Mark took me on a tour of the brewery highlighting the newly installed brew equipment. As you can tell, he’s passionate about his craft!

Here’s the new rig that will be able to transport more precious ‘Pooya nectar to your local watering hole

And here’s a couple quick pics from the Oregon Garden Brewfest last weekend

First picture is of Mark, Paul, and I. Next picture is a friend of ours, Alicia, who wanted to be pouring for us but pulled the Roots assignment instead. And finally that wonderful sausage!

Hope you enjoyed the pictures and hope to see you at our brewery and pub in Albany soon!

dc

Here are the details from the Oregon Garden Brewfest website:

April 24th& 25th, 2009
Friday: 4 pm – 11 pm
Saturday: Noon – 11 pm

This Oregon craft brewfest will feature many local beer brewers and will offer the chance to sample or enjoy a full glass of a wide variety of specialty beers. There will be live music to dance to and great food. The home brew competition is back this year.

This event is always standout to me because it usually marks the first weekend of good weather in the valley. We’ve had some outstanding weather already this week, let’s hope it continues through Saturday!

Update 4.24.09

This really is one of our favorite events. Check out this quote from yesterday’s Statesman Journal:

[...]

It’s the setting that makes the festival one of Laura Bryngelson’s preferred beer festivals.

“It’s actually one of our favorite ones, maybe only a little bit because last year, we won the People’s Choice award,” said the owner and president of Calapooia Brewing Company, which is based in Albany. “My husband and I are both very into gardening — at least before we bought the brewery — so we love to go there. It’s like all of the best things in Oregon, combined into one place. You can sample all the best Oregon beers, then take a walk around.”

And as a brewer, she said, she loves interacting with the festival-goers, getting feedback on her beer and maybe a little taste of the friendly competition.

“You’ll hear someone talk about, ‘Oh, did you go over to this booth? They have this weird chili beer,’ and we’ll turn around and say, ‘Oh, you like our chili beer?’” she said.

And, she said, the festival is family-friendly; those younger than 21 can enjoy the sights and sounds, if not the beer, from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday.

Last year, she said, “my son was 4 months old, and we were able to take him and my daughter … you’d never think you could get so many people getting together and drinking beer, but it’s so relaxed. It’s a very chill environment.”

dc

Check out the booth and our rides:

Keep an eye on the website May 19th for a template change and great new pages. Please feel free to leave suggestions for improvement in the comments! Until then, stop by the brewery for the latest Calapooia Brewing microbrew, “Hop Crisis”, and enjoy spring now that it’s finally here!

dc, webmaster

{somehow I missed publishing this about the same time last year, so I’m dropping it in now! dc 4.20.09}