But I’m writing to tell you about a beer I’m drinking right now. It was Don’s. I made it to his estate sale on the second day, and most of the good stuff (if there was good stuff – Don had dissimilar taste in beer to me) was already gone. But there on the shelves, I found something dusty and … curious. A six-pack of Henry Weinhard’s Private Reserve. Bottling number 13.

This is not a beer you’d normally age, so it must have had some significance. Or not. When I die, I suppose people will find lots of things around and wonder why I kept them. That G4 in the basement, for example, circa 1998. Equally dust-covered.

The label says “only premium quality brewing for four generations.” So maybe it’s one of the last brews from Henry’s before Miller’s takeover? That was in 1999. This could be a 13-plus-year-old beer. Or not. Marketers can be … misleading.

I can tell you one thing – there’s no born-on date. Nor is there any carbonation. The cap was a bit tarnished, and the screw-top never was a reliable barrier for gases in or out. No sound at all when I opened it.

It is absolutely clear, though. No sediment in the bottom, either. Guessing this, like its present-day descendants, is not bottle-conditioned.

And the taste? It’s faint. Just a hint of wet malt. Very thin. I doubt I will drink more than a sip or two, but it smells nice. Like Fuller’s Vintage, even. But very little actual flavor. Vintage beer-scented water.

Rest in peace, Don. Maybe someday you’ll tell me what you were saving this for.

Update: one more thought. The bottle doesn’t include a bottle deposit on the label. Oregon’s famous “Bottle Bill,” which added a 5-cent deposit to beer bottles, was enacted in 1971. It’s hard to believe the beer could be that old, though.

My main requirement (other than the device being pocket-sized and battery-free) was speed. I wanted to be able to take notes quickly, so I could spend more time drinking, er … sampling. Here’s what I came up with.

So I incorporated some quick graphic devices that made taking notes as quick as I could. Think checkboxes. Doesn’t take but half a second to make a tick.

But flavor threw me for a loop. Flavor is inherently fuzzy. Not binary, as in “checked” or “un-checked.” There are shades of flavor. Gradients. Spectrums. So, my graphic design brain started firing. How could you quickly describe varying levels of flavor, and do so visually?

I ended up with what’s called a “radar chart,” which I call a “flavor wheel.” Some people also call it a spider graph. I think it’s what makes 33 books special (yep, there are wine, cheese, coffee, cigar and whiskey versions, too), and it’s usually the thing people remark on when they look at the books for the first time.

But I wondered the other day (I was drinking some 9.4% abv Black Boss Porter) – if I were creating a new beer review book – what might some other tasting notation options be?

One option might be “Harvey Balls,” which are used by Consumer Reports for comparative data. Equally quick, but “flavor balls” doesn’t exude … well, it sounds gross. Sorry, Mr. Harvey. And frankly, it doesn’t look as cool.

How about a simple bar chart? Elegant, and that might allow for even more gradation. The flavor wheel is kind of limiting, with just five points. This option, which I’ve dubbed “the Flavor Grid,” while a bit longer vertically, allows for quite a bit more nuance – score beers from 1 to 7! That’s … huh … 20% more. Or so.

No, way too much ink to fill that thing up. I got tired after just two of the 16 descriptors! And eco-friendly is important to me. Plus, space is at a premium since the books are designed to be pocket-sized. Maybe if I had a little more space to work with, I could come up with something better. Or not.

Anyway, is anyone out there still reading us?

Hopworks Urban Brewery is looking for 10 intrepid volunteers to venture into the HUB hop field and help them pick their first estate-grown organic hops. In addition to telling your friends and family that you picked the first hops on the Urban Hacienda, they’ll happily hook you up with pizza and beer for your efforts.

Within 24 hours of harvest, the organic Cascade and Willamette hops will be added to the inaugural beer made on the brewery’s new nano-brew system. The fresh hop ale will debut at the Oct. 19 HUB Mug Club meeting and later be on tap in the brew pub.

The harvest will be Tuesday, Sept. 28 from 4 – 6 p.m. The volunteer crew will be the first 10 responses to email “Hop Harvest” to volunteer@HopworksBeer.com.

In case you missed the last FredFest event, the new location is 61 Southeast Yamhill Street. It’s just a stones throw from the river bank on Portland’s Southeast side. Lot’s of growth going on over here; Bunk is opening up a new bar/bakery thing next to Water Avenue Coffee too. Busy busy!

The story is that Hair of the Dog Brewing will be open 2pm to 8pm, Wednesday through Sunday for starters, and expand hours as time goes on.

My best guess is they’ll be open Wednesday, August 11th, but that’s just a guess. I’ll update this post when I get better info.

UPDATE on 8/16/2010:

Hair of the Dog Brewing opened last Friday, August 13th! They say they’ll have free wifi next week and a full kitchen the week after that! Here’s some photos from our stroll today:

Doors are Open!

Plenty of Room for Everyone

Don’t spill your beer in the moat!

You Have Fine Taste

- Enjoy!

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.

Here’s the relevant text, translated to English:

… We wish to emphasize that in future in all cities, markets and in the country, the only ingredients used for the brewing of beer must be Barley, Hops and Water. Whosoever knowingly disregards or transgresses upon this ordinance, shall be punished by the Court authorities’ confiscating such barrels of beer, without fail.

I’m guessing the Court authorities never, ever paid for beer. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure I taste some cassis in this doppelbock. I’m going to have to confiscate it. For my belly.”

I selected beers that all included something funky. Each beer was poured behind closed doors; tasters (aka our party guests) were asked to identify the Reinheitsgebot-violating ingredient from a list. I’ll be honest – I thought this would be the easiest challenge to date. But identifying some of the flavors proved difficult, especially in the berry department. Here’s what I poured:

• Jasmine: Avatar Jasmine IPA, Elysian Brewing
• Espresso: Overcast Espresso Stout, Oakshire Brewing
• Chocolate: Imperial Chokolat, Southern Tier Brewing
• Blueberry: Bluebeery Ale, Marin Brewing
• Raspberry: Wild Raspberry Ale, Great Divide Brewing
• Honey, Basil: Organic Honey Basil, Bison Brewing
• Chipotle Pepper: Chipotle Ale, Rogue Brewing
• Apricot: Aprihop: Dogfish Head Brewery

Of the bunch, I’d say the Aprihop (beer review at 999 Beers), Jasmine IPA and Overcast are in the category of “beers I’d definitely drink again.”

The Chokolat was widely imagined as “delicious over ice cream,” and I think that would be a good combo, if infrequent.

The Bluebeery tasted a little too artificial for my liking, but the Wild Raspberry had the real flavor of raspberries in every sip (I compared it to fresh-from-the-bush raspberries between pouring sessions!).

If you’d like to replicate the tasting menu, here’s the ReinheitsgeWhat?! tasting ballot, designed by yours truly.

Previous tastings:

1. 2009: Us vs. Them (Domestic and Foreign examples of Sours and IPAs)
2. 2008: Red States vs. Blue States
3. 2007: Red, White and Blue Beers

Table Beers of Goose Island from Jay Cornelius on Vimeo.

Then the TSA was born, someone tried to blow up a shoe or something, and now you can’t bring more than 3 ounces of liquid on a plane. And despite Rogue’s new smaller bottles, they still aren’t small enough to fit in a 1-quart plastic bag.

So I was stoked to see that someone at the Made in Oregon store finally took the initiative and started stocking some of our fine malt beverages next to the fermented grape juice. True, there’s a lot more wine for sale than beer, but there is now a fair selection to choose from.

Rogue is best represented (although the growlers of Dead Guy seem as if they might have been on the shelf awhile), but there are a few bottles from Hair of the Dog, Southern Oregon Brewing, Ninkasi, and some random choices from Bridgeport (Blue Heron? WTF?), Deschutes (Black Butte and Mirror Pond) and perhaps most randomly, MacTarnahan’s Haywire.