Hats off to Homebrewers Event

On Wednesday, August 27, Oregon’s Deschutes Brewery collaborated with local brewery Seventh Son to host an event called “Hats Off to Homebrewers” which featured a Q&A session with the brewers, free recipes for clones of Deschutes beers, raffles, commemorative glassware, and the presence of “Woody” the Deschutes Brewery keg-shaped tap wagon.  Local food truck Challah was on hand to supply eats.

This was my first visit to Seventh Son.  They’re located near Fourth Avenue and Fourth Street, in a building that used to be a garage.  Half of the location is dedicated to brewing their products, and half to a tap room and bar.  As with this event, food is normally provided by food trucks.

The event was also my introduction to Deschutes beer.  I’d had their Black Butte porter and found it good, but hadn’t had any of their other beers.  (The reason, quite frankly, is that most of them rate 70-80 IBUs.  That’s well outside my preference range but idea for IPA fans.)  Their menu at this event included Black Butte Porter, Inversion IPA, Twilight Summer Ale, Foray IPA, Pinedrops IPA, and Doppel Dinkel Bock – a collaboration beer with German brewery Distelhauser.

From Seventh Son’s product line, I had a Stone Fort Oat Brown Ale which was very nice.  I found it pleasant and easy to drink.  It had a nice mix of coffee, chocolate and malt flavors without too much hops presence.

My wife and I shared a sample of Deschutes’ Doppel Dinkel Bock (pictured at left), which is quite simply an excellent beer.  This 10.5% ABV (20 IBU) beer is sweet and malty, with clove, bubblegum, and banana flavors with a touch of spice.  It’s reminiscent of a good Belgian brew.  I’d rank it as one of the best beers I’ve had in a long time and look forward to seeing it in stores or in Deschutes’ regular product line.  I look forward to seeing more beer from Distelhauser.

Deschutes handed out Cascade hops samples and “clone” recipes for their beers.  The recipes consisted of the mix of grain and hops used in their products, without information about starting and final gravities, leaving those as a “challenge” for the home brewer to figure out. 


All in all, a nice event and a great way for Seventh Son’s and Deschutes’ fans to learn about the other brewery’s beers.