Oregon Brewers Festival: Brewers Brunch Review

I’d never been to the Brewers Brunch as part of the Oregon Brewers Festival tradition, so when my friend Ben asked four months ago if we wanted to go, I said “of course!” I wasn’t sure what this brunch might entail, but I imagined a reasonable breakfast spread, a bunch of beer enthusiasts, and of course some of the delicious beers we’d sample at the brewers festival once the event got under way. The OBF site said we’d get tickets for beer, a t-shirt, food, and then get to be in a parade. Sounds good so far!

First, someone didn’t tell them that “brunch” is served at a different time than breakfast; or mainly that 9am is really early for brunch. Ugh. You don’t set the alarm to go to a brunch!

Kathy and I got to PGE park, locked up our bikes, and waited in line with Ben and LK to get our mugs, tickets, and shirts. Since Ben had purchased the tickets, his was the only name on the list. At no point did they make sure any of us were actually 21! Plus, we got wristbands that would allow us into the festival without being carded! Nice little OLCC age-check loophole for those that would abuse such a thing.

The mug came with three orange tickets and a blue one. Nobody told us what they were for. We opined that the OBF had finally moved away from wooden tokens and gone to paper tickets just like the Winter Ale Festival. We figured that our tickets would also be good at the festival. Not so! They were only good for Widmer beers served at breakfast!

An interesting discrepancy: our t-shirts called it the “Brewers Lunch” not “brunch.” What’s that about?

Now, a brewers brunch should have beer, right? Maybe special beer that nobody else will get, or at least early samples of beer that will be at the festival? Yeah, not at this brunch. We could have Widmer Hefeweizen or Halo IPA. Not even their OBF beer was on tap! What gives, man? What did my $20 get me?

At least the food was pretty decent. Your basic eggs, sausages, potatoes, and fruit brunch with some muffins and danishes. Nothing fancy, but the fruit was really good. Dining at the Widmer beer garden in PGE Park was a little weird, what with the folks at the MAC Club exercising overhead and watching us, but it was a sunny morning so that’s not too bad.

All in all, I wouldn’t spend the money on the brewers brunch again. It was fun to hang out with my friends, but we were going to do that all afternoon on the waterfront anyway. The shirt is nice, and the parade afterward was pretty fun, but I didn’t need to get up early to get a shirt, a mug, and go for a walk downtown.

Next time, I’d like to see the beer tickets be transferrable to the OBF for beer there. Who needs to ruin their tastebuds early in the morning on boring beer you can get any day of the year? I’d also like to see more communication around what’s going on and what the brunch is about. And for god’s sake, start the brunch at 10am at the earliest! By the time we got to the waterfront and entered the festival, it was 11:30 and none of the breweries were able to serve beer until 12pm. Brunch could last an hour and a half, then we parade, then we enjoy delicious beer.

The lesson learned is that I can use the time to sleep in and prepare myself for a day spent trying interesting beer and hanging out in the sun.

Maybe next year we’ll try the Brewers Dinner…

Cheers to Belgian Beers 2008

I’m a bad, bad beer enthusiast. I didn’t even know the Cheers to Belgian Beers tasting was happening until last night. But at least I was there today and tasting beers by 1pm, unlike most folks! I’m that committed. It’s also only the second annual event, so it’s not exactly a long-standing tradition that’s on my radar.

I was worried that Roots was too small a location for the event, but it turns out that they’ve taken over the retail storefront and warehouse next door, so there was plenty of room. The breweries set up a long table with taps in the warehouse, and people milled about sampling beers or found tables in the main Roots dining space. We found a table just on the edge of the crowds, so we could still hear each other talking.

The way the Cheers to Belgian Beers event works is that last year’s winner (Roots) is the host of the next year’s event and gets to choose the yeast strain that all the breweries use. Neat! 15 breweries used the same yeast strain to create different Belgian-style beers. I got through 9 of the 15 beers before my taste buds tired out and all the beer started to taste the same.

Up first was Lompoc Brewing’s Le Diablesse, a Belgian Red Ale. I have to admit that I started with Lompoc because Jon, the brewer from the Fifth Quadrant, was pouring so it was a great chance to say howdy. I play soccer with his wife and get to sample Jon’s homebrews from time to time, which are pretty awesome. La Diablesse was a lovely ruby brown, with a malty flavor and clove, banana, and coriander notes. The finish had a mild coffee bitterness, and almost a dry chocolate flavor to it.

For something completely different, I tried Philadelphia’s Flemish Brown next. It was much as expected; a tart, sour beer with an increasingly sharp flavor as it warmed. While nearly true to the style, there were some strangely chocolate notes to the flavor that made it taste like a mix of of a Flemish Brown and a regular ale. I think it just wasn’t quite fruity and sour enough for my liking. It was exciting to see a local brewery trying out the style, though!

Back to the malty side of things, I had the Lucky Lab Malt Bomb. It’s just that! A very strong, sweet vanilla nose, malty flavor, and very smooth. What it wasn’t is very Belgian. It lacked any of the esters or spicy flavors and aromas I associate with Belgian-style beers. I did enjoy it, and would certainly have it again, but it wasn’t a winning brew for the event.

Lompoc Brewing brought two beers along, so I had to try their second option. Mon Cheri is a Belgian Golden ale, and it truly exemplified the style. Lovely clear, golden color, banana esters in the nose, plenty of clove and coriander flavors and aroma. Malty and sweet, but balanced, warmed nicely. It went down like smooth liquid gold and I wished I had more of it.

Since Roots was the event winner last year, I had to try their brew for this year. Sadly, the Farmhouse Bruin was pretty lackluster. Some sweetness and clove flavors, but ultimately not that exciting. It was kinda just a beer, more farmhouse than Belgian, and not even an interesting farmhouse style.

By 3pm, Hopworks had finally arrived and set up their keg of El Diablo. I hadn’t tried that last week when I went to Hopworks, so now was my chance! They served up a very generous taste (nearly a full glass) of lovely golden elixir. It had a strong cereal and malt aroma, plenty of banana and clove esters, and was quite drinkable. For an 8.9% beer it went down awfully easily. Dangerous!

Alameda Brewing’s Lucky Devil Belgian Golden Strong ale was pretty good. I don’t typically love their beers, but this one was better than most. Sweet, malty, a light citrus flavor and aroma to it. The sweetness was stronger as it warmed, which I didn’t love. It was a touch cloying.

By my 8th and 9th tastes, my taste buds were pretty fatigued. Max’s Fanno Creek Brewpub brought The Reverend’s Daughter, and it was simply thin and unimpressive after the Lucky Devil. And BJ’s Redrum Belgian ale just tasted like plain ol’ beer. That’s when I knew it was time to pack it in and ride my bike back home.

In the end, I cast my vote for Lompoc Brewing’s Mon Cheri as the winning beer of the event. It was the most authentically Belgian, enjoyable, and memorable of the bunch. I hope it wins!

Green’s Quest Tripel Blonde Beer

It’s time for the finale in my three-part Green’s gluten-free beer review series. I’m kind of wishing all six other styles were imported to the states so I’d have a few more gluten-free beer choices, since this puts me at the end of the line for what I’ve been able to find so far.

On opening the bottle, a lovely malty aroma wafted out and nearly fooled my nose into thinking I was going to have a regular beer. The Quest pours nicely, with finer carbonation and a decent (but not truly Belgian Tripel-quality) head — not nearly as airy and, well, huge as what I’m used to seeing. In under a minute it went from a 1″ head to a .25″ head, as you can see in my photo. But the color is a nice honey gold/red and very clear, though probably not what I’d describe as a “blonde.”

As with the Endeavour dubbel, this beer needs to warm a bit to taste good. My first sip was tart and a bit off-tasting. Not tart and weirdly fruity/grapey, more tart like a dry cider but without the apple taste. Not even lambic or geuze tart, which still has a fruitiness to it. Gone, though, is the up front acrid sorghum bitterness and metallic flavor in my mouth.

Once Quest warms up, it tastes moderately like a traditional tripel — definite spicey aroma, warm feeling in the mouth, honey tones to the sweetness. But there’s a slight bitterness to the finish, just a little bite that’s not quite right.

So far, this is the most convincing “Belgian” style gluten-free beer I’ve tried. I don’t think it’s an every day drinker like the New Grist ale could be, but for the price it’s worth the occasional splurge. And again, if I hadn’t had regular beer within fairly recent memory, this would probably be sweet ambrosia on my lips!