This weekend was building itself up to be bigger than ever and I just can't express how grateful I am that we're celebrating our Presidents' Birthdays combined today so I could have a day to recoup. No disrespect to our Founding Father's intended. I am actually old enough to remember when we celebrated both Lincoln's and Washington's birthdays individually but I'm fine with celebrating all of our Leaders, their faults and gifts equally.
The real anticipation this weekend for me, however, was Zwickelmania. Every President's Weekend for the last four years, the Oregon's Brewers Guild has organized an amazing event celebrating true Oregon brew and the best that she has to give. It has grown exponentially larger each year and I'm hoping that all of you will forget all about it between now and then so I and the other throng of thousands can continue to celebrate in relative peace. Oh, you know I'm just kidding, the more the merrier folks and if you are a genuine, true blue fan of everything Oregon and her brew in particular, you need to come out and hit this next year. It is held all over the state of Oregon and is broken into regions for you by the OBG. although there is plenty to see, do and taste here in Portland, next year, K and I may just head out the Gorge to the Hood River area or towards the Bend events.
This year, our itinerary crept very close to what we had done last year as we were joining some friends and family members and wanted to keep it fairly simple. Lot's of FREE tastings/pairings in the short amount of time that we had due to another event we had planned for the evening. For those of you hoping to hit more tastings and get the most bang for your buck ($0.00) ~ please take one of the FREE shuttles provided by either Rogue Breweries or Brewvana.
I have explained that the gist of this event is gratis right? Free. No charge. Complimentary. Very generous of these brewers and their businesses. It is my suggestion that you make a habit of paying them back and patronize your favorites frequently. We don't want to lose any good brews like (remove cap please) Roots.
That being said let's begin with Laurelwood Public House. Last year they served cupcakes at each brewstation to compliment the beers they were pouring but I think we caught them with their pants down this time. We arrived slightly after 11:11 when the event was slated to open and found a line of people waiting for the brewery doors to open. Ok, take a deep breath. I don't need to rush this. They'll be open in a minute...breath again. Ok, doors open and in we scurry to find...caramel and chocolate dipped pretzel sticks (not bad, I'll make 'em at home with relative ease) and a crumbly cornbread type cupcake with a vanilla beeresque frosting. Truly, I couldn't quite figure out the flavor. Either way, any beer in the place would do to wash it down so on to the true tastings.
My first, Esteem Beer, 6.7% abv, 55 ibu. Maris Otter, Organic 2 Row Malt. Northern Brewer, Cascade and Liberty Hops.
A California Common or Steam brew Lager.
Meh~ It was drinkable but I'm not a huge Lager fan so my opinion here may not be worthy of the beer.
Next up, Thai Wit, a collaborative effort that includes Tom Bligh from Hopworks Urban. 4.8% abv, 18 ibu.
This aromatic includes lime, coriander, tangerine, blood orange, juniper...don't be put off...it was simply delightful. The room was raving about this stuff and for good reason. I could picture myself washing down a steak, thai food, a fish taco, even a stale corn muffin with this stuff. It was complex but easy to drink. Amazingly enjoyable and as I write this I may want to head down to Laurelwood and pick up a growler to go with the amazing Gumbo K whipped up for Mardi Gras.
On to Cardinal Sin~ pass. The keg wasn't cooperating and the first dozen pours were foamy slop but I'm a patient person. I shouldn't have wasted my time. This Belgium style Quad (10% abv, 35 ibu) was seriously off-putting. Sharp mouth-feel, no balance. I like a deep and meaty brew but this was not what I wanted. It had been sitting on cherries but the fruit wasn't working.
Finishing Laurelwood off with the Sour Red which was a collaborative effort of Gigantic, Hopworks, Upright and Laurelwood. I love when our brewmasters all get together and "jam". That's when we get to enjoy the spicy tart punch of this sour cherry fruit beer which was exactly what I expected. See~ I'm not afraid of fruit or sour it just needs to be done juuuust riiiight and that is what happened here with this Flemish style Red (~7.7 abv)
Then we were off to K's favorite, Lompoc. We decided on the Lompoc at 5th Quadrant because we like the people there and the atmosphere is pretty down to earth. Texting ahead to K's sister "Meet us at Lompoc" and then remembering there are a few here in town and we should probably clarify, the ins and outs of trying to coordinate more than a couple people through Zwickelmania started to become apparent. Pretty sure they were there before we were but we missed them anyhoo and so went back to the keg room to continue Zwickeling. A zwickel, by the way, is a valve on the side of the fermentation tank used to take samples of beer from the tank during the process. Brewers use it to gauge quality, age, readiness, etc...
At Lompoc we were treated to samples of:
the Red Belgian eloquently named, Dirty Badger Rye. Enjoyable.
A young, very young IPA called Flower of the Gods. Clearly referring to the flowery delicious hops being used. It should be ready in a few weeks and I look forward to heading over to SideBar to see how it has matured. One of the brewmasters suprised us with a delicious sour aptly named Cherry Bomb! Much more drinkable than the previous sour we experienced and the surprise pour exemplifies the amazing hospitality and graciousness you'll find with some of these brewery tours.
Then, there was the un-named Stout. It was like a warm, mocha milkshake that had melted into my mouth. No, that's not a bad thing, I like it like that. A little more fermentation will give it a slightly better mouth-feel but the flavor on this one is rich. Our server, Irene (?), was hoping for Stout Out Loud. I say Hear! Hear!
Finally met up with some of our family members and decided to head over to Widmer Brothers. I know, I can hear many of you now complaining that they are a large corporation now and shouldn't be given the time nor publicity but hear me out. As much beer as you may see with the Widmer label on it here in the Pacific Northwest they still brew and bottle 1/10th the amount of Sam Adams from back East and Sam Adams nationwide still only brews and bottles 1/10th of what the larger (cough cough) breweries create and distribute. Widmer also still dabbles enough in small batch brewing and creation that they are worthy of a visit now and again. I choose to go for Zwickelmania because they feed me too. This tour is fascinating and really worth the 20+ minute wait at the door. The folks who work these tours on this day actually work in the brewery regularly and give sweet insight into some of the goings on in their individual areas. Our tour-guide, Jacob, was actually sweet enough to pose and vogue his ink for us.
Good sport. Now to save time, mine and yours here are the descriptions of each of the tasting sites on the Widmer tour as provided by Widmer themselves on their Facebook page. I'll just let you know how much I enjoyed each one... Station 1: Hef, Drifter, Alt, Kellerbier
- Cucumber canapés with white bean puree and roasted peppers
- Tortilla rolls with jalapeno cream cheese, corn, cilantro and oven roasted tomatoes Grocery Store offerings meant to appease the masses while we readied ourselves for the tour. The tortilla rolls reminded E of her mom's enchilada casserole.
Station 2: W’12, Marionberry Hibiscus Gose
- Mini skewers of black pepper marinated havarti and red grapes Um Yummy. One of my favorite stations. The Marionberry Gose was fruity and delicious and probably not much for true beer aficionados as much as a fruit beer quaffer sitting on the patio in the summertime. The W'12 Dark Saison was and is my favorite beer of the day. I can't describe it. I can't wait for it to be released. This Saison style Ale is sweet and peppery. Chocolate and caramel. The havarti was pretty tasty too. It was at this point that my phone died from being used too often as a camera. Ah me.
Station 3: Spiced IPA, Killer Bee Mead
- Honey spice cake bites These were two sweet surprises, I mean three. The Honey spice cakes were a delicious honey-soaked treat and washed down with the Killer Bee Mead, heavenly. The Mead was light, not heavy at all. Floral and sweet with a great acid end. Super mouthfeel, not overly sticky or tart. I'm going to go searching for the spiced IPA. I'm finding I enjoy IPAs more and more these days.
Station 4: Pitch Black IPA, Brrrbon ‘11
- Phyllo cups filled with blue cheese mousse and peppered bacon Well, the Brrrbon wasn't available so we were given delicious samples of an Oatmeal Porter that I now wish I had asked more about. I can't info on it anywhere and it was truly a delicious Porter so I'm going to be doing some more investigating for sure. Pitch Black IPA is just that~ an amazing, delicious best of both worlds beer that K and I don't have to fight over when we go to the store. It satisfies my longing for dark, coffe-like heaviness and his Hopheadiness.
See, Widmer was worth it. I'm still a big fan of Kurt and Rob and the whole crew.
After Widmer, we lunched at the carts next to Prost! but that is my next blog. Hopefully, it will only be a short wait. After lunch we thought we'd hit one more place before splitting up and heading off to our other engagements. We decided on Amnesia.
Now granted this was our last place and our final samples after a long morning but I wasn't in the mood anymore. The place was crowded with Zwickelers and by the time we had gotten back to the "brewery" I was done being able to taste anything with any validity. I do still recommend Amnesia. Their IPAs are crisp and hoppy, especially when the weather is nice and you can sit on the patio and enjoy all there is to offer. There is quite a bit of great NW beer history in this tiny little brewhouse as well. Chris Spollen, owner, lit up as he described some of the equipment he's acquired over the years. Really, the place is a little diamond in the rough. I hope the rough is here to stay.
Cheers!
