Muscles Flexed at the Firkin Fest

It's big beers again; I have to admit to being a little disappointed. Not that the beers listed aren't going to be any good - I'm sure they will be spectacular mostly - but whatever happened to subtlety in this country? What I'm talking about is the Oregon Brewers Guild Firkin Fest 2009 in Portland next weekend. It was nice that I was asked to participate, since this is what I do - authentic British cask-conditioned real ale, liberated naturally from 9 UK gallon firkins.

Check out the list. It's all typical big muscle stuff that we've come to expect from the Pacific Northwest, and this comes across to this ale snob as out of balance. Let's be different, but not just for difference's sake but for the sake of authenticity and variety. Not only are we the only participants with ABV's below 5%, but we get to bring two (!) casks. Other differences that I hope will become apparent to the punters is that the owner and brewer is serving (instead of volunteers), and that beer engines with <gasp> sparklers will be employed. This will be a lot of fun. I haven't had a day off since the 19th of January, so I'm due for a little breather away from the daily spectacle.

But, alas, subtlety. Sigh. I had hopes for a nice pint of a dark mild, or a fruity bitter, or a simple porter that doesn't have to posture about with a mocha-laden 5.2% ABV. I think I'm due for a trip back to England - anyone want to run the pub for a few weeks?

Festal Virgin

We were invited to attend the KLCC Microbrew Festival at the Eugene Fairgrounds, which starts today. Since this is the USA of America, everyone will be dragging in and setting up jockey boxes and kegs of ice cold beer. Everbody but us, that is.

This is to be our first festival since we opened back in August. While I don't really like this particular festival, primarily because of the high entry fee and the impersonal nature of it (e.g. volunteers that can't answer questions about the beer they are pouring), I thought it would be a good opportunity to get some exposure and to start learning how to cellar the beer on the road. For starters, this means that I had to get permission to enter the exhibit hall the night before the festival opens in order to set up my portable stillage. This permission was, fortunately, granted, and my friend Dave Adams and I gained access at around 6:00 PM last night. I had purchased four cheapo wooden fixed stillages (can that word be used in the plural?) from UK Brewing, and we laid our children to rest for the night on the flimsy little tables in a dead empty exhibit hall.

The next problem came about with realizing that clamping two beer engines to the aforementioned flimsy tables had a couple of near impractibilities: too low and too flimsy. Dave said he would tinker about his shop, as he works for a sheet metal company, and see if something can be fabricated or modified. As it is now opening day, Dave says that I should have something available this afternoon that can clamp to the table and elevate the hand pulls.

The exhibit hall was left without heating overnight, which was to our benefit. When I went in this morning to check the internal temperature, I got a reading of 12° C. I have attended and/or worked at three real ale festivals in the UK, and have a little bit of an idea as to how to regulate the temperature. I hastily crafted a set of ice saddles out of ziplock baggies and clothespins that should work just fine.

More pictures to come later today, as things get further set up and the festival opens. Unfortunately for me, I have to be onstage for the local theater group tonight and tomorrow, so I will be driving the hour back up to Oakridge, going onstage, dying, and then rushing back to Eugene.