Fresh take on the brewpub – The Register-Guard Newspaper, Eugene, Oregon

70 wild ales on tap at the 16 Tons Taphouse, Apr. 28 & 29

Beer goes wild Apr. 28-29 with 70+ wild ales at 16 Tons. Get puckered with Lambic, Flanders Red, Oud Bruin, Sasion, American Sour Ales, Berliner Weisse, Gose, beers with Brett, and more.

New collaboration beer unveiled

16 Tons also will unveil a special beer brewed in honor of the Eugene beer shop and taphouse’s second anniversary. El Coloquio de Cervantes is a barrel-aged Sour Imperial Rye Saison with Raspberries, made by Portland’s Upright Brewing.

On tap

Here are some of the beers expected to be available by the sample, glass, pint or growler:

• Upright El Coloquio de Cervantes
• Oakshire Frederic’s Lost Arm Gin Barrel
• Flat Tail Wild Five Amber
• Flat Tail Put a Bird on Wit
• Flat Tail 1st Anniversary Ale
• Flat Tail Raspberry Beret
• Bear Republic Tartare
• Cascade Bourbon Barrel Kriek
• Cascade / New Belgium Pater
• Russian River Sanctification
• Russian River Supplication
• Verhaeghe Duchesse De Bourgogne
• Deschutes Malhuer Wild Ale
• Commons Barrel Aged Urban Farmhouse
• New Belgium La Folie
• Block 15 Prickly Wit
• Block 15 La Ferme’ de Demons
• Banhoff Leipziger Dopple Porter Porticus
• Flemish Primitve Surly Bird
• Kissmeyer Denied Entry
• Stillwater Stateside Saison
• Grassroots Do Saisons Think of Electric Yeast
• Grassroots Wachu Saison
• Van Honsebrouck Bacchus
• Verhaeghe Duchesse De Bourgogne
• Commons Hoppy Saison
• St. Louis Framboise
• Oakshire Domaine du Lane
• Dupont Avec Les Bon Voeux

Go

The 16 Tons Taphouse is located at 265 E. 13th Ave, Eugene, OR, and online at sixteentons.biz. The Wild Ale Fest is cash only, and runs 4-10 p.m., Apr. 28-29.

Get wild!

Latest word on the 2nd annual Eugene Beer Week…

A week of craft beer events all over Eugene & Springfield

Eugene hosts its 2nd annual Beer Week May 7-13. Eugene Beer Week celebrates craft beer culture in the Willamette Valley. Events from beer releases to brewer dinners are in the works. Venues and breweries include…

• Ninkasi
• Oakshire
• Hop Valley
• Falling Sky
• 16 Tons
• The Bier Stein
• Izakaya Meiji
• Rogue
• Cornucopia
• Hot Mama’s Wings
• The Eugene Hilton
• Cascade Brewers Society
• Boneyard Beer
• Brewpublic
• Sasquatch Brew Fest
• Deschutes
• Hopworks
• And more!

Eugene Beer Week will feature beer tastings, brewer’s dinners, special bottle releases, a homebrew competition and other events celebrating craft beer. Breweries, retailers, bars, restaurants, and craft beer writers join together helping bring greater awareness of our region’s craft beers. Eugene Beer Week will culminate with the Sasquatch Brewer’s Dinner and Brewfest, which celebrate the life of a Eugene brewing legend: Glen Falconer.

The grassroots nature of this event brings a focus to Craft Beer and Eugene in a way that few, if any, events ever have. EugeneBeerWeek.org is the hub for the week with detailed information about all of the beer-related events taking place.

Events will be added to the website as we get closer to May.

More info

• Website: www.eugenebeerweek.org
• Eugene Beer Week Facebook page
• Twitter @EugeneBeerWeek

It could be the carnitas, their juicy soft porkiness spiced just right. Or it could be the battered fried fish, spritzed with lime. It could be the char marks on the fresh tortillas, that taste like no other tortilla I’ve had in Eugene. Or it could be calling in an order, and owner Magarita High’s voice saying, “Hello my friend!”

Now, I’ve written about Eugene burritos before. Sunset Magazine even included my recommendation on the West’s best burritos. Thinking about the issue some more though, and after noshing down fish burritos on Friday night, I’m calling it for good.

The best burrito in Eugene is from Lonches to Go.

That’s it. Named. Seconded. Done.

Lonches serves up lots of other great non-burrito food (such as a damn good chile relleno and tasty tacos), but the burritos are always foremost to me. Whether fish or carnitas, and with plenty of red chile salsa on the side, I can also fill my belly for $5.50.

Lonches To Go rocks. They’re at 910 River Road. Usually people pick up their orders, but there is a covered outdoor seating area and a newer indoor seating area too, if you want to have a sit while enjoying burrito goodness. Call in your order at 541.461.7920, and praise Eugene’s best burritos Monday through Saturday, 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Stark-what? Stark. Beer. Zite! That’s right. The Bier Stein is farewelling Winter and welcoming Spring with a cellar full of strong and vintage ales.

For years the good folks at the Stein have quietly tucked away strong beers (9% to 18%) from craft breweries around the U.S. Now it’s time to tap! Bottles and kegs will be opened at 11 a.m. on Apr. 4. Each draft is individually priced by the glass, or available in build-your-own flights. Bratwursts and soft pretzels are also on the menu, along with house-made doppelbock mustard. Word is you can also pair your preferred strong beer with a selection of fine cheeses and chocolates too.

Starkbierzeit continues through April 5. Come in for your glass of amazing cellared strong beers such as…

• The Bruery Cuir 3rd Anniversary Ale
• Deschutes Dissident 2010
• Dogfish Head 120 Minute
• Stone Vertical Epic 11-11-11
• Block 15 Pappy’s Dark
• Sierra Nevada/Dogfish Head Life and Limb 1
• Firestone Walker Parabola 2011
• Full Sail Topsail Imperial Porter 2012
• Sierra Nevada Bigfoot 2010
• Flat Tail Bourbon 6 a.m. Stout

There’s a glass waiting for you

Starkbierzeit awaits at Eugene’s The Bier Stein, hailed as having the largest beer selection between Portland and San Francisco:

• Web: thebierstein.com
• Where: 345 East 11th Ave., Eugene, Oregon
• Phone: 541-485-BIER

Holding my newborn son, Connor

Baby needs a beer. Or, rather, the birth of my and Jodie’s first child merited a homebrew to commemorate bringing our first wee kiddo into the world.

When thinking about what to brew before baby arrived, I thought too about going back to my roots, so to speak. I wanted to brew again the very first beer I’d ever brewed.

My first solo beer was a porter, brewed in 2007, and it turned out not too shabby at all for a first-timer. I recall mocha and chocolate notes, and a rich dark color. I looked forward to seeing what would be different, now that I was more experienced.

The Recipe

We worked with a NW Mocha Porter recipe from Falling Sky (formerly Valley Vintner & Brewer), with a few slight modifications.

Ingredients

All ingredients from Home Fermenter Center, Eugene, OR

• 1 lb. amber DME
• 4-3/4 lb. light DME
• 1 lb. British Chocolate Malt
• 1/2 lb. Crystal Malt (40L)
• 1/2 lb. Munich Malt
• @60 minute boil, 1 oz. Sterling hops
• @30 minute boil, 5/8 oz. Goldings hops (5.7 alpha)
• @30 minute boil, 3/4 oz. Fuggles hops (6.0 alpha)
• @15 minute 1/2 tsp. Irish moss
• @5 minute aroma/boil, 1/4 oz. Sterling hops
• 1275 Wyeast Thames Valley Yeast
• @ bottling: 1-1/4c. dried malt extract

Our Brew Stats

The recipe did not list target values

• Brew Date: Nov. 27, 2011
• Initial Gravity Reading (O.G.): 1.078
• Bottling Date: Dec. 18, 2011
• Final Gravity Reading (F.G.): 1.022
• Alcohol: 5.6%
• Bottling Counts:
  • 12 oz.: 28
  • Flip-top: 1
  • 22 oz.: 12

Brewing & Fermentation

Place crushed grains in 2 gallons of 150-160ºF water and let steep for 30 minutes. Strain out and sparge with ~2 quarts hot water. Bring to a boil, while adding malt extract and 60-minute hops.

Clean/sanitize carboy and other equipment during this time. Add 1 gallon cold water to sanitized carboy. At 30 minute mark, add Goldings and Fuggles hops. At 45 minute mark, add Irish moss. At 5 minute mark, add aroma Sterling hops.

Remove from heat and cool wort to 90-100ºF.

Strain wort into carboy, sparging through hops. Add cold water until total amount of liquid in carboy is 5 gallons. Shake to aerate. Take a sample for initial gravity reading.

When wort temperature is between 68-76ºF, pitch yeast. Cap carboy and set in a warm, quiet place.

Ferment at approx. 72 degrees F for 3-30 days. Bottle with DME solution. Age one month.

Notes

Mon., 11/28/11 – Will name beer after kid’s first name [we wanted gender to be a surprise]. New carboy location, in kitchen near fridge/shelves. Will use space heater as needed to modify and maintain temperature. 7 a.m., 67ºF, just starting fermentation. Ran space heater, turned off once strip read 72ºF. Evening, 74ºF. Nice thick, foamy krausen.

Thur., 11/29/11 – 74ºF. Krausen not as thick.

Sat., 12/1/11 – Fermentation slowed, let sit another week.

Sun., 12/18/11 – Bottling day! Beer has been 60-64ºF for the past couple weeks. Cloudy, medium-brown; like chocolate.

Last call

It’s so, so much easier to brew beer than to bring a baby into the world. But both have worked out well. The porter has good flavor and body (though I wish it had a bit more mouthfeel). The baby, wee Connor, is amazing. Can’t wait for him to start brewing with Dad…

Whether you live in or are traveling to Colorado, Ed Sealover’s handy book, Mountain Brew: A Guide to Colorado’s Breweries, tells you far more than just where to snag an excellent pint. Yes, there are handy maps and extensive listings of breweries throughout the state. More importantly, Sealover goes in-depth on what makes the beer great to drink, and the pubs great places to have a pint.

The story behind the suds

Pub by pub, brewery by brewery, Sealover tells you the story of each brewery and the people behind it. What makes someone devote their life to brewing? What makes a place stand out from just another watering hole? Sealover brings the story alive, and in the process makes you thirsty:

Customers lucky enough to make Trinity Brewing’s first anniversary party in August 2009 were greeted by a man in a dress banging a tambourine and a flutist stomping around the room to the beat of a Jethro Tull cover band. Many, no doubt, had to remind themselves of where they were—in a strip mall surrounded by chain restaurants in the suburban area of the most conservative city in Colorado. The culture clash would have been confounding. Yet Jason Yester—a dreadlocked hippie who serves slow food and makes thirty-eight types of saison—has found a way for his brewery to not just survive but thrive in this seemingly unlikely atmosphere.

I find this book very practical, too. My in-laws live in Colorado Springs, and on our next trip we’ll be putting Sealover’s book to the street test. (Trinity Brewing in particular is on my list—especially the dozens of types of saison brewed there.)

Both guidebook and good book for the road

If you want only utilitarian listings of where to get a beer, this book may seem like it has more than you need. But for anyone who loves not just a good beer, but also loves the story behind a good beer, then Mountain Brew will leave you with a buzz that isn’t just from a pint of New Belgium Fat Tire, Durango Dark Lager, or Trinity Nocturnum Black Saison.

Get Mountain Brew: A Guide to Colorado’s Breweries

• Amazon.com
• Powells.com

Hidden under a blanket next to the fridge, boxes of Joie de Vivre Saison spent most of 2011 quietly aging.

No more.

Now that baby is here, the saison can come out to play, too, and we’ve been most happy with it. Saison may well be the world’s most refreshing beer, and ours has plenty of spice, dry fruit and tartness to slake thirst. Pairing with meals has also been a joy. From bean-and-squash stew to Thai curry, red chile chicken enchiladas to bread and cheese and pickles, the saison stands up to anything and dances with any flavor combo.

Saison is going to be one of my brewing stand-bys from now on. It’s a favorite to drink—and that makes it a natural to be a favorite to make, too.

Want the recipe and notes? They’re here.

• Bare Hands Bitter
• Persuasion Pale Ale
• First Flight IPA
• Pouring Porter
• Rough & Ready NW Red
• Three Sisters Pale Ale
• Golden Naked Blond

$3 commemorative FIRST DOWNPOUR t-shirts are also available with every pint bought.

Falling Sky is located at 1334 Oak Alley. The location is great—now let’s see how the beer measures up!

Tonight! Fri., Mar. 9: Brewer’s Union Cask Night

Ted from Oakridge’s Brewer’s Union Local 180 has a cask of IPA for you from 5-8 tonight! More info

Sat. & Sun., Mar. 10-11: 16 Tons IPA Fest

Like it hoppy? Want to experience the bitter taste of life? (Well, or of beer, anyway.) Hopheads unite! Then 16 Tons Taphouse (Corner of 13th & High) is hosting an India Pale Ale Festival this weekend from 4pm-10pm on March 10 & 11. Entry is free, with fees for tasters.

Taste India Pale Ales including Red IPA, CDA, Imperial, Triple, Belgian IPA, Single Hop, Continually Hopped, Dry Hopped, Fresh Hopped, Bitter, Citrusy, Piney, Sticky, and downright dank. 70 beers with massive hop character will be available for tasting from Ninkasi, Oakshire, Hop Valley and many more, such as…

• Boneyard Notorious
• Dogfish Head 120 Minute
• Russian River Pliny the Elder
• Green Flash Palate Wrecker
• Avery Maharaja
• Hopworks Ace of Spades
• Block 15 Six Hop Wonder
• Brewer’s Union Union Dew (cask)

Both events at the 16 Tons Taphouse, 13th & High, Eugene.