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Oakshire Brewing to Release Winter Seasonal Ill-Tempered Gnome

Oakshire Brewing Company of Eugene, Oregon has released their newest Seasonal Beer, Ill-Tempered Gnome throughout the state of Oregon on draft and in 22-ounce bottles. This winter seasonal is a complex brown ale with an underlying American hop punch. At 6.8% abv, the Gnome provides, bitter, roasty, chocolate, pine resin, citrus, dark fruit, coffee and sweet flavors all in one glass.

“Ill-Tempered Gnome is wonderful winter warmer. We used 6 specialty malts and 5 different American hops to craft this big, yet very approachable Northwest-style brown,” explains Brewmaster Matt Van Wyk.“

According to Jeff Althouse, Co-Founder of Oakshire brewing, “We are very excited to release a third beer in bottles. Bottles of Watershed IPA and the award-winning Overcast Espresso Stout have been very well received. We are pleased to introduce Oregon to a third member of the Oakshire family.”

Sample the Gnome

Ill-Tempered Gnome will be available throughout Oregon during the winter months. The Oakshire team will be on hand at The Beer Stein on Wed., Nov. 4 from 6-8pm to give patrons a sample of the new beer. You will also find the crew in Portland on Nov. 12 for the Beer Belly dinner at Eastburn and November 17th at Green Dragon for Meet the Brewer.

About Oakshire Brewing Company

Oakshire Brewing Company of Eugene, OR was founded in October 2006 by Native Oregonian brothers Jeff and Chris Althouse. With the singular goal of brewing the highest quality artisan beer, Oakshire has become recognized for consistently brewing fresh, unique and delicious beers in relatively small batches. Oakshire has an active blog on the web at http://oakbrew.com and they also offer brewery tours and beer tasting at their brewery every Saturday from 12-4pm. The brewery is located at 1055 Madera Street in Eugene. They can be reached at info@oakbrew.com or at (541) 688-4555.

Upcoming Irish Culture & Music Events in Eugene

Irish Language Class in Eugene

After studying the Irish language with Daltai this summer, Mary Grace Hickok would like to converse in the Irish language, but has no one in Eugene with whom to practice. She will only be a few of steps ahead of the beginner level, but is going to offer an Irish class starting in November on Wednesday nights from 6-7:15 p.m. at her home near Autzen Stadium.

This will be a fun class using various learning modalities. The time and weekday is not yet written in stone. There is no fee but there may sometimes be donations requested for materials. Anyone interested should contact Mary Grace to get more details and alerts: m_tiernen@yahoo.com or (541)746-6402.

Free Music Lectures & Demonstrations at UO Museum of Natural & Cultural History

An exhibit of 70 musical instruments from 30 different cultures is currently on display at the UO Museum of Natural & Cultural History (1680 E. 15th St.). The Museum is hosting a series of lecture-demonstrations and discussions in conjunction with the exhibit. These will be at 7 p.m. on four consecutive Tuesday evenings, starting Oct. 27th. Free admission!

• Tuesday, October 27: Panel discussion and music demonstrations with Nick Sixkiller (Native American powwow drum); Mitsuki Dazai (Japanese koto); Eliot Grasso (Irish uilleann bagpipes); and Jennifer Kyker (Zimbabwean mbira)
• Tuesday, November 3: Bagpipes in Ireland and the Balkans, with Mark Levy and Eliot Grasso
• Tuesday, November 10: Women's Participation as Zimbabwean Mbira Players, with Jennifer Kyker
• Tuesday, November 17: India: Looking Through a Musical Lens, with Sreevidhya Chandramouli, South Indian veena

Eugene Farmer's Markets: River Road

When coming up River Road, Chambers Street or 1st Avenue, have you noticed the wee farmers market sometimes set up in the lot next to Green Eye Auto on River Road?

If not, start keeping an eye out. With produce inside and outside, the wee market will now be open Tuesday thru Friday, 2-7 p.m. — and yes, that includes during winter!

This is great for people traveling River Road and who live in the area. Need to grab some produce on the way home from work? Wanting bikeable/walkable access to farm-fresh produce in your neighborhood? Now we've got it. Stop by and pick up some fresh fruits and veggies!

Now if you'll pardon me, I have butternut squash and barley risotto to make.

Oakshire Brewing Wins Medal at the Great American Beer Festival

Editor's Note: Oakshire's Overcast Espresso Stout is one of my and Jodie's favorite beers. We'll be stocking up some more bottles of this strong dark awesomeness.

Eugene, Oregon — The Oakshire Brewing Company recently claimed a silver medal at the 2009 Great American Beer Festival Competition, the largest national beer competition recognizing the most outstanding beers produced in the United States today. The top 3 winners in the competition's 78 beer-style categories were announced September 26 at the 28th Annual Great American Beer Festival Awards Ceremony held at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, Colorado.

"It's a great thrill to be recognized for our hard work. And to win with one of our year-round beers is equally exciting as we can continue bringing this high quality local beer to our many Overcast fans," says Matt Van Wyk, brewmaster at Oakshire. This silver medal is the first national award for Oakshire Brewing and the first in Eugene since 2003 when local Bier Stein owner Chip Hardy brought home a gold while at West Brothers Brewery. This medal is Van Wyk's 10th at the GABF and fifth straight year medaling. Previously he brewed for Flossmoor Station Brewing Company in Flossmoor, Illinois.

Oakshire was recognized in the coffee beer-style category for Overcast Espresso Stout, a dark ale crafted with locally roasted and cold-pressed organic espresso beans. Oakshire is a 2000-barrel microbrewery located in Eugene, Oregon, that specializes in brewing quality hand-crafted ales in small batches and distributes throughout the state of Oregon.

The 2009 Great American Beer Festival Competition winners were selected by an international panel of brewing experts from an impressive field of 3,308 entries received from 495 U.S. breweries. More than 1,400 breweries were invited to compete. "The Great American Beer Festival is the premier beer competition for the American beer industry," says Nancy Johnson, Festival Director. "Winning a medal, no matter if gold, silver or bronze, is truly an accomplishment."

For more Great American Beer Festival Competition information, the 2009 winners’ list and photos, visit www.GreatAmericanBeerFestival.com

Hiatus

With my wedding coming up soon, I'm taking a break from the blog, and plan to resume after September. Cheers & take care!

Anthony St. Clair

AnnaLee Foster Harp Concert

AnnaLee Foster has played harp at the Eugene Irish Cultural Festival.  She has qualified for the finals at the All-Ireland Fleadh harp competitions in Tullamore in August. After apprenticing to Janet Harbison and touring with the Irish Harp Orchestra in 2005 and 2006, she ended her time with the orchestra in the summer of 2007 by winning the County Limerick competition, taking 2nd in the Munster Provincials, and then finishing just shy of the top 3 at the 2007 All-Ireland. That summer was her first experience at competitions, and she wanted to give it a try again.

In addition to teaching harp to eight students, she also traveled back to Detroit this spring for the American qualifying competitions; she took 2nd to the woman who had been the 2007 world champion under-18 competitor (and the judge told Anna "there was only a hair's-breadth between both of you"). This time around both women will be competing in the same age group, so it should be a very good competition.

To help with the August travel expenses, she'll be presenting a fund-raising concert at Orenco Presbyterian Church in August to help raise traveling money before she goes; it’s going to be a donation-only affair, no tickets to purchase.

Here is the concert information:

Saturday, August 8th, at 7:00pm and being held at Orenco Presbyterian Church, 6420 NW Oelrich Road, Hillsboro OR, 97124

To learn more about AnnaLee Foster, visit this web site:  http://www.myspace.com/annaleefoster

-- Info from Peggy Hinsman

Tastings & More Beers at Beer Nuts Bottle Shop

Over on 13th & Oak, the Beer Nuts Bottle Shop (twitter.com/BeerNutsEugene) continues to add more brews to its lineup - plus some events.

On July 24 from 5-7 p.m., Beer Nuts is hosting its first tasting, complete with with various tippling and special pricing . Oakshire Brewing will be in the shop, celebrating the release of their first bottled beers, Watershed IPA and Overcast Espresso Stout.

Come celebrate and drink some of Eugene's best beer!

Welcome, Beer Northwest Readers!

Greetings beer lovers and Beer Northwest readers! I hope you enjoyed my article in Beer Northwest's summer edition about brewing a Marriage Beer, a beer for your wedding (and beyond). (If you didn't come here via the magazine, check it out. You can subscribe or find copies throughout the Northwest.)

Exclusive Marriage Beer Update! Since the time the article was written, we've brewed and bottled a second batch of our marriage beer. Monthly tastings are telling us the beer is like a hammer wrapped in velvet. With an alcohol content of approx. 9-10%, the beer should age well for anniversary tippling — but will be served at the wedding only as wee toasts!

About Author and Site — As for me, Anthony St. Clair, I'm a writer in the Pacific Northwest, soon to be married and trying to fit in a few camping trips in between knocking out various wedding tasks alongside my bride. Antsaint is an occasional blog about writing, food and drink, and the Pacific Northwest. Write me at anthony at antsaint dot com, or follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/antsaint.

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Eugene Jazz Singer Halie Loren

Have you heard Halie Loren? No? Time to do something about that. The singer/songwriter and jazz singer has been touring all over Oregon of late and has become a favorite of mine. Here are some of her latest shows:

• Tonight! June 27, 7:30 p.m. at The Loft (behind Turtles on Willamette)
• June 28, 8:30 p.m., Sam Bond's Garage
• July 3, 8 p.m., Art in the Vineyard (Alton Baker Park)

Learn more about Halie, her music and upcoming shows at halieloren.com.

Firewood and Words

Each spring, we get two cords of split firewood delivered to the house. The resulting pile is nearly as tall as I am, and as long as our car. Unfortunately, all that oak and Douglas fir doesn't move and stack itself in the woodshed 20 feet away.

It's a lot of wood to tackle, and I'm the one who tackles it. But not all at once. I have a system, see:

4 wheelbarrow-loads per day.

No more, no less. Each afternoon now, I get home from work, walk my dog, write some words, and stack some wood. There's a noticeable dent in the pile now, and the stacks in the shed are getting taller.

Everyone has a writing metaphor, an analogy that helps them comprehend and shoulder the load of working on a project, be it a short story or a long novel. Now, I've got mine.

Words are like firewood.

I can't stack two cords of firewood in a day. Probably not even in a week. But each day I can move just 4 wheelbarrow-loads. Eventually all that firewood will be stacked in the shed, ready for winter.

By the same thought, if I work on my novel just a little bit each day — I'm currently going for a cap of 20 minutes — I'll get my novel done. I can't do it in a day. I can't do it in a week. But I can get it done, if I make it manageable for me and for my day.

This winter, we'll be warmed by the work I do now. Someday, I'll have a book ready to publish, by the few words I crank out each day, every day, no matter what.