Suzanne Goldsmith talks about Captured by Porches and Miskatonic Dark Rye Ale
On Thursday we had the opportunity to hang out with Suzanne and Dylan Goldsmith from Captured by Porches Brewing Company at the brewery in St. Helens, OR. The couple hosted a great party in the brewery's Beer Parlor, where we ate good food and met a bunch of cool people over a few of the brewery's signature Invasive Species IPAs. I learned that Captured by Porches will be releasing its Miskatonic Dark Rye Ale this week, and followed-up with Suzanne to share more about the brewery, the beer, and Peckers the starling.
Suzanne pours Invasive Species IPA
Here's what Suzanne had to say:
Beer Brawl III at Concordia Ale House
Earlier this week, we met some friends at Concordia Ale House to participate in Beer Brawl III, a blind tasting of beers in different styles from Washington, Oregon and California, where participants submit votes for their favorites in each category. The categories included: Pale Ale, IPA, Stout, and Brewer's Choice; three beers were offered in each category.
The best part about blind tastings is drinking a beer without knowing anything about it, other than its category in this case. While I might be surprised when the beers are revealed next week, I was generally underwhelmed by the beers included in this year's contest. At times, I felt like we were trying to pick the best of the worst in a category; or, choosing a winner through process of elimination.
While we didn't like all the beers, we had a great time trying the beers and talking about them. My favorite beer of the twelve was beer #7, one of the stouts. My other votes went to: #10 for Brewer's Choice; #1 for Pale Ale, and #6 for IPA.
Pelican 2009 Stormwatcher’s Winterfest Vertical Tasting
In my previous post about Pelican Pub & Brewery, I mentioned that we had the opportunity to order the Stormwatcher's Winterfest Vertical Tasting during our visit. While barleywine wouldn't have been my first choice to drink on a beautiful 60 degree spring day on the coast, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to go with the impressive tasting.
Here are the beers, descriptions, and my notes:
Pelican Pub & Brewery – Pacific City, OR
After a week of beautiful weather in Portland last week, we decided to head out to Pacific City on Saturday afternoon to hang out on the beach and pay a visit to Pelican Pub & Brewery. With 60 degrees and plenty of sunshine, we couldn't have asked for a better day to make the 90 mile trip from Portland to the cool little beach town. I wish I could have stayed in Pacific City for the rest of the weekend.
The town of Pacific City is beautiful, and the Pelican Pub & Brewery is located on some prime waterfront property with a gorgeous view from the restaurant and back deck. When we stopped in, we were met with a bunch of people waiting outside for a table and we were told that we could expect to wait an hour to be seated. Lucky for us, we hit the bar for a beer while we waited and scored a couple bar stools in the time it took the bartender to pour us a couple Imperial pints (which are offered to anyone ordering a pint for an upcharge of 50 cents). We were looking for some refreshing beers, so we went with the Kiwanda Cream Ale and Paddler's Pale ale, one of the several seasonals on tap this weekend.
My Oh My! My Beery Valentine
As if Zwickelmania wasn't enough fun for one weekend, our friends at Brewpublic tempted us with some unique Valentines Day beers at Saraveza with the event My Beery Valentine: A benefit for Haiti Relief. While I typically don't go for fruity beers, I was impressed with the beers on tap at the event. Standouts from the event for me included: Block 15 Love Potion #9 and Upright Four Play.
Block 15 Love Potion #9
Love Potion #9 was my favorite beer from the event. It's described by Block 15 as: "Stout conditioned with Local Black Raspberries from Stahlbush Island Farms and matured on house roasted Fair Trade Ghana cocoa nibs. Developed by Gypsies & guaranteed to help you find love. 6.3%alc, 30 IBU’s" In my mind, this beer completely embodies all things Valentines Day. After having this beer and reading how Dave Selden is talking about Block 15, I'm thinking that I'll have to make a trip down to Corvallis to check this place out soon.
Zwickelmania 2010 Recap: Our tour of Portland
As breweries across the entire State of Oregon opened their doors for tours and tastings on Saturday for Zwickelmania, we decided to stay close to home and check out some of what Portland's breweries had to offer. With more than twenty breweries to choose from in the Portland area, charting our course proved to be a pretty difficult task. And while we didn't get to see everything we would have liked to, we did check out some great breweries, drink some good beer and talk with some cool people along the way. Our day looked something like this:
Lompoc 5th Quadrant
On the Road: Flat Street Brewpub – Brattleboro, VT
While I was out of town earlier this week, I had the opportunity to visit Flat Street Brewpub in Brattleboro, Vermont. After hearing from local B&B owners Amy and Tim Brady, that Switchback, Otter Creek Imperials, and Long Trail Brewmaster beers would be worth seeking out, I thought I might find one at Flat Street. Unfortunately I didn't find any of these recommendations at the brewpub, but didn't mind all that much after seeing the list of 20 beers on tap.
About half of Flat Street's taplist is beers from Berkshire Brewing Company, a brewery about 30 miles south of Brattleboro in South Deerfield, MA. I opted for the seasonal Berkshire Cabin Fever. The beer is described as:
Copper amber in color, this medium bodied ale has a great balanced flavor. A fruity spicy hop finish compliments the caramel taste. Think of English pale ale dry hopped with German Tettnang hops. This ale was made to sustain you during the long New England winter.
Doug Ellenberger talks about Everybody’s Brewing
After visiting Everybody's Brewing last month and really enjoying our trip to the pub, I reached out to Doug Ellenberger, Owner and Brewer, to learn more about the brewery and the beers he is brewing. It took me a while to track Doug down as he is a busy guy working to get his beers into the hands of many in the area, but I think it's paying off with more places in town offering it on tap, and more people talking about the brewery. Check out what Doug had to say about Everybody's, the brewers in The Gorge, and the beer geeks who question whether or not his beers are really 'session' beers:
About the brewery
The Brewery is located in White Salmon, Washington, 60 miles east of Portland, directly across the Columbia River, from Hood River, Oregon. The Pub is a comfortable, family friendly spacious room, with a huge deck that looks upon Mt. Hood and the Gorge. The décor is warm colors with tons of Doug Fir wood everywhere. The building was built in 1939 by the Oddfellows; they appropriately named it “The Goodwill Lodge.” Nearly all of the wood that is not original was reclaimed from old buildings in the Gorge, and Portland. Local craftsmen poured their hearts and souls into the project. Most were given basic design ideas, and then allowed to use their creativity and skills to produce the finished product. The result was amazing. Our bar top is a single side of one old growth Doug Fir tree that was a natural wind fall in the Mt. St. Helens national forest. It is a book match lay out measuring 26 feet long, 4 inches thick, and nearly 3 ½ feet wide. Milled 20 miles north in Glenwood, WA, it is a showpiece to the pub.
Cascadian: Emerging Styles Beyond Dark Ale
If you've been paying attention to beer in the Pacific Northwest over the past few months, you've likely tried or at least heard about Cascadian Dark Ales. As the debate continues about whether the beer style should be recognized as Black IPA or Cascadian Dark Ale, it's obvious that this issue has become a hot topic of conversation among beer drinkers. Personally, I'd like to see the style recognized as Cascadian Dark Ale. But with some breweries moving forward with Black IPA, it's difficult to tell if CDA will become a widely recognized and adopted style (check out some good CDA background info from Brewpublic here and here).
While some are quick to dismiss the style as a fad and others talk about it as an emerging style, I'd be willing to bet that the style is here to stay - regardless of what a brewery decides to call it. I'm actually hoping that some of my favorites in the style become more widely available year-round offerings.
As I think about this debate, and the discussion about Deschutes Brewery's use of Northwest to describe its Red Chair Pale Ale, the Cascadian Dark Ale discussion raises an interesting question: will the word Cascadian be used to describe new hoppy regional styles from the Pacific Northwest?
Around Town in Early February
With several beer releases this weekend, we were presented with no shortage of event options and new beers to try over the past few days. And while I didn't make it to all of the release parties and meet the brewers events that I would have liked to attend, I did manage to make my way around town to check out some of the new beers.
Double Mountain Porter a Go Go
