Broadway Grill and Brewery

A couple weeks ago on my way home from Zwickelmania at Breakside, I decided to pop in to the Broadway Grill and Brewery at NE 17th and Broadway.  If you're not familiar with it, it's an outpost of Multnomah Village's Old Market Pub and Brewery.  The first time I'd been to the Broadway Grill was a few years ago when some of us were over at the McMenamins on Broadway to drink some of Corey's beers.  After leaving McM's, we noticed the Grill, and since none of us had ever heard of it, we stopped in to check it out.  At that time we found that the beer was not very good.  But I've noticed that the last few times I've had an Old Market beer at a beer festival I've really enjoyed it, so I thought I would give the place a second chance.  Plus a sign hanging out front that advertised homemade chili called out to my lunch-deprived belly.

The place is basically a family-friendly sports bar -- typical pub grub and a selection of TVs scattered around with different sporting events on.  The chili was not what I hoped it would be, and the house beers I tried were a mixed bag, but there were a couple that were pretty good.  In the interest of science I got a sample tray of nine beers ($11) -- eight standards that they chose and one seasonal that I chose.  They have an impressive number of house beers on tap -- the menu lists 12 regulars, and I believe they had 4 or 5 seasonal choices the day I was there.  The beers I could see drinking again were:

• British Bombay IPA: pretty well-balanced, but still a healthy dose of hops
• Hop On!: nice IPA with a long bitter finish (the finish reminded me of Sierra Nevada's Southern Hemisphere)
• Multnomah Village Golden: kind of like flowery Hawaiian golden ales, not bad but more bitter than I expected
• Rat Dog ESB: decent enough ESB, though again a little more bitter than it had to be

Now for some beers that had problems:

• Mr. Toad's Wild Red: an attempt at a NW red that is way too malty, almost a porter
• Vienna Lager (seasonal): a little gamey, maybe not conditioned enough
• Pacific Porter: too sweet, with a strange cocoa flavor (added cocoa?)
• Mr. Slate's Gravelberry (raspberry wheat): the raspberries cover a mediciney off flavor that can't be intentional
• Great White Wheat (with obligatory lemon): same medicinal problem as Slate's, not cloudy as advertised

Now, I said the place was family friendly, but what's up with the kid's names on the beers?  Mr. Toad?  Mr. Slate (you know, from the Flintstones)?  Old Market says their beers are now 100% organic (I have to assume they are not including the hops).  They seemed to have a handle on the English ale range, but the other things I tried were not very good.  Next time I go back I need to try the beers flavored with chili peppers and apples, and I'd like to venture further into the seasonals, given the good luck I've been having with Old Market at festivals.

All in all, I'd say it's worth a visit if you're in the neighborhood or if there's a game on you want to watch.  Broad array of house beers; stick to the IPAs if you can't stand a disappointment.

Barleywine Festival 2011

I spent an even shorter time than I usually get to at the Lucky Lab Barleywine Festival last Friday, but still had tastes of some amazing beers.  One thing that kept the quality high was that I was lucky enough to sit down with some skilled palates who were about an hour ahead of me, so Ritch, Eli, Sanjay, and Lisa guided me towards the hits and away from the misses.  Don't you love beer people?

As always, it helps to arrive early, though if you only hit the festival once, you'll miss some of the offerings, since they have more kegs than taps. That's part of the fun, though.  The organization was the best I've ever seen at this festival: the program was accurate and complete from the get-go, the beer was at the right temperature, and everything went really smoothly.  Nice work, guys.

Here are my favorites, in order:

• Lucky Lab 2007 Old Yeller: classic gigantic barleywine, light fruits, long finish
• Butte Creek 2007 Train Wreck: bitter, slightly oxidized, delicious
• Ninkasi 2010 Critical Hit: strong, hoppy, well done
• North Coast 2010 Old Stock: too smooth, rounded and sweet
• Laht Neppur 2008 Blackwater: dry, light mouthfeel, mild hops, very nice

Old Yeller is always a favorite, though the early tasters at our table rejected the 2009 barrel-aged version.  The 2007 was exactly what I want in a barleywine, big flavors of every kind, including a kind of caramel or maple sweetness.  The Butte Creek and Ninkasi offerings were in the same vein.  It was kind of amazing how hoppy the Butte Creek still is 3 or 4 years old -- it must have been off the charts when it was fresh.

Old Stock is a little different variation on the barleywine theme, with the hops toned down more like English versions like Thomas Hardy or J.W. Lees.  The 2010 was delicious; I skipped the 2009 on Eli's recommendation.

Laht Neppur has turned in some not-so-good barleywines to this festival in the past, though a year or two ago at the OBF they brought a lighter beer that wasn't too bad.  The 2008 Blackwater at the festival this year was very good, and an interesting change of pace.  Lisa told us that she heard it was brewed with a wine yeast -- the brewer had originally moved to the Walla Walla area to make wine.  I don't know if that was what made it so different, but it was noticeably drier than most barleywines.

The routine was different this year than in the past.  Instead of the pub providing small taster glasses, you bought a little taster glass of your own on the way in, $9 for a glass and two tickets.  Extra tickets were $2 each.  That seems more expensive to me than I remember from years past, but maybe it's just due to the expense of the glass.  The single glass and $2 samples definitely slowed down the pace a little bit, which -- intentional or not -- is a good thing for beers this big.

The near-misses and misses for me this year were as follows:

• Oakshire 2010 Very Ill-Tempered Gnome: very malty, needs more age
• Ninkasi 2009 Critical Hit: cloudy and oxidized, didn't age well even for a year
• Upright 2009 Just Another Strong Ale: dark plummy fruit flavors, but a vinegary taste creeping in
• New Old Lompoc 2010 Upsetter Belgian Barleywine: no, no, no

That only covers about 20-25% of the beers that were at the festival!  For a little extra coverage, check out these wrap-ups from Sanjay and Jeff.  For some past perspective, here are my reports from 2009, 2008, and 2007 (did I miss it last year?).

All Ninkasi, All the Time

It's weird, sometimes the name of one brewery pops up over and over in the course of a few days. Last week, Ninkasi kept invading my consciousness:

• The brewery started shipping 6-packs of Total Domination IPA and Spring Reign Pale Ale.
• The East Burn Beer Belly Dinner for March featured Ninkasi.
• One of my favorite beers at the Lucky Lab Barleywine Festival was Ninkasi's 2010 Critical Hit.

The ticket pictured above is from a 6-pack commemorative party two Saturdays ago.  Heh heh, "drinketfaster".  Take that, Ticketbastard.  I heartily applaud Ninkasi's move to six-packs.  The $12-13 SPE price on Total Domination 22-ounce bombers always rankled me.  It looks like the six-packs are going to have a regular price of about $10, usually on sale at $9?  I'll take it, especially if Believer gets down to that price.  By the way, the other day Zupan's -- which I always think of as having ridiculous beer prices -- had Ninkasi bombers for $3 (SPE $9.82).

A few days after that, this past Thursday, Carla and I went to the Ninkasi dinner at EastBurn, hosted by brewer Jamie Floyd.  If you haven't been to one of these monthly dinners, pick a brewer you like and go to one.  $35 gets you a really nice 5-course meal, 5 or 6 beers, and congenial company on the back porch.  Proceeds benefit Ride On.  Thursday most of the Ninkasi offerings were pretty standard:  Spring Reign, Believer, Total Domination, Tricerahops.  The dessert was served with side-by-side samples of Oatis and Vanilla Oatis, the latter dry-hopped with vanilla beans, which add a delicate sweetness to the already smooth oatmeal stout.  We also got a taste of Ninkasi's 2011 entry in Eugene's KLCC Collaboration -- a sessionable pale ale that Jamie hopped with Hop Union's Falconer's Flight hop pellets.

Friday I snuck over for a brief session at the Lucky Lab's Barleywine Festival.  I hope to write a little more about the fest in a couple days, but as I said above, one of the winners in my book was Ninkasi's 2010 Critical Hit.  It was a classic take, located on the Old Foghorn/Bigfoot branch of the barleywine family tree, with decent but not overpowering alcohol heat and massive hops.  I preferred the fresh article to the 2009 version, which was still good, but quite a bit cloudier and with less distinct flavors (maybe a little oxidation already creeping in also).

Speaking of Critical Hit, I won an EastBurn hoodie at the dinner Thursday night by answering -- close enough -- Jamie's trivia question about how he came up with the name Critical Hit.  Luckily, Jeff Alworth had mentioned that bit of information to me recently:  it's a Dungeons and Dragons double-damage dice roll.  Pretty cool name for a barleywine, actually.  Er, not cool, but apt.

Just four years ago, who could have foreseen Ninkasi's meteoric rise to become the brewery with the biggest-selling IPA in Oregon?  That is, who besides Jamie and company?  Keep your eye on them:  the six-packs are going to propel them even further in their goal of Total Domination.