Elk Horn's Initial Beer Release

Friday afternoon, Elk Horn released their first 3 house-brewed beers. I was on hand to sample them. Here's how it went:

Ducks Blue Ribbon: Clearly a nod to Pabst, this is a blonde ale made to taste like a pilsner. It's crisp, sweet, and bready, and way tastier than the beer it's named after. The name grates a bit, though - isn't one of the major aims of craft brewing to get away from macro associations?

Sweet Potato Pie & Coffee: A bold, strong winter beer with heavy-handed use of pumpkin spice, to an almost perfume-like degree. There's some nice coffee flavor on the finish, but the spices are overwhelming.

Northwest Bitter: Styled as an ESB - with earthy hop presence and around 30 IBUs - this ale nevertheless has the body and alcohol content of a much stronger beer. At 7.3%, it's alternately malty and boozy, with the mild hopping not being enough to balance out.

Since launching in August, I've been looking forward to seeing what Elk Horn came up with - as its name is Elk Horn Brewery, the beer should be front and center. Bearing this in mind, I can't help but feel a bit disappointed in these launch beers. The clear winner is the Ducks Blue Ribbon - as a light blonde ale it ticks all the right boxes - but it doesn't have an identity of its own, and multiple better blondes already exist in town. The other two are misfires, but at least they're interesting ones. I'm hopeful that the creativity on display here will be refined into more consistent beer over the coming months.

I also had the chance to try some of the food. Elk Horn is now doing full table service, and the menu's been greatly expanded since opening, but there're still kinks to be worked out of the process. On a Friday afternoon, the kitchen was already out of multiple dishes. The Buffalo chicken I had was flavorful and spicy without being too hot. Prices are still on the high side for the quality, and the beer especially is expensive. Pints start at $4.50 for house beers, and move up to $5-6 for guest pours and the house ciders.

Thanksgiving

A quick note for today, as I've been enjoying the holiday.

I'm thankful to live in Eugene -  the weather is lovely, the scenery is fantastic, the people are laid-back, and the beer is world-class. May it continue to be so for years to come.

Wine may be the traditional drink of the holidays, but I suggest something different - have a sweet, malty amber ale with your meal. It pairs well with most savory food. And for dessert, try an oatmeal stout with some vanilla ice cream, or an IPA with carrot cake.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Breweries of Corvallis: Block 15

For a city with a fairly well-known fermentation science program (at OSU), Corvallis has surprisingly few breweries. Until 2008, McMenamins was the only game in town. That's when Block 15 opened, followed by Flat Tail in 2010, Sky High in 2013 and Mazama earlier this year.

Fortunately for Corvallis students and locals, each of these newer breweries has worked hard to make up for lost time.

Block 15 is the elder statesman, as it were. They tend to focus on Belgian styles, and experiment quite a bit with barrel-aging.

During my visit, I sampled five beers. Here's what I thought:

Gozer the Gozerian - a proper lambic-based gueuze. Light and cerealy, gently tart, and very clean finishing. Up there with the best American gueuzes available.

Figgy Pudding - a brandy-aged holiday ale. At 11.5%, this is a meal in a glass. It's rich - decadently so - with fine notes of oak, brandy, and holiday spices. Each sip reveals something new.

Giving Thanks - a strong, wild-aged Thanksgiving beer, this is funky, alcohol-spicy, and has a strong oaky tobacco note. It finishes extremely dry.

24 Carat - A light-colored, bracingly hoppy NW-style IPA. Listed at 70 IBU, this comes off far hoppier, with intense pine, citrus, and dank flavors and aromas.

Black Framboise - pouring a beautiful deep purple that appears almost black, this raspberry lambic also tastes darker. The raspberries are fairly muted, and the prominent flavor is that of acidity and funk.

Block 15 is easily the best brewpub in the Willamette Valley - no other brewery in this part of the state comes close to providing the same consistently high quality of food. And their beer rivals the best in Eugene for inventiveness and quality. About the only negative thing I can think to say about it is that it's not in Eugene so I can be there all the time!

If you're taking a trip north up I-5, there are few breweries more worthy of a stop.

Bastard Day

Yesterday, the Bier Stein hosted Stone's Bastard Day, a celebration of Arrogant Bastard and its many derivatives. I had the chance to check it out.

I'd forgotten how crowded the Stein becomes on weekend nights - by the time I arrived around 5:30, there was nary a table to be had. Thankfully some friends had come earlier and saved a seat!

There were 6 Bastards on tap:

- Arrogant Bastard. The original. I vividly remember the first time I tried this beer - a few years back at a nice beer bar in Houston with a friend. I couldn't believe how bitter it was, or that beer could be so flavorful. And it still holds up - Arrogant Bastard is malty and quite hoppy, with a long, slow bitter finish.

- Double Bastard. My favorite of the night. At 11%+, it's a boozy, malt-forward sipper probably best classified as an especially hoppy barleywine. Unlike many high-strength beers, the alcohol isn't overwhelming.

- Lukcy Basartd. A blend of Single, Double, and Oaked Bastard, Lukcy comes across as a slightly stronger Bastard with a definite oak note. Very interesting.

- Bourbon Aged Bastard. Smooth, with prominent caramel/floral whiskey notes. Bastard lends itself surprisingly well to the mellowness of oak and whiskey.

- Crime.
- Punishment. I'll take these two together. Simply put, these are the most intensely spicy beers I've ever tried. Crime is based on Single, Punishment on Double. Both were made with several varieties of peppers. Punishment, especially, leaves a lingering, whole-head burn that lasts far longer than it should. Neither are enjoyable to drink as beers; the real fun here comes from coaxing unsuspecting friends into having a sip, and watching their faces.

After the Crime & Punishment, I needed some relief. Fortunately, Erin, the local Stone rep, delivered in a big way: she had a 3L bottle of the 12.12.12 Vertical Epic on hand and was freely passing out samples. I remember 12.12.12 initially being way too winter-spicy. I'm pleased to report that a couple of years of aging has mellowed out the spices and brought the creamy roast of the malt further forward. For those who may have a bottle waiting, I can assure you it'd be a great idea to crack it soon.

It was great to be able to try (nearly) all of the Arrogant Bastard series at once. Stone's commitment to quality and experimentation have continued unabated since the first Bastard came out in 1997. Here's hoping that spirit continues to drive them.

The Best Beer City - Yours

After reading Jeff Alworth's post at Beervana today, I did some thinking about what a 'best beer city' might mean. Jeff thinks that the distinction would be meaningless because it's entirely subjective.

He's probably right. Portland could make a strong case, but Denver does some excellent work, too.
Size isn't necessarily important, either - some of the best beer I've ever had was at Lone Pint, in a tiny town near Houston.

All this is to say that I'd like to extend his point and simply proclaim that the 'best beer city' is the one you're living in. Craft beer is becoming so ubiquitous (albeit on a small scale in some states) that pretty much every major city in the country's got one worth visiting.

So take this opportunity to appreciate the craft of your local beer. Get to know the brewers and employees. Talk them up to friends and acquaintances. If we really want a national 'craft revolution' - a place where craft beer is truly mainstream and not the province of condescending hipsters - it starts with us.

Brewery Expansion and Locality

Late last week, Stone finally confirmed its plans to expand to the East Coast - it looks as though they'll be putting down roots in Richmond, VA.

With this expansion it's pretty clear Stone's going to be able to provide fresh beer all over the country without having the delay of shipping to worry about. And they're not the first California-based brewery to add a facility on the other coast - earlier this year Sierra Nevada opened a new brewery in North Carolina, and Lagunitas did the same in Chicago later in the year.

 

All this makes me wonder - when will the definition of a craft brewery as a 'local' enterprise become meaningless? Sure, Stone, Sierra Nevada, and the like aren't ceasing operations at their original locations, but the very act of opening a second (and in Stone's case, a third - with their planned expansion to Berlin) brewery sort of undermines the very idea of 'local'.

Perhaps this is just a necessary sacrifice to be made as craft brands other than Sam Adams expand to become national enterprises. I just hope something intangible and vital isn't lost in the transition. 

Time will tell.

Bigfoot Dock Sales

A while ago, I found out that Bigfoot, one of the major beer distributors in Oregon, has weekly dock sales. After having some decent experiences there, I think it's worth sharing and checking out, if you live in the Eugene area. (I'm told this also applies to Bigfoot's warehouses elsewhere in the state - check here for more details).

Here's how it works. Friday, starting at 11am, you go to the Bigfoot warehouse/distribution center off of the freeway, a couple exits south of town. Drive around back, and there's a loading dock with tons of cases of beer for sale. The beer's all remaindered stuff or things that haven't sold well - sometimes undeservedly so. Beer is sold in cases of 12 bombers or 24 longnecks, and there's a minimum purchase of 3 cases to participate. 

Last time I went, I picked up a case of Southern Tier's Robust Porter, a case of Eel River's Amber, and a case of Southern Tier's Compass (a strong, hoppy pale made with rose hips). Cases were $12 each, so I paid basically $0.50 per bottle and $1 per bomber, and I'm pretty happy with the beer, especially for the price.

There are a couple of downsides here - first, since the beer's remaindered or returned, it's often old. The cases I got were several months old, and the porter especially suffered a bit, flavor-wise. Stronger, maltier styles are more likely to have survived mostly intact. Second, and perhaps more importantly, the available beer changes from week to week, and there's no guarantee Bigfoot'll be offering anything in particular. So come prepared to walk away if nothing strikes your fancy.

It really feels like hitting a thrift store, essentially. You might not find the style or size you're looking for, but the prices are guaranteed to be unbeatable. It's a great opportunity for those looking to stock up on decent/good craft beer for a ridiculous price - especially now that the temperature's dropping and staying indoors is seeming like a better idea with the passing of each day.

Beer and Value

Today, I'd like to raise a quick point about the value we assign to craft brands. I've been thinking a lot about this while reading all the commentary on the 10 Barrel/Budweiser deal.

So I'm wondering - why do we value certain beers and brands over others?

The immediate reaction is, of course, quality. We, as beer drinkers, appreciate beer that is higher quality - coming from superior ingredients, made using traditional or time consuming processes, and resulting in an excellent product.

But clearly this isn't the sole reason for a brewery's perceived status. There's also the marketing - pricing, locality, and PR (especially via social media), among others.

The most important driver of perceived quality, by my estimation, is scarcity. Tell a beer fan there's a barrel aged stout on offer, and he may or may not bite. But add the fact that it's super limited and one-time only, and more often than not, that'll make the sale.

Relative monetary value is also worthy of consideration - it's why I think Pyramid's Outburst DIPA is a quality beer, and why I tend to avoid Rogue's.

Of course, people have many reasons for drinking craft beer - love for a superior product, desire to support local business, and many others. And I'm not one to judge one reason as more valid than another.

All this is to say that when we value a beer or a brewery, it's worth thinking about why. Some beers are obvious - Pliny is valuable because it's great for the money, and it's relatively scarce. But others defy easy categorization. So, consider these thoughts next time you're super excited about the prospect of trying a specific beer.

Eleven

 In 2011, Hop Valley brewed a ridiculous beer in homage to This Is Spinal Tap - they took the conceit of the famous amp scene from the film and truly ran with it. The beer was made with 11 malts and 11 hops, and came out to 11% ABV at 111 IBUs. It was released, appropriately enough, on 11/11/2011 at 11:11pm, while a screening of the movie played.

Back then, Eleven was an extreme beer in every sense of the word - thick, dark, roasty, bracingly bitter, and vividly hoppy, with a pronounced alcohol kick. Since the debut, Hop Valley held a number of kegs and has been slowly releasing them over the past couple of years.

The most recent of these kegs appeared today, at the Bier Stein. I had the opportunity to try a glass - here's what I thought.

Essentially, Eleven has become an inscrutable beer. Unsurprising, perhaps, owing to the wide variety of ingredients used in its creation. Every sip yielded a different combination of flavors and aromas. First it was alcohol-spicy and roasty, then it was sweet and smoky. Sometimes it tasted very bitter (though never hoppy - the hops have become quite muted during the aging process). Occasionally there was a hint of oxidation, but the beer otherwise holds up surprisingly well.

Stylistically, I thought the initially-released Eleven was a very extreme Black IPA. Now, it tastes more like a roasty, smoky barleywine - a malt-forward, alcohol-powered sipper that never leaves any doubt as to its origins or potency.

If you're in the area, it's well worth a try. It's not often one gets to sample a keg-aged beer of this complexity. The price is $4 for a .25L pour - well worth the experience, in my opinion.

Amsterdam: A Study in Contrast

As part of my trip to Europe this fall, I spent a couple of days in Amsterdam.

I wasn't sure how it would fit into my beer-centric trip, coming between Cologne and Brussels. The only Dutch beer I was familiar with before visiting was Heineken - and I didn't know much more than that.

On our second day, in the afternoon, we visited the enormous Heineken outpost downtown, by the Rijksmueseum. There we paid 18 EUR for a trip through the 'Heineken Experience' - a super-slick, no-expense-spared trip through the history of the brand. There was - no kidding - a motion ride through the brewing process, featuring hot lights and a buckling platform. Various rooms were dedicated to Heineken's involvement with soccer teams, musicians, artists, and other cultural icons, all featuring gimmicky things like 'shoot-your-own-music-video'. Finally, at the end of the tour, we got 2 33cl glasses each of Heineken as well as a small commemorative glass.

The whole experience was fascinating to me, because the entire focus of the tour was on things other than the beer itself. It was more an introduction to Heineken's brand, with an incidental glass of beer provided. It was 'corporate' in a way no other brewery visit has been. It really makes me appreciate how beer-focused most of the micro/craft breweries here in the States are.

Immediately afterwards, we decided to try to find some local craft beer, because the Heineken - while fresh and quite good - wasn't what we were looking for. After a few tram stops, we ended up at IJ Brewery, featuring a small tasting room and a handful of more interesting beers.

IJ had a wit, a pilsner, a porter-like dubbel, an ISA, a strong beer, and a blonde. Of these, the ISA was the most surprising - it was extremely bright and citrusy, with just enough malt backbone to support the heavy hopping. It tasted so thoroughly American to me that I doubt I could pick it out of a lineup of other ISAs. On reflection, though, perhaps it was so good owing to stark contrast with the other beers I'd had since arriving in Europe (my beer diet up to that point had been rich in pilsners, kolsches, and hefeweizens). All of the other beers were excellent, as well - even the traditional styles had a certain unique flair I've not experienced before or since.

The contrast in Amsterdam's beer felt a lot like beer in the US. Their big macro beer, like ours, is driven by branding and marketing and not quality. And if IJ is any indication, their micro scene, like ours, also values the beer they produce more highly than any other aspect of the business, and it shows.

10 Barrel & AB Inbev

So, the big beer news this week (perhaps the biggest story this year) is 10 Barrel's pending sale to Anheuser-Busch Inbev. Everyone's got a lot to say about the issue, and I want to weigh in, myself.

First, I suggest you read Jeff Alworth's posts at All About Beer and a followup on Beervana.

Details of the new ownership structure are forthcoming, but from all accounts, AB Inbev is going to keep the current brewing and management staff and allow 10 Barrel to have most of the same creative control. So it appears that the only visible, practical change on the horizon is that 10 Barrel's beer will soon have a national reach through AB's unmatched distribution network. But really, this isn't the heart of the issue.

Many friends and acquaintances of mine have stated that they're no longer going to buy from 10 Barrel purely as a result of this ownership change. I understand. One of the first things I noticed about Eugene upon moving here was that chain restaurants and major appliance stores were in healthy competition with local businesses that often did a better job. In Texas, where I used to live, chains and conglomerates were the norm, and you'd have to go out of your way, at (often) significantly greater expense, to support a local place.

With that in mind, it's not surprising that my initial feeling, upon hearing the news, was one of betrayal. Why would a brewery as excellent and fast-growing as 10 Barrel sell to AB Inbev? Was this the beginning of the end of craft beer as we know it?

After the immediate emotional response, I reconsidered. After all, my allegiance is solely to excellent beer - I've said in the past that 'craft' is a meaningless distinction. I'll happily buy from AB or Coors if the beer they're making is worthy. And AB's already proven they can continue making great beer after an acquisition - just look at Goose Island's fantastic Bourbon County series, for instance. If (as some critics charge) 10 Barrel's quality drops as a result of the change in ownership, I suspect many people will vote with their wallets and stop supporting their beer. We've certainly got no shortage of other great breweries in the PNW.

Personally, nothing's going to change for me as a result of the sale. Sometimes I buy 10 Barrel's beer, sometimes I don't. I expect that I'll continue to have the occasional hankering for an Apocalypse or ISA, and I'll have no qualms about buying it, as long as the quality stays the same.

First Impressions: Hard Knocks Brewing

Lane County's wealth of beer continues to grow, with new breweries starting to sprout up in the smaller outlying towns. Veneta's got Plough Monday, and now Cottage Grove has its own brewpub in Hard Knocks.

Located on Main St in the historic downtown area, Hard Knocks lives up to its name. The building itself looks industry-hewn - beige, made of sheet metal, with a gravel parking lot.

The interior is mostly wood, with concrete floors, tons of open space, and high-beamed ceilings. The brewing equipment is near the kitchens, behind a chain-link fence.

The food is unpretentious, featuring standard pub fare: sandwiches, salads, fried sides, and pizza. Hard Knocks distinguishes itself by preparing almost everything in-house. What I've tasted has been better than average, and usually more inventive. There's a weekday happy hour running from 3-6, with $3.50 pints and $3 vodka wells, along with several small plates.

Nate Sampson, formerly with Rogue's Eugene City Brewery, heads the brewing operation here, which is still getting underway. During my visit, only one house beer was on tap - Riveter, an imperial red ale.

Of course, as a brewpub, the only real question that matters is: how's the beer? Being Cottage Grove's only brewery, Hard Knocks probably doesn't have to make great (or even good) beer to be successful, but the Riveter was excellent - sweet, malty, and strong, with a good dose of hops to balance out. For a 9% ale, the alcohol is well-hidden, and the beer is extremely drinkable, almost dangerously so.

If Nate and the Hard Knocks crew can keep making beer as good as the Riveter, and keep the food standards up to match, I have no doubt they'll be wildly successful. Hard Knocks is already worth a drive to see. I recommend checking them out soon!

A Visit to Cantillon - Part 2

Last time, I discussed Cantillon's beer from a process/historical perspective, and what about those make them different from most of the other breweries I've visited. Today, I want to delve more into the experience of touring the brewery.

Unlike most production breweries, the tour of Cantillon is entirely self-guided. The staff provide a detailed pamphlet which contains all the information a beer-obsessed visitor could possibly want to know - both about the brewery itself, and the various pieces of equipment that comprise it. Fair warning, this post will be quite picture-heavy!

The mash tun.

Cantillon's brewhouse is vertical, spanning three levels. The ground floor contains the mash tun, a hop filter, an a couple of intermediary vats used when wort is being pumped between various places.

The grain crusher.

A close look at the mechanism powering the grain crusher.

The second level houses the grain crushing machine and the 2 kettles, as well as the hot liquor tank.

Temporary barrel storage.

The third level is the granary - where the wheat and barley used in the brewing process are stored. During the offseason, it is instead used to store extra barrels.

The beautiful copper coolship.

Half a level up from the granary is the coolship. Wort is pumped here to cool after the boil. This thing is massive, entirely riveted, and beautiful. The large surface area helps cool the wort down and allows for contact with naturally-occurring wild yeasts and bacteria.

The fermentation vat.

Back down the half-stairs, the cooled wort is pumped into this stainless steel vat for study and measurement. It is then transferred into oak barrels to begin fermentation.

Row upon row of barrels filled with aging/fermenting lambic.

The warehouse above the tasting room and reception contains hundreds of barrels of aging lambic. Since the secondary fermentation process for Cantillon's lambic takes about 3 years, this warehouse is almost always filled to capacity with sealed oak barrels.

The very modern bottling machine.

Cantillon's one major concession to the modern brewing movement is its use of this automatic bottling machine. Cantillon's bottles are an oddity amongst beer - they're both corked and crown-capped. Once bottled, the beer is stored on its side for several months to allow for refermentation of the new beer added during the blending process. I forgot to grab a picture, but right behind this machine is a wall lined with laid-down bottles, stacked several feet high.

Prices and availability.

Probably the biggest surprise about visiting the brewery was learning how reasonably priced the final product is! A 75 cl (wine-format) bottle of the gueuze can be had for just 5.50 EUR (~$7 US). I opted for a sampler pack of 3 37.5 cl bottles, which was something like 12 EUR. A beer of this craft and quality would probably go for double the price in the US, at minimum.

The tasting.

Also included in the 7 EUR tour price is a very interesting tasting experience. You're allotted two pours: one is your choice of whatever bottle they've opened (generally the gueuze, kriek, and framboise are available). The second is a taste of some unblended lambic. This was thin, dry, woody, and very cereal-malty, with only a small amount of sourness.

The famous sign.

What more can be said about Cantillon? It's a fabulous piece of history - not just in terms of the venerable building, the traditional equipment and processes, or even the beer. Rather, the brewery proper feels very much set against a lot of the trends of modern microbrewing - in its slow, deliberate pace of craftsmanship and the subtlely wrought by years of aging. It functions at once as a museum, a brewery, and a window into both beer's past and its possible future.

Brussels is a fine city to visit as a tourist, with much to recommend it, but the experience of touring Cantillon was my favorite part of the entire trip. I hope it's clear why at this point.