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The second Portland stop is right on the…
This Montavilla area brewer and blender focuses on (4) styles: IPA’s, funky farmhouse, mixed-culture and bourbon forward stouts.
Here is what I would put in my taster tray:
Triticale Mass, dry-hopped farmhouse ale
Jens Bailed grisette
Brut Punch tart and refreshing IPA DDH w/Comet, Idaho 7, Simcoe and Sabro hops
Casimir The Great, imperial stout aged in whiskey barrels
Portland has not blazed out of the NBA gates to start the season but a brewery that has gotten a lot of buzz is Ruse Brewing. Founded by Shaun Kallis and Devin Benware they are deep into the yeast having “custom Brett strains called Stargazer and Suburban Brett”
Here are the beers that I would put into a first taster tray…
Evertide Helles Lager, Phantom Shore Citra Extra Pale Ale, Dreamscape Blended Saison, Dream Language Vienna Lager and Stages of Sundown Imperial Stout.
Some may be tired of the 16oz can world we live in but when it is utilized by places like Hair of the Dog or another Portland Brewery, Little Beast, it opens up many possibilities. Granted both Wolf Camp Saison and Hot Break Sour are “hoppified” in line with expectations from the packaging in customers minds, I hope to see something even wilder in future seasonal releases.
I am a sucker for beer history. Maybe since I have been blogging about craft beer for just about ten years now, I have seen fads and trends pass, breweries come and go and morph into new forms. But I still want to know more. What happened on the brewdecks and the sales calls and the places in between.
The Widmer Way by Jeff Alworth has the added bonus of being set in Portland (AKA Beervana) at the dawn or very early morning of craft beer. The best service that this book provides is to transport the reader back to those bootstrap start-up days and show that Widmer Bros. becoming what it is today wasn’t a sure bet.
The tale begins at the first brewery that Rob and Kurt put together and details the major part that their father had to play in keeping the brewery going that only a real handyman could and then tracks the brewery from their initial Alt bier to the flagship Hefe that the brewery is now known for.
You also read up on the strategic partnership with Anheuser-Busch and how the brothers were admired by the patriarch of the clan. Certainly a much different time for the now foreign owned beer giant. What follows is the eventual formation of the CBA – Craft Brewers Alliance. Both of these financial moves set a precedent for breweries to either use or reject in the future.
I do wish that the book was longer. It is a common complaint of mine, I know. But I would like to have learned more about the Brewers who followed the brothers. Or more about the Widmer’s place in the shifting landscape of Portland beer. I guess more about the beer in general.
Overall though, the writing is sharp and precise and never veers into boring history. Alworth has a firm grasp on each sentence, paragraph and chapter.
And by the end, you will want to drink a Widmer Hefeweizen, maybe with a lemon.
Back to Oregon for the next holiday ale entrant. PermaFrost from Burnside Brewing. The Portland brewery describes the beer like this: “NW Winter ale brewed with 7 different malts and copious amounts of Meridian and Amarillo hops pillowed in the middle to give this warming brew a chewy complex malt body and a unique fruity juicy hoppiness throughout.”
Thanks to industrious workers at Wiegand Family Distribution, we will be getting some more Portland beer here in Los Angeles. This time from….
Little Beast has roots in Logsdon Ales and is earning a great reputation. I have yet to have one of their “wild, wood-aged and blended beer” but I am looking forward to when I see a bottle on shelves here.
Bes, in particular caught my eye…”Bes / Tart Wheat Ale. Brewed with Belgian malts, Lemon Drop Hops and chamomile flower then fermented with a blend of unique Saccharomyces yeast and conditioned with Lactobacillus. Juicy, bright and balanced. Notes of pineapple and citrus.”
File this post under, What is in Portland but I hope will come to Los Angeles. Sessionable is a pub in the Rose City that serves up, well, the title tells the tale, beers under the 5% ABV.
In a nod to hop culture, there are a few of the 30 taps that are over that mark. Most of the IPA variety with some ciders thrown in brings the total to 17 but that is still not bad.
I personally think that L.A. could support a taphouse with 10 or so under 5.5%.
I am a book fan. Love to read. So much so that I noticed that my totals for 2018 seemed way too low. But if I could quietly read with a pint from a good selection (other than home aka BSP World HQ) that would be an additional good thing.
Well Portland might be in the vanguard for me with the IndieGoGo Rose City Book Pub.
Here is the lowdown and maybe someone in LA can do a City of Angels Book Pub. “Rose City Book Pub is bringing together everything that brings us joy: books, beer, and wine, of course, but also community events, music, art, and good discussions. The Book Pub will be a place for people to gather. It will also be a place for people to retreat to a corner to work or read alone while they enjoy our carefully curated selection of beer and wine.”
Allegory Grassa Bionda, Dad Hat Pils, Stop Talking Cool IPA, Soursop Summer Ale and All the Free Time Pinot Barrel aged beer.
