Spotlight
Why is Oregon a special place for beer? The question has many answers, and one is surely the perennial late-winter celebration of steel, Zwickelmania. Created by the Oregon Brewers Guild in 2009, it was a way of inviting beer drinkers to get beyond the taproom and see a functioning brewery that makes some of our amazing Oregon beer.
"We created it to give consumers a peek behind the scenes," Oregon Brewers Guild President Sam Pecoraro said. "It gives them access to something they haven't seen before."
The name comes from a practice in Bavaria, where brewers use a special valve to remove a few ounces of beer from a fermentation vessel or conditioning tank. Throughout the whole fermentation process, brewers taste their beer to ensure it is maturing properly. But brewers also know that the very best pour in a brewery is the perfectly fresh beer still in a tank before it gets packaged up and sent out of the brewery. When they visit each other, brewers go into the cellars and zwickel a bit of beer from the tank. Brewers always know where to find the best beer. It's a kind of secret, and getting a zwickel of beer is always a special thing.
"Zwickelmania used to be just about tasting the beer from the tank," Pecoraro explained. The original idea was to give beer drinkers access to that secret experience, but it serves as a metaphor for inviting the public inside. Most people don't fully understand the brewing process, and they may not grasp all the steps it involves. Few, certainly, have had the chance to try beer in-process as it ripens and develops. The Brewers Guild thought Oregonians would appreciate the chance to deepen their understanding our the state's favorite beverage. Over the years, Zwickelmania has become the brewing world's largest open house.
Pecoraro offered an example. "I've tasted a pre-dry hop beer thousands of times," he said. (Dry-hopping is the process of soak hops in fermenting or finished beer; it creates the vivid aromatics we associate with Oregon beer.) "I know what it tastes like before and after we dry hop it, but no one else has. What does that beer taste like before it gets that dry hop addition?" When people enter the brewery and start zwickeling beer in different stages of evolution, they may get the chance.
Of course, now breweries offer more than just a trip to the cellar. Currently 45 breweries have signed up to participate, and you can read exactly what they have planned at the Guild's website. You might get to meet the brewer, taste new special releases, take a brewery tour, or snack on something tasty. Each brewery has their own program. If you've never seen the inside of a brewery, it really is a must-see. "The immediate thing that impresses people is the sense of scale," Pecoraro said, laughing. "It's mind-blowing to people how much beer we make."
This is one of those Oregon originals--no one else in the country has an open house like Zwickelmania. And as for the zwickel itself, make sure you get one of those, too. There's something special about tasting the freshest beer in a brewery. On Saturday, Februar 22nd, you can confirm this for yourself.
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