Hey, Oregon, why the cloudy beers?

Vaporizer at Double MountainWhat style beer do you think the one pictured at the right might be?

Double Mountain Brewery in Hood River (right around the corner from Full Sail Brewing) calls the beer Vaporizer and describes it as a Golden IPA.

I really liked the beer, which is generously dry-hopped with Challenger hops. Otherwise I wouldn’t have ordered a full glass after sampling it along with others. All the beers I tried were tasty as a matter of fact, all with plenty of hops (they say the Kolsch packs in 40 bittering units, and it tasted of every one). But I was a bit surprised by how hazy the beers were overall, even taking into consideration the dry hopping.

In fact, we’ve seen plenty of hazy beers in Oregon (not just the ones made with wheat). I guess there is a pun in there about “partly cloudy,” but I’ll pass. I’ve heard brewers in other states say if their beers aren’t a little cloudy their customers don’t understand they are “natural” but on a per capita basis — and granted I’ve only managed a small sample in a state with just a ridiculous number of brewers — a lot more haze in Oregon.

For the record, this isn’t something you taste or that changes my opinion of a beer.

 

Session #29 announced: Will Travel for Beer

The SessionGail and Steve from Beer by BART have announced the theme for The Session #29: Will Travel for Beer. They present plenty of options about how to approach this topic.

We’ll be in Colorado then, I think, and will have in the past year visited 17 countries, 9 Canadian provinces and territories, and 46 states — so far, three to go after that and then heading home (without driving to Hawaii).

As I am fond of writing, this is not a beer trip — even though I know full well you can sleep in an RV park in Newport, Oregon, that has space almost adjacent to Rogue’s House of Spirits and within crawling distance of the Rogue Ales brewry — but I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to find something to write about.

 

‘I paid $95 to get in, but I don’t care about beer’

People who are predisposed to spend $95 to attend a beer and food festival say “high quality” is their main priority when purchasing beer, as opposed to low price or brand recognition.

Is this news?

Here are excerpts from the Brewers Association press release:

On Saturday, May 30, over 1,900 attendees enjoyed craft beer and food pairings from 68 craft breweries at the sold-out SAVOR: An American Craft Beer & Food Experience at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. A post-event survey conducted by the Brewers Association finds that demand for quality beer remains high despite the economy. An overwhelming 91.4 percent of surveyed attendees said the economy has not affected the quality of beer they purchase. In addition, 98.8 percent of respondents cite “high quality” as their main priority when purchasing beer, as opposed to “low price” or “brand recognition.”

When it comes to spending habits, over half (54.9 percent) of surveyed SAVOR attendees said they spend more than $50 per month on beer, while 36.6 percent spend between $25 and $50 and only 8.6 percent spend less than $25 per month. And contrary to popular belief, many beer lovers enjoy other fermented beverages as well. Nearly half of respondents (46.9 percent) claimed to look outside the beer glass and consider themselves to be cross drinkers (enjoying a combination of beer, wine and/or liquor), while 51.6 percent identify themselves as beer lovers exclusively.

Survey Methodology: The Brewers Association survey of SAVOR: An American Craft Beer & Food Experience attendees took place online from June 1-2, 2009, with data derived from 257 respondents.

I find the idea that this survey of people who paid $95 to attend SAVOR (ticket details) was conducted and that the results might have meaning so strange I can’t think of anything flip to write.

 

Session #28 roundup posted

The SessionBrian Yaeger has posted the roundup for The Session #28. Since Brian asked for it he got a nice collection of beers from far away, far away being subjective, of course.

Several first time Session participant — go make them feel welcome by leaving a comment — while some “regulars” turned up missing. I think, and I’m not making this up, it may have been because they were traveling.