Beer Review: Oakshire Brewing O'Dark:30 CDA/Black IPA

"ABV: 6.3% / IBU: 70 / O.G.:15.0 Plato

Dawn has not arrived, but we are awake – cooling one small batch of delicious beer, or starting the next. O’Dark:30 is a beguiling combination of dark malt and NW hops, a tribute to the brewers of our region. Dry hopped with Cascade and Centennial Hops, this beer has a powerful hop aroma and flavor tempered with a malt backbone."

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I think that I haven't yet reviewed this beer. I am sure I have had a few of them on tap in various locations around Portland and Vancouver, but I managed to grab this off the shelf at a Fred Meyer because it sounded good. Here is another live review from the Brewmance:

Appearance: (3.5)
- Super dark brown brew.. can see a thing through it but some ruby brown at the edges of the glass in the light. The beer didn't seem to pour a large head, but an off-white to greyish while finger formed and quickly turned into a spotty ring with a rice paper thing later over the brew.

Smell: (3.5)
- Nice roasted bitter grain, coffee bitterness, light chocolate, and light sweet grain. Coffee seems to play a nice roll here.. like a nice cold pressed coffee. Some light herbal and bitter grassy hops barely hit the nose.

Taste: (4.0)
- Great roasted bitter grains with a nice light coffee touch, and some fantastic chocolate notes. The great thing about this beers flavor is the balance. Some nice earthy bitter hops give it some flare and leaves the palate with a little zesty and piney touch. Not bad at all.

Mouth Feel: (3.5)
- A rather light to medium bodied brew which lends a little dryness in the mouth. Slight chewy touch, but overall a bit watery with a chalky finish.

Overall: (3.5)
- This is one of the better CDA's available around the Northwest. It seems to be a big hit at it's seasonal release around town complimenting various special tappings and parties. It's solid, well balanced, and quite drinkable.

**** Will add more review numbers as soon as BA gets their site back up
(BeerAdvocate.com Rating Scale)

Beer Review: Samuel Adams Alpine Spring Lager

"Brewed especially for the season, this bright citrusy unfiltered lager is both satisfying and refreshing. It’s the perfect transition from winter’s heavier brews to the lighter beers of summer. Borne of our brewers’ many trips to Germany, Alpine Spring features a unique blend of lager attributes: the balanced maltiness and hoppiness of a Helles, the smoothness and slightly higher alcohol of a traditional spring bock, and the unfiltered appearance of a Kellerbier. The beer is brewed with Tettnang Noble hops to add a unique, bright orange-citrusy aroma and flavor."

"This hazy golden brew is brewed with only pale malts for a crisp maltiness and honey malt for a slight sweetness. The beer is brewed with 100% Tettnang Tettnanger Noble hops, a half pound per barrel, to produce a unique, bright orange-citrusy aroma and taste of orange blossom honey. Several of our longtime hop suppliers in the Tettnang region grow these special hops in hop yards that have been under steady cultivation for over 100 years. We arranged for these very unique hops to be flown to the US as bales of fresh-picked whole flowers, collected specifically for dry hopping Alpine Spring. The resulting brew is medium-bodied, slightly sweet and warming with bright citrusy hop notes. It’s our idea of the perfect beer for spring."

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Appearance: (4.5)
- Pours a very pretty light zesty golden orange and straw yellow with some cloudiness to it. Fluffy white finger of head slowly settles and leaves a thin spotty pillow above the brew with lacing all about the glass. Very nice looking brew.

Smell: (4.0)
- This puppy smells good. Nice crisp bitter, pine, and grassy hops sit well with a light grainy bready semi-sweet malt bill. This smells solid and terrific. Seems a beer like this would make some stiff competition for some of my other favorite lagers of the sort like Fort Georges 1811. Nice zesty and fruity notes as well.

Taste: (3.5)
- Bready creamy and grainy malt bill. Like a touch of creamed corn bready grain with a zesty and earthy hop presence. Bit of grassy, pine, earthy notes.. and light sweet corn. Little touch of zingy lemon. Overall quite good.

Mouth Feel: (4.0)
- This beer has a rather medium body to it. It is quite creamy perfectly carbonated. It is yet a smooth and easy drinking session ale. Little drying and cloying.. perhaps even chewy.

Overall: (4.0)
- This is one of the better beers I have had from this brewer. I rarely if ever buy anything from Samuel Adams but to just try. I may actually buy some more of this one. It's a goodie!

****Will Update as soon as the BA site gets back to normal
(BeerAdvocate.com Rating Scale)

My Stop To The Festival Of Dark Arts

Fort George Brewery and Public House held the event on Saturday, the 18th right smack in Stout Month February.

"30+ stout beers, and... dark art show, tarot, psychic, music, pirates, tattoo, blacksmith forge, stout art, belly dancing, fire breathing, dark cuisine, exquisite corpses, fire dancing."

Astoria is a beautiful small town with a ton of history. Fort George Brewing has recently expanded and ramped up production, and opened a taproom in a building right next to the brewery building. Also some nice new tanks sat in the space.

The admission was free, and the nice glass tasting mug was $8 to purchase. Each tasting ticket was $1, and all the stouts took only one ticket.

I didn't get a chance to see all of the special events and entertainment, but I had a blast either way. My Sister and Brother In-Law live out there, so I always have a place to stay when I take the trip out which takes me only a little over an hour and a half from Vancouver, WA. I hope to perhaps move out there at some point as well depending on my work situations.

I would have to say that most all of the stouts were very good. I will go into my favorites a little bit here:

Lompoc Brewing's Black Dawn III had to be my favorite. It gets best of show from me. It's a coffee stout with a wonderful full flavor and perfect bitter balance. It ranks in at 7.2% ABV. More than 3 lbs. of coffee was used per barrel.

Brewers Union Local 180 out of Oakridge had a wonderful flagship cask stout. As with all of their beers, the stout wasn't super cold, and didn't come from anything but a cask. It had wonderful flavors, was smooth, creamy, and just all around tasty and unique. High marks. 6.2% ABV.

Natian Brewing brought Lumberjane which was a nice medium bodied tasty drinker. I had no idea until now that it is an 8.6% Imperial. To me it tasted lighter, and was very drinkable.

Hopworks of course brought Army Of Darkness, a bourbon-barrel aged stout that sat in the barrels for 9 months. This beer stole the show, and I am sure would take 1st place if there was a contest among all the drinkers there. Not for me. I prefer a stout that isn't bourbon-barrel aged. But, that doesn't mean that I didn't think this beer was still fantastic. It is way up there in a class of its own vs. what else there was for competition.

McMenamins Marlow's Heart whiskey barrel aged stout was quite nice. It was light on the whiskey and barrel flavors, but it complimented the stout very well. I am a fan of seeing standard ABV beers being aged in barrels. 6.7%

Fort George offered a Kentucky Tart Stout which isn't listed on the flyer. It is a Makers Mark barrel aged stout that picked up some tart flavors and what I think must have been some bugs. It wasn't mega-sour, but the tartness complimented the brew very well, and I actually liked it quite a bit. ABV unknown.

Silver Moon Brewing busted out Darkside Stout. Nice roasted chocolate notes, and a very solid stout. I really liked this one as I usually do with most beers from this brewer.

Deschutes Brewing brought their End Of The World Stout. It was a very good stout which I thought was a nice change from their flagship Obsidian. 6.4% ABV.

Good Life Brewing displayed their Pass Stout. It was solid, stood out above many others, but still has a little more work to hit the big dogs.

The rest kind of fell short for me, and are not really worthy of a mention. I take that back... any brewer showcasing something for a pretty killer fest is worth noting, but I am discussing my taste here, and letting you all know my favorites of the festival. Fort George had some Cavatica with different fruits added.. but it wasn't enough fruit in each. I hardly got any of the fruit flavors which was kind of upsetting.

Stouts have never been my favorite style of beer, but this festival certainly had me drinking a lot of stouts. After the festival, we went back to the pad, and I drank some Rogue John John Dead Guy, Rogue Imperial Red Ale, and some Sake'. Still woke up the next day feeling great. I wonder if working up to the fest a few days prior.. drinking each night.. had anything to do with it?

The entertainment was a little odd at times for me, but wasn't anything very unusual from what can normally be seen in Portland, or even on the streets of downtown Portland.

One of the pouring few, Kendra, gave me a little information on a new brewery which she is a part of in Seaside which will be called Seaside Brewing. A couple of brewers have left Rogue Brewing on good terms, and Rogue is even helping them out with the new setup, and are also using their own tanks to get some beers going for them. That is pretty stand-up of Rogue to be so kind. It will only be about 20 minutes away from Astoria.

I highly recommend a trip out to Astoria. It is a fantastic town. Read a little bit about her history, our wars, and the people of the land. It is truly wonderful. Lots of great people, and small businesses there that would love to see you. Rogue has a wonderful joint out there, Astoria Brewing with their Wet Dog Cafe, and of course Fort George Brewing.

Cheers!

Pyramid Brewing To Make Outburst Imperial IPA A Year-Round Offering

Availability:
Year Round
Malts:
2-Row, Munich, Caramel, Carared
Hops:
Nugget, Chinook, Cascade/CTZ
Dry Hopped with:
Falconer’s Flight, Zythos
OG:
20
ABV:
8.5%
IBU:
80

Pyramid Outburst Imperial IPA
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This in my eyes is pretty amazing. Last year at its release, it was a new Spring seasonal that really made a buzz in the craft beer world. A dry-hopped imperial IPA that honestly topped a lot of what Pyramid had been doing at that time.

It was in 6-packs, and 22oz. bombers at it's first release, and the prices were that of their regular beers... which I must say, are usually quite fair, and less than a lot of the competition on our grocers shelves.

I just saw it tonight in the 22oz. bomber, bought two for $2.99 Ea. That is an amazing price for a very good and hoppy imperial IPA. I am drinking one as I frantically type out this post. Can you tell I am a huge fan?

I haven't yet tried their CDA, Discord Dark IPA, that has been released, and really look forward to trying it.

Last year at this time when Outburst was released, it vanished as fast as it came. I think that rang a bell at Pyramid. Therefor, they are jumping at the opportunity and making it a year-round release. This is a smart move in my eyes.

They went back to their old labeling, which was also another very smart move. I guess MC Hammer's previous design didn't work out so well for them.

I suggest if you haven't already yet, get the brew, and enjoy it. I have a feeling that an IPA of this caliber and price will take a lot of sales away from the competition. This is a good thing.

Cheers!

www.pyramidbrew.com

Beer Review: Southern Oregon Brewing Black Heart Imperial Stout

"Black Heart Imperial Stout is startlingly rich and complex as its roasted, chocolaty malt aromas and flavors are balanced perfectly with Warrior hops. A slight alcohol heat lends a spice to this mammoth beer which finishes with a creamy smooth texture on the palate. Black Heart is full of body and not for the faint of heart." — Southern Oregon Brewing Co."

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Appearance: (3.5)
- Pretty heavy pour yielded about a half finger of light mocha colored head.. settled to a large island of foam in the center, and a small ring at the edges. The brew is super dark with maybe only a tiny bit of ruby red hue showing through.

Smell: (4.0)
- Nice mocha and chocolate notes, oats, grain, sweet aromas.. and a bit of sharp alcohol shining through. Some esters, fig... but overall just a smooth oatmeal-like aroma.

Taste: (4.0)
- Raisin, fig, esters, along with a wheat and oatmeal quality. Light cocoa and earthy grassy hop bitterness. Little touch of alcohol melded in. Overall not bad, and not overbearing.

Mouth Feel: (4.0)
- Medium to heavy body.. quite creamy and rich feeling. Well carbonated, and only a touch chewy with a subtle dryness.

Overall: (3.5)
- This is a solid stout, and is a smooth drinker though some alcohols are present. i am sure this could be super smooth with a little time, not more than a year, on the bottle. It doesn't strike me with a bang, but it is solid and good.

3.88/5 rDev +4.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5
(BeerAdvocate.com Rating Scale)

Beer Review: Lagunitas Brew Co. Imperial Red Ale

"It's back! Big on the Spicy, Skunky Hops, Bigger on the Rich, Red Malt. A Dank and Roasty Treat. The Recipe is a Variation of our Very First Beer From Back in '93 -- "Lagunitas Red".

ABV: 7.8%"

I'm a huge fan of a solid Red Ale. I find that my favorites of the style usually sit between 6.5 and 8.5% ABV simply because they use a lot more ingredients to create the flavor profile that I like. My best homebrew to date is an imperial red ale that I brew with orange blossom honey, and molasses using the Irish ale yeast from White Labs.

I can't say I have always been a huge fan of Lagunitas. I love what they do, I love their attitude.. but I feel their beers are usually too sweet, and must use a lot of adjuncts like sugar. That is my belief anyway. Here it goes..

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Appearance: (3.5)
- Dark amber sun-tea color, clear. Quickly dissipating finger of white foam settles with a milky medium sized ring of lace in the glass.. and a spotty thin blanket above the tea.

Smell: (3.5)
- Huge citrus hops. Pineapple, apple juice, grainy sweet brown sugar, a little vegetable hoppiness.. slight onion and skunky hop. A bit sweet and candy sugary.

Taste: (4.0)
- The aroma fights against the nose, but the flavor later comes through. Light bready grain, brown sugar and a tea flavor from what must be an abundance of hops used late in the brewing process. Big citrus hops as well as onion hops.. much like what Widmer, or Oskar Blues uses.. Nice pine resin in the belch.

Mouth Feel: (4.0)
- Medium bodied brew, slightly cream, a bit drying and chewy.. overall very well carbonated and easy to drink. Very impressive. Well carbonated, and done well.

Overall: (3.5)
- For me this is a more impressive beer than their IPA's.. but doesn't touch the browns and other rare special releases they have had, such as those named after Benny & the Jets, and others like Zappa. But it is a great drinker, and tastes quite good. The aromas though really fight for a space in your face. Worth the try.

3.78/5 rDev -8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5
(BeerAdvocate.com Rating Scale)

Beer Review: Redhook Brewing Extra Special Birthday Blueline Series

"Extra Special Birthday Beer
Redhook is celebrating its big three oh – and what better way to celebrate then with an extra special beer. Redhook’s second release in the Blueline series is a highly modified version of ESB that replicates the flavor profile of Redhook Ale in the early 80’s, lovingly referred to by Seattle locals as “banana beer”. To bring out this unique flavor we fermented using a yeast strain that highlights these spicy banana notes. This special brew has a deep red color, bold hops and thick malty body. Don’t worry; no actual bananas were harmed in the making of this beer."

I have heard a lot of stories about the initial release of this beer way back in the beginning times of Redhook Brewing. This was a favorite of locals, and must be one of the first to use a Belgian Yeast strain more widely.

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Appearance: (3.5)
- Pours a dark iced tea brown, rather clear, and has a finger of fluffy head that quickly dissipates to a thin foamy layer with some light lacing about the glass.

Smell: (3.5)
- Certainly has some prominent clove, cinnamon, Belgian yeast notes along with a sweet brown sugar and molasses malt base. Little bready and also seems to have an interesting nutmeg flare to it. Not overly hoppy by any means, but a grassy herbal hop presence does exist.

Taste: (3.5)
- Light banana backing to a relatively light brown ale of sorts. This does have a nice light and sweet brown sugar and grainy molasses touch to the flavor. Light grassy bitter hops, and an earthy touch balance it out. Really quite good.

Mouth Feel: (4.0)
- A rather light to medium bodied beer with a bit of a chewy touch. Also a touch cloying and drying as well from the bitterness. Perfect carbonation, and very easy to drink.

Overall: (3.5)
- If this beer goes as far back as the early 80's, then this must have been one of the best around back then. I know Redhook was a much bigger hit back then with beers like this. This beer is solid, balanced, and has it's highlights.. but a few characteristics of it bring it back down to mediocrity. I would drink it on tap somewhere maybe.

3.55/5 rDev -1.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5
(BeerAdvocate.com Rating Scale)