… and I like it!

This Saturday, breweries around the state will be opening their doors as part of the Oregon Brewers Guild’s first annual Zwickelmania.   Zwickelmania offers visitors a chance to tour Oregon breweries, meet the brewers and sample their favorite beers, all during Oregon’s Sesquicentennial weekend.

It all takes place at breweries and brewpubs across the state on February 14th, from 1:00 p.m. – 4:00p.m.  The best part – all Zwickelmania events are FREE!

You can find more details and plan your own Zwickelmania itinerary at the Oregon Brewers Guild website.

Click here to see Deschutes Brewery’s Cam O’Connor on KPTV’s “Good Day Oregon” where he gets in the spirit and shows off his zwickel.

If you’re an avid reader of The Oregonian’s FoodDAY section, there’s no doubt you saw last Tuesday’s feature on all things coconut. Tropical, smooth and delicious – what’s not to love? If you haven’t had a chance to read it just, you can check out the whole feature here.

Well, great minds must think alike, because last week I tried a new recipe for coconut rum cake that was such a hit with the the LADies in the office that I was asked to share the recipe with all our blog readers. You can find my recipe below – the original recipe is from the food network, but I’ve made several modifications.

Coconut Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups cake flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 5 large eggs – I used Eggbeater egg whites
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon coconut extract
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/3 cup Malibu rum
• 1 1/2 cups sweetened coconut flakes

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 standard 12-cup muffin tins with paper liners.

Into a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

Using a hand held mixer, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add eggs eggbeaters until just combined. Add vanilla and coconut extract. Add milk, rum and dry ingredients, being careful not to over mix. Mix in the shredded coconut.

Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full with batter. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until golden brown and toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool on wire racks before frosting.

Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 6 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 2 cups sweetened coconut flakes, for garnish

Using a hand-held mixer beat cream cheese and butter together until light and smooth. Add vanilla extract and slowly add the confectioners’ sugar 1cup at a time until thoroughly incorporated.

Frost cupcakes high with about 4 tablespoons of icing. Garnish with toasted coconut flakes.

With the now common usage of Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and Myspace, it’s hard to imagine a time when we didn’t have social media, let alone the internet.  It now seems commonplace to receive an online version of your daily paper,but that most definitely wasn’t the case in 1981.  Check out the YouTube video below for a humorous take on the internet’s place in news distribution and how it could be applied to newspaper sales.

1981 primitive Internet report on KRON

It makes you stop and think – what cutting edge technology will seem completely pedestrian in 28 years?  Am I the only one hoping for flying cars?

Most people will tell you that I’m not into new age ideals and that superstitions aren’t a big part of my daily life; however, I never pass up an opportunity to read my horoscope. Whether it’s waiting for my latte at Starbucks or flipping through the pages of a magazine, I’ve always liked the idea that there is some sort of cosmic guidance offering us insights into the coming day, week or month.

So, imagine my excitement when I stumbled across an online guide to the ideal beer for you, based completely upon your astrological sign. Divine beer guidance? This was something I had to read. Here’s a quick look at the LAD zodiac and what the universe has in store for our palates:

• Lisa & Katie (Taurus) – Brooklyn Lager
• Jackie (Gemini) – Guinness Stout
• Stephanie (Virgo) – Smithwick’s
• Lota (Scorpio) – Old Ruffian Barley Wine

You can find the complete article here. What do you think about your cosmically perfect brew, ideal match or unfathomable flop? Feel free to post your thoughts in the comments section below.

Are you a Guinness fan? If so, Men’s Journal recommends you swap out your current brew of choice in favor of Deschutes Brewery’s Black Butte Porter. The magazine named the beer as one of “America’s Best Beers” in its October issue.

Men's Journal

Many of you may be wondering why I’m so excited about a “festive winter ale” in September, and to you my answer is simple – have you ever tasted Jubelale? Full of dark crystal malt, it’s nutty, it’s sweet and generally delicious. Mmmm…..

So what prompted this sudden outburst of Jubelale love? Last night Deschutes Brewery held simultaneous Jubelale launch parties at its Bend and Portland public houses, offering a lucky few the opportunity to try the 2008 brewing before it’s release to store shelves in the beginning of October.

In addition to traditional Jubelale the pub was offering a special nitro Jubel and a menu of delicious beer infused options. We tried the “Pig’s Ear” dessert which was similar to an elephant ear (with bits of bacon incorporated into the dough) and came with caramel sauce and a Jubelale ice cream. Pretty tasty.

So, if you’ve got a craving for some Christmas in September, I’d recommend heading down to the pub and getting your hands on some Jubelale before word spreads and you can’t get a stool at the bar.

Kegs

Are 21 year olds interested in beer and food pairings? What’s the best social media platform to reach young consumers? Which craft breweries have the most brand awareness with the youth market?

These are just a few of the many questions we’re trying to find answers to here at LAD comm headquarters. To help us in our mission and to provide more industry insight for our client partners, we’ve developed a new online survey that we’ve sent out to our network of targeted beer-loving consumers.

If you’d like to chime in and give us your two cents, check out our Zoomerang survey here. The survey is quick and easy (it should take about five minutes.) We’re interested to hear your thoughts – but don’t worry, all responses remain anonymous.

*UPDATED 10/1/08: Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete our beer survey.  Due to the high volume of responses we received the survey is now closed.  We’re excited to start analyzing the data and reading your feedback.   Please check back soon, we’ll be posting some of our findings in the coming weeks.

The new Portland Deschutes Brewery and Public House is featured in the October issue of Food & Wine as one of Oregon’s “Drink Here Now” destinations.

Check out Food & Wine's October issue

When I was in high school one of my friends discovered she had celiac, an autoimmune intestinal disorder aggravated by eating gluten. After being diagnosed, she changed her diet and was able to manage her symptoms, but on the downside she was unable to have traditional gluten filled foods like bread, pasta, and brownies.

More and more Americans are being diagnosed with the disease. In a recent story, USA Today reported that there are currently 110,000 diagnosed cases of celiac disease in the U.S., up from 40,000 cased in 2003. (You can see the complete article here.)

Because traditional beers are made using malt and barley, beer has long been considered one of the main no-nos of a gluten free diet.

Well, Deschutes Brewery is planning to change that. The brewery has plans to release a new Gluten Free Golden Ale. Using sorghum, brown rice, and roasted chestnuts instead of malted barley or wheat as the sources of extract to avoid gluten, the brewers were able to create a flavor very similar to the crystal malt used in many of their other signature beers.

Although the brewery has produced a small batch of low gluten beer before, the Deschutes brewers were so fastidious in brewing the Gluten Free that they not only double cleaned the brewing equipment, but also grew the yeast culture used to ferment the beer from a single cell using only sorghum as its nutritional source.

Oregon’s celiacs can check out this new hand-crafted brew on draft at the Deschutes Brewery and Public Houses in Bend and Portland at the end of the month. You can check out the complete pub menu here.

Mmmmm, beer.

Check out this beer pairing story we worked on in Country Living Magazine!