The Champagne of Blogs

Is it true? Can it really be? Will one of the five new breweries opening in Portland in 2007 be … Deschutes?

My beer appetite thrives on variety and novelty, but I always come back to you. Especially when you start releasing new and original beers like The Abyss, Hop Henge, Bond Street Brown and Inversion IPA, complementing your already solid line of brews.

I have just one question for you, Mr. Fish. Where will this Mecca be? I know there are a few locations available in the vicinity of NE 70th Ave, and I can guarantee you at least one loyal customer nearby …

Yours,

Dave Selden

What would you get your best four legged friend as a gift? Well, Terrie Berenden of the Netherlands has a good answer. Terrie recently appeared in a story in the mobile edition of ABCNews.com:

Pet Shop Owner Creates Beer for Dogs
After a long day hunting, there’s nothing like wrapping your paw around a cold bottle of beer. So Terrie Berenden, a pet shop owner in the southern Dutch town of Zelhem, created a beer for her Weimaraners made from beef extract and malt. “Once a year we go to Austria to hunt with our dogs, and at the end of the day we sit on the verandah and drink a beer. So we thought, my dog also has earned it,” she said. Berenden consigned a local brewery to make and bottle the nonalcoholic beer, branded as Kwispelbier. It was introduced to the market last week and advertised it as “a beer for your best friend.” “Kwispel” is the Dutch word for wagging a tail. The beer is fit for human consumption, Berenden said. But at euro1.65 ($2.14) a bottle, it’s about four times more expensive than a Heineken.

I first tasted good barbecue in Portland when I worked in Inner Southeast Portland, and a little shack called LOW BBQ moved in. As origin stories go, it had a good one, with the first part of the name an anagram for for “Laid Off Workers,” referring to the founders’ recent departure from an Oregon technology firm. Though delicious, the food there was a little on the expensive side, more than folks are used to paying for cart food. Also problematic was the general lack of sides. I love my barbecue, but I need some cornbread on the side at the very least, and prefer some fries or potato salad as well.

Hence, the venture’s tenure at that particular location was short-lived. But like the proverbial (and delicious) phoenix, LOW rose from the ashes to appear again, first at Apizza Scholl’s one night a week, then at Ken’s Place on Tuesdays. Eventually, it became so successful that LOW was purchased by Ken’s and remains there even today. But the laid-off workers moved on … to open Podnah’s Pit, a new barbecue joint in Northeast Portland open every day but Monday. So if you’re jonesin’ on a Wednesday, you’re covered. Ditto for Thursday. And Friday. And Saturday. Same for Sunday. But not on Mondays.

Thankfully, Bruce, Andrew and I made it over there on Saturday, along with a few others who’d read the Willy Week review published last week, although the rumor mill had turned our noses previously.

Neither had misled us. Upon arrival, the air was thick with the smell of the oak-fired smoker, and it only got better once we were inside the tiny restaurant. We moved into a large table in the front, soaking up the fleeting sunlight and attempted to fulfill our RDA of Vitamin D. Black and white photographs of bygone butchers lined the walls. A chalkboard revealed the small but excellent beer selection. C-Note, Free Range Red, Anchor’s Liberty and Steam. Andrew and I ordered C-Notes, while Bruce went with Laurelwood. And then we ordered.

A brisket sandwich for me (their signature), and pulled pork for Andrew. Bruce got the ribs with ‘slaw. We settled in to wait, hopeful the food would come before we drowned in our own saliva.

But the brisket was gone.

“Would you like to try the beef ribs?”*
“Do animals taste good when they’re slow cooked over smoky hardwoods?”

The food arrived. And I will not say another word. Because I think this picture of my lunch says more than I ever could. Just go. But not on Mondays.

Podnah’s Pit
469 NE Prescott St.
(503) 281-3700

* Not on the lunch menu! Score!

Ever since my wife got me the Comcast DVR for my birthday last year, we’ve had fancy cable. We’ve got channels I’ve never even heard of (Golf Channel, anyone?), but I mainly stick to my old favorites (mostly OPB and Discovery). Recently, though, I stumbled upon the Fine Living Network (FLN for the txt-msg crowd, channel 184 in PDX) which features a show combining alcohol, travel and food, three of my favorite things.

Kevin Brauch hosts “The Thirsty Traveler” every Thursday evening at 6 PM PST, with repeats on Fridays at 9 PM. Each show centers around a destination and tells the story of that locale’s unique local drinks and foodstuffs. By way of example, a recent episode had Brauch in Kentucky, sipping fine Bourbon and smoking fancy cigars with a real-life Colonel, applying the signature red wax to bottles in the Maker’s Mark factory, and watching oak barrels get charred before being filled with delicious 135-proof proto-whiskey.

Especially interesting to this couch potato, many of the show’s episodes relate to beer. Last night I watched three stored episodes on the subject, starting with Irish Stout in Dublin. The trip to Dubb Linh (Gaelic for “black pool,” though no reference to stout) began with a trip to the world’s largest brewery, Guinness, which looks like a very entertaining (and expensively produced) factory tour. Especially interesting to me, though, was the visit to tiny Dublin Brewing Company, an upstart microbrewery aiming to bring a more personal touch to the National Drink.

Another episode had the affable Brauch in Belgium, visiting Brussels, the Trappists behind Orval, Hoegaarden (wit bier) and a Belgian micro whose name currently escapes me. Especially fun to watch as Sarah and I are just starting to make plans for our Fall 2007 visit to France, 3 days of which have been promised me for a side trip to Belgium, focusing on Bruges and surrounding (Westvleteren!) areas.

An aspect of the show that I also enjoy is the cooking/food tie-in. As we all know, drinking on an empty stomach is bad news. An area’s signature dish, usually taken with locals, typically also includes the signature alcohol as an ingredient. A trip to Scotland for Scotch whisky (from the Gaelic uisge, meaning “water of life”) also included fresh-caught and -smoked salmon glazed with single malt. Sounds delicious.

A less appetizing, but highly amusing, trip to Iceland for “The Black Death” had Brauch eating harkarl, the Icelandic “delicacy” better known as “rotten shark.” Buried after catch, the shark ferments underground, then is exhumed and hung to dry and age outdoors under a rustic roof. The look on his face after eating it … let’s just say I won’t be requesting that at Gartner’s anytime soon.