Welcome to Blogtown’s Oregon Craft Beer Month 31 Beer Discussion Group. Die-hard beer drinkers across the state have committed to drink 31 unique craft brews in the month of July, and here at the Mercury we’ll be discussing what we drank, what we liked, what we didn’t like, and what we’re looking forward to. Join the conversation, why dontcha?
We’ll let beer enthusiast and Twitter-pal Mike Marsh (@Mike_Marsh) do the intros with a quick report of what’s happening with 31 Beers out there in the Twitter-verse. Take it away Mike:
As hops, yeast and malt unite to shape the flavor of beer, so goes the combination of heat, humidity and rain to shape the decision of what beer to drink in July.
Oregon Craft Beer Month kicked off with cool, overcast weather, and the random rain showers paired well with Upright Brewing’s Oyster Stout enjoyed by @BeerWineGuy. The staggering jump to 99º by July 8th inspired @fabianmills to pour a Ninkasi Radiant Summer Ale. Seasonal ales meant for actual summer weather will undoubtedly debut in many OCBM events across the state. I look forward to trying Double Mountain’s Devils Kriek and the lineup at Belmont Station’s Puckerfest looks as enticing as last year’s.
For more about the pints and bottles Oregon craft beer fans are selecting this month, follow the #31beers tag in Twitter—and use this tag when tweeting about a beer (or 31) you had. With the annual Oregon Brewer’s Fest the last weekend in July, you have a prime event to schedule for any catch-up to meet the 31-beer minimum.
Home brewer, beer enthusiast, and 31 Beer booster KeAloha Oyer (@toenut) has this report from the first 9 days of OCBM:
The first week of Oregon Craft Beer Month’s 31 beer challenge wasn’t too exciting at the start. Went with some good classic beers in Deschutes’ Mirror Pond and Bridgeport IPA. I got unlucky with couple of beers that were past their prime in Ninkasi Spring Reign and Full Sail Hop Pursuit.
Then things started to pick up when I went the new nano-brewery Ambacht, based in Hillsboro. I picked up a bottle of their Black Gold Porter at the farmers market that was really good—a nice mellow and dry porter with some Belgian yeast fruitiness.
The highlight beer of the week came last night at the kickoff to Puckerfest at Belmont Station. Double Mountain Devil’s Kriek was released last night, and the beer was awesome—a great sour beer with strong cherry flavor and just a little bit of funk. As for the rest of the month, I’m looking forward to keeping the different brewery streak going and end up with beers from 31 different breweries. It’ll take some work, but shouldn’t be too hard in Beervana.
The recap of my week in suds and a chance to discuss your own Beer Month shenanigans, after the jump!
Aside from a brief brush with death when last night’s bottle of Captured by Porches Invasive Species IPA blew its lid and nearly took my head off, it’s been a mellow first week with a couple of stand-out brews.
I found the Invasive Species IPA to be quite lovely (at least the 65% that wasn’t lost as foam in the explosion). The hoppy-ness was just aggressive enough, but not overwhelming, and there were some distinct tones of peach in the mix for sure.
I also dug the Line Dry Rye from Oakshire down in Eugene—a very pretty summer beer with slight peppery rye notes and a touch of sweetness that totally worked for me.
Upright’s #4 out of the bottle was a funky complex beer with a slightly sour twang that made my night.
Finally, I took a crack at the Hop Czar from Bridgeport and found it to be awesome. I liked how the bitterness was fierce, but managed to be gentle on the palate. I also enjoyed the way the 7.5 ABV warmed the chest just enough to let you know you were on the way to being augmented… And How!
But enough about what we’re drinking! What are you drinking? Do you have some recommendations? Spill it… In the comments.
The 2010 Double Mountain Kriek was great this year, and I strongly preferred it to the 09. For good measure, I got a bottle of 09 cascade kriek to sample next to the latest double mountain, and it was hard to pick a favorite, but I think I’m leaning towards the 2010 double mountain. The Cascade was delicious as always, but really heavy on the lactic acidity, to the point that it really overwhelms the fruit. The double mountain was bold and sour, but still maintained a bit more complexity and fruitiness.
I really wish they produced another batch of last year’s rainier kriek, the cousin of devil’s kriek, made with rainier cherry’s instead of bings. It was a lot funkier than the devil’s that year.
Funny, two bottles of Invasive Species IPA did the same thing to me at Al Forno Ferruzza. I e-mailed CBP and they’re sending me a logo shirt. (cbporches@gmail.com)
Captured by porches has a lot of quality control issues. Lots of infected bottles. The gushing is either from too much fermentation happening in the bottle during bottle conditioning, or unwanted wild yeast working on the beer due to accidental infection.
In either case, it’s a big bottle for a cheap price, and if you properly sanitize the bottle when you’re done drinking it’s great for bottling home-brew!
If you like the beer, but want to avoid the gushing, get the freshest bottles possible, and throw them in the freezer for a bit before you pop the top.
I’ve been really digging the new Upright Engelberg Pils. The first batch was brewed with tettnanger hops, and the second batch with Hallertauer hops. Batch two has a bit more of an earthy bitterness to it. I’ve got a corny ready to go on my home system as soon as I drain something else.
Re: CBP, they’ve been having all sorts of issues with carbonation and infection in their bottles. Maybe they’re not cleaning the returnable bottles well enough? I don’t know, but it’s a shame, since all of the draft beer I’ve had from them has been pretty damn tasty.
They better take care of those issues, because that white porcelain cap could cause some serious damage if it went the wrong way.