First Thoughts on OBF 2013

There you go, that's the Beard that made Newport famous.

Rogue's Beard Beer is something you should plunk down a dollar for at the 2013 Oregon Brewers Festival, not because it's good, but so that for the rest of your life you can tell people you drank beer made from some guy's beard.  It reminds me a little of a bread-yeast homebrew someone gave me a few years ago.

On the other hand, there are some beers that you should try just because they are delicious.  These are some beers I really liked from the dozen or so I tried yesterday:

• Stone Delicious IPA: you can taste the hop pollen in this one; huge body and huge tropical-fruit hops
• Boulder Pump up the Jam: a refreshing wheat beer; mild blueberries match well with the wheat
• Speakeasy Tallulah: an Extra Pale Ale, light bodied with lovely flowery hops; around here it would probably get labeled an India Session Ale
• Collaborator Smoked Helles: this year's Oregon Brew Crew/Widmer collaboration is a solid Helles (a little strong at 5.9%) with just the right touch of smoke
• Gigantic & Juice: a "beermosa" (the second I've had this year) with additions of grapefruit, pineapple, and tangerine juice; don't worry, the juice is pretty light, playing a little citrus off the hops
• Mt. Shasta Skip and Go Naked: if you like the Boulder blueberry beer, this strawberry-ginger hefeweizen is along the same lines, refreshing with a nice touch of fruit 

[Update 2013/07/26: Here are some new picks from more "research" on Friday.  I let my IPA lust loose:

• Oakshire OBF 26: floral notes, refreshing for its 7% size, must be hoppier than the listed 26 IBUs
• Heathen Transgression IPA: solid, chewy tongue-scraper with hints of orange (newish Vancouver, WA brewery)
• Ft. George Hop Contract: another citrusy IPA, well done
• Vertigo Key Lime Tropical Blonde: nice thirst quencher, esters and key lime, kind of a coconut flavor in there somewhere

]

Perhaps it's a sign of the times that half of my picks have fruit additions.  Jeff Alworth pointed out that this year there are more fruit beers at OBF than IPAs - surely that has never happened before.  Pretty soon we won't need a special festival just for fruit beers.  Another interesting thing is that there are 3 Dortmunder-style lagers at the festival -- not a super common style.  In my opinion, Occidental's crisp and tasty Dortmunder barely edged out Breakside's slightly richer entry as the best in the lot; you could also try Old Town Brewing's version, but it was not in the same league as the other two.  (Speaking of Old Town, their pizza place at 226 NW Davis is just a short walk from the OBF if you need a break from the crowds; I've been happy with several of their house beers.)

So far I haven't had any beers I would definitely avoid.  Watch this space for updates.  [Update 2013/07/26: After Friday's visit, I have some beers I recommend avoiding.  Fire Mountain Bogart IPA: malt syrupy, not good.  Wild River Kolsch: one friend described the flavor as "spoiled milk".  Hales Double Pale Ale: a sweet mess, none of the flavors go well together.]

Much has been made of the change in glassware this year.  Happily, it's glass for the first time, instead of plastic.  However, the glass only holds 12 ounces as opposed to 14 in years past, and the sample size has gone from 4 ounces down to 3.  There was a lot of hand-wringing before the festival about that small sample, but honestly it was big enough for me to get a good idea of the beer.  The one thing I will say is, given the small size, the pourers could at least make sure they get your pour to the line.  Apparently they've been trained to err on the side of smaller pours, and about half the time I had to ask for a top-up.  Come on, guys, if the liquid is half a finger over the line, it's not going to break the bank.

I'll try to update with more picks and possibly some pans after my foray today.  Meanwhile, NO WOO-OOO-OOO-ing!

My New Local

At the beginning of the year I got excited when Caps and Corks opened within sleepwalking distance of the office I was renting. Alas, after a few months I changed offices.  Homebody that I am, I rarely make it by C&C these days.

There are definitely some good watering holes near my new digs:  I'm just a few blocks from the Deschutes pub; Bailey's is only about five blocks away and plausibly on the way home; and the new brewpub Pints is just across the park.

But one place that I was surprised to find myself returning to for a beer at least once a week is the Pizza Schmizza at 11th and Glisan.  The thing that keeps me coming back is that happy hour starts at Schmizza at 2 PM, which is often about when I get around to eating lunch.  Happy hour means $1 off beers and slices priced from $2.50 to $3.  The beer list is not geeky, but it has as its basis a simple three-beer spectrum that works well at lunch: Widmer Hef, Ninkasi Total Domination IPA, and Oakshire's fabulous Overcast Espresso Stout.  One of those will work with whatever mood I'm in on a given day.

I mentioned happy hour.  The picture above doesn't do justice to the "Mighty Mug" of Hef sitting there.  I haven't measured its volume, but I've been obsessing about glassware lately so I feel pretty confident in guessing that it holds at least 24 ounces of beer, and goes for just $5 at happy hour.  If I'm right about that, it's an SPE of $15 -- not the best happy hour SPE in town, but pretty good, especially if you consider that you might be saving money and tips by just having one giant beer instead of two smaller ones.  Regular-sized pints are $4 at happy hour.

Big beers, quick service, cheap prices.  Fine qualities to find in a new local.

My New Glassware

It all started in May, when Carla and I finally visited the Brewers Union 180 Pub in Oakridge.  Oregon's only 100% Real Ale pub also serves tactlessly honest pints.  A beer glass at Brewers Union is not only shaped like an English pint glass, it doesn't only hold an imperial 20-ounce pint of beer, it is marked with a 20-ounce fill line that also leaves room for a head.  The pub sells them for 10 bucks each, so even though I have been instructed to reduce the number of logo-bearing beer glasses on our shelves at home, I just had to bring one of these beauties home with me.  As you can see from the picture, if you're careful and slurp off some of the head, you can fit a 22-ounce bottle of beer into a gigantic BU180 glass.  Brilliant.

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Then I transgressed further.  For a long time, I have admired the hefty goblets that Rogue pubs use to serve some of their bigger beers.  At one of Rogue's "garage sales" this summer I finally treated myself to a pair of them so I could feel kingly when drinking beer at home.  I really enjoy these goblets, but they don't hold much -- 10 ounces at best.  That can often be a good thing, though it would be nice if a whole 12-ounce bottle could fit in one.

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Then I got goblet envy once more in early August when I was at the Black Star Co-op Pub and Brewery in Austin.  They were serving some beers in giant fishbowl goblets that weigh about two and a half pounds and hold at least 16 ounces.  They didn't bear any logo, and they weren't for sale as souvenirs, but my friend Brady took note of my excitement over this Holy Grail-shaped vessel.  When he saw several of them for sale at an estate sale shortly thereafter, he bought them up and was kind enough to give me one.  This is the glass I reach for first nowadays, though the huge surface area and heavy weight means I tend to slosh a bit of beer on my feet if I'm walking back to my house after filling it up at Dave's kegerator next door.

Cheers!