Home Brewers Hobnob for Fun and Know-how

BY Don Klover

Honorary Beer Scribe for Guest on Tap

If you want to learn more about beer, go ahead and start.
There are plenty of ways to do it, and it can be as simple or complicated as you want to make it. You can visit a number of local breweries to conduct your own tastings, and maybe talk with the brewers about their ingredients, equipment and methods.
You can go to the library or bookstore and read the manuals for the do-it-yourself home brewers. You can buy a home brewing kit at a local supply store and experiment in your own kitchen. You can even take college classes; Oregon State University offers a program in the brewing sciences.

Or you might want to look into joining a club. It doesn’t really matter if you haven’t started yet or if you’ve been brewing for years, you’ll learn something by getting together with others who share the interest. You’ll probably even have a little fun. Portland is home to the Oregon Brew Crew, one of the largest and most active brewing clubs in the country.
Jim Davis might have joined, but commuting to Portland from the suburbs didn’t appeal to him. He began to wonder if there wasn’t enough interest west of the hills to start his own club.
Enter PDX Brewers Club. Started a few years ago, many of its 40-plus members gather every third Monday evening from as far away as Vancouver, Wash. They meet at a member’s home in Beaverton to, according to their stated mission, “have fun promoting the art and knowledge of home brewing.” And they’re serious about both.
Mike Besser, their competitions coordinator, says a typical meeting is split evenly between business and socializing. A particular beer style is reviewed, with samples from the club members’ own experiments and/or bottles from well-known breweries with good reputations in the style.
Demonstrations are provided on materials, ingredients and technique. There are classes and equipment workshops, a library and a Web site. Members discuss upcoming events and competitions, and get involved in as much or as little as they like.
There’s even a raffle held, presumably, to help keep everyone there until the end, but there’s fun in that, too. The group organizes an annual summer picnic, camping trip, holiday party and the occasional pub crawl. So what are you waiting for?
Learn more at http://www.pdxbrewers.com/.
Officers
Jim Davis, president
Kirk Lund, vice president
Mike Besser, competitions coordinator
Board members
Mike Besser, Kenan Williams, Mark Mott, David McIlroy,Rob Chadwick

Beer News:
Chad Kennedy of Laurelwood Public House & Brewery and Ben Millstein of Kodiak Island Brewing Company ( Kodiak, AK) have been named recipients of the Glen Hay Falconer Foundation 2006 Brewing Scholarships. Chad and Ben will attend the World Brewing Academy's Concise Course in Brewing Technology held at Siebel Institute of Technology's Chic ago campus this November. Each brewing scholarship is a full-tuition grant along with travel stipend that is offered with the generous co-sponsorship of the Siebel Institute.
More on Glen Hay Falconer Foundation’s fund raising can be found at Sasquatch Brew Fest on Saturday, June 3, 2006 in Eugene and the Sasquatch Brewers' Dinner is the night before on June 2, 2006. Brewers and beer fans alike, sign-up now for the Sasquatch BrewAm golf tournament where you can rub shoulders with your favorite brewer, enjoy fabulous craft beer to go along with your round of golf. The Sasquatch BrewAm is on the morning of Friday, July 28, 2006 just outside of Portland, Oregon on the beautiful grounds of McMenamins Edgefield. Take a spin at their newly updated and revised website and check the wealth of events and activities: http://www.sasquatchbrewfest.org/.
More on Chad Kennedy from Laurelwood Brewery and Public House, as Mike De Kalb, owner of Laurelwood, named as his new brewmaster replacing Christian Ettinger. Now onto the beer part, in the second in their series of brewers’ Dream IPAs, checkout the new release by new scholarship winner and head brewer, at Laurelwood. The beer is Chad’s ultimate IPA. Workhorse and a true West Coast IPA, featuring over-the-top hop flavor and aroma. Three separate dry hop additions in the fermenter make this one of our hoppiest beers to date.
Can’t get enough of this kind of stuff? Check out the new Laurelwood Blog. Brewery updates, beer book recommendations, musings from the brewers and much more at http://laurelwood.typepad.com/laurelwood_live/.

Good Beer? You can be the judge of it!

BY Gary Corbin
Honorary Beer Scribe for Guest on Tap


Area breweries love to tout their awards in events like the World Beer Cup, the Great American Beer Festival and the like. You may have wondered: Who judges at these events? And more important, how can I become a beer judge?
If you’re not already in the beer business, the road to being a commercial beer judge is a long one, filled with light, fizzy lagers. But there’s a much easier and more fun way to get on a tasting panel: become a home-brew judge.
Being a home-brew judge is easy. There are dozens of home-brew competitions every year in the Pacific Northwest and across the country, plus special one-off events you can find on the Web or through your local home-brew club. Competition organizers always need more judges, and usually no prior experience is required. You’ll be paired up with a trained, seasoned judge who will guide you through the process the first few times; after that, you’re a seasoned veteran.
If you want more training, check out the Beer Judge Certification Program (www.bjcp.org). It’s an intensive, 10-week program to educate and train judges on beer styles, flavors, brewing techniques, ingredients, history and culture, which includes practicing on commercial examples.
The certification program tests and certifies judges on several levels, from Recognized to Grand Master, and provides information and opportunities to help judges apply their skills in live competitions.
Local home-brew clubs like Strange Brew and the Oregon Brew Crew host certification classes and supplement them with monthly club competitions where people can practice judging.
Keep at it long enough, and you can end up on a tasting panel at bigger events like the Great American Beer Festival or Spring Beer and Wine Festival. Then when you see an award at your favorite brew pub, you can brag about how you helped get it there.
It might even be worth a free pint.
Oregon and Washington home-brew competitions


National Homebrew Competition
April and May American Homebrew Association Chris Hummert, hummertc@noghri.net
Oregon Homebrew and Microbrew Festival
May
Corvallis Heart of the Valley Homebrew ClubJohn Sterner, sterner@peak.org
Sasquatch Brewfest Homebrewing Competition
June 2
Eugene Glen Hay Falconer Foundation Robin Chitwood, Robinchitwood@msn.com
Fall Classic
October - Portland
Oregon Brew Crew Chris Hummert, hummertc@noghri.net
Newport Microbrew Festival Homebrew Competition
October - Newport
Newport Chamber of Commerce Phil Hutchinson, www.newportchamber.org/microbrew

NovembeerFest
November - Kent, Wash.
Brews BrothersJim Hinken, brewsbrothers@verizon.net
Slurp and Burp Annual
April
Estacada Strange Brew Duane Younger, Younger@hevanet.com
Cascadia Cup
March - Seattle
Cascade Brewers Alan Hord, www.cascadebrewersguild.org
Masters Championship of Amateur Brewing
Biennial (last held in March)
MCAB Curt Stock, curt@sphbc.org

Beer News

Bridge Port Brewing has won another gold medal! BridgePort IPA won the gold medal and champion ale trophy at the Australian International Beer Awards in Melbourne on May 11, 2006.

“Tuck’s Brewery, Brewmaster, Max Tieger, has announced the opening of his new brewpub in Tigard in the old paint shop on Main Street near A-boy hardware. It will be called...what else “Max’s on Fanno Creek” . The new brewpub has a bar made from 100 year old wood from the bottom of the Willamette and is expected to open on July 1st.

24 th Annual Oregon Homebrew and Microbrew Festival Benefit Festival is this Saturday in Corvallis, OR. See http://www.hotv.org/fest2006/ for more information.
McMenamins revised their beer festivals schedule for the summer. The 9th Annual Barley Cup
Thompson Brewery & Public House is Saturday, June 24 in Salem. The 5th Annual Roadhouse Brewfest
Cornelius Pass Roadhouse & Imbrie Hall is on Saturday, July 15 in Hillsboro. The 11th Annual Lighthouse Brew Festival
Lighthouse Brewpub is on Saturday, August 19 in Lincoln City, and 9th Annual Mid-Valley Brew Fest
High Street Brewery & Cafe is on Saturday, September 23 in Eugene.
Be The Next Collaborator, This May the Oregon Brew Crew will be evaluating entries for the next Collaborator
Competition which takes place, as usual, in May. The competition is open styles, so brew whatever you want as long as it is pub strength. Contacted the Oregon Brew Crew for more information < http://www.oregonbrewcrew.com/> or call F.H. Steinbart # (503) 232-8793

Happy Birthday to Fred Eckhardt

By Jeff Frane Our newest Honorary Beer Scribe

Fred Eckhardt at the Grand Re-opening of BridgePort Brewery

Photo by Don Klover

How many people get a beer named for them?
It doesn’t happen often, but Fred Eckhardt has inspired one brewer — Alan Sprints of Hair of the Dog — to do so. As Sprints wrote: “Fred is one of those larger-than-life kind of people that you are lucky to meet. His influence on my beers and brewing style has been a blessing, but above and beyond beer, he has been a role model for life itself.
“After speaking with Fred about his favorite ingredients, I imagined what he would be like in a glass and out came Fred the Beer. Since its release, the beer has been my top seller, representing 40 percent of my sales.”
It’s appropriate that the Granddaddy of Beer lives in Beervana — or maybe Portland is Beervana in part because Eckhardt has made his home here for many years.
A tireless partisan for quality and diversity in brewing, Fred has informed brewers and beer drinkers for decades, introducing them to new beers with humor and his own distinctive style — complete with Prussian helmet, a waxed mustache and Falstaffian exuberance. This is the man who coined the phrase “Listen to your beer” — and meant it.
In 1969, Eckhardt wrote the first American text for home brewers, “A Treatise on Lager Beers,” 10 years before home brewing was legalized, and beat the drum for tossing out the old Prohibition recipes for all-malt beers.
He published (irregularly, but enthusiastically) “The Amateur Brewer” to instill professional values in home brewers. In 1989, he published “The Essentials of Beerstyle,” in a valiant attempt to develop a true taxonomy of the diverse manifestations of the brewers’ art.
Over the decades, Eckhardt has encouraged and hectored home brewers across the continent, volunteering for countless beer tastings and competitions, while spreading the word of good beer through articles and personal appearances. In truth, there’s nothing quite like an Eckhardt beer and chocolate tasting to open the senses to new experiences.
Here in Portland, we are doubly fortunate because we have Eckhardt to drink beer with and because we get to celebrate this special birthday with him. Here’s to 80 more years with Eckhardt!

Beer News:
This Saturday, May 13 th is 10 th Annual McMenamins Olympic Club Brewfest! Fifteen handcrafted beers from eleven McMenamins and guest breweries, Live music, barbequed food, and property tours will be available in this Centralia, Washington property. In one of its most popular events of the year, the historic Olympic Club Hotel & Theater proudly hosts its 10th Annual Brewfest. Running from 2 p.m. to midnight, this beer lover’s showcase features an array of over twenty handcrafted beers from six Washington McMenamins brewers as well as five guest brewers. Representatives from each brewery will be available to discuss the virtues of their ales. Out-of-towners take note!The Olympic Club is just blocks from Centralia’s railroad station, and what better reason than a brewfest to take the train to this historic property? Check out Amtrak’s 2-for-1 fares; you and a companion can ride the rails in style to the Olympic Club. A limited number of 2-for-1 rail coupons are available at all McMenamins locations; some restrictions and blackout dates apply. The Olympic Club Hotel & Theater is located at 112 North Tower Street in Centralia, Washington. For more information call (360) 736-5164 or visit them online at http://www.mcmenamins.com/.

The Laurelwood Brewery and Public House announces the release of a new IPA! RESIN Organic IPA. This is the first in a series of three IPA’s that will be released in May. This is a “dream IPA” competition between brewers. Christian, Chad, and Paul will brew their best IPA and submit them to you on draft and then again in a blind format where you will be able to choose your favorite. The losing brewer will be sent to Monmouth, Oregon to dry-out for the night. The victor will spend a night in Silverton during hop harvest.“Resin is the classic IPA featuring ridiculous amounts of Cascade and Centennial hops throughout the boil.

Christian Ettinger, brewmaster Laurelwood Brewery, steps out on his own! He will be opening a new brewpub off of SE Powell Blvd. in the near future.

Finally, from Bend, Oregon, Celebrating its first anniversary, Deschutes Brewery’s Bond Street Series has released Broken Top Bock. Broken Top Bock is a malt forward, high gravity lager with a subtle aroma and warming sweetness. Czech Saaz hops balance a diverse malt composition that creates the flavor, color and mouth feel. The lager yeast chosen for this beer plays an important role in the flavor contribution, adding sweet fruit overtones. This bock boasts a clever 7% alcohol by volume so don’t let it “kick” you off of your stool.

Christian Ettinger, Brewmaster Laurelwood Brewery, steps out on his own!

Yep! It has been rumored for months that Christian would be starting his own brewery and finally we have some confirmation and a location. It seems his new place will open on SE Powell Blvd. near 29th Avenue in Portland, sometime this fall? We have been told that the demolishment of the building starts this week. Stay tuned to the blog and the column for more in the future.

Craft Beer: It's a punk thing- You might Understand

By Abram Goldman-Armstrong
When 2,000 members of the craft beer industry gathered in Seattle April 10 through April 14, it wasn’t your typical trade show. Brewers demonstrated their intense passion for what they do at beer dinners and at tastings, and in questions at seminars.
Sure, the craft beer segment grew 9 percent last year in the face of declining overall beer sales, but craft brewers aren’t just numbers people.
In his opening address, Sam Calagione, founder of Dogfish Head brewery in Delaware, equated craft brewing to punk rock. The major labels used to control the industry with bland insipid products. Craft brewing, like DIY punk, was the wakeup call. Just as the Ramones and Sex Pistols played revolutionary music on basic instruments, craft brewers used the three chords of malt, hops and yeast to rip into American palates.
Some breweries fell victim to the great shakeout of the late 1990s, when “disingenuous people” latched onto craft beer in the attempt to make a cheap buck. Those who weathered the storm, and new brewers who, as Calagione puts it, “refuse to let the tail of money wag the dog of inspiration,” have continued to brew new and exciting beers.
The biennial World Beer Cup, judged at the conference, drew 2,275 entries from 55 countries. Brewers from Japan to Germany entered 85 style groupings, demonstrating the diversity of beer. Ten medals were awarded to Oregon breweries. BridgePort, Caldera and Rogue picked up golds, with silvers going to Pelican and Rogue, and bronzes for Full Sail, Laurelwood, Caldera and Pyramid.
The most heartening tale of the week was that of 2-year-old Lazy Magnolia Brewing in Kiln, Miss. The brewers lost their homes — but not their brewery — in Hurricane Katrina and, though still living in FEMA trailers, made the trek to Seattle. At the World Beer Cup Awards, announced Friday evening, both of the beers Lazy Magnolia had entered, an innovative nut brown ale brewed with local pecans and a rye beer, received bronze medals.
Makes you want to raise a pint to revolutionary beer.

Beer News:
WHAT IS THE BIG BREW? The Big Brew: National Home Brew Day is Saturday, May 6th.
Each year on the first Saturday in May, homebrewers unite non-brewing and brewing friends and family to celebrate National Homebrew Day, joining with thousands of homebrewers from around the world in brewing the same recipes and sharing a simultaneous toast at noon Central Time. Big Brew Recipes http://www.beertown.org/events/bigbrew/recipes.html
Location for PDX Brewers Big Brew:
12605 SW Rita Drive Beaverton, OR
(503) 626-1720

Times:
8am start brewing
11:30am lunch with Club provided burgers and brats.
RSVP is a must to order food.

RSVP: hopdadi@gmail.com
More information also on www.pdxbrewers.com


"The Oregon Brew Crew will celebrate National Homebrew Day on Saturday with brewing demonstrations at F.H. Steinbart's at 234 SE 12th Ave. in SE Portland from 8:30am until around 1:00 or 1:30pm. The Oregon Brew Crew will be brewing beer, grilling food, sharing homebrew, answering questions and generally having a good time. We encourage anyone interested in homebrewing to attend.



Did someone say “Home Brew”? Gabe Kutcher of Beaverton has won a $25 Gift Certificate to F.H. Steinbart for home Brew Supplies!
You could be our winner next month. Register online at http://www.guestontap.com/steinbarts.shtml