Culmination Brewing is located in a cavernous, old warehouse in NE Portland, blocks from the freeway and the massive Pepsi bottling plant. It shares space with a sock manufacturer and a cider and mead maker. The tasting room is tiny, the bar probably fits fifty, uncomfortably. The tables are too short and the stools are too high. But there is a nice patio in the front, in a few months it will be too warm to mind.
It’s hard to mind the cramped space once the beer starts flowing. There are twenty taps on the wall, five of them for guests, fifteen brewed in-house. The tap list is a beer nerds dream, featuring hops, more hops, three different sour beers, and a few interesting adjuncts like yuzu and cherry blossoms.
During the week, the Culmination kitchen churns out the usual bacon flavored french fries and pulled pork sandwiches you’ve come to expect at a taproom. On Sundays, they host Of Roots and Blooms, a pop-up restaurant which specializes in very fancy, very tasty vegan food.
Over a bowls of beet ravioli stuffed with winter root veggies and almond ricotta with fennel-leek cream sauce, we sampled all the IPAs we could. It just seemed like the prudent thing to do. From what we tasted, four of the eight hoppy ales on offer, Culmination has definite house flavor, juicy and sharp.
Perhaps the most juicy, and Sarah’s favorite of the night, was Obscured by Clouds. The Northeastern IPA is having a moment in Portland, spurred on by the sudden popularity of Great Notion Brewing’s Juice Box. Culmination’s version is thick as milk with a massive citrus flavor. It’s like drinking fresh squeezed grapefruit juice, with extra pulp. It goes down ultra smooth, even at 8.4%.
Next up we had Elation Imperial IPA, a more traditional West Coast double IPA. It’s juicy too, but with a redder, more berry forward flavor – black currant, raspberry – and a slightly tart finish.
Zenwave – a “HefeweIPAzen” brewed in collaboration with Widmer Brothers – was the hazy younger brother of Obscured by Clouds, tasty but a little boring compared to the real thing.
Seeing as it’s February, the unofficial season of triple decker IPAs, we also sampled Ferret the Younger. I picked up a definite note of blueberry from Mosaic hops. I was impressed how clean it tastes. It never betrays its 11.9% ABV.
We finished our flight with Peche, a peach flavored sour ale. They call it a Flanders Style Blonde. It’s pretty authentic – sour, fruity, sharp. Yet, I was itching for a little more wood flavor. A little more funk.
There’s a reason Culmination was named the Best New Brewery at the 2016 Oregon Beer Awards. The brewery fits perfectly into the current zeitgeist. The constantly rotating tap list is evidence of ambition and curiosity. The beers are imaginative and there are just so many of them. We need to go back soon.
