Because It's Friday...

So Friday was my Portland tap room tour courtesy of Emn Bahers, and it was fantastic. I got to drink so many beers that are just unavailable in the IL-MO bi-state area, and I did not even begin to scratch the surface. Even if Tara and I didn't love this city and have other reasons to come back, I would want to come back to delve into the city's amazing beer offerings.

After a good Mexican dinner at home, the Ev and I caught a bus downtown. The public transportation infrastructure is so good there that I imagine the DUI statistics are fairly low. I know we were glad by the end of the evening that we didn't have to drive. We started out at Deschute's Brewery.

Deschutes had a cool tap room with a lot of wood carvings. The bar was a little cramped, but it was Friday night after all. Luckily Evan and I managed to get two bar seats right away. We ordered up a sampler tray so that we could try as many beers as possible without getting belligerently drunk. In our flight was Cascade Ale, Inversion IPA, Obsidian Stout, Alma NWPA, Hop in the Dark Cascadian Dark Ale, and Fresh Squeezed IPA. The Cascade Ale was the total definition of a session beer. At 4.5% ABV, it was light but with enough of a hop character to make me want to keep drinking it. The Inversion IPA was a decent IPA and is more of what I consider a session beer for myself (anything under 7% for me, this one clocking in at 6.8%). It was a typical Northwest IPA: citrusy and crisp. The Obsidian Stout was one that I wish I could have tried from a bottle. The carbonation was off, but it seemed as if it might have held some promise. The Alma NWPA (North West Pale Ale) seemed as if it would have been better with food than a stand-alone pint. It was well balanced which is something that I look for in a beer if I am eating while I drink it. Regardless, I think it could have benefited from more of a hop character, but that could just be the hop head in me. I liked the Hop in the Dark Cascadian Dark Ale. As the name hinted at, the concept was kind of like a shot in the dark (a shot of espresso in a cup of coffee). The beer was very dark in color which suggested a malty brew, but it was absolutely loaded with hops. The dark malts balanced out the hops well, and it sat at around 70 IBUs. With a great hop flavor and 6.9% ABV, I could drink this beer all night. As much as I liked this one, I liked the next even better. The Fresh Squeezed IPA was just what the name suggested. It was a total citrus bomb with a wet-hopped flavor that generally only comes around harvest time. At 60 IBUs and 6.5% ABV, I wish I could have sat around a bit longer and tried the cask of it they had that evening. As it was, I'm glad the one full pint (or snifter rather) that I drank was the Hop Henge Batch 8. Tons of Northwest hops gave this imperial IPA a complex taste and aroma. This was definitely not a session beer, and it was a good one to finish our visit with. I was able to walk off its effects by the time we got to our next destination. All told, Deschutes had a decent establishment and some pretty decent beers. They reminded me of a slightly better Schlafly of Portland: decent brews with the occasional gem.

Our next stop was Bailey's tap room, and we liked it so much that we decided to forgo three other visits that were planned for the evening. Bailey's had twenty taps, one of which was a beer that I had just been telling Evan how much I enjoy on our walk over: Dogfish Head's Festina Peche. Festina Peche is one of my absolute favorite beers. It is a neo-Berliner Weiss (my second-favorite style of beer next to IPA) and is infused with peaches although the fruit is very subtle in both the aroma and flavor. It is slightly sweet, more tart, and perfectly refreshing. It also sits at only 4.5% which makes it the perfect session beer. Even when we had samplers or other beers in front of us, I always had a pint of this that I was drinking.

Our sampler consisted of Green Flash Le Freak, Natian Hint o' Mint, Caldera Mogli, Laughing Dog Rocket Dog, and Oakshire Perfect Storm. Two of these can be dismissed, two were tasty mostly because of their novelty (but good nevertheless), and one was fan-damn-tastic. The Rocket Dog and Perfect Storm were not so great. Rocket Dog was a rye IPA, but it paled in comparison--no pun intended--to others in the same category such as Founder's Red's Rye and Lenny's R.I.P.A. I might be being too harsh on the Perfect Storm because I don't remember it too much, but that alone tells me I must not have thought much of it if I didn't even take notes on it. The Green Flash Le Freak was one I had had before, but I wanted the Ev to try it. It is a very exact combination of Belgian trippel and West Coast IPA. I cannot give it a better description. You probably haven't had a beer like it, but you should. Your palate deserves it. The Natian Hint o' Mint was interesting. It was not a misnomer. It was a pale ale with a hint of mint--not something I would want to drink a lot of, but the three-ounce glass was enough to tell us it was tasty. The Caldera Mogli was the one beer (besides the Festina Peche) that kept us at Bailey's. Caldera makes a good canned IPA, but I had no idea they were capable of such a fantastic beer. Mogli is an imperial porter, and it is everything I want in a dark and stout beer. The aroma tells you what you are getting into right away: chocolate, espresso, vanilla, and even a bit of tobacco and cherries for good measure. It rivals Founder's Breakfast Stout, and coming from me, that is saying something. We finished our time at Bailey's by barely playing one of their many selections of board games, instead talking and laughing like we unfortunately don't get to do as often as we both would like.

Realizing the time, we quickly paid our tab so we could make the bus to our final destination of the evening. Evan and Kristen have the fortune of living a very short walk from a great public house of Lompoc Brewery's. We made it just in time for last call of food and alcohol. We quickly ordered two pints of their excellent imperial pale ale which is labeled C-Note because it is filled with Crystal, Cluster, Cascade, Chinook, Centennial, Columbus, and Challenger hops. At 100 IBUs, it packs a punch. We also decided to indulge in the largest portion of their most popular sampler. The aptly-named Tater Totchoes were a heaping pile of fried tater tots covered in cheese, tomatoes, jalapenos, black olives, onions, salsa, and sour cream. The image above does not do it justice. We made short work of it as by that time we were both ravenous and a little tipsy. While we were eating, the bartender (who happened to randomly be from Caseyville, IL) brought us some "dessert beers." All I remember is one was called Hoppily Ever After and the other was dark. My palate was shot after the totchoes and night on the town.

After the short walk back to the apartment, we cracked open a couple Session Blacks from Full Sail and watched an episode of the wonderfully funny new FX series Louie. Louis C.K. is one of the funniest (and most vulgar) comedians you will ever encounter, and you are doing yourself a disservice if you don't check him and his show out.

Now that I have sufficiently bored you with my geekiness (this time pertaining to beer), I must rest. Tomorrow I hope to tell you all about all the fun we had on Saturday seeing the natural beauty of Oregon and visiting Hopworks Urban Brewery. I also hope to have some pictures up. So, as always,

I'm all in.