Belmont Station just sent out their weekly emailer listing upcoming events and something really caught my eye. You really know summer is fully upon us when details emerge for their annual week of sour beers known as Puckerfest. I can’t remember if this is the 3rd or 4th year of this event, but every year this turns out to be one of the highlights of the “Oregon Craft Beer Month”, and this year they look to be expanding on their previous success.

In the past I’ve often brought up how I feel Oregon’s “Craft Beer Month” is pretty lackluster, sure we have a couple big fests, but the other events that go on around town are pretty bland, cut and paste, half assery types of shin digs. In general our “Craft Beer Month” lags behind other cities “Craft Beer Weeks”.  We need something new, maybe a 2nd Zwickelmania?, something to get people engaged, to connect to their beer. Well, Belmont is answering the call and hosting an event during their Puckerfest that has some thought put into it. I’m not ready to proclaim this event successful yet as there are very few details, but it’s unique and interesting, and we need a bit of that. Anyway, here is all the info they released:

THURSDAY JULY 15 BLEND YOUR OWN LAMBIC NIGHT. Bob Leggett and Mark Stratton of Artisanal Imports will provide insight on the blending of Lambics. Then you will have a chance to blend your own from an 18-20 month oak aged lambic and a younger version (6 months). Enjoy your personal blend alongside a glass of Cuvee de Jacobin. Ticket details and times coming soon.

Once again I’m not sure on the cost or how this will be executed, but it has a lot of potential. Ideally you’d have the chance to try each vintage, blend, then try your blend against another gueuze, hopefully then with the ability to give the blending another shot to see if you could improve your final result. I’ve been lucky enough in the past to spend time with Ron Gansberg sampling from the barrel room at Cascade Brewing, so I’ve seen first-hand the art that goes into balancing flavors in sour beers. This event also gives the patron to tailor the beer to their own preference, strong older acetic or younger softer lactic sourness, you decide. Getting the opportunity to do this first hand is rare and quite exciting.

I’ve got my fingers crossed for some exciting new events this Oregon Craft Beer Month.

I thought I would chime in with some thoughts and highlights so far from Puckerfest. We are now over half way through the fest and I have to say, this years line-up has been outstanding. I’m amazed at how long some of these beers are staying on tap (thank you non-sour drinkers of PDX!), leading me to wonder about their turnout this year. With a 30 minute drive from my home to Belmont, I have only made it in twice so far, the experiences each time have been very different. The Double Mountain Kriek tapping had lines out the door like we were buying iPhones or some crap, a good 15 minute wait to get an order in, 4 sour beers on tap to choose from. Probably a combo of being the first day of the fest and Portland’s love for Double Mountain, but it was a mad-house. Yesterday, on the other hand, the cafe was only half full, no lines, quick pours, 8 sour beers on tap. So what it boils down to, if you attended the first day of the fest and were put off, give it another shot. Go now, even one sour on tap isn’t all that common, to have a selection of 8 or so is bliss, compare a few side by side, pair them with some cheese, quick go before these sours run out.

Here are some quick summaries of what I’ve tried so far:

Double Mountain Devil’s Kriek – I recall last years having a nice sour punch to it, this years lacked that. I didn’t get much brett character from it either, cherries had a sweeter flavor than last year, but the whole beer felt a bit muted.

Double Mountain Rainier Kriek – I preferred this hands down over the Devil’s Kriek this year. The Rainier cherries weren’t quite as sweet as the Devil’s Kriek, but this had more tartness in the finish and the brett character seemed more developed amplifying the dryness of the beer more. The Rainiers were also much lighter in color giving much less of a hue to the finished beer. I thought the color difference between the two was quite amazing.

BJ’s Enfant Terrible (sp?) – Pretty decent beer overall, all lacto sourness in the finish, although not all that complex. Quick malt sweetness up front pairing off a mild acidic sour finish. I’m not sure if I’ve tried this in the past, but someone there commented on how sweet it used to be and how greatly improved it was, glad I caught it with some time on it.

New Belgium La Terroir – This has been the highlight of the fest so far for me, thanks to everyone for not drinking this up, I can’t believe this was still around from Sunday. Big acidic sourness, citrus and some hops in the finish. Flavors of berries seems to blend with a vinegar note, probably from acetobacter. I’m still stuck on one flavor in this beer, it seems so familiar but I just can’t pinpoint it… It bugged the hell out of me while drinking, but it was all good, so no complaints.

Bruery Zin – A sour brewed with White Zinfendel grapes… look out Cascade The Vine. I would really like to try Zin and The Vine side by side, from memory I think I preferred the grape flavor from The Vine, but the sourness of Zin was really appealing, so hard to say. The Zinfendel grapes give off a really pleasant floral spice. Finished with very mild acidity and lacto sourness. I really hope start seeing more beers from the Bruery, I’ve been impressed so far and heard really good things about some of their barrel aged stuff.

Maybe it was the intense Seattle trip last weekend, or all the other work I’ve been taking on, but I just haven’t had the time or drive to write much and needed some good cool down time to watch some basketball. That being said I don’t have a whole lot to report, even after a week since the last blog post, but here are few quick notes.

I made it in to Belmont and Baileys on Saturday to pick up a few bottles for the week and try a few new beers on tap. At the Belmont Cafe I had a new Belgian Porter, as they are calling it, from Cascade Brewing. Similar to a few “Belgian Stouts” that are available, this seemed more Porter then Belgian, but with a bit dryer finish and a soft clove estery nose and finish. Having had a few Belgian beers with roasted malts, I’ve still never been all that impressed with it, maybe just not a combo that I care for, or maybe I just need to get used to it. Next up was the Double Mountain Das Boot double alt. Big citrus hopped strong ale, far from any alt I’ve tried, but with a bit more depth to the malts then your typical crystal malt based strong ale. Another great brew from Double Mountain.

Next I made a quick stop at Bailey’s Taproom to get a glass of the Block 15 Pappy’s Dark. This is a 9% bourbon barrel aged strong ale. The beer is still on tap and if you like a lot of bourbon character to your beers then you should get to Bailey’s and try this before it is gone. Lots of bourbon and vanilla character. One of the best Block 15 beers I’ve had so far. Also on tap was the Anchor Bock which is one of my favorite bock/doppelbocks. I’m not sure how they pull this beer off, but it has the most distinct earthy mineral flavor, almost like it is slightly oxidized, but it all works in a good way.

Along with my trip to Belmont and Baileys I picked up the new Doppelbock from Heater Allen and two of the new Imperial Series from Samuel Adams. Hopefully I will get around to posting some notes on those in the next day or so.

Anyone else try some good new beers on tap this weekend?