October 2009
6 posts
4 tags
Clear Crank Distillery
BOOZE?
Once I discovered that no respectable Portland Brewery would hire a no-experienced schmuck like myself, I started going from distillery door to distillery door in search of a job. Most of the distillers—like folks at Artisan Spirits and House Spirits—were really cool and gave it to me straight:
“We’d love to hire someone,” they confessed, “But we just can’t afford it right now.”
After...
1 tag
My Beer is Going to Kill Me
I spent the morning brewing up a ballsy IPA with my buddy. We started early—around 9:30am—but after spending extra time chatting with the folks at the homebrew supply shop we ending up running long. I had to run to a meeting at work around 3pm and by the time I got back to my pal’s place to help clean up there was a slight problem.
“Something’s weird,” he told me.
After inquiring about the...
3 tags
Winter Workin'
Life in Portland has been grand so far. I’ve been fortunate enough to find a job and although I’m still a long way from sampling all thirty-five breweries in the metro area, I’ve been indulging my palate when the chance presents itself.
In my opinion, one of the best parts of the city is the surplus of delicious brews. One happy little side effect of this tasty issue is the amount of folks who...
3 tags
Bringing Patriotism Back to the Breakfast Table
I eat oatmeal for breakfast several times a week, so when I heard about the Golden Spurtle Contest in Scotland a few weeks back, I was a bit excited. Granted, the Golden Spurtle is a technically a porridge contest and not an oatmeal contest, but the deliciously mushy breakfasts are really the same thing with different names across the pond.
A spurtle is an ancient Scottish kitchen tool...
Technology & Beer: Friends Forever
Due to the magic of technology, I was treated to a delicious brew. A beer so dear to my heart because I was only able to drink during a week I spent in Wisconsin.
My girlfriend pulled a beer geek swap with a gentleman from Wisconsin for New Glarus’ Fat Squirrel.
During our travels from New York to Oregon, we stopped at the New Glarus brewery to sample some of the suds from the award-winning...
Better Luck Next Time
Well, Kevin K. from Bloomington, Illinois is the winner of the Oregon Bounty Cuisinternship. Congrats to him and thanks to all the fine folks who passed around my video and helped support my effort to win an amazing week being a beer slave at the Full Sail Brewery.
Since I didn’t win, it looks like I’ll have to try and become a brewer the old-fashion way—working towards it. Damn these contests...