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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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
What happens when a Portland native works the beer industry in SoCal and then moves back to Portland?
Well, in the case of Robby Roda, who spent time at both Monkish Brewing and Beachwood BBQ and Brewing, you open up a distribution company in Portland to bring select beers from L.A. to the NW.
And to make the L.A. connection tighter, name it after the El Segundo Brewing special Day One IPA releases. Day One Distribution has scheduled to get El Segundo Brewing onto Portland taps already with Monkish Brewing, Smog City Brewing and Phantom Carriage planned to roll out too.
Day One will begin weighted to California but will add other breweries in a slow and small fashion. In a move that seems counterintuitive to traditional distribution the amount of beer will be kept purposefully small and will make the effort to sell out within thirty days of delivery.
That is a market that could work if kept small and tightly controlled. Might even be a template for what future distribution can be.
You can read more about the new distributor at The New School. I hope to hear how our beers are received up north.
With the addition of their bottle shop on 23rd in NW Portland, came crowlers for McMenamin’s beers which was a big jump for a chain where most people filled the beer into mason jars. (including me on a couple of occasions). Now the crowlers have begat Ruby Ale and Hammerhead into 160z cans.
I doubt that the line-up of cans will grow exponentially past 2 or 4 at tops but now you have a few more options if you have a family member in California who is addicted to Ruby Ale and just can’t believe it isn’t available everywhere.
Both will be available to go at all of McMenamins’ 54 locations across Oregon and Washington as singles ($2.75 each) or in 4-packs ($10).
Anniversary beers tend to be big and the cumulative vision of the previous years. Ninkasi certainly follows that blueprint with the release N10, a “commemorative Imperial Blended Ale”.
N10 is crafted of 50% Imperial Stout, 10% Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout, 12.5% Imperial Total Domination IPA, 12.5% Imperial Maiden the Shade IPA, and 15% Critical Hit Barleywine.
But then again, having two IPA’s in the mix isn’t the usual template and since IPA is 25% of the mix, this may be a rare beer that you don’t cellar that long.
This is no IPA, style wise. Although acronym wise it is. The Imperial Pelican Ale from the Pelican Brewery on the coast of Oregon pours a dark orange color. Has some serious strength behind it. The 2015 bottling celebrates the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge. The gold/black label showcases 50 plants and animals (+ a QR Code) that can be found in the Ridgefield, Washington refuge on the banks of the mighty Columbia River. Since this beer was initially released in 2015 the caramel aroma and Barley wine characteristics make sense though even at the advanced age it still holds quite a bit of dank bitterness.
If I had been smart, I would have gotten a newer bottling to compare/contrast.
More math here. Sorry in advance. Where I currently live, Glendale, CA. has around 191K in population and growing if all the condos on Central Ave. ever fill up and we technically have one brewery in Brewyard. Eagle Rock is in LA as is the ABInBev plant in the blue building on San Fernando.
The city of Boardman in the Eastern-ish part of Oregon has under 3,500 people and also has one brewery. You tell me how that works.
Ordnance Brewing gets its name from the massive war buildup that created whole communities. Communities that are now decaying ghost towns since the weapons (ie ordnance) manufacturing left. And they already have a lengthy list of beers brewed, starting with their regulars:
Old Craig
An old style ale brewed with the addition of brown sugar which gives it a nice candy-like flavor, as well as the ability to warm your belly. A light hop character combines well with natural fruity notes to make this beer a special treat.
FMJ
Western Europe meets West Coast in the quaffable Full Metal Jacket (FMJ) IPA. A fusion of new world hops are held up with a malty backbone reminiscent of a maltier English Style pale. This is a beer of the highest caliber.
Kolsch
An ale in lager clothing, this is our take on an old German style. Of course we revamped the droll style with a little northwestern malt backbone. If you’re looking for an easy drinking anytime beer, this one goes down smooth.
Rye Extra Pale Ale
Pouring a light straw color, this ale gets its spicy flavor from a healthy dose of rye malt. The rye spice combines nicely with a Citra and Mosaic nose to bring you a beer that is just what the doctor ordered.
Other seasonals and specials that caught my eye include:
Batch 100 – Cherryfisk Cherry Imperial Stout
LIMITED RELEASE!!! To mix things up around the brewery we decided to take 160# of sweet dark cherries and infuse them in to our favorite dark beer. This gave our imperial stout a lovely cherry nose and a sweet but smooth flavor that evolves into a light roasty cherry aftertaste.
Cherry Snapper Barrel-Aged Sour Ale
LIMITED RELEASE!!! We brewed this amber ale in April 2015 and then hid it away in red wine barrels with a healthy supply of dark, sweet cherries and brettanomyces. We pulled the beer out of barrels the last day of November to find a pleasant brett tartness co-mingling with cherries and oak.
Little House Brown English Brown Ale
A malt dominant session beer that is reminiscent of an English mild. Lighter on the hop and alcohol spectrum, but still has a malty presence on your pallet. Go ahead, have another, I know I am.
Of Chimpanzees Coffee Porter
This porter showcases locally roasted coffee from Home Town Coffee Roasters. The beer was specifically brewed to accentuate the darker roasted flavors of coffee. True story- Of Chimpanzee was named from a quote from our brewer’s childhood. Every morning before school Logan’s mom would replace “breakfast of Champions” with “breakfast of Chimpanzees” a tribute to growing up and those early childhood memories in our own family kitchen.
Pallas Pilsner
Best Heidelberg Malt and Glacier hops team up to bring you this Single Malt And Single Hop (S.M.A.S.H) classic American pilsner. It starts with a surprisingly full-bodied malt flavor that leads in a refreshingly crisp finish.
(Thanks to Nathan for the heads-up about this and many other breweries in Eastern Oregon)