Brothers Cascadia Brewing Puts Bloom on Hazel Dell

As referenced in past posts here, these are wild times for craft beer. The crazy growth of recent years is slowing. Part of that is reality. You can't easily grow 15 or 20 percent a year once you reach a certain size. Brewery count is another reason. Access to local beer has dimmed retail sales.

We're going to hear a lot about the state of the industry from this week's Craft Brewers Conference in Washington, D.C. The Brewers Association brass are going to talk about the good and the bad. It'll be a giant drunk fest in between press conferences and presentations. This much I know.

But not everyone connected to the industry is spending a drunken week in Trumpland. Some folks are at home working in their breweries or busy opening up new ones.

Monday afternoon I stopped in on the private soft opening of Brothers Cascadia Brewing in Hazel Dell. This place has been in planning for a while and they opened the doors to a nice crowd of friends and family. Pretty cool.

How did I get invited? Fair question. Because I rarely get invited to anything. Never mind why. It turns out the general manager there is Micah Loiselle. For years, Micah worked behind the bar at Laurelwood's Sandy pub, a place I frequented almost nightly. If you've visited Laurelwood on any kind of regular basis in recent years, you know Micah. He's the guilty party who invited me.

When I walked in just after the 3 p.m. start time, the place was already busy. You hate to take too much stock in a situation where it's almost all friends and family, but I suspect the crowd is a good omen. This place has the potential to do nicely. 

As I've said once or twice in past columns, there's still plenty of room for smaller, neighborhood breweries that intend to serve a mostly local clientele. That's particularly true in places where that clientele is underserved from a craft beer standpoint. Hazel Dell is that kind of place. 

Once upon a time, Hazel Dell was a thriving area. Today, the area around Brothers Cascadia Brewing on 99th St and Highway 99 could use some investment and help. In some ways, it reminds me of the Lents area in Southeast Portland, where a revitalization project is underway. 

Three partners, Sherman Gore, Jason Bos and Richard Tiffany, installed a 10 bbl brewery in an old, bombed out auto body shop building. They intend to focus on mainstream styles like IPA, Kolsch and Pilsner. But they are also developing an interesting barrel program. They aren't selling food in the pub, but there's a food cart-ish scenario out front.

The pub itself is just quaint and charming enough to meet the needs of thirsty beer fans. High ceilings and a clean grubbiness are a reminder of what most craft breweries looked like back in the day, before gobs of money flowed into the industry and places got spiffy and flashy. None of that here, thank the Dog. 

I sampled two beers: Hellcat Imperial Stout is a barrel-aged monster (9.5 percent) brewed with raspberries, then aged in red wine barrels. Interesting beer. I think a bourbon barrel treatment would have added more character, but Hellcat is pretty tasty as is; Saison de La Mancha is fermented with French Saison yeast and lacto, aged in red wine barrels and dry-hopped with Mandarina Bavaria hops. Mildly tart, nicely refreshing. My guess is the beers will be fine here. If you can make boutique styles like these well, your standards should be fine. 

I'm not exactly sure about regular hours. They will evidently have a soft opening for the public on Wednesday, the 12th, from 3:00-10:00 p.m. After that, they're off and running. There's no functioning website at the moment, which leaves the Facebook page if you need information. Hopefully, it will be updated in coming days.  

Brothers Cascadia is a nice example of the breweries that continue to pop up around the country. They identified an underserved area and opened there. As long as they run the business well and don't have visions of grandeur fueled by dreams of regional distribution, they'll be fine. Staying true to local fans will pave their way to success.

Things are looking up in Hazel Dell. Trust me.

Update: As of today, Brothers Cascadia will be open 3:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., Wednesday through Monday. They will be closed Tuesdays. 

Heathen Leads "Fussy" Beer Charge in the Couv

Saturday afternoon I went on a little junket to Clark County. I figured I'd repeat last year's pre-Super Bowl routine with a trip to Heathen Brewing for some beer. It worked like a charm last year and things were looking pretty good until, well, you know. But never mind.

You may recall this brewery lives in a residential garage in rural/suburban Vancouver. Sunny Parsons is the owner/founder and his home is next to the brewery. Real convenient. The brewing operation is more or less directed by Rodney Stryker, one of craft beer's up-and-coming cool kids.

These guys became a borderline household name in the summer of 2013, when their Transgression IPA won the Battle of the Brews competition at the Oregon Brewers Festival. At the time, Heathen really wasn't set up to take the ball and run with it. Transgression was a special beer, made especially to make a splash. They didn't have the facilities to produce it on a grand scale.

Well, the folks at Heathen have been up to no good since my visit a year ago. They've packed the remaining space in the garage with fermenters and there are two more outside. They've also added some additional employees, have 14 beers on tap and sell 22 oz bottles (at 50 percent off on Saturday!). They're fast-tracking their success now.

I had wondered why I kept seeing Heathen bottles, including Transgression IPA, at area bottleshops. They've yet to make much of a splash in the grocery channel, but that's often a challenge for small breweries. The extra production capacity, which has consumed most of the old tasting room space, has put them in position to build on their success.

Rodney and Sunny in 2013

Talking to Sunny about the road ahead, he said they are in the process of putting together a production brewery in another location. He will drop a fairly sizable chunk of change getting it off the ground. It sounds like they may go with a fairly basic setup initially and build it out as demand for their beer grows. That seems like a smart move.

The real bombshell is the barrel program they've launched. Rodney showed me around a secret location where they've got 60+ barrels simmering. Some of these contain Epitaph, a barrel-aged Imperial Stout. But Rodney's pet project is the other side of that space, where he has some sour beers aging. I was stunned to find them so immersed in barrels.

There's more. Once the production brewery is up and running, the current brewery will be retooled to produce strictly wild and sour beers. I didn't pry into how that might happen. I suspect most of the fermenters will be moved, because you want to age these beers in wood. Their current mash tun looks like a deep coolship, so it could work as their inoculation vessel for the wild stuff.

In case you're wondering, you can find some of Heathen's specialty bottles around town. Their beers are distributed by Point Blank in Portland and I've seen Epitaph and the bourbon barrel-aged barleywine, Reindeer Tears, here and there. I suspect the supply of these bottles will increase with time and eventually there will be some sour beers, too.

It's hard to believe. Not that long ago, Vancouver was a laughing stock on the craft beer front. They had seen quite a few small breweries come and go. To see what they're doing at Heathen is pretty cool. The brash branding really fits with who they are. They're having fun working their asses off doing something they enjoy: making great "fussy" beer.

Asked about a possible sale to Anheuser-Busch, Sunny shook his head. "That's not really on my mind or part of our plan." You have to ask.

West Highland Brewing Takes Gradual, Less Hoppy Road

West Highland Brewing. I first saw the name at the Oregon Brewers Festival in July. I wondered if they had invited a Scottish brewery. I soon realized the place isn't in Scotland at all. Nope. The brewery is located up in the Couv...as in Vancouver. It's another example of the good things happening up there. What's up with the name? I'll get to that in a moment.

Brewers/owners Sam and Don

West Highland is a small 1 bbl brewery operated by Don Stewart and Sam Simms. Like another up-and-coming Vancouver brewery, Heathen, West Highland is located in a residential garage. It's not fancy. The West Highland space is actually quite a bit smaller than the one Heathen calls home. But it gets the job done...for now.

I've been vaguely acquainted with Don Stewart for a number of years. We worked as part of volunteer teams at several Oregon Brewers Festivals dating back to the mid-1990s. Later, we worked for the same Vancouver company for a short time. Don was there only briefly and we mostly lost touch after he left, more than 10 years ago.

Beginnings

When I discovered West Highland and realized Don was involved, I wasn't surprised. I knew he was an avid home-brewer going back many years. He hooked up with the much younger Simms by chance. It turns out Sam was dating Don's daughter and observed Don's home brewing activities. Sam eventually asked if he could join in. That was in 2010. They got their business license and first customer a year later.

I had heard that West Highland beers have drawn mixed reviews. I'm sure that's true and I'm pretty sure I know why: They simply refuse to get caught up in the ongoing hops arms race. None of their beers are particularly beefy in terms of IBUs.

The bittering hops

"Neither of us are fans of super hoppy beers," Stewart said. "Our goal has always been  to produce quality, well-balanced beers for people who, like us, don't care for hoppy beers. That's our niche and we've been fairly successful with it so far."

Of course, that kind of thinking tends to cause consternation with the hophead crowd...and it's a big crowd despite the growing popularity of fruit beers, sour beers, etc. There are still a lot of people out there who want hoppy and nothing else. They probably aren't going to appreciate West Highland beers.

A good example of West Highland's approach is Mango Moon Ale, their entry at the 2013 OBF: It clocked in a 6.6% ABV and 18 IBU. Mango Moon was on my tasting list, but my notes are sketchy. My pigeon shorthand describes it as "mildly tart without much aroma and with minimal mango character." Nonetheless, this beer was named top fruit beer at the festival. So much for my scribbled thoughts..

Fermentation time

They do not have a functional tasting room in their garage brewery. The taps they have there mostly  to provide tastes to prospective draft customers. And vagrant beer scribes.That's about it. They had two beers on when I visited: Michel's Brown Porter and Fire Hydrant IPA.

The Porter is named for a friend and Steinbart's employee who helped Don develop the recipe. This beer doesn't have the color of a typical Porter...it's much lighter. They call it a "gateway" dark beer, and I suppose that's a good description. This is their best selling beer, likely because it appeals to a wide range of customer pallets. It tastes pretty good without being overbearing in any direction.

The fashionable logo

Fire Hydrant IPA is not your typical Northwest IPA. It leans on late addition hops and full leaf dry-hopping (Citra on both counts) for aroma and flavor. The beer clocks in at 65 IBU and 6.5-7.0% ABV. The IBU number seems generous. I realize these values can be kind of nebulous, but I didn't detect 65 IBUs. Oh well. It's a nice effort on the whole.

West Highland has some other beers, including a Scottish Ale I was hoping to taste. They make it solely for the Vancouver Pizza Company. It's a bigger beer and takes more time to brew, and they didn't have it to taste. Mango Moon is obviously another standard, and I would have given it another try if they hadn't been out. Sam had a decent cider on tap, but he says that's for in-house consumption only.

Thanks largely to the popular success of Mango Moon at the OBF, West Highland has been invited to the Holiday Ale Festival. Sam and Don were talking about the beer, which will likely be called Holiday Spiced Ale. Supplying kegs to festivals can be a challenge for these guys due to their limited capacity. But they made it work for the OBF and they say they can accommodate the HAF, as well.

Gavin watches for visitors

The overall approach here is confident, but cautious. Don and Sam intend to expand their brewing capacity as demand for their beer grows. They have no thought of borrowing money to finance a larger operation. It's pay as you go. They use plastic fermenters because the cost is a fraction of what stainless steel fermenters cost. You worry about scratches with plastic, so they use a spray system that cleans and sanitizes without rubbing or scrubbing.

West Highland is essentially a step up from homebrewing. They have more capacity than most home brewers and they are developing a list of draft customers. A lot of people started out this way. If things go well, these guys will likely have a 5 bbl system in a year. There's even a chance they may bottle for retail sale in the next year or so.

For now, their beers are Vancouver only and can be found in several places, including Blind Onion Pizza, Cascade Bar and Grill, Jake's Bar & Grill, Kiggins Theater, Pizza Schmizza and Vancouver Pizza. There will surely be additional locations pouring West Highland beer soon. Interest is high.

With respect to the name, it's pretty easy to figure out if you look at their logo or visit the garage brewery. The face on the logo is a West Highland Terrier. There was a pair of Westies hanging out in the garage area while brewing operations were in progress...Gavin and Fiona. The dogs keep a watchful eye out for beer seeking interlopers.

Heathen (s) Looking to Plunder Local Beer Scene

Stryker (left) and Parsons flank the Heathen gong

Portland's neighbors to the north were slow to catch the craft beer wave. They've seen a number of attempts to crash the party, but Clark County was mostly a laughing stock until recently. Today they sport more than a few promising breweries and there are more on the way. Times have changed.

Heathen Brewing is one of the bright new faces on Vancouver's block and it has earned a lot of attention in recent weeks. At the Oregon Brewers Festival, its Transgression IPA was voted among the top beers. In KOIN TV's Battle of the Brews, Transgression finished first. Needless to say, it's been a wild couple of weeks for the two-man show that runs Heathen.

Plenty to sample

Sunny Parsons is the owner and founder of Heathen Brewing. The brewery and tasting room (rolled into one) is located in an expanded garage next to his residence in rural Vancouver. It's a pretty down-to-earth operation. The mash tun is a salvaged buttermilk tank. They have a 10 bbl brew kettle and several fermenters, including one 20 bbl. Taps line one wall. Logo glasses, growlers and other schwag are nearby.

Sunny's partner is Rodney Stryker, who you suspect is more than a few years younger than Parsons. Because the boss still has a day job, Stryker is the one doing the vast majority of the brewing (90 percent he reckons). He keeps up with the demand for their beer by working 60 or more hours most weeks. They have been reluctant to bring on more people, though that will soon change.

A wide view of the brewery/tasting room

I met these two chatterboxes while sampling their Transgression IPA at the OBF. They were hanging out near their beer to interact with patrons. What a novel concept. Anyway, they love to talk beer and are happy to describe their brewing processes and values. They are dedicated to producing what they describe as "progressive ales for the promiscuous palate."

The newfound popularity of Heathen beers is going to make it tougher for these guys to maintain their values. They will almost certainly be forced to grow beyond their rather small and comfy space. A pub space in Hazel Del is in the works, and demand for draft beer is growing. As well, they plan to start bottling (22 oz bottles) by late fall. Parsons said the brewery will stay where it is for now. He and Stryker are well aware of the challenges associated with rapid growth and becoming a serious business.

In case you're wondering, neither of these guys has professional brewing experience. Both have strong homebrewing backgrounds. Parsons was making plans to open his brewery when he met Stryker, who was hoping to open a small brewery on his own. They agreed to combine their efforts and the result is Heathen.

Parsons happily chats with a beer fan

About the name, Parsons describes himself as a something of a wild child growing up. He was constantly in trouble and once surprised his father with a thermos full of pollywog soup. They taste just like chicken, I bet. The Heathen name and identity somehow evolved out of that. It seems to work well for them.

The brewery/taproom was a beehive when I visited, unannounced, on Saturday afternoon. There was a constant flow of beer fans rolling through tasting beers and getting growlers filled. Almost everyone wanted to talk with them about the beer. This just demonstrates how starved Vancouver has been for good beer that's local. People drove out there to get Heathen beer because it's theirs.

They were pouring a wide range of beers on Saturday. I tasted almost everything. The standouts were Blackberry Hefweizen (100 pounds of fresh blackberries were pureed and added to a 10 bbl batch during secondary fermentation) and Gold Pale Ale (a crisp, light ale that leans on Mosaic hops). Both of these beers, as well as Transcend IPA, will be poured at the upcoming Vancouver Brewfest (I should mention that Gold Pale was made for the festival and will be poured under an assumed name.)

Empties await fills on pallets outside

Some of their other beers include Promiscuous Blonde (balanced for the style), Indulge Amber (good), a standard Hefeweizen (I didn't try it), RIP Porter (near great), Son of Malice Imperial IPA (seems unfinished and needs dry-hopping) and a barrel-aged IPA that was mostly alcohol.

If you're looking for the fantastic Transgression IPA, you're mostly out of luck. It's a special beer, a seriously tweaked version of the standard Transcend IPA. Thirty-one kegs of this stuff crossed the river, 24 of which were consumed at the OBF. Heathen's distributor, Point Blank, evidently sold six kegs to various pubs around town. The remaining keg went to the Horse Brass Pub, where it still shows up on the draught list (as of Sunday evening). It really is an amazing beer.

If you're able to make a trip up, down or over to Heathen, check the calendar on their website for open days and hours. There's also a handy map there. This place isn't super hard to find, but there's road construction in the area that makes things more confusing than they need to be.

These Heathens are alright.

Stryker fills one of many growlers

First Vancouver Brewfest Lifts Off

The inaugural Vancouver Brewfest took flight this past weekend. Despite that fact that it was competing against several established events (Hopworks' Biketoberfest, The Bite of Oregon and the Humulus Maximus Festivus at Plew's Brews), the Vancouver gig appears to have gone well and attracted good crowds.

In my mind, the flood of August events is a result of the fact that brewers and promoters want to get this stuff out of the way before Labor Day. Moods tend to change once school starts and we enter the fall sports season. Plus, August weather is usually excellent. You get the picture, eh?

Beer was pouring smoothly at all stations

I really don't know how long the Vancouver event was in the works. Perhaps years. As I and others have said, the Couv has been very much underserved from a beer standpoint for a long time. Finally getting a marquee beer event of their own has to be a good thing. You suspect it may help stimulate additional activity. Hopefully.

Now, full disclosure. I traveled up there on Saturday afternoon strictly to observe and take photos. I spent about 20 minutes walking around Esther Short Park taking in the layout and watching the crowd. I consumed no beer...though there was plenty of good beer to be had. I just didn't have time to get partake. Next year will be different!

Tap layout in the tents helped serving efficiency

First, the venue. Esther Short Park has a lengthy and colorful history. Established in 1853, it is the oldest public park in the state of Washington. Skeptics might wonder how Vancouver could be home to the state's first park. Well, Vancouver (along with Portland) was a center of Northwest commerce in the 1850s. Goods moved up and down the Columbia River in those days. Seattle, a better seaport, didn't surpass its neighbors to the south until the railroads came in the 1880s.

I have to say the transformation of Esther Short Park and downtown Vancouver over the last 10-15 years is amazing. When I arrived here in 1989, most of downtown was a disaster. The park was inhabited primarily by transients and drug dealers. The area had a dreary, bombed out look. A massive revitalization project brought upscale residences and businesses to what was once a lost city. The Brewfest most certainly could not have happened if not for the revitalization of downtown. Kudos to the folks who made that happen!

Plenty of shade and sun made for comfortable mingling

Esther Short worked out nicely for this event. The park features a nice mix of shade and open areas. There were no large tents such as what you see at the Oregon Brewers Festival. People were drinking beer and moving about comfortably. Some chose sun, some shade. A band was belting out songs from the 80s in a shaded area. Very nice.

They did something very smart with the serving tents...and it was probably a necessity due to the size of the Brewfest area. Instead of serving from just one side, they served beer from several sides of most tents. This was an ingenious idea. The park was mildly busy, and I saw only a few very short lines going in different directions. Very efficient.

The brewing demo is a festival standard

As for the beers, they had a nice selection. When I first looked at the beer list a few weeks back, I saw quite a few of the usual suspects...Ninkasi, Oakshire, Hopworks, Firestone Walker, etc. Sometimes you need to look a little deeper. I didn't make a list, but there many interesting beers...some that you cannot get in Oregon.

As my friend Angelo Brewpublic was always quick to remind me when he was pouring beer at By the Bottle, there are a number of Washington beers that don't make it across the Columbia River. Beers from Heathen Brewing, Loowit Brewing and West Highland Brewing (all of Vancouver) are unknown to me and would have been interesting to try. Next time.

A fine time was had by all...

Another thing I salute these guys for is making this a 21 and over only event. I'm sure that pissed off a few people who wanted to drag their kids along. But it's the right call. I'm really not sold on the idea of kids at a beer festival. I've seen countless bad examples of parental behavior over the years at the OBF...where kids also do not belong. I know there are differing opinions out there, this is mine.

One thing I will quibble with is the cost of admission. There were some pre-event deals out there that saved you a few bucks, but a standard package was $21. That got you a mug (really a cup) and eight tickets. Additional tickets were $1 each. So you were essentially paying $13 for a plastic cup on the way in. That seems excessive. I understand the event benefits several charities...and they'll all do just fine if a lower entry fee encourages more people to attend. I hope organizers will rethink this for next year.

In the end, I suspect the future of this event is bright. It was a success in its first year and word will spread. They might even wind up with a space problem if the event gets huge. This isn't Waterfront Park and it won't hold OBF-like numbers. That won't be a problem in the short run, but you never know what might happen in time.