Beer Update: Bridgeport Release Party and Belgian Beer Weekend

I am totally excited to report that Bridgeport Brewery's new seasonal beer is a Belgian! YAY! (Also, how awesome is it that the Oregonian has a designated beer writer?) Jesse and I are going to swing by the release party tomorrow night to try out samples and pick up a bottle (or eight) of the Stumptown Tart Cherry Wheat Ale. According to Bridgeport brewmaster, Karl Ockert, the Stumptown Tart is their (excellent) Fallen Friar Trippple that has been aged an additional three months and then infused with 2,000 pounds of Oregon sour cherries. Here's a video of the interview from today's Oregonian (for some reason the video wouldn't embed).

In other beer news, Jesse discovered on a recent business trip (from a bartender in San Francisco) that Belgium has a beer weekend every year. Guess what? We arrive in Brussels on the first day of the 11th Annual Belgian Beer Weekend. What luck?! I had no idea about the festival when I booked our airline tickets to Belgium way back in February. This afternoon I'm doing some research to find a room in Brussels for the weekend. I hope it's not too late, given that we're only about three months away from the big trip. Three months! I can't wait. I just got a newly released edition of the Rough Guides travel book for Belgium and Luxembourg. The festival is a good reason for me to crack it open and read it from cover to cover.