The Tannin Dilemma

I’ve been unmotivated to write recently. Part of it is that my life has gone through yet another change, part of that is because I’ve been ill, and part of it has been because I haven’t been inspired. My husband admits he is burned out on beer festivals, a fatigue that blogger Beervana has noticed around the area as well.

I’m gearing up for my first crushing of the year. I know it is a little late, but so are the apples, and I’m not too terribly worried because I was going to make less cider this year, but hopefully better quality. That means I need proper cider apples, but I still haven’t exactly lined some up. So I’ve been pondering an experiment of just adding powdered wine tannin to my ferementation to see if I could get effect of having tannic cider apples. Of course, there is a little bit of a worry that adding powdered wine tannin would not be legal if I was licensed, but I’m not, and hopefully by time I am, a newly planted cider orchard will be mature enough to meet my supplies so that this will not be a concern anymore.

Marionberry Season 2011

I have some marionberry vines in my backyard, and they are ripening up. This season is a little late, but the quality is much better than last year. Last year, the fruit would be almost ripe and then it would start molding or fermenting on the vine without actually turning ripe. This year, I’m getting good fruit.

Marionberries are actually a hybrid between some blackberries and raspberries (see family tree) developed down at Oregon State University in 1956. The result is something that tastes like a blackberry but without thorns, so they are very easy to pick. I also find they are easy to care for, as you can kind of cut them back every fall, and they will return and bear fruit the next year without taking over. I had some mystery cane fruit with nasty thorns that hated being cut back, so they wouldn’t produce fruit. As a result, I took them out and put in their place instead raspberries.

If you ever take US Hwy 30 between Portland, OR and Astoria, OR, there is this little restaurant in a blip of Westport called The Berry Patch. The food is okay, though I went there once with a vegetarian and all there was to eat for him was salad and grilled cheese sandwich. What The Berry Patch is known for, though, is its marionberry cream pies. Wonderful! They also have an exhibit dedicated to the development of the marionberry. It is a great place to stop!

Seattle Cider Summit 2011 Update

Well, this is unfortunate. I was all set to go to the Seattle Cider Summit today, but my health is forcing me to stay home. Somebody have some cider for me and say, “Salut!”

Preparing for Seattle Cider Summit

The other day, the list of the ciders that will be at the Seattle Cider Summit was released. A few thing struck me.

First off, I am a participant on the Cider Workshop, which is mostly populated by British craft cidermakers. The Brits have definite ideas of what a cider should be, which is just apple juice from cider apples, and maybe the use of sulfites and domestic yeast. Use dessert apples? You would be laughed at. More importantly, though, cider should never ever be flavored. Now, I’ve defended the use of adding other fruits to flavor cider, calling it innovation, an attempt to do something different and stand out, or even just a creative outlet for cidermakers beyond cider. However, out of 57 ciders that are going to be at the Seattle Cider Summit, 17 of them are flavored. That is 30%, and that rate worries me a little, especially when some of the cidermakers are not offering pure cider. They are bringing everything flavored.

I have to wonder if this is partly the beer market’s doing, as the current trend/fad is fruit beers. Since cider is drunk like a beer, why not follow beer’s trends? Well, first off, cider is already a fruit drink, so you don’t need to add more fruit to it. Secondly, lets build up a good cider market before diverging too much. Rather, I would like to see a cidermaker putting out one or two apple ciders or perry, and then one flavored cider.

Anyway, on the docket for Saturday, I will be tasting new cidery Methow Valley Ciderhouse. My husband Burtle and I will be tasting the two hopped ciders side by side for comparison. I think I will also give Finnriver’s Spritied Apple Wine a try. I’m not sure I’ve had all of Tieton’s cider, and it is difficult to get Westcott Bay cider, so that is 3-4 more to try. Is Carlton Srumotown new? I’ll give Sea Cider another taste. The two French ciders could be interesting, too. Of course, there are the favorites Red Barn and EZ Cidre.

Would it be easier to say who I would be staying away from? That would be Sameul Smith’s Organic (infected) cider, Crispin, and a domestic cider I won’t name but I feel is lacking. Appart from that, there are a lot of fruit ciders I probably won’t have, but would still recommend to others to try. Afterall, my body unfortunately has limits as to how much I can drink.

Musings About the Cost of Festivals

After posting about the cost of going to beer festivals, I got to pondering about what the rates should be. I have a couple of thoughts.

Beer festivals really don’t have to worry about people coming or not. They can start out small, like a specialty festival for fruit beers, sasions, or low alcohol. Thing is, beer is a proven drink. It knows its market, and while it can grow a little bit, what it is really doing to stealing customers from the macrobrews and bringing them over to the craft brews. So a good beer festival just has to have a good start and then keep up the quality from year to year, and people will come. Sure, people like my husband Burtle might grumble about the cost, but he still traveled 3 hours and paid the $25 fee to attend. This goes to show you that a good beer line up draws people to a festival, even with high fees.

Cider, on the other hand, seems to get some pushback at the $20 purchase price. Cider is still up and coming, or, if you look it at it glass half empty, cider is still unknown. And while putting on a fest like this is expensive, not having people show up makes less profit and therefore the festival is more expensive. Therefore, I have to think that a combination of admittance/purchasing a tasting glass fee for, say, $8 and then letting people determine how many tickets they want is probably smarter. Don’t get me wrong, they will probably still end up paying $20 or more a person by the end of the fest, but somehow it settles easier on the psyche.

Cost of Beer Festivals

The Seattle Cider Summit is this Saturday, and I am trying to get some of my Seattlite friends to join me. However, I was met with a little bit of resistance because of the cost and that it was not exactly kid friendly. This promoted me to look into the cost of other festivals.

Spring Beer and Wine Fest

Where: Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR
Package: $20 for admission, wine glass or plastic beer mug, and 10 tokens
Admission: first 1,000 people are free each day, otherwise $5 each
Cup: $5-$8 depending on if you want plastic or glass (though there are ways around this).
Extra Tokens: $1
Tastings: varies
Kid friendly: allowed until 7pm
Review

_______________________________________

Oregon Gardens Brew Fest

Silverton, OR
Package: $15 for admission, glass beer mug, and 5 tokens
Extra Tokens: $1
Tastings: varies
Kid friendly: allowed noon – 4pm
Review from 2010
Additional comments: You get to check out the Oregon Gardens as well.

_______________________________________

Washington Brewers Fest

Saint Edwards State Park, Kenmore, WA
Package: $20 for prepaid admission (extra $5 if bought at gate), glass beer mug, and 6 tokens
Extra Tokens: $1
Tastings: varies
Kid friendly: yes
Burtle’s Review
Additional comments: Possibly the most expensive festival we have gone to

_______________________________________

Portland International Beer Fest (also Seattle)

Park Blocks, Portland, OR
Package: $20 for prepaid admission (extra $5 if bought at gate), glass beer mug, and 10 tokens
Extra Tokens: $1
Tastings: 1-6
Kid friendly: no
Reviews 

_______________________________________

Oregon Brewers Festival

Tom McCall Waterfront Park, Portland, OR
Admission: free
Cup: $6
Extra Tokens: $1
Tastings: 1-2
Kid friendly: yes
Reviews
Additional comments: Probably the cheapest to attend due to no admission fees, but it does get crowded

_______________________________________

Portland or Seattle Cider Summit

Package: $20 for prepaid admission (extra $5 if bought at gate), mug, and 10 tokens
Extra Tokens: $2
Tastings: varies
Kid friendly: no
Review
Additional comments: This is a cider only event, and the initial buy in may be cheaper than trying to buy additional tickets.

_______________________________________

Holiday Ale Festival

Pioneer Courthouse Square, Portland, OR
Package: $25 for admission, plastic mug, and 10 tokens
Extra Tokens: $1
Tastings: varies
Kid friendly: no
Review

_______________________________________

So, everything is pretty close to each other, and one can expect to spend probably $20 easily on a beer fest with the exception of the Oregon Brewers Festival.

Summary

Event	Package Cost	Tickets Included	Kid Friendly
Spring Beer and Wine Fest	$20	10	allowed until 7pm
Oregon Gardens Brew Fest	$15	5	noon – 4pm
Washington Brewers Fest	$20	6	Yes
International Beer Fest	$20	10	No
Oregon Brewers Fest	($6 for glass & 10 tickets = $16)	10	Yes
Cider Summit	$20	10	No
Holiday Ale Festival	$25	10	No