Double Mountain Brewery Blog

Zwickelmania!

[yes that's a zwickel, a.k.a. sanitary sampling valve]

Please join us at the Double this Saturday February 13 in celebration of “Zwickelmania”, the Oregon Brewers Guild’s statewide open house celebration. Co-owner Charlie will be leading free tours at 12, 1, 2 ,3 and 4pm, with tank tastings and a beer & cheese tasting. You even get a complimentary pint glass, all FREE.

And… while you’re in town, make sure you check out Full Sail’s Zwickelmania tour and Beer+Chocolate pairing, yum.

Not to be outdone, our friends at Nora’s Table in Hood River are presenting a Beer Lover’s Menu in honor of Zwickelmania. Four courses, five beers, $75 per couple. Here’s the menu:

-House made pickles, artisan cheeses, charcuterie and crocatini, paired with Double Mountain Kolsch

-Rockfish Tacos with Tamarind-Chipotle Aoli and Cotija Cheese, paired with Full Sail Session Lager

-Cashew Chicken Curry with Seasonal Vegetables and Housemade Grilled Naan, paired with Double Mountain Hop Lava

-Dark Chocolate and Sea Salt Tart, paired with Double Mountain Porter A-Go-Go & Full Sail Top Sail Bourbon Porter

Call them at 541-387-4000 for more info.

There are Zwickelmania events statewide: go to www.oregonbeer.org to scope ‘em out.

Porter A-Go-Go Release Party at EastBurn this Thurs Feb 4

Join us this week at The EastBurn for the Portland release of “Porter A-Go-Go”, a deliciously easy-drinking dark beer for the dark months. Here’s brewmaster Matt’s beer description:

“You can’t get through winter without a nicely balanced, subtle porter. London Porters historically were the darker ales brewed for the working man, usually less roasty than their stout cousins. Our Porter combines chocolate and crystal malts balanced in the Double Mountain style, with whole-leaf Challengers in the hop back, and our Belgian house yeast. Moderate strength, so you can have a few. Brewed with organic Pilsner malt, chocolate malt and dark crystal malts, Summit and Challenger hops. 5.0% ABV, 32 BU.”

The gig will run from 6-9pm, with $3 happy hour pints all night. Matt will be down in the basement, raffling off DM schwag and talking shop with the faithful. Should be a fun night. The EastBurn is located at 1800 East Burnside in Portland; check them out online at www.theeastburn.com for more info.

Kyle Larsen is Bigger, Badder and Blacker

Late-breaking news: Double Mountain brewer Kyle Larsen will be at Belmont Station tomorrow night, Thursday Jan 7 at 6pm to debut “Imperial Chaos”, a 9.5% ABV stout that he designed and brewed. It’s all part of the Station’s “Bigger, Badder and Blacker” festival now underway. (Yes it sounds more like a porno than a beer event, but that’s just how they roll…)

A blend of dark malts (brown, roast, Carafa and roasted barley) gives The Chaos an aggressive, complex roastiness in both aroma and flavor. Kyle added two varieties of candi sugar and mucho bittering hops (around 90 BU) to give it plenty of punch. It’s a badass beer.

Belmont Station is at 4500 SE Stark in Portland. Click here to check out their website and learn more about the fest.

Imperial Chaos will be going on tap soon at a few select bars around Portland, and will be pouring at our Taproom in Hood River for the next couple of months.

Holiday Hours

Update: Come join us tonight and enjoy the bluegrass stylings of Portland’s Four on the Floor from 9pm to midnight! Free, as always. And for those who need it, we’ll be open regular hours on Friday January 1, 11:30am to 11pm.

Here’s wishing you all a happy, healthy, and beery 2010!

DM is Down with the Puget Sound

Well, it’s happening, our little brand is growin’ up. Last week saw the maiden voyage of IRA, Hop Lava, Fa La La, etc., up to the Puget Sound market, delivered to six superbad (i.e., awesome) accounts. We’re basically dipping our little toe in the big sea that is our neighbor to the north, planting seeds (yes I’m mixing metaphors again) in the best places in advance of widespread distribution there.

So if you’re in the area, look for us (in alphabetical order) at:
Beveridge Place Pub (West Seattle)
Brouwer’s Cafe (Fremont)
Dray Tavern (Ballard)
Latona Pub (Green Lake)
Naked City Taphouse (Greenwood)
Red Hot Tavern (Tacoma)

To kick things off proper, we’ll be doing a Meet-The-Brewer gig at Naked City on Tuesday, December 15. Working out the details right now, but expect a bunch of beers to taste, schwag to raffle, and idle chitchat from Matt & Charlie.

More Fa-La-La-La-Locations

here’s another dozen:
Anna Bannanas
Belmont Station
Delta Cafe
Goodfoot
Green Dragon
Henry’s Tavern
Highland Still House
LaurelThirst Pub
Mt. Hood Country Store
Report Lounge
Saraveza
Sawtooth Roadhouse

please be sure you check with the accounts directly, to see if it’s still pouring… it’s moving fast.

Fa La La La La: Game On

A big thank you to Yoni Laos and the staff at Victory Bar for hosting our Portland premier of Fa La La La La, our big tasty winter ale. And a big apology to anyone who didn’t get there before the two kegs blew. But don’t fret, there’s more where that came from… here’s a list of the accounts in Portland who’ve received their kegs of the Fa today:

Amnesia Brewing
Atomic Pizza
Bye and Bye
Concordia Ale House
Horse Brass
Kenton Club
LaurelThirst Pub
Mash Tun
Moon and Sixpence
Russell St. BBQ
Wankers Corner

We’ll update this list next week. (Roughly 80 kegs earmarked for Portland this year…)

Big Happenings in November

Howdy folks, we have bunch of cool stuff happening in the next few weeks, as we anticipate snowstorms and first runs on Hood. Here’s the list as of now, reprinted from our Calendar page:

THURSDAY, NOV 5:
ALPENBREW RELEASE AT HENRY’S
Henry’s 12th Street Tavern, 10 NW 12th Ave, Portland
5:30pm start
Join us as we usher in the winter fun season with this year’s Portland premiere of Alpenbrew, a delicious brew we originally created for Mount Hood Meadows’ 40th anniversary. Somewhere between an english-style Pale and ESB, Alpenbrew features a nice nutty maltiness and earthy, spicy hops. We’ll be on hand to pour tastes, give out stuff and talk beer.

THURSDAY, NOV 12:
FA LA LA LA LA LA RELEASE AT VICTORY
Victory Bar, 3652 SE Division, Portland
5:30pm start
Yanni and the crew at Victory have been pining for a release party, so here we go. Fa La La La La is our winter ale offering, packed with enough rich malt and Centennial hops to fill Santa’s toy bag. Brewmaster Matt himself will be on hand to hang out and hold court. This one should be packed, so make it over early if you can.

THURSDAY, NOV 12:
DOUBLE MOUNTAIN NIGHT AT SUDS ‘N’ SUDS
Suds ‘n’ Suds, 1045 NW Kings Blvd., Covallis
6:30pm start
We’re not sure how a laundromat became the best place in Corvallis to drink craft beer, but it surely is… Joe and the crew will be tapping a murderer’s row of fine Double Mountain ales, including IRA, Hop Lava, Killer Green, Fa La La la La La, and Terrible Two, our bourbon-barrel-aged reserve brown ale. Charlie will be on hand to raffle off the schwag. Last year’s gig was awaesome, looking forward to even more awesomeness.

NEW DATE:
TUESDAY, NOV. 17:
BREWER’S DINNER AT LAURELHURST MARKET
Laurelhurst Market, 3155 E Burnside, Portland
Chef David Kreifels is putting together a blowout six-courses paired with Double Mountain beers. Laurelhurst is arguably the “it” spot of the moment, and we’re honored to be the focus of their first-ever beer dinner. We will publish the full menu once it’s been finalized, which should be any day now.

NY Times Article on Fresh Hop Ales: Go Oregon!

For those of you who aren’t all Facebook-connected, here is the link to last week’s article in the New York Times about Oregon fresh hop ales.

A Hop And a Sip to Fresh Ales

(Make sure you click on “more photos”, which follow Matt from the farm back to the brewhouse.)

This is a bit of a watershed moment for Oregon craft beer. Although we in Oregon didn’t trailblaze the fresh hop concept in the USA — Sierra Nevada did — we have taken a clear lead in pursuing it as a group. Fresh hop beers shine a light on our good fortune in being so close to the growers, along with, of course, our headlong embrace of humulus lupulus in our brews. But it’s more than that. Fresh hops beers are ephemeral and unpredictable, and we never really know how they’re going to turn out until we taste them. That experimental verve, that willingness to “go with it” and take some chances — I think that’s something that we’re all proud of here in Oregon, both the brewers and the fans. It’s one of the things that makes Oregon one of the world’s great places, and the world’s best place to be a brewer. Cheers, NYT, hope to see more of you in the future.

Here Comes the Killer

Our Killer Green Fresh Hop IPA has become an annual ritual, with a cultish following and all the attendant hub-bub. For us it’s an excuse to get to know our hop-growing brothers a little better (i.e. we bring them beer) and to do something different. Which is always good.

Hops are fragile when picked, due to their high moisture content, so they either need to be dried immediately or tossed in a brewkettle somewhere. Since the harvest season is only a couple of weeks long, that gives us a pretty narrow window. We are so lucky to have such close access to hops, and the whole fresh-hop phenomenon is a big example of that. So we try to make it count.

This year’s KG features hundreds of pounds of wet Brewer’s Gold Hops from Sodbuster Farms in the heart of the Willamette Valley. The fresh hops were supplemented with some conventional Simcoe, Warrior and Summit hops in the kettle, and some more in dry-hopping. It’s kicking with all the fruity, floral, supremely resinous hop character that a beer called “Killer Green” should have. A big amber-hued malt base provides backbone, and with no lack of strength either. 7.2% ABV, 85 BU.

We’re throwing this year’s Killer Green Release Party this Wednesday (9/30) from 5-9pm at Concordia Ale House, 3276 NE Killingsworth, Portland. Charlie will be on hand to raffle off t-shirts and talk about beer, as usual.

If you miss the gig, don’t fret — we brewed 140 kegs worth this year, so it should be well available on tap via the usual suspects in Portland, and in Hood River at our Taproom well into November. KG will also be flowing at the Hood River Hops Fest this Saturday, Oct 3, and at the Fresh Hop Tastivals in Portland (Oaks Park, Sat 10/10) and Eugene (downtown, Sat 10/17).

Keep an eye out for another super-limited fresh hop ale from DM, codenamed Fresh Vienna, in the next week or two.