Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
Laurelwood has a new beer that caught my eye…
Cascadian Kolsch
“A Northwest rendition of a German classic ale. Crisp malty flavor and a clean finish is a nod to the Noble hops with which it is brewed. The heavy handed dry hopping with Citra hops finishes this beer with a Northwest kick. This is the first beer developed and brewed by brewer Nick Phelps. Raise a glass of this treat to celebrate the kick off of fall.”
Well now you can try their ’11 special release. A Russian Imperial Stout. Here’s to hoping that it isn’t one of the alco-bombs that are so prevalent and so over-hyped.
Here is the press release with all of the pertinent info:
“PORTLAND, ORE. – Sept. 27, 2010 – For nearly a year, sour beer lovers all over the Northwest have anxiously awaited the opening of the Cascade Brewing Barrel House, and the wait is finally over. Located at 939 SE Belmont St., the Cascade Barrel House will open its doors to the public at 11 a.m. today.
Situated in a former produce warehouse built in 1947, the Cascade Brewing Barrel House is divided into two sides. The west side of the building features 5,000 square-feet with a loading dock, barrel room, cooler and workspace. At a temperature of 65-degrees, the barrel room is specially designed to cultivate the Lactobacillus bacteria that give these brews their distinctive sour tang. The barrel room has the capacity to hold up to 350 barrels; currently, the space holds more than 250 French oak and Kentucky Bourbon barrels filled with wheats, blondes, quads, reds, browns and porters.
On the east side is a 2,100 square-foot tasting room with seating for 90 inside, plus seasonal seating for another 80 out front when the weather is nice. There are 18 beers on tap, a dozen of which are dedicated to Cascade’s award-winning sour beers, with another two taps reserved for sour beers from barrels tapped directly through the cooler wall. These select barrels will be tapped every Tuesday at 6 p.m., giving the public the opportunity to taste sour beer straight from the wood. The remaining five taps pour Cascade’s mainstream beers. The current tap list includes two of the brewery’s most sought-after beers – 2009 Great American Beer Festival award-winners Bourbonic Plague and Vlad the Imp Aler. The beer list is continually updated on its website’s homepage.
According to Cascade brewmaster Ron Gansberg, “I’m thrilled and gratified to see the Barrel House finally open. This gives people a new option for a beer experience. Sour beers are an intense sensory experience, on par with very hoppy beers, and we feature more sour beers on tap than any other place I know of.”
To complement the beers, the Cascade Brewing Barrel House features a limited menu of small plates, nuts, sandwiches, salads and soups. The ingredients are all local, including a cheese plate from Willamette Valley Cheese and a charcuterie plate with smoked salamis and sausages from the Original Bavarian Sausage deli in Tigard. Other menu highlights include peppered cashews, hummus with house made crackers, bacon tapenade, baked potato salad and a baked chicken sandwich.
All of Cascade’s beers continue to be brewed at Cascade Brewing, located at 7424 SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy in Portland. Art Larrance, who has been involved in Oregon’s craft beer industry since its inception, established Cascade Brewing in 1998. Larrance co-founded one of the state’s first microbreweries, Portland Brewing, as well as the Oregon Brewers Festival, which today is one of the world’s preeminent craft beer festivals. He currently owns and operates the Raccoon Lodge and Brew Pub on Portland’s west side, where Cascade Brewing operates out of the ground floor.
The Cascade Brewing Barrel House is open Sunday through Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Thursday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Minors are allowed daily to 10 p.m. For more information, call 503-265-8603. “
I love quirky ideas that grow big, and one of these is the dog friendly Lucky Labrador.
They have taken it a step further by having a IPA made with a bunch of different hop varietals and calling it MUTT. Brilliant in my book. They grow hops at a couple (maybe more now) of their locations and get more from friends of the brewery and it becomes this communal hop pickin’ party that ends up in a brilliant IPA a few months after.
Some things in life are too short. Three day weekends for one and this charming history of beer in Portland.
Though only 29 minutes, this is an excellent primer on how Oregon got to where it is today beer-wise.
Yes, cheese goes great with beer (and vice-versa). So why not visit one of the most sought after cheesemongers in beer soaked Portland.
“We have a rotating menu of sandwiches, salads, soup, baked cazuelas, and cheese and meat plates. We have 6 rotating beer taps, bottled beer, and wine to enjoy here or to go. Menu items incorporate local and seasonal ingredients. Our focus is on food that is beer and wine friendly.”
You don’t have to sacrifice good food for craft beer.
It is a near impossible Herculean task to pick one Portland beer bar as the best. It might be impossible to pick the best beer spot on SE Division. What with Apex and Beer Mongers across from each other.
Why is it hard? There are just a lot of places to visit and to visit enough that you can get a good read as to the atmosphere, the type of list changes, the staff attitude and myriad other reasons.
That being said, here is my personal countdown of Top 3 Portland Beer Bars: (As of right now & subject to change)
3. HOP & VINE
Nice amount of taps with a wide style variety. Then they have bottles too. The atmosphere is laid back and casual. Very coffeehouse chic. But what sets them apart is the beyond awesome back patio. An oasis in the city where you can let the cares of the world pass by as you drink your beer.
2. SARAVEZA
The decor is the best. I absolutely love the use of bottlecaps in the bar and in the tabletops. Great design work that must have taken a long time. Like its Killingsworth neighbor, the list is small and varied. Always interesting and not static. Their bottle selection in old school ‘fridges is drool worthy.
1. BELMONT STATION
Why are they # 1? Choice. An abundance of choice. For example, I walked in on a July day and found a Nebraska brewed beer WHILE I was drinking a beer from Astoria, Oregon! The bottle selection is tremendous. If it was brewed in Oregon, Belmont has it. Then you can hoard your find at the bar next door and probably run into one of their many events.
Here goes with the questions:
1. Have you ever put a beer on tap that surprised you with its popularity?
– I love it when the beer community steps up and isn’t afraid of anything new or different. In the last year, a few Portland breweries have made a Gose. A Gose is a style of beer that has a slightly sour, moderately spicy, and salty (like saline) profile. I love that you can put a beer on draft and describe it as slightly “salty, spicy and sour” and people jump at the chance to try it. It’s a process to get your hands on the traditional German Gose. We can’t get enough Gose to keep our customers happy!
2. What beer style do you think is under appreciated at the moment?
– The country is going through a craft beer revolution and I believe that Portland, OR among other beer-centric cities are at the forefront of that. That said, Saraveza’s customers are generally excited about all beer styles. Currently, there is a huge interest in beers that are innovative (different ingredients), collaborative (two breweries working together), seasonal, bbl aged, soured or hugely hopped. Also, old unique styles are making a comeback as brewers get creative and customers want to broaden their beer knowledge and palate. In addition, customers really appreciate a more delicate beer style that is made well – specifically lagers and lighter style Belgians, German and American ales. Oddly enough, beers that tend to fall by the wayside tend to be the some of the Classic malt-based beer styles that got this whole revolution off the ground – Browns, Reds, Porters, Dubbels, etc. Even more so Fruit (non-lambic) and Vegetable beers often tend to be overlooked. Don’t get me wrong, they all are consumed, it’s just that, there’s less buzz about a “really good Brown” or a “spot-on Dubbel” when there used to be a lot more excitement in that arena. I see the pendulum continue to shift back and forth and assume that these styles will reemerge with popularity.
3. Is there a beer (or range of beers from a brewery) you wish you could get for Saraveza?
– I wish more of the small breweries made Lagers, especially throughout the summer. I also wish we could get more great Sours. Saraveza has tap handles that are specifically dedicated to Craft Lagers and Sours and we are always hunting. Next to our IPA handles, the Craft Lagers and the Sours are our most popular styles and sometimes it’s a challenge to find new options.
4. Do more people buy to go beers or tap? Or is the majority of customers having one of each?
– It is a toss-up. People come to Saraveza for different reasons. Sometimes people come into buy a six pack and have a pint while they shop. Other people come in for a pasty and a beer, try something new on draft and like it so much they purchase the bottled version to take home!
5. How do you respond to customers who ask for beer recommendations?
– Helping a customer fall in love with a new beer is my favorite part of the job! It is important to find out what they currently like to drink and then understand if they are looking to try something similar or if they want to take a step in a new direction. Someone who likes “lighter” beers but is feeling adventurous for the first time might get excited about a Saison. For those that come in and say they like wine more than beer, it’s fun to let them try a sour and see if it sparks interest. You like a Porters, have you ever tried a Baltic Porter? A Smoked Porter?
We always have new beers on draft, so I believe it’s important to sample beers out to customers to help them get an idea of what they are getting into before they order. Or if they are curious about a more expensive bottle, maybe there is something on draft with a similar flavor profile that would aid them in making a decision on opening the bottle or not.
Thanks again for taking the time out of your busy schedule. I really appreciate it.
– No problem Sean, this was fun for me. In the process, I realized how easy it is for me to spit out the answers and I became a little introspective. Here I sit with my sleeping baby next to me while I think about Saraveza and the craft beer industry. I realize how much I love my job and how excited I am about my new job as a mother. I’ve got the two best jobs on the planet as far as I am concerned!
I also wanted to just say that my larger goal with Saraveza is to get our customers excited about American Craft beer. We’ve got this great new industry that is just thriving and everyone can be a part of it! I love the fact that getting people to enjoy Craft beer helps out local economies, inspires creativity, demands quality and in turn teaches people to become more insightful about what they consume. Viva la revolution!
Belmont Station is my first stop whenever I go to Portland, so I thought I should ask Carl Singmaster, the “Chief Bottle Opener” as he is called on the Beer O’Clock radio show 5 questions about the bottle shop and bier cafe.
1. Since Belmont Station is such an institution, do you get a lot of beer tourists ?
Belmont Station has been around since 1997 so we fortunately seem to have developed a reputation as one of the key beer stops for any beer-interested tourist coming to Portland. And of course for anyone keenly interested in American craft beer and its history Portland is a must visit.
2. Have you ever put a beer on tap that surprised you with its popularity?
I am more often surprised by beers we would expect to be popular, (for our place “popular” means in demand or intriguing to craft beer aficianados), but get virtually ignored. As my Belmont Station founder Don Younger says “don’t listen to what people say they want, watch what they do.” By now we have a pretty good idea of what our customers prefer.
Having said that, at this year’s Puckerfest (an annual Sour Beer Festival we hold) I was pleasantly surprised by the number of young folk (twenty-somethings) that came out for sours.
3 . What beer style do you think is under appreciated at the moment?
Brown ales and pale ales are very often overlooked here. I have been pleased to see the increased attention given to craft lagers, something that did not get the same level of interest 4 or 5 years ago.
4. Do more people buy to go beers or tap? Or is the majority of customers having one of each?
The majority of our business is beer to go. But many people do have one or two here and buy a few to go. It’s nice to enjoy a pint while you shop!
5. Do you get beer geeks coming in looking for the latest and greatest rare beers?
Constantly. People always want most what they can’t get!
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!
