We're very happy to have
Standing Stone Brewing participate in the first Oregon Beers Made By Walking! Standing Stone is located in Ashland, at the southern end of the state, and we invited them because we've heard some great things about their beer and we thought that part of the state could offer some interesting herbal finds. On July 17th, brewer Larry Chase set out with clinical herbalist Jon Carlson who teaches at, and founded, the
Vitalist School of Herbology in Ashland. Jon is especially interested in the medicinal properties of local plants and proved to be an invaluable hike leader. The two made their way up the
Grizzly Peak Trail in the Medford District.
Along the way Larry took notes after learning about and sampling numerous plants along the trail. Here are some of the plants that stood out: Douglas Fir, Wild Ginger,
Sweet Root, Thimbleberry, Yarrow, Dandelion Root, St John’s Wort, Elderberry, and Pineapple Weed.
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| Sampling some root along the way |
There were a few plants that really stood out to Larry. He wanted to be ambitious, so he chose three to work with. The Sweet Root he said had an anise and liquorice quality to it. Pineapple Weed was very chamomile-like. And finally Wild Ginger had a very pleasant bitterness but not the ginger flavor that we are used to when we say 'ginger.' He's still working through the details of the base beer but we're very excited to be able to try this one! His beer will be available in Portland at Belmont Station on October 20th with beers from Deschutes, Upright, Coalition, and Flat Tail. Cheers!
Check out the
details for the Oct. 20th tapping at Belmont Station and stay tuned for more info.
Photos by
George Rubaloff.
