This is the HOTV Brewsletter
VOLUME XXVII, NUMBER 9
September 2007
PRESIDENT: Royal Williard
VICE PRESIDENT: Bill Baxter
TREASURER: Mike Gallagher
FESTIVAL CZAR: Scott Caul
NEWSLETTER EDITOR: Dan Crall
LITTER CZAR: Kristen Taylor
Greetings to all.
September is here and Fall seems to be in the air...
almost. To welcome a fresh season and celebrate what
brings us all together, we will be meeting this month
at the home of Eric "Howie" Howard. Directions are:
From Albany or Corvallis-
Take Hwy 20 to Scenic Dr.
Go up over the hill.
Go through stop.
Take second left on 25th St.
Take second right on Quince St.
Our house is up a block and a half on the right.
2687 NW Quince St.
phone 541-791-1346
If you are interested in carpooling, send an email to
the list at hotv@peak.org
LAST MONTH'S PICNIC/MEETING
The Club had its annual summer picnic at NW Corvallis'
MLK Park. A number of club members showed up for a
good time with good folks, and great food from Smokin
B's BBQ of Albany. We missed some of you, but hey,
there's always THIS month's meeting.
Some business was discussed amidst the raffles and
other madhouse-esque moments. Our president, Royal
Willard, has accepted a position in Portland and has
handed over the presidential duties to former Vice
President Bill Baxter. Michael Hoppe, our gracious
Winter Holiday party host, has taken over Vice
Presidential duties for now. And despite the lack of
a drawn-out, sideways opening line in this newsletter,
I am still the Newsletter Editor. We also have a new
litter czar, Pete Petryczak. If you would, please
hold your applause until the end of the Newsletter.
Speaking of the Holiday party, we are still planning
to hold our winter brew competition the day of the
party, and save contest leftovers for the evening.
Whoever thought of that was brilliant (Bob Saathoff).
More details to come soon.
Doug and Mare made an announcement about the opening
date at Calapooia Brewing for their Best in Show Award
Winning brew, Pirate’s Plunder Pale Ale. No word at
this point how the opening night went, but having
tasted this beer myself, I can guess there was a room
full of satisfied people. I found a mention of the
opening night at the Calapooia blog site.
http://www.calapooiabrewing.com/blog/
It's within the first couple paragraphs of the site,
and was written before the event. Congrats and thank
you to Doug and Mare for getting such a fine brew out
to the public! There is still plenty available at
Calapooia for at least a few weeks, according to Mark,
the owner. If you haven't had a chance, head on down
and have a pint (or two).
HOP MADNESS
Event date was September 1st and 2nd at the Willamette
Mission State Park.
By Christy Schnitzler
On Saturday, September 1, numerous homebrewers from
around the Pacific Northwest descended on beautiful
Willamette Mission State Park, about 8 miles north of
Salem, to get serious about hops. This region is one
of the three main hop-producing regions of the country
- about 15% of all the hops in the U.S. are produced
here. The other two major regions are Yakima Valley,
Washington (77%) and Idaho (8%). Dave Wills of
Freshops and Oregon Trail Brewery started this event
in 2003 and it has developed into a well-run weekend
of hops and fun.
Once we arrived and paid our entry fee ($10/adult;
$15/couple) and set up our tent, we were entitled (in
fact encouraged) to sample any of the brews from the
numerous homebrew clubs set up around the campgrounds,
and to harvest some fresh hops from vines that Dave
had brought that morning from a local farm; available
varieties were Cascade, Mt. Hood, and Nugget. Next up
was the Hop Tour - a tour of active hop harvest at a
local farm led by Dave. First stop was just down the
road at a local farm where we got a close-up view of
hop vines in all their glory. Dave gave a very
informative, informal talk about hop farming in the
Willamette Valley and answered many questions from the
large crowd. We got a chance to walk around and check
out the hops at our leisure. Howie even harvested
some wild hops of his own for use in a brew that
evening from the side of the road! Next, we proceeded
to the processing plant to see the harvest in action.
This part of the tour was very exciting as we
witnessed the hops as they were processed through
every step from separating them from the vine to
dehydrating them, to packaging them in large bales.
We learned that the price of hops in 2007 increased
over 400% from 2006, mainly due to a worldwide
shortage of hops this year. It’s a good time to be a
hop farmer! We also learned how representatives from
breweries sample the hops to decide how many bales
they will buy.
With all of our new knowledge of hops, we headed back
to the campsite with a fierce thirst for some hoppy
brew. We spent the afternoon harvesting hops, meeting
fellow homebrewers from Portland, Bend and Vancouver,
WA, tasting lots of delicious homebrew and brewing.
There was even one brewer who also brought a smoker
and offered samples of his yummy smoked meats
including ribs and turkey!
Part of our job as participants as we wandered from
campsite to campsite was to cast our vote for the
People’s Choice award. Some of us also participated
as judges in the judged part of the Best Damn Hoppy
Beer contest. There were no style guidelines for this
competition – it just had to be hoppy! There were two
groups of 8 judges and each group decided on the top
two homebrews from about 10 tastings. In the end, the
People’s Choice award went for a brew called Alpha
Hawg made by a COHO Club member and the Judged
competition went to another COHO member. The recipe
for the winning brew will be posted on the hopmadness
website (http://www.hopmadness.com/recipes/). As the
night wore on, we continued to enjoy drinking and
brewing hoppy beer in the great outdoors.
Hop Madness is one of the best homebrewing events ever
– it is well-organized, relaxed, fun, interesting and
you can sample multiple brews without worrying how you
will get home. I highly recommend putting it on your
calendar for next year and making it an annual
tradition. Many thanks to Dave Wills and everyone
else who put on this great event!
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REMEMBERING MICHAEL JACKSON
The well-known, well respected beer expert Michael
Jackson passed away on the morning of August 30, 2007
in his London Home. He was battling Parkinson's
Disease along with other health problems. Despite the
ailments, he remained active in the beer scene,
speaking at beer and whisky events around the world
and most recently, addressing British beer writers
before the Great British Beer Festival. He wrote
about the past year in his last column for All About
Beer Magazine, now available online at
http://www.allaboutbeer.com/
Memorial Site with information on the national toast
on September 30th, a link to a video of his last
recorded interview and other resources.
http://michaeljacksonthebeerhunter.blogspot.com/
Beertown site, including short article and tributes to
Michael Jackson
http://www.beertown.org/michaeljackson/
OregonLive Article, "R.I.P. Michael Jackson" by John
Foyston
http://blog.oregonlive.com/thebeerhere/2007/08/rip_michael_jackson.html
UPCOMING FRESH HOP BEER TASTIVALS
By Lisa Donoughe
LAD communications
This Fall the Oregon Brewers Guild is partnering with
Oregon Bounty to produce a series of "Tastivals" to
celebrate the release of Oregon’s fresh hop beers.
These much anticipated seasonal beers are brewed only
once a year during hop harvest, which typically takes
place in late August and early September. Beers
created using fresh hops instead of traditional dried
hops are given unique flavors that simply aren’t
available the rest of the year. Similar to a beer
festival, each of the four "Tastivals" will offer
visitors the opportunity to sample some of the more
than 30 beers from across the state crafted using
fresh-off-the-vine hops.
"Fresh hops are extremely fragile and need to be dried
or used in a brew within 24 hours of picking- so this
type of beer is uniquely suited to Oregon where we
have the largest amount of aroma and flavor hops grown
locally," says Brian Butenschoen, Executive Director
of the Oregon Brewers Guild. "Nowhere else in the
United States are so many breweries located so close
to the hop fields. The tastivals will give hop
enthusiasts an opportunity to celebrate harvest by
tasting the enormous variety of fresh hops grown in
Oregon and made into beers by Oregon’s craft brewers."
Fresh Hop "Tastivals" will be held every Saturday
during the month of October with scheduled locations
including:
- October 6- Hood River Hops, Hood River
- October 13- McMenamins Edgefield, Troutdale
- October 20- Ninkasi Brewing Company, Eugene
- October 27- Deschutes Brewery, Bend
Admission to the Tastivals is free of charge. Souvenir
tasting glasses are required to sample beers and are
available for $5. Beer samples are $1 each. Food will
also be available for purchase.
For more information about the tastivals or seasonal
fresh hop beers please visit
http://www.traveloregon.com/Bounty
The Oregon Brewers Guild is Oregon’s non-profit trade
association for the state’s independent breweries. The
Guild, which receives no state funding, comprises 49
breweries, 30 associate or supplier members and more
than 1,750 enthusiast members or S.N.O.B.s (Supporters
of Native Oregon Beer). For more information, see
www.oregonbeer.org
About Oregon Bounty
Each October and November, Oregon's winemakers, cheese
makers, brewmasters, chefs, growers and producers come
together for a celebration of Oregon Bounty. In
addition to intimate food and wine events, visitors
can purchase special packages that offer them
one-on-one time with Oregon's culinary talent.
Visitors can spend the day making wine with an Oregon
vintner, making suds with a craft brewmaster, foraging
for chanterelles in Mt. Hood's foothills-even cruising
a farmers' market with a local chef in search of
ingredients for a private cooking class. It's
all part
of the annual Oregon Bounty Celebration.
SEPTEMBER/EARLY OCTOBER BEER EVENTS
This time of year is, in my humble opinion, the best
time for beer festivals and events. It's not too hot
or cold, and there is a crisp feeling in the air that
seems to fit the Fall brew bodies perfectly. You put
on a light jacket or sweatshirt, sip a beer with color
and seasonal significance while looking at the moonlit
sky and dwindling twilight. You can't beat that. But
nothing is worse that setting out for a journey only
to find out the event's been cancelled. Double check
with venues, especially on smaller events, and
remember to drink responsibly if you are driving.
I've seen nothing but responsible discretion used at
club events, etc., but this is just a friendly
reminder.
My apologies for not being able to track down any
Oregon events, but my usual sources didn't list
anything. Refer to the above article on "Tastivals"
for a few Oregon events, all in October. If you know
of any others that I missed, please let us all know!
Hop Fest 2007 - Seattle, WA
Now until Sep 14
http://www.ratebeer.com/events-detail.asp?eventID=6280
1st Annual Oktoberfest (WA Beer Commission) - Kenmore,
WA
Sep 14
http://beeradvocate.com/events/info/14705
Fremont Oktoberfest - Seattle, WA
Sep 21-23
http://www.ratebeer.com/events-detail.asp?eventID=6271
Rosh Hashana He'Brew Tasting - Federal Way, WA
Sep 23
http://www.ratebeer.com/events-detail.asp?eventID=6084
Fresh Hop Ale Festival - Yakima, WA
Oct 6
http://www.ratebeer.com/events-detail.asp?eventID=5757
Great American Beer Festival - Denver, CO
Oct 11-13
http://www.beertown.org/events/gabf/index.htm
OREGON'S CRAFT BREW OBSESSION
How is it that we in Oregon enjoy more breweries per
capita than any other state in the Union?
Is it the state's freshly grown ingredients? Or,
perhaps it's because Oregonians appreciate a finely
wrote craft brew as much as a glass of Oregon pinot
noir.
There's no debate that we love to brag about our
microbrew beers and invite visitors to try a taste
test. We're confident many will leave the mass
produced national lagers behind.
Read more at
http://www.oregon.com/beer/mystique.cfm
Article includes words from Kevin King of Amnesia
Brewing in Portland
 © 1995-2008 HOTV
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