I was meandering through the beer section of Market of Choice last night when Heater Allen’s Pils caught my eye. The bottle stood out against the rest of the Heater Allen brews; sporting a new vinyl label with chunky Mostra lettering, instead of the old paper one with its thin Papyrus logo.

I talked to an employee who told me that they just received the new bottles, along with a shipment of Hugo, Heater Allen’s spring Bock, also the recipient of a label overhaul. Hugo now features a portrait of a man which I’m guessing is Rick’s wife’s grandfather Hugo Effenberger, for whom the brew in named. But I digress, this is a beer review, not a label review after all.

Pils poured a hazy straw color with an aroma consisting of bready malts, spicy/earthy hops and yeast. The beer was much more malt forward than I was anticipating, slightly sweet and biscuity upfront. The beer finished bitter and dry, with far less hop flavor than was hinted at by the aroma. And at nearly 40 IBUs, the lack of hop flavor made the bitterness feel sharp and sudden.

I’m a little mixed on what I think about this one. I enjoyed how clean and smooth the beer tasted; Rick definitely has his Lagering process down. But, I prefer a pilsner that is light and crisp, and Heater Allen’s brew comes up a little short in both areas. A beer that is better served alongside a meal than lawnmower. Although, the heavier malt presence appears intentional. Here is the description from Heater Allen’s website:

This is our take of the renowned Bohemian-style pale lager that you might find in Bavaria or the Czech Republic. Ours is a little more golden, rounder, and a little more malt driven than many other versions. The beer possesses strong hop character that is balanced by its rich, round, malty palate. Refreshing and balanced, this beer is a favorite of our winery friends during harvest.

I’m still a little bewildered by the lack of hop presence in the bottle I purchased. I will say that at the market, the beer was not refrigerated and in an area exposed to direct light; neither great for an unfiltered brew. This may have played a role in the flavor, but being a newly stocked bottle, I can’t imagine the short time it had been sitting there could have greatly affected it.

So, overall impression? Better than Sam Adam’s Noble Pils, on par with Full Sail’s Ltd. 3 and short of Wokanda’s Sneaker Wave. Speaking of which, I really need to get out to Florence and visit Wokanda soon.

I was going to pick up a bottle of Hugo last night, but a store employee informed me that it was going to be on two-week special for $3.49, starting today. I will be brewing a Wit tomorrow, so I may have to make another trip to the market for some brew-day refreshments. After all, it is sacrilege to not be drinking a beer whilst brewing one.

Cheers!
Kevin

Well, it’s a week late, but I finally found the time to type up my Zwickelmania report. Last Saturday, my wife, her mom and myself spent the afternoon Zwickeling in Eugene. Originally, we had planned to make use of the free Rogue shuttle service, but we got a late start and the schedule didn’t quite match up with our plans. Instead, we started the day by hopping in the car and driving up the road to Oakshire.

Oakshire Brewing

When we arrived at the brewery, there were already over 20 Zwickelers, many of them in the middle of a tour and the rest outside at the Devour and Viva! Vegetarian Grill food carts. We were greeted by Eriel, who ushered us to the sampling area. In addition to their standard line-up, Oakshire was pouring their 2-Wheeler IPA, Frog’s Wort (Cornicopia’s house brew), Ill-Tempered Gnome, Duck Billed Platypus (KLCC Collab.), Sasquatch (KLCC Collab. ‘09), Red Nugget and Cerise Noir. And as always, all samples were free.

Skipping it at the Brewfest the night before, I got my chance to sample the KLCC Collaboration beer. I also tried Sasquatch and the Cerise Noir, my Surprise Beer of ‘09. Only a couple barrels of the wheat ale were produced, so it was a nice treat that they were pouring a corny of it.

As I finished sampling, Jeff was starting another tour and Matt, who had just concluded his, was surrounded by a group of people asking questions. I decided to wander into the empty fermenting area and snap some pictures.

While back there, Oakshire’s Head Brewer Joe Jasper found me and we started a conversation about the KLCC Collaboration. While I did know that all the participating breweries used the same yeast and a similar recipe, I didn’t realize that the brews were all made with the exact same grain bill, same hops and same hopping schedule. The differences were supposed to be brought out entirely by brewing and fermenting technique. Joe said that this year’s Collaboration was much more thought out than the last. All the participating breweries shared ingredients and helped each other. Valley Vintner, a local homebrew shop, did their brewing at Oakshire. They brewed up a 20 gallon batch, split between a 10 gallon set-up they brought in and Jeff’s old 10 gallon set-up that is housed at the brewery. Joe also lent a hand to Ted at Brewer’s Union when his Collaboration stuck during fermentation.

While we were talking, he gave me a pour from a corny sitting on the floor in the fermenting room. It was a different version of their Collaboration that had been fermented with a California Ale Yeast instead of the Belgian strain used for the Brewfest. This was the only Collab’ where I could actually taste the rye. The Belgian yeast just did too good of a job hiding it, but it this brew, it peeked through; making for a unique CDA. I asked if this is what we can expect from the brewery’s new spring CDA, O’Dark:30. I was told no, that the seasonal was a completely different recipe.

Joe also mentioned the silo they are putting in. It has been ordered and is currently being fabricated; they expect delivery some time next month. With the silo, they will be able to save some money by order base malt by the truck load instead of by the pallet. It will also have an auger that handles the grain movement. Currently, grain is transported from the grinder to the mash tun by bucket.When I finished talking with Joe, Jeff was still leading a tour and Matt was still busy fielding questions, so we decided to head over to Ninkasi and continue Zwickeling.

Ninkasi Brewing

When we pulled up to the brewery, there were a lot of people milling around outside. Oregon Natural Meats was cooking up sliders in the parking lot; made from cows fed on Ninkasi’s spent grain. We made our way into the brewery’s new tasting room. The place was so packed full of people that I didn’t have the room to get my camera out for pictures. I didn’t see where any samples were being served, just fliers advertising their tasting trays for $5.50. While trying to find out what was being served on the tasting trays, Jamie Floyd came through announcing that a tour was starting.

Our tour started outside by the grain silos where construction is being done on a new 30 foot tall building, that will house 240 barrel* fermenters. Next we went inside, where Jamie showed us the current 30 barrel, steam-fired system. The brewing system is also being replaced this summer. They are upgrading to a 60 barrel, 4 vessel system. With 4 vessels, the new system will be able to start mashing and sparging a second batch while the first is being boiled and cooled. The new kettle will be a percolator style, able to cycle hot wort from the bottom to the top. Once the new system is in place, Jamie said that Ninkasi will operate 2 8-hour brewing shifts per day, five days a week instead of their current 7 day a week brewing schedule.

Next, we were shown the current fermenting room; now home to a large centrifuge. The centrifuge began operation at the end of January, spinning the sediment out of all their beer prior to packaging. Jamie mentioned that all the beer currently being produced should be a little brighter and all bottles should be sediment free. He also talked about the new bottling line they are purchasing.The new system will be able to fill 12 oz. bottles in addition to bombers. But, he was quick to mention that there are no plans to move any of their brews to 6-packs.

Finally, Jamie talked about Ninkasi as a company. Currently, they employ over 30 people and just recently were able to give them all heath care. He said that this was a big accomplishment for him and Neko, who had decided not to buy themselves insurance until they could afford to offer it to everyone. On the more plush side, they also bring in a mobile masseuse every Thursday, which is free for employees. They also recently started selling their beer in the local Costco store. In February, they were the top selling beer brand, unseating Corona for the first time.

After the tour, we attempted the tasting room once more, but it was just as crowded as before, so we continued our Zwickeling on to Eugene City Brewery.

Eugene City Brewery

While Rogue gets some bad press around the beer blogging world and I rarely find myself purchasing their beer, I do enjoy a trip to the Eugene City Brewery. Actually, I am fond of any restaurant that serves a taco salad in an edible bowl. The fact that Eugene City Brewery also puts pickled jalapenos on theirs, makes it one of my favorite pub meals in Eugene. Before housing the brewery, the building was home to The Dive, a Beatles inspired club, complete with a neon yellow submarine sign and Sgt. Pepper murals. Now, the only remnants of the prior tenant are the murals in the restrooms and port holes in the floor.

Before I had a chance to ask about Zwickelmania, the hostess had directed us to a table and given us menus, so we decided we might as well get some lunch. When our server came over, I was told that the Brewmaster, Nate Sampson was conducting tours all afternoon and as always, I could sample any beer they were offering.

I ordered a pint of Track Town Brown, a single batch American Brown Ale hopped entirely with Amarillo that Nate brewed up for the KLCC Brewfest/Zwickelmania weekend. In the middle of our meal, it was announced that another tour was starting. I left my wife and her mom to finish their meals while I headed off for the tour. And what an intimate tour it was;  the only touree, me. Nate said that he had been averaging a dozen or so people all morning, so it looks like I can single-handedly kill Zwickelmania; hopefully things picked back up after I left.

Nate showed me the 6 barrel system that he uses to brew all the Track Town Ales. It is an open top mash tun with a copper manifold suspended over it that delivesr the mash and sparge water. The kettle sits around the corner in another area of the basement. When he is done mashing, Nate wheels over a little pump strapped to a hand truck and transfers the wort to the kettle. After boiling, the hot wort is pumped through a counter-flow chiller that is bolted to the wall of the kettle area. Depending on the time of year, cooling takes between 30-45 minutes on the setup. An in-line aeration stone oxygenates the wort before it is deposited in one of the fermenters.

Nate, a molecular biologist by trade, developed his own house yeast as a home brewer. This custom yeast is used to ferment all Track Town Ales. All ales are fermented in the mid-60’s, the room temperature controlled instead of the individual glycol jackets on the tanks.

After the Eugene City Brewery, we decided to call it a day, skipping Hop Valley and High Street. I never did get to sample in beer straight off the Zwickel. The closest was Nate whipping his Zwickel out of his pocket and flashing it at me. Oddly, I didn’t look away…

As always the ‘Shire is one of my favorite places to visit. Not only do they let you sample anything they have available, but they are friendly, welcoming and actively seek out empty glasses, offering to run them back for refills. It was also nice talking with Joe for the first time. Ninkasi, our local behemoth, is always impressive; I am still amazed at the pace they are growing. I will try to get back their soon and do a proper visit their tap room**. And finally, I want to the thank Nate at ECB for the thorough and accidentally private brewery tour.

Cheers!
Kevin

* I believe the new fermenters will be 240 barrels, but there is a chance that is incorrect. After all, I had been Zwickeling.

** I took my own advice and visited the tap room this afternoon. I will try to get the write up done tomorrow.

This is part 2 of my report on the KLCC Brewfest. If you missed the first part of the report, it is available HERE.

So, when I left off last time, I had just finished trying Stone’s Bourbon Barrel Arrogant Bastard. The table we were sitting at happened to be right next to the Ninkasi booth, so Jesse got a sample of Unconventionale. I went back on my earlier decision to skip their booth and got a pour of Dry-hopped Tricerahops. I tried Jesse’s Uncoventionale and was surprised by how much it changed since sampling it at the Portland Holiday Ale Fest. The herbal notes had subsided, leaving only a hint of lavender. The Tricerahops was a bit disappointing. Not that it was bad by any means, it just wasn’t any different than the non-dry-hopped version. I had Jesse give it a try and we agreed that other than a stronger aroma, the dry-hopping didn’t really add much.

At this point I was about out of tickets, so it was time to find the Collaboration ales. I started off with Steelhead’s brew and Jesse tried Oakshire’s. Both beers had a strong peppery aroma that wasn’t present in the version from Brewer’s Union. Oakshire’s brew was packing a CDA level of citrus hops while Steelhead’s beer was far less bitter, letting an underlying sweetness poke through.

I also tried the Collaboration from local homebrew shop Valley Vintner and Brewer. Their brew traded the peppery yeast aroma for one of sharp citrus hops; more like a typical CDA. The yeast took a back seat in the flavor as well, the brew leaning heavy on its hops. I didn’t notice the rye in any of the 4 brews I tried; the spicy yeast masked any flavor contributions from the grain.

I wandered around the collab’ table to see what else was being served. I didn’t see tap handles for Block 15 or Southern Oregon Brewing. I did spy a Maui handle with a sheet of paper taped over the face that read, “Because We Can,” the name of this year’s collab’. At this point, I was down to two tickets and decided not to continue with the Collaboration brews; I like to end a festival with a couple spur-of-the-moment picks.

The first of my two impulse picks was Oregon Trail’s Smoke Signals, a 7.3% Rauchbier. The brew was a pretty straight-forward interpretation of the style, maybe a touch less smoky and bit lighter in body than a traditional Rauchbier like Aecht Schlenkerla.

My last beer of the night was Wakonda’s Sneaker Wave, a 11.75% Imperial Pilsner. This thing was fantastic. It was crisp and clean with a strong noble hops flavor and no trace of the high ABV. I believe I was told that it was hopped entirely with Saaz, but as I said, it was my last beer of the evening and my attention to detail was waning.

Apparently I wasn’t the only one impressed with Wakonda’s brew. Sneaker Wave took 2nd place in the People’s Choice Award. First place went to Hop Valley’s Alpha Centauri and Block 15’s Six Hop Wonder received 3rd. If I had to pick a top 3 from among the beers I tried, it would be:

1. Wokanda Brewing – Sneaker Wave
2. Stone Brewing – Bourbon Barrel Arrogant Bastard
3. New Belgium – Lips of Faith: Dark Heather Ale

Looking over the list of beers that were served, IPAs again ruled the day, with 18. They were followed by Pales (11), Porters (8) and Stouts (6). There was also a fistful of ciders, in fact they would have tied with Stouts if Fish had shown up. One of the ciders at the fest was Crispin, who displayed big banners telling me to drink their brew over ice. Now, I had never heard of Crispin, but I remember reading that iced ciders were a big deal in the UK a couple years ago; Strongbow even put out a special ‘ice’ version of their signature brew. Unless someone is going to come out singing the praises of Crispin, I think this is a trend I will be skipping.

Well, I think that about wraps up my report. I had a good time at the KLCC Brewfest, despite being a couple men (and a wife) down and missing the homebrew competition. I had planned on entering a couple brews, but completely forgot about it until after the registration had closed. Congratulations to Justin Mills-Price for not only remembering the competition, but also winning best of show with his Black Hole Porter. I believe part of his prize package is getting to be assistant brewer for a day at Ninkasi.

I guess I should start working on my Zwickelmania write-up now…

Cheers!
Kevin

I started typing up this report and realized it was getting quite lengthy. So, I decided to spread it over two posts. Here is Part 1, Part 2 should be up by tomorrow evening.

First off, my trip to the KLCC Brewfest didn’t go quite as planned. My wife was sick last week, one friend from work was out of town and another had to make an emergency road trip Friday evening. This left only Jesse and myself to attend Eugene’s first beer festival of 2010.

When I arrived at the festival around 6:00pm, the event center was still pretty empty; the only line, the one at the entrance. After making it inside and picking up my glass, I grabbed a program and headed off to a table so I could wait for Jesse and start plotting my drinking course. I found the list of breweries participating in this year’s Collaborator brew, eleven in all. Block 15, Brewer’s Union Local 180, Eugene City Brewery, High Street, Hop Valley, Maui, Ninkasi, Oakshire, Southern Oregon Brewing, Steel Head and Valley Vinter & Brewing had all brought their version of the Belgian style Cascadian Dark Rye Ale. I also made my first decision of the night, to skip the Ninkasi, Oakshire and Eugene City Brewery booths. I would be visiting all three the following day for Zwickelmania and without my wife to shepherd me, I couldn’t get too carried away sampling.

Jesse arrived shortly after I finished looking over the program and we headed off the Brewer’s Union table. Ted Sobel had two casks set up, serving Frost on the Bumpkin and his version of the Collaborator brew. I talked with him for a couple minutes and found out that he had recently delivered a few casks to Block 15, who had just finished setting up a proper beer engine. So, good news for those of you living in Corvallis, you now can try a Brewer’s Union ale without making the trip to Oakridge. Ted also has a guest cask from Block 15 on tap at his public house.

I ended up trying both of Ted’s brews. Frost on the Bumpkin, his 7-grain Rye Winter Stout was a very grain-forward ale. It had a big, thick body and went down silky smooth. As for the Collaboration brew, it poured just as dark and thick as the stout. Compared to the other Collaborations I tried later, Ted’s version had a much fuller body and mellower hop and yeast notes. While not as bold as the others, the cask conditioning set it apart from the rest of the pack. Here is a side by side of the two brews; stout on the left, collab’ on the right.

Next we stopped by the Widmer booth to see what all the Deadlift hoopla was about. Now, I don’t have an outright hatred for Nelson Sauvin hops, but I do find them to have a strong artificial tangerine flavor; something like a Jolly Rancher. With Deadlift, they were in no short supply; the hop completely dominating the taste. As a 3 oz. sample the brew was drinkable, but I think I would have a harder time enjoying an entire bottle.

Hopworks’ table was near Widmer, so next I tried the Secession CDA. This one was a bit of a let down; tasting like a milder version of W’10. I’ll admit my tongue was probably blitzed from the Deadlift that preceded it, so I may not be giving it a fair shake down.

Next up was one of our favorite brews of the night; New Belgium’s Dark Heather Saison. The brew was spicy and had a lingering heat. Had I tasted it blind, I would have guessed it was a Unibroue beer. It also had a flavor that I couldn’t quite place at the time, but my notes say “Chai tea.” Looking at New Belgium’s site, I’m guessing this was cardamom.

Following the New Belgium booth, I ran into my first snag of the evening. I went to the Maui table to sample their version of the Collaboration brew and was told by the server that he didn’t think they were participating. Later I learned that with the exception of Brewer’s Union, all Collaboration brews were being poured at a single booth on the other side of the building, Maui included. While at the booth, I did try the Coconut Porter. If you love coconut, this is a beer for you; completely saturated with the flavors of sweet, toasted coconut. If you are like me, you can appreciate the craftsmanship, but after one or two, the coconut starts to become a little too much.

This also brings up my first couple of festival facts. There were eight porters at the brewfest, five of which were flavored; High Street’s Mocha Porter, Hop Valley’s Vanilla Porter, Kona’s Pipeline Porter, Laurelwood’s Vanilla Porter and Maui’s Coconut Porter. And of the 100+ beers being served, I only saw two that were barrel-aged. The first was a bourbon barrel version of Silvermoon’s Snake Bite, Bourbon Bite. The second was the next brew I sampled, a bourbon barrel version of Arrogant Bastard.

I had initially assumed this was just going to be Oaked Bastard, but was pleasantly surprised to find out that it was indeed barrel-aged AB. It poured a murky orange color, similar to Upright’s Billy the Mountain. The aging also seemed to have mellowed out the Bastard. The hops were much more subdued and there was a strong vanilla aroma and flavor picked up from the barrels. The brew was very smooth, showing only a hint of alcohol warmth after the finish.

Since the bourbon barrel Bastard marked the half way point in my beer tasting, this seems like a good place to wrap up part one of my report. Before I go, I’ll toss out one more festival fact. Out of the 50+ breweries participating in the brewfest, there was only one no-show; Fish Brewing.

Cheers!
Kevin

(Edited for grammer and spelling)