IPA tasting at the Wild Mare in Corvallis on Wednesday

A new restaurant in Corvallis will host its first India pale ale tasting on July 20. Owner Pam Kaye says there will be 10 IPAs: Kettlehouse Double Haul, Flathead IPA2, Blackfoot Single Malt IPA, Bitter Root IPA, Lone Peak IPA, Deschutes Hop Henge Experimental IPA, Sierra Nevada S. Hemisphere Harvest Fresh Hop Ale, Sam adams latitude 48, Lagunitas Hop Stoopia and Rogue Brutal IPA. Cost is $10, and five kinds of wings will be available for 50 cents each.

The Wild Mare is located at 283 Second St. in Corvallis.

- Matt Pritchard

Blackfoot River Brewing Co. pint night at Rhino on Thursday

One of my favorite Montana breweries, Helena’s Blackfoot River Brewing Co., is heading to the Rhino in Missoula on Thursday to host a special pint night starting at 4 p.m. Here’s the lowdown from Blackfoot’s newsletter:

Join Blackfoot River Brewing partner Greg Wermers at the Rhino in Missoula, this Thursday, April 14th for a Blackfoot Pint Night from 4pm — close. Greg will have some fun Blackfoot gear to give away and the Rhino will be pouring a very special Imperial IPA in addition to the Singlemalt IPA and Organic Pale Ale. Join us for a night of fun and friends in Missoula.

- Matt Pritchard

Missoula’s Caffe Dolce holds Blackfoot River Brewing beer tasting on Tuesday

Helena’s Blackfoot River Brewing Co. is coming to Missoula to host a beer tasting event at Caffe Dolce on Tuesday. The event features nine samples and tickets are $20. Spots are filling up fast, so if you want to go you’d better call soon. The number is (406) 830-3055 (ext. 3), and Caffe Dolce is located at 500 Brooks St. Here’s the rest of the info:

Caffè Dolce proudly hosts Helena’s Blackfoot River Brewing Co. on Tuesday, March 29.

Taste and experience nine exceptional hand-crafted beers from unique recipes produced by Blackfoot River Brewing all in one place!

This exclusive beer tasting includes 4 ounce samples of a wide variety of specialty ales and lagers delivered fresh from the brewery just for this event. Appetizers and treats to be served by Dolce to compliment the selection of specialty brews.

Greg Wermers, one of the co-founders and original brewers at Blackfoot River Brewing, will be guiding you through this tasting event. While sampling the wares, you will learn about the history of each beer style along with the unique nuances of each of these Blackfoot beers.

This beer tasting event will be scheduled in four separate flights of 15 people each, starting at 5:00 pm. Flights will run every 45 minutes thereafter. It will be a beer tasting to remember.

Cost is $20 per person.

Reservations required, call 830-3055 (ext. 3)

Shmaltz Brewing Co. book reading, tasting in Hamilton

Jeremy Cowan of Shmaltz Brewing Co. will be in Hamilton at Chapter One Book Store on Friday, Nov. 26, at 7 p.m. to read from his new book, “Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah: How it Took 13 years, Extreme Jewish Brewing, and Circus Sideshow Freaks to make Shmaltz Brewing Company an International Success.” There will also be a tasting that will feature selections from his two lines of HE’BREW Beers and Coney Island Craft Lagers. You can check out the first chapter of the book here.

“Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah” marks the debut book from Shmaltz Brewing Co. A small-business memoir tracking 13 years of brewing up delicious beer and delicious shtick, Jeremy Cowan divulges his take on creating a successful national brand and all the fun and unexpected turns he has experienced along the way. Established in San Francisco in 1996 with the first batch of 100 cases of HE’BREW Beer bottled, labeled and delivered by hand, Shmaltz has sold more than 8 million bottles of HE’BREW Beer and Coney Island Craft Lagers to date. Documenting the early days of Cowan delivering beers with his grandmother’s Volvo to winning awards at top craft beer festivals around the country, “Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah” takes readers on a wild ride with the head of one of today’s most successful and award-winning Jewish Freak Show Craft Breweries.

- Matt Pritchard

Labor of love in Stevi taproom

From left: Blacksmith IRA, Simcoe Pale Ale, Cuthroat IPA Nitro and Hopper Hefeweizen ... Not a bad Labor Day weekend lineup.

Recently, I decided to take my well-earned free time and limited coin down to the Blacksmith Brewery in Stevensville for a little “What’s on Tap?” investigatory “research.”

Over the two hours or so that I spent in that wonderful, vintage brick tasting room I had the chance to observe a good cross-section of the North Bitterroot citizenry.

There was the athletic couple who had just cycled in from Lolo; the old-timers reminiscing on the government bunglings of wildfires past; there were felt cowboy hats, young sweethearts and even an employee of the valley’s other brewery. There was (no big surprise on a Sunday afternoon) one bartendress.

There was also a sign on the wall for farm fresh eggs … only $3! While that was tempting, I instead opted for a selection of new and seasonal brews just to get a sense of what the modern Stevensvillian was drinking these days.

Hopper Hefeweizen – 6.0 %

Unfiltered with a mellow gold glow, the Hopper (surprise, surprise) is anything but hoppy. Sporting a rich malty, yeasty aroma, the first sniff brings to mind subtle visions of apricot and citrus. The flavor is full and satisfying with a texture that you can feel on your tongue. Stemming from the annual arrival of the summer grasshoppers (“The hoppers are out”) this brew has been on tap since the beginning of June.

Cuthroat IPA Nitro – 6.2 %

Cuthroat is the Blacksmith’s bread and butter IPA and one of their most popular beers; throwing it on a nitro tap offers some interesting and welcome diversity. For an IPA, this brew is extremely pale with a light wheatish yellow hue. With a slow-rising, delicate yet satisfying nitro head, this brew has a surprisingly subtle aroma compared with the usual Cuthroat. The usually robust flavor is somewhat downplayed by the smooth nitro texture but the aftertaste (BURP!) is quite pleasing.

Simcoe Pale Ale – 6.2%

Noticeably dark for a pale, this beer (the brewery’s newest offering) has a copper/sunsetty appearance. The aroma is striking; floral with a strong vanilla presence and the first sip is almost exotic with that same floral character with an excellent hoppy sustain. Robust, the aftertaste almost pushes itself out through the nostrils. This is a proud Blacksmith brew with the same underlying tones that I find in the Brickhouse Blonde among other Blacksmith staples. Very intriguing.

Blacksmith IRA – 7.4 %

Hold on to your hops, friends, because this Imperial Red Ale is strong and persuasive. Dark red with a slight yeasty haze the aroma is deceptively mild though hoppy and fully indicative of the beer’s flavor. The flavor is quite wonderful with a strong malty opening and a quick hoppy zing that rolls from the tip of the tongue to the back and settles nicely, lingering in the back of the mouth and into the throat. This would be a great beer to start off a Friday evening session.

Also on Tap at The Blacksmith

• Brickhouse Blonde
• Montana Amber
• Pulaski Porter

All great beers and worth a trip down the Bitterroot, but in the words of the great Lavar Burton, “Don’t take my word for it …” go taste ‘em yourself! Cheers!

Will Moss

Upcoming Beer Dinner At Blue Canyon

If you missed last year’s beer dinner at Blue Canyon, and I know you did, because I was there, you really need to check out this year’s dinner.

On (CORRECTION) Friday Jan. 23nd at 6:30 in Bison Room of Blue Canyon, chef Laurence Coffman and Big Sky head brewer Matt Long will take you on an epic culinary adventure themed around beer. What could be better? Chef Larry is skilled in the ways of marrying food and beer into rapturous moments of mouth joy. Just check out last year’s menu here.

And Matt Long brings years of passion and a helluva palate for craft beer to the table along with his amazing experience as a brewer who understands the most basic chemical principles of our beloved beverage.

Along his journey, Matt Long has picked up an affinity for trying interesting recipes and then blending one idea with another. Though he already makes a fantastic Belgian-style Tripel, Long decided to age some of it in wine barrels, both red and white. I don’t know if this will be served at the beer dinner, but you owe it to yourself to come and find out. Regardless of what they serve, it will be a unique and hard-to-find Big Sky beer or one of their fantastic and food-friendly staples.

The cost is $75, but you couldn’t buy a meal like this for less than $150, and you won’t be able to find most of this beer on area shelves.

This is expected to sell out fast, so call in and make reservations soon. 1(406) 541-BLUE (2583)

I’ll post the menu as soon as I get it.

Prost,

GG

Dispatches from China

Craft brew really has made it across the Pacific.

This is from my good friend Peter Bowling, a business man, philanthropist, AIDS activist working in China.

Take it away Pete -

Here’s a shot of the import beer section. There used to be just about nothing in the way of good beer here, but now we are getting more and more appearing on the shelves of these import stores. I took this picture, but almost got my head taken off by the security guard. He came at me swinging his arms hoping to get in the way before I took a snapshot… but obviously he didn’t succeed. ‘No photography in the store… there’s a sign up front…’ I glanced around, half expecting to see armed guards with dogs, and a ‘China Customs – no photography beyond this point’ sign… but there wasn’t… just regular supermarket signage. Oh well. At least they have good beer… so what if they won’t let me take pictures. I’ll just have to be more stealthy next time.

Here’s a lineup of the beers we tasted tonight… only cost me about $20 for 8 bottles of good import beer… we divided the beers between the appetizers, the meal, and post-meal. Dried fish soaked in dark vinegar is really a great choice to go with almost any beer.

This was the first one we tried, and our least favorite. I would choose a Chinese wheat beer over this, at 1/20 the cost. The actual flavor was hard to detect because it was weak, and the beer tasted flat to begin with. I only drank it down because we don’t waste beer. If there’s ever leftover beer that no one will drink, we use it in the marinade brine for the next BBQ.

This was one of our favorites, in our top 3. Not too light or heavy, and an interesting flowery flavor or aftertaste. It’s called ‘island lager’, which I guess it kind of tasted island-ish…

We were not impressed with this beer, which made it into our bottom 3. It wasn’t bad, just wouldn’t be a top choice for me. I don’t know what ‘white beer’ is supposed to taste like, but I guess this is it. It was smooth, not sharp, weak flavor, and kind of murky appearance (as its unfiltered).

I think this is the first time I have tried an ‘auburn Lager’. The color was intriguing. The picture doesn’t show clearly the distinct sharp color. The flavor was a little bit sour, and not as good as the Long Board Lager, but I would still prefer this beer above many.

This beer had a very strong flavor, high in hops, and on the higher end of alcohol (8.5%). I didn’t particularly like the boldness of it. I could tell the beer was quality, the flavor wasn’t bad, and I didn’t dislike it, but I wouldn’t likely choose it very often as it might make me full before my meal does. Somehow this filled me up faster than a heavy dark beer does.

This is one of the beers I have been fascinated by lately. It’s a ‘lambic beer’ made by Lindemans. This is the peach flavor. I like this one as a refreshing drink, but it didn’t make it into my top 3. Very sweet, sour, good full flavor, low alcohol (2.5%). I am most intrigued by the way this beer is made.

This, although it’s not a beer, was a big disappointment. The flavor seemed watery, lower alcohol than I’d expect from a cider (5%), and just overall not very tasty, not refreshing, and not worth drinking again.

Now this one… has been my favorite so far. Since the first drink I had a couple weeks ago, I have been excited about this beer. This is also a ‘lambic’ made by Lindemans, flavored with raspberries. Just the smell gives away the secret that you’re in for a treat. The deep color is amazing, the flavor is like eating a handful of sun-ripened raspberries right off the vine. Every time I finish one of these, I wish I had bought more. And I think I most certainly will…

Thanks for sharing Pete, and keep sending those dispatches from China. We love hearing that craft beer is taking over the world.

Prost,
GG

The ABCs of beer

Australia, Bozeman and Cantillon to be exact. There was no order to this tasting, nor was there a theme. Conveniently, I found a loosely threaded theme to follow in a simple song my two-year-old sings.

My buddy Luke from Kettlehouse, grabbed a growler of schwarz beer from Bozeman Brewing Co., I threw in two bottles of Coopers and Luke kicked in a bottle of Cantillon Broucsella (1900) Grand Cru. I purchased the Coopers Sparkling Ale and Vintage Ale at The Good Food Store and I believe the Cantillon came from Worden’s Market.

We started with the  beer, which was nicely roasted with a hint of licorice and a bigger hop profile than most black beers.

The Coopers Vintage Ale had a heavy fruit nose with a ton of dried pineapple, green apple and green raisin flavors. The color left something to be desired. We decided it was a dishwasher brown, which didn’t flatter the beer. But the fruit nose and the warm full body with medium malt were very satisfying.

The Coopers Sparkling Ale was super light with a decent nose containing some floral hints and a little over-ripe grapefruit. I wonder if this beer wasn’t a little flat or perhaps old. With some effervescence or a little sparkle, this would be great summer beer.

And last, but certainly not least, the Cantillon Broucsella (1900) Grand Cru is fantastic beer, with a deep and complex sour well that seems to go on forever. This particular bottle went a little flat, so we were left with only a hint of what a great beer this is. Don’t let that scare you, if you find one of these, grab it and have a friend over to enjoy one of life’s great pleasures.

Cheers,

GG