Bridgeport Marks Milestone with '30 Years Proud' Campaign

Portland's oldest operating brewery traces its origins to this time thirty years ago. It was then that owners Dick and Nancy Ponzi were preparing to take possession of their space in the old rope factory on Northwest Marshall. The brewery and pub remains there today.

Bridgeport Grand Opening, November 1984

To celebrate three decades, Bridgeport launched 30 Years Proud, a yearlong campaign that will feature special beers that lean on their brewing experience and renewed creativity. I'll get around to talking about the beers in a bit. First, a little more about the early days, which are generally under-appreciated.

The catalyst for what was originally Columbia River Brewing was the failed Cartwright Brewing, which opened in 1980 and lasted just two years. Charles Coury, founder of Cartwright, was a winemaker, like the Ponzis. Unfortunately, sanitation values from wine didn't translate well in beer-making. Coury's beers were too often infected and not very good.

The Ponzis, who were friends with Coury, appreciated what he was doing and thought it could be done better. Dick Ponzi took on the idea of making good beer as a challenge. During the summer of 1983, the Ponzis hired Karl Ockert, a recent graduate of the fermentation program at Cal-Davis. The brewing program there was fairly new at the time, and not all students bothered with it. Ockert did because he figured it might help him get a job. Bingo.

The old rope factory in early 1984

"Almost from the day I started, we schemed non-stop about putting together a brewery," Ockert recalled. "You couldn't buy small batch brewing equipment in this country in those days, so we had to learn how to make it. I learned how to weld and plum. Our first mash tun was a square dairy tank."

Construction of the brewery commenced in April of 1984, when they occupied their space in the old rope factory. It took them a few months to get things assembled and working. Test batches came in the early fall. Finally, in November, they had a grand opening and started selling beer.

"I'm sure Dick would have liked it if we had been able to sell beer earlier," said Ockert, now technical director of the Master Brewers Association of America. "It was obviously more important to get it right than to rush it out."

It's a forgotten detail, but there was no pub at Bridgeport at the outset. That wouldn't happen until after the Brewpub Bill passed in 1985. And there were no bottles in those days...Bridgeport didn't bottle until 1989. You could taste beer at the brewery, but you couldn't buy it there. The beer was initially sold through taverns, bars and restaurants. It's hard to fathom, honestly.

Why did they change the name from Columbia River to Bridgeport? All the early beer names had the Bridgeport prefix...Bridgeport Ale, Bridgeport Stout, etc. When they opened the brewpub in early 1986, they called it Bridgeport. Columbia River was eventually dropped.

If you weren't around to witness it, Bridgeport's Brewpub was a beehive of activity throughout the late eighties and nineties, despite streets with gigantic potholes that were virtually impassable at times. They perfected a recipe for pizza and the beer was always pretty good. It was a home run.

The Ponzis had tired of the beer business by the time they sold Bridgeport to Gambrinus in 1995. The brewpub had been highly successful, but they recognized the need to increase production and invest in marketing if they wanted to stay relevant. They accepted an offer they couldn't refuse and went back to concentrating on wine full time.

Under Gambrinus, production was expanded and marketing efforts got a bump. Bridgeport moved forward. The pub was renovated in 2004, largely leaving the charm of the past behind in favor of a more upscale setting suited to the trendy Pearl District. Many didn't care for the change. Yet Bridgeport continued to do well.

If you look at OLCC production numbers, you'll discover Bridgeport's annual barrel-production has declined slightly in each of the past two years. That is likely related to increased competition in the market. Regardless, it isn't the kind of thing you necessarily like to see if you're part of the business.

The decline may well help explain their partnership with the Hillsboro Hops baseball club, announced more than a year ago. Long Ball Ale is the official beer of the Hops. Getting your name in front of folks who may not know you all that well is a good thing when numbers are static or in decline. Smart marketing.

It seems likely the special beers being released as part of 30 Years Proud are also part of a renewed effort to boost recognition of the Bridgeport brand. A lot of established breweries are taking this approach in the face of intense competition from newer breweries. It makes sense.

The first of Bridgeport's Trilogy Series beers arrived a few weeks ago. These are limited edition beers to be released over the course of the year. The first is Trilogy 1, a dry-hopped pale ale. They say it's a tribute to the pioneering brewers who introduced intense hop character to consumers 30 years ago. I can buy that because I recall what was available 30 years ago and most of it wasn't good.

I really like Trilogy 1. It is reminiscent of the beers craft brewers were making in the early days, with a soft malt backbone and a silky veneer of Crystal hops. Like a lot of beers from the old days, Trilogy is fairly light at 5.2% ABV and 40 IBU. You can drink a lot of this stuff...feel free to do so. A word to the wise: If you hunt bodacious modern day IPAs, you'll find Trilogy 1 lacking.

Then there's the recently released Citra Dry-Hopped IPA. This brew is the first in what they're calling the Hop Czar IPA Series. There will be three hop-forward beers in the series, to be released sequentially during 2014.

They're building on the success of Hop Czar Imperial IPA with these beers. Hop Czar was first released in 2008 as a limited edition beer. It subsequently became Bridgeport's flagship, riding the popularity of hoppy, aromatic IPAs. Hop Czar is going away for now, but may return as a seasonal, modified or not.

I did not particularly care for the Citra Dry-Hopped IPA. It clocks in at 6.5% ABV and 60 IBU, and seems lighter than those numbers. The beer isn't at all bitter, but I expected a bigger blast of flavor and aroma. Lighter IPAs often lack the malt substance and residual sweetness needed to hold onto hop character. That seems the case with this beer, though opinions will surely differ.

It's going to be an interesting year for Bridgeport. The craft beer marketplace is growing and evolving. Staying relevant in an ocean of fish who want to eat you is an ongoing challenge for established breweries. Bridgeport's 30 Years Proud campaign suggests they understand the lay of the land and are moving to protect and build on their position.

Surprise! An Area Where Oregon Should Follow Idaho's Lead

The state of Idaho and progressive policy aren't generally mentioned in the same breath. I mean, this is a state that typically ranks at or very near the bottom of the pack in spending on education and social spending generally. They've had a string of wacky Republican governors. The state is a company store.

So I was surprised to learn the Idaho House has passed a bill that will prevent breweries from owning any interest in beer wholesaling or retailing operations. House Bill 524 passed by a 63-6 vote and is moving to the Senate. No word on its prospects there.

If HB 524 is passed into law, it will effectively block the types of acquisitions we've seen in Oregon, where Anheuser-Busch has come in and bought several distributors. The most recent example is the buyout of Morgan Distributing, discussed here a short while back. 

The folks behind HB 524 are attempting to block similar acquisitions in Idaho. The idea is to protect the growing craft brewing industry there...and jobs. They want to make sure big beer can't come in, buy up the state's beer distributors and put craft brewers at a competitive disadvantage.

This seems like a no-brainer to me, but sensible rationale hasn't stopped some people from opposing it. One of the counter arguments is that, by protecting the three-tier system, legislators are interfering with "free market" principles. Seriously? 

Look, the reality is you cannot have any semblance of a free market if you let beer behemoths come in and buy up distributors. If you do that, you put small breweries at a disadvantage because access to retail outlets will go through big beer. Protecting free market principles means you must pass legislation that preserves the integrity of the three-tier system.

If you don't believe it, just wait and see what Morgan Distributing's (to be called Western Beverage, evidently) product list looks like. On the beer side, the list will be dominated by AB products. Craft beer doesn't fit with their objectives. They want to sell their crap. Period.

If Oregon had a clue, it would start working on something like what Idaho is trying to pass. Otherwise, we will soon face a situation in which Anheuser-Busch has more control of market access than it should. And if you believe self-distribution offers a way out of that mess, you may need to schedule some sessions with your shrink.

Universal Bar Etiquette: The Younger Rule

I stopped off at Belmont Station the other night. It's one of my favorite places. My timing was a little off. You may recall hearing that tickets for Pliny pours sold out in 22 minutes. Well this was one of the days on which they were exchanging pours of the Younger and Elder for tickets.

The place was busy, not packed. I didn't have any Pliny tickets. Lisa Morrison, Beer Goddess and co-owner of the joint, stopped by to redeem a ticket. She kindly offered me a taste of the Younger. Not bad, I thought, but definitely not worth the hype surrounding it.

I resumed my drinking/tasting. My habit at Belmont Station is to order glasses (as opposed to pints) of the most interesting beers on the tap list, which is usually pretty good there. That way I get to taste a few great beers without having to stumble out of the place.

At one point, I needed to use the restroom. Since the place was relatively busy and I wanted to keep my seat at the bar, I put a coaster over my beer. That's the universal signal for "Please don't disturb my beer" and "This seat is taken."

When I returned a few minutes later, I found a young gent glued to my seat and another gent wedged in next to him against the bar. I guess traditional bar etiquette may be lost on the younger generation of craft beer drinkers. That's not the only thing that's lost, but never mind.

The incident reminded me of a story Morrison shared with me when I was interviewing her for my book about a year ago. This was one of many Don Younger stories I heard. Few made the book, sad to say, due to the contractual word count limit. This one involved something that happened when he was at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver in some unspecified year.

When Don went to the GABF, he evidently didn't hang out much in the frat hall. He knew a lot of people in the business and liked to spend time drinking and partying with them. So he would visit his favorite places in Denver and hang out with friends..

On this particular occasion, Younger was at the Falling Rock Taphouse, a joint patterned after his own Horse Brass. Sitting in his designated seat drinking (and surely chain smoking), his throat started to bleed where he'd had an incision (apparently a tracheotomy).

Younger got up, put a coaster on top of his beer and announced he was going to the hospital to have his throat taken care of. "I'll be back," he told them.

When he returned a few hours later, his beer was gone. "What happened to my beer?" he wondered. "I told you I was coming back." No one had an answer and he wasn't happy.

Back to Belmont Station. I didn't make a big deal about the gents who commandeered my seat. I reached between them and grabbed my beer. I told them I didn't mind standing. "I've been sitting most of the day," I said. Which was true.

The point is, if you see a glass with a coaster on top of it, leave it alone...and assume the empty seat or stool is only temporarily vacant. Perhaps we should call it the Younger Rule.

Chasing the Heavy Metal of Beer

I should know better. Triple IPAs really aren't my thing. Too much alcohol and over-the-top hops. But sometimes a quick beer outing on a Saturday is too much to pass up. The chance to visit NWIPA, a place I'd never been, carried the moment.

The event was the first ever Triple IPA Festival at NWIPA on Southeast Foster Road. I didn't know the vintage of the event, but I heard the gents behind the bar telling numerous patrons it was a first for them. And not a bad idea. I'll get to why.

I arrived in the early afternoon. The place was busy, but not packed. There was some muddy, industrial heavy metal playing through the sound system. NWIPA has a collection of vinyl and that's what they played while I was there. The music later switched to some kind of hip-hop. It was time to go.

They were pouring five serious triple IPAs...Boneyard's Notorius, Barley Brown's Super Slapper, Moylan's Hop Craic and a couple of others. The list changed throughout the day, I understand. These beers all clock in at over 10% ABV. They have layers of hops over the top of pretty minimal malt profiles. These are palate wreckers, plain and simple.

The cost was not offensive. I bought a $5 wine glass for tasting. It came with a 2 oz taste of my choice. Additional tastes were $1 for 2 oz, $2 for 4 oz and $3 for 6 oz (full glass). They had water close by and palate cleansing crackers (for what they were worth) were available to all. Not a bad setup.

This was mostly a young crowd. It occurred to me that these folks are a perfect fit for the beers and the venue. Triple IPAs are the heavy metal of beer in my estimation, a stripped down style designed solely to showcase bold hop character. They resemble the music that was being played. You might think heavier barrel-aged beers are the heavy metal beers, but it seems to me those beers are more complex than these triple IPAs.

The NWIPA folks did a nice job keeping people filled up and monitoring numerous tabs. That part was nuts. I bet the tab chase got old as the day and evening wore on and it got busier. Maybe they'll sell tokens at the door and be done with it next time. I assume there will be a next time because there are clearly plenty of people who actively hunt for these hop bombs.

These beers are so wildly out of balance that picking a favorite is a sketchy business. Of the group I tasted, I thought Super Slapper had the most balance. By that, I mean it had some semblance of a malt backbone to go with the hop gaudiness. Notorius, which I have had before, is good, but the Super Slapper was my favorite. The others were tied for third. I heard differing opinions.

I suspect this event will become a regular thing. Why? Because these triple IPAs are a perfect fit for the demographic that faithfully turns out for such beers at places like this. And the folks at NWIPA know how to put together a party. When they do it again, people will come.

Art Larrance at 70: Still Going Strong

In much the same way that you don't know what you're going to get in the NFL draft, we didn't know what we had when Art Larrance co-founded Portland Brewing in 1986. Nearly three decades later, his place in Oregon brewing history is more or less assured. He turns 70 today. Yet he carries on with gusto.

Larrance's was a player even before the advent of Portland Brewing via the Brewpub Bill. The bill, officially SB 813, was passed in 1985 and brought the emerging craft movement out of the shadows. Brewpubs were crucial because they provided a great place for early craft breweries to display their wares.

All of the founding brewers pushed for the Brewpub legislation, but it was Larrance (as legend has it) who introduced the idea to Rep. Tom Mason in the shower at Multnomah Athletic Club. Mason, a Portland Democrat, introduced the bill in the Oregon House and helped get it passed.

Then came the Oregon Brewers Festival. Larrance got involved when Portland Brewing was asked to provide beer for a blues festival in Waterfront Park in 1987. The success of that outing led to the inaugural OBF in 1988, supported by all of the four founding craft breweries. A few years later, Larrance assumed full control of the event.

The story might well have ended there had fate not intervened. Needing to expand their operation, Portland Brewing raised capital through the sale of common stock. As a result of those sales, they lost control of the business. This happened around the time they moved to the Northwest industrial area in 1993. Larrance was soon shown the door.

Never underestimate the power of, "I'll show you." Larrance soon incorporated as Cascade Brewing. He opened the Raccoon Lodge in 1998, one of the first breweries on Portland's underserved westside. While the Raccoon Lodge provided an option for craft beer fans "over there," it was slow to attract beer fans from the east side of the river. An Eastside location was needed.

After a long search, Larrance found the space on Southeast Belmont that today houses the Cascade Brewing Barrel House. The Barrel House, which opened in 2010, features blended sour beers pioneered by Larrance and collaborators Ron Gansberg and Preston Weesner as an alternative to the "hops arms race." The beers have been wildly successful.

As Larrance celebrates seven decades, the Tart Fruit Fest is happening at the Barrel House this week. It's just a coincidence, I'm told. The event runs through Sunday and features some of the beers Cascade has become famous for: Figaro, Blueberry, Bourbonic Plague, Kriek, Strawberry and more. Non-sour fans will have options, too, including Portland Ale and Cascade IPA.

With all he has going on, you might expect Larrance to relax and take it somewhat easy. Hardly. At a birthday gathering the other day, he told me he's letting some of his collectible beer memorabilia go at long last. His collection of labels, signs and related materials dating back more than 100 years is substantial. But he has other things on his mind these days.

Most prominently, he is building on the success of the sour movement with an expanded production facility off Highway 217. The climate-controlled space will quadruple the available room for blending and aging, from 5,000 to over 22,000 square feet. There will be no pub at the production facility. However, the Barrel House will eventually be renovated and expanded into a much larger pub.

Happy 70th, Art! Keep the new chapters coming.

Brewvana Sharpens Game for 2014 and Beyond

Coming up on three years since she launched Brewvana Brewery Tours, Ashley Rose Salvitti is finally feeling like she has her "poops in a group." That's another way of saying she's feeling really good about where her organization is headed for 2014. If you aren't aware, Brewvana provides unique tours of Oregon's beer landscape.

"Getting our act together has given me the time to learn more about travel and tourism here, and the huge business potential," Ashley said. "There really isn't another city like Portland with so many small brewers. We're unique."

Ashley, who fled North Carolina seeking a better beer life in Oregon, launched Brewvana in April 2011. She was working at Hopworks at the time. She ran all the tours and did the marketing and admin work from her tiny apartment. Those were the days...may they never return.

Arguably the most important thing anyone needs to know about Brewvana is that its leader has seemingly boundless energy. Ashley can talk about anything beer-related for hours. Along the way, she'll tell you about stuff she really enjoys: "I like to sip a good beer really fast." Sipping is clearly overrated.

Brewvana's first employee came onboard in late 2011. They moved into an actual office in 2012 and Ashley left Hopworks to focus on her own business full time. Big steps. The ability to separate work from home was a big deal. After a slow start in 2013, things eventually righted themselves. Business nearly doubled over 2012.

"Having a physical space and a set of business procedures really helped get the business moving last year,"Ashley said. "And that allowed me to invest some time in researching marketing angles. I spent time with Travel Oregon and Travel Portland. It's been informative and fun."

Getting wrapped up

Perhaps the biggest thing to come out of those relationships is that Ashley heads to New York with Travel Portland in March. She's part of a group of beer and other folks going to the Big Apple to mingle with media people. The goal is to share the Portland experience...the beer part of it in Ashley's case.

"This trip came out of the blue and it's going to be amazing," Ashley said. "I've had to pinch myself a few times to make sure it isn't a dream."

There's plenty more brewing at Brewvana. The most visible change is the new-look buses. Angel and Rosie have been wrapped with high resolution graphics that tell the Brewvana story visually. The wraps were financed largely through an Indiegogo fundraiser and partly by sponsor dollars. The message is clear: "This could be you having a great time on the Brewvana bus."

"Nothing against the original graphics, but we really needed to convey a stronger sense of what it feels like to be on a tour," said Ashley. "That's the concept behind the pictures of people having fun with great beer in a great beer environment. It's a contagious message and the response has been totally positive."

Fearless Brewvana leader at APEX in 2012

One of the things they expect to do more of in 2014 is custom tours. Regularly scheduled tours will still be part of the game, but custom tours for larger groups are the better revenue model. That will be the main focus. As an example, there's a potential weeklong tour of Oregon breweries for a group of 30 in September. That would be a huge step in the direction Ashley wants to go if it happens.

"Doing larger tours is all about relationships," she said. "We've worked hard to establish relationships with the breweries, and we're now focused on building similar relationships with organizations that will help bring group tours. It's not something you can do overnight, but we've made good progress in the last year or so."

In case you're wondering, Brewvana is not directly supported by the beer industry. They typically get discounted prices on beer, which would be available to any tour group. Sponsor dollars come from six breweries: Laurelwood, Widmer, Ninkasi, Coalition, Base Camp and Hopworks. That's it. They work with breweries to provide a great experience for tour patrons, but there is no linkage.

On tour February 2013

What is the future of Brewvana beyond 2014? It's hard to say. It could wind up being a concept that gets licensed to other Oregon cities. Not exactly as a franchise, but something like that. The one thing we know for sure is that more and more people are coming to Oregon to experience the beer scene. That means opportunity for Brewvana.

The thing is, these kids really do know how to run a great tour. I've been on two of them and both were terrific experiences. If you haven't been, I recommend it. Given what they do and how they do it, the sky may well be the limit for Ms. Salvitti and Brewvana.

They do seem to have their "poops in a group."

Brewvana good times!

Photos kindly provided by ASF Shoots where noted

Never Mind The Bollocks: It's Craft Beer!

There is a certain snobby aura that has shrouded craft beer in recent times. It was not much in evidence in the early days. I believe it descended around the time beer turned into a cultural phenomenon, as opposed to something people simply consumed for enjoyment or as part of some activity. The exact timing is, as they say, a little sketchy.

It's true, you know. Once upon a time people mostly drank beer just for fun. There's still some of that today, but beer has moved on to the point where it is now a self-fulfilling, self-contained activity. People drink beer to drink beer. And an entire industry has grown up around that basic ideal.

Where it gets a little messy (and snobby) is in the blind assumptions a lot of us tend to make about craft beer. We may well have reached the point where we take beer too seriously. Could it be possible?

For anyone looking for consider the possibility that we've gone too far, a good place to start is the recent book: The Unbearable Nonsense of Craft Beer: A Rant in Nine Acts. Fair warning: You may not want to read this book if you think craft beer is a panacea. It beats up many common notions.

Unbearable Nonsense is the mind-meld of Max Bahnson (author of the blog, Pivni Filosef-Beer Philosopher) and Alan McLeod (author of A Good Beer Blog). The book appeared in digital form about a month ago and was subsequently released in paperback. You can find it on Amazon and (I assume) other online outlets. I doubt you'll find it at Powell's or at the library. Maybe someday.

This book is exactly what it says it is: a rant. The authors wind their way through a series of sometimes wacky settings (time and space are manipulated with impunity) while taking shots at many of the assumptions craft beer fans hold near and dear to their hearts. I'll get to some of those shots momentarily.

First, the bad news. These gents evidently did not feel the need to proof or edit what they wrote...or have someone do a cursory copy edit. This book, and I'm referring to the digital version because that's the one I read, needed an editor. Badly. It is riddled with typos and related errors. That's unfortunate. The book should not have been released like this. Oh well.

A few juicy tidbits from the book follow...remember, these guys hammer away at some of the most closely-held assumptions in craft beer. Nothing is sacred.

On style...Some time after [Michael] Jackson came out with the concept of styles as we understand them today, the creature started to grow uncontrollably. An [sic] dumb beast fed by many different hands but mastered by none.

On beer tasting...You haven't truly appreciated a beer until someone tells you how beer is made, what's the right temperature to drink it and the right sort of glass to drink it. If you believe that, you have been living a lie. Arseholes! They are just profiteering on the assumed ignorance and lack of confidence of the average person.

On specialty beers...People believe that big, loud beers are technically more difficult to make. And I'm not speaking about people with no technical knowledge. I have argued about it with advanced homebrewers. The commercial brewer, as natural, is happy to keep that illusion going.

On pricing...What the discourse is telling us is that those extreme, experimental, weird, gimmicky beers are riskier, require more skill to make, which justifies the higher prices you will likely have to pay for them.

On historic brewing...There is an almost retarded romanticization of pre-industrial beermaking. That not only is brainless but also loaded with hypocrisy...We've somehow been led to believe that industrial is bad. That beers in the past were purer, more honest, made with love and care. When the truth is...that more often than not, they were rubbish.

On profit...We must be more responsible as consumers, more cynical towards [sic] the people who want our money. The more we see though their bollocks and call them out for over pricing, over complicating and over branding, the more seriously they will have to take us and treat us with respect.

On blogging and social media...And it didn't occur to you for a split of an effing second that [breweries] might be saying all that bollocks so you would identify with their brand, provide free labour and spread your mindless word of mouth through social media buzz? Could it be that hop bombs impair people's capacity for rational and healthy cynical thinking?

On beer...there are still way too many people taking beer too seriously. It's as if some of them have forgotten that drinking beer is supposed to be fun and not a matter of study and careful preparation - and one upsmanship. 

On glassware...You know what the best glass for drinking a beer, any beer, is? The cleanest one you have nearby.

Max and Alan could have gone a better job of making their story palatable. It's quite funny in places, but the authors sometimes get bogged down in details that are peripheral to their narrative. A good editor likely would have cut this thing down and tightened it up. Of course, there was no editor. A shame.

Regardless of those issues, this is a book beer fans should read. It pulls no punches. Hardcore craft beer fans will probably be offended by a lot of what's here. Maybe that's a good thing. No, it's definitely a good thing. There's a gigantic bubble of snobby foam around craft beer that needs to be poked.

Zwickelmania: More than just Yeasty Beer

When Zwickelmania was launched a few years ago, it was mainly a means of exposing beer fans to breweries. Pretty simple. Now that the event has grown up, it has  morphed into much more. The smart kids on the brewing block now see it as a launching pad for special events and beer releases.

The thing is, more than a few brewers had recently become less than enthusiastic about Zwickelmania. Why? Because it can tend to attract vagabonds seeking free beer and other bennies. That gets old. However, if you re-frame the event as an opportunity to market other things, it recaptures its shine.

So when breweries around the state roll out the red carpet to welcome beer fans this Saturday, crowds will in many cases be exposed to more than just tastes of (mostly) unfinished, yeasty beer.

You may be familiar with the Festival of Dark Arts hosted by Fort George in Astoria. It's a great example of building on the buzz of Zwickelmania. They put on a serious winter party with a terrific tap list, food and live music. All you need to do is make the trip out to Astoria and you're going to have a great time. Details here.

Look vaguely familiar?

Then there's Breakside. Coming off 100 beers in 2013, these folks are releasing a new seasonal, Suburban Farmhouse, and a limited edition seasonal, Elder Statesman, to coincide with Zwickelmadness. Suburban Farmhouse, which will be draft only, is a takeoff on The Commons' Urban Farmhouse, but the two beers have little in common. Elder Statesman is a blend of two barrel-aged beers that were aged some more and then re-dry hopped. Bottles of Elder Statesmen will be available at Breakside's Milwaukie taproom Saturday.

In Eugene, Oakshire is thinking along similar lines with their Hellshire Day and Barrel-aged Beer Fest on Saturday. They are, of course, open for Zwicklemania tours (and yeasty beers) at their brewery. But the main event is the festival and release of Hellshire IV, available in wax dipped 22 oz bottles at their Public House.

Hellshire Day taplist

The fourth gen Hellshire is a blend of three beers, all matured in bourbon and brandy barrels. Very Ill Tempered Gnome is the base beer. A few beer media geeks tasted Hellshire IV at Saraveza the other day. The consensus was fantastic. They plan to sell this stuff beginning at 11 a.m. and there will be a limit for the first few hours. Get some if you can!

The Hellshire Day festival features a long list of barrel-aged beers from all over the place. Your $15 entry fee includes a commemorative Teku tasting glass and five tokens. You can buy more, of course. They will also have pizza and burgers. Four bands will provide live music. A good time will surely be had by all. I know some who are saving their livers specifically for his event. More details here.

These are just a few examples of what breweries are doing for Zwickelmania 2014. It has clearly morphed into something that goes far beyond yeasty, unfinished beer. That has to be a good thing.

The Pfriem of Hood River's Brewery Crop

Hood River is a great beer destination, loaded with several prime stops. I make occasional trips out to there as part of the contract work I do. These trips don't happen often enough. When they do, I make it a point to visit a place I haven't been to. So many choices out there.

My most recent trip took me to Pfriem Family Brewing, located very near the Columbia River to the North of I-84. There's a large park across the street from the brewery and pub.  This place must be absolutely nuts in the summer, but it was freezing outside and there wasn't much happening on this day.

Pfriem has been around since in early 2012, so they are coming up on two years of operation. The beers have been showing up in Portland for a while. There was a tap takeover at Velo Cult a month or so ago. Despite a fantastic turnout, there were some beers left. Great stuff, I thought.

Josh Pfriem is the brewmaster. He has a lengthy brewing background that includes stints at Full Sail and others. His approach to brewing leans heavily on an interest in Belgian and Northwest hoppy styles. It's an unusual combination, although there is a bit of a trend in that direction. There's a lot more about Josh and his brewing notions in Ezra's 2012 interview here.

The pub setting is impressive...charming industrial, I might call it. It isn't industrial in a grubby way. It reminds me of The Commons in Portland, except that Pfriem is a full pub where The Commons is strictly a tasting room. Here, you sit within feet of the tanks and there's no barrier of any kind. Unusual. All you need to now is that Pfriem's space is spotless and inviting.

They were pouring 12 beers when I stopped by, a pretty standard number for just about any pub or tasting room these days. This represents a significant escalation from what you would have typically found a few years ago. I think there are reasons for that, which I'll get to in a future post.

I ordered a taster tray that included six beers. These are four ounce pours. Since this was lunch and I was driving back to Portland afterward, a single flight was the limit. The chosen beers (shown in above photo) were Wit, Pilsner, Rye PA, CDA, Belgian Strong Dark and IPA.

These are all nice beers. The Wit (5.1% ABV, 18 IBU) is pleasantly crisp and refreshing. The Pilsner (4.9% ABV, 38 IBU) is a Northwest interpretation of the style. It's light, but fairly bold and spicy. The Rye PA (6.4% ABV, 47 IBU) is understated for a rye beer. Good, but very little zip.

The standouts for me were the IPA (7.2% ABV, 65 IBU) and the CDA (7.5% ABV, 70 IBU). The IPA has a boisterous piney aroma and a blast of grapefruit and citrus in the flavor. The CDA has complex undertones in the backbone that blend perfectly with aromas and flavors of pine and toffee. Excellent beers.

Little did I know the Belgian Strong Dark (7.5% ABV, 30 IBU) was about to be named Beer of the Year by Willamette Week. It's a nice beer and all, but it didn't suit my fancy on this day and wasn't close to my favorite beer on the tray. That's no knock on Pfriem or WW. The fact is, flavors and palates can be influenced by a wide range of factors.

As mentioned, this is a pub with a typical pub menu. It's a fairly stripped down selection of snacks, salads, sandwiches, burgers, etc. I ordered a bowl of the soup of the day, clam chowder, along with some fresh cut fries. My food arrived almost instantly, despite what appears to be a small kitchen and limited staff on duty. They are attentive.

If you're headed out to Hood River, a stop at Pfriem is definitely in order. The beer is excellent and it's a terrific spot. There's nothing particularly distinguished about the prices or the menu, but that's in keeping with the general theme of things in Hood River, which seems to be increasingly inhabited by tourists. It's tough to keep a place like this secret.

Widmer's Upheaval IPA Hits Store Shelves Monday

One of the things I learned as a child was to never judge a book by its cover. My dad taught me. The way something looks on the outside has really no connection to what it is on the inside. This rationale applies to a lot things...including beer.

Samples of Widmer's newest IPA, Upheaval, arrived on my doorstep the other day. You did not need to know there was beer in the package to know there was beer in the package. Why? Because the box was full of loose hop cones that gave off a succulent aroma. It's an aroma that reminds me of summer. And great beer. Packaging like that can sway your thinking if you let it. I tried to block it out.

I've never been a fan of beer reviews here. Sure, I'll provide of list of beers I liked from some festival. Strictly my opinion, strictly for use as guidance. I understand beer opinions are all over the place. What I like may fall flat on your pallet. And vice versa. No need to write reviews, then.

Nonetheless, Upheaval is a beer you need to know about...and should try if you like bold, flavorful IPAs. I always ask myself when I drink any beer if I would order it again. In the case of  Upheaval, my answer is a definite yes. The beer hits the mark across a pretty wide band of what I like in an IPA.

They're using a combination of 2-Row Pale, Wheat and Caramel malts. The stats say 40 percent wheat malt. Since the beer is unfiltered, the result is a brilliant copper color that is slightly hazy. ABV is 7%, about the norm for a standard IPA. Highly drinkable.

Hops are crucial in this beer, obviously. Brewers use more than two pounds of hops per barrel of Upheaval...more than any other Widmer beer. They use Alchemy for bittering; Chinook, Simcoe, Brewer's Gold, Willamette and Nelson Sauvin for aroma and flavor. They rate this beer at 85 IBU and it is fairly but not overly bitter. Aroma is not off the hook. Where you really get a blast of late addition hops is in the flavor. It's terrific.

Upheaval hasn't yet hit the market in bottled form...it's been available on draft for a few months. They're saying bottles will hit store shelves on Monday, Feb. 10. I'm looking forward to getting some more of this stuff. Widmer is kicking the year off nicely.

Who Killed Dean's Scene?

Many who stop by here surely know of Dean's Scene. If you aren't in the know, Dean's Scene is located in the basement of a home on Northeast Fremont Street across from the Alameda Brewpub, where it operated as a speakeasy for a number of years. Owner Dean Pottle closed the joint this week after the OLCC notified him of probable violations.

The story announcing the closure of Dean's funhouse first appeared on the Willamette Week website. There's a reason. Several months ago, WW ran a story that delved into the goings on at Dean's Scene. It was a decidedly positive story written by Martin Cizmar, arts and culture editor at WW.

At the time, many beer geeks thought the story a bad idea...thinking it drew attention to a well-kept secret  that needed to stay that way. With the announcement that Dean has shut things down, those folks are piling the blame on Cizmar and WW. This is what declining attention spans do for us.

There are several points that need clarification and, apparently, explanation. Because there are details in this mess of a story that are being horrendously overlooked.

For the record, I have no loyalty to Cizmar or WW. We run in some of the same circles, but I've never met Cizmar. I exchanged emails with WW editor, Mark Zusman, Cizmar and others as part of last year's book project. That's it. In fact, I have criticized some of Cizmar's work at WW and it stuck in his craw. Even though I often disagree with his opinions, I think he's a good writer who produces entertaining stuff. But I have zero loyalty to him or WW.

Who's responsible for the closure of Dean's Scene? Definitely not Willamette Week. The original story was a great example of providing information of interest to the community. See, that's what journalists are supposed to do. Newspapers and news weeklies pay their bills by building readership that helps sell ads and subscriptions. Cizmar's story on Dean's Scene was a dialed-in fit for those objectives.

There's more. It was not Cizmar's job to investigate the legality of the operation at Dean's Scene. Or, more to the point, to evaluate the impact of the publicity. His job was to write a story that reported on what the place had to offer, good or bad. It certainly was not his job to keep Dean's Scene secret or write a negative story so the beer geek community could keep the place all to itself.

If you want to place blame, look no further than the owner of the establishment, Pottle. He agreed to be interviewed for the WW story. If he was remotely concerned that publicity might attract the interest and ire of the OLCC, he should have declined to be interviewed. Cizmar may have still written the story, but it would have been less detailed.

Another thing to consider is this: Dean's Scene is not closed permanently. In response to the OLCC notices, Pottle filed an application for a home brewers and private club license in mid-January. He closed up shop this week to prevent the possibility of OLCC action while he waits for that license. Assuming the application goes through, he will eventually reopen with some guidelines in place.

What was the OLCC's beef? A letter to Pottle dated Dec. 9 (and acquired by WW) outlines the agency's concerns in several areas. The most prominent issues involve production levels and fees.

The OLCC had discovered evidence that Pottle was brewing 30 gallons of beer every week...more than 1,500 gallons annually if extrapolated out. By the way, this fact was not revealed in Cizmar's story. It was evidently included in a TV interview Pottle did for the Esquire Network's Brew Dogs. The law limits unlicensed beer production at home to 100 gallons a year (200 in a house with two adults).

Donations, required or otherwise, were the other major issue. When I visited Dean's Scene more than a year ago, a sign on the wall said "No Beer Without Donation." Cizmar's story indicated that donations were optional. Wall signage shown in a photo published with the story contradicted that statement, but never mind. It doesn't matter to the OLCC if a donation is required or optional. You cannot charge or accept a fee for beer unless you have an OLCC license. Period. Some will quibble with this requirement, but it is clearly the law.

So Pottle was in clear violation of at least two OLCC regulations. It seems to me he should have acquired the appropriate OLCC license long ago, assuming he intended to brew 30 gallons of beer per week and offset the cost of that production via donations. By operating outside legal guidelines, he was inviting scrutiny. Why shouldn't he comply with the law? Other people do.

If the Willamette Week story and the Brew Dogs piece helped bring Pottle into compliance, perhaps that's not such a bad thing. Go ahead and turn Martin Cizmar into a virtual punching bag if you want, but what happened to Dean's Scene ain't his fault.