Oregon Beer News, 01/26/2015
Happy Monday and I hope you had a good weekend! Here’s the Oregon beer news kicking off the final week of January. As usual, I’ll be periodically updating this post throughout the day with the latest news as I find it, so check back often. If you have news to share, please let me know and I can get that updated as well.
This SuperBowl weekend will be a busy one, with a couple of big events taking place Friday and Saturday the 30th and 31st:
Saraveza (Portland) is holding their Super Barrel Weekend, featuring “all barrel-aged beer all weekend, til the big game.” Here’s the description: “This is not a festival, but a celebration if you will of sours, barley wines, imperial stouts, saisons, ipas etc. that have been aged in spirit or wine barrels. There is no entrance fee, there will be a few ticketed beers pouring out front and to make it easier on our beertenders there will be no flights, but we will be offering mostly 5oz pours of some of the best liquid you’ll ever put in your mouth!” They have a terrific taplist lined up, so be sure to swing by this weekend!
And the first-ever Salem Winter Brewfest is taking place this 30th and 31st as well, at the Capitol Mall in the heart of Salem. I wrote about this last week, and it looks like they’ll have a nice lineup for their inaugural event. Times are 4 to 11pm Friday, and noon to 11pm Saturday, with admission being $10 in advance, $15 at the door for (I assume) a standard brewfest-type package.
Bend Brewing Company (Bend): They have a winter seasonal beer back on tap that debuted at the Central Oregon Winter Beer Fest last month: “Moon Tang “Tree” D.A. is back on tap! This beer is loosely based on our C.D.A “Eclipse”. We added Citrus Zest and Subalpine Fir Tips to put a festive twist on this beer. Fir-Get-About-It !! 7.5% ABV 70 IBUs.” So a fir-infused citrus CDA—definitely one to try!
Monkless Belgian Ales (Bend): They are started to expand their distribution, and heading to Portland! The Abbey Bar in Portland is where they will be on tap: “Met with the great folks at Monkless Belgian Ales in Bend yesterday–look for their hand-crafted Belgian-style ales on tap at The Abbey starting next week!”
The Best of Craft Beer Awards came back again for a second year, based here in Bend this past weekend, and winners have been posted here—which includes a good number of Oregon breweries (understandable, as being young and based in Oregon there will naturally be more Oregon-based beers, though this will change over the coming years). From what I see, Bend Brewing, Golden Valley Brewery, Pelican Pub & Brewery, Three Creeks Brewing, Breakside Brewery, GoodLife Brewing, Wild Ride Brewing, Rat Hole Brewing, Deschutes Brewery, Juniper Brewing, Klamath Basin Brewing, Ecliptic Brewing, Oakshire Brewing, and Rogue Ales are all medal winners. Congrats!
Ninkasi Brewing (Eugene): They announced today that their seasonal India Red Ale (IRA), Dawn of the Red, is joining their year-round Flagship Series starting the middle of February. “Originally released as a Rare & Delicious (R&D) Series beer, an experimental small-batch series, Dawn of the Red was first brewed out of a want to offer an IPA using new hop varieties, including El Dorado and Mosaic hops. The beer immediately became a favorite, advancing itself to the Ninkasi Special Release Series in 2014. Once again, the fanfare for this beer was undeniable, making it an easy decision to add it to the 2015 Ninkasi Flagship Series.” Zombies not included.