Great Notion’s second location offers plenty of growing room for the three-year-old company, along with to-go coffee six days a week, an expanded menu, and most importantly, more beer.
In this stellar example of what beer writing can be, working mother Lucy Burningham documents her experiential study plan to pass the Certified Cicerone exam within a year.
The Pacific Northwest offers a multitude of options for thirsty beercationers, from Oregon’s mountain biking brew tours to brewery cruises through Washington’s San Juan Islands.
From the high-capacity BrewHub to the high-tech experimental Labrewatory, brewery incubators across the country are helping new breweries share best practices and take advantage of communal buying power.
In order to get the desired tartness and acidity in The Commons Brewery’s Biere Royale head brewer Sean Burke pitched tubs of Greek yogurt. To paraphrase the Bee Gees, Burke started a joke, which started the whole beer world souring.
This spring Craft Brew Alliance (CBA), a publically traded, Portland, Ore.-based beer company announced a series of expansions. The ninth largest US brewery produces four brands: Redhook Brewery, Widmer Brothers Brewing, Kona Brewing and Omission Beer.
The beers that have shocked and awed fans and made the Cascade Barrel House a destination for locals and tourists are the collaborative offspring of owner Art Larrance and brewmaster Ron Gansberg.
Unselfconsciously warm and kitschy, Saraveza is the embodiment of Sarah Pederson’s distinctive vision. Funky green vintage coolers display sought-after bottles of de Garde Bu Weisse and Southern Tier’s Choklat, but there’s always Hamm’s on draft—served across a bar made from thousands of bottle caps.
As with beer, craft cider is aiming for people with more sophisticated palates. And one of the first things modern cider makers have done is dry the palate out. To lure beer drinkers, cider makers in the Pacific Northwest started adding hops.
A native Portlander, Christian Ettinger experienced how beer creates community at age 19 when he studied abroad in Cologne, Germany, and got a taste for the city’s hybrid lagers.
While connoisseurs have long traveled to countries like Belgium to try monastic brews and farmhouse ales, the phenomenon of beer tourism in the United States is still relatively new.
Bars and pubs across the country, from The Oregon Public House in Portland to Finnegan’s in Minnesota and CAUSE in Washington DC, make their business model about giving back to local charities.
Aside from the gargantuan outdoors space, which is perfect for Portland’s temperate climate and encourages barflies to bring in their own food, APEX has pinball machines, walls lined with beer labels, and relatively inexpensive, interesting drafts on impeccably clean lines.
It’s difficult to quantify the effect breweries have on their neighborhoods. But there’s no doubt that breweries are a part of the positive feedback loop that leads to neighborhood development.
Both bottle carrier designs allow you to walk into your favorite bottle shop, brewery or tap house with a sturdy, reusable holder, so you can bring your beers home or to any event in classic style and without worrying about them dropping out of flimsy cardboard cartons.
Alex Ganum places Upright Brewing Company in the Belgian/French farmhouse vein, in the sense that the brewery is cranking out beers that can stand on their own, without getting hung up on style.
Thanks to a self-proclaimed “computer nerd,” the tap list board has become a lot more high tech—and can not only tell the customer what’s being poured, but can help give the pub owner insight into his or her clients’ beer preferences.
CDA must be something more than a simple IPA that happens to be black, and must be brewed with the Northwest’s distinctively aromatic hops, including Amarillo, Centennial, Chinook and, yes, Cascade.
Since King opened the doors to Amnesia with his wife, Kristina, in 2004, the 1,700-barrel-per-year facility, located in an old ornamental iron shop, has been treating Portland beer lovers to King’s unique vision and approach to beer.
Dave Fleming, head brewer at Portland’s New Old Lompoc Brewery, commands respect in a town full of respected brewers. He does it by combining an openness to new flavors with a simple, straightforward brewing ethos.
Like its West Coast counterpart, Portland, Maine, boasts a world-class brewing tradition that’s rooted as far back as craft brewing’s history can stretch. Plus, this Portland also has lobsters and clams and flannel and some rather wicked accents.
