Brew Fest // Hood River Hops Fest 2011

This past Saturday we were down in the Gorge for the Myers' 30th Anniversary party.  But, before we were knees deep in decorations, we sprinted over to Hood River for Hops Fest.  We paid our entry (even the DD had to pay...LAME!) and had 4 tokens to spend among 38 beers.

38 Fresh Brews waiting to be consumed.

 Favorites of the Day?

• Meagan was a huge fan of Ninkasi's "Total Crystallization" and spent two of her four tokens on the fresh hopped version of their "Total Domination IPA." But really, that's not much of a surprise, she's a loyal fan of the Eugene, Oregon brewery. Even Kailee, not a beer drinker, enjoyed this beer's crispness.

Sidenote:  what the hell does Ninkasi mean?  She was the Sumerian matron goddess of beer and a hymn sung to her is the recipe for the malty beverage.  Now back to the beers...

•  Josh fell in love with a Belgian (surprise!) from hometown brewery, Full Sail.
• Chad...well, we're just not quite sure what Chad enjoyed.

Hood River Hops Fest 2011 from Jesse Larvick on Vimeo.

While we spent only one measly hour at the Hops Fest and, in essence, paid $10 for one full beer, it did give us the opportunity to fill up a growler of Double Mountain's fresh hopped "Killer Green." Much, much better than the Bud Light we were serving to the riffraff at the party.

Brew Fest // Pacific Northwest Brew Cup 2011

Living on the Oregon Coast, we see our fair share of rain but in a small community of 10,000 where there are two hometown breweries and an annual brew fest, rain is just about the only thing we have to complain about.

The Pacific Northwest Brew Cup is hosted by Fort George Brewery and Baked Alaska Restaurant. Last year, we showed up as fresh transplants to the area and what a welcome it was. This year, we're seasoned locals and ready for a full day of beer, music, and SUNSHINE! That's right, the sun has made a rare appearance. I guess beer really is the nectar of the gods.The 2011 10th Anniversary Brew Cup takes place along the railroad tracks and behind the abandoned train depot, (which is now under development to become a boat building facility). This year's Cup had 36 beers on tap; IPA's, a session ale, stouts, fresh hops & a maple porter, from breweries across Oregon, Washington, and California and all were pretty damn tasty, aside from that revolting chili beer.

 That asparagus guy made THE BEST street tacos EVER and tamales, too.
Man, I ate A LOT! (Canby Asparagus Farm)

So, which beers warrant mentioning? Boneyard Brewing from Bend, OR won the "Thar She Blows Award" for their "Hop Venom IPA" being the first keg emptied and the "People's Choice Award" went to hometown Astoria Brewing Co.'s "Lincoln Lager". The general populace had chosen their winners, but what did we think?

The Mas~ Ma Barley & Grand(MA) Dennielle

We were flooded with IPAs, so narrowing down a favorite was a difficult task. Josh cast his People's Choice vote for Columbia River's "Hoodoo Voodoo" double IPA; partly for the cool name and partly for its nice thick hoppy body and clean dry finish. Honorable mention deserves to go to Ninkasi's "Maiden The Shade" a nice citrusy session IPA.

Often a day's worth of beer ends up being the gift that keeps on giving (if you've ever drank multiple double IPAs you know what we're talking about). This year, though, there were actual desirable gifts, courtesy of Astoria's downtown shopkeepers, via raffle tickets gained through a downtown business crawl. Meagan threw all her chickens in one coffee tin, hoping to win a kid's gift pack, to no avail. However, Josh came away with a belly full of beer AND a sweet Viking t-shirt courtesy of Finnware (pictures forthcoming). Meagan's super-great-grandfather Odin (yes, the Norse god ~ thank you Ancestry.com for validating my grandeur) must have been looking out.

Brew Fest // Great American Beer Festival 2009

Considering the fact that Wednesday wings at the good ol’ 13th Ave Pub lured us into a LongHammer hangover, it was more than a little lucky that we even made our flight to Denver for the GABF. Now, you might be thinking: why, exactly, would you tempt fate drinking a local IPA when you’re about to be introduced to 1800 undiscovered beers and 400 breweries? The answer is…two rounds of mouthwatering, perfectly seasoned wings! Yep, they’re that good.

We managed to pick up travel mates Kat and Jorgen at 5:30 am and make our 7:30 flight, albeit as the last ones on. A little turbulence and a lot of clouds later, we descended on Denver like a pack of thirsty hyenas. Awaiting our arrival was the 5th wheel Chad, who, despite numerous efforts couldn’t ratchet down a sixth festival attendee to offset the two married couples accompanying him. [Side note: said attempts included Quinn Padgett (still fishing), Roger Padgett (road trip derailed en route), Ryan (insufficient funds), Aaron Oldenberg (insufficient vacation days), and Alexandria Ambrosia (who declined at the last minute, to Chad’s obvious dismay.)] So, Chad was left to his own devices, which mostly meant getting late-night texts from a mysterious unnamed lass. 

We arrived on Thursday before noon, with hopes of hitting a local brewery for lunch. However, about five thousand people had the same idea. So after walking down to the Great Divide, getting lost in some sort of private beer drinking party (we weren’t invited), and passing up multiple bratwurst stands (why doesn’t Seattle have these again? oh wait, they do - Dante's Inferno Dogs!) we ended up at a hole-in-the-wall Mexican joint serving nothing better than Tecate in a can and some undisclosed meat they were passing off as steak.

After the slightly disappointing Mexican fare, Chad and I made the trek out to his hotel room. After missing the turn-off and walking about a mile too far, we walked right by Mile High and back into 1986. Not since then have architects thought cylindrical hotels with 10th floor restaurants would bring in the masses. The walk back produced a 6 pack of Stone Levitation Ale. 

The Thursday night GABF session started at 5:30. We made it through our VIP (that’s right, VIP!....or Members-Only) line at about 6 with our pretzel necklaces and the 1 oz servings began to flow. The main goal was to try the non-local big guns (Dogfish Head, Avery, Russian River, North Coast, etc.), however, we soon found out that wasn’t really necessary. With 400 breweries to choose from, the best approach was just to move along the line and try interesting sounding beers. Josh, with his less discerning palate tried a wide variety of beers. From Imperial Russian Stout’s to Raspberry Tarts to Belgian Tripel’s. On the other hand, Meagan stuck to her guns, drinking mostly IPA’s, with a few Reds and Pale Ales mixed in. Chad, too, was quite particular about his tasting experience, sticking to mostly Browns, Porters and Stouts. Jorgen made a point of trying two or three beers at each stop, and getting recommendations from the people at the booths. We all wanted to come out of there with a few new beers to try, but keeping track of 100+ beers was imminently difficult, so sadly, specific highlights are difficult to recall.

 

The Great American Beer Festival from Brewers Association on Vimeo.

Friday’s mid-day highlight was a trip out to world-renowned Duffy's Cherry Cricket. Rumor had it that if you couldn’t choose your burger (they have a substantial list of topping options), they’d throw darts at a board and choose it for you. However, this rumor seemed to be unsubstantiated, with good ol’ fashioned waiter advice taking its place. Josh was the only one brave enough to leave it up to the help, receiving an absolutely mouth-watering cream-cheese jalapeno burger in return for his courage. [Side note: he also had half of Meagan’s double-cheese bacon burger, and Kat’s cheeseburger, and waddled out stuffed to the brim.] It would be a mistake not to make the trek out to this joint if one were to end up in Denver somehow.

A woeful game of pool at Tarantula’s Billiards precursed (screw you Word that is now a word) our Sunday outing. And when I say woeful I mean we missed more shots then a left handed free throw shooting Shaq. The only thing that was worse than our game of pool was the beer selection at Tarantula's.

On Friday night, our plans included checking out Coors Stadium and the playoff-bound Rockies. Coors Stadium is fairly new, and although its no Safeco its aesthetics are quite good. Left field has only one level, leaving a view from our seats in Right field out open Denver. The game was not a slugfest, but was exciting nonetheless, ending with a walk-off sac fly. 

After the game the five of us hit up Oktoberfest-Denver. Jorgen picked up a Stein, and the rest of us double-fisted our banana flavored beverages. This is one aspect of Oktoberfest I’ve never quite become accustomed to. Give me some citrus hops any day over banana yeast. We exited quietly and parted ways with Chad, who proceeded to run (literally) back to his hotel. Curious chap that Chad.

Saturday was the vaunted AHA members only session of the GABF. With a bellyful of disappointing Hollandaise but otherwise tasty breakfast eats, the three homebrewers + guests headed back into the 7 acre expanse that housed the unlimited 1 oz samples of beery goodness. Again, everybody had their methods clearly laid out: Josh and Jorgen: try any and all, Chad: Porters and Stouts only, Meagan: IPA and recommendations only, and Kat: water only (sorry Kat). The first order of business was the Dogfish Head booth, which had 5 off-centered ™ beers for tasting. Caglione himself was there (we also saw Charlie Papazian on the first day, the godfather of homebrewing) filling up the glasses. The golden brews they put out were nothing short of magnificent; a list of the flavors would take up more space than this blog itself (no whining at blog length!). 

With about 2 hours left the awards ceremony was complete and award winning booths were the main attraction. Troegs came away with some golds and we came away with some Troegs. Lagunitas, Kona, The Bruery, and myriad others were flavor-tested and given the thumbs up. Discretion failed near the end, as last call was called out with 5 minutes remaining. Helpful volunteer pourers made sure everyone got their money’s worth at the end, as we topped off for the rest of the day.

Wynkoop Brewery became the hangout for the next few hours, as we talked up some East Coast brewery distributors, who gave us the low-down on beer drinkers (yellow beer still rules the roost). We all partook in our free beer, and bizzounced!

On Saturday night, everybody hopped in the van-taxi and headed out to Red Rocks to see Flogging Molly. The venue was as eye-catching as promised; a sort of naturally hollowed out amphitheatre sunk right into layered rock. Flogging Molly played anthemic Irish punk, keeping the crowd on their feet for the majority of the show. Fast-paced, heavily accented, and barely knowing 25% of the soundtrack (Kat and Jorgen claimed to know more…but did no jig-dancing to verify that claim) didn’t keep the crew from enjoying the show thoroughly.

Sunday was departure day, and Kat and Jorgen left early on, and rumor has it made a successful journey back to Seattle on the Light Rail. Meagan, Josh and Chad headed down to Rock Bottom Brewery (yeah yeah, chain beer, it wasn’t bad) and caught the Seahawks and the rest of the NFL games; successfully warding off any potential hangovers with some hair of the dog.

All in all it was a fantastic weekend and with any luck will be revisited again.

Brew Fest // The Countdown Begins...

We've reserved our hotel, booked our flights and purchased our tickets. We've even scored some seats at the Cardinals vs. Rockies game...Denver, Co & the Great American Beer Festival here we come! 

 


Only 128 days and counting until the debauchery begins!