February 24, 2012

Craft beer brewing in Portland An inside look

The Pioneer Log FEATURES

PHOTOS BY MAYA MCOMIE

Clockwise from left: brew kettles, where starch is converted into sugar; one of two robotic arms that handle the kegs; duct-tape wall at Amnesia; Widmer has an industrial look; visitors can take home Widmer glasses after beer tasting

BY MAYA MCOMIE
Features Editor

Last Saturday, my friends and I got an inside look into craft beer producers in Portland, thanks to Zwickelmania. This annual, statewide beer festival is organized by the Oregon Brewers Guild. It is essentially a large-scale open house of brewers all around Oregon, where visitors can take advantage of free samples of beer, and if you are lucky, ones which are rare or are yet to be released, as well as many beercomplementing snacks. Many of the breweries are far apart, but if you start early enough and do some research, it is possible to go to multiple breweries in one day. There are even several shuttle lines that can take you to many of the locationsa great option for those without cars or who dont want to worry about staying sober enough to drive.

Our day started around 1 p.m., two hours after the festivals 11 a.m. start, at Widmer Brothers Brewing. Although parking spots were scarce, there was enough coming and going that new arrivals could get started without much delay. After being greeted by Widmers, we waited for the 30-minute tour of the factory, while tasting some of their most popular beers. The two-story building with red brick exteriors had an industrial feel, with lots of wide-open space and tall ceilings. Our tour guide was one of the 18 brewers who work there. He led us through various steps of the process of making and packaging beer. There were numerous stops along the way where beer and food were served. Our guide memorably described one of the steps in brewing as kind of a big tea pot. The process indeed reminded me a lot of coffee brewing, except beer has

more ingredients. Beer, like coffee, requires a lot of precision in the quantity of the ingredients and the timing for combining things, which changes the flavor and aroma substantially. The four ingredients of beer are water, yeast, hops and starch, and it is important to know how they work in order to control what happens to the beer. Although the entire process is computer-generated, professionals are still needed to oversee the process as it happens, and the job requires a lot of knowledge and organization. I had never seen hops before or smelled it, and it was quite nice to see what it was that makes beer special. I also had the opportunity to taste different kinds of beereverything from their famous Hefeweizen to a seasonal raspberry flavored brewand see what kinds I preferred more than others. Only a few blocks away from

Club of the Week: Animal Club

BY MARLY WILLIAMS
Staff Writer

Its no news that Lewis & Clark students are exceptionally active and service-oriented. Newsweek recently ranked the college fifth in the nation for most service-oriented students, reflecting the communitys passion and commitment to a greater cause. This includes everything from supporting humanitarian issues like solutions to hunger and poverty to participating in the Peace Corps, as well as aiding a cause that is often overshadowed or dismissed: animal rights. Animal Club provides students with the opportunity to share their love of animals while spreading awareness and giving a voice to those who really cant speak for themselves. Club President Chloe Waterman (12), who wants to pursue a career in animal law and whose favorite animal is a three-toed sloth, co-founded the club when she was a freshman. The club really has a two-part mission of appreciation and advocacy, said Waterman. In my opinion, the injustices that are happening to animals are some of the most severe injustices happening today. While the club has about 25 ac-

tive members, over 300 students have attended various Animal Club-related events since the clubs founding. The club meets sporadically to discuss animal issues and club plans, and their main goal is to host events for the community, allowing everyone to get involved and their message to spread beyond club meetings. These events include lectures, film screenings, field trips and ongoing volunteer opportunities at places like Oregon Humane Center and Fences for Fido. This semester promises to be an exciting and productive time for Animal Club. This week, Animal Club sponsored a Pay-Per-View movie event. They paid students $1 to watch a film exposing the cruel practices of factory farms and handed out relevant literature about the issue. This Sunday the 26th at 6 p.m., there will be a celebratory potluck in the Co-op. Bring your favorite animal-friendly dish and come to share in the delicious food and animal loving. Other upcoming events include field trips to the Oregon Primate Reserve and Wolf Haven International as well as helping with the highly popular Puppy Day event. Email Chloe Waterman at animalclub@lclark.edu to get involved.

Sustainability is Sexy Take back the tap

BY MICHELLE MOULTON
Staff Writer

Widmer is Amnesia Brewing, which was much, much, smaller. The difference in scale between Widmer and Amnesia is apparent in the way their distribution is set up. Widmer creates 500 kegs worth of beer in one batch, while Amnesias production is less than 100 kegs. It was pleasant to see a very different type of Portland brewery. Set up as a small restaurant and bar, it had a homier feel. The brewing was to a much smaller scale, and their equipment was in the back of the shop. Another nice thing about the place were duct-tape labels marked with production dates and the type of beer from when they were first starting up covering the wall of the freezer. They are dog-friendly and have tables inside and outside at which families and friends can drink and dine, and their exterior decor reminded me a little of a

Ghibli movie. Their beer on tap comes directly from the keg in the freezer room in the back, in a tubing system. They also do not bottle any of their beer but only sell it by the kegthe most popular by far is the Desolation IPA, which our tour guide said is sold everywhere. They have a fermentation tank from the late 80s, which is the oldest one in the US. Here, I was also able to smell hops and taste different kinds of beer, such as beer which had been fermented, i.e., had alcohol, but hadnt had gas added to it yet. It was strange. Another one I tried was one infused with coffee, which was served cold and tasted a little bit sweet, almost like coffee cake. Zwickelmania offered a crashcourse in beer, which will definitely make me appreciate whats in the bottle a lot more, the next time I open one up.

Water is an everyday necessity. However, according to United Nations Human Development report, a shocking 1.1 billion people are struggling to find sufficient, clean water sources. The privatization and exploitation of water sources by bottled water companies not only perpetuates this inaccessibility, but also makes water increasingly unaffordable. For instance, the Columbia Water Center reported that springs in Sukabumi, Indonesia have been completely extracted by bottled water companies. The 1999 privatization of water in Bolivia made water bills increase by $20 a month a significant percent of monthly income for locals. In Ore., we have the privilege of clean, publically owned tap water, so why not take advantage of that? According to the Oregon City Finance Department, tap water in Ore. costs about a penny for every four gallons. Compare this with the average price of bottled water, which is around $3. When you purchase bottled water, its the production of plastic youre paying for. The Take Back the Tap Cam-

paign is a nationwide initiative that has an ultimate goal of ending the sales of bottled water. Its more immediate goals include ending student funding for bottled water and reducing LCs purchase of bottled water to a bare minimum for emergencies. Sophie Ara Se (15), an undergraduate working on this campaign, said, When did we ever need bottled water? It is unnecessary plastic which corporations advertise as pure. This marketing works. The Worldwatch Institute reported that the global consumption of bottled water reached 189 billion bottles last year, a 7.9% increase from 2002. Nestl, Coca-cola and Pepsi, hidden under the labels of Aquafina, Dasani, Arrowhead and Deer Park, are the main bottled water suppliers, and spend millions of dollars marketing purity and convenience while portraying tap water as unhealthy. Other issues include the fact that theres a limit to the amount of times plastic from water bottles can be recycled, and it is non-biodegradable. This means that all the plastic thats produced will eventually make its way to a landfill. If you want to take action, sim-

ILLUSTRATION BY SAMANTHA SAVRET

ply invest in a reusable canteen, and choose tap water over bottled water. If you want to get involved, email seed@lclark.edu for more information.