Oregon
Brewers
Festival
Tom McCall Waterfront Park, Southwest Front Avenue and
Salmon Street
Noon-9 pm Friday and Saturday, noon-7 pm Sunday, July 23-25
Admission is free. A souvenir 14-ounce mug is $3; patrons
pay $3 for a full mug of beer or $1 for a taster.
Mt. Angel Brewing
will host a free root-beer garden, and the Bicycle Transportation
Alliance will offer bicycle parking at the site.
For more information,
visit www.oregonbrewfest.com
A word of thanks. Here we are on the eve of that summer
party by the river, that sweaty primal scream of a beer
bash, the Oregon Brewers Festival. No doubt you've eagerly
turned here to read inside stories about the breweries at
this year's fest and the must-taste beers. All in good time.
But first, as many of you know, this is my last Mash column.
As I ride off into the sunset, I'd like to offer my sincerest
thanks to all the brewers and brewery owners who've given
me a wonderful education over the past two years. Without
exception, you've been gracious and generous with your time,
and without exception, I enjoyed every minute spent in your
breweries and drinking your beer. In leaving the Mash, I
hope to take those hours of tutelage and turn them into
a book about beer and brewing in the Pacific Northwest.
This column will continue on and, given the talents of the
folks who've applied for the job, I'm sure it will remain
in able hands.
Oregon
Brewers Festival
Now, on to the beer. This weekend, the OBF makes its
12th annual appearance under the tents at Waterfront Park.
There will be little change at the firmly-established Portland
institution; as usual, it features 72 beers from as many
breweries, and as usual, a small city of 90,000 people is
expected to attend.
A central feature of this year's event is diversity, both
of breweries and of beer styles--something that has been
lacking in recent years. Two years ago, festival organizers
opted for a back-to-roots Northwest-brewery emphasis, a
trend that continued last year. That's fine once in a while,
but what distinguishes the OBF from other regional brewfests
is its ability to draw breweries from across the country.
Locals (who still make up the vast majority of attendees)
come for a chance to sample beer from Wisconsin, not Southeast
Portland. This year, they'll have their chance, with half
the breweries traveling from beyond the Northwest.
More importantly, after complaints last year of too many
(largely India-) pale ales, this year's serving tray boasts
a fairly broad spectrum of styles, with a few special brews
in the offing. There will still be plenty of pales (appropriate
for a summer event), but along with them will be around
20 other styles, including Belgian-style ales, a schwarzbier,
a barleywine, several porters and a mead.
Must-Taste
Beers
Two years ago, it was the New Glarus Belgian Red, last
year it was Widmer's Bourbon Bock. Each year--marked by
long lines, word-of-mouth buzz and, ultimately, empty kegs
and "out" signs--one beer becomes the festival favorite.
This year, there could be several; I've chosen four good
bets, and several others merit serious attention as well.
Oregon breweries, who have begun to use the OBF as an opportunity
to brew exotic beers, are responsible for three of the four.
The first, Widmer--fresh off the glow of last year's celebrated
bock--brings Killer Bee Mead. No doubt it will be many people's
first opportunity to try a mead, and this should be an excellent
introduction. From a personal recipe developed by Widmer
brewer Joe Casey, it's made with raspberry honey and the
brewery's altbier yeast. The result, according to Kurt Widmer,
is both a fairly robust and fairly dry mead ("though not
bone dry," Widmer assures).
Next, Full Sail unveils the People's Ale, named (with a
little help from a certain local beer writer) for the recent
employee acquisition of the brewery. It's a Belgian golden
ale in the style of Duvel, an elegant, delicate-tasting
but deceptively strong beer with a Belgian yeast character.
Brewer John Harris has recreated the style using candi
sugar (which keeps the beer light in body but gives it an
alcohol punch) and Styrian Golding and Saaz hops, as well
as an authentic yeast strain. But be forewarned: The brewery
has sent over a mere 10 kegs, so this beer will go fast.
And then there's Rogue, sending Imperial Pilsner, a name
that will give clues to savvy drinkers about the beer's
character. "Imperial," as applied to stout, indicated the
beer sent by English brewers to the Czar's court in the
19th century; as applied to Northwest beer, it is coded
language meaning, "Warning: This beer is monstrously big
and hoppy." Made with all-Belgian pilsner malt and just
a single variety of hop--Sterling, a hybrid of Saaz, Hallertauer
and Cascade--it is 8.8 percent alcohol and 78 IBUs. Brewer
John Harris says (optimistically), "It's pretty bitter,
but mellowing." Yeah, right. DO NOT drink this one first
unless it's the only beer you're planning to drink.
The fourth beer, a barleywine from Wisconsin's Sprecher
Brewery, is my dark horse. Sprecher is an unknown name here,
but three years ago, the brewery brought one of the best
versions of a tripel I've tasted, and I have big hopes for
this similarly big beer. Several others to put on your list
include Bayern Brewing of Montana's schwarzbier, a rare
example of this dark lager style; Brother Jonathan, a dubbel
from Jefferson State Brewery of Crescent City; and Blackberry
Porter from the always reliable Wild River. Somewhere among
the other 65 taps, other magnificent beers almost certainly
lie undiscovered. This weekend, amid sweaty bodies and the
perfume of hops and malt, I plan to find them.
Previous
Mash columns:
KÖLSCH
Me Again
Big
In Belgium
Spring
Beer Fest
Trappist Ales Await
Prohibition
Sneaks Back?
Bock
Is Back
Goodbye Blitz-Weinhard
McBeer
Beyond the Pint Glass
A Bounty of Barley Wine
Look Into My Crystal Ball
Rising with the Tide
The Benefits of Age
Winter Brews
Potpourri
Great American Beer Festival
Bizarre Brews
Oktoberfest
Hop Harvest
BridgePort
Brewing Company
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Willamette Week | originally
published June 16, 1999
|
