BiteSize Brews

Pint Size Thoughts

You are here: Home / Archives for Widmer Brothers

Salt & Straw Beer Ice Cream

Posted on · Leave a Comment

It’s no secret, I love ice cream.  And I’ve hopped on the Portland hipster bandwagon and fallen completely in love with Salt & Straw, Portland’s farm-to-cone ice cream shop.  I have friends from all over the country who have tried Salt & Straw ice cream with doubt and disbelief only to become fanatics after just a few licks.  Not only do I like organic beers, I pretty much swoon for anything that is local, sustainable and organic.  This is why I love Salt & Straw, their ice cream is handmade in small-batches using only all-natural dairy from the best local, sustainable and organic ingredients Oregon has to offer.

ice-cream

Last month, Salt & Straw stepped their game up teaming with six local Portland breweries to make a six-pack collection of beer-infused ice creams.  I was lucky enough to try all six.  Here is what they created:

  1. Passionfruit Berliner Weisse in Coconut Water Sorbet: Using Breakside Brewery’s “Passion fruit Berliner Weisse” to create a tart, passion fruit sweetened, marmalade that is ribboned into a coconut water sorbet.
  2. Bourbon Barrel Aged Stout: Finding inspiration in Hair of the Dog’s barrel aged “Cherry Adam of the Wood,” to created a dark malty, cherry ice cream and cold steeped it in a bourbon barrel.  (Note:  This was definitely tied for first place as my favorite of the six-pack!)
  3. Smoked Hefeweizen: Spin on Widmer Brothers’ world famous Hefeweizen by smoking wheat malts and steeping them into the cream to create a smoked hefeweizen ice cream.  (Note:  The other first place favorite of the six-pack!  Seriously, with Salt & Straw you can’t just pick one flavor!)
  4. Hopped Farmhouse Ale: Based off of Commons Brewery’s “Myrtle Farmhouse Ale,” and used three different methods to steep the meridian hops in order to capture the bright aromas of peach and refreshing bitterness of grapefruit.
  5. IPA Upside Down Cake: Captured the pineapple, citrus and piney hop flavors of Gigantic Brewing Company’s Imperial IPA by using hop-back technique to pull out the sweet and spicy hop flavors and adding a pineapple upside down cake infused with ho leaf and candied tangerine zest.
  6. Bretta Fermented Pears and Fudge: Using Logsdon Farmhouse Ales’ famous Bretta yeast strain and inspiration from their “Cocoa Bretta Ale,” this carefully fermented pear juice and a malted fudge syrup to make a Bretta fermented Pear Wine ice cream with ribbons of Bretta Fermented, Malted Fudge.

Been to Salt & Straw?  What is your favorite ice cream flavor?

Vancouver, WA – Summer Brewfest 2013

Posted on · 1 Comment

summer-brewfest
Last weekend, I had the honor of playing beer and coffee tour guide to a group of friends from all over the country.  Stephanie, from Seattle by way of Praha, Czech Republic.  Ben, from Indiana/Raleigh, back from Praha and on his way to Beijing.  And Dave, from Chicago/LA, on his way to Macedonia.  Needless to say it was an epic weekend of drinks, travel stories and multiple languages.

Being the only local of the group, we spent a lot of time at some of my favorite water holes.  Including Hopworks, Gigantic, Burnside and Bridgeport.  But we also made is across the river to Vancouver, Washington for the Summer Brewfest.  I’ll admit, this was my first time ever going to downtown Vancouver.  It was a pretty fun afternoon of beers and sunshine.

That being said, my only “peeve” of the day was the $25 entrance fee.  This seems a little steep for a new beer festival and goes again common (er, Oregon) beer festival practices.  In which case, there is free entrance to the festival and you have to pay to drink.  This includes the price of a cheap plastic mug (usually $5) and drink tickets ($1/taster).

One of the biggest take aways from this event was there were a lot of common beers (and breweries) present.  However, I did find some new breweries to check out.  Like Heathen Brewing, Loowit Brewing Company, Mt. Tabor Brewing and West Highland Brewing all out of Vancouver, WA.  And Pale Horse Brewing Company and Phat Matt’s Brewing Co. out of Salem and Bend, Oregon, respectively.

Here is what we tried:

What is your favorite summer brew?

[In the spirit of full transparency, my entrance to the Vancouver Summer Brewfest was provided by Zzoom Media.]

Fruit Beer Festival 2013

Posted on · 3 Comments

fruit-beerLast weekend was my favorite beer festival.  The Portland Fruit Beer Festival!  I’ve been going since it started three years ago.  (You can read about the First Fruit Beer Festival.)  This year, bestie Beckie, former-roommate Jeffrey and I along with an assortment of friends spent the sunny Saturday trying a vast assortment of fruit beers.  Just in case you were wondering, a fruit (or vegetable) beer is a beer brewed with a fruit (or vegetable) addition or flavoring component.  And they are hands down my favorite type of beer!

Here is what we tried:

 What fruit beers do you like?

Upright Brewing – Portland, OR

Posted on · 3 Comments

Now that the Portland Trailblazers 2010-2011 season is now over 🙁

I can now share with you my pre- Trailblazers game tradition 🙂

I’m lucky enough to attend Blazer games on a regular basis.  While I am a big fan of the Widmer Brothers, I’m not a big fan of shelling out $8.75 per drink per person at the Blazer games.  This is where Upright Brewing comes into play.

Upright Brewing is located right across from the Rose Garden in the Left Bank Project.  The Left Bank, is a collaborative space, where small businesses that are mission-focused can come together to make Portland even better.  In the basement is Upright Brewing, a relatively new brewery to the Portland scene, but has already amazed my taste buds!  I think it’s because Upright Brewing specialized in farmhouse inspired beers from France and Belgium but is made with local ingredients with a bit of that Pacific Northwest “Keep Oregon Beered” twist.  At Upright they use a special saison yeast and an open fermentation process to produce beer that is a true hybrid style.

Back to the Blazer games.  Here’s what you do.  There is free parking near by (send me an email if you really want to know) or just take MAX (Portland’s light rail system).  Head to Upright Brewing, which opens two hours before each Blazers home game.  Meet up with your friends there, grab beers for $3 or a pitcher for $12 and hang out.  Make sure to get there early since the place gets packed the closer to the start of the game.

Since I can only drink two beers before a game, that means I spend $6 total, plus my standard $1/beer tip, totals me up to $8.  Still $0.75 CHEAPER than a beer in the Garden!  Plus I got TWO!  Pretty simple decision for me.  I’m sure you’ll agree.

Jenna’s Tips:

  • Chances are Alex (the owner and head brewer) or Ezra (chief beer pourer and artist) are working.  Be sure to say “hi” if you see them.  Alex wears a slick pair of glasses and Ezra is usually hanging out by the cash register.
  • The Number Four is my favorite.  But I also always make sure to try what ever seasonal they have on tap too.
  • Also, while they do have some snacks, make sure you plan on eating before heading to Upright (or grabbing food at the Garden).  Your stomach will thank you later.

Been to Upright Brewing before?  What did you think?  What’s your pre-sporting event beer tradition?

Sustainable Web Hosting by Canvas Host

Sustainable Web Hosting by Canvas Host