• Souvenir COBW glass
• Special beers pouring, featuring the official “SMaSH” style beer from several breweries (see more below)
• Tours/talks about Worthy Brewing from the brewers
• A raffle featuring some awesome prized donated by a number of sponsors
• Food provided by Worthy

Tickets cost $15 and can be purchased online here. And we’re working hard to make sure it’s going to be great!

About that SMaSH beer: “SMaSH” stands for Single Malt and Single Hop and is a method of brewing by which, yes, a single malt and a single hop are used. Brewer Brett Thomas from Silver Moon Brewing suggested this when discussions were underway about the possibility of an official COBW beer, and that became the one; each brewery participating has their own twist on the beer, and we’re working with Worthy on lining up each of those breweries at Worthy Monday night to pour their version.

Of course be sure to keep up to date on the website for current information.

Disclosure: I’m a co-founder and planner for Central Oregon Beer Week.

Updated: Some logistical changes to the event necessitated that I remove some lines about the beer with tickets.

Golden Valley Brewery in McMinnville, Oregon, is very pleased to announce that we have hired Jesse Shue as Brew Master to replace current Brewer Mark Vickery who is starting his own brewery later this year. A McMinnville Native, who worked at Golden Valley in the kitchen in 1994, Jesse Shue will be taking over the brewery operations at Golden Valley in late May. Jesse will be leaving his current position as brewer for Hair of the Dog Brewing Company in Portland May 19.

Jesse also worked at Nick’s Italian Café from 1991-1996 while attending high school. After graduating from McMinnville High School as senior class president in 1993, Jesse attended Califoirnia Institute of Technology then transferred and graduated in 1999 with a Bachelors of Science in Biology from Oregon State University cum Laude.

Jesse started his brewing career working for Darren Welch at Pelican Brewery in Pacific City in 2000 and has been brewing ever since. Over the past 13 years he has been developing his beer knowledge by brewing at the following breweries;

Pelican Pub, Pacific City, Assistant brewer
McMenamin’s Light House Brewpub, Lincoln City, Oregon, Head brewer
Rogue Ales, Newport, Oregon Shift Brewer
Silver City Brewery, Silverdale Washington Head Brewer
Hair of the Dog Brewing, Portland Oregon Lead Brewer

In 2010 he won the Glen Falconer Foundation Brewing Scholarship and attended the World Brewing Academy (Siebel Institute in Chicago, Illinois)

Jesse and his wife are excited to move back to the McMinnville area where both their parents live. Jesse brings a lot of great brewing experience and new ideas to his new position at Golden Valley and we are excited to welcome him to the Golden Valley Team.

It will definitely be interesting to see what Jesse brings to Golden Valley. AND what Mark Vickery will be up to!

When I was first speaking with Jon about contributing to The Brew Site one of the first ideas I had was to conduct an East Bay Bike to Brew, wherein I’d ride my bike to as many breweries as was reasonable in the span of an afternoon. Obviously, there’s the potential for danger and wanting to avoid any serious levels of inebriation I decided to limit it to simply drinking the house IPA at four local brewhouses: Pyramid, Triple Rock, Jupiter, and Elevation 66. With my wife and daughter out of town this past weekend I decided it was time to give this concept a go. With a good friend joining for the first three legs of the journey, we met out our first rendezvous point:

Phase One: Pyramid Brewery & Alehouse (distance from my house: 3.8 miles)

Pyramid Brewery & Alehouse is going to get a separate review one of these days soon (I’ve been lax in reviewing them for no real good reason… Lord knows I’ve been there enough times!) but it was a great place to begin as on Saturday’s they offer a discount on the bill if you ride your bike in. They have a large selection of house beers (and a half-dozen from Portland Brewing Company) and having a seat at the at bar, I began my IPA quest with a Thunderhead.

Now as I noted earlier, the original idea was to enjoy the house IPA before moving on to the next leg of the journey but my partner in beer noted they had five house IPAs on tap (and one from PBC)… that’s a little steep for one place so I limited it to three half-pints (love that they have that option). And in need of some protein we ordered a plate of chicken wings—excellent choice! The food’s pretty good at Pyramid and their beers are always consistent. I’ve always found their Thunderhead (and Outburst, which I didn’t try here–it’s their Imperial) to be decent IPAs but their Discord and Wheaten are both pretty standout. A great way to start the ride!

IPAs enjoyed:

• Thunderhead
• Discord Dark IPA
• Wheaten IPA

Phase Two: Triple Rock Brewery & Alehouse (distance: 1.8 miles)

After a gorgeous ride through Berkeley, we arrived at our next location—the legendary Triple Rock Brewery & Alehouse. Another spot that I’ve not yet reviewed (but shall rectify soon!), Triple Rock, according to Good Beer Guide West Coast, is one of the oldest brewpubs in the Bay Area. Rolling up to the bar, we immediately ordered the only IPA they had on tap–the Ipax.

Aggressive hoppy and thoroughly refreshing we decided to order another plate of wings to compare to Pyramid’s. Much to our disappointment, and despite enthusiasm from the bartender, they came slathered in a hot sauce that overwhelmed our taste buds and made the remaining beer largely tasteless. Wrapping up it was time to onto our next stop—Triple Rock’s sister, Jupiter.

IPA enjoyed:

• Ipax

Phase Three: Jupiter (distance 0.3 miles)

Only a few blocks down, we coasted into Jupiter’s awesome beer garden in back (for a more detailed write-up, check out my review from earlier this year). We had to order our beers from the bar to enjoy the Adirondack chairs in back and it was worth it! After riding a half-dozen miles and drinking a handful of delicious beers it was nice to relax and absorb some Vitamin D. We’d been careful to try and drink about a pint of water for every pint of beer (hydration is key!) but this being our first Bike to Brew we were starting to slow just a bit. After a pair of IPAs and some sunshine, my partner in this hoppy adventure had to roll to a birthday party and I made a run at the final stretch of the adventure! Time to head out of Berkeley and back toward El Cerrito solo.

IPAs enjoyed:

• IPA
• Quasar (Imperial IPA)

Phase Four: Elevation 66 (distance 2.9 miles)

Making it safely to the final stop on the journey, I grabbed my favorite spot at the bar and ordered my final IPA of the day (for a more involved review of Elevation 66 read this). I was slightly disappointed as the day before, when I’d dropped in for a pint, the bartender had said their worthy Imperial IPA, the White Rabbit, would likely be on tap by the next day… but it wasn’t to be. The great Bike to Brew/IPA challenge had come to end. To commemorate the adventure, I had one more before hitting the road–their reliably good Esther’s Stout.

IPA enjoyed:

• East Bay IPA

Final Tally:

• Time: 3 hours
• Distance travelled: 8.8 miles
• Beers enjoyed: 8

It was an amazing afternoon (only sullied by the fact I got my bike seat stolen after making one quick stop on the way home… grrr!) and despite the number of beers consumed, we played it safe in preparation and execution (safety first!). Our plan is to do a second Bike to Brew, San Francisco edition, in the next month or two, likely coinciding with the opening of Magnolia Brewery’s new location in Dogpatch. That’s an adventure that I’m looking forward to!

Cheers!

Ben

This year is the second year for COBW, and we’ve been working hard to make it the best possible Beer Week that we can, and we’ve been lining up a terrific slate of events and a ton of fantastic sponsors to do so. The dates are Monday, May 20 through Memorial Day, Monday the 27th—yep, eight days! And we’ve got stuff going on each and every day of it.

Be sure to check out the website, and especially the Events page where everything is up-to-date. An official printed Event Guide will be appearing in The Source Weekly next week (our free weekly that has great reach all over Central Oregon), but any updates or late additions will be on the website of course.

So be sure to come down to Central Oregon for the week leading up to Memorial Day. It’s going to be a great week, the biggest problem will be choosing what events you can make it to!

The first is the usual PR/received goods disclosure that I run whenever I receive beers or other marketing things from breweries:

Yes indeed, the 2013 edition of Twilight Summer Ale, a tasty beer if there ever was one. I don’t know if I’ll write up a review this year—I feel like everything I have to say has already been done with Twilight—but you never know.

Also early last month I stopped in for the Brewery’s release night for the Class of ’88 Barley Wine they brewed with Rogue Ales and North Coast Brewing: they were offering free samples of two of the three beers (sadly the North Coast didn’t show up in time) along with small-plate appetizers (including a quail-egg-based Scotch egg!). I enjoyed both beers, and surprisingly found the Rogue a bit hoppier, while Deschutes had more of a malty and fruity character like a classic English barleywine.

All in all a nice evening.

Like sandlot baseball players or schoolyard basketball junkies, many amateur brewers, including some beer-brewing bloggers, harbor a secret dream: They aspire to some day “go pro.” They compare their beer with commercial brews poured in their local pubs and convince themselves that they’ve got the brewing chops it takes to play in the Bigs. Some of them even make it, fueling the dream that flutters in the hearts of many other home brewers yearning to see their beer bottles on the shelves at City Beer or their kegs poured from the taps at Toronado.

Creating a commercial brewery consists of much more than making great beer, of course. It requires meticulous planning, careful study and a whole different set of skills from brewing beer. And even then, the best plan can still be torpedoed by unexpected obstacles. Making beer is the easy part, building a successful business is hard.

In this Session, I’d like to invite comments and observations from bloggers and others who have first-hand knowledge of the complexities and pitfalls of starting a commercial brewery. What were the prescient decisions that saved the day or the errors of omission or commission that caused an otherwise promising enterprise to careen tragically off the rails?

I’m sure we’ve all been there, those of us that homebrew—that “What if?” dream of brewing commercially, whether opening a brewpub or starting a small production brewery or even just getting a job with your local brewery to start somewhere. But for me it’s always been about the brewing aspect of such a venture—not the business end of things and I do think that if you’re ever contemplating trying to start a brewery, you should first work in a few to get a sense of that business side as well as the commercial brewing side.

I don’t have first-hand knowledge of starting a brewery, but I have watched a lot of new breweries get their start here in Central Oregon over the past few years and the one thing I do know is, it’s hard work and it will probably take longer than you anticipated. Maybe quite a bit longer.

The other piece of advice I could give in this area is, if you’re going to open a brewery you might as well do it in Central Oregon: beer is big business here and there are no signs of that slowing. We have 20 brewery operations, more on the way, and a very economically-friendly climate towards beer and brewing. If you can brew decent beer and have good business sense, you’d probably be successful here!

…people were having a good time, without the crazy loud crowd scene that was the Oregon Brewfest last year on a Friday afternoon—less people, sure, but definitely a mellower vibe which I prefer rather than the “college frat house” feel.

So, the full disclosure: I got the media pass which included a ticket to the Brewer’s Dinner, a free night at the Oregon Garden Resort (we paid for a second night), and two Friday Brewfest packages (two pint glasses plus five tickets each). So, my wife and I went up to Silverton on Thursday and came back Saturday.

Continue reading “Oregon Garden Brewfest weekend wrap up and review” »

First course: cheese plate, Fontina, Boursin and a dill Havarti  with dried fruit and crostini, and paired with a Flat Tail Brewing blend of their Pre-Prohibition Pilsner with a peach sour (not the Dry Hop Petit Saison that was on the menu). This was a great pairing, and the cheese plate by itself was generous; paired with the light and fruity beer, it worked really well together. The beer itself was really good—not sure I would have seen a Pre-Prohibition Pils and sour blending well together, but it really worked.

Second course: Blackened shrimp martini with fresh pico salsa and crab meat paired with Fort George Roses on Roses. I absolutely loved last year’s bourbon-barrel aged (and bottled) Roses on Roses, but this version (a newer batch, at 8.5% abv) wasn’t as memorable for me and I think was still a bit young for my tastes I think. (Important to note that others felt this version was better than the bottled one I liked.) The shrimp and crab cocktail was good but a bit awkward to eat.

Third course: Pork and baby apple bruschetta paired with 2 Towns Ciderhouse Traditions Ciderworks Vintage Amity Rose. This dry cider (named after the Willamette Valley orchard the fruit is sourced from) was aged in Pinot Noir and Chardonnay barrels and had a lovely crisp fruity presence. It paired really, really well with the pork and apple; the only criticism I have of that dish is the “bruschetta” bread wasn’t toasted or crispy, but soft.

Fourth course: Spinach salad with smoked pears, walnuts and lemon vinaigrette paired with Alameda Brweing‘s White Peppercorn Saison. The key here is “smoked pears” which I really, really liked (this was the most memorable dish for me); they had a smoked meat kind of smell (really appetizing actually) and when combined with the other components of the salad were pretty amazing. The Saison was 4.5% abv, brewed with French Saison yeast, and in addition to adding peppercorns to the end of the boil, Alameda also “dry hopped” the beer with the peppercorns (dry corned?). It was a tasty, interesting beer and paired well with the salad.

Fifth course: Cornish game hen with grilled strawberries and root vegetables paired with Falling Sky Who Loves the Sun (a Winter Spice Ale). What the menu failed to menu was that the (half) game hen was wrapped in bacon(!). And, grilled strawberries are amazing. And even more so when wrapped in bacon. The beer was complex, brewed with “lots of herbs” and coconut sugar (never heard of this before) to 8% abv; additionally, elderberries and elderflowers, coriander, and chili peppers were added to this beer. Unfortunately there really wasn’t much of any heat I could get from the chilis (to my disappointment) but it was an interesting beer all the same.

Sixth course: Flourless chocolate cake with black cherry compote, paired with Santiam Brewing‘s Sangre De Cristo, an oak-aged Cabernet Stout. The dessert was amazing, but the beer was the most interesting piece: 13% abv (!) with 30% of the fermentable sugars coming from Cabernet wine grapes; I don’t remember if it was aged in wine barrels as well, but it would surprise me. The aroma of this beer was all Welches grape juice—not kidding—and it had a sweet, wine-infused property that actually hid the high strength of the beer well while still being a little “hot” and young. Likely the most interesting beer in a field of interesting ones, if not the best. I would definitely look for this again.

After dinner there was of course great company and more beer pouring; many of us retired to the Lounge after a bit to finish off the night, and I got to touch base with a number of other folks. All in all, it was a great evening and one of the most interesting beer dinners I’ve had the pleasure of attending. Definitely recommending this particular dinner to folks again for next year.

Disclosure: I got a free pass to the Dinner, as well as a night at the Resort and passes to the first day of the Oregon Garden Brewfest on Friday (detailed in the next post).

Get down to Silverton and check it out!

A few quick teaser pics:

How does this connect to The Brew Site? Well, a month or so back, we hosted our very first off-site Story Night  in the pleasant little suburb of Concord, California and before setting up for the event I paid an up-and-coming East Bay brewery a visit: Ale Industries.

Located in the back of a business park, off the beaten trail, it’s a fairly unassuming place. There’s a magnificent home brew store next door and as I entered their secluded sanctuary, I was pleasantly surprised at what a homey, comfortable atmosphere it was. With the tops of several barrels serving as tabletops, a dart board in back and an inviting small bar, I sauntered up for some samples of their house brews. I tried every single beer they had on tap (see below) and settled upon several half-pints (I was driving, mind you) while munching pretzels from the numerous available bowls. Ale Industries is also very supportive of the local art community, displaying numerous paintings from a local creator (which rotates every few weeks or month, I believe).

Previous to this visit I’d only tried their Uncle Jessie and was impressed enough by it to follow them on twitter and find their location—and, boy, was I not disappointed In fact, I was stunned at the variety of beers they produce and the fact I don’t see MORE of their brews around the area. They had several fruit beers on tap (and I ended up paying $22 for a bottle of one), a sour, and unique twists on several other standards that I found quite interesting. It was honestly very difficult to leave!

In chatting with their friendly and knowledgeable taproom manger, Maureen, I learned a number of interesting things about Ale Industries. First up, having a child who frequently tags along to my many brewery excursions, they allow children in the taproom (assuming they’re well behaved—they can’t have kids climbing on the brewing equipment or the aging barrels). Also, due to a recently relaxed California state law, they’re now allowed to fill foreign brewery growlers by obscuring the existing logo with a sticker and are generous with a fill 2 get a 3^rd free policy. Remarkable!

It’s a bit of journey out to Concord but if you’re living or visiting the Bay Area and love great, diverse beer—Ale Industries is a highly recommended venture.

Beers enjoyed:

• Rye’d Piper
• Unity, as in Edward
• This is the shit that killed Elvis
• A.I. Evolution Generation 4
• Cherry Kush
• Electric Fantasy
• Golden State of Mind
• Uncle Jessie

Check out the rest of the gallery below!

http://aleindustries.com
975 Detroit Ave, Unit E
Concord, CA 94518
(925) 470-5280
@AleIndustries

Cheers!
Ben

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