tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-212716442024-03-06T23:56:43.450-08:00BeervanaA blog about beer. Very good beer. Oregon beer.Jeff Alworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02930119177544342495noreply@blogger.comBlogger3202125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21271644.post-30179940506941099822017-04-03T16:50:00.004-07:002017-04-03T17:19:45.027-07:00The Beervana Blog Has MovedThe Beervana Blog has moved. This site is no longer actively updated, though I'm not doing an automatic redirect for people who are landing in the archives. Please bookmark the new site and visit it for current content.
www.beervanablog.com
Thanks--
Update. Per the comment below, the RSS feed is: https://www.beervanablog.com/beervana/?format=rssJeff Alworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02930119177544342495noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21271644.post-18481786090220937042017-03-30T15:18:00.002-07:002017-03-30T15:19:58.820-07:00An Update on Cider in Oregon
On
Monday, Cider Riot's Abram Goldman-Armstrong put 63 hectoliters--nearly
60 barrels--of cider in cans for the first time. Yesterday he had a
media event at his pub and cidery to introduce Everyday Cider and it
made me realize some things have changed since I last checked in on
cider. Time for an update.
Lest we bury the lead, Abe dropped this
remarkable stat that could be inferred,Jeff Alworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02930119177544342495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21271644.post-3762608173942324602017-03-29T08:34:00.002-07:002017-03-29T09:25:33.850-07:00A Brand New Blog!At long last, and with surprisingly few nostalgic glances over the shoulder, I am leaving Blogspot forever. Yes, I've embraced parallax scrolling, big, grabby titles, and vivid, full-page photos. Please welcome the new and future site of this here rag:
www.beervanablog.com
You'll see there are a few upgrades. Principally:
Better site architecture.
Better, more elegant layout.
A more Jeff Alworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02930119177544342495noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21271644.post-80029917001941592162017-03-28T10:02:00.002-07:002017-03-28T10:02:54.349-07:00More on Mexico; A Lupulin Powder Blind TastingWe have a new podcast for your listening pleasure. The main subject is Mexican craft beer, featuring an interview with Enrique Aceves-Vincent Ramirez of Guadalajara’s Loba Brewing. We talk about the Mexican market, what it's like getting started there, and where things may be headed. A great primer for those of you interested in our southern neighbor.
Also on that podcast, a follow-up on Jeff Alworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02930119177544342495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21271644.post-11520784787036284832017-03-27T09:26:00.000-07:002017-03-27T09:28:48.571-07:00Vignette #14: Carlo Grootaert (De Struise Brouwers)Brewer vignettes feature quotes from brewers I picked up in my travels around the world.
On the origins of Pannepot, the brewery's flagship.
“I heard that in my family, there were homebrewers at the time—100 years ago. The women were the brewers because the men were at sea to catch herrings. The women made beer in the wintertime on the stove.”
Here Grootaert interjected with a story about Jeff Alworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02930119177544342495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21271644.post-82576634956365698752017-03-24T17:06:00.002-07:002017-03-28T16:44:35.120-07:00La Cerveza Artesanal de México, Part 1
My journey into cervezas artesanales--Mexican craft beer--began at Societe Brewing in San Diego. I'd just flown in from Portland, and Hector Ferreira thought it would be a shame to miss one of San Diego's bounty when so many were at hand. This turned out to be a better metaphor than I imagined; it's impossible to imagine the breweries of Baja California emerging in the numbers or form they Jeff Alworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02930119177544342495noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21271644.post-59677540533828067992017-03-22T10:54:00.002-07:002017-03-22T10:54:46.788-07:00The Secrets of Master BrewersA new title has elbowed its way onto the increasingly-crowded beer section at your local bookseller: The Secrets of Master Brewers, my latest book. It is, foremost, a guide to homebrewing. But it's not just a brewing manual. The idea behind the book was to introduce the idea of national tradition, this notion that people who inhabit a region begin to think about beer in a similar way and develop Jeff Alworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02930119177544342495noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21271644.post-90885584061432349892017-03-20T11:08:00.002-07:002017-03-20T11:08:57.133-07:00The Baja "Colectivo"
Yesterday afternoon, those of us who were still around following the Ensenada Beer Fest made a couple stops. Hey, what else would you expect beer people to do? The second—and for me, final—stop was at Baja Brews, a “colectivo” where several breweries are on hand pouring their beers. Imagine a food court, but with breweries. Someone had the brilliant idea of repurposing an old warehouse into Jeff Alworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02930119177544342495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21271644.post-67205216433616566832017-03-16T09:29:00.002-07:002017-03-16T09:29:43.256-07:00En Mexico
I send my dispatch today from under the sunny(ish) skies of Ensenada,
Mexico. There's an annual craft beer festival down here that has grown
to become one of the more important dates on the annual calendar. Over a
hundred breweries will be pouring beer on Saturday and as a lead-up
there is a series of talks and lectures from I think largely academic
types (I met a researcher last night). Jeff Alworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02930119177544342495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21271644.post-89781595663844927812017-03-14T11:35:00.002-07:002017-03-14T11:35:14.880-07:00New Book + Book Launch
In one week's time, my latest book will officially be published: The Secrets of Master Brewers from Storey Publishers. Next Thursday, March 23rd, the book launches at a very cool event in Hood River, where I've sagely arranged to have Josh Pfriem, Matt Swihart (Double Mountain), and Jason Kahler (Solera) join me in a panel discussion.
The Book
The idea was an outgrowth of my research for The Jeff Alworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02930119177544342495noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21271644.post-91248473112951700932017-03-13T11:48:00.001-07:002017-03-13T12:45:45.133-07:00Once Again, Whose Culture?Follow-up posts are like newspaper corrections: only a tiny percent of the people who saw the original error will ever notice the correction. Nevertheless, the conversation following that post along with Stan Hieronymus' comments convince me there's another juicy bite to be had from this apple.
I erred in using Zoiglhaus as the point of reference for a more general point I wanted to make. The Jeff Alworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02930119177544342495noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21271644.post-4900321824648492182017-03-11T10:21:00.001-08:002017-03-12T15:01:00.349-07:00Lessons From Speakeasy's ClosureUpdate: I finally had a chance to correct that egregious typo in the title. So many apologies.
Yesterday afternoon, San Francisco's Speakeasy Brewery shuttered their doors. A tweet came out followed by this announcement:
"Speakeasy
Ales & Lagers has been forced to immediately cease brewing,
packaging, and tap room operations at their San Francisco brewery for an
indefinite Jeff Alworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02930119177544342495noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21271644.post-86032631380756775812017-03-10T17:26:00.001-08:002017-03-11T10:05:58.707-08:00Louis the 14th Tavern, 1985, The Widmer Brothers' First AccountOver the course of the coming year, I hope to post these kinds of things from time to time. Below is a short audio clip of Kurt and Rob describing their first sale. It captures the rawness of experience, both of young brewers and also bars used to dealing with familiar distributors, but also of a different time in Portland. I spent a bit of time trying to find any photo--or even mention--of the Jeff Alworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02930119177544342495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21271644.post-29807701392518161412017-03-09T18:08:00.002-08:002017-03-10T09:25:24.576-08:00Whose Culture?For the most part, modern beer is a European expression. The styles available in nearly every commercial setting issue from a handful of countries in a plot of land that would fit inside California. So any time an American or New Zealand or Japanese company makes a beer, they are (pick one) borrowing from, referring to, or ripping off the culture of Britain, Belgium, Germany, or the Czech Jeff Alworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02930119177544342495noreply@blogger.com34tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21271644.post-75100135014845471012017-03-08T09:09:00.000-08:002017-03-08T09:09:10.550-08:00Vignette #13: Ken GrossmanBrewer vignettes feature quotes from brewers I picked up in my travels around the world.
“I was an avid homebrewer, starting back in 1969, and brewed through the seventies and ran a homebrewing supply store that I founded in 1976. I had brewed a range of pale ales and when we were thinking about starting the brewery I wanted to do something that was not British, that was American, and wanted to Jeff Alworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02930119177544342495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21271644.post-55761267836825091972017-03-06T09:12:00.001-08:002017-03-06T09:12:36.836-08:00Why We Will Never Abandon Our IPAs
Yesterday afternoon, I
tansferred two half-batches of beer to into kegs. They contained a pale
ale--and an experiment. One had been infused with two ounces of Simcoe hops
(pellets), one two ounces of Yakima Chief's soon-to-be-released hop
product called lupulin powder from Simcoe hops (backgrounder here). The
notion is simple (though it took Stan Hieronymus to suggest it): how do
they Jeff Alworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02930119177544342495noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21271644.post-54558822396434493472017-03-03T10:37:00.001-08:002017-03-06T09:00:35.545-08:00The Riddle of Bitterness
Scientists long ago figured out the mechanism through which hops turn beer bitter: the alpha acids in the lupulin glands become isomerized over the boil--a process that allows the bittering compounds to become soluble. There's a mathematical curve that demonstrates the process, and the amount of bitterness is a direct function of alpha acids plus boiling time. This all beer geeks know.
But Jeff Alworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02930119177544342495noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21271644.post-11751876980728646182017-03-01T10:02:00.002-08:002017-03-01T10:32:54.954-08:00Oregon Beer Awards
The Oregon Beer Awards were handed out last night, and there were a few
surprises. The first came when Wolf Tree (Seal Rock) won the first gold medal.
Wait, who? That happened several times throughout the night, as obscure breweries took home medals: Freebridge (the Dalles), Back Pedal (Portland), Salem Ale Works, and Wild Ride (Redmond). Wolf Tree, incidentally, "is one of very few Jeff Alworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02930119177544342495noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21271644.post-65008399618065676962017-02-28T11:31:00.000-08:002017-02-28T13:25:37.426-08:00Big Beer Makes a Big MoveEach year, General Distribution's Jim Fick closely tracks the sales of
Oregon beer in Oregon, and he very graciously forwards me the
spreadsheet with the numbers. Frustratingly, the OLCC, which tracks these numbers, has gotten fairly lax and the figures aren't terribly reliable. One obvious example is that they somehow don't capture CBA's sales (Widmer/Redhook/Kona)--one of the two largest Jeff Alworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02930119177544342495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21271644.post-30655892749699224492017-02-27T11:08:00.001-08:002017-02-27T11:08:12.874-08:00Troubles With Travel
If you were to name the four or five hottest breweries right now, measured in beer geek coolness points, Boston's Trillium Brewing would have to be on that list. They are makers of many different types of beer, but are famous for being one of the charter members of the New England IPA movement, with all the requisite rarity and excitement. Well, despite having failed to find any of their rare Jeff Alworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02930119177544342495noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21271644.post-28514873254925979302017-02-24T10:56:00.001-08:002017-02-24T10:56:51.469-08:00The Beer There: Olde Mecklenburg (Charlotte, NC)Periodically--too infrequently, if you want my opinion--a friend of the blog will feel inspired to send me beer from their distant location. When breweries send me beer, I make no promises to review or ever even comment on them (though I will drink them; I'm not a halfwit), but when a person spends hard-earned cash to purchase and send beer from a brewery, my hard and fast rule is: always review Jeff Alworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02930119177544342495noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21271644.post-7214579068625009022017-02-22T08:58:00.001-08:002017-02-22T08:58:27.487-08:00Understanding Hop Aromas and Flavors
We have a very special episode of the Beervana Podcast for you this week, and I want to tease it by quoting from a section of the interview. Patrick and I visited the labs and brewery of Tom Shellhammer, who is a professor of fermentation science at Oregon State University and one of the world's leading hops researchers. Before we did the interview, he took us around his labs, stopping at one Jeff Alworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02930119177544342495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21271644.post-73761756146713129812017-02-20T18:15:00.001-08:002017-02-21T08:28:16.893-08:00How Doomed Are We?
Raptor of death.
Pete Dunlop has an excellent but alarming post in which he warns:
AB is
quietly implementing a plan designed to bury independent craft brewers.
And they might just pull it off...
You might not know it, but the High End kicked ass in 2016, a pretty
lousy year for craft beer. The High End's growth rate hit 32 percent,
easily trumping the craft segment's single digit Jeff Alworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02930119177544342495noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21271644.post-13942142450369636672017-02-17T10:20:00.002-08:002017-02-17T11:26:31.889-08:00Oregon Breweries Get Political
Yesterday, the President of the United States stood before the press and told them: "We got 306 because people came out and voted like they've never seen
before so that's the way it goes. I guess it was the biggest electoral
college win since Ronald Reagan." This was for an election in which he received fewer votes than his opponent that happened three months ago. This kind of disconnect withJeff Alworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02930119177544342495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21271644.post-41196203331730906502017-02-15T10:00:00.000-08:002017-02-16T12:08:00.474-08:00How to Tank Spectacularly in the New MarketUpdate. By some cosmic serendipity, Patrick and I went to Corvallis yesterday to record an interview with Tom Shellhammer--a hops researcher and professor in the Fermentation Sciences program at OSU. As we were touring their test brewery, he mentioned how supportive BridgePort has been, and that Carlos Alvarez had cut them a check for $100,000 to support their projects. This doesn't change any ofJeff Alworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02930119177544342495noreply@blogger.com7