Tops in Hops

By ED MERRIMAN

Baker City Herald

Tyler Brown, left, owner of Barley Brown's Brew Pub, and brewmaster Shawn Kelso peruse the copy of Maxim magazine in which Barley's Tumble Off pale ale was picked as one of the top 25 new beers in America.

Barley Brown’s Brew Pub’s Tumble Off pale ale was picked as one of the 25 best new beers in America in the latest issue of Maxim magazine.

The six-page feature includes a map of the United States covered with labels from the 25 beers chosen by the magazine’s editors and staff.

“They wanted us to send along some of our logos. Luckily, we just got a brand new logo for our Tumble Off pale ale,” said Tyler Brown, who owns Barley Brown’s and crafted Tumble Off along with brewmaster Shawn Kelso.

The logo features a scenic illustration from Anthony Lakes Mountain Resort in the background, with a foreground drawing of Moose Stephens, a regular fixture for years at Anthony Lakes and Barley Brown’s, holding a pair of skis.

“It’s a cool logo,” Brown said.

The Maxim story includes photographs of each of the winning beers, along with taste test descriptions from the judges.

The article describes Tumble Off as a pale ale “with more hops than Bugs Bunny and a grassy, herbal aftertaste that recalls our second-favorite Oregon export; this refreshing concoction from the award-winning Barley Brown boys is guaranteed to cure what ‘ales’ ya.”

Two other Oregon beers were included in Maxim’s top 25: Drifter pale ale brewed by Widmer Brothers in Portland, and Green Lakes Organic Ale, an amber ale brewed by Deschutes Brewery in Bend.

Brown said he got an e-mail from the magazine’s senior assistant editor on a Wednesday in December saying they needed the beer by the weekend.

So he hand-bottled two cases of Tumble Off (the beer isn’t sold in bottles) and shipped them overnight express at a cost of $234 to get to Maxim in time for a taste test held on a weekend before Christmas.

“The e-mail said ‘hey we are going to do a story on the best new beers in the United States. We heard about you guys. Can you send us some beer?’ ” Brown said.

Several weeks went by without any word from Maxim.

Then, during the third week of January, Kelso said he received a phone call from his sister in Texas saying she was thumbing through a Maxim magazine and saw Tumble Off pale.

“She said ‘How come you guys didn’t tell me,’” Kelso said.

At that point the February issue, which has the beer contest article, wasn’t in the racks in Baker City stores.

But when Kelso told Brown about his sister’s call, Brown found the February issue in Boise and bought a few copies while there picking up some restaurant supplies. 

“They were putting them out on the shelf at Barnes and Noble, so I picked up a few to share with my family and friends,” Brown said.

The February issue arrived at magazine racks in Baker City last week, and Brown said when he went into Safeway to buy a few more copies, the cashier said they had had a run on the issue.

“It was kind of funny. The gals at the grocery store said a lot of guys have come in to buy the magazine, saying they’re only buying it because Barley Brown’s beer is in there, not because there is a pretty girl in lingerie on the front cover,” Brown said.

For years, Brown said he has gotten occasional calls from people who drank Tumble Off and other beers at his restaurant and brew pub, saying they can’t find the brew at grocery stores.

Since the Maxim article came out, Brown said the number of such calls has skyrocketed, and they’re coming from all over the United States, including as far away as North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Boston and many others cities.

“I say hey, you got to come to Baker to drink it,” Brown said.

While other big brewers might be able to disassemble the ingredients in Tumble Off and Barley Brown’s other award-winning beers, “they can’t replicate Baker City’s water, or the elevation,” both of which affect the flavor, Brown said.

“Obviously we have won a lot of awards at competitions, but  something like this is nice,” Brown said. “You send a beer to a bunch of people who have never heard of us before, and they sit around and taste it and pick their favorites, using their taste buds.”

“It’s a nationally known publication,” Brown said. “It’s a great feeling just to be selected by a group like that, and to be amongst good company.”