Cascade Ale Tasting

Good times!  Tasting some of my favorite sour Ales down @ the brew supply.

Bottleworks 13 Photo

This is the photo that was supposed to accompany the previous post. Stupid phone.

Bottleworks 13th Anniversary Ale

Brewed for Bottleworks by Stone brewing of San Diego.

13 malts 13 hops, but "only" 11%abv.

Pours almost black with a thick tan head.

Aroma is alcohol and rich malt aromas with some toffee and black licorice notes.

Flavor is initially dominated by roast malt, chocolate, and smokey peat malts.  As the beer warms strong alcohol notes come to the front, and with the smokey peat bring a scotch whisky profile to prominence.

Mouthfeel is thick and creamy with a bunch of alcohol warmth.  Finishes with a strong lingering coffee-like bitterness.

A very big, very interesting strong ale.

Winning!

Oh yeah!  First place Belgian Dark Strong ale (qualifying us for the national masters championship) and two second places with our Northern English Brown ale and Baltic Porter.  Not too shabby!

Oregon Garden Brewfest

It is a good day...

Dogzilla Black IPA

Laughing Dog Brewing, Ponderay, Idaho

This is a nice mellow black IPA, with a bit more malt-forward feel than some others.  Very nice overall though, and a nice thing to enjoy in the driveway while waiting for the oil to drain. Especially on the first 80 degree day of the year.

Cellar Beer Sale

Today is a big cellar beer sale down at the brew shop. Lots of great rare aged beers. I managed to restrain myself and only buy one.

Bacon Maple Bar .... beer?

Wow. Voodoo doughnuts makes a great donut with bacon, and this is Rogue's answer.  I was scared initially, and the strong smoky bacon aroma didn't assuage that fear.  The flavor is a quite a pleasant surprise though.  Some smoky malt, but super dry. Quite tasty. Good job Rogue!

Lunch at Rogue Brewery

Nice place to be on a Wednesday afternoon. Next stop is the Oregon Coast Aquarium.

Jubel 2010

Another aged beer from the cellar:

Once A Decade winter ale
Deschutes Brewery, Bend, Oregon
22 oz bottle, 10%abv

A big, bold version of the classic NW winter ale.  Pours dark brown and a bit cloudy with little head.  Aroma is malt with solid alcohol notes.  Flavor is also super malty but with a good balance of hops. Definitely a big bit of alcohol warmth.  Finishes slightly on the sweet side but still balanced. A hint of lingering astringency, but not unpleasant.

Overall a nice big tasty, but rare, beer. I'll try to hang onto the memory of this one until I can get the regular Jubelale again in the fall.

Brewery Tour

My friend Mikio did a good write up of the Norcal brewery tour we did back in October of last year:

Part one.

Part two.

Bike night

A rare dry March day in Oregon resulted in a good turnout for the monthly bike night...

Ink Heart

Cascadian Dark Ale
Laurelwood Brewing Co.
Portland, Oregon
22oz bottle, 7.3%abv

This new CDA is quite nice.  A bit milder hop profile than some due to the use of some mellower hop varieties. It's quite smooth with great balanced maltiness and a bit more roast than some.  Quite tasty.

Eurotrash Pilz

European-style pilsner
Southern Tier brewing
Lakewood, NY
12oz bottle, 5.2%abv

Like most euro pilsners, there's not a whole lot to this beer.  What's there is quite good though.  Light noble hop aroma, moderate but distinct pilsner malt flavor. Balanced, but crisp, dry, and refreshing.  Not a great beer for this time of year, but it makes me dream of the hot summer day it would be perfect for.

Tasting

Got a few nice big aged beers to try...

Doggie Claws

Barleywine, 2010 vintage
Hair of The Dog brewing, Portland, OR
12 oz bottle, 11%abv

Since I don't have a dog anymore I figured I could crack open a dog-themed leftover xmas beer.

Pours dark gold with a fluffy white head that lasts well. Slightly cloudy, but that could've been my pour since it's bottle conditioned.

Aroma is rich toffee, toasty malt, and mild hops.

Flavor is big, but surprisingly balanced. Lots of big malt, toffee, and some really nice spiciness.

Finish is quite warm with a solid lingering bitterness. Nice and clean with none of the cloying sweetness that some barleywines exhibit.

Really, really yummy.

R.I.P.

Rogue Ross, 11/15/2004 - 2/1/2012

A dog's life is too short, and Rogue's was shorter than most. You are sorely missed, Sir Fuzzington. Rest in peace.

Haystack Rock

Cold but beautiful day at Cannon Beach with Tracie.

Xmas art

We got this delightful "painting" (really a digitally manipulated photo) for Xmas and I thought I'd share.  Good stuff.

Beer Advent Final Day :-(

It had to come to an end sometime. The final beer is Samichlaus, of course!

Happy holidays!