Category: Beer Judge Certification

Beer Apps for Brewers and Beer Lovers

10/8/2015

By Anthony St. Clair
For the Oregon Beer Growler

Beer apps have come a long way since the days of iBeer (you remember: “drink beer” on your phone). Today’s apps include versatile, useful tools: everything from beer tour itinerary builders and brewing calculators to flavor guides and assistance with ordering a beer in multiple languages. There’s even a brewery game. Here are some must-haves for your device.

Note: Generally apps are available for phones and tablets, but your mileage may vary. Apps were evaluated on an iPhone 5s running iOS 8.4.1.

BeerAdvocate
Search, rate, discuss
iOS and Android
Free

Combines beer news, online discussion forums, beer style profiles, events and user ratings/reviews. A free account is required for this reference app from the folks behind BeerAdvocate magazine. Many features could be more robust, such as narrowing down events by location and date. Styles are brief but provide a solid, non-technical overview, followed by most popular beers in that style. Beer listings default to recent reviews, with one option of filtering by the top 250 instead. The search is useful if you know exactly what you want; improved filtering would make searching reviews more useful. Overall, though, a handy app that is a free alternative to RateBeer.

BeerSmith
All-in-one homebrew assistant, calculator, tracker and brew journal
iOS, Android and Kindle
$7.99

From its humble desktop origins, BeerSmith has expanded to online forums, social media popularity, a regular blog and podcast, and, of course, handy mobile apps. In addition to integrating with cloud storage and more than 68,000 recipes at beersmithrecipes.com, BeerSmith’s simple, easy-to-use app interface helps beginning and advanced brewers search, build and manage recipes; review profiles of hundreds of ingredients; track all steps in the brewing and fermentation process; and run brew timers, calculators and converters. Professionals such as Hanns Anderson, head brewer at Eugene’s McMenamins High Street, have used BeerSmith, and it has something to help your homebrewing too.

Beer Judge
Be the sensory expert you wish you were
iOS
$1.99

How many times have you been at a loss for words when describing a beer? Beer Judge turns your phone into a taster, a sensory analyst and an amateur spectrophotometer. The Flavor Wheel feature lists flavor and aroma descriptors, and the Off Flavors guide shows at-a-glance and detailed descriptions of flaws. Tap any color on the Standard Reference Method (SRM) spectrum graphic for an SRM value, or use your device’s camera with the app’s Analyzer to calculate an SRM (you wouldn’t use it for a brewing lab analysis, but it’s a good ballpark figure for happy hour technical evaluation). Perfect for beer tastings and enhancing your competition chops.

BJCP Styles
Is your beer in style?
iOS and Android
Free

A just-the-facts compilation of official 2008 and 2015 BJCP official beer styles. When you first open the app, you’ll be asked if you want to default to the 2008 or 2015 guidelines (you can switch between them at any time). Search for a style or scroll the list, then tap for the full profile. Text is well presented and easy to read, with controls to increase or decrease the size. While you can highlight and copy, functions to export to email, PDF or printing would be useful. A must-have for brewers, judges and enthusiasts.

BreweryMap
Build your next beer tour
iOS and Android
$3.99

Whether seeking out neighborhood places or planning a beer tour, BreweryMap builds itineraries and locates breweries, brewpubs, tasting rooms and more. Users can also add new listings or submit updates. The Road Trip function builds your next beer tour from start point to end point. Once you choose a route, the map fills in with pins. Tapping “List View” shows a list of locations in each locality: an Oregon Coast itinerary from Astoria to Brookings pulled up 21 locations in a 15-mile radius. Save itineraries for later reference too. The perfect app for the beertripper.

Fiz
Who says brewing isn't a game?
iOS, Android and Windows
$2.99

Whether you’re a homebrewer who dreams of owning a brewery or a beer pro who believes work is play, Fiz allows you to realize your dream of running your own brewery. With graphics and music reminiscent of ‘80s/’90s early Nintendo, Fiz allows you to start a brewery, analyze the market, develop recipes, brew beer, manage staff, enter competitions and more. Play during a few minutes’ break, or moonlight all weekend as a pixelated brewer. Fiz is rooted enough in reality to have real ingredients listed and a solid sense of the realities of brewing. And it’s fun enough that I better stop playing and finish writing this article.

Pivo
Order a pint in 59 languages
iOS
$0.99

Travel in foreign lands is all about mastering the basics of the local language. And it doesn’t get more essential than confidently ordering a beer in anything from Afrikaans (“n Bier, asseblief”) to Zulu (“nye ningi utshwala”). Pivo is simple, useful and fun for the global beertrotter. Alphabetically scroll a list of 59 languages, complete with phrase, phonetic pronunciation and video or audio. (Browse, search, or favorite functions would have minimized scrolling.) One caveat: this app’s last update was 2013 and is no longer being developed, but functionality was fine in testing. Does Google Translate do the same thing? Sí. Is it as cool? Nein.

RateBeer
Every beer everywhere
iOS and Android
$3.99

Since 2000, RateBeer has become one of the beer world’s largest independent online communities and a go-to source for beer and location reviews and information. Take the pulse of any beer on the market: Who’s drinking it? What are they saying about it? Share what you think of what you drink, and rate where you’re enjoying that beer, cider, mead or sake. Whether searching by name or scanning a barcode, you get easy and quick access to beer data, including reviews, IBUs, ABVs, preferred glassware and more. Also curate your own wish lists and favorites, and search by location for bottle shops and watering holes near you.

Today’s Beer
A beer a day
iOS and Android
$0.99

You know those “quotation a day” calendars that wind up under the Christmas tree? This is the beer version. Today’s Beer presents one beer, every day, along with beer info, bottle and pint views (with 360 degree rotation), beer color and more. (You can also look back at beers from the past seven days.) A simple interface with intuitive controls helps you dig as deep into a beer’s profile as you want. A must for beer hounds hunting inspiration, designers seeking ideas for novel labels and bottles, and anyone who knows that sometimes a bit of daily random inspiration is all you need to keep your palate dazzled and intrigued.

Untappd
Never drink alone/
iOS, Android, and Windows
Free

The “Facebook of beer” makes sure your drinking is always social. See the latest with the beer world in three main ways: “Friends” lets you see what folks you follow are doing. “Global” goes macro with updates from users all over the world. And “Nearby” tells you what users are enjoying in your area. Fancy an old favorite or something new? Seek out beers, pubs and breweries popular and nearby, and keep tabs on trends for the next tipple you should try.

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Love and Beer Flow Freely at McPoLanders

2/19/2015

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Jenn McPoland and Jeremie Landers are not only avid homebrewers; they also manage to win a lot of awards with their beer. The two have even collaborated with several commercial breweries. Photo courtesy of Jenn McPoland and Jeremie Landers

By Alethea Smartt LaRowe
For the Oregon Beer Growler

If you have ever attended a Portland-area beer festival or an Oregon Brew Crew meeting, you have probably seen Jenn McPoland and Jeremie Landers. The husband-and-wife team are very active in the local beer community, volunteering and helping coordinate and staff events throughout the year.

A third-generation Oregonian and second-generation Portlander, Jenn remembers walking from her Northwest Portland apartment to her job downtown with the smells from the Blitz-Weinhard Brewery -- which brewed its last beer in 1999 -- permeating the air. She drank Henry’s back then, but was introduced by a friend to big, hoppy beers in the early 2000s and now enjoys all styles of beer. Her love of beer became a hobby when she started homebrewing in 2004.

Jeremie, who has lived in Portland for half of his life, recalls that the first craft beer he ever drank was Widmer Hefeweizen at a bar in Sacramento, Calif. when he turned 21. He admits that he wasn’t a big beer drinker until he tried BridgePort IPA. The impression left by the complex hop flavors set him on a course, both for a lifelong love of IPAs and, eventually, a desire to try to recreate his favorite beers which culminated in his first attempts at homebrewing.

The natural next step in learning more about making beer was to join a homebrew club. Jenn started attending Oregon Brew Crew (OBC) meetings at F.H. Steinbart Co. in 2004. OBC is Oregon’s oldest homebrewing club, established in 1979. It was at an OBC meeting at Widmer Brewery in July 2006 that Jeremie first laid eyes on Jenn. She was serving on the board of directors and Jeremie was attending the meeting with the goal of joining the organization as a member.

Their first date was at Horse Brass over pints of Terminal Gravity IPA. In the subsequent months and years, they bonded over their mutual love of beer and became ever-more involved in homebrewing, with both holding various positions on the board of the OBC. It was only a matter of time before a wedding was in the pipeline.

With Rob Widmer’s blessing, they were married where they first met, at Widmer Brothers Brewing, in September 2010. The ceremony was officiated by their friend Lisa Morrison, aka the Beer Goddess, who was ordained as a Dudeist Priest for the event. Incidentally, Lisa was being filmed for the documentary "The Love of Beer," produced by Alison Grayson. As a result, their wedding appears in that film.

The reception, where many friends from the beer community gathered to toast the couple, featured free-flowing beer from 12 kegs. For their honeymoon, they traveled to Europe, specifically to well-known beer destinations: Brussels and Bruges, Belgium; Prague, Czech Republic; Munich, Germany for the 200th anniversary of Oktoberfest; and Bamberg, Germany. During the three-week trip, they had many romantic beer experiences including drinking Kwak and Tripel Karmeliet on draft on their first morning in Belgium. They also warmly recall dining at a rooftop restaurant in Prague, drinking good beer and eating great food while enjoying the 360-degree view of the city.

After settling back into married life in Portland, Jenn and Jeremie purchased a home in the Kenton neighborhood in 2013. They have converted the 350-square-foot detached garage into a private brewery and drinking den, named McPoLanders Taproom. They acquired a 6-foot-by-10-foot walk-in cooler from the Old Ivy Taproom in Vancouver, Wash. and also have a 42-cubic-foot bottle fridge stocked with an envy-inducing selection of craft beer from all over the world. On the night I visited, the impressive draft beer list was comprised of four McPoLanders homebrews, two collaboration beers, two locally-made commercial beers, and one homebrew made by their friend Lee Hedgmon.

Jeremie says his favorite style to brew is Cascadian Dark Ale. Jenn doesn’t have a favorite, but along with brewing traditional styles like stouts and IPAs, they also enjoy the challenge of experimenting with things like fruits and spices.

The couple also likes to enter homebrew competitions, where they find it helpful to get feedback from both professional beer judges and regular beer lovers alike. At the 2014 Fall Classic, the OBC's yearly American Homebrewers Association/Beer Judge Certification Program-sanctioned homebrew competition held after hop harvest, Jenn and Jeremie each took home two gold medals apiece, with Jenn taking the “Best of Show” out of hundreds of entries. She now holds the distinction of being the first solo female winner of that title at the Fall Classic. Earlier in the year, Jeremie entered the Clean Water Services Pure Water Brew Competition and took second place with a German pilsner. The beer was sent to New Orleans for the WateReuse Association's “One Water Innovations Gala,” where it received high praise for its quality and drinkability.

Over the years, Jenn and Jeremie have had the pleasure of teaming up with various brewmasters to brew their recipes professionally. In 2012, they brewed "North End Cascadian Dark Ale,” a Timbers Army Homebrew Competition “Best of Show” winner at the New Old Lompoc Fifth Quadrant. In 2013, they won the Widmer Collaborator Homebrew Competition with "Kenton IPA" which they then brewed in 2014 with Dan Munch on the Widmer Innovation Brew System for local release. Also in 2013, Jenn, with the Ladies of Lagers and Ales (LOLA), brewed a CDL at Base Camp. In 2014, they brewed their "StellaNova India Session Ale" with the legendary John Harris at Ecliptic Brewing for the Willamette Week’s Beer Pro / Am. Jenn also brewed another beer for the Pro / Am with LOLA and Tonya Cornett at 10 Barrel in Bend. They have already started off the new year with another collaboration. In January, they brewed a Russian Imperial Stout with Charlie Hutchins at Rock Bottom Brewery in Portland.

Another unique beer-related fact about this couple is that they have a yeast strain named after them. While on their honeymoon in Prague, they visited the famous U Fleků Brewery where they enjoyed a Bohemian Dunkel. They acquired samples of the yeast, which they brought back to Oregon and then gave some to Wyeast Laboratories, which made it into smack packs. OBC members conducted the “McPoLanders Czech Lager Yeast Experiment” by brewing a variety of beers using this yeast.

While Jenn and Jeremie truly enjoy all of their work and involvement in the Oregon beer community, they do not have any plans to open their own brewery. “We just wouldn’t be able to maintain the lifestyle we have now if we brewed commercially.” Both have full time jobs, neither of which is in the craft beer industry. They will continue to homebrew a few times each month as well as participate in club events and educational seminars helping new homebrewers.

As Lisa Morrison enthuses, “Jenn and Jeremie epitomize everything that's great about Oregon beer. It's safe to say that no other couple has devoted so much time and energy to promoting and celebrating our local beer community. From their wedding to their new in-home taproom, their passion for beer -- and more importantly for each other -- is evident every day. Cheers to the McPoLanders!”

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HOMEBREW CLUBS: CORVALLIS VS. EUGENE

11/3/2014

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Corvallis Club Combines Craft and Community
By Anthony St. Clair

Autumn is a busy time for the 33 members of the Corvallis-based Heart of the Valley Homebrewers (HotV). “We just got finished putting on our very successful Septembeerfest,” says Carrie Reeves, who became club president in January 2014. “This was our seventh year, and proceeds go to the Linn Benton Food Share. We estimate that we had around 3,000 attendees this year.”

Members also spent September participating in Corvallis Beer Week, which ran Sept. 5–13. But the club is hardly sitting down to catch its breath over a refreshing pint of homebrew. Now members are planning the club’s Annual Oregon Homebrew Festival, a Beer Judge Certification Program and American Homebrewers Association sanctioned event held every May. For the last 16 years, the competition has also been a qualifier for the Masters Championship of Amateur Brewing.

A club member since 2013, Reeves took to the community of homebrewers and their mutual love of all things beer—a common thread in the area. Today Oregon has 32 homebrew clubs registered with the American Homebrew Association, but the Corvallis club was one of the first. HotV was founded in 1982 as Corvallis Homebrewers, and also held its first annual homebrew competition, now the the longest-running event of its kind in the Pacific Northwest. Once homebrewers from surrounding areas participated, the name was changed to Heart of the Valley Homebrewers. Today, the club has members in Corvallis, Salem, Albany, Sweet Home, and even Eugene, home of the Cascade Brewers Society, a fellow homebrew club.

HotV members meet on the third Wednesday of the month, alternating between member homes in Albany and Corvallis. “We sample one another’s beers, as well as those of local brewpubs and unusual commercial brews,” Reeves says. “Occasionally we arrange comparative tastings of commercial examples of beer styles, with members voting according to their preferences. It’s a great way to experience brews that one hasn't tried before, and to find new favorites.”

In between meetings, members gather for club business and also for the good ole joy of homebrewing. Brewing sours is popular right now, Reeves says, a reflection of the ongoing changes in the industry and populace. “Just as Pacific Northwest trends have adjusted, our club has reflected that,” she explains. “For instance, members might increase the hop content of beers, and find ways to get creative with ingredients that are local to us here in the Willamette Valley. But a passion for making beer remains the same.”

Members plan a wide range of regular club and community events too. In addition to the 63 craft beverages on offer at Septembeerfest, HotV organizes club brewing days, holiday parties, pub crawls, and picnics. Since 1995, members have picked up litter on Highway 20 between Albany and Corvallis, as part of the Oregon Department of Transportation’s Adopt-A-Highway program. Today, four times a year members meet to clean up the highway. Over the last 19 years, their efforts have removed 900 bags of trash.

As Reeves looks ahead to the Nov. 29 Civil War between UO and OSU, she’s setting her game day plans. “I will be watching the Beavers hopefully win against the Ducks at my friend's house,” she says. “I will be drinking Lost Coast Tangerine Wheat, or whatever is on tap at their house, and I will be eating bad food like nachos and chili!” She might bring a bag of Chester's Puffcorn, her favorite snack.

Reeves also has her eye on 2015, her second year as club president. “It will be a really great year,” she says. “We have a lot of educational and fun activities planned.”

Corvallis and Eugene homebrew club presidents, Carrie Reeves and Brandt Weaver, listen to Jeff Clawson describe Oregon State University’s Fermentation Science program. Photo by Gail Oberst

Changes Ahead for Eugene’s Cascade Brewers Society
By Anthony St. Clair

On the last Monday of every month, the brewers gather in the basement of downtown Eugene’s Rogue Ales Public House. Bottles hiss. People laugh. Eventually things settle down. News is shared, followed by discussion of a topic of beery import.

All the while the homebrew flows. Later, members of the Eugene-based Cascade Brewers Society (CBS) talk about life, homebrewing, beer, and more brewing. The meeting ends, but the camaraderie of homebrewing continues. Over the following month, club members will brew together, visit area pubs and breweries, plan events, and enter the monthly club-only competition.

Founded by a dozen people in 1988, the club’s membership stayed small for its first dozen years. In 2000, homebrewing gained in popularity. Today, people from Portland to Northern California are among the club’s 93 members.

“Meetings used to be in people’s homes. It’d be hard to have a regular space that could accommodate more people,” says Brandt Weaver, president since 2009. “Once we got our regular space in the bottom floor of Rogue, people felt more comfortable about stopping by. From there membership really started growing.”

Weaver joined CBS after moving to Eugene in 2002. “Most of the people there at the start are still really good friends. They wanted to share that homebrewing journey together,” Weaver explains. “When more people started getting together, they realized they had the energy to do more things. Bus trips, beer pairing dinners, things like that. The increase in membership led to more planned events. It also led to more of a focus on technical programs. Education, discussion of more particular aspects of brewing. It went from having homebrew and talking about it, to people presenting on different aspects of homebrewing.”

Today CBS members organize a range of events, from a summer group campout and monthly style-based judged competitions, to a fall chili cook-off and monthly happy hour. In collaboration with the Oakshire Public House, CBS members also participate in National Learn to Homebrew Day, an annual American Homebrewers Association event that introduces the public to homebrewing.

As the club rolls into an Oregon autumn, the fermenters are bubbling and beers are conditioning. Ciders, pumpkin beers, winter warmers, and Belgian styles are underway. Sour beers and barrel-aged beers are popular right now. “We’ve had club projects where we brew the same beer, fill a barrel, age it, and then divide the final beer,” Weaver says, noting the club’s love of experimentation.

“People use adjuncts that you wouldn’t see in commercial beers, things that wouldn’t be marketable,” he explains. “Non-traditional bittering, like teff or yarrow root. People are growing things in their yard to brew beer with.”

Looking ahead to the UO/OSU Civil War game, Weaver plans to attend any parties the club is invited to. He’ll pour a pint of what’s on tap—maybe an Oktoberfest or IPA—tuck in to chips and guacamole, and see how the game plays out. He also professes respect for Corvallis’s “impressive” Heart of the Valley Homebrewers. “We’re talking about having some events that could get the two clubs together, but we don’t have a lot of official contact.”

Future relations are a job for the club’s new president though.

After five years, Weaver will step down at the end of 2014. “We’re getting new blood and energy to do different things,” he explains. “We’ll hold the course with what we’ve been doing, but I’m excited about how new folks will be stepping up and bringing in their ideas. There will be good changes and growth for 2015.”

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Beer Apps for Brewers and Beer Lovers

Love and Beer Flow Freely at McPoLanders

HOMEBREW CLUBS: CORVALLIS VS. EUGENE

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