We held off for as long as we could, but it is now officially winter beer season at Bailey’s. The tape got cut yesterday with the tapping of the 2009 Terminal Gravity FestiveAle, a hearty mix of toasted caramel, rich dark fruit, a little holiday spice, and tons of hops, and it continues today, Friday the 13th, with three more strong TG ales perfect for curling up to.

Fans of aged beers are in for a particularly good time, as we’ll be tapping last year’s FestiveAle and both the 2002 and 2006 Bucolic Plague Barleywine. We recommend ordering small doses of each of these high octane beers to experience the huge difference a few years can make in the flavor profile of a strong ale.

And if you need help parsing through exactly what you’re tasting, we’ll have TG owner Steve Carper dropping by the bar around 7 tonight to provide a little insight on the beer making business and sign  autographs for any of you diehard TGers out there.

See you tonight!

If there’s one beer style that makes the cold, wet gloom of autumn and winter worth it, it’s probably the Imperial Stout. Dark, dense and strong, these are beers sporting complexities arguably unrivaled in beerdom, and one of the best examples of the style is Great Divide’s Yeti, a monster of a cold weather stout if we’ve ever seen one.

Clocking in at a whopping 9.5% alcohol, the Yeti is coffee and toffee, caramel and molasses; it’s a beer as thick as concrete and as black as Satan’s heart. And this Thursday the 29th, you can sample a variety of rare draft Yetis right off the taps and decide which is your favorite.

The Yeti Off ‘09 starts at 4 PM and will last until the last drops have been drained from the kegs. We’ll be pouring five ounce samples of Oak Aged Yeti, Chocolate Oak Aged Yeti, and Espresso Oak Aged Yeti for just $6. Drop by to taste one of the most versatile Imperial Stouts available and judge for yourself which Yeti is king of the mountain.

Way back in August, when the weather was still warm and the leaves still on the trees, the kind folks over at Full Sail put together an all-day excursion to a couple of the local hop farms in Oregon during harvest time. I was fortunate enough to receive an invite to tag along and witness the process by which everyone’s favorite beer ingredient goes from vine to pint. With the fresh hop season upon us, I decided it was the perfect time to post my experience up here on the blog.

But since there are too many photos for our blog space to handle, I’m linking to an outside website called Picasa. You can check out a slideshow of the photos with an explanation of the hop harvesting process HERE.

And after you’ve finished drooling over all those photos of fresh hops, why not drop by Bailey’s for a pint of fresh hopped beer? Currently, we’re tapping Deschutes Hop Trip, Rogue Chatoe, and Hopworks Sodbuster. And today only (Monday the 12th), we’re offering discounted pints of Upright’s Fresh Hop of Bel-Air from the Firkin, a fresh hopped Saison!

As if that weren’t already enough, more fresh hop beers are on the way! In the coming weeks, here are some of the tasty brews you can expect to find at Bailey’s:

• Fort George CoHOPerative
• Vertigo Hop Harvest
• Standing Stone Wet Hop Amber
• Barley Brown’s Baker City Wild Wet-Hopped American Strong Pale Ale
• Silver Moon Hoptoberfresh
• Double Mountain Killer Green
• Beer Valley Fresh-Hopped Black Flag
• Oakshire Red Nugget

Just a reminder that tomorrow, Saturday October 10th, we’ll be hosting Brewpublic’s First Anniversary (details below). Unless you hate beer, don’t miss it!

Bailey’s Taproom will be yet another victim of blogger/beer afficionado Angelo De Ieso’s mad grasp for world beer domination on Saturday, October 10th. Head blogger for Brewpublic, good friend of the bar, and all-around ale maniac, Angelo appears at first to be a soft-spoken, modest fella with a peculiar predilection towards Boston-area sports teams. But make no mistake, this man knows where the dead bodies are buried.

How else can you explain his ability to singlehandedly procure kegs of the rarest, most innovative beers in the state from breweries that usually wouldn’t allow this stuff to leave their brewpub, let alone hitch a ride all the way to downtown Portland? Whether Angelo has dug up some fresh scandal or conspiracy in these brewer’s lives from his many years of investigative beer reporting or he has simply mastered the fine art of the Jedi mind trick, we can’t say for certain; what we do know, however, is that this list of high-octane one-of-a-kind brews pretty much speaks for itself:

• Cascade Brewing 5 Barrel Thread
• Barley Brown’s Baker City Wild Wet-Hopped American Strong Pale Ale
• Caldera Rose Petal Imperial Golden Ale
• Vertigo Midnight Harvest Fresh-hop Ale
• Standing Stone Wet-Hop Amber Ale
• Block 15 Bourbon Barrel-aged Fat Monk Dubbel
• Hopworks Oregon Oak Aged Diablito
• Seven Brides Imperial Marzenfest
• Oakshire Collaborative Evil Belgian-inspired Strong Pale
• BJ’s Enfant Terrible
• Walkabout Jabberwocky Strong Ale
• Hop Valley Vanilla Porter
• Beer Valley Gone Fishin’
• Roots Organic Oak-aged Island Red
• Double Mountain Belgian Brown Ale
• Upright Fresh Hop of Bel-Air
• Full Sail Lupulin Fresh Hop Ale
• Lucky Lab Bourbon Barrel-aged Irish Red Ale
• New Old Lompoc Barrel Fermented Centennial IPA
• Full Sail Vesuvius
• Fort George CoHOPerative Fresh Hop Ale
  

Granted, hearing Angelo speak for these beers is almost as much fun as drinking them. You can check out his analysis of each of the above brews, along with all the most pertinent information about them HERE.

As far as what you can expect at Bailey’s that day, we’re going to just keep doing what we do best. In other words, no entrance fees, tickets, or taster pours. We’re serving up these bad boys in full 20 oz pints (or 10 oz glasses and taster trays if that’s your thing) at the usual hours (4 to midnight) at our usual prices (mostly…).

A few pints of rare local brew is the perfect way to celebrate the first year of Brewpublic and dish dirt with its lead blackmailer–I mean, blogger–Mr. Angelo De Ieso.

With over 16 barrel-aged beers to get through, you’ve got quite the adventure on your hands tomorrow. And as every good adventurer knows, preparation is key. Here are a few steps you can take to get the most out of the fest:

1. Eat Before You Arrive: Bailey’s has never been the place for a hot, hearty meal, but tomorrow, our usual snack items disappear and while Santeria is available across the street, you may have trouble snagging a table to eat it at. Fill up on a good breakfast or early lunch and take a break for another meal later in the day if you’re planning to conquer all the taps.

2. Bring Cash: Plastic cards won’t do you any good tomorrow. Bailey’s is tucking away the credit card machine and going cash-only at the door to keep things running smoothly and to ensure you get your beer as quickly as possible.

3. Show Up Early: Last year got crowded very, very quickly and didn’t really let up the whole night. If our recent burst of business this summer is any indication, it could be even busier this year. Show up early and you’ll be able to grab a spot at the bar or at one of the few spots around where we’ll have tables and chairs (we’ll be removing some of them to allow for greater standing room space).

4. Devise A Strategy: Last year, several beers blew over the course of the night. While the majority of the beers this year are bigger kegs that are unlikely to run empty, there are a few that are likely to go before the end of the night (specifically, the Block 15, Cascade, Firestone, Lompoc, and Russian River). Review the list and decide which beers you most want to try and order those first while your palate is still fresh. By knocking out the favorites right away, you’ll be able to slow down and explore the other beers without fretting that they’re going to blow at any minute.

5. Take Water and Food Breaks: Barrel-aged beers are delicious going down, but kind of disgusting coming back up. We’d recommend not putting yourself through that experience (especially in our bathroom). Fill up your snifter with water after every beer to a) clean the glass in preparation for the next beer and b) keep yourself hydrated. And schedule a time halfway through your session when you can grab dinner somewhere and then return to the bar after. All you need to reenter is your snifter glass.

If you follow these steps, you’ll be well on your way to barrel-aged bliss tomorrow at noon. See ya there!

A few months back, the cast and crew of the TNT television show Leverage descended on downtown Portland for a few days to shoot scenes for their sophomore season. In the season premiere episode, “The Beantown Bailout Job”, Bailey’s Taproom shares some screen time with actor Timothy Hutton.

After leaving Big Pinky, Hutton sees Bailey’s (in costume with a garish neon “BAR” sign) across the street and is just about to drop in for a pint of delicious microbrewed beer when a car loses control, turns into a computer generated image, jumps 50 feet into the air, turns back into a real car, and lands on its back. I was rooting for Hutton to ignore the crashed vehicle and grab an IPA at Bailey’s, but instead, he rescues a precocious girl and her father while some bad guy steals a briefcase from the backseat and escapes into Mary’s Club.

If you’re curious to check out the footage for yourself, it’s only the first three minutes of the show and it’s available for free online here.

Personally, I think Bailey’s could have a future in Hollywood. What do you guys think?

There’s been so much information bouncing around about AnniBREW 2 that even I’ve been having trouble keeping it all straight. So for your convenience and the sake of clarity, here’s a basic breakdown of what the event entails:

What: AnniBREW 2 celebrating Bailey’s 2nd anniversary. More than 16 rare barrel-aged beers will be available for tasting.

When: This Saturday, August 1st, from 12 Noon until 10 PM.

Where: Bailey’s Taproom, of course! 213 SW Broadway, Portland, OR.

How (Much): $10 entrance fee includes a souvenir glass and three tickets. All additional tickets cost $1 each and all tastes cost 1 ticket.

Why: Why not?

And we have air conditioning and cold beer.

Just sayin’.

Check out this year’s second anniversary snifter! For just $10, you get one of these beauties and three taster tickets for filling it. And at the end of the night, it’s yours to take home with you!

We recommend displaying it on a pedestal somewhere.