PDX BEER WEEK IS UPON US and we are pumped to be participating in two awesome events this year. First up is the Weird Beer Bonanza at Imperial Bottle Shop (Alberta st.) from June 7th to 9th. Our friend Alex Kurnellas at Imperial sifts through submissions to curate a great list of amazingly weird beers. The festival highlights brews that “strayed from the beaten path to scintillae your taste buds with the weirdest of ingredients and brewing methods.” Five bucks gets you a glass (or bring last years), and tasting tickets are $2, or $10 to taste all 15 beers. That’s a screaming deal people! So come on down and drink some weird-ass beer!
LET'S GET WEIRD
Umami (or savory taste) is one of the five basic tastes (along with sweet, sour, bitter, and salt) and rarely a desired flavor in beer.The other four flavors can be found in TONS of beers, but no umami in sight. So, for this years Bonanza, we set out on a mission to harness its 20% flavor power and create an awesome beer
BETTER INGREDIENTS, BETTER BEER
After exploring lots of ingredient options, we found one to be quite intriguing: mushrooms. They have a unique and pungent flavor, and have indeed been used historically to make beer. What better source than a fungus growing abundantly in our own backyard? We chose Chestnut Mushrooms grown by our friends at
Columbia Mushroom Company (check these awesome folks out if you haven’t already).
MEET CHESTNUT
Chestnut Brown is a great name for a race horse, right? Well, it also the name of our entry to this year's Bonanza! Ol’ CB (as we have come to know her around the brewery) is a brown ale infused with a dried chestnut mushrooms and sea salt tea.
Five pounds of fresh chestnut mushrooms from Columbia Mushroom Company were dried down to ½ lb and then steeped in saltwater for 30 minutes. This steeping process was used instead of boiling to retain as much of the aromatics and character of the chestnut mushrooms as possible. The salt addition was used to help drive the umami contribution from the mushrooms.
So if you find yourself in the mood to get weird this weekend, come out to Imperial Bottle Shop (Alberta St.) and come meet Ol' Chestnut Brown! Step outside the realms of sweet, sour, bitter, and salty to take in the forbidden fruit we know as umami!
via GIPHY
WAIT, WHATS THE OTHER EVENT??
We will also Have our beer on tap at the Loyal Legion that same weekend as part of the North Bank Invasion, pouring alongside other brews from each of Southwest Washington's breweries. Our brewmaster and owner, Doug Ellenberger, will be in the house to say hi and tell you (truly awful, yet somehow awesome) dad jokes from 6 to 8 pm on Friday night. Don’t miss out!
