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Brewforia Beer Market.  A purveyor of craft beer here in Boise and a location that I have been neglecting lately.  With the exponential growth of craft Breweries and bottles shops in the Boise area, this pioneer, spearhead of the movement is getting overlooked a bit lately.  At least by me it is.  But it holds a special place in this craft beer industry. The place it forged.

Like most small businesses, Brewforia had modest beginnings. Opening in a strip mall on Milwaukee Ave in late 2009, and the early press releases boasted over 150 different bottles of craft beer. Nothing really to brag about nowadays but a big deal when it happened over 4 years ago.   There was nothing in Boise like that.

There was a few taps there as well and I remember one of my first visits overhearing semi-panicked phone conversations on troubleshooting the CO2 system that was not working correctly.

Early May, they moved to a permanent location on the west side of Boise and have been there ever since.  Larger space, 3 times as many bottled beers to choose from and 10 taps.   That was when I became a regular. Always something new, usually something I had never seen before.

In May of 2011 an additional location was opened in Boise’s east end at Bown Crossing and did well, managed by Chris Oates.  Several months later, after some differing visions and plans, between Rick and Chris it became clear that “Bier:Thirty” would have to become it’s own entity and the two parted ways.

In Aug 2012 Brewforia opened another location in Eagle.   A location that seemed to have a bit of a more upscale feel and an expanded menu.  Bringing on Ryan Embry of Life’s Kitchen and his culinary repertoire made the place a definite destination for terrific food and great craft  beer.   Even something as simple and cliche’ as a burger is something I can hardly resist every time I’m there.  I am now starting to understand why they call it the “Belly Burger”

The two locations have now been around for a while and there are growler fill specials, trivia nights and other promotions, but there is still and always has been good beer flowing from their taps and bottles waiting patiently in the coolers for folks looking for something they can’t easily find anywhere in Idaho.

SInce Brewforia’s start, there has been at least 5 breweries opening and 2 or 3 bottleshops with their own impressive selection of bottled beer, opening up in the Boise area.  But Brewforia was the pioneer. The trailblazer…the vanguard..the pointman.  Riding the crest of what has become a tidal wave of a craft beer revival in the treasure valley.

I’m just glad to be swimming along with it…sipping as I go.

– Cheers

Last week, out of the blue I received a direct twitter message asking what the best bars/tap lists/brewpubs in Boise were.  The sender was @revnatcider a fairly new hard cider maker from Portland and was headed this way, talking to bars retailers and distributors in his effort to expand a bit.  I along with a few others replied with our suggestions on where to visit and who to talk to and as it turned out, he stopped by Eagle’s Brewforia during our home-brewers monthly meeting.

The HB club meeting mostly consisted, as it always does,of everyone bringing 1 or two items they had brewed and talking a bit about how they were made.   Including  Jim’s 3 year vertical of his hoilday imperial porter that was very tasty and was a great example of how late/fresh/dry hops flavors can fade over time.

The star of the show this moth,however, however was Nat and his hard cider he brought from his Portland shop.  “Sacrilege Sour Cherry”, a lacto only  8.5% ABV cider with cherry juice.  Big pie-cherry aroma and just the right amount of sourness.  Quite dry but it somehow kept a lot of that cherry flavor and was very tasty.  His website  is right…  “Expect Kreik Lambic” when you taste this.  The “standard” straight up cider he also brought was also very good.  Clean, dry and flavorful.

This is clearly top notch stuff.  I think the Reverend’s sermon will be well received out here and hope that a cider revival will then soon be upon us.  Hopefully soon his flip-top bottles and distinctive newsprint style labels will start showing up on the shelves of area bottle-shops.

Amen

I’ve written before, and mentioned several times since, about the recent craft beer explosion in the Boise area.  What I often tell people is 4 years ago there were 4 on premise brewing BrewPubs in town…now there are 9…I think..with 4-6 in various stages of planning, funding, building whatever.

I try to visit each regularly.  10 Barrel, one of the new kids in town, gets a lot of my beer business mainly because they cater to my obsession of seeing something that I’ve never had before, and with 19 or 20 taps, there is a good chance that anytime I stop by there, something I don’t recognize will be on tap that demands my attention.

I have a sentimental thing in my heart though for Sockeye Brewing.  It was the first BP I visited when I saw the light of CraftBeer back in 2004 and the fact that it is just 2 miles and a straight shot from my house, it right away became a bit of a regular.  I fairly quickly had gone through their regular line up and I had come to find out much later that they had all the work they could handle keeping up with demand at their onsite, brewing facility.  I suspect this was probably  why I didn’t very often see many experimentals and “one-offs” from them.

Over the last 10 years, I’ve had almost 50 different beers that have come from the original Ustick/Cole location. The Dagger Falls IPA is their flagship beer,also Purple Haze espresso stout and Wolly Bugger Wheat are  usually on and they are a few of my favorites.

Their new facility a few miles west, will allow some expansion and has already provided the benefits of a canning line and much greater production.  Spotting some of these regular offerings on the shelves of local bottle-shops and grocery stores in the last year or so is a good thing.

Just today I stopped in at the original site after a few hours of Christmas Shopping and was pleasantly surprised to see a new beer on the chalkboard.  “Lightning Creek” Belgian White IPA.  It was delicious and it was good to see an old friend have something new on tap.

Cheers to old friends

There is a group of beer enthusiasts in the Boise area that get together a few times a year for the sole purpose of sharing high end craft beer that, under the rules of engagement, are not available in the Boise area.  Guests, (by invite only) typically bring a bottle or 3 of something they’ve gotten in a trade, or brought back from a recent trip. Part of the fun is to try to wow the other attenders by what you set on the sharing table.

I was somehow able to secure an invitation to the latest “Ungettables” gathering last weekend and it was a bit of a whose who there that afternoon.  Head brewers of local beer establishments were there, several were home-brewers and other beer aficionados lined up their offerings on the table that we commandeered in the back room at 10Barrel Brewing.

I had been to one of these before, but that must have been in the infancy of this movement as there were only 5 or so of us that time.  My contribution of a 2008 Dogfish Head World Wide Stout went over pretty well. You don’t want to be “that guy” at these things, whose beer gets pulled out at the very end with a “well..there is this too….anyone want some” ?

This time there were 15 official invites, but a few more were also there and the beer lineup was exceptional.  Included in the attendance was our host, Shawn Kelso, head brewer at 10 Barrel Boise, Kerry Caldwell, brewer of the about to open Edge Brewing, and the facilitator of these gatherings, the @beerpoet himself, Chad Brusse

There were Saisons by Crooked Stave, Stillwater, New Glarus Strawbeery-Ruhbarb and their classic “Belgian Red”, Lost Abey’s “Gift of the Magi”, a Barrel Aged “B.O.R.I.S” by Hoppin’ Frog, and an”OatGoop” by Three Floyd’s.  Lots of others, most of which, if not all were in fact…ungettable to us here in Boise, ID save for this meet-up.

Thanks to those who made it happen, and for the invite.  Here’s looking towards the next one.

Downtown Boise’s popular beer bar, BitterCreek Alehouse hosted another special beer night the other day.  I posted last week about their Abyss release party, special but this was Stone’s Double Bastard night.  For 15$ you get a decent sample of the 2011, 2012, and 2013 editions of this in-your-face, obnoxiously offensive beer that you are probably not worthy of, according to popular Stone propaganda. Plus, they throw in the 2012 version that has been aged in red wine barrels.  So a 4 beer line-up that, at over 10% ABV each, you had probably not plan anything  for a while after.   Including driving home from work.  But we’re not talking about that right now.

Stone, refers to this popular american strong ale as “Lacerative”..which I had to look up…

“1 : to tear or rend roughly 2 : to cause sharp mental or emotional pain to”  It is the evil big brother of their other very popular ASA Arrogant Bastard .  The “Double” has half again the alcohol, and double the arrogant attitude.  I don’t think Stone would mind if I said, this beer with rip your face off…and then you will order another one.

The samples I had were interesting in that the older ones faded a bit into more of a sweet fruit, almost melon kind of flavor as the hot IBUs definitely diminished over time, as they are want to do in general  Particularly noticeable was the drop off in this area from the ’12 to the ’11.  The wine barrel aged version had significant vinous slightly sour qualities that I thought were more than subtle.  An interesting effect, though, and it calmed down the overall effect of this brash brew to the point were I genuinely felt somewhat less violated, drinking this particular variant.

And on top of all this, BitterCreek thew in a commemorative glass.  For keeps !

Gotta love these beer, promotional, nerdfest….things.

-Cheers

“Pint Night” is what they call it at “Bier Thirty” Bottle & Bistro at Bown Crossing in SE Boise.  Every couple weeks or so a brewer (usually regional or local) is featured and takes over several of their taps.  Typically a rep from the brewery is there that night for hob-knobbing and chatting and generally glomming on to the visiting beer big wigs.   Make no mistake, there are craft beer “groupies” out there.

This past Thursday night, the featured brewer is Laughing Dog and the beers that have populated the taps are their 8th anniversary “De Achtste Hond” Belgian-style Sour Ale, 2-1-9’er a pilsener, which recently was made available in cans, the  2012 version of  “Cold Nose” their winter English strong ale and also “Purebred”  Citra APA their first is a planned series of beers showcasing a single hop variety.

The atmosphere of these things is usually quite electric.  Kind of a party.  Especially considering that they are often held on a week night.  It was already pretty crowded when I got there and I even had to sit outside with my snifter of the sour ale for a few minutes while I waited for a table to open up.

De Achtste Hond, translated to “The 8th dog” (referring to their 8th anniversary as a brewery), was a nice clear deep golden color with classic sour aroma, green apples, grapefruit with a little wild funk as well. Not a fruit based sour, and I didn’t see on their website what method they used to sour it up, but they are calling it a Belgian, which is detectable and also the oak flavors are just about right after 1 month in new oak barrels.  Its a balanced, not over-the-top sour that is a good beer to get into the style.  Its their first of the style at Laughing Dog and I hope we see a few more from them in the future.

These “Pint Nights” are a fun way to try a few beers from a particular brewer and maybe even meet them in person.

Billed as “The Original Idaho Kegger” this latest beer fest was held last weekend at the Knitting Factory, a down town live music venue.  It was a 1PM – 10PM thing this past Saturday the 26th and I was there checking it out at about 2PM when I figured it wouldn’t be so crowded.

 12$ got me in since I decided against the additional 8$ for the commemorative Stainless tumbler pint “glass”.  Actually I am regretting that now, and hope to score one from a leftover pile from somewhere, sometime.

For my admission, I got 5 taster tokens and as I scanned the list of a dozen or so Boise area brewers and their 2-3 offerings each, a few peaked my interest right away.  McCall Brewing had a Coconut Porter and a Dopplebock that I did not recognize.  At their table I chatted with Edgar, their brewer and he practically couldn’t wait to tell me about the beers he brought.  He seemed like a good guy and both beers were very good.

Other local brewers participating were: Kilted Dragon, Highland’s Hollow, TableRock, Slanted Rock, The Ram, 10 Barrel, Payette, Sawtooth, Sockeye, Crooked fence, Grand Teton and McCall.

The mini-fest/Kegger was put on in part by the local classic rock radio station so the music was pretty loud, and apparently they had college football on a couple screens but I didn’t even notice.  There was only a couple dozen people there, mainly because of the early hour that I attended, and I’m sure that it filled up quite a bit as the evening progressed.  It was a bit more personable this way though and it was easier to visit with he brewers/pour-ers at each station.

The venue was interesting and about the right size for the dozen or so brewers that were there.  I hope there is a second annual next year and that they are able to fit the additional 8-10 Boise area brewers that will likely be here by then.

-Cheers

Fall is a great season for beer.  Oktoberfest and pumpkin beers head the list of what makes it so awesome.  Early in the season we have Harvest ales and “fresh Hop” ales and about a month later, as the days continue to get shorter and the nights cooler, the late fall offerings begin to come out.

Oktoberfest is a festival that goes for 16 days, in Munich and has been for  over 200 years.  It is typically associated with large quantities of mild lagers and the malty smooth session-able light brown style of beer that bares it’s name.  About 2 million gallons are consumed that that festival every year.

Pumpkin beers are the other harbingers of fall for most of us, and are a more wide open genre that, as long as it has pumpkin in it of any kind…qualifies. Some famous contemporary examples are Southern Tier’s”Pumking”..which I’ve had, and Elysian’s “Night Owl” which I have also had.  Both were very good, I thought.

Pumpkin can be a component in many different styles.  Less bitter and more malty beers are usually better carriers for the autumn gourd. Porters and stouts are not uncommon and Elysian’s “Dark o’ the Moon” is a good example of a Pumpkin Stout

Today I’m at 10 Barrel Brewing in Boise for their (first) annual “Pumpkin Fest”  They’ve got several pumpkin beers on tap and for an entry fee you get 6 tokens that you can spend on a little snifter of any of them. They’ve got some live music and a few jockey boxes pouring the special beers for the occasion.

The “Pumpkin Crush” tastes suspiciously like the recent Berlinner Weisse they had on called German Sparkle Party. A light sweet-Tart kind of beer with a touch of pumpkin thrown in.  Tasty.  The “Coconut Curry” which was more like a stout with..again..just a hint of the pumpkin spice added in, and the Gourdie LaChance, which had a lot of the fall spice but not so much pumpkin.   The “Punkin Brewster” was kind of an amber with a touch of the gourd and I was not a big fan of, but it was “sessionable” as they say.

There was also a beer that was not on the list, described by the server as the “Punkin Brewster” made with cocoa nibs.  That one was interesting but i would be surprised to see it show up on the chalkboard.

It finished up at 6pm and I finished it up with the Bull Moose Brown ale..and a couple extra tokens..I guess I’ll use next year.  Maybe then the “Pumpkin Beers” will be a little more Pumpkin-y

I’ve written before about all the new breweries showing up here is the Boise area, and “Edge” is one of the newest.  As of this writing the building is being gutted and remodeled and I over heard that they plan to start brewing in November.

HomebrewStuff’s  Marcus Bezuhly is behind this venture and former Table Rock head brewer Kerry Caldwell will be making the beer.  Apparently TR didn’t too much care for their folks, moon-lighting.  Hard to think that in an industry known for brotherly (or sisterly) camaraderie, that they maybe felt a conflict of interest was brewing. (sorry)

Evidently Edge is going to be a full restaurant if I overheard correctly the other day while picking up some ingredients for my Berliner-Weisse. A recent Statesman article quotes Marcus stating there will be seating for over 80 and something a bit up from pub-grub will be served.

This is the same general area of town as the new Sockeye site and it will be nice to have a couple destinations like this on the west side after so much growth in Garden City and down town.

An eclectic range of brews are expected to come out of “Edge”  as many of the backers of Edge are experienced home-brewers and beer judges.  20 gallon est batches” will go on some of the taps at Edge and the more popular ones will likely get a full scale run on their 15 Barrel system.  I hoping for some really interesting stuff, and I’m sure there will be a lot of one-offs and experimental that I think will be Edge’s calling card and their mark on the exploding craft-beer scene in the Boise area.