Micro Brew

Alefort is long over… but it was a hell of a good time

April 15, 2016 by Ben Leave a Comment

As the greater Boise area continues to develop as a source for local craft beer, we’re seeing our beer festival’s grow and mature. Case in point, if you didn’t make it down at some point to Alefort, part of the Treefort Music Festival, you definitely missed out and your tastebuds may never forgive you.

All of the local players that you would expect to find (Meriwether, Cloud9, Sockeye, Slanted Rock, The Ram, Payette, Woodland Empire, EDGE, Bear Island, Crooked Fence, Powderhaus, Barbarian, Longdrop, Highlands Hollow, County Line and Boise Brewing) were on hand along with regional, representation from New Belgium and some outside sources (national and international) courtesy of Bittercreek, Bier:Thirty, The Front Door, and Prost. To say that this was an expanded event over #Alefort2015 is an understatement and then some. The brewery tent was easily 3 or 4 times larger than the year before and included secondary tent for some beer panels and belly dancing. I was more focused on drinking the beer personally, but when I stuck my head in the second tent there was a belly dancer on stage doing her thing. Bottom line, there was thankfully a lot more space to hang out, drink beer, and meet up with fellow beer lovers….

Payette Brewing Black Friday 2015

December 21, 2015 by Ben Leave a Comment

The Friday following the Thanksgiving holiday, for many it’s a day filled with standing in line, braving the cold, and fighting the crowds to save a few bucks on electronics. What if I told you that there was a much better way to spend your day? Payette Brewing’s “Black Friday” is day filled with a possibilities and incredible beers from around the region! You can sate your need for deals with a few minutes online in the morning before you head out to enjoy the a breathtaking selection of Stouts and Porters that will delight your palate and ensnare the spirit. Ok, ok, that may be a little deep, but seriously… this event and theses beers are worth blocking out the day on your calendar and shipping the kids off to the grandparents so you can maximize your experience.

This year, Payette Brewing hosted the event at their new facility in downtown Boise off River Street. Since the building is still being renovated, a large tent was erected in the parking lot filled with tables, music, lights, and thankfully a generator nearby to provide power and some heat! To say that it was cold out is an understatement. To say that the generator was unruly is too kind, especially for those employees & volunteers who were on-site getting everything ready hours before the event started. I arrived at 10, an hour before the “League of Outlaws” members early access and you couldn’t miss the frost that was forming on the inside of the tent walls. Once things really got hopping around 1:00 there was enough heat inside from the heaters and warm bodies that the ambient temps were getting bearable although we had some intermittent rain from all that melting frost. By that time however, I don’t think anyone noticed… or cared. There were simply to many people to talk to and way too many beers to dive into….

Boise Brewing Hoptober Freshtival 2015

November 5, 2015 by Ben Leave a Comment

Beer festivals! These two magic words can make a beer lovers knees quiver. Sadly, in Boise, we’ve been without a honest to goodness beer festival for the past few years as costs, permitting and other issues with the city brought about their untimely demise. Last year, I was fortunate enough to attend (and volunteer) at the inaugural Boise Brewing Hoptober Freshtival (read about it here). The initial event in 2014 brought out mostly local brewers to a central location (5th & Broad St) in front of the Boise Brewing brewery. Beer lovers heard the call and purchased their $25 tickets and received a taster mug (roughly 5oz) and were treated to unlimited tasters until the beer was gone or until 8pm.

This year, the Hoptober Freshtival was bigger and better in all the ways that count. Instead of 13 breweries we had 25+ for a total of more than 50 tap handles to choose from. All the local players were on hand and some regional breweries made the trip up as well, including Fort George, Deschutes, & Mazama Brewing. Sadly, we did loose the “all you can drink” component due to permitting changes with the city, but that may have been for the best. Who wouldn’t get into trouble at an All You Can Drink craft beer event? The new system offered attendees their taster mug and 20 tickets which, if fully redeemed, would equate to 80+ oz of beer. Still, a pretty damn good deal for a $25 ticket ($30 at the door). Once again, Broad Street between 4th & 5th was blocked off in front of Boise Brewing. At noon, with people lined up along the fence, the gates opened and people started filing inside….

Review – Bullets2Bandages .50 Caliber Opener

November 2, 2015 by Ben Leave a Comment

One thing we all have in common, if you’re reading this post, is an affinity for craft beer. Now, that craft beer that you’re imbibing may have come fresh from the tap, out of a can, or maybe even out of a bottle. If you need to crack open a bottle in style, you have no shortage of options from classic, cheap grocery store bottle openers, bic lighters, or even crowd funded aluminum/titanium constructs. But if you like to show off your bottle opening prowess by breaking out the BIG GUNS, Bullets2Bandages has you covered in spades with a .50 Caliber opener that will kill any beer you throw at it. (Disclaimer, I do not recommend that you throw the .50 caliber opener at your beer to open it… but if you do please record it and send me the link).

Bullets2Bandages makes these from once fired, military grade brass casings and demilitarized projectiles. Each shell is then notched (so that it can free your beer from its glass prison), polished, and painted/engraved depending on the opener ordered. As a veteran owned business, they donate at least 15% of their profits to various veteran charities. I think that’s worth noting, always nice to be able to get great tools & or toys and support worthy causes at the same time!

The model that I received to test out for this review is a matte black with IdahoBrewReview emblazoned on the side. On the off chance that you haven’t gotten up close and personal with a .50 caliber shell lately, these are substantial, measuring 5.5″ long. Leverage against even the most stubborn cap is never lacking. The size and weight are very good. While opening is handled with ease, the .50 Caliber Opener does make a slight, but noticeable, crease in the cap. If you’re just going to go throw the cap away, this is a non-issue. If you keep/collect your caps and want them to remain as pristine as possible this may be troubling. Personally, I keep one cap from each brewery for my BottleCapMap, who said beer can’t be art? The folks at B2B do offer a Bourbon Barrel 7.62mm Bullet Bottle Opener which I have heard gets the job done without any creasing on your cap. No personal experience with that yet though. Hopefully I can get my hands on one and do an opener breakdown between 3-5 custom openers… but I digress.

This opener is a strong performer and a definite conversation starter making it a staple for your bar at home and would contribute handsomely if you have a display area where you keep your other beer accessories like growlers, pint glasses and snifters. Due to the size and shape of these rounds, carrying it about town in your pocket is probably going to be a little uncomfortable if not down right impractical. That said, how often are you out on the town opening your own bottles…?

My only complaint is a minor one, but centers on the bullet shape. If stored horizontally, and not contained, this is going to roll about. Storing vertically is preferred to ensure it stays where you put it, but at over 5″ tall it’s not going to fit in a drawer. I would love to see the installation of a magnet inside the casing so that it could be stored horizontally on the side of your favorite beer fridge. This minor issue aside, the .50 Caliber bottle opener is both an excellent opener and an eye catching conversation starter that comes in a wide variety of finishes to suit your individual taste.

10 Barrel Beer Wars Boise 2015

October 1, 2015 by Ben Leave a Comment

On a surprisingly hot day in late September 2015 10 Barrel Brewing put together a blind IPA tasting event dubbed “Beer Wars” in the parking lot behind the brewery in downtown Boise. While you may not be expecting to melt into the asphalt under a blistering afternoon so close to October; those in attendance were rewarded for their stamina and perseverance with a wealth of IPA goodness from around the West.

Now, I was expecting that the beers would be hidden, but I didn’t expect to be in the dark on which states the taps were from. The scenario that we found upon entering after purchasing our tulip and tokens were five stations, each with six tap handles with absolutely no identifying marks. The only information given to us was that each station represented a state. The states on hand were Washington, Oregon, California, Boise and last (but not least) the rest of Idaho. As a lover of beer this would have been a wonderful adventure to try to discern the various states and narrow down the respective beers from each had I been free to stay for the entire event. Having only an hour or so to spend at Beer Wars due to other commitments, this completely blind scenario was disheartening. I love our Boise & Idaho breweries with a passion, but it’s not every day that you can stroll up and grab Barley Browns, pFriem Family Brewers, Breakside Brewing, Backwoods Brewing, Silver City, Naked City, Green Flash, Ballast Point, 21st Amendment (just to name a few) on tap and at such a reasonable cost. I wanted to devote my time to exploring those beers that are harder to come by on tap here in Boise. But, what are you going to do.

The first order of business was to do a slow pass to see if there was any visible clue that could help my case. On this walk about, I caught sight of part of an uncovered keg which was plastered with a large Barley Browns sticker. Win! With no other visual clues I decided to pony up to what I was now sure was the Oregon tent and order my first beer. Beer in hand I retreat to a table and strike up a conversation with a few other beer lovers to compare notes and sip my beer. During my brief stint at beer wars I must say I met some great people, drank outstanding beer, and had a hell of a good (although far too short) a time. To my, and my tables credit, we were able to identify the California, Washington & Oregon tents… unfortunately, I was totally off on all my tap handle predictions. When you’re playing for these stakes though, even when you loose you win. 🙂 Beers that I ended up putting my hands on were Firestone Walker Double Jack, 21st Amendment Brew Free or Die, 10 Barrel Pearl IPA (From Portland), Breakside Wanderlust IPA, Boneyard Notorious IPA.

As the evening progressed the crowd increased substantially, at 7pm, all taps were revealed and the thirsty group gathered was able to drink to their hearts content, now knowing exactly which beers they’re drinking. I also heard that there were protesters, why I can’t imagine, across the street. Not that I need an excuse to drink good beer, but events like these seem to have a strong draw and give craft beer lovers around the valley the chance to get together, explore beers both local and regional while comparing notes and sharing beerventure tales.

Moscow Brewfest 2015

May 22, 2015 by Ben Leave a Comment

Take a moment and ponder your perfect day. Are you’re thinking about a sunny summer afternoon, 40+ regional brews on tap, live music and a bunch of beer lovers on hand? I know I am. If you’re up for a drive up North you should consider checking out the Moscow Alehouse Brewfest. If you’re not already familiar with Moscow (home of the University of Idaho), it’s a quaint college town about 5 hours North of Boise (just a few miles East of the Washington border & Washington State University) nestled in the rolling hills of the Palouse. Now, when I first rolled into town a few days before, my first stop was of course, Moscow Brewing. When you’re in the area I can’t recommend highly enough that you stop by, have a few pints and say hello. This nano brewery is a hotspot for beer drinkers to congregate, drink and talk beer. They start trickling in right at open (4pm) and by 5:00 or 5:30 you may find it hard to score a seat.

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Alefort Reflections 2015

April 2, 2015 by Ben Leave a Comment

Well, the weekend is over, the bands have packed up and gone on their way home or off to other venues. But the biggest letdown of the entire weekend, for me at least, is the tear down of the tent that was Alefort. The most compelling part of the mini-beer festival within the larger Treefort Music Fest, in my opinion at least, was having such a diverse group of breweries (mostly local) that were all within a few feet of each other! …

HAFF Brewing Grand Opening

February 28, 2015 by Ben Leave a Comment

Adding to the growing list of local micro breweries in the Treasure Valley, HAFF Brewing opened their doors officially with a Chamber Ribbon cutting on February 11th 2015. If you find yourself in town looking to check them out, they are on Chinden, West of Veterans Parkway on the North side of the street. It can be a little hairy to find them with an absence of street signage as you shoot down the road, but to make it easy just turn into the COBBYS parking lot and you're there. 🙂

The ribbon cutting event was a blast and the turn out, while I was there anyway, was promising. The beer was very good. I grabbed a McCallywood Porter which left me with absolutely no regrets. In chatting with the bartender I was tempted to try the White Chocolate (Raspberry) stout? I think it was Raspberry anyway and while the three other patrons near the bar that had already tried it were singing its praises and assuring me that it didn't really taste of white chocolate… my adamant distaste for anything “white chocolate” forced me to stay away. Maybe on a return trip when things aren't quite so chaotic, I'll break my cardinal rule and give it a go.

One thing that is clear though is that Boise seems to continue to open new breweries with open arms. While I can appreciate the business sense and likely lower operating costs associated with having a brewery/tasting room on Chinden it's a pretty dreadful location to try to get in or out of during peak traffic times. Hopefully this will prove to just be a temporary issue and perhaps success will lead to expansion into the downtown corridor.

Payette Brewing Black Friday

December 12, 2014 by Ben Leave a Comment

Payette Brewing Black Friday 2014 Menu

Why on earth would anyone care to battle the crowds to save a few bucks off electronics that you don’t need when you could spend 10 hours drinking amazing beer?? That’s just what we did at what will hopefully become an annual event put on by Payette Brewing at the Linen Building in downtown Boise featuring more stouts than I have ever seen in one location.

Everything on tap was a stout and they hailed from local brewers like Boise Brewing, EDGE, Crooked Fence, McCall Brewing, Sockeye, Highlands Hollow, & of course Payette. Not to be left out, a number of regional names were also in attendance like Deschutes, Ninkasi, Odell, Widmer Brothers, Full Sail to name just a few. Out front was one of my favorite local food trucks Archies Place, with perfect sandwiches to follow copious beer consumption. My only complaint was the unseasonably warm temps in Boise paired with mass stout consumption.

The crowd showed up ready to drink beer and while I was there at least, everyone was easy going, festive and chatting up other beer lovers. In fact, it was hard not to make new friends for those of us that were fortunate enough to have landed one of the few tables or barrels. After the first few hours… having a table to rally around made all the difference and as people came and went it proved fruitful in the inheritance of beer tokens as fellow patrons ran out of time, stamina, or sobriety and decided to throw in the towel. I wound up with 2 bonus beers which was both a blessing and a curse after the 5 tokens I had purchased for myself.

Payette Black Friday 2014; The event itself was free, tokens for a 5oz pour were $3 each, a commemorative glass snifter was $5 or you could forgo the glass and use a mini solo-cup. My thinking with the glass was that aside from the souvenir factor, it was also more likely to result in over-pour since it’s harder to judge the volume on the curved glass. Of course, every pour varied and some behind the tap were more generous than others. All things considered, definitely no complaints and as I understand it, some of the proceeds went to the Joe Cans project against cancer via Big City Coffee.

Payette Brewing Black Friday 2014 Album

Hoptober FRESHtival 2014

October 12, 2014 by Ben Leave a Comment

Hoptoberfest 2014

What better way to spend 8 hours on a Saturday than at a street party surrounded by a few thousand beer lovers, 13 local breweries, food trucks ( P Ditty’s Wrap Wagon, Genki Takoyaki, Mosaic World Wraps), and music (Radio Boise DJ’s) on a mostly sunny afternoon. That was exactly the scenario that awaited the (hopefully first annual) Hoptober Freshtival attendees on October 11th at Boise Brewing in downtown Boise on Broad street.Admission to this all day beerbration (pretty sure I just made that word up) was a mere $20 in advance ($25 at the gate). At the gate each guest was issued a 4oz mini-mug. This mug, which was really more of a golden ticket, could be taken to any of the brewery fill stations on-site for a fill of magical elixir and the choices were fantastic. With 13 different breweries on hand, many having 2 beers to choose from, choices were never in short supply. On hand were beers from (in no particular order) 10 Barrel Brewing, Sockeye, Crooked Fence, Sawtooth, Woodland Empire, RAM, EDGE, Highlands Hollow, Salmon River, Portneuf Valley Brewing, Payette, Grand Teton, and of course Boise Brewing. Stouts, ales, saisons, and IPA’s were all easy to find, just to name a few.

While it was almost impossible to find a beer station that didn’t have a line, things were orderly and moved along at a brisk pace. Patrons waiting in line were cheerful, friendly and frequently chatting about what they had already tried, were hoping to try, or looking for advice of the like.Unfortunately, I missed out on the first few hours due to other commitments, but it was definitely still going strong when I rolled in at five o’clock. Having been on hand for the Boise Brewing grand opening earlier this summer (another street party), I knew that this would be a must attend event. To put the crowd and their beer drinking prowess into perspective, in total 35 kegs were consumed during the event and from what I could see I think the first breweries didn’t start to run dry until after 6 which I couldn’t help but find impressive. Having been behind the scenes, I know that more than one brewery on hand had more beer brought in to keep their taps flowing. As the evening drew to a close, around 7:45pm what seemed like a micro-burst brought in a bunch of wind and rain which wrecked a little bit of havoc but seemed a fitting way to close out a wonderful fall evening in downtown Boise.With the massive influx of new community micro-breweries that have started to spring up in the greater Boise area, it is fantastic to see events like this come about as a beer lover.

My only regret is that they don’t come along more often. Seriously, talk about beer paradise! Thirteen breweries that were all you can drink for 8 hours for a mere $20? Find me a better event anywhere if you can, because that’s where I want to be. As the North West continues to grow into a bit of a beer mecca it’s very welcome that this culture has expanded into Idaho after having such a successful incubation in our neighboring states of Oregon and Washington.Proceeds of this event benefitted the Idaho Brewers United and the Pink Boots Society. Boise Brewing has a great selection of photos from throughout the event that are worth checking out as well.

: Afternoon Crowd

: Afternoon Crowd

: Keep the hits coming!

: Got swag?