Corey's off to Bend

Pub Night chum Corey Blodgett is moving on from the McMenamins Cornelius Pass Roadhouse, where he built quite a following for his seasonal and special brews. Since his fiancée Anastasia got a good job in Bend, he's moving out there. He's hired on as the summer-season brewer at McMenamins' St. Francis School.

Wednesday was Corey's final Last Wednesday beer tasting at the CPR, so we had to make the trek out there to help drain some special kegs and send Corey off with a bang. It takes a lot to get me out of my comfortable Southeast Portland beer cocoon, but thankfully Dave was man enough to drive Lindsey and me out there. It's in Scott's neck of the woods, so he met us there also.

Corey brought out some treasures:

• Rose City Til I DiePA: year-old double IPA aged on oak chips
• May Day Mild Ale: cask-conditioned English Mild served by gravity
• Sasquatch Strong Ale: the Glen Falconer recipe, but aged 6 weeks in a whiskey barrel
• Evolution Altbier: easy-drinking amber ale
• Beatnik Saint: delicious Biere de Garde

The Beatnik Saint was the star of the evening. The picture shows Corey handing out a glass of that. It's a beautiful, hearty ale made partly with wheat, just slightly tart with a tiny bit of esthery flavor. The aged Sasquatch was interesting. Corey thinks the barrel might have had some wild yeasties living in it, because it got a little sour in the barrel. It wasn't as good as the pure Sasquatch that he brought to the Green Dragon a few weeks ago, but it was interesting enough for me to bring a small growler home. The huge malty flavor of the beer was enough to balance a little sourness and a little whiskey.

Rose City is always a fine choice, and Evolution is a pleasant session beer. But the real session beer champion Wednesday was the Mild. It was a fabulously flavorful dark mild, coming out of the firkin almost completely flat. If I had a firkin of that at home, I'd give up on water, especially seeing as how the grains were all organically grown. Even with the low alcohol, it didn't seem thin, and even tingled a little on the tongue. My pint was almost gone before I'd even paid for it.

Try a taste of Corey's Zen Lunatic at Cheers for Belgian Beers today and tomorrow. All I can say is, our loss is Bend's gain. Auld lang syne, Corey! We'll take a cup of kindness yet.

Meet the Champion Brewmaster

Tuesday night's Meet-the-Brewer at the Green Dragon was extra-special. The meetee was Bend Brewing's Tonya Cornett, who won the Champion Brewmaster award in the "small brewpub" category at the 2008 World Beer Cup. She brought along her trophy and some excellent beers: Hop Head IIPA, Axe Head Red Ale, Paulina Pale Ale, and Blackjack bourbon-aged Porter.

The Hop Head was the clear winner with our crowd -- a thick, hazy, hoppy treat. The Red Ale was very good, less dangerous to drink than the big IIPA. Speaking of dangerous, that's a good description for the strong, dark Porter, which was tasty but very bourbony, so watch out if you don't like that.

It's not just Tonya's recent award that made the session special; it's the fact that you can rarely find any of her beers in Portland. And that's not likely to change: there are no plans to start distributing them. She said that occasionally someone from the Green Dragon or Bailey's will be passing through Bend and stop in to buy a keg. But that's it.

A few years ago Dave and I stopped in to Acme at SE 8th and Main Street (it's since been aptly renamed "Plan B"). They had a couple of beer taps named after the bar, I don't exactly remember the names, something like Acme Amber and Acme Pale. We knew they weren't brewing there, so we asked what the beer was. It was like "Who's on first?" because neither Dave nor I had heard of Bend Brewing at that point.

• "You make your own beer?"
• 
  
• "No, it's from Bend."
• 
  
• "Which brewery?"
• 
  
• "Bend."
• 
  
• "Yeah, which brewery?"
• 
  
• "BEND!"
  

I'm pretty sure Plan B doesn't still serve them, and given Tonya's comments on distribution, it looks like Bend Brewing ales will be a rare treat for us around here. Take advantage of them when you see them. For further reading on the Champion Brewmaster award, here's an Oregonian article that came out shortly after she received it.