After we wrapped up at the conference on Day 2, Sam and I hopped on the train and went to an industry party at Surly Brewing Company. What a great time! We got to tour their brewery, one of the biggest craft breweries in Minneapolis, and drank a lot of great beer while meeting and greeting other craft brewers and industry people from around the country. We later visited Lake Monster Brewing, where Sam got his first craft beer job! Needless to say, we had a great time and were out a bit later than we had originally planned (never a bad thing!).

Wednesday, May 4th: The fourth was with us on Wednesday! We started our day at the conference by attending the Keynote Address from Natalie Cilurzo, president and co-owner of Russian River Brewing Company. Her stories of California wildfires and pandemic-related travel complications were a great example of the many unique challenges the world is throwing at us. She praised the flexibility and creativity that brewers around the world have shown in recent years to address the myriad of challenges we are all dealing with. She also emphasized the need for Purpose in the craft brewing world - in short, why do we make beer? Do we make beer just for fun? For money? Or is there a greater impact we can have on our communities and our world through our craft? And what is the value of that impact? Her words really resonated with us and reminded me of our Purpose at 7 Devils: to bring our community together, to enrich the lives of our neighbors, and to make some lasting memories with our friends over a pint of delicious beer. 

After the keynote address, Sam and I spent some more time at the BrewExpo. There were literally thousands of vendors from all sides of the craft beer world. We saw a lot of really cool brewing equipment, learned more about the ingredients we use and where they come from, drank a lot of cool beers (have I mentioned that yet?) and made some great connections with retailers. Shout out to the people who were dressed up as Star Wars characters! After strolling the Expo for a few hours, Sam and I split up again to attend some seminars. I went to a fun seminar on Hop Breeding, and got to sniff some brand new, unreleased hop varieties while Sam got to learn about Czech Pilsners from the experts of pilsner-ing themselves (and got to try some legit Czech pilsners in the process!).

Lastly, I attended a seminar on genetically engineered yeast, a relatively new technology in the brewing world. Hearing different takes and opinions on genetically engineered organisms in general, as well as specifically brewer’s yeast, was very fun and dare I say entertaining. The debate around GMOs is far reaching and complex, and to hear different industry experts give their thoughts was enlightening. Meanwhile, Sam was learning about starch conversion in mashing, and how fermentable and un-fermentable sugars affect the brew process. We reconvened and had a beer before meeting up with Sam’s old friends for some amazing Peruvian food in St. Paul. We ended the day at a Japanese whiskey bar in downtown Minneapolis, where we had some incredible cocktails before wandering back to our hotel.

Thursday, May 5th: Our last day at the CBC! We packed our things early in the morning and dropped them off at the coat check before heading back to the BrewExpo one last time. It took three days, but we finally got to see everything the Expo had to offer.  Sam and I split up again, and I attended a seminar on Pumps in the Brewery, which covered all the different types of pumps brewers use and what they are used for. Sam attended a seminar on Beer Distribution, and the many challenges facing breweries that distribute far and wide. This made us very grateful for our Master Distributor, Dana, and all the hard work he puts in to get our beer out to thirsty Oregonians!

For our last seminars of the CBC, Sam attended a seminar about electricity and electrical safety in the brewery. His biggest takeaway from that: if there’s an electrical problem, call your brewery’s maintenance guy! We have one of those, right? While he was trying to decipher complex electrical physics equations, I was learning about Malt Analysis and the standardized metrics used for the malt that we use. It was very helpful for understanding where certain numbers and percentages given to us by the maltsters come from and what they mean for brewing.  Sam and I met up for a quick beer after our seminars before saying goodbye to the CBC, grabbing our luggage, and heading to the airport. ​

It’s that time of year again… Symbiosis Fig Stout Release! 

Here at 7 Devils we get so excited for this moment.  The Symbiosis is an annual seasonal stout that we make in collaboration with our good friends at Reach Break Brewing Co. in Astoria, Oregon.  This delicious stout is secondarily fermented on 200+ pounds of dried black mission figs, giving the beer a deep fruity character and a bunch of extra sugars, sweetening the beer a bit and bringing up the alcohol by volume to somewhere around 9%.  Careful, this beer will sneak up on you!

A lot of our regulars have asked us where we came up with the name “Symbiosis”.  So if you’re also curious, here’s a little science lesson to get you up to speed.  A symbiosis is a very close relationship between two or more organisms that is beneficial to at least one of the organisms.  There are three different types of symbiotic relationships: parasitism, commensalism and mutualism.  We’re all familiar with parasitism.  This is when one organism benefits off of another and ultimately causes harm to that organism.  A commensalism is a relationship in which one organism benefits while the other is neither harmed nor benefited.  Finally, there is mutualism.  This is when both organisms get some kind of benefit from the relationship.  In other words, it’s a win-win!  This is where our stout comes into play.  Figs cannot be pollinated without the help of a very specific creature, the fig wasp.  This is because figs don’t have exposed flowers.  The thing that we eat from a fig tree is actually the stem of the flower (it’s not technically a fruit!), inside of which there are many flowers.  There is a very small opening at the bottom of a fig that is only large enough for a very small organism to enter.  The perfect size for a fig wasp.  When the flowers are ready to be pollinated, their scent attracts the wasp who then climbs inside the fig and finds that it is the perfect safe place to lay her eggs and die.  The eggs eventually hatch and the new fig wasps climb out of the fig, carrying with them the plant’s precious pollen.  When these wasps are ready to lay their own eggs, that pollen will be deposited into a fig from another tree. 
This isn’t where the connection ends between our stout and symbiotic relationships.  We like to think of our relationship with Reach Break Brewing Co. as a mutualism.  We get together once a year with Josh Allison, owner and brewmaster of Reach Break, to create this delicious product that we both get to enjoy the hell out of.  Plus we love that guy!  It’s a win-win for sure.  If you head down to one of our locations and find out that you love this beer as much as we do, it will be a win-win-win! 

Don’t forget to let us know what you think of the beer by leaving a comment below.

*Disclaimer: thanks to modern plant cultivation, there are many fig cultivars that do not require pollination in order to produce delicious fruit… so no fig wasps have been harmed in the making of the Symbiosis Fig Stout 😉

Coming Soon:  The Elahka Ale!

Our newest seasonal beer is set to be released on December 12th!  This beer has been especially fun for us, because it’s a benefit beer for the effort to bring Sea Otters back to the Oregon Coast!  Here at 7 Devils, we love to give back to our community, and we'll take just about any excuse to do that while drinking a delicious beer.  Read on to learn more about sea otters in Oregon and the Elakha Alliance beer challenge.

Many of you may know that Oregon has a dark history when it comes to sea otters.  During the fur trade of the 18th and 19th centuries, the sea otter population here on the Oregon Coast was hunted to extinction.  If you've ever seen one up close, or had the privilege of feeling their fur, you know why.  They have the densest fur of any mammal on the planet, consisting of over 1 million hairs per square inch on some parts of their body! Unfortunately, since then sea otters have not returned to Oregon, which has had a negative effect on the resiliency of our coastal ecosystems.  
 
Sea otters are considered a "keystone species", which means that they have a large impact on their natural ecosystem and without their presence, the ecosystem changes drastically.  More specifically, sea otters have to eat constantly to maintain their body temperature and prevent hypothermia, and one of their main prey items is the purple sea urchin.  Without sea otters, the purple sea urchin population has exploded, resulting in the destruction of kelp forests (sea urchins eat kelp!)  Kelp forests are essential for the health of our coast, as they provide sanctuary for a variety of animals, including fish and crabs, which are both culturally and economically important for humans.  Kelp forests have many other benefits to our coastal ecosystems, which you can read more about here.  Restoring  Oregon's sea otter population could have immense effects on the resiliency of our coastal ecosystems, and would rebuild a lost cultural connection for the indigenous coastal community.

The Elakha Alliance, an organization formed by tribal, nonprofit and conservation leaders, is dedicated to re-establishing a sea otter population on the Oregon Coast within the next 50 years.  7 Devils and many other breweries in Oregon have teamed together to promote awareness about this organization and their inspirational goal by crafting beers to celebrate the sea otter.  The challenge was to brew a beer that "reflects the deep, luxurious fur and sleek, supple movements of sea otters, their fierce intelligence and cleverness, their need for social connections and playfulness", using Maris Otter grain for at least 70% of the grain bill.  To make this beer even more fun, the Elakha Alliance is hosting a judging event in January to award the beers with the most otter fur-like color, the most clever name, the most creative logo/artwork design, the most eccentric recipe, and the Elakha fan favorite.  Stay tuned to see how we do in the competition!  If you'd like to learn more about the Elakha Alliance and perhaps make a donation to their cause, visit their website here!

Our entry into the competition has been so much fun for our brewers to design.  It is an amber-colored kolsch that we believe to be the perfect beer to sip on during those cold, rainy winter days.  We decided to make the coastal connection a tiny bit stronger by incorporating dulse, a red algae that grows here on the coast.  You may be thinking, "Seaweed in beer?! Why would you ever do that?!"... well, we're not the first to do it!  People have been putting seaweed in beer for ages.  It is known to add earthy, nutty and salty flavors, as well as creating a richer mouthfeel that makes the beer that much more indulgent.  It is commonly used as a clarifying agent in the brewing process, resulting in a clearer, more beautiful product.  The dulse that we are using was grown by Oregon Dulse in Bandon.  Read more about their operation here. 

Finally, we want to give a shout out to Coos Bay local, Arusha Dittmer, for designing the artwork for our Elakha Ale.  Arusha is a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation and it goes without saying that this cause is close to her heart.  Thanks Arusha for your beautiful contribution to this project!  We appreciate you!

Comment below and let us know what you think of the Elakha Ale!

Cheers,
The 7 Devils Brew Crew

One of our most highly anticipated fall seasonal brews is set to be released this week!  The Chinook Redd Ale  is brewed every year around the time of the Chinook salmon run in the Coos River to celebrate the natural bounty of our community and educate our customers on the protection of our local salmon population. And no, we didn't spell "redd" wrong!  Read on to find out exactly what a redd is.

We brew this beer with maris otter malt and certified “salmon safe” hops for a warm salmon-egg red color and a toasty malt forward flavor.  It is the perfect beer to drink on a foggy fall day on the Oregon Coast.  What exactly does “salmon safe” mean?  Well, Oregon happens to be one of the largest producers of hops in the entire country.  And it is home to a variety of salmon species.  Many hop growers in the state aren’t practicing salmon-safe hop production techniques, and their fertilizers and other agricultural wastes get washed into nearby streams and rivers, polluting native salmon habitat.  When using salmon-safe hops, we are ensuring that the beer we brew isn’t contributing to pollution and destruction of the waterways that are essential to our salmon populations.

To further our mission with this beer, we also donate some of the proceeds from this beer to two local organizations that work to improve salmon habitat in our area, the Coos and Coquille Watershed Associations. These organizations work locally to support the ecological health of the Coos and Coquille Basins. They partner with a diverse array of stakeholders who all believe that together we can accomplish important work to recover salmon populations, restore native plant communities, support our local natural resource economies and engage the community in stewardship opportunities. The organizations work with the local community and landowners to develop and implement ecological restoration projects that restore habitats and improve water quality, often on working forests and ranches. Additionally, they monitor current conditions and conduct research to better understand the effectiveness of ongoing restoration activities in the watersheds.   If you’d like to learn more about these two incredible organizations and/or contribute a personal donation, visit their websites!  https://cooswatershed.org/  and  https://www.coquillewatershed.org/

Now, as promised above, I’m going to explain exactly what a “redd” is.  When a female salmon is ready to deposit her eggs, she must first build a nest (known as a “redd”) so that the current of the river doesn’t wash her eggs away.  She does this by swimming down to the bottom of the stream and moving her body swiftly upwards, pulling bits of gravel up with her and allowing the current to wash them downstream. Typically, they build several redds, usually one just a few feet upstream from the last.  This way, as she builds more, the gravel that is dug up from the newest redd will land on the eggs deposited in the one directly downstream, covering them up and protecting them from predators and other environmental risks. 

Have you had a chance to try this delicious beer yet?  If so, leave us a comment below and let us know what you think. 

Cheers y’all!

The Response

• Over the weekend 7 Devils raised $1,350 for the Upper McKenzie Fire Department by donating 50% of the sales of growler and bomber fills and tuna melts.
• Patrons also donated an additional $4,600 in cash, half of which was donated to a fire fund benefiting families who lost their homes in the Talent and Phoenix areas, and the other half went to the Upper McKenzie Fire Department
• 7 Devils, Rogue Climate, United Way, K-DOCK, and the Coos County First Student collaborated to accept and distribute material goods donated by members of our community. The result was two entire school buses and 4 U-Haul loads of essential supplies for families displaced by the fires!
• First Student volunteered the use of two buses for the donation drive, and delivered the goods to a relief center in Eagle Point.
• Gibs RV donated the use of two large camp trailers to the Upper McKenzie Fire Department to house the now-homeless firefighters while they continue to fight the blaze. They even DELIVERED the trailers, an 11 hour round trip drive. We were able to pack them with goods (food, water, bedding, camp gear) to be distributed to families who lost their homes in the Holiday Farm fire.
• Dozens of volunteers helped accept, sort, and deliver materials goods throughout the weekend. Sarah Leahy herself rented a U-Haul and made 3 delivery trips to the Talent and Phoenix areas.
• Local businesses donated supplies and support:
  • Gibs RV: TWO camper trailers for fire fighter housing
  • American Mattress donated 12 twin sized mattresses
  • Grocery Outlet: food and snacks
  • Coos Head Food Store: volunteers and volunteer support
  • United Way of Southern Oregon: volunteer, organization, and good storage
  • Darin O'Bryan Dentistry: financial support
• Hundreds of Coos County Residents poured in with donations of camp gear, personal hygiene items, baby-care supplies, pet food, animal carriers, food, water, bedding, and clothing for those who lost their homes in the fire.

Check out some of the photos!

Every year, we here at 7 Devils like to sneak out for a retreat with the whole crew.  This year we went to La Pine, OR to visit the snow.  Little did we know that when we left it would be snowing in Coos Bay!  It was a beautiful trip, and we all survived the drive over the pass.  We rented a 12 passenger van, and struck out to find some adventure on the hills.  Half of us went snowboarding, while the other half braved the trails up to Tumalo Peak.  We rented a beautiful house that sleeps 30 people!  So much fun was had, as we played music, sat in the hot tub, had meals together, and played games into the wee hours of the night.  Thanks to all of our wonderful crew for joining us for the fun!  And thank you to all our customers who support us, and continue to make the pub a fun place to work and relax!  Much Love!

In addition to having four 7 Devils tap handles at their growler fill station, The Beverage Barn and Bandon, OR carries a ton of Oregon craft beer, wine, and spirits. This is the place to go for specialty beverages, so check them out if you're shopping for a special occasion or birthday gift!

Ah....Sorachi Ace. There's no other op quite like it. An imperial IPA, the D7 features this Japanese hop with Simcoe and Citra, giving this beer a nose of ripe apricots and a flavor of tropical fruit, fennel, and stone fruit. Be warned! The balance of hops and malt defies it's 9% ABV.  Come in and try our newest, amazing creation!