The Best Things We Drank: February 13-19

This past week involved attending a beer festival - Fort George's Festival of the Dark Arts - and while the majority of the best things we drank came during our time in Astoria, most were consumed outside of the festival.

Surly/Lervig 1349 Black Ale - The one beer from the Festival of the Dark Arts that made this list it was an interesting one that we heard overall mixed reviews on. Listed as a Strong American Ale, this 13.49% collaboration beer drank like a sweet but yummy imperial or even triple CDA (if there was such a thing).

Reach Break Amoeba Session IPA - Reach Break is the newest brewery in Astoria and thanks to them deciding to open for a few hours Friday night we were able to visit them while in town. Although they had three stouts on tap when we visited we heard from others that their IPAs are great and based on this hazy, juicy session IPA we believe it. They packed far more flavor into a mere 5.1% than one would expect.

Buoy German Chocolate Stout - In an effort to knock some of the festival beers of the list in advance (and because we needed dinner) we stopped into Buoy where we found they had a six stout sampler tray - perfect! This beer offered all the flavors of German chocolate cake, although light on the coconut notes and without the sugary sweetness.

Buoy Spanish Coffee Stout - Another beer on that sampler tray it is exactly what it says - a beer version of the booze bomb that finishes slightly sweet without being cloying.

Hondo's Hellhound Imperial Mocha Stout - The unassuming brewery and home brew shop on the east side of Astoria makes some great beer with this being the favorite of what we tried. Dry hopped with cocoa nibs, keg-aged for six months and served on nitro it is a delightful dessert in a glass.

Great Notion Blueberry Stack/Blueberry Pancakes - The only "drank in Portland" beer to make this week's list, it is a blend of Blueberry Muffin, a sour beer, and Double Stack, an imperial breakfast stout brewed with Clutch coffee and Vermont maple syrup. Drooling yet? It's an off-menu beer but definitely worth asking for!

This is probably the darkest Best Things post there will be although there may be a little carry over into next week's post. Come back to see whose Strong Ale we drank yesterday, assuming it ends up making the cut.