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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (July 2, 2015)
BEER BEAT The latest news in brews and brewing BY AMY SCHNEIDER AND ALEX V. CIPOLLE et’s face it, we all have a little Homer Simpson in us, and sometimes leaving the house to replenish the beer supply is just too much. Enter ManCäve Brewing Company: “Give us a call and we’ll deliver your beer,” co-owner Brandon Woodruff says. As of early June, ManCäve officially has its license to do same-day home deliveries through OLCC’s Malt Beverage Delivery Privilege program. ManCäve will now deliver six packs, 12 packs and growlers within a 2-mile radius of the brewery (540 Fillmore St. in Eugene). “No one else is doing it,” Woodruff says of the local brew scene. See mancavebrewingcompany.com for details. Elk Horn Brewery has expanded from a 7-barrel to a 20-barrel brewing system “because we couldn’t keep up,” co-owner Colleen Sheehan says. Sheehan adds that the brewery will have its liquor license July 1. “We’re buying all the rare whiskeys we can find in Oregon,” Sheehan says. Elk Horn is gearing up to get their brews in cans as well. “We’ll be canning by football season,” Sheehan says. Happy Birthday to The Bier Stein! The formidable beer hall turns 10 years old on July 6. The Bier Stein has come a long way from its old pad on 11th Ave., where it only had 10 taps. Now it hosts up to 25-plus rotating taps (at the current location, 1591 Willamette St.) plus what must be thousands of bottled options. The Bier Stein writes: “Since we were the first place to serve Ninkasi’s Total Domination, Oakshire’s (then Willamette Brewing Company) Watershed IPA and Hop Valley’s Alphadelic (then Alphaholic) IPA, we will be tapping kegs of those (note: not from those first batches) and charging our old school price of $3.50/pint (those pints are now half-liters, 16.9 oz).” Other unusual goodies will be tapped for tasting as well, including an Agrarian-Bier Stein collaboration — “Decadence,” a Belgian-style golden strong ale. Nature lovers and beer drinkers unite! This April, Oregon Wild announced the creation of the Oregon Brewshed® Alliance. It’s a partnership between brewers and conservationists intent on preserving clean water and habitat. According to Oregon Wild, “brewshed®” refers to “the watersheds that brewers and breweries source for their water” to make craft beer — good for Oregon and good for beer. Local breweries participating include Claim 52 Brewing, Elk Horn Brewery, Ninkasi Brewing and Falling Sky Brewing. In other beer and nature news, Falling Sky Brewing partnered with Friends of Trees in April and donated $1 towards planting a tree for every sale of its Tree Line Pale L www.eugeneweekly.com true estate brewery.” Agrarian joins nine other small Oregon businesses under the Hatch Oregon umbrella, including Red Wagon Creamery. Visit agales.com. Colby Phillips, co-owner of the new taphouse beergarden. on 6th Avenue, says to keep an eye out for its official grand opening — follow beergarden.’s Facebook page for updates. Phillips adds that a full-out Oktoberfest at beergarden. is in the works. “We’ll be doing that for the entire duration of the actual Oktoberfest,” he says, which runs Sept. 19 through Oct. 4. Think of it as a beer scavenger hunt: The Eugene Ale Trail, launched last year by visitor center Eugene Cascades & Coast, is an ongoing program offering prizes to beer lovers who visit eight of 11 participating breweries in the Eugene-Springfield area. The program has a printable “passport” online, and once you collect eight stamps in your passport, turn it in for a free amber growler. Bonus points for visiting Brewers Union Local 180 in Oakridge. Check out the Ale Trail at eugenecascadescoast.org. Up the river: McKenzie River Inn in Vida plans to open a brewery onsite. Owner Bert de Klerk has applied for a brewpub license, but planning for the brewery is in its very early stages. From Salem to Rachel Maddow and back again: Earlier this year, Salem’s Gilgamesh Brewing released HOPS AT AGRARIAN ALES Hoot Attack, an India session ale, or as the brewery puts P H O T O BY T O D D C O O P E R it — “a drinkable reminder of the owl attacks that occur Ale. Tree Line is sold out, says Falling Sky co-owner Rob in Salem’s Bush Park. The light body and bright hop Cohen, and sales raised more than $1,000 for the nonprofit. flavors pair nicely with a mangled scalp and tired legs.” Now, Cohen says, Falling Sky is launching its Springer’s Back in February, MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show Summer Ale, named after spring Chinook salmon — for picked up on the spate of owl attacks, and Maddow each pint sold, Falling Sky will donate $1 in support of the jokingly presented yellow warning signs with symbols of Western Environmental Law Center’s work toward an owl swooping down on a pedestrian and suggested protecting salmon. Oregon’s capital city should hang them up. Salem did just Don’t forget to vote: The Hammered Lamb, which that, and now you can see that same image on the Hoot opens downtown in August, is hosting I’d Tap That: Attack label. The First National Tap House will start Back Alley Brewfest — a sort of crowd-sourced tap serving the brew in August. event to help the pub choose what to put on tap. Expect to New Kid on the Block: A new brewery, ColdFire see local brews from Hop Valley, Oakshire and Plank Brewing, will be operating at 263 Mill St. by the end of Town and wild cards from Columbia, Bigfoot and Point October. The brainchild of brothers Stephen and Dan Break distributors. The Brewfest is free entry and runs 1 Hughes, ColdFire’s press release says its “initial beers will seek to build upon and refine European brewing tradition while adding a touch of Northwest personality.” Expect IPAs, stouts and “German and Belgian favorites like bock, kolsch, dunkleweisse and saison.” Bryan Taylor, brand director for ColdFire, tells EW that it was important for the brewery to be in a neighborhood. “It’s currently a warehouse,” Taylor says of the space. “We’ll start at 263 Mill and then hopefully expand into a larger tasting room.” Dan Hughes is the manager of SacredHeart Medical Center at RiverBend Hospital’s sterile processing department. Stephen Hughes, currently a medical lab scientist for PeaceHealth Labs, will be head brewer. Stephen Hughes has done some guest brew spots at Agrarian, Sam Bond’s Brewing and 10 Barrel Brewing in Bend. “He’s been honing his own craft to the point that he’s sort of a perfectionist,” Taylor says. In early July, The Barn Light opens a second bar and cafe in the Northwest Community Credit Union building at 545 E. 8th Ave., across the THE BIER STEIN OWNERS street from Sam Bond’s Brewing Co. in the KRISTINA MEASELLS AND Foundry building. Owners Thomas Pettus-Czar CHIP HARDY and Mark Sheppard say they want to help P H O T O BY T O D D C O O P E R strengthen the connection between campus and to 5 pm Saturday, July 18, at 150 W. Broadway Alley. downtown in the new location. They were drawn to “the Invest locally. As of January 2015, Coburg farmhouse future of that area,” pointing out new developments such brewery Agrarian Ales started selling shares thanks to as Whole Foods. While it will keep the same name, the state’s new Community Public Offerings tool pushed Pettus-Czar says, the new space will be smaller and through by Hatch Oregon, “a brand new economic cozier and have a different ambiance. “It’s not going to be engine for growing community capital.” Oregon residents this sort of rustic, industrial aesthetic, but more of a can buy shares of Agrarian Ales for a minimum of $100 brighter, cleaner, more modern sort of space,” he says. and a maximum of $2,500. “We’ve raised about $65,000 Sheppard adds, “With huge south-facing windows. So so far,” Agrarian manager Todd Perlmeter says. “I think there’s tons and tons of light streaming in.” we’re going to cut it off at $90,000.” Perlmeter says the The free 2nd annual Westside Warehouse District money is going towards new bathrooms and hop field Summer Block Party runs 2 to 10 pm Saturday, July 19, expansions. “We’re just about to finish up our first-ever at 560 Commercial St., featuring Viking Braggot bathrooms out here, which is very exciting for us,” Company and Claim 52, joined by local wineries, food Perlmeter says, laughing. “We’re moving to become a carts and live music. EUGENE WEEKLY’S STATE OF SUDS 2015 3 3
