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.
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.
Killer Beer Week, curated by Brewpublic founder Angelo De Ieso II, officially kicked off Sunday night at Roscoe's. Showing up right as the festivities were getting underway meant a bit of a wait as the efficient staff got everyone squared away with their first round. It also gave me time to peruse the beer list and narrow it down to my (first) four pours.
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| Courtesy of Roscoe's |
When it was my turn I placed my order, got my set of beers back quickly and set about reviewing my order to figure out which to have first. About that time I felt something was amiss. The sample on the left didn't look like what I expected it would and a sideways glance at the menu I had borrowed from a fellow bar mate gave me pause. It turns out he had an early version of the menu and the beers had been reordered. Amazingly there was actually one of the four that I meant to order sitting in front of me. Giving it up to the "oh well, I was going to order more anyways" I set about investigating what was in front of me. Forgoing a long, blow-by-blow description, suffice it to say the one I meant to order was my least favorite of the four. And one I probably would have passed up ended up being one of the favorites of the night.
I tried less than half of the beers being offered but my two favorites were so good I can't resist sharing them. The first, the one I probably wouldn't have ordered was a one-off fresh hopped keg from Deschutes cleverly named Open Mike Night IPA (for Mike Foy). The aroma could be called off putting, but that's only if you don't like a "litter box" smell (which I recently realized I DO). The flavor was completely different - a very bright, grapefruity IPA.
My other favorite shouldn't come as a surprise as it's a second favorite style of mine and the beer is a GABF Silver Medal winner. That would be none other than German Sparkle Party, a tart German wheat beer, from 10 Barrel. Great name and an even better beer, it's one I hope to find more of around town.
Speaking of around town, Killer Beer Week offers up events each night. Here's the down and dirty:
Monday - Killer Pumpkin Fest at Green Dragon
Tuesday - Washington Killer Beer Night at Salmon Creek
Wednesday - Sean/Shawn/Shaun Fest at The BeerMongers
Thursday - Bend Killer Brewers Night at The BeerMongers
Friday - Brewpublic's 4th Brewniversary at Saraveza
Saturday - Killer Beer Fest at Bailey's Taproom
Sunday - Yetta's Recovery Beerunch at The Hop & Vine
For full details, check out Brewpublic's event calendar.
Besides great beer it was great to see so many familiar faces, chat and enjoy the evening as I suspect Angelo intended all of us thirsty folks to do. Perhaps we'll see each other at one of these events. Cheers!
Arriving I quickly ordered a sample tray that included Lambicus Amber, Walnut and Wild Walnut. 
