No details yet, but when it hits the shelves, I’ll be grabbing them by the handful! After getting their beer into 22 ounce bottles not too long ago, Lompoc Brewing is doing a great job getting us some bottled seasonals as well: Barrel Aged Oak Doppelbock, Barrel Aged LSD, and now this. Keep ‘em coming!
We have teamed up with Deschutes Brewery to bring you some one of a kind photo prints to benefit the Red Cross Haiti Relief and Development. 100% of all proceeds will go directly to this program.
We have created a simple auction in hopes of raising more money than we could have individually contributed here at the site. We haven’t done this before, but the Portland beer community is made up of a lot of great individuals who can hopefully drive some attention to our project. So, if you can’t bid, at least help us spread the word on this auction by posting, tweeting, or simply telling your friends.
Since Deschutes Brewery is helping us get the word out, we’ve selected four Deschutes themed photographs from our collection. If you win the auction item, you’ll receive a professionally created 8×12 print, signed by Duschutes Brewery founder Gary Fish. You will be the only person in the world with this item (and it’s a big, big world). Contributor Ian Seniff was kind enough to also donate a piece of his artwork to the auction as well.
Thanks for all of the support everyone!
Another year is upon us, and that means another Annual New Year’s Day Tasting for my family. Overall, the tasting went great, but there were a few mistakes made that we can look forward to cleaning up next year. In this article, we’re going to talk a little bit about cellaring beer–the whats, whens, and whys. First though, let’s go through this years tasting list:
Malty beers with a low hop profile and a high ABV are best for aging, so it’s no surprise that this list is populated by some heavy, malty beers. Hops are used for three primary purposes in beer: bitterness, flavor, and aroma. If a beer is based on its hop profile, all of this resiny goodness will disappear over time, leaving you with a strange mess. Imagine your favorite Imperial IPA. Now imagine it with no hops. Since beers like Stouts and Porters are low on the flavor and aroma hop scale, they make good aging candidates because this loss of hops does not adversely change the character of the beer. However, since hops are used for bittering as well, an aged beer will lose a little bit of this bitter bite, causing the final product to reside on the sweeter side.
Why age a beer in the first place? Complex beers have many layers attained from several parts of the beer making process. From roasted malts and intricate grain bills, to variations in yeast type or fermentation with fruit, beers can become complex in the brewing phase alone. Add on barrel aging or blending, and the final product can be a multi-layered showpiece. When some of these beers are released, they can be rather untamed: too bitter, overpowering alcohol, overwhelming bourbon flavor. It’s possible that any of the beers aspects are out of proportion with the rest of the beer. This does not mean that the beer is bad, but people may describe it as too young, too hot, or that it simply needs some age. Aging a beer like this can transform it immensely. The biggest change you’ll see is that these beers mellow with some time, softening the sharp edges, creating a subtler beer. The hotness of the alcohol dies down, fresh bitterness softens, and that overwhelming smack of bourbon now resides softly in the mix.
Aging beer is not complicated, but it depends on three things:
With a total of 20 beers for our tasting, most weighing in around 12%, we had a lot of work to do. We paired the verticals up, and tried to weave in a couple of different styles along the way. The tasting was divided into 4 rounds of 5 beers over two days. We thought about squeezing into one day, but everyone was scared by that idea. Really scared. In the end, we had an odd mix of styles that didn’t always reflect well on the beer. For example, after the three year Abyss vertical, we decided on the Bourbon Barrel Quad as a “palette cleanser” before hitting the Old Rasputin XII. Well, this wasn’t as much a decision as it was a forced hand. We had so many giant beers and mismatching styles, that a perfect solution was hard to come by. I highly anticipated tasting this Quad, but sandwiched in between a whole bunch of barrel aged Imperial Stouts was not the way to showcase its qualities. A little more forethought into the tasting groups would have helped, but sitting there in front of all those bottles, we couldn’t delay any longer.
As indicated on the list above, two beers didn’t make it to the table: Stormwatchers and Auld Battle Axe. We had to throw in the towel before prying these open. It was a simple matter of too many beers and too little time. The Stormwatchers made it back to Portland, but only briefly. This was another of my highly anticipated beers and I had the choice of hiding it back in the cellar for another day or finally getting a chance to drink it. It’s not in the cellar. I’m sure I’ll think back at next years tasting and wonder what it would have been like with another year on it, but self-control doesn’t always win out for me.
Well, it is the end of 2009 and, as is customary at the end of any year, the media has thrown at us 2009 year in review after 2009 year in review. Recaps of the past year’s events fill almost every television station, every website and every newspaper. Covering everything from the year in celebrity gossip to the year in natural disaster gossip, these 365 day highlight reels come at us with almost punishing frequency. It is enough to make even the most patient of us want to scream out “No more!” and retreat to the farthest corner of the Earth to seek sanctuary from the onslaught of year-end media coverage. I for one have had just about all I can take of the “top 10s”, “best ofs” and “favorites” of 2009. They are nothing but cheap, lazy, pandering journalism. Anyway, here is the portlandbeer.org Favorites of 2009 article.
Now, it would be pointless to try and recap every festival, tasting or beer release that happened this year. I did not attend every beer related event in Portland, nor did I try every beer released this year by Portland breweries. To do so would take more effort and more money than I am able to invest in my craft brew hobby. Gaping holes would fill my year end review due to my inability to be there for everything that was reviewable. What I can bank on though, is the fact that the majority of you reading this drank quite a bit of Portland beer and attended many beer-centric events in this fair city and amongst all of us, every event was attended and every beer sampled. So, in hope that no favorite is left unmentioned, I pose to you, faithful portlandbeer.org reader, these four questions:
Answer one or answer them all. One of the best parts about drinking beer is discussing beer and any input on what impressed you this year is welcome to the discussion. To get things started, here are the answers to these four questions from two fellows named Matt and one named Ian. The one named Ian is me.
Matt Wiater (portlandbeer.org show runner, often wears a hat)
What was your favorite Portland beer of 2009?
2007 Bourbon Barrel Cask Moose and Squirrel from Laurelwood. Technically, this beer was released in 2009, so I hope I can get away with this answer. Patience is the ultimate respect you can pay to the right beer. Letting it sit for two years in a barrel, in plain view, every day, takes a lot of willpower. In conjunction with varying amounts and types of malt, hops, and yeast, aging is another dynamic that can take a beer in a much different direction over time. Fading hops, blending malt flavors, and wood flavors leached from the barrel, can all add to a complex yet smooth creation. A surprise and quiet release of this aged beer on cask is just one example of what lurks in the dark corners of Portland.
What was your favorite beer related event of 2009?
Holiday Ale Festival. A mixture of different (mostly strong) beer styles, as well as a mixture of different (mostly strong) personalities makes for a great afternoon under a tent on a cold, rainy day in Portland. The early afternoon crowds consist of a lot of beer geeks using up a vacation day to drink and talk beer. All of the beers aren’t for everyone, but if you can’t find several outstanding offerings, you may want to ask yourself if you like beer at all.
Which Portland brewery most impressed you in 2009?
Cascade Brewing. Ron Gansberg and Curtis Bain have been somewhat quietly doing their own thing just over the West Hills. During the great onslaught of IPAs and DIPAs and other floral monsters making Portland synonymous with hoppy beers, Cascade Brewing was quite content at creating a mixture of fruit beers, sours, belgian-style beers, and barrel-aged beers. Well, not I guess they weren’t too content, since many of these beers were used in immensely complex blends such as Cuvee Du Jongleur, Bourbonic Plague, and Drie Zwarte Pieten. Cascade Brewing is always inventive and releases great beers all year long.
What was your favorite beer based memory of 2009?
Baltic Porter Tasting at Upright Brewing. Beer is social. Hanging out with other people involved with the Portland beer scene–from drinkers, to writers, to brewers–is almost always a good time. Spending time in a newly opened Upright Brewing, tasting Baltic Porters from around the world, and hanging out with people who enjoy beer, is a great experience, not to be taken for granted.
Matthew DiTullo (Guy who makes videos about beer for BREWPUBLIC, wears hats less frequently)
What was your favorite Portland beer of 2009?
Bourbon Fred from the Wood. This year seemed to contain a lot of big releases from Hair of the Dog. Michael, Matt, Bob, and a handful of one offs (which may make their way into bottles). During Oregon Craft Beer Month, Alan Sprints hosted an open house at the Hair of the Dog Brewery. Portland was introduced to the “Four Freds.” The two standards, Fred and Fred From the Wood, as well as Bourbon Fred From the Wood and a Fred Flanders aged with a high bacteria yeast. The Bourbon Fred From the Wood was not only one of my favorite beers of 2009, but one of the best bourbon aged beers I’ve had. The Fred base seemed to mesh well with the oaky, vanilla, smooth and warming alcohol notes that the barrel aging applied. Man, would I kill to sip on another Bourbon Fred during these colder months.
What was your favorite beer related event of 2009?
Holiday Ale Festival. As with every year, I always look forward to the Holiday Ale Fest. I love big brews and this is one of the best showcases in the Northwest. You’ll find many great and unique Barleywines, Sours, Barrel Aged Beers, Imperial IPAs, Baltic Porters and more; all usually made especially for this event. You can’t beet the good company of fellow beer drinkers under the city lights and lit Christmas tree protected by a heated, cozy tent with some of your favorite brews.
Which Portland brewery most impressed you in 2009?
Upright Brewing. Alex Ganum started this brewery at the beginning of the year in the Left Bank Project on NE Broadway. Within his less than a year of running he has established himself well within the beer community. Alex has been producing unique, farmhouse style beers inspired by those from Belgium and northern France. He uses a French Saison yeast that gives his beers a dry, refreshing edge and allows him to stand out from the rest of the hop bombs we find around here. His tasting room is a delight, where you can find one offs that are experimental as well as successful. One of my favorites was the Turkey On Rye, a rye malted saison aged in barrels with chocolate and dried, Turkish peppers.
What was your favorite beer based memory of 2009?
Not remembering the Barleywine and Big Beer Festival. Held during the weekend of my birthday this past March at the Lucky Lab on NW Quimby. Barleywines are my absolute favorite style, so I was super excited this was offered over my birthday. A wonderful variety of Barleywines, both fresh and vintage as well as Imperial Stouts, Belgian Quads and other Strong Ales. To cap it all off, after the fest we did a pub crawl in SE making it from The Morrison Hotel, to The Green Dragon, and ending at Roots Brewing. And to further cap off my birthday weekend a trip to Higgins was in order to enjoy a rare bottle of Hair of the Dog Cherry Adam From the Wood — Yum!
Me (Ian Seniff, portlandbeer.org contributor, enjoys the convenience of wearing hats)
What was your favorite Portland beer of 2009?
Bourbonic Plague. When I saw this on the list at Annibrew 2 at Bailey’s Taproom I was fairly skeptical. A sour porter did not seem like something I would have any interest in. However, after trying it my skepticism turned to elation. This was a huge eye opener for me as to what beers could be. Honestly, like nothing I had ever had before. My tongue had trouble trying to comprehend what was happening. That is why I had several tastings.
What was your favorite beer related event of 2009?
Holiday Ale Festival. I figured I would make it unanimous for HAF. The cheerful setting and excellent big brews made it the perfect end to my beer year. A close second was Annibrew 2 at Bailey’s Taproom but the fact that the Holiday Ale Fest was 5 days long put it on top. I was also lucky enough to attend the Belgian Brunch on the final day and got to try a beer made with weasel poo (Mikkeller’s Beer Geek Brunch Weasel).
Which Portland brewery most impressed you in 2009?
Cascade Brewing. So none of my answers are very creative, so what? Not only is Cascade a great Portland based brewery, but Cascade showed me this year that they are one of the finest breweries in the country. Cuvée Du Jongleur, Sang Royal, Sang Noir II, Vlad the Imp Aler, and Bourbonic Plague are some of the best beers I have ever had and from the looks of things, Cascade seems to have a dynamite 2010 ahead of them as well.
What was your favorite beer based memory of 2009?
Porno Sweatpants Fellow and general people watching at Bailey’s Taproom. Due to Bailey’s location and my desire to sit outside whenever possible, I have seen a variety of strange things this year at Bailey’s. Drifters and people just out of Mary’s Club are frequently enjoyable viewing fodder and the day that the Insane Clown Posse played the Roseland gave me the chance to see a variety of people all ages freakishly painted and in various states of shirtlessness wandering around while I enjoyed a cask conditioned IPA. Some even stopped in for a brew before the festivities. While all of this would be very interesting for a people watcher like myself, Porno Sweatpants Fellow was the ultimate sight to see. It was August 1st and I was in line for Annibrew 2 at Bailey’s. I had arrived about a half hour early in order to get a nice place in line as well as a seat at a table. As my friend and I patiently waited in the summer heat for the tasting to begin a man exited the convenience store across the street and began walking toward us. The man, weighing in at about 240 and no taller than 5′7″, mustachioed and with stubble galore, proceeded to remove his recent purchase from its black plastic home. He then opened it to the center-fold and inserted one hand down his rampantly stained sweatpants. As he passed us, and all 30 or so people in line, he gave a little head nod that suggested that he knew exactly what he was doing and he could care less what this line of beer enthusiasts thought about it. Porno Sweatpants Fellow then headed down Broadway and into our hearts. Good-bye, Porno Sweatpants Fellow. You are remembered fondly.
During our recent site updates, I rewrote some of the code in the Beer Finder’s “Similar Beers” engine to spit out more accurate results. It ain’t perfect, but it does a good job of leading you down the right path. Think of it more like a beer compass instead of a beer GPS: you may not get turn by turn directions, but you’ll know which direction is North. You also might get lost along the way, but you’ll have a great trip!
Imagine this: Winter is just around the corner and you’re dreaming of Barleywines. You remember that delicious Old Tavern Rat you had at New Old Lompoc and you’re wondering what else is out there. Simple. Click on the Beer Finder and select New Old Lompoc from the brewery drop down list. Find Old Tavern Rat in the list and click on Show Details. You’ll notice that the bottom says that there are 7 other similar beers. Click on that to start your journey.
Now, these beers aren’t hand-picked matches (we’re not made of free time). We’ve hired monkeys to roll some dice and then flip some levers. Actually, they’re retired space-monkeys, so they’ve got a little bit of smarts: they’ll match beer style and point you toward a range of IBUs, and ABVs (as well as fiddling with some other beer-related variables). Again, it’s not an exact science, but it’s meant to be more of a pondering experiment where the result leads you to beers you might not have thought of before.
As with everything else on the site, these tools are here to help you discover the great world of Portland beer. Comments, suggestions, and lambasting welcome!
In years past I have taken the Holiday Ale Festival for granted. Sure, it has always had a phenomenal selection of beers and I always enjoy myself, but for some reason in my mind it was always overshadowed by the plethora of summer festivals. I have often unfairly equated “summer” with “better” and this notion probably stems from my school days when summer actually meant something. Hundred degree temperatures and hay fever did not matter much as long as school was not in session. However, now that I am firmly planted in adult life, summer is just that hot period that makes my back stick to things and when I feel a deep loathing toward children. Luckily, with my season bias out of the way, this year I was able to enjoy the Holiday Ale Festival more than I ever have before. After attending Wednesday, I can honestly say this may be the most satisfying beer festival Portland has to offer.
I began to enjoy myself from the moment I arrived. Entering the giant tent in Pioneer Courthouse Square was like entering into that scene from The Muppet Christmas Carol where the creepy Ghost of Christmas Past takes Michael Caine to the fun and mildly wacky Christmas party being thrown by a bear. Except there were no ghosts, bears, Muppets or Michael Caine. And it wasn’t the Victorian Era. Plus, the tent at the festival was heated with gas and in The Muppet Christmas Carol there were wood fires burning to keep the festivities heated. Actually, aside from the holiday party feel of the festival, the Holiday Ale Festival shares minimal similarities to The Muppet Christmas Carol, or any other version of A Christmas Carol. Well, unless there is a version of a Christmas Carol I don’t know about where a ghost takes Scrooge to a beer festival in the middle of present day Portland where he is able to sample over 45 big, warming beers from December 2nd to December 5th which, I am sure we can all agree, would be the best Christmas Carol ever. In short, it was a festive atmosphere, something that is often missing from many festivals.
What else is often missing from festivals, beer festivals that is, is the emphasis on the beer. Luckily, the Holiday Ale Festival does not forget the “ale” in in the middle of it’s name. Not only does it not forget it, it puts it on a pedestal made of diamonds and magic. Those 45+ big, cold weather-thwarting beers our hypothetical Scrooge could try as he walked up and down the aisles range from Imperial Reds to Stouts to Barleywines to American Strong Ales, all of which are artfully crafted and none of which pander to the masses. Everything seems to be special. For example of this beer specialness, Cascade has created magic with their “Sang Noir 2009″, described as a “barrel aged sour ale” but should actually be described as a “seven barrel blend of awesome with a cherry finish that should have you thanking the lord that this beer exists”. For another example, Full Sail has taken their Wassail, which is normally a fairly standard Winter Warmer, and combined it with their Imperial Porter aged for nine months in Makers Mark casks. If you need a third example, this time one that completely embodies the words “holiday” and “ale” all at once, Fort George has brought North III to the Fest, a beer that was made using actual sugar plums, a fruit I assumed was made up entirely for The Nutcracker that I now know is very real. North III is sweet, rich, and hits you in the face with holiday cheer.
While all of the above were absolutely fantastic, the highlight for me so far this year has been the 2009 Jim, a collaboration between Preston Weesner (that fellow who organizes the festival) and Hair of the Dog’s Alan Sprints. Jim is a blended beer made with Hair of the Dog’s Fred From the Wood, Doggie Claws and Blue Dot IPA mixed with a German bock, an English brown ale and an American strong ale. What makes Jim all the more special, and what made it the favorite in my eyes, was the amount of effort and love that went into this tribute to the late Jim Kennedy. If you ever have the opportunity to hear Preston (that fellow who organizes the festival) speak about this beer and the man to whom this beer is a tribute, I suggest you listen. I was lucky enough to have such an opportunity and am an thankful for it. I would attempt to summarize his remarks on Jim, both the man and the beer, but I am just not that good of a writer. All I can say is that Jim, the beer, is big on Doggie Claws and Blue Dot but sweet enough to fight the chill in the air. If you were cold before tasting Jim, I can assure you that feeling will not last.
The only thing that pulled me away from the festival was this article’s deadline, because I want to be back Thursday promptly at 11:00 am to get my hands on yet another Cascade beer. Unlike the Sang Noir 2009, this Cascade is a Baltic Porter and will only be pouring in limited quantities beginning at 11:00 am Thursday. It is probably amazing and will only be pouring at the Holiday Ale Festival. This is far from the only limited release beer at the festival. Thursday’s specials include a barrel of Bayern Face Plant, a dark wheat bock, Da Grind Buzz Kona Coffee Imperial Stout and Ho Ho Homo Erectus, which is Walking Man’s imperial IPA aged in rum barrels. For specials on following days you will have to subscribe to The Holiday Ale Festival’s feeds on either Twitter or Facebook which is where they will be announcing what will be tapping and when. So for all of you who secretly wanted a Facebook account but pretended like you didn’t, here is your chance to get one and save face. Seriously, do it, we can play FarmVille together.
Occasionally my job is horrible. It is high stress and low pay and I often find myself wishing I had gotten a degree in something that would have given me a job inside a cubicle, locked away from the public who I increasingly disdain with every passing hour. As my feet ache more and more from the constant standing and my capacity for dealing with inane questions reaches its breaking point, I am able to take solace in two things. One, I have a job which is good for providing me the ability to pay for food and shelter and the occasional decorative plate set. Two, Bailey’s Taproom exists and soon I will be there.
I have been frequenting Bailey’s for a little over a year now, about half as long as they have been open. What began with casual once a month visits has blossomed to a twice a week love affair that shows no signs of going stagnant. During the summer on Thursday evenings I was sure to be found sitting outside promptly at 4:00pm when they opened, book in hand enjoying a damn fine beer. Now my perch has shifted inside but the frequency of my visits remains. The only reason I have hesitated to even write this post is because I felt I wanted to keep Bailey’s as my own and I have ego issues that led me to believe I held any sort of influence on whether or not people would attend based on my writings—phenomenally informative and persuasive as they may be.
For those who do not yet know about Bailey’s, here is a little of what you can expect. First and most obvious of all; the beer selection is fantastic. With a heavy focus on Oregon and North West delights, Bailey’s never disappoints with their representation of numerous styles on their 20 taps and one beer engine. Seeming never to repeat itself, the diverse selection lends itself to experimental sampling. Just last Thursday I had a Gose from Cascade Brewing, a Vesuvius from Full Sail, followed by a Scottish Ale from Big Horse, capped off with a bourbon aged red from Roots. I had never even heard of a Gose before, let alone tried one. It was enjoyable but I had regrets about getting the 20oz. If you are unable to find something appealing on tap which is essentially impossible (and only mentioned so that I can bring up their great bottle selection) Bailey’s has a great bottle selection.
With such a wide range of frequently rotating beers, you would think it forgivable if the server came up less than knowledgeable on a beer here or there. Luckily for me, a man who is incapable of forgiveness, the staff at Bailey’s is top notch in their beer knowledge. They are also top notch in every other aspect of service. I have never waited longer than 3 minutes to get a drink and I have never been met with anything other than a welcome greeting. While my experience with efficient service may be because I have never been in on a busy Saturday night, I am sure even then the welcome attitude remains despite a wait that may exceed 3 minutes. Friendly, knowledgeable, fast and happy to give samples, Bailey’s staff gives you the best service in town.
The service is complimented with a pleasantly simple atmosphere in which to enjoy your recently poured beverage. The corner location at SW Ankeny and Broadway gives Bailey’s a unique floor plan which goes well with their minimalist design scheme. The beer is poured from unadorned tap handles and the tap list is written on a dry erase board right behind them. You can enjoy your beer from a table for two, table for more, love seat or chair surrounded by huge windows adorned at the bottom with an impressive bottle collection. All of this creates a comfortable and enjoyable setting unmatched by other beer bars. It is like your living room if your living room wasn’t filled with sadness and scabies. That’s right, you have scabies.
The only bad thing is there is essentially no food at Bailey’s. Basically there are chips and one time I think I saw someone with some olives or other tiny circular edibles. However this is one of those bad things that is actually a good thing, like when your arm falls off and you find out there was gold inside your arm and you use the gold money to buy an awesome new cyborg arm. You see, the fantastically marvelous Mexican restaurant Santeria will deliver their fantastically marvelous Mexican food right to your table at Bailey’s. I suggest the pastor nachos as long as you have two friends with you who also enjoy nachos due to nacho largeness. When not in the mood for massive stomach expansion, the tacos topped with pickled onions provide an excellent alternative. With the outsourcing of food I am guessing that this keeps the service efficiency high as well as keeping drink prices fairly low ($4.50 for most 20oz glasses and 2.50 for most 10oz glasses). That sounds possible right?
By now you get the picture: I like Bailey’s. When people want to grab a drink somewhere, I suggest here first. When I see that “In PDX for the weekend” post on the BeerAdvocate forums, I tell people to go here. When I just want to sit and read a book and have a great beer, I go here. Try it for yourself. If you haven’t yet and I am sure you will agree…unless you are a Communist.
In order to personalize your experience at our site, we’re investigating the world of beer rating. There are plenty of sites that let you review and rate beer, but we want to do something a little different. Most sites will compile ratings and offer them to the world at large to keep a current tally on worldwide beer tastes. It’s great for the history books, but as selfless as you might be, wouldn’t you like a little something in return?
We’d like to take our site one step further and have it feel like a tailor made suit. Our rating system will simply act as a trigger for certain events. Do you have twenty-three five star beers on your list? Well, every time any of those beers are re-released, we’ll let you know. Ever wander the streets and wonder how close your four or five star beers are? You rate the beers, set the threshold, and we’ll let you know. Simple as that. Well, simple for you once we go through the painstaking process of implementing these features.
There is also some benefit to the cloud of combined data. If one hundred locals give a beer a five star rating, and you haven’t tried it, wouldn’t you like to know? We think that is a beneficial aspect to the data we collect, so we’ll turn that over as well. Your ratings will always remain private to you, except where they are anonymously featured as part of the bigger ratings cloud. So, we’ll be working on ways to make this aspect beneficial as well.
So, we’re looking for Beta testers for this new ratings feature. If you’re interested in lending a hand, please get in touch with us through our contact form and let us know you’d like to help. As always, we rely on your suggestions to keep us growing in the right direction.
Cheers!
Matt
Five years ago, this site started out as an idea on a napkin. We’ve gone from tracking a few beer releases between friends in town, to serving over 150,000 pages each year to users all over the world (96 countries in the last few months, according to a quick glance at the stats).
Sunday’s site relaunch was implemented for several reasons. We wanted to make sure that the content was easy to find, especially in cases where there is a lot of data. So, beers are now easier to find, sort, and compare; maps are a bit more interactive; and the blog is much more organized. There are also a lot of behind the scenes features that were added to make it easier for us to get the content up and delivered to all of the areas of the site as well as to the users subscribing to our feeds. This makes our overall process much easier, allowing us to focus on the content, and not trying to unravel the ever-growing technology infrastructure.
We are also going to be experimenting with different advertising options. We will keep these as out of the way as possible, but as the site and traffic grow, we need this to offset our costs. This site is a labor of love, and we’ve never made a cent from running it. But we do incur costs to keep it up and running and those costs grow as the site grows. We’ve never intended to turn this into a money making machine, but we also never intended on investing so much money into it. So, these ads are just a simple way of offsetting these costs. Our primary goal is getting Portland beer information out to you, so if you ever feel that our advertising is intrusive, please let us know.
As for the future, well, we’re going to need some help. We’d like to bring on a few more contributors to make sure that we’re not missing anything. Nope, we don’t pay. However, you get media access to some of the events, you get to propose and write your own stories, you get a better excuse for drinking so much beer, and glorious local fame. If you see yourself as a lover of beer, a writer of tall tales, and a self-motivator, get in touch. Use our contact form to let us know you’re interested and we’ll give you more details.
Of course, many of these changes were made because of suggestions by you—so if you have any other ideas, get in touch. Cheers!
Over the years, we’ve had to make our website has bigger, better, faster, and stronger. This is because the owners have become older, slower, and lazier–and something had to make up for that! We’ll talk about some of the new features and some of our future plans in upcoming posts, but for now, we’re just going to breathe a sigh of relief and switch into bug fixing mode.
We’ve done our best to make this a smooth transition, but there are a few things that still need to be finished. Rather than delaying the launch (again), we’re finally pushing it live so that we can regroup and make sure that we’re getting back to the content side of things. This is the best time to let us know if something needs to be fixed, or if you just want to see something that we don’t have.
So, take a peek around and let us know what you think!
Cheers!
© 2010 Portlandbeer.org | Brew, Drink, Repeat · Proudly powered by WordPress & Green Park 2 by Cordobo.
Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional | Valid CSS 3
