FIRE AND BRIMSTONE: A Celebration of Smoke and Chili Beers

SARAVEZA and THE HOP AND VINE present:

FIRE AND BRIMSTONE: A Celebration of Smoke and Chili Beers

Saturday, August 31 & Sunday, September 1 

11:00am – 6:00pm / $20

at Saraveza: 1004 N. Killingsworth St.

and at The Hop & Vine: 1914 N. Killingsworth St.

Portland, OR

North Killingsworth is heating up the beer scene again this summer! On August 31st and September 1st, Saraveza and The Hop & Vine team up for the third annual Fire and Brimstone celebration of smoke and chili beers. Cider fans are welcome as well, thanks to Reverend Nat's Hard Cider and Finn River Farm and Cidery. This year, for the first time ever, both locations will also feature a special cocktail featuring one of the beers or ciders on tap!

Both Saraveza and The Hop & Vine will feature smoke and chili beers in equal measure, and each will provide food pairings—Saraveza will naturally cook up some of their enormously famous (or is that famously enormous?) Bamberg Onions, while The Hop & Vine will warm up the palate with smoky mushroom and spicy pork belly tacos!

Cost is $20 for a Fire & Brimstone glass and 8 taster tokens, with additional tokens at $2. One glass will get you into both locations on both days!

HIGHLIGHTS:

The Hop & Vine will be shaking things up by sending the already-delicious Dogfish Head Festina Peche through a special line full of chilies, on-the-fly infusing every glass with a bouquet of bright, fresh, and delightfully hot nightshades (variety TBD).

PDX Pedicabs will provide transportation between the two locations between 12:30pm and 3:30pm both days. After those hours, the bars are just a ten-minute walk from one another on N. Killingsworth.

PARTIAL BEER LIST (many beers are being created specifically for the festival, and are still in formative stages – more to come via Facebook/Twitter/etc.)

AT THE HOP & VINE:

Heater Allen, Rauch Dunkel – a smoked dark lager from McMinnville, Oregon's master of German-style brewing

Crux Fermentation Project, Peated Scotch Ale – a Scotch ale with peated barley, so surly you could slap a kilt on it

Widmer Collaborator, Smokey Helles – a rare very light smoked lager

Breakside Brewing, Bourbon Barrel Aged Aztec – an ale brewed with chocolate and chilies, laid down in Bourbon barrels to mellow out and beef up

Barley Brown's, Hot Blonde – a classic Oregon chili beer from Baker City, OR

Reverend Nat's, Peated Cider – a smoked cider!

Dogfish Head, Festina Peche – a light, tart, refreshing peach Berliner Weiss punched up by the glass with a fresh infusion of chilies, courtesy of a Randall-like device.

Oakshire Mexicali Mocha - another beery take on chocolate-chili mole.

AT SARAVEZA:

Upright Brewing, Smoked Alt – Upright's take on an Altbier, with house-smoked malt

Calapooia, Chili Beer – one of the most consistent and balanced chili beers on the market

New Belgium, Cocoa Mole (2012) – a chocolate and chili beer from Colorado

Finn River, Habanero Cider – a semi-sweet cider with a chili bite

Alaskan, Smoked Porter – a classic and standard-bearer of the American smoked beer scene

Burnside, Special Sweet Heat – Burnside will once again ramp up the chili bill on their ever-popular Sweet Heat apricot and chili beer

More Beers to be Announced! Keep an eye on the Facebook Event Page.

Interview Series : Meet the Geeks : Joe Callender of BrewHorn

We had the pleasure of finally meeting Joe a couple weeks back at the Beer Bloggers Conference in Boston. During the conference we were treated to a demonstration of a new application for mobile devices that could potentially change the way people buy beer. Enough of us though, let Joe tell you the story...

Joe Callender of BrewHorn app

Name: Joe Callender

Hometown: Ramsey, NJ

Favorite (recent) Beer: I am not one to proclaim favorites but If I were to name one that recently blew me away, it would be a local NJ brewery called High Point Brewing in Butler, NJ. They recently barrel aged their 2011 German Maibock in Buffalo Trace barrels. It resulted in a very complex, quenching and tart sour-like ale. It was amazing!

Favorite Beer Haunt: My favorite craft beer mecca is Greenpoint / Williamsburg Brooklyn. So many quaint bars and restaurants with quality craft beer portfolios on tap.

What was the first craft brew I ever tried? It wasn't craft beer but it was European imports back in 1986 at The Brickskeller in Washington DC. At 19 I began exploring their hefty list of imports. Generally I just loved the greater flavor, complexity, and challenge those beers presented to my palate. Back then I leaned toward a preference for maltier English and Scottish ales.

Do you homebrew? I have homebrewed twice. Both times I brewed a partial mash German Rauchbier and both came out excellent. I love smoked beers. For now, homebrewing is on the back burner as I develop my beer tasting app.

How did you hear about pdxbeergeeks? I have followed them on Twitter but finally met Michael at the 2013 Beer Bloggers Conference when we shared a few beers at Stoddard's Fine Food and Ales in Boston, MA.

What does being a beer geek mean to me? It means geeking out on the craft beer culture so much that I gave up a 6 figure career to blog about craft beer and figure out how I can contribute to its evolution. I am using my certification as a life coach to capture the individual pursuit of passionate careers of brewery owners and brewers on my blog Craft Beer Coach. On the consumer end I am developing a beer tasting app that will help consumers find new beer based upon a beer's match with his/her personal taste preferences.

If I could change one thing about the beer culture in the US, what would it be? I am already setting out to change that one thing. That one thing is getting beer tasting back to the individual experience it should be. A taste experience is not meant to be about what others thought about a beer. It's not about arbitrary scores or Top X Lists. Each of us knows our taste best so it should remain a decision we make based upon our personal taste preferences.

That's why I am developing the beer tasting app called BrewHorn. Users will create a personal taste profile in the app and when they shop for beer, the app will compare a searched beer's flavor profile against the user's taste profile. BrewHorn will display a simple image that represents how well the beer matches the user's taste profile.

What do I love about the NYC's craft beer scene? I love that it is just getting off the ground. I love that I should have years ahead of me watching it grow to offer more craft beer choices in more places. I love the excitement behind the sense that we are building a great new craft beer scene. As someone who is now part of the industry, I am going to enjoy the ride.

Where can you find me on the web?

Craft Beer Coach blog
Twitter- @CraftBeerCoach
Facebook- /CraftBeerCoach

BrewHorn
Twitter- @brewhornbeerapp;
Facebook- /brewhornbeerapp


Linkedin; Joseph Callender