#pdxbeer

[beerselfie]

Happy birthday! #Repost @inkdmomkpg ・・・ Happy Birthday To Me! 😊🎉 - - I had such a wonderful time in Portland celebrating this past weekend! - - One of my favorite stops on my beer adventure was @littlebeastbrewing! - - Their spot was so charming and inviting. If not for me being cold, I would’ve spent the time enjoying their beers on the porch. - - Big thanks to Charles Porter @littlebeast_brewmaster and his friendly beer tenders for creating such a great atmosphere! - Bigger thanks to @shirtsontap for sending me a shirt last February for a brewery I didn’t know anything about. I made sure to stop at this brewery because of you! - - Cheers Everyone! Hope you’re all having a fabulous Monday! 🍻💜- - #beerselfie #beerwithaview #itsmybirthday #girlswhodrinkbeer #beersofinsta #portlandbeer #portlandcraftbeer #pdxbeer #craftbeersnob #justmemonday #monday #beerporn #sacramentobeerenthusiasts #peopleofsacramento #craftbeerbabe #beersandfood #instabeer #craftbeernerd #drinklocal #beer30 #drinkgoodbeer #beermom #inkedmom #fortheloveofbeer #girlswhodrinkcraftbeer https://www.instagram.com/p/B35Mlu3Hupf/?igshid=mmqk1pa1f7g6

[daughtersofbeer]

Helping break in the new @hopworksbeer at PDX with an Abominable Winter Ale #pdxbeer #g50summit (at Portland International Airport) https://www.instagram.com/p/BrOxY5tnzsO/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1eoi44kzi2fqz

[whatchudrinkin]

The Center Cannot Hold 

Last week, Old Town Brewing earned three bronze medals at the Oregon Beer Awards, the annual celebration of our fair state’s best brews. Shanghai’d IPA came in third in the Classic UK Styles category. Add that to a GABF Gold Medal in 2015, and you’ve got a nicely outfitted “English-style” IPA. I figured I give this award winner another go around. It’s amber. It’s bitter. It’s sweet. 

Shanghai’d tastes less like London and more like Portland in 2010. The color is the first sign. These days, dark malt is rare, and sugary crystal is verboten. But here is an IPA with a reddish color which is actually a little sweet on the tongue. Old Town only lists 2-row malt and honey as ingredients, so maybe it’s all in my mind. The hops list is a trip down memory lane -- Nugget, Liberty, Crystal, and the classic Cascade. The hops are used less for aroma than tongue coating bitterness. It’s bracing with hints at grapefruit and a long piney finish. Is this an IPA?

It’s mind boggling how far we’ve come in the ten years I’ve been drinking. This would not be out of place on any tap list when I was in school, but now, it tastes like an old relic. I’m amazed at how far our collective palates have shifted. We once revered beers with hundreds of IBUs. Now, we are adding vanilla and lactose to make milkshakes. And somehow, they both fall under the same three letter heading: IPA.

I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again: we need a new word. India Pale Ale can’t be all beers all the time.

[presentsofmind]

New socks for back to school! #nerdsocks #beersocks #ramen #pdxbeer #pdxramen #backtoschool #presentsofmind #presentsofmindportland #portland #portlandor #portlandoregon #portlandfashion #pdx #pdxfashion #mensfashion #keepportlandweird #geek #pdxlife #oregon #traveloregon #travelportland #shoppdx #shopportland (at Presents of Mind)

[fourbrewers]

So, @basecampbrewing is pretty. #pdxbeer #craftbeer #beer #cascadiandarklager (at Base Camp Brewing Company)

[whatchudrinkin]

Level 1-1

Level Beer opened last summer in an old barn near the Portland airport. It’s a strange location, but a I’m sure welcome change from the usual industrial office parks. The brewery coats everything in retro video game visuals. At this point, Level doesn’t seem to have a particular beery niche in mind, but their tagline is “brewed with balance.”

Game On! their first bottled IPA is incredibly balanced, if a little dated. It’s a deep gold without a trace of haze. This is not one of those fruity IPAs. No Mosaic hops here. It’s actually bitter and a bit malty. The hops notes present as citrus, but not in your face with juice. If I had to guess, I’d say there are classic Cascade hops in there. The bitterness is bracing, but it’s balanced by a golden malt syrup sweetness. 

Let’s Play! is equally balanced. The dry-hopped Pilsner has a great fresh and floral scent.The body is snappy and fizzy. The malt is crisp and the finish has a great dried herbal flavor. Let’s Play! is not exactly a traditional pilsner, but it’s not completely out of a left field either. 

They also offer a canned Saison and the current seasonal is a chocolate Stout, which I cannot bring myself to buy. They bottled it in clear glass, and all my geek senses tell me that is a huge mistake. But these guys are veteran brewers, maybe they know something I don’t. They definitely know how to make beer.

[whatchudrinkin]

Flowers and Yeast

After a series of fruity, dry saisons, it’s nice to get something fluffy, creamy, and bitter. Upright’s Flora Rustica is brewed with calendula and yarrow as well as hops for a very earthy, very floral beer. The big soapy head sits atop a thick golden liquid. It smells of fresh cilantro or old droopy flowers sat on the table too long. The yeast really comes forward on the palate, all fluffy with notes of rosemary. The finish is sharp and briny -- a bit pickled. 

There are so few actually rustic beers out there these days. Brettanomyces have been tamed and crazy ingredients are now mainstream. It’s a real pleasure to get a beer that tastes weird, but still tastes like beer. 

[whatchudrinkin]

An Industrial Saison

When Upright started brewing eight years ago, farmhouse ales weren’t a thing. Fancy bottle shops carried Dupont and maybe the occasional Fantome, but otherwise it was a rare style. In the years since saisons has become increasingly standardized. Brew a pale beer, add a handful of spices, and throw in a French yeast strain, three weeks later you have a “farmhouse” ale.

Scrap Iron is an attempt to revive an older style of saison, and break away from the current flavor orthodoxy. It’s based on the Belgian classic Orval and the little known Saison de Pipaix. I’d not heard of Pipaix, but it was listed as a World Classic by the late Michael Jackson. He described it as a tasting similar to a fruity, maltier geuze. 

Scrap Iron has that same wild flavor without much acid. Munich and caramel malts give it a dark orange color and a deeper grain flavor. The old world hop flavor comes from Mt. Hood and Golding hops -- green tea, dry tannins. Sweet orange peel brings out a fruity marmalade tang from the wild yeast and hops. The finish is sharp and metallic like licking a knife blade. The intense carbonation gives it a nice body, somewhere between creamy and fluffy.