Brewer's Tasting Dinner at the Oregon Garden

Last night's Brewer's Tasting Dinner, on the eve of the Oregon Garden Brewfest, brought brewers and beer lovers to the table for a six course meal. One cider and five beers, each introduced by their brewer, were paired a mix of traditional plates and those with surprising components.

First Course - Flat Tail Blended Beer with Fontina, Boursin and dill Havarti with dried fruit and crostini

The dinner started off with a very successful pairing of a blended beer from Flat Tail that was part pre-Prohibition pilsner and part sour beer.

Second Course - Fort George Roses on Roses Belgian IPA with blackened shrimp martini with fresh pico salsa and crab meat

After a big first course I was pleased this was a smaller portion of food. Belgian IPAs are not a style I enjoy and the boozy, barrel aged flavors were appreciated more by others at the table than me.

Third Course - 2 Towns Traditions Ciderworks 2012 Vintage Amity Rose - Willamette Valley Traditional Dry Cider with pork and baby apple bruschetta

The cider was more like a wine, dry and not sweet at all to my palate, but it was delicious with the apples and pork.

Fourth Course - Alameda White Peppercorn Saison with spinach salad with smoked pears, walnuts and lemon vinaigrette

The Saison was "dry hopped" with peppercorns and was delicious with the walnuts alone. The most impressive part of the dish was the smoky aroma and flavor from the pears. Had I not known it was a smoked pear salad I would have thought that there was delicious smoked meat on it.

Fifth Course - Falling Sky Who Loves the Sun Winter Spice Ale with Cornish game hen with grilled strawberries and root vegetables

I didn't anticipate liking a winter spice ale but it surprised me with a sweet, hoppy aroma and a completely different, amazing tropical fruit flavor. Another surprise was in store for me with a bite of grilled strawberry and a piece of bacon. I could have eaten a whole plate of just these two components.

Sixth Course - Santiam Sangre de Cristo Oak Barrel Aged Cabernet Stout with flourless chocolate cake with black cherry compote

The barrel aging of the beer was very prevalent and very pleasant and paired with the dense cake...nothing short of f*$%ing amazing. Really.

The evening - the food, the beer, my dining companions - were a great start to my first visit to the Oregon Garden and the Brewfest. Although the dinner is now just a delicious memory and I can't do anything other than suggest you get a seat next year, the fest awaits, running both Friday and Saturday. It's going to be a gorgeous day so hop in the car and make the short drive to Silverton for the Oregon Garden Brewfest.

Silently Doing Good Work

In a place where craft beer abounds around every corner it’s easy to overlook the solid, quiet players.  It’s especially easy for a beer geek like me who is always looking for the next new thing, the beer that will push the limits of hoppiness or ABV or uses some as of yet untasted ingredient.  Add to that a place that isn’t tweeting or posting on Facebook about what’s just been brewed or gone on tap and what you get is unintended, but not inexcusable, lack of attention and attendance.

Tuesday night, upon the suggestion of a friend, I made my way back to Alameda Brewhouse, one of the first Portland brewpubs I had the first hand pleasure of enjoying.  As I drove east on Fremont, I was surprised to find the neighborhood looked just like it had years ago and even remembered stopping in at the slightly sketchy looking convenience store.  Good memories of that trip came to mind and I was hopeful the beer would be as good as the memory.

Perusing the tap line up, there were numerous beers that caught my eye, including an imperial IPA and a barleywine.  Knowing better than to start off with one of those heavy hitters I defaulted to their less potent El Torero Organic IPA.  The aroma was less stanky than I was hoping for with solid floral notes and the flavor was well balanced, an IPA most lovers of this style would enjoy. The pint went down easily enough but as I thought about what the next one would be I knew there were others I needed to try.

A friend had boldly started off with the imperial IPA, allowed me to try it and thus I was able to scratch that itch without a full pint of that powerhouse to down.  No doubt, this was a very tasty beer, but one more suited to a different day.  Going back to the beer listing, my second pint was a no-brainer order.  Cascadian IPAs are abounding in this area of the beer world and I was eager to see how Alameda’s would stack up.  Presenting with a full dark hue, minimal head, and characteristic Cascadian flavor combination of hops and roasty malts, this was indeed an excellent beer!  As noted by a friend, who has an aversion to molasses, this beer offered stronger coffee notes from the dark malt than another recently enjoyed Cascadian, Pyramid Discord Dark IPA.

Just as I was wondering if I would make the next pint a repeat of one of the first two or possibly go down the lovely but treacherous path of the barleywine, our waitress arrived with one friend’s beer and an extra El Torero.  She apologized, offered it to me and deciding I was happy enough with the first pint to have a second, I accepted.  For as much as I had enjoyed the Cascadian IPA, going back to El Torero was no disappointment at all (and a bit of a bonus that she didn’t charge me for it). 

I’d like to think this lesson will stick with me and I’ll not be as neglectful of quiet, yet quality players like Alameda.  If nothing else, the enticement of a good happy hour is worth the trip with $3 pints and $4 eats.