Double Mountain Brewery Blog

Taproom closure schedule — update

2012-05-05T20:15:38Z

A quick heads up that construction in and around our Taproom will be causing some limited-service and closed-for-the-day situations for a few more days. Here’s the current schedule:

Sat 5/5 & Sun 5/6: Kitchen closed but serving beer & wine; 21+ only, since we are not serving meals. Four & Twenty Blackbirds food cart will be serving tasty sandwiches etc from noon-9pm and hopefully on Sunday, too… check out our Facebook page for up-to-date info.

Mon 5/7 & Tues 5/8: Grinding and sealing the kitchen floor. Taproom CLOSED

Wed 5/9: Reinstalling kitchen equipment. Taproom reopens for beer service only, 21+ again.

Thurs 5/10: REOPEN the kitchen, back to full service, yeah!

There you have it. A big shout out to the folks at Hale Construction and all the various subcontractors who are making our job go so fast. For example, this week’s work in the kitchen (which was kicking out pizzas as recently as Sunday):

Pretty unheard of for a kitchen remodel of this scope to take less than two weeks. Keep it coming fellas!

More photos on the way soon. Cheers to all our loyal and wonderful patrons for keeping us company through this project. It’s gonna be worth it!

Expansion Update

2012-04-29T05:17:54Z

As you may have heard by now, we here at Double Mountain are in the middle of a big expansion project. Here are the numbers:

-1,500sf of new Taproom space in 4 Fourth Street, the building next door;

-Converting the garage into full-time pub seating with a second bar;

-Connecting these two spaces with big wall openings and a mezzanine;

-Doubling our the size of our kitchen;

-New bathrooms;

-3,500sf of production space in 4 Fourth St., which will be the home of

-A brand-spanking new bottling line! and automated keg line. (Bottles will be
arriving sometime later this year.)

In other words, Big Stuff Is Happening! The crew at Hale Construction is doing tremendous job of fast-tracking our project so that we can be open before things get seriously busy this summer. Here are a few photos of what all is happening in our current and new digs:

The bad news is that in the short term we’re going to be feeling some pain. Our kitchen is scheduled to be closed from April 30 through May 8, and we will be without some of our beer taps at times. Free live music is on hiatus for the moment as well, hopefully returning in mid-May.

We’re going to try to stay open for limited beer service, and we’ll be working with some food vendors to provide good eats in place of our regular fare. Our staff will do their very best to provide you with a comfortable place to spend some time. So please pardon our dust and noise if you can, and we’ll have things back to normal — and better than ever — as soon as possible. Thanks as always for your support of Double Mountain!

Coming Your Way Soon: “Gravity Mountain” Collaboration IPA

2012-04-20T07:42:14Z

It is with great pride and pleasure that we bring you GRAVITY MOUNTAIN Collaboration IPA, a joint effort between Double Mountain and our very good friends at Terminal Gravity Brewing. This is our first major-league collaboration and we are thrilled to have you taste the results. But first some backstory…

We’ve known TG founder and owner Steve Carper since his pre-Enterprise days and he’s always been one of our favorite guys in the biz. It’s easy to forget that it was Steve who had the vision to bring a unique, super-flavorful, high quality, hop-forward, unfiltered strong IPA to the Portland market. You know, that beer style that is absolutely everywhere now, the dominant paradigm in today’s American craft beer scene? Yeah, that’s the one.

TG was a key touchstone for us when we were trying to envision what Double Mountain would be like and what it would stand for. As Matt explains,

“After both Steve & I working at a few breweries and wanting our breweries to do more to push the beer envelope, it’s no wonder we both ended up starting our own shops, with pieced together equipment (much of it designed and built ourselves)…

“Because Steve had proved it could be done, we followed suit with our own beer vision — a vision that really isn’t that complicated. Robust, flavorful, big beers made without trying to source the cheapest ingredient supplies, and always focusing on what is best for the beer. It sounds clichéd, but it’s really true. Make decisions that are always to the benefit of the beer and its’ flavor and go figure, it adds up to a well-made beer.”

It’s safe to say that there probably wouldn’t be a Double Mountain without Terminal Gravity preceding it, seriously. When Steve approached us to do a collaboration beer, we jumped at the chance.

So, about the beer… Gravity Mountain is a blend of our brewing approaches, our love for hoppy beers, our love for unfiltered beers. Each of our breweries is pretty unique; we each use signature base malts, yeast strains and hop varieties that blend well with the malt. For Gravity Mountain we’ve combined our yeasts, our Gambrinus Pilsner (DM) and Marris Otter (TG) base malts, and our favorite hops (Styrian Goldings, Chinooks, Brewers Gold) to make a strong, blond-colored IPA that’s aggressively hoppy and satisfying. We think you’ll agree that Gravity Mountain is a true marriage of our two identities. 7.2% ABV, 70+ BU.

Another cool fact: TG made all the bottled beer and Double Mountain made all the draft. We invite you to compare and enjoy the subtle nuances that our facilities contribute to the two versions. And you can do just that at our first-ever Cross-the-Street Release Party, next Thursday, April 26th! Concordia Ale House and New Seasons Market Concordia will get first dibs on draft and bottles respectively; we’ll be pouring samples at New Seasons from 4-6pm, and partying down at the Ale House from 5-8pm with a t-shirt raffle and other good stuff. The ever-elusive Mr. Carper will be there in person with us to sign autographs and kiss babies. Hope you can make it!

Gravity Mountain Collaboration IPA
7.2% alc by vol, 16.5 Plato, 70 BU
Gambrinus Pilsner (Copeland variety), Marris Otter Pale, Biscuit and Munich malts
Styrian Goldings, Chinook and Brewer’s Gold hops; dry-hopped with Styrians and Brewer’s Gold

Limited release, available in 12oz bottles and on draft in Oregon; draft-only in Western WA. Come back soon for a list of draft locations.

Concordia Ale House is at 3276 NE Killingsworth Street, Portland, (503) 287–3929.
New Seasons Concordia is at 5320 Northeast 33rd Avenue, Portland, (503) 288-3838.

It’s Almost Party Time!

2012-03-16T23:41:15Z

Well it’s all coming together… the street gets barricaded and the tent goes up tonight, the beer trailer finds its home, we batten down the hatches and get ready for a wild day & night ahead. Here are some last minute details.

KICKOFF PARADE: Leaves from in front of the Fountain at 2nd and State at 11:45am; we’ll walk to the brewery with a bagpiper in tow and open the doors at noon.

HOURS? Noon -11pm

KIDS? welcome w/ parent or guardian until 8pm.

FOOD SPECIALS? IRA-Braised Corned Beef Sandwiches, Homemade
Tamales, Pizzas, Salads and Snacks all day and night.

BEERS? 22 of them. No that’s not a typo. Here’s the list:

All Day Beers
» KÖLSCH Traditional golden German-style ale 5.2% ABV, 40 BU
» VAPORIZER Dry-Hopped Pale Ale 6.0% ABV, 50 BU
» IRA India Red Ale 6.5% ABV, 60 BU
» HOP LAVA Northwest IPA 7.0% ABV, 75 BU
» DAS BOOT Dry-Hopped Altbier 6.0% ABV, 50 BU
» CULTURE SHOCK Belgian IPA 6.9% ABV, 75 BU
» MUDDY WATERS American Brown Ale 6.7% ABV, 45 BU
» BLACK IRISH STOUT Dublin-Style, on nitro 4.0% ABV, 50 BU
» INGLE BELLS Belgiany Winter Ale 5.6% ABV, 17 BU
» NO. 1 SHANDY Beer & Cider Blend 5.5% ABV, 20 BU
» GOLIATHON Strong Dark Belgian-Style Ale 11.0% ABV, 28 BU
» FEROCIOUS FIVE Bourbon-barrel Brown Ale 11.0% ABV, 20 BU
» PÊCHE MODE Peach Sour Ale 8.0% ABV, 10 BU
» DEVIL’S KRIEK ‘11 Cherry Sour Ale 8.2% ABV, 14 BU
» RAINIER KRIEK ‘11 Cherry Sour Ale 10.1% ABV, 13 BU

Limited Supply! [these will go on when others kick]
» DAPPER DAN Brown Ale, on nitro 3.5% ABV, 31 BU
then » CHIMNEY STOUT American Brown Ale 6.7% ABV, 45 BU
» KILLER GREEN ‘11 Fresh Hop IPA 7.5% ABV, 97 BU
then » KILLER RED ‘11 Fresh Hop IRA 7.2% ABV, 88 BU
then » GRAVITAR Seasonal IPA 7.2% ABV, 90 BU
» BOCKTOPUS Black Bock 6.6% ABV, 27 BU
then
» THIS IS NOT A PORTER [actually it is] 6.5% ABV, 29 BU

BANDS? Here’s the schedule:
1pm Four on the Floor
3pm Resolectrics
5:30pm Quick & Easy Boys
8:30pm Meat Puppets

It’s gonna be a long night, so please pace yourself!

Thanks again for supporting us, it’s our pleasure to give it right back to you.

Cheers,
The Double Mountain Crew

5th Anniversary Party featuring the MEAT PUPPETS, St. Patty’s Day 3/17

2012-02-21T20:35:05Z

In honor of St. Patrick and five years in the biz, we are continuing our tradition of big Anniversary Parties with a gig to remember. Rock legends the MEAT PUPPETS will headline a stellar lineup of bands throughout the day; the taps will be chock full of reserve DM beers, including a special bourbon-barrel-aged brown ale which will see its debut; the Taproom kitchen will feature some St. Patrick’s Day specials; and it’ll all take place under a massive tent right in front of the brewery. Booyah!

It seems like yesterday that we (Matt & Charlie) were scrounging for tanks and money, demo-ing the space that would become our Taproom, and working on the vision or what Double Mountain would become. Among the many albums we’d play to keep us entertained in those dark days was a healthy dose of the Pups, especially the classic “Meat Puppets II”. Guitarist Curt Kirkwood’s songwriting and amazing electric guitar skills have inspired countless armies of young musicians, and the band’s live shows have always delivered. He’ll be joined onstage by brother and musical partner Chris Kirkwood, his son Elmo, and drummer Shandon Sahm (son of fellow music legend Doug Sahm). We jumped at the chance to have them headline our special day.

Check out this ragged, rockin’, totally awesome extended version of their classic “Lake of Fire” from a recent Pups show:

If that’s just a little too much rock for you, you might want to hit us up earlier. The on-stage fun starts at 1pm with the finger-pickin’ bluegrass prowess of Four on the Floor, featuring our own Rory Johnson, followed by Portland’s rootsy Resolectrics at 3. Our good buds the Quick and Easy Boys will surely try to blow the Pups off the stage starting around 5:30; the Puppets should be on stage by 8:30ish. A killer day of live music to warm the Irish in all of us.

The Anniversary Party will be family-friendly until 8pm, with our regular food menu available in addition to the specials. Best of all, admission is FREE. It is truly our pleasure to say thanks to everyone who’s supported us over this half-decade… hope to see you on the 17th.

Check out “GRAVITAR” and “GOLIATHON”

2012-01-15T21:51:26Z

We’ve released a couple of fine seasonals in the last couple of weeks… here are some details for you.

GRAVITAR Seasonal IPA:
Just in time for the winter doldrums comes GRAVITAR, an aggressively hopped IPA that increases the earth’s gravitational pull by exact 34.2%, according to our estimable brewmaster. It’s got something to do with the experimental hop variety HBC 342 we used — a whopper of hop with citrus, passion fruit, lemon & pineapple notes. There are a mere 15 plants of “342” on the entire earth at the moment… let us know if you like it, maybe they’ll grow more. We sweetened the malt character with honey malt from British Columbia and another sweet aromatic malt from the UK; pale chocolate malt was added for a dash of color. Brewed in honor of the video game console (a.k.a. “Productivity Killer”) recently installed in our break room. 7.2% ABV, 90+BU. Available in limited supply at fine beer bars around the Northwest, and at our Taproom for the next month or so.

Speaking of the video game:

GRAVITAR at the Double! from Double Mountain Brewery on Vimeo.

- – – – – – – – – – -

GOLIATHON Strong, Dark Belgian-Style Ale
Fermented with an ale strain from Inglemunster in Belgium, along with our house yeast from Rochefort, Goliathon is a roasty, malty beer with fruit forward overtones. German Carafa and British roast barley were added late in the mash tun to provide rich color without aggressive roast bitterness. Big, alcoholic, satisfying — a perfect beer for January. 11% ABV, 28 BU. You can find Goliathon at some select accounts in Portland and Seattle, and at our Taproom for at least the next few months.

In addition to being the moniker of an Indianapolis metal band, GOLIATHON, it turns out, is also the name of an impressively cheesy, King-Kong-esque Hong Kong movie from the late 70s. I think this YouTube clip is from the Dutch release (?!). Enjoy.

Fa La La La La Vertical tasting at the Taproom, Christmas Eve!

2011-12-17T01:30:02Z

Come sample the last four years of the Fa La La! Tasters will be $2 for a 5-ounce mini-snifter, and $7 for a full flight of four Fas. We’ll be putting on one keg of each vintage, so it’s definitely first-come, first served. Brewmaster Matt will likely be lurking. And with any luck there may be some left post-Christmas, too. Happy holidays everybody!

Fa La La La La 2011 Now on at the Taproom

2011-11-23T23:29:06Z

FA LA LA LA LA WINTER ALE
Brewed with Gambrinus Pilsner malt, crystal malts and Centennial hops. 7.5% ABV, 85 BU

The mountain is open, the precip is blowin’ and the Fa is a’ flowin’ here in Hood River. This year’s batch is tasting as fresh and vital as ever, with kickin’ hops that defy all logic in their balancing act with the sturdy malt backbone. It’s the perfect beer of the moment, and it’ll never taste better than it does right now… Run, don’t walk, as they say.

This year’s release is bittersweet, unfortunately, as we have a very limited supply of the Fa and will not have enough to supply the wholesale trade. This year’s crop of Centennial hops (our fave) came in shorter than expected, and booming demand has put the squeeze on suppliers’ ability to make all the breweries happy. We simply can’t get enough. It’s one of those victim-of-one’s-own-success deals, for both the growers of this great hop and the brewers who’ve embraced it. We hear there will be similar issues with other popular varieties like Simcoe and Amarillo, too.

So the upshoot is that we have around forty kegs of holiday goodness here at the Taproom, which we hope will last us til Christmas. (We’ve put aside a few pony kegs for special events, so you might get lucky that way too.) We’ve just brewed a couple of Belgian-style specialties which should be ready to hit the taps next month, to help soften the blow as it were.. stay tuned for more info there.

Best wishes, the DM Crew

Who’s Got the Killers?

2011-10-17T21:50:50Z

One of the most popular questions we get all year is “WHERE CAN I FIND KILLER GREEN IN [name of town]?” To help you along, we’ve compiled a list of all the places who’ve taken delivery of Killer Green and Killer Red below. Please note that a) it might already be drunk; b) might be waiting for tap space, and is thus untapped; or c) might be stashed for a later date, although we try to discourage this practice. Give your favorite spot a call ahead of time.

KILLER GREEN: OREGON

N Portland
Crow Bar
Eat Oyster Bar
Fire on the Mountain
Fixin’ To
Florida Room
Kenton Club
Lovely’s 50-50
Maui’s
Mississippi Pizza
Pause
Red Fox
Tasty and Sons

NE Portland
Alleyway Café
Beech St.
Binks
Bye and Bye
Concordia Ale House
Dove Vivi
Firehouse
Hilt
Laurelthirst
Mash Tun
Moon and Sixpence
Nepo 42
Nest
Podnah’s Pit
Radio Room
Red Flag
Spirit of 77
Swift Lounge
Tiga
Woodsman Tavern

NW Portland
Besaw’s
Henry’s
Irving Street Kitchen
Life of Riley
Low Brow
M Bar
North 45
Paragon
Serratto
Wildwood
Yur’s

SE Portland
Aalto Lounge
Apex
Apizza Scholls
Belmont Inn
Belmont Station
Bonfire
Bunk Bar
C Bar
Caldera Café
Cheese Bar
Dick’s Kitchen
Dig A Pony
Dots
East Burn
East End
Fire on the Mountain
Gold Dust Meridian
Green Dragon
Hawthorne Hophouse
Holocene
Horse Brass
Hungry Tiger Too
Kay’s
Ken’s Artisan Pizza
Landmark
Matchbox
Night Light
North
O’Malley’s
Observatory
Pok Pok
Produce Row
Roscoe’s
Side Street
Slingshot Lounge
Slow Bar
Sweet HereAfter
Victory
Vincente’s

SW Portland
Famous Dave’s
Goose Hollow
Higgins
Hot Lips Pizza
Jake’s Famous Crawfish
Kenny and Zukes
Nel Centro
Paddy’s
Veritable Quandary

Outer PDX
Highland Stillhouse
Maher’s
Monteaux’s

Gorge
3 Rivers Grill
6th Street Bistro
Brian’s Pourhouse
Burro-Loco
Cebu Lounge
Clocktower Ales
Divots
River Tap
Sawtooth
Springhouse Cellar
Trillium Café

Eugene/Corvallis
Agate Alley Bistro
Bier Stein
Bombs Away
Squirrel’s

Bend
Brother Jon’s
Summit Saloon
900 Wall

KILLER GREEN: WASHINGTON

Seattle/Tacoma
99 Bottles
Bottleworks
Brave Horse Tavern
Brouwer’s Cafe
Cooper’s Alehouse
Duck Island Saloon
Fiddler’s Inn
Hopvine Pub
Hudson Public House
Jakes Bar and Bistro
King’s Hardware
Latona Pub
Magoo’s Annex
Noble Fir
Parkway Tavern
Red Hot
The Dray
The Yard
Uber Tavern
Wedgewood Alehouse
World Beers/Tacoma Pipe & Tabacco

Olympia
Eastside Club
Gravity Beer Market
Skep & Skein

SW Washington
A Beer at a Time
Brickhouse Bar & Grill
Lapellah
Tommy O’s Downtown

KILLER RED: OREGON

N Portland
Saraveza
Hop And Vine

NE Portland
Podnahs Bbq
Moon And Sixpence
Bye And Bye
Nepo 42

SE Portland
Apizza Scholls
Horse Brass
Apex
Produce Row Cafe
Green Dragon
Belmont Station
Match Box Lounge
Victory
Woodsman Tavern

Gorge
Clocktower Ales

Bend
Brother John’s Public House

KILLER RED: WASHINGTON

Seattle/Tacoma
Brave Horse Tavern
Collins Pub
Noble Fir
Parkway Tavern
Red Hot

Olympia
Eastside Club
Skep & Skein

SW Washington
By the Bottle

Ladies & Gentleman, DANNY BARNES this Saturday 9/24

2011-09-19T16:27:39Z

We’re proud here at the Double that we can provide our loyal followers with fun & free live music most weekends. And sometimes, we get to hit it out of the park — like this coming Saturday, when music legend Danny Barnes graces our garage for the very first time.

For those of you not in the know when it comes to Danny, he’s a banjo & guitar legend, founder of Austin’s house band The Bad Livers, and a favorite of musicians and music lovers the world over. He’s living in Seattle now, and we’re lucky to get him down our way for a night.

Our local bluegrass heroes Four On The Floor will open the show and then back Danny up for the rest of the night. We’ll get the music going at 8pm, hope to see you there.

P.S. Make sure you pinch Brewmaster Swihart at the show, who’ll surely think he’s dreaming.