Cheers to Belgian Beers 2008

Roots hosted the 2nd Annual Cheers to Belgian Beers event Saturday, a kind of friendly competition where area brewers all brew a Belgian-style beer with the same strain of yeast. Proceeds from the festival go to charity; the public votes on their favorite beer, and the winner of that People's Choice Award hosts next year's Cheers and picks the charities.

There was such a crowd that the commemorative glasses were gone within an hour, and by the time Carla, Dave, Jill and I got there about 3 hours after the start, a couple of kegs were dry -- New Old Lompoc split their entry between two smallish kegs. Roots had room for the crowd because they're in the process of expanding into the back part of their building. All the brewing operation will move into the area in the picture here, freeing up more pub room by the front door.

It seemed to me a little overwhelming to try and make sense of 14 different Belgian-style ales all at once. Usually, the more beers on the list the happier I am, so maybe it was just the mood I was in. Or maybe it's the mystique: beers perfected by monks cloistered in remote abbeys, flavored with secret yeasts and spices, aged just so... shouldn't each one be savored -- from a specially designed glass -- and ruminated over?

There was no time for rumination, but there were some mighty fine beers on hand. I had already tried Full Sail's Dubbel, Hopworks' El Diablo, and Lompoc's Mon Cheri. El Diablo is magnificent, and I really enjoy the Full Sail (on tap the last few months at the Pilsner Room), so I was pleasantly surprised to find a few other beers that I liked at least as much as those two. My favorites were:

• Lucky Labrador: Malt Bomb Belgian (Belgian Dark Abbey): total sweetness
• Rock Bottom: Floreal Deux (Spiced Amber): nice and even
• McMenamins' CPR: Blind Abbot (Belgian Dubbel): classic Abbey
• Hopworks: El Diablo (Belgian Golden Strong): Carla says sweet and sharp
• Full Sail: Dubbel (Belgian Dubbel): very good
• Roots: Farmhouse Bruin (Belgian Brown): decent, tangy
  

My sources tell me that the Malt Bomb won the People's Choice award. I know it got half the votes at our table. It was a pretty eccentric brew -- I'm not sure the monks would recognize it -- but the extreme richness of it went well with the yeasty flavor. When I stopped the Lab's Dave Fleming to compliment him on it, he told me it was brewed by Abby Sherrill at the Hawthorne Lab -- hey, it's Abby's Abbey Ale. He also said "That's one expensive beer," alluding to the amount of malt that went into it. It's a beautiful mahogany color: check out the picture on the left. I picked up a growler of it at the Lab today; if you're lucky it might still be on tap.

Rock Bottom's entry was very tasty, as was Corey Blodgett's Blind Abbot, which got some of its flavor from carmelized raisins added to the mix. A couple of the beers I think got short-changed by the small-quick-taste format of the event: I know the Full Sail didn't taste as good to me as it does when I get to linger over a pint, and I think I need to spend more time getting to know the Roots Bruin. A couple of other beers are worth mentioning. BJ's Redrum Belgian Red Ale was pretty nice. And if you like really sour beers -- I don't -- Philadelphia's Flemish Brown seemed well done for that style.

For a second opinion, check out Jeff Alworth's review on Beervana. Our favorites overlap on the Full Sail and the Roots, and although the Laurelwood Saison d'Arduinna didn't grab me like it did him, there was nothing bad about it. But I'm scratching my head about Jeff's choice of Widmer's Belgian Golden. I'm usually a big Widmer booster, but this one left me flat. At our table, Dave pretty much summed it up with "it tastes like beer" -- there didn't seem to be much more to it than that. On the other hand, maybe it was just a casualty of so many great beers in so many tiny glasses. Many thanks to Roots for putting on a great tasting.

[Update: 2008/04/09]: The People's Choice winners have been announced! With 289 ballots counted, Lucky Lab Malt Bomb was the winner. Laurelwood Saison d'Arduinna, 2nd; Alameda Lucky Devil 3rd. Congratulations!

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.

Really Not Intended for Consumption

It happened before April Fool's Day, but someone out there came up with another prank to make fun of the Ebay beer auctions: a wax-dipped Pabst Blue Ribbon longneck for sale. When I wanted to sell my collectible Abyss bottle, I had to drink its contents to comply with Ebay rules; this guy decided instead to sell something where he could credibly claim that the bottle was worth more than the beer. Photo credit: the picture here is brazenly lifted from the auction post.

It looks like he'll fare a little better than I did on the money end of things, with $9.50 plus $20 shipping. He's got the ALL CAPS auction idiom down, with flashing sirens, dancing babies, dancing bananas, and waving U.S. and Iraqi flags -- buy this bottle or the terrorists win. He notes that PBR won the GABF 2006 Gold Medal for American Lager, but must not have noticed that just a couple of weeks ago Pabst took the gold at Portland's 2008 Spring Beer and Wine Festival. Maybe they should start holding the SBWF on April Fool's Day.