Beer Around Town

Coming this Saturday, July 31, is the 3rd anniversary festival for Baileys Taproom. Each year owner Geoff Philips stashes away kegs of rare barrel aged beers to release in what I believe is the pinnacle of Portland beer events. This years line up has taken shape and will not disappoint.

Block 15 #181 – Two barrel blend of one year old lambic with wild yeast/bacteria from Belgium aged in Oak barrels. 5%

Rogue John John Juniper – Juniper Pale Ale aged in Juniper Gin barrels. 5.2%

Full Sail ’09 Black Gold – Imperial Stout aged a year in Bourbon barrels. 10.5%

Oakshire Very Ill Tempered Gnome – Strong Ale aged in a Pinot barrel for 5 months. 10.5%

Fort George ’09 Illuminator – Doppelbock aged in Heaven Hills Bourbon barrel. 9%

Upright Lambicus Six – Dark Rye with brettanomyces lambicus aged in Pinot barrels. 7%

Deschutes Pinot Twilight – Pale Ale aged in Pinot barrels. 5%

Caldera Mogli – Imperial Porter aged in Bourbon barrels.

Hopworks For Those About to Bock – Bock aged in Buffalo Trace barrels since Jan. 7.1%

Jolly Pumpkin Oro de Calabaza – Belgian Golden with wild yeast aged in Oak barrel. 8%

Firestone Parabola – Imperial Stout aged in Bourbon barrels. 13%

Moylan’s Kilt Lifter Scotch Ale – Kilt Lifter aged in both Apple Brandy and Port barrels.

Hair of the Dog Cherry Adam – Old Ale aged with cherries in Bourbon and Sherry barrels.

New Holland ’09 Dragon’s Milk - Strong Ale aged in Oak barrels. 10%

Allagash ’08 Curieux – Allagash Tripel aged in Jim Beam barrels. 11%

Russian River Consecration – Belgian Ale with lots of funk aged in Cab. barrels. 10%

Lompoc ’08 Bourbon LSD – Strong Ale aged in Bourbon barrels 8.5%

Three Skulls Wreckage – Barleywine aged in Bourbon barrels.

Cascade – A special Bailey’s blend.

For shits and giggles here’s what I’m most excited about:

1. Block 15 Blend – On a recent trip down to Block 15 brewer Nick Arzner was kind enough to let me sample the pieces to this blend, I can’t wait to see how this comes together. There was talk this could also be on cask… yummm cask lambic.

2. Cascade Special Blend – I can’t say I’ve tried any lackluster Cascade blends, Ron and Curtis seem to have it figured out, so this should be no exception.

3. New Holland Dragons Milk – I had this a few years back at OBF, but that was from a pitcher that had been sitting in the sun then poured into a  plastic cup… and it was still wonderful. Look forward to the more direct pour in glass.

4. Firestone Parabola – I know, you’ve had this before, shouldn’t you try some of the new offerings first? No.

5. Russian River Consecration – see #4

Ahh see, with a list like this it’s pretty pointless to have recommendations, every beer is probably going to be great, well the Rogue John Johns I’ve had have been very sub-par and I’m skeptical of the Deschutes Pinot Twilight. Yah, Hair of the Dog Cherry Adam would be higher on my list, but I just had it on Friday at the open house. This event is not to miss, so I’m sure I’ll see all the regulars there. In fact if you’re reading this you probably don’t need advice, already know about this fest, and don’t give a crap about “my picks”, so why am I writing this? See you there.

Since I tend to give Oregon Craft Beer Month a hard time I only find it fair that I point out the people making in effort and putting on some good beer events. In my mailbox today was a newsletter from the crew at Saraveza announcing their 1st Annual IIPA festival. Here are the details:

Wednesday July 14th – Sunday July 18th @ Saraveza sponsored by Brewpublic

30 IIPAs in 5 days, flights of 5 IIPAs all week long, tastings and meet the brewers at 7pm.

Here is the beer list:

FESTIVAL BEER LIST:

• 7 Brides “Frankenlou’s”
• Alameda “Yellow Wolf”
• Avery “Maharaja”
• Bear Republic “Racer X”
• Beer Valley “Black Madness”
• Beer Valley “Leafer Madness”
• Blue Frog
• Dogfish Head “90 Minute”
• Double Mountain “Molten Lava”
• Everybody’s Brewing “Big Brother” (DEBUT on 7/18)
• Gilgamesh “Mega Monster” (DEBUT)
• Great Divide “Hercules”
• He’Brew “Lenny’s R.I.P.A.” Rye
• HUB “Ace”
• HUB “Evelyn Sunshine”
• HUB “Galactic”
• Lagunitas “Hop Stoopid”
• Laurelwood “Green Mammoth” (2010 DEBUT on 7/14)
• Lazy Boy
• Lucky Lab “Super-Duper Dog”
• Mad River
• Mendocino
• Mikkeller “I Beat yoU”
• Ninkasi “Tricerahops”
• Oakshire Glenn’s “Hop Vice”
• Oskar Blues “Gordon” Red
• Pike
• Russian River “Pliny the Elder”
• Southern Tier “Hoppe” Extra Pale
• Southern Tier “Oaked Unearthly”
• Southern Tier “Unearthly”
• Speakeasy “Double Daddy”
• Victory “Hop Wallop”
• Walking Man “Big Phat Homo” (dry-hopped in the keg)
• Widmer “Deadlift”

Kudos to Saraveza and Brewpublic for bring another substantial beer event to the Craft Beer Month!

For more details visit their website www.saraveza.com

As the temp tempts the triple digits I’ve come to realize that most of what I brew is far to heavy for this kind of weather. Luckily a small saison brewed a month back is just getting ready for consumption. Simple in grain bill, pilsner, pale, and wheat malts, finished off with fuggle and saaz hops, this came in at a whopping 1.043 OG or so. I think I was a touch impatient pulling it off the yeast cake at a final gravity of 1.007, a few more points would have really helped this out, but I was needing the yeast for another project. For this batch I used the Dupont yeast keeping it oh so hot to pull some earthy esters. The beer is still carbonating away in the Lunchbox, so hopefully in the next week or two it will hit it’s full high carbonation and really bring out the esters. Next go I may drop the wheat a bit and add some sugar to thin out the body more, but pretty decent as is. The second half of the batch is feeding away on pounds of fresh picked strawberries, maybe that will be ready by our next heat wave.

Ahh, there’s nothing that cuts the heat like a crisp 4.5% saison.