Iceland-based KEX Hotel opening to feature KEX Brewery Portland’s beers

KEX Hotel, an Iceland-based “social hotel,” announced this week it will open its Northeast Portland location on Nov. 7 and will debut some of the beers brewed at its Portland brewery.

KEX in June announced plans for the hotel and a Portland satellite of the Reykjavik-based KEX Brewery, which moved into the former home of Dirty Pretty and Ross Island breweries at the east end of the Ross Island Bridge. KEX’s beers will be featured at the hotel and restaurant, on Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard at Couch Street.

The project is a partnership between KEX, Portland’s ChefStable restaurant group and Greenlight Development.

“Portland is a great fit for our brand,” said Olafur Agustsson, 36, who co-owns KEX Brewing with business partner Kristinn Vilbergsson, 47. “We want to be a part of this great community, be a part of what this scene is.”

Offbeat imagery and marketing approach are hallmarks of KEX, captured in its website Manifesto promoting the decline of craftsmanship and the rise of conformity.

Plans called for the hotel to occupy three stories and a basement, with a lobby, bar and restaurant comprising an open ground floor. The hotel will be on the upper floors, along with a rooftop bar, and the site will include a venue for events and live music.

The 152-bed hotel, with 14 private and 15 shared rooms, will occupy the former Vivian Apartments building. Agustsson said it will be a “social hotel” with the shared rooms like a “fancy dorm.”

The restaurant Vivian, named for the building’s past life as the Vivian Apartments, will feature a Nordic/Northwest menu highlighting Nordic cuisine: fermenting, pickling, drying and smoking.

Three flagship KEX Brewing beers, brewed in Portland, will be featured at the opening:

Kolski Kolsch
Thunder Ale, a session ale
Forbidden Fruit Gose, made with with skyr (an Icelandic dairy product) and tangerine.

KEX will also debut a number of collaboration beers, including one with Stumptown, a coffee and cream lactose porter with Stumptown cold brew.

Others include one with Gigantic, Kviek Pale Ale, and one with Copenhagen’s To Øl, Steroids to Heaven.

Lastly, a fresh hop pale ale from KEX and Mikkeler, which will be available at KEX and the Mikkeler pop-up on East Burnside Street. That collab is a sour pale ale called Gretta -- the Icelandic word for the face sour flavors produce.

The hotel will hold its official Grand Opening weekend Nov. 22 to 24, with live music and other events. Reservations can currently be made through the website kexhotels.com.

Oregon Craft Beer Month, formerly in July, moves to February

www.craigmitchelldyer.com — Zwickelmania will be part of Oregon Craft Beer Month next year, when the monthlong event moves from July to February. (Craig Mitchelldyer/Courtesy of Oregon Brewers Guild)

Oregon Craft Beer Month, a monthlong series of beer-related events statewide, in 2020 will be held in February, moving from its traditional July for its 15th year.

The Oregon Brewers Guild, which organizes Oregon Craft Beer Month, said this week it is moving it to better align with craft-beer schedules and events.

“Summer is a busy time for Oregon breweries. If we wanted to ask Guild members to take part in new events and activities, it made sense to slot the month into a different time frame,” says guild Co-Executive Director Tony Roberts. “February allows us a better opportunity to focus on Oregon beer, and give it the celebration and attention it deserves. Plus, there are already some lively beer events in locations around the state” throughout February.

Roberts said the same slate of events can be expected – new releases, tastings, beer pairings and tappings – plus some winter beer events. Zwickelmania, which allows the public to tour breweries, will be on the schedule, along with KLCC Brewfest in Eugene, Fort George Brewery’s Festival of the Dark Arts in Astoria, StormBreaker Brewing’s Brewstillery and the Oregon Beer Awards, Roberts said.

The guild, which is moving its annual meeting to February, is also planning new, smaller events during the month. The monthlong celebration was created in 2006 through a declaration from Gov. Ted Kulongoski and Portland Mayor Tom Potter.

pFriem creates celebratory beer for Moon & Sixpence’s 20th anniversary

Moon & Sixpence anniversary beer — pFriem Family Brewers has created Moon + Sixpence XX Anniversary Pale Ale for the British pub's celebration on Oct. 26.

The Moon & Sixpence British Pub will throw a 20th anniversary party on Saturday, Oct. 26, and pFriem Family Brewers has collaborated to create a Moon + Sixpence XX Anniversary Pale Ale for the event.

The celebration will be 4 p.m.-midnight at the Portland pub, 2014 N.E. 42nd Ave. It will feature beer prices rolled back to 1999, when the Moon, as it’s locally known, opened.

Live music will also be featured, including:

Caleb Klauder and Friends (4-6 p.m.)
Pete Krebs and Friends (6-9 p.m.)
Traditional Irish Music with Cary Novotny, featuring Django Amerson, Joe Trump, Johnny Connolly and Seamus Egan

Green Dragon volunteer brewers celebrate 10 years of weekly releases

Green Dragon Brewing, a group of volunteer brewers who make beer at the Rogue Ales & Spirits Eastside Pub, is celebrating 10 years of brewing by releasing bottles of Pineapple Jaggery IPA.

The beer was brewed in collaboration with John Maier, Rogue’s longtime brewmaster who will be there for the release Saturday, Nov. 9.

The Green Dragon Brewers are celebrating 522 consecutive weeks of Wednesday night releases over their decade of brewing.

The event will be 1-5 p.m. at Rogue Ales pub, 928 S.E. Ninth Ave.

Saraveza hosts 7th-annual Peche Fest, celebration of peach beer, cider

Peche Fest 2019 — The seventh-annual Peche Fest, a celebration of peach beer and cider, will be held Saturday, Oct. 26, at Saraveza, 1004 N. Killingsworth St.

The seventh annual Peche Fest returns this month to North Portland’s Saraveza, which will host the celebration of peach beers and ciders and offer food specials.

About 20 peach beers and ciders will be poured from noon to 10 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 26. Organizers say the festival will feature “a curated lineup of some of the rarest and most special beers and ciders around. Expect rare tart, juicy and funky peach infused beers and ciders in a variety of styles. From luscious fruit sours to tropical peach IPAs and rounded-fruity ales, the Peche Fest is a world-class expression of fruit beers and peaches.”

Participating breweries and cideries include:

Logsdon Farmhouse Ales
Upright Brewing
Block 15 Brewing
pFriem Family Brewers
Beachwood Brewing
Allegory Brewing
Breakside Brewery
Rack & Cloth
2 Towns Cider
Swift Cider

Details: 1004 N. Killingsworth St.; free entry, $15 for festival glass and six drink tickets, with additional tickets for $2 or three for $5, tickets available online; minors permitted; pechefest.com and the Facebook event page.

Ecliptic Brewing plans party to celebrate 6th anniversary with Hazy Plum IPA

Ecliptic Brewing's Sixth Orbit: Hazy Plum IPA — Ecliptic Brewing will release its Sixth Orbit: Hazy Plum IPA at its sixth anniversary party Saturday, Oct. 19.

North Portland’s Ecliptic Brewing is celebrating its “sixth orbit around the sun” and will host a party Saturday, Oct. 19, that will feature live music, a new beer release and a benefit for the Jeremy Wilson Foundation.

The brewery, founded by renowned Oregon brewer John Harris, releases a new beer for every anniversary. This year it is Sixth Orbit: Hazy Plum IPA (8.5%, 60 IBU). “Plums are a stone fruit,” Harris said, “so they add a nice, subtle flavor, and we chose hops that will meld well with them, like Amarillo, Citra and Sabro.”

The first keg will be tapped at the gathering, with to-go bottles available. Harris will lead brewery tours, and rare Ecliptic beers from its archives will be poured.

Ecliptic will match all donations to the Jeremy Wilson Foundation, which helps musicians and their families during medical crises.

Details: 825 N. Cook St.; 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19; music begins at 6 p.m., brewery tours hourly noon to 4 p.m.; free admission, normal prices for beer, excluding rare offerings; details at Facebook event page.

Mt Tabor Brewing ‘rivalry pizza’ for WSU-Oregon game to raise food pantry funds

Mt Tabor Brewing, ahead of the Oct. 26 college football game between the Washington State University Cougars and the Oregon Ducks, this week began offering a half-and-half “rivalry pizza” it created to raise money for the Cougar Food Pantry, a program that serves students in need at the WSU Vancouver campus.

Collin Petersen, general manager of Mt Tabor’s pizza pub in Felida, north of Vancouver, said the pizza created by chef Zach Burkett is available through October. It is divided into two halves:

Oregon side: Garlic cream sauce with confit duck, caramelized local fennel, goat cheese, toasted pine nuts, arugula pesto and oyster mushrooms.
WSU side: Dry aged New York strip steak, sherry roasted red onions, crispy pickled red jalapeños, smokey chimichurri and Cougar Gold Cheddar.

The pub will offer a second food pantry fundraiser with a new, yet-to-be-created rivalry pizza on Nov. 1, ahead of the Apple Cup game between WSU and the University of Washington Huskies on Nov. 29.

Looking for more beer events around town? We’ve got you covered

Paddy’s 40th birthday: Paddy’s, which says its Portland’s oldest Irish pub, Friday wraps up its five days of celebrating its 40th year in business. Today’s party features live Irish music and a Guinness engraver on-site. 65 S.W. Yamhill St.

Haunted Beer Mansion: Imbibe in unlimited samples of more than 30 craft beers, ciders, potions and witches brew while mingling with the tormented and damned who haunt you. 7-10:30 p.m. Oct. 18 and 6:30-10 p.m. Oct. 19. $35-$40. Jupiter Hotel, 900 E. Burnside St. eventbrite.com. – Corey Sheldon, Special to The Oregonian/OregonLive

80s Video Dance Attack’s Monster Two-Floor Halloween Party: This supersized holiday production will be in full effect. Tons of lights, video, music, dancing and decor on two floors. McMenamins has more than a few surprises planned, plus their legendary costume contest. 8 p.m. Oct. 25. Ages 21+. $25. McMenamins Crystal Ballroom and Lola’s Room, 1332 W. Burnside St. mcmenamins.com, videodanceattack.com. – Corey Sheldon, Special to The Oregonian/OregonLive

Rogue Killer Pumpkin Festival: Pair pumpkin beers with snacks from a special pumpkin menu and count on a plentiful supply of Rogue Farms pumpkins for smashing, bowling, decorating and carving. Dog, kid and adult costume contests will also be held. 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Oct. 26. Rogue Eastside Pub & Pilot Brewery, 928 S.E. Ninth Ave.; 503-517-0660, rogue.com. – Corey Sheldon, Special to The Oregonian/OregonLive

Halloween Oregon Beer Run: Go for a 5K Halloween fun run or walk, enjoy live music, giveaways and food for purchase at the finish line party. 11 a.m. Oct. 26. $30-$40. McMenamins Kennedy School, 5736 N.E. 33rd Ave. 503-249-3983 or mcmenamins.com. – Corey Sheldon, Special to The Oregonian/OregonLive

McKenzie Cider and Craft Beer Festival: The Springfield Rotary Club hosts the eighth annual celebration of over 150 beers and ciders Nov. 8-9 at the Bob Keefer Center, 250 S. 32nd St., Springfield. Craft beer from the Pacific Northwest offered along with live entertainment, brewing classes, roller-derby, games, prize raffles, and more; 5-11 p.m. Friday, noon-11 p.m. Saturday. Family-friendly activities Saturday until 6 p.m., including face-painting, games, and exotic animal pets. $18 online or $20 at the door, good for both days; proceeds benefit Rotary projects in the community.

In case you missed it

Here are beer stories from this week on oregonlive.com/beer.