#baerlic

[whatchudrinkin]

Fresh Hops Are Here Again

Fresh hops! Get your fresh hops! It’s that time of the year, the sun is sinking southward and the bines are heavy with juicy cones. The harvest window is short, and the hops are fragile. But before they are all dried and doled out for another year, a few lucky brewers can get their mitts on those oily little buggers.

Once again, the first beer into cans came from Ex Novo. They must have inside information on the harvest schedules, because I wasn’t even thinking about freshies when Fresh Hop Eliot showed up earlier this month. It was a great reminder how fresh hops are different from the usual dried varieties. This beer reeks of hops. Taking a whiff is like standing behind a long haired dude at a crowded concert. It’s skunky; it’s sweaty; it’s perfumy; it’s actually kind of nice.

That same week, Level Beer -- that newer brewery out by the airport -- combined two seasonal trends in their fresh-hopped Oktoberfest beer. Level combines the malty richness of Oktoberfest with an unexpected fruitiness. It’s got that tingly flavor I only find in fresh hops.

Crux’s first freshy has an odd name and brings out soem odd flavors. I’m not sure it was really fresh. None of that green freshness, lots and lots of fruit. And this is supposed to be made with fresh Centennials? It’s lacking the funky, dank flavors I was expecting. It tastes incredibly clean, with a lager-like finish. Odd.

And the hits kept coming when Baerlic brewing put out fresh green cans of their Punk Rock Time IPA. It’s got that fresh herb melody floating over a dank, oniony bassline. this is more what I expect from Centennial hops. But it was made with fresh Strata, so what do I know.

Little Beast took a different tack with their fresh hops, making a sour ale and added a ton of freshies. It tastes different too. It’s pungent at first, and then it gets funky. It’s intense in too many directions, really. A noble effort, if a little flawed in execution.

Occidental went and added fresh hops to their Pilsner. It’s got a nice balance. The malt flavor has depth and the hops add a little fresh citrus to the herb party.

Reuben’s Fresh Hop Crikey IPA tastes kind of old, and plasticy. Maybe it’s fresh upfront, but the back end is rough and bitter. 

Every year, the folks at Lucky Lab invite the neighbors over for a hop picking party. They take down all the bines climbing their own arbors and those donated by others, and volunteers pick the hops. All those random hops are added a beer called the Mutt. This -- thankfully? sadly? -- is not that beer. If Reuben’s was a little rough, this is sand paper. I’m not into it. 

[whatchudrinkin]

This is what Joe Strummer trained you for.

I don’t think I was expecting a punk rawk IPA to smell so much like flowers. Baerlic’s latest IPA blends the juicy hops so popular with the kids -- El Dorado and Strata -- with some old school funk from Chinook. Punk Rock Time starts out pretty dank, but beyond the weedy smell is something more perfumy. Is that a geranium? Maybe some sweet rose water? It’s definitely not the catty resin I was getting earlier. Under the hood, Punk Rock Time has the body and edge of a west coast IPA. There’s bitterness. There’s a dry finish. But it can’t be mistaken for an oldy.

[whatchudrinkin]

What’s Old is New Again

Baerlic Brewing is doing something different. Their beers taste very unique among Portland breweries. While every other brewery is falling over themselves making ultra-fruity IPAs and added-fruit ales, Baerlic is making bitter, toothsome brews. The beer is more akin to that brewed at an early aughts microbrewery than a contemporary hophouse, but they utilize the same modern hops and flavors.

For example, the latest New Noise is brewed with classic Cascade hops – like an old Sierra Nevada brew – but also Amarillo, El Dorado, and Azacca – the latter two were bred in the last ten years. In a single pint of New Noise you can taste the entire evolution of American IPA in reverse order, it moves from the modern and juicy, to the old and hard in a single sip. Upfront, the beer tastes of tangy tangerine and passion fruit, very de rigueur. On the backend, you get a really firm handshake of pine and spruce. It’s earthy. The body isn’t pillowy or fluffy. It’s oily. 

It’s a fascinating beer. The combination of flavors is unexpected. But do I like it? I'm not sure. I’ll have another and let you know.

[whatchudrinkin]

Here’s a weird one for you. 

Harshmellow Mountain: a golden ale with Belgian yeast, aged on oak, with Brettanomyces Bruxelles, then dry-hopped with Ella hops. It’s part of Baerlic Brewing’s Wood Worker series of barrel aged beers. It’s interesting. Harshmellow won bronze at the Oregon Beer Awards in the wood aged sour ales with Brett category. It’s really hard to categorize. It’s not strictly a sour beer. Maybe a bit tart, but not sour sour. The Brett is much more present, it has a musty, spicy scent, maybe a little tropical. The flavor is sort of a lemon and lime thing, almost white wine-y. But there’s a sharpness to it. A sort of gin-y quality. Huh. Very strange. Very intriguing.

[jaxelouise]

Important tasks for a rare very snowy evening in Milwaukie... #keepwarm #baerlic #beer #tastytimes #journeyofsatchmo #explorehome #adventures (at Beer Store Milwaukie)

[whatchudrinkin]

New to Me

Baerlic Brewing is about two years old now? Something like that. And I am just getting around to them. Hey, Portland beer is crowded, okay? 

Baerlic comes from the Old English for barley. But the brewery isn’t all malt forward. They make the full complement of IPAs, lagers, sour ales, and barrel aged brews. I just haven’t had the pleasure of trying them on tap. I don’t make it to the pub very often, thanks to the kid. Thank god for packaged beer.

Arctos is Baelic Brewing’s take on a winter warmer with the usual brown malt and hefty hopping. I wasn’t impressed straight away. I left it on the counter while I did the dishes, and when I poured the first half it was a little warm. It was fluffy. It was malty. It was soft. When I pulled the rest of the bottle out of the fridge, I got more of the hop notes, raw and flavorful. That more intense, sharper finish really lifted the whole beer. 

[firkinron]

Two Days of #Portland Craft Beer and Cider

Two Days of #Portland Craft Beer and Cider

Many beer pundits pick Portland, Oregon as the #1 city in the U.S. for quality beer and I would be hard pressed to disagree.  You can barely walk a block without passing a bar, taproom, restaurant, or brewery offering outstanding craft beers.

I recently spent two days sampling #Portland craft beer and cider, meeting friends, seeking unique breweries, and learning about the growth in quality…

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