‘Upcoming Events’ Articles
Written by Abram on 14 May 2010
Brewsville-Eugene, Oregon: Each year brewers from across the Pacific Northwest gather to pay tribute to Glen Hay Falconer, brewmaster at the Wild Duck. Falconer passed away in 2002 while working on his VW bus. Brewers sooner rallied to form the Glen Hay Falconer Fund, which offers scholarships to the Siebel Institute of Technology brewing programs to brewers from the Northwest, Alaska, and Hawaii.
The Sasquatch Brew Fest raises money for the Fund, and features beers often brewed in tribute to Falconer, who was a hophead, and liked to brew big malty beers. This year the event will be held May 15th at the Eugene Hilton.
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Written by Abram on 04 April 2010
Brewsville-Pentiction, British Columbia
It’s been said that Pentiction is the Florida of Canada. The mild climate of the Okanagan Valley is conducive to peach, and apple orchards, and draws many retirees. The beachfront on Lake Okanagan is lined with hotels and even the odd casino. Penticton boasts a thriving beer scene for a town of its size (43,000 in the metro area) with two breweries (Tin Whistle and Cannery) and a brew pub (The Barley Mill).
Each year the town plays host to the Okanagan Fest Of Ales, an indoor beer event that features breweries from across BC, and beyond. A good number of Washington brewers attend, as do a number of importers pouring beers from Belgium, China, and Germany. The festival draws a mix of attendees from 19 to 90. Tickets for Friday and Saturday sessions are very limited, and often sell out in advance. Click here for info.
This year the festival celebrates its 15th anniversary April 9-10. The festival hosts a unique two-tiered competition. The People’s Choice Award, is given to the brewery that gets the most votes in public balloting, and the Industry Choice award, which is given to the brewery to get the most points from secret judges selected from brewers and beer media. Crannóg Ales, an on-farm organic brewery from Sorrento BC has taken the Industry Award for Best Beer for the last 5 years running.
While in Penticton be sure to visit Salty’s Beach House, which serves amazing Thai curries and is located on the beachfront. The Book Shop downtown offers an amazing array of used books with reasonable prices. The store is has 5000 square feet of space, all of which is jam-packed with books, making it one of the largest used bookstores in Canada. Also recommended is a stroll along the beach to investigate the grounded paddle wheelers at the west end of Lake Okanagan. These stylish boats once plied the lake as passenger ferries. Penticton also hosts an Iron Man Competition, with a swimming component, so don’t be surprised to see locals training by swimming in the frigid April lake. Look closely though, as Lake Okanagan is rumored to be home to Ogopogo, a Loch Ness Monster type creature, with sightings dating back to the 1870′s.
Tags: BC, Crannog, Fests, Penticton
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Written by Abram on 23 March 2010
Upright Brewing will celebrate its first year of existence with a party Friday April 9 from 4.30-9 pm. Upright, located in the new;y renovated Leftbank building on North Broadway, specializes in saison-style beers, and uses a saison yeast for its house yeast. The saison style originated on the Belgian-French border, and generally entails a golden to amber beer with significant spiciness from the yeast. Owner and brewmaster Alex Ganum designed his brewery with a room for open
Alex Ganum with his new open fermentors in early March 2009
fermentation, and a warm-room in which he conducts bottle-conditioning in 750-ml bottles.
Upright does not limit itself to saisons though, and brews a wide variety of styles. In the first year it brewed 21 separate specialty beers in addition to its 5 standards. Upright’s specialty beers have incorporated everything from herbs such as yarrow and sweet gale to fruit and peppers to oysters. Its bottle conditioned beers are available in Oregon, Washington, and BC, and use predominantly organic malts and all Oregon-grown hops.
Tags: bottle-conditioning, herbal beers, Oregon hops, PDX, saison, Upright
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Written by Abram on 23 March 2010
Hopworks owner Christian Ettinger monkeys around on the salvaged bike frames above the bar at Hopworks during the build-out phase.
Hopworks Urban Brewery celebrates its second anniversary on Wednesday, March 24 with $2 pints all day. The “eco-brewpub” as owner Christian Ettinger calls it produced 4500 barrels of certified organic beer in 2009, and is now distributing throughout Cascadia (Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia). The brewery took gold medals for its Organic Rise Up Red, and Organic Ace of Spades Imperial IPA (now on tap) at the 2009 Great American Beer Fest in Denver.
The brewpub, located in the Sunset Fuel building on 29th and SE Powell is family friendly, with a children’s play area. The building incorporates a number of eco-friendly elements. The Sunset Fuels offices were deconstructed and many of the materials were used to build the bar and booths, a cistern is used to collect rainwater for watering landscaping and washing down the parking lot, low or no-VOC finishes and paints were used in the construction of the pub. HUB uses biodiesel to fire its kettle, and hosts Bike-to-Beerfest, a celebration of bicycles and beer. This year the event will be held August 29th.
Christian Ettinger and HUB Assistant Brewmaster Ben Love at the Great Canadian Beer Festival in Victoria
Tags: Fests, Hopworks, organic, PDX
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Written by Abram on 25 February 2010
Salmon Creek employees at the Spring Beer and Wine Fest in 2009
The 16th annual Spring Beer and Wine Fest takes over the Oregon Convention Center April 2-3. Over 40 breweries offer their wares alongside wineries, cideries, chocolatiers, and cheesmakers. This year the popular beer and wine pairing seminars, previously held across the hallway from the festival will now be on the Chef’s Stage inside the fest. Seminars include topics such as cheesemaking, and beer and chocolate pairing.
Tags: cider, Fests, PDX, wine
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