We’ve seen some problems with legislation in the past affecting brewers, but this is just a sad story. A bunch of homebrewers in Oregon are being barred from showcasing their beer at the local fair due to an arcane rule.

An overlooked, 80-year-old statute that says Oregon home-brewed beer can’t leave the home has forced fair organizers to cancel the competition, which had 335 entrants last year, says Oregon Liquor Control Commission spokeswoman Christie Scott.

Brewers were reminded of the statute after the Oregon Department of Justice clarified the law for a pub seeking to serve home brew at an event, Scott says. “As long as this is the law, we have to enforce it,” she says, adding that the commission hopes to see the statute changed in time for the 2011 fair.

Oregon is a mecca for burgeoning breweries and brewers, and an event like this (300 people!) allows everyone to try a wealth of rare beers that may only be one-of-a-kind treats. The article also says that the same sort of thing happened in Michigan this past year, and guess who was responsible for the rule not being overturned…

Michigan law says homemade beer can travel, but not into the bars where clubs often meet. [Chris] Frey, of Saline, Mich., says the licensed bars that host such meetings, for now, can no longer host them.

“We realized we have put our hosts at risk,” he said.

Frey says state Reps. Douglas Geiss and Deb Kennedy, both Democrats, proposed a change that would have made tastings and competitions in bars legal. It died in committee this year after the liquor commission expressed opposition.

Nice job, liquor commission. The article also goes on to say that two other states, Alabama and Mississippi, actually have it in their rules that it is illegal to homebrew. Maybe now’s a good time to find out what the laws are in your state and make a difference if they’re not up to your liking. With beer becoming such a popular thing, even with stories lawmakers, now is definitely the time for craft beer to find some allies in the government. Amass, readers, amass!

State laws kill buss of home brews — USA Today

The Oregon Brewers Guild has announced the voting for Beer City 2010! Last year it was a close run between Portland, OR and Asheville, NC. I’ve already cast my vote, and was only a little surprised to see that Missoula, MT had enough write-ins to show up (although still with 0%). I’m not sure when voting ends, but head to the Oregon Brewers Guild site to cast your vote. Go MT!

Rogue Brewery in Newport, OR

It wouldn’t be far-fetched to say that Rogue is one of our favorite breweries at BarBEERians. Considering that we’ve reviewed six of their beers already, more than any other brewery, and that we’ve almost always liked the results, we’ve often been in the mood for finding new Rogue selections and adding another to the list of great beers. So when a limited-release offering from Rogue shows up on the shelves, it immediately becomes a beer that needs to be sampled. And so it goes with Rogue Chatoe Rogue First Growth Dirtoir Black Lager. It has a ridiculously long name that essentially means that its ingredients are all locally grown and it’s certified something by the something commission or something. Usually this stuff sounds really nice, but might not mean a whole lot (but I’ve gone on that rant before). Either way, this Schwarzbier style is one that I haven’t had a lot of, so I knew Rogue could do it justice. However, all good things must come to an end.

Just cracking the top of the bottle made me reconsider what I was about to get myself into. When I read on the label that this fancy Dirtoir Black Lager was indeed, well, a black lager, I was expecting a tame and slightly dark water to pour out. But the smell was strong with coffee notes, and after falling into the glass, this beer was clearly not what I expected. This sucker was muddy and reasonably thick with a head that’s darker than most stouts I dive into. The smell was sweeter than the initial wafts of bitter coffee, with touches of sweet chocolate tickling the olfactory sense. The first sip left a sour taste, though. Literally. The front notes of this beer were just off from the beginning. A slightly off-kilter, clunky, watered-down bitter beer taste scraped against the tongue for the first few seconds before finally getting pounced on by a dry and roasted malt profile. Not exactly the kind of beer that begs for more sips. Throughout the remainder of the glass, the flavor didn’t really change all that much, with maybe the sour taste and awkward hop notes disappearing just a bit, but in general, this beer wasn’t the most desirable to get through.

This is certainly a beer where the bite was worse than the bark. Based on the color and smell alone, I was expecting a truly astounding schwarzbier. However, what I got was a slightly ill-conceived rendition of the European style that still has some obvious rounding-out to do. It might be highly drinkable if you’re a fan of the style and can stomach the weirder sour-bitter flavor near the front but for me, this just didn’t quite work. Sometimes, a special edition beer is a good thing–you won’t have to see it around for very long.

All you tech guys out there already know Google is working on an experiment to provide up to 500,000 homes with blazing fast 1 gigabit per second broadband. Many cities around the country have been doing a lot of PR in an attempt to be the chosen city. Topeka, Kansas went to far as to rename the city Google, KA for the month of March. Duluth, MN responded by making a parody video in which all first born children will be named Google or some variant. In my opinion, however, Portland is doing the best marketing.

Hopworks Urban Brewery, a local organic brewery, will be releasing their Gigabit India Pale Ale. The New School Beer Blog hypothesizes it will simply be a new name for their traditional Organic IPA. Regardless, I love the idea and will have to look for some when it is released!

The beer scene is always changing. Twenty years ago, there were very few microbreweries to be heard of, and you surely weren’t stopping by the local tap room for a pint or your constitutional three. Recently (and this may just be a Montana phenomenon) we have seen a lot of new, experimental, high octane brews. The latest craze, however, hasn’t seem to hit Montana: the Black IPA. There have been a few, I remember a great one from Blacksmith Brewing Company at the MBA Oktoberfest.

Luckily for us, the bandwagon has come, sort of. Deschutes Brewery has released the latest installment in their Bond Street Series: Hop in the Dark C.D.A. The “C.D.A.” stands for Cascadian Dark Ale, which is apparently a preferred nomenclature (instead of Black IPA) by many brewers in the Pacific Northwest. I really don’t care what they call it, just as long as it is available in Montana and delicious, which by all accounts it should be. Deschutes has been experimenting for over a year and brewed over 22 batches to get the perfect taste for this new addition.

“We’ve been serving renditions of this beer in both our Bend and Portland pubs for over a year, experimenting on our customers as we perfected the recipe,” said Brewmaster Larry Sidor. “This beer has subtle coffee undertones born from a blend of oats with dark, Munich and crystal malts. Classic IPA flavors and aromas are due to courageous additions of various hops.”

Hop in the Dark was just recently released so there is no telling when it will make it out east to Montana, but we can only hope it is soon.

Deschutes Brewery Company in Bend, Oregon

So at some point (I apparently missed the memo), Deschutes Brewery changed its Red Chair IPA to its Red Chair NWPA. I believe it is the same brew simply under a new name. I saw a bottle of it the other day I picked it up, figuring it would make for a good review, especially since we are starting to see the first glimpses of spring/summer here. Later I discovered it was in fact the same beer, and our first review ever was the Red Chair IPA. I decided to go ahead and give it a re-review since it has a new name, and well I technically haven’t reviewed it before. I was pretty giddy about drinking and reviewing this beer because it has been a while since I’ve delved into some new IPA’s or at least anything outside the regulars: Blackfoot and whatever is on tap at the Red Atlas.

We had the Red Chair Northwest Pale Ale out of a little 12 oz. bottle which resulted in small, murky yet transparent orange zest colored samples. Despite the small portions, it packed quite an aroma, with a heavy citrus fruit nose and a floral piny backdrop. Given the refreshing summer smell, I expected a fairly mild bitterness with a lot of orange and grapefruit going on in this brew. To my surprise, it began creamy and smooth with light pine flavoring over a citrus burst, culminating in an intense bitterness that stuck on the back of the tongue.  A delightful little IPA that keeps you drinking. The bitter finish almost left the mouth dry, needing another dose of the Red Chair.

I’m excited to see this out in six pack as opposed to the bombers which we saw of the old Red Chair IPA last summer. The bomber wasn’t quite enough, though a figure a six pack of this would be sufficient for a few people to enjoy in the early afternoon. You’ll definitely want to be careful after a few of these since it weighs in at a nice 6.4% ABV.

Deschutes Brewery, the fabled maker of Black Butte Porter and Mirror Pond Pale Ale, has decided to expand its distribution of those to beers to include Minnesota. Beginning the week of March 29th, J.J. Taylor Distributing Company will begin selling Mirror Pond and Black Butte in the Twin Cities area.

“Minnesota is a place where people are passionate about their beer,” said Gary Fish, president and founder of Deschutes Brewery. “Getting our beer to more people who want it and are passionate about it has been part of our plan for quite a while, and we are looking forward to developing that relationship in Minnesota, starting with our two most popular beers. The response so far has been outstanding.”

Rogue Brewery in Newport, OR

I didn’t want it to be this way. One day we end up reviewing a whole bunch of Smuttynose beer, and the next we end up finding ourselves knee-deep in Rogue selections. I wasn’t going to stand for it! We were going to branch out! No more Rogue reviews for at least a few weeks! We’re starting to drill the brewery into the ground! But then we went to our local brewhouse and found myriad Rogue selections not in bottles, but on the freakin’ tap. This was a very welcome surprise and not one I was expecting in Helena. So, folks, I’m quite sorry, but I’m doing another Rogue review. But considering the fact that we still haven’t run into a Rogue beer that we haven’t at least had some attraction to, this was not an unwelcome surprise by any means. Plus, this was a winter warmer, and not related to one of our 12 Beers of Christmas, which, when I say this, I’m speaking for all of the BarBEERians: We are so completely over Belgian winter beers. Sorry, Belgium. Anyway, we found Rogue’s Mogul Madness and couldn’t say no. Deal with it.

Pouring a significantly darker color than I would have expected out of any winter warmer, Mogul Madness looked like a cross between Coke or Pepsi (pick your favorite) and a downsized porter. The smell was quite yeasty and bread like, with some noticeable hop touches tossed in. For it being a winter warmer, I was more expecting this to taste like a porter on a bender; however, it was much creamier and bitterer than expected. Considering it was a winter warmer, I was searching for some spice notes, but all I could encounter was the nice flavor from their typical Pacman yeast and some good combination of hop and malt that lingered on the tongue for quite sometime with a great creamy character. The beer didn’t feel super thick, and oddly enough for a regular Rogue selection, I could see myself having quite a few of these during an outing.

I probably wouldn’t exactly throw this in the winter warmer category myself, but I would maybe say that this was a brown ale on steroids or one that was looking for some trouble. Had on tap, this is an absolutely delightful beer with some great hop and malt characteristics that guide this beer on threw the taste grinder. It’s a rather tough beer to talk about considering I’m not too well-versed in the winter warmer category, but compared to the others I’ve had, this has to be near the top, if you indeed do want to call this a winter warmer. Whatever it is, I suggest drinking it. It warmed my night, that’s for sure.

Rogue Brewery in Newport, OR

When Miles first wrote about the release of the John John series back in December, I was super excited to get my hands on some of Rogue Brewery’s John John ales. More than anything else, for me at least, would be the chance to try the John John Dead Guy Ale, which was to be aged in Dead Guy whiskey barrels from Rogue’s distillery. My love for beers that have a bourbon tinge is unmatched, and also part of the reason I worship Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout. So when this John John Dead Guy was announced with its marriage partner being whiskey, I couldn’t have been more excited. Yeah, the Juniper Ale aged in gin barrels and Hazelnut Brown being aged in rum barrels both do sound rather enticing, but there’s something about a beer that has a bourbon touch rolling through it that really just makes me want to drink. It’s also probably the reason that it was the first of the series to be released. Thanks to a very kind friend out in Oregon, we were able to pick up a bottle of John John Dead Guy Ale to see whether this series was something that we’d be looking forward to all year long.

Now, considering some of the other special beers we’ve come across from Rogue, we were expecting something massively great (looking at you, Younger’s Bitter). After a little investigation, I was a tad surprised to find this beer only hovering around 6% in terms of ABV. When I think of a beer aged in bourbon barrels, I’m hoping for something pushing 10% at least. So subtlety would clearly be a big factor in this beer, something we don’t often link to Rogue’s brewing style. The color was very appealing, with streaks of apricot mixed together with a golden-orange color. I don’t exactly remember what the regular Dead Guy Ale from Rogue looks like, but I have to think both of these fit the German Maibock category quite well when it comes to color. The smell was an immediate splash of vanilla and apricot cream–much sweeter than we expected. After much posturing, we gave this one a sip, and all of us immediately noticed the crash of bourbon onto the tongue. John John Dead Guy wasn’t particularly commanding, and the bourbon flavor certainly traipsed through the mouth with every other flavor that came to the party. Further tasting revealed touches of orange and apricot near the front notes, with an earthy, oak flavor dancing with some light caramel near the end. The scent of vanilla was slightly stronger than the flavor, but occasionally, you could pick up a flash of it near the middle. The beer was also thinner than I thought it would be, and the alcohol wasn’t really present at all. If you’d asked me if this was a special edition run of a beer, I’d probably have told you that it wasn’t.

For all the well-conceived and potent beers Rogue produces for special occasions (look to any of their ceramic bottles), this John John Dead Guy Ale was a completely tame and quite enjoyable brew. The beer was certainly more on the sweeter side, but the bourbon helped dull down any overpowering sweet notes. This is definitely a beer you could enjoy a few pints of in a night, and certainly one I wouldn’t be too frightened of when bringing it to a dinner party where not all guests were craft beer fanatics. And after thinking it over, it’s kind of nice to run into a special edition beer where I don’t need to fight through the bottle while enjoying all the heavy flavors. This is a special beer, and not just because it’s a special edition. Rogue toned this one down, but made it quite a pearl in another way–with subtle and lovable flavors.

Deschutes Brewery in Bend, OR

It’s been a little while since we’ve visited the Deschutes Brewery in a review, which rather surprised me. I’ve always been a big fan of Deschutes. Their darker beers are all absolutely delicious and abundantly available here in the state. Even their lighter fare like their Inversion IPA or their Mirror Pond are all beers I’ve brought six-packs of to parties in the past. But when I saw their Green Lakes Organic Ale, I was put into a bind. I have to admit that I’m not a huge organic food and drink junkie. Yes, I know making beer certainly can’t be the most environmentally friendly thing in the world, but there are good breweries out there doing their part. And so when I see a beer labeled as organic, I cringe just a little bit. It probably does help the environment to use all organic products, but it also screams WHOLE FOODS! and BUY THIS AND IT WILL MAKE YOU LOOK LIKE YOU’VE SAVING DOLPHINS AND POLAR BEARS! Maybe I’m overly cynical, but a beer labeled organic is probably more about marketability than taste. But with Green Lakes Organic Ale, you get a healthy helping of both.

Before I get too far ahead of myself, Green Lakes isn’t a fancy organic breed of an ale. Rather, it’s an amber ale that just happens to be organic. The color was certainly an invitation to drink as a light-orange cream color filled the glass with a hefty dose of light creme-colored head. The smell was also rather inviting, with a hefty dose of malt and maybe some apple. And there weren’t any hints of butterflies or organic tofu or vegan black bean artificial chicken paste. So that was a plus. The taste was amazingly refreshing, with an upfront bitterness being quickly quashed by a peculiar creamy taste before blending into a solid foundation of malt and wet hops. The refreshing qualities of this beer were really remarkable, and all I could think was that this might be the first beer I could enjoy after a long run. Further sips revealed a heavier tail end than I had initially noticed, but this was certainly a good quality considering the lighter frontnotes. I still couldn’t really place a finger on the tastes I encountered right upon sipping the beer, but it didn’t really matter–the refreshing features of this beer were more than enough to satisfy me.

Though Green Lakes might not be able to rival Bayern Brewing in terms of pure and refreshing tastes, Deschutes’s organic ale certainly surprised me considering its organic slogan. This is a quality amber that finds a great middle ground between being a super drinkable and thirst-quenching beer while still maintaining a great hop and malt backbone that will leave any seasoned amber drinker with a smile of their face. I’ll give the organic ale title a pass this time, and I can certainly get behind this movement in beer even more if every amber tastes like this.