Tap List for the Pro-Am Beer Festival, November 2, 2013

Brews with toasted coconut, strawberries, cranberries, heather and bourbon-soaked woodchips on offer. Plus two IPAs from GABF medalists.

Portland's first Pro-Am Beer Festival is next Saturday, Nov. 2 at the Con-Way Warehouse in Northwest Portland. There will be tickets available at the door for $25, which will net each person a taster cup of all of the 12 beers on offer. 


But since there are only 500 tickets to go around, you may want to order them now to ensure you're not left out in the cold when you arrive.

In the meantime, here are descriptions of what will be on tap—remember, every ticket holder gets to try them all—plus biographies of the homebrewers who helped make them.



Alameda with Dean Pottle
DMC Toasted Coconut Brown Ale

Dean Pottle operates Dean’s Scene, a homebrew pub which runs on donations in the basement of his Northeast Fremont Street plumbing shop. He’s also a member of the Strange Brew homebrew club. He teamed up with Alameda Brewing, just across the street from his place, to make a toasted coconut brown ale.


Breakside with Wildwood Chef Paul Kasten
Old Woody

Old Woody is an English style old ale with molasses and fermented on oak spires, the first beer in a series from Breakside brewed in collaboration with local chefs. Wildwood Chef Paul Kasten got serious about beer as he worked his way through the huge selection at John's Grocery in Iowa City during college. He went on to cook in Iowa and New York before moving with his future wife to Burlington, Vermont, where he attended New England Culinary Institute. He started as an intern at Wildwood Restaurant in 2006, and has been sous chef there since 2009. In 2011, he took on the role of beer director, establishing a vintage and specialty beer program. Paul brewed his first batch of beer in 2006 with his father-in-law just before his wedding married. They made an imperial stout that he and his wife have been enjoying a bottle of on their anniversary each year since.


Buckman Botanical with Steve Carper
Cranberry Kölsch

Buckman Botanical’s collaboration began as a continental Pilsner with white wheat and Vienna malts bittered by noble Saaz and Hallertauer Mittelfrueh hops. The brew then got about 20 pounds of whole-berry cranberry sauce. Steve Carper has been homebrewing since 1991 and is a member of the Oregon Brew Crew Club and the American Homebrewer’s Association.


Coalition with Eric Steen
Slow Heather Ale

Brewed with heather tips, this easy-drinking ale has a flowery and herbal aroma, balanced with Golden Promise and CaraWheat in the grain bill. Eric Steen taught community-based art at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs until this summer, when he moved back home to Portland. He organizes beer events around the country, including Beers Made By Walking, various pop-up pubs and more.


Deschutes with Ryan Spencer
Session Diesel IPA

A low-ABV IPA brewed with Ryan Spencer, a host at the Deschutes Portland pub for about a year and a half. He is an avid homebrewer and a BJCP certified judge. Ryan has also worked at HUB and Bailey’s Taproom.


Fort George with Charlie “The Beer Traveler” Herrin
Chärlezen Charge Märzen

Charlie Herrin has been an avid craft beer consumer for the past 20 years and last year founded a production company to film a TV show called The Beer Traveler that spotlight the uniqueness of the beer industry. He’s currently shopping for a network.

Laurelwood with Liam Nagy
Rusty Robot Strong Ale

The Rusty Robot is a Strong Ale made by Laurelwood's lead brewer Shane Watterson and his longtime homebrew accomplice Liam Nagy. They used European floor malted barley and character malts to give this beer a strong, malty and full flavor with a hint of sweetness and a beautiful copper/amber hue. The malt is balanced with Fuggles, Northern Brewer and Nugget hops, which add a very mild, herbal/minty aroma.

Migration with Fletcher Beaudoin
Get Lit Wit

An imperial Belgian Wit brewed with a healthy dose of late addition Simcoe and Centennial hops plus a vibrant fruit zest medley and coriander. Fletcher Beaudoin has been homebrewing since the summer of 2009, when he started joining two of his friends who were brewing 5 gallon extract batches in their kitchen. Soon after that, the three of them partnered on a 20 gallon all-grain setup. In the winter of 2012, Fletcher was accepted to Sierra Nevada's beer camp, working with other homebrewers to develop an original recipe that was brewed on the Sierra Nevada pilot system. His 9.6% ABV imperial red ale was distributed in variety packs. Fletcher works at the at Portland State University’s Institute for Sustainable Solutions as the assistant director.

Old Town with Brian Yaeger
IP YEA and L.O.L.A. Strawberry Lemonade beer

A Northwest-style IPA brewed with Zeus, Cascade, Nugget, and Amarillo hops. The easy drinking malt profile lets the hops shine through. The beer was brewed with Brian Yaeger, WW contributor and author of Red, White and Brew: An American Beer Odyssey and the forthcoming Oregon Breweries. As a bonus, Old Town is pouring a strawberry lemonade beer brewed with Ladies of Lagers and Ales.

Portland U-Brew with Aaron Bach
Chewy Wookie Imperial Stout

Chewy Wookie is an American-style 8% ABV stout brewed with eight different malts, American yeast, Northern Brewer and Nugget hops. Aaron Bach grew up in Fergus Falls, Minn. and started brewing in his garage with his brother in 2009. After moving to Portland in 2011, he joined the Portland Brewers Collective and is partial to dark beers.

Sasquatch with George Dimeo
Vanilla Bourbon Creme Ale

Hillsdale’s Sasquatch brewing will will serve this vanilla bourbon creme ale on nitro. The brew is made with oak chips soaked in Evan Williams bourbon. George Dimeo is homebrewer who has worked for Maletis Beverage, a Portland-based distributor, for 18 years. He's also a certified Cicerone.

Widmer Brothers with Noel Blake
Steel Bridge Porter

Noel Blake has been an amateur brewer since 1994. He’s a member of the Oregon Brew Crew since 1995. He loves porters, and also enjoy brewing lagers, Belgian ales, and pale ale, the One Beer to Rule Them All. He’s created several Collaborator recipes with Widmer and, in 2001, worked with the Ommegang brewery in Cooperstown, NY to create the famous Three Philosophers.

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