Category: Brewery Tour

A concise brewery bio

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Mt. Tabor Brewing

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OK, Portland! I get it. I need to re-visit. So many new places to try. It is obvious that the web snub of Asheville has pushed Beervana to new heights. Mt. Tabor Brewing is another place to go to.

Dragon Lounge Pale Ale – American Pale Ale with a Chinese twist. Custom Brewed for the Canton Grill. 5.6% ABV/41 IBUs.

Asylum Ave IPA – Bittered with Amarillo and finished with loads of Cascades, this beer will drive hop heads insane. 6.3% ABV/85 IBUs.

Qwest Porter – A hoppier version of the classic UK style. 6.0% ABV/25 IBUs.

Soapbox Blonde Ale – Pilsen malt with a dash of honey malt gives this beer a crisp but sweet taste. Finish that steep descent and this beer will reward you. 5.5%/28.2 IBUs.

Little Bull Stout – Dark, hoppy, and delicious, the only thing “Little” is the name. 7.0% ABV/130 IBUs.

Reinheitsgebot Alt – We pay homage to the German Beer Purity Law with this traditional “Old” German beer. Prost! 6.2% ABV/32 IBUs.

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Live Oak Brewing

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Our southwestern swing continues with Austin’s Live Oak Brewing. They focus on authentic European style beers like….

Primus – Winter Seasonal
Our new winter seasonal, Primus (pronounced, “pre moose”), is a dark, rich German-style Weizen beer (beer made with wheat malt) fermented with a very particular strain of brewers’ yeast that gives this beer it’s unique spicy and fruity character. The unfiltered beer has the characteristic clove and banana flavors familiar to HefeWeizen drinkers but with a darker and richer roasty malt character that is typical of some German-style Bock beers. The alcohol strength will be around 8%. Available November – January

Liberation Ale – Winter Seasonal
With about 6.0% ABV, this one will surely warm the ol’ gullet during a cold central Texas winter – both days! Our India Pale Ale (IPA) is light in color and strong in hop character. Dry hopping with Cascade hops, gives this winter favorite a delicious citrus note reminiscent of a Texas Ruby Red. Yes, it’s warming but you don’t need to be huddled around the furnace to enjoy this one! IPA fans really love this ale during a beautiful Texas winter on the porch or indoors.

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Turtle Mountain Brewing

Throughout the month of May, I will be spotlighting various breweries in the southwest-ish portion of the United States. It is an area that most people don’t too much about and it is one of the weak spots on my 50 States challenge.

First up is…..
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Here are a couple of beers from Turtle Mountain in New Mexico that I found intriguing…
STEAM ALE OG 1.052
This American Pale Ale features Northern Brewer and Cascade hops. Also known as Locomotive Breath, this brew has been a TMBC staple for the last ten years.

UNGLUED ALE OG 1.048
Are you gluten intolerant? Well now, there’s no need to go through life without good beer. Made with white sorghum as opposed to malted barley, Turtle Mountain’s Unglued Ale is a gluten-free beer. With more than a pound of Centennial hops per barrel, added in both the boil and the dry-hop, this brew is a pale ale. While all the ingredients are classified as gluten-free, this beer was created in our brewery which does house a multitude of various grains.

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North by NW Brewing

On Sundays in May, I will post a snapshot of a southwestern US brewery along with a suggested beer or two to try. I will give you a sneak preview of one brewery now.

North by Northwest Brewing in Austin, Texas.

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Duckabish Amber
Pilsner, Caravienne, and Chocolate malts give this beer its beautiful, deep amber color. It is soft and creamy and balanced by Horizon hops.

Pyjingo Pale Ale
Brewed in the style of the great ales of the Pacific Northwest, this complex combination of Pilsner and Caravienne malts and Horizon, Cascade and Amarillo hops make it a great session beer.

Okanogan Black Ale
This rich, malty dark ale is reminiscent of the smooth ales produced by the Weltenberg Brewery in Northwestern Germany. The Pilsner, Caravienne, Munich, Chocolate, Black malts and Roasted Barley give this great dark ale a creamy, roasted malt flavor, which is perfectly balanced with Cascade hops.

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Crow Peak Brewing

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We use the power of a beer map to focus on a South Dakota brewpub, Crow Peak!

LOOKOUT LAGER: This straw colored, medium-bodied lager is dominated by a dry maltiness. Hop bitterness is very low, however, a mild note of hops lingers on the tongue.

SPEARBEER: This is a light copper-colored English style Pale Ale with a malty character and just a hint of fruitiness balanced by medium hop bitterness. The ale finishes with a pleasant hop flavor and aroma.

11th HOUR IPA: Hop aroma and flavor dominate this IPA. However, the malt character of this deep amber colored ale nicely balances the hop component thus avoiding a harsh bitterness. A truly quaffable beverage!

BEAR BUTTE BROWN: This deep brown colored ale has a strong malt character with a hint of roasted barley. There is a slightly detectable hop bitterness, but no hop flavor or aroma.

PILE O’ DIRT PORTER: Named for the ridiculous 4 foot dirt pile we had to put our brewery on to get us out of the FEMA-designated 100 year floodplain (no-one can remember this part of Spearfish ever flooding). This robust porter is black in color, is medium-bodied and has a rich, roasted malt flavor ending with a pleasing hop flavor and mild hop bitterness.

I always get a brewery history lesson from the names, so I would sample the Pile ‘O’ Dirt first because of the floodplain reference.

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Porterhouse Brewery

To Ireland we fly to talk about the Porterhouse Brewery. Ireland and Scotland have fallen behind Wales in craft beer but with BrewDog and Porterhouse, maybe the tide is turning.

Here are two of the beers that piqued my curiousity…
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“A classic full bodied continental style pilsner with an ample balance of lip smacking Hersbrucker hops. A soft, quality hop flavour with the matching subtly of fine malt and sweetness.”
Oyster-stout
“Brewed with fresh oyster. A smooth drinking aromatic stout with a discernible but unidentifiable aromatic aspect. Not suitable for vegetarians.”

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Pale Horse Brewing

For quite awhile, if you drove south from Portland, your next beer destination was Eugene. You drove right past the state capital of Salem.

But now there are signs of life. One is Pale Horse Brewing.
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They have a Hillbilly Blond, the Hopyard Dog and the signature Pale Horse Irish Dry Stout.

Pale Horse Brewing
(brewery only, no pub)
2359 Hyacinth ST. NE
Salem, OR 97301
503-364-3610

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Migration Brewing

A brewery that blatantly loves the Portland Trailblazers. All I can say is Red, Hot and Rollin’
Migration

They started with guest taps but will slowly fold in their beers as they are ready. First up is the MPA. Their take on a pale ale. West coast style.

Get the latest news on Migration Brewing HERE

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Mother Earth Brewing

Last year there was a bit of a kerfuffle over an online “who is the best beer city” poll that grew out of proportion. It was Beervana Portland vs. newcomer Asheville.

What was good about it was the attention that got focused on what was important. Bringing attention to a brewing hotspot.

I have now purchased beer from Bruisin’ Ales and that led me onto their newsletter which led me to this new brewery…
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About the brewery: “Take the goodness of garden-grown products, the warmth of small town life, the earthy ethic of rock ‘n roll, a deep respect for a time-honored craft…and you have the ingredients of Mother Earth Brewing. Born in the summer of 2008, Mother Earth is the dream-child of Stephen Hill and Trent Mooring, two guys from Kinston, North Carolina, a sweet southern town in the heart of the old tobacco belt.”

Here are the description of a couple beers that caught my eye:
Endless River Kölsch
“A clean, crisp beer, Kolsch offers a very slight fruity flavor and aroma. It is light gold in color, with a delicate head. This light-bodied beer appeals to nearly everyone who samples it. Expect to enjoy a slight tang in the finish.”
Weeping Willow Wit
“This beer style is over 400 years old, and continues to enjoy overwhelming popularity. Offering low hop bitterness, it is easy to enjoy. It pours very hazy, with a light gold color… we say it’s like summertime in a glass. Bitter orange peel and fresh coriander add zest and depth to this refreshing beer.”