corvallis and albany, oregon – part 1

You hear a lot about the breweries in Portland, but there are many other Oregon towns that offer an impressive number of breweries per capita. I had the opportunity to spend a weekend in Corvallis, about an hour and a half South of Portland. I thought there would be one or two good places for beer in a town of 50,000. Was I ever surprised when I started my research and came out with a long list of breweries and bottle shops. Not so surprising, I guess, when you take into account that Corvallis is home to Oregon State University, an international leader in the breeding and researching of hops. I couldn’t make it to all the good beer on offer, but I gave it my best shot to hit as many as I could in a day and a night.

 

Any time I am travelling, I do beer research first, and usually take along a beer book or two (as well as my beer notebook).  For this trip I took Lisa Morrison’s “Craft Beers of the Pacific Northwest” as she had several entries for Albany and Corvallis.  I also consulted The Pocket Beer Guide by Stephen Beaumont and Tim Webb before I left, which mentions Block 15 in Corvallis as an “Innovative brewery with strong barrel-ageing programme”.

 

First stop, Calapooia Brewing Co., Albany, OR

Calapooia was the furthest stop from my weekend home, so we started there.  I tried a sample paddle of 8 tasters: River Dog ESB, Santiamber amber ale, Riparian IPA, Devil’s Hole Stout, Summit IPA (a seasonal), Paddle Me IPA, Hub City common ale and their Chili Ale. In her book Lisa Morrison suggests you try the Riparian IPA and the Chili ale. I found both to be solid beers, but the Santiamber and the Stout stood out for me. My drinking companion really enjoyed the Hub City, a nice session ale.

Calapooia boasts a nice-looking patio (it was raining on and off when we were there so we didn’t sit out there) and darts. The English pub style menu looked good, but we didn’t eat here – it was too soon after breakfast… The tables and chairs were not the most comfortable – kind of a country kitchen style. I can’t imagine spending a whole night drinking in them.  Then again, maybe they get more comfortable the more you drink!  Regardless, it was a solid beginning to our crawl.

 

Second stop, 2 Towns Ciderhouse, Corvallis, OR

In a more industrial area of town, the cidery is located in a strip mall which also includes Mazama Brewing.

I tried a sample paddle of 4 tasters, the scrump, the bright cider, the recently tapped seasonal cherried away and hop & stalk, a hoppy cider made with rhubarb stalks.  I enjoyed all four of my choices (especially the hop & stalk) and can see why this cidery is so popular with the locals. They say that the taxes are too high for them to consider entering the Canadian market at this time, sadly.

My drinking companion shared her peach, bad apple and hop mead with me. The mead was too sweet for me, as I usually find meads to be. The peach didn’t taste much of peach. The bad apple was very satisfying though.  Better watch that imperial cider though – it does not taste like 10%!

The tasting room is on the small side, but warm and friendly and I could imagine myself whiling away a whole lot of time there if I lived in Corvallis – even though the picnic tables creaked and groaned in a frightening way when I sat down.

We also made friends at the communal picnic table and they offered me sips of their Pommeau 2012, a port-style cider that smells incredibly boozey, but tastes all apple juice, and Riverwood Orchard 2011 brut cider. I liked the brut so much I bought a bottle to bring home with me. I am also in love with the hop & stalk – so much so that we took a growler to go and I bought a couple of bottles to bring home with me.

 

Third stop, Mazama Brewing, Corvallis, OR

Mazama is all about the Belgians. I had a taster paddle of 4 samples, Saison d’Etre which was 6.3 % of dry, peppery saisony goodness. It had a lot of fruit on the nose, but not as much in the taste; the Grand Cru which was a very fruity beer, that I wasn’t wild about; the White Wedding, a blend of ½ wit and ½ ipa, which was very dry and bitter but not in the usual ipa-bitter way, more in a sour-wheaty way; and the Sour Sunrise, a peachy lactic subtly sour beer.  Keeping in mind that I am very slowly starting to appreciate the Belgian style beers, I thought these were solid brews.

Located right next to 2 Towns Cidery, which was totally hopping on a Saturday afternoon, I was a little bit surprised to be the only people in Mazama. Super friendly service though, so I’m not sure why it wasn’t busier. Maybe Corvallis hasn’t embraced the Belgians yet?  They should, this place is great!

Okay, enough for now!
Tomorrow I will post the other four stops of the pub crawl, but with fewer photos as I sorta forgot to take them as the day/night wore on, and I may or may not have gotten tipsy.

gifted

my non-exhaustive gift buying guide for the beer geek in all of us:

if your beer lover has a favourite beer:

-check out the private liquor stores for branded glassware gift packs

legacy liquor store in Olympic Village suggests:  Sam Smith’s 3 bottles plus a glass for $20, $88.50 for 6 bottles of Westvleteren plus 2 glasses, $11.95 for 2 tall cans of Tiger and a glass,  Chimay – red, white, and blue caps with a glass $18.85, St. Ambroise Discovery pack – $14.95 2 beers and a glass, Lindemann’s –  $15.95 two beers and a glass

-go online and see if the brewery has swag for sale – tshirts, bottle openers, beer cozies, etc.
Dead Frog has tees, hoodies, hats, cozies, underwear and bottle openers for sale in their on-line shop and at the brewery in Aldergrove.  If  you order online in the next couple of days, there is still time to receive your order before Santa arrives.
Stone Brewing in California will ship you a pub light for $50, plus shipping and handling, but how can you put a price on having branded lights for your home bar?  They also have wallets, dog accessories, soap, candles, towels, you name it, they’ve branded it!

-get them a membership to a beer of the month club – join online and they send you a beer every month via mail
or a membership to a beer tshirt of the monthclub – join online and they send you a beer tshirt every month and best of all if you join right now, 3 months, 6 months or 12 months, the shipping is free!

if you want to shop local this season:

– check out craft sales for handmade beer cozies

– go to the brewery to purchase swag or a growler

wanna get something crazy or interesting, and have a few extra minutes on your hands?

-do what the beer wench suggests and google “beer” or “beer gifts” to see all the wonderful, and sometimes wacky, search results like:

beer and food pairings calendar on etsy for $24
also on etsy, beer soap and bottle openers
(or just visit beergifts.com)

-search the interwebs for wall mounted bottle openers – make sure you never misplace the opener again!
go for branded ones or fancy ones

– go to a craft store and get them scrapbook for their label collection or a decorative box for their coaster collection

is your beer geek a new beer geek? 

–you can’t go wrong with a taster pack from the liquor store
Granville Island, Parallel 49, Okanagan Springs all have taster packs out right now that include a seasonal beer plus their regular offerings
or walk on the wild side with an Innis & Gunn pack of 4 beers including rum cask, pale ale, original whiskey beers for $18

-visit your local u-brew shop and design your own beer by adding hops to a beer kit

or go whole hog and get someone all the basic gear for homebrewing for about $75

 

need a hostess gift?

-take a bottle of fancy schmancy beer!  maybe something to cellar like a barley wine or a sour, or something seasonal to open right away. 
take them a brooklyn brewing local 1, its a belgian style strong pale ale and comes with a cork. now that’s fancy

-get a growler and fill it on your way to the party, fresh beer to drink that night and a lovely growler for them to keep and fill forever more

 

-books!  give the gift of literacy!
So much choice – from the text-book “Tasting Beer” by randy mosher to guides of pacific northwest pub crawls to anecdotal histories of beer to picture books of beer labels, there’s a beer book for everyone!

stocking stuffers:

-you could put a beer in there…

-gift certificates to pubs like biercraft – who will give you a gift card for everyone you buy for someone else ($10 for $50 or $20 for $100)

-key-chain bottle openers

-playing cards

-beer bottle cap tree ornaments

 

 

and the list could go on forever, but i have to go and drink some beer now!

diy drink cooler

replace one plank from your picnic table with a gutter
and voila!  a cooler for your bevvies!

thanks amanda and lisa morrison for pinning this on pinterest!

portland

my friend is on her way to portland
i am jealous
i have a trip in the works, but not for at least another month dammit!

anyway
in advising her of where she HAS to go i came across this site that provides pub crawl suggestions
so if you haven’t yet purchased the beer goddess’ guide, which of course you need to go do now, this site can tide you over

women in beer

and another installment in the “it happened a while ago” vcbw posts…

women in beer
the thursday of vancouver craft beer week
held at republic

first of all, they asked me to speak
right there you know i’m gonna gush just a little bit about this event
secondly, there were so many amazing women there
you know i’m gonna gush just a little bit more!

rebecca of crannog hammers the hand truck porter cask

because i was speaking, i got to go in early

you know, to help stuff the swag bags

aaaaand schmooze with the brewers and lisa morrison!

it was great being in there early

i got to see all the casks get sprung

and talk to everyone before they got swamped by the loving hoardes

claire of big river brewing helps with the howe sound cask

the beer goddess also helped out with the howe sound cask

at 6:00 the doors opened and the lovely supporters of women in beer arrived

we had all expected that it would be set up differently

more places to sit, a proper place to speak from, actual food

but alas, republic had a different view of the set up

what we got was a great mingling space

with a few roving servers with tiny tapas

and a lower platform to speak from

so we improvised

speeches got cut from five minutes each to 30 seconds

people went out for food after the event

and more schmoozing happened

lisa morrison double-fists it at big river’s station

i began my drinking at claire connolly’s station

she’s the brewmaster at big river brewpub in richmond

she had the women’s collaboration beer on tap

along with her esb

i loved them both!

the women’s collaboration beer was a smoked saison

look at me, i liked a saison!

i wish this beer had been available at more events – it was a gooder

at the beginning of the night it was a bit too cold

but i had it again at the end of the night after it had warmed up a touch and it was a thing of beauty

i next wandered over and met kala hadfield of spinnakers brew pub in victoria

(if you’ve read any of my other vcbw posts, you’ll notice that i ran into kala several times over the course of the week, and she was enjoying herself each and every time!)

she brought an ipa

she figured it might not go over with all the women new to beer

but hoped it might convert some, and would please the hop headed women

and boy, was it ever a hop bomb!

i loved it!

next up for me was the howe sound menage a trois – mango, passionfruit and raspberry wheat ale with coriander

there was a whole lot going on in that beer!

but it worked

the coriander kept it from being too fruity

i said “it tastes like a patio”

and not five seconds later someone else came over to try it and quipped that they felt like they were on a patio drinking it!

rebecca kneen of crannog brought two casks with her

the handtruck porter, which has molasses in it to make it a little bit smokey

and the backhand of god stout

all hail the mighty organic beers!

we were supposed to pair the porter with the chocolate course

but since that came right at the end of the night i had my hand truck porter all by itself

and it was amazing

at the end of the night, when the chocolate finally came out, i had it with the backhand of god

and found that to be quite a divine pairing

more on the chocolate later…

saltspring island ales was represented by two of their womenfolk

heather kilbourne, a brewer, and becky julseth one of the co-owners

they brought heather’s heather bottles and a cask of the big maple

i really enjoyed the heather ale – finished with heather instead of finishing hops

the heather made it sweet rather than bitter at the finish

but not sweet in a sugary sense

delicious!

the maple was quite nice too

(i’m not such a big maple fan…)

r & b brought a cask of ipa that lundy dale of camra bc and firefly collaborated on

lundy juiced ruby red grapefruit, mandarins, clementines and naval oranges to add to the brew

it was delicious!

not too tart, not too bitter

just like a grapefruit ipa should be!

next i met tracey larson, a brewer at mt. begbie brewing

tracey’s favourite is their cream ale, so no worries that that will ever go off the market!

i am a big fan of their nasty habit – such hoppy goodness

she brought bottles of the atilla the honey with her

i’m not a big honey beer fan, but it is a lovely brew!

i tried the r&b alt next

found it wasn’t at all carbonated and that just ruined it for me

and now, i must admit i am pre-blogging this so as not to be dead air over the long weekend while i camp

and its late at night and i haven’t packed yet…

so i must leave you now and finish my long-winded review another time!

bellingham and saraveza

from b.c. beer blogger, a guest post about the bellingham beer scene and the lack of b.c. presence down there
at least they get the howe sound!

and saraveza offers a beery mother’s day with lisa morrison:
Join Lisa Morrison, the Beer Goddess , and Sarah Pederson of Saraveza for a unique Mother’s Day event. Help your mom discover her perfect craft beer and cheesecake pair (or just come and tell your mom about it later)! Enjoy samples of 6 savory and sweet cheesecakes made by local bakers & brewers (including Hair of the Dog, Block 15 & Alaskan) as well as 8+ craft beers. Lisa will also be signing copies of her newly published book, “Craft Beers of the Pacific Northwest: A Beer Lover’s Guide to Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia”.

$30 per person. Space is limited, purchase your spots now at Saraveza! The event takes place in Saraveza’s back room @ 5433 N Michigan Ave.

The event proceeds go to Pink Boots Society, a non-profit Portland-based organization that supports and promotes careers in beer for women.

women in beer

guess who just got guest-listed for a fabulous vcbw event???
for the very slow, but lovely all the same, it’s me!
finally being a blogger comes in handy!
oh, and that whole being a girl thing too…

this is where i’ll be
and i couldn’t be more pleased!
i either already know and love, or can’t wait to meet and totally admire, everyone on the panel
and i’ll be eating chocolate again by then – yay, yay and oh, um, yay!

Signature Event Republic 958 Granville St, Vancouver (map) 6:00pm – Late $55 all inclusive

The Donnelly Group Presents Women and Beer II Still think the craft brewing industry is a boys club? Allow us to prove you wrong by showing you what the industry’s finest females have on offer. Join us at Republic for five small-plate courses paired with beers from R&B, Howe Sound, Mt Begbie, Crannog, Saltspring Island Ales, Spinnakers as well as a special ladies only collaboration beer brewed just for this event. Sounds great? Well that’s not all. Attendees will sample chocolates by CocoaNymph, take home a bag filled with swag, such as items from Lush, Skoah and Electra Laser. In addition to all this there will be door prizes including a gift basket from Mine Salon (valued at over $150) and a signed copy of Lisa Morrison’s “Craft Beers of the Pacific Northwest”. Joining us for the evening: Claire Connolly, Brewer, Big River Brewery Lundy Dale, CAMRA BC Leslie Fenn, Owner and Director, Howe Sound Brewing Monica Frost and Amanda Barry, CAMRA Vancouver Kala Hadfield, Spinnakers Brewpub Becky Julseth, Co-owner, Saltspring Island Ales Heather Kilbourne, Asst. Brewer, Saltspring Island Ales Rebecca Kneen, Co-owner and Asst. Brewer, Crannog Ales Lisa Morrison, writer, blogger & host of Beer O’Clock: the show for people who love great beer Karen Shadsheim, Owner, Townsite Brewing Katy Wright, Co-Founder, Vanbrewers Homebrew Club 150 Tickets Available