Deschutes Barrel Aged Tasting AND Upcoming Events

Oh Deschutes Brewery, how I love thee so. Today I received a Tip List of what's going on with Deschutes Brewery in the next couple of months. I also realized that I never got the photos of the last event that I attended, the Barrel Aged Tasting, posted online. For $40 per person you get to sample (all you can drink - please drink responsibly) a variety of beers that have been soaking in bourbon or wine barrels which give them a high class taste. I mean, they can't use a bourbon barrel twice so why not throw some great beer in there and make it even better? I love beer. I love bourbon. Win, win, win.


They also do a great job of making sure you get something to eat. This last time they had a huge variety of mini burgers with a huge selection of buns and toppings. I wish they would have had some recommended combos like "Turtle burger on rye bun with the raspberry ketchup". I'm kidding...they didn't have rye buns.

I selected the rabbit, gator, and venison burgers. When is the next time I'm going to get to try gator? Why not go for it.


I actually didn't care for the gator at all. But the rest of the grub was great. I liked the potato skins. Who doesn't like tater skins?




I absolutely love going to anything at the mountain room. Barrel Aged Tastings, The Crab Boil, and the Beer Dinners (and I also finished at the final table of one of their poker tournaments) are all great. If you never went to any of these, I highly recommend that you budget for it.


Upcoming Deschutes Brewery Events:

1) Breedlove Festival, sponsored by Deschutes Brewery – July 31-Aug. 1. Musical line-up includes Dire Straits’ David Knopfler, Grammy winner Ed Gerhard, and Country/Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductee Chris Hilman, all of whom play Breedlove guitars, which are manufactured in Bend, Oregon.

2) Farmer’s Feast Beer Dinner @ Deschutes Brewery in Bend – August 28th @ 6PM. This beer dinner pairs the freshest ingredients from Central Oregon farms with Deschutes Brewery’s finest beers. Meet the farmers for a journey from till to table. $55/person includes beer and gratuity. RSVP to Winter at 541-385-8606.

3) Friday Farmer’s Market menu special every Friday @ the Bend Pub. Deschutes Brewery chefs walk to the downtown Farmer’s Market every Wednesday to see what’s fresh, and bring it back to the Pub to create a special dish for lunch and dinner on Friday.

4) Oyster Racing Series, sponsored by Deschutes Brewery. Urban Adventure Race coming to a town near you? August 15th = Denver; Aug. 29th = Seattle; Sept. 19th = Portland; Sept. 26 = San Francisco; Oct. 11 = Austin; Oct. 24 = Nashville.

5) Little Woody Barrel Aged Brew Festival in downtown Bend – September 12, noon to 10PM. This festival will feature hand-crafted, wood-aged beer as well as one specialty brew from all of Central Oregon’s seven breweries. Live music, wood carving exhibition and beer tastings, on the lawn of the Deschutes Historical Society on the corner of Wall Street and Idaho. $6/person includes commemorative glass. Tasting package available for $15. Call Cindy Tintle for more information: 541-323-0964.

6) Upcoming Beer Releases: Jubelale (October 1), Hop Trip (October), The Abyss (November)

7) Jubelale release party @ Portland Pub – Oct. 1. Meet the artist who designed the Jubelale label and poster during First Thursday Art Walk at Deschutes Brewery in Portland’s Pearl District.

8) The Abyss 2009 release party in Bend and Portland – November. Exact date and details TBD. Stay tuned!

Deschutes Brewery 7th Annual Crabfest

Deschutes Brewery 7th Annual Crabfest

After the 5th Annual Crabfest I swore that I would attend every year. I swear alot and it doesn't actually get me anywhere. So for some reason I wasn't able to attend last year and I've cried myself to sleep on my huge pillow ever since. Luckily, I was fortunate enough to get a seat at this years crabfest and was giddy all week in anticipation of doing my part to keep the crab population in check.

Deschutes Crabfest started at 6pm and we were told to get there right at 6 so we wouldn't miss the oysters. We arrived just a few minutes after 6 and never saw an oyster. Turned out that the menu had changed slightly and instead of oysters, we got crab cakes and crab crostini.


Passed Appetizers - Red Crab Crab Cakes w/ Lemon Dill Aioli and Dungeness Crab Crostini w/ Chevre Mousse, Dungeness Crab Topped with a Pale Cocktail Sauce.

As always, my first beer glass must have had a hole in it as it was drained quite fast. So on pint #2 of Green Lakes Organic Ale I at 1 crab cake and 7 crab crostinis. They were sooooo good. And when you run in the BOR entourage or "entBORage", you get treated nicely. We had plenty of hot waitresses bringing us plenty of food. I'll take full credit for the attention even though it just so happened that a couple of off duty Deschutes waitresses were at our table. I had to refuse more and more appetizers in order to make sure I had room for crab.

Next up, the Plated Appetizer - Seafood Beer-Tini - Tropical Ceviche including Halibut, Prawns, and Dungeness Crab.


I'm starting on beer #3 as the Beer-Tini is placed in front of me, after the ladies are served first of course. I really like how Deschutes Mountain room servers serve the ladies first. I'm a fan of ladies first, holding doors, pulling out chairs, shit like that. I pick out the seafood and leave most of the icky veggies. I'm here for scavenger flesh only.

Next up is the Plated Salad - Blue Louie featuring Blue Crab. Salad? Really? I guess it's necessary for the women folk.


I ate the crab and then handed the plate off to the closest waitress. Bring on the gawd damn crab already!!

Beer #4 and the big ass bowls of Classic Crab Boil hit the table. Oh wait, I forgot to mention the two big baskets of house made rosemary rolls that were placed on our table just before the crab boil arrived. The baskets lasted a minute before we moved them to the counter next to us, untouched. Stupid Bread. I'm hear to destroy crab damnit! I have bread at home. Dungeness Crab, Kielbasa Sausage, Peel and Eat Prawns, and New Potatoes, Served with Drawn Butter, and Lemon Wedges.


I dive in like Leonidas leading his 300 warriors to battle. I command the table "Give them nothing! But take from them everything!" Beer #4 sits undisturbed for a long time as I take down half a crab, a few prawns and some sausage. The last time I went to crabfest my friend broke down an entire section of crab before eating any of it. I liked this technique and used it 3.5 times Saturday night. Here's my first run:


I kept a tally of all my conquests just like when I was in college chalking up mad amounts of notches on my head board. I'm kidding....I didn't go to college. I counted crab legs as the actual leg portion as well as the body meat which I just lumped into a pile. So when I say that I ate 17 crab legs, that counts the body meat as well. I'm awesome.

I made an error by pouring the hot drawn butter into my ramekin before I had even started crushing crab shells and ripping the prawn's protective layer from it's flesh. So by the time I ate my crab, the butter was luke warm at best. So on round's two and three, I just went for freshly poured butter.


I started making Shell Fish S'mores in a variety of combinations. Each dunked in a fresh bowl of butter to keep it glistening and deliciously amazing. Sausage, crab leg, and prawn. Effing amazing!



Amazing!! And look how wet and wrinkled my fingers are. Gross!

Finally the Plated Dessert - Mocha Cream Pie with Chocolate Cookie Crust


Too sweet for me, one bite did it. But I had to use the photo of my friend adding the crab leg in for some reason. She kept making this crab leg kung fu motion with it as if the crab leg was about to steal my dessert's rice cakes. I really think she thought I was filming video. She's silly.

I showed off my stat sheet to a few of the fellow diners as well as one of the waitresses, Missy. She looked over the list and was impressed but said "that's cute". Four beers = cute. I was ashamed. BUT...now that the eatin was done, time to drink. I finished with an astounding 8 pint. 7 pints of Green Lakes and after that tap blew, 1 pint of Mirror Pond. My final count:

8 Appetizers (7 Crostini and 1 Crab Cake)
17 Crab Legs
12 Prawns
9 slices of Sausage
8 Beers
0 Redmond Rodge

I don't find this to be that great. I'm pretty sure that others ate more than I did. I'm happy with my performance and felt great the next morning. Anyway, I found it amusing when one of the waitresses told us of a couple on the other side of the room that told her "we want to be the last people here." A young couple out of Portland, silly in their ways, thought that they'd give us a run for our money. I've attended 5 or 6 events at the Mountain Room and have always closed the joint down. That's just how the entBORage rolls.

I was pleased when I heard that the waitress responded with "well, you'll need to beat that table over there" while pointing to our group. The couple ended up sitting in the lounge area reading magazines while we wrapped up our evening. I decided to go over and say hi. I talked with my new friend Brendan and his wife about Bend and why they drove all the way from Portland just for the Crab Fest. Its really that good.

We were the last group there, but Brendan and his wife technically stayed a hair longer. It was a great night.

Deschutes Barrel Tasting 2008

Deschutes Barrel Tasting 2008

I had the opportunity to hit up this years Barrel Tasting at the Deschutes Mountain room. This has been one of those events that I try to make it to year after year. This year the beer was flowing in great quantities, a variety of flavors, and served with some tasty treats.

For $35 a person you get to drink 8 different beers that have been brewed by Deschutes and then aged in a variety of different wine and liquor barrels. You can read all about the beers and opinions on each from my buddy the Brewerman. I agree with him for the most part. When he says that the Anniversary Ale was on the sweeter side, I found it undrinkable. The wife loved it but she also drinks Beringers white zin. The flat Oud Bruin was another one I found to be undrinkable. My favorite quote from the Brewerman is about the Abyss:

"Drink this beer whenever a glass of it is in front of you. If you say, “I don’t like dark beer”, you should get slapped … hard … immediately. Don’t be that guy. Drink it I say, and be set free!"

For the other 6, I couldn't get enough. I felt like Augustus Gloop
diving into Wonka's chocolate river. I was swimming in a sea of Abyss and couldn't care less. I love beer but I also love food. I'm glad to see that Deschutes is providing better appetizers to snack on in between sloshing down a few beers in comparison to years past.

When we arrived a couple of friends were already out on the balcony so I grabbed a couple beers and we headed out to say high. Lucky enough there was a grill filled with mini lamb chops served with mint infused oil. I ate my weight in these.



Prosciutto Wrapped Fresh Mozzarella Balls with Sweet Wort Drizzle and Smoked Albacore Spread on Sesame Crackers

Fennel Apple Goat Cheese Flatbread
Chocolate Cake Bites with Macadamia Coconut Caramel

Not pictured - Quajillo Braised Pork on House-Made Tortilla Chips

The lamb was my favorite dish. Cooked medium rare unless you asked specifically for a piece to be cooked a little longer, eaten right off the grill in the view of the mountains while sipping on one of the great beers is how I want to spend every Saturday night.

The braised pork on the chips were also very good. One of my friends grabbed a couple of those and drizzled some of the roasted red pepper spread on them from a different table, that made them even better!

The Prosciutto and mozz balls are a staple but I didn't get enough wort drizzle on mine. They were pretty plane, the cheese was very very mild and lacked any flavor. We ate the Prosciutto with the other cheeses instead. The smoked tuna spread started off really good but left a weird after taste. Could have been that they were sitting out a while since the first one I tried didn't seem to have that fishy after taste.

The Fennel, Apple, Goat Cheese flat bread were very good and went quickly. That was one of the stations that was constently being refilled. Very clean and crisp, it was a great mix of flavors that went really good with the Cascade Ale.

The chocolate cake bites were out of this world.

I loved it all, a great evening. My favorite part is that they served the beer in half pints instead of the little shot glasses.

Deschutes Brewery’s 5th Annual Crab Bake

Deschutes Brewery’s 5th Annual Crab Bake

This past Saturday was a great day. I started off with a 6th Gear Sangwich and met the Monkey and finished it off with all you can eat crab at Deschutes Brewery 5th annual crab bake. I am a whore for some crab. Seriously. I love shell fish especially crab and lobster. So when I got an email from the Deep Rapper about the crab bake, I was in.

The wife can’t stand the smell of crab or lobster so I save $75 and I still get my fill of beer and all the crabs I can handle. It’s a win win win….win.

I arrived just after 6 and am slapped in the face by the Island sounds of Bill Keale giving a Hawaiian twist to some classic songs. I quickly get a pint of the absolutely delicious Green Lakes Organic Ale which I stuck with for the entire night aside from a miss timed blown keg episode where I was forced to slosh down a tourist favorite, Mirror Pond. Longest 10 minutes of my life.

Back to me whoring it up for some shell fish. I took my pint to my table, dropped off my camera and jumped in line for some oysters. Fresh raw oysters in the half shell you can keep, I don’t dig on the slimy uncooked raw oysters in buffet style fashion. I’ll stick with the cooked Oysters Rockefeller or in this case, the seafood medley as they had renamed it from the time I viewed the menu online to the printed version on my table.

I grabbed three Oyster Medley’s and spooned on a sample of each of the three sauces available, one cayenne pepper sauce (probably too spicy for the Monk), one cocktail, and one mystery clear, buttery/oily looking thing with pepper and garlic mixed in. All were great and the cooked oysters mixed with all sorts of goodies and some bacon…a winner in my book.



Next up was the Crab Vol-au-vent or as any regular chap would say - Seafood filled Puff Pastry. The Brewerman summed it up nicely when he said “I could eat 20 of those”. Sounds like a challenge for another time. They were good and not to heavy on the mayo which I sort of expected.



Ah the Crab Louie. Redmond Rodge didn’t make it out to this event like he did the last time but he’d have done the same as I did…eat the crab, leave the veg. My wedge of iceberg could have taken down the Titanic. I barely touched it. I want CRABS!!! (yeah, make your jokes…I don’t care)



At last, a HUGE mixing bowl was placed in the center of our table. I have never stood up to take a photo of food in any restaurant to date, but I was in awe. It was massive. We dug in. I devoured a whole crab and took my time to get all that I could out of each one not wanting to be wasteful. But once that second bowl of crab boil was place on our table, I was all about the claws, large leg portions, and body meat. I didn’t waste much time with the smaller portions of the legs and whatnot.



And I had to take a photo of the Coffee Pot full of clarified butter.



I was sad as our bowls didn’t have any sausage as promised by the menu. As I went up for another pint, a friend at another table shared the same disappointment. I talked to a couple of the friendly waitresses and wouldn’t you know it, later in the evening a small bowl of sausages topped with one peel and eat prawn was placed in front of me. Thank you Missy and Jen!

Then there was dessert but it had coconut which I don’t really care for and I’m not even a big fan of dessert anyhow so here ‘s the photo of the Keylime pie and we’ll move on.



Awesome night all around. I absolutely love these events and wish I would get more notice for when they are doing something up at the mountain room. They should have an RSS feed on the events page.

Deschutes Brewery’s 3rd Annual Barrel Tasting

Deschutes Brewery’s Barrel Tasting

Much better food options and quantity of food this year at the 3rd Annual Barrel Tasting in the Deschutes Brewery Mountain Room.

The first taste of food was the Poached Shrimp and Margarita Salsa on a Fried Wonton which was ok. I would have preferred a little more shrimp and a little less mango. The poached shrimp is in the photo below on the bottom right corner:

In the photo above we also have the Veggie Crisp Stack with Goat Cheese Spread which I graciously let the wife enjoy. She should thank me, I'm so generous.

The photos I was able to take of the Grilled Beef Tenderloin on Focaccia Toast Points did not come out at all but the beef was delicious and tender like a tenderloin should be.

The Smoked Chicken Mini Pizzas with Brie, Caramelized Apples and Onions, Scallions was more than a mouthful. The brie and apples complimented the smoked chicken nicely. I enjoyed this mini pizza quite a bit although the presentation was laking...it ate gooood:


Spicy Pork Wraps Action Station with Corn, Cucumbers, Tomato, and Cilantro:

Good stuff. I like wraps like these, crisp lettuce, fresh ingredients, yummy spicy pork, hot sauce. All good things.

I like going to the events held at the Mountain Room, they are always worth the price of admission. For beer, I agree with the brewerman and will say the Bourbon Porters were my favorites especially the Nitro:

"The Nitro Bourbon Porter was too easy to drink. Excellent roasty notes butting up against the sweet bourbon flavor. The velvety mouthfeel from the Nitro presentation made the beer surprisingly refreshing despite the big flavors present in the beer."

I'm not sure how he remembered all that, if it wasn't for the photos, I couldn't even tell you where I was Saturday night. Beer aged in Makers Mark Barrels...you can't expect anyone to remember much the next day can you?

Deschutes Brewery Mountain Room
http://www.deschutesbrewery.com/Banquets/Upcoming+Events/default.aspx