Category: Brewery Tour

A concise brewery bio

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Christmas in July at Port / Lost Abbey

As I have mentioned previously, this is not a snarky, mean-spirited blog. I wish to be more at the Huell Howser end of the spectrum as opposed to Bill Maher but, at times, I will have to detour into criticism. This is one of those instances.

Now, I am a fan of Pizza Port beers (and the pizza). I enjoy the hop bombs they make and recently I really liked the Hot Rocks lager. Lost Abbey is hit and miss. Their wit is sub-par but Inferno ale is pretty good. I do appreciate the experimentation though which is why I wanted to check out this party in the first place.

So I was expecting a lot at their Christmas party. Maybe too much. My first problem was that they did not appear to be fully expecting a crowd. There was no signage as to where to line up for what so there was one medium, barely-moving line due to the second noticeable problem, only one person checking ID and only one person taking bottle orders and taking entrance money.

The third miscue was that you placed a bottle order for Duck, Duck, Gooze then you had to go stand in a new line to purchase it. A line with 1. Yes, only 1 credit card machine. Now that would be ok if the beers were $8.00 or $10.00 but if you are charging (and rightfully so) $30.00 you have to have at least two credit card machines because not everyone will have that much cash on hand. And forth, they ran out of some beers after three hours. Amigo lager? Sorry, all out. Shark Bite red? Nope. This is why, myself and others were at Stone enjoying a leisurely beer.

Here are my recommendations for fixing the situation. Separate the bottle sales from the party. This way people can come in, donate to charity, have some beer, get a photo with Santa and not have to navigate a humid room with a big line of cranky bottle buyers in the middle.

To speed the bottle sales, at least two credit card machines. Then hand people order slips as they wait in line. Also have two people as stock pickers to speed up the process. This way, the order is ready quicker from both the buyer and the seller’s sides. And it is only one line which may move faster. There is nothing worse than a line that inches forward then finding out you have to be in another line that inches forward.

The mantra should be to prepare for a big crowd and then scale down if needed. Because it is just too hard to scale up.

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Vertigo Brewing

Another addition to the crowded but thriving Oregon beer scene is this Hillsboro based brewery.
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Here is their current list of beers…
Cyclone Cream ale, Apricot Cream ale, Schwindel Alt, High-Altitude Amber, Razz Wheat & Friar Mike’s IPA.

These two guys started out home brewing then they just kept making more. The only logical thing to do was open a brewery.

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Harpoon Brewing

Thank goodness that people traveled to Europe after college! That is when Harpoon Founders Dan Kenary & Rich Doyle caught the beer bug and we are the better for it.

They are probably best known for their UFO Hefeweizen and their IPA but they also have a tremendous set of beers under the Leviathan banner. A big Bohemian Pilsner, an Imperial IPA, a Quad and a Baltic Porter.

And if the beer isn’t enough for you, how about this…
Harpoon Helps Missions: Each mission is different. There may be missions in Boston, Vermont, Maine, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Connecticut. Past missions have included sorting food at the Greater Boston Food Bank, serving meals at a soup kitchen in Portland, an American Red Cross blood drive, and volunteering at a Harpoon road race to raise money for ALS research.

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Hopfenstark

Hopfenstark is a micro-brasserie in Montreal. They have three different styles of saison, an oak aged framboise, baltic porter, holiday ale and that is just the seasonal selection!
They also have a really cool and offbeat website that celebrates Ostalgia.

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Breweries far from the maddening crowd

It is easy to neglect parts of the U.S. because we fly over them or they are too far from what we call civilization so I would like to highlight two breweries doing their thing away from the major metropolitan areas.

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First is Salmon River Brewing. Started by two couples who wanted to brew beer in McCall, Idaho for locals and visitors. Their regular beers include Udaho Gold, Sweep Boat Stout, PFD Pale Ale and Salmon River Quiver IPA. Their bar is awesomely rustic. When you want to get away but not from beer.

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The Mt. Emily Alehouse is the only brewery in LaGrande, Oregon! They produce an Oregon Blonde Ale, Heifer-Weizen, Paleface Ale, Northwest Porter and Mr. Big and olde English Ale / IPA. They have a mug club if you want to join and get a little extra in your glass when you visit.

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Kloster Andechs

Andechs Monastery is one of the most beautiful spots on earth to be brewing. And they have been there since 1455!! On the top of a hill, west of the big city of Munich, out in the countryside (almost).

They have a great cavernous beer hall. Plenty of outdoor seating. A great giftshop with incredible prices. Fish and pork aplenty and many excellent beer choices depending upon the season. Their darker beers go excellent with the pretzels and pork.

Spezial Hell and Dunkle Weissbeer being my favorites.

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Mountain State Brewing

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My expertise is skewed to the left coast but I do no want to leave out the rest of the country on this blog so for those in West Virginia and Maryland you can try out Mountain State Brewing “born and brewed in West Virginia. As with alot of our great craft brewers they started at home in the ’90’s and now you can taste the hard work Brian & Willie have put into their beers.

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1st Anniversary of The Bruery

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First things first. Kudos to all at the Bruery for throwing a great party. There wasn’t even any sour faces at the sour bar.

I will begin with the beer reviews. My goal was to sample new offerings first. I started at the aforementioned Sour Bar and I was glad I did. The Gypsy Tart was an excellent Flanders red. Easy drinking, full of flavor. Tart without being puckery. On par with the Ommegang Flanders Red.

The next beer truly surprised me. I selected it mostly out of curiosity. Melange # 1 is a mix of Russian Imperial Stout and Flemish Red. I truly loved this beer. They got the mix just right for my palate. Dark and fruity. Like having chocolate and raspberries. I recommended it to all that I talked to yesterday. Anytime I see it, I will order it up.

I followed that with their anniversary beer, Papier. To me it was a little too much. It is close in flavor to the Melange # 3. Both are dark and bourbon-esque. Good to sip by the fireplace in the cabin by the woods.

Next was the Hottenroth Berliner Weisse. The sourest of them all wasn’t at the Sour Bar. I really enjoyed it. 3.1% alcohol. So easy to drink. I could see adding some fruit syrup to balance out the sour but it was great on it’s own.

100% Brett Saison de Lente was very good as well. Full bodied almost amber. A very balanced beer. A complex beer.

That was the end of the beers I had not tasted before. To finish, I had the Humulus Blonde and the White Zin. The blonde is nice but tasted differently from one I had previously at Blue Palms. Not as hoppy as I remembered. The White Zin was good as usual. Zippy with a nice sharp wine taste to it.

Food wise the BBQ from Beachwood BBQ was great. Even tried a fried pickle. The dessert plate was awesome. Belgian waffle, three types of cheese and bacon wrapped in chocolate. Heavenly!
dessert

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Uncommon Brewers

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Uncommon Brewers is a community-oriented organic microbrewery based in Santa Cruz. Incorporating traditional Belgian brewing techniques, cutting-edge innovation from the modern West Coast, and grounded in the principles of sustainability voiced by the Slow Food Movement, Uncommon Brewer’s goal is to make uncommon beers for uncommon people.

Their beers include:
Golden State Ale – a golden ale made with poppy seeds
Baltic Porter – brewed with anise
Siamese Twin – a Belgian double made with coriander, kaffir lime & lemongrass

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Kinsale Brewing

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Kinsale is a beautiful spot on the southern coast of Ireland. The type of place you visit then decide to stay longer. Great pubs, great food town, a wine museum and Kinsale Brewing. This is good solid pale ale country. Anyone who buys a six pack of Heineken or Stella would love this. I cannot recommend the town and the brewery highly enough. The photo below should sell you on going…
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