Wide Angle Brew Off

A slide show with audio.
Story by Michael Werner
Photos by Katie Campbell

Teams of homebrewers from Eugene’s Cascade Brewers Society competed in a beer brew off in June. The competition, dubbed Iron Brewer, was a take off on the cable hit Iron Chef, with brewers given five hours to improvise a recipe and brew a beer using a set of surprise ingredients that included raisins, flaked oats and a special type of hops. With several decades worth of experience between the brewers, the challenge was not thinking up a recipe, but narrowing the options.

To view the slideshow, please visit Etude, the Journal of Literary Nonfiction.

Put your pop culture skills to the test at trivia night

By Tiffany Reagan

{continued from Oregon Daily Emerald}
Leona Laurie hosts a trivia night every Monday at the Villard Street Pub.

The Pub is located at 1417 Villard St. and trivia lasts from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Laurie, who had to persuade the owners for a year to let her host, brought her love of random facts all the way from the Bay Area.

"I was on a pub trivia team there and I loved it," she said.

Laurie was also drawn to trivia because she knows a lot of know-it-alls and show-offs.

She believes trivia night at the Villard Street Pub is the best in town because there are a lot of prizes, it stays on a tight schedule and the Pub offers a wide variety of food.

"It's more difficult to justify spending time on a week night at a bar without having a meal involved," Laurie said.

"It's a mild enough commitment that it can fit into anyone's schedule the way other social events during the week cannot."

Laurie will only be hosting trivia night for another four weeks. It has been so popular, though, that Villard Street Pub is going to continue the new Monday night tradition without her.

(The full text of this article is available on the Daily Emerald's site.)

In Search of the Spirit World: Hunting for Ghosts in the Eugene Pioneer Cemetery

By Aaron Ragan-Fore
Originally published in Eugene Magazine

Days are getting shorter, shadows are longer
and halloween is just around the corner. We’re head-
ing into that time of year when you’d just as soon stay
indoors, curling up at home with a mug of something hot. You
may triple-check that the doors are locked before you go to bed.
And you’re in the mood for a good ghost story.

Eugene is home to many legends of the supernatural, but
few people realize just how haunted the city may be. the Bijou
Theatre, once a funeral parlor, is prone to strange mechanical
failure; investigators have photographed unexplained floating
lights. Boxes are reported to scoot around under their own
power in the back room of the Toys R Us at Valley River Center,
of all places. Eugene schools seem to be most popular with the
unquiet dead: Fox Hollow Elementary, South Eugene High and
Sheldon High are all said to be haunted. One particular elevator
shaft at Lane Community College is even said to have its own
resident specter.

In short, Eugene isn’t suffering from a shortage of spooky spots.
That brings us to Eugene Pioneer Cemetery. Although the me-
morial park, situated at the southwest corner of the University
of Oregon campus, is horseshoed on three sides by the teeming
life of an academic community, Pioneer Cemetery is unaffiliated
with the university.

it’s not for lack of trying on the part of the Fighting Ducks.
the park was dedicated in 1872, a full four years before the UO
was founded, and nearly every headstone bears a 19th-century
birthdate. the purchase price of the cemetery’s original 10 acres
was $600 in gold. Today, due to its proximity to the McArthur
Court arena, the land would be worth . . . substantially more.

Mid-20th-century proposals called for disinterring the plots to
pave the cemetery over for parking, or adding a multi-story garage
above it for a sort of basement-level mausoleum. The schemes
were thankfully derailed in 1997 when the cemetery was added
to the National Register of Historic Places, leaving undisturbed
this resting place of many a westward-migrating Oregon Trail
pioneer...

To read the rest of this story, visit Aaron's site!

Emerald Article

Villard: Good Spirits

The pub is starting to make a name for itself because of its great atmosphere and service.

By Sheena Lahren

For those of us disheartened by McMenamins' recent decline in atmosphere, service and tastiness, a pub just starting to make a name for itself may offer hope.

The Villard Street Pub, located on Villard Street between Franklin and 15th, brings back the comfortable and good-spirited ambiance once distinctive of Oregon taverns. Eugene pub-goers, all hail the return of good food and great times.

The pub, which opened early in 2006, is finding distinct identity among Eugene's pub scene.

Despite its urban surroundings, the pub generates a Northwest mountain lodge feel. Not, however, as though you would expect to see a man dressed in a fur-lined coat and snow boots come tromping in, carrying a rifle and a dead quail.

See the rest of the article in The Oregon Daily Emerald's Steppin' Out section!

I just sang. In public. Without music.

(By Leona Laurie, originally published on her blog, l-ementary zeitgeist.)



















I seriously almost passed out at Trivia tonight.

I got the idea today to use my "Random Stuff Leona Knows" round to showcase the way my brain retains song lyrics. I selected sections from 10 songs and asked the teams to name the artist and the song title after hearing me read them.

Thank goodness for John Shipe, who was acting as guest Quiz Master tonight. We were doing it together, and early into the round, someone asked us to sing the lyrics so they'd be easier to identify. I refused (because that would have defeated the purpose) but decided to indulge them when we revealed the answers. As soon as I made that decision, I couldn't breathe.

As John took over reading the questions, I pretended to be suppressing giggles while I was trying to keep my equilibrium.

When the moment came, though, I did it. I sang passages from 8/10 of the songs (John did Sweet Child o' Mine, and I gave up on Madonna's Hung Up), and I did not pass out. Sure, I punked out on reading the last round, and I did run home immediately after so that I could hyperventilate in peace, but I did it. I sang in public, knowing that I could be heard, and into a mic (so I could hear myself)!

John said I could carry a tune in a bucket. He is SO nice!

I thought you might enjoy playing along for this round, so here're the questions. You can use the comment space for guesses if you like.

ROUND FIVE- THEME: RANDOM STUFF LEONA KNOWS
2 points/question. 1 for artist, 1 for song title.

1. Seemed like the real thing, only to find mucho mistrust. Love's gone behind.

2. Welcome to your life, Theres no turning back, Even while we sleep, We will find you, Acting on your best behaviour, Turn your back on mother nature

3. Like eating burgers or chicken or you'll be picking your nose, I'm on time homie that's how it goes, You heard my style I think you missed the point, it's the joint

4. Now and then when I see her face, She takes me away to that special place, And if I stared too long, I'd probably break down and cry

5. I took my baby to the doctor, With a fever, but nothing he found, By the time this hit the street, They said she had a breakdown

6. Dirty Babe, You see these shackles baby I'm your slave, I'll let you whip me if I misbehave, It's just that no one makes me feel this way

7. I can't keep on waiting for you, I know that you're still hesitating, Don't cry for me, 'cause I'll find my way, You'll wake up one day, But it'll be too late

8. Now that the party is jumping, With the bass kicked in and the vegas are pumpin', Quick to the point to the point no faking, I'm cooking MC's like a pound of bacon

9. Dream if u can a courtyard, An ocean of violets in bloom, Animals strike curious poses, They feel the heat, The heat between me and u

10. You're the one who makes me happy honey, You're the sun who makes me shine, When you're around I'm always laughing,
I want to make you mine

Money Where the Mouth is

Craft distillery Wide Mouth Spirits preps for launch
BY AARON RAGAN-FORE

I'm standing in Nicholas Walker's sunny Springfield kitchen on a Tuesday morning in February, swirling a stemmed glass containing a cloudy concoction that looks suspiciously like a thick shot of grape juice. The liquid is a crème de cacao chocolate infusion, a planned offering of Wide Mouth Spirits, LLC, the nascent brainchild of Walker and business partner James Stegall.

Both of the men glance at me expectantly as I raise the glass to my lips, but I'm a bit dubious. I usually go for something a bit more butch — a shot of Maker's Mark, say — and I've never quite trusted dessert liqueurs. But the nectar goes down smooth and sharp and just a little tart, and I quickly ask for another belt. A small one. It's not even lunchtime.

Artistic collaboration is nothing new to Stegall and Walker, who first teamed up last year for an AM radio theater program. The two realized they were kindred spirits, and when Walker saw a niche for flavorful, organic, craft-distilled liquor with a distinctive "flavor library" derived from Willamette Valley produce, he knew Stegall would be his first call.

To see the rest of this article, check out Eugene Weekly's 2008 Swizzle! section.

The Iron Brewer

By Michael James Werner
Photos by Katie Campbell
(Republished from Etude, the journal of literary nonfiction, with permission from the author.)

Mitch Scheele can taste 100 distinct flavors in beer. A beer that the average beer guzzling consumer may describe as dark and strong, Mitch will tell you has a complex maltiness with subtle caramel notes. What you call smooth, Mitch will tell you is medium-bodied and lacking in astringency. A light, crisp cream ale Mitch will tell you has a well-attenuated flavor with faintly fruity esters and a somewhat dry finish. An Imperial IPA (India Pale Ale), he will say, has a high hop bitterness balanced by a malt backbone and a toasty flavor. And a stout, oh a good stout will always have a moderate roasted flavor, a dry, coffee-like flavor and an unsweetened chocolate character that lasts into the finish. And you just thought it tasted good.

Mitch, a wiry guy with a straggle of stringy gray locks and a retiring personality, is one of a growing number of beer aficionados. Here in Oregon, beer connoisseurs are legion. While beer is seen by many as a coarser drink than wine, drunk by coarser people, beer connoisseurs are raising the appreciation of this frothy beverage to a high art. Go to a beer tasting with a group of beer lovers and you’re likely to hear talk of palates, mouthfeel, body and aroma. But don’t call them snobs. Mitch and his beer-sipping companions prefer the term “beer geeks.”

Mitch and his friends share an affinity for good beer that goes so deep that he and the others brew their own. Brewing has a long history in Oregon. With nearly 80 breweries today, Oregon has more per capita than any other state. The state produces 10 percent of the country’s craft beer, making it the nation’s second largest producer behind Washington. While Milwaukee and Munich are the cities most associated with beer brewing, Portland has more breweries per capita than any city in the world.

It is 10 a.m. on an overcast Saturday in June, and Mitch and nine other men are gathered under three metal-framed party tents in a backyard in Eugene, Oregon. The men stand around foldable rectangular tables atop which sit large silver pots, foot-long silver spoons and thermometers. Propane tanks and burners lie at their feet. The men, most of whom are middle-aged and dressed in T-shirts and shorts, look like weekend campers preparing for a cookout. Each has a glass of beer in hand. In spite of the hour, it feels normal to be indulging.

This is Iron Brewer, a competition put on by a group of Eugene-area homebrewers that is loosely based on the TV program “Iron Chef,” in which chefs are given one hour to improvise and cook a meal featuring a secret ingredient. Iron Brewer, a competition based more on drink-and-socialize than fame-and-riches, requires two-man teams of brewers to formulate a recipe, declare the style of beer being attempted, and then, within five hours, brew a beer using the same kit of secret ingredients. (The results are sampled and judged three months later, after fermentation.) Among the standard ingredients from which the four teams can choose are: fifteen pounds of malted barley; four varieties of specialty grains, which add color and flavor; sugar, which gives beer its fizz; and four different varieties of hops. The teams must also incorporate at least one unusual ingredient: a special variety of hops or a pound of raisins or flaked oats.

After the ingredients are revealed, the teammates huddle together to confer. Mitch and his partner, Curt Hausam, a fleshy guy with a dry sense of humor and a comedian’s natural sense of timing, walk to the edge of the yard, away from the other groups and talk in hushed conspiratorial tones. Last year the Baltic Porter they made tied for second place. This year the pair is sanguine. “It’s in the bag,” Curt says.

The Iron Brewer concept was started by a homebrewing club in Texas about five years ago and has since spread across the country. The Eugene-based Cascade Brewers Society, of which these guys are a part, tried it for the first time last year, and since then several other clubs in Pacific Northwest have adopted the idea. Homebrewing clubs have a higher profile these days, but they’ve been around for more than three decades, a consequence of beer aficionados searching for alternatives to the standard brews being produced by the big companies. One of the first homebrewing clubs was established in Woodland Hills, Calif. in 1974. It wasn’t until 1978 that home brewing was legalized by Jimmy Carter. Since then, the clubs have multiplied from a handful in the late 1970s to several hundred today. Oregon also has a long history of homebrewing. Some members of the Cascade Brewer’s Society have been brewing their own beer since before it was legal.

Not counting the start-up costs (less than $100), making your own beer can cost less than half of what you would pay in a store for premium commercial brands or microbrews. For many of these self-professed “beer geeks,” though, homebrewing is a labor of love. Not surprisingly homebrewers are a passionate bunch, who go to great lengths to make distinct, one-of-a-kind beers, none more so than astronaut-cum-homebrewer Bill Readdy, who blasted into space in 1992 aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery carrying a bag hops. Another beer geek on the flight arranged for a beer to be brewed with the hops. All the mission’s crewmembers were on hand for a special tapping.

Click HERE to see the rest of this article!

Villard Street Pub Blog Kicks Off!

The Villard Street Pub is in the blogosphere! Look here for updates about events, pub culture, and life in Eugene.