Oregon Brew Crew

One heckuva great Home-​Brew Club.
Member Brews are on Tap at Widmer (Collaborator: 14 years now!), the Green Dragon (Wednesday Releases), and other Pubs! Members learn to Brew, and Brew Crewers collaborate with breweries. New Breweries are often OBC Member projects.
The OBC is a happy kind of club…
refining — finding — evaluating — and re-​defining REAL BEER.
Frankly, there are many Brewing Clubs. Best to join one near your home, with a meeting date/​times you can attend. We do Beer education/​appreciation — and boy, we Volunteer! Members educate consumers, create/​staff great Festivals, to support the craft brewing industry.
Our first LIVE SOLAR BREW demos were at the NAOBF ’09.
We also did 3 days of open-​air Brewing at the Oregon Brewer’s Fest. Perhaps you saw me dressed as a DRUID? (OK, i look more Druid every year. So?!)
If you want to join the OBC, go to our Web Site for an App.
Watch the calendar there for OBC events:
Monthly tasting /​education events.
Teach a Friend to Brew Day — in Nov.
and BIG BREW 1^st weekend of May.
MEAD Day — 1^st Sat of August — at FH Steinbart on SE 12 — just south of Burnside. 9-​ish to 1-​ish. Many buses nearby.
Annually, on a Sat or in mid-​Aug: Potluck Picnic.
Mid Dec — a family-​friendly Holiday party.
Some attend Hop Madness during the Hop Harvest, Aug-​Sept.
Fall BJCP Classes, monthly Brewing Competitions; Bus trips to breweries, Private tastings, informal B Meetings, MORE!
Famous Brewery, Fest Owners, & Beer Writers are Home Brewers, and active in the Brew Crew. Festival organizers/​Volunteer Coordinators stay active with us too, ‘cuz OBC Volunteers help make it all happen. For 3 decades now, Brew Crew has provided significant Staffing for the largest Festivals — and they have prospered. (As other Fests grow, we are open to ferment ways to offer support. Many of our Members get/​renew OLCC Cards to help at Brewery-​hosted events… Shall we formalize those relationships to help improve some aspects?
The Oregon Brewers Festival & SWBF — heck — all the Fests keep growing! Volunteer EARLY online. The OBF is always the last weekend of July, and Spring Fest the weekend of Easter (not Sunday) All are on excellent Public Transit. USE IT!
Volunteers get Free Beer, Mugs, and T-​Shirts. Also do the PIB; and consider getting your OLCC Permit, to Volunteer for Portland’s Cheers to Belgian Beers, and the Fresh Hop Tastival, and MANY other Brewery-​sited Tasting events.
American Home-​brew Clubs ROCK!
Oregon had at least NINE Brewing Clubs participate this year in the Annual AHA (American Homebrew Assn) BIG BREW Demo weekend. More than a hundred visited ours again this year, which is held in collaboration with FH Steinbarts Brewing Supplies. This is also the site of most monthly meetings. Brew Demo’s abound… because OBC Members step up to help. We teach, brew, provide food, coffee, beer. (told ya we were groovy!) We brew annually in a nation-​wide belgian Yeast experience, and participate in Portland’s Cheers to Belgian beers.
The OBC offers MANY Home Brew Competitions & Judging Classes. With the Widmer Brothers, we hold a Brew Contest called Collaborator. Members design Brews, and winners brew at Widmer Brewery! Find Collaborator on Tap in the Gasthaus & special events. $ 1/​Barrel from Collaborator Brews helps Fund a Brewers Scholarship. The Sasquatch Golf event, in July benefits yet another brew-​scholarship — and yes, WE VOLUNTEER.
Meet the BREWERS!
Crewers Brewed in ’09 at Green Dragon, Roots and HUB, Widmer.
Since then, also Coalition Brewing — and MORE are in the works.
Love it that other Clubs now have brewery-​collaborations of their own. Cascade Brewing (@ Rac Lodge) & PDX Brewers (a West Side Club) was one, with the former KABALerator contest. I love the name, it’s reason enuf to the PDX Brewers KABAL — as other OBC Members do. It’s a smaller club, with excellent Brewers, meeting in Tigard on a Wed. SO much to love about BeerVana.
WWFD?
Longtime OBC Members help Alan Sprints run FredFest at Hair of the Dog Brewing. Proceeds go to the Lukemia or Parkinsons groups, ect. We love and honor Fred Ekhardt (the globally famous Beer Writer) — and he is an active and good-​humored Brew Crew Member.
(Fred encourages Members to try brewing Sake…)
Do you Brew?
Want to improve skills, get Feedback? Sample often?
Ready to become a Beer Judge?
Want to learn to do Mead? Create a Clone?
Search/​LURK our On-​line List DIGEST for Free;
OK to visit 1 – 2 IN-​meetings as my Guest,
Then maybe, Join.
Just $ 25 — so heck, why not? ($ 40 for Beer-​afficianado-​Couples)
IN meetings are BYOB/​Tasting Event/​light Potlucks,
and OUT meetings are usually held at Breweries.
IN Meetings are at FH Steinbart on SE 12^th.
(2^nd Thurs. 7 PM — Get App online, bring it w/​a Check to join)
Ok to visit as my Guest. Bring a Tasting Glass, something to share.

I just tried Waldo’s homebrew version of a Jubelale clone and a Rye beer this weekend that was top notch. Both well balanced beers with a clean finish. My experience with drinking many a homebrew is that the hard part is consistently brewing a well balanced beer that is enjoyable to drink. I imagine by now everyone in the northwest has a friend or knows someone who brews. It’s easy to get started but tuff to do well. I’ve tried many a beer that is just plain awful.
This is where I have to give credit to the Oregon Brew Crew. Their get togethers have been enabling beer nerds to bounce ideas off and sample experiments that has elevated homebrew to an artform in Portland and beyond… and more importantly making those concoctions that show up at bbq’s palatable. The OBC as best as I understand it is collection of homebrewers in Portland who meet on a semi regular basis to improve and discuss homebrewing techniques. I have not been to a meeting but I have drank the efforts of their members Nik and Aaron and am impressed with the beer that flowed forth.
Cheers to beer and those who brew.