The Drunk Yinzer

Beer is an Escape for All of Us

Mark Wanczak — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:43:26 +0000

Let’s say you’re at a family function and you’re incredibly bored. A neice’s 4rd birthday party. A third-cousin’s graduation party. Grandma’s funeral. And you wish you had a beer to get you through the same stories you’ve been hearing since you could hear. The Argentinian beer brand Andes knows the feeling. And not only do they get you that beer, they do one better. Take note, AB & Miller-Coors, this is what big-brand beer advertising can look like. It doesn’t have to be all boobs and “duuuuuuuuuude!”

Breckenridge Brewery has the Least Interesting Man in the World

Mark Wanczak — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:59:50 +0000

Great spin on the Dos Equis ads from Breckenridge Brewery. There’s also a Corona version.

Fort George Brewery

Jake — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 01:28:43 +0000

Fort George Brewery is a great place to visit if you find yourself in Astoria, OR, home of the Goonies. Astoria is a small town that is situated near the mouth of the Columbia River as it dumps into the Pacific Ocean. There is plenty to do in and around Astoria.

Drive along Highway 101 aka Highway 1 when you are in Cali. Beautiful, fun stretch of road.
Fort Stevens Park – Did you know that we had an active fort on the west coast during WWII? Did you know that the Japanese used to send air balloons across the ocean with bombs attached to them, so that when they landed they would explode. Cool historic site.
Lots of great fishing and tons of charters to head out to sea for salmon, tuna, etc.
Tons of hiking, both in Oregon and Washington.
Tour filming locations of the Goonies. Sloth loves Chunk.

While you are exploring you must stop at Fort George Brewery. It’s a cool building and has lots of history, plus the beer and food is awesome. The current brewery and public house was built in 1924 as a Ford service station. The renovated brewery is awesome. I was there a few year back and had a great time. The atmosphere is very relaxed and fun. There is some local art work on the walls and some cool wood pieces. Beer is served in mason jars and if you are lucky you can show up during one of their BBQ cook outs. I was fortunate or lucky enough to be there during one of these. They do it up right, big smoker, fire pit, great beer and live music!

BEER! They have a great spread, brewing up all the classic styles; 1811 Lager, Quick Wit, Divinity, Sunrise Oatmeal Pale Ale, Nut Red Ale, Vortex IPA, Working Girl Porter and Cavatica Stout. From what I remember having they were all solid and below are some highlights.

Quick Wit – Was very refreshing after a long warm day of hiking. Nice malty balance with spices. There is a great flavor of coriander and citrus (orange).
Vortex IPA – Classic IPA, not an overwhelming hop head brew. As Fort George puts it; this brew was designed to not rip the taste buds off your tongue, but rather vigorously stimulate them and your palate into a lupulin-ecstacy of pleasure. The hop bill includes Amarillo, Simcoe and Centennial.
Working Girl Porter – This is a new spin on the porter I tried on my visit. This new brew uses over 5 lbs of Working Girl coffee beans. The beans were put into both the mash tun and the kettle to create a light coffee aroma and coffee aftertaste in this distinctive porter. With additional hints of chocolate and rye malt, this porter is well-balanced and fantastic at any point in the day. Wish I could go back and give it a try.

Fort George recently started to can. If anyone finds a can locally let us know. Or if anyone heads out west and wants to bring back some cans that would be greatly appreciated. If you do make the trip let us know what you think and if anything changed.

Rogue Nation Department of Agriculture Part I

Jake — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:48:05 +0000

After cruising through some old emails I came across a memo from the Rogue Nation. This report came out in late summer early fall. How could you not want to own a farm with the view above. Part I reviews the barley raw material. The barley survived wild fires, some of the largest wild fires Oregon has seen.

Dare™ & Risk™ Malting Barley: Four weeks ago we harvested our Dare™ spring malting barley as Oregon’s largest wildfire loomed over the horizon. Stan, Deanna and Andrea Ashbrook of Dufur, Oregon returned to the Micro Barley Farm to drive the combines just as they did for the Risk™ malting barley harvest in early August. In just a few days they brought in the Dare™ crop during some of the hottest weather we had all year. Initial tests show good plump levels and intact kernels, great news for when we malt it.We harvested 897,345 pounds of Risk™ and Dare™ malting barley this year. And while that may sound like a lot, it’s not enough to fill more than a couple of production lines at a commercial malting plant.

Just south of here near Madras, Oregon’s largest wildfire made headlines across the state. The High Cascades fire burned more than 108,000 acres of brush, scrub and grass before being completely contained in mid-September. Other nearby fires included the Webster and Dollar Lake wildfires. Thankfully, none of them impacted operations at the Micro Barley Farm, except for at night when the flames filled the sky with a wondrous glow.

As the harvest wrapped up, Doc McAllister went in search of a field for next year’s Risk™ winter barley. The area he chose is currently used for hay and grass and hasn’t been planted in grain for more than a decade. It’s what Doc likes to call, virgin territory or new ground.

Moving crops from field to field, called crop rotation, is done to preserve nutrients in the soil and to prevent disease. If we were to plant malting barley in the same place year after year, all the nutrients it needs would be depleted from the dirt. Crop rotation also reduces the use of fertilizers.

Preparing new ground is time consuming and takes about six weeks. The steps include irrigation, plowing, discing and harrowing.

Irrigation: This causes leftover grass, hay and weed seeds to germinate. By forcing them to germinate this fall, they won’t interfere when the barley grows in the spring. It also loosens the soil and makes it easier to work.

Plowing: Grass and hay have deep roots and a wide base. Plowing overturns the soil about a foot deep, breaking up the plant material and returning it to the soil as organic humus.

Discing: Breaks up the larger soil clumps.

Harrowing:Continues breaking up the soil and creates a smooth texture.

Any of these steps may need to be repeated to get things just right. The planting of the Risk™

malting barley expected to take place early October.

TDY Visits Lake Placid Part 2

Jake — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 15:22:16 +0000

After a long day of bobsledding we stopped by the Adirondack Brewing Co. The restaurant associated with the brewery is a little more high end than your typical brew pub. The food is great here. The Clam Chowder really hit the spot. The menu is full of surf and turf options, all of which looked awesome.

The beer list included: Haystack Blonde Ale, Ausable Wulff Red Ale, Cloud Splitter BelgianThe Red Ale is a good solid brew. It was amber in color with a rich malty taste. The Hefeweizen is a traditional German Hefe, you know what that tastes like. The Belgian Strong Ale is a high alcohol example of a Belgian. They use Belgian candi sugar so the taste is sweet with a dry finish and a hint of alcohol. Strong Ale, Hefeweizen, Whiteface Stout, and John Brown Pale Ale. After we sampled all the brews, Whiteface Stout and the Pale Ale stood out.

Whiteface Stout has won multiple GABF awards for foreign-style stout. Huge amounts of roast and chocolate malts give this brew a very robust opaque color. The malt bill also contributes flavors of chocolate, roast, coffee, and Espresso. This is a medium to full bodied brew that has 7.6% alcohol to balance out the roast flavors. We drank a lot of these.

John Brown Pale Ale is a classic west coast pale ale hopped with a ton of Cascade hops. The beer is then dry hopped with cascade whole hops in the fermenter at over a pound per barrel. The dry hopping produces a sharp, crisp citrus aroma for this hop lovers beer. This brew had a much bigger hop taste than the traditional pale ale, which was a pleasant surprise.

If you are ever up in the area stop by for a brew. They also have a few seasonal selections throughout the year.

The Love of Beer

Jake — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 11:30:20 +0000

The Love of Beer is an intimate portrayal of craft beer’s female forerunners. Staying true to cinema vierte, these women tell their stories in their own words and through their own actions.

The Love of Beer from Lingering Illocutions on Vimeo.

TDY Visits Lake Placid Part 1

Jake — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 01:27:54 +0000

Lake Placid, NY has hosted the winter Olympics twice, 1932 and 1980. One of the more memorable, if not the most memorable, event in US Olympic history took place here in 1980. Of course I’m talking about the US Men’s Hockey team beating USSR. This game gave us a great speech from Coach Herb Brooks (kid version here):

Great moments are born from great opportunity. And that’s what you have here tonight, boys. That’s what you’ve earned here, tonight. One game. If we played ‘em ten times, they might win nine. But not this game. Not tonight. Tonight, we skate with ‘em. Tonight, we stay with ‘em, and we shut them down because we can! Tonight, we are the greatest hockey team in the world. You were born to be hockey players — every one of ya. And you were meant to be here tonight. This is your time. Their time — is done. It’s over. I’m sick and tired of hearin’ about what a great hockey team the Soviets have. Screw ‘em! This is your time!

So what does this have to do with beer? Absolutely nothing. Currently Lake Placid is part of La Nina, hence no snow, but the beer is still flowing. We frequented may local watering holes and sampled our fair share of local brews. Two breweries sit in town; Lake Placid Brewing Company and Adirondack Brewing. We will focus on Lake Placid Brewing first.

The Lake Placid Brewery brew pub is along side the shores of Mirror Lake in the town of Lake Placid. It’s a cool two story building with lots of hearty wood and beer paraphernalia on the walls. The first floor had a cool, dark wood bar that was hosting a santa party when we were there. The second floor had more tables and a fireplace. Very relaxing place to grab a brew and food.

On tap they had the everyday selections of: Ubu Ale, 46er Pale Ale, Lake Placid IPA and Moose Island Ale. The seasonal selections this time of year were: High Peaks Hefeweizen and Lake Placid Winter Lager.

Ubu Ale – The is the flag ship beer for the brewery. Named after a dog who had a great nose for beer and was a staple at the brewery. This beer is smooth and very malty with a slight hint of hops, but mainly malty. The website says English hops are used.

46er Pale Ale and Lake Placid IPA – Both beers are very similar. I believe the only difference between the two brews is the amount and type of hops used. Both appear to have the same malt flavor and finish. The Pale ale used fuggle hops while the IPA was more citrusy.

Lake Placid Winter Lager – A very dark copper pour with a great head. A nicely spiced brew, typical winter beer spices, ginger and a malty nutty taste. Light body with a nice warming effect, good for cold winter nights after skiing all day.

Keep your eyes open for some Lake Placid bottles around town. I have seen Ubu and the IPA on the shelves of some bottle shops.

Check back for Part 2 of TDY Visits Lake Placid. Part 2 will include Adirondack Brewing and other local brews we found on tap around town.

TMBT : Southern Tier Creme Brulee Stout

Jake — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 17:00:54 +0000

Since moving into a new house, I now have ample space to collect all sorts of bizarre/seasonal offerings. What does this really mean? Probably more Too Many Bottle Tuesdays as I dig around just to see what I can find out in the beer ether. This week’s installment comes to us courtesy of Southern Tier with their ambitious new stout that seeks to bring some of the decadent flavor of Creme Brulee to your drinking experience.

Souther Tier Creme Brulee Stout

Appearance : Jet black in color with a small caramel colored head. The head has a nice dark brown tint belying the ricness of flavor that one would expect.

Aroma : Monster smells of caramel and vanilla. The aroma is intense. At this point without having tasted the beer, the drinker is promised rich tapestry of flavors just from the impressive aroma and appearance.

Taste : And….The Creme Brulee Stout cashes this hefty check. This beer is extremely rich, just like the dessert. Vanilla and caramel flavors abound through out the stout. The sweet flavors mixed with traditional dark malts leave a feeling of sweet syrupyness. The vanilla flavor feels almost like a punch in the face.

Mouthfeel : Thick and syrupy. This feels like a meal in a glass. The heaviness puts a limit on the amount that you might want to drink in one sitting.

Overall : Certainly an interesting beer that has it’s place in the “I can’t believe they brewed that category.” This is wonderful to share and keep for a special occasion. Impress your friends that fancy themselves wine experts with this complex concoction that challenges the perception of what a beer can be. Serve with Creme Brulee or a decadent cake/torte for a real treat!

Denver’s Beer Culture Gets a Well-Produced Video

Mark Wanczak — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 14:43:11 +0000

Favorite quote from this: “We have 40 beers on tap, 35 are local brews.”

Ball’s in your court, Visit Pittsburgh.

What We’re Reading: December 28, 2011

Mark Wanczak — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 13:01:33 +0000

Here’s the headlines that caught our eye this week:
Business Insider highlights 11 Craft Beer Companies That Went From Little to Big Time

Cincinnati Craft Brewers Meet To Brew Special Beer for City’s Beer Week

North Carolina Beer Law Enters The 21st Century, Allows Brewery Tastings & Sales

State Finally Admits That Microbrew Fans Are Just as Good as Wine Snobs (great headline)

Go White-water Rafting with Brewmaseters from Sierra Nevada, Deschutes and Double Mountain Why didn’t we get this for Christmast?