“Didn’t Ruby Ale just have a birthday?” I quiz my husband.


“If she didn’t, having another beer birthday isn’t a bad thing,” he tells me. At this point, I could agree with him but how often should you tell your spouse they are right??!

“No seriously, weren’t we just at McMenamins celebrating Ruby’s 27th birthday?” I ask again.

“No, that was Hammerhead’s birthday,” he finally tells me.



McMenamins Brew Pubs (and beer) was started by a couple of brothers, Mike and Brian (of the same last name.) (Side note, soon another set of Brothers Kurt and Rob Widmer would start their brewery which is now the 9th largest in the US) The McMenamin’s created the first post-prohibition brewpub in Oregon in 1985 as soon as the Oregon Legislature legalized brewpubs. Serious,1985. Keep in mind, prohibition ended in 1933. I suppose that is the first time Oregon was really behind the times. My beer friends are now challenging me on this bit of information knowing that Widmer started brewing in 1984 but they didn’t open a brew pub; not yet anyhow.

That same year (back to 1985) McMenamins became the first brewery in the United States to legally use fruit in the brewing of ales and thus, Ruby Ale was born 27 years ago. Now you know why they celebrate her birthday. Pints were $2.50. Too bad they weren’t giving the stuff away but $2.50 is a fair price for a smooth Raspberry beer.

Now that I’ve muddy the waters with trivia and history of some beer, prohibition and brewpubs, I think having a beer birthday celebration is always in order no matter what. Not that I need (yet another) reason to drink; but to Ruby Ale I say “Prost!”

Zwicklemania

This is not a Beer Blog. So sit back, relax and pour yourself a tall cold one as I tell you about two beer pubs I discovered thanks to Zwicklemania.




Zwicklemania just had its 5th annual event. Breweries across Oregon celebrate their craft by welcoming the public with free beer samples, free tours and sometimes a free bus to take participants from one brewery to another.



Skipping the 40 passenger school bus in Salem, my husband and I opted to drive between breweries. Five of them were offering the whole tour/sample welcoming of Zwicklemania.



We made it to two of them.



The first one was Gilgamesh Brewing. The tour started by one of the owners telling us a bit about his family who owned the brewery and then left us in the hands of the brewer Mark. He sure loves his craft and gave plenty of detail on the processing of beer. This brewery is nestled off the beaten path in Salem in an industrial part of town with a pretty awesome deck space with a stream view (can’t quite call it a river). In the summer time this would be the place to hang out and enjoy a well-rounded craft beer. The beer flavors are unique with good variety of flavors from mint, cherry & orange.

The second one was mere mile away discreetly hidden in an industrial park with poor signage. Santiam brewery started by 9 home brewers who meet regularly to support and drink each other’s beers. The 10 beers they have crafted are quite smooth, well balance and quite frankly wonderful. We purchased a growler of the beer brewed with merlot. My husband tells me that is a type of wine. I just know it made some pretty darn fine tasting beer. We skipped the brewery tour of this place because we didn’t think we’d all fit into the tiny space plus we wanted to sit at one of the two long German-beer-style-tables to enjoy the experience instead of standing at a wooden beam outlining what is going to be the bar. (Are you impressed with my long, run on sentence??)



After the growler purchase and our bellies full of beer we needed food. We went back to Gilgamesh to have some upper end/restaurant style pub food.

With our bellies full; back home to drink the growler. 

Prost!

Going to the Dark.....Beer Tour

On joyous day just a few weeks ago, I received an email from Rogue Ale Farms about a Going Dark Tour. My husband, the agreeable man that he is concurs this is a pub crawl we can’t miss out on.



Rogue Ale, oh wait you already knew that!



We arrived to Rogue Ale Farm in the middle of, well farm land in the area of Independence Oregon. You would never go to the farm on accident or find it by happy circumstance. However, the veterans that we are can drive there blind folded.

The farm would be the first stop of our tour. I had a Double Dark Chocolate Beer. Yum. A seasoned Rogue Ale Farm drinker tells me it’s rare to have that on tap and I should fill my growler while I have the chance; like he is doing. Unfortunately, my growler is on top of my refrigerator collecting dust. As the seasoned Rogue Drinker pedals away with growler attached firmly to his bicycle, my husband and I board the Rogue Bus, alone. Are we to be the only ones on the tour? I worried that this pub crawl will be uneventful. We quietly view the farmers pruning trees as the bus makes it way to the first stop in Monmouth Oregon.



Turn your head ...it's a cool picture from Yeast Beast. Really.

 First stop, Yeasty Beast. As we walk into the well light pizza/bar joint a table of 10 cheers for us, “Yea, more tour people.” I cheer right back and call out “Prost!” We sat at the bar and the server promptly gives us a chocolate brownie. She tells us all tour people get a brownie to start. I’m going to like this tour. I order a S’ more beer brewed by Base Camp in Oregon. Prost! The guy sitting next to me is also on the crawl and he himself is a beermeister, or brewer. The table of four women behind us offers to take our picture, for as they too are on the tour and “plan on seeing us rest of the day.”

Second stop, taster of six dark beers at a wine bar name appropriately Crush Wine Bar and Tasting room. All the people we had met are already present and accounted for. Again, we sit at bar. The Wine bar is a super cool old building with exposed brick walls and dark wood floors. The owner tells us it used to be a bank. We enjoyed our samples of dark beer while watching whatever ball-sports-game is on television. Unfortunately I commit a beer sin and spill a taster. I sure that would have been my favorite beer of the day as well. Forty five minutes later the bus rolls up and the bartender/owner announces the arrival. Many stay behind the in the relaxed quite atmosphere of the Wine Bar.

Independence Bar with Chocolate & Cherry Beer.

Third Stop; Independence hop bar in Independence Oregon. The bar was packed with tour people we hadn’t meet yet. We quickly plop down on the last two bar seats and let the other people on the bus fend for themselves. Live music plays directly behind us. The inattentive bartender finally asks us what beer we want after she has served all the other bus people who managed to find a table. I ordered a Chocolate Mint beer made by Gilgameshale and my hubby a Chocolate Cherry. I got the better beer. The mint was surprisingly smooth and quite nice. We prost our beer and listen to the music. The bus rolls up before our beer is done; however we board the packed bus and back to Rogue Ale we go.

Back on the farm, the Rogue Ale house crowded. But heck, with only five tables inside that’s not hard to do. I tell all the tables to pick up their stuff and get on the bus to make room for all of us off the bus. Hey, they listened to me….I sure know how to clear a room. A chocolate lady is present giving samples of her homemade toffee made with peppers.

At this point, I don’t buy another beer but I do buy a bottle to take home, Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana beer. Doesn’t that sound divine? We do buy a bowl a Beer Cheese soup and chat with the people we’ve meet along the way. At each stop, we get a stamp on our “passport.” Our passport will entered into a drawing of prizes donated from bars.

(Blogger’s note….two weeks later and still no telephone call that I’ve won a prize. Maybe they will give it to me right before next year’s Going Dark Tour.)

In the meanwhile, I sign up on more blog sites for receive email of places I like.



Until then, PROST!

BWW

“Are you ready?”

“It’s only 10 am.” I whined to my husband.

Smart man didn’t say anything. He just stood by the front door with his jacket and hat on ready to go.

“Okay, Okay” I’m ready. I whined some more. It was my husband’s birthday, and since that is what he wanted to do; I’d tag along.

We had only been to Buffalo Wild Wings once before; and that was on vacation in Sierra Vista Arizona. We just happened in on .59 cent wing night. The wings were great and there was enough visual entertainment to make an ADD person go crazy. We loved the place. Back home, we read in the newspaper one was being built in our local area we were exciting about going back.

It was opening morning at Buffalo Wild Wings. It was also the end of a long weekend. As we pulled up that Monday Holiday Day, the parking lot was already filled and there was a line. Yes, a line. It appeared as if people had been there awhile since they had sleeping bags, blankets, lawn chairs. It was a brisk 27 degrees that morning so I could understand the blankets, but lawn chairs??

Reluctantly, we got in line. I wish I had my gloves. It was 30 minutes before the store was scheduled to open. Looking around at the long line, it also appeared we were the oldest people in line. Odd. Only college kids eat chicken wings at 11 am??

Lucky for my cold, icy hands the restaurant opened 10 minutes early and the line moved quickly. We were in the lobby within 20 minutes. A gentleman dressed in black was standing at the open door with a box in his hands. As we approached, he looked in his box and told us he had just a couple more coupons. Coupons? I like coupons. I said thanks as he handed me a coupon book. I was going to tell my husband we only need one coupon book but he was asking for his book. Odd. Since when has my husband actually asked for a coupon? Much less a book of them? The college kid in line behind us seems totally disappointed (or his words bummed) that we got the remaining coupons. What is it about these coupons?

We were ushered to our bar seat table. I wanted to be as far as possible from the front door and the constant cold. I wanted some feeling back into my hands again. Our waitress came by to explain the specials and the menu when she noticed our coupons on the table. She stated she wasn’t quite sure how those worked, but do we want to use them now? Sure. She asked how we wanted our twelve wings.

After placing our order of a plate of wings and being distracted by the the twenty thousand televisions, I opened the coupon book. Very simple coupons. Not a discount thing, not a buy one-get-one-free type of deal, but simple in that it six wings a week a year. No purchase necessary. The coupons are dated….once the week is over the coupon is expired. I asked one of the regional trainers about the coupons. He explained the company started that as a promotion when a Buffalo Wild Wings would open and they’d advertise in the newspaper the free wings each week for a year, until it turned in people camping out for days. The company didn’t withdraw the promotion, they just stopped advertising.

Looks like I have a date with my husband once a week for a year. Sorry to the college kids behind us who didn’t get the free wings every week for a year. You should have set your alarm clock.

And Thanks Buffalo Wild Wings; you may get sick of me.