Stevenson, Wash., celebrated the 14th annual Brews, Blues & BBQ's Festival last Saturday. There are a lot of brewers in the Portland area, and a lot of brew fests. There are also a number of blues fests. Stevenson's version is fairly small on either of those lists. But it is, as far as I know, the only one that combines brews and blues, and then adds BBQ's on for good measure.
About 10 different brewers from Oregon and Washington participated, including Stevenson's own Walking Man Brewing. (There was a table reserved for Portland's Amnesia Brewing, but apparently they forgot to attend.)
Each brewery represented at the festival was serving two types of malty beverage. Most of the beers were very good. Pretty much every style of beer was represented, but on average they were leaning toward the lighter side (not too many porters or stouts), which is probably appropriate given the time of year. More interestingly, there were not as many IPA's as I've seen recently. Perhaps the IPA fad has reached its zenith. If that's true, it must mean lagers are coming back!
(right) This is what happens when you give someone else your camera.
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Brews, Blues & BBQ's Festival Tuesday, June 26, 2007
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3 comments:
The IPA could actually be the zenith of beers. But it has been quite a trend for brewers to see just how much hoppiness can be shoved into a pint glass. While I am a hop head myself, this approach doesn't always work.
I think IPA's have been over-rated as a summer beer...perhaps due to too much hops. The B,B&B winning brew was by far the Roots Chocolate Habanero Stout. Yum!
I do like IPAs (in general), but it seems they have been a bit too popular over the last couple of years. And in an effort to do something different, I suspect brewers have gone too far. There was one at the BB&B fest that tasted like grapefruit juice. Now, I like grapefruit juice, but geez.
The last few months, I've been favoring "normal" ales more ... perhaps for variety's sake if nothing else. The stout Stacey mentioned is awesome, but I do find it a bit heavy for summer. Come December, though, it'll be just the thing to warm you up!
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