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| Deschutes Brewery Home > About Us > The Bitter Truth > Newsletter - Winter 2007 |
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The Official Deschutes Brewery Newsletter
Winter 2007 Vol. 19 No.1
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Resolution 2007: Drink More Deschutes
Cinder Cone Red. Here’s your beer related New Year’s Resolution: Celebrate bringing  in the New Year with our Cinder Cone Red. Our beloved red ale distinguishes itself from all others with a big hop flavor and roasty finish. Crystal malt and black barley gives Cinder Cone its distinguished red hue, in case you were wondering.
Kudos to the PYRCC (People for Year Round Cinder Cone) folks! This group of Cinder Cone Red lovers, from Portland, continues to aggressively campaign for Cinder Cone’s year long availability. We love this sort of passion for our brews!
This deluxe, easy-drinking ale is best enjoyed after a good day of skiing, snowboarding or whatever your winter fix may be.
Hop Henge Imperial IPA. Our latest Bond Street Series brew, Hop Henge, got bumped up to Imperial status this year. With a few more IBU’s than last year’s version, this IPA has a monumental amount of hops coming in just under the century mark for IBUs.
Two and a half pounds of Centennial, Cascade, and Northern Brewer hops are added per beer barrel, and another half pound is used for dry hopping to give this IPA a bigger flavor. A hearty malt bill, consisting of Crystal, Pale and Carastan malts creates a biscuity note while building a dense base to support the mammoth hop presence.
Deschutes Brewery is known to offer many big tasting brews, but this one is sure to knock your hop socks off, so don’t miss out! |
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X-TAP |
When you’re in the Pub, check out the “X” tap. Our brewers have been doing a lot of amazing research with different styles and ingredients including Belgian Ales, fruits, spices and other flavorings. There’s sure to be something unusual coming out of the small tap with the stainless steel “X” at the back of the bar. As these beers are available only in very small quantities, check in frequently to stay on top of what’s going on. Click here or find the NOW POURING link on the front page of our website. |
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WinterFest 2007: Take the Plunge!
Deschutes Brewery is the official beer sponsor of this year’s LibertyBank Bend Winterfest presented by Les Schwab held in downtown Bend starting Friday February 2nd through Sunday February 4, 2007. Created as a way to celebrate arts, culture and winter sports in Central Oregon.
Friday evening will include a Winter Wine and Barley Hop with art, music, foods, beer and wine and a fireworks display to kick off the event. Entertainment in the festival pavilion and a snowboard rail jam competition will follow the fireworks display.
Saturday, the festival will come alive with family entertainment, including a fine food marketplace and Children’s area. The festival hub, located in downtown Bend, features ice carving competitions, a cross country ski race down Bond Street, art, and exciting vendors. PLUS, a special ice skating performance and other winter activities will take place at the Inn at the 7th Mountain Resort as well as a Polar Plunge into the Deschutes. Later that evening, the festival pavilion is jammed with concert goers excited to hear that night’s headline performer.
Sunday, the festival closes with a full day of activities including Arts Central LIVE! downtown. The festival culminates with closing ceremonies and an exciting drawing for the WinterFest button car giveaway.
Admission to Winterfest is FREE. However, everyone is encouraged to buy a WinterFest button for discounted admission into certain events. Buttons may be purchased for $6 and are available at various downtown locations. A portion of all button sales is donated to the Kids Center and Arts Central. For a complete list of Winterfest activities please visit www.bendwinterfest.com. |
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 Litter Patrol: Keepin' It Clean
Twice a year, Deschutes Brewery employees volunteer their time to help keep McKenzie Pass clean and beautiful. Sporting their bright hunter orange vests, because safety comes first, gloves and yellow trash bags, they walk the two mile stretch of highway designated to Deschutes Brewery through the Highway Cleanup Program. Not only are we helping to keep our environment clean and healthy, but we’re having fun doing it! It’s a great way for employees from the production facility and the Pub to come together for a great cause. Here you see Amanda Benson, Allison Belding, Brett Counsellor, Christina LaRue, Joe Freng, and Missy Meckle after a two hour cleaning tour this past October. |
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Deschutes Near & Far
From Intercourse to Ireland, our beers get around!
Wow! The Near & Far photos just keep pouring in. We would like to include them all in this issue but will have to wait until next spring to squeeze some more in. The photos and stories are great and really show how much our fans love our beers. Talk about some serious globe trekkers! Due to the popularity of this section and the amount of photos that get sent in, we are looking at adding a Near & Far section to our web site so we can post them all as soon as they come in. Stay tuned and in the meantime, here are some shots from across the U.S., Uganda, Ireland & Panama.
Deschutes Brewery was a co-sponsor of the Cascade Cancer  Challenge that took place back in July 2006. John Platt, Dave LeMonds, Brian Mahon and Jim LeMonds are shown here celebrating with Black Butte Porters after completing their epic 55+ mile bike ride on the Boundary Trail between Mt. Adams and Mt. Saint Helens. Brian and John also climbed both mountains in their effort to help promote the need to take preventative measures to reduce cancer risks. 
Here is a photo of Andy Robinson on his "beer bench" about 75 feet above the banks of the Guadalupe River near Comfort, Texas. Before leaving their home in Bend to head down to Texas, Andy and Lucy pack as much Deschutes beer as they can in their truck to “last them  through the lean months.” We appreciate the support and hope they packed enough!
Joe & Janet Gillis took some Mirror Pond Pale Ale to Hawaii with them last year where they got married and spent their honeymoon. Although they don’t live in Bend, Joe and Janet are loyal Deschutes fans and visit the brew pub as often as they can. They took several great photos but our favorite is Mirror Pond going bananas!
Tince & Cindy Timm spent the last 2 weeks of October visiting our nation's capitol, Amish country in Pennsylvania and their daughter in Buffalo, NY. When they stopped for lunch in Intercourse, PA, Tim simply couldn't resist the opportunity to have his photograph taken at the town limits sign with a  bottle of Black Butte Porter in hand.
Gary & Robin Bennett carefully packed several bottles of Quail Springs IPA on their gorilla tracking trip to Uganda last August because “the thought of two weeks without a Deschutes brew to quaff was more than Gary could handle.” Here is a huge tortoise moving in on Gary’s beer, another photo showed a wart hog, but no gorillas. 
Lee and Linda Thorsell recently accompanied a bottle of Black Butte Porter to Ireland where they visited the Blarney Castle near Cork. They both “kissed the Blarney Stone  but Black Butte Porter is still a favorite...and that's no Blarney".
After only a couple of weeks on the Deschutes Brewery Sales & Marketing team, Laura Stilts took off to explore the country of Panama with beer in hand. Here is Laura and her friend Kristi Nunes watching the ship traffic at “The Canal.” |
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Ale –Mustard Basted Chicken
1 bottle Mirror Pond Pale Ale
3 ounces Whole Grain mustard
2 ounces Fresh lemon juice
3 ounces whole butter
3 ½ -4 lbs. whole Chicken, cleaned
1 lemon
1 ½ Tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
Directions:
Start by making the basting liquid. Pre-heat small sauce pan over medium high heat. Add beer, lemon juice, and whole grain mustard and bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 1 minute. Add whole butter and whisk in until incorporated. Set aside for latter use. |
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From The
PUB KITCHEN
Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.
Rinse the chicken under cold running water. Rub the chicken with 1 lemon and season very well with salt and pepper. Place chicken on roasting pan with rack and turn onto its side. Roast bird for 25 minutes and baste with beer mustard liquid. Turn onto its other side and roast for another 25 minutes and baste during that time. Turn bird onto its back and roast and baste for another 15 minutes. Remove chicken from the oven and let stand for 10 minutes before serving.
Serves 4 |
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Mike's Angle
The arduous task of beer naming . . .
You might find it interesting how we name our new beers here at Deschutes Brewery. Generally, there is a long period of painstaking market research followed by consultations with some of the world’s greatest marketing minds. For example, here’s how Hop Henge got its name: We were in a Product Development meeting one day discussing a beer with 95 IBUs and one of the brewers said, “How about Hop Henge?” and we all said, “Okay.” Afterward, there was much rejoicing and several people found themselves building a replica of Stonehenge made of hop bales out behind the warehouse. The structure had a magical aura. Not only was it extremely easy to tell what day it was and predict lunar eclipses, one individual claimed that he had been lifted into the air by supernatural forces. It was later discovered to have been a wedgie.
The actual Stonehenge is steeped in mystery. There are many theories about who built the 5,000 year old structure. Some say it was magically transported from a far away land by Merlin during the Arthurian age. Some say it was built by aliens. Some say it was made by the ancient Druids. Some say it was constructed overnight as a prehistoric fraternity prank. A recent theory suggests that it was built by Chuck Norris.
And why? What is it for? Is it an ancient computer? A calendar? A place of worship? The 3,000 BC domino-toppling championship? Or maybe the first shopping mall?
The stones used in its construction are not from nearby. Many people have postulated on how they could have been transported. There are a lot of theories about prehistoric machines, wheels, levers, pulleys etc. I just think people were a lot bigger then.
So maybe we’ll never know the answers to these puzzling questions; which is probably okay since our cell phones have the date, time and a handy calculator. At least we can understand Hop Henge. |
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5th Annual Crabfest
Deschutes Brewery Mountain Room
Friday, January 26th & Saturday, January 27th
Starts at 6:00 PM
Live Performace by Bill Keale
$70 per person. All beer & wine and gratuity is included.
The Evening's Menu:
Appetizers: Ale Fried Oyster with Brown Sugar Chipotle Mayo
Plated Appetizer: Dungeness Crab Soubise with Chive Crepe with Fresh Preserved Lemons
Salad: Classic Crab Louie Salad
Ale Crab Boil: Cracked Dungeness Crab Legs, Peel & Eat Prawns, Kielbasa Sausage, & New Potatoes
Served with French Loaves, Drawn Butter, & Fresh Lemon
Dessert: Turtle Cream Pie
Reservations required. Please call Sharon at 541.385.8606.
Saturday Tickets are already sold out! |
Spring Beer Dinner
Deschutes Brewery Mountain Room
Saturday, March 10th at 6:00 pm.
Menu is yet to be determined.
Tickets are $50 per person.
Buzzsaw Brown Launch Party
Deschutes Brewery Mountain Room
Thursday, March 29th
6:00 to 8:00 PM
21 and over
$10 cash only at the door
Celebrating the release of our spring seasonals, Buzzsaw Brown and Backhanded Bitter. Be the first ones to enjoy a pint before it leaves the brewery. |
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The Bitter Truth about Beer Tax
A Message from Gary Fish
A bill has been drafted that will get considerable play in the upcoming legislative session in Salem. The bill “imposes a malt beverage cost recovery fee of $32.00 per barrel of 31 gallons.” This amount is in addition to the $2.60 per barrel currently charged by the State of Oregon. That’s right, a 1,300%+ increase in the tax on beer! Oregon would go from the fifth lowest to the highest in the nation immediately!!
Now that that amount has settled in, it might be valuable to understand the rationale for such an insane increase. According to the act:
1 Oregon has one of the lowest, if not the lowest “effective tax” on malt beverages in the Nation. Actually, Oregon has the 5th lowest excise tax in the nation behind Wyoming, Missouri (Anheuser Busch), Wisconsin (Miller) and Colorado (Coors). And what do those states have in common? I left you hints in parentheses. OK, Wyoming just likes low taxes. They are producer states who tend not to tax core industries that produce for the rest of the country and bring benefit to their state. Oregon has the healthiest craft beer industry in the nation, by far.
2 Oregon’s current wholesale malt beverage tax is a fixed rate that does not keep up with inflation and has not been raised for 30 years. True. Logic does not connect that with the need to increase taxes and hurt homegrown businesses. The state of Oregon is currently running a budgetary surplus. Excise taxes are fundamentally regressive as well because they impact lower income earners disproportionately. And if our only criteria for raising taxes is how long it has been since it has been raised, I’m guessing quite a few others may be ready for an increase as well. Where is the logic? Where is the sense? Oh, yeah, it’s Salem.
3 Oregon collects only $1 of alcohol tax for every $39 of alcohol-related healthcare costs. I thought we were talking about beer, not alcohol in general. How many of you responsible beer drinkers are costing society that $39? Punishing all beer drinkers for what alcohol might do across a broad spectrum of the society is bad public policy. Meanwhile there is increasing scientific (the real thing) evidence that moderate consumption of alcohol (primarily beer and wine) is actually beneficial to health. Where is the credit for that? And, who can deny the benefit to society of the local pub where people actually talk to each other rather than sitting secluded in a dark room in front of a keyboard and monitor for their human interaction. Maybe those people in Salem need to visit their local pub a little more often.
4 Alcohol abuse and alcoholism cost each Oregonian $683 annually. I don’t know where this number comes from, but as with the bullet above, the vast majority of beer drinkers are responsible, moderate drinkers. As mentioned above, there is increasing evidence moderate drinking may very well be beneficial to a person’s health. Add to that, the excise taxes the state currently collects on beer and wine do not go to this effort. Why not start by redirecting those funds first? By the way, anyone think of taxing fast food for the obesity epidemic, or cars for the rash of accidents? Some think this new source of revenue would be appropriate to help with the meth epidemic. Beer=Meth=what!!??
5 17% of alcohol sold in Oregon is consumed by underage drinkers. Again, the source is unclear and refers to alcohol, rather than beer. But, beer is the only beverage being unfairly targeted. The beer industry spends millions (aka taxes itself) annually on keeping beer away from underage drinkers. And since statistics have been kept since 1982, all indicators nationally continue to decrease steadily regarding underage drinking, showing the programs are working and real progress is being made.
6 Increasing alcohol taxes reduces underage drinking. The statistics surrounding this are unclear at best and show no connection at all, at worst. What is clear is that any consumer group that operates outside the law is the least price sensitive group there is.
There is more to the proposal, but you get the picture. What seems to be missing in the proposal is Economics or Business 101. The proposal assumes that the increase will be passed directly along to the consumer at their “dime-a-drink” rate, as though this was a sales tax. It is a tax on the manufacturer, or importer. With us, this becomes part of our cost structure like all other taxes (property, payroll, income, etc.) which we then figure out how to make a profit on (if we can). We then sell to a wholesaler, who adds their percentage and sells to a retailer who also adds their percentage. So, assuming we could pass it along, it would be much more than that “dime-a-drink” by the time it got to you. Reality is that, in a competitive marketplace, it is very difficult to pass along costs directly when competing with multi-national companies who have vast markets to cost-share with. Our own pricing structure has not kept up cost increases for at least the past five years.
The proposed bill actually states that the increase will “help Oregon’s small breweries (less than 200,000 barrels) by leveling the playing field with the large (read out-of-state) breweries. This is a clear violation of the Interstate Commerce Clause of the Constitution by penalizing out-of-state business in favor of in-state business. Meaning that the bill could be overturned requiring all collected monies to be returned, leaving an even bigger hole in the state’s budget. (Then what do you think they would do?) Now, Deschutes Brewery currently falls below that 200,000 barrel threshold (we will produce around 160,000 barrels in 2006). However, we hope (and expect) to pass that mark in the next couple of years. When we do that 200,001st barrel will cost us well over $2,500,000 in taxes!! I’d call that a disincentive to grow wouldn’t you?
I could go on and on about why this proposal is horrible public policy. Suffice it to say, if you love, and are passionate about beer in Oregon, you will want to watch this one develop as the legislature goes into session after the New Year. We may be asking people to let their legislators know not to tax their beer! We may all have to participate to keep this ridiculous proposal from becoming reality. Let your elected representative know you don’t want your beer taxed any more!! |
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Deschutes Brewery ~ 901 SW Simpson Ave ~ Bend, Oregon 97702 ~ 541-385-8606
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