Review - Bill's Tavern and Brewhouse

Brewer: Jack Harris
188 N. Hemlock
Cannon Beach, OR 97110
(503) 436-2202

Sunday through Thursday - 11am to 11 pm
Friday and Saturday - 11am to 2am
Children allowed in separate seating area

Beers: lighter ales, specialty ales (rye and blackberry), seasonals

Last month I went to the coast during an unprecedented snow storm that left drifts on the beaches. Locals were skittish and unnerved, but it made for one of the more exhilerating hikes I've taken as we stepped out into clearings in Oswald State Park and saw the sea beyond the snow. As a testament to its hardiness, Bill's Tavern and Brewhouse was up and running. The beer was cold and the chowder was hot, and that put this reviewer in fine fettle.

Bill's is one of the very cute little buildings along Hemlock, the very cute little street running through this tricked-out seaside town. There was a time there when it looked like Cannon Beach might turn into a treacly tourist town devoid of any heart, but it seems to have turned the corner and has become a beautiful yet functional town. The pub itself is a wonderful little building and a marvel of design. The brewery is in the center of the building, rising up into the gabled rafters--you can see the tanks through a window above the bar. The eating areas are divided between a family area and a "bar," though both are essentially mirrors of each other. The entire interior is decked out in fir and homey touches (including a wood stove), giving it a lodgey feel.

Food and Beer
I tend to judge a restaurant by its chowder, and so in my sole visit, that's what I had. I'd give it a B-. The clams were fresh and there was a trace of grit (good sign), but it was on the thin side and not quite hot enough. Sally had the fish and chips--her point of judgment for any pub. Their halibut was perfectly cooked; it was flaky (not rubbery) and the fish was also fresh. The chips were soggy, though. (No one buys fish and chips for the chips, so just a minor deduction there.) The menu featured typical pub fare, and seems like a reliable bet.

The brewery favors lighter ale, and isn't afraid of adjuncts. I suspect this is partly in deference to their clientele, who are probably not after strong, characterful beers. (Food on the coast is worse than any region in the state--it's two decades behind the times, and finding a decent cup of coffee is like looking for an intact sand dollar on the beach.) Within the confines of these limitations, brewer Jack Harris gets a lot out of his beers. A good example: I thought his summery Blackberry Beauty was his best beer, and one of the best fruit ales I've ever had. I imagine that it tastes like heaven on a summer afternoon after you've been wandering the beach for a couple hours. Below are my notes on the beers we tried (it's a fairly stable line-up, which contrasts with most Portland brewpubs):

Golden Rye - Delicate, astringent nose with evident maltiness. Rye offers a pronounced dryness in the palate, and is a fairly noticeable flavor--a little like rye bread. I also get a lemongrass note that may arise from the play between rye and hops. Rating: Good.

Blackberry Beauty - The nose is blackberry, but more like the essence of the fruit, rather than picked berry. Wheaty palate and tartness from the fruit almost completely without sweetness. Rating: Excellent.

Bronze Ale - Sweet aroma with no detectable hopping. On the palate, hops offer a delightful minor, peppery note. It's a little bit more tannic than I would like. Rating: Good.

Duckdive Pale - Robust hop aroma that comes off as slightly soapy. There are tannins in this beer, too, and they combine with the hops to make it unpleasantly bitter. Soapiness persists in the palate. Extremely dry. Rating: Average.

Yule Mule - Smoky, roasty, and malty aroma create the impression that this is going to be a Scotch or related ale, and completely belies the riot that awaits the tongue. I thought it was spruce, but Sally picked out the peppermint. There is also cut lemon balm. I believe Bill's does a different seasonal every winter with different adjuncts. Not my cup of tea, but a worthy experiment. (I'll skip rating this one.)

I'll leave you with some footage I shot while I was there. Music snippet by my friend Vince Maldonado.

Beer Taxes Introduced

This is probably more appropriate for BlueOregon, but Dems have introduced two versions of beer taxes that won't thrill breweries:

House Bill 2535 would increase the tax by about 10 cents per drink for large beer manufacturers. Right now, the tax is one of the lowest in the country, penciling out to less than 1 cent per drink. The proposal would exempt smaller home-grown breweries.

Senate 502 would eliminate Oregon's beer distributor trade laws, which the legislators call "sweetheart" protections for the middle men. It would also allow grocers to use credit to pay for their beer deliveries -- a provision they've wanted for years from Salem. Rob Bovett, president of the Oregon Alliance for Drug Endangered Children, said he wants lawmakers to combine the two bills as a way to get retailers on board with a beer tax increase.

Beer taxes are generally worrisome to breweries, because they cut into already razor-thin margins (at three fifty a pint, the retail value of a keg is nearly $900, but a brewery makes around a hundred). The first bill affects breweries producing 125,000 barrels or more, which is fairly low--within a few years, as many as four Oregon breweries could be producing that amount. The Senate bill isn't online yet, so I haven't seen whether it would rectify the power imbalance distributors enjoy. Let's hope.

Update. The senate bill is now up, and it's no clearer. Here's a summary:

"Repeals laws relating to required contracts between suppliers and wholesalers of alcoholic beverages. Eliminates statutorily mandated exclusive territories for wholesalers of alcoholic beverages. Repeals other laws governing relationship between suppliers and wholesalers of alcoholic beverages."

Inside info? Do tell.

Bests

A word on the post below. I didn't have time to finish it off, but I may not get back to a computer for awhile, so I'm posting the 70% version. I'll fill in the text on the last three when I can. Still ahead in my "best of Beervana" series: Portland brewpubs, Oregon brewpubs, Portland taverns, and Best McMenamin pubs.

Beervana Bests - The Beers

There are probably two dozen world-class beers pouring at any given time in Oregon. Some of them are seasonals, some are venenerable standbyes. Some, like Saxer's Three-Finger Jack Doppelbock and Wild Duck's Sasquatch Strong Ale, are destined to fade away. If you're visiting Beervana, it always pays to try something new--you may stumble on a gem that will never be brewed again. But, if you you want a sampling of the best of the best, here's a list of can't-miss offerings that are reliably (if occasionally only seasonally) available. (To avoid the appearance of favoritism, they're listed alphabetically.)

BridgePort IPA
Among the many legendary Oregon brews, BridgePort's flagship may be the most hallowed. It became the first American beer to win the 119-year-old Brewing Industry International Awards for "champion beer" in London in 2000 (beating 750 beers from 43 countries). BridgePort slipped to silver the next time the event was held, in 2002, but regained the title in 2005. Perhaps more than awards, though, BridgePort IPA has come to define hoppy in the Northwest, and made IPAs Beervana's fave style. At 5.5% alcohol, it's technically just a hoppy pale, but never mind, to Oregonians, it's the IPA.

Caldera Pale Ale
Pale ales are as ubiquitous on the West Coast now as industrial lagers were thirty years ago, and a number of them are best sellers (Mirror Pond, Full Sail Pale, Sierra Nevada). But when we did a blind tasting, Southern Oregon's Caldera held its own with the giants. It's a classic pale hopped with nothing but Cascades, slightly sweet and full of citrus. If you're not in Ashland, you may have a hard time tracking it down, but Belmont Station stocks Caldera, and you might find it at Henry's or the Horse Brass in Portland. Believe it or not, Caldera cans this beer, but it suffers not a whit for arriving in this humble container.

Deschutes Bachelor Bitter
Over the past couple years, Bend's Deschutes Brewery began solidifying itself as Oregon's (and possibly the nation's) best brewery. Nearly every beer it releases is exceptional, and lately, Deschutes has been releasing a lot of beers. It would be easy to select Black Butte Porter, Mirror Pond, or newcomer Inversion IPA from the stock of amazing beers. Instead, I'll go for one of the brewery's oldest and one that's now available only on tap at the brewery: Bachelor Bitter. Brewed by founding brewer John Harris (now at Full Sail), it typifies the brewery's genius. Deschutes does pretty standard English-style ales, but they just do them better than anyone else. Generally, bitters are unassuming little ales that keep the mouth wet and the conversation lively. But Bachelor Bitter delights the tongue with traditional British and classic Northwest hops, and the malt is toasty, toffee sweet. You have to go to central Oregon to get a pint, but there are worse places to visit.

Full Sail Session
Every "best of" list needs a controversial inclusion, and so I offer you Full Sail Session. It is a summer lager modeled on the old regional brands that defined the Northwest for decades--Henry's, Rainier, Olympia. Executive brewmaster Jamie Emmerson designed the beer to appeal to beer drinkers who just can't do stronger ales (including, apparently, his neighbor, who admitted he wanted to like Full Sail, but after years of trying, gave up). I admire the brewery for taking good beer full circle. Session is better than the tin-can pilsners, of course--it is a sparkling light lager, but in a hat tip to Beervana, the hopping is relatively pronounced and citrusy. It is not the kind of beer that knocks your socks off, but in the context of the history of Northwest brewing, it's a worthy heir.

Hair of the Dog Fred
If there's an asterisk next to Deschutes when talking about Oregon's best brewery, it points you to Hair of the Dog, a wee brewery with the most devoted fans in the country. Located in a warehouse next to the railroad tracks in SE Portland, the brewery has been run on a shoestring since was founded in1993. Nevertheless, HotD beers are regularly cited as among the best beers in the world.

Fred is characteristic of the brewery's approach to beer. It features ten hop varieties from five countries and a huge malt bill that includes rye. It really doesn't hit its stride until its been in the bottle for 18 months, and it conforms to absolutely no style on the planet. Fred is amazing and unique, and any visitor to Oregon should definitely have a bottle. Incidentally, it's named for beer writer and home-brewing pioneer Fred Eckhardt, who is one of the godfathers of the good beer movement and a mentor to Oregon's early brewers.

Pelican Doryman's Dark
One of the prettiest brewpubs in Oregon is located on the beach at Pacific City. They could serve water in their dining room and people would pay five bucks to sit there, but instead, Pelican has become the most celebrated brewpub in the state. Listen to the accolades: brewpub of the year and best brewer of the year three times each from the GABF, 18 medals from the GABF, dozens of awards from other contests. Of these decorated beers, the most interesting is Doryman's Dark. It's called a brown ale, but I think that's misleading--it's bigger and hoppier, and just plain different from traditional browns. Oregon brewers are rarely able to do a beer straight--they must tweak and rearrange until it's something almost like a regular style, but Oregonized. Such is Doryman. Dorymen, namesakes of the beer, are, by the way, fishermen (and women) who ply the cold waters off the Oregon coast in dories--funny, banana-shaped small craft. It is a local nod to a characteristic local craft.

Rogue Shakespeare Stout
Dark beers were instantly popular when good beer returned to Beervana, and why not? We already loved black, bitter coffee, so making the transition to espresso-y stouts wasn't much effort. Of the many very good black beers in the state worthy of mention, my favorite is Shakespeare Stout. It combines the finest qualities of the style--dense bitterness, rich creaminess, and a dollop of chocolate to round out the mocha-like palate. Along with the other beers on this list, it has won its share of awards and accolades. It was named for the Ashland Skakespeare Festival, which used to be down the road from a Southern outpost of the Newport-based brewery--until it was washed away in a flood.

Roots Burghead Heather Ale
In the 80s and early 90s, every brewery was fooling around with funky ingredients. A few of these, like Saxer's dreadful Lemon Lager, became huge hits among the Bartles and James crowd, and before long, respectible brewers had retreated to the safe harbors of malt and hops. Craig Nicholls, then brewing for the Alameda Brewhouse, bucked the trend. He made a series of beers that included adjuncts, but instead of overwhelming the beer, they added subtle notes that drew out the beeriness rather than crushing it. One of his most interesting experiments was a recipe he based on ancient pre-hop Scottish ales that used heather to balance the malt. Many of his other recipes have been lost to the sands of time (Spring Rose Doppelbock, Juniper Porter, Sage Festbier), but Burghead Heather Ale is a regular summer offering. It is a great example of the innovation that characterizes Oregon brewing.

Terminal Gravity IPA
It is impossible to have a "best of" list without including one true IPA, the favorite style of good beer fans throughout Beervana. It's equally as impossible to identify a "best" IPA--there are just too many good ones. I'm selecting Terminal Gravity, though, because no brewery other than BridgePort is more associated with its IPA than Terminal Gravity. The little brewery from Enterprise, in the far Northeast corner of the state, has always found an audience in the cutthroat Portland market, and many people call this their favorite beer in the world. Who can argue? It's a burly ale with a thick mouthfeel and a saturated bitterness that satisfies the most inveterate hophead.

Widmer Snow Plow Milk Stout
There is an interesting story behind milk stouts, but an even more interesting story behind Snow Plow. Back in the late 1980s, the Widmer Brothers decided to partner with a local Portland homebrewing club to produce obscure styles of beer that lacked a commercial market. Periodically, the brewery and the homebrewers jointly decided on a style, and then the homebrewers held a competition to see who could make the best version. That recipe was then converted so that it can be produced at the brewery, and was distributed on tap to various local pubs. The first style they tackled was milk stout, which, to everyone's surprise, found a market. Two years ago, Widmer started releasing it as their winter seasonal.

Milk Stouts aren't actually brewed with milk, but rather milk sugar (lactose). Unlike most sugars, however, lactose can't be broken down by beer yeast, and remains unfermented, as calories and carbohydrates. It gives the beer a unique sweetness and silkiness on the tongue that does in fact suggest milk. Snow Plow is sweet and creamy, bordering on decadant, but there are hints of roasty malt and a breath of hop at the end. I have never found a person who liked beer but disliked Snow Plow.

Post has been updated (2/5/07)

Sierra Nevada IPA

I was in the store the other day, and saw a sixer of Sierra Nevada IPA, a beer listed on the brewery's webpage as a "specialty draft." Apparently a seasonal, but I know nothing more about it. However, it was mighty tasty, so here's a quickie review (more on the style here, if you wish a backgrounder).

Tasting Notes
Sierra Nevada has gone for an English IPA, distinct from the Northwest version by virtue of hops. You notice it first in the nose (the appearance, golden orange, looks like Inversion)--nothing citrusy about this beer. It has an aroma I finally settled on as cedar, reminiscent of strongly-hopped London ales I've had.

The flavor is also woody, with an intense, resinous hopping. I am particularly (pleasantly) sensitive to Goldings, and these really pop. The beer is sharply effervescent and has a hard-water crispness. The aftertaste leaves your mouth coated and lips smacking. It reminded me quite a bit of Fuller's ESB, though I don't know if they would taste alike side by side.

Given that there are a million IPAs on the West Coast, it's a nice change-up to find an English style. I really enjoyed this one.

Stats
Malts: "English malts"
Hops: Boil - Magnum; finishing and dry-hop - Golding
Alcohol by volume: 6.9%
Original Gravity: N/A
Bitterness Units: N/A

Rating
Excellent.

__________
PHOTO: SF Fred

More Lists

Jon at The Brew Site shot me an email last week to encourage me to join in his conversation about "Fifty beers to drink before you die." I have meant to get to it, but I've been a bit tardy. Truth is, the task is daunting. Jon breaks his into ten categories, which goes to show how restrictive a list is with even fifty beers. You could select regions of the world and be limited to a handful each, which seems a little harsh; or you could go through each style and select one for each--with subcategories (brown porter, robust porter), you'd run out of slots before you ran out of styles.

Meanwhile, I've been getting an increasing number of emails from out-of-towners headed West who want to know where they should go and what they should drink when they get here. It got me thinking that maybe I should do a "best of" series that is focused on the pubs, breweries, beers, and brewpubs in Beervana. So that's the plan.

(The implementation, of course, is another matter.)

Beer and Cigarettes

Not that this should become a public policy blog, but Gary Corbin has a rumination about whether Oregon ought to ban smoking in bars.

The ban on smoking in pubs is problematic in that it takes an admittedly evil – but LEGAL – product and behavior (smoking tobacco) and removes our right to choose to do it. And, to do it in a time and place long associated (even expected) with smoking: drinking. If we’re too chicken to ban it altogether, why ban it in the very place people want to do it most?

...The problem is that pesky second-hand smoke issue. Sure, non-smoking customers can go elsewhere, but not everyone can: employees, vendors, inspectors, et al.

Maybe the occasional visit of the vendor or inspector can be overlooked. One whiff won’t kill them. But not so the employees. Oh, sure, technically they can quit. But why should it be a choice between making a living – and dying?

Further, there’s an unequal power relationship between employers and employees. In short, employers have it, employees don’t. That’s especially true in the food service industry, which has never been (and probably never will be) unionized. Jobs are tenuous and competitive, pay is typically poor (except in swanky places), and stress is very high. I can attest to all of this with first-hand experience.

This is exactly where I always end up. I hate smoking bars. You can't breathe, the food and beer tastes worse, and when you get out of the building, you realize your clothes reek. But I always end up where Gary does--it would be fine if others wanted to, but what about the employees? I've never heard a solution to this problem, but he has a thought:

Why not a pub smoking tax? Establishments that allow smoking would pay a per-seat premium to the state for that privilege (funds to be used to pay for education and health programs related to smoking). Further I think smoking establishments should be required to provide full health insurance benefits to all employees, even part-timers, and maybe a wage premium, too.

I suspect most employees who work in smoking bars are smokers themselves--or don't mind. If we followed this solution, it might actually be a reasonable compromise. Anyone have thoughts?

BridgePort's Beertown Brown

Brown ales are having their moment. Last year, Deschutes released Buzzsaw Brown and this year BridgePort has introduced Beertown Brown. Even the New York Times is hip to the trend. Browns are a worthy and neglected style, one of the only traditional English ales that hasn't made a dent in American brewing. But why now?

In the Jan 22 New Yorker, Eric Konigsberg describes the trend in colors, and maybe there's a hint here. Colors, as you know, follow the mood of the age (you do know that, don't you?): flamboyant and pschedelic in the drug-washed 70s, metalic and gray in the techno-greedy 80s. The aughts, it appears, are gloomy:

"I see an influence from the military situation, and I think it's going to be with us for a while," [pigment specialist Catherin Wunch] said. "I kind of see colors for 2008 as being grayed." Wunch, who has short hair in a square a businesslike cut, passed around a handful of color chips, in gray blues, gray browns, and a grayish pink....

Jill Liebson, a designer for a fabric-printing company in Florida, seemed to agree. "I think we're going to go much deeper than before, because we aren't living in optimistic times," she said. "And in the home people want deep safety."

So, brown ales. Safe and comforting, a touch sweet but not overwhelmingly so--Ovaltine for the soul. This appears to be what BridgePort had in mind with Beertown Brown, which the brewery describes as "an easygoing, drinkable beer." It's not designed to challenge, but to soothe.

Tasting Notes
I love browns, if such a thing can be said about this modest style. They are comforting and, when they're well-brewed, can be a symphony of minor notes. It's not a style that will knock your socks off, but you can be quietly impressed.

Such, sadly, is not the case with Beertown. With mild styles, the line between good and insipid isn't wide, and I'm sad to say that it is on the wrong side. In every way, it fails to measure up: the color is faded, the head fizzy and weak; it is thin of body, and the malt notes are hollow; the hopping is far too mild to provide any interest. It's a watery beer without a distinguishing character. It is not an impressive beer.

But don't take my word for it. The Denver Post gave the beer a mini-review, and they were underwhelmed, as well:

"Beertown is a bit thinner on flavor than its British forebears, with a good malt aroma but not much behind. True to the style, there's just a hint of hops in the finish. It has 5.2 percent alcohol (by volume)."

(You know a beer is timid by Northwest standards when it is regarded as a lightweight in Colorado.)

There may be reason to hope for improvement, though. I got wind of a rumor that BridgePort
may be tinkering with the recipe. Let's hope so--with some more body and 50% more hops, Beertown could easily cross back over the line into subtle excellence. And, if I'm going to manage in the face of all this gloom, I'll need the extra body and hops in my comforting brown.

Stats
Malts: Unknown
Hops: Unknown
Alcohol by volume: 5.2%
Original Gravity: 13.2° Plato
Bitterness Units: 20

Rating
Average.

No Kids at the OBF

This is disturbing:

After 19 years of promoting the Oregon Brewers Festival as a community event, we regret that we will not be allowed to have minors under the age of 21 on the festival premises in 2007. The Oregon Liquor Control Commission has stipulated no minors be on-site, citing OLCC Rule 845-006-0340 (7) (a) in which "eating predominates" and the premise must not have a "drinking enviroment". In order to view this rule, please go to here and click on "Laws and Rules". Click on OLCC Law Book. This will open up a PDF file for viewing.

One of the cool things about Oregon is that it has a grown-up view about alcohol. Kids aren't immediately corrupted by the sight of their parents sipping a nice kolsch, and the OLCC used to know it. In fact, when Oregon's microbreweries began to rise to prominence in the 1980s, drinking was actually taken out of the dark, windowless caves of the corner taverns into well-lit, homey brewpubs. Families started coming, and the focus turned from getting smashed to enjoying an artisinal product.

Kids, of course, will be lured less by a product they've watched their mother drink than by something elicit and forbidden. So the OLCC has made it forbidden again. Nice. Well, the OBF is suggesting we take action, so I'll pass it along to you:

If you disagree with the OLCC's decision, then please contact executive director Stephen Pharo and let him know: 503-872-5000,1800-452-6522,or steve.pharo@state.or.us

I think I'll send 'em a note.

Update. Tom Dalldorf, the publisher of Celebrator Beer News, sent this letter to Stephen Pharo. It's a nice statement:

Dear Mr. Pharo:

I am distressed to learn that the usually forward thinking people at the OLCC have regressed to the dark days of neo-prohibitionism in restricting kids (under age) from attending the nation's premier outdoor beer event -- the Oregon Brewers Festival.

I have attended this event every year since 1990 and have marveled in print at how wonderfully it is organized and what a mellow non-party vibe it consistently exhibits (with the exception of that one draconian year the OLCC had the taps inside a 21 only tent). My job takes to me to beer festivals all over the world and the OBF is a stand out by any measure.

Please consider resending this ill-advised edict. Families with children are a moderating and uplifting addition to a large festival such as the OBF. Look at successful events around the country and most especially in Europe for some guidance. Keep Oregon's great contribution to beer culture on track for the future.

Most sincerely,
--
Tom Dalldorf, publisher
Celebrator Beer News

Second Update. Janie Har wrote about this in today's Oregonian, and your humble blogger was quoted. Also a friend of mine:

Beer fans call the OLCC's action an unenlightened attempt to clamp down on an activity that makes the city -- and state -- unique.

"It's a pretty common thing for people to see their parents drinking beer in this town, and it's not a shocking or despicable act," says Jeff Alworth, a Portland beer blogger who publicized the crackdown in a posting on blueoregon.com.

Joe Bertagnolli, a 41-year-old therapist who brews at home, says he's taken his 13-year-old son to the event at least twice. His boy, Jordan, has never tried to get into his dad's beer, Bertagnolli says.

"It's just a festival where people get together and sip beer," he says. "It takes a lot of the mysticism and illicit allure out of it for kids."

On Brown Ales

The New York Times, bless their hearts, have done another beer tasting. This time brown ales:

Perhaps it’s left to us, the Dining section’s tasting panel, to rescue brown ales from marketing torpidity and reveal the vitality within, for these beers are anything but dull. Yes, they are quiet, subtle and even self-effacing. More important, they are delicious, and they especially shine with food....

As with great character actors who are so easy to take for granted, you have to pay close attention to brown ales to appreciate their virtue. They have roles to play — quenching thirst, facilitating conversation, sharpening the appetite — and they do it well. If by chance you notice the fine, almost sweet maltiness of the aroma, and the brisk, dry, mineral quality of the flavors, even better. More likely, it’s the absence of these qualities in a poor example that stands out, conveying the sense of something missing.

Eric Asimov, the Times' beer guy, knows how to write. If only he knew beer. I don't mind so much that of the 18 beers he assembled, only one is from the West Coast, or that it finished a tepid tenth in the taste-off. I don't even mind that he included, strangely, altbiers in the tasting. What I really mind is the overall failure to offer any kind of context for these decisions or the ultimate preferences. As a reader, how is anyone supposed to evaluate the difference between Avery's Ellie's Brown ("Brisk, with rich malt aromas. Fruit, mineral and bitter hop flavors") and Sam Smith's Nut Brown ("Strong malty aroma, with dry, brisk flavors that linger"). Both are brisk and richly/strongly malty.

I might not have bothered mentioning all of this, but I have a bottle of the Beertown Brown, BridgePort's latest, in the fridge awaiting review. I'll try to do better in my review than "brisk."

Deschutes Pub to Open in the Pearl

Very big news:

Deschutes [Brewery] has been looking for suitable digs in Portland for several months and recently found space occupied by an auto body shop at Northwest 11th Avenue and Davis Street, near the renovated armory. The planned pub will have a brewery and will pour many of the special and one-off beers on tap at the Bend brewpub, which generally offers 18 Deschutes beers on tap including a couple of cask-conditioned offerings. And there will be the X-tap - which has occasionally been connected to a keg of Lemongrass Mirror Pond or the like.

The pub is scheduled to open in the fall of 2007 and will be the first Deschutes operation not located in Bend.

A few comments. That location, though it's in the heart of the Pearl, is actually also the heart of Oregon brewing. It is two blocks from where the Henry Weinhard brewery sat for 130 years, two blocks from the original Portland Brewing (now Rogue), a few blocks from BridgePort, and a few more from the original Widmer. Given founder Gary Fish's knowledge about Oregon beer, I wouldn't be surprised if he chose it for the history as much as the trendiness.

The good news for locals (local Stumptowners) is that we'll be able to get a lot of the tap-only beers like Bachelor Bitter, which have always been the reserve of locals in Bend. I predict this will become one of the most popular pubs in Portland and join the must-visit ranks for visitors.

Full Sail Limited Edition Lager (LTD Series)

With Limited Edition Lager, Full Sail extends its foray into lagers and overwrought x-games language. It is the first of their "Livin' the Dream" series (aka LTD), and the packaging--not so much the bottle, but the sixer box--drips with, like, gnarly rippin' verbiage, dude. It is the least palatable aspect of the brewery's new direction, but I've always been happy to ignore what the marketing department's doing and go straight for the beer. So let's do that.

Tasting Notes
It is an impressive-looking beer. A striking russet, and clear as a winter night. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't russet. It has a characteristically lager-y aroma, like a marzen, sweet with a touch of aromatic noble hopping.

There are two pronounced flavors in this beer, candy and spice. The initial impression is of sugar--it's perhaps the sweetest beer I've ever tasted. Candy sweet, though, not thick and malty like a barley wine. It is fairly effervescent, and I also get a cola note, which makes the whole affair taste, at first blush, like a Pepsi. But then the hopping comes in, and pretty robustly. It's peppery-spicy, and it doesn't balance the cola so much as draw your attention away from it. The finish remains sweet, but the hops do stay with you.

At first I thought it was going to be a fairly standard lager, something like a big marzen (it goes 6.4%). But this is entirely novel. I tend not to appreciate lagers as much as my wife Sally, so I studied her reaction and took a few quick notes. Said she: "I really like it. It's eeeeasy drinkin'; sweet and tasty. Hey, it even says easy-drinking on the label."

I'm not going to knock myself out looking for this beer, but I think it may appeal to some of the same people Session appeals to, but draw them further into the quicksand of good beer--from which, I hope, they will never escape. If it does that, well, that'd be rippin' gnarly, dude.

Stats
Malts: Caramel, chocolate, wheat
Hops: Czech Saaz, Hallertauer
Alcohol by volume: 6.4%
Original Gravity: 16 degrees Plato
Bitterness Units: 26
Other: A "secret sauce" (brewery's words)
Available: Everywhere, until the Spring when LTD 02 will be released.

Rating
Good.

Full Sail's New Direction

With the arrival of 2007, Full Sail celebrates its 20th anniversary. Among extant, non-amalgamated breweries, its ride has been among the wildest. With age, apparently, does not come stasis. A few weeks ago, Full Sail released Limited Edition Lager, its second in as many years, making it the only Oregon brewery to seriously brew lagers. But before we talk about that, how about a trip down memory lane?

• 1987 - Brewery founded in Hood River. In their first year, they brewed just 2,000 barrels of Golden Ale in what was a glorified home-brewery (they hand-capped and hand-labeled each bottle).
• 1988 - Full Sail releases Amber Ale, which quickly becomes a much-imitated standard, eventually evolving into a recognized style (American Amber Ale).
• 1988-1994 - Full Sail grows at an average rate of 40% per year and is brewing 80,000 barrels by the mid-90s, making it Oregon's largest brewery.
  
• 1994-95 - To accommodate expected growth, Full Sail builds a 250,000-barrel brewery (a quarter the size of the old Henry's brewery on Burnside).

• 1995-98 - Industry-wide collapse strands the brewery with a vast facility and shrinking production.
• 1998 - Four of the original owners decide to sell their stock, and an Indian beer magnate tries to drive the company into near-bankruptcy so he can buy the brewery on the cheap.
• 1999 - The brewery manages to weather the storm and the employees pick up the stock, making Full Sail the first employee-owned brewery in the US.
• 2003 - Full Sail announces it will pick up some of the production of the Henry Weinhard's brand, bringing it back to Oregon.
• 2005 - The brewery re-brands itself and releases "Session" to tap into the hipster Pabst market. It's a big success.

When it released Session in 2005, the brewery took an interesting risk. They decided to try to create a retro beer that recalled the Northwest's historic regional breweries and was not a challenge to the palate. An industrial lager that was a lot tastier and more expensive than Pabst, but which was cheaper than micro and in the family of Henry's. I recall reading a Foyston article in the Oregonian that quoted Jamie Emmerson, the founding brewer, saying he wanted a beer his neighbor could drink. They were going for a drinker that had been missed by micros--the guy who wanted to like good beer, but really didn't.

So now they have released Limited Edition Lager, part of their LTD series. It's also a lager (I've got a review in the hopper), and further explores the lager market. It is, however, very much unlike Session. Saxer has trod this ground before, discovering that Oregonians don't really like lagers, no matter how good they are (and Saxer's were really good). But that was ten years ago, so now maybe Oregonians have expanded their horizons. It's another interesting gamble, but one worth watching.

Review - Amnesia Brewing

832 N Beech Street
Portland, Oregon

Monday 4-11 pm
Tuesday-Sunday noon-Midnight
Pints: $2.75
Pitchers: $10.00
Seasonal outdoor seating; dogs allowed.

Beers: Pale ale, porter, IPA, ESB, seasonals and specials.

Brewpubs come in a few major styles, and among these, a Portland standard is the converted warehouse. While it has its aesthetic virtues, generally the warehouse brewpub is the result of a thin pocketbook: breweries need space and warehouses provide it. Cheaply. Amnesia, like so many brewpubs, was an early resident in a marginal neighborhood. But it also fits the vibe of the no-longer-marginal Mississippi neighborhood: straightforward, hardworking, and a little funky.

The building is made of corrugated metal, and except that the parking lot in front has been converted to outdoor seating--picnic tables under white tents--you might mistake it for a metal shop. In fact, once you're inside, you see an old sign on its side up near the rafters that reads "Ornamental Iron" and you might still think it's a metal shop. The building is a one-room job, but the brewery is set off from the seating area by the bar. The rafters are open and disappear into insulation at the roofline. Tables are oak, and the chairs may even have been picked up at auction from the old, original BridgePort--anyway they're exactly the same variety. All in all, a Lucky Lab-ish vibe.

Food
The menu is simple: meat. The kitchen consists of an outdoor grill, and the brewery will throw a burger or four varieties of sausage on for you. They also have a mixed appertiser plate that includes cheese and bread. Since I'm still irrationally afraid of mad cow disease, I skip the burgers and go for the sausage and, as a connoisseur, I give them the hearty thumbs up. My fave are the slightly spicy Hungarian sausages.

Beer
Brewer Kevin King seems to groove to the pale tune--he's currently got two IPAs and an ESB on tap, and he usually has a pale as well. They are Northwest in character, with lots of citrus and bite, but fairly approachable. During the holidays, he had on two winter ales, a big and bigger, that de-emphasize hops for malt and warmth. They are, like the brewery, straightforward and hardworking. Most Oregonians will recognize these beers as variations on very popular themes. As a group, they're above average--not at the Roots/Laurelwood level, but substantially above the McMenamins. Below are some capsule reviews I scribbled out the last time I was there.

ESB - Very nice, balanced ale. Has a good, malty structure and a spicy hop complement. Almost tending toward brown in the glass. A classic English-style ESB. Rating: Excellent.

Porter - The palate is chalky and I get more tannins in the mouth than I would like. The brewery's weakest beer, but, if you like dark ales, perfectly respectable. Rating: average.

Copacetic IPA - Rich, super creamy, sweetly malty with a spritely citrusy hopping. Their strongest beer. Rating: excellent.

Frosty's Revenge (winter seasonal) - A rich, malty beer, akin to a Scottish ale. It's frothy and creamy, and has a touch of diacetyl that's actually a nice note. Rating: good.

Sleighjerker (winter seasonal) - A traditional winter warmer with lots of hops and alcohol (8%). It did end with a sweet note that not everyone at the table found uniformly delightful. I thought it was fine. Rating: good.

Amnesia is one of those great brewpubs that reflects the character of the neighborhood and feels like a happy gathering place for locals. Of course, it's worth a drive, too.
_________________
PHOTO CREDIT: Vicki Jean

Would Have Been Cooler if He'd Called it "Beervana," But ....

Portland Mayor Tom Potter has declared the city "Beertown," mainly as a tie-in for BridgePort's forthcoming Beertown Brown. (Nice PR work.)

Friday afternoon, Mayor Tom Potter will officially declare Portland "Beertown," where he will serve as honorary mayor....

Portland is known all over the world as "Beervana," largely due to the 28 breweries operating within city limits, more than any other city in the world. This title does not include the eight breweries that operate in the surrounding metro area.

There are three more breweries scheduled to open in 2007, making Portland the largest craft brewing market in the country.

Perhaps he did not declare this city "Beervana" in deference to the state, which has some claim to the name. In any case, good to see the city leaders embrace our heritage.

Best Oregon Beer of 2006: Ninkasi Believer

Long ago, in a world far, far away, a young man from Hope was our President, and breweries made seventy-five beers plus seasonals. 'Twas the wild west in brewing, and if you didn't have a hemp beer, three wheats and a blackberry ale, you weren't really trying. I remember going to the grocery story and every week there were three or four new beers. Sadly, this was moments before the bottom fell out of brewing, companies realized they could lose money, and everyone started to focus on core brands.

We haven't returned to those days, but for the first time, things are looking a little more creative in the beer world. Deschutes went nuts and released about 30 new beers--apparently a strategy more than a quirk of timing. Widmer, BridgePort, and Full Sail all got in the game, too. And even wee Hair of the Dog, which has never been profligate with new releases, had a banner year with Blue Dot and the now-legendary Jim (aka Jim K). New brewpubs started opening up again, and I have been remiss in visiting many of them. Still, a fine trend. All in all, I'd call it the best year in beer since the mid-90s.

To celebrate this new trend, and since this blog is almost a year old, it makes sense to begin a tradition of naming the year's best beer.* Owing to the fact that this blog is Beervana, I'll constrain my focus to those brewed in Oregon (not to mention that trying to sample the vast array of new releases at the national level would pickle my liver). I'll also limit myself to beers released this year, or in the cases of small, far-flung brewpubs, those that made their Portland debut.

The Contenders
None of the new beers I tried were a misfire--maybe one reason why it seemed like such a good year. But among the notables, five stood out:

Deschutes Inversion IPA and Buzzsaw Brown
Full Sail Vesuvius
Hair of the Dog Blue Dot
Ninkasi Believer

Let's work backwards toward the winner, which, since I put it in the title, is not much of a secret. I had a half glass of Hair of the Dog Blue Dot and then it was gone. I don't know if the brewery intended it to be a limited edition, or if it's a seasonal, but if you didn't act quick, you missed Blue Dot. (Since it was named for the earth, maybe this was intentional; a commentary on global warming?) It was a massive, cloudy ale with an herbal quality that, like so many of HotD's beers, defied category. It was part NW IPA, part Belgian golden, and another part that was totally unique. I would love to have tracked down another bottle, and if you want to give this old blogger a wee, late Christmas bonus, you could do worse than digging up a bottle from your cellar hoard.

Full Sail's Vesuvius was also notable for its variance from the NW norm. A Belgian golden, it had the hallmarks of that style--rich yet approachable, and dangerously misleading on the tongue. You could throw down two pints like water, but you'd pay for having missed that it was 8.5%. I wrote about it: "Vesuvius [is] extremely approachable, quaffable, and tasty, concealing its substantial alcohol. [N]ice fruitiness, a very slight Belgian tart, and a long, dry finish. Very tasty and very dangerous."

Deschutes had a banner year and deserves a special award for consistent excellence. You could take the beers they released this year, found a brewery with those beers alone (never mind Mirror Pond, Black Butte, et. al.), and you'd have one of the best in Oregon. The first of the two honored beers, Inversion IPA, may one day challenge BridgePort as Beervana's king--a possibility I wouldn't have considered 12 months ago. Of it I wrote "Hops are the main note (again, as expected), a festival of citrus that contain notes of apricot and spice. The malt offers a nice biscuity complement and the alcohol seems to atomize the aromas in the mouth."

Deschutes' other honoree, Buzzsaw Brown, was my second-favorite beer of the year. Brown ales are deceptively simple affairs until you start sampling them or trying to brew them. Then you realize that hitting the sweet spot on creaminess, malt sweetness, and balancing hops is exceedingly difficult. It's a mild style, so imperfections are magnified. I have waited for literally fifteen years to see a good brown ale come out in the bottle, so Buzzsaw was a long-delayed dream. I wrote these understated comments in my review: "It's essentially a session ale, so it's not bursting with intensity. Yet it's that kind of beer that immediately has a comfortable, recognizeable quality, like you've been tippling pints for decades." A really nice beer.

The Winner
Before I introduce the winner, let me tell you about the first time I ever tried BridgePort IPA. I was joining an out-of-state friend for a movie at Cinema 21. We were trying to kill some time, so we stopped in at the Gypsy across the street, where I had BridgePort's newest beer. The second I tasted it, I knew the brewery had done something special. This was amid that period of shakeout, when B-Port was casting around to find a replacement for Blue Heron as a flagship. A lot of really fine beers had failed to find a market, but this one was so good, I knew instantly that it was destined for greatness.

I have had that experience very rarely. At the Holiday Ale Fest, even before I tasted Ninkasi Believer, I suspected I had found another. The aroma was so exceptional that I didn't even try a sip before I handed my mug around for people to smell. To a person, they all had the same surprised look, and they all went back for a follow-up sniff. The flavor was no disappointment--like BridgePort's IPA, it was sunny and delightful, equally appealling to a beer geek or a novice. I have no idea whether Ninkasi will continue to brew this beer, but I hope they do. It could become an Oregon standard.

So congrats to one of Oregon's youngest breweries and one if its most engaging and accomplished brewers, Jamie Floyd--that was a helluva beer.
___________________
*Usual caveats: I didn't try every beer released in 2006. I visited not a single non-Portland brewpub in 2006. Beer preference is wholly subjective. Mood, circumstance, and conditions play a more than insignificant role in one's experience of a beer.

Your Best Beer of 2006

I am at this moment preparing a Best Beer of 2007 post. I am poring through old posts and notes and trying to recall all the beers I tried this year. For the first time in a long time, we saw breweries really experimenting, and so there's a lot of material. It occurred to me that you might have some good thoughts. So, what was the best beer you tried in 2006? (My criteria are that it had to be new in '06--or, if it's from an obscure brewpub, new to me--and it had to be brewed in Oregon. You need not adhere to these strictures.)

Here are a few of the newbies to prime your keg:

BridgePort Supris
Deschutes: Buzzsaw Brown, Anniversary Pils, Inversion IPA, The Abyss, Hop Trip
Widmer: '06 Hoppy Ale, Broken Halo IPA, Hooligan
Full Sail: Vesuvius, Black Gold Imperial Stout
Hair of the Dog: Blue Dot, Jim K (aka Jim)
Ninkasi Believer
Pelican Full House
Klamath Basin Brewing Cabin Fever Stout

Thoughts?

Huzzah!

The new Belmont Station opened yesterday, and it looks good:


Pert near just straight north a few blocks: 4500 SE Stark. The cafe's still a couple weeks out, but it looks like the beer is stocked and ready to go. Finally! Yay!

Winter Beer Tasting

When I started this blog, I imagined many things. Looking into the future, I foresaw a site bristling with reviews of every beer and brewpub in Oregon; I promised myself glorious prose; I envisioned hosting regular tastings. In my reveries about that latter point, I saw the emergence of a professoriate of the palate, a council so wise and powerful it dictated the preferences of an entire state.

It is with this prologue that I announce the second Beervana tasting, which I conducted on New Year's Eve. A yin to this summer's pale ale tasting yang, we sampled seven dark winter ales. That time, if you recall, the difficulty was that the beers all tasted too much alike to identify. But winter beers are a whole different mug of grog, right? Whoo boy, is that ever not true. They are different enough to distinguish subtle differences, but as far as lining them up to the memories of the same beers in our minds--no chance. So it appears that our wise council is a bust.

Nevertheless, some interesting findings did emerge.

Tasters and Method
As before, we had a person who was not participating pour out the bottles into glasses marked 1-7. From these we all slurped and sipped, medievally, insensitive to germs. We took notes, tried to assign a name to each number, selected a favorite, and then subjected ourselves to the horror of learning how wrong we were. The panel (call us The Chastened) consisted of five seasoned palates with a combined expertise of several decades of beer swilling.

Tasting Notes
Although we all sucked at identification, it was interesting to see how similarly we all described the individual entries. Clearly, we were tasting the same beers and were well-enough equipped to agree on what they tasted like.

Beer 1 (Fish Brewing Winterfish)
Grapefruit hops, fruity. Light-colored, some alcohol.

Beer 2 (Full Sail Wassail)
Floral, smooth. Rich brown. Roasty. Piney hops.

Beer 3 (Golden Valley Tannen Bomb)
Unfortunately, this was a bad bottle. It was sour and fetid-smelling and easily garnered everyone's vote for "worst." Having had a couple bottles already, I know it's not a characteristic of the beer itself. Dunno what happened. It did, however, yield the most amusing quote: "That's the weirdest, grossest beer ever--I can't stop drinking it."

Beer 4 (Deschutes Jubelale)
Creamy, great head. Apples? Deep red. Lots of caramel.

Beer 5 (Dick's Double Diamond)
Sharply bitter. Aromatic. Creamy. Noticeable alcohol flavor.

Beer 6 (Pyramid Snow Cap)
Deep copper. Aggressive. Plummy and sweetish.

Beer 7 (Ebenezer)
Coppery-red. Creamy and gentle. Mild.

Assessments
Except for the Tannen Bomb, we found these all to be pretty fine beers. However, when people were pressed to name their favorites, three came out the winners. With two votes each, Dick's Double Diamond and Deschutes Jubel took highest honors. None of us had ever had Dick's, so factor that in. (Points for novelty? Who knows?) Pyramid Snow Cap picked up the final vote--and by a person who thought it was Snow Cap and who thought he liked Snow Cap the best.

Join us next time for our "Beers that are very different from one another" tasting, wherein we attempt to recapture our identification mojo....

Redhook and Widmer "Consolidating"?

Breaking news, and it's interesting:

Northwest brewers Redhook, Widmer to discuss consolidation
Merger talks to begin in next few days

BLOOMBERG NEWS

Redhook Ale Brewery Inc. and Widmer Brothers Brewing Co., both partly owned by Anheuser-Busch Cos., are considering a possible merger that would give the companies better access to new drinkers.

The two brewers will begin merger talks within the next few days, Redhook Chief Executive Paul Shipman said. St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch disclosed the plans between the two companies Wednesday in a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Redhook and Widmer have had a relationship for 20 years and already share some marketing and distribution. A combination would allow the brewers to cut costs and fully consolidate their operations, and give Portland-based Widmer more access to Redhook's brewery in Portsmouth, N.H.

"There's going to be discussions between Redhook and Widmer on a number of things, including a possible merger," Shipman said. "We haven't actually started the conversation yet."

Redhook, based in Woodinville, operates two breweries, and Widmer has one. Redhook had sales of $31 million in 2005, down 7 percent from the prior year.

Redhook produced about 225,000 barrels of beer last year, and Widmer made about 250,000 barrels, said Widmer spokesman Tim McFall. A barrel equals 31 gallons of beer.

Anheuser-Busch, the world's largest brewer, owns 33.6 percent of Redhook and a 39.5 percent stake in Widmer. The company said it expects Redhook would be the surviving company should a merger take place.

Sounds like it might not have much effect on either brewery. I hadn't realized that Widmer had eclipsed Redhook in barrelage. Stay tuned...

The Best Winter Ales Revealed

Okay, I'm pulling your chain. I meant to get a post up about a winter ale tasting we did over the weekend, but it looks like that won't be up until tomorrow. However, of the seven beers we tried, two received two votes each as the best of the bunch, and another got the final vote of our judges. Care to guess which ones?

Deschutes Jubelale
Full Sail Wassail
Dick's Double Diamond
Fish Winterfish
BridgePort Ebenezer
Golden Valley Tannen Bomb
Pyramid Snow Cap

Iggi is not allowed to guess, as he was a member of the exalted tasting team.

Site Update (and more!)

You may have noticed that a new line has been appearing at the end of each of my posts that reads something like: "Labels: Elsewhere, Meta" (to take this post as an example).

This is a fairly cool new feature that Blogger has added that allows you to assign labels to your posts. If you click on one of those links, Blogger generates a page with all the posts similarly labeled. It may allow you to cruise around the site more easily, particularly if you're trying to compare beers from a brewery or find out what I've said about a particular brewpub. I have had to manually assign these to the 137 previous posts on this site, but I think it's mostly up to date. Enjoy.

In an unrelated development, I got an email yesterday from an OU student who wonders:

I am trying to answer the question "Why is Portland beervana?" It seems to be generally accepted that Portland has more breweries than any other city--I've read this in several places. Now I want to know why? Some of my ideas are the availability of hops and barley in the Northwest, low beer taxes, distance from larger national brewers, and perhaps something of an independent spirit in the area.

He gets credit for being the first student I know of who is actually using a blog to do a college paper. He loses points for grammar. Anyway, he asked me to link to his blog and encourage my readers to go do his work for him. I begrudge him not--his history prof will have to determine if "Drucken Beer Troll" qualifies as a legitimate cite.

So go and help the kid out if you wish.

The Abyss - Deschutes

When I saw John Foyston's article about Deschute's new "brewmaster's reserve" beer, I instantly went out and bought it. Deschutes almost never brews bad beer, and this one hit my stylistic sweet spot:

The Abyss is the second of the Deschutes Brewery's Reserve Series launched last year with oak-aged Mirror Mirror, which was based on a double Mirror Pond Ale. The Abyss is an imperial stout -- 11 percent alcohol -- aged in French oak and bourbon casks.

Well, I cracked a bottle last night, and I am sorry to report that it's a little green. "Little" as in Kansas has a little corn.

It may be that in a year the flavors will ultimately coalesce, but for now, it's an overly strong, harsh beer. Unlike the Storm King I reviewed last week, The Abyss is unpleasantly bitter and aggressive. Dark malts are alternately burnt and tannic, overwhelming the creamy body and subtler notes of bourbon and oak. Imagine unsweetened chocolate.

I will stow my bottles in the basement and let them age at least five years. It's not a sure bet, but my guess is that these flavors will change and produce an exceptional beer. If you are/were lucky enough to score a bottle, cellar it and check back in 2011.

Statistics
All the brewery tells us is the alcohol percentage and the method of aging. Everything else is up to your palate.

Available: Bottles: Belmont Station, Liquid Solutions, selected New Seasons. On tap: Concordia Ale House, Horse Brass, Oaks Bottom, the Mash Tun.

Rating
Average

All Hail the King

Among the macho style of beers--doppelbocks, stong ales, barleywines--perhaps the greatest (mucho macho?) is the imperial stout. This is partly due to its strength and profile (huge, oily, black), but also its history: as early as the late 1700s, British brewers were shipping it throughout the Baltic region and as far as Tsarist Russia, from whence came the name, Russian Imperial Stout.

Original gravities range from 1.075 and go up past 11, with alcohol from 9% and up. When you brew an imperial stout, you throw about everything you can think of in it, including more hops than even extreme hopheads think is a good idea--to balance the malt, you need electric amounts of alpha acids. For me, the most characteristic quality in a good imperial is the narcotic effect it gives, a warmth that radiates right into the hypothalmus. It induces a sense of wellbeing and an insensitivity to chill winds.

Based on my informal glances in pubs across Portland, Beervanians drink a lot of stout, and this is supported by my (highly scientific) sample of friends and acquantances--a few of whom only drink dark ales. So I was both interested and not particularly hopeful when I picked up a bottle of Victory Brewing's Storm King. Fantastic name, but what could a Pennsylvania brewery hope to offer a dark-hearted Webfoot?

Tasting Notes
The information about Storm King is scant (malt: "2-row barley," hops: "American"), but there seems to be something special in the beer. It pours out like motor oil and from its viscous surface rises the aroma of peat. It's a smoky, earthy smell, and I wondered if the brewery somehow managed to peat-smoke some malt.

I was shocked to discover that the lovely aroma actually understated the complexity of Storm King. It's the kind of beer you could swirl around in your mouth for five minutes just to suss out the different elements. Its central characteristic is a deep bitterness, at times like coffee or very dark chocolate, but other times like a nice scotch. That's the impression I finally took away from this beer, too--it had the kind of satisfying intensity of a peaty Islay malt. It was one of the most extraordinary beers I've had recently. I have generally considered Rasputin to be the standard of imperial stouts, but I'm afraid we have a new contender.

I'd love to see an Oregon brewer consider this Pennsylvania gauntlet and see if it can be matched.

Statistics
Hops: "American whole flower"
Malts: Two-row pale and ... ?
Alcohol by Volume: 9.1%
Original Gravity: Unknown
Bitterness Units: Unkown.
Available: Belmont Station.

Rating
A classic

Two More Winter Ales

I continue to work my way through the winter beers, but there is such a bounty that I have my work cut out for me. (Not like it's ditch-digging or anything.) Two of my recent samples hail from Oregon and are a mixed bag.

Full Sail Wreck the Halls
Since Full Sail already had one winter seasonal, John Harris's cult favorite is called a "brewmaster's reserve." But make no mistake, with a name like "Wreck the Halls," you know it's a holiday beer. After Sierra Nevada's Celebration, Wreck the Halls may inspire the most fervent devotion of any winter ale, but of the two, it seems more worthy to me.

Tasting Notes
Pours out a warm bronze with a pretty white head, and bursts with aroma. Bursts, as in an orange, sending its citrus into the air like a freshly-peeled fruit. Almost every winter ale will be better six months or a year after it was bottled, but this is the exception--you want to get a bottle while those hops are still so energetic.

There are two central varieties of winter ale, and Wreck the Halls comes from the minority variety, a lighter, IPA-ish ale that is headed down the road toward barleywine. At 6.5%, Wreck isn't that strong, but it manages to produce the kind of thick, candied quality you like from this style. Perhaps because of the citrus nose, it reminded me of a traditional winter desert from a norther country--with dried fruit and the suggestion of liquor. I don't get the love of Celebration, but Wreck the Halls could inspire devotion.

Rating
Excellent (with room to grow)

Siletz Winter Warmer Ale
This was not a great beer. It was flat pouring out, an indistinct brown with not much in the way of a head, and had a slightly sour, cidery aroma. The flavor wasn't awful, it just wasn't anything. Very little in the way of hopping, but the malt didn't come forward, either--it lacked mouthfeel or texture or any of the kind of qualities you'd like from a malty beer (nutty flavor, creaminess). I've brewed a few batches of homebrew that have this indifferent quality, and I didn't regard them highly.

Rating
Average (at best)

Roots Epic Ale

Last year, Roots Brewpub had a beer on tap they called "Epic," which quickly became a cult fave. It's back:

The release of the the (second year) Epic Ale is being released on Thurs 12/21. We have a Bitchin new label to bring in the new Epic Ale. The First Epic to be tapped will be last year's Epic Ale, aged for almost 16 months it's going to go fast so get here early. We open at three, Party starts at 6:oo with great music and food. We will start calling out #'s for the Jeroboams ( 3 Litre bottles) at approx. 8:oo so get here early as they go fast!

Cheers!
Craig Nicholls
Roots Organic Brewing Co.

Okay, Craig's a brewer, not a writer, but you get the picture. Those jeraboams he references are selling for a whopping $80 (a mere $.79 an ounce, or $12 a pint), but word is that they immediately go for big bucks on eBay. Anyhoo, that's tomorrow, the coldest, darkest day of the year. Nothing like a 13% beer to warm your belly. (And you can get it cheaper on tap.)

Taxing Your Beer

For the past week or ten days, a fascinating discussion about beer taxes has lit up the Oregon Brew Crew's email listserv. The issue at hand is the new Democratic Oregon legislature, their desire to up taxes in general and on beer and wine specifically, the waning power of the central beer lobbyist following the great Maui legislative scandal, and how all of this may affect local breweries and the price of beer.

Gary Corbin has done a bang-up job summarizing the issues:

The proposals, it seems, have a few things in common. One, it would raise the beer excise tax from $2.60/BBL to around $34/BBL, a 13-fold increase. Two, it would exempt smaller brewers; specifics vary, but the number 200,000 BBL/year is being bandied about. Three, the proposals target only beer – not wine or spirits. The money, it is claimed, would be used to pay for drug rehabilitation and treatment programs....

Compare beer to the other alcohols and the change is even more amazing. Borrowing calculations posted by Mark Wilson on the Oregon Brew Crew listserve, on a per-glass basis, wine is taxed at 3 times the rate of beer (2.6 cents vs. 0.8). Under the new rate, beer would be taxed 10.4 cents per glass, over four times the rate of wine. Spirits, at 8.75 cents per glass, would ironically become a relatively “cheap” drink, tax-wise.

Despite my commie politics, I have always been against this tax. In a three-tiered system, producers, distributors, and retailers all make a dime off brewers back, but this tax would only target brewers--ironically the least able to absorb costs. If the legislature is serious about raising taxes on beer, they need to offer local breweries something in return. The real power brokers in the beer biz are distributors, who control which beer gets sold and where.

Many restrictions have limited the power of breweries (this goes back to the old country, when English breweries dominated local markets and forced taverns to sell their beer in the "tied-house" system), but breweries now have the least control over their market. Since protecting local breweries ought to be paramount, give them more control over distribution. For breweries below a certain size, allow them to self-distribute to taverns and grocers. And put the bar a little higher--say 400,000 barrels--so none of our local breweries get hit by this tax anytime soon.

Anyway, go read Gary's whole post. Good stuff.

Winter Beers - Never Winter Ale

I am pleased to see David Zuckerman's signature on the label of the poorly-named Never Summer Ale from Boulder Beer. It is a tip of the hat to the person who is arguably Colorado's finest brewer working for inarguably its best brewery. Boulder has long given a little too much weight to the marketing department, who come up with names like Never Summer Ale. Witness the language on the bottle:

Welcome to Never Summer Ale, our version of an aggressive winter seasonal and the 3rd release in our Looking Glass Serious of specialty beers. Deep ruby red, assertively hopped and brewed with dark caramel malt, Never Summer Ale makes even the coldest Colorado peaks seem warm. Thanks for picking up our winter favorite. We invite you to discover all of our award-winning beers at BoulderBeer.com. Celebrate the long nights of winter. Cheers and enjoy!

I have no doubt Dave never laid eyes on this text, but nevermind the label, the name, or the fake homey text. (I think the signature is real.) This is a Zuckerman beer, which is good news for Webfeet--Dave honed his craft at BridgePort and makes great beers.

Tasting Notes
Despite the overwrought language, this isn't a crazy beer. It is in what I think of as the "classic" NW style of winter ales, ala Jubel and Wassail. It pours deep red with a white head--candy cane seasonal. The hop aroma is coupled with a candyish sweetness. It smells like a classic winter ale.

It falls on the lighter end of the winter spectrum (6%), but tastes robust and hearty. I was first put off slightly by the thin body--some winters are thick and creamy, frothed for warmth--but the flavor is as deep and rich as I was hoping for. Nice balance, a promising underlayment of alcohol bite, and a long, slow finish. The website claims there's an unnamed spice in the beer, but it apparently only draws out the hopping; anyway, I can't identify it. Extra points if you know, super ultra extra points if you can identify it with your palate alone. Great beer.

Statistics
Hops: Nugget, Willamette, Cascade.
Malts: Two-row pale and dark British caramel
Alcohol by Volume: 6%
Original Gravity: 15 degrees Plato
Bitterness Units: unkown.
Other: "Top secret brewmaster's spice"
Available: Belmont Station.

Rating
Excellent

You're On a Desert Island...

Over at The Brew Site, Jon is currently in the midst of a multi-post series on "Fifty Beers to Drink Before You Die." I'm not totally clear on the methodology--the fifty beers I want to try before I die would not be the fifty I think you should try. Since I've already sampled a handful of transcendent beers, I would of course urge everyone to try those; on the other hand, I suspect there are at least fifty more that might make my short list if I could track 'em down.

So in a variant to Jon's enterprise, I'll offer up a game I've played with friends in the past: You're on a desert island and you can have five cases of any beer; which would they be? In beer drinking, we tend to appreciate more beers than we love. On a desert island, you only take your loved ones. Which would you take?

I'll ponder and answer in the comments.

137 Year Old Beer? Tasty!

And I thought my Fred #1 was valuable. Check this out:

It was brewed in the year that the Suez Canal opened, Charles Dickens embarked on one of his last literary tours and the Cutty Sark was launched in Scotland.

But the recently-discovered cache of 1869 ale should have been undrinkable, given the conventional brewing wisdom that even the best beers are supposed to last no more than a couple of decades. Beer experts, however, say the 137-year-old brew tastes "absolutely amazing".

The Victorian beer was part of a cache of 250 vintage bottles found in the vaults of Worthington's White Shield brewery in Burton-on-Trent. The bottles will not be sold and have yet to be valued....

The bottles were sealed with corks and wax and stored in even, cool temperatures, in the dark and placed on their side to stop the corks drying out....

The find includes ales brewed to commemorate royal events, including one made by the late Earl Spencer to mark the birth of Prince William in 1982. Another was brewed in 1977 for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee.

The question is, if you actually acquired a bottle, would you have the guts to drink it?

Beer Tasting at Woodstock Wine and Deli

Just got this email, so don't blame me for the late notice! Looks cool, but I won't be able to make it. Perhaps you can:

We'll taste about 35 winter seasonals. Includes Beer Sausage (slow simmered in winter beer) on a bun, and all you can eat chips, popcorn, and pretzels. Don't have a lot of new imports this year, so we'll taste a few stashed in the cooler from last season (should have richened up a bit!) Might even crack open a few bottles of 1993 (I think I have the most of these, have to see!) Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale! Starts at about 6 P.M. and goes until about 9 P.M.

Woodstock Wine & Deli • 4030 S.E. Woodstock Blvd.

Wait, a '93 Celebration? Maybe I will try to carve out the time...

Holiday Ale Fest Wrap-up

Whew, what a Fest. When I first attended this event a number of years ago (last century, I believe), it was a relatively sparsely-attended affair. The tents bustled, but there was appreciable space between bodies. This year, from the moment I arrived at 1:30 (Saturday) until I left four hours later, the lines were long, and I was in contact with other bodies the entire day.

I don't mind crowds, but this seemed mainly like a problem with design. Besides the beer, there is a whole section of the space devoted to arts and crafts vendors. This may have made sense five years ago, but it's a disaster now. (In your mind's eye, envision Pioneer Courthouse Square. Now envision Waterfront Park. Now take all the festgoers from the OBF and cram them into Pio Sqaure. Now add a flea market. You see, the physics are starting to work against us.) I actually like some of the vendors--it gives you a little something to do while you're ducking from the throngs. But with the growing sophistication and popularity of big, complex beers, there's just not room for it all.

One other gripe: more beer. When I arrived at 1:30, four beers were already blown (this is two and a half hours into an eleven hour fest). By midafternoon, the majority were blown. In my preview, I mentioned several international beers--all of these were either blown by the time I arrived or within minutes after I got there. No Samichlaus for me. So, recognize that this is a bigger fest than it used to be and make changes. Okay, enough on that.

The Beer
As I expected, the beer was almost uniformly terrific. Parsing the merely good from the excellent is a fool's errand and I'll avoid it. There were a couple beers that stood out, so I'll highlight those, and the rest I'll just include a few of my notes. (They were sparse and erratic this year not because of what I'd drunk, but because there was precious little room to jot notes.)

Believer - Ninkasi Brewing
This was my first beer and I think managed to take all comers and emerge as my fave. It had one of the most succulent aromas I've ever encountered--sweet, citrusy, with a little mint. I had four people give it a sniff and they all did the same thing: sniff, eyebrows up, head back down for another sniff. The palate was every bit as good. Although it was a lighter beer, it was one of the few that really said Christmas--it had a touch of pine, sweetness, and warmth. I wish this were available at every pub in Portland. (At right is a picture of Jamie Floyd that I stole from Belmont Station's blog.)

Cabin Fever (Stout) - Klamath Basin Brewing
A close second was the fest's only stout. It seemed like a sweet stout with a heavy dose of lactose--sort of a beery equivalent of hot chocolate. It was rich and super creamy and seemed to have the essence of wholesome milk blended in. I love it when a brewery I've never tried before knocks my socks off. Klamath Falls now has two good breweries--not bad for a small town.

Regifted Red - Widmer
Aggressive and alcoholic. Reminded me of the Seasonal red they do (maybe that's the "regift," but with more oomph.

Blizzard of Ozz - Off the Rail Brewing
This is the one beer I found substandard. Somewhat funky and mildewy tasting. I think it was supposed to be a smooth toddy-style winter, ala Tannen Bomb.

Strong Scotch - Fearless Brewing
A good beer, but it didn't seem strong. (Looking at the brochure now, I see that it was 8.5%, and I'm shocked--it seemed half that.) I wrote "Great Scotch ale, wonderfully malty, but quite light. a 60 Shilling, not a wee heavy." Goes to show I don't know what the hell I'm talking about.

Blitzen (tripel) - Rock Bottom Brewery
Long ago there was a chain restaurant in downtown Portland with a theme--they all have themes--of beer. You could get cute little ales that tasted like soda with your mediocre food. It was so popular people packed the joint. It was the one brewery in Oregon I never wrote about when I was writting for Celebrator and Willamette Week, because I refused to recognize it as a brewery. (They were pissed, but they would have been more so if I actually wrote about their beers.) Well, all that has changed. They brew real beers now, and I actually go out of my way to try them. This offering is a very tough style, and even good examples suffer by not having the complexity you'd find in a brewery with a 200-year-old yeast strain. That said, this was one of the best American examples I've had, with a complex recipe and decent yeast character. The head was remarkable, too--like whipped cream.

Full House - Pelican
In the Wassail/Jubel continuum of winter ales--rich, hoppy, strong, and tasty.

Jim K. - Hair of the Dog
Much has already been written about this beer, so allow me to be brief, since I wouldn't know what else to add in any case. It is a beer with great character from the nose to the aftertaste that seems to alternate among its various elements, seemingly emphasizing a sweet/sour note one moment and an old-fashioned hard candy note the next. I've never seen people respond to a beer like people responded to this. I'd love to see it come on the market and observe whether it was the festival atmosphere or the beer itself.

Cuvée de Noël - St. Feuillien
No notes on this one. I recall that it emphasized the malts and was smoother and less complex than I expected. A gentler winter warmer.

I also had sips of various other beers and so got a sense of a broader range, but for the sake of journalistic integrity, I won't presume that these were adequate samples. That's it until next year--

Holiday Ale Fest Video

I slapped together this video last night with clips from the Fest. As you'll note, I took liberties with the timing in the captions to emphasize what was happening. Cheers!

Holiday Ale Festival - The Scrum for Jim

I intend to put up a fuller report on the HAF later today or tomorrow, including video. However, as I'm feeling a little remiss in not getting something up sooner, here is an interim anecdote.

As with many brewfests, the HAF has only a limited number of kegs. The summer OBF handles this by allotting a certain number of kegs to each day, but HAF refined this system and divided kegs up into two batches, afternoon and evening. So, moments after getting my first beer at 1:30, the Fest slapped up a sign on Hair of the Dog's Jim saying that it would be pouring again at 5. I decided to hang around until then and zip back in for a last nip before heading home, and so at about a quarter til, I (and two friends) made our way through the extremely packed crowd.

(Sidebar: It was easily the most packed I've ever seen the Holiday Ale Fest, and perhaps more crowded than even the OBF on Friday night. The crowd was shoulder-to-shoulder and there were literally times when an entire knot of bodies had to time their move to make way for passing drinkers. The crowd was racous and jovial and everyone seemed to take this in stride. Sally, off at the St. Feuillien tap late in the day, spoke to a bug-eyed Minnesota dad who was visiting with his daughter. Remarked he: "I've never seen anything like this. People really take their beer seriously here.")

So we started back into the scrum. Inelegantly, a group of tables had been placed at the center of the main tent, and these tended to gum up the movement even more. Opposite them was, somewhere in the throng, a line to the not-yet-on-tap Jim. When we finally made it to the right side of the tent, we discovered that most of the people were also waiting for Jim and ushering others through to get different beers. So as five crept slowly toward us, the crowd became more and more densely packed with Jim-waiters. Eventually the chants for "Jim, Jim, Jim" began and it looked like the crowd might rush the tap (in one slow, many-legged push).

The wait endured past five and the crowd grew more spirited. By about eight after, a guy came out and, with theatrical flourish, removed the "back at 5 pm" sign. A cheer went up. We pressed closer, mug-ended arms forward. One by one, we got our elixir and began making our way back into the crowd. By 5:22, all the Jim was gone.

Was it any good? Stay tuned--