It’s open season in Eastern Oregon — on microbrews, that is. Between now and April 30, 2012 beer lovers can participate in the Eastern Oregon “Beer Tag” Controlled Hunt.

Here’s how it works: Procure a Beer Tag at one of six participating local microbreweries (or download one from the Eastern Oregon Visitors Association website), and get it stamped with each visit. It’s a fun way to check out Oregon’s eastern beer stars — The Prodigal Son Brewery & Pub (Pendleton), Barley Brown’s Brew Pub (Baker City), Mt. Emily Ale House (La Grande), Mutiny Brewing Company (Joseph), and Beer Valley Brewing Company (Ontario).

Four of the six stamps gets you an official, limited addition Eastern Oregon beer koozie.

Mark your calendars, save the dates and bring your friends down to join Portland dweller Micah as he samples Oakshire beer at the following locations.

1/12/2012 Zupans Market on Belmont 4pm-7pm

1/13/2012 Zupans Market on Burnside 4pm-7pm

1/14/2012 Uptown Market 3pm-6pm

Internationally Recognized brewer, Shawn Kelso, Joins 10 Barrel Brewing
All Star Brewer to head Boise Brewhouse and Join Product Development Team with Tonya Cornett and Jimmy Seifrit

10 Barrel Brewing Company is proud to announce another world class addition to our brewing team in Shawn Kelso, former Brewmaster of Barley Brown’s Brewing. Shawn is one of the highest decorated single brewers in the country, winning 50 national medals over the last seven years. He will be the Brewmaster of 10 Barrel’s second brewpub, opening this summer in Boise, ID. Shawn will also play an integral role in all product development for the overall company, working hand-in-hand with Tonya Cornett on our 10 Barrel experimental system in Bend.

“What I am most excited about is having the opportunity to work with such world-class talent in Jimmy and Tonya. Joining 10 Barrel is a chance to jump on board with a really aggressive young company that is working hard to push the boundaries of conventional brewing in the northwest. They are providing me an opportunity to not only contribute to that growth, but to play a critical role in helping shape the direction of the company and challenging myself as a brewer. Joining an up and coming brew scene in Boise will allow me to really showcase my talents in front of a larger audience, including the entire 10 Barrel footprint” Shawn Kelso.

The Commons Brewery Taproom
1810 SE 10th Ave, Unit E
Portland
The tasting room entrance is on SE Stephens between SE 10/11th. Map here
Friday 5-9PM
Saturday 4-9PM.
8 beers on tap, with half of them set to be a rotating series of Beetje beers from the small system. Cash and Credit are both accepted. Look for rotating cast of food carts in the future.

The current taplist is:
Year Round
Urban Farmhouse Ale – Rye Saison
Flemish Kiss – Pale ale with Brett. B. partially fermented in wine barrels

Seasonal
Bourbon Little Brother – A belgian dark strong partially aged in Heaven Hills bourbon barrels
Sticke – German style double alt inspired by Uerige doppelsticke

Beetje Series
Fleur de Ferme – Sour mashed dark saison brewed with Hibiscus, Chamomile and Lavender
The Gods Must be Crazy – Belgian blonde with Rooibos Tea
Taste of Esen – Hoppy Belgian Pale Ale
Barrel 1 – Tart pale ale aged in Penner Ash Pinot Barrels for 8 months with Wyeast Roselare blend

Harvester Brewing Gluten-Free Pale Ale Bottles Available Now

Harvester Brewing, a Portland, Oregon dedicated gluten-free brewery, just bottled its first batch of Harvester Pale Ale. This flavorful pale ale is handcrafted from chestnuts, sorghum, oats, and pure cane sugar, and generously hopped with Nugget, Cascade, and Meridian. The chestnuts are sourced directly from an Oregon farmer and hand-roasted at the brewery. The certified gluten-free oats come from a Montana company that grows them in an area isolated from gluten-containing grains. With its true craft beer flavor this 6.8% ABV brew has been highly anticipated by those whose diets are gluten-free.
The first batch of this beer in 22 ounce bottles is available now at Belmont Station, 4500 SE Stark Street in Portland.

We are excited to finally share the first craft beer created in our dedicated gluten-free facility. In the next year we will be adding more styles to our regular line-up. Please continue to follow us on Facebook or sign-up to receive emails through our website so we can continue to share the latest news with you.

Behind The Scenes Tours – $75
Friday afternoons 1:00 – 5:00 pm (January 6, 13, 20, 27)
The tour begins at Buckman Village, a small brewery that shares space with a nano brewery and a distillery, located inside a SE pub that features 49 rotating taps. After sampling beers there, we then visit Cascade Barrel Brewing, a 7,000 square foot warehouse where beers are barrel aged and conditioned and unique sour beers are produced. We get a special behind the scenes peek at where the magic happens and taste unusual beers we never thought we would like! We then head NE to sample more beers and enjoy lunch at Laurelwood, Oregon’s first certified organic brewery. Our last stop is Upright, a production brewery with a casual tasting room at a brewery that specializes in farmhouse ales with a pacific NW twist.

Imbibing Tours – $75
Saturday afternoons 12:00 – 4:00 pm (January 7, 14, 21, 28)
We begin at Coalition, a small 10 barrel brewery in the inner SE where we taste their handcrafted, highly drinkable beers that reflect traditional brewing techniques and NW innovation. Our next spot is Hopworks Urban Brewery (HUB), Portland’s first eco-brewpub that offers handcrafted organic beers in a sustainably built and operating building. We get a fully brewery tour with an in depth description of the brewing process as we sample beers. For lunch we travel north to Breakside Brewery, a small 3 barrel brewery where we sample their vast selection of beers and dine in the restaurant. Our last stop is Lompoc’s Side Bar, a special tasting room that features a variety of barrel aged and seasonal beers that are only available in the tasting room.

FUNday Tours – $60
Sunday afternoons 2:00 – 5:00 pm (January 1, 8, 15, 22, 29)
We begin sampling new and usual beer styles at Hair of the Dog, a very small 4 barrel brewery in the inner SE that is known for bottle conditioning beers that improve with age. We then head to Widmer, Portland’s largest brewery, and the 9th largest brewery in the US. After snacking on some food and sampling fresh beer, we head to the Mississippi neighborhood’s favorite gathering spot, Amnesia Brewery, where they brew quality beer in a converted warehouse with an outdoor patio. We sit outside and enjoy the scene as we drink some delicious NW inspired brews.

Falling Sky Brewing-Opening in January 2012 in Eugene

Falling Sky Brewing, a new Eugene brew house and kitchen, will feature handcrafted beers & sodas, barrel to tap wines, locally roasted coffee, and farm fresh food. Inspired by beer halls in Munich, and neighborhood pubs in London, Falling Sky Brewing will be a low-key, casual, cozy, & convivial place. The space and menu will be simple, affordable & innovative with a heavy emphasis on the homegrown and handcrafted.
After nearly a decade of providing exceptional service and products for home brewers and winemakers, Valley Vintner & Brewer, 30 E 13th Ave downtown Eugene, has changed it’s name to Falling Sky Brewing and is expanding into a beautiful adjacent space. With just over 3000 square feet, the new space features a high barrel ceiling, an outdoor beer garden, a full kitchen, and our stunning, copper-clad, German made brewery. Beer and food offerings will include both year-round and
seasonal options, and promise to delight connoisseurs and novices alike.
For information: Robert Cohen. rob at fallingskybrewing dotcom
Falling Sky Brewing. 1334 Oak Alley. Eugene, OR 97401. web

Full Sail Brewing Company Celebrates its Employee Owners with Brewer’s Share Line-up

In 2008 Full Sail Brewing created their small batch Brewer’s Share series as an opportunity for each of their individual brewers to express their creations to be shared on tap exclusively in their pub. Since their crew came up with so many great beers, they decided to share a selection of them with beer lovers everywhere. The first beer in the series “Extra Special Barney” (ESB) developed by Brewing Supervisor, Barney Brennan will be released in 22oz. bottles and on draft in January.

“It’s rare to know who makes your beer. We’re proud to be the people behind so many award winning brews. As an independent and employee owned brewery, you know that we put our hearts and souls into every drop. With Brewer’s Share, we take it one step further and introduce our individual brewers by name and beer,” said Irene Firmat, Full Sail’s CEO and Founder.

According to Brennan, this beer is a departure from the big, hoppy, Northwest ales. This Extra Special Bitter, a traditional English style ale, is brewed with attention to balance, highlighting both malt and hops. Five different malt varieties give the beer its orange hue, and caramel complexities. A single hop was used, Challenger, including a pound per barrel dry hop. The pint first offers the interaction of the aromas of malt and hop, then the medium body and caramel flavors finish with a slight bitterness. Drinkable and quenching with an invitation to return for another taste. 6.5% ABV, 35 IBU

Brennan’s ESB was inspired by two things; a perfect beer moment and the aromatic highlight of the hop selection in Yakima, a US Challenger hop. As Barney puts it, “I was sitting on the deck at the brewery overlooking the river in the sunshine – drinking a perfectly balanced bitter – already looking forward to the second pint. It was one of those great beer moments. Hopefully, my ESB will make one of those moments for someone else with its five different specialty malts and this one very special hop. We made it entirely with US Challenger hops including a pound per barrel dry hop because we wanted to share the aromatic experience we had at the hop rub in Yakima with our customers.”

The inspiration for the name “Brewer’s Share” came from that mysterious portion that vanishes from a barrel during aging that brewers refer to as the “angel’s share,” and that led to “Brewer’s Share,” an equally mysterious offering that appears during inspiration. Brewer’s Share can also mean a unit of ownership, as in stock. Consider this program to be an Initial Public Offering (IPO). Whenever you purchase a Brewer’s Share you get a unit of ownership – one share of the batch. As a shareholder you have the right to consume the beverage. In doing so you will also be investing in the public good – as each brewer not only chooses the recipe, they choose a local charity or organization that will benefit from each bottle sold – Which can bring an excellent return on ingestion (ROI).

Full Sail’s Brewer’s Share small batch offerings will be available in 22oz. bottles and on draft. The other beers in the 2012 line-up include Phil’s Existential Alt, Chris’s Summer Delight Berliner Weiss and Big Daddy J’s Malt Liquor. Full Sail will release one Brewer’s Share at a time and a new beer will be released for each season.

With each Brewer’s Share series beer, Full Sail picks a local charity or organization to receive a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the beer. Barney has chosen to support Columbia Gorge Arts in Education so every barrel of Extra Special Barney benefits this organization. The Columbia Gorge Arts in Education provides visual, literary, and performing arts to local K-12 students. Through artist residencies in schools, workshops, after school programs, community art projects and installations, programs for at-risk youth, and cultural performances, Columbia Gorge Arts in Education served 6,000 kids last year in the Mid-Columbia region. For more information please visit www.cgaie.org.

Ninkasi Brewing Company Is Excited To Announce The Release Of Six New Beers For December And January

1. Holiday Ale, SLEIGH’R DARK DOUBLE ALT continues to become a new tradition in the Northwest.
Dark, rich and toasty, Sleigh’r is a easy drinking 7.2% abv holiday ale. Available until Dec 31st in 6 packs+22oz bombers.

2. Winter Special Release, IMPERIALE STOUT is now out in stores in 22oz bo#les only. Full bodied and surprisingly smooth, Imperiale has a big roast hit up front, and rich, dark malt flavors balanced by ample hop bitterness. 9.1% abv and 70 IBUs.

3. THE LITTLE ONE – is one of two offerings to counter-point the big flavored beers of Winter. Little One is brewed in an age old tradition of using the grains used in brewing Barleywine to brew a second “Small Beer”. This beer is mildly bittered with 100% German Haulertauer hops which are also used in a dry hopping to maximize their lovely aroma. The Little One is copper hued with hints of caramel, piquant fruit, and a elegant hit of grassy, slightly earthy hop flavor and aroma. 30 IBUs 5.2% abv

4. STERLING PILS is a German-style Pilsner brewed with North American Ingredients, including Sterling hops from Washington, Premium Pilsner malt from Canada, and some of the best brewing water in the world from the Pacific Northwest. 30 IBUs 4.9%
abv.

January brings two more beers:

5. CRITICAL HIT BARLEY WINE comes with a warning – It is hopped to high heaven. 11 varieties of Hops. Two-hundred and twenty pounds of them, for only 17 barrels of beer! Its high gravity nature has been mellowing for a year to warm the cheeks and soul. Critical Hit will be released for the first time in limited release 22oz bombers and draft. Available Jan, 2012 100 IBUs 11.7% abv

6. Ninkasi’s RenewAle Seasonal Beers celebrate a different style of beer in the darkest time of year. 2012 brings RENEWALE PORTER. Bittersweet chocolate aroma and flavors accentuate this dark, rich Porter. Balanced and satisfying, this robust style Porter is sure to bring cheer in the New Year! Available in 6 Packs, 22 oz bottles and 1/2bbl draft. 38 IBUs 5.9% abv

Two new start up breweries looking for qualified Head Brewers

We are looking for TWO qualified Brewers for TWO new brewpubs opening in Portland Or. Both Breweries are 7 BBL brewhouses with a capacity to brew upwards of 500 or more BBl’s per year. Individuals need to have at least 5 years of experience though less will be considered.

Individual needs to understand and perform all aspects of brewing;
• Recipe formulation
• CIP and all brewery sanitation procedures
• Kegging, Transferring, Cellaring procedures
• Lab work and Quality control
• Ability to manage and nurture growth in the brewhouse
• Willingness to manage and nurture products, i.e.; Set up and execute samplings, release parties, help in marketing etc. BE THE FACE OF THE BREWERY,
• Have management and leadership skills
• Have great people skills

Individual does not have to have been a head brewer now or in the past. Presently working as an assistant brewer or head brewer? This is an opportunity to be a part of something new and great! Define your own destiny as the head brewer of a new fully funded brewery.

Pints Brewing Co. is located in old town Portland. It has been a successful and popular pub for almost two years. With live music and a great atmosphere of an old town brick bar and located right by the train station this new brewery is sure to be an even bigger success with the addition of the brewery and restaurant. The brewery is a beautiful copper showpiece brewery set in front of the beautiful brick walls and will produce world class beers with the right brewer! The bar will, as quick as it can, start adding the breweries own 8 signature beers to the taps.

Old Town Pizza Brewing; This established and very popular pizza joint is located in Deep NE Portland off of MLK and Sumner St. and is considered the best pizza in the city and is the second location of the Old Town Pizza that has been and still is located in old town Portland since 1972. The brewery is a custom built 7 bbl brewhouse that will be delivered by the end of November. It is showcased in front of the all glass front of the building facing MLK. This facility will be producing 8 signature beers to be at both locations.

If interested in anyone of these two new breweries, please contact;
Craig Nicholls
TurnKey Brewery Consulting Group
Associate Member – Oregon Brewers Guild
bromanbrew1 at hotmail.com