As is the case with most beer weeks across the nation, Portland's Beer Week buzz doesn't really hit until 10 days after it starts—if you're able to keep slugging them back that long. I advocate picking one event per day and drinking vicariously through Tweets through the rest.
But, this year, Saturday, June 9 looks to be a beerathon. It begins, fittingly, with a beer and coffee brunch and seminar at Saraveza, where six brewers have partnered with local roasters. Here's hoping the caffeine carries you through the Fruit Beer Fest at Burnside Brewing. Straight from there, there's an early dinner at Hood Riverâs Double Mountain Beer-B-Q at the Landmark Saloon on SE Division, with the chance to sample âup to nine beers.â This from a brewery that can scarcely do anything wrong. But itâs the last event that will have beer geeksâ faces melting.
Billed as âMeet the new faces of 10 Barrel Brewing,â Apex hosts Bendâs 10 Barrel and all five of its brewers: Jimmy Seifrit, Tonya Cornett, Shawn Kelso, Bobby Jackson and Ben Shirley. Fifteen kegs of 10 Barrel beer will pump through the Apex lines. In addition to workhorses like Apocalypse IPA and Sinistor Black Ale, many of the beers will make their Portland debut. Raspberries Gone Wild lives up to its name featuring tart berries and wild lactobacillus as the fermenting agent and brewmaster Seifrit confirmed itâs the first sour beer from 10 Barrel to be tapped in Portland metro. âMightyâ #45 â Bourbon Maple is a Cascadian Dark Ale layered with vanilla and oak from aging in Kentucky bourbon barrels as well as Vermont maple syrup sugaring off the finish. But Seifrit puts the drinker on notice that this wonât be as treacly as it sounds: âThere are four pounds per barrel worth of hops in this beer.â Having said that, if itâs a candied beer youâre looking for, get a load of Red Vine Sinistor. Yep. Itâs S1N1ST0R that Seifrit deadpans was âsteeped with a boat load of Red Vinesâ during secondary fermentation. When itâs all over, the sun will just be setting for your bike ride home. Just make sure you stay hydrated.
In other beer news:
Mellow Mushroom, the pizzeria chain headquartered in Savannah, Georgia, "officially" opened in the Pearl last week, although it has actually been operating for eight months. The Portland franchise has 51 tapsâmostly brewed in the PacNW. The downtown Portland outlet of the Daily Grill, which is based in Los Angeles, just switched its taps to Oregon beers, including ones you wouldnât think are on its radar, like Ft. George 1811 Lager and Burnside IPA. So how is it that the local chain of Bishops barbershops, now a dozen strong throughout the PDX metro, only offers customers Miller High Life? We posed this question to them, which was met with no response.
In other disappointing beer news, the town of Sandy is usually seldom more than a spot for a quick bite on the way up to Mt. Hood or a pee break on the drive home, but June 15-16, itâs hosting its âfirst annualâ Sandy Brewfest. That should be cause for celebration, but none of the bakerâs dozen breweries pouring will be their homegrown Sandy River Brewing⦠given that it just closed.
WWeek 2015