Celebrate the Hop Harvest with Fresh Hop Beers from Full Sail Brewing Company

Hood River, Or – One of the secrets to the wonderful flavors in beer is hops. Located in the heartland of hops, every year the Full Sail brewers wait with thirsty anticipation for hop harvest and the chance to celebrate by brewing fresh hop beers. When the hops are at their peak, the Full Sail brewers truck out to the hop fields to collect the aromatic bounty. These seasonal wonders will go from field to brew kettle within a matter of hours and the magic begins.

“As brewers we are always reliant on nature’s bounty, from the quality of the barley harvest to how the hops weathered through the Oregon summer. But no moment brings this relationship to sharper focus than our fresh hop beers. This year, we celebrate the season’s first hops with four different beers: Lupulin, 3 brews of ale each featuring a different hop variety, and Hopfenfrisch, a Pilsner lager, showcasing a fourth variety. All highlight the brewer’s art as well as nature’s gift,” said Full Sail Executive Brewmaster, Jamie Emmerson.

“When we brew with fresh hops, timing is everything,” added Emmerson. “There’s such a small window of time to take advantage of these fresh hops. We need to get them into the brew kettle within hours of picking while their oils and resins are still at their peak. It takes five to seven times more hops to brew a fresh hop beer, and it’s absolutely worth it. The result is a subtle range of fresh hop flavors and aromas that you can only get brewing with fresh hops.”

According to Emmerson, each hop variety reaches peak maturity at a different time during harvest. “For this year’s fresh hopped beers we brewed four different batches waiting each time for the right hops. To highlight the unique flavor of the different hop varieties, we brewed three ale batches using the same malts, but different hops. The beer’s balanced caramel character and malt body really let the hops shine brightly through on the palate. In the first batch we used Tettnangs, a classic old world noble hop. This beer has a full herbal character with a smooth spiciness. Next, we used Centennial hops which add a large fruity orange grapefruit citrus flavor. Then we brewed with big bold Magnum hops, a high alpha hop that imparts more bitterness per pound. The Magnum hops lend a subtle citrus flavor with a crisp hop flavor and finish. The flavors are slight orange and lime. In the lager version, Hopfenfrisch Pilsner lager, we used fresh harvested Perle, a close cousin to the North Brewer hop, which give the beer a strong herbal character with classic pils hop aromas. Combined with our lager yeast, these flavors make for a classic pilsner beer which give the beer a pleasant hop character. This pale gold aromatic brew was left unfiltered to preserve its smooth body and honeyed malt flavors. This beer is crisp and clean.” The hop varieties were locally grown at Indie Hops, BC Hop farm and Sodbuster and Goschie Farms, which are both Salmon Safe certified hop growers.

Full Sail’s Fresh Hop beers are a veritable hop lover’s delight. The tiny lupulin glands inside the hop flowers, packed with sticky resins and essential oils, provide all that wonderful bitterness, flavor and aroma. These beers are all about hops; wet hopped, kettle hopped, hop back hopped, and dry hopped in the fermenter with 150 pounds of hops per batch. That’s 7.5 pounds of hops per barrel! Most products this fresh last only a short time. Please enjoy while you can.

Full Sail’s Lupulin and Hopfenfrisch are part of Full Sail’s rotating line up of Brewmaster Reserve beers. They will be available in limited quantities September to November on draught in pubs throughout the Pacific Northwest and at Full Sail’s Tasting Room and Pub in Hood River and at their Riverplace brewery in Portland, Oregon. They will also be available at various fresh hop beer festivals throughout the Pacific Northwest including the Hood River Hops Festival and the Yakima Fresh Hop Festival, both Saturday, October 1st. On October 8th they will be on tap at the Oaks Park Fresh Hop Festival in Portland, Oregon and at Fresh Hop Festival in Eugene. It will also be served Friday September 30th at the Great American Beer Festival at the Oregon Brewer’s Guild booth in the Support Your Local Brewer’s pavilion.

Portland Brewery Expands Beyond the Garage with a New Location and a New Name:

The Commons Brewery

Portland, OR – After a year operating out of a residential garage in Southeast Portland, Beetje Brewery has opened a new and expanded brewing operation in Portland’s Ladd’s Addition neighborhood. The brewery has also changed its name to coincide with the expansion; Beetje Brewery will now be known as The Commons Brewery.

Known for his small-batch versions of Belgian-inspired beers, Mike Wright, owner and brewer, didn’t anticipate that the brewery would outgrow his garage when he began brewing beer commercially a little more than a year ago. To accommodate the growing demand for his farmhouse style ales in the Portland area, Wright has relocated the brewery to a new location with expanded production capacity along with a tasting room that will be open to the public.

Along with the change in location comes a change in name. “The brewery has simply outgrown the Beetje name,” says Wright. “Beetje (‘little bit’ in Flemish) was appropriate for the garage brewery, but the time is right to change the name. The Commons Brewery is much more fitting. It’s a name that represents everything I want the brewery to be about – coming together and sharing a beer with friends, family and neighbors.”

The Commons Brewery plans to open its new tasting room in late Fall of 2011. In the meantime, production continues on the nano system as the new seven barrel system nears completion. Bottles of the brewery’s flagship beer, Urban Farmhouse Ale, should be available by the end of the year. Beers from The Commons Brewery will be available around Portland and the surrounding areas in the coming weeks and months.

The Commons Brewery and tasting room is located at: 1810 SE 10th Ave., Unit E (entrance on SE Stephens between 10th & 11th). The Commons tasting room hours are tentatively scheduled to be: Friday 4-9pm, Saturday 2-9pm, Sunday 2-6pm.

For more information, contact Mike Wright at mike@commonsbrewery.com or 503-819-0758.

** APPLY NOW FOR FALCONER FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIP TO AMERICAN BREWERS GUILD **

With the generous co-sponsorship of the American Brewers Guild, we are again offering a full-tuition scholarship to the Guild’s Intensive Brewing Science & Engineering program.

The Intensive Brewing Science & Engineering course is a 22-week distance education program with a final week of residential instruction. The course is designed for brewers and homebrewers who lack formal training in brewing science and covers all the fundamentals of beer production and quality assurance.

The American Brewers Guild is a premier school for the craft brewing industry dedicated to providing a comprehensive learning experience that focuses on the technical, scientific, and operational matters and issues that brewers face in a craft brewing environment.

The American Brewers Guild is now accepting applications for the Glen Hay Falconer Foundation slot in the Intensive Brewing Science & Engineering course that runs from January 23, 2012 through June 29, 2012 with the final week of onsite instruction in Sacramento, California. The full application must be received no later than November 10, 2011. Note: This class is full except for this scholarship slot.

The scholarship is open to professional brewers and homebrewers from the states of Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Hawaii and California’s northern geographic region (San Francisco/Monterey Bay areas and north). The full-tuition scholarship also includes a $500 stipend to help offset travel and lodging expenses for the residential week in Sacramento, California. Full details and scholarship applications are available at www.abgbrew.com.

Breakside Brewery Announces Yearlong Series of Collaborations with Portland’s Top Restaurants and Chefs

In its first year of brewing, Breakside Brewery (820 NE Dekum) has developed a reputation for its creative beers and enthusiasm for collaboration brews. After working with numerous brewers and members of the beer community, Breakside brewmaster Ben Edmunds and owner Scott Lawrence are excited to announce the kickoff of new series of collaborations:

Beginning this month, Breakside will work with twelve of Portland’s top chefs to craft beers that are tailored to their restaurants’ food. Once a month for the next year, one of the chefs will join Edmunds in the brewhouse to get the hands-on experience of making a beer suited to their cooking. The first beer in the series is now on tap, and it is the brainchild of Wildwood sous chef Paul Kasten, who chose to design an English-style old ale brewed with molasses and aged on oak. Part of the beer has also been reserved for aging in a bourbon barrel.

Following the Wildwood collaboration, Aaron Barnett of St. Jack will head over to Breakside in to concoct a dry-hopped golden farmhouse ale brewed in the tradition of an Uytzet. And in October, Rodney Muirhead of Podnah’s Pit will craft a strong Helles lager to complement his Texas-style barbecue. Other chef collaborators will include Andy Ricker of Pok Pok/Whiskey Soda Lounge, Gabriel Rucker at Le Pigeon/Little Bird, Naomi Pomeroy of Beast, Cathy Whims of Nostrana, John Gorham of Toro Bravo/Tasty & Sons, Brian Spangler of Apizza Scholls, David Welch and Jenn Louis of Lincoln/Sunshine Tavern, and Andy Arndt of Aquariva.

“We are incredibly enthused about this project. We love eating and drinking, and we think this is a great way to bring the two together,” said Lawrence. “It is the first time anywhere in the country that a single brewery will work systematically with a city’s best chefs to create beers for their restaurants. It’s a testament to the great beer culture in Portland that chefs of this caliber are excited for an opportunity like this. Hopefully, it inspires other chefs to seek out breweries and elevate the way that top tier restaurants treat beer.”

Edmunds said that he is excited to work with the chefs to design their beers, many of which may run astray of traditional style boundaries, in order to make beers that complement their work . “Food-oriented beers are what I love; I think these beers afford us a lot of freedom to experiment and come up with beers based on flavor profile rather than on style guidelines.”

When the series finishes next August, Breakside promises some sort of wrap up celebration, though no plans have been set yet. “We have a year to figure that out,” says Lawrence, “but we do plan to save some of each of the beers for some sort of gala event in 2012.” Kasten’s Old Ale is available at Breakside and will be released at Wildwood later this month. The bourbon-barrel aged version is likely to be released in time for a pairing dinner at Wildwood in early 2012. Likewise, beer lovers and foodies alike can expect to find all the collaboration brews at both the brewery and the chef’s restaurant(s). Limited amounts of bottles of each release will be available for sale as well.

Prevale Release
09/20/11
Laurelwood Public House and Brewery
5115 NE Sandy Blvd
Portland
503-282-0622
11am-11pm
Annual Release of Prevale IPA + 20% of all sales goes to Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Jubelale Release Party
09/20/11
Deschutes Brewery Bend Pub
1044 NW Bond St
Bend
541-392-9242
5-9pm

Jubelale Release Party
09/20/11
Deschutes Brewery Portland Pub
210 NW 11th Ave
Portland
503-296-4906
5-11pm

Bobtoberfest Release Party
09/20/11
23Hoyt
529 NW 23rd Ave
Portland
503.445.7400
6-9pm
$12
A pint of Bobtoberfest, Heater Allen’s annual Oktoberfest Marzen style beer, paired with hors d’oeuvre for $12. Rick Allen, Brewmaster of Heater Allen, will be in attendance to chat and answer questions. Additional pints available for purchase.

Bobtoberfest Celebration
09/17/11
Heater Allen Brewing
907 NE 10th Ave
McMinnville
503-472-4898
12-6pm
$15-includes lunch, two tastes and a filled Heater Allen glass that’s yours to keep.
Community Plate will be at the Brewery serving Bratwurst made with Bobtoberfest along with accompaniments.

3rd Annual BiKETOBEERFEST
09/17/11
Hopworks Urban Brewery
2944 SE Powell Blvd
Portland
503-232-4677
12-10pm
World’s only Bike-In Oktoberfest party featuring Bikes, Bands & Beer. 12 Bike Builders, 5 Local Bands, 15 Hopworks Beers, Games, Performances & Food

BiKETOBEERFEST, the world’s only bike-in Oktoberfest party featuring bikes, bands and beer returns to Hopworks Urban Brewery on September 17. The event benefits the Bicycle Transportation Alliance and Sunday Parkways and features 15 local organic Hopworks beers, live music, entertainment and games for children, bike building demonstrations, BMX stunt riders and the famous “Huffy Huck” bike toss competition.

BEER LIST
1) HUB Lager
2) Crosstown Pale Ale
3) HUB ESB
4) Survival Seven Grain Stout
5) Hopworks IPA
6) Deluxe Organic Ale
7) Rise Up Red
8/ Fest of Fury – Debut- Fresh Hop – Willamette hops from Goschie Farms
9) Give Me Liberty – Debut – Fresh Hop – Organic Liberty hops from Leavy Farm
10) Bike Beer Kolsch-style Ale
11) Muscles From Brussels Belgian Strong – CTBB winner
12) Bourbon Baltic Porter
13) Brouwer’s Imperial Stout
14) Bourbon Ace of Spades
15) Piledriver

Event Schedule-We’ll have great music and entertainment all day long!
12:00 – House DJ
12:00 – Group Ride Leaves from BikeBar (3947 N. Williams)
2:00 – Flatlanders (BMX stunt riders)
2:00 – Huffy Toss Competition (rolling open entries until 6pm)
2:30 – Brownish Black
3:30 – New Birth Breakdancers
4:00 – Flatlanders (BMX stunt riders)
4:00 – Group Ride Leaves from BikeBar (3947 N. Williams)
4:30 – Oh Darling
5:30 – Jared Mees and The Grown Children
5:45 – Huffy Toss Finals
6:00 – Bouncy House For Kids Closes
6:30 – New Birth Breakdancers mini show
6:45 – Goldsprints (roller races)
7:30 – Ascetic Junkies
8:30 – Wanderlust Circus
9:30 – LAST CALL

Ride Your Bike
BiKETOBEERFEST is a car-free event.

Powell is a busy road. Cross with extreme caution at a light. 26th Ave. has a light and you may ride respectfully up the sidewalk to get there. Check out this cool map that a bike+beer fan put together with suggested routes for getting to Hopworks.

Ample unattended bike parking is provided. Bring your lock so you can lock up your bike. Bike parking closes at 10:00pm.

GROUP RIDES
Portland Bicycle Tours is leading scenic group tours from BikeBar, the new Hopworks location at 3947 N. Williams. These free rides will take a leisurely pace.

12:00 – Slow family-friendly ride. For the Bakfiet, bike trailer, Xtracycle crowd and others too!
(intended for riders who have experience riding in traffic)
4:00 – General group ride.

The times listed are the times the ride will DEPART. If you wish to grab a drink first, please ensure you’re out front by the listed times.