Hopping Up to Portland

Later this month, I'll be taking a trip to Portland, Ore., to have a face-to-face meeting with one of my hops suppliers to check out this year's harvest.

OK, I'm not nearly professional enough to justify the above statement but I just so happen to have a good friend in that beer Mecca of the Northwest whom I've been meaning to visit for quite a while. And coincidentally, he has hops growing on his property. I've known this friend, Jason, since 2nd grade and we grew up together in Memphis, Tenn. He moved to Portland many years ago but retains a peerless craving for Memphis-style barbecue.

I believe the last time I saw him was in June 2005, when we took a trip to Indianapolis for Formula 1's U.S. Grand Prix (yes, the one that was a complete disaster) and made a post-race swing south to Nashville and Memphis for a BBQ binge that he dubbed "Porkfest 2005." I figured it's only fair that we resurrect the tradition with our own "Beerfest '09" in his neck of the woods, right?

As for the hops, Jason has a generous neighbor with a thriving hops plant that grows over the fence into Jason's backyard. (We're not sure of the variety but we're pretty sure they aren't wild.) As I mentioned in a previous entry, Jason shipped a large Ziploc bag full of dried hops to me last season when he learned I was beginning to brew beer. Unfortunately, I was even more of a fledgling brewer then than I am now, and I made poor use of them. My brewing buddies and I dumped the whole bag in for the full 60-minute boil and used none of the pungent little flowers for aroma or flavoring hops. That beer, targeting the IPA style, ended up not tasting very hoppy at all.

This time around things are going to be different. First off, he's collected a lot more hops for me. (He emailed the above photo to me with the caption, "We're gonna need a bigger box.") When I get up to Portland, we'll finish picking them from the vine and ship 'em back to Nashville. I'm more confident and ready to experiment this time—trying them for flavoring, aroma, and dry-hopping. I'll post my results here, of course.

Meanwhile, if any readers want to share a can't-miss beer spot in Portland, post it in the comments and we'll try to wedge it into the itinerary. Horse Brass Pub, the Rogue Ales Public House on NW Flanders, and one or more of the McMenamins locations are already on the short list.