The Beer Goddess

Heard on Beer O’Clock: BeerGyver’s Dads & Grads Gift Guide

lisam — Sat, 25 May 2013 23:00:06 +0000

It was standing-room only in our virtual pub this week. Carl Singmaster at Belmont Station reviewed these beers:

Anchor Zymaster Series Fort Ross Farmhouse Ale

Brouwerij Von Steenberge Biere du Boucanier Dark

We talked with Chip Hardy about the great new and expanded new digs at The Bier Stein in Eugene. And BeerGyver gave us his Dads and Grads gift guide with these cool items:

Plus, Jack Beiting of Widmer brought us our beer of the week: Alchemy Ale!

The Cat is Finally Out of the Bag … Harris Reveals Brewery Details

lisam — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 17:43:33 +0000

One of the cool things about being neighbors with a brewer is you can sometimes get some information that is not yet ready for prime time. This was the case when John Harris came over to our house a few weeks ago to celebrate the fact that he had just signed a lease on a building to house his new brewpub.

While enjoying a few beers off our taps, John also showed us his new logo and explained the concept behind the name of his new brewery. We were asked to keep this very quiet as John had plans to reveal all at a “dry open house” which took place Sunday at the new digs, 825 N. Cook Street. Of course, we did keep the info to ourselves. I’ve always been one to consider friendship more precious than getting a scoop.

It was fun to be on hand yesterday to see John unveil the name and logo (literally — he had a piece of paper with “???” taped over the logo on his shirt). And it was my first time in the vast building, which used to be a frozen food warehouse before it was an auto-body shop.

To help us visualize where everything was going to be, John’s wife, Jane, spent countless hours drawing it all out on the floor in chalk for us. And on the walls, where we could see where new garage-door openings and windows were going to be, along with the bar, bathrooms and, of course, the brewery.

Without any further adieu, the name for John Harris’, new brewpub is Ecliptic Brewing. As John, an avid amateur astronomer, describes it, it’s the elliptical “journey we take around the sun” on Earth each year.

Harris explained that he plans to honor the Ecliptic name by brewing seasonal beers and working with his chef to create beer and food pairings highlighting the best of each season.

On an interesting side note, Harris found and bought from Dogfish Head Brewing in Delaware the original BridgePort brewery, where it had been languishing in the parking lot for years, unused.

In essence, Portland’s first brewery has made its own ecliptic trip around the country and has returned home again.

No target date has been set, but you can already keep up with Ecliptic Brewing through Facebook, Twitter, Instragram and its website.

Heard on Beer O’Clock: Sean Paxton’s Cinco de Mayo Feast

lisam — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 22:46:30 +0000

This just in from Sean (OK, he sent it a few days ago, but I am finally getting around to posting). Links for the Homebrew Chef’s Cinco de Mayo celebrations!

http://www.homebrewchef.com/FourAleNachos.html

http://www.homebrewchef.com/SmokedPorterBlackBeans.html

http://www.homebrewchef.com/BeerCheeseSauce.html

http://www.homebrewchef.com/LambChiliinfusedWithStoutBeer.html

http://www.homebrewchef.com/BeerBrinedChicken.html

Arriba! Arriba!

Barley Brown’s Expansion Nearly Ready

lisam — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 22:43:25 +0000

Tyler Brown with new brewery.

Tyler Brown has a lot to smile about these days: Barley Brown’s new brewery and tasting room is nearly complete.

The new 20-barrel brewery and the adjacent tasting room is right across the street from Barley Brown’s Brewpub and the original 4-barrel brewery in downtown Baker City, Ore.

Barley Brown’s nearly finished tasting room

The space used to be a Safeway, and the crew took it down to the bare bones to create the brewery and tasting room. The tasting room area features big windows, the original concrete floor (restained) and a magnificent bar made of black walnut. Taps will come straight from the cooler on the wall. Brown hopes this new 21+ space will help alleviate the crush of people over at the brewpub, leaving that area freer for diners and families.

The brewery, of course, will expand Barley Brown’s beers which means hopefully more of its incredible brews will make it outside Baker City. Plans are in the works for distribution, first in kegs and either bottles or cans down the road.

Oh, and attention Portland: another batch of the Citra Hot Blonde that took the city by storm a while ago is fermenting. Look for it coming this way soon!

Sneak Peek: 10 Barrel Boise

lisam — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 21:53:52 +0000

Tonya Cornet & Shawn Kelso, 10 Barrel’s Dynamic Brew-o

Thanks to our friends, Mike and Weegee, who serendipitously got married in Boise the weekend that 10 Barrel opened there, we had a chance to visit the new brewpub on the night of its soft launch April 19.

Wow. The fine folks of Boise ain’t gonna know what hit ‘em. And frankly, Bend (and hopefully Portland and the Willamette Valley) might be stunned, too, now that the knock-em-dead combination of Tonya Cornett and crew in Bend and Shawn Kelso — formerly of Barley Brown’s, now 10 Barrel Boise’s brewer — will be having a field day. Plans are for both to design and brew extraordinary beers, brew each other’s and share between the two locations. And if the soft launch was any indication, having two “chefs” certainly does not spoil this “soup.”

German Sparkle Party sparkles in the light

The impressive beer list featured 10 Barrel’s year-round beers, plus a host of seasonals and one-offs including the award-winning German Sparkle Party Berlinerweiss and Raspberry Crush, a side project of Cornett’s with ridiculous amounts of raspberries — so much so that Cornett was told by a patron they thought the raspberry was artificial. Rest assured, it’s not.

We missed the food, but the head chef was kind enough to put together a sampler tray of some appetizers for us — and hand-delivered it to boot! The appetizers, by the way, were delicious. Between the big smiles on Tonya’s and Shawn’s faces, the friendly and quick service (amazing considering how packed it was), the lovely building itself and of course the beers, 10 Barrel Boise was an oasis for these weary travelers after a long day of driving!

Oregon Garden Brew Fest Lineup Revealed

lisam — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 17:40:31 +0000

It promises to be gorgeous weather for the Oregon Garden Brew Fest this year. They are adding an extra day — Sunday will be Family Day and kids are allowed then (and only then; Friday and Saturday are 21+). Here’s the beer lineup.

It’s truly among the unique beer festivals because you can stroll the grounds of the glorious Oregon Garden (honestly, a state treasure), sipping beer (or wine) and relishing in the different gardens, the springlike growth and get some exercise to boot (it’s a vast area). It’s like a whole other world. With beer!

Oregon Public House Really, Really Close to Opening

Tim Joachim — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 17:21:46 +0000

Th e Oregon Public House, the world’s first non-profit pub, is really really close to opening.

How close? Weeks hopefully. If you’ve been following the story of The Public House for the last two years, you may be wondering why it’s taken so long to open their doors. Well, the entire project has been cash-flowed with money raised by donations and renting out The Village Ballroom located above the pub. The coolest way of donating is through the Founders program, where you can donate $500 and receive a beer a month for life, $1,500 and receive a beer a week for life, or $2,500 and receive a beer a day for life. Cash-flowing the entire project means no money has been loaned, so that when the pub finally opens its doors, 100 percent of net profits will go to charities.

The Public House is getting final touches right now. When I stopped by this weekend, the back bar shelves were being stained. The Point-of-Sale system goes in this week and has been specially programmed so that in addition to beer and food orders, servers can take charity donations as well.

If you haven’t heard, the way The Oregon Public House will work is that servers will take your food and beer order, and then you pick a charity that you’d like the profits from your purchase to go to from another menu. Servers will input your food and beer orders, and also input which charity you’ve chosen, then at the end of the month, the net profits for each charity will be totaled and checks cut. Stay posted to BeerGoddess.com for an official opening date.
The taplist has yet to be revealed and will be rotating, but it will undoubtedly be IPA-heavy.

Heard on Beer O’Clock: Beer Berries Giveaway; Big Brew

lisam — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 15:57:15 +0000

It was a packed house in our virtual pub this week.

Carl Singmaster of Belmont Station shared tasting notes on these beers:

Good Life Sweet As Pacific Ale in cans!

Ninkasi Sterling Pils

Bear Republic Black Racer Cascadian Black IPA

Ninkasi Vanilla Oatis Oatmeal Stout

He also announced the grand opening of Belmont Station’s new back patio and bier garden which happens April 22.

We talked with Julian Rose, master chocolatier at Moonstruck Chocolates, where they have created Beer Berries, a new confection that’ was inspired by Moonstruck’s neighbor, Occidental Brewing. We are giving away a bag of the beer berries to a lucky listener! Listen in to learn how to enter to win — and where you can also taste Moonstruck’s new beer truffle.

Homebrew Guru Duke Geren brought us details of the upcoming Big Brew National Hombrew Day event that’s taking place worldwide on May 4. You can get details on FH Steinbart’s celebration or find one elsewhere.

Plus our Beer of the Week is Alaskan’s new Freeride American Pale Ale.
Listen to the full show for all the fun.

John Harris Finds a Home (Update: Open House Announced)

lisam — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 00:22:19 +0000

(for his brewery).

John Harris at the inaugural Don Younger Golf tournament April 7, 2013

John Harris, who left his longtime gig as brewmaster at Full Sail brewing about a year or so ago to pursue his dream of opening his own place officially announced today that he has found a location.

Harris also has a name and a logo for his brewery, but he plans to publicly announce those details at a “dry open house” he will be holding at the new location, at 825 N. Cook Street, in Portland — a dry open house, meaning there won’t be any beer because he’s still in the throes of getting all the licenses lined up.

~~Look for details on the “dry open house” which will be happening around the last weekend of this month.~~

Update: Harris announced on his Facebook page that he is holding the open house on April 28 from 2-4 p.m. and that’s when and where he will announce the name and reveal the logo for his new venture.

Make sure to wish John a big congrats on finding the right space; it’s been a long haul. There’s once again a big grin on John’s face, and I, personally, have missed that.

Heard On Beer O’Clock: BeerGyver’s Geekery Links; Oregon Public House

lisam — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 01:22:44 +0000

Kerry “BeerGyver” Finsand brought us a bunch of beer and tech geekery with the theme: Beer Drinking Made Easy. Here are links to his finds:

Hermetus Bottle Opener/Resealer (pictured)

Hammacher’s Cycle Pub

Drink Tanks Growler 2

We also spoke with Ryan Saari of the soon-to-open Oregon Public House, where you can enjoy great beer and raise money for nonprofits through this organization where 100-percent of net profits go toward several “house” charities. Have a pint, change the world!

And, of course, we had some good beer with us! Carl Singmaster of Belmont Station brought us his tasting notes on these beers:

Mikkeller Yeast Series 2.0 Brettanomyces Lambicus and Brettanomyces Bruxellensis
Prairie Artisan Ales Standard Saison

The Commons Brewery Myrtle Farmhouse Ale

Plus our beer of the week was brought to us by Ninkasi’s Morgan Miller who shared the Babylon Double IPA!

Psst! We also have two more weekly drawings for a hop starter kit from NW Hops (hop rhizomes, twine & a T-shirt), so listen to the show for details on how to enter to win.