries. Valley Vintner produced 4 different beers but the WGV combined with Steelhead's house yeast stood above the rest. Being able to taste and compare the local offerings is a unique treat. Unfortunately, none of the Collaboration Brews contested the People's Choice award. The top 3 spots were swept by Oregon breweries (7 other states and 2 countries were represented at the festival) but Eugene got a rude awakening from their neighbor to the north. Two flavorful stouts, Love Potion #9 from Block 15 and Bourbon Barrel Aged Export Stout from Silver Moon preceded the People's Choice, Flat Tail's Licentious Goat:

Brewed with a ridiculous 3.5 pounds per barrel of Simcoe, Chinook, Amarillo, Sterling, and Zeus hops, this bonafied Imperial India Pale Ale has a massive nose of Grapefruit, Tangerine, and resin. The addition of Damiana and Horny Goat Weed, two of nature's strongest natural aphrodisiacs, add a sensuous layer of Lavender and Hawaiian Ginger. At 8.5% and over 90 IBU's, this is one naughty Goat!

People's Choice: Flat Tail (Corvallis, OR)

Due to the OLCC's recent "interpretation" of state homebrewing policies, the annual homebrew competition was annulled. Instead of announcing those winners, Jamie Floyd from Ninkasi and Tripp Sommer raised a toast to Don Younger for everyone not able to make it to the wake at the Horse Brass.

In addition to the beer, KLCC hosts a music sale over the weekend. I picked up a handful of gems both new and old.

Crate Digging

Kris and Gayle celebrating another great year!

Don Younger R.I.P. 1941-2011

Don Younger in the back seat of his '72 Rolls Royce 

Scott, Lisa, and Don at the Brass last year on their shared birthday

By now most people know that the legendary owner of Horse Brass Pub Don Younger passed away a few weeks ago on January 31. Since that time I've been trying to come up with the words to post something about Don with little success. Like most people I didn't know Don that well. But I do know quite a few that did know him well. People like beer writer and radio host Lisa Morrison a.k.a. "The Beer Goddess" who helped organize the wake and the worldwide toast to honor Don that is happening today, Sunday, February 13,  in the parking lot of the Horse Brass Pub.  From Lisa's web site:

"Whatever you are doing, and wherever you are at 3 p.m. your time on Sunday, Feb. 13, make sure to hoist a glass to Don Younger, the venerable publican of the world-famous Horse Brass Pub, who died Jan. 31.

“In his hometown of Portland, a wake will be in full swing by 3 p.m. at the Horse Brass Pub. Attendees at the time will be raising their glasses to Don. But hundreds, if not thousands, of people around the world who knew Don and loved Don aren’t able to be there in person,” says organizer Lisa Morrison. “So we are having a worldwide toast — a virtual wake, if you will — to help bring us all together, at least in spirit.”

The toast will travel around the world, because it will happen at 3 p.m. in all time zones.

“So, at 3 p.m. your time on Sunday, organize a gathering of your own or just stop what you’re doing. Pour a glass of something you think Don would appreciate. And raise a toast to one of craft beer’s biggest champions and most colorful characters,” Morrison says.

Younger, a true beer pioneer, took the Horse Brass from a one-tap tavern to a beer mecca, consistently named among best beer bars in the world. It is a favorite hangout for brewers, beer geeks, neighbors and visitors alike."

Don at the Highland Stillhouse

Lisa interviewed Don not to long ago. I highly recommend giving it a listen.

Back in October of 2009 I was lucky enough to be invited to go drink with Don by my good friend Carl Singmaster (Don's business partner at Belmont Station). Carl wanted to get Don down to the Highland Stillhouse in Oregon City to drink some whisky and meet with the owners of the the pub. I had a great time and it is a memory I will hold dear for the rest of my life. I have some more pictures from that day that I never got around to posting.  I will try to post some more soon.

One thing that has struck me while talking to people in the beer business the last couple of weeks since Don's passing is the number of lives he touched. As Carl Singmaser said “More than anybody I’ve ever known, Don lived his life exactly the way he wanted, but he didn’t do that by stepping on anybody — we’d all be amazed if we knew all the people he helped without ever making a big deal of it. But he did live his life exactly the way he wanted to.” Almost everyone has a Don story to tell. He will always be remembered through those stories. And that is a beautiful thing. 

Death touches all our lives at some point. Each time it happens we are reminded of our own mortality and that nothing lasts forever. Don's passing reminds us all that we need to enjoy our friends and family while we still can. Here's to you Don! Cheers mate!

Other remembrances worth a read:
The Beer Here, Double Mountain, The New School (with some great stories in comments), Celebrator (with a great video interview of Don), Beervana, It's Pub Night.