De Struise Meet the Brewer at Hair of the Dog

Urbain Coutteau (photo: Teresa Culp)

I haven't been paying very close attention to the beer events happening around me lately, so I was glad to get an email from Brian Thursday morning that there would be a meet-the-brewer that evening at Hair of the Dog with Urbain Coutteau of Belgium's De Struise brewery.  The event featured a tap takeover with eight De Struise beers seldom tapped in these parts, and since Hair of the Dog lies directly between my office and home, it was an easy call.

This was the most fun I've had at a meet-the-brewer in a long time.  The beers were great, and Hair of the Dog's wide open space made things very comfortable.  Urbain was orbiting the bar area, stopping to chat with clusters of people who dragged him over to talk about beer.  He told us he's been here about a week, but that HotD brewer Alan Sprints kept him busy brewing much of the time.  He'll have to return another time to see more of Portland.

Belgian beer is held in such reverence here that we sometimes miss some of the fun in their brewery names.  "De Struise Brouwers" means "The Sturdy Brewers" -- already a lighthearted name along the lines of "Gigantic" -- but there is also a pun involved because "struise" can mean "ostrich".  (The brewery that brought this situation to light for me was De Proef, whose self-deprecating name means something like "The Test Brewery".)

The beers that were on were:

• Witte
• Svea IPA
• Elliot Brew (Mikkeller collaboration double IPA)
• XXX Rye Tripel
• Tsjeesus Tripel
• Pannepot Quadrupel
• Pannepot Reserva (barrel-aged)
• Pannepeut Quadrupel

My favorite of the bunch was the regular Pannepot, which the brewer himself described as "a punch in the face".  It does have tons of dark roast and esthery Belgian flavors, which I felt like were diminished too much in the barrel-aged version.  Pannepeut -- a drier, lighter-bodied version of Pannepot originally brewed as Pannepøt for a festival in Copenhagen -- was a subtler version that was still very interesting.  Urbain said he thinks of it as a more traditional abbey ale than the heavy-handed Pannepot. 

The Svea IPA seemed to me to have a lot in common with Hair of the Dog Fred -- both of them being quite hoppy but nicely balanced beers on the sweet end of the spectrum -- even though it's only about 75% the strength.  On the other hand, I thought the Elliot Brew -- I can't believe I'm about to type this -- overdid the hops.  It wasn't terrible, but a little more balance would have made it better.

Urbain seemed uncomfortable at first when I asked him what he and Alan brewed this week, so I asked if the beers were clones of De Struise recipes, and he said, "Well, pretty close, but with Hair of the Dog's hopping schedule".  Alan was more direct in proclaiming their lineage, telling me they brewed Pannepot and Pannepeut, and that he plans to barrel age some of the Pannepot to recreate De Struise's Pannepot Reserva.

This was a nice low-key event that I'm glad I didn't miss out on.  Now if we can only convince De Struise to send us a keg of their 26% ABV Double Black...

Meet Mt. Tabor Brewing

Another couple of nano-brewers have been subjected to my poor cellphone photography skills.  That's Eric and Brian of Mt. Tabor Brewing, who brought a record-setting four varieties of their beer to the Beermongers for a meet-the-brewer event Wednesday evening.  I had never tried any of their beers, so I was pleased to get to sample their Asylum Avenue IPA, Tabor Special Bitter, Calf Stout, and Soapbox Blonde.

My favorite was the TSB, lighter in color than what I'd expect from an ESB, but a nice quaffable ale with a mild fruitiness and restrained hopping.  I love hops, but there's a time and a place for them, and it's nice to have a bitter that's not too bitter.  On the other end of the hop spectrum, their Calf Stout had tons of hops -- Eric said that it has a theoretical 128 IBUs -- but maintains its stouty balance.  Interesting beer: it's the second run from a Russian Imperial Stout they brewed, and still clocks in at 5.3%.  Nice job with the Reduce/Reuse/Recycle.  It's not a milk stout -- the "calf" had people asking -- they call it that because its imperial Papa is called Sibeerian Bull Stout.  I liked the Calf Stout a lot.

Mt. Tabor beers are rare enough that -- as I said -- this was my first sample of them.  So where can you find them?

• Canton Grill (SE 82nd and Division) -- Chinese-American restaurant run by Brian's in-laws
• Vintage Cocktail Lounge (SE 79th and Stark) -- always has 2 or 3 taps from MTB.
• The Farm Cafe (SE 7th and Burnside) -- locavore food place that usually has a Mt. Tabor tap

The brewers mentioned that the Beermongers keg of the Calf was the offspring of a custom order of the imperial stout that a fan ordered for his wedding.  That's the stage Mt. Tabor is at right now -- if you want a custom brew for a special occasion, call them up and they're likely to make you a deal.

Cheers to Beermongers and Brewpublic for arranging this meet-the-brewer.  And don't forget to support your local nano.

Cheater Pints Must Die

This picture illustrates what a menace cheater pints are, though I wish it had a better view of the glass bottoms.  These are two sibling 12-ounce bottles of Deschutes Red Chair, one poured into the cheater pint glass on the left, the other poured into the 16-ounce pint glass on the right.

For some reason the pint glass pour didn't get a head on it, either because there was water (soap?) on the glass, or because I instinctively used the no-head pour I learned in college instead of the modern beer-geek style.  But look at Dave's cheater glass.  If you get a cheater pint with a one-finger head that reaches the rim, you've been served a 12-ounce beer.  Cheater pint + head = 12 ounce beer.

Cheater pints must die.

In related Honest Pint news:

• Jeff has local news video from my dear home state of Oklahoma, where some local ladies sporting pink Honest Pint Project T-shirts are patrolling the bars of OKC.
• Alan ran across an article in PMQ Pizza Magazine -- too much free time, Alan? -- advising pizzeria owners to take advantage of the "evolution of the 14-ounce pint glass".
• The purveyor of the most honest pints in Oregon, Ted Sobel of Brewers Union 180, is in Portland for rare appearances tonight (Thursday, May 27) at the Green Dragon, and tomorrow at Belmont Station.

Since Ted's cask beer is only available in Portland when he himself delivers and serves it (!), you should try and get out to one of these tastings if you can.  Too bad the Green Dragon doesn't serve honest pints -- at Ted's pub in Oakridge the English pint glasses have a fill-line marked at 20 ounces -- but at least you're guaranteed 16 at Belmont Station.

Resurrected Beer Styles

A few nights ago at Spints Alehouse I noticed that they had a 33 cl bottle of Leipziger Gose from Bayerischer Bahnhof on the menu. I've been trying the Portland-brewed Goses from Upright and Cascade -- actually, all of them at once at Brewpublic's Gose Solstice celebration in December -- but had never tried a German one. Bottles of the Bayerischer seemed to elude me, so I was excited that Spints had them. It was quite nice, thirst-quenching and appetizing.  The slight tartness was balanced by the very slight saltiness, and the coriander enhanced the faintly herbal flavor.  Upright and the lighter Cascade versions mimic this one pretty closely, though of course Upright's farmhouse yeast contributes its own herbal notes.

The story behind this beer is fascinating.  Originally brewed in the German town of Goslar -- a UNESCO World Heritage Site and an interesting place to visit, by the way -- the style really caught on in Leipzig before dying out in the 20th century.  The salt in the recipe is apparently there to mimic the taste of the water from Goslar's wells.  Angelo has a really nice post about the history of the style and the local Goses. More background from Jeff here.  And here's a very comprehensive article by Ron Pattinson.

Originally this post was going to be about last night's Fort George meet-the-brewer at the Green Dragon, except that three other bloggers beat me to the punch and wrote it up better than I would have.  But there is a tie-in to this article, because Fort George's Oyster Stout -- called Murky Pearl -- was one of the attractions last night.  Oyster Stouts are another style that was dead or dying, but is making a comeback.  The two I've had, Fort George's and Upright's -- gee Alex, what style can you resurrect next month? -- are not noticeably fishy at all.  At most, there's a slightly briny aftertaste.  They're both worth seeking out; I give a slight edge to Upright's, which will be out in bottles next week.  For more background, read Ezra's excellent article about Oyster Stouts.  The picture here is of Fort George brewer Chris Nemlowill and his wife Zetty McKay.  Zetty is the Coffee Girl that Chris named Coffee Girl Stout after.

These are the "dead" beer styles I can think of that have been brought back to life in our times:

• Gose
• Oyster Stout
• Adambier (Hair of the Dog Adam)
• Witbier (Pierre Celis resurrected this at Hoegaarden)

Any other ones that you can think of?

Full Sail Beer Belly

Carla and I had a great time at East Burn's Beer Belly Dinner last night. It was the one-year anniversary of the dinners, so they brought back Full Sail's John Harris as the guest brewer, since he did the first such dinner.  A new beer was previewed, Hop Pursuit Extra Pale Ale,  and I got to try the Pilsner Room exclusive Slainte Stout for the first time.  The appetizer courses matched up well with the two lagers of the evening: Session Black and LTD 1, and of course any night is a good night if the dessert is served with barrel-aged Top Sail Imperial Porter.

Hop Pursuit is a nice biscuity pale that John said was his way of getting back to his brewing roots, with the "old-school hops" that were all he had to work with early in his brewing career:  Willamettes, Mt. Hoods, and Cascades.  It will be out in 22-ounce bottles in a few months as part of the Brewmaster's Reserve series.  There are lots of flowery hops in there, but it's not overly bitter.  Nice stuff.

These Beer Belly dinners are a great deal, $35 a head for five wonderful courses paired with beer.  The setting on the East Burn's patio is pleasant and relaxing, especially if you get one of the tables with porch-swing seats. Best of all, the proceeds from the dinners benefit a worthy cause: Ride On, the non-profit organization that will drive you and your car home for a small fee if you've had too much to drink.

I foolishly forgot to bring a camera, so all I got were some blurry cellphone pictures.  Blurry and dark -- it wasn't until the cheese course that I figured out the night-photo feature of my new phone.  I wish I could show you the massive pork chops we were served, or the delicious pork-belly skewers candied and dusted with Indian spices.  [Update: A generous reader is willing to share her pictures of the dinner. Check out those courses.] Last night's menu was very pork-o-centric, but I noticed that a diner at the next table was provided with vegetarian replacements, so I suppose if you call ahead they'll accommodate you.

Next month's dinner features San Francisco's 21st Amendment Brewery.  Good food, good beer, good deal, all for a good cause.

That Was a Busy Week

Last week was a blur of beer activities. Throughout the week, I was on my October mission to sample as many fresh-hop beers as I could, ramping up to the Fresh Hop Tastival at Oaks Park on Saturday. It was a beautiful day to hang out with friends and neighbors and all their ankle-biters. And here's a big "Happy Birthday" to the blog Brewpublic -- the Killer Beer Fest at Bailey's Saturday night to celebrate one year of Brewpublicanism was a blast.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. The madness really started on Wednesday, when Alan Sprints brought some big Hair of the Dog brews to the Green Dragon for meet the brewer. This year's Cherry Adam from the Wood and Doggie Claws were probably too young to drink by HotD standards, but it was nice to try them. It was my first taste of the Cherry Adam, though thanks to Brian G. I have a bottle from last year stashed in the basement. The Green Dragon bungled the event, only announcing it the day before, but the usual suspects made it out, as covered by Brewpublic.

Thursday I finally made it to Belmont Station for their Fresh Hop Week. It's great to see so many fresh-hop beers on tap at once, and Belmont is a nice, relaxed place to do some experimenting. I think the only beers they had that didn't show up at the Tastival were Oakshire's Conundrum (Cascadian Dark) and the Crystal Hop variant of Full Sail Lupulin. They also had the Cascade Hop Lupulin, and I believe they're still on, so if you want to try them side-by-side, get on in there.

I already mentioned the Saturday Tastival. There were no astonishing new beers to displace fresh-hopped Mirror Pond from the throne as the best fresh-hop beer of 2009. I thought the Santiam Hop Harvest from Three Creeks was nicely done -- a light ale that let the freshness shine through. Astoria's Hoptimus Prime 2.0 was a nice hop bomb, one of those like Double Mountain's Killer Green that is an awesome beer that clobbers the fresh-hop flavor. Pelican's Elemental Ale was bitter and tasty, though Lindsey was put off by what he called a "coconut" flavor. Caldera was a no-show in Portland: I would have liked to try their Alpha Beta.

One interesting thing was to note the similarly cabbagey taste of the two beers brewed with Mt. Hood hops: Rock Bottom Hoodwinked and Golden Valley Mt. Hood Fresh Hop. That's the flavor that turns some people away from fresh-hopped beers: it made our group wonder if that particular hop might be a bad choice.

The Brewpublic party at Bailey's Taproom Saturday night gave me a chance to try a couple of hard-to-find fresh hop beers -- Vertigo's Midnight Harvest, and the fabulous Wet-Hop Amber from Standing Stone. But as impressive as the beer list was, it was the crowd that really made the party. Portland's beer-obsessed turned out in droves to congratulate Angelo and Margaret on a terrific first year. Brewpublic does an excellent job reporting on Oregon beer, including some nice in-depth interviews with brewers and other beer characters. It's become such a fixture in Portland's blogosphere that someone I was talking to said "It seems like it's always been there", and it's really true. Happy First, Brewpublic, and keep up the good work!

Meet Barley Brown's Brewer

Wednesday night Belmont Station hosted a meet-the-brewer with Barley Brown's, an award-winning brewpub way out in Baker City. Shawn Kelso (on the right) brought four beers for us to try, including his Armstrong Double Gold, whose name understandably intrigued Abe Goldman-Armstrong, pictured here with Shawn. Turns out the beer was named for a famous gold nugget residing at the U.S. Bank in Baker City. Since it was first served a few years ago while the Tour de France was on, it also pays homage to Lance Armstrong, and now Shawn says he's got a third reason for the name.

The Double Gold -- made partly with rye -- was tasty with a little hops on top of very strong alcohol. A unique and interesting beer, I can't think of another one to compare it to. It was my favorite of the evening, partly because of the sheer novelty of it, but it won't appeal to everyone. If you like some hops, you might be safer going with one of the two Barley Brown's IPAs -- they're classics of the Northwest IPA genre. The WFO IPA is along the lines of a Lagunitas IPA or Ninkasi Total Domination; the Tank Slapper Double IPA was stronger and maltier, but not necessarily hoppier.

Belmont's menu described Barley Brown's Double Whisky Ale like this: "It's not Barrel aged, but the flavors and aromas will make you think it is". At 9.5%, it was another big beer -- I guess you'd call it an Old Ale. It's brewed with smoked rye, and definitely did have a boozy flavor. Quite tasty.

So far Belmont Station has been the only place in town to bring in some Barley Brown's beer. It's not likely to be a regular occurrence, so you may have to make the five-hour drive to try more of Shawn's products. I hope to do that myself during our family vacation this summer as we pass by on I-84.

Corey's off to Bend

Pub Night chum Corey Blodgett is moving on from the McMenamins Cornelius Pass Roadhouse, where he built quite a following for his seasonal and special brews. Since his fiancée Anastasia got a good job in Bend, he's moving out there. He's hired on as the summer-season brewer at McMenamins' St. Francis School.

Wednesday was Corey's final Last Wednesday beer tasting at the CPR, so we had to make the trek out there to help drain some special kegs and send Corey off with a bang. It takes a lot to get me out of my comfortable Southeast Portland beer cocoon, but thankfully Dave was man enough to drive Lindsey and me out there. It's in Scott's neck of the woods, so he met us there also.

Corey brought out some treasures:

• Rose City Til I DiePA: year-old double IPA aged on oak chips
• May Day Mild Ale: cask-conditioned English Mild served by gravity
• Sasquatch Strong Ale: the Glen Falconer recipe, but aged 6 weeks in a whiskey barrel
• Evolution Altbier: easy-drinking amber ale
• Beatnik Saint: delicious Biere de Garde

The Beatnik Saint was the star of the evening. The picture shows Corey handing out a glass of that. It's a beautiful, hearty ale made partly with wheat, just slightly tart with a tiny bit of esthery flavor. The aged Sasquatch was interesting. Corey thinks the barrel might have had some wild yeasties living in it, because it got a little sour in the barrel. It wasn't as good as the pure Sasquatch that he brought to the Green Dragon a few weeks ago, but it was interesting enough for me to bring a small growler home. The huge malty flavor of the beer was enough to balance a little sourness and a little whiskey.

Rose City is always a fine choice, and Evolution is a pleasant session beer. But the real session beer champion Wednesday was the Mild. It was a fabulously flavorful dark mild, coming out of the firkin almost completely flat. If I had a firkin of that at home, I'd give up on water, especially seeing as how the grains were all organically grown. Even with the low alcohol, it didn't seem thin, and even tingled a little on the tongue. My pint was almost gone before I'd even paid for it.

Try a taste of Corey's Zen Lunatic at Cheers for Belgian Beers today and tomorrow. All I can say is, our loss is Bend's gain. Auld lang syne, Corey! We'll take a cup of kindness yet.

Upright Brewing's First Firkin

Tuesday evening Belmont Station offered a special treat: the first public tasting of a beer from Portland's newest brewery, Upright Brewing. Upright, located just north of the Rose Garden on the tiny piece of Broadway that lies in the 5th Quadrant, is one of the growing number of Oregon breweries that are avoiding the restaurant business, choosing instead to distribute kegs and do a little bottling. The owner-brewer, Alex Ganum, is on the left in this picture, next to ex-Lompoc brewer Lem and Pub Night stalwart Charles.

The Upright brew served up Tuesday night on Belmont's cask engine was Studebacher Hoch Strong Ale, a dark, malty confection with some extra hops in the firkin. Put it in the "dangerous" category -- its smooth roastiness completely disguised its 8% strength. Alex intends to focus on more session-style beers at Upright -- 4% to 5% -- so he was dubious about debuting with the strong ale, not wanting to give people the wrong idea. The Studebacher was brewed to be aged in barrels until winter, but after his barrels were full he had exactly one keg's worth left. A friend had an extra firkin lying around, and convinced Alex to fill it and sell it to Belmont Station. It was meant to be.

The first thing you notice about the Studebacher is its maltiness. I think the beer it reminded me the most of is Eel River's Triple Exultation, but with less alcohol and hops. I fancied that there was a yeasty flavor there also, not a flowery Abbey yeast, but a little fresh-dough vapor. That might just be my imagination, suggested by Alex's open-fermentation methods -- something no one else in Portland is doing. At any rate, it was quite tasty; I'll be interested to try the barrel-aged version in a few months.

Alex said the first Upright beer we'll see around town will probably be a wheat beer made with a saison yeast. Talking about his goal of high-flavor, low-alcohol beers, he said he enjoys tweaking the noses of Portland beer geeks by saying that the beer he would most like to emulate is Widmer Hefeweizen. It's no joke: Alex says one of the best bets in town is to sit down at the Gasthaus and have a fresh, unfiltered Hef -- tasty, balanced, and not too strong -- poured right at its birthplace. He has a point. The supermarket bottles of Hef are quite dull, but fresh on tap -- with, say, your favorite Lebanese dinner -- it's another animal entirely. It will be a big win for Portland if Upright comes up with similarly food-friendly, drinkable beers like that.

The Belmont Station Biercafe has really been whipping it lately with interesting beers from smaller Oregon breweries. Even though it's just part of their priestly mission, I have to award them community service points for offering us this early preview of Upright.

For further reading, Angelo has a nice backgrounder on Alex with a short interview.

New Stuff at the Green Dragon

It's always a shame when a pub takes down their dartboard. Dave and I were planning to throw some darts at the Green Dragon last night during the New Old Lompoc meet-the-brewer, but the board was gone. I was astonished by what took its place: a row of 30 gleaming beer taps! No, it won't be a self-service area. At some point a second bar will be installed there, and the new taps will serve up the house-made brews and others from around the Rogue Empire.

Now that I look at my pictures from the Firkin Fest last weekend, I see the taps were there. I didn't notice them at the time; maybe they've been there for a while? It's a nice development, but I hope the Dragon will find a new place for the dartboard. They should move the little-used shuffleboard and put three or four dartboards up along that wall.

A few more Green Dragon innovations to report:

• A cask-conditioned offering
• Growlers filled again
• A selection of bottled beer
• Beer souvenirs for sale

The first cask to go on the new beer engine is Hopworks IPA. The growler refill price is complete madness: $17-$18 depending on the beer (six-pack equivalent: $19.12-20.25). No thank you. I didn't pay much attention to the bottles in the cooler, but I think they had a few Rogue offerings and some spendy Belgians. It looked like they had a to-go price and a drink-here price.

The souvenir stand is interesting: you can get the hat and t-shirt not only for Rogue places, but for a few other Oregon breweries -- I seem to recall seeing Amnesia merchandise as well as Full Sail. That's team spirit! As far as I can tell, merchandise is the only discount that you can get at the Green Dragon by flashing your Rogue Nation identity papers.

Just a quick note about the Lompoc tasting. The braggot they brought was interesting, but not something I'd reach for very often. There was an antiseptic smell and taste to it that might have been intentional or might not. For me the highlight of the evening was the 2007 Fresh Hop Red. I didn't expect a beer that old to keep much of the fresh-hop goodness, but it did and it was beautiful. It was a little maltier than the 2008 version they also brought. 2007 was the year of my most manic fresh-hop mission, but somehow I missed Lompoc's fresh-hop red that year. I asked the brewer Brian if it was the same beer as their Harvest Man, but he said no, that's a different brew, and the fresh hops in Harvest Man are actually ones that had already been used in another of the fresh-hop beers -- interesting concept. Mmm... fresh hop beer. Only six months to wait.

Meet Hillsboro's Vertigo Brewing

Tuesday's meet-the-brewer at the Green Dragon featured Mike Haines and Mike Kinion, the brewer-owners of Vertigo Brewing, which opened in Hillsboro last year. Rather than subject them to my poor digital photography skills, I just left the shutter open and twisted the camera to get a vertiginous portrait of them under the Dragon's harsh new neon.

They brought three beers with them: Friar Mike's IPA, High Altitude Amber, and an untitled Cream Ale. I only had a tiny taste of the Cream Ale -- a very mild starter beer -- but I was pleased with the pints of IPA and Amber I had. The IPA is well-balanced: hoppy and dense, but not an extreme-hop freakout. The amber was also very well done, malty but with a nice bitter finish. Now that I think of it, that amber seemed more like an Alt to me than the Vertigo Schwindel Alt that I had a couple weeks ago at East Burn. I panned the Schwindel at the time, so I was happy to see that the Friar Mike's and High Altitude were much tastier.

Vertigo is one of a growing number of small Oregon breweries that have decided to just brew and not have a pub attached. The Mikes said that they may eventually bottle some of their beers, but that right now they just want to brew, and the details of bottling would be a distraction. Their strategy involves sticking close to home. Instead of trying to muscle into the Portland market, they will focus on getting more tap handles in and around Hillsboro. Even so, they're happy that some of the finer establishments hereabouts are occasionally serving their brews. Definitely check them out if you see them around town.

For further reading, check out these posts by Matt and Angelo.

Eugene's Oakshire Brewing

Last night, the Pub Night gang descended on the Green Dragon's excellent new outdoor patio for meet-the-brewer with Oakshire Brewing. That's Oakshire brewer Todd Friedman in the picture, next to the clever business-card-holder tap handles. These guys didn't appear on my radar until earlier this year, when the Green Dragon poured their Amber, but according to their website they've been selling beer since late 2006. We've had an amazing run of good new breweries in Oregon these last few years.

Originally Oakshire was called Willamette Brewing, but as they got more attention they started getting cease and desist letters from Willamette Valley Vineyards. That's pretty stupid -- maybe Willamette University or Willamette Week should sue the whining winemaker. To get on with the business of making beer, the brewers changed their name to Oakshire Brewing, but then had to tweak their oak tree logo after getting a cease-and-desist from Laurelwood's lawyers, who think they invented the "tree" shape. Hey lawyers, why don't you go out and do something constructive for a change?

The Amber seems to be their signature beer. It's not bad, but of the ones I've tried so far, it seems the least interesting to me. Last night the big winners were the Watershed IPA -- which I had enjoyed at the OBF Brewers Dinner last month -- and the Overcast Espresso Stout. The stout was pitch-black, with a nice dark-brown head. Flavored with coffee from Eugene's Wandering Goat, the stout mixed with the java flavor really well. They also brought along a Hefeweizen, which was OK, but a little disappointing compared to the awesome Dunkelweizen they showed off at the Organic Brewfest this year. Or maybe it's as good as the dunkel, but I just need to drink it on a 100-degree day.

Look for their beers on tap around town -- the Green Dragon and Belmont Station seem to have them on fairly regularly. For more information, check out this interview with Todd that Portland writer Angelo De Ieso did at the same event last night -- great crowd sounds in the background.

Don't Boycott the Green Dragon

It looks like things are back on track at the Green Dragon. I don't know the reasons for Lolo's departure -- and I for one will miss seeing him there -- but Chris was back behind the bar last night. That's what had people so upset, the thought that a lot of the personality of the place had been purged overnight. You could call it a tempest in a teapot -- which is what several folks did call it right from the start.

Jim Parker is still involved with promoting and/or scheming for the Dragon even though he sold his share, and he reports that another of the original owners, Kevin, is still doing some graphics work for the pub.

Jason from Roots was there last night with family in tow for meet-the-brewer. Epic 2006, Belgian Golden, Flanders Red, Mother Pucker (Tripel aged in Pinot barrels), and the Gruit Kolsch (hop-free!). Man I love Epic. Big crowd.

There is now sidewalk seating, and a lot more bike racks! Call off the boycott.

Meet the Champion Brewmaster

Tuesday night's Meet-the-Brewer at the Green Dragon was extra-special. The meetee was Bend Brewing's Tonya Cornett, who won the Champion Brewmaster award in the "small brewpub" category at the 2008 World Beer Cup. She brought along her trophy and some excellent beers: Hop Head IIPA, Axe Head Red Ale, Paulina Pale Ale, and Blackjack bourbon-aged Porter.

The Hop Head was the clear winner with our crowd -- a thick, hazy, hoppy treat. The Red Ale was very good, less dangerous to drink than the big IIPA. Speaking of dangerous, that's a good description for the strong, dark Porter, which was tasty but very bourbony, so watch out if you don't like that.

It's not just Tonya's recent award that made the session special; it's the fact that you can rarely find any of her beers in Portland. And that's not likely to change: there are no plans to start distributing them. She said that occasionally someone from the Green Dragon or Bailey's will be passing through Bend and stop in to buy a keg. But that's it.

A few years ago Dave and I stopped in to Acme at SE 8th and Main Street (it's since been aptly renamed "Plan B"). They had a couple of beer taps named after the bar, I don't exactly remember the names, something like Acme Amber and Acme Pale. We knew they weren't brewing there, so we asked what the beer was. It was like "Who's on first?" because neither Dave nor I had heard of Bend Brewing at that point.

• "You make your own beer?"
• 
  
• "No, it's from Bend."
• 
  
• "Which brewery?"
• 
  
• "Bend."
• 
  
• "Yeah, which brewery?"
• 
  
• "BEND!"
  

I'm pretty sure Plan B doesn't still serve them, and given Tonya's comments on distribution, it looks like Bend Brewing ales will be a rare treat for us around here. Take advantage of them when you see them. For further reading on the Champion Brewmaster award, here's an Oregonian article that came out shortly after she received it.

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.