Old Boardhead 2011 (Full Sail Brewing, Hood River, OR)

Full Sail is one of those breweries that has a good reputation in my head, but doesn't always deliver the goods when I pick up a bottle.  Like Boulevard, this is a brewery to drink the specials but I ignore their regular line up. So, when I see "reserve" and "barleywine," I figure it's time to give them a chance once again.

Popping the top, the smell of caramel, fig and alcohol wafts up immediately.  Thin light tan head dissipates quickly.  Apparent alcohol and hop spice over the malty backbone of this beer.  Very sweet malt, sharp hop bit and dark fruit that slightly overpowers a thin mouthfeel.

This beer is good but not mind blowing. I won't get it again, but don't regret the purchase. It's a perfectly brewed beer, but lacks a subtly and balance to make it great; I'd be happy if this was my own homebrew for half the cost.  Taking a look at BA, I'm being a bit generous compared to other reviewers, but I'm a sucker for big hop so guessing that would explain the discrepancy.

Collaboration #2-White IPA (Boulevard Smokestack, Boulevard Brewing, Kansas City, MO)

From the label, the beer is a combination of a Belgian wit and an IPA.  A new style of collaboration ale, Boulevard and Deschutes used a single recipe and brewed it separately at each location.  The Deschutes version is Conflux, which I didn't have the pleasure of drinking.  Regardless, the creativity of the beer community can produce a collaboration white IPA is worth the taste for me.

White head of big vacuous bubbles rush up when poured and nearly overflows.  Falls to a heavy lace on top of an extremely pale straw gold. Floral and spicy nose.  According to the label, the beer used coriander and orange peel of a traditional to wit, plus sage and lemongrass added.  Lemongrass is strongest, but they are all there-- blended with an assertive flowery and west coast citrusy hop that is light and pleasant.  Taste has more hop bite than expected from looking at the beer in the glass. Mouthfeel is light without being watery. The pepper in the description doesn't appear until it warms up and it adds a sharpness to the finish. Overall, my first white IPA is a good experience.  I've had this one in the fridge for a while, which may have been a mistake to let the hops mellow.  Well worth the price of admission, but I wouldn't track down another bottle.

Fresh Hop Mirror Pond (Deschutes Brewery, Bend, OR)

Copper ale with a stark white head that leave a nice lace. Grass and grapefruit nose with a light malty base. Taste lacks the hop, oddly—some bitterness, but muddled badly with a sourdough taste with watery mouthfeel. Sweet ending, but too off center to have more than one. I was surprised because I've often liked the Mirror Pond Pale Ale, but adding fresh hop just didn't pull together.

Pitch Black IPA (Widmer Brothers, Portland, OR)

Living up to it's name, Pitch Black IPA is...pitch black. Only with a direct light behind it could I get copper highlights on the very edge. Tan head on top that fell with a nice lace. Big hop off the top—Cascade hops, from smell and according to the website. Some malt in the nose underneath, but mostly the hop. Not overly complex hop continues in the mouth with a clean, solid bite. Tastes like the hop addition was fairly early—or at least fairly big for the early hops. Nice roast taste without an bitter or coffee taste. Grass and roast off the back, dry and clean. Not a bad beer, and, depending where I was, would have another if I wasn't distracted by other choices. Mouthfeel is a bit lacking and watery, but otherwise a good beer.

Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery (Portland, OR)

Overall, I'd say this is an above average Rock Bottom. It's downtown in the historic Yamhill distirict. We were there to buy our Duck supplies across the street at the U of Oregon store. Beavers can buy at the other end of the block. We hit happy hour on a Monday night and had cheap appetizer size entrees, cheap beer, big screen TVs everywhere, and lots of people laughing. Joint was alive and a lot of fun. Mostly a young crowd, many were business types with ties pulled loose at the neck. Train just outside the window, so take the public transportation down to the area and save the parking fee for the day (though the Duck store did validate us).

Horse Brass Pub (Portland, OR)

Oct 2006

Horse Brass Pub was my last stop of a long day of tasting, so I might go back some day and give it a full shot. When I do it will be in the afternoon so as to avoid the thick smoke, though it was only 8 pm. I know I'm often in the minority here with my beer drinking bretheren, but I don't get the point of paying $5 a pint or $7 for a 10oz glass of great beer when I can't even smell it over the smoke.  Decided not to rate either beer from the bar because I'm not sure what was there.

With that said, the selection is awesome and pretty much everyone I asked along my week long trip said to hit the Horse Brass for the best beer. Between the guest beers, regs, and the rotating casks, it is beer heaven. What I drank, was well served and well cared for. Food looked good, even some vegetarian options which was unexpected from the look and attitude of the place.

HB web says they are a smoke friendly pub and that adults should have a choice. I think it's a much smarter choice if smoker's can choose to smoke outside so that the rest of us actually can actually choose to not drink or dine in smoke. But, with so many good bars in Portland, maybe nonsmokers and those allergic to it like myself shouldn't waste the time or money here.

Main Street Ale House (Gresham, OR) aka 4th Street Brewing Co

10/13/06.  Presently known as the 4th Street Brewing Co.

Main Street Ale House is not a bad place if you're invited to hang out, but I think they are suffering from a lack of focus. Twelve beers on tap, all mainline macro with a couple exceptions. The Eager Beaver IPA was pretty good and the Black Roots Blonde was pretty good for being the number two light offering. Nothing was really spectacular of the group.

Waitress kept trying to explain the various styles to me, not getting from the notes in front of me that I was a geek. Unfortunately, she didn't understand the styles. They were serving a saison and a berliner weisse as well, nice styles, but the berliner wasn't served with syrup (menu even said it was) because the waitress couldn't find it so the beer was crazy sour. Waitress said it was going off tap because it wasn't selling and that she didn't like it.

The decor was similarly off with the nice shiny brewery behind the bar, a very open cement floor, fireplace, oddly placed tables and booths, a cabinet of German beer steins, and odd colors. Just felt put together but not with a consistent purpose, just like the beer line up. Just seemed like they were worried about appearances rather than quality, and not doing a good job. Completely dead at lunch on a week day, so the downtown crowd isn't coming in either.

So, good selection, service was nice, but the beer and the place just couldn't pull it all together. We stopped because we ate dinner down the street, so came in for a rack of samples. Glad I didn't go any further out of the way than I did.

Rogue Ales (Newport, OR)

We made a wrong turn to the Rogue Ale House and found
one of the best sunsets we've ever seen.  

10/22/06

Rogue Brewer's on the Bay is in an old boat dock converted to brewery, bar, and restaurant. Kinda fun walking through the brewery up to the bar. View from the restaurant into the harbor is good, and we saw some sea lion butt going under out the window. Fun place with lots on tap. Tables on the "patio" are outside in the brewery, which would be a lot of fun on working day. Tables and lights were kegs cut in half and put together for fixtures, consistent with the Rogue attitude discussed below.


We drove up the Oregon coast for the day and held out for dinner at Rogue.  Mistake for us. Starved and nothing was vegetarian (even the cheese soup) except standard pub grub, so we ended up eating cheese bread and onion rings; adequate but nothing special.  Service was helpful but spotty.

The tour was a lot of fun and worth the trip.  Rogue is very much about getting the beer done right regardless of how it looks, so the mish mash brewery was interesting to see. Free beer on the tour, and lots of info and they were working hard to make sure we had a good time.

Beer is what you'd expect from Rogue—good and lots of it: Mocha Porter, Honey Orange Wheat, Russian Imperial, and OC on my tasting list for the stop. Good day though a bit pricey.

We spent the afternoon in Newport and had a great time with the sea lions on the dock and hanging out. Ended up with dinner at the Rogue Public House after an absolutely spectacular sunset. Public house had spent grain pizza which was much better than the food on the bay.

McMenamins Highland Pub & Brewery (Gresham, OR)

10/25/06

First night in Portland and headed right McMenamins Highland Pub & Brewery down the street from our hotel. Didn't get a pic because it was too dark, but I tried—the neon lit front didn't hold up to Vegas but easily cast a shadow over the Taco Bell in the same strip mall.  Not exactly a classic pub, though when you walked in the decor was ok. Dark wood bark, high back booths surround the outside wall of what was probably some big square dry cleaner or something at one time. Very different feel from the Six Arms in Seattle the day before; this is more like a local fancy dive in my small home time in Iowa rather than a chain, which is a compliment. Though the place has the same industrial chic: painted ceiling and exposed duct work, which is supposed to be classy, but I assume is just a cheap way to decorate a restaurant.

We had the PJ's Famous Pizza Bread, which seems to be the local thing because I didn't see it on any other McMenamins menu. It was alright, but I can see why it isn't so famous that I would have heard of it in Minnesota. Just cheese bread basically, though above average. Tater tots were much better. Waitstaff was trying hard and acted busy, but the place wasn't very full.

Standard McMenamins on tap and a couple of others. Not bad, but still the basic above macro not too exciting micro chain standard. Though I can see why they are in business--great branding with coasters and flyers for several other McMenamins on the table (which happened at every one we did).  This one is definitely not one to go out of the way for, but was better than Taco Bell or a standard restaurant since we were there anyway and didn't feel like heading into the heart of Portland for a pint.

Big Horse Brew Pub (Hood River, OR)

10/21/06

From the outside, Big Horse is very clean and sharp converted house. Going up the stairs to the right of the pub is a small park and memorial with a flower garden that yielded some very nice pics for my wife. Walking in the pub, it looks a bit more like the old house it is. One small TV above the pool table, kitchen right there so the waitresses must have strong legs carrying it all up to the next floor. Bar is at the top of some rattly carpeted stairs; hard left, and there's the top floor view of the Columbia Gorge. Get there early (filled fast for lunch on a Sunday) to get window seat.

Mt Hood

Big Horse gets high food ratings for exceptional veggie offerings. The Veggie Sub with fries was excellent. Vegan veggie burger, avocado, sauteed mushroom and onion, pepper jack cheese on a crusty bun. Fries good too. Waitress tried to sell the dinner as big, but it was actually well portioned. Enough so that we split the nachos afterwards, which were the most unique nachos ever. Light amount of cheese on top of six inch corn tortillas instead of chips with lots of black beans, jalapeno slices, green onions, sour cream, and a hot and spicy sauce that made the dish. Both very good and not McOversized.

The beer stop alone was a fun surprise. I hadn't scoped this place out, and literally saw the sign up the hill while going through the intersection to head up the Hood River valley for a morning of exploring. Damn glad we did. I reviewed the Russian Redneck, bourbon barrel aged Imperial Stout that was very fantastic. But, all of the beers were very good across the board, not a stinker among them. And, fun names like Vernon
the Rabbit Slayer IPA. Hoppy beers were their best, including Vernon, but the Jack Straw Harvest Ale was probably the most interesting. Had the Russian Redneck not been on tap, I would've gone for a Jack Straw. It's a pumpkin ale, and before groaning, add to it oats and raisins. Very unique seasonal that is easily the best pumpkin beer I've had because of it's complexity. spice and subtle pumpkin.

Service was good, attentive, mostly, though the waitresses worked really hard when the place got full and they were running up and down the stairs. I didn't get my second pint, but since I forgot my purchased pint glass on the table I'm not sure I needed it after the generous sampler tray and an imperial. The waitress did run out the front door to make sure I got my glass back. "A" for effort.

Head to Hood River, experience Mt Hood and the area (we drove the Fruit Loop through fruit farms and wineries), and head back to Big Horse for a great stop.

McMenamins Kennedy School (Portland, OR)

10/21/06

It looks like the history of the Kennedy School is covered well in the previous reviews, so I'll focus on what found unique about the Kennedy School and McMenamins in general.

The Kennedy School itself is a fun place, quite beautifully done, especially the bar in the old cafeteria with an entire wall of windows to the outside patio with fireplace. They extend the metaphor a little bit with the Detention Bar, etc. I really like that the McMenamins chain takes old buildings and restores rather than replaces, preserving the history and community. While we were there, we walked by a Celebration of Life in a side room and a Victory Garden restored on the other side of the parking lot as an educational garden.

Later, when chatting with a bartender at the next place I visited, I mentioned that I had just come from the Kennedy School; he gave me a beer snob eye roll, one I might give to someone who has just found the new great place called Rock Bottom. But in the end, he was intrigued by my point of view enough to give me a mind opening Hmmmm.

I agreed that the beer at McMenamins (I visited three between Seattle and Portland) is adequate to a bit above average for the best beers; however, because of the attitude McMenamins takes towards saving structures and fitting into local communities, that this is what capitalism is meant to be. Every McMenamins had tater tots for us to eat, as well as other in common beers and food items, but then the rest was local adjustments, down to the price of our tater tots changed with each place we went to, which we paid the most for them at the Six Arms location. McMenamins is a chain, but it's a chain with heart that could show so-called compassionate conservatives how capitalism works when community is at the center of making money.

Concordia Ale House (Portland, OR)

10/21/06

Loved Concordia Ale House, but it was a little too clean to be a dive bar (which I like).  It has a sort of "unconcerned" look to the decor. Tables, bar, all practical and meant to function, but they obviously work to keep it clean and neat. Counted 22 taps--I drank ST. Bernardus ABT 12, Ninkasi Fresh Hop, Walking Man Knuckle Dragger, and Bend Brewing Hop Head in my brief stop. Not a bad stop. I'm planning a trip to the Northwest with a friend, and this is at the top of my list to show him. Didn't get to the three coolers of bottles behind the bar.

Bartender was attentive and friendly, teaching dominoes to a waitress, but never missed seeing when my glass got to the bottom. The boss was at the other end of the bar and was complaining about the sunny days and the resulting lack of business. Evidently, rain means friends in the pub in Portland, which explains all the pubs and coffee shops.

I didn't eat, but the food looked very above average pub grub. One guy stopped in for a take out order and didn't have a beer--never a bad sign.

Take the time, make the stop.

Amnesia Brewing Co (Portland, OR)

10/21/06

I'm a big believer in asking locals for advice, especially beer and pizza.  In this case, both Alan Sprints after our tour of Hair of the Dog and James the bartender at Concordia Ale House recommended a visit to Amnesia Brewing.

And for good reason—love this place. Looks like a converted garage in the middle of a neighborhood. Everything seems built by hand inside, brewery in the back, bathrooms and bar built on one end to separate the brewery from the restaurant. Patio outside. Great music: underground grunge. The lyrics of one song were something like "next time you see your mother--SATAN, SATAN, SATAN." Went well with a chandelier with a rabid snow monkey creature reigning over stuffed squirrels running along branches or the mounted life-size My Little Pony head on the wall.

Beer was all good with the Summer Ale being the weakest.  Hoppy seems to be their specialty with both IPAs and The ESB being top of the line. The porter seemed a bit thin, but adequate. We ordered a Tofurkey hot dog just because we could and enjoyed the novelty if not the taste completely.  Small menu but several veggie options, so I was happy. Who knew Tofurkey would go well with hops, in this case the Copacetic IPA.

Great place, fun time.  Beer is better than average, but it's similar to one of my favorite places—The Triple Rock Social Club—in that the attitude and atmosphere of the place kicks the beer and food up a notch.