The Champagne of Blogs

It’s Sunday, the last day of the 2007 Oregon Brewer’s Festival, and as I prepare for today’s Beer Blogger Meetup, I thought I’d gather my thoughts regarding the event.

Bruce, Nate and I had a great time. Bruce and I took a half-day of work off on Friday to get there early, which is something I would absolutely do again. When I arrived at 12:30 or so, there were a surprising number of people already there, but no wait to get to the beers. It was nice to be able to wander around and have some elbow room, and I met some nice people while waiting for Bruce to arrive who had driven down from Bremerton specifically for the Fest.

The strange thing about OBF is that while it offers a similar number of beers to the Portland International Beerfest, it attracts way, way more people. I think it could be partially due to it’s longer tenure (this was the 20th Annual OBF, while PIB has been going on only a few years), as well as its more visible (and much larger) venue, on Portland’s Waterfront Park.

So is it just more beer geeks coming? The short answer is no. The Oregon Brewer’s Festival attracts a much broader crowd, one that unfortunately, I think, comes just for the generic, alcoholic beverage known as beer. I witnessed a lot of people drinking the shortest line repeatedly, agnostic of style, and I saw several people who decided to take a little nap during the fest, which is not something I’m used to seeing at the geekier festivals (PIB, Organic, Holiday Ale Fest).

I’m all for having fun, but part of celebrating beer is, I think, celebrating responsibly, a philosophy that I’m sure is about the only one Lars Larson and I could agree on. Who invited him, anyway?

On the flip side, I think the event is a great way to expose vast numbers (50,000 this year!) of people to the wonders of craft beer. It’s easy to forget sometimes that craft brewing as a movement is only 20-25 years old, and there are still a lot of minds to change out there. To that point, I read a great line from Greg Koch, one of Stone Brewing’s founders, this morning: “… I have been, am, and will continue to be a firm believer in the philosophy that the more that people are exposed to great beer, the more people will drink great beer …”

And ultimately, the Oregon Brewer’s Fest is about the beer. I had some great ones, chief among them the Golden Valley “Red Thistle Quercus,” an Imperial Red aged in Oregon Pinot Noir barrels. As it warmed up, the pinot really came through and smoothed the hop bitterness and too-oaky flavors that were so apparent when it was keg-cool. A very nice, highly original Oregon beer.

True to form, there were a huge number of IPA/Imperial IPAs present. I, like Jeff Alworth, really liked Elysian’s “Prometheus,” a surprisingly well-balanced hop bomb, and TG’s Tripel, intended to be a Belgian Abbey Tripel, actually had enough hoppy goodness that I’d call it more of a Belgian/NW IPA, which is the style I predict seeing more of in the next couple of years, perhaps inspired by Chouffe’s recent Dobbelen Tripel IPA. In that vein, see also Max’s Fanno Creek’s “Farmer’s Daughter,” a crisp and refreshing ale they call a “Belgian Saison Golden Strong Ale,” whatever that means. Not enough yeasty funk for me to call it a Saison, but it was still delicious.

There were a mega-gaggle of Belgian White-style beers this year, prompting Bruce and I to observe that “White is apparently the new Red.” Some were better than others, though – I could not take Widmer’s Imperial Wit, “Noggin Grog,” which was the best/worst approximation of “Sickly Sweet” I have ever tasted. Just gross. However, Oregon Trail in Corvallis went so far as to christen themselves a new category with their Oregon Trail Wit, calling it “Belgian/Oregon-Style Hefeweizen” in the new program. It was delicious, with a nice crisp flavor and just the right amount of coriander, but because of this, I’m not sure it qualified as a Hefeweizen. Note to self: discuss difference between Hefeweizen and Witbier style with Belmont Station staff.

Speaking of Wits, I’m not sure if this was a typo or printer’s prank, but I enjoyed finding it.

All in all, we had a great time, drank some great beers, and met some cool people. It’s still not my favorite beerfest, but it’s a lot of fun. I’ll see you there next year.