Need a good way to celebrate New Year’s? Accompanied by Eryn, Dave, Sarah, Becca, Nicole, Jen and Ben, we set out to see what the hell it would be like to drink and party and get bused around all of Portland for our New Year’s Eve celebration. Here’s a brief recap of the action.

Sewickly’s Addition – Our night starts off around 6:00 at a familiar location, Sewickley’s. I’m pretty full from my idea of a good drinking foundation (Carl’s Jr. Western Bacon Cheeseburger) but manage to order a couple of beers as we wait around to get checked in and get the tour started. Even though I’ve played a handful of darts matches here and my first place in Portland was only a handful of blocks away, I never really cared for Sewickley’s. Can’t say my opinion has changed much. It’s not that there’s anything all that wrong with the place, it’s just that there’s not much right with it either. It might fare better in 2007 review of dive bars (more on that later), but I’m not so sure. It’s just too bright in some spots and the live size Blues Brothers looming in the corner are a little weird.

Sapphire Hotel – Ok, so everyone gets on the bus at Sewickly’s, we’re read the rules and then we all get off the bus and walk across the street to the Sapphire. I wonder if the next stop is the Space Room and we’ve got the bus with no gas. Anyways, I love the Sapphire, it’s got great, kitschy warm décor and pretty good food. If I was on a date, the Sapphire would be great. But, I’m on a pub crawl and I didn’t think the location fit the evening very well. Things seemed a little crowded. Anyways, before I can order another pint of Mirror pond, we’re off. And this time the bus actually goes somewhere.

Hawthorne Hideaway – Down Hawthorne next to Hot Lips Pizza is the Hawthorne Hideaway. It’s kind of a generic bar. It had booths in front, a bar in the middle and pool in back. I guess I’d go there again sometime if a friend invited me, but I’m not making any plans to return.

Tube – Back on the bus and over the bridge downtown to Tube. Tube is a great little bar with friendly hipster types hanging out. I liked the dark blue lighting and London underground feel. I would definitely go back if I wanted to feel like one of the cool kids in town.

XV – Across Burnside we ventured into XV, which is a big, sprawling club with plenty of attentive and friendly servers ready to help you get your drink on. We made our way into the back where a DJ was spinning some tunes. We grabbed a table and drinks and the ladies went dancing to help burn off some of the alcohol we were already absorbing way too much of. I really liked XV.

Rumpus Room – Here’s not a good idea. Take 40-50 people to 5 different bars and then put them on a bus and ship them all the way across town to what felt like to me, Gresham. I tried to kill time and annoy Eryn by shouting out the name of practically every bar we passed or got close to until we crossed SE 82nd, then I shut up and hoped the bus would turn around. Anyways, we get off somewhere around 120th at the Rumpus Room which was big, crowded and a very generic sort of bar.

Pink Feather – After the Rumpus Room we loaded up for the Pink Feather, also somewhere out past 82nd. The Pink Feather is very cool, old timey red vinyl booths sort of place. The regulars were all real happy to see us pile into the small bar, we had been expected and I think they were very curious to see if we’d fit into the small space. After getting drinks we escaped into the restaurant section and grabbed a couple tables. Eryn and I would love to go back here sometime, I think we both liked the kitschy feel… and the free pink feathers!

Rocky Butte – Where were you when the clock struck midnight? We were on a school bus racing up a hill trying to get to Rocky Butte State Park . A little anti-climatic, but whatever, set your watch back 5 minutes and you’ll never know. I would like to thank (not really) Dave for continuing to pour more bad champagne into my glass when I have clearly been overserved by this point.

Red Room (allegedly) – Things are pretty hazy at this point. All I know about the Red Room was it was on 82^nd, there was a long line for the bathroom, there was some sort of guitar playing video game and since I didn’t get thrown out or punched by anyone I guess I acted okay. I am happy to report that I was not the only one who had very fuzzy Red Room recollections.

Overall it was a awesome night spent with great friends and we all fully recovered within a couple of days.

The Pelican IPA is a great, great beer.  Crisp, hoppy, good carbonation, all in a warm coppery body.  No wonder this delicious beer won so many awards.  Go get one.

Eryn and I recently went to an all day class and learned about another delicious use of yeast; bread making. We started the morning mixing and kneading seven different doughs and them setting them aside to rise. All the recipes started with mixing some active dry yeast with some sugar and warm water to get the little bugs up and active. We then would mix the flour, yeast and other ingredients together and begin the kneading.

To an experienced bread maker I am sure kneading is like riding a bike, a steady repetitive motion that is done perfectly while thinking about your next steps. But for the uninitiated like myself, I had to keep repeating to myself push, fold, turn, and I didn’t do it well, kinda like I had two left arms. After 15 plus minutes of kneading the dough was spongy and resilient and ready to be left to rise.

We made the following doughs and breads: buttermilk (made into loaves, hamburger buns and dinner rolls), sourdough (made into english muffins), cracker bread, 7 grain sourdough loaf, pizza dough, pumpernickel, and a many grains loaf. The afternoon was spent rolling out and cooking the various doughs after they rose to roughly double their original size. Bread rising by the way is the product of the yeast CO2 emissions being locked inside the sticky dough.

Here’s a look at our 7 grain sourdough while waiting for it to rise.

At the end of the day our instructor gave us a little bit of his sourdough starter and we’ve been feeding it and growing it for the last five days. Here’s a look at our starter on the right and the flour we’ve been feeding it in combination with some water. The thin band you see on the top of the starter is actually alcohol created by the yeast but judging by the smell of it, I’d never want to see what sort of kick it had.

Overall it was a great, but exhausting class. We’re excited about another new skill we have where we can make something for ourselves instead of buying it from a store. Which leads me to a great idea I had. Our house is celebrating its 100th birthday this year and in honor of that we’re gonna have a real old time party. The plan is Eryn and I are going to apply our beer, bread and sausage making skills and hand make everything our guests eat and drink at the party.  Or at least some of those main items.  I imagine we’ll spend the rest of winter and spring perfecting our skills to get everything right.

After more than a year as Vice President of Stirring and Capping at BS Brewing I’ve decided to launch a side project, Mall St. Brewing Co. I got my equipment at Let’s Brew thanks to a very generous X-mas present from Eryn.

Last night marked the bottling of our inaugural beer, Rose Bowl Red (brewed on New Year’s Eve). Based on a “Red” Zeppelin Ale recipe I picked up at the store, the beer tasted great and I’m quite pleased with the results. It came out with a nice reddish color, medium caramel sweetness balanced nicely with some bitterness. Final ABV checked in at 6.85%

Here’s a look at the final product, I actually, got 23 bottles but set my very first bottle aside from the others.

One big drawback to brewing at my place instead of with Dave… the cleanup.