in other words
july13
2010
Another Round: More Words of Wisdom About Beer
By Scott Laird
“A fine beer
may be judged
with only one
sip, but it’s
better to be
thoroughly
sure.”--Czech
Proverb
Where Have You Been?-- Several
Vernonia’s Voice readers have recently
asked me, “What happened to the beer
column?” Well, ever since we started
publishing twice each month-- well, it’s
not that I haven’t been able to find time
to drink beer-- that’s not a problem-- but
it sure has been hard making time to
write about it. Anyway, while talking
on the phone to my my teetotaling father
who lives in Pennsylvania the other day,
he brought up that even he noticed that
Another Round has been MIA; I figured
it must be time to get back to writing
about beer. So here you go.
NAOBF, Our Favorite Fest-- We had
a chance to attend the North American
Organic Brewers Festival again this year
and had a really good time. Held on the
last weekend of June every year in North
Portland’s Overlook Park, this festival
just keeps getting better and better with
age, like a good cast conditioned stout.
Outdoors, with lots of space to spread
out, this is my favorite Portland festival
to attend. We went late on Saturday
afternoon and the lines were a little
long, but in general this is still a well-
organized and accessible beer fest with
some interesting beers to try. There
were a bunch of IPA’s and Belgians, as
was expected, and this year there were
a couple of hard ciders that were kind
of refreshing because it was a very hot
day. And even us dark beer aficionados
found some tasty brews to try. A couple
of favorites: People’s Porter, a Coffee
Porter from Santa Cruz Mountain
Brewery was smooth and full-bodied
with a very strong coffee nose and
flavor. The Elliot Bay Vanilla Bean
Organic Stout was an Oatmeal Stout
that was rich and creamy, well-rounded
with, surprise!, a strong vanilla flavor
to it. Black Gold Porter by Ambacht
Brewing in Hillsboro was spicy and
kind of sour, but interesting. And the
Mud Puddle, a Chocolate Porter from
Oakshire Brewing in Eugene, which
is quickly becoming one of my favorite
breweries, was excellent-- complex,
smooth and balanced with a really nice
finish.
Don’t Forget-- The Oregon Brewers
Festival is July 22 through the 25th-
- The 23rd Annual Oregon Brewers
Festival will once again be held at Tom
McCall Waterfront Park in Portland.
Always the last full weekend in July,
times are: Thursday through Saturday--
noon to 9:00 P.M. and Sunday from
noon to 7:00 P.M. One of the nation’s
longest-running and best-loved craft
beer festivals, it is the premier summer
event for anyone who loves craft beer,
and is the ideal venue to relax with
friends and sip some suds.
The Oregon Brewers Festival is a
true reflection on the immense popularity
of American craft brewing, and the fact
that the festival continues to draw vast
crowds 23 years after its inception is a
strong testament to the public’s loyalty
toward craft brews. The purpose of the
Oregon Brewers Festival has always
been to provide an opportunity to
sample and learn about craft beer. The
number of breweries participating has
more than quadrupled from the first
year, now with 81 craft breweries from
across the county showcasing a score
of beer styles ranging from Amber
to Wit. Volunteers (now numbering
2,000) pour the beer, industry exhibitors
explain key ingredients, homebrewers
visually describe their craft with on-site
brewing, and vendors offer beer-related
merchandise.
Make sure to mark your
calendar, beer lovers, and stop by to
support Oregon craft beers.
within. So I ended up waiting tables at a
McMenamins in Salem, volunteering in
the brewery and starting to brew at home
to get more experience. And things
lined up and a position opened up at the
Roadhouse and I was able to get it. It
just all worked out for me.
VV: How much do you get to
experiment with creating your own
recipes?
13
tap, because at each one the brewer has
that kind of creative control. If I was
working at another brewery in Oregon,
your only hope would be to work your
way up and eventually become the
head brewer because everyone brews
his recipes. What I love about working
at McMenamins is I get to involve
creativity in my job on a weekly basis.
VV: What else do you like about your
job?
Brady: Growing up on
a ranch, I really liked the
physical labor. There’s
something about working
hard, feeling tired at the end of
the day and knowing you’ve
accomplished something.
But, unfortunately, working
on a ranch you don’t know
if you’ve accomplished
anything by the end of the
day; because of the whims of
the market or the weather, it
could all be for naught. For
me, the ideal job involves
physical labor, it would
involve a tangible product--
a product that makes people
happy, and something that
involves creativity where I
use my mind as well as my
body in my work. It just
happens that the process of
making beer involves those three things.
Beer is great, but being a brewer has
really been fulfilling in more ways than I
would have guessed.
My Buddy Brady, Part I-- I recently
met a new couple that moved here
to Vernonia in January. It turns out
that Brady Romtvedt is a professional
beer brewer-- he brews beer at the
McMenamins Cornelius Pass Road
House. Brady and I have starting hanging
out a bit-- We watched some World Cup
soccer together, play Ping Pong at his
house or sometimes on Sundays at the
Cedar Side, went to a Portland Timbers
game and I even got to meet his parents
when they were in town visiting. (His
Mom is a wicked Ping Pong player-- She
shows no mercy!) And, occasionally, we
drink some beer together. (Actually, we
Brady:
One of the great
drank beer during all those previous- things about working at McMenamins,
mentioned activities!)
as opposed to another brewery in the
I sat down recently with Brady state, is the incredible license they give
and, over a bottle of Deschutes Brewing their brewers to come up with their
“Once-A-Decade Ale” (part of their own recipes. For example, me and my VV: As a brewer you spend a lot of
Jubel series), had a little Q & A about brewing partner, Chris Osgood, have time by yourself, it’s kind of a solitary
brewing and beer. The
eleven taps to fill at the job, right?
following is Part I of my
Roadhouse. And we’re Brady: It is, and that’s another thing
I went to
conversation with my
brewing four company that I enjoy. I can have social interaction
school for a
buddy Brady.
recipes all the time-- by going over to the Roadhouse and
Vernonia’s Voice:
couple of years so I’m always brewing seeing how my beers are pouring. Each
What do think of this
Ruby,
Hammerhead, month, we have our Last Wednesday keg
over in Texas
“Once-A-Decade Ale?”
Terminator and whatever release where the brewers hangout and
and ... hey,
Brady: It has a
the seasonal is. But even talk to people when they drink our beers
some places
beautiful, deep red, garnet
something like IPA, and talk to local home brewers, so I get
don’t really
color and a handsome
the northwest’s most a chance to do that. And I still get the
have beer like popular beer, they allow chance to do beer education where I go
deep tan head. It has a
wonderful complexity on
each brewer to come and talk to the servers in the company
we do here in
the nose, it smells like a
the northwest. up with his or her own about the beer, about how to serve the
beer that has been aged.
India Pale Ale. So, at beer, about how to promote the beer.
It has a wonderful malt
the Roadhouse, we have But ultimately, I have a job where I can
sweetness and sort of a licorice finish seven taps where the recipe is up to arrive as early as I want if it’s a hot day
on the tongue. I detect a high level us. So a little more than half the time, in the summer, I can listen to music and
of alcohol without it tasting hot like I’m brewing something that is my own I have my own space-- where it’s really
a young beer would. There is a lot of recipe. And what it does is, it creates my brewery.
malt, but the alcohol content is hiding a really interesting beer world. Right
and balancing the sweetness well. It’s now, if you look at all the different
Look for Part II of “My Buddy
got a little bit of oak-aged flavor. The McMenamins pubs and breweries, there Brady” in the next issue of Vernonia’s
mouth feel is wonderful-- it has some could be a hundred different beers on Voice, July 27th.
nice burnt sugars, like a candied plum.
A really delightful beer!
VV: So, tell us about how you
got into brewing?
Brady: I got into brewing
mostly because I really liked beer. I’m
not necessarily a big beer drinker, but
I went to school for a couple of years
over in Texas and that was kind of a
wake-up call that-- hey, some places
Sat, 7/17
Rockin’ Blues
don’t really have beer like we do here
in the northwest. So, coming back, I
CD Release Party
Thur, 7/22
really set out to understand beer better.
(No Live Music 7/23-24 during Run 21)
So I started going around with my
Sat, 7/31
Rockin’ Blues
wife and buddies to different breweries
and kept a tasting log and talked with
Sat, 8/7
Classic Rock & Roll
different brewers when I could. One
7-10PM All Dates
of my motorcycle riding buddies was
Café open Wed-Sun 9am-4pm, Serving Breakfast & Lunch
a brewer for McMenamins and he told
Dinner on music nights Closed Mon-Tue
me that brewing is a pretty tough field
Grocery & Liquor Store Mon-Sat 8am-6pm, Sun 9am-5pm
to break into, but that McMenamins was
11139 Highway 202
(503) 755-2722
a good company that liked to hire from
Birkenfeld
Store and Café
Liv
Mus e
ic!
“Megan James Band”
“Lock Stock & Barrel”
“Bolt Upright”
“Lynn Conover Band”
