Showing posts with label Beer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Beer. Show all posts

Saturday, December 14, 2013

New Hopstory: Breakside Brewing in Portland, OR

Check out our latest Hopstory featuring Breakside Brewing in Portland, OR. One of the best IPAs and pilsners on the market and a solid lineup of rotating experimental brews plus an exciting new barrel aging program!


Hopstories #7: Breakside Brewery from Eric Buist on Vimeo.

Also, check out my writeup at www.Hopstories.com.

Saturday, June 15, 2013

A Short Story Published and a new Hopstory!

I would like to invite everyone to check out my newly published short story "Customer Support" over on Silver Blade Magazine.

It's the first story I've ever gotten paid for so I'm pretty stoked.

I hope you like it!

Also, we just released our newest Hopstory! Hopstories is a web series a friend and I are putting out telling the stories of small craft breweries here in the Pacific Northwest.

Check out my write up HERE.

And watch the video below. I hope you like it!


Hopstories #3: Pfriem Family Brewers from Eric Buist on Vimeo.




Sunday, April 7, 2013

Hopstories #2

We've posted the second in our web series telling the story of small craft breweries here in Oregon.

Please check out Hopstory #2!



I also did a writeup for the story that you can check out on our website.

Like it? Then Like Us on Facebook! 


Thursday, February 21, 2013

Hopstories #1

As I mentioned recently, a buddy of mine, Eric Buist, and I are touring breweries here in the PNW to tell the story of how they got started. We call this little project "Hopstories".

Our very first Hopstory featuring Sky High Brewing and Pub in Corvallis, OR went live yesterday.



I conducted the interviews for the video and Eric did all of the fancy camera work. Some friends were kind enough to come drink some beer for the pub shots (generous of them) and Mr. and Mrs. Something composed a song for us.

If you go to the site, you'll also see an article I wrote for the Hopstory.

We're working hard on this and I hope you like it. Please, like us on Facebook and share us with your friends. Yeah beer!




Sunday, February 17, 2013

Alive and Kicking!

Hello fellow bloggers, I'm just here to say that reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated. I am here, I'm still writing, just not fiction. Grad school has swallowed me whole for the moment. I'm knee deep in thesis writing/revising and I just don't have time for hardly any writing for fun.

BUT, every once in a while I squeeze in a little. Here are a couple things I've managed:

1. Hopstories

Hopstories

A buddy of mine and I are going around to a select number of Pacific Northwest microbreweries to conduct interviews and footage for a web-series we're producing called Hopstories. Basically, we're trying to tell the story of the breweries that make the craft beer we love so much. It's a lot of fun and I'm learning a lot about visual media (which I have no experience with). We're planning to release our first video this week so keep an eye out on our Facebook page (please "Like" us and share with your friends if you feel inclined) and check out our website.

2. Cartoons

I've also been doing a little drawing. After writing for academia all day it's nice to be creative in a little different way. I'm still a science geek so the cartoons I've been drawing are pretty science-geeky but my science-geeky friends seem to like them. I promise I'll post my first comic soon (maybe latter today), I just need to scan it in.

I hope everyone is rocking their own projects and surviving the winter.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

BEER!!!! (and what it might say about your characters)

Prince Charming just put in a long hard day fighting dragons and all he wants to do is put his feet up and watch a little bit of jousting on MSPN (Mid-evil Sports Programing Network) but when he gets back to Camelot (which is a silly place) the Princess is on a rampage because the enchanted woodland critters have soiled the tapestries again (This is a castle and we have many tapestries, and if you are a Scottish lord then I am Mickey Mouse!). After shooing the enchanted animals outside and cleaning up their enchanted droppings, our hero puts the seven dwarfs to bed and then, finally, sits down with a nice cold flagon of his favorite brew.


But what brew? What epic beer does our epic hero epically quaff in this epically epic fantasy? And does it matter?

You bet your ass it matters!!!

As I've said before, I'm a beer nut, a brew fanatic, a hop head, an alcoholic...wait, scratch that last one. I love beer!

Most people follow a similar beer path. Generally, folks start their beer journey in the Land of American Style Pilsners. This is a very desolate, colorless land full of frat boys and NASCAR logos. There's nothing wrong with starting here, or even visiting on a hot summer day, but I don't recommend taking up residence. Once you stop drinking beer just to get drunk, it's time to move on into the Realm of Micro-brews. There are two routes that most people take to get there, either through the mountain pass of light citrusy wheat beers or through the darker amber beer mines. Both routes are safe, delicious, and inviting. Usually beer travelers take their time on these roads and some never leave. Those that choose to press on tend to head to the Kingdom of Ports and Stouts. A heady place full of depth and intrigue. There's a lot to see there and it's usually best to visit in the winter. A few brave souls press on and finally reach my home, the Land of Hops where the IPAs and hoppy reds roam free. By the time you've made it here you are sure to be a beer snob and proud of it. From the Land of Hops you might visit your old haunts back along the path or take occasional forays into the Valley of Sours, the Plains of Alt, or any of the attractions the diverse world of beer offers.

Brewed in Japan, this batch of Hitachino Nest Beer spent 3 extra days in the mash due to the giant earthquake of 2011. This resulted in a unique, once in a lifetime, un-replicable brew that beer nuts like me have been clamoring over.
I believe that where you are along your beer journey, and therefore what you drink, can say a little about who you are. For example:

Pilsners - Your a working class, blue-collar, salt of the earth sort of person. You drink the same beer your daddy did and if it was good enough for him, then by god it's good enough for you (the same could be said for your politics). Wherever you're from, you're proud of it. Slow to change your ways and often stubborn, you say, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"

Wheats - You are one laid back individual. Problems slough off you like water off a ducks back. You're a dreamer who knows that money doesn't make a person happy. As a result, you often find yourself in money trouble. Outdoorsy, you can usually be found on some forest trail with your bike or your dog.
  •  Sure Bets:
    • CooperSmith's Brewing (Fort Collins, CO) "Mountain Avenue Wheat"
    • Terrapin Beer Co. (Athens, GA) "Sunray Wheat"
    • Founders Brewing Co. (Grand Rapids, MI) "Founders Fest Wheat"

Porters and Stouts - You're an intellectually minded person who takes life seriously. You like your coffee black and your beer blacker. Slow to judge and even slower to react, you prefer to take your time to ponder over the many issues that life throws your way. you like rainy days and big fireplaces.

  • Sure Bets:
    • Great Divide Beer Co. (Denver, CO) "Yetti Imperial Stout"
    • Deschutes Brewery (Bend, OR) "The Abyss"
    • Lagunitas Brewing (Petaluma, CA) "Cappuccino Stout"
    • Oakshire Brewing (Eugene, OR) "Espresso Stout"
The Beer Gods shining down on my favorite brewery.

IPA's and Red - Adventurous and gregarious, you are a risk taker with a reputation for taking any situation to the edge (sometimes past). You tend to consider yourself smarted than you actually are but, either through dumb luck or the help of your friends, it usually doesn't get you into trouble. You're naturally funny but you also tend to try to hard in social situation.  
  •  Sure Bets:
    • Terminal Gravity Brewing (Enterprise, OR) "IPA"
    • Green Flash Brewing (San Diego, CA) "West Coast IPA"
    • Good Life Brewing Co. (Bend, OR) "Descender IPA"
    • Double Mountain Brewing (Hood River, OR) "IRA"
    • Bridgeport Brewing Co. (Portland, OR) "Kingpin Red" 
This was my birthday present from my wife this year. She knows what I like!

Are these characterizations always true?

No. 

Are they ever true?

I have no idea.

Are the beers worth trying.

Hell yes.

Enjoy!