It seems that states are having to take the environmental lead in this day and age and that continues as the Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative with seven Oregon breweries will begin testing a reusable beer bottle program.
The Oregon Bottle Bill is already a strong program but this adds another layer that other states will need to catch-up with. New, stronger bottles are being made of (you, guessed it) old recycled bottles.
In the Tap Lines for May 2018
Lots of good stuff on tap for May (now that the blog is back up and viewable). There will be weekly nods to the upcoming Firestone Walker Invitational as well as a report from Oregon where I will be heading back to the alma mater.
~ e-visits to three breweries from the New England area.
~ special featured reviews of two new cans from L.A. Ale Works
~ Heads-Up on Los Angeles Beer Events
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month. One light, one medium and one dark
~ A Book & A Beer reads whatever the library finds for me from my long list!
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world.
Here are two events to get your May started in the Los Angeles craft beer world:
1) May 4th – System of a Stout Release at Beachwood
2) May 13th – Mother’s Day at Boomtown Brewery
In the Tap Lines for November 2017
We are finally sliding into Fall, dammit Global Warming!, and now we can start checking out the holiday offerings without any remorse or looking over the shoulder. Instead we can look forward to more independent beer coverage….
~ e-visits to three breweries that won medals at GABF last month.
~ special featured reviews of some Oregon beers
~ Heads-Up on Los Angeles Beer Events
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month. One light, one medium and one dark
~ A Book & A Beer reads Hook’s Tale.
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world.
Here are two events to get your November started in the Los Angeles craft beer world:
1) November 4th – Lagunitas Beer Circus
2) November 11th – Three Weavers 3rd Anniversary
Bend Beer – the photos – Part 2
Crafty and Wild
Looks like L.A. is getting more cider…
…and on the 10th, if you are near Southland Beer in Koreatown you can taste the following:
Wild Mirabelle Plum – cider blended with plum wine
Elderberry Perry – oak-aged with pears and elderberries
Flagship Cider – funky and dry apple cider
Pioner Perry – a classic perry
Wild Rose – aromatic rose-infused cider
or Literary Device
Back when I went to college, McMinnville had not one brewery. My grades were probably the better for it. Now you have Heater-Allen, a branch of McMenamin’s, Golden Valley and Grain Station.
Add Allegory Brewing to the mix. You can read the full “story” over at the New School blog HERE but my take-aways are that there has been a lot of collaborating done by a secretive brewery and that having a pickles and biscuits cart is genius.
When is that next reunion?
CA vs OR
The Trailblazers fell (predictably) to the Warriors in the 1st round of the NBA playoffs and the Clippers of L.A. ran out of gas against the Jazz so we will not get an Oregon vs California battle.
But we can look at the numbers….
That is a mighty big brewery number from Cali but they will need more than that to catch up to Oregon per Capita. And that is the story, Oregon is drinking and producing at a Top5 pace in 4 out of 6 thanks to that by person calculation.
If this was a seven game series, I would say that Oregon would probably win in seven games.
The Bitter Monk
I have been a little light in Portland news. Maybe it’s the snow or the Blazers poor play that have me disconnected but I can recommend a place in my college town of McMinnville….
On the main drag of 3rd Street in the small town style historic core, The Bitter Monk is craft beer tap room and bottle shop has 16 rotating taps of craft beer & cider and to-go options numbering past 100.
It may be wine country but beer folks can find good stuff rather easily.
Book Review – Bend Beer: A History of Brewing in Central Oregon
I read a lot. And I read a lot of beer books. What I have come to appreciate are the histories of the craft beer movement. Be it of a style, a brewery, or going up a rung, the larger, beer scene of a region.
Bend Beer – A History of Brewing in Central Oregon slots into that last history as author Jon Abernathy starts at the beginning of beer in Central Oregon and takes us up to just about before the sale of 10 Barrel Brewing to SABInBev.
Abernathy, the blogger behind the Brewsite beer blog has a tricky territory to cover. The City of Bend plus Sisters and Redmond just don’t have a lot of meat on the bone in regards to beer history. Partly due to population and also prohibition, the heat doesn’t really rise until the first mention of Deschutes Brewing.
Once that happens you almost need a genealogical chart to map out which people left Black Butte Porter behind and what brewery they started. For the most part, Abernathy doesn’t lose you in all of what I call the “begats”, the biblical dead spots where we learn who everyone’s ma and pa is.
It is fascinating to see how each brewery got started. Though I would have liked to see more about how the city and community played a part in the brewing evolution. Was Bend amenable politically to craft beer? Did they make it easy to open up shop? What beers did the people of Bend gravitate towards? Is there a discernible Bend terroir?
Unfortunately, Abernathy has already spent 1/2 the book before even getting to Gary Fish and Deschutes. But that is also the strength of the book, I am reeled in and want to know more and more. Let’s hope an updated version is around the corner.
Collaborate not Divide
This tri-state collaboration certainly set my Pavlovian response into hyperdrive. De Garde which is highly regarded in Oregon with their California equal in both esteem and small quantity of beer, Sante Adairius and noted Texas brewery Jester King.
Then blend their beers together for one super beer. Then create a super cool label with a lovely starry sky type of graphic.
I have left whale hunting behind but I would travel for this one.