Simple grain mesh and hop-fueled carbonation hide honey tones of jaundiced lager. Too plain, undefined, and second rate compared to J.W. Dundee’s Honey Brown.
All posts by John Fortunato
PORTLAND HAYSTACK BLACK PORTER
Espresso coffee-flavored porter with slim cocoa bitterness, musty fruit odor, and thick mocha spicing maintains creamy froth but lacks hearty porter strength. Aromatic charred hops merge dissipating dark chocolate and licorice illusions before espresso finish gains syrupy maple undertone.
PORTLAND BOBBY DAZZLER HOLIDAY ALE
Transient frothy-headed amber-deepened ‘Old London Style’ fireside sipping winter ale lacks advertised richness. However, aromatic butternut sweetness, spicy hop bitterness, orange peel souring and sticky pine sap bottom fortify caramel-chocolate insurgence just fine.
PORT WIPE OUT I.P.A.
Alluring burnt sienna-hued India Pale Ale as enjoyable as rival California brewer Alesmith’s equivalent. Spice-sweetened peach-pear-apple promenade laminates resinous piney hops and floral-daubed spruce stickiness. Honeyed oats rampage creamy molasses malting to tangy orange-grapefruit finish. Heavy yeast sediment coats glass bottom.
PORT OLD VISCOSITY ALE
Irresistible mahogany-bodied bourbon-barrel aged ale brings smoked cedar aromatics to pertinent lactose chocolate malting and creamy cacao liqueur stickiness. Frothy nature increases as fudge-y center thickens, allowing sherry, port, and cherry puree notes to emerge above black licorice blotch.
POPERINGS HOMMEL ALE
Herbal tea whiff welcomes lemony peach tang of turbid butterscotch-hued Belgian. Wispy peppered hop fizz embitters imminent grapefruit-peeled orange rind tartness as dry raisin finish picks up acidic grape esters.
PONY EXPRESS TORNADO RED ALE
A fruity bonanza! Red apple whiff greets loud tangerine-peach ripeness, raspy orange sourness and bitter grapefruit tang. Sweet malts thicken raw honey bed as dry wheat chaff undercurrent tucks away cherry, nut, and grape illusions.
POLAR LAGER
Sedate cereal-grained maize-floured moderate body layers peppy hop fizz over glutinous wheat sweetness as light skunk waft persists. Narrow pilsner-like template gets watery and washed-out so drink ’em from smaller 8-ounce bottles.
(BROK) POLANDER LAGER
Fragrant maize sweetness, wheat-chaffed oats dryness, and grassy-hopped frayed edge define straw-hazed pale lager. Slight yeast sinew shields quaint bittersweet lemon-grapefruit rush.
POINT LAGER
Classic macrobrewed bottled-canned beer saturated Wisconsin and Illinois market during the Seventies. Brassy barleycorn and lackadaisical dry hops encounter nasty citrus funk before unripe peach fizz halfway redeems it. Tinny cerel-grained cornmeal finish gets slushy. Still betters Coors, Bud, and Miller.
POINT CASCADE PALE ALE
Dry prickly hop spice infiltrates resinous fruited malts, puncturing brisk orange peel, grapefruit, white peach, and mango adjuncts to grain-nut spine. Clean finish allows white bread bottom to brighten minor piney nuance.
POINT AMBER CLASSIC LAGER
Gentle Cascade hop vibrancy lingers through roasted caramel malt pleasantry and faint fruitiness, appealing to mainstream tastes as well as slumming critics. 2010 re-tasting: Phenol vegetal astringency reduces chocolate-cocoa influence and wavering orange-dried apple-candied cherry tartness.