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Getting Started at OBF….. the Buzz Tent

Bruce — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 19:51:18 +0000

The Oregon Brew Fest kicked off this morning and runs through the weekend (as if you didn’t know.)

Standing by the Buzz Tent I’ve heard a lot of “What is the buzz tent?” So here you go.

The Buzz Tent features an assortment of beer outside of the standard taps at OBF. The beers are generally a little more unique, smaller batch offerings such as the Quad belgian from Deschutes, the barleywine from Maui Brewing and the Pinot barrel aged strong ale from Oakshire.

Of course these beers don’t come cheap, they are 2 tokens instead of 1 for a taste. Nevertheless, given the unique selection offered at the Buzz Tent, I recommend you at least sample a few from here.

FirkinFest #7 and 8

Thom — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 00:35:03 +0000

Lucky Labrador‘s Super Dog IPA was a bitter delicious hop bomb. Cascade hops, would be my guess but I’m getting drunk and prone to guessing.

And I managed to get some of the last HUB 150. Outstanding. A lady next to us said she didn’t like floral hop characteristics of the HUB 150. Which, to me, is like saying you don’t like America. Anyway, it’s a floral, citrusy hop syrup. Drink with abandon!

And I just found another ticket. Not sure what I’ll try next. I’ve heard good thing about the Rogue Ales Mogul strong ale. We’ll see…

FirkinFest # 6

Thom — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 23:30:15 +0000

FirkinFest joke:

How’s that beer? Firkin’ great!

Anyhoo. Am trying the Laurelwood Workhorse IPA. Delicious. It’s what I refer to as a full-mouth IPA, because it hits all the IPA notes with their blend of hops. Well played, Laurelwood. Well-played.

FirkinFest #5

Thom — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 23:06:10 +0000

Onto our fifth beer, the Roots Nevermind Pale Ale. Laura says it tastes like bug juice (in a good way) and Andrew says he’s annihilated his taste buds so can’t comment.

I think Roots Nevermind has a nice bitterness for only 35 IBU. I actually wonder if that’s a typo because it seems to have more bitterness than that.

Anyhoo. Wondering what to do with the last food ticket: cheese or sausage? Thoughts? Tweet us: @bsbrewing.

FirkinFest #4

Thom — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 22:52:34 +0000

Alas, my fourth beer is a little disappointing here at FirkinFest: the Lompoc C-Note is not oak aged. Just the regular C-Note on cask. Good as always, but the fact is that I can always get it.

Paging a beer snob, table for one!

FirkinFest #3

Thom — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 22:27:48 +0000

A little of the way through Rock Bottom’s Maltnomah Porter. It’s a very nice, sweetly smooth porter. No hops to speak of, but not treacly sweet either.

Also dove into the cheese from Steve’s Cheese. Delicious. All raw milk cheese, including a goat cheese from Pholia Farms, which the girls from FU Cheese visited last week.

True story: Pholia Farms is off the grid. They get all their power from solar panels, and they have a mini-turbine powered by a creek. I’ll post a link to the FU Cheese write-up later.

FirkinFest #2

Thom — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 22:07:34 +0000

Sticking with the Brewers Union, specifically “North Fork.” Yum. Like a bitter from jolly ol’ England.

Laura, however, jumped headlong into the hops pool with the HUB 150. She sipped and said, “I may have to spend my next six tickets on this.”

Be sure to check out this excellent opinion piece from the Brewer’s Union Blog about the over the top beers of the Northwest.

I don’t particularly agree — I think there’s room on the beer bandwagon for mild bitters and raging barleywines — but I’m thrilled that there’s someone out there acting as a counter to the big beer trend going on. And it was outstanding to have the owner there pouring with his own set up!

FirkinFest #1

Thom — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 21:53:25 +0000

Brewers Union Local 180 “That Dark Beer” is my first beer of FirkinFest. Malty coffeeness and amazing. A molasses stout. Steve from Steve’s Cheese said that’s where he’d start. And that recommendation is good enough for me.

By the way, it’s awesome to see Steve at these beer events. We also saw him at Saraveza for a beer and cheese pairing evening that the girls at FU Cheese wrote up.

Doors aren’t even officially open, and I can already tell it’s gonna get a little crowded.

Epic San Francisco

Thom — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 09:26:44 +0000

This beer trip to the Bay Area has been just awesome. We finished our final night at 21st Amendment Brewery in downtown San Francisco by the ballpark. Huge, heavy hitter beers all over 8%! OK, there was like one beer that was 5% but the rest were like 9% and 11%! Afterwards, we headed over to Chinatown IN A LIMO that our new best friend Matt hooked us up with. And then things went a little sideways. For one, we drank some crazy Chinese whiskey that tasted a little sweet and herbal. A few beers later, apparently Dave got a little punchy (literally, Dave likes to throw punches when he’s really drunk) which caused Dan to… Well, anyway, the end result was that Dave’s glasses are broken and it was apparently a quiet march back to the hotel. After we tucked Dave in, a few of us snuck back out again through the phallanx of transvestite prostitutes (“If she ain’t a dude, then why is she wearing a scarf with that mini-skirt?”) to the R Bar to finish in style: shots, Coors Lights, Jaeger Bombs, and a comemorative coozy that says, “Pregnant chicks drink for free.” San Francisco gave us great weather, amazing scenery, lots of new friends, and an appreciation for the Cali beers. Oregon may be home, but there’s a warm spot in our hearts and dark spot on our livers for San Francisco.

We’ve turned a corner

Thom — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 00:29:30 +0000

Samplers are turning into chugging contests at Moylans. This may be what Malcolm Gladwell would refer to as “the tipping point.” As in, “it’s pretty easy to tip Jay over after he drank that much so quickly.”