Meek straw-yellowed moderate-bodied witbier-likened Catalan lager in green-tinted wine bottle could use better up-front doughy insistence and richer fruitiness (though its mild nature complements vinegar-based salads, tuna, and salmon). Seltzer-like citric spicing wavers below wet-papered sorghum flouring, wheat-honeyed crystal malting, and gentle ginger herbage. Washed-out lemon candied tartness, floral mandarin orange wisp and unripe peach subsidy gain acidity while under-whelming orange peel, coriander, and lime illusions prove negligible for fizz-toned summer session beer.
RIVER HORSE DOUBLE WIT
Instantly likable golden-hazed crystal-malted Belgian-styled witbier maintains fruit-spiced integrity. Coriander-clove spicing engages lemon zest, mandarin orange, tangerine, apricot, papaya, and pineapple illusions countering peppery-hopped orange peel bittering. Subsidiary whiskey-soured white wine tenacity overrides banana bubblegum undertones to doughy white-breaded wheat spine.
MAGIC HAT WACKO SUMMER SEASONAL
Impossibly clear pinkish amber hue proves even lighter and more transparent than soft-toned session beer itself. Faint orange dryness and distant grassy-hopped bittering coerce washed-out beet-sugared strawberry-melon-apricot astringency. Subtle pale-malted Pac Mac yeast influx doesn’t suffice and vacuous citric-soured finish leaves slight metallic twinge. Sadly, summer retreat ain’t nearly ‘wacky’ enough re-tweaking Magic Hat’s equally pallid beet-crazy precursor Kerouac Ale.
ROGUE MAIERFEST LAGER
Understated moderate-bodied Marzen-styled session beer perfect for lawn mowing. Sugary dough opening and crusty white bread plainness counter softly spiced sour citrus splurge. Sporadic orange, apricot, and fig nuances splash across spritz-y Seltzer fizzing of crisp, clean refreshment, avoiding bland neutrality by a whisker.
HARPOON HELLES BLOND BOCK
Casual moderate-bodied amber-hued German-styled blond lacks overall distinction and fruity pizzazz. Buttery pale-malted honey-roasted barley graining enjoins basic floral-hopped orange-peach-cherry tang and pastry-like sugar cookie sweetness. Vanilla, iced tea, and wet paper illusions receive tertiary whiskey-zapped ransom.
BREWDOG PUNK I.P.A.
Vibrant ‘post-modern classic pale ale’ brings tangy orange marmalade, pink grapefruit, and tangerine fruiting to lemon-seeded pine-needled bitterness and hop-toasted mineral-grained bottom. Zesty orange briskness rises above resinous herbal-floral latency and tropical finish retains nice currant bite.
BREWDOG MIKKELLER DEVINE REBEL
Easy-sipping whiskey-barreled Scottish barleywine with hearty 12% alcohol projectile needs a smidgen more up-front character for ‘big beer’ connoisseurs. Ripe black cherry overtones relinquished by candied apple, bruised orange, pear syrup, and spiced fig illusions gliding through chewy brown-sugared caramel malt creaminess and slim bourbon-sherry drift. Toasted marshmallow, fruitcake and vanilla nuances find tertiary solace.
BREWDOG CHAOS THEORY
Respectable ‘predictably random ale’ best suited as greenhorn crossover than rapturous hophead delight since medium-bodied IPA never distorts piney-fruited bitterness. Musk-y lacquer appropriation saddles spice-tingled red cherry, candied apple, cantaloupe, melon, peach, and pineapple sweetness as well as honey-sugared biscuit-y malting. Bittersweet orange and grapefruit zest plus diminutive floral bouquet round out busy Scot.
BARD’S GOLD
Advertised as ‘the original sorghum malt beer’ and brought east from San Jose brewery with subtle name change and less interesting character. Not far removed from Flying Bison’s negligible gluten-free version, its cloying honeyed sorghum motif sacrifices earthen mineral graining for compost-informed rice cake, white grape, sour orange, and sugar beet usurpation. Phenol-hopped coarseness seeps into wet clay glaze, augmenting tepid superficiality.
CASCADE BREWERY / RACCOON LODGE
PORTLAND, OREGON
At the hilly southwest outskirts of Portland in Beaverton’s Raleigh Hills section lies freestanding hunter green stable-like restaurant-brewery, RACCOON LODGE, which conveniently houses CASCADE BREWERY’s enthusiastically experimental beers. Visited 11 AM, December ’09, this immaculate ‘sour ale mecca’ truly is on the verge of widescale popularity (and closed 2024).
Going from the covered backyard patio into the side door, patrons experience ‘The Den,’ a downstairs pool hall sportsbar with full bar service, billiard tables, dart games, and TV screens opposing left side glass-encased brewery set-up full of fermenting wood barrels storing mostly lactic oak-aged sour ales.
Brewers Ron Gansberg and Curtis Bain have also been busy assembling a warehouse down the street for more barrel-aged offerings. Cascade’s unique sour ales have become highly sought-after commodities so it was a pleasure to share some suds with Bain after lunch. By keeping the vinous brettanomyces yeast in check, the sour ales never get mired by ethyl alcohol acidity.
Upstairs, the Raccoon Lodge’s green-walled main space featured a high ceiling, wood furnishings, and cafeteria-styled dining, reminiscent in some ways, of a ski lodge. An open kitchen served clam chowder, grilled Cajun Caesar wraps, sausage-pepperoni pizza, and burgers. At the left side bar, a large TV entertained lunchtime customers while the bartender, originally from cross-country Long Island, served up several large samples.
The most exulted libations on tap this brisk clear-skied December ’09 afternoon were unsurprisingly barrel-aged selections. Happily, several stylistically popular brews were also spot-on.
Firstly, highly anticipated Vlad The Imp Aler proved grandiose. Its soft whiskey setting received sharp barnyard-funked red wine pucker, tart cider sparkle, tingly peach-pear-apricot seduction, and unripe blackberry souring to magnify caramel-vanilla-spiced rum raisin ice cream finish.
Heady Belgian-styled double porter, Bourbonic Plague, had more of a white-wined Sauvignon sourness with oaken chocolate nibs nipping at chestnut-date-mulberry conflux. An older vintage Bourbonic version placed dry bourbon, burgundy, and Riesling wine illusions below fig-date-soured chocolate-vanilla malting.
Tried tapped versions of Cascade’s bottled oak-aged Belgian-styled beers (buying 22-ouncer of fantastic Cascade Kriek for the road). Oak-soured peach-tannic Cascade Apricot Lambic, dark-fruited Belgian tripel/ Flanders Red mix Cuvee Du Jungleur, and lactic white-grape-parched Cascade ‘The Vine’ were endlessly intriguing. In a similar vein, tap-only Autumn Gose had a salt-hopped cherry-cranberry sourness abutting advertised orange peel bittering, cinnamon-nutmeg spicing, and tertiary lemon-soured cider acidity.
Better still, vinegary gueuze-like Flanders Red sour ale, Nightfall, a busy blonde wheat ale, brought eye-squinting blackberry-embittered theme to cranberry-limestone tartness and Sauvignon Blanc elegance.
Crystal-watered sour ale sparkler, Apricot Ale, dovetailed green grape, white apricot, and cranberry tartness into tangy tangerine-orange segue.
Bringing some more warmth to this cold wintry day, Cascade’s seasonal Frostkiller pleated chocolate-spiced fig-sugared hazelnut into rich molasses malting.
An as-yet-unnamed Stout offered chocolate-spiced hop-grained macadamia-walnut illusions. Those same macadamia-walnut illusions firm up peanut-shelled cocoa-seeded molasses-tinged stove-burnt coffee thrust of chocolate-stained Cascade Porter.
Chipotle-jalapeno-spiced rye-breaded malt-roasted Celtic Copper Ale broadened stylistic approach.
Less adventurous brewhounds should try citric-peeled coriander-spiced lemon-honeyed licorice-tinged Spicy Blonde, corn-dried wheat-honeyed orange-fruited grassy-hopped Vienna-malted Cascade Pale Ale, hop-spiced fruit-dried mocha-backed Tap Ten Amber Ale, and peat-malted sesame-seeded pumpernickel-breaded cola-nutty O-Rye-On. Woody dry-hopped India Pale Ale forfeited stylistic fruity malt spangle for orange pekoe tea-embittered herbage.
ELYSIAN BREWING COMPANY
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
Opened in 1997 and one-half mile up the hill from Six Arms on Pike Street, renowned ELYSIAN BREWING COMPANY (with two more Seattle locations known as Tangle Town and Elysian Fields) truly sets the bar for all Northwest brewpubs.
Visited December ’09, Elysian’s gray-maroon Capitol Hill building, a former warehouse, sits on the corner of 13th Avenue and features wraparound windows, old concrete floors, exposed ducts, high ceilings, and rear brew tanks. High profile pub not only has great beers served from left side bar, but also a solid menu of soup-salad-sandwiches, Shepherd’s Pie, and pork chile verde.
I had sweet and sour pork soup with astringent grassy-hopped wood-lacquered maize-dried phenol-spiced yellow-fruited Zephyrus Pilsner and perfumed citric-splashed floral-spiced honey-grazed dry-bodied The Wise Extra Special Bitter.
Fell in love with pumpkin-spiced crystal-malted cologne-wafted Night Owl Pumpkin Ale, with its busy molasses-malted cinnamon-powdered chamomile-backed ginger-coriander-nutmeg spicing.
Those were fine starters bettered by The Trip IV Juniper Ale, a primitive rye-dried Finnish sahti made in conjunction with New Belgium Brewery. Its honey-roasted apple-pear tang saddled watermelon-mango-papaya-pineapple tropicalia and teensy eucalyptus daub.
But the fun didn’t stop there this early autumn afternoon. Dry hop-roasted, black coffee-soured, chocolate-cocoa-molasses-sweetened Dragon’s Tooth Stout outdid stylistically similar coffee bean-roasted, fig-soured, hazelnut-seared, barley-flaked Daedalus Irish Stout.
Uncanny stylistic departure, Avatar Jasmine IPA placed jasmine-lilac floridity above white-green grape, sweet nectar, lemongrass, and pumpernickel. BiFrost Winter Ale doused buttery candi-sugared cinnamon apple spice across honeyed pecan, lemon custard, and vanilla illusions.
LUCKY LABRADOR BEER HALL
PORTLAND, OREGON
Sojourned to northwest Quimby section of Portland, December ’09, perusing environmentally friendly green-powered LUCKY LABRADOR BEER HALL (with two more pubs in nearby Hawthorne Boulevard and Capitol Highway). Using a solar thermal closed loop glycol system to power up, this former warehouse with gray frontage, maroon awnings, back patio, and spacious concrete-floored interior serves some terrific house pizzas from an open kitchen to go along with its wide array of brews.
Operating since 1994, Lucky Labrador also bottles product for local consumption. Rear brew tanks near garage doors serve homemade craft beers listed on blackboard over bar. Labrador paintings bedeck the interior walls and the high wood-column ceiling adds to the large cafeteria-style setting.
A few birds chirp in the background and Classic Grand Ole Opry Country & Western blasts from speakers as I sample the varied load.
First up, light-bodied Anchors Away California Common saddled astringent tea-like rye milieu with wafting apple illusions and dinky dark spices.
Honey-soaked orange pekoe tea lined both fig-dried mineral-grained Hellraiser ESB and sugar-malted sullen-fruited nut-soothed Red Baron. Blasé soft-bodied wood-grained apple-skinned grape-vinous honey-malted Hawthorne’s Best Bitter lacked citric-hop bite.
Sans seasonal holiday spicing, leather-bound chocolate-spiced Scottish Holiday (on nitro) gathered black plum, sugared fig, and macadamia illusions. Pleasant herbal peculiarity, Zingerbier, mingled honeyed lemon coughdrop overtones with ginger-spiced chamomile, orange compote, and dishwater.
Hopheads will delight in pungent green-hopped juniper-cranked grapefruit-peeled bittering and distant peach-orange tang of sticky pale-malted Triple Threat IPA. Less fruit-embittered Super Dog IPA allowed floral-spiced piney-hopped pineapple sweetness to shine through brewers’ most popular ale.
Light lager-like West Coast-styled Got Hops had less character, as currant-fueled fig-soured maize-dried yellow-fruiting tailed off above blanched pale malts.
Dark ale lovers may choose black cherry-tweaked mocha-roasted oats-flaked macadamia-hazelnut-backed Stumptown Porter and soft-toned hop-charred grape-draped black coffee-finishing Wheat Stout over smooth espresso-fronted cherry-soured coffee-burnt Noble Regard Foreign Stout.