News on Tap

With summer approaching quickly and local farms bustling with crops, we’re digging the opportunity to showcase our state’s excellent harvests in a seasonal beer: Backyard Brew. This ale is crafted with 100% Oregon-grown ingredients, and showcases a few of our favorite farms right here in our own regional backyard.

We’re tapping this specialty ale on Wednesday, May 16th at 6 PM in honor of American Craft Beer Week. This nationwide celebration shines the spotlight on the entire craft brewing community, and we’re joining the fun with events all week long. We’ve invited Ashland Mayor John Stromberg to read the Proclamation of Beer Independence and be our guest to tap this new specialty beer. Check out our event calendar for more info about happenings throughout the week.

We’re also thrilled to bring this ale with us across the country to Washington D.C. for SAVOR: A Craft Beer and Food Pairing Experience. This weekend-long, sold-out event features a handful of breweries from across the U.S. to pour craft brews that perfectly pair with select culinary creations. We’ve been chosen to feature the Backyard Brew at one of the private tasting salons, where our brewmaster, Larry Chase, will speak about beer ingredients and flavors, and pair our ales with cheeses from award-winning Rogue Creamery of Central Point, OR.

About Backyard Brew

This Oregon-bred beer is modeled after farmhouse ales of Belgium, where historically farms brewed beer with the ingredients that were readily available. Gold with a white haze, bubblegum aroma provided by a Belgian wheat yeast, and lots of spiciness in the flavor with some hints of anise and a tinge of smokiness.  Dry finish with a lingering bitterness.  5.7% abv

Ingredients

• Oregon Select Malt (Klamath Basin)
• Yamhill Variety White Wheat-unmalted (Dunbar Farms, Medford)
• Maple Blackberry Honey (Wild Bee Honey Farm, Eagle Point)
• Nugget Hops (Willamette Valley)
• Organic Liberty Hops (Willamette Valley)
• Corriander (Dunbar Farms, Medford)
• Belgian Wheat Yeast (Wyeast, Odell)

Pairing Suggestions

The spicy and fruity qualities in this beer pair well with like flavors in food, and the seasonality of its ingredients make this a fun beer to match with other seasonal produce.  We recommend visiting your local farmers market and browsing fresh, wheaty breads and creamy cheeses, too. For added fun, try tasting an apple or plum and see if you can pull those same flavors from the beer, or bubblegum to match the hoppy aroma. Here are our pairing suggestions from our menu:

• Pretzel with Marionberry Mustard
• Calamari
• Black Bean Hummus Plate
• Spicy Thai Curry
• Artichokes – from our Specials Board

We think the best way to enjoy the Backyard Brew is, of course, outside! Come order a pint to enjoy with the view of the hills from our back patio.  Or, take some to-go and relax in your own backyard. The Growers and Crafters Market is in full swing outside our front doors on Saturday mornings, so stop by to stock up on fresh finds from your favorite local producers before or after coming in, and raise a glass in honor of their efforts.

Posted in Brewery & Beer, Events
Tags: specialty beer & seasonal beer, American Craft Beer Week, local food & farms, beer and food pairings

American Craft Beer Week is here! Each May, independent craft brewers and beer fans unite to honor and enjoy this wonderful beverage and all it brings to our communities.

Breweries across the nation take part in the festivities, and we’re doing our part to ensure Southern Oregon’s Rogue Valley isn’t left out. To us, American Craft Beer Week is really about the community surrounding our brewers and brewpubs. We appreciate everyone in this community, and relish the chance to offer a little fun and special flavor as a way of saying thanks.

Here’s what’s on tap. Among the highlights: Mayor John Stromberg will read a Proclamation in support of the event, and we’ll tap a new specialty beer made entirely with ingredients from Oregon.

Every Day

• Enjoy our new specialty beer made with 100% Oregon-grown ingredients (on tap from 5/16)
• Chef Eric Bell is designing menu specials to pair with various beers
• We’ll offer a special beer & cheese sampler plate

Daily Special Happenings

• Monday, May 14th, 6 PM:  Brewery tour for women with Women Enjoying Beer. Sign up online
• Wednesday, May 16, 6 PM: Specialty beer tapping (100% Oregon-grown ingredients) and reading of Mayoral Proclamation by Ashland mayor, John Stromberg
• Thursday, May 17th, 6:30 PM: Guest beer tapping with Southern Oregon Brewing
• Friday, May 18^th: Brewery tours at 4 PM, 5 PM and 6 PM

As we know, beer is much more than a simple libation. It’s the hub of conversation and community, and an economic engine that creates jobs, boosts allied supply and distribution industries, and supports communities. We’re proud to offer good jobs to more than 50 employees in our extended family, support local food producers and suppliers, and give back to our community, thanks to customer support. We also love how each day gives us the the opportunity to engage with friends and neighbors, while getting to know new folks and providing hospitality to travelers.

Craft beer contributes a lot to our state as well. According to the Oregon Brewers Guild, Oregon is the nation’s number two craft beer producer, with 139 breweries employing over 7,900 staff. It’s also the number two hop-growing state, with a crop value estimated at over $31 million in 2010. Southern Oregon’s brewing scene is quickly growing, and features several commercial brewers along with myriad brewpubs and taprooms.

We’re grateful and proud to be a part of this growing movement, and appreciate all those, near and far, who have helped it grow. Join us for American Craft Beer Week – it’s your party, too!

For more information on Standing Stone’s events visit our event calendar. If you’re not in the Rogue Valley and want to find events elsewhere, or if you’re looking for more information on American Craft Beer Week, see the ACBW website and calendar.

Posted in Brewery & Beer, Events
Tags: specialty beer & seasonal beer, American Craft Beer Week

With warm weather and longer days, May is perfect for biking. Aptly, it’s Bike Month, organized by the League of American Bicyclists. To celebrate locally, Go Rogue Valley is coordinating “Go by Bike Week” from May 14-20, which includes events, a bike commuting transit pledge and more. (Coincidentally, this is also American Craft Beer Week. We love both bikes and beer, and celebrating them together is even better!)

Rogue Valley residents who want to participate in Go by Bike Week can get tips and pledge to ride on the event website. If you’re out of the area, check out the Bike Month site to find events near you.

To help folks get started rolling or kick your biking commitment into a higher gear, we asked Nathan Broom, Transportation Options Planner at Rogue Valley Transportation District (part of Go Rogue Valley) to for motivation and biking tips.

What’s “Go By Bike Week” about?

Research indicates that the majority of people – about 60% – are interested in bicycling, but for various reasons, ride rarely or not at all. Well-designed roads and paths help, but so does encouragement – and that’s what Go By Bike Week is about. It’s an invitation to plan ahead, get prepared and go on two wheels for a week – for work, school, errands, fun and more. It just might stick.

What are the benefits of bike transportation?

The first benefit is the reason every kid gets on a bike in the first place: it’s fun! That’s true for adults, too. Money is another compelling reason for most of us. AAA says it costs 59.6 cents per mile to drive an average sedan. That’s nearly $16 for a round trip between Ashland OR and Medford, OR. Health is another strong reason. We can combat the destruction of sitting diseases just by changing the way we make some of our trips. I could go on about emissions, mental wellbeing, parking impacts, etc. but after a while, it all starts sounding too good to be true. It’s not!

What’s a good way to find bike routes? 

Just paying attention is probably the best way, but there are some great tools, too. Google Maps has a button for directions specific to bicycling (as well as walking and public transit), and a layer showing bicycle facilities. Combining bike and bus is a great way to make longer commutes feasible. Drive Less Connect is a statewide tool that helps people connect with bike commute and carpool partners.

What tips do you have for getting started or increasing your commitment to biking?

Just pick a day and make it happen. Maybe it’s during Go By Bike Week. Maybe it’s the summer solstice. To increase your commitment, explore what you value about biking. If it’s financial savings, figure out how much you save per mile. Track your saving and promise yourself a reward at a certain point.

What are your top safety tips and how can people learn more about safe biking?

The best advice I’ve gotten comes from bicyclesafe.com. It focuses on the most common kinds of collisions between bikes and autos, and gives practical advice on avoiding those. In summary, it’s a good idea to wear a helmet, but it’s a great idea to take steps to avoid a collision in the first place.

Thanks, Nate! We hope this leaves our readers as inspired and ready as we are to pump up the pedal power. Happy biking!

Posted in Sustainability
Tags: biking & bike commuting

It’s officially springtime in Southern Oregon, and with its arrival comes the return of breakfast at Standing Stone! We start serving scrumptious morning meals this year on May 5th, matching the beginning date for the Saturday Growers and Crafters Market in Ashland, OR.

Last year, we launched our first-ever breakfast service to coincide with the Growers and Crafters Market’s new weekend location – downtown on Oak St, right in front of Standing Stone. With fresh produce right outside our front door, we couldn’t possibly miss out on the opportunity to whip up locally inspired breakfast meals and beverages to match.

This year, we’re expanding this well-received offering by serving breakfast starting at 8am on both Saturdays and Sundays, celebrating morning meals all weekend long. Breakfast will be available until 2pm, with our lunch and dinner menu items available from 11:30am. Even better, breakfast will continue after the Saturday market season ends. We’ll be serving breakfast year-round!

With the Standing Stone Farm Project well under way and our chickens happily laying, we’ll feature pasture-raised eggs from our farm on Eagle Mill Rd. As the planting and growing season continues in Southern Oregon, we’ll also use a variety of herbs and veggies from our rooftop garden and the market in quiches, omelets, scrambles, scones and more.

Of course, we won’t forget the breakfast beverages, too. We have our Noble Coffee Stout on tap, which combines our Oatmeal Stout with a generous kick of Noble Coffee Roaster’s Mokha Java blend. Or, try a lighter beer to perfectly pair with your morning pastry. We also have an espresso bar featuring Noble Coffee’s World Tour roast. For breakfast-lovers of all ages, fresh-squeezed Orange Juice is always available, as is organic Apple Cider and Cherry or Ginger Lemonade.

Here’s a sneak peek at our breakfast menu, with lots of weekly specials to come, too. We also have kids’ options available and lots of great sides to make a perfect breakfast plate.:

Two Pasture-Raised Eggs with Toast and Marionberry Jam
Chilaquiles with Blue Corn Chips
Quiche of the Day
Oregon Coast Shrimp and Crab Cake Benedict
Salmon Omelette

*All above served with Homefries

Buckwheat Pancakes
Oatmeal Molasses French Toast
Breakfast Burrito

Be sure to stop by for breakfast and the Growers and Crafters Market on Saturday, and check us out on Sundays, too. Just like our craft beer and terrific lunch and dinner offerings, breakfast is here to enjoy year-round.

Posted in Food, Restaurant & Menu
Tags: breakfast, Growers & Crafters Market/Farmers Market

We love the greenery and color spring brings. As brewers, we’re particularly excited to see hops pop out of the ground after hibernating for the winter. We asked our friends Steve and Rebecca Pierce, of Ashland’s own Alpha Beta Hops, about what’s happened since our virtual visit with them last fall.

They’ve been growing organic Cascade hops for several years (now joined by sons, Spencer and Morgan), with plans to expand acreage and varietals to meet growing demand for this essential ingredient in beer. (Photos by Rebecca Pierce)

 What’s the winter like at the hop yard?

With the hops cut and put to bed with a covering of straw, the hop yard is pretty quiet in the winter. It’s a great time for marketing our fresh hops to local breweries and home brewers. Winter is also the time we “retired” folks travel. Once we get the pasture grass clumps and weeds eradicated, we plan to plant a clover cover crop over the winter. For now, sheep, chicken and duck grazing supply nitrogen.

What does spring bring your way?

We start reviving the hop yard in February when we stretch wire trellis and repair anchors and irrigation hoses. In March, we put up 5,000-6,000 organic paper strings and anchor them near the budding hop plants. Hop bines wind around these as they reach for the sun.  We’ve been very lucky to be helped by WWOOFer (Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms) volunteers, who work hard in exchange for hands-on experience on an organic farm. By May, the bines grab the strings and turn the fields into leafy green forests of hop bines.

What’s your favorite aspect of spring?

After a cold, windy winter it’s exciting to walk out into the field, which had snow on it a week before, and see our hops starting to push up through the straw (photo on right). We seem to be in a microclimate that’s protected by nearby foothills. So far, the hops seem to be able to survive anything Mother Nature sends our way. Spring in the Rogue Valley is a wonderful time of year, with everything turning lush and green. Although our winters are usually mild, it’s nice to have the rains stop, the mud dry up and hearty sprouts popping up everywhere.

What else do you grow at your farm?

Like so many others, we’re striving to become more self sufficient and make a smaller footprint on this earth. We have a quarter acre organic vegetable garden, egg-producing chickens, turkeys, sheep and two miniature donkeys.

Our son, Morgan, and his fiancé, Jessica, design and coordinate our vegetable and flower garden. Jessica designs the most beautiful beds, incorporating flowers with vegetables, rotating the crops annually, and using marigolds and other natural methods to control any unwanted pests. After each year’s crop, they collect seeds to make their own starts in the greenhouse. This year we harvested our first batch of asparagus, enjoyed fresh organic produce all winter and just finished off the bit of over-wintered broccoli. Jessica and Morgan like to introduce us to many heirloom vegetables so we never know what wonderful treats are in store.

What a hoppening place – we can’t wait for the harvest! (Volunteers welcome and it’s FUN – contact the Pierces.) Until then, we’ll enjoy one our the craft beers we make with their wonderful hops. As Steve and Rebecca would say, “Prosit!”

Posted in Brewery & Beer, Employees & Partners
Tags: Alpha Beta Hops Farm, hops, local food & farms

Southern Oregon is known for teeming with beautiful hiking trails, including a portion of the famous Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). We’ve named our latest specialty beer in honor of this famed West coast feature that brings visitors to Ashland, OR all spring and summer long: Pacific Crest Ale.

About the trail

The 2,650 mile path runs from the Mexican to the Canadian border, traversing California, Oregon and Washington. Locally, the trail passes right by Pilot Rock, the natural landmark Standing Stone is named for. Hikers who complete the trail brave 60 major mountain passes, visit seven national parks and pass by more than 1,000 lakes along the way. Some choose to complete the entire trail in one long season, while others chip away at hiking portions of the trail over the course of a life-time. To find out more about the route, plan a hike, or learn about donating time or funds for trail upkeep, you can visit the Pacific Crest Trail Association website.

About the ale

The Pacific Crest Ale is perfect for those coming off the PCT or any of our fabulous local trails. This is our lightest beer on tap, in many respects, and just right for cooling down on a warm, sunny day. With a light golden color and medium-light body, this ale gives a biscuit aroma and bready taste with a clean, crisp finish. The hops are very light in this beer, which lets the malt shine through. 4.6% abv

Malt

• Organic Pilsner
• Briess Bonlander (a Munich-style malt)
• Acidulated

Hops

• Nugget = Bittering
• Willamette = Aroma

Pairing suggestions

Because of this beer’s light body and flavor characteristics, we suggest pairing it with equally mild and refreshing foods, such as the Sea Scallop and Spinach Salad from our menu. The maltiness also complements bready foods, like grilled cheese sandwiches or crackers – a pairing that you can take with you on the trail. We like matching it with our house Pretzel with Marionberry Mustard at the restaurant. Finally, the lack of hop bitterness and presence of malt accents will help tame spicy dishes, if that’s what you’re looking for. Try an order of our Buffalo Wings, and sip this beer in between bites to cool the heat.

With all this sunny, spring weather we’re enjoying, we can’t think of a better brew to savor outside. Grab a pint and relax on our back patio, or take a liter or half-gallon to-go and reward yourself after long day of hiking.

Pilot Rock photo: M.A. Schweisguth

Posted in Brewery & Beer
Tags: beer & food pairings, specialty beer & seasonal beer