Monday Night Cheers

Every Monday is a special night down at Tugboat Brewing, as whenever you enter you are cheered and if you leave you are booed. Quite fun. Additionally during the winter Linsel, my favorite bartender in Portland, has free popcorn with magical popcorn seasoning that I still crave the next day. He might lace it with cocaine. Tugboat closes down at 10 pm on Monday, and afterwards Tara and I joined Linsel and friends across the alley at Bailey's Tap Room for a pint.

One thing I enjoy about Bailey's is that their half pint (10 oz.) is actually close to half the price of their normal pint, making consuming less but trying more beer much easier to accomplish. Last night Tara and I were able to try two beers, one of which was a leftover from the Brewpublic anniversary party from several weeks ago.

Caldera Brewing: Rose Petal Golden
Imperial Golden
While I love beer in bottles, beer from a can amuses the heck out of me. It helps when the beer in question is a damn fine brew. Caldera has been making very tasty beers for a number of years now and canning several varieties for distribution (you should try their IPA and Pale, great canned beer), in addition to special beers that they distribute in kegs. This specific beer was made with what I am told was an outrageous 11 pounds of rose petals and 2 liters of Bulgarian rose water. It has a potpourri smell that stayed true in the flavor, with a fine floral taste presenting on front and ending with a moderate bitter. Not something I would drink all the time, but extremely interesting. ***

Golden Valley Muddy Valley
Oatmeal Stout ABV:5.8%
I love oatmeal stouts, but only when there is more to them than the great oatmeal mouthfeel. Muddy Valley had the correct feel, with a fine smooth finish with the usual tongue coating of an oatmeal stout coupled with a chicory-esque taste that lingered nicely on the palate. We were served this beer on nitro, with the smaller nitro bubbles enhancing the coffee smell and the smooth taste. ***

A celebration of Beer Weekend

Yesterday Tara and I went with my parents out to Skamania Lodge in Stevenson Washington to attend the "Celebration of beer" weekend that the lodge and local breweries were hosting. While there were several events that made up the weekend, we were there for just the beer festival part- a sedate affair with perhaps 10 breweries each hocking 2-3 beers apiece. I like these small beer fests as it tends to draw a smaller crowd with fewer "frat boy drinkers". This is not to say that the majority of the attendees were especially knowledgeable, but rather the number of men smoking cigars, wearing shirts advertising their sexual prowess, and shouting every five minutes was next to none. Additionally the weather in the Gorge was breathtaking, with the festival taking place on the lodge's front lawn with a great view of the Oregon side of the gorge. I did not have a notepad with me, so please forgive me for detailing the beers entirely from memory.

Walking Man Brewing Hopalong
Fresh Hop Ale
The first beer that my father and I headed for was this year's fresh hop beer from Walking Man. Walking Man remains one of our favorite breweries, with such notable products as Homo Erectus and its offspring Big Black Homo and My Old Kentucky Homo. Additionally their Black Cherry stout is one of the most heavenly dessert beers around (always on tap at Henry's, just so you know). The Hop along was a fantastic fresh hop beer, getting the better of most beers made in the style by having a solid bitter character with a fine citrus mixed in with the hoppy herbal flavor. Often the fresh hop beers (especially the last 2 years) are all aroma and no substance, so this was a perfect way to start the festival out.
***1/2

Laht Neppur
Winter Warmer
Oatmeal Porter
These beers are both named exactly for their style. I started off with the Winter Warmer, which has a delightful cinnamon and spice aroma that mirrors its true to style flavor. The cinnamon is perhaps even more prevalent than the smell would indicate, and the slight honey edge gives it a near spiced mead quality. ***

The Oatmeal porter I was less enthusiastic about, as I generally do not like Oatmeal beers outside of the Oatmeal stout spectrum of drinks. The mouthfeel was the perfect thickness, but the chocolate flavor of the porter was diminished, resulting in a textured but not flavorful drink.
**1/2

Lazy Boy
Mistletoe Bliss
Redhead Imperial Red

Lazy boy continues to dissapoint me. The Imperial red was bland and unintersting (and let me tell you, us redhead are not bland) and the Mistletoe bliss was a suprisingly un-spiced winter warmer. Both seemed to greatly miss the mark. Too bad, as the company rep attending for them sure seemed like a nice dude.
Mistletoe Bliss: * 1/2
Redhead: **

Double Mountain
Dapper Dan- British Style Brown Ale
We had Dapper Dan at the festival, and later on at the Double Mountain Ale House, but it made quite an impression on the group. It is a true session style beer, made to let you stay in the pub arguing with your mates for hours without getting belligerent, due to its low ABV of 3.5%. The smooth, almost nutty taste was infinitely drinkable and we came back for several samples before our departure. ***1/2

Full Sail
Fresh Uebergehopt
Full sail's fresh hop beer was sampled, to it's detriment, after we had already hit the Walking Man taps. While the Ubergehopt (Super Hopped) was superior to the last 2 years worth of fresh hop beers, it was still somewhat lacking in flavor, with the hops largely imparting only a delicious aroma. Still, it was nice to get to try a Full Sail special rather than just having their Wassail (which is pretty fantastic this year) available at the fest. ** 1/2

There were several other beers that we sampled (think a Fish Tale ale that I was not tremendously impressed with, as well as something from Yakima brewing) but nothing that really stuck out. After finishing up the beers and having a pretzel by the outdoor fire pit, we grabbed some free coffee from the lodge and headed over to Walking Man's brewpub to see if they had anything special on tap. The brewpub was fairly packed and the beer board boasted nothing phenomenal, so after listening to some bag pipers for a few minutes we decided to head up to Hood River and try out the Double Mountain taproom, located on 4th avenue in downtown Hood River.

The brewpub isn't much to look at for Double Mountain. Not quite enough room for all the people drinking, crummy chairs, and the extra space that we ended up sitting in being heated by space heaters as it was part of the warehouse where they store their beer being aged in barrels. The food menu was sparse with sandwiches and Pizza being the main items, so we had a sausage onion and mushroom pizza and a Hummus plate while we drank and waited for the live music to start. The food wasn't bad, but it wasn't great. This was more than made up for by the beers we sampled. Tara and I both started with Double Mountain's yearly fresh hop beer Killer green. It is a potent IPA made with local hops that is solid from smell to finish, a true four star beer and my favorite in the style for the year. My mom had a Dapper Dan, and my dad plunked down the $8 for a 12 oz. goblet of "Terrible Two" a Bourbon Barrel Aged beer based off of their Uber Brown ale. At 10% alcohol it packs quite a wallop, but the mandatory intoxication is well worth it due to the fantastic bourbon barrel smell imparted on the ale, coupled with its heavenly bourbon flavor and strong warming character. This five star beer easily was the best of the day, if not quarter of the year and we all wished that it was available to be purchased by the keg, but alas it was not to be. Other beers sampled included Abbey Hoffman, a different Bourbon Barrel aged beer that I reviewed in my previous post.

Late Post

Better late than never I suppose. Back on October 10, brewpublic hosted their 1st anniversary party at Bailey's Tap Room downtown. Tara and I attended and were able to sample seven of the ultra-rare beers on hand for the celebration. Most of these were made in extremely small batches, or have limited distribution in the Portland area, so don't expect to find them at the QFC any time soon.

Cascade: 5 Barrel Thread
5 beer blend Abv: ???
This beer was a blend of five different oaked sour beers from Cascade. Tara enjoyed the tart fruit smell, coupled with a hint of spice. I noticed the spice but found the fruit smell to be prmarily Tangerine and a little disjointed. On the sip Tara thoroughly enjoyed it's fruit punch-esque flavor and perfect level of tart. I was less impressed with the blend, finding the individual components not mixing well. In addition, I thought the tart was slightly off. Overall this was a dissapointment for me, as Cascade has recently had a great string of success with their sours and I hate to grade them low.
Tara: **** Nick: ** 1/2

Double Mountain: Abbey Hoffman
Belgian Brown Ale: ABV 7.5%
Double Mountain continues to impress with this fine Belgian brown. Abbey Hoffman had a wonderful malt aroma with a hint of coriander that was slightly sweet. The flavor itself was a full bodied malty/sweet flavor that ended with a slight Belgian yeast taste. A fantastic beer.
Tara: *** 1/2 Nick: ****

Oakshire Collaborative Evil
Belgian Strong Pale ABV 10%
We thought that this Belgian Pale by Oakshire, a brewery that has had a number of surprisingly tasty beers recently, was generally underwhelming. It has the standard Belgian nose coupled with an herbal/grassy hop flavor. What is interesting about this specific beer is that you could not tell that it was a 10% beer whatsoever.
Tara: ** 1/2 Nick: **1/2

Block 15 Fat Monk
Bourbon Barrel Dubbel ABV 7.5%
Wow. We are pretty big fans of Bourbon Barrel aged beers (you should see my pantry, stocked with nothing but Bourbon barrel beers), and this one was a fantastic twist on the evolving style. The smell of Butterscotch that the Fat Monk gives off accurately promises the full bourbon/butterscotch flavor that the beer delivers. It had a wonderful, full, and warm mouthfeel that lingered on the tongue well after we had finished fighting over the last drop. I look forward to trying more beers from this particular Corvallis brewery.
Tara: ***** Nick:****1/2

Upright Brewing Fresh Hop of Bel Aire
Fresh Hop Saison ABV: 6.2%
True to the saison style, the Fresh Hop of Bel Aire gave off a delicious freshly mown lawn smell with just a hint of spice. The taste of this locally produced fresh hop beer was earthy with just a hint of orange peel. The mouthfeel on this beer was strangely watery, which I found distracting from what was otherwise a solid entry.
Tara: *** Nick:**1/2

Hop Valley Vanilla Porter
Vanilla Porter ABV: 5.9%
Vanilla Porters remain one of Tara's favorite beer choices, while I remain only slightly fond of the style. Too often the vanilla bean flavor is too akin to chugging directly from a bottle of vanilla extract. This Vanilla Porter I liked more than most as it was more of a Chocolate porter with a vanilla edge to it, enhancing it's dessert beer flavor. Tara was suprised at the level of bitter that they crammed in to an already complex flavor profile.
Tara: *** 1/2 Nick: ***

Walkabout Jabberwocky
Strong Ale ABV:???
Tara and I differed greatly on this beer, produced by a brewery that does not often have it's products appear in Portland. She detected almost no smell, and only got an extreme bitter off the taste with no supporting maltiness. I, on the other hand, smelled a slightly sweet aroma with an edge of malt. The flavor starts slightly sweet then gradually builds to a moderate bitterness. I graded this high based upon it's quaff-ability- I could easily drink a number of these in a session.
Tara:*1/2 Nick:***

OBF, round 2 + summation

Saturday marked the second and final day of my OBF excursion, with my dad and my cousin Jon joining me as we braved the hot and the drunk to sample beers. I largely tried new beers on the second day, getting only a repeat sample of Deschutes Miss Spelt to start my palate off correctly. As an overall review of the day there were two genuinely good beers that I sampled, bundled with a whole lot of mediocrity. I will address the bears alphabetically by brewer, grading the beers under a 5 star rating scale (** 1/2 being a perfectly acceptable score, ***** being only given a handful of times in the last five years)

Bayern Brewing- Dragon Breath Dark Heff
Bayern brews entirely under the Reinheitsgebot, the German beer purity rules, and as such produces beers that are generally sound if not exceptionally exciting or novel. This dark heff, a traditional Bavarian style, conforms to style while providing the maximum flavor that the rules allow them to squeeze from their ingredients. It is both an interesting malt profile crossed with a nicely balanced hopping while still remaining refreshing and drinkable. It is a fine example of the style. ** 1/2

Boundary Bay Brewery- Amarillo Double Dry Hopped Pale Ale
This beer largely exemplifies a theme running through this year's OBF. Almost all of the brewers have focused on dry hopping and whirlpool hopping to provide bears with maximum aroma while reducing the bitterness, but have left their beers largely unflavored. The scent on this specific beer exemplifies the citrus scent (very tangerine) that Amarillo hops will impart during dry hopping, but the actual beer has a front flavor of bitter followed with . . .nothing, really. This creates for an incredibly disjointed brewing effort. **1/2 (largely for the delicious aroma alone)

Fifty Fifty Brewing Co- Manifesto Pale Ale
My notes for this beer are supremely short. "Boring". A pale ale with a decent smell but watery flavor. **

Flying Fish Brewing Co- Abbey Dubbel
Belgian style beers were a fixture of this year's OBF, much like Kolsch beers three years prior. This Dubbel was agreeably in the center of the style's range of flavor with a slight spice finish following a gently fruity nose. It is true to style but not spectacular. **1/2

Green Flash Brewing Co- Green Flash Imperial IPA
I have seen this beer at the store a number of times and have intended to purchase it to try, especially considering I tend to like beers with over 100 IBUs. The aroma on Green Flash Imp IPA reminds me of Double Mountains recent Vaporizer ale, both having an amazing hop aroma reminiscent of marijuana (not that I have ever smoked weed, but you grow up in Portland you're bound to know the smell). This is a big, hoppy imperial IPA, but balanced nicely ensuring that the bitterness is not overwhelming and the finish is still crisp. This was definitely the jewel of my second day at the fest. ***1/2

Mt. Shasta Brewing Co- Mountain High IPA
It is fitting that after covering a beer that smelled like marijuana I would review one that makes claim to being the "Legal Weed", a beer brewed in Weed, California that is intended to have a "mountain high" aroma. This was not evident upon my sampling, nor was much flavor in general. Perhaps the aforementioned herb is to blame for this lackluster entry. * 1/2

New Belgium Brewing Co- The Trip
Another of the so-so Belgians at the festival, New Belgium's "The Trip" is mostly notable for the passion fruit flavor that they were able to gain from the use of Citra hops (supposedly t can give grapefruit and peach flavors as well, but that was not apparent to me). The fruit flavor was not properly balanced by spice giving this Belgian a slightly off flavor that was a disappointment regardless of the success of using Citra. ** 1/2

Oakshire Brewing- Overcast Espresso Stout
It is always pleasantly surprising to see breweries sending big, robust stouts to the summer brewfest (or any out of season beer, such as Terminal Gravity's Festivale and Widmer's KGB). I have had two other beers by Oakshire in the past week and have been reasonably impressed with this more recent entry in to the Oregon craft brew market. This beer continues my pleasure at their crafting. The coffee smell is overwhelmingly apparent on the aroma, with a delicious earthy character that promises a strong coffee flavor. This beer, unlike many at this year's festival, actually follows through on the promise of the aroma, providing a complex and fulfilling coffee taste from start to it's pleasantly long lasting finish. In addition it has a fairly solid mouth feel, giving this stout a fully rounded character that ensures that it is enjoyable from start to finish. ***1/2

Pike Brewing Co- Monk's Uncle
This was a nice beer, but still somewhat of a disappointment as I tend to like Pike's creations more. It is yet another of the middle of the road Belgian goldens of this year's fest, with a slight fruit scent, a wheat start and slightly bitter finish. It is a decent beer, but nothing special. ** 1/2

Port Townsend Brewing Co- Hop Diggidy IPA
I am often distrustful of IPA's that pour perfectly golden, being often disappointed by the lighter ones (though this is not universally true, the Vaporizer from Double Mountain that I mentioned earlier is very golden and very delicious, so it is an incomplete theory). Hop Diggidy, while still weighing in at a solid 70 IBUs had almost no hop flavor, neither citrus nor floral, and only negligible bitterness which constituted the majority of it's flavor. Ultimately another boring IPA. **

Riverport Brewing Co- Old Man River Oatmeal Stout
I tend to like Oatmeal stouts for their mouth feel alone. Just the coating of the tongue that lingers from a drink is enough to amuse me as a drinker but I still must demand at least a little flavor to accompany it. This bear nails the mouth feel, while having a decently coffee aroma but falls short on the flavor being indistinct to the point of blandness. They should have kept rolling along. ** 1/2

Rogue Ales- Latona Pale Ale
Latona Pale ale is a strange brewing choice by rogue as it is made entirely with only hope and one malt. Unfortunately for brewer John Maier, this experiment did not pan out, with the Latona smelling like rotting wet hay and tasting even worse. I wish I could give stars for effort and trying new things, but the beer in question is what is reviewed, giving rogue an atypical low score for the OBF. *

Scuttlebutt Brewing Co- Tripel 7 Belgian Stlye Ale
The lowest scored of the Belgian's from this year's festival, this beer was functionally flavorless. It is perhaps most interesting for being 8.9% ABV while not even tasting of alcohol. *

My overall impression of this year's OBF is a major disappointment. Brewers are increasingly bringing beers aimed at appealing to the lowest common denominator of drinker, meaning that the number of watery fruit beers, high alcohol but flavorless golds and pales has increased in addition to the number of breweries showcasing standard beers. In previous years there was a larger percentage of brewers utilizing this as an opportunity to stretch their brewing muscles but this is largely a thing of the past. The actual number of innovative beers was greatly reduced (applause to Caldera's tasty Hibiscus Ginger beer) over previous years. In addition the crowd is growing in number, with the number of the seriously inebriated increasing and the lines for the high alcohol, low flavor beers reaching clear through the enlarged tents. There is one advantage to this change, though, in that the really spectacular beers I did not have to wait more than ten seconds for the entire duration of the festival. All told it is a disturbing shift.

Brewfest 2009: Day 1

(this is the first of likely two posts about this year's Oregon Brewers Festival, specifically covering beer sampled on Thursday)

The significant other and I continued the beer week with her mother taking us to the OBF for a rousing round of beer sampling. I generally prefer to get to the brewers festival on the opening day to avoid the larger crowds, but in addition to being less crowded there tends to be fewer individuals there drinking with a direction. Towards intoxication that is. There still remains far too many cigar smokers letting their smoke disable the taste buds of others, along with the once every five minute group cheer, but Thursday remains my preferred day for rating and comparing beer.

We started our sampling at the northern end of the festival grounds at trailers eight and seven. My first beer was a sample of Laurelwood's DOH (double Oregon hefeweizen), a favorite of last summer making a return visit. The DOH this year is not as lively in flavor as its predecessor, with a noticeable drop in the amount of citrus that it possesses in both aroma and initial flavor. It remains a substantial and quaffable up-hopped summer ale, but is nonetheless a let down from the quality of the previous year's iteration. The second ale tasted was Kona Brewing's Coconut Brown Ale. This brown ale, made using toasted coconut, both smells intriguing and manages to retain the toasted coconut flavor in the finished beer. While I am not generally a fan of brown ales, this added element created an interesting drink that while not necessarily being one I would want to drink a six pack of is definately worth sampling just for the experience.

I next sampled Amnesia Brewing's Goldyhops, a dry hopped golden ale. Normally I am a major fan of Amnesia's beers but this ale fell short of my expectations in several key areas. While the aroma was slightly earthy with a biscuity edge that spoke to an ordinary, flavorful golden the flavor itself lagged behind the aroma's promise. A slight hop start to the taste quickly shifted to a overly dry yeasty finish, similar to stale biscuits. The significant other disagrees with me on this beer, finding it to have a honey biscuit aftertaste that is a reward after a pleasantly bitter finish. While I obtained the Goldyhops she had picked up a taster of Old Market Pub & Brewery's The Kraken Imperial IPA, a 103 IBU beer that was partially aged in Kentucky Bourbon barrels. To me the bourbon barrel aging had almost no noticeable effect upon the beer, indicating to me that it was either not aged long enough on accident or only intended as a gimmick to jump on the barrel aging band wagon. Aside from the diversion of the barrel aging it is a decent Imperial IPA sweet smelling aroma and a strong hop start to the taste. In the similar vein of big beers, the significant other's mother sampled Widmer's KGB, and Imperial russian Stout that they generally roll out at their gasthaus location every winter. While it is upsetting for Widmer to not grace us with an original creation, the KGB is definately worth the sample if you have never tried it. At 70 IBUs (partially due to the extra hopping at boil and whirlpool stages of brewing), it has a strong hop profile to balance the heavy coffee and chocolate and malt flavors that dominate this inky black beer.

Other beers that I enjoyed tasting from my first day of the brewfest included in no particualr order: Boulevard Brewing's Tank 7 (a farmhouse ale with a pleasant blend of hops tio balance it's belgian style spice, at a warming 8% ABV), the Collaborator brewed Saison Christophe (A drier than normal saison with a fantastic orange peel aroma and exceptionally full flavor), Southern Oregon Brewing's SOB Gold (a golden with a great biscuity smell and tasty finish), and Deschutes' Miss Spelt (a beer made utilizing an old form of malt making for a tasty amber).

Beers to avoid include all the usual fruit beers, such as 21st amendment's Hell or High watermelon, Eel River's Organic Acai Berry Ale (sweet water), and both of the "Razz" berry wheat ales from Vertigo and Cascade. Ballast Point's Big Eye IPA smelled great but did not live up to it's scent, partially due to the dominance of the simcoe hop over the other three used in it's production.

More after saturday!

Tuesdays at East Burn

My significant other's mother is visiting us this week, and in the spirit of showing her everything that our town has to offer we decided to bestow our patronage on a pub new to us. I had been hearing about East Burn, located at 18th and E. burnside, for some time (notably from the aforementioned significant other) and only recently discovered that they offer $2 pints on Tuesdays. Yes, $2 for any beer on tap, all day long. It should be noted that beers with high abv (alcohol by volume) percentages are still served in a 10 oz. glass, but as these beers often run upwards of $5 at most locations around town this remains an incredible once a week deal.

Aside from the outrageously low beer price for the three of us for the evening, the establishment is wonderful in a number of key ways. I did not eat much of the food, but what I did see looked and smelled great and was for the standard food rate around town (about $9 for most of the food items such as burgers). We did order the trinity fries- a $6 large bowl of sweet potatos, russet potatos, and fried leaks served with a tomato Aioli. These were ridiculously great, and filling to boot.

The decor is standard hip coloring and plentiful art with some nice individual touches that set the room off nicely. They do need to work on thier window coverings, as while the sun was lowering the large windows they have facing west bathed the main dining area in sharp light that made looking across the table impossible. The tables are all covered in butcher paper, with shot glasses of crayons available on each table for aspiring artists to decorate as they imbibe. I doubt that my art will make it on the wall of masterpieces of the crayon art that they have outside of their two single person occupancy bathrooms on the main floor (seriously the first time I have had to wait in line for a men's room in quite some time).

As for beer they have a quickly shifting line up that includes some duds and quite a few good selections. I started out with a 10 oz. glass of Deschute's Black Butte XXI, brewed in honor of their 21st anniversary as a brewery and slightly different in character from the previous year's Black Butte XX. This year has a larger coffee profile and slightly less chocolate to the flavor while still retaining the warming effect of the previous. While not as complex or stunning as Deschute's Abyss it remains a beer worth purchasing to cellar. My expectation is that in two years it will have matured in to a marvelously tasty beer ripe with mulltiple flavors.

My significant other's mother had Firestone Walker's Union Jack IPA, a strong entry in the citrus forward IPA range which I generally prefer to Firstone Walker's other IPAs, the style for which their brewery declares their "passion" for. A fine beer and superior to much that you will get as standard IPAs around town but pales in comparison to other citrus forward IPAs such as Laurelwood's Workhorse or Amnesia's Copacetic.

Other beers sampled: Upright Brewing #7 (farmhouse golden, superior for it's class and well worth drinking), Humboldt County (Hemp Ale- a pleasant but underwhelming brown, Red Nectar- an enjoyable Red ale with a slight pine edge to the citrus nose of the beer)

Enter a drinker, later, enter another

Beer, like women, politics, or religion, can drive men to madness. I do not intend to give any solid answers about any of those topics in this blog, but I do intend to at least provide a little bit of semi-amusing commentary on them and many others. Perhaps you will get a small amount of good advice about what you should be drinking, especially if you live in Portland, Oregon (where I happen to live and drink). As for the women, politics and religion- be forewarned that I am a committed monogamist, a progressive (of sorts) and a devout Unitarian Universalist. That is a joke. Unitarians can't be devout, just extra guilty. Read all of this at your own peril.