Superannuation # 2

It's been two years to the day since the pub opened. I don't really remember those first few weeks. I do remember working almost all the time after that, often until two or three in the morning, until October when business started really slacking off. I had never run a pub and brewery before. What I learned about it I picked up in a foreign land, brewing beer, working an English bar, fixing stuff, and finding out what really goes on behind the scenes. But we're still here - amazing considering the economy and the unusual weather this winter and spring. And I'd like to write more about this, but I have to work the bar at noon and it's already 11:35 AM. Come visit us today and bring presents.

Bits and Pieces

Who has the time for this? It's the busy season - no time to sit in a corner with a laptop and dribble some drivel. However, a pint was sounding pretty good, so off to the couch in the front parlor of the pub for a typing session of random bits and pieces.

Bit # 1: It's been two weeks since I was up in Portland at the Belmont Station for the OBF Fringe Fest. I didn't go to the OBF, since it's just too big and impersonal for my tastes. Much more fun to pull pints for the punters and rub shoulders with brewers and so forth. Two firkins of real ale were drained by 3:00 on Sunday. I'd never seen so many tickers and notebooks in one place.

Bit # 2: I visited some new places and some old while up in Stumptown. As for the new, I tried Migration, Coalition and Apex. Portland definitely has an architectural obsession with the big shiny metal and brick box motif. I hope they do well, but I'm still looking for cozy and 6 pints of session.

Bit # 3: I often wonder how many brewpub owners in this state wash dishes, bus tables and work their own bars.

Bit # 4: The Great British Beer Festival was this last week. There is evidence that a firkin of Union Dew from the Brewers Union survived the rigors of a Trans-Altlantic journey. I really need to get back over there someday.

Bit # 5: We're running out of beer. I'm brewing twice a week now to make up for the increased traffic and to prepare for the onslaught of Mountain Bike Oregon. Low ABV cask ale does sell.

A Real Festival

I've been invited to the Oregon Brewers Fringe Fest this coming Saturday at the Belmont Station in Portland. Some beer was invited too. This sounded so like my kind of festival that I wrangled another couple days away from the pub. That's how it should be, really; a few days away every now and again. I like seeing the words "brewer" and "founder" in the listings. There should be some good elbow-rubbing and lore-exchanging going on.

As this last weekend's Mountain Bike Oregon event decimated by ready supply of firkins, I have to be careful of what to bring so as to keep the home front steadily supplied. I'm even brewing two days in a row this week, today and tomorrow, to make sure that all those empties get filled when I get back. The selection is going to be "Wotcha", a golden Best Bitter, ABV 4.4%, and "60 Love", a hoppy amber liquid refreshment, ABV 5.4%. This last one is exactly the same as the last batch of "This Time For Sure" that was poured at the Belmont Station back in April, but using 60 Lovibond Crystal instead of 15. This will be the first cask of the batch being tapped, so I'm hoping it doesn't turn out to be rubbish.

TYNDA Rally

We had a well-behaved international motorcycle rally here back on the 26th of June. I just discovered some photos in my grainy iPhone archive. The other side of the street was equally endowed with well-loved machines. I didn't notice any Dneprs or Urals this year, but it might've been because I was pulling a lot of pints behind the bar.

Adventures in Dry Hopping

I was gently prodded by another blogger last night that I hadn't blogged in a while. I knew that, and one of these days I'll explain why (hint: long hours). I do have a backlog of exciting and provocative topics in the queue. This is one of them.

Having ready access to firkins in their beautiful simplicity, seeing as I'm the guy that washes and fills them, I recently conducted raw science on levels of dry hopping in aforementioned vessels. As you all know but I'll say it anyway, dry hopping is a way of increasing the hop aromas in that pint that you are feverishly clutching. Here at the The Brewery I use Type 90 Hop Pellets, for reasons that for the time being will remain in my queue of unposted topics. These (hint: convenient and space-saving) objects are measured out and dumped into the cask prior to hammering home the shive. The last two batches of "This Time For Sure" (BJCP style designation: Hoppy Pale Liquid Refreshment) employed 50g of Cascade/firkin. Batch 3 was the victim of true science, for I bunged 100g in one of the eight casks, and another received 150g.

Take Home Lesson: Don't do it; unless you want to annoy the publican attempting to draw the first few pints. It clogs up the hop filter at the end of the tap, and seems to get stuck in other things as well. After a couple water rinses through the line and a few pints dispensed in the time-honored gravity method out of the cask, a normal state of dispense was achieved. The gravity pints, albeit delicious, were left with a thick green sludge at the bottom.

I'm brewing another batch today, since somebody drank the last eight casks. I think I'll try 75g/firkin this time, across the board.

In Anticipation of Summer

It's not here yet. Last year at this time there was a bright shiny object up in the sky. Vitamin D was plentiful. Trails were dry. Campgrounds were full. The woods were heaving with happy boots, spokes, fishing poles and small watercraft. But sadly, we've lost our Winter season due to lack of snow and now our Spring and Summer has been delayed for six weeks due to a surfeit of precipitation. Nevertheless, in anticipation of the outdoor patio saturated with satisfied punters, I now have three session beers on the pumps, and will be brewing another probably this weekend. 20 oz. pints that are 4% and under usually sell for $4.50 here.

Currently pouring:

• Cwrw Bach, a Welsh Mild, ABV 3.6%


• Black Wooly Jumper, a Dry Irish Stout, ABV 3.7%


• Bob's Yer Uncle, a Bitter brewed with a Belgian ale yeast, ABV 4.0%

along with the other usual suspects.

Cargo, Revisited

Another trip to Portland, a month after the last one. Extraordinary. Sometimes it takes a couple of months before I can get away. I have yet another opportunity to revisit last month's fantasy, but I suspect I'll just forge ahead and do The Right Thing (tm) and deliver the goods as promised. This time I'm off to a Meet-the-Brewer event at the Green Dragon that I was talked into against my better judgment, and then another cask over to the friendly folks at Belmont Station.

I hope Portland is ready for this stuff. It's plain, ordinary, mundane session beer. Nothing ridiculous, over-hopped, mega-gravity or imbued with lynx droppings. Nothing aged in one of Leo Kottke's old Taylor 12-strings for eight months. No exotic herbs flown in from Ouagadougou. No cold-filtration through artisan-designed glassware embracing dust from the tombs of the Pharaohs. These ales were designed for quaffing. Six pints (UK) in a long evening session would be typical. Get ready for a nice easy session Porter that uses, get this, chocolate and crystal malts. And don your sensible, sturdy pub trousers for a malty special bitter. And buckle your seatbelts, because I also have a 3.6% mild that uses a dash of peated malt. This last tipple is a pilot batch for a Welsh Mild that didn't come out quite as malty as I'd like, underscoring the difficulty in producing flavorful sub-4% ales. I'll be revisiting it this summer with some tweeks. Try a pint on Thursday and tell me (really) what you'd do to make it better.

This blog entry is brought to you by snacks, snifters and samples (thanks Steve) at Block 15. Lessee: a Chipotle Chocolate Stout, Hoppy Session Red, Super Aboriginale freestyle and the Ferme de La Villa Saison. These guys are monsters. Additionally, I'm here to swap off some Brewers Union casks for some B-15 casks. In about two weeks "This Time For Sure" might be on the B-15 pumps, and we'll be dispensing some of the Corvallis gold.