Beervana (the book)

There are certain beer bloggers who I follow more than others either due to topics covered, geographic location or humor.

One person who covers all those bases is based in my former burg, Portland. Jeff Alworth’s Beervana blog has been going strong since 2006 and he has posted about places or beers that I have then HAD to visit or WILL visit soon.

So what did I see the last time I visited? Well, he’s compiled a book. With blog posts and additional material that you can physically read.

Follow the LINK to purchase a copy today.

Drink Deck

I heard about this beer-y product on the fabulous Beer O’Clock radio show and am now finally getting around to sharing it with you. Drink Deck are a combination of playing card and bar coupon. It started with a Chicago deck then to Portland and later this year San Francisco and New Orleans among others.

These are bar-centric as opposed to all beer but here is what you get…
“featuring 52 – $10 gift certificates (no expiration) rolled into a deck of poker sized playing cards that celebrates the best bar scenes in PDX!”

Hop & Vine expansion

Another Bottle shop is open today! I heard that the Hop and Vine was expanding from the great podcast and radio show Beer O’Clock.

And today is the kick-off for the bottle shop which is next door to the bar and eatery and lovely outdoor patio. Should be a great and grand opening.

R.I.P. Don Younger

One of the greats of the craft beer revolution has left the bar.

Don Younger passed away but I firmly tell you that his legacy will live on. He was the first beer booster and without him places around Portland might not exist and I sure as hell wouldn’t be writing about beer.

Craft beer is diminished today but without him it would be a shadow of what it is right now.

This is blatantly taken from Jay Brooks’ wonderful Beer Bulletin: take a listen with a pint in your hand.

Beetje Brewing

The Portland brewery boom shows no sign of abating! Burnside Brewing just cracked open their doors and now another nano is moving forward with their brews!

“Beetje (\’bee-cha’\) is a Flemish word that roughly translates to “little”, or “little bit”. This brewery will live up to that notion for the foreseeable future.

Beetje will produce small batch beers using high quality ingredients. I intend to use organic 2-row and organic pilsner as my base malts. As much as possible I will use organic specialty malts, and hops. Sound familiar? Yeah, a lot of breweries do this, particularly in the Northwest. I like the approach, and intend to employ it. Quality inputs tend to have a positive impact on the beer”

And here are the beers you can try….
B-sideABV: 5.5% || IBU: 30

B-side is a light , crisp and refreshing farmhouse ale. Golden to light orange in color with a floral nose and a dry finish. B-side is brewed with three base malts: Organic Pilsner, Organic 2-row and Rye. Northwest grown Willamette, Golding and Hallertauer aroma hops offer a soft underlying bitterness to help bolster the refreshing nature of the beer. The key note speaker in this beer is the Farmhouse Ale yeast.

Traditionally farmhouse ales were brewed on farms in the French and Flemish regions of Belgium. These beers were born out of necessity as most water was not potable and the farmers needed a light, refreshing low alcohol beverage to offer the hardworking farmhands.

Little Brother
ABV: 8.5% || IBU: 20

Little Brother is in the vein of a Belgian dark strong ale. By Northwest standards an 8.5% beer may not be considered strong, but it is currently the biggest beer Beetje produces. It pours dark brown, with shades of ruby and a creamy tan head. The flavor is dominated by caramel, and candy and offers a smooth finish. Chocolate and coffee begin to emerge as the beer warms.
Flemish KissABV: 5.7% || IBU: 35-40

A clean Northwest pale ale with a subtle kiss of Flanders. Brewed predominantly with organic 2- row, the malt bill is rounded out with organic light munich, organic 60L crystal and caravienna. Northwest Golding and Hallertauer hops provide a pleasant hop character. Right out primary fermentation this beer is decidedly a Northwest pale ale, but as it enters secondary a bridge to Belgium is built with a dose of brettanomyces bruxellensis.

Beer Bloggers Conference # 2


Having been at the first conference in Boulder, I am pleased to announce the 2nd and 3rd are on tap!

“We are very pleased to announce the dates and locations of our two 2011 Beer Bloggers Conferences:

May 20-22: London, UK
August 19-21: Portland, Oregon

We hope to build on the success of our 2010 conference, which had 108 attendees this past November in Boulder, Colorado. While the London conference is designed to appeal to European beer bloggers and writers, we also hope it will attract bloggers from other geographies, including some intrepid traveling bloggers from North America.

Neither the Portland nor London conferences could exist without the support of our initial sponsors: Molson Coors (UK), Wells and Youngs, and Fuller’s in the UK and the Oregon Brewers Guild and BridgePort Brewing in Portland. These organizations make it possible to bring the Beer Bloggers Conference to you at extremely reasonable prices.

Registration is now open and space is limited due to our conference locations and the ability of our dinner hosts to accommodate large groups.

P.U.B.

I keep promising myself to check beer blogs more often for new info and yet… I always seem to fall behind.

Here is an interesting homebrew shop variant from (you guessed it) Portland. The hub of H.U.B. and most new brew innovations.

Check out the homebrew shop and tap room HERE.

Thanks to the New School Blog for showcasing great stuff in Portland!