By RAELYNN RICARTE
News staff writer
October 24, 2007

Brewers of the Gorge members make it a habit to never drink before noon — but it’s always noon somewhere.

“The rule is that you have to be up for four hours before you can have a beer, unless you’re on vacation,” said Steve Funk, of Stevenson.

“There’s nothing finer than beer for breakfast,” disagreed Dr. Steven Wohlford, of Hood River.

There don’t seem to be any hard and fast rules for becoming a BOG member. To qualify, you only have to love beer and be willing to experiment with new styles of ale.

In fact, the word “research” pops up frequently in BOG conversations about the occasional Portland club crawl.

“If we’re all together beer’s usually involved,” said John Kraut, of Mill A.

“When is beer not involved in anything?” asked Nathan Zorich, of White Salmon.

On Saturday he was sporting a T-shirt that read, “I beer the brew I drink,” when the group gathered in Hood River at the Big Horse Pub.

They had arrived that morning to work with Jason Kahler, brewmeister for the business. On BOG’s meeting agenda was the creation of a Weizenbock, or wheat beer, that will be on tap at the pub in about a month.

Under Kahler’s tutelage, the four BOG members were honing their skills in the manufacturing process.

“There’s different ways to tweak the ingredients to come up with a different taste,” Kahler explained as they began working.

Drinking jokes were set aside as the men studied the color of the liquid that had emerged out of the “mashing” process to convert starch from the malted wheat and barley into sugar. After sampling the concoction, they decided to go with the flow and brew ale of medium color with a stout taste.

“Grain gives beer all of the color and some of the flavor,” said Zorich.

He said the beer would be named when the eight kegs of finished product were ready to be served.

“You have to know what the beer is going to be like before you can give it a name,” said Zorich.

“Otherwise, it’s like naming a baby before it’s born. I just don’t believe in that.”

He and the other BOG members are fascinated with the science involved in brewing beer. Zorich is a microbiologist, Wohlford specializes in pediatric dentistry, and both Zorich and John Kraut are biologists.

“We’re all kind of science dorks and beer is our creative outlet,” said Wohlford.

Once the liquid has been drained from the mash, it is mixed in a broiler with hops, a plant that adds bitterness to offset the sweetness.

The concoction is then boiled and fed into a fermenter where yeast is added to convert the sugar into alcohol.

“Beer is every bit as sophisticated as wine,” said Zorich. “Brewing is a lot more than a drinking thing — it’s an appreciation.”

BOG will celebrate its first anniversary in November with a party involving — beer. Most of the time, the monthly gatherings also include some grilling and/or an appetizer with blue cheese or a flavor complimentary to beer.

The origins of BOG lie in the bottom of a beer stein. Funk, a home brewer, and Kraut began discussing the idea of forming a club after meeting at the Walking Man Pub in Stevenson. They liked the idea of getting together a group of beer aficionados and put the word out that membership was open.

Before long, Zorich and Wohlford had signed on to learn more about the hobby that mixes a little work with a lot of recreation.

“We’re really doing this because it’s fun,” said Wohlford.

Kahler was willing to lend his expertise to BOG and is the consultant troubleshooter.

“If you’ve got questions about making beer he’s definitely the guy to ask,” said Zorich.

It seemed appropriate that the interview with BOG ended with the daily noon whistle — and everyone heading for a glass.

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