We are three seniors at Pacific Lutheran University participating in a blog competition for our e-marketing class. We have chosen to blog about Beer.
We want to share our interest in NW beers and breweries and how those businesses advertise, market, and promote themselves and also share our own experiences.
We are truly passionate about Beer and want to share the joy it brings us, with everyone.
Remember.. Please Drink Responsibly.
It's Thursday night and let us be real for a minute, no one (profs included) is too concerned about classes or work on Friday (I don't have class on Fridays), and we all want to go out, unwind, and have some fun. Here is where Garfield Street comes to the rescue; to outsiders it may not seem like much, but to us Lutes here at PLU it is all we need. Garfield Street has been providing us with entertainment for years. For Example, LollaPLUza last year with Macklemore...
But I digress... Lets start at the beginning of a Thursday night...
For me, it begins at my house. The roomies, a few friends, nothing spectacular but always good music, good company, and good brew. When I buy my beer for the night I try to stick to the NW breweries because it is always best to support the North West (Rhyme was on purpose). I recently tried Widmer Brothers' W'12 Dark Saison; a seasonal beer with a fantastic unique taste (I suggest giving it a try).
After throwing back a few you can usually find us at Farrellis around 10:30pm for Happier Hour; buying pitchers, playing pool, and possibly losing a few bucks to pull-tabs.
Farrellis does not brew their beer, but they do keep a great selection of fantastic brews mostly from the NW. From Mac & Jack's African Amber, to Elysian Men's Room Red, to one of my favorites Ninkasi Total Domination IPA; there is something for everyone.
As the good times roll at Happier Hour it gets closer and closer to that time we all hate to love or love to hate.. but either way the time comes to go to the LAST EXIT. The Exit is unique in that it only serves beer, which is fine for all of us here at Beer Me Bro... it's kind of our thing. So everyone arrives at The Exit and it really gets going around 11:30, then....................................beer........................................................
..........................................................beer.........................................
haha and then......................................................................................
......................................Rack City.............................................then..
.......................................................................................after that......
..........................................................................................................
........last call and we all take a nice walk back to our humble abode.
And I don't want to leave out Felix over at Reyna's. Another great spot to hit before heading to the Exit. Gotta get that $6 beer, shot, and nachos deal obvi. (the use of "obvi" was purely sarcastic and not meant to be taken seriously in any way).
Bend, Oregon... a beautiful town set within the Cascade Mountains and the Deschutes River flowing through the center. I am extremely happy to say I am from such a fantastic place with Mt. Bachelor and the river so close by; one other piece that could not be overlooked, even if you tried, are the amazing breweries scattered throughout town.
The Brewery that really put Bend on the map, that most beer lovers probably know of already is Deschutes Brewery. This brewery pumps out around 225,000 barrels of beer every year! And they are only getting bigger. Fun fact: a barrel is two kegs which is 31 gallons of beer! That is a lot of deliciousness being sent all over the US.
I was fortunate enough to take a tour of the Brewery with some friend last time I was home and they have an impressive operation going on. The tour starts out with 4 samples of their beers on tap (always a good way to start a tour) and then you are lead through the brewery, getting to see where they brew, how they brew, how they taste test the beer (which ends up being 20 samples before lunch if you have that job), and you get to see and hear about the history of the Brewery.
My favorites so far are the Chainbreaker White IPA and Red Chair; then again I do enjoy the Inversion and Black Butte Porter... and all of the other ones. You can read up on all of them by clicking the names and figure out which ones you want to try!
I highly suggest the next time you want to enjoy a great micro brew, pick up a Deschutes Brewery Beer and you won't be disappointed.
Last weekend I decided to make my way down to Oregon to visit some friends at U of O and OSU... It was a very eventful weekend to say the least. This trip presented a great opportunity to try some of the delicious Oregon micro brews in the name of research for this blog of course. I figured my first experience would come once I got to Eugene, but I was informed by the friend I was staying with that if I did not stop at a Rogue Brewery (http://www.rogue.com/) in Portland and pick up their newest concoction then I would not be welcome (this was in a mostly joking manner... I think).
To avoid any risk of sleeping outside I figured the best course of action was to pick up Rogue's Voodoo Doughnut Bacon Maple Ale. Just like breakfast, this beer is good at any time of day; with the smell of maple and a hint of bacon when you take a sip, it is absolutely a one of a kind treat.
The first Eugene brewery we ventured to was Falling Sky Brewing (http://fallingskybrewing.com/) for dinner. They had just finished their first batch of beer and of course we needed to give all of them a try. We decided on a flight so we could sample all of the beers with our meals. The brews we had were: a Bare Hands Bitter, Persuasion, First Flight IPA, Pouring Porter, Irish Red, and a Blonde. My personal favorites were the Porter, which had full flavor, but wasn't too heavy and the IPA with a great hoppy taste with not too much bitterness and a hint of grapefruit.
The next day I had to check out Ninkasi Brewing Company (http://www.ninkasibrewing.com/). They are one of my favorite breweries, and fun fact, Ninkasi is the ancient Sumarian matron goddess of the intoxicating beverage, beer... who wouldn't want to drink with her?!
So my friends, Pierce and Megan and myself decided to walk since it was finally sunny and warm outside. We walk through the gates into a small, but very welcoming entrance to order our beer of choice. I decided on the
Tricerahops Double IPA which has double of everything from a regular IPA; it had fantastic full hoppy flavor that was still not overpowering. Not to mention it is about 8% so one pint was good for me in the middle of the day.
I would highly recommend going to all three of these breweries whenever possible or picking up their beers in the store if you are looking for something awesome to drink.
In the words of a very interesting man, "Stay thirsty my friends."
Just
imagine: it’s a warm, sunny day in the Pacific NW and your palate is craving
for a hoppy taste. Cheap beer is not going to satisfy your thirst my friend.
Plus, why not shop local and support that microbrewery that is nestled around
the corner, right? Your thirst needs help and aid is an app on your phone.
I want to
highlight “Happy Houred,” a free app
that takes your current location and then locates surrounding bars to find the
ultimate drink deals! Happy Houred
encourages its users to add new bars, which means that deals are constantly
being added to your radar once you punch the clock. With this app, over 700
cities in the U.S. are available for scouting out prime time Beer Me Bro’ bonding with your
friends! Happy Houred is a top favorite and is a
definite DOWNLOAD!
Cost: FREE
#2 My mind is telling me I am thirsty, and my mouth wants a microbrew.
Just a horse needs to be led to the watering hole; a thirsty consumer
needs their mouth led to a satisfying microbrew. This is the ideal app for the
consumer who wants to venture out and find craft beer.Find Craft Beer
relies on GPS tracking to locate pubs, breweries, bars, liquor stores and
homebrew stores from the palm of your hand. For only $0.99, Find Craft Beer
enables a user to customize their settings to select from all of these options
and target the nearest destination to lead your mouth to a microbrew.
Cost: $0.99
#3Three cheers for iBeers Pro!
As a kid did
you enjoy “Where’s Waldo”? If not, that’s too bad, because this app is the same
concept, but of course with beer.iBeers Pro earns their name by listing more than 2,700 hoppy varieties and
profiling each beer as if it were a CIA agent. Each beer is categorized by the
country of origin, brewer, type of beer and bottle size. In addition, users can
rate various beers and the iBeers Proapp allows you to create a favorites list. Now all Apple has to do is introduce
Beer Genius, a brew database that collects your favorites, creates drink lists
and refers you to other brews. iBeers Pro is an essential app for the Indiana Jones of beer drinkers, the
consumer who likes to branch out beyond their normal beers. A Lite version is offered for $1.99 and
the regular iBeers Pro version can
be downloaded for $2.99.
Cost: $2.99
#4Beer me with that…..
Let’s say
you’re out with some friends and you need to know how to pair the food with the
booze beverage. How do you sync Cajun food with a beer? I want sushi, but how
do I get my brew on?Beer Match is beer’s answer to
Match.com by pairing 31 styles of beer with more than 500 different kinds of
foods!Within seconds,Beer Matchlets youpromptly
find out if the pale ale or the pilsner is the better choice when planning food
for your palate. This app is on the value menu to be downloaded for only
$0.99!
Cost: $0.99
#5What
would beer be without entertainment?
This next app places 5th on our list and serves
the purpose of showing off without attempting a keg stand. The iBeer app is a $0.99 gem that
allows the user to choose between 5 different beers and moves as you tip your
phone. Realistic picture quality allows
you to jostle the drink and make it disappear! The belch at the end can make
any bystander think you are Homer Simpson.
Cost: $0.99
I encourage you to ask Siri about recommendations for local beer and share the responses and experiences by posting on our blog.
Stay tuned for more blog posts from Beer Me Bro’ and Like Us by “toasting this” and sharing it
with your friends.
Being from the NW and specifically from Bend, OR (where some of the greatest micro brews come from like Deschutes Breweryand Good Life Brewing) I have developed quite a taste for good beer; some may say a "beer snob" well I'll wear that title. I love a good beer with distinguishing flavors and depth. Not that I won't enjoy a cold Coors Light or even a Keystone, but there is something great about drinking a local beer with some personality.
Because of my love of micro brews, my good friend Pierce Kennedy decided it was time for me to try brewing a batch for myself. He had done it a few times before and got me my own beer making kit from the Brooklyn Brew Shop (http://brooklynbrewshop.com/). My one gallon kit came with everything you needed and the website provided instructional videos and information on how to go about brewing your own beer.
My kit was for a Bourbon Dubbel, a Belgian style ale. Even though I had never brewed beer before, the Brooklyn Brew Shop provided step-by-step instructions; however, this did not make the process less frustrating. Don't get me wrong, making your own beer is fun, you learn something new, and it is extremely satisfying to get drunk on the beer YOU produced, but it is a long process that must be closely monitored along the way.
After pre-soaking oak chips in bourbon, sanitizing everything (which is extremely important), creating the mash and the sparge, boiling, waiting two weeks for fermenting, bottling, and waiting another two weeks I finally had 2 growlers full of delicious Bourbon Dubbel. It had good flavor and made me want to try another batch down the road.
For anyone that is interested in brewing their own beer, I would highly suggest Brooklyn Brew Shop; I would also suggest to talk to someone who has done it before and to brew with a buddy, because no one likes to drink alone.
~Michael
Beer Me Bro’ is a blog by three college guys informing all fellow beer lovers about local NW breweries. We offer our readers insight into what breweries make the list for price, beer selection, food and atmosphere. In our posts you will learn what spots we have raised a toast to, so that you too can discover unique beer me bro’ hubs in the Northwest.
Besides highlighting local breweries, we will post about trending topics and controversy in the world of beer. Learn how to brew your own beer at home with a home-made kit and submit pictures of your craftsmanship. Also, find out how beers are produced and what separates a dark versus a light beer. Our main highlight of the blog will be building a list of the “21 best beers brewed in the North West.” Please offer your suggestions and post your comments because anyone who calls themselves a true beer-lover needs to adopt the mantra “beer me bro”. Now that we’ve introduced ourselves, Beer me bro’ would like to make a toast: “to the epic journey that is about to begin, we will unite you beer and (wo)men, hoo-ah!”
-Michael Warsaw, Brandon deJong, & Justin Whitman Contact us with comments and questions at beermebro21@gmail.com Follow Michael on Twitter @capitalofpoland Follow Brandon on Twitter @Bclutchtoday
Project done at Pacific Lutheran University www.plu.edu
For me, it begins at my house. The roomies, a few friends, nothing spectacular but always good music, good company, and good brew. When I buy my beer for the night I try to stick to the NW breweries because it is always best to support the North West (Rhyme was on purpose). I recently tried Widmer Brothers' W'12 Dark Saison; a seasonal beer with a fantastic unique taste (I suggest giving it a try).
After throwing back a few you can usually find us at Farrellis around 10:30pm for Happier Hour; buying pitchers, playing pool, and possibly losing a few bucks to pull-tabs.
