Hodgepodge
1.
As I tweeted last night, I stumbled across Eastburn's amazing Tuesday beer prices last night. (Like Columbus', my "discovery" was not exactly the first.*) Two bucks! Sally and I ordered a six-dollar plate of fries (13 pounds, 6,291 calories) and three beers and were delivered a check for $12. Holy moly.
2.
Eastburn is currently pouring that New Belgium Dandelion Ale I mentioned awhile ago. Go have some. The brewery calls it a "strong blond ale," but to me it tends more toward saison. The unusual botanicals (dandelion greens and grains of paradise) add a fresh, herbal note, but an understated one. It's crisp and dry--very nice.
3.
Full Sail is planning to launch Session Black tonight at the Taproom in Hood River. The brewery's description--"With just a hint of roasty chocolate character, Session Black is short, dark and totally drinkable"--illuminates little. A throwback beer ala Henry's dark? A schwarzbier (light or otherwise)? We will have to wait and see.
4.
Stan Hieronymus muses about Oregon and the state of craft brewing generally. (Shorter Stan: Oregon is still out in front, but the rest of the country's gaining on us.)
5.
(Bonus item.) Abe Goldman-Armstrong is on a personal journey to popularize a style of beer that's a half step to one side of the Beervana-blog-maligned Black IPA. He styles the style Cascadian Dark Ale. Abe has (literallly) alerted the press with the following news of a beer he had a hand in making for the NAOBF:
_________
*Special note to Bill: I read your blog every day, but come on, that was February. I'm an old man. I can't remember everything I read on the damn blogs.
As I tweeted last night, I stumbled across Eastburn's amazing Tuesday beer prices last night. (Like Columbus', my "discovery" was not exactly the first.*) Two bucks! Sally and I ordered a six-dollar plate of fries (13 pounds, 6,291 calories) and three beers and were delivered a check for $12. Holy moly.
2.
Eastburn is currently pouring that New Belgium Dandelion Ale I mentioned awhile ago. Go have some. The brewery calls it a "strong blond ale," but to me it tends more toward saison. The unusual botanicals (dandelion greens and grains of paradise) add a fresh, herbal note, but an understated one. It's crisp and dry--very nice.
3.
Full Sail is planning to launch Session Black tonight at the Taproom in Hood River. The brewery's description--"With just a hint of roasty chocolate character, Session Black is short, dark and totally drinkable"--illuminates little. A throwback beer ala Henry's dark? A schwarzbier (light or otherwise)? We will have to wait and see.
4.
Stan Hieronymus muses about Oregon and the state of craft brewing generally. (Shorter Stan: Oregon is still out in front, but the rest of the country's gaining on us.)
5.
(Bonus item.) Abe Goldman-Armstrong is on a personal journey to popularize a style of beer that's a half step to one side of the Beervana-blog-maligned Black IPA. He styles the style Cascadian Dark Ale. Abe has (literallly) alerted the press with the following news of a beer he had a hand in making for the NAOBF:
Secession is brewed in the emerging Cascadian Dark Ale style, often mistakenly called Black IPA. Pioneered by brewers in Newport, Oregon and Victoria, BC the style has been gaining traction across Cascadia and further afield. NAOBF organizers Abram Goldman-Armstrong, a homebrewer since 1995, and Izaak Butler who has helped him brew many 10-gallon batches of CDA, teamed up with Hopworks Brewmaster Christian Ettinger and Assistant Brewmaster Ben Love to brew 20 barrels of Secession on Hopworks’ biodiesel-fueled brewkettle. Secession is a classic example of this truly indigenous Cascadian beer style, bountifully hopped with Nugget, Magnum, Centennial, Atahnum, Simcoe, and Amarillo hops from first wort to the fermentor. Its 70 units of bitterness, are offset by a roasty character from organic chocolate and Carafa malts, with a hint of caramel lurking in the forest of hop flavors.
_________
*Special note to Bill: I read your blog every day, but come on, that was February. I'm an old man. I can't remember everything I read on the damn blogs.