On the Oregon Beer Trail

( Yeah, I like beer! )

My post-WBC12 writing is coming in spurts. With so many other things are going on, new wines and meads NEED to be made, my gig with WineMaker Magazine continuing steadily and so many events and activities that pop up suddenly, that it just seems like good writing ideas are coming too fast and too furious to keep up. Such is the life of a food & beverage blogger I guess.

Today I will take you with me (and Margot, my constant co-pilot and gastro-explorer companion) out on the Oregon beer trail as we experienced it during our vacation to the Portland area back in August. We ate while on the trail too, so I'll share a small bite of that as well!

Margot and I love beer. I love wine, and while Margot doesn’t dislike it, beer just works better for her. Good thing I like beer too! Anytime we go on vacation my pre-trip research always includes compiling a list of breweries and brew-pubs to visit. Before leaving for Oregon I compiled quite a list. See for yourself below.

• BridgePort Brewing
• Deschutes Brewing
• Widmer Brothers Brewing (Gashaus Pub)
• Hopworks Urban Brewery
• Burnside Brewing
• Hair of the Dog Brewing
• Rogue Brewing (brewery in Newport, OR)
• Lucky Labrador Brewing
• Rock Bottom Brewing
• McMenamins Brewing

The list above was compiled using a couple of inputs. We have a fair number of beer-loving friends so some of destinations we had already pulled from Beer Advocate’s web site were confirmed to be solid choices. Additionally we looked for at least a few places that had a reputation for decent food as well. There are many Portland brewpubs to choose from and I’d have to be in town for another whole week to canvas them all! Rogue, and the trip to the coast required to get there, was planned because we both have been drinking beers from Rogue for as long as we can remember being able to get them, and it seemed like something we just had to do.

We didn't get to all the places on the list, we never do and we always have backup choices, but the ones we did get to helped us get a pretty decent picture of why Oregon (and Portland specifically) is known is a beer mecca.

Rogue Brewing

I’ll start with Rogue, and unfortunately it was the place we enjoyed the least. Rogue Brewing was founded in 1988 and is based in Newport, Oregon. They operate brew pubs in Oregon, Washington and California.

I’ve been to the Rogue Public House in San Francisco and felt it represented the brand well, but I had heard mixed reviews of the Public House in Portland so we skipped it. I expected the brewery and the restaurant within it to be their flagship, demonstrating the full character of Rogue Nation, but I just feel like it fell short in presentation. The brewery itself also smelled a bit musty and heady with TCA. That kind of turned me off to the experience, but since I’ve never had a flawed beer from Rogue, I will still support them with my $$. The restaurant is non-descript and right upstairs from the swag shop. Simple presentations can sometimes be the right way, but I was left wondering if making it more like a brew-pub could amp up the experience a bit. Lunch was good, but the best reason to visit, aside from the gorgeous views of the coastline there and back, were the beers on tap; some of which only available at the brewery.

The Single Malt Ale was solid performer for a straightforward golden/blond ale. It is isn't super hoppy and is quite refreshing. I'd see this as a great food pairing beer. The Alluvial Hop Ale is a single hop IPA available on tap at the brewery, and only when there is some available. This beer is a riff on the Chatoe Rogue Wet Hop Ale with just one of the hops found in that product. I found hints of pine and citrus and felt it was also projecting some white wine fruit character. We also tasted Dead Guy, Captain Sig's Ale, a Hefeweizen, Chocolate Stout, Mocha Porter and the Hazelnut Brown Nectar. All of those were repeat tastes for us, but hearing that people blend the Chocolate Stout and Hazelnut Brown Nectar 50/50 to create something called a Rogue Snickers gave those two beers new life for us!

( Margot likes beer and approves this message! )

We had fun making a pilgrimage of sorts and like I said, the coastline drive was a highlight so if you are in the area and want to check out Rogue just know what you might be in for.

Back in Portland we visited five different brewpubs, each offering their own unique character, broad selections of beer and delicious food.

McMenamins Brewing

I picked McMenamins because it has history (founded in 1974, and boasting more than four dozen brewery, restaurant and hotel locations) in the Portland area and I wanted to make sense of the mixed reviews firsthand. We dined at the Broadway location not long after arriving at the hotel for WBC12. There are several other similar locations in different parts of the city and the surrounding boroughs.

I tasted the Ruby Ale, Hammerhead Ale, IPA, Porter, Stout and the Copper Ale which was offered as their seasonal beer. The Ruby Ale, a fruit beer flavored with raspberries, presented as light, fruity beer and would definitely be crisp and refreshing on a hot day. The Hammerhead ale is a solid hopped ale and was better than the IPA which had a big diaceytl nose that dominated my tasting. Both the Porter and Stout are straightforward beers not veering off the central aspects of their styles. The Stout is a great pub beer, something I could drink a couple of out with friends. The Copper Ale is a solid amber beer with light, sweet malts in the nose and just enough bitterness to aid in the crispness.

As much as our stop here was a blur, visiting immediately after arriving in Portland, I can say that our server was friendly, the food was prepared well (I had a pizza and Margot a burger) and while there are no stunners in the beer lineup here, I think the mixed reviews I saw online can't be fully taken to heart when you consider the type and history of the company.

BridgePort Brewing

BridgePort Brewing was founded in 1984 by the Ponzi family, who are still well known locally for their winemaking in the Willamette Valley, and has since been sold to the Gambrinus Company. The downtown brewpub has always been in the current location and their beers are available in less than two dozen US states, New England not amongst them.

( Chalkboard tap lists come all shapes and sizes. This one is particularly pretty. )

The space that BridgePort Brewing is located in is one of the draws. We have plenty of old brick mill and manufacturing buildings in New England and quite a few have been converted into residential and retail space. When done well the charm and history of an old place given new life can contribute to an experience. Bridgeport is located in just such a place. The metal work of the central staircase and the sky lights above it help to open up an otherwise dark building. There aren't any photos to back this up.

Both the food and beer are top notch at Bridgeport. Sadly I didn't take any photos of the food either. I had a pulled pork sandwich, which I very much enjoyed, and I can't remember what Margot had. We came for the beer so I guess that got the majority of our attention!

Many of the beers in my sampler brought the West Coast beer action I was expecting. Hoppy beers are loved on the West Coast, the hoppier the better, and this is often taken to extremes out here so you best be ready.

The Blue Heron was the exception with a gentle dose of hops and a low ABV making for a great summer pale ale. The Kingpin Double Red, served both via CO2 and Nitrogen, is a hoppy red ale with a nice thread of acidity through the finish. The house IPA was next and I found it just as I would have expected. Light in body with plenty of hops, but restrained bitterness. Margot actually liked it, and she doesn't typically like hoppy beers. The Hop Czar, love the name, capped off the hop tour with a nice big dose wrapped in a light bodied beer. No complaints here at all. Each beer was different, well made and tasty.

The remaining beers in my sampler were of the darker variety, but don't count the hops out just yet. The Old Knucklehead Barleywine was throwing up the hops, the Black Pale Ale was dark and hoppy (wonder how the homemade beer with that name compares?) and could not be mistaken for a stout. The final beer was the seasonal, a brown ale with spices and a small share of hops, called Witch Hunt. Everything here was really delicious too so I'd recommend folks stop in for a beer anytime!

Deschutes

Deschutes Brewery was founded in 1988 in Bend, Oregon. As one of the early craft breweries in the state (which saw a resurgence of brewing in the 1980's) Deschutes has grown considerably since the early days to become one of the 25 largest breweries nationwide. But that's the boring stuff. We can't get their beer in New England as their distribution is mostly in the central and western part of the United States, so stopping in a the Portland brewpub was a must do while we were in town.

( Saddled  up to a sampler is the best way to get a feel for a brewery's beers. )

The pub is an open space with lots of windows. It was busy, but there was no real wait. They have 18 taps that cover their standard offerings as well as seasonal and experimental beers that may be brewed at the Portland location and only available there. The dinner menu has a huge range of pub food and we started with the warm pretzel and I went with a local grass fed burger for dinner.

( The pretzel is hiding behind the beers! )

The pretzel comes with a cheese sauce and mustard and with more than two people at the table I would definitely suggest ordering more than one! The burger was cooked very well and the beef itself had so much flavor compared to the usual commercial beef. The presentation was a tad upscale with aioli slathered on the ciabatta bread, local Tillamook cheese, heirloom cherry tomatoes and house-made pickles as toppers. Bravo!

The best brewpubs are the best because BOTH their food AND their beer is good. Deschutes gets that right in my book!

I got to select the contents of my sampler (with 18 choices and 6 beers per sampler you could do them all in 3 rounds, but oh the buzz!) and I chose half hoppy and half malty or sweet. The Chainbreaker IPA is one of their well known beers and for West Coasters I can see why. It is super hoppy and pretty bitter so depending on how much bitter you can stand this might not be a multi-pint beer. It is slightly creamy and smooth allowing the hops to be the star. The traditional IPA was maltier than the Chainbreaker and not quite a hop forward. I liked it the best. The XPA drinks like it is a bigger and hoppier beer than the IPA but the ABV and IBUs are actually lower. It didn't have enough character for me but it was worth the taste to better understand the range they shoot for in their hoppy beers.

The first of the malty/sweet beers was the Black Butte Porter, another beer Deschutes is known for. I picked up dark chocolate and roasted nuts in the nose and found this to be a stylistically accurate and classic porter. I could easily drink a few of these! The Deep Red Belgian is a Belgian style red ale with a fruity & spicy nose, a good dose of bitterness and a gently sweet finish. The last beer in my flight was the Cyclist, a radler, and I picked this specifically to see how it compared with the homemade shandy we had started drinking the month before. This beer is a wheat ale that is blended with lemonade in the tank before kegging. It smelled a bit like lemon candy, was tart and only slightly sweet and didn't taste like a beer at all. All of that together made for a pleasurable experience. My comparison rests with our own shandy as the winner amongst all the shandy/radler/lemon beers we've tried this year. I think it is a good example of solid wheat ale flavored with lemon and a touch of non-fermentable sugar to fill in the sweet component. It tastes like beer and the fruit isn't lost.

I also tried the Deschutes Twilight Summer Ale while in town. An aromatic, light summer beer, it does have plenty of aroma and flavor so as not to be marginalized. The floral and fruity nose segways into a mildly bitter beer with a lightly toasted bread finish. Another beer I could easily drink quite a few of.

Rock Bottom

Rock Bottom is a restaurant chain, but the beer is brewed on site so having been made by local brewers I can’t knock the joint solely for not being a single-location place. We were out with a friend so I suspended my food/beverage blogger regimen (no notes or pictures) so I could enjoy the company. 

( To the relevant moms and dads, we were having a good time in the city! )

What I do recall is that the food was typical pub fare, prepared well,  and the beers were well made, available in standard styles of wheat, red, IPA brown, and black. They also offered a Kolsch, a lager and a Belgian white ale so there is plenty to choose for a range of tastes. I don't recall if there was anything seasonal available, but I do believe they rotate in some different styles throughout the year as well.

HopWorks Urban Brewery

Hopworks Urban Brewery (HUB) is an organic brewery, something I had never experienced before so I didn't have any expectations, good or bad. I've had the miscellaneous organic beer here and there, but I've never been to a brew-pub where all the beers were organic. At HUB they are also highly committed to sustainable and renewable initiatives using as much local food as possible. They are also part of the local bicycling scene, hosting numerous cyclist themed events throughout the year. The brewery opened in 2007 and the brewpub opened the following March.

The best really was saved for last. We visited HUB on our last day and it was our last stop. That day turned out to be beautiful, after the 100 degree heat wave the prior week, and we sat out on the back deck at HUB for several hours enjoying beers, snack and a calzone.

( Another colorful tap list. )

The beers at HUB kick ass! Every single one of them was clean in presentation, and projected their innate character easily.

HUB offers a 10 beer sampler, covering their whole menu at any time, which is served in an old bicycle hub that has been filled in to look like a tray. Killer presentation!

( That is one of the most unique presentations I have seen for a beer sampler. )

As my sampler was being drawn we munched on house-made hummus with pita bread and fresh veggies. Later during our visit we ordered a vegetable calzone which was massive and can easily feed two people. It's size was to house all the roasted veggies, including whole garlic cloves so watch out, with plenty of cheese and a zippy red sauce. It was fresh and delicious just like you would expect based on their principles and practices at HUB.

Five of the ten beers in the sampler were of the rotating type, with the others representing year-round styles.

1. HUB Lager
2. IPX
3. Velvet ESB
4. Hopworks IPA
5. Survival 7-grain Stout
6. Deluxe Ale
7. Belgian Pale Ale
8. Kolsch
9. Kentucky Christmas
10. Ace of Spades Imperial IPA

That's quite a lineup!

Digging in I found the HUB Lager to be clean & crisp with a bit of a zip in the finish. The IPX is a single hop (Cascade) IPA. The beer has a pleasant hop nose and is mildly bitter. The clean finish and mellow drinkability makes it dangerous! The Velvet ESB is a bitter amber beers with hints of toasted bread and caramel. The Hopworks IPA is very much to style with a big hope nose, savory flavors and healthy bitterness. I do love a good IPA and this one won't do you wrong. The Survival 7-grain Stout is a dark brown stout with a nose of coffee and dark chocolate. It was finished with local Stumptown organic coffee which is quite accessible in the long finish.

( Tasting beer IS hard work! )

The Deluxe Ale is a reddish brown beer with plenty of sweet malts and enough hops to create a pretty complex overall impression. The Belgian Pale Ale had some of the Belgian complexity in the nose but was a bit more bitter and hoppy than I personally enjoy. This style of beer does have a range of interpretation so this is not surprising. The Kolsch is a light and crisp beer with hints of fruit in the nose and mouth. Letting it get warm is a bad idea. At less than 5% alcohol it definitely is something you can move through quickly so any warming mess it up. Kentucky Christmas is a bourbon barrel aged strong ale. It's got lots of barrel character, coconut, vanilla, and sweet malts, brown sugar and citrusy hops. All of the attributes are nicely balanced and even on a warm day this beer drinks well. I finished with the Ace of Spades Imperial IPA which I found bigger and badder than the house IPA. It came off sweet an d malty with more hops and a very pleasing finish.

( And when it's gone, it's gone. And that makes Margot sad!

Having walked a few miles on the Oregon Beer trail I can clearly say that beer lovers everywhere should have Portland on their trip list. Margot and I will be back in 2013 and fully expect to tick off more brewpubs for our drinking and eating enjoyment. The breadth of styles presented can satisfy lots of tastes and if you are looking to stay a while many of the destinations have great food to keep you happy.

Cheers!

Jason

Beer Flaw Education with Throwback Brewery in Hampton, NH

( Look at all the serious beer lovers working those flawed samples over! )

I recently attended a beer flaw seminar at Throwback Brewery in Hampton, NH. I hadn’t yet visited the brewery so the class became a two-fer for me, a first visit AND additional education about beer flaws.

The seminar was organized with a short social hour at the beginning over beers and pizza. I ran into several members of BFD, the brew club I belong to, and met several new craft beer fans, including members of the Throwback team. I enjoyed tastes of four different Throwback beers including, Minime, Campfire, Maple Wheat Porter and the Rhubarb Wit.

The Rhubarb Wit was my favorite, and I think the heat and humidity might have also had a part in that. The beer was crisp and refreshing with a hint of fruit. I found the Campfire a bit too smoky for my palate. The Maple Porter was familiar from my own maple beers in how the maple is really subtle and you have to focus to pick it up. Minime is a session IPA which is a pretty cool concept. It drank well, again most likely due to the weather, but it didn’t seem much like a true IPA as it was. 

All of that said, let me put my feedback into context. Experimentation is the lifeblood of a brewer so me being mixed on any beer is truly a personal assessment. With small production comes pretty frequent rotation at the taps so my recommendation is to visit Throwback with some frequency to check out the regular and specialty beers.

The seminar was assembled in two flights of four samples, with PBR used as the control beer and the base for the doctored samples.  

So what did I learn? PBR is a pretty neutral beer and for this type of application it works. I also learned that some flaws are easier to spot than others, mostly due to their prominent orthonasal (smell through the nostrils) identification, where some are a combination of orthonasal and retronasal features in concert with tastes.  Acetaldehyde (green apples), Diacetyl (buttery) and Trans-2nonenal (corked) are all dead give-aways from just the nose. DMS is still escaping me and combinations of flaws that have acetic, sour, buttery or sulfury aromas are hard to discern without more practice.

And practice we must. Both the positive and negative organoleptic properties of beers, wines, ciders and meads are learned; and continuous learning is the only way to keep your skills fresh and sharp. I wasn’t at all disappointed that I only picked out four of the eight flaws, and that was because the experience I gained in trying brought me farther along.

Thank you to Annette Lee and Nicole Carrier from ThrowbackBrewery for hosting this session. They were inspired by a similar session they participated at a recent homebrewers conference and clearly they knew the value of sharing it. 

Thanks also go out to Ryan and Sean of 2beerguys and Andrea Stanley from Valley Malt for providing technical descriptions of the flaws and where in the brewing process they might be expected to show up.

I also met Brian from the Seacoast Beverage Lab blog. If you are looking for a local beer blog to follow, head on over to Seacoast Beverage Lab.

Cheers!

Jason

To Wit

( The krausen on the 2011 Ancient Fire Orange Wit. )

Whether it is Wit or Weiss, both are nice to while the day away to. Orange and spice make some twice as nice, singing their siren song of refreshment. Jason Phelps, March 2012.

The 2012 home-brewing season continued last weekend with our first ever Hefeweizen. As we were making it I was thinking about the wheat beers we had made in the past. In 2007 we made a honey lemon ale with mostly wheat malt in the boil. The final beer was tart and sweet like golden raisins. In 2010 and 2011 we made Wit beers with coriander and orange, fermenting them using a vigorous Belgian wheat beer yeast.

( The yeast was so vigorous that we needed to use a blow-off tube. 2011 )

Wheat beers, also known as Wit in Belgium & Holland, White beers in Canada and the US, Weiss or Weizen beers in Germany and Blanche beers in French speaking countries. They are brewed with a majority of wheat and are either low hopped or not hopped at all. Without hops, other spices (gruit, a name for it in some areas ) were used as preservatives and Wit beers typically incorporate fruit as well. These beers generally deliver complex aromas of fruits, spices like vanilla and clove, as well as yeast and fermentation components. The beers are typically very pale and are served with their yeast mixed back in for added texture and flavor.

( Brewing the Hefeweizen, March 2012. )

The 2010 Ancient Fire Belgian Wit is a focused, sharp beer, with subtle coriander and orange notes. The mid-palate of the beer is thin and wheat driven, and it has a clean, tart finish. 

( 2010 on the left, 2011 on the right. )

The 2011 Ancient Fire Orange Wit was fermented with orange slices in addition to the dried orange peel at bottling. The fruit really comes out early and lasts through the finish. The nose on the more recent version is much bigger as well, making it even more inviting.

( The hot wort heading into the fermenter. )

The Hefeweizen from the recent brewing session is almost ready to bottle. It definitely has some of the signature aromatics and when carbonated should be lively and wheat driven in the mouth. With no added spices and a low hop regimen, the beer should be crisp, tart and refreshing during the upcoming warm season.

Cheers!

Jason

Brew Pubs and Beer Bars

( Skagway Brewing, Skagway Alaska. My brother drank here & at Alaskan Brewing Company in 2008.  )

I’ve always loved brewpubs and beer bars. Something about the random sampling you might be able to do as the beers rotate from one batch/season to another. If the menu moves along with the beer, all the better! The people we have met on every occasion have been fun and added to the experience. It’s choose-your-own-adventure for adults.

When I travel somewhere (I should say we because is almost always applies), we plan to hit at least one brewpub or beer bar. Beer samplers, fried appetizers and other pub food is an excellent way to settle into a new location, even for a vacation.

Over the last couple of years I have captured many of the stops in my blog, most often with pictures of the beers, the bars or the smiles from the adventurers. A picture is worth a thousand words, and you can spare yourself the thousand words if you don’t care to click on any of the links in the photo journey below. There’s a lot of beer reviews in there though, and you’ll be surprised at some of the flights from the November 2011 San Francisco trip in particular. I valiantly took it for the team and tasted through more than 30 beers in the few days I was there. That’s killing it!

Montreal

Montreal is the king of the brewpub adventures for us. We hope to do a crawl there once a year for a fourth year straight real soon.

Les Trois Brasseurs is a chain pub, but the beers are good and the flatbread pizzas and burgers are offered with lots of different toppings and styles.

Le Cheval Blanc had a mean cask IPA made with Warrior hops.

Benelux was a fun joint to hang at. After work crowd, vault room in the back. Great chips and pannini. Tasty beers, Moon Boot was a a very flavorful Belgian beer.

Brutopia appears to be a dive, and on Crescent Street some places struggle to keep ahead of the foot traffic that causes it. Great dark, high ABV beers.

Our most recent crawl included Dieu du Ciel who make many of my top Montreal beers.

West Coast

Margot and I have enjoyed drinking in Seattle twice, both times at The Pike right in the Public Market. So many beers, great pub food and the staff is always hopping.

In Santa Barbara, CA at Santa Barbara Brewing Company we had parmesan flavored French fries and an orange Wit style beer that inspired a homebrew of our own.

The San Francisco trip I took in November was a commando mission and a blast.  I started at 21st Amendment that serves a Brew Free or Die IPA. How New Hampshire of them…

I hit my first Gordon Biersch on the same trip. The European style beers were well made and full of character.

I set out on a one night binge to hit 3 different bars before switching to wine by visiting Sonoma. First up was Rogue.I know Rogue is from Oregon, but the joint has a killer beer list, including their own. I killed two-4 beer flights at this first stop and then walked to Fisherman's Wharf.

I hit Magnolia next and had the best random person experiences of the whole trip at the open concept bar. I was there for several hours and ended up hanging with the some beer geeks and two different groups of folks either going to or performing in live shows later than night. 

I finished up the night at Toronado drinking IPAs from the West Coast.

New England / East Coast

Milly’s Tavern in Manchester, NH is one of the closest to home. We have also visited Martha’s Exchange, Portsmouth Brewery, and Strange Brew.

Portsmouth Brewery is the best brewpub in the state of NH, but I am betting there will continue to be competition as local interest in craft beer continues to grow.The food is tasty, it is always busy and the beers are rotated often.

Seven Barrel Brewery is right on the NH/VT border and convenient from the highway on trips to say, Montreal. The food and beers are well made and varied.

Sebago Brewing in Maine had just moved to a new location when we stopped in on a one day trip in the summer of 2011.

Margot and scheduled a stop to the Bandwagon Brewpub in Ithaca during a February 2012 trip to the Finger Lakes. We will be back in the region in June of 2012 and heading back at Bandwagon is on the list!

All this writing about vacations and beer is making me I was one vacation drinking beer right now. How about you?

Cheers!

Jason

Saisons for the Season

This isn’t a Thanksgiving (or even a Christmas) food & beverage pairing post. The title is catchy. I thought of it and decided to write a post reviewing several saisons that I would drink while cooking and hanging out on Thanksgiving Day. When I wrote this I didn’t even know yet what I would break out to drink with the multiple dinners for the upcoming holiday. On Thanksgiving day we did open up some homemade wine, but beers of several varieties won the day. I was hosting a beer drinking crowd so this was not surprising. The day after I served a menu of small plates, not themed for Thanksgiving, each with its own wine pairing. That’s for another post though.

My other reason for lining up a flight of saisons is that I plan to make a sour cherry saison this winter that will be done in time to celebrate Spring and Summer with. For that project I need some inspiration from commercially available examples. My life is hard!

What is a saison? First off saison is the French word for season. This style of beer hails from Wallonia in Belgium, and a French speaking part of that country to bring it all together. Brewed as farmhouse ales, saisons were originally brewed seasonally in the fall or winter for consumption by farm workers during the next planting and harvest seasons. During that time sources of potable water were few and brewed beer was safe to drink, contained some nutrition and was hydrating. Low alcohol levels in the original brews would have staved off outright drunkenness. Just a few historical facts that take us back to the beginnings of beer. Back to saisons however. Variations were available from many different brewers making the style somewhat broad to define. Modern day versions cover a broad range creating some excitement when trying new ones.

Saisons were historically brewed as pale ales and likely with a low ABV of around 3%.  Strong hop character was a foregone conclusion based on the need to cellar the beers for quite some time without the aid of refrigeration. The preservative qualities of hops and considerable acidity (sometimes through blending with lambics and prior year saisons) ensured the beer didn’t spoil. Most modern-day saisons are typically cloudy, golden in color with an off-white head. The nose will vary between different saisons, with a range of fruity, spicy, earthy/funky and yeasty often having moderate tartness and bitterness as well.  Darker versions are common enough (called biere de garde in France) to be notable. Likewise some versions will have a perceptibly sweet, rich and malty finish.

Saisons are typically sold in large format bottles, 22oz bombers, often with a cork and wire harness much like sparkling wine and champagne. Most are bottle conditioned and some labels will suggest what you should or shouldn’t do with the bottle sediment to ensure a good drink. Bottle conditioning also adds variation, with the level of charge and size of the bubbles of different labels to span a range.

Names of several highly rated commercial versions of saisons include Dupont, Hennepin, Sofie and Jack D’or, all of which we will taste and review here. I also have the Ovila Saison, a new product from a partnership between Sierra Nevada and Abbey of New Clairvaux, to try alongside the others. Selections from Fantome and The Bruery are on my list to search for to taste another day.

Saison Dupont

Pours a gold/orange color. Tall white head. Considerable sour and savory notes, herbs, drying grass, etc. in the nose. Sour citrus in the mouth followed by tart stone fruits. Dry with moderate funkiness towards the finish. Very effervescent, mouth filling in fact. Very smooth finish and a well balanced disposition. I’ve only had this a few other times and couldn’t recall them well enough to compare. The smooth finish increases the likelihood I would drink this anytime I found it. web site

Pretty Things Jack D’or

Big funky nose. Short white head. I found hay, herbs, unripe fruits and spices. Margot said herbaceous and I can’t disagree with that at all. Pours gold and unfiltered. I picked up quite a bit of citrus in the nose and sour notes. Margot thought it came off as very hoppy which is consistent with my expressions of the nose. Mouth filling carbonation is a note we both made. I found the mouth to be considerably full with light malts and grains, almost like a golden ale. The hops came on big for me in the flavors with many green elements like grass, herbs, spruce and bitter greens. The finish is clean, albeit more bitter than we liked. web site

Goose Island Sofie

Pours yellow/gold and hazy. Tall white head. The complexity of the nose caught my attention right away. The fullness of the sour, fruit, yeast and malt notes in the nose was surprising. As you sip earthy notes show up very early and slip away in favor of dried fruits and citrus. The finish was like sour lemon candy. Margot felt it was more complex, very balanced and finished smooth. This was the most drinkable and the mutual favorite for both of us and one we hope to enjoy again very soon. web site

Ovila Saison

Pours orange/gold with a medium off-white head. Moderate sour notes to the nose, hints of green apple. Full bodied and fruit with a dry finish. Hops are present in the nose and mouth, but not very big. Not as complex as the others, aromas and flavors are not very deep is how Margot described it. web site

Ommegang Hennepin

Pours hazy and gold. Short white head. I picked up some salinity in the otherwise sour nose. This beer is malty and grainy in the mouth with considerable prickly carbonation. Citrus and tart unripe fruits were the predominant flavors. The finish was very clean and smooth. I ended up rushing through this tasting and I didn’t get back to my notes when I shared the rest of the bottle with friends the next day. web site

Like with a lot of foodstuffs you have to want to like something to enjoy it. If you try saison and don’t like the style I won’t argue the point. Beverages of all kinds are designed to accentuate several key tastes, sour and bitter here specifically, and that coupled with textural elements like bubbles and tannins in beers, wines and spirits, create a lot of action for your palate. Any one off presentation and it could be the end of any enjoyment. Adventure does come with a cost. I love finding new beverages that channel their attributes in that way that I must pause and consider the tweaking of my senses that is going on. I don’t like everything I drink, the experience notwithstanding.

I was in the Boston Wine Exchange on Tuesday picking up the last of the saisons for our lineup. One of the staff was picking some fall beers to put in a holiday display. She asked what I was drinking and whether it was for Thanksgiving. I mentioned that I was picking up some saison or “beer drinkers Champagne” to take for a test drive. I didn’t commit to it being my Turkey Day pairing choice because in this case most of it will be gone before dinner!

With the moderate (or higher) carbonation, healthy acidity and range of flavors saisons are a solid utility player when it comes to entertaining, supporting both socializing and enjoyable eating. Having an all-sparkling-beverage party is a lot easier to envision when you consider beers such as saison. As an aside, dry sparkling cider adds yet another option increasing that potential further still. I’ll leave you with that thought as you ponder what to serve to your family and friends this holiday season.

Cheers!

Jason

Toronado – San Francisco, CA

Toronado is a beer bar. They have over 100 labels in stock between casked, kegged and bottles. You go there for the beer. Located on Haight Street.

Toronado is a dive in the most sincere sense. Is isn’t pretty, is just clean enough and is organized in the most utility of ways. One long bar with tables opposite and a small side room containing booths and small tables. It is what it is and because they have the kind of beer selection they do you are able to go there and have fun. I did! Margot will know what I mean when I say there “was shit all over the walls”. Shenanigans!

There was loud music playing, sports on the TV and patrons can bring the food from the shop around the way at will. It even kind of had keg party vibe, and again, in a good way.

I took a post at the end of the bar and doubled up, one pint of Pliny the Elder and one of the Sierra Nevada Torpedo. Ending with a hop explosion sounded like the best way to go out. My next adventures in the area were taking me to wine country so I needed to live it up!

The two beers are big on the hops with the Pliny taking the winner for nose. The fruity and sweet nose had a large hop presence that wasn’t as aggressive as I would have expected. The Torpedo had this biggest hop flavors but in the end the Pliny had the best balance. For a bit I just chilled out over my beers and checked out the scene.

The seats next to me filled up and I briefly met a couple of neighborhood partiers. Used to live near here, favorite place, live somewhere else now, etc. You can get pretty well in the bag around here without much effort it seems. No wonder some people love it so much.

I killed my beers and stole off into the night. Or more simply, to catch the bus. The ride back to Union Square was uneventful and the walk back to the hotel would have been if someone hadn’t tried to lift my wallet. I got to my wallet and his wrist before the damage was done. He was promptly told he didn’t want to do what he was doing and should scram. Several people in the crowd at the crosswalk echoed my feelings and he bolted. No harm came to anyone or my wallet!

I hope you enjoyed my trip around a few of the beer spots in San Francisco. There are many, I picked just a few and likely didn’t get anywhere near a list of “best of’s” if a poll was taken. But I ate and drank well, had good fun and met some pretty cool people. Not bad for a few days “work”!

Cheers!

Jason

Magnolia Brewery & Restaurant – San Francsico

As I was doing my research to find a list of brewpubs and beer bars to check out in San Fran the name Magnolia came up several times. A bit of free word association got me wondering if it was anywhere near Haight-Ashbury and the famed San Fran neighborhood that spawned the Grateful Dead. If you don’t know the connection, read on, there is nothing I can do here. To my surprise it is located on Haight street a couple blocks away from the Ashbury junction and the cute little village you will find there today. Before I popped in I had to walk up to the see the Grateful Dead house. It may seem cheesy, but as I have said in recent posts, connecting the dots in our lives for our readers create far better stories than ”look at this recipe, it’s amazing!”, or “this bottle of wine is fantastic”, and them not backing it up with any tasting notes. But I digress.

Magnolia has enough reviews for it that suggest it is one of the top tier stops for beer lovers when in town. I also found that the beer bar Toronado, heralded for its 100+ choices, was only a few blocks away from Magnolia making the trip out that way from Union Square where I was staying well worth it. I’ll share my Toronado experience in my next post.

After walking up Haight to Ashbury and back, through a few wafts of marijuana and the glut of head shops, I couldn’t help but think back to the good old days. For some there was a time when a joint and the Dead on the stereo was like milk and cookies for other people. Don’t judge.

Magnolia has a busy street corner location making the window and sidewalk seating front row center for whatever action comes along. On the bus ride out I saw a naked guy wandering around and a fight. I figured based on that shit could go down at anytime.  It was busy when I arrived but I scooted under the high bar and grabbed the one empty stool along the window. I found myself next to a lovely couple from Berkeley, who were clearly knowledgeable about beer. I picked up several recommendations for my next visit from them! The one piece of information I did seize on to is their impression of the West Coast adoration for IPAs over Belgian style beers which get more love in the East. This was a new consideration for me, I’m equal opportunity, and one I will delve into a bit more later in this post.

As is tradition I went for the sampler which included six brews of my choosing in a nifty triangular carrier, all served in tall cylindrical glasses for a touch of distinction.

Kolsch

4.7% ABV

Light gold color and clear. Lightly toasted grains in the nose. Mildly bitter early in finish, finishes dry.

Rosebud

7.0% ABV

Orange/gold color. Sweet, floral aroma. Brewed with rose buds. Finishes sweet with fruit from beginning to end. This was the first beer I recommended to the new folks to the table.

Proving Ground IPA

7.0% ABV, 100 IBU

Gold/orange color, minimal head. Abundant floral aromatics. Very bitter and light in body. More hop flavor than malt flavor as expected. This is a big hoppy beer, but drinks light with fruits and flowers as the predominant aromas/flavors.

Barking Pumpkin

Medium brown color with amber notes. Tan head, sits up good. Moderately spiced nose, squash flesh also obvious. Medium bodied and savory flavors in the mouth. Sweet malts, lightly roasted. Toasted bread is predominant. A bit of alcohol in the finish. Solid rendition of a pumpkin, spiced beer.

Blue Bell Bitter

4.5% ABV

Toasted malts in the nose and mouth. Straightforward bitter. Hops are subtle, not much influence on flavor.

Dark & Mild

Medium brown colored ale. Moderately toasted malts with a clean and lightly bittered finish. I am starting to get this style more and more.

The Rosebud was my favorite and mentions are due for the IPA and the Dark & Mild. 

The crowd turned over a bit as I moved through my sampler and two new arrivals grabbed seats being vacated right across the bar from me. They were also from out of town, Portland, Oregon specifically, and were in town to see a show. Looking back at my notes who the artist was is the one thing I didn’t get, and they mentioned it several times. It was either the beer or the nostalgia at work here.

I did get their names and not long after making their acquaintance I pegged them for the fun loving types. When Arin (right in pic below) ordered the Crackerjack Bacon for her and Rachael I took the opportunity to ask for them to pose with it for a picture. Cheers! And yes, it is literally Crackerjacks reheated with bacon. And it is surprisingly rich! The salty bacon with the caramel popcorn is as freaking sinful as you might imagine. I’m gonna be making this for my next party, Sandra Lee be damned! Sandra Lee didn’t really come up with this as far as I know, that is just a little inside joke for Shannon who had shared good laughs with over the weekend. I hope she’s reading.

After I got home I did a bit of cursory research and the West Coast is hoppy beer heaven idea is commonly held and demonstrated. Not new of course, I just hadn’t ever given the stylistic differences between the coasts into consideration. I found lots of styles of beer in the local haunts, but there was a considerable representation from IPAs and hopped up beers. I drink them all so this only makes it more interesting to try the local styles when on the road.

I ordered the Cubano with Fries for dinner. Can’t beat a Cuban sandwich and beer! On my bus ride back to the hotel I was chatting up a couple of partiers and one of them mentioned that the food at Magnolia was particularly good for a brewpub and that the Cubano was his favorite thing. I guess I picked a winner. The pork on the sandwich was tender as it should be and the ham was salty and full of flavor. Served on fresh bread with crunchy pickles it was just the thing to balance out the beers. I hadn’t eaten since 10:30 (and it was 6:30 or so now) on the count of the gluttony from the Foodbuzz Festival farewell brunch. I ordered the Chocolate George Stout to go with my meal having killed off the beer sampler right before my sandwich arrived. The beers were doing their thing to be sure, including my forgetting to take a picture of the sandwich. The fries were pretty straightforward, pleasantly salted and hot. I’d come back to Magnolia for the food, and then stay for a beer or three.

The George’s Chocolate Stout pours as black as night with a light brown head. The aromatics were of roasted malts and just a little bit of chocolate and coffee. The chocolate flavor was quite subtle and yet another example for us to consider when we attempt to make a beer in this style again. The finish is clean and it transitions to slightly sweet to dry by the end.

The crowd thinned out a bit and a gentlemen in from Arkansas joined us. I didn’t catch his name (you sort of see what kind of night this was turning into), and Danny from the band Scars on 45 saddled up a short time later. As Danny got to know the group around him he realized I was taking notes and asked “what are you a fucking journalist or something” with his killer British accent. Yes, in fact I am a fucking journalist, and damn glad to meet someone who can make the work fuck sound so fucking good! He and the band were in town for a show. If only I had more time. I’m betting I could have maximized that meeting. 

We had some great laughs, all of the out-of-towners appeared to be making a better go of it than the locals, and after finishing my beer I took my leave and headed out into the night. I forwent the bus in favor of a 15 minute walk to work some of my buzz off. Up next, Toronado!

Cheers!

Jason