Sweet Release! Mother of all Storms, Dissident, Matt

This was a pretty busy weekend for me. It started with an early morning drive out to Pacific City to attend the Mother of all Storms release at the Pelican Pub. A few buddies and I hopped into a rental car since none of owned a vehicle with more than 2 seats, and we were off through the forest well before sunrise.

We arrived in Pacific City just before the rain started; about 20 minutes before the pub opened. The line was short, so we checked out the surf, then walked across the street and warmed up in the coffee shop for a bit until the doors opened. We were excited about being early, not because we felt it necessary to secure our bottles, but because we wanted a table with a great view of the waves coming in during the storm.


We got a great spot, ordered bottles, breakfast, and the vertical tasting flights they were offering for the event. The verticals included one each of the following beers, served in snifters: Stormwatcher's Winterfest 05, 08, 09, 10, and Mother of all Storms 09, and 10. In addition to the flight, I tried a taste of Bad Santa, and a glass of Full House.



After we were full, warm, and brave, we loaded up the car, and walked up the dunes, enduring the pounding rain and wind-swept sand to the look-out to enjoy the power of the surf and the wonderful view. When we returned to the car, we were thoroughly soaked and gritty; and ready to head back to Portland for more beer releases.



We headed back on the 26, and my lead-footed friend passed a state-trooper, who later accused us of driving about 17 over the limit. Getting a speeding ticket is never fun, but this time it was especially humiliating. There we were, 3 city boys from Portland in a rented Toyota Prius, out in the woods, getting busted in front of a gas station, where locals in big diesel pick-ups and full camo outfits where gassing up their ATV's and getting ready to go out and kill stuff. On a lighter note, the entire gas bill for the trip was $15, which they probably spent on diesel just idling in the parking lot snickering at us.

(Whoops!)

Ticket in hand, we were on our way again, monitoring the speedometer a bit closer all the way back to the city.

Once the car was parked, we once again donned our rain gear, and walked north to Deschutes, where the Dissident had just finally been re-released. We grabbed a table, and ordered a round, which we made our way through and collectively decided wasn't quite good enough to hang around for a second of. We learned that bottle sales had been brisk earlier in the morning, and that if we wanted bottles direct from the brewery, we'd have to act quick, but with everything else going on, we decided to pass on the opportunity... despite having eagerly anticipated this release ever since running out of bottles of the 08, two years ago.

From Deschutes, we walked to the burnside bridge, and then down to the springwater corridor to Morrison, which dumped us right in front of Hair of the Dog. Inside, there were special samples of new beers awaiting us on the draft towers. Peach Fred, and Apricot Fred, both aged in oak barrels for 17 months. Sounded promising! I've enjoyed every other version of Fred I've ever tried, be it regular Fred, Fred from the Wood, Cherry Fred, or Bourbon Fred, but these fell short of the mark on all accounts. To be fair, I kind of liked the peach fred. It was very chunky, with bits of fruit suspended in the beer, but I've enjoyed chunky beer in the past, so that wasn't too much of a put-off. It tasted of peach ice tea. Not just the sweet peach up front, but also a perceived black tea like astringent flavor in the finish. I love peach iced tea. It was also still a bit hot, so there were essences of schnapps in there too. Again, not a bad thing, but it wasn't like any of the other times I tried a new Fred: it wasn't a "wow" moment.



The Apricot was a different story. The nose was of sharp acetone. Am I at HotD, or picking my wife up from a manny-petty? The flavor wasn't far from the nose. It burned. There were moments when you just went numb, and tasted a rich fruity delicious apricot booze, but those moments were fleeting, and it wasn't enough to salvage the experience.

To HotD's credit, the only way this beer was offered was in a small taster format. I didn't mind paying a few bucks to try a new Fred, but if I had to plunk down $7.50 for a 12 ounce pour and get stuck w/ it, it would have been a different story.

After the tasters, I had a 2010 Doggie Claws on tap, and then Alan brought out some cask 2009 Doggie Claws, which we got some of the first pours of. This is a beer that always hits the mark for me, and just gets better every time I try it. It was a nice way to finish the trip to the tasting room, as it reminded me why I love this place so much again.

From hair of the dog, we walked a block south the bunk bar, where we got some delicious sandwiches, and anything worth reporting on a beer blog ceased happening. Still, the night went on longer than it probably should have, and waking up the next morning early for the Matt release was a bit of a challenge.

After reading a quote from Alan about the Matt release earlier in the week on beeradvocate, saying "if you show up right at 10:00, you probably wont be able to get any", I decided to show up around 8, and wait in line for one last treasure of the weekend. I easily secured my allotment, and around 10:00 when I left, the line was gone, and there was plenty of beer to be had. Looks like I could have slept a bit more of it off after all!

Still, two hours in the cold was probably for the best. It certainly got me back to an even keel, which was required because I returned to a house full of in-laws, ready to go out and have a good time in our city.

I thought my beer trip was over, but in a few hours, I found myself sitting at Hopworks, with sampler trays and mugs littering my table. Beers of note that I really enjoyed were two seasonals: dark helmet lager, and pig war imperial IPA. The pig war, in particular, was a pleasant surprise for me. I've really fallen out of love for hoppy beers over the last year or so, but just when I thought I was out... this one pulled me back in! Very well balanced, incredibly smooth, not too bitter, and elegantly floral with soft citrus notes, I will certainly return to this one if the opportunity arises.

My in-laws scheduled a family portrait session (oh the horror!) at sears (the horror!) at the lloyd center (the... oh you get it) for an hour or so later, so we freshened up, drove over, and got a rosy-cheeked and rudolf-nosed shot taken. Things were stacked against me in this one too. Not only had my previous few day's activities put me at a disadvantage, but the only other white person in the family was visiting from California, which made me stand out like a pale-white-and-red sore thumb in the shot. Ce la vie.

Next up was dinner at Irving Street Kitchen. My brother-in-law's wife's sister is one of the chefs there, so we always get great treatment when we pop in for a meal. Usually we order what we want, but they bring us one of everything anyway. Among the highlights of the first course was a rabbit pate, duck mousse, crispy bone marrow, pastrami marmalade, and a shrimp and crab ragout. For my entree, I had a roast sirloin, accompanied by a 12 hour smoked rib. My wife had a whole roast trout, which I had to decapitate (and hide the head of) before she'd eat it, but we agreed, it was delicious. Everything else was great too. For drinks, I started with an old curmudgeon, a delicious peppery bourbon drink with grapefruit bitters. From there though, it was back to beer. Sleigh'r to the rescue!

I was in bed for much needed sleep shortly after.

At work now, who knows what the rest of the visit will bring.

p.s. speaking of "bring", my brother-in-law brought me a bottle of beer from Southern California that he said he particularly enjoyed. Lightning Brewery's Ionizer Lager. I'll report on that later.

zwickelmania!

Yesterday was the second annual zwickelmania event here in Oregon. This year I made it out to three breweries to check out their brewing facilities, ask questions about their beers, and of course, try a couple of samples.

Top on my list was checking out what was going on over at Cascade Brewing. For being so far out in SW Portland, away from all the other breweries participating in the event at the same time, the cascade event was well attended. We began our tastings with samples of their latest bottlings, Sang Rouge and 09 Apricot. I had tried the sang rouge previously on Super Bowl sunday, and it was as nice as I had remembered it. The apricot was a new experience for me and it was both delicious and as sour as one could hope for. From the bottle tastings, we moved into the barrel aging portion of the brewery, and tried a couple of samples of various beers directly from the souring barrels. In this portion of the tasting, we sampled a special barrel aged version of their summer gose, a sour tripel, and a sour red. The triple was my favorite from the bunch, and definitely the most sour as well. While we we drinking these samples, we talked a bit about the status of the cascade barrel house, and how the new facility will take the brewery to the next level when it comes to capacity and versatility. One of the interesting things to me about the barrel house is that they have three independently temperature controlled rooms that will allow aging to occur at precise temperatures; something the current facility doesn't allow them to do.

From the tasting barrels, we made our way past barrels and barrels of aging beer, some individual stocks, and some blends, including the infamous vlad the imp aler, and then down onto the brewery floor itself. Here we tried another gose right from the bright tank, as well as a fantastic sour made with the meat of roasted apricot pits and berries. This beer was definitely one of the highlights of the day. The last beer we got to sample at Cascade was their sour cherry pie, which is one of the beers used to produce their delicious kriek. I was shocked, when it tasted exactly as the name would imply... like sour cherry pie. Cherries were expected, but the malts and remaining sugars added a taste not unlike the crust of a fresh made pie. Awesome!

Before leaving, we hit the bar and ordered a glass of the Apricot each. What a great way to end a great tasting!

From Cascade, we drove into northeast portland to check out what was going on over at Upright Brewing. At Upright, I tried a sample of the holy herb, got a glass of the auld reekie, and sampled Billy the Mountain. The crowd here was of a really good size, and it was neat to see it overflow the tasting room and into the brewing area. This was also the first time I got to check out the open tank fermenters through a big window of course). It's a pretty neat set-up.

From Upright, it was over the bridge to Deschutes for the last tour we'd see of the day. The tour itself wasn't too exciting, and only included one beer sample, but the guide was very knowledgeable, and we learned some pretty good stuff. While at the pub, we each got a glass of Jubel 2010. I was expecting this to be the same as the super jubel of years past, but the barrel aging and whatever else they did differently for this version really made it stand out. I've read reviews online of descriptions that include HotD "adam"-like, and I think that's really spot on. A different beer to be sure, but definitely in the same vein. I'll be grabbing several of these to enjoy later.

Other than zwickelmania, I've had some other beery stuff going on since my last post. Pat and I went over to Full Sail for their Top sail imperial porter horizontal tasting. We got to try both the blended top sail, and the original unblended stock beers used to make it. Makers Mark top sail, Stranahans top sail, and Four Roses top sail. The Stranahans barrels made the nicest beer in my opinion, but the blend was a close second. In the past I've been pretty critical of the barrel aged Full Sail beers, but this one really grew on me this year. I don't know if it's better this time around, or if my tastes have just changed, but I think this beer is a real winner, and I've already stocked up on bottles.

At the superbowl, we tasted several great beers. Cascade Sang Royal, Cascade Sang Rouge, Russian River Consecration, Nogne O dark horizon batch 2, brooklyn local 2, hopworks secession, and widmer deadlift IPA. Trying all the sour beers side by side was great. The Sang Royal was great. The Sang Rouge was similar, but with a bit more stinky cheese. The consecration was great as always, but the Cascade beers definitely held their own against it. It would be hard to pick a favorite out of the three. The dark horizon was probably the beer I've held onto the longest before cracking into it. I've had this one for a year or two now, so I figured it was time. Turns out it wasn't! At 17.5%, one would expect this beer to come off a bit boozy, but after a couple of years aging, I would have expected it to mellow a bit. Feeling the heat coming off this thing really puts into perspective just how well crafted Black Tuesday was - with a well hidden, yet higher ABV... fresh.

abyss day!

Today I walked over the bridge to the deschutes brewery for the official 2009 Abyss release party. The party was to start at 2:00pm, but I got there about half an hour early. Instead of waiting in line for bottles, I made my way to the bar, waited for a seat to open up, and when it did, grabbed front row seats for the toast. Since I was early, and the abyss hadn't been served yet, I ordered a burger a blackweiss. Both were pretty tasty, but they served the purpose of killing time more than anything. Just before two, the bartenders started filling taster glasses with 09 Abyss, which can be seen on the trays in the first picture.


Once the trays were filled, everyone in the bar, and all the people that had been waiting in line (around the building at this point) were given a taster glass, and asked not to drink it until the toast at 2:00pm. At that point, the head brewer for the Portland location got on the mic, gave a brief description of the beer, and nervously stuttered his way through an Irish toast. Once through it, everyone drank their abyss, and Abyss was officially on the menu.


There were two ordering options for Abyss on tap. A 10 ounce pour of 09, or two 5 ounce pours, one of 08 and the other of 09. I went with the vertical. They tasted as one would expect. The 09 is still a bit hot, but otherwise perfect. The 08 was divine. Very much the same, maybe a bit thicker, and the booze had mellowed nicely. They each had about the same mouthfeel to me, but the appearance was different when served. The 09 had great head retention, whereas the head on the 08 quickly subsided.


As I was drinking my vertical, I asked the server if I would be able to purchase bottles from the bar, avoiding the now very long line. She said she would get them for me, but not to make a big deal of it, since she didn't want to start creating chaos at the bar. I also inquired about the gift sets I had seen behind the bar, and she said she couldn't get to those, and that if I wanted one, I would have to get in the line. I guess she felt bad, because after I asked for my check so I could get in line, she talked to a manager, and came over and said she'd get me the box set too. She just asked that I tell her when I'm leaving, so I could nonchalantly pick it up on the way out the door; again, to avoid creating a chaotic situation at the bar. I did as I was told, and shortly afterward, I was on my way, with 5 09 bottles in my messenger bag, and a gift box in hand... with an 08 bottle inside!


On the way back toward the east side, I spotted (hard to miss actually) this cool Henry's ad. Not a big fan of the beer itself, but that's Portland history right there. I liked the graphics, as well as Mt. Hood in the background, so I took a picture.



A little further up, I was stopped on the burnside bridge, which was up to let a barge through. To the naked eye, Mt. Hood was visible in the background to the right of the bridge. Didn't pick up in the shot though. After patiently waiting (I had to pee!) for the bridge to come back down, I finally made it back to the east side, then home.


Back at the house, I shot this picture of my epic haul:

new beers, old favorites, and a tech review!

I had to do some grocery shopping today, and while I was there, I took advantage of the store's recently expanded beer selection. The Fred Meyer on 39th and Hawthorne finally caught up with Portland's demand for high-end beers last month with the completion of their remodel. They now boast over 1000 beers, cold and ready to go, daily. While I still prefer to visit Belmont Station for my beer runs, (better service, better selection, more knowledgeable staff, better treatment of the beer, etc...) I'm not too proud to pick up some bevies at freddie's if I'm there anyway (sorry belmont! you're still my favorite, this isn't the end of us!). I decided to pick up a couple brews for the aging shelf, and then a couple to get me through the day.

My "drink immediately" beer purchase for the day was Oskar blues' Dales Pale Ale; - available in a 6 pack of 12 ounce cans. I'm very into the microbrew shift to canning, and a full fledged foot soldier of the movement, so I was glad to try a new (to me) beer available in cans.

I'll start this review by saying that the current weather conditions might strongly be effecting my ability to judge this beer. In short; it's a cold and unoffensive beer, and it's HOT outside. But let me delve deeper.

A. I'll admit, from the first beer, I have no idea, I DRANK IT FROM THE CAN!

S. Hops, but not over the top bitter. Balanced. Fresh cut grass and a little pineapple. Sweet.

T. Well presented hops. While the hops take the lead in this beer (as they should), the malts are clearly present and and make this a very well balanced pale. When the beer first hits the mouth, I notice sweet flavors, but they're quickly overrun by the hops in the aftertaste, when the bitterness comes through.

M. Light bodied. Smooth; very good for the summer.

D. Easy to drink. I would consider this a good alternative to Caldera Pale. I little more hop forward, a little less roasty malts. Tastey and easy to knock back. Good BBQ beer, good yard work beer, good anything out in the hot sun beer. A little more subtle than the beers I tend to prefer, but it certainly has it's place.

Now to the aging shelf beers. I picked up another deschutes black butte XXI, another Rodenbach Grand Cru, another New Belgium La Folie, and a Lindemans Gueuze Cuvée René.

I still haven't opened my first black butte xxi, but I've had it several times on tap, and I feel good about having another bottle improving on the shelf. At the moment, it's the only bottle I have 2 of aging. I picked up another Rodenbach Grand Cru to age as an experiment. I've written extensively before on other pages about the differences I noticed between the Rodenbach Grand Cru available in Belgium, vs. the ones available here in the US. The concensus has been that the difference between the beer in it's native land, and the one available here, it that the US version has been pasturized. I'd imagine that the pasturized version wont change much with age, but because the original is so good for aging, I've decided to let one sit to test the theory. My latest La Folie will probably be the last I'll buy this year, as the availability is limited, and the price has gone up accordingly. I've purchased several before, but because they've remained available, I haven't let them sit on the shelf for very long. This one should break the mold. The Lindemans Gueuze Cuvee Rene is a new beer to me. I'm tempted to pop it now to try "fresh", but I think I'm better off waiting a bit. It would be nice to take notes on it's fresh attributes now to compair the aged version too later, but for the moment, I only have one, and there isn't a special enough event to warrant it's opening.

And for the tech review! I ordered a bottle pal bottle opener yesterday, and it already arrived on my door step this morning. It's a bottle opening device (of which I already have too many) but this one promises to remove the cap of your beer without denting or bending the cap. (good for collecting, especially if you plan on doing something with the caps afterwards). I had read about the opener on beeradvocate.com, and immediately ordered one (it was only 7 bucks, free shipping!). I've used it once, and it's pretty neat; certainly does a good job of opening a beer, and it has a lot more flair than using a standard opener.

Here's a video of it in action:



Pretty sweet.