Maharaja Returns and Caldera Unveils New Cans

One of the first posts I ever dropped on this blog was a short, glowing review of Avery's Maharaja Imperial IPA. It was accompanied by (at least in my opinion) one of the best photos I've ever taken. The original picture was lost at some point last year due to web hosting issues (I think), but thankfully I still have a copy on my work machine. I was simply going to repost it, but after seeing this wonderful shot on beeraroundtown I was inspired to tweak it a little bit. So, many thanks to Derek for the inspiration, and a hearty thank you to all the craft breweries out there who keep my taste buds, eyes, and nose inspired by producing beautiful beers like this:



In other exciting news, Caldera has released a third flavor in their canned line of killer craft beer. The Ashland Amber is now available in an eye-catching silver and purple can. Personally I was a little surprised they didn't got with the porter or pilsner as the next entry, but the Amber is great so I'm not complaining. I don't have my camera (or phone) handy, so no pics of the cans today, but I'll try and snap one later and edit the post.

Last but not least, some of you may be have noticed that we've started sending out twitter updates when new bottles arrive or when something new and exciting gets tapped in the cafe. Well, when I went to post today's tweet about the Maharaja I noticed that they now have little embeddable flash widgets that show your most recent updates. A few minutes (and a little code tweaking) later and suddenly we have our twitter feed on the right sidebar. Between our regular email newsletter, this blog, and now twitter, you've got no excuse for missing out on the latest brews or tastings.

New Arrivals For Friday Sept. 21, 2007

We received a couple tasty fall seasonals today, and a few things from Baron Brewing in Washington are now available in Oregon.

First up, the seasonals:

Avery Kaiser: Billed as an "Imperial Oktoberfest", Avery's popular fall offering weighs in at 9.3% abv. One 22oz bottle of this delicious nectar should be more than enough to get you dancing in your leiderhozen. This is also a great candidate for aging, so grab a couple and forget about them until Portland gets gets hit with the annual January ice storm.

Elysian Night Owl: This is one of the tastiest pumpkin beers available, mainly because they don't overdo it on the spices. Elysian even schedules a tasting around the release of this beer involving the ceremonial tapping of a giant pumpkin full of Night Owl. Their website is a bit out of date so I couldn't find any info, but I'll see if I can dig something up. EDIT: I found something on meetup.com regarding the the Great Pumpkin Festival, but I still can't find anything from Elysian so I'd advise calling the brewery to confirm before making the trek up there.


Now it's time for the new guys: Please note - I haven't tried any of these yet, so all you get for today are the commercial descriptions.

Baron Schwarzbier: The Schwarzbier is a classic German black beer. The color is black with tinges of ruby and brown. The flavor is full and crisp. The Schwarzbier starts with a slight roast flavor upfront followed by a faint chocolate body with a very crisp clean lagered finish. A very full yet drinkable lager. Now that I think about it, I had some of this at the International Beer Festival, but it was pouring way too cold to appreciate.

Baron Pilsner: The Baron Pils is a traditional Northern German Style Pilsner. It has a fantastic malty aroma with a slight spice from the hops. The head is brilliant white and floats on the clean pale lager. The sparkling mouthfeel gives way to a soft malt sweetness that is followed by a long dry super crisp finish. The balanced clean finish taunts the mouth to take another drink.

Baron Oktoberfest: The Baron Oktoberfest is a traditional German Style Oktoberfest / Marzen. The beer has a deep copper / amber color with a sweet rich but light malt flavor. The finish is crisp and easy, leaving the mouth desiring for more. We age the Oktoberfest for a full 3 months to guarantee a fantastically smooth beer.

For more info on Baron's beers, or the brewery, please visit Baronbeer.com

The Silence of the Blog

I apologize for the lack of posts recently but it has been incredibly busy (and chaotic) in my little corner of the beer world.

We've gotten a few new beers this week as well as a handful of returning favorites:

Local:
Alameda - Beaumont Bock

U.S. Micros:
Midnight Sun - Arctic Devil Barleywine
Midnight Sun - Arctic Rhino Coffee Porter
Hale's Ales - Nut Brown Ale
Bayern - Killarnny Red Irish Lager
Avery - Maharaja Imperial IPA
Boulder - Mojo Risin Imperial IPA
Marin - Tripel Dipsea (Belgian-style tripel)
Dogfish Head Pangaea (funky hybrid) and Fort (18%abv raspberry beer)

Imports:
St. Louis Framboise
Delirium Tremens returns after a long absence

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Here's a few beers that you might be interested in trying (These should all be available at Belmont Station.) :

Oregon Trail Bourbon Porter--The old timey bourbon bottle label does this warming big beer justice. This is the second year Corvallis' Oregon Trail has produced this annual brew. Dark brown with a prevalent flavor of bourbon up front, other subtle notes come forth after the beer settles in your pallet. Creamy vanilla to chocolate is evident in this 9.1% beaut. This beer should age well as last year's did.

New Belgium Springboard Ale--Before trying this beer, I must admit I was a tad skeptical of it for a few reasons. You see, I am not the biggest fan of New Belgium beers for the most part. Fat Tire never really did it for me (though I must admit to being quite fond of their 1554 Dark Ale). This coupled with the fact that I had never experienced a beer with Goji berries, wormwood or other Chinese herbs. Now this isn't the same (arromatic) wormwood used to make absynthe, that would be toxic lunacy. Infact, this beer turned out to be quite a pleasant surprise. As the bottle warmed up some, the bitterness induced by the ingredience became more noticable and the complexity of the beer became more apparent. The color was very pale and there were lager-like flavors in this crispy concoction. It was slightly citrusy and those who like adding lemons or oranges to their hefeweizens might consider doing the same with this one.

Marin Mt. Tam Pale Ale--The commercial description of this beer reads "This pale ale has a bright golden color, a medium body and a smooth taste." Ok, so it doesn't sound so exciting. But let me tell you, this beer is well constructed. The description is in fact logical and founded, but what I found with this gem is that it is composed of an almost perfect balance of Northwest hops that provide a citrus flavor, grainy malt leave with a miniature touch of carmel malts that make it almost (dare I say) perfect. Especially for a hop head who is getting burnt on monsterously big IPAs, this pale is sharper and bolder than something like Deschutes Mirror Pond or Full Sale Pale. I might even go as far as to call it a golden hoppy ale or a mini IPA. The color is a beautiful array of orange-yellow with a foamy white head. I gotta have another one now!

Deschutes Hop Henge--Everyone in Portland has been gaggling about the idea of a new Deschutes ale house or brewery coming to town. When I first moved to Oregon nearly ten years ago and discovered the microbrews of this fine state, I was extremely impressed with the beers of Deschutes. Mirror Pond, Black Butte Porter, Obsidian Stout, etc. Lately I've not been as big on their beers either because the bottle conditioned beers have disappeared or because a new brewery seems to be popping up almost daily to challenge my views and palette. Either way, a recent trip to the Deschutes Bond Street location in Bend reaffirmed my early opinion of the brewery. It kicks ass! With the Abyss Imperial Stout out of stock at Belmont Station, the newest arrival is this imperial IPA, Hop Henge. Over 8% ABW and very IBU-ed up, this is a gentle beast in a season of doublebarrel assaulting hopped brews (See the next beer to catch my drift). If your not a hop head, this beer is not for you, but if you are a head, you can't beat this beer, especially for a pricetag of under $4 for 22-oz.

Fishtale Ten Squared Barleywine--My co-worker Chris summed it up when he described this beer. 10 % alcohol+ 10 hops= 100% delicious. This deep amber hued beer from the organic Fish of Olympia, WA makes Moylan's Hopsickle come off like a sessions beer. Not really, but it is one maganormous gigantuan universe of hops. Depending on who you talk to, there's so many differnt flavors prevalent in this brew of brews including mango, lemon, grapefruit, menthol, and crackers. It's not likely to mellow out anytime soon do to the absurd quantity of hops and the high alcohol level. It is recommended that you take your time with this guy and share it with a friend or three.

Avery and Russian River Collaboration Not Litigation Ale--This is one interesting story. This Belgian Strong Ale is infact two beers from two breweries combined. As the name suggests (Collab not Lit) Avery and RR each had a nice brew called "Salvation". Instead of running to court over the rights to its nomenclature, the two forced linked up and put forth this big badboy. Now I must admit, that I am nowhere close to being a guru of beer, especially Belgian styled American ales. In fact, I think the American Belgian-styled beers are usually too funky and unbalanced for my liking. And while this one is both funky and unbalanced, for some reason, it was quirky enough and quaffable enough to work for me. With a deep and rich chestnut bruin color, this beer is fruity, sweet, malty, dry, rich, and sensually complex as hell. That's all I can say. Sorry, but you are just gonna have to pick one up for yourself (while supplies last) and make your own call. Love it or hate it, this beer is definitely one of a kind.


That's all I have in me for now. Come by the new location of Belmont Station--4500 SE Stark (SE Stark & 45th Avenue) and grab your own preferred pleasure.