Brew Review – #16, 16a & 16b

On April 23, Brew Review #16 took place at Fifth Quadrant (the New Old Lompoc location in North Portland).

For some reason, I didn’t take many pictures, but I did sample some beer!

Taxation

  • The architect – Man, that’s yummy
  • The gazelle – Really good, light, full-flavored; great for hot days outside
  • A – Good
  • L – Really smooth; a celebration in my mouth

Saison

  • The architect – Better than the Taxation
  • The gazelle – Great Saison, but a little too floral for me
  • The cousin – Pretty good
  • A – Good, very Belgian
  • L – mmmmm…….

Condor

  • The architect – Really good, although not as good on the 2nd sip
  • The gazelle – Weak hop taste
  • L – Not an IPA fan

Centennial

  • The architect – Not my favorite
  • The gazelle – Great hop combo
  • L – Not an IPA fan

Fool’s Golden

  • The architect – Also good – hints of vanilla
  • The gazelle – A little weak, not much flavor
  • The cousin – Really good; light & tasty
  • L – Makes no impression; decent for a pale; better on the 2nd sip

C-Note

  • The architect – Good, but I like the Condor more
  • The gazelle – Love the hoppiness; nicely bitter
  • The cousin – Good
  • L – Too hoppy, not my style

LSD

  • The architect – Really smoky & dense; a good winter beer
  • The gazelle – Smoky, rich
  • The cousin -Not a fan
  • A – Good
  • L – Good beer, but not my style

Sockeye

  • The architect – Not very good
  • The gazelle – Too much coffee flavor (a bit beyond UNDERTONES)
  • A – Just OK – reminds me of the taste of roasted barley tea

Spring Bock

  • The gazelle – Too sweet.

Overall – good beer, good food, excellent company.

(Not pictured: the architect, me, A, or the former co-worker…WTF was I doing with the camera? At least I got a picture of the nachos, right?)

Brew Review 16A (5/2/10)

Steelhead brewery in Eugene

I didn’t take notes, but I can tell you that the Raging Rhino Red was good, as was the seasonal Hopasaurus Rex.

The food was decent. The service was slow – but they were PACKED with post marathoners. I’d like to go back when we didn’t have to order drinks as soon as the last one was delivered.

Brew Review 16B (5/10/10)

Fred Fest – Hair of the Dog

About 6 weeks ago, I decided that I wanted to go to Fred Fest. It was expensive, but the cost included food & unlimited tastings of beer.

Had the beer list been published when I was buying tickets – well, I wouldn’t have bought tickets.

There was definitely a theme going on. That theme seemed to be “cherry,” “sour,” and “barley wine.” If you know anything about my beer tastes, you KNOW that I pretty much hate all fruity, sour & barley wines. So, yeah….not as much fun as it could’ve been. (The prime rib sandwiches were freaking awesome, though. As was the unlimited cheese & chocolate table for palate cleansing.)

The architect & I tried most of the 24 beers. We did not get to try #24, because the line for that was out of control. Everyone said it was awesome. I wasn’t sold on waiting in line for a Barleywine, though, even if it was 7 years old. We also didn’t take notes , so this is purely from memory.

  1. Barley Browns Brew Pub -Cherry wood Smoked Rye whiskey – didn’t try
  2. Bend Brewing Company – Rocksy Stein Lager [ European Strong Lager/Stein Bier brewed with hot stones] – not bad
  3. BridgePort Brewing Company – Firkin 2008 Fallen Friar[Belgian Triple with 35% aged in oak wine barrels] – again, not bad (this was one of the last ones I tasted, and my standards had dropped, so I don’t know how ‘not bad’ it really was.)
  4. Cascade Brewing Company –  The Vine 2010 [Blended Sour with white wine grapes, barrel aged] – This was freaking terrible.
  5. Deschutes Brewery – Wood Aged Double Black [Barrel-aged imperial bourbon porter] – disappointing
  6. Double Mountain Brewery & Taproom – Cask Empire Strikes Back [English Pale Ale brewed w/ all British ingredients] – fine…one of the better ones
  7. Firestone Walker Brewing Company – Parabola [Imperial Stout] – very, very stouty.
  8. Full Sail Brewing Company – Barrel aged Old Boardhead 1998 – then – 1999 – didn’t try, couldn’t deal with another barley wine
  9. Hair of the Dog Brewing Company – Cherry Fred from the wood – [barley wine, aged in new, medium-toast American oak barrels] – I hate you barley wine!
  10. Hopworks Urban Brewery (HUB) – Organic Radkeller [HUB Lager blended with lemonade] – intriguing, but no….
  11. Laurelwood Brewing Company – Altenberg Smoked Pilsner [Pilsner brewed with German beechwood smoked malt] – the first one I tasted, thought it blah, little did I know that it would end up being one of my favorites.
  12. Lucky Labrador Brewing Company – Barrel aged Son of Old Yeller [Barrel-Aged barley wine] – I hate you, barley wines
  13. McMenamins -( Fulton St. ) –  The Monkey Puzzle Triple [Belgian-Style tripel] – nothing to write home about
  14. Midnight Sun Brewing Company – 3767 [Belgian stylep IPA collaboration brew w/ Ballast Point] – this one was GREAT!
  15. New Belgium Brewing Company The Trip # V [Brown Ales brewed with vanilla, cherries & cocoa] – extra blah
  16. New Old Lompoc Brewery – Flamingo [Wine barrel-aged Condor Pale Ale with cherries] – blah, also, why?
  17. Ninkasi Brewing Company – PK – N’ICE [Extra cold-conditioned malt liquor] – fine, surprisingly not bad for the description. But then again, it is Ninkasi.
  18. Oregon Trail Brewing – SoBoChePo [Sour Bourbon Cherry Porter] – BARF
  19. Rock Bottom Brewery – Maude Flanders [Flemish Sour blended from 3 & 5-year barrel aged sour beers] – Double BARF
  20. Rogue Ales – John John Juniper [American Pale Ale with juniper aged in spruce gin barrels] – I loved this one; beer aged in gin barrels? A dream come true!
  21. Roots Organic Brewing – 2006 Epic Ale [American Strong Ale made from an Epic amount of crazy stuff.] based on that description, it made me sad that I didn’t get to try this one. 🙁
  22. Stone Brewing – Imperial Russian Stout / Old Guardian [Barley Wine/Imperial Stout] – this was rather terrible….
  23. Widmer Brothers Brewing Company – 8409  25th anniversary Double Alt 2008 [Alt] – this probably would’ve been good, but I didn’t try it.
  24. SPECIAL- Toby Day’s 2003 Wild Duck Brewing Old Gnarley Head Barley Wine [Barley Wine owned by {the late} Toby Day.] – This was the one with the line. Also Barley Wine. Didn’t try it.

I had forgotten about this event until about 10 AM the morning of, so sadly, didn’t have a camera. It was a fun event, but based on ticket price & lack of beers I like (and the fact that I didn’t win any prizes), I probably wouldn’t go back, unless it was an all IPA or all Red (or brown or amber or SOMETHING GOOD) event.

Next brew review – Roots! (I’m hoping they’ll have a little extra of that Epic Ale lying about.)

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