Twelve, Twelve, Twelve: Indianapolis, IN

It's 12/12/12 today, s let us take a moment for the sake of all humanity to sit and marvel that we are living through the LAST TIME IN OUR LIVES that the date will consist of the same three numbers repeated.
...
...
...
Screw it, I can write three twelve's in a row anytime I jolly will please, let's drink beer.

In honor of the last of the numerically interesting dates, I had a few beers at Thr3e Wise Men breweries at Indianapolis, Indiana.

See it's in honor of 12/12/12 because the brewery is called Thr3e Wise Men and there's three twelve's in a row....clever huh?... Fine, you try and come up with these clever little introductions week after week.

They're brewpub is located in the Broad Ripple neighborhood, which... was clear on the other side of the town from where I was at the time.  It's a cool neighborhood, I highly recommend it.  I always have fun when I'm there, but anyone familiar with the eccentricities of Indianapolis traffic will forgive my laziness.  Seriously, what did they do?  Rip up every damn road at the SAME TIME?!

Sorry.

Thr3e Wise Men is somehow mysteriously affiliated with a chain called, Scotty's Brewhouse.  I suspect that they own it, but I'm not sure.  They have several restaurants around the Indianapolis area, and it seemed like a reasonable compromise.  Along with a complete collection of Thr3e Wise Men offerings, they have a decent assortment of other Midwest microbrews, so it's a decent place to go and try a few different beers.... kinda.    If you order a sampler flight of beer, they will ask you to choose three you would like to taste.  Three.

I counted thirteen interesting beers from Indiana and the surrounding area on tap and you can taste three at a time.

*Puts soap box on the ground*  Dear, brewpub owners:  As much as I would like to have a pint of each and every one of your beers, prudence dictate that I not drink all the beer and wind up passed out in the fountains of the Indianapolis Civil War Memorial.  Why?  Because it's December and it's cold outside.  And also other reasons, but that's the main one right now.

Ideally there should be a sample of each one of the featured beers.  In times when sheer selection make that impossible due to financial reasons or laws against public drunkenness, a decent cross-section will suffice.  Like say 60-80 percent.

But three?  Come on guys, you're better then that.

So this is three of the beers from Thr3e Wise Men, plus and extra pint because I'm a nice freaking guy.

Hubbard and Craven's Porter:  Pretty standard coffee caramel aroma.  Flavor has the sharp flavor of roasted barley along with sweet chocolate and coffee.  It's smooth and creamy with just a little bitterness in the back.  Overall a good, but pretty standard porter.

@Brewhouse Brown  #Awesomsauce: A tribute to tweeters everywhere, or a just a stupid name?  We report, you decide and drink it anyway because... it's actually pretty good.  The aroma has chocolate and caramel with just a slight hint of cherry there as well.  The light fruit aroma carries over to the flavor where it adds a little tartness to the bit malt flavors.  

Golden Zoe IPA: I have to say this is one of the best IPA's that I've had in a long time.  It contains in a dark-copper colored brew everything I like about the style.  The aroma is sweet, floral and citrusy.  It has a lot of hop flavors, but it doesn't smash you in the face with bitterness.  Instead it blends tons of floral and citrus flavors against just enough malt to make a very balanced, drinkable hoppy beer. 

Cenntenial Martyr Double IPA: Zoe's bigger badder brother.  The aroma is similar with a little added caramel.  This beer packs a much bigger body along with a hops profile that will knock you back a bit.  The herbal, citrus hops are still backed up with a large malt bill, but it still hits pretty hard.

And... that's it for 2012.

A short bit of down-time exists for the holidays, and I'm going to take the time to relax a bit.  I might have enough pints floating around for a third bottle beer tour... we'll see.

Thank you everyone who's dropped by to have beers with me over the past year and a half or so.  It's been fun for me to have something to search for while out on that Proud Highway.

I'll be back in three weeks at most with the first post of 2013, assuming that the Mayans were wrong and we aren't all dead or something.  Although even if some magical calendar actually ushers in an end to civilization, I encourage you all to try and find this blog because I'll still know where the good beer is.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year.  Cheers!

Pizza and Beer: Los Angeles, California

Pizza and Beer.

I'll say it again, Pizza and Beer.

If those words don't give you a slight tingly feeling, you might be reading the wrong blog.  It is the essence of food pairing.  Not only does one compliment the other, but they work together to create something that neither can accomplish together.

Oggies Special with a Scottish Ale.  Awesomeness achieved!

This place is a little different, the local chain Oggies is primarily known for their pizza, and rightly so.  It's pretty awesome.  But, with the rise of the microbrew revolution, they hit upon a way to separate themselves from other pizza chains in the area.  Most microbreweries focus on their beer and create a menu to compliment.

Oggies kind of flips that around.  The beer stands on it's own, don't get me wrong.  Although it's a pretty standard set of offerings.  There's an hefenweisen, a stout, an amber and, of course, two different IPAs.  I mean you gots to have IPA's especially on this coast.  Each is kind of what you would expect from the style, with one or two slight exceptions, so you're not going to run into a mind-blowing hops and barley related experience.

But remember food pairing.  It's a team effort here and the combined effort is pretty awesome.

California Gold Blonde  Starts with a light, lemony aroma.  Hint of citrusy hops off the top.  It's not the big floral, grapefruit flavor of cascade hops but something lighter with a stronger bitter flavor.  It finishes smooth and is a pretty good light session beer.

Duck Dive Hef:  See above with a fuller, creamier mouthfeel along with a slightly sweeter, spicy taste mixed in.  It really is eerily similar to the point of being almost interchangeable.

Paradise Pale Ale: As expected, it has a Northwest citrus hop aroma.  Cascade hops dominate the flavor profile, without being overpowering.  There are some malty flavors mixed in, but it's a pretty typical pale.

Oggies Tasters Flight

Torry Pines: The aroma is very light, slightly floral, but the flavor is totally different.  It starts out with some port wine and raisin flavors dancing in front of a massive pine and herbal hop background.  It pushes some serious IBU's and if not for the complexity up front, would be enough to knock you off the barstool. Even with the malty sweetness to balance it out, this is a big beer.  

Double Up IPA: This also presents with a very light hop aroma, but it's hiding something under there.  Did I say the other was a bit heavy?  Yeah, this is an atomic hop bomb.  The flavor hits the palate with the subtly and grace of a ballet-dancing elephant.  The flavor is nothing but an explosion of flowery, medicinal hops that run strait to the back of the throat.  As a fan of balanced IPAs, I'm going to pass on this one as it bears too much resemblance to chewing hops resin out of the brewpot.

Sunset Amber: A quick tip for fledgling beer tasters out there; save those massive IPA's for the end of the tasting.  On of those with a high hop bill will carpet bomb your pallet.  Seriously, I think I was still tasting hops when I left the bar.  That being said, I should follow my own advice sometime.  This amber starts with a light fruit aroma. The flavor is warm, hazelnut and malty.   There's decent hop bill with some significant bitterness in the back, but I'm not 100% sure that it wasn't partly because of the previous beer.

McGarveys Scottish Ale: Starts with a caramel and raisin aroma.  It's appropriately malty for the style with lots of caramel and roasted barley flavors with just a little bit of red wine in the back for added complexity.  

Black Magic Stout: This has a nice roasted aroma.  As a dry stout, it lacks the creamy, chocolate flavors of most stouts.  Instead it has lots of black liquorish, herbs medicinal flavors with a bone dry finish.  I'll give it points for it boldness and unique qualities, but its too bitter face inducing for a stout in my opinion.  Those that expect a creamy, sweet stout should probably avoid this one all together.

I've got one, maybe two more stops before the New Year.  Next week, I find myself in the hub city of Indianapolis once again.  Until then, cheers!

Bottle Beer Tour 2: The Rebottling

It's Thanksgiving this week, so I have a little bit of time to settle in at home, eat the hell out of some food and crack open a few beers that I've collected from around the country.    So to that end, I present the Bottle Beer Tour, part 2.


Dogfish Head Brewery
Midas' Touch:  Ancient Ale made after anyallisis of clay pots in Midas' temple.  Sweet and white wine aroma.  Has more in common with a mead then a beer.  It's slightly sweet with a honey, citrus sour fruity taste.







Great Lakes Brewing
Elliot Ness:  Pours copper-colored and transparant.  Aroma has some caramel and dark fruit notes along with honey malt.  Smooth mouthfeel with a bit body.  Very malty with some slight herbal bitterness at the back.

New Planet Brewery
 Off the Grid Pale Ale  (Gluten Free):  Gluten Free beers have always concerned me on a very primal level.  It's the idea that someone is making beer without something that should be in the beer, something that might make it extra special tasty.  That being said, I am almost certain that I have had gluten free beers before without knowing it, and may not have even sensed a difference.
This beer pours transparent copper and has a floral pine hop aroma.  It starts off hoppy and bitter with hints of citrus and pine.  After that... well it get's more bitter.  The citrus and floral hops fade away leaving a deep medicinal bitterness.


Lucky Bucket Brewing
Snowsuit Belgian Ale

A seasonal beer from my local brewery.  It has a spicy, clove and citrus nose to it.  Flavor is just slightly spicy with hints of  caramel and dark fruits.  It finishes just slightly dry and kind of light.  Very drinkable for a winter beer, but this is one where I like the aroma more then the flavor.  The aroma reminds me of a spiced winter ale featured in the Joy of Homebrewing, but the flavor doesn't come through as much.


Cheers

Survivor: Harrisburg Pennsylvania

This weeks selection is an American classic, a remnant from a time when every town and city would have a couple local breweries.  Of course, from the records put forth in this blog, one could argue that time has come again.  Whatever, that was then, this is now and now we are talking about Lancaster Brewery.

The current brewery takes its cues from a brewing tradition that comes from the  backrooms and cellars of inns and taverns as far back as the 1700s.  German immigrants flooded the county with old world beer styles and built a brewing tradition that became famous in it's own right.   A columnist for the Daily Intelligencer in 1868 said, "Lancaster in America occupies the same position that Munich does in Germany in regards to the brewing industry.
 
 Prohibition and the rise of commercial breweries largely wiped out the brewing industry in Lancaster county until the microbrew revolution provided a good enough excuse to dip into old brewing traditions.

That being said... I didn't get to see the brewery itself what with being forced to actually work while travelling.   Stupid job.  Just because they pay all the expenses and give me a paycheck, they think they can monopolize my time with work.  

Whatever. 

I was lucky enough to have a brewpub next to my hotel in Harrisburg, so... you know, close enough.

Celtic Rose:  Very drinkable Irish red ale.  It has a slight berry citrus aroma.  It starts off sweet with notes of berry citrus and caramel.  Pine hops come in later providing a hint of bitterness.

Fest Beer:  There is still time to catch the last of the octoberfest beers before they disappear for another year.  This beer has a very light spicy aroma.  I taste the spice along with the malt.  It moves to herbal hops and finishes quite dry.   

Lancaster Lager: A amber lager reminiscent of Sam Adams Boston Lager.  It has a light sweet caramel aroma and a lot of roasted flavors.  It ends with very light hops in back.

Gold Star Pilsner: If you are one of those people who walk into a microbrewery looking for something like a Budwieser... well first, what the Holy Hell is wrong with you?  Second, you're probably not going to like this.  No aroma really. There's a flash of fruit sweetness detectable right off the top before its engulfed in a mass of pine flavored hops.  The bitterness is pretty big.  Not overpowering, but more than I would expect. 

Amish 4 Grain: You've had a wheat beer, right?  Sure you have.  An oatmeal stout?  Perfect winter beer.  Rye beer?  It's a slowly emerging style, but gaining some rapid ground.  Have you had all of them at the same time?  [Pauses while your mind blows]  The result of four adjunct grains learning to play nice is rather unique.  There is no aroma to speak of.   The flavor has  some fruity strawberry peach sweetness.  That flavor rises and falls quickly leaving pine herbal hops.  

Strawberry Wheat:  One of the things they pride themselves for, as I mentioned earlier, was an adherence to old world traditions including the Reinheitsgebot, a German purity law that states only malt, hops, yeast and water can be used to make beer.  Note that strawberries are not on this list.  It would been a good question to ask while I was at the brewery, but I was busy drinking.  Besides, it I probably wouldn't have gotten an answer and pissed off the bartender in the process, so we'll just leave this as a mystery for now.  This beer had the same caramel sweet aroma I got on the lager.  Sweet, fizzy mouthfeel. Lots of strawberry and floral flavors. 

Country Cream Ale:  I would like to note that lactose, a crucial ingredient for a cream ale is not on the Reinheitsgebot list either.  It has a sweet aroma that made me think of peaches and cream.

The flavor is very bitter with caramel notes and complete with a creamy mouthfeel.  I pick up some floral hops in the back.   It starts off really light and slightly sweet.  

Winter Warmer: A seasonal old ale offering from the brewery.  I don't mention color much, but this beer's transparent dark ruby color is beautiful.  It has no aroma to speak of, but lots of berry chocolate some pine and herbs in the hops.  

Milk Stout: I'm starting to really question their supposed commitment to German purity laws.  Still, this beer has a wonderful coffee toffee aroma, though honestly I like the aroma more than the flavor.  There just isn't a lot there.  Some coffee, roasted barley and a very bitter aftertaste.  For the style.

Hop Hog: The obligatory IPA from Lancaster.  It has a citrus floral aroma with just a hint of caramel.  Amazingly drinkable for a beer containing as many hops as this claims to.  The northwest floral hops are well balanced with the malt and produce something very nice.

I finally get a chance to rest, relax and remain in the same time zone for more then a couple days.  Next week, barring something unexpected I'll be dipping into my bottled beer collection

Until then, Cheers!

Back for More: Detroit, Michigan

Well..., I'm back in the motor city again.  The good news is that fact that I find a new place to get a couple beers every time I come here.  So this week it's Fort Street Brewing.

Fort Street is actually a short drive south from Detroit proper in the town of Lincoln Park.  Last week we talked about Dhestil, a microbrewery with really good food and beer complete with an almost pretentious aura about themselves as evidence by their maverick spelling of a word that has nothing to do with what happens at the brewery.

This place is the opposite of that.

This place is more neighborhood bar and grill.  More relaxing, more kick back and throw back several beers with friends.  For example, I tend to gloss over the brewery descriptions of their beers.  It can be valuable information for more eccentric beers, but often it's just what the brewer wants be to think of his beers, and I may respectfully disagree.

Here, they are worth a look for the entertainment value alone.  For example:

"Supermassive Black Hole of Deliciousness (The name of the beer alone is pretty awesome): A rye stout made with Michigan tart cherries.  Now before you go go off and say, "I'm a man!  I don't drink fruit beer;" shush!  Don't speak!  Not all fruit beers are sweet.  This beer starts chocolaty, with just a hint of tartness in the finish.  So man up!"

They didn't actually have this one on tap when I was there, which is kind of a shame.  I really wanted to try it.

The downside... okay the beers aren't as good.  They are not bad.  One bordered on undrinkable, for me at least, but not bad.  The food is really good, fairly inexpensive and interesting. I had Pierogies & Bratwurst which, if you've never had pierogies before are like little cheesy potato dumplings.  Pretty awesome.  On to the beer:

American Style Lager:  It has a slight lemon aroma and a little more hoppiness throughout, but basically a Budweiser clone.

Doug's Turbo Sarsaparilla:  This is a root beer flavored beer.  I think someone once asked me if something like this is possible.  Well, now I have proof.  The aroma is pure root beer.  The flavor is not as good as I thought it would be.  Root beer flavor starts off strong with a fizzy mouthfeel but the it just vanishes.  I'm sitting there almost thinking, "Hey!  I wasn't done with that!"  Not a bad beer, just.... Meh.

Burning Leaf:  This is the breweries obligatory octoberfest beer.  No aroma to speak of, very bitter for the style.  There are some malts at the beginning, but it finishes very dry and bitter.  Slight herbal hops flavor but mostly just bitter.  No flavor just that heavy, back-of-the-throat feel.

Downriver:  Again, no aroma to speak of.  It starts off big and malty and then it just deflates.  Just like the root beer beer, the flavor hits and runs leaving a slight dry herbals bitter flavor in its wake.

Up North Rye Pilsner:  Toasted caramel aroma here.  For a pilsner, this beer is loaded with flavors.  I imagine that pilsner purist would probably scream and yell, but you can't argue with the results.   There is berry fruit flavors on top, then it slides in to caramel.  Ends with medicinal hop flavors.

Chocolate porter: Slight coffee aroma.  Smooth mouthfeel with lots of chocolate.  It was like a glass of hot cocoa... except not hot.  And some very slight roasted notes and hop flavors, but mostly like cocoa.

SIPA:  Starts with a very very light hop aroma. Remember the beer I said was near, undrinkable... here it is. Not a hop bomb as much as a hop flood.  Piney at times but is mostly strait up bitter.  A spoon full of alpha acids.   The flavor rises and rises, like biting into a hot pepper.   It's good at first, then it starts getting a little too bitter, you make a face and finally you swear never to drink this beer again.

Count Chocula : Very light chocolate in the aroma. In the flavor the chocolate malts mixes with some pretty powerful herbal and pine hops.  Different from most chocolate porters, but the flavors clash more then they compliment.

Backyard IPA:  This one was by far my favorite.  It has a very light wine aroma.  The flavor is like slightly sweet hoppy wine.  Piney, herbal hops kind of mix and enhance the citrusy sweet flavors present in the beer.  Apparently the flavor comes from a hop I must find.

Way to (ab)normal: Normal, Illinois

One of the cool things about my job is the fact that I find myself in places that I probably would never, ever conceive of going. Not even on a bet.

Take Normal, Illinois.  Maybe it's the name... okay it's definitely the name, but I had an image in my mind of a city comprised of nothing but tract housing and corner markets run by guys named 'James'. (You can call him Jimmy)  A place where paperboys say 'gee-willickers' and all the housewives had been replaced with subservient robots.

I am proud to report that Normal is pretty much like any other city in this country.  People give each other the finger and hardly any of the women are animatronic puppets.

And there are microbrews.   Well, two of them which I feel is pretty good for a Midwest city of this size.  The one I went to was based on a recommendation by a friend, who makes this a stop whenever he is in the area.  This week, it's off to Destihl Brew Works.

The name is admittedly pretentious.  "We are so creative and indie that we need not conform to your pedestrian spelling of actual words that mean things."  It reeks of the hipster crowd would sit in the corner of this highly art-deco restaurant, wearing a trucker hat, a Rod Stewart T-shirt from the 1984 tour, drink Bud-light and let everyone bask in the glow of his irony.

All that being said, I am willing to forgive all of the above since, well the beer is fantastic, the food is good and, despite the appearance of the joint, relatively inexpensive.  Their brick oven pizzas all run under $10, they are fantastic and they easily serve as a full meal and a afternoon snack the next day.   The package is wonderful even if the wrapping makes you sigh and shake your head.
With the exception of a couple standards, the beer menu rotates so vigorously that the beers you had three months ago may be replaced by an entirely new selection today.  Good for maverick boozetrafarians like myself, but a bit annoying for people who prefer to stick to things they like.  That being said, I think anyone who likes craft beer would find something for them here:

Angel Stout: If you're a militant stout fan, a die-hard supporter of dark, malty beers you might wanna slowly back away from the bar for this one, you'll just upset yourself.  This beer breaks the cardinal rule for stouts, a rule that sends a sub-set of beer snobs running for their BJCP style guides.  This stout is hoppy.  Very hoppy.  It's floral, pine hops are in the aroma along with the roasted barley and they are definitely there in the flavor profile.  It finishes very dry, more like an IPA.

Bela Imperial Pils: Those that feel alienated by the hoppy stout may find what they are looking for in the Bela.  It is marketed as a 'intensely hopped beer' but outside a lemony aroma and flavor, it really doesn't stand out very much.  What does stand out is the large malt bill that adds a surprising amount of body and sweetness to this beer. 

Vertex IPA: A west coast IPA with citrus, floral hop aroma of Cascade hops.  It is well balanced and surprisingly drinkable as I sorta found out by accident.

It's like this:  Me and about four other people stopped by the brewery after work.  As soon as I set foot inside for a bit of malty R and R, my phone rang.  It was my boss.  Against all my better judgements (why do they include call ID on all cellphones if not to facilitate the screening of annoying calls?) I answered.  We had to go back to work, all of us.  There was a minor emergency that needed to be sorted out.  Now. 
I screamed, cried and swore up a storm and went inside the bar to deliver the news.  I managed to catch everyone before they ordered except one man who was holding a freshly poured IPA in his hand and a fearful look on his face.  We had a choice to make.
Which alcohol sin would weigh on our souls more?  Leaving a beer behind abandoned and unloved, or slamming an IPA like a lost frat boy at the Great American Beer Festival.  I opted for option B.

Okay maybe not the most glowing review of a beer ever, but it says something.  Those who like a balanced IPA will like the Vertex.  It combines bitter with drinkable very well.

Ordinary Rye Bitter: One of their lighter offerings, the rye bitter has a light, lemon and pepper combined with light malts.  Pretty good session beer with enough flavors to keep it interesting.

Dampfbier

Dampfbier:  Apparently a obscure all-barley style beer unearthed by this brewery.  I'm a little confused about the all-barley reference.  Seriously aren't most beers all barley?  Maybe it's me, but if anyone has a proper translation for this, hit me up.  Is there something I am missing, or is this just more pretension?
Anyway, it has a soft, semi-spicy aroma.  The flavor is filled with banana and spice with a smooth mouthfeel. 

Blonde: Another lighter beer.   The thing I am finding that I do love about this place is that their light beers are by no means watery.  Here, light means subtle flavor as opposed to no flavor what-so-ever.  This beer had notes of sweet orange on top of it's light malt flavors.

Weisenheimer Hefeweisen: This beer has a distinct floral aroma on top of caramel.  It holds true in the flavor profile as well with some clove and coriander spice notes as well.

Once again I find myself in Detroit next week.  Not sure what motor-city tales I'll be coming back with, but a visit to Michigan wine country might not be out of the question. 
Cheers!

Microbrews in the brewery town: St. Louis, Missouri

I'm out in a true brewing town this week, St. Louis.  Birthplace of the beer that all beer snobs love to hate, Budweiser.  The self-proclaimed King of Beers.    Yeah, we aren't going to discuss that.   Here, I headed up to the Northern suburbs to the town of Ferguson and Ferguson Brewing Company.

I feel like I should discuss why I headed way up on the North side of town when there are several very good, well known breweries (and I am not talking the Brewery-That-Must-Not-Be-Named) downtown.  It's like this, I was there when there were two Cardinals games and a Rams game in the same weekend and downtown St. Louis, to put in nicely, was a freaking zoo.   What I found was a cool out-of-the-way beer gem.


There's nothing particularly special about Ferguson other then the fact it's just a nice place to kick back for a pint or two.   The menu is pretty typical pub fare with one or two exceptions.  Their beer menu is pretty extensive, so that's cool.   Lots to choose from.

One thing I do want to say.  When I go to breweries I often start with a tasters flight which, ideally a small pour of the majority if not all the beers.  This strikes me as a pretty obvious concept, but maybe not.  Ferguson only serves four of their 10+ beers on tap per taster.  The obvious solution, and the one I ended up going with, was to buy two tasters, but still...

That was my little princess tantrum.  And now... Beer!

Pilsner:  Most of the time this is a beer brewed to appease Bud drinkers who were dragged into the bar by beer snob buddies.   This one, on the other hand, is actually really good.  It has a slight herbal hop aroma.  It starts fairly sweet for a moment and then is hit with a decent dose of herbal hops.  Not IPA strength, but respectable for a pils.

Hefenweizen: Lemony clove aroma.  It has a creamy mouthfeel with a kind of banana nut flavor with clove spice on top.  Very smooth drinkable beer.

Blonde Ale: No aroma.  Slighty malty flavor with a kind of lemony sour flavor in the background.  No bitterness to speak of.  It's light, but manages to be that way without being watery.

It's Pumpkin Ale Season Again.

Pumpkin Ale:  It's that time of year again.  Personally I love the pumpkin ales that start taking up tap spaces in microbreweries all over this country, though I seem to be of the minority.  So I'm going to say this up front, if you don't like the pumpkin spice ale style stay the hell away from this.  It has no aroma to speak of.  The spices in the flavor are about as subtle as a 6:00am jackhammer outside your bedroom window.  Lots of cinnamon and nutmeg balanced on a malty foundation.  It's a pumpkin pie in a glass.  It rather liked it, but consider yourself warned.

IPA: This selection had a very light lemony aroma.  Lots of citrus, flowery hops balanced rather well on it's malty foundation.

Munich Dunkel:  No aroma again.  It has a spicy, malty flavor right of the top but it quickly turns surprisingly bitter for the style.  Lots of herbal, pine hops in this one.  The description the brewery gives is, "Hops come into play both in the aroma and slightly in the flavor."
Um... yeah.  No slightly about this one.

Pecan Nut Brown Ale: This is a brown ale brewed with actual nuts in the mash.  It manages to avoid the usual downfall of the brown ale style, i.e. watery and light.  This one is nutty on top of a fairly heavy malt bill.  Hops come to play at the end of the palate and linger unusually long.

Oatmeal Stout:  Again, I found aroma lacking.  The flavor is all sweet coffee and cream in flavor and mouthfeel. Again, I ran across a distinct hop flavor in the background.  At first I was afraid that I had some left on my palate from a previous beer, but even after water and a bit of food, I could taste hops in the background.  Still not sure how I feel about that.

Barleywine:  Light, fruity aroma here.  Notes of strawberry and raspberry peak out among the sea of malt and hops.  It has a very heavy dose of flowery, herbal hops.  This to is  limited offering by the brewery, but it's worth checking out.

Old Places, New Faces: Detroit MI

I am finding myself in Detroit with disturbing regularity.  For reasons that escape me it seems my destiny and that of this city are disturbingly intertwined.  I'm not sure what that implies, but it might not be all bad.

"There is something about relaxed places that generate good beer." said my server at Sherwood Brewery, comparing Oregon and Michigan beer culture.  It never occurred to me to describe Detroit as relaxed.  If it is, surely relaxation has been largely thrust upon this city.  

 

The overgrown remains of the Big Buck brewery.

And as the ruins of the Big Buck brewery point out, it strikes me as a tough place to survive.  Breweries thrive on expendable income, something that Detroit has not been known for lately. But, for whatever rhyme or reason, the Detroit area hides rare gems that keep appearing underfoot each time I kick up a bit of dust here.  Sherwood might be my new favorite.

It's located in the Northern Suburbs tucked away from a strip of chain restaurants and bars it an unassuming little strip mall.   It's the kind of place you're not likely to find unless you're looking for it, which probably makes it all the better.  It has the feel of a nice little neighborhood bar.  The kind of place you might only get to see if you know someone in the area.

The other cool thing about this place is their collection of mead.  And not just simple honey, water and yeast mead either, although that is a fantastic combination.  But we will get to that later.  Let's talk beer first.  I started off with a sampler of everything they happened to have on tap at the time which wasn't as much as they usually do.  My luck was at work here, and they were out of at least two of their regular beers.  What they did have was pretty good:

Hell road Hefewizen: This starts with a heavy clove and banana aroma which, in this case, says nothing about the flavor. 
It is more lemony and watery.   I picked up more spice and clove later on, but I got almost none in the first tastes for some reason.

Fuzzy weisen:This is the hef except finished with peaches slightly tropical herbal aroma.

Similar to the hef but sweeter with a bigger body.  I get peach but it is very subtle.  It strikes me as just the right blend, the peach just helps the lemony, grassy flavors along and never overpowers it.  Those that might steer clear of this beer because they fear something on par with Pyramid's Apricot Wheat, something that amounts to an apricot-flavored beer, need not worry.  This isn't it.

Longshanks mild ale:  Session beer for those who like drinkablity with a little boost.   Starts with a toasted aroma with nut brown sugar.  It has a slightly creamy mouthfeel.  As expected it's very light but I still pick up a decent amount of roasted grain, caramel and, for some reason, buttery popcorn came to mind.    It's slight, but it's very good all around.

Abbeyversary:  Anniversary ale celebrating the first time the Brewer yelled Gadzooks.  Just kidding, obviously.  I dig the hell out if this.  Pine aroma with dark fruit raisins.  Malty full bodied pine and citrus prevalent throughout but not overpowering.  Balanced just right with dark fruit malty flavors.   This one quickly became my favorite.

Nobel Benny:  9.75 and 66 IBUs 

Light fruity aroma,  I pick up strawberry alcohol malt caramel there.  I get a little of that in the flavor as well... Just before all the hops descend to kick my teeth in.  It has a hop profile reminiscent of Arrogant Bastard with as much subtlety.  With it's massive dose of hops and alcohol not to mention the body of a sumo wrestler, you are not likely to have more then about one of these, but it's a good one to have.

I promised mead, didn't I?  Yes I did.  They have some interesting flavors in their honey wine at this place. 

Mint Vanilla Wildflower:  Minty with notable honey aroma.   Mint is very much overpowering, but vanilla is there at the end, but you have to be looking for it.  Without the obvious hint in the name, I would assume it was just mint.

Rasberry dragon fruit: Very sweet.  It's got all the advertised fruit flavors there, a bit of berry and tropical fruit, but it's bordering on jolly rancher sweet. Too much for me.

Chocolate: This one was a surprise favorite of mine.  After the last one I more or less figured that I was about to quaff a double chocolate fudge sundae.  The aroma had lots of chocolate and a bit of leather in there. It's nowhere near as sweet as I thought it would be.  It had all the body I was expecting but it doesn't go overboard with the sweet.  Its actually just slightly bitter and more like unsweetened dark chocolate.

 

I'm taking the next week off.  I'm getting married next weekend and I'm guessing I probably won't have time to run off for a pint, and even less time to write about it after.  I'll be back in two weeks, though. 

Cheers!

Flailing About like a Drunken Monkey: Dayton OH

This week found me in the wilds of Ohio.  Not even a place particularly interesting in Ohio, just kind of... well in Ohio.  I was close to Dayton which basically means I wasn't even in Dayton, but farther in the endless suburbs to the South.  Pickens is slim. 
We did manage to find a pretty cool taproom by the name of Chappy's Tap Room.   

Overall, it's a place where there is good beer and good burgers to be had.  If that is your thing, and you find yourself in that part of Ohio, then you owe it to yourself, you might even owe it to America to go there.
The terrorist win otherwise.  At least that's what I've heard.

While I was there I had sips and pints of whatever happened to catch my fancy.  There was a lot to choose from here, so this is going to jump around a bit.  From brewery to brewery, state to state, this is a sampling of some of the goodness going on around the country.

First, from Denver Colorado is the Great Divide IPA.  It had a sweet citrus aroma.  The beer was well balanced overall.  The citrus hops were mixed with a bit of pine and medicinal flavors.  Overall a very good IPA for those that like the hops but also like enough malt to stand up to them in a fight.

Next, from Grand Rapids Michigan, is Founder Brewery's Dirty Bastard.  This runs screaming to the opposite side of the malt, hop spectrum.  The aroma is all chocolate and caramel.  It has a big creamy body with some sweet coffee and chocolate flavors with some subtle dark fruit flavors hidden somewhere in it's beefy folds.  It ends dry with a tiny hint of bitterness in the back of the throat.

From there it was a sample from an old friend in California.  Lagunitas brewing in Pentaluma is one of those breweries that has achieved almost legendary status from beer geeks.  At this taproom in Ohio they were still pouring their August seasonal beer, the Daytime IPA.  It's kind of billed as a low APV beer to drink during summer days without passing out in the bathtub before lunchtime.  It has a very lemony aroma almost to the point of being lemonade.  It doesn't pack that IPA punch to the palate that most do.  I suspect that it has enough hops to plant itself firmly in IPA territory, but the flavor is far from overpowering.  It is a very smooth, highly drinkable beer that seems perfect for it's intended purpose.  I could see myself drinking this all day although I couldn't because after a couple sips the guy across the table was already giving me that look that says, "Gimme my beer back you freak!"

Okay, it's back to Michigan, Kalamazoo (A city that exists purely so that people can say it's name.  Seriously that word is fun just to type) and Dark Horse brewing.  The word 'Dopplebock' evokes something primal in me.  There is something about that style that almost guarantees awesome is afoot.  When Dark Horse first made their dopplebock however, they weren't impressed.  It just seemed too... well... normal.

So they gave the middle finger to German Purity Laws and came up with the Perkulator Coffee Dopplebock.  The aroma and flavor are pretty self-explanatory, I feel.  It has a coffee with cream sensation all around with a slightly dry finish.

To finish up it's back Founders Brewing and their seasonal breakfast stout.  It's billed a the coffee lover's stout, but I didn't pick up the java bomb they were promising.  It might have been because of the Perkulator, I don't think mankind's palate is designed to handle that much bean after about 10am, but it just didn't have that big flavor.  It had the big body and a sharp roasted barley note with some bitter roasted coffee aromas, but it was basically just another stout.  A very, very good stout, but just a stout in the end.

That was all the flailing I am prepared to handle in one sitting.  Back to some more focused (or not) discussions later. 
Cheers!

Steel Town Beer: Pittsburgh, PA

Pennsylvania Brewing Company sits in a part of town that, as near as I can figure, has probably changed suprisingly little over the past, say, one hundred years or so.  Trying to find your way there it is easy to get lost driving down old cobble-stone street that wind through old brick factory buildings. 

In fact the primary function of this building hasn't changed much.  I've mentioned before the proclivity of micro brewers to take refuge in forgotten buildings that litter urban areas of this country.   Unlike most breweries Pennsylvania Brewing Company is built in the old E and O brewery building. 

Penn Brewing specializes in German style beers and a kind of hybrid German / American slash fiction type food.  All of which is pretty awesome.

They've got a pretty large collection of regular beers along with a couple rotating seasonal offerings and a brewer's choice.  So let's get to the run-down.

Penn Gold:  The beer for those who go to a brewery looking for a Budweiser.  A little more hop flavor and and a tad sweeter, but basically a copy of a typical American pilsner.

Wizen: German-style wheat beer.  Aroma was banana and spice.  The flavor, though, had a lot more of the clove and spice notes than I expected.  There was some tropical fruit and maybe a little nuttiness.
I was traveling with a friend, Jimmy who added this:
"Tastes like Tobbacco.  *drinks again*  No... you know that smell on the fourth of July?"
(Me) "Gunpowder?"
(Jimmy) "Yeah!  It smells like gunpowder."

Penn Pilsner: Very light aroma.  It strikes me as sweeter than an average pils, with just a bit of hops in the back of the pallet.

Kaiser Pils: As a man who treats most pilsner beers with a kind of polite detachment, I have to say, and I can't stress this enough, is an awesome beer.  I'm not just talking  about awesome for a pils, but awesome in general.  It's aroma is warm sweet and herbal.  It's hoppy, but not extremely bitter.  It's got some citrus and herbal hops backed up by just the right amount of malt.  I found myself going back to the aroma again and again.

Allegheny Pale:  No aroma to speak of.  The flavor starts extremely light but becomes very hoppy, very quickly.  I got a lot of pine and medicinal flavors from the hops, but that's pretty much all that come through the palate without any malt to back it up.

Oktoberfest: Obviously the seasonal beer at this time of year.  Very light caramel aroma.  Light malt follows suit on the flavor with just a hint of bitterness in the back. On a side note, it's too late this year, but if you have the chance to visit this brewery during their Oktoberfest celebration, do it.  It's awesome.

Alt er Ego: This beer starts with a sweet fruit aroma of cherry and plum.  Massive malt bill and yeast brings some nice, sweet dark fruit flavors that hit for almost and instant beofre hops kick in.  As I drank I picked up some roasted flavors and some slight sourness that reminded me of honey malt.  This was the brewer's choice beer during my visit and far and away my favorite.

Penn Dark: No aroma to speak of.  Charcoal and roasted grain flavors before a heavy does of bitter, herbal hops.  This one should have been significantly maltier in my opinion.

Black Swan Theory: Part 2

OI try not to visit the same place very often for pretty obvious reasons.   Here's the thing, when a group of co-workers and the boss ask for a good brewery to find food and a pint of celebration, it's best to stick to a place you know.  I was in Indianapolis so it was back to the Black Swan.

So instead of a huge, long post about this little gem on the outskirts of Indianapolis this will be a little update with a couple of the beers that either weren't available or I just didn't get to for some reason.

Cascade Double Pale: Starts off with a sweet, citrus hop aroma.  The flavor is very bitter.  The malt bill is enough to stand up to it for the most part.  I feel like I'm losing some of the subtler flavors underneath the weight of a hop kick to the back of the throat.  Makes me wonder where exactly that line between and IPA and a pale ale lies when it comes to style variations like a double, but overall a very pleasant beer.  It's surprisingly drinkable given the dose of malt and hops.

RubyAle: This is a malty amber ale.  Wonderful sweet, fruity aroma.  I picked up a little cherry and a little apple in there.  Very malty with caramel and cherry notes. Slightly dry on the finish.   Very good, malty session ale.

Very short, like I said, but I'll be back next week reporting from the city of Pittsburgh.  Cheers!

Bottle Beer Tour: A Midwest Sampler.

It is still the down season.  Not a lot of opportunity to get out and sample beer at the brewery, but quite enough time to sit down and pour myself a nice pint from one of the six-packs I collected on my previous travels.
So strap in time to go on a three-state tour of the Midwest:

Burning Skye Scottish Ale, Lincoln NE: Okay, so I picked this up at a local supermarket.  Aroma is light and malty with just the slightest hint of lemon.  Color is a deep copper color and hazy.  Flavor is a very light malt with a medium body.  Hops arrive in the middle kind of unexpectedly.  Not a lot of flavor but leaves a bitter, back of the throat feel.

New Glarus Brewing Co.  Moon Man No Coast Pale Ale, New Glarus, WI:
Intense spicy citrus hop flavor.    It's nice.  The aroma is there but it's not quite the hop bomb it would seem from the aroma alone.    The hops are there, but they add citrus overtones to a light malt bill for a nice, clean refreshing summer pale ale.  Absolutely wonderful beer.

Lucky Bucket Brewing Co. Certified Evil, La Vista, NE:
Kind of a local legend among the Nebraska beer snob crowed.  It has lots of dark fruit and coffee aroma.  Bitter coffee with with sweet chocolate and toffee back.  I taste a little butterscotch in there as well.    It's a big, malty beer but not as complex as some imperial stouts, but a pretty good selection.








Great Lakes Brewery Dortmuder Gold: Cleveland, Ohio
Very light lemony aroma.  Light sweet honey, citrus flavor finishes dry with just a hint of hops in the back.  An awesome light lager.  The flavors are subtle but very nice making this the ultimate summer session ale.

Local Cred: LeClaire, Iowa

'Being local' is worn as a badge of honor in the craft spirit world.  The world 'local' is to microbrewers what the word 'edgy' is to bad indie bands.  What the world 'live' is to television producers.  The word 'fresh' to grocery stores.  The word artisanal to just about every other damn industry in this country.  It's philosophy and marketing all rolled into one.   In craft spirits, it's one of the many things that helps distingish the these small operations from the Big Boys and it's a handy justification for getting plowed like a December morn.

You're not a drunk, you are just a good citizen supporting the local economy.... supporting it until you sleep in the bathtub.

There are bragging rights, and then there is what the Mississippi River Distilling Company does.  They are local and they are willing to prove it.  Every bottle is labeled with the year and batch number.  From their web sight you can read the story about how exactly your little bottle of booze went from being grains in the field to being awesome in a glass.

On a side note, I would like to thank Dan Schurr of LeClaire and Tracy Doonan of Reynolds, Illinois for growing the corn and wheat for my bottle of River Baron.  Also a hat tip to the bottle crew who filled 1200 bottles in one night.

 Garrett, who owns the distillery that sits on the banks of the Mississippi River with his brother, makes locality major selling point when giving tours of his distillery.   He admits that the oak barrels they use for the whiskey are an exception to his '20 mile radius rule' but as Garrett says, "[the barrels] come from Minesota near the headwaters of the Mississippi.  We figure if they can float the barrels down the river to us, then it's local."

The distillery is open seven days a week for tours.  Iowa law limits the tasting any one person can do in a day, so I was only able to taste their River Baron and their Strawberry Vodka.

River Barron: This is described by the distillery as an 'artisinal liquor', in other words, it doesn't fit in any typical liquor category.  The mix of corn and wheat make it similar to a whiskey except that it's not barrel aged at all.  It's not really vodka because the mark of a good vodka is purity and a lack of flavor, whereas the light, sweet butterscotch flavors and aromas are very intentional.  The term 'moonshine' has certain connotations, but that's basically what it is is.  Really, really well made moonshine. 

Strawberry Vodka: This is the first distillery that I have run across that offers special seasonal liquors.  These are special creations that are available for a very limited time and then are gone forever... or at least until the distillers get the urge to make it again.   This had a nice light berry flavor without being overly sweet or syrupy.

They also offer two different types of whiskey, a bourbon and a rye whiskey.  They were out of both, but they did allow a quick smell from the barrels.    The burbon had lots of sweet fruity aromas, I picked out some pear and apple notes.  The rye was lighter and had a leathery quality to it.   I'll have to save the flavor for another time... see, that's how they get you.

The Hub: Detroit, Michigan

Last time I visited the motor city I more or less confined myself to the outskirts of the city far away from the...er interesting parts of the city.  Royal Oaks is kind of a cool area, I remember it being fairly well hopping when I went there, but it isn't Detroit.  Even the tag I put on that post rang a little hollow, and the title was just showing off.  That wasn't Detroit.

This...[cue soundtrack from 8 Mile].... is Detroit.

Detroit is built on a hub road system.   The main roads spread out from the center like the spokes of a giant wheel.  It's like a giant hat tip to the history of transportation that Detroit is famous for.  And right in the center of the wheel, right where the car companies would have stamped their logo... is the Detroit opera house.

Across from that is the Detroit Beer Company. 

There is something about craft beer that engenders urban renewal and I'm not sure why that is.  Call it a love of local color, a culture that turns old industrial centers into thriving entertainment districts or necessity because dilapidated, rat infested ruins are cheap, but many breweries around the country are bringing new life to formally dead urban areas.  And since no city probably needs it more, it's more than fitting that the Detroit Beer Company occupies the old Hartz Building downtown.  Whatever the reason for it, it seems to work.  The area around the hub is about the only section of the city that doesn't look slated for demolition.  Whether the brewery is a cause of, or a product of that is a debate that should happen among people much smarter then myself.  I'm talking about beer... which I haven't done yet.  So, yeah... beer.

I sat down with a grilled salmon sandwich (pretty awesome) and a taster flight of their beers.

Hef:  Banana and clove aroma.  Flavor features banana off the top with light malty flavors finishing dry and slightly spicy.  Fizzy and a light for the style.

Amber: Fruity aroma that pretty much stays the same in the flavor.  Some cherry and caramel in the palate.  Hops start off very light and build up leading to a herbal hop flavor that really lingers.

Baltic Porter: Fan of dark, malty beer?  You'll want one of these and by one I mean all of them.  The flavor is sweet, creamy with hints of light berry fruit with some herbal notes mixed in.  There is some bitterness in the back, but it's far from intrusive and helps balance the heavy malt bill.

Local 1529 IPA: Keep in mind I was still more or less fresh from the Pacific Northwest when I was in Detroit.  Keeping that in mind, the flavor of malt in an IPA... it was strange.    This IPA was sweet, malty with some citrus notes and some spicy hops towards the back.  More malt than I typically like, but a nice change.

Amarillo IPA: Remember when I talked about the One Hop Wonder at Block 15 in Corvallis, Oregon? That part where I thought that no other brewery was doing something like that.  Yeah... about that...
Whereas Block 15 featured the Centennial hop, Detroit Beer company did the Amarillo.  It strikes me as a strange choice, the Amarillo is basically the Cascade hop's bigger, badder and dumber brother leaving some of the subtle floral qualities aside for a massive dose of bitterness.  Still, they managed to coax a lot of citrus and grapefruit flavors in the beer but it will leave with a very bitter aftertaste.

That's all for Detroit for now. 
Cheers!

Great Northwest Beer Tour #5: Seattle, Washington

Our final stop on the tour is the city of Seattle, and a fine end to the tour it is.  In many ways Portland and Seattle are sister cities.  They share a climate, a general culture to a certain degree and a wild and interesting microbrew industry.  Although whereas Seattle is home alone studying for a law degree with a glass of wine, Portland is the girl at the bar breaking cue sticks over bikers' heads and chugging whiskey from the bottle.

Seattle is going to require a bank statement and a credit report and at least three really good dinners before she will even consider asking you back to her place.

Portland will follow you to your place for a free drink, but you are going to wanna hide your wallet and anything else that can be carted off before you wake up.

I think I've made my point.

(Although just to extend the metaphor one more step: Las Angeles is the sister that chugs a whole bunch of Smirnoff Ice and vomits on the rug.)

 First stop was outside of Seattle proper, but close enough.  Trade Routes brewing company might sound familiar.  If it does, it's because I wrote about it six months ago or so.  It should be noted that there is something pretty amazing about the fact that I can tour breweries in a place like this and only have one repeat review and, frankly, I only stopped here again because it was on our way.  In addition to the beers they had from the last time I was here they had a Blood Orange Whit that contained a sweet orange flavor and a creamy mouthfeel.  It was a little acidic but overall a very nice summer beer.  There was also the blond ale that had a coconut, banana aroma with a smooth tropical fruit flavor that's more reminiscent of a Belgian whit then a blonde.

Our next stop was at George Town Brewing.  It should be noted that Georgetown is not a brewpub like basically every other place we stopped at, but a place to pick up a keg for your draft system.   There is a tasting room inside the brewery and you can stop in for a free taster flight, however, so it worked out pretty well.  We weren't able to taste everything they had available, but out of the ones we did have the Johnny Utah Session IPA and the Super Red were clear standouts.  Johnny Utah had a very strong lemony flavor that was almost like a lemon peel.  It was still very drinkable with an IPA aftertaste that didn't linger excessively long on the palate living up to its session title.  The Super Red shared the same lemony, citrus malty flavors that the Choppers Red had but added some fruity berry flavors off the top.

Beer at the Space Needle

Elysian Brewing Company next up and a lot of really good beer to choose from here.  Plus their semi-macabre theme is just fun.  This year with the end of the Mayan Calender and almost certain doom looming ahead for us all, Elysian started releasing their '12 Beers of the Apocalypse series.  Rapture and Ruin were both on tap during my visit.  Ruin had hints of apricot and orange along with floral and spicy hops.  The finish was just slightly bitter.  Rapture had a lot of citrus and orange flavors with the peppery spice of coriander.

Also worth mentioning was the Mens Room.... no, not the toilet although it was quite nice too as far as used beer disposal systems go.  Here it is also a beer with lots of caramel sweetness off the top followed by peppery notes.

For the final stop on our tour it was time for an old Pacific Northwest standby.  Mcmenamins has brewpubs up and down Oregon and Washington.   If you're anyone close to civilization in those states, chances are you're also close to a Mcmenamins.  Normally I'm not a huge fan of macrobreweries, as fellow beer snobs often call them, but this particular one is still kind of cool in it's way.  Far from trying to replicate the same experience no matter where you are in the country, each Mcmenamins revels in it's own special character.  Each one has their own brewer who brews a regular set of beers, but they are also given some freedom to charge off the well-worn path if the mood strikes them right.  At the six-arms pub the special brew on tap was the Proletariat Porter, a caramelly, chocolaty porter with a creamy mouthfeel.   They also feature a seasonal ale that was a sweet orange and lemon wheat beer with just a hint of bitterness on the back.


And that was it.  I know not much in the way of an ending to a the Great Northwest Brewery tour of 2012, but there you go.  Lots of beer was had.  154 different beers by my count.  Enough said.

Cheers!

Great Northwest Brewery Tour part 4: Portland Oregon

Okay it's time for part two in our tour of Portland, Oregon.   I really don't have any additional smart-ass remarks about Portland by way of an intro, so let's just do this thing.

Our next stop was and the Cascade Brewery Barrel House.  Aside from the pretty normal beers most everyone has on tap, IPS's, Pales, Reds etc.  Cascade Brewery also specialize in sour fruit beers, so that's kind of what we focused on.  These are beers purposely infected with lactobacillus bacteria giving them all a tart fruit flavor.  Most were fairly dry, but a few crossed into the semi dry category.  The standouts were the Nightfall which had a favor similar to the blueberry with a light carmel flavor.  It hovered around the semi sweet mark.  The Vine was a close second.  It had a sweet wine and honey aroma.  The flavor was citrusy, with white wine qualities and a crisp finish.

Next was Coalition Brewery.  These guys do something kind of cool.  They kind of have a small, neighborhood bar feel and that is further accentuated by the fact that they have a program where local home brewers can get a chance to help design a beer, brew it on a small pilot system and possibly, if the beer gets enough cheers from the fans, brew an additional batch on the big 10 barrel system.
The result of this coalition during my visit was the Apollo Creed CDA.  It had some charcoal, coffee and herbal notes.  Nothing earth shattering, but nice.
Also worthy of note was the King Kitty red, with had a nice sweet malt favor off the top with a carmelly, citrusy finish.  The Bumps Bitter came in a close second with a citrus, light malt aroma.  It's flavor brought a decent profile of citrus hops backed up by a good malt bill that was a nicely balanced, drinkable beer.

It had been a long day.  Out travels had taken us from the middle of Old Town out into the suburbs on the east side of town.  We had staggered into six breweries tasting a grand total of 52 different types of beers and we even took a little side trip down distillery lane and we weren't quite done yet.

But before we continue, I would like to send a message to the great brewers of the Portland area.  For the last fifteen or so years, you fine men and women have forged the trail the rest of the country meekly follows in.  Everywhere I go, beer snobs across the country look to the west with this far-away look in their eye when the name of the city is mentioned.  When it came to the combination of good food and good beer this city led the way.  And a big part of this innovation was because of a citrusy, spicy little cone known as the cascade hop, it's big brother the amarillo hop and the rest of it's pacific northwest brethren.  The unique charactaristics of these flowers allowed brewers to push IBU's to new and exiting limits.  Now here we are, and I find myself writing the adjective 'citrusy' after every damn beer I taste.

Dear Portland brewers, do something else.  There are literally hundreds of different hops in the world, or better yet, there are wonderful things being done with malts these days.   People are coaxing a multitude of different flavors using strange strains of  yeasts and archaic herbs.  There are some wonderful things being done in Portland, as I have talked about, but damn people, you can back off the hops just a tad.

I'm glad I got that off of my chest.  I'm also glad that there is a very small audience for this little blog, I think these would be considered fighting words in most Portlandian neighborhoods.  But lest you think I am alone in this, here is a drunken rant from Gary.  This has not been edited, we just gave him an IPA and recorded him.  I wouldn't watch the entire thing, it gets a bit weird toward the end, but I think I've made my point.

The last stop was Migration Brewery.  Admittedly this stop is a little fuzzy around the edges for me.   I know it had a really nice outdoor seating area.  I know that their taster portions are very generous.  I know that the Rye Whit was good, it had a nice sweet, citrusy smooth drinkable summer beer flavor.  I know that the Nitro IPA was a nice, well-balanced Northwest citrus IPA with the smooth creamy mouthfeel of a nitrous beer.   And.... that's about it. 

With our palates completely shot by relentless IBU assault we slinked back into Old Town for a couple of drinks in some of my favorite downtown watering holes and passed out.  There was one more city left to conquer.  It lie just up the I-5 to the North.  Seattle, Washington was to be our final stop on the trip.

The Great Northwest Brewery Tour Part 3: Portland Oregon

At last we come to that Mecca of microbrewing.  It is the city that more or less spawned the brewpub culture that we all know and love.  The Pacific Northwest is the land of good beer and Portland is it's capitol.  So strap in, there is going to be some minor drinking taking place.

Yep those are fruit loops on that doughnut. 

When on the third day of a drinking binge, it's important to take nutrition into consideration.  Your body has expended a lot of energy trying to keep your brain from drowning in an ocean of booze not to mention the extra expenditure that results from trying to keep yourself from careening into walls, trees or other bar patrons.   It's also important to create a base with which to start pouring the next round of booze.  Without that ever important foundation the alcohol will have a direct line of assault to the body and you end up plastered before lunchtime.   Endurance is the key here.  So we started our day in Portland at the Voodoo Doughnut, a local shop famous for their cavalier attitude towards what can and can not be put on top of deep-fried carbohydrates and also exactly what shapes said deep-fried carbohydrates can take.  Keep in mind that when going there with the kids, there are many things that are shaped like a shaft with two round lumps on either side.  Top choices: rocket ships, submarines with attached air tanks, er um... bear claws with one enlarged claw, a bakery accident involving the lady fingers and a box of doughnut holes....
Anyway, enough with the Freudian pastries, on to the beer.  Our first stop in the morning was at Hair of the Dog brewing company.  It hard to pin this particular brewery down specifically, so I am just going to say this.  Hair of the Dog brews a lot of really good beer.  As much as I like novelty in my brews, this isn't it.  They take malt, hops and yeast and make them do fantastic complex things in my face hole, and that is to be commended.    Worthy of note, Fred a beer that contains a certain lore in my family.  My father had it once about seven or eight years ago and was never able to find it again until I brought him some from this trip.  It has a fruity cherry aroma with a hint of citrus.  It starts of sweet, malty with lots of fruity flavor that slowly blend into grassy herbal hop flavors.  Secondly there is Adam.   It has smoky, dark fruit aroma.  The flavor is leathery, smokey with some sharp roasted barley flavors.

Next was the Lucky Labrador.  This brewpub is probably worth mentioning for the sheer amount of different beers available at any given time.  The last time I visited this establishment was on the original Great Northwest Brewery tour about six years ago.  It was the last stop of the day and my friend, Garrett had to drive us to Seattle and therefor I was imbibing the majority of our tasters that day.  We arrived and Garrett went up to get us our tasters flight and came back with a platter that would easily be enough for four people seated at a table.  This was just the two of us and, as I said before, one of us had to drive.  I am sad to report that the massive platter is no longer available, probably after sending one too many people like myself giggling insanely into the night.  You can still try all of their beers, but it's going to take you two or three flights to do it.  The selections were good, but nothing was really outstanding.  I will mention the Black Lab Stout, it had a maple, caramel malt flavor to it with a bite of roasted barley and herbal hops.  Also there is the Black Sheep CDA.
CDA, you may ask yourself, what is that?  Well do you remember that snake pit I mentioned a couple of posts ago in Bend?  Well here we go:
Short story: What is a CDA?  It's a dark IPA. You can move on now.
Long Story: Why the new beer acronym? Well...it's like this.  The people of Oregon like their hops, and they will put them in anything.   It was only a matter of time before some brewer started looking at a class of porter and a pile of Cascade hops and finally made the connection.   And in reality that connection was made years ago when the first Dark IPA's started rolling out.  The problem was, as a few snarky beer snobs started to point out, that they were brewing a Dark Indian Pale Ale.  As Shakespeare would say, "That is hot ice and wondrous strange snow."   (That's right bustin out the Shakespeare.  I'm not just another pretty face over here.) I knew what they meant and I think most beer lovers did as well.  But let's face it, a dark pale ale is kind of stupid and we all know it. So the new term is a CDA or a Cascadian Dark Ale.  It might be a little presumptuous as it implies that it was those crazy hop-head brewers in Portland that thought of a bitter dark beer.  Still I like it if only for the shout out to the Pacific Northwest's contribution to the world of brewing.
Now, as for this particular CDA? It has a slight coffee and herbal aroma.  Flavor is much the same with that kind of bitterness that is reminiscent of an English IPA.

Out next stop was just down Hawthorn street.  It was time for a quick break from malt and hops and dip our toes in the cool, clear water of distilling.  Microdistilling is still in it's childhood in this country, but if any city was going to represent this growing market, it would be Portland and the New Deal distillery did not disappoint.  Their offerings are pretty strait forward, they have vodka and gin and both are very good, but the real fun lies in their slightly off the wall selections.  If you a fan of sweet drinks then the Mud Puddle chocolate liquor is something that you  will want to try.  It was sweet but it had enough of a bitter, unsweetened chocolate flavor that set it apart from your average bottle of creme de cacao that basically amounts to chocolate syrup and alcohol.  For something slightly less sweet, there is a ginger liquor that pretty much tells you all you need to know, it's spicy sweet and wonderful.  For you the adventurous there is the Hot Monkey.  It's a pepper vodka that, as demonstrated at the distillery, makes a mean bloody mary.  Drinking it straight is another option, but only if you really like biting right into a pepper.

Next was the Buckman Village Brewery at the Green Dragon pub.  There are brewpubs that have one or two eccentric beers on tap, but not here.  Here eccentric is what they do.  24/7, all year around there is going to be something a little weird in your glass.  The brewery is owned by Rogue Breweries, a brewing organization known for some of their own strange brews.  Given that, part of me believes that Buckman functions a kind of a laboratory for Rogue on some level.   My personal favorite here was the Caramello, a beer brewed with chamomile tea leaves.  It has a light, lavender, floral citrus aroma and flavor that was a fantastic session beer. My second choice was the the black saison which combined the slightly sour fruity flavor of this farmhouse ale with the chocolate coffee and licorice flavor of a porter.

And that was Portland... actually that's a lie.  That was half of Portland.  The other half can wait until later.  So I'll talk at you all again next week as me and my friends continue to roll our way around this city.
Cheers.