Monday, May 9, 2011

Yaquina Bay Bivalves and Rogue Beers on Bleecker Street

The 16th annual Pacific Northwest Beer & Oyster Fest at Blind Tiger Alehouse in NYC is May 10-11, 2011.Today 2500 Yaquina Bay Oysters were delivered from Newport, Oregon (farmed up the bay from Rogue's brewery!) and the beer is ready to be tapped!
  1. Nitro Shakespeare Oatmeal Stout
  2. Dry-Hopped Mogul Madness
  3. John John Dead Guy
  4. John John Juniper Pale Ale
  5. Dad’s Little Helper Black IPA (new recipe for 2011)
  6. Love & Hoppiness (special JLS release)
  7. I2PA (Imperial India Pale Ale)
  8. Charlie 1981
  9. Morimoto Soba
  10. Chipotle Ale
  11. Hazelnut Brown
  12. Double Dead Guy
  13. Brutal IPA
  14. Morimoto Imperial Pilsner
  15. Sig's Northwestern Ale
  16. Mocha Porter

The Tiger's event graphics this year are over the top cool. Thanks to Dave and the crew who worked at Hudson Street and now at the Bleecker Street Tiger, and for this blogpost!


Rogue’s Pacific Northwest Beer & Oyster Fest Tues & Weds May 10th-11th @ 2 pm

"How many breweries have a Department of Agriculture? Only one that I know of, and it’s located in Newport, Oregon. When you read about what Rogue has been up to lately, you get the feeling they could show the Federal Government a thing or two about running a farming operation. Then again, Rogue could probably show the Feds a thing or two about a lot of things. What if we became the first country run by a craft brewery? It would give Rogue Nation a whole new meaning.

Back to that Department of Agriculture - I was lucky enough to visit Rogue about nine years ago, when they were just a beautiful brewery overlooking Yaquina Bay, just up the road from a certain oyster farm. Since then they’ve been busy, adding the Rogue Hopyard on the Willamette River, where they grow seven varieties of aroma hops on 42 acres, including their own proprietary strains (If you visit, you can stay in their Hop ‘N Bed, a 100 year old farmhouse set up for guests).

From there it’s a short hop to Chatoe Rogue, their tasting room overlooking the hop bines and the river beyond. The wine industry has been building fancy chateau-like tasting rooms for years, going on about terroir in a glass. Craft beer finally has an answer, a place to sample the unique bitterness alluvial soil is capable of producing.

Of course, malt is equally important, so Rogue has acquired a barley farm in the Tygh Valley Bench in eastern Oregon. Home to 265 acres of Dare and Risk barley, their own proprietary grain, Rogue Farms can now grow and process an entire pint of beer just like the farmhouse breweries of yore. Speaking of farm breweries, Rogue has built a tiny one at Chatoe Rogue, a nano system that will produce collaborations from the Heart of the Valley and Capitol Home-Brewers,.

Of course, land isn’t the only thing with terroir. Unique bodies of water also have a “sense of place” in the flavors they produce, and Yaquina Bay oysters, our other featured guests, are perfect with Rogue Ales. Every year since 1997, Rogue has flown in a bunch of oysters from their oyster farming friends down the road, so we can have that perfect food and beer pairing.

Think of Rogue’s Pacific Northwest Beer & Oyster Festival as a craft beer collaboration with Nature."

A shout out to several years of PNW Yaquina Bay Oysters & Rogue Ales at Blind Tiger Alehouse -- here are photos I took in
2008
and check out the video NBC broadcast online in 2010

For more info on these beers, visit Rogue.com and the bivalves, visit Oregon Oyster Farm Better yet, come visit Newport, Oregon and the Rogue Hop Farm in Independence, and taste Rogue Ales at the source!