Oregon Brewers Festival 2009 beer list & descriptions

It’s getting to be that time when I plan out what beers to try at the Oregon Brewers Festival at the end of July, so it’s handy that they put together a more robust list this year than in previous years. Now the list has name, style, description, ABV, and IBUs. Nice!

Now I wish someone would tell the breweries that we don’t need so many types of IPAs, and that maybe, just maybe, they could bring an interesting specialty beer or two instead of the same stuff they bring every year. If I can buy it in a bottle at New Seasons, do you really need to have that as your OBF entry? I think not.

Investing in a propane burner

Behold: My glorious Brewatorium!

I’ve always brewed on my stovetop, relying on the electric burners to make my beer turn out great. But after a couple of beers that were darker than I’d like, I decided to put some money toward a propane burner that I could use outside. I found a propane cooking burner at Outdoor Warehouse for $55, but the propane tanks were all $70. I figured I might try the Blue Rhino propane tank exchange program at Fred Meyer, which is $54 for a first-time empty tank, and $24 for refills. That still seemed a little steep, so I checked their shelves and spotted a 20# propane tank for only $38. Woah! The 11# was $75, so I decided the clearly returned 20# tank with a dent in it was a real steal. I filled it up at the U-Haul 4 blocks from my house for $16 (5 gallons). Nice!

We’ll see how the beers turn out, but so far I’m pretty excited. The liquid boils much more quickly, which I think will result in less carmelization for lighter beers. Plus, it means I’m outside for brewing in the spring and summer! No more steaming the house up on nice days. And I can play fetch with the dog while it boils. Everyone wins, everyone’s happy! Later this week I’ll try the Kolsch again, since it came out far too dark on the stovetop. Here’s hoping the propane burner solves that problem.

Brewing more Kolsch

I’m brewing a couple of batches of Kolsch for a friend’s wedding in September, which is fun and I’m excited they want my beer. When I brewed this Kolsch for my own wedding, I foolishly sanitized the bottling bucket and failed to rinse it absolutely clean. That batch was undrinkable as it had the distinct taste of Star San. Not wanting to experience this again, I figured I should get started just in case something goes wrong.

Well, so far it’s much darker than I want it to be. The lady at Let’s Brew convinced me that 1lb of dry amber malt wasn’t that dark, since they didn’t have the 2lbs of extra light malt I needed. Stupid me! I mean, seriously, it looks like a dark amber or a light brown ale right now, and it’s 90% wheat and extra light malt extract.

This has also convinced me to buy a propane burner for brewing, rather than continue to use my stove top. The burner and range top got super hot yesterday, which makes me think my beers are carmelizing and all becoming darker than they should be. So my next Kolsch batch will be brewed al fresco. Here’s hoping it all turns out alright!

Upright Brewing #5

I keep hearing about this new craft brewery in town, Upright Brewing. A pal was just talking about them this morning, and they have a beer on tap at the Green Dragon. I don’t know much about them yet, but tasting this beer tells me that all signs point to tasty.

The #5 is a “Belgian Farmhouse Bitter”, according to the bartender. Of course, he also tried to give me change for a $20 when I only gave him a $5, so his judgement may be questionable The #5 is slightly hazy, but fairly clear, with a golden/reddish color. A small head remains on the beer after pouring, and the foam is lacy on the glass. It has a medium to creamy mouthfeel. The aroma is definitely tart and tangy, which made me expect a really spicy farmhouse style ale. But on tasting the flavor is more of malt with a slightly bitter finish, not of spices and citrus. The bitterness isn’t one of strong hops so much as it reminds me of tonic water. More crisp and refreshing, which is good because this beer could be too sweet or heavy without some bittering.

I have high hope for Upright Brewing after this! It’s a very interesting first taste for a new brewery, and I’m glad they were brave enough not to release yet another NW-style IPA into the world just to win popular tastes.

Who doesn’t love to to talk about beer?

Tonight I gave a little presentation at Show & Tell PDX (kindly put on by Substance and Pinch) about why you should brew your own beer. Now, I always love to talk about beer, but I especially love to share my enthusiasm with folks in my industry. We push pixels and make internet goodies all day long, and there’s nothing like some beer at the end of the day to celebrate victories and dull pains.

In addition to blabbing about homebrewing, I served a kolsch, brown, Irish stout, ginger wheat, and brown coriander wheat. The beer’s all gone, so I guess I got it right

I’m sure video of the presentations will be up in the next week, so I’ll post that when it’s ready. So thanks for letting me speak, for listening, for drinking my beer, and having an awesome time!