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: October 16 - 22

We're going back to the sour well this week with five of the six beers making our list in that camp.

Little Beast Dream State - Receiving one of our highest ratings this first fruit beer from Little Beast is outstanding. Generally strawberries are one of our least favorite fruits to be used in making a beer but the 100lbs of hand-picked Oregon strawberries displayed their heady aroma up front and with their lush fruit character following the mid-palate funk. It would be easy to drink the full 375ml bottle by one's self but we were fortunate enough that the person that shared it with us was feeling generous. 

pFriem Bosbessen - Switching berries to blueberries, they impart a gorgeous color and tart blueberry aroma into this barrel-aged lambic-style ale. That's where they depart and the funk goodness takes over, dominating the flavor in the most delicious way.

Almanac Tropical Galaxy - The name Almanac is nearly synonymous with sour/wild beers although this one is distinctly different from many of the fruit-forward ones we've enjoyed before. A dry-hopped farmhouse aged in oak barrels with mango, lime and coconut the aroma is pretty funky with a flavor that is both smooth and balanced between the various components. 

Our next two beers come from the same brewery - Urban Family - but couldn't be more different.
Guava Dawn, displaying a bright color from the pink guava that also infuses the aroma, it is subtly balanced by the Brett, Sacc and Lactobacillus mixed culture it was fermented with. The result is mimosa-like and crushable.

Dark Perennial goes to the dark side of sour beers with a nearly opaque color, a combination resulting from the blackberries, boysenberries and Midnight Wheat. The rhubarb contributes tartness, which often makes for a bit of an astringent mouthfeel, but here is pleasantly overpowered by the Midnight Wheat to provide the a velvet mouthfeel we've not before experienced in a sour beer. A fantastic winter sour.

Departing the sour train, the final beer making this week's list combines our second favorite drink - coffee - to create the most recently enjoyed lovechild of this union.

Ruse Grizzly Menace - A robust coffee porter that was conditioned on cold brew from Coava, the aroma is all coffee with a combination of coffee and chocolate characteristics in the flavor. Complimenting the aroma and flavor is a silky mouthfeel that could be associated with the use of lactose but here it comes from oats. While we love lactose for the mouthfeel and sweetness it imparts, the use of oats is more appropriate for a porter base and keeps the result from being sweet. We've had IPAs, sours and now a coffee porter from Ruse and we're thoroughly impressed with all of them. You can bet we'll be visiting their space along the orange Max line once it's open, currently slated for early 2018.

The Best Things We Drank: October 2 - 8

Last week while our taste buds were clearly tuned to "sour" the three beers making this week's list span the seasons.

Dionysus Super Funkadelic - Shared by one of our frequent drinking buddies at The BeerMongers, this dry-hopped gose hit the perfect balance of sourness and hoppiness. On the big end for a gose at 6.5% it's still incredibly drinkable with the hop profile making it feel like a suitable fall beer. Bonus points for a label that is as cool as the beer is good.

Buoy Benedict Cumberbatch - Another gose, this one featuring freshly chopped and juiced cucumbers and Jacobsen sea salt, it is super refreshing. It would be a great summer drinker so we'll have to hope it shows up next year but we would be quite pleased to continue drinking it throughout the winter.

North Coast Berliner Weisse Cranberry-Quince - One might recall seeing North Coast's other Berliner Weisses making our Best Things list but this one is quite possibly the best of the series so far. The most gorgeous of this week's list, the fruits used in it are ones we associate with fall and winter. Both the color and the flavor profile would make it a great beer to take to holiday gatherings. 

What's hitting your high notes recently? Seasonal offerings like fresh hop beers and Oktoberfests? Your go-to style, be it Pilsner, IPA or stout? 

The Best Things We Drank: September 18 - 24

We drank a ton of great beer last week! And like last week those beers fall squarely into to two quite dissimilar categories - stout and sour.

Barley Brown's Don Vanuchi 2017 - This first beer is one we were lucky enough to drink thanks to Chris' recent trip to Eastern Oregon, which included a visit to his favorite brewery, Barley Brown's. In past years this Russian Imperial Stout has been barrel aged and while we enjoyed that, it really shines without the addition of the qualities the barrels imparted. It drinks bitter, like really good dark chocolate, which pleasantly masks the 9.5% ABV.

Adroit Theory B/A/Y/S (Ghost 546) - Another Russian Imperial Stout, its cocoa-bitter flavor is balanced with just a touch of sweetness making for a very drinkable 10%.

Belching Beaver Mexican Chocolate Peanut Butter Stout - Formerly called Viva La Beaver and Living La Beaver Loca, the aroma is predominately peanut butter with the flavor speaking more to the chocolate/cocoa part of the name with just the slightest bit of heat. It's no surprise that it is Belching Beaver's highest rated beer and that it has been awarded numerous gold and silver medals. 

Allegory Fresh Pints!!! - This 4.2% fresh hopped sour ale starts with a great sour aroma, followed by a pleasant, drinkable sour flavor with just a touch of the characteristics from the fresh hops coming in at the end. A refreshing beer and a refreshing take on a fresh hop beer at a time when so many places default to an IPA, pale ale or red ale base. 

O'so Tuppen's Demise - Shared by another Chris (who also goes by Tappan, not to be confused with the name of this beer), it's an outstanding blended barrel aged tart beer that's lightly effervescent and displays a gorgeous rosey color from the Michigan blueberries in it.

Flat Tail Dam Wild Raspberry and Lime - Flat Tail continues to impress us with their sour beers, this one full of berry flavor tempered every so slightly by a splash of lime. Clocking in at a surprising 7.5%, it's easy drinking and perfect for Indian Summer days.

Urban Family Zested - A newer beer from another brewery that excels at sour beers, the best way we can describe this is as the love child of lemon curd and beer. If you dig on bright and lemony, you should dig on this. 

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.

The Best Things We Drank: March 20 - 26

This week's list is short and topped by local, fast rising star Great Notion. We met a couple friends there last weekend and ran into a couple more...go figure...and also chatted with two of the owners. In addition to completely turning around the former Mash Tun Paul, James and Andy are great guys who I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing for a piece in the Oregon Beer Growler this time last year.

Great Notion Super Ripe - The brewery has done a few iterations of Ripe and this double dry hopped one is absolutely delicious. Starting with a zesty-juicy aroma, the flavor is more juicy than zesty and very drinkable for 9.5%.

Great Notion Heart of Gold - Once again showing their command of sour beers, this barrel aged Saison made with peaches and sour bacteria has a smooth peach aroma, golden color and lovely sour bracingness.

Omnipollo Bianca Mango Lassi Gose - Omnipollo is essentially a gypsy brewery with the recipes conceived at their home base in Sweden but brewed at breweries around the globe. This beer, a 6% gose brewed with rock salt, lactose and mango puree, was brewed at Buxton Brewery in the UK. While we didn't find much in the way of fruit character it was a nice gose that had the pronounced salt profile one would expect from the style.

Cider Riot! Everyday Semi-Dry - We find ourselves adding cider into the mix more often and this one is exactly what the name says, something we'd be happy to drink every day. We had it on tap, while checking out a Portland institution we've driven by hundreds of times - Sandy Hut, but it is also the first canned offering from the cidery. Six packs will start popping up next week and to celebrate this next step in the young cidery's life there is a can release/dance party on April 12th at Mississippi Studios.

In putting together this week's list it seems clear our taste buds are more than ready for spring, which will hopefully finally settle in as we put March behind us and welcome in April this weekend. With any luck we'll be getting out and about more soon, perhaps toting some cans, possibly the 12oz variety from Cider Riot! or the large format crowlers from Great Notion.

Edgefield's Matt Bergfield & a Belt Winning Beer

I was bummed to have missed McMenamins 22nd Annual Hillsdale Brewfest this year but was able to make up for that by taking the winning brewer up on his invitation to visit. If you haven't heard, the winning beer was Cerberus Wild Ale, brewed at the Edgefield Brewery where Matt Bergfield is the Head Brewer and manager.

The beer is a blend of Belgian strong golden, Berliner Weisse and golden ale that has been barrel-aged with Brett. It's a nicely tart, but not punch-you-in-the-face sour and very drinkable. As a fan of all manner of tart/sour beers I certainly would have had this on my short list if I had been at the festival and agree with Matt that this beer winning is reflective of a shift in many people's palates to less hoppy/more sessionable beers.

It'd take a pretty big pair of britches to wear this belt.

In past years the winner of The Belt, the physical prize of the festival, also had their beer showcased as the McMenamins submission to the Oregon Brewer's Festival. I've been of the mind that it's a very equitable way to select one beer out of the hundreds turned out annually from the stable of McMenamins breweries. This year McMenamins will go through a different selection process, making the decision internally instead of leaving it to a people's choice vote. At first I was disappointed but in chatting with Matt realized that it is probably a wise decision for McMenamins. OBF if not only the largest beer festival in Oregon but it draws people from all over the world, people that may never have had a McMenamins beer before and of course they want to put their best foot forward.

Matt, an east coast transplant, didn't expect to take top honors at the festival and was pleasantly surprised with the win. The Belt now hangs in the brewery office alongside a machete, which legend has it former brewer Jason McAdam (of Burnside Brewing) brought in to cut his mash. Weird, yes, but legends often are.


Matt Bergfield & Nate Whitney

Always interested to hear brewers' back stories I asked Matt about his and found out that he and his wife came to Oregon three years ago, via a cross country bicycle ride from their former home in Boston where Matt worked at Harpoon Brewing. The ride started with dipping their tires in the Atlantic and ended with a dip into Pacific waters in Astoria, after which they made the decision to set down stakes in Portland.

Working first for Harpoon and now McMenamins, neither small companies, Matt sees one of the biggest advantages of working for a larger company is that "all your payroll doesn't depend on each batch." I haven't directly asked some of my favorite small brewers about this but I suspect there is quite a bit of pressure in that regard. It also means that when Matt brews a beer he loves, a recent batch of mild for example, but it doesn't sell well it's simply one batch in hundreds that are turned out.

Kegs waiting to be repaired, beer being barrel aged & sour magic happening.

Many of us, me included, tend to give McMenamins less than a fair shake when it comes to their beer. Matt admitted that in the past, when the price caps on batches were in place, there was perhaps a different focus for the McMenamins brewers. These days, however, they have more flexibility and if you've had more than just a passing pint I think you'll agree that the quality has gone up. At Edgefield they're putting more beer in barrels from their winery and distillery and delving into sour beer.

Thanks again to Matt for inviting me out. If I've managed to convince you to give McMenamins, and Edgefield in particular, a second glance I suggest following Matt on Twitter for updates on special releases and more.

New Sours & Other Tasty News From Breakside

Ever since expanding to Milwaukie Breakside Brewery has been putting more effort into their sour program, much to my delight. Last night I had the opportunity to get a first taste of a couple of I'm sure my fellow sour fans will want to get their hands on.

The first was Country Blonde, a Belgian Blonde that sat on grapes and utilizes Brett. It is a very drinkable beer, one that I see appealing to both sour beer lovers and those just coming to appreciate it. Be careful though, at 7.8% plowing through a couple of bottles could knock you back on your heels before you know it. Only a small batch of this bottle conditioned beer was made with 30 cases being available for sale on Friday, December 5th exclusively at their Dekum pub and Milwaukie production facility.

The second was La Torenta, a dry hopped sour ale, which is Breakside's final bottled beer release for 2014. The beer was brewed as a tribute to their senior brewer, Sam, who will be leaving this month to explore lobbyist work. The beer was brewed in 100% stainless, using lacto and Equinox hops, the latter giving it a resinous/tangerine character. It has a little bit of that funk I so enjoy and played nicely with the Arpeada Vache cow cheese from France that Steve selected.

The third beer of the tasting broke stride being both non-sour and one that is a draft-only offering. Simply called Imperial Red, this is a one-off, hop-forward beer has enough body to be balanced and deceptively drinkable at 8%. It was paired with L'Amuse Gouda, a cow's milk cheese from Holland, that had a dry sharpness similar to a parmesan and the combination was great. Keep your ears open for locations that put this on tap and then swing by Cheese Bar to get some of this gouda to enjoy with it.

In addition to tasting these three new beers, brewmaster Ben Edmunds shared other tasty news.

- The Milwaukie tasting room will now have four dedicated sour taps.
- Also at Milwaukie, they're starting "library" or "vintage" flights, in which they'll be cracking open bottles on the weekend, pouring them until they're gone. Then you'll have to sit tight until next weekend to see what they've rounded up.
- They are bringing a new R&D brewer on, Michael Brady from Boneyard.
- They have five collaboration beers for CBC 2015, which will be held in Portland, the first of which is being brewed today with brewmaster Mitch Steele from Stone.
 

Tonight, November 19th, is the first of two La Tormenta release parties and will take place 5:00 - 7:00 pm at ABV Public House in Hillsboro. If you can't make that one, or you're an eastsider like me, make plans to visit The BeerMongers for the second release party on Thursday, November 20th starting at 5:00 pm. And if you happen to be reading this from the Seattle area, rejoice in the fact that Breakside will be doing a third release party at Bottleworks on Friday, December 5th.

The Hoppy Brewer: A Reason to Visit Gresham

Gresham is an easy place to poke fun at -my friend who lives there even makes fun of it - but like most places there are not nice parts of town and other parts that are just fine. Downtown Gresham falls into the latter category and is actually quite quaint. My friend who lives there frequents The Hoppy Brewer, a home brew shop/brewery/bar, which is similar to Sellwood's PDX U-Brew. With nothing planned Labor Day Monday we decided it was high time to make the "trek" to Gresham to check it out.

Nestled among a multitude of storefronts on N Main Street in downtown Gresham, we did a quick walk through of the indoor space before quickly settling down at a table on their patio. Nearly before we finished checking out the tap list, the friendly beertender came over to take our order. With only one house-brewed beer on tap at the time, I jumped right on it before giving the name, Fiesta Ceraveza, too much thought. There was no style listed and with an ABV of 5% I was somewhat fearful of a lager or pilsner but was determined that regardless of style I wanted to give Krauski's Brewskies, the name of the brewing entity, a try.

As it turned out I was in love with the beer from the first sip! I'm a sucker for sour beers and this one was refreshing, perfect for the first of the day. I was a bit confused by its listing as a chili beer on Untappd until I had a chance to talk to owner and brewer Steve. Brewed in June, he used mild poblano chilies, which he said were much more pronounced initially. This was the last keg of it and he agreed that the chili flavor had faded, leaving the sourness to dominate. Once the chili seed had been planted in my head I could faintly pick it up.

In addition to the beer, we knew we had to check out the restaurant that shared the patio with The Hoppy Brewer - The Local Cow. Strange name but delicious food! Mag went with our friend's go-to order of caprese sliders with the addition of meat patties and I couldn't resist the pimento cheese-bacon-roasted jalapeno-goat slayer sauce pull of the El Chupacabra. While he enjoyed the sliders, Mag agreed my burger was outstanding and one of the best, if not the best, burger we've found in the Portland area. And their bleu fries certainly rival Breakside's.

So the next time you're looking to try something a little out of your regular flight path, I encourage you to check out The Hoppy Brewer. They'll soon have their 25+ tap set up complete, presumably with more house beers available. Add on a meal from The Local Cow and I dare you to say it isn't worth the trip.

Better Late Than Never

Confession: Breakside's Taproom and Brewery in Milwaukie has been open for seven months and it was only in the last week that I finally visited for the first time.

The taproom boasts an impressive 20 taps which includes beers from their year round line up but also include quite a few that you won't find elsewhere. In addition, Breakside has made it a point that the beertender will be one of their brewers. I don't expect all my beertenders to be brewers, just knowledgeable about the product they're pouring but it is a classy touch to make this a policy.

With a tap list of that size some might have a hard time choosing what to order first but I knew before I even got there what my first glass would be. It was none other than their recently released Passionfruit Berliner Weiss, a style which if you've read a few of my posts you know is a current favorite. Excluding the dirty dishwater color of the beer (not uncommon in beers containing fruit), the aroma was full-on fruit and the flavor...oh, wonderful tartness...the kind that made my salivary glands pucker up and beg for more.

I resisted the urge to order a second glass of Passionfruit but kept the sour theme going as I moved on to the Imperial Sour Apricot, a wheat based strong ale with a lactic-soured base. Here the color was brighter but the tradeoff was an aroma that wasn't as appealing. The flavor was not as sour yet it had a light decadence that reminded me of fruit-topped creme brulee.

My third and final beer was the New World Bruin. I was happy from the first whiff all the way to the last sip of this sour brown. I found it strongly reminiscent of Duchesse, albeit a less sweet version with a slight cheese funk on the back. Perhaps that doesn't sound like the most glowing description to you but for me it was delightful.

I would have loved to have lingered longer, enjoying more beer, but plans to meet a friend elsewhere were calling. Bidding adieu to beertender and brewer Tom, I left, looking forward to visiting again soon.

Breakside Taproom & Brewery
5821 SE International Way, Milwaukie
M - F 3:00 - 7:30 pm & Sat 2:00 - 8:00 pm (closed Sunday)

Sour Sisters

 

In case you haven't guessed it already, I'm a huge fan of both Coalition Brewing and The Commons Brewery. I love nearly everything both breweries are turning out and the owners/brewers are some of the best beer folks around. Over the last few months it occurred to me that a beer from one brewery reminded me of a beer from the one. However I was going on memory alone and I'm the first to admit how faulty my memory can be. Seeking to test my memory properly I opened a bottle of The Commons Maybelle side-by-side with a bottle of Coalition Sourpuss.

Maybelle is a 5% ABV American Wild Ale and Sourpuss is a 3.8% ABV Sour Belgian Wit. Different styles of beer, yes, but sisters or at least kissing cousins. Other than the obvious color and clarity difference, the flavors were close enough for me to feel that my memory hadn't misled me.

Maybelle's color was a bit darker, a bit cloudy and highly carbonated as was evidenced by a foam over upon opening the bottle. The sour aroma was followed by a softer sour flavor that got a little funk on it as it warmed.

Sourpuss was a brighter shade, clearer and more effervescent on the tongue. It gave off more of a funky, rather than sour, aroma but there was certainly some funk in the back of the mouth.

I will stick with my original Untappd ratings where I gave one a 3.5 rating and one a 4 but they are both great beers that I'd be happy to drink any day of the week. If you've had both were you reminded of one by the other? If you haven't had one or both, give them a try if you get the chance. The sourness/funkiness is mild enough in both that they should be palatable even to those who aren't nuts about the style like I am.

Sour Goodness at Coalition

Coalition Brewing on SE Ankeny was one of the first places we found and felt like we could call ours when we moved to Portland three years ago. In the beginning we went there quite frequently. As time progressed, however we kept finding more places, new places kept opening up and before we knew it, we had to look at one another and ask, "How long has it been since we've been to Coalition?" That's a hard thing to admit since Elan, Kylie and the whole staff are so great and welcoming. Then, of course, there's the great beer that they make.

We've recently moved so that now we're only 10 blocks from Coalition. It's an easy walk, especially on gorgeous days like we've had recently, and I'm happy to say that I've been twice in the last week. The most recent visit was spurred by the release of their first sour beer, Sourpuss Sour Belgian Wit. Sour beers are a favorite style of mine so I was eager to give it a try. I'm pleased to report that it is an outstanding, drinkable sour. Thankfully it's a sessionable 3.8% ABV because I could hardly put my glass down between sips.

If you don't happen to live near Coalition keep your eyes peeled for it in stores. Bottles are currently available at the pub ($9 if I remember correctly) and will soon be showing up at select bottle shops. This is a limited edition beer so the labels are a bit of a departure from the look of other Coalition beers. Check out the image below and imprint it in your mind's eye so you can make sure to pick some up when you spy it in the cooler.

A Day Late, A Beer Short

Make that two beers actually. But this is no tale of woe. Oh no, this little story has a happy ending.

If you recall, I was quite excited about the lineup of wild beers The Commons was offering to kick off their Thursday night taproom hours. Turns out I let pizza and football deter me from my plans and I didn't make it over there. I knew I was taking a chance and it turned out that two of the beers - Nectarine Berliner Weiss and Sour Gin Bruin - had been polished off Thursday night. There were others left however hearing that two of them were "on fumes" I knew if I was to have them I'd better show up first thing Friday.

Arriving I quickly ordered a sample tray that included Lambicus Amber, Walnut and Wild Walnut.
Lambicus Amber - Amber ale fermented 100% with Brettanomyces Lambicus - I'm typically not a fan of ambers as I find them too malty and sweet or unremarkable. Not this one. It was crisp and as it warmed the Brett aroma pleasantly came forward.
Walnut - Belgian porter - While not a sour beer it displayed the delicious nuttiness implied by the name that played well with the porter base.
Wild Walnut - Belgian porter fermented 100% with Brettanomyces Lambicus and finished with fresh lime juice - Yes, fresh lime juice! Hang on, I know that if you were to hear a beer has an aroma and flavor heavily influenced by lime juice you would unconsciously make an icky face. But no, it was unbelievably delicious and refreshing, "A dark beer you could drink on a summer day," commented a fellow visitor to the taproom. He hit it right on the money.

There were only five gallons of the Wild Walnut made and although I was kicking myself for not coming out on Thursday night this beer single-handedly made up for it. I am sorry to say that if you haven't had it, you won't get it, at least not this batch. There was probably less than two pints worth of it Friday and the keg blew minutes after I got mine. Hopefully The Commons crew will make more of this one and other wild beers.

Get Wild at The Commons

Open to the public for nearly a year now on Friday and Saturday nights, The Commons has built sufficient momentum to add Thursday night tasting room hours to their regular schedule. As an added incentive to come visit them they're offering a seven-beer line up of the wild variety tonight.

Mike, Sean and Josh were in attendance at the Sean/Shawn/Shaun Killer Beer Week event at The BeerMongers last night, bringing with them two of the seven. An avowed fan of wild/sour beers as well as The Commons I had to have both Seani Tibi (aka Bene Tibi) and Plum Bretta. Tibi is a 100% Brettanomyces Lambicus fermentation with sour cherries and fresh apple cider that was aptly described by a fellow beer drinker as a cidery Saison. It's very tasty but it was the Plum Bretta, a farmhouse ale aged in a Pinot Noir barrel with Brettanomyces, finished with 80 lbs of hand-cut Italian plums, really knocked my socks off. Boasting a beautiful color, a tart aroma that made me too happy before the first sip and flavor that made it hard for me to order any other beer after this was a beer everyone I talked to thoroughly enjoyed.

Even before last night's two-beer preview I was excited about the line up. After? All I can say is that 5:00 pm seems like ages away and my face is puckering in anticipation.


All of the beers will be available in 12 oz glasses and sample sizes. Expect glasses to run $4 - $5 each. Photo courtesy of The Commons.

 

Flat Tail Does Sours

You know about my love of sour beers. And if you live in, or are familiar with, Portland there's probably one brewery that springs to mind when the topic of sour beers come up: Cascade. That's a perfectly understandable association since that's what they specialize in. That doesn't mean there aren't other brewers making sours. In fact, there are others that are doing a mighty fine job at it and Flat Tail Brewing is one of them.

Thursday night head brewer Dave Marliave brought three of his beers, including one sour, to The Guild for a Meet the Brewer event with #pdxbeergeeks. Their Wild 5 Amber is a blended, 9 month old sour beer and convinced me that Dave knows what he's doing when it comes to sours. I decided right then that if I came across another sour Flat Tail creation I'd make sure to order it.

As it turned out, that opportunity came the next evening at The Beermongers. They were tapping two brews, two different ones than had been available at The Guild: Put a Bird on Wit and Jarabe Caliente! After a quick scan of the beer descriptions, I knew I wanted to try the Jarabe but it took a subsequent, closer read to realize that although the other was a wit, a style I don't particularly enjoy, it was in fact a SOUR wit. That sealed the deal and I couldn't wait for the keg to be put on.

While Put a Bird on Wit was a completely different sour, as one would expect a wit to differ from an amber, I enjoyed it as thoroughly as I had the Wild 5 Amber. I sure hope Dave will be making plenty more of both because I'll be looking for and drinking them as often as I can.

4 Goses of the Apuckerlips

I appreciate clever names so when I heard Cascade Brewing Barrel House was having a vertical tasting called “4 Goses of the Apuckerlips” I knew it was something I needed to go to. The tasting consisted of Spring and Winter Goses from 2011 and Autumn and Summer Goses from 2010. I wasn’t able to go the first night it was offered, but thankfully neither was enough other people, and there was still some of each beer left the next day.

From left to right:

Winter – spiced with rose hips, orange peel and cinnamon

Autumn – spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and orange peel

Summer – spiced with coriander

Spring – spiced with wild chamomile, lemon peel and culinary lavender

Although each was only two ounces, I made my way back and forth through the seasons multiple times and in doing so the story of The Three Bears came to mind. Instead of being too hot or too cold, too soft or too hard I found the Spring to be too floral and the Autumn and Winter to be too spicy. But the Summer, the Summer was just right. The Autumn and Winter both grew on me and improved as they warmed but it was the Summer, a subtly sour wheat beer, that won it for me.

Did you make it to the tasting? If so, was there one that was just right for you?

A Jaunt to the Headquarters of Sours

You’ve heard about my newest love, sours.  Last night we checked out the newly opened headquarters of sours in Portland, the Cascade Brewing Barrel House.

To whoever was responsible for picking this location, you get a big thanks from me!  Not only is it relatively close to where we live, it’s also just across Belmont from the Green Dragon and a few blocks north of the Lucky Lab on Hawthorne. 

Of the 17 beers on tap, 13 were sours so the choice of what to order first wasn’t an easy one and when our waitress came by I panicked, ordering the apricot.  As I waited for it to arrive, I thought back to our trip out to the Raccoon Lodge with the McG’s and was pretty sure I’d had it before.  As it turned out, our waitress was overwhelmed and Mag ended up going up to the bar to place our order so I had a chance to rectify that, ordering a beer they had just put on tap – Beck Berry. 

There was no description of Beck on the menu and with the place hopping with folks watching the Timbers game or cueing up to watch the Ducks game, the best description to be had was that this was their first and would be their last beer made with Brett.  Brett!  My heart sang and my mouth was not disappointed.

Next up I had to give their Funk II, a sour wheat a try.  Currently it was the only one coming directly out of the barrel, being “dusted” with a small amount of carbon dioxide to carbonate and coming out of a traditional German brass tap (on the left in the picture below).* Again, without a description on the menu I wasn’t able to find out much other than either Funk II was a component of Noyeaux, or the other way around.  Mag had ordered the Noyeaux so we were able to try the two side by side and while it was clear there was a relationship between the two, they were distinctly different and each very tasty in their own right.

My love of Brett drove me to return to Beck** once more before we headed out and if I can swing it, I’ll be making another trip back to Cascade to get some more of it before it vanishes.  And if you like sours make sure to put Cascade on your radar.  You won't be disappointed.

*Thanks to the exceedingly well timed placement of the October/November issue of the Northwest Brewing News for this explanation.

**A check to their website the next morning produced some more info on Beck.  Click here and scroll down all the way to the bottom if you’re so inclined.

Don’t Like Your Beer? Don’t Pay For It

Last night I met up with some folks for beers at one of the many places I have yet to visit, The Victory Bar. It was described to me as a dive, which is A-OK in my book, but upon arrival, “cozy, neighborhood bar” seemed a more appropriate description. Being the first one there (shocker, huh?) I bellied up to the bar for my first pint – Oakshire Mud Puddle Chocolate Porter – and to wait for the others.

While still working on the first half of the pint, Mike showed up, decided upon the Jolly Pumpkin Wit, and we grabbed a table to wait for the others. As it turned out JP’s version of a wit came with a fairly pronounced sour finish, much to Mike’s chagrin. Sours being right up my alley (and a bit bummed that I had missed the Cascade Frite Galois they had on tap the previous week), I gave it a try and offered to make his first beer my second beer so that he could order something more to his liking. When our waitress/bartender came by he ordered an IPA and I mentioned by way of explaining the nearly full glass in front of him, that he didn’t like it so I’d buy his IPA in exchange. She offered not to charge him for it but I insisted that I had tried it, enjoyed it, and it was no problem to keep it on the tab.

Fast forward a couple rounds beers and the rest of the folks that were supposed to show up…wherein we decided we’d all explored their beer menu to our satisfaction and decided to saunter down the street to one of the New Old Lompoc locations. Our tab came and low and behold – she actually didn’t include the Wit on the bill!

Victory's tap list, in case you were curious

That’s a new level of commitment to customer satisfaction for me and just adds to the reasons (good beer reasonably priced, meat, cheese, atmosphere, close to home) I’ll be coming back and recommending it to others.

Sourpuss

I haven’t been able or even willing to answer the question, “What is your favorite beer?” for years. But for the last year or so I could give an answer to, “What is your favorite style of beer?” Hands down I would say IPA: double, imperial, the hoppier the better.

But lately I have a new infatuation - sour beers.

I’ve been a fan of the Duchess for quite a while, but I don’t really consider her a sour. There’s a bit too much sweet and not enough tart for her to actually be considered a sour in my book. But I suppose she must be given credit for leading the charge on my taste buds, pushing me in the right direction.

Since having been in Oregon, I've a wonderful sour blend at Upright Brewing and a Summer Gose from Cascade Brewing while attending the Oregon Brewers Festival. Just this week, in part to show the McG’s around our new home, we went made a maiden voyage to Cascade Brewing and made a return visit to Upright Brewing.

Cascade currently calls the Raccoon Lodge in SW Portland home (soon to be opening a much anticipated barrel room) and when we stopped in they were offering up somewhere around ten beers, of which nearly half of them were sour. Their Summer Gose caught my eye right away, but having already tasted it, I gave the Winter Gose a try. It was a good beer, with the spice notes being more subtle than I feared and the sour notes more pronounced than I had expected. But I was eager to return to the stronger sour notes of Summer. Then it was on to the Frite Galois, which offered the most sour notes of all and was my favorite of the session. Their Raspberry Wheat was also surprisingly good, with fruit and sour notes drowning out nearly all the wheat flavor and one of the most lovely shades of pink-lilac to have ever graced a beer glass.

At Upright, a young nano-brewery that uses open fermentation, the sour blend I’d had before was long gone, but the Barrel Aged Four was at least as good. After aging for a month or more, the wheat flavors of the original Four were virtually gone, being replaced by wonderfully sour flavors. Their two other “modified” beers, Long Pepper Six and Dry Hop Five, offered up bits of sourness, but nothing to satisfy the pucker seeking sour lover.

This is by no means the extent of sour beer I should be able to get my hands on and I can’t wait to see what makes me pucker next.