Through the Lens of the Recycling Bin: A Psychogeography of Craft Beer

The last few weeks as I've walked around Portland I noticed that craft beer is a regular part of pretty much everyone's routine. I walk past houses where a group of people are hanging out on their front porch, chatting, and drinking bombers of Rogue. A house down the street is grilling some hamburgers and sipping on some 10 barrel bottles. I turn the corner and two ladies walk out of New Seasons carrying a six pack of Elysian while talking about how the latest beer isn't as bitter as another they had recently. Another block or so a family is watching their kid play in the yard and they're all grabbing beers from a 24 pack of Full Sail Session Lagers. I've even started taking photos of craft beer litter. The other night I discovered what may be the best way to visually describe the city's attachment to craft beer: Residential Recycling Bins!

So yeah, I decided to get a little creepy and snap pictures of people's recycling bins. The following images will give you a glimpse of how Portland does beer. Now, this is just three short blocks worth of recycling bins. Some of the bins contained no beer, but I'd say that at least half did have beer...and good looking beer at that. Let's take a look:

Deschutes Tap Takeover at Brewer's Republic on May 17th

Deschutes Brewery Tap Takeover
Fri. May 17th / 5pm
Brewer's Republic / 112 N. Nevada, Colorado Springs
Facebook Event

Seeing as how the director of Focus on the Beer is from Oregon, we figured our first "tourist tap takeover" at Brewer's Republic should be from an Oregon Brewery. In the past, Brewer's Republic has dedicated one tap handle to an outside-of-Colorado brewery and through our partnership with them we're hoping to do this on a monthly basis. On Friday, May 17th, you will be treated to one of our favorite breweries. Deschutes Brewery is located in Bend, Oregon, with an annex brewpub in Portland. Opening in 1988, the brewery has not only become a classic in the Pacific NW, its beers are still regarded as some of the best in the industry by geeks and professionals alike.

A pictorial glimpse of the Bend, Oregon, beer scene

As you may have heard, I will be moving to the pastures of Oregon. Bend, Oregon, to be exact. I had the opportunity to visit some of the more popular Bend breweries during a recent fall trip. Here are a few of the highlights that may persuade a few of you to come visit me this summer. Enjoy!

-Isaac

First stop: Boneyard Brewery.  Hey look, a mobile bar!

Vail Big Beers and the Various "Main Events" of the Festival

The Vail Big Beers Festival is like an extension of the holiday season. The holidays are always a beautiful time of the year, I look forward to them, I love traveling to see my family, I love the food, the smell of the Christmas tree, I love partying with friends on New Year's Eve, and I love that in my life time seems to slow down a bit. Luckily, when it's all over you still have this festival to look forward to, as it usually takes place within two weeks of the new year. I've attended the festival for three years in a row now, I've proclaimed loudly that it is my favorite festival, and each year I look back and cherish the two-three days I spent in Vail.

Many people call the "Commercial Tasting" the main event of the festival. This is much like other festivals where breweries set up their booths and pour small samples of beer. At this festival all the beer is over 8% and a lot of it is really specialty and hard to get stuff. But for me, this commercial tasting is not the sole reason I attend, nor is it the main event in my mind. Instead there is a diffusion of main events, multiple educational seminars, outstanding beer dinners, a gigantic mountain for skiing, and a good chance to catch up with friends from other places. These are all the "main events" of Vail Big Beers.

The Party At and Around GABF

Everyone knows that the Great American Beer Festival is a giant beer party. Hundreds of breweries around the country bring in their mainline beers and some of their best offerings for the big show. The event is amazing, you enter the convention center with tens of thousands of people as bagpipes overwhelm you with a wall of sound. People rush to the booths where the rarest beers will disappear quickly and then they set off to try beers that they can only get while at GABF. The brewers too come with excitement as they hope to snag a coveted GABF award (Huge congrats to Trinity for their Bronze in the American Brett Ale category!). While most don't win anything, I imagine no one goes home truly upset, it's practically impossible to leave GABF without a sense that you've just had the best few days of your life. Plus your liver is hurting and you spend one day recuperating, and that's also one of the best days ever.

But there's much more to GABF than meets the eye. There are literally a hundred-plus events happening around Denver that supplement the festivities. Some of them are rare beer tappings, or beers that aren't normally available to Colorado and other markets. Some are fundraisers, some are big cook-outs, some you can meet the brewers, etc. etc. etc. We went to a number of these events. In many ways we enjoyed these as much as the big event itself because they were slightly quieter and slower and that's just what we needed. So this post really is a look at the party Around GABF rather than a look At GABF.

Two Innovative Beers at Old Chicago Right Now

I was a huge fan of the Deschutes/Boulevard collaborative White IPA. I've had a few bottles of each version and I think I tended to like the Deschutes version a little more, although what do I know, the Boulevard version won a medal at GABF. The beer was different than most Belgian IPAs in that it didn't just take an IPA and use Belgian yeast, it took a Belgian Wit, with coriander, lemongrass, and sage and seamlessly merged it with a NW IPA. The beer was perhaps one of the most drinkable experimental beers of 2011. Well, I recently read that Deschutes will be releasing Chainbreaker White IPA into it's flagship lineup because the beer has done so well in Oregon. This version was actually an early attempt at the collaboration and is more hop forward than the one we got to try here. Sounds awesome! So, on twitter, I asked Deschutes when we'll get to see this beer and they said it's already here...At Old Chicago!