This Week In Beer (and Cider!)

Thursday, June 18

Brewers and Their Bands

Believe it or not, hop choice is often not the most hotly debated subject in the brew house—it’s usually the music. Whether they gently lull fermentation to the steady beats of the Wu Tang Clan or are shredding on the drums they keep stored in a hard to reach corner between clean-in-place cycles, Oregon brewers love them some tunes. Come out the second annual Brewers and Their Bands festival to hear ale smiths from the Commons, Cascade, Ecliptic and many more. Who is the biggest shredder? My money’s on John Harris with a cowbell. Ecliptic Brewing, 825 N Cook St., 265-8002. 5:30 pm Thursday, June 18.

Wildcraft Tap Takeover at Portland Cider House
There is no conceivable way Wildcraft could actually take over the Portland Cider House’s 24 taps. But if it rolls in with the 10 taps it has at its own cidery, consider yourself very lucky indeed. Eugene’s Wildcraft—a maker of unpasteurized, unfiltered, wild-fermented, very dry ciders—can be irritatingly hard to find in Portland. Portland Cider House, 3638 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 206-6283. 5-7 pm Thursday, June 18.

Friday, June 19

Cider Summit

For those who have tired of beer by this point: 49 cideries descend on Portland for two days during the 5th annual Cider Summit. From Oregon heroes like Bend’s Atlas Cider Company and Salem’s artisanal E.Z. Orchards, to far flung imports like Normandy’s traditional Manoir du Parc, the full range of the apple can be explored and dissected. Cidermakers will be on hand to explain their creations, with six live bands as pleasant pre-hangover background noise. The Fields Neighborhood Park, NW 10th and Overton. 3 pm Friday, June 19, noon-6 pm Saturday, June 20. $30 advance, $35 day of.

Saturday, June 20

Sour Solstice Berliner Weiss and Gose Festival

Celebrate the Summer of Sour with 10 local beers in the lightest, most refreshing, of those styles: Germany’s Berliner Weiss and Gose. Collaborative selections from Breakside/Fat Heads, Gigantic/Ex Novo and the Commons/Occidental, showcase the combined thought processes of some of the Northwest’s finest brewers, and their acid tongues. Bring plenty of Tums for later. Imperial Bottle Shop and Taproom, 3090 SE Division St., 971-302-6899. Noon Saturday, June 20 and Sunday, June 21. $15.

Mississippi/Williams Pub Crawl

From noon until 8 pm on Saturday, every place worth drinking beer in or around North Mississippi and Williams (read: not Bar Bar), offers a dollar off of the good stuff. Pick up a $5 wristband at any participating location—Ecliptic, Stormbreaker, Bridgetown Beerhouse, Beer City Bottle Shop, Prost!, Interurban, Lardo North, Lompoc 5th Quadrant, Tin Bucket—and make sure you at least break even on it. Various Locations on Mississippi/Williams Aves. Noon Saturday, June 20.

Ohio Night (and Day)

N.W.I.P.A. conspired with Alebriated Distribution to bring two of Ohio’s best hoppy breweries on tap in Portland for a night. The Brew Kettle, home of “El Lupulo Libre”—the 2014 GABF gold medal winning IIPA—joins the handles with Columbus Brewing, whose Bodhi IPA took a not-too-shabby Bronze. Other ales from the Rust Belt, like the Brew Kettle’s much-beloved White Rajah IPA, will make special appearances too. Don’t hold out for Great Lakes though—it’s just the two breweries tonight. N.W.I.P.A., 6350 SE Foster Rd., 279-5876. Noon Saturday, June 20.

Sunday, June 21

Portland Beer and Cheese Fest

Patrons of the Beer and Cheese Festival receive 10 “lovingly crafted” beers and their equally delicious curd-based counterparts, for simultaneous consumption, enjoyment, and existential pondering. Now in it’s fourth year, the festival features the added bonus of charcuterie by a newly rebranded Olympia Provisions. The chorizo is still just as good as when they were called Olympic, and the beer and cheese pairings should be too. The Commons Brewery, 630 SE Belmont St., 343-5501. Noon Sunday, June 21. $35.  

Portland International Cider Cup
This is where the bragging rights are won. It’s also guaranteed to house good cider, because the winners in the various categories—heritage dry, perry, hopped cider, whatever—will all be available on tap after 4 pm. Reverend Nat’s Hard Cider, 1813 NE 2nd Ave., 567-2221. 4-7 pm Sunday, June 21.

Tuesday, June 23

Cider Riot Dinner at Bushwhacker
Say what you want about the recent raft of beer dinners—cider might pair even better with food than beer. And so Bushwhacker will host the first in a planned series of cider dinners, with Cider Riot as guest cidery. Among the four courses, look forward to the 1763 cider, which will pair with grilled pork belly and polenta. Woodlawn Bushwhacker, 901 NE Oneonta St., 971-229-1663. 7-10 pm Tuesday, June 23. $50.

Trifecta Cidermaker’s Dinner
The very fine Trifecta will host a five-course cider pairing meal with Reverend Nat’s Cider—so sour cherry with duck, Deliverance ginger tonic with oysters, that sort of thing. Trifecta, 726 SE 6th Ave, 841-6675. 7-10 pm Tuesday, June 23. $75.

Cider Tasting 101 and NW Cider Brokers Tap Take Over @ Plew’s Brews
After the Summit and the Cider Cup, inexplicably, there will be a cider-tasting class by Aidan Currie of Swift Cider to teach you how you should have tasted the ciders you already had. Apple Outlaw, Red Tank and Swift ciders will be served. Plew’s Brews, 8409 N Lombard St., 6-9 pm Tuesday, June 23.