Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
bottle shops, pubs and breweries
Colorado is the focus of this month’s posts but you can’t forget the other big craft beer mecca, that would be Oregon.
Here is another great place to drop in and sample some eclectic brews. Plew’s Brews is in the St. John’s neighborhood of North Portland.
If you haven’t visited either of these two hallmark San Francisco beer destinations, 21st Amendment and the Magnolia Brewpub, then here is a great opportunity.
Every year these two get together and do a month of great and fascinating beer experiments.
Here is the list for this year:
November 1
21st Amendment: Via (Belgian Single), Noir de Blanc (Cocoa Witbier) and Papa Parks Porter
Magnolia: Deep Ellem (Dubbel), Destiny UnBlonde, Chocolate George Stout
November 8
21st Amendment: Drunken Monk (Dark Abbey Ale)
Magnolia: Gordo
November 15
21st Amendment: Oaked Baby Horse (Belgian Oak- Aged Quadruple)
Magnolia: Saison De Lily
November 22
21st Amendment: St. Lupulin (Imperial Belgian IPA)
Magnolia: Sunbust
“On November 15, 1980 the first batch of Sierra Nevada beer made it through the brewhouse, helping to usher-in a new era of interesting, hand-crafted, and flavorful beer enjoyed around the world today.
Come and celebrate this American craft beer renaissance at the Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary Party in our very own estate-hops field.
The party kicks off at 4 pm with sampling of 30 beers including some of your favorites from the last 30 years, plus a few unique finds from the cellar. Many of these beers never have been, and never will be, released to the public – this may be your only chance to sample them! They are available in limited quantities, so arrive early to ensure that you get to taste the ones you are most looking forward to. We will be posting the full beer list in the coming weeks.
The evening will also feature the musical stylings of Roy Rogers & The Delta Rhythm Kings featuring two very special guests! The Joe Craven Trio will kick off the evening’s festivities, followed by Houston Jones.
The Sierra Nevada Taproom is catering dinner from 5-8 pm, which costs $15. You can purchase dinner tickets onsite at the event.”
MENU
Fresh Baked Breads – Straight From the Sierra Nevada Ovens
Sierra Nevada Salad – Mixed Organic Greens Tossed In Balsamic Dressing with Cherry Tomatoes, Crumbled Gorgonzola and Candied Chico Pecans
Fall Vegetables -Tossed In an Estate Garden Herb Butter
Garlic Mashed Potatoes – With Sweet Creamery Butter and Roasted Garlic
Estate Herb Rubbed Tri Tip – Pale Ale Bbq Sauce
Sweet Pepper Polenta – With Roasted Estate Tomatoes And Peppers, Onions Carrots And Chives
Date: Monday, November 15th
Time: 4:00 – 9:00 pm
Place: Sierra Nevada Brewery, 1075 E. 20th St, Chico CA, 95928 – The party will take place in the Sierra Nevada Hop Field.
I love one-stop shopping. When it comes to beer and travel, that means a room above where you are going to be drinking. The Fox and Anchor is part of the wave of chic gastropubs opening in the London area and England as a whole. I love historical pubs but I tend to stay longer in the places that have food options and updated decor. You can check out their drinks menu which they characterize as, “From a foaming tankard of local ale to a glistening bottle of Krug Grand Cuvée; from a sumptuous Foxy Sour to a fiery Glenmorangie; At Fox & Anchor we have everything you could ever wish for to slake your thirst in sublime surroundings.”
Not until spring of 2011 but still. This is great news. LA DOES have a craft beer thirst. All of these new ventures prove it. And as a bonus the Sunset is fairly close to me!
I have done wine tastings at the CoWineCo and they are well presented and with whimsy. They really do wine well there. It is the type of place that I have taken my parents, my younger sister-in-law and people inbetween. So I am optimistic that this place will have some of that same spirit with a beer spin.
Here are some of the particulars…“Sunset Beer Co. is a partnership between Jennifer and John of CoWineCo and Jenna and Drew VonAh. The concept will be quite familiar to you – a retail shop with a tasting area. But the retail shop will be twice the size of CoWineCo featuring many hundreds of bottles of beer from around the globe (all properly chilled of course), and the tasting area will have taps instead of rows of wine glasses (but for you grape-centric die-hards, yes there will be wine available as well).”
Charleston seems to be the “it” town to visit. It has been featured in Beer Advocate and the Los Angeles Times recently. So I decided to jump on the bandwagon and I would also do anything to stop the silly Portland-Asheville question.
And the “it” place to stop in the “it” town seems to be the Charleston Beer Exchange. And if it is half as cool as the website then I must agree with that assessment.
They have rare beer nights. You can get growler fills. (Love that). They sell a wide range of beers from New Holland’s Ichabod to Abita’s SOS.
You can find them on their website and the other usual social media suspects.
Vancouver Washington is not known for beer. It has Portland across the river and it’s namesake in Canada has a nice little scene too.
But there is a gem that needs visiting. It is on my Beer List and my next trip north I am going to By The Bottle. And there is one cool reason why. (As if the great bottle selection is not enough of a draw).
They have a relatively new tap room! And on Tuesdays, they “…plug in the electronic ice BUCKet and sample a beer for a BUCK. This is a cool and economic way to try a brand or style you’ve been eying. Why experiment with the whole bottle when you can BUCK-it!?”
And speaking of the tap room, here is a recent list of beers on tap:
Deschutes HOP IN THE DARK CASCADIAN DARK ALE (CDA
Lagunitas Bre wing Co LITTLE SUMPIN’ SUMPIN’ ALE
Iron Horse Brewing IMPERIAL IPA
Elysian Brewing Co MEN’S ROOM RED
Dortmunder DAB ORIGINAL LAGERSouthern Tier PUMKING IMPERIAL PUMPKING ALE-
Bosteels TRIPEL KARMELIET BELGIAN-STYLE TRIPLE
Russian River DAMNATION BELGIAN-STYLE STRONG GOLDEN ALE
Here are the events that I am MOST excited about for the 2nd year of the Beer in the City of the Angels Week
10/7 – Naja’s Place for the kick-off
10/10 – Beer Float Showdown II at The Verdugo
10/13 – Oinkster for Craftsman beer
10/14 – Beer and cheese at the Surly Goat
10/17 – Union Station for the Grand Finale festival!
Where are you going?
In an effort to help you plan your LA Beer Week, here is a list of beers that the venerable Library Alehouse will be pouring….get ready to drool….
7th…….Stone 14th Anniversary Emperial IPA cask
8th…….Karl Strauss Big Barrel DIPA
9th…….Houblon Chouffe Dobbelen IPA Tripel
10th…..Lagunitas Maximus
….Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA
11th…..Jolly Pumpkin Oro de Calabaza
12th…..Russian River Consecration
13th…..Dogfish Head’s Theobroma
14th…..Sierra Nevada’s Black Barleywine
15th…..Drake’s Denogginizer DIPA
16th…..Bootlegger’s Black Phoenix Chipotle Coffee Porter
17th…..Port Brewing’s Older Viscosity
Here is the press release with all of the pertinent info:
“PORTLAND, ORE. – Sept. 27, 2010 – For nearly a year, sour beer lovers all over the Northwest have anxiously awaited the opening of the Cascade Brewing Barrel House, and the wait is finally over. Located at 939 SE Belmont St., the Cascade Barrel House will open its doors to the public at 11 a.m. today.
Situated in a former produce warehouse built in 1947, the Cascade Brewing Barrel House is divided into two sides. The west side of the building features 5,000 square-feet with a loading dock, barrel room, cooler and workspace. At a temperature of 65-degrees, the barrel room is specially designed to cultivate the Lactobacillus bacteria that give these brews their distinctive sour tang. The barrel room has the capacity to hold up to 350 barrels; currently, the space holds more than 250 French oak and Kentucky Bourbon barrels filled with wheats, blondes, quads, reds, browns and porters.
On the east side is a 2,100 square-foot tasting room with seating for 90 inside, plus seasonal seating for another 80 out front when the weather is nice. There are 18 beers on tap, a dozen of which are dedicated to Cascade’s award-winning sour beers, with another two taps reserved for sour beers from barrels tapped directly through the cooler wall. These select barrels will be tapped every Tuesday at 6 p.m., giving the public the opportunity to taste sour beer straight from the wood. The remaining five taps pour Cascade’s mainstream beers. The current tap list includes two of the brewery’s most sought-after beers – 2009 Great American Beer Festival award-winners Bourbonic Plague and Vlad the Imp Aler. The beer list is continually updated on its website’s homepage.
According to Cascade brewmaster Ron Gansberg, “I’m thrilled and gratified to see the Barrel House finally open. This gives people a new option for a beer experience. Sour beers are an intense sensory experience, on par with very hoppy beers, and we feature more sour beers on tap than any other place I know of.”
To complement the beers, the Cascade Brewing Barrel House features a limited menu of small plates, nuts, sandwiches, salads and soups. The ingredients are all local, including a cheese plate from Willamette Valley Cheese and a charcuterie plate with smoked salamis and sausages from the Original Bavarian Sausage deli in Tigard. Other menu highlights include peppered cashews, hummus with house made crackers, bacon tapenade, baked potato salad and a baked chicken sandwich.
All of Cascade’s beers continue to be brewed at Cascade Brewing, located at 7424 SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy in Portland. Art Larrance, who has been involved in Oregon’s craft beer industry since its inception, established Cascade Brewing in 1998. Larrance co-founded one of the state’s first microbreweries, Portland Brewing, as well as the Oregon Brewers Festival, which today is one of the world’s preeminent craft beer festivals. He currently owns and operates the Raccoon Lodge and Brew Pub on Portland’s west side, where Cascade Brewing operates out of the ground floor.
The Cascade Brewing Barrel House is open Sunday through Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Thursday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Minors are allowed daily to 10 p.m. For more information, call 503-265-8603. “