Recent Arrivals

Even ice and snow can't keep the good beer from reaching us. Just be sure to drive carefully (or take Trimet) so you can get home safely with your new found treasures. Speaking of Trimet, we're 4 blocks north of the #15 (get off at 45th and Belmont) and 5 blocks south of the #20 (get off at 44rd and Burnside), so even if you don't feel like driving you should be able to reach us fairly easily. That said, here's a few new things to drool over while you're snowed in...

New American Beers:

The Bruery Partridge in a Pear Tree: Based on the text of the back label it appears that The Bruery is beginning a "12 Days of Christmas" series. The first verse is a Belgian-style quadrupel, which seems like a fitting choice for something that's designed to be held onto for 11 more years. As it stands now it's a little bit under-carbonated, but I'd guess that was an intentional choice to keep the beer from becoming over-carbonated at some point down the line.

Lakefront East Side Dark: (Commercial Description) "The rich, coffee-like aroma and flavor of this fine Dark Bavarian style lager beer is derived from a precise blending of three different specialty barley malts: chocolate, black patent, and Munich malt. Munich malt is also added to bring about the creamy body of this malty brew that has an original gravity of 1060. The most impressive aspect of this brew is the perfect balance between the specialty malts and coveted Mt. Hood hops. Unlike many other dark beers, East Side Dark doesn't have the bitter aftertaste associated with it. Instead, your palate is greeted with the rich body and balanced flavor that only this beer can deliver."

Avery 14er ESB: (Commercial Description) "Named for the 54 Colorado peaks which tower over 14,000 feet in elevation, our session beer is a spectacular copper hued beauty. The treatment of our water to simulate English hard water and the blending of several specialty malts and hops produce a delicate balance between aromatic maltiness and herbal hops."

Avery Ellie's Brown: (Commercial Description) "This beautiful, deep russet brew has the sweet and somewhat nutty character of Adam Avery's late (1992-2002) Chocolate Lab, for which it is named. Crystal and chocolate malts give this beer a brown sugar maltiness with hints of vanilla and nuts, while subtle hopping gives it an overall drinkability that's second to none, just like Ellie!"

Sam Adams Chocolate Bock: (Commercial Description) Samuel Adams partnered with Scharffen Berger Chocolate to develop their newest innovation, Samuel Adams Chocolate Bock. Tettnang Tettnanger and Spalt hops were hand-selected from the world's oldest growing area and combined with a complex selection of malts including two row Pale, Munich and caramel to create a rich and satisfying brew. This dark beer has a big, malty character that is combined with the subtle sweetness of chocolate. The chocolatiers at Scharffen Berger crafted an exclusive blend of chocolate for Samuel Adams made with cocoa beans from Ghana called forastero. Samuel Adams Chocolate Bock was aged on a bed of this chocolate to create its unique layers of flavor. As the beer matured, the fruity, tart, earthy and chocolate aromas were infused into the liquid to give the brew a complex, full-bodied taste with a velvety finish. A hint of vanilla was added to meld the symphony of flavors together.

Woodchuck Oak Aged Cider: Personall I thought this stuff was painfully sweet, but no more so than any of the other varieties of Woodchuck. It does have the slightest hint of oak character to it, but as the cider warms up the residual sugar starts to dominate and it's hard to get past it. If sweet cider is your thing it's definitely worth a shot, otherwise I'd suggest moving on to something drier.

Heater Allen Sandy Paws Baltic Porter: (Commercial Description) "Our Christmas beer. This year's Sandy Paws will be a Baltic Porter - think Dopplebock with more roasted flavors. Big, roasty, malty. A great beer to sit by the fire with. (1.022 BG, 6.60%, 32 IBU, 30 SRM)"

New Old Lompoc C-Note Imperial Pale Ale: Now available in 22oz bottles! For most Portlanders this beer needs no introduction, but for the unfamiliar it can be summed up in one word: HOPS. A huge load of "C hops" (Centennial, Crystal, Cluster, Chinook, Cascade, and Columbus) induces lupulin-based euphoria and the 7% abv is tucked under the smooth, creamy malt profile where you won't notice it until it's too late.

New Old Lompoc Special Draft (aka LSD): I have a feeling that this beer would be flying off the shelves at a much faster rate had the folks at NOL been able to write "LSD" in drippy, psychedelic lettering on the label. But this is America, and the TTB wouldn't want people to get confused and think there's LSD-25 in the beer, so they were forced to drop the distinctive logo seen on tap handles across Portland and change the name from "Strong Draft" to "Special Draft". Other than that, it's the same strong, hoppy, and slightly smoky brew you know and love, now in a convenient take-home package. We postponed the NOL bottle release and tasting until Monday the 22nd, so cross your fingers and hope the weather is a little more agreeable by then.

New Imports:

Unibroue Taster 4-pack #1 (6% series): This gift set contains one bottle each of the Raftman (smoked ale), Chambly Noire (black ale), Blanche de Chambly (witbier), and Ephemere (Belgian ale with apples). With the exception of the Ephemere, none of these is available in Oregon, so it's a great way to try some of Unibroue's other offerings.

Unibroue Taster 4-Pack #2 (9% series): The "strong pack" contains one each of Maudite, Trois Pistoles, Don de Dieu, and La Fin du Monde. If you're new to the Unibroue line up you should definitely check this one out.

Haandbryggeriet Nissefar: (commercial description) This beer is full of all the dark malts that we have at hand and displays a full and complex malt taste, almost reaching in to the porter style. It has a balanced fruitiness from hops with a good mouth feel and smoothness, and a lingering aftertaste of roasted malts.

(Struise T'sjeeses: (commercial description) "Deep to orange blond abbey triple winter beer which has been lagered for 8 months on different stone fruits. Tsjeeses was born out of a 5 year brew experience regarding x-mas beer without being capable of finding a suitable name up to now. With the name came a face, a caricature actually, that was drawn on the day Urbain, our brew master and master brewer, drank too many Tsjeeses's. Every time he drinks one, he says "Tsjeeses, what a beer". Therefore the name is more an expression of stupefaction than a curse. We have had already many discussions around the pronounciation of "Tsjeeses". Very close would be that you say "cheeses" or cheese in plural.

Dieu de Ciel Solstice d'Hiver: Mmmm, barleywine. Nothing says "cold weather sipper" like a glass of strong, warming nectar. I've yet to try a bad beer from DdC, and this one is no slouch either. Low carbonation, subdued alchohol presence, and a full body encourage you to take your time and savor the season.

Olfabrikken Winter Porter: Apparently it's a spiced Baltic porter brewed with honey and cold fermented, which sounds delicious. I'll be drinking one of these in a little bit, so I'll try and update this post ASAP with some more info.

Returning Favorites:

Chimay Grand Reserve Magnums: Same Chimay, bigger bottle.

De Ranke Pere Noel: This hoppy Belgian delight never lasts long, so don't delay is you want to grab a bottle or two.

Reindeer's Revolt: This English strong ale is from Ridgeway, the same brewery responsible for the whimsical "Bad Elf" line of Christmas brews that have become popular the last couple years. I'm not sure why it arrived months later than the others, but it's back and ready to get stuffed into someone's stocking.

Weltenburger Wintertraum: Most German brewers eschew spices, fruits, and other adjuncts in an attempt to follow the Reinheitsgebot, so there's not much room for creativity when it comes to seasonals. None the less, Weltenburger has crafted a wonderfully full-bodied Vienna lager to capture the warmth of the season.

Redstone Vanilla/Cinnamon mead: Mmm, fermented honey with spices. Simple, clean, and potent, which is just what you need after spending the day with your family...

Kulmbacher Monchshof Weinacht Lager (5 liter mini-keg): The Weinacht flows from the minikeg with a deep golden hue and a frothy white cap, reminiscent of the picture of Santa on the outside. It's medium-bodied and has a fairly pronounced "cookie dough" malt character along with light herbal and citrus hop notes in finish. Bring this smooth, easy drinking beer to your next holiday party and see if you can find a couple of elves to do a mini-keg stand!

That'll do it for now. There's more snow coming, so stay warm and safe out there...

New Arrivals for May 13, 2008

Every now and then we get crushed (in a good way) with a giant pile of new beers, and today was one of those days. By my count we received 19 new beers, and several other favorites returned to the cooler. The vast majority of these bottles are new to Oregon, and a couple have never been seen in the states, so the commercial descriptions will have to suffice until we have a chance to drink them all. If anyone tries these before we have a chance to describe them I implore you leave a comment and tell us what you thought.


New North American Beer!

Anchor Brewing - Summer Ale: Anchor's tasty summer seasonal is a filtered American wheat ale. It doesn't have a long season, but hopefully it'll still be here when the weather finally warms up.

Allagash - Black: Commercial Description - Allagash Black, our new Belgian style stout, is brewed with German 2 row barley, Torrified wheat and oats, balanced by a large addition of Belgian dark candi to give the Black a full and silky mouthfeel. Roasted malts give this stout its classic chocolate, toast and malty taste, and contribute to chocolate notes and a hint of roasted coffee in the aroma. The Black is fermented with a Belgian yeast strain and refermented in the bottle with the methode champenoise to make this beer truly unique.

Allagash - Odyssey: A Barrel-aged, strong, dark, Belgian-style wheat ale? Hmmm...That sounds just crazy enough to work. Lots of folks mention flavors of chocolate, raisins, bourbon, and wood, so I'd expect something along the lines of a bourbon-aged Belgian Grand Cru.

Allagash - Hugh Malone: This tasty treat is an American interpretation of a Belgian interpretation of an American IPA. Got it?

Dieu du Ciel! - Peche Mortel: Oregon got a taste of this elixir once (several years ago), and it still stands as one of the tastiest beers I've ever had, so hopefully this new batch will live up to my fond memories. This concoction is loaded with coffee, and they're not kidding about the warning label on the bottle: "If coffee isn’t your cup of tea, and caffeine makes you bounce off the ceiling, then just put the bottle down and find something else to drink." If it wasn't pushing 10% abv I'd be tempted to have one for breakfast.

Dieu du Ciel! - Dermiere Volonte: The commercial description is simply "Dry-hopped Belgian-style ale", which doesn't give us much to go on. Reading some of the reviews it seems as though they were shooting for something along the lines of Orval, the classic Trappist blonde. Anything that scores above the 90th percentile is certainly worth a try, and if it's even half as good as Orval it will be delicious.

Dieu du Ciel! - Corne du Diable: Commercial Description - An American-style I.P.A. The Corne du Diable is a contemporary adaptation of the original English Pale Ales. This interpretation of the style, born on the North American west coast, is caracterised by stronger and much hoppier beers. The result is a caramel flavoured, full-bodied red ale, with sharp bitterness and powerful aromas thanks to our dry hopping technique.

Dieu du Ciel! - Rosee d'Hibiscus: Commercial description - The Rosée d’Hibiscus is a soft spoken wheat beer. The rose colour comes from the hibiscus flowers added during the brewing process. The aromas and flavour of this tropical flower are very prominent in the beer, giving it a slight acidity and a very agreeable fragrance. It is the perfect thirst quencher on a hot summer day.

Dieu du Ciel! - Route des Epices: Mmm...rye beer. I don't know what it is, but there's something about rye beer that's really been hitting the spot lately. Perhaps it's the aroma, or perhaps it's the spicy, borderline metallic zing that it adds to the finish. Either way, I can't seem to get enough, and this one looks like it'll have a permanent place in my fridge, at least until we run out. The one dominant note besides the rye that pops up in all the reviews is pepper. Lots and lots of pepper. Stay tuned for an update on this one.


New European Beer!

Drie Fonteinen - Hommage: This special brew was crafted as a tribute to Gaston Debelder, the founder of Drie Fonteinen. This is one of the only authentic "multi fruit" lambics in existence, blending the bright flavors of raspberries with a small percentage of tart Belgian cherries. Several years of aging in oak barrels melds everything together in a truly spectacular fashion. Only 36 bottles arrived in Oregon, so if you're a "lambicophile" (copyright pending) you'll want to grab one of these while you can.

Drie Fonteinen - Doesjel: Although they use the traditional blend of 1,2, and 3 year old beer, this gueuze is bottled still (flat), similar to Cantillon’s Bruocsella 1900 Grand Cru. On first sip, the creamy malt body and citric, slightly vinegary tang create an explosion of flavor. Aromas of barnyard (hints of leather, wood, grass, and musty cobwebs) carry through the air as it warms, adding layer upon layer of complexity. Like most Drie Fonteinen products, this is bone dry and has an acidic, cleansing finish.

Hofbrouwerijke - Hofblues: Belgian breweries tend to bring an interesting twist to the recipe or process when they emulate British style beers, and this stout is no exception. All the typical roasty, coffee, and cocoa notes are there as expected, but many reviews point to a Belgian yeast fruitiness that sets it apart from its English fore bearers. Many people also mention a bit of smokiness, along with a solid bitterness in the finish, that keeps the body from being cloyingly sweet.

Hofbrouwerijke - Bosprotter: This seems like a solid Belgian tripel, and many of the reviewers mentioned an underlying zesty peppery note, which could be an interesting twist to the style.

Fantome - Brise-BonBons: This was originally designed to be a beer so bitter that no one could drink it. Unfortunately, Dany Prignon underestimated the demand for such things, and it's become one of the most popular (and therefore hard to find) Fantome brews around. Look for the big bottle with the sumo wrestler on it, and prepare yourself for the onslaught of earthy, spicy, herbal bitterness.

Fantome - Black Ghost: Commercial Description - Once described as a Belgian Irish-style stout, Black Ghost has undergone lots of changes over the years. It now bears no resemblance whatsoever to a stout, and brewer Dany Prignon has begun adding spices to the beer. What they are is anybody's guess...the Fantôme confounds once again.

Fantome - Printemps: As with everything else Fantome, you never quite know what you're getting into, but the Printemps tends to be one of the more consistent in terms of style and body. Expect a light peachy colored brew that's chock full of fruity, spicy, and yeasty goodness. Will it be sour too? Who knows, but we'll find out soon.

Mikkeller - 黑 (Black): At 17.5%abv, this looks to be Mikkeller's answer to Dogfish Head Worldwide Stout. Like a heavy metal band going camping, this stuff is INTENSE! (sorry, I couldn't resist). It is apparently quite hot (i.e. boozy) at this point, and even the brewery admits it probably won't peak for a couple of years, but we're gluttons for punishment so we'll try it soon.

Hook Norton - Old Hooky: A classic ESB, with a good dose of crystal malt to give it some body. Low abv British beers aren't known for their endurance, so get this one while it's fresh.

Bieres-23 - Ambree: This one is so new that it hasn't even been entered into the Ratebeer or BeerAdvocate databases yet. Come and grab one and you can be the first person in the world to review it.

Bieres-23 - Biere de Mars: This one is so new that it hasn't even been entered into the Ratebeer or BeerAdvocate databases yet. Come and grab one and you can be the first person in the world to review it.

If that wasn't enough, there's the "returning favorites" that I mentioned above; Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast, Cantillon Classic Gueuze in 750ml bottles, Ridgeway IPA and Bitter, Coniston's Bluebird Bitter, Fantome Saison, Haandbruggeriet's Norwegian Wood and Dark Force, and Panil Bariquee. Whew!


Event Notice:

Last, but certainly not least, don't forget about the free Ayinger tasting on Thursday, May 15th, from 6-8pm. Gertrud Hein-Eickoff, Ayinger's Export Manager is traveling all the way from Bavaria, so stop in and learn to pronounce those goofy German names from an expert! Check our event calendar for more info on our free tastings and other special happenings.