Fred Fest 2010

About 11 months from now, when you're asking yourself, "Self, should I pony up the $X to go to Fred Fest this year?", make sure that you do whatever it takes to make yourself answer in the affirmative.  This is the kind of right-place, right-time beer festival that you should absolutely attend if at all possible.  I'll remind you of a few of the good reasons:

• It's your chance to chat with craft beer legend Fred Eckhardt, and pick up some of his off-the-cuff homespun wisdom.
• You get to taste several one-off or otherwise rare beers, limited only by the laws of supply and demand.
• There is copious excellent food prepared and served under the supervision of Hair of the Dog brewer Alan Sprints.
• You'll be surrounded by a jovial and convivial crowd that is dense with Oregon brewers, publicans, retailers, beer experts, and beer scenesters of all stripes.
• All proceeds go to charity.

Last year I was on-the-ball enough to jot down a couple of the witticisms that Fred tossed my way; this year I failed to take notes of that kind, but just talking to the man for a minute or two put a smile on my face and put a new perspective on whatever mundane worries were in the back of my mind.   Go to Fred Fest, be patient, and at some point you'll get a minute to talk to Fred.  He doesn't have a halo, but he's something of a saint, or maybe a Zen master, but not the kind of Zen master that cuts your fingers off.

One of the most ridiculously rare beers this year was a keg of Wild Duck Barleywine brewed in 2003 by the late, lamented Glen Falconer.  As if that wasn't enough backstory, the keg had been stashed away by the similarly late and lamented Toby Day.  With no disrespect intended at all, Brian pointed out that this beer was really a Double Dead Guy Ale.  It was the first beer that many people headed for at the festival, and it was worth it -- a classic strong barleywine, with lots of hops, a brown-sugar palate, and a little bit of papery oxidation.

Another once-in-a-lifetime beer was brought by Fred himself, and if you were standing in the right place, at the right time, you got a taste of it.  Here's Fred's description of it:

I have two big gallons of Sierra Nevada pilot brew on their Thirtieth Anniv.... Charlie Papazian and I were s'pozed to have designed this beer for Ken, but Charlies plan was way beyond mine. This is a magnificant, but very dark, Helles-bock lager. 16.8Plato, 7%abv, 35ibu.

As you can imagine, once Fred's growler was opened, it went fast, but most of the people who got their tasting glass underneath it were generous and poured it around for other folks.  In fact, that's how I got a taste, and I am forever grateful to the young fellow -- a complete stranger to me -- who kindly slopped half his glass into mine.  It was an interesting brew: grainy (like you'd expect a Helles-bock to be) with mildly citrusy hops.

I foolishly missed the Firestone Walker Parabola and the Rock Bottom 3-5 year old Maude Flanders, but here were a few other noteworthy beers:

• Deschutes Wood-Aged Double Black: strong, slightly tart, and malty
• Barley Brown's Cherrywood-Smoked Rye Whiskey Beer: mesquite smoke, like candied BBQ pork
• Cascade The Vine 2010: smooth delicious winey sour (Sharon said it was like a stronger Berliner Weiss)
• Bridgeport 2008 Fallen Friar: sour wine notes, smooth, floral yeast (2 years aging has helped this a lot)
• Bend Brewing Rocksy Stein Lager: bitter, caramelly lager -- I'd been wanting to try this lager brewed with hot stones for a long time.

This was also a first glance at Hair of the Dog's new location at Water and Yamhill.  There's definitely still work to be done there, but there are at least three exciting things about the new place:  1. Alan is no longer renting: he owns the building; 2. There will be a Hair of the Dog pub for the first time; 3. It's a lot easier to get to than the old super-secret location.  It looks like there's quite a bit more space there also.  Very exciting.

For further reading: check out Angelo's writeup at Brewpublic, Jeff's at the Beer Cave, and Lisa's at the Hop Press.  And remember:  next year when faced with the question of whether to go to Fred Fest, don't even hesitate.

Fred Fest 2009

"Technical doesn't taste good." Thus was I rebuked Saturday at Hair of the Dog's Fred Fest, when I asked Fred Eckhardt if the 15-year-old Saxer doppelbock being served had technically missed the mark. Burn! The author of The Essentials of Beer Style went on to say, "I don't care so much about style, but about what I like." As we learned in the Life of Brian, only the true Messiah denies his divinity. That settles it for me: from here on out I'm following Fred. If I like a beer, I'll drink it, even if it misses a particular style by a mile. Wait, I was doing that anyway. Whew! I didn't want to put that kind of pressure on Fred.

To be honest, that old doppelbock wasn't so bad, and the more I tasted it, the more I picked up the "liquid bread" flavor I would expect from a doppelbock, despite the lighter color and cloudy appearance. More sophisticated palates pronounced it oxidized, and counseled me to smell it. You could indeed pick up that slightly metallic odor of too-old beer. Still, now and then you give a really old beer a try, out of nostalgia or simply to celebrate the forbearance required to keep a beer that long without drinking it.

The other rather old beer at Fred Fest was an 11-year-old Full Sail Old Boilermaker barleywine. It also held up well for its age: deliciously bourbony; sweet and smooth, with a nice vanilla flavor. I didn't try a bad beer at the festival, but some other highlights were:

• Firestone Walker Abacus: very malty and dark, like a delicious malt-o-meal
• Lucky Lab Pennsylvania Swanky: full flavor, like a Cascadian Dark Ale
• Cascade Bain de Brugge: delicious rich, dark Abbey ale
  
• New Belgium/Elysian Tripel: nice and full, surprisingly hoppy
• Astoria Imperial Wit: sweetly nice, wheaty
• Midnight Sun Brewtality: perfectly smooth dark coffee stout

I only got a sip of the Brewtality because Lisa Morrison's husband Mark was kind enough to pour me a drop out of his own glass -- it ran out very quickly. Mark's generosity was just one example of the beer-loving camaraderie of Fred Fest -- like Hopworks brewer Ben Love sharing tastes from his bottle of Firestone Walker XII. The beers were marvelous, as was the food, but the best part of the day was the spirit of conviviality among the attendees. And really, there's no better tribute to Fred than that.

Here are more accounts of Fred Fest from Jeff, Derek (who has a nice picture of most of Portland's bloggers clustered around Fred), Charles, and the ever-evasive Dr. Wort. I had a great time at the fest, and I offer a heartfelt thanks to everyone involved. The ones I know to call out by name are: Alan Sprints for providing the venue and atmosphere, Lisa Morrison and Preston Weesner for organizing the fest, Sean for grilling the meat and garlic to perfection, and Fred himself for inspiring such a community. Happy Birthday, Fred!

I'll leave you with a couple more thoughts from Fred:

"My palate isn't what it was last week."

That's OK, Fred. Care to name any highlights of Fred Fest 2009?

"No."