Back From O.B.F.

The Oregon Brewer's Festival is officially over and boy did I have fun! I'll be posting over the next few days as soon as I decompress a little. 4 days of great beer, awesome people and beautiful weather can really take it out of you.

Everyone say hi to Anheuser-Busch InBev

Just finished my first cup of coffee and was a little surprised by this. It looks like Anheuser-Busch and InBev have released a joint press release stating that they have come to terms on a merger. The New York Times article is pretty through and does a good job at giving you an idea of the complexity of this deal. Basically the main reason that I am even posting about this is that InBev has nearly ruined several of the smaller brands it has acquired in the past, but lucky for me my favorites (at least my InBev favorites) were saved from ruin at the last minute, specificlly Hoeegarden, which was bought by InBev who then moved the brewery. Long story short, you can't move a brewery that has been a single towns most prominent source of income for decades and expect for things to be ok.

That being said InBev has promised to not move or change A-B's beers, breweries, or production plants...we'll see.

Oregon Brewers Festival here I come!

Here at Everyday Drinking, I am getting ready to visit the Oregon Brewers Festival. Its just over three weeks away. This will be my first festival and I am very excited! I hope to get a lot of good photos to share along with drinking some great beers. I think what is most exciting is that there will be a small posse of home brewers attending the festival with me so I'll be able to talk beer without needing to watch out for the glazed eyes of non-interest. I also plan to attend a homebrew session with the Oregon Brew Crew on Saturday just outside the festival grounds.

The Oregon Brewers Festival (OBF) runs from July 24th to July 27th, and this will be the 21st year of the OBF. With 72 craft breweries from 18 different states and a special 73rd beer that is a collaboration between the Oregon Brew Crew and Widmer you know there will be great beer there. The OBF gets 60,000 visitors from around the world each year. There will be exhibits from hop growers and home brewers, live music, food, collectibles, and much much more.

I also plan to visit a few of the really exciting pubs and breweries while in town as well as a short stop at John's Market and Liquid Solutions for a few bottles to bring home. That is going to be one very beery week!

A little more on Flying Dog Ales

I just finished drinking three more Flying Dog beers. First up is Old Scratch amber lager. I like a few amber ales, but most of the time I find that they are too roasty for my liking. Sadly, this was the case. I would like to say that while my personal preference is that I didn't like this beer too much, when I was opening it a friend of mine saw it and said "Oh hey, thats a good beer." We got to talking about Old Scratch and he told me that he buys a 6 pack of it quite regularly, so I can be confident that saying its worth a try, after all this is a very award winning beer.

Next is Doggie Style classic pale ale. This is a good pale ale for summer time drinking. Not too hoppy like many west coast pale ales, but still very flavorful. On the website they say its dry hopped during fermentation with "shit loads" of hops. Coming in at 35 IBUs, this 5.5% abv pale ale is hopped with Northern Brewer and Cascade, and then dry hopped with cascades.

I followed the pale ale with Flying Dog's Double Dog, a double pale ale. Wow this was an awesome beer! It weighs in at 10.5% abv and 82 IBUs. It really tasted like a barley wine with a great balance of malt and hops. I have to admit that by the time I got through this palette wrecker my tasting notes were pretty skewed, but isn't that the purpose of drinking good beer?

Overall impressions: Amber Lager was ok but its not really my style. Pale ale was pretty good, went down nicely in the heat of the day. Double pale ale is running neck and neck as my favorite Flying Dog beer (Tied with Kerberos).

Flying Dog's Kerberos Tripel

WOW! I love tripels and all too often I am disappointed. Usually they are WAY over done, but not this time. Flying Dog's Kerberos is a great example of what a tripel is all about. Strong malt backbone with a perfect balance of hops. This ale measures in at 8.5% abv and 27 I.B.U.s. Kerberos starts off with a slight sweetness that quickly moves into a well balanced hop profile with a slight spicy and dry finish. Flying Dog uses Pilsner and Aromatic malts with Goldings and Saaz hops in this bottle conditioned Belgian tripel.

Also worth mentioning is the bottle art. All of Flying Dog's brews have pretty unique bottle art. Here is a quote taken from Wikipedia "Cerberus or Kerberos was the hound of Hades, a monstrous three-headed dog with a snake for a tail and snakes down his back like a mane, whose analogs in other cultures are hellhounds. Cerberus guarded the gate to Hades and ensured that spirits of the dead could enter, but none could exit. " I'm going to leave the debate of whether or not Flying Dog intended any inference (is that the right term to use here?) to how great the beer is to a later date.

Closing thoughts: Great beer, even as it warmed up while drinking. Hops weren't too much to cover the malty backbone but enough to keep the beer from being cloyingly sweet.

Flying Dog now available in Southern Oregon

I'm home sick today, so what better time then now to post about Flying Dog Brewery! Flying Dog has recently been picked up by Gold River Distributing and their beers are quickly becoming available in the area. Flying Dog's approach to beer advertising is very much grass roots. They have great looking bottle art, witty writers for their website, email, and blog and understand the importance of technology in advertising. Even their PR correspondence is a breath of fresh air. Basically, it seems like these guys are just having fun, but what is important is that they are creating an image that appeals to a younger crowd, as an example they just started a "Text and Win" promotion.

Check back later this week for a review on several of their brews, but real quick, let me say that their ales are VERY worth while. I haven't had one that I don't like yet, nor have I seen a bottle of theirs that doesn't stand out. BTW, when a company uses bullshit@flyingdogales.com for their feedback address you know they are going to be worth checking out.

Weekly Update from Southern Oregon Brewing

(Excerpts from the Southern Oreogn Brewing Weekly Newletter)

Upcoming Events

Sasquatch BrewFest, Saturday June 7^th, in Eugene Oregon

The Southern Oregon Brewing Company “Traveling Roadshow” (a.k.a. Anders and Tom) will hit the highway next weekend to attend the annual Sasquatch BrewFest in Eugene. This is a great opportunity for us to gain more exposure in the Eugene market while supporting a very worthy cause. If you are in Eugene next weekend, come by say “hello” and have a beer with us. Check out this link for info http://www.sasquatchbrewfest.org/

Medford’s Taste of History

Saturday June 21^st, Southern Oregon Brewing Company will be participating in the annual Medford’s Taste of History. The purpose of the event is to showcase Downtown Medford and feature a walking tour of the historic buildings that had been renovated utilizing the facade grant improvement program that was funded by Medford Urban Renewal Agency. The walking tour features 19 stops with a local food and beverage (beer, wine and coffee) combination at each building on the tour. S.O.B. will be working with Jackson Creek Pizza in their restaurant at 317 E. Main as tour stop 13. If you are looking for something interesting tasty and fun, come downtown on June 21^st and have some great beer, wine and food while you learn about and celebrate the rich history of downtown Medford. Check out the website for more info. http://www.thetasteofhistory.com/home/index.html

Logo Pint Glasses are in the works!

Expect to see S.O.B. logo pint glasses in the tasting room within the next 6 weeks. They will be top of the line glassware with the classic S.O.B. round logo on the side. These will make excellent additions to your collections or wonderful gifts for your friends who aren’t lucky enough to live in Southern Oregon and drink our great beers. I will update you when they are shipped.

T-SHIRTS: New Colors and New Styles and more sizes

We have our latest shipment of S.O.B. T-shirts in stock now. We have a full supply of shirts in many colors including Prairie Dust and Stone Blue. A new style of women’s shirts is also available. Drop by and get your shirts before we run out of your size again.

BREWERY TOURS

Southern Oregon Brewing Company will continue to host scheduled tours on Saturday afternoons. If you haven’t had a chance to check out how we make beer and look at our shiny stainless steel up close and personal, this is your opportunity. This week, your tour guide will be our Head Brewer, Anders Johansen! Come get the brewer’s perspective on how the brewery operates. The tour begins at 4:00 pm and will last approximately 30 minutes. It will finish in the Tap Room where you will receive a complementary pint or sampler tray of our refreshing malt beverages or a soft drink. Kids are welcome.

TAP ROOM HOURS

Thursday 4:00-10:00
Friday 4:00-10:00
Saturday 3:00-9:00 (change)