Brewed Musings

Brewed Beverage of Choice:  A Pint of Hopworks Seven Grain Stout
For months I have been contemplating the idea of a beer style that was uniquely Portland.  That is right!  I am advocating adding another beer style to the 140+ styles already out there.  Munich has the Municher lager.  Vienna has the Vienna lager.  Dusseldorf…the Alt.  Cologne (Koln)…the Kolsch.  My dilemma, however, is this.  Can tehre be one unique beer style that can fully complement such a diverse culture as Portland?

In Milwaukee and Chicago, two cities in which I have lived, finding a unique style is simpler because both cities still cherish their European heritages.  One would figure a good lagerr would suit them.  In fact when I go home to Milwaukee, the first beer I get is Lakefront’s Riverwest Stein which is an Amber/Vienna Style lager.

I am not insinuating that Portland does not cherish its heritage.  I am still amazed by how much the citizens love their city.  Believe me.  I am one of them.  But I am also one of the majority of modern Portlanders: a transplant.  Native Portlanders are an endangered species.  At least they are in the fact that they are not as vocal about Portland as the transplants are about where they come from.  As one would suspect, this diversity created by the transplants causes an identity crisis of sorts.  It also makes it difficult to come up with something that says, “Portland!”

As beer styles go, the Northwest Pale Ale is the most common answer I get when I pose the question to other beer geeks.  But I find this style too bland to be Portland.  Of course the Portland beer style would have to be hoppy.  After all, we live in the middle of America’s hop fields.  The Portland style would also have to be organic with all the Sustainability geeks who call Portland home.  Again…Myself included.  But organic and hoppy are all I can come up with.

Maybe the answer is to make the beer style more regional.  The Bavarians have their Weizens.  The Flanders region of Belgium have their Sour Red and Brown ales.  Brussels and the Peyottenland have the Lambic and Gueze.  Maybe the answer is to have a style that says we are from the Willamette Valley or the Columbia River Region.  That way we can include Vancouver, WA, Eugene and Salem.

Perhaps the final answer is not to create a beer style that says, Portland.  Perhaps we should just celebrate the diversity within our brewing culture.  You can walk into a brewpub or brewery within the city limits and the tap lineup is as diverse as the culture living within the same city limits.  We have brewers who are doing their own version of the Sour ales of Flanders.  Brewers who do Alts and Kolsch.  Brewers who are masterful at the ales of Britian.  So what better way to celebrate our diversity of culture with a diverse lineup of great artisinal brews.

My mind can and will chew on this for a bit longer.  If you are a geek from the area who has their own idea, send it my way or come to the Green Dragon on April Fool’s Day and we will hash it out over a pint.  Right now I have to get on my bike and finish the last leg of my commute…in the snow…

Prost!

the confucian brewer

Brewed Beverage of Choice: A Stange of Evolution Altbier

Sometimes my brain likes to take a vacation.  Writing seems to take a back seat on the ride to where ever we are headed.  And in the back seat with writing is rhythm looking all somber and bored.  But this morning on the way to work, rhythm snuck up to the front seat and provided some inspiration.  Without further ado, the gift rhythm gave me…

Hawk and geese fighting
Outside the brewery, while
Inside the mash rests.

(I sat and watched a hawk fighting with these two Canadian geese this morning.  Instantly I knew I should capture the moment…for some reason in haiku.)

After months with grey
clouds and rain reigning,
through the brewery window,
a welcome surprise:
the morning sunrise.

Distant snow peaked mountains
An afterthought.
The geese and pear blossoms:
a sign of springs arrival.
When will you appear?

Brewed Beverage of Choice: A hot cup of Yerba Mate (10 Days since giving up Coffee…)

A while back I decided to streamline the brewery operations in my little roadhouse brewery. What resulted was not a faster, more efficient way of doing things. The brewery and I felt rushed, disjointed, askew. The other morning while on the train to work I had a moment of satori, an epiphany if you will. My streamlining disrupted the natural balance of the brewery.

It may seem strange to some to think that we could have a relationship with something such as a brewery. Many of the East Asian philosophies, Confucianism included, believe that the universe is made up of a plethora of these relationships. If I am not mistaken, this natural order is called Tao. Native Americans have a similar deep relationship between the tribe and the natural world. If you care to read about their relationship pick up a copy of God is Red by Vine Deloria, Jr.

In Confucianism one must rectify these relationships. They must study them. They must respect them. It is through this knowledge and practice of benevolence, or jen, that order and balance in life is maintained. I have always found this practice intriguing and at one time hoped to use it to teach Lindy Hop.

The Lindy Hop is a form of partner swing dancing that at its finest is fun, elegant and natural. Because it is a partner dance I believe it follows these same rules of relationships. The mistake though is to believe it is just a relationship between a lead and a follow. There is also a strong relationship between the dancer and the floor, between the dancer and the music, and between the dancer and the couples around them. Any disruption of these balances can cause chaos. But, when all the balances are in complete harmony a couple doing Lindy are beautiful to watch.

When I did teach, students would ask where I learned a lot of my fundamentals and movement. I found this question humourous because a lot of my dance comes not from the study of swing dancing and swing music. Most of my skills come from playing basketball, baseball, and even bowling. Yep! Bowling! But I also used what I learned as a physics major in regards to basic fundamental principles of fluidity and the laws of motion. Little of my dance is actually the art of dancing. It is more subtle athleticism and the knowledge of the basics.

And now with my eyes re-opened to these relationships, the balance of the brewery has been restored. My day to day operations may not be quick and easy. But they are efficient and in harmony. I respect my brewery more. Thankfully, she has forgiven me for the disruption.

Prost!

the confucian brewer

Brewed Beverage of Choice: A Chalice of Blind Abbot Abbey

For your information, and perhaps you already know this if you happen to read as many beer blogs as I, but there are currently 140 beer styles according to the American Homebrewers Association and the Brewers Association. Believe it…I spent some of the day filing through ‘em all. Of course this revelation set my mind in motion. So as I was walking the White Wonder and subsequently later on as I sipped a pint watching some March Madness, I pondered the question of style.

Sometimes we in the brewing community get too caught up in style. Style serves a purpose in some respects to tell the consumer what to expect from their recently purchased pint of beer. It conveys some history behind the beer and the brewer. But in our culture here in the states we find it necessary to put things in neat little lines. The beers value is based on how close to style it is. Believe me. I am one of the many who at one time or another have stated, “Nice beer but it is not to style.”

This statement reminded me of a conversation I had a couple of weeks ago about a line up of swing bands which played here in town. Someone commented that the bands did not play traditional swing music. Nice music but it is not to style. But the important point brought up, and I cannot take credit for it, was did the musicians swing. Styles even in music can toe a thin line between decent peripheral vision and tunnel vision. Yvan de Baets says in Brew Like a Monk, “Making categories helps the human brain, but it also limits it. Descriptions don’t necessarily take into account complexity.” It is nice to have styles like Extra Strong Bitter or Swing, but there is always something underlying that a style guideline will miss.

In my opinion the underlying factor in beer styles is the brewer. One of the particular reasons I like the farmhouse styles of Northern France and Belgium, as well as Alts and Kolschs, is that while they follow a guideline to some degree they do not let that limit them. In the book Farmhouse Ales Phil Markowski says, “While style geeks insist that beers fall in line, most Belgian and French brewers prefer them to fall just outside the line, provided they taste good and are made by honest methods.” This is what I strive for when I brew up a new beer. The final product regardless of style should at least taste good and will have my own stamp on it.

It would be hypocritical of me to say I have never been one of those style geeks or the type of brewer that brewed specifically to style. Brewing to style is one of the first building blocks in brewing. It is the basics. It is that around which the beer molds itself. Ron Jeffries of Jolly Pumpkin Ales stated it best in Brew Like A Monk when he said the following:

“I brew to the taste. To the vision. Not to the guidelines. This was not always so for me. For years I followed the guidelines, trying to perfectly match any given style. Like the aspiring artist practicing year after year, painting a solitary stick of bamboo, exactingly replicating the master’s work. Only after years of painstaking perfection is the student allowed to add a leaf here, a sprig there. Such can be brewing. After years of pale ale, English versus American, porter, stout, robust, brown and the like, I began to brew differently. Asking not just how should it taste, but how I want it to taste.”

I like that quote because I have studied Chinese Brush Painting and it is just that precise. You spend days, months, years practicing the stroke to perfection. No pictures made. Just one stroke after another. I took what I learned from that experience and practiced it my brewing. Making batch after batch. Conducting one mash after another. Getting the style just right. And now I am to the point where I feel I can add my own spin on that style.

So style does serve a purpose, but too often in this culture it is blurred by competition and taken far too literal. Beers should be awarded on their own merit, a philosophy shared by my friend, Jason, co-owner of Roots Brewing who would rather have praise from customers than medals. So the next time you take a sip of a new brew, ask yourself not is this to style, but does this beer swing.

Cheers,

the confucian brewer

Local brewers take on the whole style issue 

Brewed Beverage of Choice:  Bridgeport Beer Town Brown preferably on Cask…

When I set up this blog I had hoped to remain anonymous for the sake of the people who knew me.  I did not think it necessary to have them recognized, which was in all likelihood not going to happen.  You as a reading public did not need to know who was whom in this play, so naming them by name was useless…AND it still is.  But we all knew the day would come when I would have to come out of my comfort of the shadows.  And apparently, the spirits picked the past 7 days.

But for me this is a good thing because I am all about promoting our little, local brewing community in a different light.  After the Falconer Foundation was gracious enough to award me with a scholarship, the need for anonymity was lost.  How could I honestly promote the Foundation from the confines of the shadows?  Sometimes the sidelines are a good place, but in order to play one must put up and shut up!  For those of you who may know me, shutting me up can be difficult when it comes to something I am passionate about, such as brewing, community, and music.

The reason of my departure from the shadows, and some of you may have seen it on OregonLive.com or in Saturday’s Living Section in the Oregonian, was the article written about the Falconer Memorial Brew.  In fact all day Saturday, I was approached by many people to congratulate me and basically talk.  It actually felt good to be recognized.  I usually let my work do the talking, but that can only go so far.  The shyness still shines through and my ability to take a compliment needs work, but I am trying to welcome the recognition with open brewers arms.

This does not mean I will not take time out to muse on other stuff other than beer and brewing.  Fear not, when my mind is ready to devour some philosophical or historical musing, you will be the first to read about.  It does mean that I will be using the blog more to promote events I may be at, or tell the lucky Oregonians where to get my beer.  Also, as I stated earlier, I will still refrain from using other people’s names without their consent.  At least the sun is shining on the day I emerge.

Prost!

the confucian brewer of lost anonymity

PS:  I am also planning on changing the picture at the top when I learn how to do such trivial things.

Brewed Beverage of Choice: A Cup of Green Tea

There is a discussion brewing (no pun intended) within our local swing dance scene on steps we need to take rebuild our community. As always, a topic such as this brings out some very good suggestions and some not so good. And despite the fact that we all cannot agree on everything, we must remember that there are two important factors that are coming out: one is that there is open discussion, and two, that people care about their local communities.

There is a similar conversation going on amongst brewers within the brewing community, especially considering the crisis regarding hop and grain prices and the lack of farmers growing both. The other day, while we were brewing the Glen Hay Falconer Legacy Brew, a few of us touched on the topic. Christine from Craft Brew Cast asked me specifically about my essay which helped win the Falconer Scholarship. A lot of what I wrote was specifically about how we as brewers must take more interest in the smaller things in brewing like grain and hop farmers. We do well within the craft brewing industry with marketing, maintaining the community of brewers, and educating the general public. But the time has come now where we as brewers must be more involved not only with the farmers, but also the local community around our specific brewers.

I grew up in a small, rural community. What I took away from that upbringing was the value of business owners helping out the community when it was down on its luck. People I recognize and admired were men and women like the grocery store owner, the local publican, and the restaurateur. These people went out of their way to help people in times of crisis. How did we repay them? By giving them business even though something cheaper was a mere 7 miles away. We in the community, at least the new breed that seems to be coming up, are very aware of this need as business owners and brewers. Roots Organic, for example, are donating some of the profits from the sale of one of their beers to help with a local watershed. And now with the grain and hop prices the way they are, we as brewers and owners must take more responsibility in those areas.

I wrote in my essay about my admiration for the owner of Stumptown Coffee Roaster. He goes to every farm and inspects it thoroughly. Everything from quality of the bean to the conditions the workers endure. If one thing is wrong, he will not buy the coffee. He was on record for paying the most per pound for a crop of coffee beans. It is this aspect that I believe brewers and brewery owners must actively pursue. We must go to the farmers of the grain and the hops, meet them and take interest in their work. We should be willing to pay them more so in turn they can plant more, make more, and earn a living. If they saw us as a face and not as an image, they may be more willing to help us out and not plant corn instead of barley. We should take care of our own.

So as I was walking my dog, contemplating the plight of the local swing dance community, I could not help but think of what we as brewers need to do to help rebuild our community. People can only handle so much globalization and mass marketing before they realize their identity is being stripped. I think I have been on my high horse long enough. I will get off now because I think I have developed some saddle sores. Support your local businesses.

Prost!

the confucian brewer (soon to lose his anonymity.)