the New School: 2011: A Year in Photos

Late night drinking in Vancouver, BC with Jamie Floyd, Ben Love, Yetta Vorobik we came upon this sign

Sometimes the old axiom is true--a picture says a thousand words. 2011 was a great year in beer. It was perhaps my most adventursome year yet, as well as most photographed. Being an artist by trade and not a writer, the images on The New School are often as important to me as the text, so this annual post featuring the best photographs from the last year is one of my favorites. It is also a great excuse to relive the last year, and for me to post pictures I may have not had the chance to use because they did not fit into a story or were intended for pieces I never got around to writing. Overall it's like a photobook of friends and good times.

"You have to be this tall to brew" - Ben Edmunds, Breakside Head Brewer measures up his future brewing competition

At first I was going to split this post up into three categories: Beers, Places and, most importantly, People. After all, it is the people that make this blog possible, and you will find many of our contributors along with breweries, beer geeks, and other industry mainstays depicted below. However, I found myself unable to separate the people from the places and events of the last year. In this industry it is all about the people and they are inseparably intertwined with the experiences. So I narrowed it down to 2 categories, the People, Places & Events and another category for beer photos exclusively. Hope you enjoy:

The People, Places & Events

"SNOB" Ritch, Beervana's Jeff Alworth, and Samurai Artist

Two very different views: top left is a sand dune outside of Pelican Brewery in Pacific City and top right is Ex-EastBurn employee and new Maletis rep Kat Finn laying in a pile of fresh drying hops.

From the Full Sail Hop Tour led by John Harris (pictured) with Saraveza owner Sarah Pederson and her daughter Roxy. The Hop Tour is one of the best times of the year. Full Story here.

Portland Beer Week kicked off its first year with a party at the Horse Brass pub (depicted below) and the premiere of Alison Grayson's 'The Love of Beer' documentary on women in the craft beer industry (pictured at the premiere above.)

Above left is Shawn Kelso, the brewer who put Barley Browns brewpub on the map and recently announced his new gig at 10 Barrel Brewing. Above right is Brewvana Brewery Tours owner Ashley Rose Salvitti at APEX.

Left to right: Alex Ganum of Upright Brewing, Jason McAdam of Burnside Brewing, Ben Love of Hopworks/Gigantic Brewing, Vasilios Gletsos of Laurelwood Brewing, Ben Edmunds of Breakside Brewery, and beer writer Brian Yaeger front center with the trophy.

Elysian Brewing's new production brewery in Georgetown

Brunch with coffee and beer at Magnolia Brewing in San Francisco for SF Beer Week

Pictured above is Jason McAdam from Burnside Brewing wrestling with Ben Edmunds of Breakside Brewery while a random chick photobombs from behind right.

Hop fields after the harvest at sunset - photo by "SNOB" Ritch

Brouwer's Cafe in Seattle, WA

Members of the press and service industry photograph the hop harvest

Another amazing pic from the fresh hop harvest during the Full Sail Hop Tour pictured above.
Full Story: http://www.newschoolbeer.com/2011/09/fun-with-hops.html

Mike Wright of Beetje Brewery relocated, expanded, and changed the name of his brewery to The Commons. We interviewed him about it here. I also interviewed Justin Fay of Base Camp Brewing, which is still in the works and hopes to open soon in 2012.

One of my favorite photos of the year: "SNOB" Ritch's parakeet doesnt take kindly to Charles Culp aka @HumuloneRed

"SNOB" Ritch and Beer Geek Amy

Ben Edmunds, Samurai Artist, ElGordo

Captain Neil with John Harris in the background from the SF Toronado Barleywine Fest

Bailey's Taproom from left to right owner Geoff Phillips, Michael O' Connor and Ninkasi's Jamie Floyd

Elysian brewer Whitney Burnside, Samurai Artist, & Ben Edmunds

I love this photo of The Hop & Vine's Yetta Vorobik and I at a Dutch restaurant in Vancouver, BC

Walking the streets of Astoria at night

Some of the most fun had earlier this year was an overnight stay in Astoria with many of Portland's most prominent beer geeks and writers. For the full story check our the North Coast Ale Trail.

Charlie Devereux of Double Mountain and Brady Walen of The Daily Pull/CBA

Top left is Bend Brewing and 10 Barrel Brewmaster Tonya Cornett, top right Sarah Pederson of Saraveza and Roxy, bottom left Jamie Floyd of Ninkasi Brewing, and bottom right Tim Ensign of Powered by Yeast brand management and Chris Nemowill of Fort George Brewing.

Jamie Floyd of Ninkasi, Kat Martin of Grain & Gristle, Yetta Vorobik of The Hop & Vine, Jaime Rodriguez of Hopworks and Ben Love of Hopworks (and now Gigantic Brewing), all at the Hopworks house for Seattle Beer Week

Harry Sanger and Fay

Elan Walsky from Coalition Brewing and Matt Van Wyk from Oakshire Brewing

"SNOB" Ritch poses in front of his poster at Astoria Brewing

Astoria bridge photo by "SNOB" Ritch

Block 15

One of my favorite photos (by "SNOB" Ritch) and trips of the year was to Block 15 Brewing where owner/brewer Nick Arzner (pictured above) showed us around the basement cellars and brewery.
Full Story here.

Troublemakers Brady Walen (ex-The Daily Pull now of the CBA) and beer writer Brian Yaeger

Ben Love drinks his massive toast beer at Hopworks Biketobeerfest

Cooks prepare some Jamaican style chicken at the Burnside Brewing brewers dinner at Simpatica

Some of the most fun I had this year was my first trip to Elysian Brewing's famous the Great Pumpkin Fest that was held at their brand new production brewery. Above left is brewer/friend Whitney Burnside in full on Pumpkin outfit and top right are the storage silos outside the new facility. Full story here.

Naked City Brewery Owner/Brewer Don Webb and Taphandles Inc's Jean Powell at Elysian's Great Pumpkin Fest

I produced the 2nd annual Night of the Living Ales on Halloween night. This year we added some wonderful burlesque performers to round out an amazing night of entertainment and craft beers. Above left is me with 3 dancers. Two of them, Hai Fleisch and Meghan Mayhem, are pictured together above right. Full story here.

Sierra Nevada's Brewmaster Steve Dressler and myself, Samurai Artist

2011 was a great year for our Behind the Pint video series. I was honored to meet and interview such craft beer luminaries as Sierra Nevada's Brewers Steve Dressler (pictured above), Terence Sullivan, and Firestone Walker's co-founder David Walker, pictured below.

Myself and David Walker at Belmont Station

Double Mountain Brewery crew

Above is a photo from Kriek Kamp, one of the most memorable photo-friendly experiences of the year. Full story here.

Another photo from Astoria and the North Coast Ale Trail

Taphandles Inc.'s Jean Powell hides in a hammock on Elysian Brewing's brewdeck

Kerry Finsand from Taplister, Bill from It's Pub Night, and "SNOB" Ritch at Roscoe's Beer & Sushi event for PDX Beer Week

Photos of BEER!

Hopworks Secession Cascadian Dark Ale

Taster tray at Bellingham's Chuckanut Brewing

Beers from all over: top left is a Gruit at Magnolia Brewing, top right a sour at Cascade Barrel House, bottom left one of my favs Le Terroir a sour from New Belgium and bottom right Sierra Nevada Ovila Dubbel at the brewery.