Girl Scout Cookie Pairing 2021

We're still here even though it's been quite some time since the last post. And even though the pandemic may have cancelled a lot of things, it didn't cancel Girl Scout cookie season and our annual beer pairing. Per usual, Chris sourced the cookies. Then he graciously divvied them up for a COVID-safe handoff/tasting last Saturday at The BeerMongers. We both started with a draft of StormBreaker Brewing Eagle Fang All-Valley style (shout out to SB for the awesome Cobra Kai reference). We agreed that the moderately hopped IPA was a nice pairing with Lemon Ups cookies that enhanced the hop flavor.

 

After the IPA, Chris took his Girl Scout cookie pairing down a dark, delicious alley with Oskar Blues Brewery 2019 Ten Fiddy. Here he found one of the new cookies for this year, French Toast, to be a great pairing. The cinnamon in the cookie was just the right amount, steering clear of being weird with the complexity of the beer. Also tasty were the chocolate and peanut butter Tagalongs. Last, and possibly best, were the S'mores. If you haven't had these sandwich cookies they provide a surprisingly facsimile of what actual s'mores taste like without the work of building a fire and toasting marshmallows.

 

Next up Chris went another completely different direction with Double Nickel Dot Matrix kettle sour blackberry and raspberry. He found it paired nicely with the gluten-free (not that there's anything wrong with that) Toffee-tastic and I enjoyed it with the new-this-year Toast-yay! French toast-inspired cookie as well as Lemon-ups. We both agreed that the standout pairing was the Thin Mints. One of the OG cookies, it was like putting mint and raspberry in lemonade.

 

The Girl Scout cookie pairing continued with Baerlic Brewing Co. Sundowner Black Lager. While it didn't work with the Thin Mints, it provided balance to: the Toast-yay! (offsetting the sweetness), the Samoas (especially for those who are not coconut fans) and the Lemon-up (dark to the citrus flavor).

 

Two beers that were more challenging to pair with the Girl Scout cookies were Little Beast Brewing Tiger Team IPA and Block 15 Brewing Co. Ridgeback Red. Not ones to back down from a challenge, Chris found a match for Tiger Team with Lemon-ups, the lemon really popping out. And I decided that the creamy peanut butter and chocolate flavors of the Tagalongs were copacetic with the Ridgeback Red. The abbreviated pairing, while maybe not ideal for "scientific" purposes certainly produced less of a sugar hangover than we've subjected ourselves to in previous years.

Girl Scout Cookies & Beer - Year Six

It’s that time of year again and if you haven’t seen them hawking their sugary treats around town or been asked by a friend or relative to buy them then clearly you’ve been living under a rock. Since Chris’ niece was once again selling them, he was once again buying a box of each variety available. Apparently the beer gods looked favorably upon us because we were able to sit down for our annual pairing foray less than a week after the cookies arrived. 

In advance of gathering at our local we perused past years’ pairing posts to see what beers had worked with what cookies, keeping a particular eye out for the unexpected pairs like Do-Si-Dos (peanut butter sandwich cookies) and Bell’s Winter White (Belgian style) or Samoas (coconuty) with Baerlic What the Fluff (hazy IPA). Referencing that information aided some of our decision making while the rest was left to our palates’ preferences and what shiny new things were available this year.

Block 15 Breakfast with Woodford
Our friend Paul brought this treat from his collection and overall the big, boozy stout brewed with maple syrup was a hit both on its own and with many of the cookies. With Toffee-tastic, the gluten free cookie that we were quite happy to see return this year, the pairing took on the flavor profile of French toast. The cookie provided a brioche-like base with its toffee bits playing off the maple syrup notes in the beer. Not surprisingly the rich coconuty Samoas made for a very decadent pairing. Thin Mints, for all of their perceived easy pairing with big, dark beers, have often not been as compatible as we had hoped however here the beer brought the mint to the forefront, making it pop in a deliciously sharp way.

Stone Xocoveza 
A favorite beer of Caren’s, this imperial stout was brewed to have a flavor profile similar to that of Mexican hot chocolate - deep with a balanced spiciness. As with the Block 15, it worked well with many of the cookies but particularly well with S’mores. This sandwich cookie not only does a great job of smelling like a s’more but also tasting like it and when paired with this beer the marshmallow flavor became enhanced to the point of almost reaching coconut.

Trap Door Mango Lassi
We’ve been impressed with Trap Door’s beers in general however none of us were particularly enamored by this sour/gose, that is until we had some cookie in our mouth at the same time. A tropical take on the traditional peanut butter and jelly sandwich resulted from pairing it with the Do-Si-Dos and the bright fruit helped to lighten up the chocolate covered peanut butter goodness of the Tagalongs. That light fruitiness also worked well to balance the overt sweetness of the S’mores cookie.

Tieton Cider Works Apricot
While we have primarily stuck to beer pairings, we have occasionally cracked open a cider and often found a compatible cookie for it. This year we tried out an apricot cider, agreeing that it was enjoyable on its own, and found its best mate in the tried and true Trefoils (aka Shortbread). The cookie’s butteriness held strong with a pleasant contribution of bright fruit from the cider. For a lighter pairing, the Savannah Smiles lemon cookie hit the mark.

Great Divide Orabelle
This Belgian-style ale “with spices” is in the same family as the Bell’s Winter White we mentioned previously. Similar to it, it’s not a beer we find particularly enjoyable on its own but we did find a pairing that redeemed the beer - the super sweet Samoas. The beer did its part to balance the cookie’s sweetness while the cookie transformed the beer into something that we quite enjoyed. 

Ex Novo Wooden Teeth
Another big, dark beer, this 13.4% ABV whiskey barrel-aged wee heavy ale also found a friend in the Samoas, here being decadent instead of being lightened. For being a "controversial" cookie (depending on your feeling about coconut) this year it turned out to be one of the most versatile and successfully paired cookies.

Thanks to all the friends that joined us, our local and the beertender on staff for making this another fun and palate-informing outing! 

A Second 2017 Beer & Cheese Pairing Party

We think beer and cheese is one of the most perfect pairings to be found and recently our small group got together once again to play with pairing. At least the fourth time we've done it, we gathered as usual at our favorite watering hole, each toting cheese, eager to grab beers and dig in. After a quick round of sampling all of the cheeses on their on that's just what we did. Here are the highlights.

Taleggio from Italy (Market of Choice), suggested as a replacement for the Limburger that was currently sold out, it was one of the most versatile of the cheeses. The only caveat was that it took far longer than the standard two hours at room temperature to come into its creamy, slightly funky own.
- Not surprisingly its funkiness paired well with the assertive Mexican hot chocolate flavors found in Stone's imperial milk stout, Xocoveza.
- With Anchorage Nelson Sauvin Saison with Brett the cheese brought out the hop bitterness of the beer, which depending on one's personal preference might be a bit too much, but we enjoyed it.
- Paired with the relatively mild North Coast Berliner Weisse Cranberry-Quince it surprisingly did not overpower the beer but instead they took turns complimenting one another with the beer allowing the funk of the cheese to come through and the cheese returning the favor, allowing the bright, tart cranberry to come in at the end.
- Somewhat similarly to the North Coast pairing, when enjoyed with Ballast Point Sour Wench the cheese allowed the fruitiness of the beer to really shine.

Rivaling the Taleggio for versatility was the Creamy Toscano dusted with cinnamon (Trader Joe's).
- No one in the group is much of a fan of pumpkin beers but the temptation of Southern Tier's rum barrel-aged Pumking was too much to pass up as we know that dark beers tend to work particularly well with cheese. In this instance the cheese allowed the pumpkin to come out and rival the barrel-aged flavors of the beer nicely.
- With the Stone Xocoveza the cinnamon in the beer and the cinnamon in the cheese played wonderfully off one another, neither overpowering the other.
- In a surprising pairing, at least on the surface, the cinnamon in the cheese and the cranberries in the North Coast Berliner Weisse worked together. Thinking on it further and savoring the pair, it was similar to the way cinnamon and fruit work together in a pie or crisp.
- The gathering also included slices of Crimson Crisp apples (a relative of Honeycrisp) which combined with the cheese and the Stone Xocoveza for a triumvirate of tastiness.

Beecher's Flagship Cheddar (Fred Meyer) was quite possibly the overall favorite cheese of the day on its own and it found a singular perfect partner in Ruse Clock Keeper Saison/Farmhouse. The recommendation came from David, the beertender on duty, and it was spot on with the beer nicely lightening the luscious, flavorful cheddar.

Another cheese superstar with our group was Cypress Grove Humbolt Fog (Fred Meyer). Great on its creamy own, it brought a pleasant (at least to us) sharpness out in the rich Stone Xocoveza.

The gooey-est cheese of the day, Triple Cream Brie with Wild Mushrooms (Trader Joe's), was another crowd favorite even for those who don't typically dig on gooey cheeses. As with the Taleggio it found delicious partners with multiple beers.
- Block 15 Azaccasicle IPA, with its blend of tropical and citrusy hops and touch of milk sugar, made fast friends with the earthiness of the cheese.
- The depth of Pints Chocolate Nut Brown, brewed with UK Phoenix hops that in fact taste like chocolate, found a partner in the mushrooms.
- Once again the North Coast Cranberry-Quince mixed and mingled with the cheese. Here the tartness from the cranberries and the Berliner Weisse base balanced the richness of the cheese while the mushrooms took the tart edge off the beer.
- A final pairing but not a beer one, that we found deliciousness in was pairing this with Ilchester Smoked Applewood Cheddar. We thought the smokiness of the cheddar, the earthiness of the mushrooms and the creaminess of the brie would make an outstanding grilled cheese (further exploration is impending).

Not as gooey as a brie but silky soft once it warmed was Mitica Drunken Goat (Fred Meyer).
- The sweetness of Southern Tier's rum barrel-aged Pumking balanced and was balanced by the saltiness of this soft but not oozy cheese.
- Reuben's Home From Home, a beer no one had a particular affinity for perhaps due to its super bitter-hoppiness (and this is coming from hop-loving folks), managed to become more balanced and drinkable when accompanied by the cheese.

Long Clawson Wensleydale with Cranberries (Fred Meyer)
- Pairing a fruit cheese with a stout is a bit of a no-brainer yet it still came as a bit of a surprise to find how delicious this cheese was with the Stone Xocoveza. The complexity of the beer had the potential to clash with the tartness the cranberries brought to this pairing but happily they worked harmoniously.
- With the North Coast Cranberry-Quince the cranberry-on-cranberry pairing worked nicely, being anything but one dimensional.

Stilton (Fred Meyer) is one of the more strongly flavored varieties in the blue cheese families and as such it did overpower some beers we tried it with.
- Surprisingly its powerful flavor mingled well with the North Coast Cranberry-Quince. Here the beer brought out additional, lovely funkiness in the cheese while still allowing the fruit in the beer to sparkle.
- The most decadent pairing of the day was here with the Stone Xocoveza. This is what post-dinner cheese course dreams are made of.

Face Rock Smoky Cheddar (Fred Meyer) is one of the creamiest cheddars we've had with a pleasant but not overpowering smokiness.
- A fun pairing with the North Coast Cranberry-Quince the saltiness of the cheese came out, followed by the sweetness of the beer.
- Finding its backbone it stood up to the Stone Xocoveza, bringing the cinnamon in the beer to the forefront.

If you haven't tried your own beer and cheese pairing we hope this post encourages you to give it a go. As we move into the holiday season you'll likely have more opportunities at gatherings you host or attend. They won't all be winners but if you go into it with an open, exploratory mind, we bet it will be fun. And if you discover some great ones make sure to let us know!

The Best Things We Drank: Halloween Edition

With the exception of one, all of the beers making this week's list reflect the turn in the weather and daylight, taking us down the path of darkness. The majority were dragged up from various cellars and enjoyed at fall's celebration of darkness that was filled with beer lovers.

Book ending our rundown are the non-Halloween beers and we'll start off with the lone light beer, Bend Peach Offering, before descending into darkness. The 100lbs of Oregon peaches made themselves known in both the great peach aroma and flavor with the whole chamomile flowers contributing soft fruit flavors and delicate floral notes and Lactobacillus providing that lovely, bright tartness that we so enjoy. A mere 4.5% its light and refreshing qualities would make it a great start to any holiday gathering.

And now for the adult goodies shared at that Halloween party...
Surly Darkness 2014 - The only recent year vintage that we don't have in our beer cellar, we counted ourselves lucky to have been around when a bottle of this delicious chocolate-licorice goodness was cracked open. The other vintages we've had lately also seem to be doing well, making it tempting to break into all of them however they also show that they are holding up well as they age. Oh, the conundrum.

Block 15 2011 Imagine Barrel Aged (bourbon) - The only Imagine we've tried, save for the delicious Cherry Imagine two years ago, the 15% barrel-aged Belgian imperial stout started with a fruity-molasses aroma. The flavor feels perfect for the holiday season, a beer we can imagine sipping as we relax in the warmth and comfort of friends and family. 

Kane Sunday Brunch - A beer we first became acquainted with last year at GABF, it was a treat to enjoy it again. The imperial milk porter with coffee, cinnamon and maple syrup drank like Mexican hot chocolate without being overly sweet. The only two times we've had beer from this New Jersey brewery we hope to find ourselves in the company of others in the future that have obtained some of their Belgian-influenced ales.

The Commons Brotherly Love - The party's host shared this beer that felt particularly special in light of their impending closure. The craftsmanship of this 10% barrel-aged Belgian dark strong ale matured with tart cherries and roasted cocoa nibs was both clear and bittersweet. While we savored it, just as we will savor the remaining days of The Commons, we also jealously wanted to steal away to down the whole bottle.

Finishing off the list with the other non-Halloween-enjoyed beer is Cascade Tidal Bore. Ordered a bit by accident due to a too quick perusal of the menu upon arriving tardy to a gathering, this was a very happy accident. The imperial stout started off with an amazing aroma and drank incredibly smooth for 10+%, yet there was enough booze presence to remind us to slow down, savor and share.

As we enter the often hectic holiday season we are going to try to slow down and savor many things, perhaps with a glass of something delicious in our hands, and hope you'll be able to do the same.

The Best Things We Drank: July 31 - August 6

Fruit, haze, coffee and an imperial stout, this week's list runs all over the beer style spectrum. Whether your palate enjoys similar diversity or you prefer a tighter flavor profile something on here should find its way into your glass because they are all stellar.

Urban Family Aprium Dream - Huge thanks to Chris for sharing this foeder-fermented American Wild Ale (and for snapping a great pic!). Starting with a sweet tart aroma that follows through the to the flavor, it finishes fruity and clean. In case you were wondering, apriums are a real fruit, a hybrid of apricots and plums that Urban Family sourced from Collins Family Orchards and introduced to their house Brett-Saison culture. What a wonderful match!

Block 15 Fluffhead - This hazy IPA smells juicy and has a flavor that follows. Balancing the beer is a slight hop bite from the late addition hopping with Mosaic, Chinook and Azacca hops.

North Jetty Discover Coast Coffee Stout - We've had this beer before but not on nitro and that is most certainly the way is should be served. Starting with a nummy, nutty aroma that is followed by a chocolate milkshake flavor with just the right amount of sweetness, it finishes with a slight bitterness.

Alesong Mocha Rhino Suit - An incredibly smooth 12% beer that is a blend of imperial stouts aged over 10 months in Heaven Hill bourbon barrels and finished on Eugene's Coffee Plant Roasters' Costa Rican coffee beans and Chocolate Alchemy's Honduran cocoa nibs, don't let the slightly sharp aroma faze you.  It's adult beer candy that isn't overly sweet and if you can get your hands on this, don't hesitate to do it.

Both the North Jetty and Alesong were enjoyed at a the new Imperial Bottle Shop and Taproom on NE Alberta. If you haven't been, put it on your list to check out. Alex and Shaun have created a worthy sister location to the original on SE Division.

The Best Things We Drank: April 17 - 23

After last week's short two-beer list, this week we found a ton of delicious beers in our glass. We'd be remiss to cut it short so grab a beverage (a beer if you can) and settle in because there is a whole lotta stuff we're excited to tell you about.

Starting off with the best of the best, it turns out all of these were enjoyed at our favorite haunt. As usual we opened and shared bottles (the good and the bad because it's only fair) with our friends and relished the reciprocation. Big thanks to Chris for the tasty treats below that he brought to our attention.

Holy Mountain The Grey Tower (Blend #3) - Described as a blended Saison, the aroma is more Brett than Saison (a happy turn of events for us) with the flavor being comprised mostly of oak, a bit of Brett and imperceptible Saison. It's a winning combo in our book.

Almanac Blueberry Jack - This beer follows the trend of most of the Almanac beers we've had by being amazing. From the start with that gorgeous label this dry hopped and barrel aged fruit sour excited us. Upon opening cattiness was prevalent in the aroma but as it warmed both the aroma and flavor leaned more toward sour, much to our delight.

The Libertine Wild IPA - The first beer we've had from this brewery, it is a great wild/open fermented IPA. Apparently it is heavily dry-hopped but done so in such a way that the aroma of the hops used is showcased rather than their bittering qualities and it really is the wildness that more pronounced than the hops. Works for us!

Southern Tier Thick Mint - We've had plenty of Southern Tier's sticky sweet beers and while we enjoy them, they tend to be over the top. This one isn't as tooth achingly sweet and as expected it smells and tastes just like those iconic cookies. A great dessert beer for sure, if we had any of those cookies left we'd be interested to see what they taste like together. Would they clash? Would they be meh together? Would it blow our mind? Perhaps next year we'll find out.

Sunriver Cocoa Cow - This was not the first time we'd had this beer but this time around we had it in a bottle instead of on draft. Some beers are significantly different between formats so maybe that's the reason why we enjoyed it even more this time. Maybe not. Maybe we'll have the opportunity to do a side-by-side sometime. In the meantime we'd be happy to have more of this chocolate-milk-meets-beer sweet stout.

The second half of this week's round up rated only a teeny, tiny lower than the first half. They did however show more diversity both in style and in where we drank them, in case you think we don't get around ('cause we do).

Little Beast Brewing Fera - Little Beast is the new brewery from Charles Porter, most recently at Logsdon, and last week they officially hit the scene at OP Wurst. A 100% Brett Saison, it is light and easy drinking on its own but also pairs wonderfully with cheese (see the big hunk below), our favorite beer pairing food.

Matchless Voss IPA - This is one of those recently popular, hazy IPAs and as such, isn't much of a looker. Ignoring that one finds a delicious grapefruit flavor from the Simcoe and Mosaic hops and Norse farmhouse yeast, the region which it hails from and the basis for the name of the beer.

Samuel Smith's Organic Perry - There's plenty of Samuel Smith around currently due to a passport-style promotion meaning more than the usual availability. Similar to a cider, but using pears this has a bright, fruit aroma and a flavor that is of actual pears (as it should be) and not overly sweet.

Pyramid H7 Unfiltered Imperial IPA - Sent to us by the good folks at Pyramid, it is part of their Brewer's Reserve series and uses seven hops - Apollo, Chinook, CTZ, Simcoe, Amarillo, El Dorado and Calypso - thus the name. Presenting with a rich copper color and a distintly boozy nose (no surprise for 9.5%), the flavor starts a bit harsh but mellows midway through, finishing with a nice hop hit.

Block 15 Alpha Northwest-style IPA & Atmosphere Pale Ale - Both were enjoyed at The Hoppy Brewer during a Block 15 event and both are dry hopped. Perhaps less important in the IPA, it's that dry hopping that elevates the pale ale to what our hop-favoring taste buds desire.

Loowit Lager - Lagers are a hard style to impress us but we have to congratulate Loowit for creating a straightforward, clean lager that will be something particularly refreshing this summer.

Belching Beaver Peanut Butter Latte - This was a bit of a happy accident as we thought we were picking up a Belching Beaver beer Chris brought to our attention earlier. Turns out it was an IPA with a label similar in color that he was talking about but we were very pleased to find this to be super drinkable with a nice (not fake) peanut flavor that was mildly sweet. And clocking in at a mere 5%? Absolutely!

Crooked Stave Serenata Notturna Blueberry - Belgian golden ales aren't generally in our wheelhouse but here the base beer contributes a hay-like (note, not manure-like which we do also enjoy) characteristic that in combination with the use of blueberries and the aging in oak barrels has created a super easy dranking (yes, not drinking) 12%. Proceed at your own risk with more than one bottle.

Double Mountain Sweet Jane - It used to be that the biggest hits from Double Mountain were their fruit beers, which are amazing, but either the taste buds are a changing or perhaps they're dialing in their non-fruit recipes. This one, in addition to a beautiful, colorful label has a sweet aroma to begin and a somewhat sweet, but not cloying flavor. A very clean beer.

Kudos to you if you made it all the way through this post in one sitting and/or actually read the whole thing instead of just skimming. We'll work on drinking less amazing beer this week so next week's post won't be such a tome (kidding...we'll drink as much yum as we can).

The Best Things We Drank: CA Vacay Edition

This week's best list is dominated by beers we consumed while taking a long weekend vacation to the Orange County, CA area. We drank plenty more than made the list (Portland still wins at beer) but there were definitely some remarkable beers had during the trip as well as some we had before we skipped town to soak up some much needed sun.

Phantom Carriage Broadacres with Passionfruit - We get some Phantom Carriage in the Portland market and knew that they did a great job with sours so finding ourselves in the vicinity (Gardena, CA), we couldn't resist stopping. The brewery is unique, being part café and part haunted cellar (complete with horror movies playing) and overall damn cool. This was the best of the beers consumed there and sour to the max. The passion fruit used in this iteration of Broadacres gives it just enough mouthfeel to take some of the sour bite off.

Barley Forge Wedding Tackle - Somewhat stumbling on this brewery (aka using a "search nearby" map function for breweries), we found ourselves surrounded by really great beer and a hopping taproom on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon. The huckleberries used in this sour blonde ale were present from the start - both in giving it a beautiful color and on the nose - and carried through to the flavor. The lightly, brightly sour flavor was enhanced by the cherry wood it was aged on.

Barley Forge Nom Nom - We'd be hard pressed to pick a favorite between this hefeweizen and the sour, both incredible beers at easy drinking ABVs. A well crafted hefe, its classic characteristics are there and enhanced by the mango that was slightly present on the nose and more prevalent in the flavor. This is a very crushable beer that would be perfect for sunny, summer drinking.

Block 15 Cosmic Cold Brew Double Ristretto - Block 15 does amazing stuff with hops but their coffee game is equally strong. Starting out with an aroma that is all coffee, followed by a smooth mouthfeel and finishes with a lovely lingering milked-coffee flavor.

Firestone Walker Bretta Rose Batch 3 - A beer we'd had a year ago and thoroughly enjoyed, it seemed a great prelude to heading out to celebrate 14 years of wedded bliss. The extra year of age did nothing to diminish, and perhaps even enhanced,  the tart, fruity yum that is so delicious.

Honorable mentions go out to Stone for their Tangerine Express, enjoyed with breakfast on the first day of vacation at a sports bar, Tustin Brewing and Gunwhale Ales. If you find yourself in the area with limited time Barley Forge is definitely the place to hit. Gunwhale, a somewhat sterile feeling taproom, and Tustin, a neighborhood hangout filled with TVs for sports fans, are fine and we wouldn't steer you away from either, just keep in mind Barley Forge is where it's at in the Costa Mesa area.

3rd Annual Baker's Dozen This Saturday

Coffee and doughnuts are delicious. Coffee BEERS and doughnuts are more delicious. This Saturday 13 coffee beers, made with coffee from independent local roasters, and 13 doughnuts from local shops will be available in a mix 'n match format at Culmination Brewing for the 3rd Annual Baker's Dozen. Due to the popularity of the event this year their will be two sessions, the first from 10am to 1pm and the second 2pm to 5pm, with 350 tickets available per session.

We had a chance to try a few of the offerings (a full list of the beers, including a honey mead from Oregon Mead & Cider, and the doughnuts is below) earlier this week and what we had was outstanding! Block 15 makes amazing beer, often amazing hoppy beer, but their Cosmic Cold Brew is no less amazing. This complex beer drinks like a creamy, coffee milk stout and paired exceptionally with the equally complex Bourbon Bacon Breakfast Fritter from Blue Star. No fluffy doughnut, it has a hearty backbone from the shredded Yukon potatoes and just-right mix of flavors from the sage, black pepper, bacon and bourbon maple glaze. We also tried A Beer Called Death, which if this is what death is like we're happy to skip to the front of the line. Prominent local beer guru John Lovegrove teamed up with McMenamins Thompson Brewery in Salem to make an imperial stout that uses 7 cups of Kenyan single origin cold brew per 1/2bbl keg. It's good enough to drive to Salem for but why when you can have it at this event WITH doughnuts?

Tickets are $27 (plus fees) online/$30 at the door (IF they haven't sold out) and include samples of each beer and doughnut. In order to be able to power through and not go into a diabetic coma, most of the doughnuts will be quartered. The Culmination kitchen, led by chef CJ Mueller, will be cooking up savory breakfast proteins for purchase.

DRINK IT
Alameda "Coffee & Donutella" pale ale with Kainos Coffee
Block 15 "Cosmic Cold Brew: Double Ristretto" stout with Bespoken coffee
The Commons "Coffee Schwarzbier" black lager with Stumptown Coffee
Culmination "Velvet Elvis" nitro stout with Ole Latte Coffee
Georgetown "Gusto Crema" cream ale with Caffe Umbria
Gigantic "Mons Meg" coffee Scotch ale with Coava Coffee
Great Notion "Blueberry Pancakes" stout with Clutch Coffee
Kona "Pipeline Porter Reserve" porter
Labrewatory "Dirty Hippie" milk stout with Ristretto Roasters
McMenamins/John Lovegrove "A Beer Called Death" imperial stout with McMenamins Roasters
Modern Times "Bourbon-aged Monster Park with Coffee" imperial porter with Modern Times Coffee
Montavilla Brew Works "Bipartisan Porter" porter with Water Avenue Coffee and Bipartisan Cafe
Oregon Mead & Cider TBD

CHEW IT
Annie's, Devi's Foodcake
Blue Star, Bourbon Bacon Breakfast Fritter
Bowery, Apricot Hamantaschen ("Kosher as f*#$" in honor of Saturday being Purim)
Coco Donuts, Vermont-style cider
Churros Locos, churros (making them fresh, onsite during the festival)
Delicious Donuts, TBD
Donut Byte Labs, Whiskey Creme Brulee
Joe's Donuts, cherry fritter
Namu, malasada (Hawaiian-style)
NOLA, apple fritter
Rocking Frog Café, cinnamon cake
Stacatto, Prince of Darkness (triple chocolate donut hole with Coalition Loving Cup maple cream filling & Vietnamese iced coffee glaze)
Tonalli's, powdered

The Best Things We Drank: Bridging the January-February Gap

This week was full of fruit, tartness and stankiness...thankfully not all in one beer because as much as we love each of those things that might be weird to say the least. Then again there are highly inventive and talented brewers producing things that we wouldn't think would work. Until we find one of those, here are the beers that hit the highest notes for us last week.

Culmination Kriek Mythology - From the moment reading the label on this bottle at The BeerMongers, between the style and the brewery, it was nearly a sure bet this would be delicious. Drinking it confirmed that this Lambic-inspired sour red brewed with cherries was indeed solidly in our strike zone. A SweeTart-style of sour this complex beer finishes less tart than it starts, inviting one to have more...more...more.

Block 15 The Demon's Farm (2015) - On tap, also at The BeerMongers, this beer was a deeper, darker variation of the Culmination Kriek (although enjoyed on separate visits). This dark farmhouse ale also uses cherries and is a blend of beers aged in American oak bourbon barrels and French oak Pinot Noir barrels.

Burnside Morticia - It takes great crafting to produce a pale ale that hits enough hoppy notes for serious hop heads but Burnside succeeds here using Hull Melon, Vic Secret and Mosaic (a favorite!!) hops. The great, stanky aroma and sticky-stanky flavor belies its "crushable" 4.9% ABV.

pFriem Citrus IPA - Just as their Mosaic IPA spoke to the hoppy side of us, so too did this beer. The combination of grapefruit and tangelo zest and citrus-forward hops produce a beer that is full of stanky, citrus goodness.

Widmer Berry White - Did we surprise you with this last one? Well, it surprised us, too. Enjoyed at a private event this was a preview batch with full production coming and wide availability slated for June. We'll definitely be looking forward to this combination of berries and lime that avoids being gimmicky and packs considerable flavor into 4.1% ABV.

What's been tickling your taste buds recently?

The Best Things We Drank: January 2-9

An epic snow day seems like a good day to talk about beer, specifically the best beers we drank last week. If you have any of them at your place, dig in! Otherwise, hopefully you have something tasty sitting around or a bar within walking distance that it open because what else are you going to do when the city is shut down?

Deschutes The Abyss (2009) - Opened at a friend's annual Abyss vertical party, this was my favorite of the night which ranged from 2008-2015 bottles, including the 2015 cognac and rye variants. If you are familiar with the series this was a year where some of the bottles soured and although this bottle unfortunately didn't completely sour there was a hint of it in the flavor and it was deliciously drinkable at 11% ABV.

Loowit Snow's Ghost - We stopped at Loowit before the Abyss party and this golden stout floored me. The aroma and flavor of this beer was flat out fantastic and there was something...possibly the addition of coconut and marshmallow...that set this apart from and above other similar beers. Get some if you can!

pFriem Double IPA - Described as having a flavor profile of "ripe papaya, baked grapefruit and hoppy goodness" it drinks very smooth with the perfect amount of hops. Definitely one of my favorites from this brewery.

Block 15 Hoppy New Year! - I continue to be impressed by Block 15 and this imperial IPA continues the trend. Brewed with "citrusy and tropical hops" and generous "late-additions of Azacca, Citra, Amarillo and Mosaic hops" the result is a smooth and yummy 8.75% seasonal beer. Hopefully it portends a great year ahead.

Fremont Lush IPA - The beer inside the can is as delicious as the artwork is beautiful. Using "lush, tropical hops" this hit all the right notes for me and I hope to get my lips on more before its seasonal window (January 1 - March 31) closes.

"Big" (although not huge) was the theme of the best beers consumed during this first week of the new year with all but one clocking in at 8.75% or better and a sub-theme of "tropical." Perhaps it's the combination of recent crappy weather and my broken ankle-induced immobility causing cabin fever but I seem particularly susceptible to being transported to a better, tropical place at least for the duration of a pint.

Thanks to Chris for his pictures of The Abyss and Hoppy New Year! Sometimes we get so caught up in the beer that we need our friends to help with the picture taking.

Where Did September Go?

September has been a busy one on this end but a good kind of busy. We had multiple houseguests, starting off with our Minnesota friends Kat & Scott who are Portland pros. Excluding the fact that we now live in Portland, they've visited more times than we did before moving here. Since they're also beer lovers each visit is about showing them new or not before visited places. We had no lack of new places to go in the Portland area but we also ventured out of town to some new to us places.

Newport was our destination and on the way we stopped at Block 15 in Corvallis for lunch. While I have enjoyed plenty of Block 15 beers this was my first visit to their restaurant and brewery where I enjoyed one of the largest salads ever (Oregonzola, figs & chicken) and Framboise Rouge, one of their sour offerings. We could have easily stayed around all afternoon but with half of the drive left we hit the road after fueling up.

Arriving in Newport we dropped our bags (at the Holiday Inn instead of the Rogue B&B we'd hoped for) and hit a couple of the Rogue locations. Rogue is Rogue and with their wide distribution we didn't find anything new to drink. But all was not lost as we were tipped off about a place called Bier One.

Bier One, a bottle shop and taproom, is larger than any of the bottle shop/taprooms in Portland due to the fact that beyond beer they have two pool tables, foosball, a couple of dart boards and a small sidewalk patio. Their tap selection offered us the chance to try beers we'd never had before and while the bottle selection was contained in just a couple of coolers, a quick look at it revealed that while the quantity might be small, the quality was solid.

After a pleasant evening there we took a longer route home the next morning, heading up the coast to Pacific City and Pelican Pub & Brewery. Although it was past Labor Day and a Tuesday, the place was packed when we arrived for lunch. A brief wait, made shorter by a pint of beer and taking in the view from their deck, and we were seated. The food and the beer were good but the setting was the most stunning part. Had we had more time I would have been first in line to slide down the huge adjacent sand dune or just hang out on the patio.

Returning to Portland we had another day before seeing them off. Then it was a short turn around and a reconfiguring of the mind before showing a Portland first timer and inexperienced, yet very willing to try any beer, friend from Iowa around town. More on that next.

Pairing Do-si-dos

Confident, but not hopefully overconfident, I decided to diverge from the article's Elvis-inspired pairing for Do-si-dos. They claim peanut butter is a challenging one to pair and suggested with a drier finish beer, Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse Dunkel, due in part to its effervescence and the yeast's banana-like characteristics.

While I'm a fan of peanut butter and banana sandwiches, banana is not something I enjoy in my beer. Using that as a starting point and thinking along the sandwich lines I pondered peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Then it was down to the "cellar" to search for "jelly." Without many fruit beers to choose from I grabbed a bottle of Block 15 Kriek and crossed my fingers.

The beer all on its own is a stunner with great fruit flavor, not sweet and degree of tartness perfectly dialed in. The cookies, an oatmeal sandwich cookie with peanut butter filling, have plenty of peanut butter flavor. I won't say the two are a perfect match; there may be other fruit beers that would make a better pairing but I was pretty happy with it. I was also bolstered by Mag commenting, "That's good. That's really good." Certainly the effervescence of the beer helped to lighten the heaviness of the peanut butter and oatmeal and with my personal dislike of the banana yeast flavors of a weisse this is a better choice for my palate.

If you haven't been keeping track that's three pairings down, two more to go: Samoas and Savannah Smiles. Stay tuned.

Little Woody Festival

I had the chance to make my first visit to Bend for the Little Woody Barrel-Aged Festival with Brewvana over the holiday weekend. While I was technically working, I still had the opportunity to see Bend - beautiful from my brief peek at it - and see the Little Woody in action.

For those that haven't been, this is a small festival by most, especially Portland, standards. There were less than two dozen breweries represented but what they brought was pretty special. Basically anything that was poured at the festival was a one-off and would be hard if not impossible to find anywhere else. That by itself is enough reason for many serious beer geeks like me to go. Add to that a festival with a very relaxed feel in a beautiful setting and you've got more than enough reasons to make the drive.

I did have a chance to sample a handful of beers while I was there. All were good however it was the first beer that passed my lips that was my favorite - Framboise White by Block 15, a sour beer that spent 12 months in Chardonnay barrels with golden raspberries. This beer, among a few others, were lighter offerings that provided a refreshing change from the heavier, more typical barrel-aged beers in attendance.

I saw quite a few familiar Portland beer geeks at the festival and met a fair number more Portlandians that came by the Brewvana booth. Did you make it to this year's event or have you been in the past? Got any tips you'd like to share for when I plan my visit? 

Beer & Cheese

These are two of my favorite things. Generally, however, I don't make a concerted effort to have one with the other. But they do go incredibly well together so when the opportunity arose to attend an event that was curated by Portland's own award-winning cheese monger, Steve Jones, hosted by The Commons Brewery, there was no way I could pass it up.

The first Beer and Cheese Festival was one of the last events of PDX Beer Week and what a way to wrap up a great 11 days of beer events. The advance sale only ticket price of $27 entitled attendees to 10 beer and cheese pairings, a glass snifter plus a huge variety of cured meats and pates from Chop Butchery & Charcuterie. On the surface "10" might not seem like a lot and I'll be honest that I thought I might end up buying extra individual tickets. However, once the fest began and I got a few pairings in it was obvious that 10 oz of cheese and approximately 30 oz of beer was going to be plenty.

My top three, in no particular order were:
Solera Berlinerweiss/Grisette Blend with Sartori Bellavitano (cow's milk cheese from WI)
Solera is one of Oregon's newer breweries and this was probably my favorite beer of the day. Sartori is a cheese maker I was already familiar with, in particular their Raspberry BellaVitano that is soaked in New Glarus Raspberry Tart ale. The bonus was that I had the chance to meet head brewer Jason, who worked under Minnesota's own Mike Hoops.

Gigantic Rauchweizen and the Bandit with Willamette Valley Cheese Co Brindisi (aged Fontina cow's milk cheese)

I have to admit this was a pairing I wasn't looking forward to as I'm not a Rauch beer fan. As suspected, the beer was smoky in both aroma and flavor. When paired with the noticeably salty cheese (and I mean this in the best way possible) my eyes were opened to a way to enjoy the style. I would love to see Gigantic start to carry this cheese as I'd happily purchase the pair next time I meander down to the taproom.

Block 15 Figgy Pudding with Colston-Basset Stilton (cow's milk cheese)

Figgy Pudding is a big (11%) brandy barrel-aged beer that is strong enough to stand up to the deliciously assertive blue cheese flavors of the stilton. Mag described the pairing as feeling like, "I'm doing something naughty," and I agree that this was the most decadent pairing of the day. It was also my final pairing and the perfect "dessert."

As with the Fruit Beer Festival last year, I hope this first year festival returns in the future. It was a great time and something that while simple in concept, was executed very well and from all the comments I heard, an absolute hit. Thank you to Steve for allowing us to benefit from his mastery of cheese, The Commons for hosting, Chop for sharing their delicious work, Ezra for putting together another great event and all of the other folks that made it possible.

Mighty Mites at Coalition

On Saturday one of our favorite haunts, Coalition Brewing, hosted “Mighty Mites: A session beer festival” on their back patio. This was the second such festival of the summer with Blitz Ladd putting on “Summer Session” the last Saturday of the July. We didn’t make it to that one, having out of town beer lovers and houseguests to tour around Beervana, and had it not been the case that my better half is a greater fan of session beers than I am, I might not have made it to this one either.

Perusing the offerings as set up ran past the official noon start time*, I crossed off the beers I’d had before, setting my course to hit a couple lighter hopped beers before diving into ones I expected to have a bit more bite, like Stone Levitation. I also had to set Fort George Working Girl Porter back in line a few places, not wanting the anticipated chocolate/coffee flavors to coat my palate too early in the game.

Throughout the afternoon, which was sunny, toasty and perfect for drinking session beers, I made it through all of the beers I wanted to try and then settled in for repeat fills of Block 15 Berliner Weiss. Not the most attractive of beers, especially through the cloudiness of my OBF mug, it more than made up for it with a light and mildly tart/sour flavor that cut through the heat of the day.

Besides the beer and the great weather, there was plenty of beer talk to be had. A number of the #pdxbeergeeks showed up, we reconnected with some folks we had met at another fest and got the chance to talk to a few new acquaintances as well. Not much more one could ask for, if you ask me.

 

 

*I have come to the conclusion that it must be a rule for all Oregon beer festivals to start late. Therefore no offense aimed in any specific direction.