Archives

The Beer Report: Cream Ales

(Each week, I have the honor of presenting The Beer Report on Newsradio 101 FM — Saturdays at 7:40 a.m. It’s a great chance to reach out to a wide audience about the pleasures of great beer!)

creamale This week we are focusing on a beer style you might have seen at your local brewery or brewpub. Craft brewers often make this particular style to help introduce newbies to craft beer — but even seasoned pros love the style because it’s so drinkable.

It’s called cream ale — but there’s no cream in it. Instead, it’s brewed so that there’s a slightly creamy texture — or mouthfeel — to the beer.
Cream ales spawned from the American light lager style — which is why craft brewers like to include them in their lineup for people who prefer light industrial-made lagers like Budweiser and Coors. Sometimes craft brewers will even throw in a little lager yeast to keep it similar to that style — or they might include corn or rice to give it the same flavors and texture that we come to expect in those bigger-brand beers.

Cream ales are typically pale straw to pale gold in color with very little bitterness from hops. These beers are often nicely carbonated and refreshing — easy to drink more than one.

So give this easy-drinking style a go. You might never look at a macro-brew again!

You can hear The Beer Report here:

Posted by Lisa Morrison on May 01, 2012

And the Winner of the People's Choice Award Is ...

This just in from the Oregon Brewers Guild, announcing the winner of the People’s Choice Award at the Portland Cheers to Belgian Beers festival last Saturday.

logsdon_logo Logsdon Organic Farmhouse Ales, located outside Hood River, has won the prestigious honor for the second year in a row. Last year, they tied with Hopworks Urban Brewery. Here’s the news release from the OBG:

More than 1,600 beer fans attended the 2012 Portland’s Cheers to Belgian Beers festival at Metalcraft Fabrication on Saturday, April 21. More than 679 ballots were cast, and fans selected Logsdon Organic Farmhouse Ales’ Cerasus as the “People’s Choice” champion. As the winner of the 2012 competition, Logsdon Organic Farmhouse Ales has earned the right to select the yeast strain for next year’s event.

“The event continues to grow, and each year is a greater success,” says Oregon Brewers Guild Executive Director, Brian Butenschoen. “Forty breweries participated this year and contributed some delicious and innovative variations on the Canadian/Belgian Ale and Roeselare Ale Blend yeast strains.”

This is the second time Logsdon Organic Farmhouse Ales has tasted “People’s Choice” victory; the brewery also took home the coveted prize at the 2011 festival. Other top voter favorites were Block 15 Brewing Company, Occidental Brewing Co., Cascade Brewing Barrel House, The Commons Brewery, Breakside Brewery and Double Mountain Brewery.

The Portland’s Cheers to Belgian Beers festival started in 2007 as a celebration of Belgian style beers. Participating breweries were required to produce beers from the same two strains of yeast and add their own creative spin. This year, the 40 participating breweries created 45 unique brews, 39 of which were brewed using the chosen yeast strains. Visit www.oregonbeer.org for more details.

Posted by Lisa Morrison on Apr 24, 2012

Heard On Beer O'Clock -- Links & Details For 4/21/12

Boulevard_Rye_on_Rye We got a visit in our virtual pub from Carl Singmaster of Belmont Station who gave us his tasting notes on the following beers:

The Commons Brewery Biere de Garde
Gouden Caroulis Easter Beer
Ninkasi Helles Belles
Boulevard Rye on Rye

Listen to Carl’s inspired tasting notes here:

ad_fhsteinbart We also heard from homebrew guru Duke Geren, of FH Steinbart Brewing Supplies, who answered your homebrew questions — What’s the best water to use in your brew? Does dry or liquid yeast make for better beer? Details on the American Homebrewer’s Association’s Big Brew and more. Listen to Duke’s answers here:

ad_lompoc Then, Jerry Fechter of "Lompoc Brewing ":http://www.newoldlompoc.com/joined us in our virtual pub and told us all about Lompocalypse. It’s the End of Days for the New Old Lompoc as the building it calls home is being torn down. But a new New Old Lompoc will rise like a phoenix in its place. Join Jerry in our virtual pub to find out about the weeklong plans for saying goodbye to the old — and when we expect to see the new New Old Lompoc in action. (Bring a hanky for this one; Jerry gets a little teary-eyed talking about his first brewpub):

fearless_brewing_logo And we learn the story behind the interestingly named Mjlnor Imperial IPA, our Beer of the Week. Listen to Ken Johnson of Fearless Brewing here:

Or check out the whole show right here.

Posted by Lisa Morrison on Apr 23, 2012

FredFest Beer Lineup: Lookin' Good!

fred-as-obi-wan Have you ever tasted a weizen that was aged on sake-soaked French-oak? Me neither, but we both get a chance to try that and several other inventive and iconic beers at this year’s FredFest.

The beer lineup is still getting finalized for the May 13 event at Hair of the Dog, but you can check in on the progress and get a sneak peek at the brewers who will be participating for this, the 7th annual celebration for Fred Eckhardt’s birthday. The “Dean of American Beer Writers” is turning 86 this year, and each year since his 80th, we’ve asked brewers to help us celebrate by brewing up or offering something tasty that would answer the perennial question, “What Would Fred Drink?” (WWFD?)

Each year, the event is a fundraiser for a nonprofit of Fred’s choice. This year the 100 percent volunteer event hopes to raise enough money to build two bedrooms for Portland kids through Habitat for Humanity Portland/Metro East.

Other already announced highlights:

A rare new release from Hair of the Dog called Lila — a lager. (And so close to fulfilling my dream of having a beer named after me — Lila / Lisa — just a couple of letters off!)
Midnight Sun Brewing’s Moscow Rye Russian Imperial Stout, and a rare “mystery beer”
Wookey Jack Black Rye IPA- from Firestone Walker
An unnamed “light, hoppy” beer from the brand-new (not even open yet) Gigantic Brewing
Vintage Old Crustacean Barley Wine from Rogue

But really, just go check out the list for yourself. And if you haven’t gotten tickets yet, you should act fast. Only about 50 or so are left before FredFest 2012 is sold out!

Posted by Lisa Morrison on Apr 20, 2012

The AP & Washington Post Say: Beer's Not Just For Bros!

Great article in the Washington Post (via The Associated Press) came out today (on International Women’s Day) about women catching on to the joys of beer.

Irene Firmat, Julia Herz and a few other great beer women were featured. I even got a little bit of ink!

Read the full story.

Posted by Lisa Morrison on Apr 17, 2012

4 (Or 5) Oregon Craft Breweries Listed In Top 50

logo_brewers_association The Brewers Association just released its list of the top 50 craft breweries and top 50 overall brewing companies of 2011, based on volume.

What’s the difference between the two lists? Well, one big difference is that the Craft Brewers Alliance (which includes Widmer) is not included in the craft brewery list. That’s because the CBA, being partially owned by A-B isn’t “independent,” which is one of the things the Brewers Association considers to be the definition of a craft brewery. So Widmer gets lumped in with A-B, Miller and lot.

Even with that distinction, four Oregon craft breweries were listed in the top 50 and five (the first four plus CBA) were listed in overall breweries’ top 50 list. Any guesses what the other four were?

You can see the full story from the BA and both lists right here.

Posted by Lisa Morrison on Apr 17, 2012

Heard On Beer O'Clock 4/14/12

It was “fruity beer” day in our virtual pub and Carl Singmaster of Belmont Station gave us his tasting notes on these beers:
flesjecuvee_Small_
Samuel Smith Apricot Ale
Dogfish Head Aprihop
Ommegang Art of Darkness
Brouwerij Bockor Cuvee des Jacobins Rouge

Listen to Carl’s inspired tasting notes (and Lisa’s laryngitis!) here:

Up next, Brian Butenschoen of the Oregon Brewers Guild and Christian Ettinger of Hopworks Urban Brewery gave us some insight into the upcoming Portland Cheers to Belgian Beers Festival, where brewers use the same Belgian yeast strain to meet certain color and alcohol-level criteria for beers that YOU get to taste!

Listen to the story behind Portland Cheers to Belgian Beers right here:

And, our Homebrew Chef Sean Paxton gets back to basics with notation on cooking with beer.

Get down to basics with the Homebrew Chef:

Plus our Beer of the Week is a Grapefruit IPA by Jason Webb of Portland U-Brew & Pub — and you can find out where to sample that for free on Tuesday, April 17.

Get the story behind the grapefruit IPA (with real grapefruit inside!) and details on Taste-It Tuesday here:

Posted by Lisa Morrison on Apr 14, 2012

The Beer Report: Celebrating All That Is Fred

If you love good beer, you can thank Fred Eckhardt.

fred

Who’s Fred Eckhardt? He’s considered the Dean of American Beer Writers. And at nearly 86, he’s basically been writing about beer styles — most that we couldn’t even find in this country — for longer than many of us have been alive. Or at least drinking beer.

Fred, who lives in Portland, has been homebrewing before it was legal, and encouraged other homebrewers to try making all these crazy styles that we now take for granted. Those homebrewers were our first craft brewers.

Why am I telling you this? Well, Fred Eckhardt turns 86 in May and every year we have a big birthday party for him called FredFest. We ask about 20 or so different brewers to come up with something special for Fred for his birthday, and we celebrate everything Fred has done for craft beer.

The celebration takes place at Hair of the Dog brewing on the afternoon of Sunday, May 13. But the event always sells out — and there are less than 100 tickets left! So if you want to celebrate good beer and the man who helped bring it to you and the rest of us, you might want to act fast!

You can get tickets at FredFestPDX.com.

Here The Beer Report here:

Posted by Lisa Morrison on Apr 14, 2012

The Beer Report: Sweet On Bitters

On April Fools Day earlier this monthI got thinking about trickster beer styles — and one that’s probably among the trickiest — and least understood — is the English Bitter. Mostly because it’s not bitter at all.

The Bitter style came from brewers who wanted to differentiate these ales from other mild brews. These beers use pale malts and more hops than other mild styles. Most are gold to copper in color and are light bodied. They are often low in carbonation. Alcohol should be low — around 3-5 percent, even lower than Bud Light. Despite the name, hop bitterness is not high. Most Bitters have a fruitiness in the aroma and flavor instead.

Extra Special Bitters, or ESBs, are essentially maltier and more balanced Bitters, both in alcohol and hop character, but, still, nothing overpowering in these beers. Color range will be similar, though leaning toward the darker end of the scale — dark golds to copper. Malts tend to be more pronounced, often toasty and fruity. And despite “bitter” being in its name, ESBs are not really all that bitter. They key to an ESB is balance between malt and hops.

So don’t let the name fool you! Bitters don’t have to be, well, bitter. Give these trickster styles of the beer world a try — just look for Bitter or ESB in the name.

Hear the full Beer Report here:

Posted by Lisa Morrison on Apr 10, 2012

FredFest Tickets Go On Sale Thursday

fred-as-obi-wan The littlest big beer festival in the world – or at least in Portland – is slated for Sunday, May 13, with tickets going on sale March 29 at the official website.

The event, which always sells out, is highly anticipated in the craft beer community, with fans flocking from across the country to attend and pay homage to Fred Eckhardt, the Dean of American Beer Writers.

What started as a surprise 80th birthday party for the world-renowned Portland resident, FredFest has become a significant fundraiser for the nonprofit organization of Eckhardt’s choice. Now in its seventh year, FredFest has selected Habitat for Humanity Portland/Metro East as its official fundraising recipient. That means 100 percent of this year’s proceeds from FredFest will go toward building a home for a Portland family.

“Our goal is to raise at least $10,000 from FredFest,” says co-organizer Lisa Morrison. “Of course, we’d love to raise a lot more, but $5,000 will build an entire bedroom for one Portland kid. We want to make it a double. Not bad for an afternoon of drinking great beer and having a fun time!”
In a quest to answer the timeless question: “What Would Fred Drink?” lucky Fred fans and brewers will gather at the Hair of the Dog brewery and tasting room at 61 SE Yamhill in Portland on May 13 from 2-6 p.m., where they will be treated not only to a rare assortment of hand-selected beers, but also light fare — and birthday cake, complete with a round of the “Happy Birthday” song for Fred. Cheeses, chocolate, candy and even cereal will be offered in abundance so attendees can experience some of Fred’s more infamous beer-and-food pairings.

Tickets are $65 advance. Cost for FredFest includes a souvenir glass, free ticket for a raffle of bottled specialty beers and other goodies (more raffle tickets will be on sale at FredFest) plus four hours of sampling, sipping, singing and storytelling with Fred.

Posted by Lisa Morrison on Mar 28, 2012