Rain? Bring it on. I'm going to the Oregon Brewers Festival 2014

"Whether the weather is wet, whether the weather is hot.  Whatever the weather, we put up with the weather, whether we like it or not." 
That popular tongue-twister is a favorite of mine.  It is Oh-so-true and ever more so here in the Pacific Northwest.  I, myself, am fond of the rain and so when the forecast for opening day of the Oregon Brewers Festival was for 100% precipitation I rejoiced.  Rain tends to keep the crowds at bay...wait, remember we are in Portland.  If we didn't drink beer in the rain we'd almost never get to drink beer.  That is not an option.  So damn the crowds and off we go to one of the largest outdoor beer festivals in the nation, 27 years strong.  

To start off the festival there is a brunch, followed by a parade. K and I missed both this year, unfortunately, but are planning on attending next year as I hear it is a good time.  We did, however, arrive in time to catch the end of the official Festival Barrel of Lucky Lab's Superdog.  Superdog is a consistently delicious Portland style Pale.  It comes in at 6.5% abv and a well balanced 90 ibu.  Deep and nutty but crisp.
  

I wanted to go into this year's festival with a plan.  Something like "hit all the IPAs that we can" or "do all the darks" or even "only beers from out of state".  Nah, I became so giddy when they put my wristband on, I'm surprised I remembered to grab a program. It was more like a book at 70 pages long and I would have referred back to it often if it hadn't been for the constant drizzle/drenching we were receiving from the sky.  Temperature-wise we were fine but the rain did prevent me from being able to take detailed notes on my tastes.  I had to rely on a checks/plus/star system to quickly keep note.  But no matter, there was beer to be had.  88 offerings in the trailers alone.  There was also the return of the specialty tent.  Higher priced, specialty or import beers that rotated through in limited quantity.  Over 100 were featured this year with 11 imports from our friendship city, Ultrecht, Netherlands and one from Germany.  So much good stuff.  I could have driven myself nuts sticking to a set itinerary.  So I let myself go, enjoyed the sweet reggae sounds coming from Sol Seed and hit the trailers. 

I am going to start with a trailer that immediately called my name.  Loud and Clear.  Trailer #9.  K and I sampled 21 beers at the festival, 7 of them were at Trailer #9.  Drawn by the brewery, stayed for the beer.  All of these are from brewers who have consistently produced delicious beers, although these brews were new.   

Ballast Point:  Oh wait, this brew isn't new.  And it was K's favorite from last year.  Sculpin IPA is hop-heavy fruit and flower with a pleasant bite at the end.  70ibu 7%abv

Deschutes Peppercorn, Lemon Verbena, Sumac and dried Lemon give this Saison a wonderfully fresh, spicy vibe.  That's why I really enjoyed Ester the Farmhouse Maiden.  5.9 abv 15 ibu

Dogfish Head Craft Brewery from Milton, Deleware has an impeccable reputation around here even though they've only been at OBF for seven years.  This year's Oak aged Strong Ale is just one example of a reputation well-earned.  Strong without being too boozy.  11% abv 70 ibu

Gilgamesh The Radtke Radler almost qualifies as a beer cocktail with 40% grapefruit juice added after fermentation.  Who cares?  It's light and refreshing and truly enjoyable quaff.  abv 4% ibu 19

McMenamins Concordia Brewery schools us once again with the Double Helix Double IPA.  You've probably heard me complain about McMenamins' service but their brews are consistently good drinking.  In my fumbling-rain-soaked note taking I gave this a CheckPlus and it looks like I meant it. 

Rogue Again, consistently good stuff.  I know, I have friends who disagree and I would say that I'm not madly in love with many of their brews but most rate high on the deliciousness scale and the Rogue Doppelsticke is up there.  Copper colored, clean and crisp.  abv 8.5 ibu 52

Stone Witty Moron: It's a Wit, but wait, it's black.  It's a black wit?  Yes, an oxymoron and it makes perfect sense.  Dark carafa malt, white wheat, flaked oats, coriander, bergamot and spicy clove create a deep, spicy, yeasty brew.  abv 4.9% ibu 40

Can you see why I spent so much time at Trailer #9?  There were so many more to go: Fitger's Brewhouse, Laurelwood, Omission Gluten-free, 10 Barrel, Gigantic, Terminal Gravity (woot woot!), Alaskan, Elysian, Sierra Nevada...whoa.  My fingers are getting tired so I'm just going to skip to four beers that I found to be extremely notable considering all of the great beers and breweries that we stumbled upon, or away from.  However you want to look at it.  

Boneyard is a newish Bend, OR brewery that continues to delight and carries one of my favorite IPAs, Bone-A-Fide.  abv 5.5 ibu 40.  Hoppy and delicious but super well balanced.  West coast style ales continue to rule.  

Caldera Brewing out of Ashland, Oregon brought a toasted coconut chocolate porter that stole the show.  Deliciously hand toasted coconut chips dry-hopped into this deeply chocolate malted porter makes for an amazing dessert any time of day. 

Speaking of amazing desserts, if you're looking for fruity, tangy, sweet-tart pow to the kisser- go for Pullman, WA Paradise Creek's Huckleberry Pucker.  This sour in the Berliner Weisse style uses just enough of the delicious Huckleberry to create a unique sweet aromatic draw followed by a quaffable tartness.  Yum.  Beer candy. 

Now my favorite.  And back to my true and genuine beer drinking nature, it is another chocolate porter style brew.  Shake from Boulder.  Cacao nibs, lactose, chocolate malt, chocolate wheat malt, crystal malt, black malt, layered on top of pale malt base providing a depth of chocolate and deliciousness that rivals it's namesake- the chocolate milkshake.  Not bad for an old guy like Boulder, 35 years in business and 22 years at OBF.  

Prost!

 And so K and I made our final judgements, jumped on the train towards home, and bid  OBF2014 adieu.  To you and you and you.  And the other 85+ brewers representing this year.  Can't wait to do it all again.

Back for another round: The North American Organic Brewers Festival

Last weekend, K and I once again ventured up to Overlook Park to attend our favorite beer festival of the year, The North American Organic Brewers Festival.  I love Overlook Park.  I love that tree. That magnificent tree. I love NAOBF.  Since K and I discovered it we have only missed it twice.  Once, for our daughter's wedding and once for an out of town family function.  The wedding was forgivable, after all, we were DIY catering the event.  After the second miss however I vowed, Never again.  It's that wonderful.

The  tap volunteers are conscientious and kind and willingly share their knowledge or honest lack thereof of any beer they are pouring.   Other volunteers at the event are warm, welcoming and keep the park in the tidiest condition. Keeping the beautiful park beautiful.  There have been vicious rumors that the event may change venues next year.  I pray not.  I feel like they have finally gotten into a sweet pattern with this place.  The layout is un-crowded and convenient. The giant Elm in the middle of the park is glorious. Yes, parking sucks but the Max train is RIGHT THERE.  Park at a Park and Ride and take the train.  That being said, I do not run the event and am not aware of any issues they may have with power, water, sanitation, etc.  But isn't that the point?  If I can't tell if there are problems, then someone, somewhere is doing a bang up job.  That's a good thing.

Farm to Fire folks working their tails off

We went on the busiest day, Saturday, and the only inkling of an issue that we were aware of was vendors running out of food early.  They were getting slammed and doing a killer job of feeding the hungry masses.  Lines never appeared too long and that is one of the reasons I love this festival. Even beer lines are moving quickly and efficiently.  Or perhaps I have just acclimated myself to the beer line.  Grab a taste, move on to next line, enjoy taster and the company of other patrons while waiting for next taste.  Seems simple enough.

Back to the food for a second.  Let's talk delicious options this year.  Vegan satay from Viva!Vegetarian?  Yes, thank you but wait- that  German Schweinbraten from Urban German Grill looks as amazing as the Wood-fired pizza from Farm to Fire.  And pork sliders from Bottles?  Forget about it.  I'm going to consume as many calories in food as I do in beer, it'll be a banner day.  I promise it was not I, who was responsible for the food selling out, although grabbing the second-to-the-last pizza was quite a score.

flying high pizza pie

Fellow beer lover putting her best fist forward

Now, for the beer.  This is a beer festival, after all.  Working my way through A-Z  I'm going to hit on my highlights.  Because I had tasted a lot of beer.  And some of it was just good beer.  And some of it was not so terribly good beer.  But some of it was stand out yummy beer. So here goes.

Ambacht Brewing Bourbon Barrel Aged G++  I really wanted to like this beer.  You know I love Bourbon barreled beers.  Love 'em.  This one was not to love.  Too much cherry?  I wouldn't have believed there could be such a thing but with the extra cherry and the bourbon aging this Strong Golden was just too much.  And too much is usually just right by me.  Sadly not this one. 8.5% abv 18 ibu

Bison Brewing I admit, I've reviewed the Honey Basil Pale Ale (6% abv) before and loved it.  Still do.  The floral notes of the Hop Cuvee (5.5% abv) west coast style ale was also remarkable. Bison brings it, again.  

Ft. George Brewery from Astoria offered up their yummy Spruce Budd Ale (4.9% abv).  I'm a big fan of Spruce and this Pale Ale packs a refreshing pop.  Could be the hand picked 550 lbs of spruce tips they used for the 30 barrel batch.  Hug a tree, friend. 

800 lbs of organic sweet potatoes and 400 lbs of organic rye married and produced a Belgian Pale Ale, Sweet Potato Rye (6.4% abv 32 ibu), that is smooth and delightful.  Well, actually Gilgamesh Brewing out of Salem, Oregon produced it but you know what I mean.

Loowit, our lovely neighbors to the North unleashed Gaiabolical (5.3% abv 45 ibu).  With fury and form, this goddess of beers proves to be more seductive than destructive.  

The only dark I had at the festival was McMenamins'  Pavol, the Collector.  This Baltic Porter was boozy chocolate yum but a little heavy on this humid summer day.  Hopefully, I'll be able to find it in October.

German import Neumarkter Lammsbrau was a simply refreshing pilsner (4.7% abv) that paired wonderfully with the German food we had and was delightfully hoppy and floral.

Old Town Brewing served up one of my favorites of the day, Chemtrails are real, man! (5%abv, 65 ibu) No really, that is the truly given name of one fine wheat Ale with an amazing hoppy-ness and the cloudy citrusliciousness of a heffe.

That was one of my favorites but Thirsty Bear from San Francisco had the beer that stole my heart, PandaBear Ale (5% abv 20 ibu).  Dry-hopped with organic vanilla beans and cocoa nibs this is a deep, rich ale with amazing aroma.  I will search for this one.

Two Kilts from Sherwood, Oregon, brought out a French style Saison.  Now I know it was getting warmer and a little sticky and nothing adds to sticky like a deep, sweet, warm Saison but I decided to try it anyway.  Glad I did.  This particular saison was crisp and light and peppery.  Happy surprise!

The day then turned to night and I realized that with all of our eating and drinking and talking to marvelous people and listening to fabulous music we had been at the festival a total of six hours.  Not a terrible way to spend the day.  Highly recommended.