Beer Month Notes, With Pictures

And Oregon Craft Beer Month rolls forward, leaving tired livers in its wake. Notably, Puckerfest has delivered a tour de force of great beers, one that continues tonight when Block 15's Nick Arzner brings a four-pack of his wonderful barrel-aged beers. If you haven't been to Puckerfest yet, definitely go. I've been really impressed with the pricing structure; it encourages you to get many small pours. Many of these beers are exceedingly rare, so Belmont Station could be charging a mint. Anyway, I've been sipping and snapping (pics) of beers as I go along, and here are a few highlights.

Flat Tail Corvaller Weisse
I have now tried exactly one of Dave Marliave's Flat Tail beers, which looks impressive when you compare it to the previous total (100% increase!). At some point I'll make it to Corvallis and do a proper survey. In the meantime, I was quite pleased with the Corvaller Weisse he brought for Puckerfest. Just 3.6%, it was a great example of how flavorful small beers can be. Lots of lactic tart with a wheaty background, crisp and light, perfect for that summer we may one day get. A very nice example. Below are Dave and his beer.



BJ's Enfant Terrible
It's probably sends the wrong signal to call this a zombie beer, but I mean it only in the best sense: it's the last keg of a 2007 batch of brett-aged beer made by Vasilios Gletsos when he was at BJ's. (There's another zombie at Puckerfest, Roots' Epic.) Sometimes aged beers get mellower, sometimes they don't. Brettanomyces is not a gentle yeast, and it has roughed this beer up pretty good. Still, I enjoy tastes of the past. Plus, it was purty.



Upright Lambicus Six and Blend Love
Four Uprights were pouring last night, but two were aged in gin barrels. Let us speak no more about that. (Gin fans should consult Nicole, who likes a nice gin-soaked beer.) The two I liked were Blend Love, the kind of sour that brings folks together, and Lambicus Six, which divides them. Blend Love was a toothsome mixture of tart and sweet, shot-through with rich, summery fruit flavor (raspberries, cherries, and strawberries). Lambicus Six, made with the rye-based Upright Six and aged with a lambic blend, was deeper, funkier, and much more sour. Some of the sour-heads were giving it a big smile, others wrinkling their noses. I smiled.



Breakside Beach Saison
This is not a Puckerfest beer, nor is it sour. Rather, it's a pretty traditional Dupont-style saison made with Dupont's yeast. (A yeast Breakside's Ben Edmunds and I used in a Grisette collaboration I'll tout heavily next week.) This is a classic saison: rich with tropical fruit flavors, crisp, dry, and moreish. It's a fantastic beer, and I could drink gallons of the stuff.


Deschutes White IPA (But Not That One)
Before last night's Timbers game (another topic about which we shall not speak), I stopped in at Deschutes to see what was shaking. In addition to the usual goodies--a nice pils, Armory XPA, Black Butte XXXIII--they have a remarkable beer called Chainbreaker White IPA. This isn't the White IPA that came from the collaboration with Boulevard--still not released--but a milder, super tasty version. It's not remotely an IPA: nothing in it has even distant familial connections to that old style. Rather, it's a hoppy wit, or a spiced wheat pale, or something. It's a soft, delicate beer that has a spine of zesty hops that merge perfectly into the spices. I suspect they used sage in this recipe, as they did in the collaboration brew--in any case, my mind couldn't shake the connotation. It's one of the most interesting beers I've tried in a long time, a fusion brew that actually finds breaks new ground in tastiness, not just bizarreness.

Pssst...

Although Deschutes is currently pouring two fresh hop beers, not to mention a nice spelt ale and a classic weisse, the best reason to stop in is the dry-hopped Mirror Pond on cask. Heaven. The aroma alone is worth five bucks.

Also, I finally laid eyes on the new .5 and .3 liter Rastal glassware Deschutes is lately using. Visually, the half-liter glass shares the classic, Irish-style tulip design of the old ones, but they are a bit smaller. I know there was some grumbling when they shifted down from imperial pints, but the new system boasts several virtues. The glassware includes an etched line marking .5 and .3 liters--the gold standard of transparency and honesty. As a nascent geezer, I don't mind these slightly smaller "pints." (Nowhere does Deschutes use that word, though a half liter is 16.9 ounces.) It means I don't have to start thinking of cutting myself off after just one pint.

Even nicer, the prices encourage use of the .3 liter, which goes for $2.75. That's roughly the same per-ounce cost as the half-liters, which cost $4.75. Although few patrons were ordering the little glasses, I happily divided my pints in half, multiplied my tipples by two, and walked out none the poorer. I was with the econ prof last night, and he calls this "linear pricing"--apparently not as good a deal for a pub as offering volume discounts. (It's cheaper to send waitstaff out half as often, less costly in terms of breakage and hard costs.) So this is a nice gesture to those of us who like variety.

But whatever glass you put it in, go get a pour of that dry-hop cask Mirror Pond. It's amazing.

Specials at Deschutes

I just received a tip from Mike Starzec, manager of Deschutes' Portland pub, which I will quote verbatim. Looks like time-sensitive stuff, so grab it while you can.

Hi. We hosted the NW Brewing News' Reader Choice Awards ceremony yesterday, and we brought out a bunch of our big beers from our cellars. Some of it is still on tap, including:

• The Dissident
• Black Butte XX
• Mirror Mirror (2005)
• Super Jubel (a double Jubleale Barleywine)
• Big Red Oak (a double Cinder Cone Red aged in Oak)

... as well as a host of other Deschutes beer. Get 'em while they last (which might not be long)!!

Mike Starzec

Mmmm, tasty.

Deschutes Opening - The Final Roundup

Okay, some more content to pass along, and then I'll pipe down. Keep in mind that this is a major opening and bloggers cover minutiae. That's my story and I'm stickin' with it. Now, onto the post.

Should you need your background and story to be told in audio and moving pictures, the Oregonian obliges. Nothing new here, but who doesn't love video?





Also, there bloggers are starting to pick this up. From Rooftop Brew, a review. And there are pics of the burgers (which do indeed look tasty) and reviews at the un-secretively named "Portland Hamburgers." If I do come across any more info, I'll put it here and spare you further posts.

Deschutes Pearl - Food

I made my second trip to Deschutes' Pearl pub last night--the first tim in years and years I've been to a pub two nights in a row. The special return trip was occasioned by Sally's interest; she was unable to join me on Wednesday. We had one of their pizzas, a $12 entree that we ordered to split more as an appertiser.

Let me stipulate: I'm no foodie. I enjoy good food, but I don't know what I'm tasting, what the ingredients are, what the dish's lineage is, or how it is prepared. I generally minimize this weakness by focusing on the beer, which is what I've done with Deschutes. But based on that pizza and an anonymous comment here (take that for what it's worth), I'm wondering if the kitchen needs some focused attention, stat.

Our mushroom pizza was unimpressive: doughy, undercooked, and not particularly thrilling in terms of sauce or topping. It was also wee. I have no sense of these things, but maybe six inches across--and twelve bucks. It was billed as an entree, but I can't imagine what kind of waif would find it satisfying. The problem isn't the price or the size--people are used to spending a lot and getting a little in the Pearl--but the quality. Portland now has an abundance (or possibly over-abundance) of exceptional, innovative eateries. If you drop $5 mil and open a place in the center of the Pearl, you better offer decent food. People will come for beer, and they'll come because it's Deschutes, but they won't return for the food if it doesn't meet the standards of the neighborhood.

Of course, all of this comes with one VERY BIG caveat: they haven't even had the grand opening yet (that's tonight). I have a standard practice of giving a brewpub at least a month, and generally two or three, to get their kitchen in order. And maybe it's just the pizza that's so-so. I'm keeping an open mind. Report back if you've been there and tried the food--I'm curious to know what others have found.

Deschutes Pearl First Look

A couple of months ago, I received my regular copy of Deschutes' newsletter The Bitter Truth, and in it was a story expressing anxiety about heading to Portland:

Portland here we come! We’ll be opening our new Pub in the Pearl District in early May. The Rose City. Stumptown. Puddletown. We feel a little like the Clampett family.

I guess I always saw Deschutes through the inverse lens; they have for years been the state's top dog, the big brewery who wins all the awards. But consciousness is local, and coming from a town of 78,000 in the middle of a remote stretch of the state--well, I guess I can see how it may have felt like a country cousin crashing the big city. Especially since Gary Fish and Co. chose the urbane Pearl District--Portland's most un-Bend-like neighborhood.

I mention all of this because when I walked in yesterday, I was instantly reminded that this is a Bend company, and they're putting Bend front and center. It is not particularly evident from the outside, where the building, just next to the Armory/Gerding Theater, fits right in with the neighborhood. With it's brick facade and industrial picture windows, it also recalls the history of this patch of hallowed brewery land, where within a few square blocks Weinhard's, BridgePort, Widmer, and Portland Brewing all got their start.

In this picture to the left, you can see what I mean. Unlike so many of the buildings in the downtown core, Deschutes has not gone for an austere use of space. Although the building has soaring ceilings that stretch up 20-25 feet, they have have done two things to offset the feel of a warehouse. As you can see, they've created a series of low rafters that look and feel like pergolas. So while you can look over them and see the ceiling above, it creates a cozier atmosphere. Second, they used heavy wooden beams for the effect, which gives the feeling of a lodge.

The use of wood is a major architectural feature. Framing each row, like a trellis, are these carved arches that seem very central Oregon. They feature the kind of art I am familiar with, having grown up east of the Cascades (way east--in Boise)--rough-hewn sculptures of outdoor scenes. These are by J.Chester Armstrong, and they start with a chainsaw. In the picture below you can see owls, and eagle, and cougers. Very manly touches befitting a lodge--and quite distinct from the current Portland style. For contrast, see Hopworks' approach.


In the picture below, you can see the bar--a thick slab salvaged from a building that had been demolished for condos. Not in these pictures, but at the far end of the bar, is a stone fireplace, which adds further texture to the lodgey feel of architect Stuart Emmons' design.


Light is another major feature of the building, and in the picture below, you can see how it creates warmth on the 11th Avenue side of the building. (The network of lowered beams is just to the left of the picture, on the other side of a wall at the building's inner core.)

The brewhouse is visible when you walk in the building through a huge glass window. In the picture below, light reflects off the window, showing the street to the left. Beyond are the tanks housing Brewer Cam O'Connor's fresh beer.

In the dining room area, the copper kettles are literally framed by windows over the bar. Of all the touches in the new building, this was my favorite. Beer's art, and Deschutes is making sure you get the point. Try the cask ale, and you won't need further convincing. I began with one of my favorite beers in the world, Bachelor Bitter on cask. The peppery notes of the hops were more vivid than I recall. I moved on to cask Black Butte and was amazed at how so much of the subtlety of flavor is lost to bottles and kegs. How many Black Buttes have you had? Try a pint on cask and see if you recognize it.


Of course, two pints later, and you'll find yourself here, in front of what must be the finest pair of urinals since the salvaged tanks at BridgePort.


Dave Selden happened to make his first foray to the pub last night, too. He's got his take up, and has photos of some things I missed. Incidentally, I didn't stay for food, but the menu looks like standard pub fare--sandwiches, burgers, pizza, plus a few specialty items. Like lobster ravioli, which I'd love a report on. Have you been? What'd you think?

Pssst ... Deschutes Pearl is Open

So I just called over to the new Deschutes Pub and learned that it's open. The Grand Opening on Friday is apparently not the actual opening. So if you want a sneak peak, now's the time. I am stopping by this afternoon and will have pics/news tomorrow.

210 NW 11th Ave
(503) 296-4906

Don't everybody rush down there, now. I want to get a pint. Go at, say, six pm. I oughta be out of there by then--

Deschutes' Portland Pub

T-minus 13 days and counting until Deschutes' western outpost in the Pearl opens. They popped for a $5 million joint, and John's got the pictures (18 in all). Of interest: the space-age brewing system, salvaged-timer bar, and the massive urinals. (Yes, urinals.) Foyston describes it as "not snooty," which is reassuring. Go have a look.

(Meanwhile, I'm still waiting for the VIP invitation to the opening bash. Just, you know, in case anyone's reading.)