Simplification. And Saturday.

This is my only personal blog now. Simplifying things so that I have less to manage, the design, beer & pdx adventures are all rolled into one. Aaahhhhh.

co-bosses: fearless leaders of the pdxbeergeeks

I'll still be posting beer related items as the co-founder of PDX Beer Geeks... and I still reign as the resident Beer Geek at Portland Rules! but this makes my life so much more enjoyable!

Simplifying the shop space is really feeling like the right move, and I can't wait to get rid of some pieces of furniture, move things around, clear things out... I stall a little here and there (like here, here - blogging instead of doing) but every so often I feel like I have to sit down and revisit my list of things to do - staying on track is requiring an immense amount of mental focus. This is something that I really need to practice - following through and not getting distracted when things get boring or tough. So far though, I'm happy that the original focus of design & beer has remained steady... I am enjoying the distillation of those things into the most important aspects to me, and the throwing overboard of things that are too time consuming, both physically & emotionally, is feeling right.

OG beer geeks... mmcooljam, Jared, Doug, Lance & me

Spent a little bit of time at the Oregon Brewers Festival yesterday with some great people. I'd missed the opening night Thursday because of that damn migraine, and then yesterday we were fortunate to finish up in time to head down before picking the kids up... we busted ass in the garage to get room for the vintage shop/estate sale stuff next weekend... and of course the usual errands like Costco, a little laundry, and minimal housekeeping result in a weekend that is too quickly gone... I'll plan another quiet night to avoid reamplification of the ongoing (and quite pesky) headache.

Lance, me & Doug

photo by mmcooljam: geeking out over my next move

Beers tried at the Oregon Brewers Festival:
(Top Five are **)
10 Barrel Zitrone Kolsch: lemon fizz
Boundary Bay Double Dry Hopped Glacier Pale Ale: Coors Light - esque
**Caldera Brewing Co Hop Hash: delicious, well balanced & super hoppy
**Elysian Brewing Idiot Sauvin: fantastic beer. Great flavor with the Nelson Sauvin hops.
**Lagunitas Lil Sumpin' Wild: tasted like a blend of Belgian + IPA, nice body, great flavor.
Laht Neppur Brewing Co Peach Hefeweizen: Thankfully I did not pay to get this in my cup. Terrible.
Mad River Brewing Co Jamaica Sunrise ESB: I really liked this one, a little earthy, a little citrusy.
**Mt Emily Wildfire Red Ale: Liked this alot, came across sweeter than I expected, but delicious.
Natian Brewery CuDA Cascadian Dark Ale: This was tasty.
**The Prodigal Son Bruce/Lee Porter: lovely coffee espresso notes, not too watery or chompy.
Terminal Gravity TG Pale: The line was long for this one, and the line wasn't worth it. Standard.
Widmer Bros Foggy Bog Cranberry Ale: Tart. Not bad, but not something I'd voluntarily purchase. Glad (again) that I didn't pay for this in my cup.

Oregon Craft Beer Month: Week Four

It's been a wild and wooly week of craftbeer love here in Portland... I've been to a couple of fun events (including Puckerfest), I cataloged the contents of my beer fridge (including an alphabetical list, by brewery. I know. I might be a little crazy), and some friends and I have been reviewing the Excel spreadsheet one created of the beers available at the upcoming Oregon Brewers Festival, color coding beers we'd like to try. Yes, this month is a Beer Geek's dream... and there's still 9 days left of beery cheer to go!

Wrapping up with the last full weekend of July, Oregon Craft Beer Month has brought me together with many like minded and wonderfully funny individuals over a beer. To enact your own "choose your own adventure beer story," I recommend grabbing some friends and heading on down to one or two of these events.

cont'd from July 18 through Sunday, July 24: Puckerfest noon to 11 pm at Belmont Station: 4500 SE Stark Ave
nue in Portland; via the Puckerfest website, "Now in it’s fifth year, Puckerfest has grown to become one of the most popular little festivals in July. Appropriately sandwiched between the Portland International Beer Festival and the Oregon Brewer’s Fest, Puckerfest 5 is shaping up to be the best yet. Beer lovers can look forward to a rotating cast of 10-12 funky beers on tap daily, along with numerous “Meet the Brewer” nights where we bring brewers from around the region to the Biercafé to share their stories and some extra special beers." I attended this Wednesday night and had the pleasure of chatting briefly with the brewer from Upright, Alex Ganum. This is an intimate, cozy setting - perfect for chatting with friends, trying new things, and meeting new people. The adventure of browsing the cases and reading bottles is worth a trip to Belmont Station alone. Go pick something completely new!
Friday, July 22: Oakshire Anniversary ESB Release at the Sam Bonds Garage - 407 Blair Boulevard in 
Eugene; Oakshire is one of my favorite breweries. This is bound to be a fun time!

Saturday, July 23: LOLA: A Day of Celebrating Women in Beer: Saraveza 11 am - 10 pm - 1004 N. Killingsworth in 
Portland; a day of women brewers and women-brewed beers on tap.

Thursday July 28 through Sunday, July 31: Oregon Brewers Festival at Waterfront Park
 in Portland; "Always the last full weekend in July,”
 This is the 24th annual Oregon Brewers Festival. Free admission, tasting tokens are $1 each and good year after year. You must purchase a current year's mug for $6 if you want to try beers. Thurs through Sat – Noon to 9 p.m., Sun-Noon to 7 p.m.
 from the Oregon Brewers Festival website: "Token & mug sales cease one-half hour prior to the taps closing
," so plan accordingly.

As always, have fun and don't be afraid to try something new and different! So many wonderful opportunities for expanding your palate abound this time of year - and we are incredibly fortunate to live in such a haven of creative breweries and supportive community. Enjoy!

** originally posted by me July 22nd on Portland Rules! **

Portland Beer related awesomeness

all in a photo essay... 

tasting notes from date night with Shampton Industries at Hawthorne Hophouse

oooooooooooo damn. look at that - 12 beers... this is flight 1 of 2...

this is what happens at Hawthorne Hophouse after 1 of 2 flights

O! Lookatme in my new hat with my new sticker from Brewery Branding!

Love in a box from the gentlemen at Brewery Branding.

Whut? Super Cool traveling beer bar on a bike. City of Roses + Beer + Bikes = Rad

The Cans Fest (pssst. you want to be here. plus, I'll be working...)

and finally, if you need me Saturday afternoon, I'll be at the North American Organic Brewers Festival

Portland Fruit Beer Fest: The recap...

After agitating for an early release from the cloudy skies of the Oregon Coast, we headed home with (what we thought) was plenty of time to still get to the inaugural Fruit Beer Fest at Burnside Brewing. Well, despite the fact that the fest was all ages, we didn't quite feel like pulling two people under 12 with us... So they went on an excursion with Grandpa, and we headed down to 7th and Burnside sans kidlets.

Well organized, busy but not crowded, reasonably priced... We grabbed our glasses and tickets and set out to try some beer. Immediately on queuing up to the Marionberry Berliner-Weisse line, I spotted our pal Jesse from The Guild Pub, pouring the Fruli Strawberry. What an unexpected and delightful surprise! The next hour was a whirlwind of tasting (I ended up with 11 distinct tries) and I have to say, there were a few great beers in amongst the varied cast. In the interest of expediency, I shall list the Good, the Bad, and the Awesome. Please note: I am not a beer expert. I call it like I taste it.

The Good:
Laurelwood Mango Mint Pale Ale - a light beer, refreshing hint of mint at the nose and a soft touch of mango and mint within. Nicely balanced...
Lindemans Framboise Lambic - Standard; as always, like drinking a raspberry pop...
Cascade Raspberry Weisse - fresh and clean, crisp but with less berry than I would have expected...
Burnside Marionberry Berliner Weiss - fresh and clean, would have been good with a hint of lemon to brighten the top notes up.
Upright Gin Barrel Strawberry -I would have liked a touch more strawberry from this one, but it was clean and read nicely from the gin (and I hate gin). Plus, Alex is one of the most laid back brewers I've met... Super nice guy, and very mellow. So in general I root for his beers. 

The Bad:
Eel River Acai - sad, this one. It tasted of watered down Runts-candy water.
Oakshire Blind Date - oh, boys of Oakshire, you know I love you, and I wanted *so badly* to love this beer... But I couldn't. It was not enough date (even some figgy flavours would have been nice) and too much dirt & weed. Yes, weed. I had high hopes for this one. I know that a lot of people really liked this one, so I was sad not to be one of them. It just didn't sit right for me.
Burnside Sweet Heat - this was terrible. Again, I had such high hopes - I really wanted the apricot to shine through with just a hint of heat, but the heat was pointless to me without the foil of a firmer read on the sweet, and the apricot read as butter (and not the good kind, more like pediococcus/diacetyl...)

The Awesome:
Block 15 La Ferme du Demons Black Farmhouse Ale - This was insanely complex. Oy. Coconut, bourbon, cherry, oak... ohhhh. Really great but at 8.75ABV not one I could kick back much of...
Widmer 2009 Cherry Oak Doppelbock - This was delicious. Oak, cherry, molasses, tobacco flavors... reminds me of an Eisbock with the tremendous up front maltiness...
Van Deist Fruli Strawberry - like Strawberry Pie. But beer. All the best things you'd ever want from a fruit beer without it being weird or cloyingly sweet. Just summer in a glass.

I'm sad that I didn't get to try the Dogfish Head Festina Peche (which I see from my Twitterfeed is now at Beaumont Market, woot!), or the Fort George Cherry Stout... I would have also liked to try the Hopworks Red Delicious Belgian Applebiere. But I'll keep my eyes peeled for those.

After the whirlwind festival hour, we went to dinner, where DH had a Victory Prima Pils and I had the Southern Oregon Pinup Porter... Also both good.

Next up on the beer adventure list is the North American Organic Brewers Festival. I'll keep you posted. :)