Hair of the Dog, a Great Way to Celebrate a Year in Portland
This time last year, we started fresh. We embarked on something new. It was exciting. This week marks the one year anniversary of when we moved to Portland from Chicago. To celebrate, we hit up the newly re-opened Hair of the Dog Brewery and Tasting Room in Southeast Portland earlier this week.
First impressions of the new location are favorable. Jeff Alworth at Beervana suggests that Hair of the Dog should be one of the top three beer destinations for tourists visiting Portland, saying, "you just won't find this kind and quality of beer anywhere in the city--or the state, or the country, for that matter." And from the Beer Cave, "With the opening of this new tasting room, I really feel like Alan [Sprints, owner of Hair of the Dog] kicked the Portland beer scene up a notch. With his unique and truly delicious beers, and extensive collection of vintage offerings, this place is something special."
I completely agree with these guys. You won't find this kind of beer anywhere in the city. And the place really is something special. A visit to Hair of the Dog was the perfect way to celebrate surviving our first year in Portland.
Migration Brewing: Six Months In
This month, Migration Brewing, one of Portland's newest breweries celebrates its sixth month in business. Last week, I was part of a group of writers and media who met with friends and co-founders of Migration, Colin Rath, McKean Banzer-Lausberg, and Mike Branes, to try the current beer lineup, and hear about Migration's progress thus far and plans for the future.
With September quickly approaching, it's hard to believe that it's already been six months since Migration opened its doors. In some ways, February seems like yesterday. At the same time, a lot has happened in the last six months. Migration has introduced us to three beers that will be part of the regular lineup (the much-talked about Little Bitter is not a beer that will be part of that lineup). The brewery also doubled its capacity, adding two new seven-barrel fermentors. With the increase in available capacity, Migration is hoping to start distributing its beers to local taprooms and bars around town beginning in mid-September.
The current lineup of beers includes:
Brewer Ben Edmunds talks about Gose and Breakside Brewery’s first beer
It's not everyday that a new brewery decides to brew a Gose style beer for its first offering. But that's exactly what Ben Edmunds, brewer at Breakside Brewery, decided to do. As Portlanders wait patiently for one of the city's newest breweries to start pouring its own beers on-site, some lucky people were able to try Breakside's first official beer last week at the Hop and Vine's second anniversary party. The delicate yet crisp brew, not to mention the fact that it was served in wine glasses, was a perfect compliment to the celebration.
I caught up with Ben Edmunds after the event to discuss the beer, the style, and the timeline when we might expect to see more from Breakside. Here's that conversation:
Tell us about Gose and your experience with the style
Our gose is/was a traditional stab at this resuscitated style. The style was nearly unknown until a few years ago in the US; most Germans don't even know it exists! This was the first gose I had ever brewed. Gose is a specialty from eastern Germany. It is a tart (not overly sour) wheat beer made with coriander and some level of salt addition. Originally from Goslar, where the water had a naturally high salt content, the beer is more closely associated with Leipzig now. In the 1920s, there were hundreds of 'gose houses' in Leipzig, a university town where the beer was peddled as a sexual stimulant. You can imagine the student reaction. The style nearly died out during the Cold War, when wheat was appropriated for food use in the Soviet Bloc, and it's only now making it to the US. The first American gose I tasted was at the Herkimer Brewery in Minneapolis, where they specialize in traditional German styles. Theirs was very heavy on the palate, but it was well balanced with only a touch of sourness. Since then, I've had a few German examples as well as all of the goses we've seen from Upright, Cascade, and now Widmer. Alex's version from Upright is the one that inspired me most; it had a phenomenal balance and dryness, and the tartness was just right. When it came time to try the style, I used a different yeast strain, so the beer's profile is quite different.
Vertigo Brewing – Hillsboro, OR
After enjoying Vertigo Brewing's Friar Gone Wild Imperial IPA at the Oregon Brewers Festivallast month, I took the trip fifteen miles west of Portland to check out the small Hillsboro-based brewery late last week. At the brewery, which is tucked deep into an industrial park about a mile and a half south of Route 26 just off of NW Cornelius Pass Road, I hooked up with Mike Haines and Michael Kinion, co-owners and brewers at Vertigo.
Before my visit, I didn't know much about Vertigo. With the exception of the beer I tried at the Oregon Brewers Festival, I hadn't tried any other Vertigo beers. I had seen the brewery's Razz Wheat beer on tap around town occasionally, not to mention the huge lines for the beer at the OBF, but my visit to the brewery revealed that there is much more to Vertigo than this, its best-known beer.
It turns out that Razz Wheat was the source of some concern for Mike Haines early on. With another popular fruit beer, an Apricot Cream Ale, among Vertigo's lineup, Haines didn't want Vertigo to be dubbed a fruit beer brewery. After trying both of these beers at the brewery, it's easy to see why they're so popular. But these two beers were among seven other beers available on draught during my visit. The complete lineup included:
A Migration Towards a Niche Market
McKean Banzer-Lausgerg from Migration Brewing talks about Portland's competitive landscape
In a recent post published at The New School, Ben Edmunds, a columnist for the site, prompted us to think about the point at which Portland would be considered a saturated beer market. Framed in the article as the Portland Beer Apocalypse, Ben offers his take on this very real possibility, saying:
"I fear for the Portland brewpubs. Already forced to compete with a tough restaurant scene, brewpubs are strained by large outlays of cash and credit for brewing systems, as well as the challenge of running both a brewery and restaurant." He goes on to say, "I fear that good beer and the best intentions may simply not be enough to make a brewery succeed. I hope I am wrong, but I’ll be surprised if the city can handle forty-plus breweries and brewpubs sustainably."
A Trip to Sisters, and Three Creeks Brewery
View from the road, driving through Sisters
If you haven't been to Sisters, OR, you're missing out. We rented a house just outside of town for Memorial Day Weekend this year, where views from our deck afforded us some of the best mountain views I've seen in Oregon. When we weren't exploring the surrounding parks and trails, we spent most of our weekend relaxing and enjoying the view. We didn't want to do much else. There was one exception, however.
Sisters is home to Three Creeks Brewery. The Brewery is located just southeast of downtown in what looks to be a rehabbed old barn. The build-out is beautiful. Separated into two parts: a restaurant and a bar, we grabbed a table in the bar on Saturday afternoon and ordered a taster tray.
On the Road: Providence, RI
Julian's in Providence
For the second time in as many weeks, I found myself on the East Coast again last week; this time it was Providence, Rhode Island. I had never been to The Creative Capital before this trip and, despite the relatively limited brewery options in the city, I was really looking forward to exploring what Providence had to offer. Coincidentally, I was in Providence when our friends at Brewpublic published the first part in a series about beer in Rhode Island. While I wasn't able to explore beyond the city limits, I did find a few great beer spots worth checking out in town.
The most notable of my stops was Julian's. I had first heard about Julian's from a fellow Oregon Beer Odyssey classmate a few weeks ago. Described to me as a place worth checking out, but somewhat off the beaten path, it ended up being only about a mile walk from my hotel. And as Portland was getting rained on, I enjoyed the walk on a nearly 80 degree evening in Providence.
Welcome to the neighborhood: Breakside Brewery is open for business
Portlanders celebrated the opening of Beervana's newest brewery this weekend. Breakside Brewery, located in the Northeast Portland neighborhood Woodlawn, opened its doors for business on Friday afternoon. While Breakside's own beers are not yet available (look for them around July 1st), the brewery opened with a full food menu and a great list of guest taps that, as evidenced by the Yelp reviews and talk on Twitter, have been very well received.
I stopped in at Breakside on Saturday afternoon with some friends who were in town visiting from Chicago and others in from Hood River. We found a home at one of the tables in the bar between the two giant garage doors that opened onto a beautiful sunny Portland afternoon. After ordering beers from a list that included New Belgium Mothership Wit, Elysian The Wise ESB, Firestone Walker Union Jack and Dogfish Head Festina Peche, we dug into Breakside's pulled pork nachos and the jalapeno poppers. Our selections from the refreshingly straightforward menu of appetizers and sandwiches were great choices. A few beers later, some of our friends opted for the pulled pork sandwich and the blackened chicken burger - both of which looked great and disappeared quickly.
Aside from the food we ordered, there are a couple menu items that have the potential to be real standouts: the Lovely Pork Belly Sandwich: slow cooked with soy, brown sugar, leeks, ginger, and anise, and topped with fresh fennel and carrot slaw, and the Breakside Burger: The Cadillac of burgers! Juicy and tender American Kobe-style beef from Snake River Farms with a creamy center of Rogue Smoky Blue. Topped with roasted wild mushrooms and caramelized onions. I'm looking forward to trying both of these.
Enjoying the Outdoors (and beer) in Hood River
My dad was in town this past weekend, so we decided to get out of town on Saturday and head out to Hood River. With clouds and rain looming over us as we headed out of Portland, we were lucky enough to leave the gray behind us as we drove east. We were greeted in Hood River with temperatures in the mid-60s and partly sunny skies. It wasn't long before the sun was shining and we went in search of someplace where we could enjoy a beer outside.
In recent trips to Hood River, I learned that both Full Sail and Everybody's Brewing (located just across the Columbia River in White Salmon, WA) have outdoor decks. But because it was earlier in the season, neither was open during our previous visits. On Saturday we decided to check them out. I highly recommend both of them; I'm not sure there's a better place in the area to enjoy good beers and phenomenal views while soaking up the sun.
For those making the trip, I'd like to offer a couple random notes. First, Full Sail's pint glasses are some of the best I've seen. The shape and quality are great, but equally as important, they're marked with a clear fill line that reads: A FULL PINT, and the fill line is about an inch from the lip of the glass. Second, Everybody's has some of the best brewpub food I've had. We've eaten there twice and the food was great both times.
An unlikely combination: Deschutes pairs bacon and beer with vegetarian dishes
Chef Jeff Usinoqicz introduces the Gateway dinner
Jeff Usinoqicz, Executive Chef at Deschutes Brewery's Portland Pub, called it a Gateway dinner. Before serving it last night, he discussed what gateway meant to him. Jeff talked about it as an unlikely or unexpected combination. That's exactly what we found in each of our five courses: vegetarian dishes paired with bacon and beer, each carefully prepared or selected to compliment the otherwise innocent plates.
While it was obvious that everyone expected more people to attend the dinner, the fact that Deschutes closed the brewpub to the public demonstrated a real commitment to serving those that did spend the $65 to enjoy the unique pairings. I appreciated Jeff's perspectives as a chef, but also thought the comments from Sheldon Marcuvitz of Your Kitchen Garden Farms and Jim Hansen of Carlton Farms really helped make the connection between the food, farms, and our tables. The vegetables were sourced from Your Kitchen Garden Farms and the bacon was sourced from Carlton Farms.
