Moments Like This

There aren't enough moments like this. It's about 9:00 on a Friday night. There are three musicians in the house, playing sometimes separately, sometimes together. Unlike many nights when there is live music at the pub, there are actually people listening and enjoying. There is a boisterous pool game going on on the other side of the partial wall, seen through the windows from where I'm sitting way in the back by the office. Off at the end of the bar are some lively conversations. There are a couple of ladies dancing in the parlor, seen through another set of windows. The Cranium game in the Henhouse has been going on for hours, and is still going strong. And as I continue scanning this unlikely public house in the middle of timber country, I see tables covered with Imperial pints of locally brewed cask-conditioned ale, the overwhelming beverage of choice. There aren't enough moments like this.

Tricks to Get Away For a Spell

One must get out once in a while, for the sake of sanity, well-being and a proper recharge, so fortunately there are festivals and tastings coming up. Tomorrow I haul a cask up to Belmont Station in Stumptucky for the opening of their 14th Anniversary weekend. I jumped on the opportunity when asked. So, Friday I get to draw a firkin of Quid Hoc Sibi Vult, as well as sampling the other interesting wares. Going up on a Thursday to get the cask settling means I have an evening to spend at the Highland Stillhouse on St. Patrick's Day. I'll be good.

There are other escapes in the works. The 4th Annual Firkin Fest at the Green Dragon is coming up on the 16th of April. Looks like the offerings have crept up to 30 breweries. I'm betting I'll be bringing the ale with the lowest ABV.

The beginning of May marks the advent of the first Eugene Beer Week, culminating in the annual Sasquatch Brew Fest. I don't know if I'll be at Sasquatch, as it's hard for a brewery of my size to attend festivals that expect donated beer, but there are some rumblings about some firkins being liberated at 16 Tons. It's nice to see the Southern Willamette Valley making some noise. Why should Portland get all the attention?

Another interesting invite this year was the 5th Annual Festival of Arts and Wine .... and Beer! at the Mount Angel Abbey in June. I tried to pencil out how I could attend, but this is a limited attendance event and I had doubts that 3 oz. servings for 500 to 700 people would be sufficient to drain two casks. It would've been more for my own benefit in engaging in a breather, and, from what I was told, the interest and benefit of the monks who have a certain fondness for their ale of a traditional nature. A shame, that is; I would've liked to have spent a week in their library.

Now as the pub is winding down on a quiet Wednesday night, I'm scratching this entry out between casks on the cask washer for a filling early tomorrow morning. Then a quick packing up of the portable real ale kit and I'm on the road. I'll be missing the festivities at the pub tomorrow, what with the St. Patrick's Day release of the last, six month old cask of Tanninbomb, but I can at last test it out tonight before wiring it up to the pumps. It's up to you to have a pint tomorrow, so don't be a slacker.

Silent Movie

I would've figured, what with the three people coming around the KLCC Microbrew Festival to our booth festooned with gadgetry, that at least SOMETHING I said was worthwhile. Oh, well, at least we got a moment of dispense.

Au Naturel

Wow. Almost a month since my last post. Some might think this as either a sign of being too busy, or maybe just a lack of compelling material. Truth is, I started several posts and have subsequently deemed them to be rubbish. But now I sit in a pub in Eugene in anticipation of the opening of the KLCC Microbrew Festival. Once again we are down here in Eugene trying to cool casks with ice blankets and artfully fielding questions like, "is that a nitro tap?"

This year's collaboration (or collabrewation, as I like to call it) beer is right up my alley. Those brewery type folks what attended the meetings that I couldn't go to decided we should all brew a sessionable pale using a single malt and a single hop. Each brewery was to choose a different hop and use their house yeast. I am now working with Wyeast London ESB (WY1968). I was, of course, curious how the gray matter of a West Coast brewer would interpret the concept of sessionable. Would Ninkasi produce a 6% pale using Citra, for instance? I shot for a nice low ABV session (or ordinary) bitter using U.S. Challenger. 130 lbs. Gleaneagles Maris Otter went into a 2 UK BBL batch, with 1.2 Kg Challenger at the top of the boil and two 0.2 Kg drops toward the end. Talk about pale. It's a bit deceiving, though, as it comes across nice and spicy/bitter, with a wee little malty note towards the end. All this at 3.2% ABV. I decided to call it "Au Naturel".

I had the pleasure last night of popping over to Oakshire last night where a gaggle of the brewers brought over jars and growlers of their batches. The naked malt and hop flavors and aromas make for interesting comparisons, as the distractions of specialty malts or hop cocktails are absent.

In less than an hour I head over for the opening shift. I like to have myself and/or my staff present to serve, so we are well represented and can handle questions. We are also pulling a cask of "Mutt", which I hoarded just for the festival, much to the chagrin of some or our regular customers. Hope to see you at the festival. I'll be there for the full two days this year, as there is no conflict with productions from my local theater group.

Production Is UP!

I've just finished the last TTB (Tax and Trade Bureau - i.e. The Gummit) brewpub report for the year 2010. I'm only a few days late, no biggie. This is a quarterly report that states (a) how much beer was produced in the brewery, and (b) how much was removed for "tax determination", i.e. we drank it. Eagerly, I tallied up the production numbers for the four quarters of 2010, and am delighted to declare that we have busted the 100 BBL mark. For 2009 we only cranked out 92.07 BBL. 2010 witnessed a staggering production of 104.64 BBL, an increase of 14%. Cask ale is on the rise. For all you British readers out there, these BBL figures employ our pathetic American barrel measure; the equivalent Imperial Barrel measure is 75 BBL, or 21,600 proper pints of elixir.

As you can see, there is much work ahead of us for 2011. Let's shoot for 200 BBL. Sounds outrageous? Well, it is, but who wants to give up now. See you at the pub.

2011, Late at Night

I was going to say that it just doesn't end, but it does. The pub was closed today, albeit without second-hand complaints from a few, but it was nice to take a day off. Well, most of one. While the door is locked, there is still a lot of pottering about that takes place.

It's late night on the first of the year. I'm not prone to making "best-of's" or collective summaries just because a number increases by one, but was sitting at my favorite pub table near the bar, armed with notepads and the trusty computer and bits of whatnot, and got an inspiration to take a grainy iPhone photo of the dormant bar and environs. It had a nice peaceful look to it, resting up for another year of the social melee. There is year-end inventory to deal with right now, and my accountant has made a number of demands about cash-on-hand and mileage and so forth. I find it a bit petty, myself, but one must at least hazard a dance with the rules, or at a minimum flirt with them across the dance floor from the comfort of the punch bowl and the attractive platter housing the cheese and cracker selection. Also, our New Years Eve party, full of lively locals and winter revelers and replete with the bluesy strains from Kip (who played for 4.75 hours) drained a couple firkins of ale that needed tending to tonight. Fear not, the stillage is stocked and the pumps should be flowing tomorrow for the last day of the Winter Break.

After going a month without being able to brew due to lack of funds, a bit of money was scraped together for another pallet of grain. The Big Winter Stout is finally in the fermenter. Yep, I'm just starting to brew the winter beers now. Winter's not over; just getting going. The opening of the ski season on Thanksgiving weekend resulted in the increase of the amount of brass in the coffers to the point that it once again doesn't feel hopeless playing the publican in this wayward town up in the mountains. In the long dark teatime of November I couldn't help but think about just packing the pub up and moving it to a more populated domain. Now, just looking at this temporarily dormant little block building on First Street, with the beat-up furniture and the weathered Mac Court floor and those enticing England Worthside pumps on the bar.... I think I'll see what happens tomorrow. Tenacity. I have a little bit left, and if I want to appear borderline sane tomorrow I must finish up here with the stuff behind the scenes that doesn't end and get some sleep, because 2011 awaits. See you at the pub.

There and Back Again

This last week was consumed with traveling to Upstate New York and back, my old stomping grounds. It was my parent's 50th wedding anniversary, which cleverly coincided with mine and my sister's birthdays. Outbound was a drive to Portland for the red-eye involving Houston and Newark before landing at the diminutive Ithaca Tompkins Regional (used to be County) Airport. The return, given Delta's reluctance in getting airborne when scheduled, involved cramming us into standby's that featured Detroit and Atlanta before getting back to Stumptucky. I was reminded of a story by The Onion whilst in transit. Needless to say, I took any opportunity I could to sample a refreshing beverage.

There certainly are more options in Ithaca than when I left there almost 20 years ago. Names like Saranac, Southern Tier and Magic Hat were evident. It was good so see that the Ithaca Beer Company was still around, and my perception was that the brews were better than the last time I was in the area around five years ago. If only they wouldn't serve them so cold. The old Chapter House, which actually housed a small brewery back in the late eighties and early nineties dispensed the best pint I think I had while in Ithaca; the Ithaca Beer Company's Flower Power IPA. This was partially due, I think, to it being served at a decent temperature and not over-carbonated. It was also nice to see that they finally fixed the lights in the sign.

Back in Portland, I had a chance to visit a few places in search of cask, a concept lacking in the Finger Lakes region of New York. The Bridgeport Ale House on Hawthorne was suggested by Mr. Beervana, and as I had never been there I gave it a go. The Bridgeport IPA on cask tasted just like the pint I had a couple years ago at the modernized restaurant and brewery on Marshall. There's something dry and metallic about it that puts me off a little. The Ebenezer, however, was decent. I didn't even mind the atmosphere that much. After hitting Powell's, I had to pop over a few blocks to the Deschuttes gaff, since I know it has decent cask. It did - a drop of the classic ESB. Measure was off, though, but I didn't complain about not getting my entire 0.5 liter as I didn't feel like getting glared at.

Next up is a (wishful thinking) return to England to revisit proper pubs and to refresh my palatte. Cash and check donations for the travel fund can be sent to the pub via USPS or hand-delivered.