The Best Things We Drank: Pro/Am Edition

This week's list is dedicated to the masterful work of the pro and amateur teams from Saturday's Willamette Week 5th Annual Beer & Cider Pro/Am. As you'll see from the list below, the ciders weren't an afterthought by any means; they easily held their own with the beers.

Fort George Bat Sh!t Hazy - It should come as no surprise that Fort George (with amateur Lisa Morrison) would turn out a stellar hazy IPA. Soursop and tangerines combine with "crazy amounts of hops" to create spot on aroma and flavor.

New West Cider Whistlin' Pete's - The first offering we've had from New West (with amateur Keegan Fennel) is like a cold cider version of a hot toddy. Aged on Jim Beam Choice and American Oak the whiskey notes are appropriately balanced with the bright lime and mildly spicy ginger.

Carlton Cyderworks Bitter Witter - Another cidery we don't have much experience with, along with amateur Coyan Corder, produced what we feel is a spot on dry English cider. The multi-varietal apple blend was 50% wild fermented and 50% Champagne yeast fermented with the resulting product named after Coyan's wife.

Reverend Nat's Riff Raff Banana Royal - Switching to a cidery we've had tons of experience with and feel is one of the best around, they teamed up with Bit House Saloon's group who call themselves "Team Riff Raff." Those familiar with Reverend Nat's know that they do not make sticky sweet ciders and once again, even when creating a cider that has "notes of coconut and vanilla mingling with rum raising ice cream and banana richness" that is truly dessert in a glass, it remains deliciously drinkable.

Fat Head's Mexican Gose - We tend to associate Fat Head's with great IPAs and the amateur they teamed up with, Ritch Marvin, knows his way around peppers. Their creation is a "margarita-like Gose with accents of lime and Serrano pepper" that mimics the drink's flavors without the disgusting sweetness. Peppers grown by both the pro and the am were used in the brew. 

Zoiglhaus Sweet Mild of Mine - While the hazelnut aroma and "layers of chocolate and hazelnut" in the flavor surprised us coming from Zoiglhaus (with amateur George Dimeo) what didn't surprise us was the incredible craftsmanship that packed all of that flavor into a 3.3% beer. We'd love to drink this beer all day, every day!

McMenamins Wonderberry: Spiced Cranberry Berliner Weisse - Standing by and supporting our assertion that McMenamins creates one-off beers that will rival anyone (here with amateur Mike Marsh) is this kettle soured Berliner Weisse. Sporting a lovely color from the cranberries used, its slightly sour aroma screams "THANKSGIVING." The flavor perfectly melds cranberries and oranges way better than the relish often found at family Thanksgiving dinners and if we had the chance we bet our relatives would agree.

Gigantic Saison L'enorme - Taking the very highest rating in our book it completely surprised our not-always-on-board-with-Saisons palate. The "unique blend of farmhouse Saison-Brett beers refermented with apricot puree" is the result of blending barrel-aged creations from Gigantic and amateur Dean Ehnes. What turned us from "unsure" before trying it to "hells yeah" once we tasted it was the Brett fermentation. Great funk supported by the apricot and mango flavors. 

While we considered including only Pro/Am beers in this week's list it just felt wrong not to include the following three beers which were enjoyed earlier in the week. 
Surly Darkness (2011) - Pulled out of our cellar in part to celebrate the Vikings win over the Packers and to bring some luck to the Timbers playing later in the day (it worked!), we were pleased to find that at six years old it is even better than when we had it the year it was produced. It was pretty awesome back then but with the age on it slight smoky aromas are coming through along with dark fruit flavors. Two more bottles remain in our cellar; perhaps we'll share some with you. 

Upright Shades - There is so much cherry-Brett lovely in this "Fantasia on cherries" we have to thank Chris for sharing with us. The blonde color belies what is found in the flavor and should you find a bottle available we highly recommend grabbing it. 

Bruery Terreux Beret - Another "thank you, Chris" beer, it combines slight funk with a hint of fruit for a delicious, dangerously drinkable 8.5% sour. 

If you've made it all the way through this marathon list, thank you! We hope you've had some great things in your glass lately and would love to hear if any of these hit high notes with you, too.

The Best Things We Drank: July 24 - 30

Last week was The Big Show aka the 30th Annual Oregon Brewers Festival and some of the best beers we drank were consumed on our two visits to it. The other portion were had at our Cheers aka The BeerMongers.

At OBF
Boundary Bay Raspberry Radler - One of the first beers consumed at this year's OBF, it was as delicious as it was gorgeous. A radler in name, this beer is a combination of raspberry puree and kettle soured beer fermented with an ale strain and house bacteria and dry hopped with Citra. It was bursting with fruit flavor and just the right amount of fruit tartness.

Baerlic Dropping Acid Psychedelic Sour IPA - The kettle souring with lactobacillus provides a sour-in-a-good-way aroma with a pleasant hop stank flavor from the El Dorado, Comet and Amarillo hops used. At 5% one could drink many of these.

Upright Heirloom Saison - Complex beers are Upright's thing and this blended beer starts with delicious wood on the nose (from the Saison part that spent 18+ months in barrels) and offers a bright, slightly sharp but refreshing flavor contributed by the black lime wheat component.

New Holland Dragon's Milk Reserve: Thai Curry - The biggest beer at the festival, an 11.7% imperial stout, was arguably the best beer of the festival as well. It's a meal (or at least dessert) in a glass with a coconut, mild spice and cocoa-y flavor. The elements combine to create a dangerously drinkable combo.

At TheBeerMongers
Bellwoods Farmageddon  - A true treat and a reason why generous beer people are so cool - they are happy to share great stuff with those that will appreciate it. Our buddy Chris recently visited Vancouver, B.C. and brought this back. Perfectly tart and delicious, this is a special edition of their classic Farmhouse Saison which is a blend of young and old barrels ranging from 6 months to 1.5 years. If you should see a bottle DO NOT hesitate to buy it. We guarantee it will be worth the price.

Off Color Hell Broth - Listed as a "Danish style American Wild Ale" and is a collaboration with Amager Bryghus, it possesses the aroma of cider with a light, drinkable beer flavor.

Schilling Cider Road Trip Peach Citra - It's coincidental but appropriate that the next beer on our list is in fact a cider. Whereas Schilling's grapefruit cider is just a fruity cider, here they've bridged the beer gap by finding the sweet spot between the fruitiness of peaches and the bitterness of hops.

If you attended OBF we'd love to hear what you thought topped the taps. If you didn't what has recently filled your glass with delight?

The Best Things We Drank: Beer Love Edition

We may not have love for made up holidays but we do have plenty of love for beer. And of course the best beer is that which is made with love. Here are the beers that made us swoon last week.

Caldera Old Growth Imperial Stout - Not a brewery we drink a ton of beer from although as this beer shows, there's no reason not to. An 8.8% double stout, it is perfectly balanced and roasty, a great example of a style that can easily be "too" one way or the other.

Founders Lizard of Koz - Founders beers were plastered across town last week as they made their debut in this market and while being from the Midwest we'd had plenty previously, this was a new one. To this palate it tasted exactly like a mixed drink called Tootsie Roll, which, yes, tastes like that candy. Very sweet and at 10.5%, one doesn't need much of it but wooza!

Arizona Wilderness Tart Sunshine - Another new-to-the-market brewery, this sour beer started with a lightly tart aroma, followed with a tart-er flavor and finished with enough dryness to keep us coming back for more. Big thanks to beer buddy, Chris, for sharing (and for the pic)!

Deschutes Pilsner Pie - This is one of two bottles that we picked up at the brewery during our visit to Bend a couple weeks ago and it was as delicious as we were hoping. The beer, an oak aged Pilsner with key lime, does in fact taste like key lime pie. Starting with a tart aroma it is not super sweet but the citrus flavors are there, just as a key lime pie isn't as sweet as its other pie cousins.

Upright Four Play - One of the local breweries that has as many hits as misses for us, this tried and true favorite was as delicious, tart and fruity as remembered. Hitting the brewery before taking in a Winterhawks game, it was fun to revisit a place we don't often make it to.

Ex Novo Do You Even Sour, Bro? - Ex Novo always has something (or multiple) interesting things on when we visit and last Friday was no exception. A deviation from many sours, this one uses 20% wheat and is dry-hopped, producing a mid-range sour beer. At 5.1% it's a great beer to start, or drink for an entire, session.

The tally for this week is three pairs - two darks, two sours and two fruity beers - and that seems about right. Or, you know, two threesomes. We don't judge.

Peaches, Cherries and Chilies, Oh My!

At the end of last week Upright Brewing announced the upcoming release of Fantasia, one of a handful of bottles of primarily fruit-driven beers that will be released in the coming weeks. I recently spent a very enjoyable evening at Upright tasting those soon-to-be-released beers and while I'm the first to admit Upright's beers don't always make my taste buds sing, there was only one of the bunch that I wouldn't wrestle you for.

Seeing as how Fantasia, now in its fifth vintage, is just days from being released it only makes sense to start there. Peaches from Baird Family Orchards, the place Upright sources all of its fruit, are put into casks whole, with just a quick knife stab to ensure the skins are broken. Brewed in mid-2014, the beer was aged in reused casks (previously containing other Upright fruit beers) for a year before it was bottled six months ago. The result is a beer that is pale but rich in color with an aroma that in no uncertain terms lets the nose know there are peaches within. There's a mild tartness, no doubt influenced by the unique microflora of the casks, and a juiciness that intensifies as the beer warms.

Peaches and cherries, used in Hearts' Beat and Shades, are agricultural products and as such have unpredictable peak ripeness which can make planning brew days challening. It's a minor inconvenience owner Alex Ganum is willing to deal with in order to utilize the "fuck-ton of really good fruit in Oregon."

The cherries used in Hearts' Beat are a variety called Chelan which are so dark they appear nearly black and impart so much color to the beer that by the end their year in the casks the cherries themselves are very pale. While it utilizes cherries, Alex was very clear that this beer is not a Kriek, instead it brings together elements from many styles. The powerfully delicious cherry flavor has a hint of tart/sour from the Brettanomyces that was pitched as well as from Sacromyces naturally occurring on the fruit or existing in the casks.

Shades, which utilizes two lots of Rainier cherries, gives nothing away in appearance that it, too, is chock full of fruit. Rainiers are beautiful cherries in their own right but pale in color, contributing little to the color but contribute significant acidity to the beer. That combined with the three strains of Brettanomyces pitched, result in a more tart, yet equally delicious beer.

Moving from beer-typical fruits to a wine-typical fruit, Oregon Native combines skin-on estate Pinot Noir grapes of Patton Valley Vineyard with Upright's cask fermentation. In designing this beer Alex, "wanted to make a beer where you can smell it and taste it and know it's a pinot beer." Not being much of a wine drinker myself I found it to be an outstanding balance between traditional beer and wine. Alex's talent is showcased in being able to capture the pinot quality of the delicate grapes in what is distinctly a beer. As with the previously mentioned beers, aged hops (2012 Columbia stored at room temperature) were used in a purposeful plan to avoid overhopping and overpowering these fruity beers.

Going further afield to chili peppers, which are botanically fruits, is Fatali Four. Thanks to the dedication of Ritch Marvin, who has provided Upright with chili peppers every year of its production, this balanced beer should please those who are looking for a beer with a subtle but slowly growing heat. Near the end of the year-long stint this beer spends in casks (four wine and one gin) the peppers are added to give the dry, tart beer to provide additional complexity. That complexity is belied by both the aroma and the pale color, being expressed as the beer is sipped and savored.

The final beer of the tasting was the first beer Upright ever brewed, Billy the Mountain. This old ale is one that Alex describes as "a bizarre beer" and one they get a lot of shit for making. He explains, "This beer has always been really personal for me," a beer that is his take on an unforgettable beer - Gale's Prize Old Ale. The 9.5% beer is fermented with British ale yeast designed for open fermenters and is a blend of 80% "freshly brewed" (one year old) and 20% three-year-old beer. While this is not a beer that I enjoy, especially after the earlier beers that were right up my alley, I respect Alex for continuing to make it and know there are plenty of folks out there that are happy he does. Without such passion and willingness to make what they love the craft beer world would be significantly less interesting.

For details on all of the releases follow Upright on Twitter, Facebook or pop into the tasting room to enjoy any number of beers while getting the news straight from the source.

Peanut Butter Jelly Time

Peanut butter and jelly, a childhood favorite that hasn't lost its luster (like hot dogs or bologna) can be as simple as you remember it or it can be complex and mind-blowing beyond your wildest dreams. Food cart PBJ's Grilled has been whipping up sandwiches of the latter variety since 2010 and last night they held a first ever pairing with Upright Brewing.

PBJ's has a cart tucked into NW in the 23rd & Lovejoy area (in addition to a mobile cart that can be tracked following them on Twitter) and like much of the food that is coming out of many micro-kitchens, it is amazing and creative. Before last night I'd only had one happy run in with PBJ's - a day when their mobile cart was in Beaverton - but right away I was hooked. Last night introduced me to four more of their creations off of their 14-item menu.

Pairings, Plate I

1. Betty with Upright Four - Although the sandwich was probably my least favorite, with the white pepper coming across a bit too strongly for me, the pairing worked well. Besides, there were pickles on it!
2. Spencer with Upright Six - Six is one of the Upright beers I'm not a fan of, however, paired with this sandwich, I really enjoyed it. The Spencer is on the more savory end of the menu spectrum and that, combined with the use of rye in both the sandwich and beer, contributed to the success of this pairing.
3. Oregonian with Upright Five - This was one of the sandwiches I'd had previously and although it might sound odd, the blue cheese flavor combines most deliciously with the nut butter and jam used. The hoppiness of the Five was a great compliment.

Pairings, Plate II

1. Spicy Thai with Upright Seven - This was the favorite sandwich of one of the folks we met at the tasting. I found it to be reminiscent of the Lucky Lab's spicy peanut sauce (Hawthorne location), just spicier. As a lover of spice, I was thrilled with the bold flavors of the sandwich which were mellowed by the 8% Seven.
2. Hot Hood with Upright Pilsener - This was the other sandwich I'd had before. The sandwich is very flavorful and rich. The beer is clean and light but in a way that instead of being overpowered by the sandwich, helped to clean and freshen the palate between bites.
3. Pumpkin Pie with Upright Scotch Ale - The smokiness of the beer, created in part by scorching the wort, worked very nicely with the pumpkin pie-ness of the sandwich. After tasting this paring I'd be quite interested in seeking out the Scotch next Thanksgiving to have with dessert.

After making it through all six pairings my tastebuds were doing all sorts of happy dances, to the music of the Ascetic Junkies which provided pre- and post-tasting music. It was a thoroughly great evening all around and although I'd like to think I could recreate some of it in my own kitchen I think I'll just look forward to the next tasting.

For full details on the sandwiches check out PBJ's menu.

A Weekend of Beer Gathering

Most of the time when I buy beer to restock the fridge, there isn't much of an advance plan. Maybe there was one beer I had in mind that drove the me but it's often a spur of the moment decision that I want something besides what is already in the well-stocked fridge. And usually my plan for moderation flies out the window when all the tasty choices are in front of me. This weekend was different; I had a solid, four part plan in advance.

Part I – Growler Fills at The Guild

As I mentioned last time around, the offer of $8 growler fills at The Guild Public House was a can't-pass-this-up type of deal. I knew I had to get there before the end of the month, when the promotion would end, and the coupling of an impending out of state work trip with the announcement that starting Monday (today) they were scaling back their hours, opening at 4 pm daily, put this on the must do list for the weekend. Although I didn’t know exactly what beers I would pick up due to the rotating nature of taps, I knew I’d be getting two growlers filled. (Any more would probably overload my limited fridge situation.)

Part II – Cascade Barrel House

Being in the flight path between The Guild and home, I knew a stop into Cascade would be an easy one. The hard part, I figured, would be getting a bottle of the already-a-week-past-the-release 2008 Apricot Ale. Lady Luck, who pinch hits for The Beer Gods from time to time, was with me. A quick call confirmed I hadn't missed my chance. I made two bottles mine, along with a pint of their freshly released, and very refreshing, Spring Gose.

Part III – Belmont Station 14^th Anniversary Sale

This weekend was the 14^th anniversary for Belmont Station and as a gift to their customers, they were offering 14% off all purchases on Sunday. 14% isn’t a lot, but when you buy good beer, beer that generally doesn’t go on sale at all, it’s worth making a point to take advantage of it. Knowing that I easily get distracted when I walk in there with all the choices and I could easily spend hundreds of dollars there on a day without a sale, I went armed with a list. There were four beers on it and it was four beers I walked out with.

Part IV – Four Play

Upright Brewing, was also celebrating an anniversary (their 2^nd) this weekend. A major component of the festivities was the sale of their much talked about Four Play. As you might guess with a name like that, they had fun with the artwork for the label. This year's artwork wasn't as racy as last years, yet there was still back and forth about it. I personally think it's much ado about nothing, especially in a town where there's at least one strip club in every neighborhood. As for the beer itself, it is Belgian in character, starting out with a wheat base, and then aging for a year in former pinot noir barrels with cherries, souring yeasts and bacteria. There were no limits on how much one could purchase but I practiced some rarely used restraint, bringing home just two bottles.

Weekend Total:

1 growler Everybody's Brewing Country Boy IPA
1 growler Prodigal Sun Rye

2 bottles Cascade 2008 Apricot Ale

12. 7 oz bottle Russian River Sanctification

6-pack Widmer W'11 KGB

22 oz Firestone Walker Double Jack

22 oz Laurelwood Espresso Stout

2 bottles Upright Four Play

In lieu of any photos from me, check out the links in Part IV. That should satisfy your eye candy cravings.