Each time that I re-visit Portland craft beer scene, I make every effort to spend most of my time at the newest breweries and/or trying new beers.
This trip I succeeded more than usual with that task. Stops were made at the relatively new Ecliptic Brewing and at the new Fat Heads space on the Westside while trying new beer from the charity driven Ex Novo.
I even sampled a pale ale schnapps from the distilling stronghold of my brother-in-law.
But I start to digress. Let’s start from the beginning.
With a plane flight from Burbank still fresh on the mind, the traditional first stop was at Ken’s Artisan Pizza for the family’s favorite pizza. Where I encountered Ex Novo’s Damon Stout-amire. For Blazer fans, the name will ring a point guard bell. The beer was a little thin to me and could have used a boost of chocolate or coffee notes.
Next up was Fathead’s which is in walking distance of both the Deschutes and Bridgeport locations and though the beers in the tasting tray were uniform, I don’t know how many customers will be stolen away. The Holly Jolly was my favorite and the Head Hunter IPA was well done but the Chocolate Cream was a mess. Too many weird vanilla notes. The space is nice but a little too Applebee’s for my taste. The wait staff was great. Very helpful without being over attentive.
Ecliptic was a much different scene at the south end of Mississippi Avenue near-ish to Widmer. Astronomy is the theme in design and beer names My placemat of beers was well done. Rigel Sparkling Ale was light and crisp with minor Belgian notes but my two favorites were the Pollux Imperial IPA with tons of mango notes and the Canopus IWA – India Wheat Ale that very floral.
During the trip I also tasted Supergoose IPA from Hale’s Ales and Vanilla Cream Porter from Worthy Brewing that were strong but I really dug the Java the Hop from Fort George. Not so much IPA but damn the coffee was spectacular.
Overall, my top picks include two from Pfriem in Hood River, their Blonde IPA and their Single Malt Golden Promise. Just super tasty and easily separated to top of the pack. The other choice is Gigantic’s Peace Loving Decoy a lovely Vienna style that was perfect with dinner.
As usual, the choices were abundant and wide ranging. Now I just have to drink up all the beers that I brought back!