Brewed Beverage of Choice: A Pint of Employee Owned Full Sail Pale
To give you a short story before I begin rambling on incessantly, last week I was writing about my second favourite concert ever, and with one fell swoop of an inadvertent key touch it was gone! So if you have been waiting for the Top 5! Concerts to return, you are going to have to wait a bit longer until my brain retrieves what it dictated to me fingers. Now on to this post.
You may ask yourself what a brewer does on his 4th day off in the month of July. Is it loafing around the studio with the White Wonder because said brewer has worked 6 day workweeks of 10 hour days? Is it sleeping from said exhaustion? Nope, it is volunteering at one of the best brew festivals in the country.
Every year on the last weekend of July, for 4 days, the city of Portland, Oregon, and the Oregon Brewers Guild, etc. put on what is known as the Oregon Brewers Festival where 72+ breweries show up of their finest wares. Well there are some notable exceptions that bring their most profitable beer, the beers you can find anywhere in town including Plaid Pantry, instead of allowing their brewers to showcase themselves. You know who you are! This year’s line-up includes: a single hop pale ale from Boundary Bay in WA, two Porters (finally someone is listening to me!), a bourbon barrel aged Abbey Ale from Flying Fish, 07/07/07 Vertical Epic Farmhouse from Stone Brewing, and numerous IPAs and Wits the likes you have never seen.
Before I had gotten my proverbial foot slammed in the door of the brewing industry, I volunteered my time at this wonderful festival…This year being my 7th. Initially they helped pave the way for me to get my liquor serving license. So I returned their favour by volunteering every year. Plus I like helping out for a good cause. But I am a rarity in the industry. Not the helping out for a good cause. There are many, many breweries that volunteer their time for the community. But there are few brewers that actually volunteer their time at the festival. I do not think it necessary for them to do so, because the weekend can be exhausting for the participants. However, it would be nice to see some of the brewers behind the tables hawking their fine wares or making sure that the patrons are acting in a responsible manor and NOT taking it out on the volunteer pourers who have to follow the OLCC laws.
There is a sense of accomplishment with my volunteering at the OBF. It is not often I get to put my practice of promoting safe drinking habits and building a strong community because the brewery takes up so much of my time. Some people think I volunteer to get the free tokens. And while that is a bonus, I believe as a brewer I can set an example by donating some time at the OBF. I am not in the game because of the perks. I am in the game because I like what I do and want to share it with others. That is the bottom line.
It is safe to say that my life revolves around brewing. And even on this day off I am still thinking of what I can create when I get back on the job. I brewed a Strong Scotch Ale yesterday and am wondering how my baby is doing. With my pint in hand, I parade from beer festival to beer festival all summer long, enjoying great and innovative brews, and communicating with the public. And when winter hits, we take it all indoors with pint in hand at festivals of great tasting, innovative winter brews. If you are in the Portland area this weekend, be sure to stop on by the OBF. It is a beautiful festival located on the riverfront with a view of Mt. Hood on a clear day like today. If you miss this one, the OBF returns every year on the last weekend in July.
Prosit!
the confucian volunteer brewer
PS: Hazletok! Where the hell are you? Update your Updates on you blog!