Today we go to Kentucky via Oregon and the Hopworks barrel-aged Christmas ale.
Timber!
Portland has a slew of MLS Timbers beers but the latest celebrates the chainsaw toting Timber Jim. This new NW IPA is not only organic per Hopworks usual MO but will also help out Meals on Wheels as a portion of each sale will be donated to the charity.
I will be contacting my Mom for a special delivery of this new beer.
Review – Totally Radler from H.U.B.
Totally Radler, as can be seen from the label on the can, is a 50/50 mix of Hopworks Urban Brewery’s Organic HUB Lager and organic lemon soda. And it clocks in at around 2.6% ABV. I had a Traveler Shandy the previous day to prepare myself. Previous soda (lemonade) beer concoctions had come off as too sweet or too heavily weighted to the soda side and I wanted to see how another example tasted.
That beer was fine. Though it was a little too candied peel strong for me which fought against the sweetness. Totally Radler on the other hand was so much less sugary that at first I was taken aback. It had the same lemon peel / lemon verbena bite to it but then it veered directly into unsweetened lemonade territory. I would call it close to Key Lime pie as well. To me the underlying lager is pretty much masked by that lemon hit.
Totally Radler tastes like an Italian soda. Tart fruit and carbonated bubbles. I liked it but to me it really isn’t beer. It is soda with it’s beer hidden from view
India Red Lager
The 2nd annual PDX Beer Week begins tomorrow in Beervana and the 2012 official beer is a collaboration between Hopworks and Deschutes and is a style mash-up, an India Red Lager.
So, if you find yourself in Portland between tomorrow and the 17th. Be on the look out for this limited time beer.
Oregon Beer Review # 3 – Noggin’ Floggin’ from HUB
We have reached the final March 2012 review with Noggin’ Floggin’ barley wine from Hopworks Urban Brewery. Just as with California beers, I am sure there will be more Oregon reviews before this year is out.
But now on to the barley wine……
Galactic
I do not care if I bore you with Hopworks beers. Because I think they are great and can’t get enough of them.
Is it Halloween or Christmas
Holiday seasonals seem to be showing up left and right. Though I give this one a pass because of the name.
Love the Rankin-Bass.
Here are the specs: “This mythological beer emerges from the depths of our brewery every winter. Made with Cascade, Centennial and Simcoe hops and six organic malts, “A-Bomb” has a complex floral, spicy and citrus hoppiness backed up by just the right amount of malt sweetness. 7.3% ABV.”
Hopworks Pilot Brew
File this under smart moves, Hopworks Urban Brewery. Already the organic beer leader in Portland, and the leader in beer and bikes is in the process of opening a “nano brewery” that they will open to home brewers. The 30 gallon capacity systesm will be available for home-brew clubs six times during the year and solo home brewers for all of the other free dates. Applicants will be encouraged to use all Organic base malts in their recipes and in exchange will be able to brew at Hopworks, make use of their mill and just be around and absorb the vibe and knowledge that Hopworks already has.
Concordia Cup
Old News to those in Portland, but I thought I would share this information from a great beer destination in Portland. (If you haven’t been during one of their blind tasting competitions then you have missed out)
Concordia Cup Results
“Deschutes Brewery Portland Pub – Hop Henge Experimental Batch #8 Wins Concordia Cup
Cam O’Connor Head Brewer at Deschutes Brewery Portland Pub has won this event three times in a row, winning the “Oregon Only” Imperial IPA Concordia Cup for three straight years, 2008, 2009, and 2010. He will captain the OREGON BEER BRAWL IV team at Concordia Ale House yet another time coming 02/2011.”
After 579 taster trays Hop Henge Experimental Batch #8 won by 6 votes over Hopworks Ace of Spades.
Blind Imperial IPA Tasting Results
1. Deschutes Brewery Portland Pub Hop Henge Experimental Batch #8
2. Hopworks Urban Brewery Ace of Spades
3. Widmer Brothers Brewing Co. Deadlift
4. Rogue Ales’s I2PA
5. Double Mountain Brewery & Taproom Molten Lava
6. Caldera Brewing Hopportunity Knocks
6. Ninkasi Brewing Co. Tricerahops
I have “only” had the Deadlift, Hopportunity Knocks and Tricerahops. Not bad for a LA based beer boy!
new from the HUB
Hopworks Ace of Spades (Gold Medal winner in the Imperial IPA category at the 2009 Great American Beer Festival) was released in bottles on April 13th at the awesome Belmont Station.
The label says, “This hopped out beast had Amarillo, Cascade and Centennial hops, added at every point; mash tun, first wort, kettle, and dry hop. All the green goodness results in a beer with a huge citrus hop aroma, flavor and deep clean bitterness.”
AS if that wasn’t enough for organic beer lovers, Hopworks is releasing another IPA called Google Gigabit as a pitch for the company to choose Portland as its destination for new high-speed fiber optics lines. Check out The New School blog for the complete story.
