Tag: Trailblazers

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No Blazer Digits

Since I am in Portland, thoughts turn to my beloved Blazers and former player who almost got us a second ‘ship. Scottie Pippen.

Pippen has teamed with Dave Phinney to create a new bourbon, Digits with a ring absent hand on the label

Here are the details from the distillery.

Barrels
“Each barrel is hand-selected for it’s unique attributes by Dave & Scottie. The youngest Bourbon in the blend is five years old. The barrels were sourced from Indiana and Tennessee and aged at Savage & Cooke on historic Mare Island.”

Mash Bill
75% Corn, 21% Rye, 4% Malted Barley

Profile
“In a true reflection of Scottie, the mature Bourbon is lush, velvety and a pleasure to drink with no hard edges.  DIGITS is packed with flavors of vanilla bean, caramel, buttered toast and maple.  Enjoy neat or on the rocks.”

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Sharpe at 7

Each year (when Portland has a first round pick), I take the opportunity to make tenuous beer connections and since the Blazers tanked semi-succesfully to pick #7, I definitely had to have an NBA draft post this year.

Since Shaedon Sharpe basically has a stop over at Kentucky, let’s instead head to the province of Ontario in Canada.

So let’s go to London and what I hope Rip City will become, a Powerhouse.

They have a smoked pineapple Gose that sounds great but since I am thinking about an NBA ‘ship, their Daydream Dunkels sounds even better this day.

Also, welcome to PDX, Jerami Grant!

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Trade Deadline

No, this is not an NBA blog but part of the reason that beer is part of my story is because I am from Portland and Portland is inextricably tied to the Blazers and currently the health of Damian Lillard’s abdomen.

Which means a kinda-sorta-no good season needed some action to set-up next year, replenish draft picks or to at least avoid the luxury tax.

The latter being why the trigger was pulled to trade forwards Norman Powell and Robert Covington to the Los Angeles Clippers for guard Eric Bledsoe, forward Justise Winslow, and guard Keon Johnson. The Blazers will also receive a second-round pick and a trade exception in the deal.

Then, the big deal came down on Tuesday, CJ McCollum being traded to the New Orleans Pelicans for forward Josh Hart, guards Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Tomas Satoransky and draft compensation.

We then turned around and sent Alexander-Walker and Satoransky away to the Jazz and Spurs respectively and received back more picks and currently injured three point specialist Joe Ingles.

I think that Hart and Ingles have the most current upside with Johnson and having future upside. The draft picks will require some mining to find something but if the plan is to go young, the process has begun.

The beer link is community. As the Blazers do well, more people go to games, buy merch like the pint glass above, there is a spring in the step of fans and non-fans alike. You see Blazer themed beers popping up more. People head to sports bars, especially if there is a deep playoff run. You hear cheering outside your window. I have seen that joy as both the Dodgers and Rams have had recent success.

The Rising Tide maxim becomes plainly clear. Community matters and we need more of it whether it is basketball or IPAs.

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Rip City Brewery # 1 – Ruse Brewing

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.

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Blazing a Trail

I am a big Blazer fan. I know it’s been rough injury wise for what seems like forever. But I will never root for another team (except whoever is playing the Lakers) That is why it was a great treat to have Terry’s Porter at Migration in December and now this b-ball brew

….. “Saraveza and Amnesia Brewers, Chris Spollen and Sean Thommen, will tip off a dedicated handle (during games) of Amnesia’s Trail Hazer! This dry hopped unfiltered version of the Dusty Trail Pale will be on special every time the Blazers are on the court. It is the perfect beer for a game watching session with friends.”