Brewery Distributions, Fine-Grained Edition

In the post below, where I reprinted the data from the Brewers Association about breweries per capita, I promised to show you some more interesting regional data. Here we go.

Breweries by Region
While it's interesting to see state-level data, I find regional data more compelling. The culture that feeds a healthy beer industry doesn't confine itself to state boundaries. The Northwest, and to a slightly lesser extent the West Coast, forms a continuum of beer culture that's reflected in all the breweries dotting cities from San Diego to Seattle. But the vast stretches of the heavily-populated South--bupkis in terms of breweries. Have a look:


For the purposes of this breakdown, "other" refers to states on borders between regions--Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, the Dakotas, as well as Hawaii and DC. You could through Hawaii (9 breweries) in with the West Coast and it barely changes things. But we shouldn't be forced to break the country down into regions so slavishly. If you go through and select out the states within regions that are especially dense, you can pinpoint heavily-breweried regions even more precisely (see lists in footnotes below and blame Lew Bryson if you don't like the looks of Central Atlantic).


Breweries by Region, Per Capita
Now here's where things get pretty interesting. By parsing the regions, you can really get a sense of how there are beer regions and non-beer regions in the country. First, the whole country:


Now the rejiggered regions. Look particularly at the regions in comparison to the national average.


What illustrates to me is that there are four regions well below the national average. Except in the case of New England, which remains intact, all the sub-regions demonstrate far greater concentrations of breweries. (If you went for a sub-group of New England that included only Vermont, Maine, and NH, you could lower the figure to 1 in 50k. This is a specious calculation, however, for the culture of New England--as defined by the Red Sox catchment area--is one of the most coherent in the country. I'd allow for lopping off the Southern, Yankees catchment area, of Connecticut, but that would improve matters only marginally. Angelo, if you're reading this, back me up.)


Why Regions Matter
I didn't do these calculations only because doing calculations like this please me immensely--that was just a fringe benefit. The whole point of this is to see if my pet theory about the US having discrete brewing regions holds water. My theory holds that within these five sub-regions people drink local beer, but different types of local beers and in different ways. The markers of these regions is not the breweries per capita (see Minnesota in notes below); rather, the breweries per capita is just one rough guide to where the regions are.

Anyway, I thought you might appreciate some data showing a more fine-grained look at the per-capita numbers than the Brewers Association provide.

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Notes
The beer regions look like this. Northwest: Alaska, Oregon, Washington. Mountain: Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, New Mexico. New England: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont. Beer Midwest: Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa. Central Atlantic: DC, Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania.

The whole-country samples follow established regional definitions, except for "other," which is comprised of Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, the Dakotas, Hawaii, and DC. Including Hawaii in the Northwest section barely changes the figures.

What about Minnesota? This was a head-scratcher. For some reason, Minnesota doesn't have the brewing density of Upper Midwestern kin Wisconsin and Michigan. Their ratio of 1 in 236k is slightly lower than Missouri, and way below others in the "Beer Midwest" region. Truth is, I think Minnesota is culturally part of that continuum, but I'd like to visit and confirm this suspicion. It is one of the biggest riddles of the data.

Breweries Per Capita

The Brewers Association has released another document on breweries per capita, which I will include below. I've posted similar stats before. As you glance through the list, look at the per capita numbers, which start to hockey-stick at number 40. Breweries are nearly twenty times as dense in Vermont (1) as Kentucky (45). They're nine times more dense in Oregon (3) than New York (39).

Publish at Scribd

As you can see, states with small populations over-perform. California, with the most breweries of any state (by far), is a middling 21. Oregon does admirably, placing third behind Vermont and Montana. Washington is 8th and Idaho is 12th.

I was recently looking into per-capita numbers by region, and this is actually pretty interesting stuff. If you look at the bottom dozen or so, you see all of Dixie. Breaking down the per-capita breweries by state is sort of interesting, but understanding it by region is far more interesting. I'll post that later today.

Cool Event

This just came across the transom. Looks cool and it's for a good cause. Happy tax day!

We just wanted to remind everyone to join us for our Tax Day Beer Gardening Project and the Laurelwood double IPA "Green Mammoth" release party - hosted by the American Center for Sustainability. 100% of all Laurelwood pint purchases will be dontated to the the ACS.

When: Tomorrow, April 15th 4pm-close

Where: The EastBurn, 1800 E. Burnside

Drink Me Mag

I got an email about a strange new mag called Drink Me. Normally I round file these--especially products like this only tangentially about beer--but when I flipped through the online copy, I was amused to see the one beer article was about Pabst. Of course, I thought instantly of the snit this would provoke in Doc Wort, so I had to mention it.

The mag apparently has an online component, and an early blog post demonstrates that Drink Me has some sense of good beer, PBR articles notwithstanding:

Brewery owners are now charged with the task of all competing for your one mouth, whether you drink a single bottle of beer with dinner, three cups at a ballgame, or go for the lost weekend down by the river. As such, most brewers run their companies similarly for economic reasons. And because first and foremost they are businessmen and women, trying to get them to talk about non-industry issues was a challenge. Being operations-minded, they often talked about issues of distribution, of cleaning stainless steel, and of bottling, which really isn’t so fascinating. But when they get to the point where their job and their numbers transcended mere productivity, I find their stories and lessons captivating.

It's part one of a series, and I confess I'm mighty interested in reading part two.

The Brewers Association's Numbers and Quandaries

The annual Brewers Association list of top breweries is out. As always, it contains no numbers, rendering it it nearly, but not totally, useless. Numbers matter quite a bit. They point out that the distance between one and five is greater than the distance between six and fifty (or whatever--without the numbers, we don't know). They also tell us whether breweries are growing, standing pat, or shrinking, never mind what their relative position is. (Rogue, which fell two spots, may have increased barrelage, which is certainly more important to the brewery than whether they were passed by Gordon Biersch in the rankings.) Aside from whipping up some brief news, in fact, relative positions don't tell us a whole hell of a lot. That said, since we don't have those numbers and do have this list, I guess we go with the list.

First is the more interesting of two lists--the full list of breweries, along with Jay Brooks' helpful annotations about movement. You can see the whole list here; I'll reprint the Northwest breweries below:

17. Craft Brewers Alliance; Widmer moved up 4 & Redhook 5 as a combined company
11. Pyramid Breweries; Up 2 spots, their 2nd two spot jump in a row
12. Deschutes Brewery; Up 4 from #16 last year
17. Full Sail Brewing; Up 2 from #19 last year
36. Rogue Ales; Down 2 from #34, canceling being up 2 the year before
44. BridgePort Brewing; Same as last year
49. Mac and Jack’s Brewery; Not in Top 50 last year

Two observations present themselves: the forward movement among NW breweries is at the top of the list. Also, the relative balance between Oregon and Washington is growing wider. Mac and Jack's is the only Washington independent on the list (and it's only barely on the list). This trend is even more obvious in the list of craft breweries, where five of six independents are from Oregon, and six of eight are (nominally, anyway) from Oregon:

NR. Craft Brewers Alliance; Portland OR
x5. Pyramid Breweries; Seattle WA
x6. Deschutes Brewery; Bend OR
x9. Full Sail Brewing; Hood River OR
25. Rogue Ales; Newport OR
33. Bridgeport Brewing; Portland OR
36. Mac and Jack’s Brewery; Redmond WA
48. McMenamins; Portland OR

Ah, but what about that first entry? Well, it turns out the Brewers Association, for reasons obscure to me, omitted the Craft Brewers Alliance:

Changes from last year's list include breweries moving up or down in the rankings based on volume sales. There was one new entrant into the Top 50 Craft list, The Saint Louis Brewery, and two craft brewers have claimed spots in the Top 50 Overall list—Big Sky Brewing Co. and Mac & Jack's Brewery. Consolidation of MillerCoors, last year's number 2 and 3 brewers, opened up a slot, and the merger of Widmer Brothers and Redhook into the company now named Craft Brewers Alliance, Inc. opened up another slot filled by emerging small and independent craft brewers.

This raises a thorny issue for the Brewers Association. Long an advocacy group created "promote and protect small and independent American brewers, their craft beers and the community of brewing enthusiasts." That was all well and good when they could neatly tuck craft breweries into a tidy box: "An American craft brewer is small, independent, and traditional." Craft breweries and macros were qualitatively and quantitatively different categories even a decade ago.

Now the categories are less tidy. As a market matures, you inevitably see consolidation, buy-outs, and now even the macros are making beer indistinguishable from micros (albeit not the best micros). Breweries like Boston Beer Company, by virtue of their success at selling great beer, will one day exceed 2 million barrels. What then? BridgePort, on the list for craft breweries, is owned by Gambrinus, a Corona importer that owns five breweries. Mendocino, a founding craft brewery that still produces the same beer it always has, is owned by UB Group, and international conglomerate of breweries--and is not. The Pyramid/MacTarnahans company is, the Redhook/Widmer company is not. I'm certain this accords with the ever-more-byzantine rules that guide membership in the Brewers Association, but those definitions are increasingly arbitrary.

It's only going to get worse. Eventually, the Brewers Association is going to have to make some hard choices, limiting the pool of brewers to those that fit a neat, clear definition. It's hard to imagine that any guild could both represent Hair of the Dog (annual capacity: +/- 1000 barrels) and Boston Beer (over a million barrels). If they don't, a competing guild will naturally arise to serve the very different needs of these segments of the market.

All Quiet on the Spring Fest Front

I have been too busy to put together anything resembling a real post today, and I am disappointed to find no content about the Spring Beer Fest among the local blogs. (To, um, you know, steal from.) The silence deafens.

Any reax out there?

Honest Pint on Facebook

I've finally posted an Honest Pint Project page on Facebook. If you're a member of Facebook, visit the page and become a fan. The utility of Facebook is still not perfectly clear to me, but it's a good fit for the project--after all, I mainly want to spread awareness.

(And it is cool, I have to say. I posted a note on my Facebook page and tweeted the news yesterday. Within six hours, twenty-odd people had become fans, mostly people I've never heard of from the Midwest and points east.)

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Update, 3:26 pm. We just hit 100 fans--whoo hoo! Also, and I think this speaks to the strong position of craft brewing, about a third of the fans are women.

Make Sure to Answer the Poll

The response rate hasn't been so hot for my poll about your drinking habits. I'd like to get 250 responses, and we're currently only at a bit over 100. If you haven't answered, please consider it. Also, a reminder that if your habits have changed in more than one way due to the recession, just select the way you're dealing with the squeeze most often.



Thanks!

Cheers!

Well, it's not exactly the end of the world, but the Blazers beating LA last night, probably ensuring Cleveland the best record in the NBA, and provoking Kobe to bomb up an airball with 50 seconds left: a celebratory toast was in order. I selected La Fin du Monde from Unibroue:


Ah, what joy. Go Blazers!

Weekend Best Bets

I had intended to make "Weekend Best Bets" a regular feature of this blog. I guess periodic feature is better than nothing, though. So without further ado:

Allagash Tripel Reserve (Concordia Ale House). Allagash does Belgian ales, and they take pains to make a great tripel. This version is drier than most you will have tried, but smooth, gentle, and yummy (technical term).

Beer Valley Leafer Madness, on cask at Belmont Station. Dunno if it's any good, but an imperial IPA (9%, 100+ IBUs) from Ontario, Oregon on cask--three facts that tip the scales in favor of sampling.

Bike Town Brown, the latest Collaborator is on tap at the Eastburn. I went to a Brew Crew meeting last night to do some research and was reminded that Collaborator is one of the rare jewels in the crown of Beervana. Browns are perfect beers on a 52-degree, rainy day. Guess what the weekend's weather is supposed to be?

Cascade Mouton Rouge (Bailey's). The most under-rated of the Gansberg sour lineup, this is the base beer for many others, and it's wonderful on its own.

The Horse Brass has one of my faves, Caldera Dry Hop Orange, and there's a beer there I know some of you don't hate--Pliny the Elder.

Finally, a couple good ones are pouring at the Green Dragon: Fort George Raspberry Wit, a beer I really enjoyed when I was in Astoria (check out the subtlety of the rasberries and how the wit character remains). And although I have not tried it, Lost Coast Double Chocolate Porter beguiles. Double chocolate? What can it mean?

A Glitch or the High-Water Mark?

A couple days ago, spurred by the Widmer news, I got an email from MR speculating about the future of good beer. He's concerned:

I think the trajectory for craft brewing is sort of the trajectory that A-B, Miller and Coors have been on for a century, not to mention the European brands. Start small, get regional and go big. Along the way, taste and uniqueness of product declines in order to build brands. Local and regional products are bought, then used for little more than production and warehousing....

[O]ne wonders how long the "big" little breweries can make it without succumbing to the beast of advancing brand development. And, with that, what will happen to the local products.

This is an interesting moment. When I first started writing about beer in late 1997, it was a similar moment--craft brewing had been growing by double digits for a decade, and a number of breweries had made the jump from micro to substantial. In Oregon, Widmer, Full Sail, and Portland Brewing had all invested in much larger facilities. In fact, up and down the food chain, breweries were making decisions on the assumption of future growth.

Compare that to the last few years: double-digit growth, lots of new entrants into the market, and a general sense that the ceiling for craft beer was quite a bit higher. Breweries haven't been investing in huge new facilities, but they have been growing. Both Widmer and MacTarnahan's/Pyramid have grown through mergers. Full Sail continues to do robust contract work.

Can we expect a shake-out like the late 90s produced? Probably. But things are quite a bit different now, and here's where I disagree with MR. A decade ago, some breweries did follow the trajectory he describes. In order to appeal to mass markets, they produced safer, blander beer. Other breweries, however, went the other direction. They doubled down on distinctive, rich beers. Over the following years, the shakeout hit the former breweries far harder.

MacTarnahan's is a case in point. For a period during that time, Alan Kornhauser was off leading Pabst in China and the brewery turned to Brett Porter. Portland Brewing (as it was then known) had made its bones on MacTarnahan's, a decent amber ale that was increasingly getting lost in the shuffle. Their other beers were safe and clean, but no one's favorites. Brett produced a series of very distinctive beers and for a while, I thought the brewery was doubling down. Alan returned, though, and Brett's beers were forgotten. The brewery followed Kornhauser's instinct to pursue a strategy that worked for the macros he'd made a career brewing--lowest-common denominator stuff. They thought they could corner the amber market. Obviously, the whole thing was ill-advised and the brewery is now going through that death-spiral of absorption into increasingly larger amalgams of indistinct brands.

I do think there's room for growth in the market. Nationally, just 5% of sales are micro. I have a hunch that all across the northern half of the country there are future drinkers who haven't yet had their first transformative experience with a Sierra Nevada Pale. That number could easily double, providing a huge opportunity for larger craft breweries. The ones that seize the market will be those with distinctive, characterful beer. Shakeouts actually serve a healthy purpose--they weed out the underperforming players. As warmly as I feel toward Portland Brewing, it's proud history, and founders Art Larrance and Fred Bowman, I can't think of an argument to be made for their survival. If Pyramid/MacTarnahan's vanished off the face of the earth, would anyone notice?

The next couple-three years may be tough for middle-sized and larger craft breweries. But it's probably good for the overall health of the market. Darwinian and poignant, but good.

Honest Pint Still in the News

I somehow missed this: the AP picked up the Honest Pint story. This link is to a Seattle Times story, and I'd like to draw your attention to the comments. Recall the bizarre reaction Janie Har's story got last week in the Oregonian? Well, the Washingtonians are a little bit less unhinged. And envious. A sampling:

imjustsayin
A full pint AND no sales tax...

I'm moving south

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groverdill
About time. I hope Washington gets on board with this. All over Europe it's mandatory to fill to the "line". If a bartender doesn't, then you go ask for a new pour. It's pretty ridiculous that there's no standard here.

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boogiedown
I don't even drink any more and I'm in favor of this idea. If a business claims that it's main product contains 16 ounces then it better bloody well contain 16 ounces.

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crossingwa
Why didn't the Washington legislature think of this first? How long will it take for us to catch up with our Oregonian brethren on this key issue?

My mom, who has a friend in Colorado, phoned to pass on word that the Denver Post also has a story today on the Honest Pint Act. They give me a mite too much credit, though, failing to mention that it was, in fact, Jules who champions it. What I find amusing is the rather dismissive reaction they get from locals.

Chris Black, who oversees Falling Rock Tap House in LoDo, is less frothed up than Alworth over the issue. "If you call it 'a glass' it doesn't matter. In the U.S., how we measure glassware is different than elsewhere — say, in Germany or England."

Charlie Papazian, one of the industry's leading advocates and president of the Boulder-based Brewers Association, has heard it all before. "That issue and that notion about full pints has been around for years."

You'd expect more from the Napa of Beer, wouldn't you?

Finally, Draft Magazine noted the story, as well.

Recession Blues, Polling Edition

Back in January, I ran a poll asking you to describe how your beer-drinking habits had changed. At that point, there was not much evidence of a trend away from craft beer. This week we learned that craft beer sales are down even while macro sales are apparently up--so it seems like a good time to run the poll again. I am keeping all the answer categories the same so we can compare them. I should have added a catch-all category ("I'm using a mixture of techniques to save money"), but since I didn't, I won't do it here, either. So, if you are using a variety of strategies to keep costs down, just check the answer you rely on most often.



After a couple days, I'll post the results, along with those from January.

(Usual disclaimer: The poll isn't scientific. There are a number of reasons why we shouldn't make the mistake of thinking the results reflect larger trends. Still, it might plausibly register some change over time--or at least provide us an opportunity to compare results every three or four months during the recession.)

Recession Blues Redux, All Bad News Edition

In my post below about how the recession is affecting local brewers, I offered the hopeful--and wrong, it turns out--news that craft breweries saw sales rise in '09. I spoke to the Oregon Brewers Guild's Brian Butenschoen and got the lowdown: craft beer sales are down 5% and 7% in January and February. The bit that confused me was that beer sales are up 10% and 20% in those same months. I asked Brian to explain, and he gave some more texture.

• He thinks sales of imports are down, as are national micros like Sam Adams and Sierra Nevada.
• He thinks the only windfall is in the "value segment" (PBR and the like).
• A big factor in Oregon's situation may be pub and restaurant sales, which account for just about half the beer sales. He wonders if the shift is coming as people forgo the $5 pint and buy an eight-dollar sixer instead.
• It's hard to know how bad things will get, but summer sales should be illustrative. If sales remain poor, it could mean we're in for a long down period. If they show signs of rebounding, that will be good news for breweries who make the bulk of their money during the sunny months.

As always, I'll keep you posted.

Spring Dawns

With apologies to Tennyson, in the spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of beer. The light or the heat, something causes us to rush to the brewkettle and whip up a fun, welcoming beer. For my own part, I just bottled a dry-hopped pale, redolent of earthy, spicy Chinooks. (A high alpha hop whose virtue really shines in the carboy.) Here are the two ounces of hops, saturated and ready to be fed to the compost bins:


In other news, I see that Hopworks is releasing a beer called "Terry Porter" (6.0%, 14.2 P, 45 IBUs) in honor of our greatest point guard (and my favorite Blazer). This is slightly related to homebrewing, for I too have whipped up a batch of Terry Porter. But can Hopworks top this? A couple years ago, when Oregon was making its run through the NCAA Tourney, I dubbed a beer Tajaun Porter.

Recession Blues: Widmer Down, Others Up

Via the Oregon Econ blog, we have some mixed news about craft breweries and the recession. For Widmer, a dark cloud hovers over the bouyant anniversary celebration:

Less than six months after Woodinville, Wash.-based Redhook Ale Brewery Inc.’s merger with Portland’s Widmer Brothers Brewing Co., the new company has written down the value of the Widmer brand by more than a third.

Last week, the company that resulted from the merger, Portland-based Craft Brewers Alliance, released its 2008 annual report. For the year, the company lost $33.3 million on $86 million in revenue.

The loss included a $30.6 million impairment for Widmer assets acquired in the merger. Of the $30.6 million, $6.5 million is a write-down of the value of the Widmer brand, which the company valued at $16.3 million when the merger closed July 1.

The swiftness with which Craft Brewers restated the value of Widmer surprised analysts.

The whole article isn't available to non-subscribers, but Patrick posts this paragraph--hopeful signs for other breweries trying to weather the economic storm:

December and January shipments for all Oregon craft brewers fell by 5 percent and 7 percent, respectively. But in January and February, shipments for all beer in Oregon actually rose by 10 and 20 percent, respectively. “It would appear trading down from higher-priced, locally-made beer has already begun in earnest,” said Brian Butenschoen, executive director of the Oregon Brewers Guild.

I guess it's not surprising that a recession would produce winners and losers. Let's just hope there are no real "losers" and that everyone makes it through in the end.

Review: Fort George Brewery

I have been tardy about getting back to the breweries on my recent trip to Astoria. Let us now correct this oversight with a consideration of Fort George Brewery.

Brewers: Jack Harris and Chris Nemlowill
1483 Duane Street
Astoria OR 97103
(503) 325-PINT
Website

Hours: Mon-Thurs, 11am -11pm, Sat 11am - Midnight, Sunday, Noon - 11pm. Live music every Sunday night 8-10pm. Prices: Glass - $2.60, Pint - $3.85, Pitcher - $13, Taster tray - $8, Growler - $14. Beers: A large range of NW-style ales, Belgian interpretations, and regular use of botanicals.

As a region, the Oregon Coast, from Newport north, is starting to look like a mini-Beervana within Beervana. The two pillars are Rogue and Pelican, but Bill's Tavern, Siletz, and Astoria Brewing have all garnered plenty of praise. Since Rogue has a northern outpost in Astoria (and the nicest of all their pubs), you could spend a couple nights on the coast and hit a half dozen stellar breweries, all within a wonderful drive down highway 101.

Fort George is a great addition to this slate, and one born from it. The brewer who took us on a tour, Chris Nemlowill, is a co-founder and co-brewer along with his partner Jack Harris, the man behind Bill's Tavern in Cannon Beach. Chris is also a local. He got his start at Bill's where, fresh from college, with degrees in computer science and marketing, he offered himself an internship. He showed up and told Jack, "I want to do an internship and work for you for 120 hours--for free." Bill took him up on the offer, and he learned how to brew commercial volumes (it almost doesn't bear mentioning that he started as a homebrewer--but of course, he did). In '05 he got a job at Astoria/Wet Dog, and in 2006, he and Jack opened their brewery in the historic Fort George Building in downtown Astoria.

As a transition to a description of the beer, let me post a video clip of Chris describing where their flagship beer, Vortex IPA, got its name (thereafter I'll describe that beer). He and Jack were transporting the brewhouse cross-country and about halfway along, they ran into a spot of weather:



Beer
Fort George brews a lot of beer, and I only tried a little of it. Don't ask me how this happened--clearly blogger error was the culprit. When we visited, on the order of a dozen Fort George beers were available. They seem to fall generally into three overlapping categories: NW-style ales (IPA, porter, stout, pale), Belgians (wit, dubbel, golden), and botanically-infused beers. This latter category reveals Jack Harris' influence--Bill's Tavern is well-known for herbal beers. I tried just three of the dozen, which I guess provides me an ideal excuse to head back soon. (A taplist is posted in the right margin of the Fort George blog.)

• Divinity. Ft. George does a regular wit, which in addition to the usual adjuncts includes lemongrass and elderberry flower. Divinity is this beer re-fermented with raspberries. It tastes much like a standard wit, though drier and more acidic. The berries are perhaps responsible for the more vinous acid--they don't add a strong berry flavor, leaving the base beer mostly intact. Their contribution is aromatic and suggestive. Very fine beer. If the OBF invites them, I suggest sending Divinity. Rating: B+
• XVI Chapel. Named for a malapropism by a guy who helped install the brewery (he referenced Michaelangelo's "Sixteen Chapel"). It's an IPA/dubbel hybrid, dry-hopped three times. The aroma is pure, piney hops, masking any yeast character. That holds true for the flavor, too--the hopping is so intense you don't get any of the nutty malt flavor from the dubbel grist bill nor the abbey ale character. It's a beautiful-looking beer, but the hops flatten out the character. Rating: C
• Vortex IPA. When we were at the brewery admiring Vortex, we discussed the old difficulty of how to describe a beer. IPAs present a special problem because there are so many versions--particularly many that are good but not distinguishable. Fortunately, this is not one of those beers--it is probably the first one since Inversion that seemed new and distinct. A big boy at 7.7%, and Chris says it's 97 IBUs. I just can't believe that, though. The hops are far too nuanced to come on that strong--the aroma is succulent and the green hop flavors are layered without going to the extremes of bitterness. It's deceptive because it's so approachable--the hops are in harmony with the sweet, gentle malt--and you could easily find yourself quaffing it like a session. (I advise against.) As a parting visual, I leave you with the three tasters John, Lisa, and I had. See the lovely, frothy head retention?--even after the beer was gone! Rating: A/A-
  

Food
Chris bought us a taster tray of Fort George's handmade sausage, four varieties, and they were all exceptional. (I have a friend who loves sausage and he always asks why I don't write more about it. Brian: this is the good stuff.) Chris also plopped a nice plate of rough-cut fries with skins, and those were also excellent. But beyond this, I can speak to none of the food. The website has a menu, and it features mostly pub-style food, with a nod toward local seafood.

Astoria's a great place to visit, and if you do, be sure not to miss Fort George. If you exit the town without trying at least a pint of the Vortex, you'll never forgive yourself.

New Brewpub: Hobo Brewing

The Oregon Brewers Guild lists 30 breweries operating in the Portland area. In a few months, Brian Butenschoen is going to have to update the number: Oregon's newest brewery is in the works in the former location of Noble Rot on 28th and SE Ankeny. (The picture at right, courtesy of Concierge.com, shows the building as occupied by Noble Rot.)

Serendipity sent me by the future Hobo Brewing yesterday as Kiley Hoyt and Elan Walsky were puttering around out front. I was attracted by the three jugs of yeast visible through the open door (you can see them in the picture below). Sure enough: yeast. Kiley and Elan are recent graduates of Siebel, and they met at Steinbart's before deciding to open shop together.

Hobo will be a microbrewery in the old sense--3.5 to five barrels. For the moment, Hobo only occupies the bottom floor, but they hope to be able to expand to the second floor in the future. I think I caught them pretty early in the process; they seem to be in full R&D mode, just exploring the types of beer they'll brew. I had a follow-up question about the name, and Kiley said in her email this morning that they were up until midnight brewing. Call it the elbow grease stage.

One nugget on the beer front: Elan suggested a maple IPA may be in the works when I asked about beer styles. (Maple IPA, you ask? Kiley's from Vermont. For those of you who have seen the sugarhouses dotting the countryside of the Green Mountain state, this is no surprise. On one of my trips to New England to visit Sally's family, I was inspired to brew a maple stout. Maple's in the air out there.)

The name of the brewery is born of the times. Kiley emailed this description:

"It was just something that made sense. The company was born only last year and hearing and seeing all the struggling going on due to the tough economic times (I myself was laid off), we chose the name Hobo. A hobo continues through life relying solely on the the support of others--friends, family, and strangers alike...We want to have a place where people can stop by during their travels, feel at home, enjoy their stay, and not break the bank."

This is perfectly consonant with the neighborhood, which has long been the center of Portland's communal vibe. You can probably catch Kiley and Elan at the brewery--especially on sunny days when the door will be open--and welcome them to the neighborhood. They are personable and welcoming, and seemed genuinely thankful for the interest people expressed.

I'll keep you updated as they progress toward opening. Right now they're shooting for summer.

KATU on the Honest Pint Act

I will say this: regardless of what becomes of the Honest Pint Act in the legislature, one thing is certain: the issue is getting attention. When I first launched the Honest Pint Project, that was the main intention. As long as consumers recognize what's happening with glassware, they are informed enough to begin to make judgments. By that measure, this has been a roaring success--way beyond what I could have imagined. The latest comes via KATU, with a very nice report on Jules Bailey's bill.


I can't help but feel a warm sense of accomplishment.

Teaser: New Brewery

If my traffic is any guide, ain't no one sitting around reading blogs today. Good--this is a day to be outside, not reading blogs. (Current temperature: 71 degrees.) I was out myself, taking a walk down to Laurelhurst Park where the trees are putting on an early display.

(In the city fields
contemplating cherry trees
Strangers are like friends
~Issa)

On the way home, we happened by a building with an intriguing sight inside: three small jugs with air locks, looking suspiciously like brewers yeast. Two folks were puttering around inside the door (open, garage-door style, to the gentle elements) so we were able to learn that indeed, it was yeast. By a stroke of luck, we had stumbled onto the birth of a brewery. Given that this is a scoop of sorts, I'm going to milk the news and tell you about it all tomorrow--I so rarely break news. But I can share with you my joy--the future brewery will be just four blocks from my house. Four blocks!

Springtime, when breweries blossom in Beervana.

Piping Hot Serving of Fresh News

Saturday's not a usual day for a news dump, but this Saturday--sunny! warm!--is not a usual day. So let's get to it...

Honest Pint News
A front-page article by Janie Har in today's Oregonian gives a thumbnail report on yesterday's hearing in Salem. I am slightly misquoted as saying that Germany and England have glassware marked to 16 ounces. Before being innundated about further evidence of my stupidity (don't worry; plenty more opportunities will arise), let me say that I mentioned only that those countries have standards, not that they conform to US pints. (Click through to see a huge batch of cranks who've commented on the story. Amusing.)

The Eugene Register-Guard reported the story, too. David Steves and Andrea Damewood write quite a nice piece and get my position spot-on. (It's interesting--Steves is one of my favorite reporters for the R-G, Har for the O. Nice.) If you have a chance, click through and read this article--it's pretty in-depth. They did some backstory reporting on local pubs, talking about the impact on local business. One quickie response: it's true that to be certified as a purveyor of an honest pint under the legislation you'd need to buy new glassware (if you weren't previously serving honest pints), there's a simple, free fix: don't call them pints. Nothing wrong will selling "glasses" of beer.

Heater Allen
In his latest brewsletter, Rick Allen reports a malfunction with his glycol chiller has left him with six weeks of lost beer. He now anticipates the next bottling on May 17. So if you hanker for a local lager, you best stock up quick.

Bikes and Hopworks
There was a cool article in yesterday's New York Times about the bike culture in Portland. It is currently the second-most emailed story on the Times' site. That's cool enough, but for Hopworks, it is even cooler:

Riders who wish to delve deeper into Portland’s diverse bicycle culture can simply drop in on pubs like Hopworks Urban Brewery in Southeast, a tavern decorated with spare bike parts that serves organic beer.

There are now a whole lot of people across the country who know about Hopworks. That's gotta be good for business, right?

Honest Pint Bill Update

This morning Jules Bailey's Honest Pint bill (background here) had a hearing in Salem. In the past couple days I've gotten calls from reporters at the Oregonian and Register-Guard, and both wonder why I'm not more out in front of this thing. The R-G reporter called after this morning's session and wondered why I wasn't there.

I have only very minor ambivalence about the bill itself. I never envisioned the HPP as a legal initiative, but the way Jules Bailey has crafted his bill, it's mostly promotional, not punitive. At worst it will fail to deliver the goal of bringing transparency to glassware. It's not going to cost anything and won't be difficult to implement. The risk is very low. The reward is quite a bit higher. It could easily provide an incentive for pubs and restaurants to start using full pints and bring transparency to the customer. It might well burnish Oregon's already unimpeachable cred as the state that takes beer seriously. Who knows, it might even nudge us toward the gold standard--a European-style system of marked glassware. Legislation that is low-risk and high reward is axiomatically good.

My ambivalence comes from having found myself the face of the Honest Pint movement. If I had known it was going to go this way, I would have kept my mouth shut. Staying out of Salem allows me to transfer some of the burden to Jules Bailey, who is now championing the cause. As a constituent of his, I am pleased and proud to have a beer guy representing me. So, I'll probably stay low-key on the legislation, but no one should read this as disapproval.

Widmer Brewing's Place in History

Today we celebrate the 25th anniversary of the day Kurt and Rob Widmer began their long journey toward becoming the bier kings of Oregon. They weren't the first of the pioneering microbrewers--Fritz Maytag or Jack McAuliffe get those honors. In Oregon, it was mostly-forgotten Chuck Coury who got there first with Cartwright Brewing. (His was the first to go belly-up, too.) But the Widmers were early. When they started, there were only 83 breweries in the entire country. The low-water mark actually came a year earlier, when 51 companies operated a scant 80 breweries. The period marked the end of a grim era and the slow rise of microbrewing.

Founding an Industry
It's worth stopping for a moment to consider the radical act of founding a brewery in the 1980s. For generations, brewing had been in decline. At the start of WWII, the US had a surprisingly robust 684 breweries. That was the pinnacle, though, and breweries started dying off in droves. Glancing at that the numbers, it looks the counts of an endangered species: 407 (1950), 229 (1960), 154 (1970), 101 (1980). Beer production and consumption was steadily growing, though--predation by a few giants reduced the herd to dwindling numbers. The idea that an essentially unfunded start-up could cobble together some oddball equipment and compete against a giant like Budweiser--it must have seemed like madness.

In my memory, microbrewing really took off in the late 80s. But the memory lies. No brewery crossed the 25,000 barrel mark until Sierra Nevada did in 1990. The early brewers had myriad barriers: they were mostly uneducated about large-scale brewing; almost none of them had ever worked in a brewery before; they had to learn how to brew with makeshift equipment in makeshift buildings; they had to invent a market niche and create interest in a product customers didn't know they wanted.

The Widmers' own history can be read as a series of efforts to grapple with these barriers. Their first beer, an alt, was way too aggressive. They cast around, brewing a filtered Weizen next. To borrow from Angelo's interview with Rob, here's what they were contending with in terms of the market:

"There was light beer, and there was dark beer. Light not meaning caloric light, but light meaning blond, filtered. And then dark meaning Henry’s Dark, or something like that. Most people didn’t want anything to do with the dark beer…You couldn't’t even get them to try it. And, our Altbier, while by today’s standards isn’t much darker than (an IPA), fell into that dark category. Widmer Weizen was clear, so you could see through it. It was deeper colored than a Bud, Miller, Coors, so people were a little skeptical, but they would try it."

Success depends on serendipity, and they discovered it when they released an unfiltered version of their wheat. Carl Simpson sold this beer at the Dublin pub in huge, 23-ounce glasses. When he added the lemon wedge, it took off. Widmer Hef was the first "it" beer in Portland. Within a few years, it became the merlot of beer--the cloudiness was a calling card for upscale diners at places like B. Moloch (now South Park), and the flavor was exotic without being too distant from familiar beer like Henry's.

The number of breweries was definitely on the rise--286 by 1990--but they were producing minuscule amounts. This became a piece of their cachet--small was suddenly saleable. Many breweries reveled in this and most highlighted the artisinal aspect of microbrewing. But even at that early stage, breweries had different business models, and the Widmers' was focused on growth. They were the first brewery to outgrow the funky corner-brewery ideal.

Growth and Mistakes
Although there's little mention of this now, one event became a flashpoint at about this time. In 1994, Alan Sprints, a brewer at Widmer, decided to go off and found Hair of the Dog. Even though he wanted to brew radically different kinds of beer than Widmer, he had signed a no-compete contract, and the Widmers took legal action to stop him. This was a PR catastrophe. You can imagine how well, in those heady early days of brewing, this went over with the growing number of local beer fans. It was covered in the media as a faceless corporation trying to stifle the little guy. Widmer backed off, but the damage was done; to this day, Widmer hasn't been able to shake the rep of hearthless corporate giant.

It didn't help that a few years later Widmer created a partnership with Anheuser-Busch. A-B got a 27 percent stake in Widmer, Widmer got $18 million in cash and access to all A-B's national distributors. This happened in 1997, right about at the end of the first phase of craft brewing, as some of the national leaders did become pretty major players. No longer "micro"-anything, they were looking to become regional powers.

I will cop to sharing the Widmer-is-evil view back then. But let's put this in some kind of context. Breweries can enjoy growth within the confines of their capital and equipment. At the start, they can increase production exponentially until they're brewing day and night. Then they have to buy new equipment (and sometimes relocate). The decision to do so plunges them into debt and now they have to sell a lot of beer to cover their nut. Each time a brewery decides to expand, the risk spikes. We look back and have a sense that craft brewing has always been pretty healthy. But of course, no brewery knows at the time whether it will continue to be healthy--who knows, maybe the economy's about to tank.

Widmer grew slowly and steadily. In fact--and this may suprise you (lying memories and all), but they didn't even start bottling until 1996. Other breweries made other decisions. Full Sail built a massive plant on the assumption that their sales would increase at the same clip. Portland Brewing (now MacTarnahan's/Pyramid/Magic Hat) sold shares to expand their business. RedHook invested in a new facility in New Hampshire. The Ponzis sold BridgePort to Gambrinus to fund a brewery expansion.

All the bigger craft breweries had come to that moment where they had to stand pat or expand. Deciding to expand, every brewery did it differently. Thinking about certain decisions as more "evil" or corporate than others is a strange way to look at it. Portland Brewing is now gone, a brand absorbed by Pyramid. RedHook, which limped forward, shifted to production of a standard set of undistinguished ales like regional breweries of old. Widmer got cash up-front from its deal with A-B, and as a result is now a robust concern making the beer they want to.

Great Local Brewers
No Oregon brewery has had more success or been more disparaged than Widmer Brewing. To this day, thanks to a combination of factors Widmer is still regarded with suspicion, and perhaps that's the price of admission for being the biggest. The story I told above details some of the reasons why Widmer has taken heat. A brewery should be judged by a lot more than its corporate decisions, though--and it's here where Widmer shines.

The Widmers have been more involved than any other local brewery in promoting beer culture. Any, full stop. They were one of four breweries who helped mount the first Oregon Brewers Festival. Unlike most of other bigger breweries (might we say corporate), Widmer always sends a special, for-OBF-only beer to the fest. They are active in the local beer scene and deserve no end of credit for the Collaborator project, where they produce commercial batches of homebrewed recipes by the Brew Crew. Although Hef remains their biggest seller, you can get rather exotic, experimental beers at the Gasthaus that make no apologies to anything Craig Nicholls or Jamie Floyd are doing. I don't know about the general public, but if I send Rob an email with a question, he returns it within a day. Not bad for the founder of the second-largest craft brewery in the country.

If you sat down to blueprint good behavior by a big brewery, you probably wouldn't expect it to do some of the things Widmer does. Widmer saw financial potential in brewing years and years before most of the general public. They made decisions to grow, but the truth is, they've never lost their feel for being much like the local brewery you used to be able to get a jug of yeast from.

Twenty-five years is a long time. The history of Widmer is in many ways the history of microbrewing, all the ups and downs, mistakes and roaring successes. It is possible to imagine that Beervana would have evolved without the Widmers, but impossible to look at what it has become and not see their fingerprints everywhere. Today is an opportunity for us to remember this and offer them a toast. So, in the manner of their own beer caps:

A prost: to two fine brewers who helped make Oregon Beervana!

Pints a Buck Fifty at the Gasthaus

Just a note that beginning at 11 today, pints are going for a buck fitty. I assume that means it will be a madhouse, but you can weigh your various cravings and aversions against each other to decided if it's worth it. Your beer selection:

• Regular line-up (Hefeweizen, Broken Halo, Drop Top, Alt, Drifter, W'09 Belgian Ale)
• ESB
• Blonde
• Doppelbock
• Collaborator Bike Town Brown
• O'Casey Irish stout
• Nelson O-Rye-ly
  

Imports Down

Post has been updated; see below.

This isn't good: consumption of imported beer declined in 2008:

Last year's growth came from off-premise consumption of value-priced sprits, wine and beer - a reversal of the trend toward premium brands that's been driving growth in recent years.

Imported beer and wine took the largest hits. Beer imports' growth dropped from 12% in 2006 to 2.8% in 2007 to a 1.2% decline last year. Among the domestic categories, lights remained a bright spot, growing 2.2% to represent 51.8% of the total beer market.

I'm wondering how much this is related to the economy, though. If you look at the handy chart I made, the trendline--based on data from the story--was already headed south. More to the point, we don't know if people were drinking less good imports, or just less Stella. This could be a case of numbers lying. Still, worth noting for future reference.

Update. Via John Foyston, I see some glimmer of good news: Budvar's US exports rose 7% in '08.

Beer in Skidmore Fountain

[In case you've stumbled across this after the fact, note the date it was originally posted.]

It has been 122 years, but it looks like Henry Weinhard's vision may finally come true: if the Portland City Council approves the measure, the Skidmore fountain will flow with BridgePort IPA on July 4th in recognition of Oregon's sesquicentennial.

Henry Weinhard originally proposed the idea to commemorate the fountain's creation back in 1887:

The most well-known story of Weinhard’s generosity to the Portland community came with the unveiling of the Skidmore fountain in 1887. When speaking to C.E.S. Wood, Weinhard offered to pay for the additional hose length that it would take to link the fountain to his largest lager tank in order to have the fountain spout free beer on its first day of operation. Although the offer was declined, it still remains part of Portland’s collective memory.

Apparently, the proposal was rejected because the city council was worried horses would drink the beer and get drunk.

The current proposal comes from Mayor Sam Adams, well-known for his love of microbrews. His idea is to have the fountain run for just one hour, and none of the beer will be consumed due to health concerns. Adams has the support of Nick Fish and Randy Leonard. Dan Saltzman and Amanda Fritz are both on the fence, but will probably support the idea if the city can ensure children won't get the beer.

"I thought it would be a fun idea. This is the city of beer, and this is one of Portland's most cherished stories. It's been a long time that people have been thinking about running beer through the fountain. I thought we should just finally do it."

BridgePort, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, it taking a page from the Widmer's notebook. They'll be serving IPA at both their pubs for the same price it was back in 1887--6 cents a pint (limit two).

Ha, take that, Asheville!

Astoria Brewing/Wet Dog Cafe

When I last visited Astoria Brewing, the man at the kettle was Chris Nemlowill. You'll hear more about him when I do a post on Fort George Brewing, his new home. The man who replaced Chris is Bolt Minister (a family name going back at least a couple generations). I did a fairly involved review of Astoria in June of 2007, and rather than repeat things here, I'll just fill in some blanks. For the archives, I'll go back to the earlier post and update it. Feel free to click over and back if you want an overview of the pub.

Let's begin by handing the mic over to Bolt, who will describe how he got into brewing and give you a sense of his personality.



Bolt is at least the fourth brewer to work in the kitchen-sized brewery at what is now Astoria (formerly Pacific Rim). Despite that, the beer and food menu demonstrate admirable consistency. This must be both comforting and frustrating for the incoming brewer. It might be nice to have a slate of beer recipes on hand, but it also means you have little elbow room to express your personal style. John Foyston asked what his brewing preferences were like, and he admitted they tended toward lighter lagers. No worries, right? Well, the flagship is a monster IPA with triple-digit IBU hopping, and standards are the porter and stout, which warm the chilly bones of those looking out over the wind-swept Columbia.

He ran into this particular quandary early on, when he decided to ratchet back the hops on Bitter Bitch--that's the hop monster--to 93 IBUs, the threshold above which humans are not supposed to be able to distinguish further bittering. But the regulars at the Wet Dog Cafe could tell, and they did so, loudly, and now Bitter Bitch is back to her earlier octane.

When we arrived, he had three beers at the ready that aren't yet available, a kolsch, a biere degarde, and an imperial wit. The last two were made with Wyeast's Ingelmunster, one of which will be Minister's entry to Cheers to Belgian Beers. The wit was surprisingly spry and delicate, with characteristic coriander spicing. Wheat can really get cakey if you use too much, but the Ingelmunster handled it nicely, keeping it drier than a wit yeast would have been able to. At 6.8%, it wasn't imperial like a stout or IPA, and that helped. The biere de garde came topped with a head as dense as meringue, and the beer was nearly as sweet. I'll be interested to see it when it finishes out. The final beer we tried, which will be available at the Spring Beer Fest, was a kolsch--perhaps my favorite of all Minister's beers. Still a bit yeasty from the tank, but it had a gently spicy hop quality, and a crisp finish. Definitely look for it.

We sampled a variety of beers throughout the afternoon, and my notes are a bit brief:

• Pumpkin ale. The last bit from fall. The spices have fallen back a bit and the squash is now evident--a good change in my view.
• Bitter Bitch. The flagship ale is over 100 IBUs and is therefore shockingly bitter. The beer was designed to be out of balance--the hops vent out of the glass like strong wasabi--but the locals love it.
  
• Solar Dog. The nose on this beer suggests its Bitter Bitch's little brother, but it deceives. Still quite a bit of bitterness, but the malt is evident underneath, as is a richer, more floral hop flavor.
• Porter. In competition with the kolsch for brewery's best beer. The head was so creamy I asked if it was on nitro. It's both a gentle, sweet porter, but also thick, with a bit of roastiness for depth. "I praise the brown malts," Minister said by way of explanation.
• Strong ale. The final beer before my palate was certifiably shattered, this very dark brown ale was surprisingly smooth and gentle. Abram declared it an old ale, and when I asked Bolt about it later, he said, "well, it's actually an old ale..." (Abram on the case.) Also a great ship-watching beer.

In addition to these, the brewery has a weisse, an ESB, and a stout. My least favorite beer is the brewery's best-seller, so go figure. I didn't rate out all the beers separately, but none would drop below a B-, and the kolsch and porter were in the B+ / A- range. A very nice line-up.

Other Notes
Astoria Brewing is Oregon's second to go solar (you might have guessed by the name of the beer), using the same system--and vendor--as Lucky Lab. Turns out it's a fantastic experiment. After all, if a solar system works in Astoria, it'll work anywhere, right? And it does. Minister gets 150-degree water on the worst days of winter, not a bad head-start on heating.

The brewery has plans to bottle 22s sometime in the coming months. In order to use the mobile bottling line, they have to amass enough beer to make it worthwhile. For a 350-barrel brewery, this takes a bit of prep, but have a look this summer if you stop by. You might also look to see if the pub has installed a fresh fish market, as they have plans to do. It would look out onto the boardwalk, and you should be able to get a bottle of beer with your two pounds of Dungeness crab. Cool.

Widmer Turns 25

This year marks the 25th Anniversary of both BridgePort and Widmer. I'm not sure about the historical arcana, but I think Widmer actually incorporated first, but didn't get beer out the door until after BridgePort. BridgePort lays claim to Oregon's oldest brewery, without dispute from Widmer; the reality, though, is that these two companies, along with Mike and Brian McMenamin, Art Larrance, and Fred Bowman, were all having the same idea at roughly the same time. They are the pillars of the Oregon brewing rennaissance, and this is a great year to look back at what these pioneers accomplished.

I'll take a tour down memory lane this week, part history, part reminiscence, but in the meantime, have a look at Angelo's interview with Rob (part 1, part 2)--really good stuff for those of you who love history. Also, make a note that on Thursday (April 2nd, the official date), the Gasthaus will be serving all pints for a buck fitty--1984 style. 11 am to 11 pm, 955 N Russell.

An Astoria Overview

"Astoria's a different place."
--Jimmy Griffin, Rogue Astoria

Astoria is in some key ways like a little microcosm of Oregon. Like Oregon, Astoria's located in the upper left corner of the state. It is a working community, not a show place. The people share a common sense of themselves and are fiercely proud of their town. They feel like the place doesn't get enough attention for how good it is, but at the same time, you get the sense they aren't thrilled about the idea of a lot of new people coming and messing things up. It is a place where people feel and live their history, where everyone knows everyone else in the community, and that if an event happens in town in the morning, by two o'clock that afternoon it will be old news.

For all the history and prominence of the town, it only has 10,000 people, as stable a population as you find in Oregon. The history, of course, goes all the way back to Lewis and Clark, who spent a delightful winter at Fort Clatsop in 1805-'06. John Jacob Astor founded a fur-trading post there in 1810, and from there its prominence has always been linked to the Columbia River's vast mouth, opening into the frigid waters of the Pacific Ocean.

I have been to Astoria a number of times over the past decade, and among all the major towns of Oregon, it has changed the least. This has something to do with the history--old towns change less than young ones--but also because people seem to hold the entire place as communual property. In no other Oregon town have I felt the residents were so involved in the life of the community. As we made our tour of breweries on Saturday, people would refer to other townsfolk by their first name, off-handedly, like you would a relative. Of course, things do change. Astoria, despite its penchant for stability, has, as a port city, suffered the whiplash of global change more than others. Canneries disappeared, mills closed, artists arrived. Perhaps these outer forces make a town rely on inner stability more.

A good example of this came at our first stop on Saturday, at Fort George Brewing. I expected to see just the other beer writers invited along--John Foyston, Lisa Morrison, and Abram Goldman-Armstrong--but we were joined by a few locals who'd gotten wind of our arrival (that familial feeling again). One of them, Dan Bartlett, a former city manager, very graciously went and grabbed us copies of the Clatsop County Historical Society Quarterly, which had an article about Astoria's early breweries. It wasn't until I got it home that I saw the date of the issue--Fall 1989. (I'll do a separate post on Astoria's brewing history, tip of the hat to Dan.)

For visitors, all of this is very good. For history, no city--I think you can include Portland in this claim, but just to be safe I'll except it--can match Astoria. It contains several stellar museums: Flavel House, Fort Clatsop, Maritime Museum, and Heritage Museum. All of these were put together with the kind of care you'd expect from a town whose citizens can exhume 20-year-old historical quarterlies. But even more than that, the city itself has the feel of a place lost in time. To sit in the Wet Dog (Astoria Brewing) and look out on the massive Columbia is to feel like you're looking into time. The hillsides are studded with streets of 19th-century homes. In the homogenization that results from modernity and globalization, Astoria is a place apart.

Just one bit of advice: take the Gore-Tex. The 1.13 inches of rain we enjoyed on Saturday was not unusual, nor the wind that lashed us as we scampered between breweries. (It was robust enough to pin Lewis and Clark down for a winter, recall.) Perhaps more than anything else, this is why Astoria's permanent residents number no more than 10,000. The weather is relentless. I have spent summer days where it was in the fifties and rainy. (Though that's rare--only 1.2 inches of rain falls on average in August.) December is ... worse. On the other hand, there is no place as nice to enjoy a beer and watch the weather--and ships--roll through. If you have never visited, you should. And if you're a beer fan, you must. (But more on that later.)

Beer Writing Made Easy

As I labor to put Astoria to (digital) ink, I see that Bill from It's Pub Night has made my job a lot easier. Or rather, put a spotlight on an issue beer bloggers and writers suffer every time they sit down to describe a beer.

In one of the more clever posts I've seen in recent memory, he's put together a little engine that spits out generic descriptions of beer you could apply without modification to just about any beer. One example:

Pours a translucent dark chocolate color with a thin head. A tiny bit of lacing. Beautiful tart aroma, with overtones of grapefruit and lilac. Intense hoppy taste, with notes of apple and circus peanut. Thick and chewy mouthfeel and dry finish. Score: 4.15/5.

He has really gone to some effort to create some nicely satirical language, and the point is made. So many beer reviews say a lot but tell you nothing. (I particularly like that some of his parameters don't require you to choose whether the beer is good or bad, or even what style it is. It's true: sometimes you read a review festooned with adjectives and you have no idea whether they're intended to praise or excoriate the beer.)

But also: pity the poor reviewer. The bell-curve reality of beers dictates that most are average. They are indistinct. They have generic qualities of malt and hop. These are the worst beers to have to describe, but, proud reviewer that you are, you give it a shot. Pretty soon you're inventing adjectives ("hint of old cloves," "musty maple leaf") to try to inject a bit of pizazz into your description. Even very good beers may not offer you a lot to hang your hat on; what distinguishes them is not their distinct elements, but a totally vague quality of harmony produced when all those elements come together. How do you describe that?

I miss the mark more often than I hit it, but this post reminds me of a directive I try to use when writing about beer. Don't write to impress, write to communicate. How would I tell a friend about a beer so that she would get what I was trying to say? It's useful to include adjectives, but they should reveal the beer, not conceal the reviewer's inability to describe it. When I was drinking an Old Peculier, I held it up to the light to get a good look (knowing I'd have to somehow have to describe it later), and my friend Shawn said, "it looks like iced tea." Perfect. "Mahogany" doesn't tell you anything, but iced tea instantly brings to mind an image we can all relate to.

Another element often overlooked is to give some sense of the experience of the beer. Indians have a philosophy of art in which every artistic expression can be categorized by the emotional mood ("rasa") it delivers. This is perhaps an unnecessary idiosyncracy of mine, but I strongly relate to the experience of the beer, not just its characteristics. I drink beer to accommodate or augment a mood. I don't identify this quality in every beer, but the very good ones seem to suggest a rasa.

But anyway, enough of my babbling. Go check out Bill's post--it's a must read.

Preview of Coming Attractions

As if to say, "Behold, I offer you the malty riches of Astoria," Chris Nemlowill poses with one of his Fort George beers.


I have video, pics, and lots of notes from my sojourn to Astoria this weekend. I'll be rolling content out as soon as I can get it ready. (Probably no omnibus post--I'll do it piecemeal.) Qucikie upshot: a cool town, good beer, great people. More soon--

Interesting Odds and Ends

Every now and again, a bunch of small items come over the transom that wouldn't, on their own, constitute sufficient reason for a post. Today is one of those days.

1. Bailey's Taproom open at noon--today only. The sole fault of this wonderful alehouse is limited hours. Go before 4 pm and you can only gaze longingly through the window. Today they're experimenting with an earlier opening time to gauge the market. Seems a little fishy to me--the word of this experiment only came out today. But anyway, go have a pint and let 'em know this should be a regular thing.

(Advice from a blogger. If noon's too early, try 2:30 or 3. This city loves happy hour. Partly they love the cheap beer--Bailey's might offer a 3-5 early happy hour--but partly it's because there's no finer way to end the long workday than with a pint of beer.)

2. Obama is a beer drinker. Yeah, it appears he likes the cheap stuff, but never mind. A beer drinker in the White House is a good thing. He's got eight years to work on developing his palate. (Yes, eight.) This NYT story mentions that he regularly hits the town for a meal, and not just chi-chi places. What I'm waiting for is a visit to the District Chophouse & Brewery or Capitol City Brewing--both in the White House neighborhood. The picture, incidentally, was taken at a recent presdential visit to the Bulls-Wizards game.

3. Belgian cheese and beer. I get quite a few press releases, and they mostly head right into the trash folder. This item, however, passed muster:

Whole Foods Market is pleased to announce the arrival of two new artisanal cheeses from Het Hinkelspel Cheese Co-op in Gent, Belgium. The Pas de Rouge washed rind cow's milk cheese and Pas de Bleu, blue cow's milk cheese are now available in all Washington and Oregon stores.

Accompanying these cheese selections is Lousberg Belgian Ale. Lousberg was designed by De Proef Brewery of Lochristi, Belgium specifically to complement the Het Hinkelspel cheeses.

As many of you know, I would really like to see beer taken seriously as a complement for food. Wine's hegemony on this score irks me. Clearly Belgian beers are the access point, and who can argue with Belgian beer and cheese? I'll include a flier that came with the release.

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Cooking & Menus belgian cheese de proef

_____________
Photo credit: Molly Riley/Reuters

To Astoria

On Saturday, I'll be on a junket of sorts with three eminent beererati: Lisa Morrison, John Foyston, and Abram Goldman-Armstrong. We were invited out by the Astoria PR folks who would like to highlight the town's beery credentials. I am a pretty big fan of Astoria already, but I'm always up for the chance to walk through some guided tours of breweries. I haven't pulled out the vid cam in long months, so this is a good opportunity to do so. Expect a flurry of reports back and, with luck, some entertaining video.

The agenda is intentially loose so that we can do some investigation on our own. Aside from the breweries there, do you know of anything that's a must-see?

Toying With the Layout

Just an FYI for the observant. I'm trying to figure out how to put Google ads in the left-hand column. That means I'm trying to figure out how to create a left-hand column. So far, so good. You'll notice that the title banner is now too short, but I'm not messing with that until I decide to make the layout permanent. I know it looks more crowded this way, but the Honest Pint Project has a number of associated costs, and I'm trying to figure out a low-impact way to fund them.