It Must Be Widmer Week

Last weekend I wrote up my ode to the Widmer Gasthaus, not knowing that more news was on the way from John and Jeff about Widmer's brewery expansion and next winter's seasonal. It also came out that Widmer took two golds in the World Beer Cup, for their Hefeweizen and for their Pale Ale -- is that the W'07? Then there was Widmer meet-the-brewer at the Green Dragon on Tuesday, but before I could turn that experience into blogging gold, the Widmer brothers popped up again, announcing that they'll help promote the start of National Bike Month May 1 by racing one another across Portland, Kurt in a car and Rob on a bike. I guess this is just Widmer Week.

The meet-the-brewer was interesting as always. Here's a picture of one of the Widmer brewers, Doug Rehberg (second from left). To his left is Kerry Finsand, a Portland beer writer who's developing the Portland Beer Wiki; on the right are my buddies Corey -- himself a recent meet-the-brewer brewer -- and Matias. Doug told us he's been with the company for fourteen years -- that's job satisfaction for you.

Judging from the color of the beers, I think Doug has Widmer's Belgian Golden, Corey has the KGB Russian Imperial Stout, and Matias has an Old Embalmer Barleywine. It wasn't the barrel-aged KGB that they sometimes have, but it stood on its own and really didn't need the bells and whistles. It was a delicious chewy stout. The Embalmer was fantastic also, not the wildest barleywine at 9.5%, but it had the classic American hoppy barleywine flavor. A fourth keg was on tap also, the Broken Halo IPA. I wish they'd brought a keg of Hefeweizen so that people like me could stop boasting that the Green Dragon had never served it.

Since Lee had asked whether Broken Halo was endangered by the hop shortage, I went ahead and posed that question to Doug. The answer was pretty much what I expected -- they keep everything lined up ahead of time and they're not sweating it. Doug had another tidbit of information for us -- the promotion of the W'06 NW Red to winter seasonal means that Snow Plow won't be bottled this year. It's logical enough, but sometimes you have to hit me over the head with these things. Every now and then I was in just the right mood to enjoy a Snow Plow, but I like the Red better. If you can't wait for winter, the NW Red is on tap at the Gasthaus right now -- so is the Old Embalmer, by the way.

Side note: the Green Dragon never fails to amuse. There was no way I was leaving without trying Fort George's Oatmeal Pale Ale. It was drinkable, kind of tangy with quite a bit of hops on top. They probably aren't going to add OPA to the beer-judging categories, but I'm glad to see brewers push the boundaries like that.

But I Already Know the Brewer

Tuesday night the Pub Night neighbors and friends headed over to the Green Dragon for Meet the Brewer. It was an exciting time, because the brewer to be met was our friend Corey who brews at McMenamins' Cornelius Pass Roadhouse. Even the wives showed up -- except Amy, stuck out in the bayou -- so you know it was a big night. The Green Dragon has done a smashing job with the Meet the Brewer series, and I'm especially grateful that they chose Tuesday for it, since that's my habitual night out.

I'll be honest, I'm not so gregarious that I need to meet a brewer every week. What attracts me is that the gig includes three kegs of whatever they want to show off. We almost had to settle for two choices last Tuesday: McMenamins' uses a non-standard keg that requires special fittings, and one of them delivered to the Green Dragon didn't work. Luckily, Corey lives nearby and was able to grab a spare from his place, so we got to try all three: Rose City Til I DiePA -- the lovely double IPA that took second place at this year's Battle of the Belt -- as well as Testament Double Red Ale and Evolution Amber Ale.

Evolution is very sessionable, as they say nowadays -- you could enjoy a few of these and not damage yourself too badly. It's not too strong, about 4.7%, flavorful, cloudy and rich, a little bit sweet. Corey originally called it an Alt, but I think the Amber Ale is a good description. I may be a little confused about Alts, because every time I try one I think, "I'm not sure that's an Alt". My dim recollection from a trip to Germany several years ago was of a dark beer, light in body and alcohol, with almost no hop or yeast flavor. Evolution is different from most of that, although it's true that it's light in alcohol and not overly hoppy.

The Testament Double Red is something that I've tasted from a growler before, and even though it was a couple days in the fridge at that point, it reminded me of Ninkasi's Believer. Come to find out, Corey reveals that Believer was indeed the inspiration for Testament -- I apologize if this sentence causes Google to bring the whole Sunday School class to a beer blog -- and Testament lives up to its forebear. It was full-bodied and all flavor, flowery with just enough bitterness. Tuesday night's keg was dry-hopped then aged for three months.

As a member of the Timbers Army -- the most rabid fans of the Portland Timbers soccer team -- Corey had to name his 9.5% Double IPA "Rose City 'Til I DiePA", after one of the Army's chants. Sad to say, I've never been to a game, but I'll gladly drink the signature beverage. It's along the lines of classic northwest big IPAs. As I was sipping one Tuesday night, I fancied that I could pick out the various tastes of it one at a time -- now the malt, then the hops, then the alcohol -- like picking out the separate notes of a musical chord. Delicious.

For a sedentary person like me, who feels a sense of defeat on any day when I find myself driving or riding in a car, the Cornelius Pass Roadhouse is not going to be on my regular circuit. We get an occasional taste of Corey's beers at the Broadway McMenamins', though some of them -- like RCTIDPA -- are only served at CPR. So, another tip of the hat to Green Dragon for bringing in some brews that are otherwise out of my reach.

Block 15: First Taste

Block 15 is a new brewpub in Corvallis, just opened this year. The Green Dragon gave us a first taste of three of their beers Tuesday night as part of their Meet the Brewers series. Aboriginale, whose business card is pictured here, was my favorite of the three. Purists may balk, since it isn't brewed to a particular style, but those of us who just want a tasty beer will be satisfied with a strong Northwestern Ale like this. The dry-hopping adds a really nice touch, there's a lot of flowery aroma in it. I'd like to have this beer again sometime: I hope they took enough notes -- and have enough hops -- to be able to brew something close to it again.

Fat Monk Dubbel was Block 15's Belgian-styled offering. Here's where it comes in handy to try things at the Green Dragon -- they're likely to have other beers of the same style flowing to compare to. Brett got a glass of Double Mountain's Little John Dubbel; I only had sips of both, but I liked Block 15's better. That's no mean feat, Double Mountain brews some great stuff -- they're part of the charmed class of '07, after all. Fat Monk probably won't blow you away, especially if you already have a favorite Abbey Ale, but it was true to style, with a nice esthery taste.

The Printmaster Pale Ale -- the name comes from the brewery's location in an old newspaper building -- was decent enough, but certainly wasn't breaking any new ground. Of course, drinking a pint of big hoppy Aboriginale first is a little unfair, the lighter ale just can't compete.

Sadly, I got to the pub a little too late to actually meet the brewers; John Foyston must have gotten there on time, because he has a better-illustrated and more people-oriented write-up. Fellow Pub Nighters Lindsey and Brett also talked to the brewers a bit; they report that the hop shortage is going to hit Block 15 hard since they're just getting off the ground, and didn't have contracts in place for the future. Hopefully it will just be a small bump in the road, because the first taste is very promising.

Update [2008/03/19]: See the comment below by Nick Arzner, the owner and assistant brewer. They do have hop contracts in place for the next couple years. It's just that they won't distribute much beyond their own pub because of high demand at the pub. That's the kind of problem you like to have.

Good Times at the Green Dragon

Wow! The Green Dragon has really come into its own. Pub night was there Tuesday night for the "Meet the Brewer" session with Ninkasi's Jamie Floyd (more about Ninkasi lower down). It had been a few weeks since I'd been to the Dragon, and I'm really impressed at how it's shaping up. They even have pinball machines.

From Day One, they had an impressive draft beer selection. Actually, it's hard to describe the draft selection, because the 20 taps are always changing, but the consistent thread running through the choices is that every tap is special -- very few of the beers they serve are on tap anywhere else in town. It's serious beer nerd territory here. Not a single tap is wasted on Hef or Black Butte or even Laurelwood Red -- all decent enough beers, but they're available everywhere. At the Green Dragon, the regional beers are often from breweries I hadn't heard of before (!) or, if I've heard of the brewery, the beer style is one that no one else pours. The imports are stylish choices like Dupont's Avec les bons Voeux, or Kulmbacher Schwarzbier, or the J.W. Lees Harvest Ale. I don't really like the J.W. Lees -- too sweet -- but my hat's off to them for serving it.

Last spring the pub night gang was sitting outside of Roots when Lolo, one of the Green Dragon owners, wandered over and gave us some stickers. He told us about the pub they were planning in the old Yamhill Brewing space, including the plan to mostly serve rarities. We were excited to hear about a new place in the neighborhood. But after it opened, I didn't really warm up to the Dragon. The space seemed a little haphazard, and I was concerned that the pretty glasses they sold "pints" in were more in the 12 oz. range. There didn't ever seem to be too much of a crowd in there, and I was afraid the Green Dragon was just going to be a flash in the pan.

I've been straightened out on all three of those quibbles, and now I can picture myself spending quite a bit of time there. The space feels better now, they have more tables than they did, they slapped some brighter paint on the walls, and -- most important of all -- there is a well-lit dartboard set up in a good place. As for the pints, Jeff at Beervana has pronounced the Green Dragon's glasses to hold 15 ounces, which, while not a pint, is close enough for me, given the quality selection and knowledgeable servers. Finally, the crowd that filled the place Tuesday convinced me that they're going to hang in there. Food's good, too. The spicy meatloaf sandwich with gravy and fries set me up pretty well.

Eventually Lolo will be brewing his own beer onsite. Just one more thing to look forward to.

Ninkasi Night

It was nice to meet the Ninkasi brewer, Jamie Floyd, on Tuesday. (He's not in this grainy photograph, that's the pub-nighter table from Tuesday.) As mentioned previously, Ninkasi sprang onto the scene last year with some excellent beers. Jamie says he's happy just being a brewery as opposed to having a pub attached, and it seems to be working out -- the beer is all over Portland now.

The attraction Tuesday was Ninkasi's new Dunkelweizen, which was delicious. It's lighter in color than the typical German Dunkelweizen, but it has the classic yeasty/sour taste and esthery aroma. Higgins has it on tap right now also.

Another nice surprise was Jamie's version of Spank Dog Pale Ale, a recipe from Eugene's Wild Duck Brewery, which must have gone out of business about the time I arrived in Oregon. The Spank Dog was malty and tasty with almost a fruity taste. It reminded me of something I've had, but I couldn't quite put a finger on it.