It’s that time again! I’ve been so busy in the brewhouse that the events that I should have been letting you know about have just piled up.  This post will serve as a catch up to the great things happening this Month with Oakshire beer.

First and Foremost, I should tell you about the upcoming state wide brewery open house sponsored by the Oregon Brewers guild called Zwickelmania. It will be held Saturday, February 13th from 11-4 at more than 40 differerent breweries around the state.  More on the event in general can be found here.

At Oakshire, we’re cracking the doors one hour earlier than usual and waiting for your arrival. We’ll have tours, food to purchase and nearly a dozen beers on tap. Try:

Oakshire Amber

Watershed IPA

Overcast Espresso Stout

Two Wheeler IPA

Frog’s Wort Pale Ale

Ill tempered Gnome

Harvest Ale

Red Nugget

09 Sasquatch

Duck Billed Platypus

Additionally, I saw kegs of Cascade Conundrum, Perfect Storm, and Bourbon Barrel Aged IPA-if I can claw them away from our sales force, I’ll see if we can include them as well!

AND perhaps a sample or two right off the tank (through the Zwickel, or sample port)

Don’t want to drive, or can’t find us without GPS?? Well…..

The brewers of Eugene and Springfield have made it easy. Hop on the bus sponsored by Rogue and get a free lift to each of the participating breweries, Oakshire, Ninkasi, Eugene City Brewery, Hop Valley, and High Street.  It also stops at the Lane Events Center, home of the KLCC brewfest. bus schedule here.

And, as always Devour will be serving up some tasty sandwiches, soup, and possibly a tater tot or two. Word is we might have more than JP’s food cart on the lot. Lots to choose from, so come hungry.

Oh and our founder Jeff Althouse will be serving you the beers, along with his wife Eriel, and me, the brewmaster. This is an event you must attend!

Speaking of the aforementioned KLCC brew fest. We’ll be there along with lots of other great beer. Oakshire is bringing Watershed, Overcast, Ill Tempered Gnome, the KLCC Collaboration beer and a special surprise, last year’s Collaboration, 09 Sasquatch. Come out and see how it’s aged.

There appear to be 50 breweries and 100 different beers.  And proceeds go to support our local KLCC radio Station. Seems like a worthy event in my book!!

Next, we have a beer dinner coming up at Ambrosia on February 23rd. The menu looks GREAT and you’ll surely want to book early as seating is limited. Call Ambrosia for resys. I’ll post the menu next week.

Finally, we heard great news on the culinary front last week.  I have been to Saraveza in Portland several times, and a few months ago, I saw a little case full of cupcakes that were labeled ‘Overcast Espresso Stout Cupcakes.’ Well, I certainly grabbed one, along with a bottle of black gold from Sarah’s case and it was delish. And if you know my afinity for sweets, this would come as no surprise.  I now come to find out that Lori Adams Clinton, aka SugarPimp is the mastermind behind these delectable treats at Saraveza. Lori was asked to participate in the Naral/Pro-Choice Oregon’s Chocolate for Choice event and that cupcake combination won the Most Decadent award. She even got a little trophy for it!   As Lori describes it, “My buttercream is not overly-sweet to start and the Overcast Espresso Stout flavor reinforces the creamy sensation, especially when paired with the rich, chocolately cake enhanced with the same great beer. ” Congratulations to Sugar Pimp for the award and thanks for baking with beer. mmmmmmm….espresso stout cupcakes!!….

There’s likely more news coming soon including the menu for the Ambrosia dinner and the bottle label for our spring seasonal. It’s been sent to the TTB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Please come see us on December 13th at both the KLCC brewfest at at the brewery for Zwickelmania.

Cheers!

Matt

If you haven’t been to Saraveza in Portland yet, you are certainly missing out. A slice of the Northwoods right in NE Portland. Man, eating pasties and drinking killer craft beer all the while surrounded by midwest breweriana and Packer bobbleheads-now that’s livin’!

Why don’t you join us next Wednesday as we pour three specialty beers from 6-8. I believe IPA and stout will be available as well, and don’t forget the beers to go. Vintage coolers are jam packed with great bottle beer.

From John Foyston’s blog:

“OAKSHIRE AT SARAVEZA - Eugene’s Oakshire Brewing has been winning lots of fans with well-made and inventive beers. Brewer Matt Van Wyk will be bringing some to Saraveza this week, including a bourbon-barrel-aged Belgian strong ale; Smokin’ Bagpipes Scotch Ale,  made with cherrywood-smoked malt; and Two Wheeler IPA,  a one-off amber/red IPA.

This would be a fine time to congratulate Saraveza’s Jonathan Carmean6-8 p.m. Wednesday, Saraveza, 1004 N. Killingsworth St for being named Bartender of the Year in a recent beer magazine poll. He well deserves it.”

Hello Oakshire Fans,

Coming up on Saturday, January 30th, Oakshire’s Brewmaster, Matt Van Wyk and company will be headed to Cloud 9 in Corvallis for a Beer Maker’s Dinner of pure deliciousness! The dinner will kick off at 6PM and the culinary artists from Cloud 9 have pulled together a tasty 5 course feast paired with 5 different Oakshire brews!

#1 Oakshire Wheat paired with Ahi tar tar with wasabi aioli on wonton crisp
#2 Watershed IPA paired with Habanero Kobe corn dog with house mustard
#3 Oakshire Amber paired with Braised pork shoulder with Puerto Rican rice
#4 Smokin’ Bagpipes Scotch Ale paired with Hand rubbed tri-tip with baked beans and kale
#5 Overcast Espresso Stout paired with Black Forest Cake

So..gather up a group of friends, call Cloud 9 and make a reservation @ (541) 753-9900, then head on down to Cloud 9 on Saturday, January 30th at 6:00PM!

Cheers!

Oakshire Brewing team

Who says post Holidays are a slow time of year?  Oakshire brewing plans to pound the pavement and come out and see you and share a beer with you.

As always, you can click on “Oakshire events” to the right for a calendar of what we are up to.

And as always, you can come to use every Saturday from 12-4 for tours and tastings.  Plus, we are visited by our friends at Devour who have tasty sandwiches and soup made with Oakshire beer. Stop by for lunch and a tour this Saturday!

Here’s some highlights of our month:

On Sat., Jan  16th, we’ll be at the Willamette Valley Sustainable Food Alliance Fun with Fermentation event at WOW Hall in Eugene. Come see how fermentation works in our, and other local businesses. Demonstrations and samples. Proceeds benefit Food for Lane County.

On Jan 22nd and 23rd you can find us at the Good Earth Home, Garden, and Living Show in Eugene.

On Wed. Jan 27th, we’ll head to Portland to pour some very special beers at Saraveza.

On Sat. Jan 30th we have a very special dinner planned in Corvallis at Cloud 9. Call cloud nine today for details and reservations. You don’t want to miss this one.

Of course you can also find Sam and the crew out doing several bottle tastings around town. Soon we’ll have a new seasonal in bottles as weel and you’ll want to seek Sam out while this one is in house. It’s gonna be delish!

Cheers

Matt

Well, I’m a little tardy on my year end reflections like so many people seem to do as the calender rolls from December to January.  I think I’ll look back with a list of the top 5 amazing things that happened in 2009 at Oakshire Brewing. And then we’ll look ahead to some exciting things to look forward to in 2010.

5. The company has grown from 4 employees to 8, including me as I hauled my family from Illinois to Oregon in March.

4. We had 5 tanks in the cellar (fermentation and packaging) and now we have 11!

3. We got a spiffy new keg washer that knocks out 3 clean and sanitized kegs in about 6 minutes.

2. We met many new friends and customers inEugene,  Portland and throughout the state at festivals and events, and we hope to meet many more. The mention of the name “Oakshire” raised eyebrows and brought puzzled looks in early 2009, and now it only seems to bring a smile. That’s good.

1. We nearly doubled in size, not only in employees and tanks, but also volume of beer made!

Ah, ok, I have one more and a top six list just doesn’t seem to sound quite right. Here’s 1B:

1B. We won our first national award at the 2009 Great American Beer festival for Overcast Espresso Stout.  We’re very proud of all of our beers and were honored to receive the award in Denver in September.

Ok, on to the future and wow, if you thought we changed a lot in 2009, wait until you see what we have in store this year.

In the first quarter of the year we should have a grain handling system in place  that will surely save the back of yours truly and the rest of the brewing staff. For anyone who knows how a silo and auger work, come out and ask us about our milling and mashing procedure. Prepare to be amazed.

We also are on the lookout for more brewing side tanks including a whirlpool and Hot Liqour Tank. These two items will help streamline and automate our brewhouse allowing us to more easily double our production again.

On the beer side, look for more new and original seasonals and one-off beers.  We continue to experiment and craft new and unique beers while maintaining the consistency of the year round beers you love.  On the seasonal front, look for a new spring seasonal by March 1st. On the bottling front, look for us to expand what we already do and bring you several more beers to you in bottles.  You might even see a new package in 2010 if all goes our way…..stay tuned.

Also, look for our barrel aging program to expand and we’ll also try to sneak a few odds and ends out into your hands.  If you didn’t know, we have 10 Pinot barrels full of various little items waiting…waiting…waiting… I can’t wait for the taste test to begin!

We’ll also continue to expand and improve our tasting room. We’ve done a lot to provide tours, tastings and dock sales in a friendly and casual way. Look for more things to come in 2010 allowing us to serve more beers in the tasting room and better fill your corny kegs on M,Th, F, and Sat.  And remember Devour is out here serving up sandwiches and soup every Saturday from 12-4. They are very tasty!

So those are just the things I know of that may change even before summer gets rolling. Who knows what else is in store.  Might we venture outside of Oregon? Might we drop yet another Fermenter in the back room? Might wecome out to your corner watering hole and shoot the breeze with you? I sure hope so.

Here’s to a successful and prospererous 2010! Thanks for making Oakshire Brewing what we are. Cheers!

your humble brewer of delicious beer,

Matt

Happy New Year from All of us at Oakshire Brewing.  Thanks for all you’ve done this year to make it a great and successful year at Oakshire. I’ll post some year end stats later, but just know that Oakshire is twice as big as it was last year at this time and we couldn’t have done it without all the support of our fans and all the Oregon Craft Beer drinkers. Thank you!

DOCK SALES THIS WEEK:

We will be open regular dock sale hours Thursday until 6. Stop by and get that keg filled for the party.  And bottles of Stout are only on sale until then, so stock up now.

FRIDAY WE WILL BE CLOSED. Go watch the Ducks beat the Buckeyes!

Saturday, we will resume normal tasting and tours. 12-4PM. Don’t forget Devour will be out here serving great soup and sandwiches.

Until 2010-Cheers!

Matt

Good evening Oakshire fans,

Just wanted to send out a quick post and wish everyone an early Merry Christmas and give everyone a heads up on Dock Sale hours and Tours and Tastings this weekend!  We will be open today, Thursday 12/24, for Dock Sales during our regular hours from 3-6PM.  We will be closed tomorrow in observance of the Christmas holiday.  However, on Saturday we will be open for Tours, Tastings, Dock Sales, and delicious grub from our mobile vendors friends at Devour.  This is a great opportunity to stop on by with your friends and family that are visiting from out of town for the weekend and checkout the brewery.  Who really wants to go to the mall anyway on the day after Christmas, right?!?!

Anyways, thanks for all the support!  There are many people here that truly appreciate the local beer love!

Cheers!

Chris Althouse

You can’t image the joy I felt when we were suggested as a pairing with my favorite treat in Portland. See:

If you find yourself in the greater Portland Metro, you owe it to your self to seek out Voodoo donuts and Overcast.

Thanks BeerNW Magazine!!

Join us this Wednesday at the Stein as we sample out Smokin Bagpipes smoked Scotch ale.  Only 22 kegs of this were made.  We’ll also bring some Very Ill-Tempered Gnome for sampling. This one only had 6 kegs hit Eugene.  Finally, we have a special treat on the bar only. Cerise Noir. It is a light wheat beer aged on local and organic cherries. This was aged in a Pinot Noir barrel from Sokol Blosser Winery. This may be your only chance to imbibe one of these!

Wednesday 6-8PM

Cheers!

Devour, the kick ass new mobile foodie in Eugene is making Oakshire’s tasting room his Saturday afternoon spot.  If you came by last Saturday for the sandwiches and bacon beer cheese soup, you’ll know this is great news. This week, they’re rolling with some brats made with Oakshire’s beer. These will be crafted into paninis. Yum! Don’t miss out. 12-4 this and every Saturday for tours, tastings, and Devour!