Beer Around Town

Where to even start on this one… well 18 or 20 high alcohol barrel aged beers, best value of any festival, Portland beer event of the year, a celebration of Portland’s best beer bar, said done. My brain feels a bit fried this particular Monday morning, between the Bailey’s fest on Saturday and 14 hours in the sun doing yard work on Sunday thoughts are a bit adrift, so pardon the blather and disorganization that will follow.

Saturday hosted the best beer festival of the year in Portland, yes I just repeated that because it had to be said again. Bailey’s Taproom has now been open 2 full years, to celebrate that they hosted a barrel aged beer tasting of epic proportions and surprisingly the crowds were very mild. How does this happen? Maybe people are burnt out on beer after “Oregon Craft Beer Month”, maybe the word and hype just didn’t get out there enough, could it be that having no IPAs on the menu is a deterrent? About 15 people formed a semi-line at opening, the atmosphere was surprisingly laid back and comfortable, the wait to get a beer minimal… was this just a normal busy day at Baileys? Anyways, it was great to be able to partake in the 2nd birthday celebration of my favorite Portland beer bar. What sets Bailey’s apart isn’t just the constantly rotating taps, the pint prices, or the rejection of “typical offerings” that you find at every other pub, what really sets Bailey’s apart is the lengths they go to acquire rare beers, so this celebration of rare barrel aged beers was only fitting.

The fest works like this, for $10 you get a Bailey’s Taproom tasting glass… made of real glass, and 3 tokens. Additional tokens are $1 each. There are 18-20 barrel aged rare, good as hell beers on tap, each token gets you a generous 4+ oz pour. My plan of attack for this incredible beer list was to sample a half dozen new beers, getting advice from others on which ones sounded good in theory, and which ones actually turned out well. With this system and trying a few of my friends beers I eliminated a few that were just so-so or didn’t turn out well and could enjoy the best of the offerings and have seconds on a few of my favorites. I was however witness to one brave soul that worked top to bottom on the beer list, finishing a taster of each one… I don’t think I would be standing if I tried that, even as it was my palate was pretty shot after a handful of beers, so notes were minimal. Here are some quick cliff notes on a few I tried.

Cascade Bourbonic Plague – The first sample I tried. I’ve been enjoying many of Cascades recent sours like the Sang Royal, Sang Noir and Gold Yeller, so a sour Imperial Porter sounded a good fit for #1. I enjoyed the mix between the sweet chocolate notes of the porter and the acidity and sourness of the lacto punch. A bit more earthy and woody then Sang Royal, mild in the roastiness, mild winey/fruitiness towards the finish. Really nice overall, a second taster was in order.

Firestone Walker Parabola – People were raving about this beer, the big hype of the line at opening. I thought it was good, really good indeed, but after the 50/50 Eclipse that I had the previous week at the OBF buzz tent this didn’t hold up to it’s standards. Oily texture coats the palate with rich chocolate and bourbon, 2 glasses of water might not be enough to cleanse between beers. Bourbon provides ample vanilla, hints of raisin, and chocolate liquor. Finish was a dry cocoa and lots more bourbon, sweet through its whole existence.

Hair of the Dog Cherry/Sherry Adam. There was some confusion on this beer, Geoff says the keg said Cherry Adam on it, but Alan Sprints was saying it was the Sherry Adam. I’ll admit I haven’t had a Cherry Adam in a while, but what was on tap had more smokiness to it then I remember the Cherry Adam having… but then again I got cherry flavor out of it. Either way this beer was amazing. I’ve had a few undercarbonated bottles of Cherry Adam and they’ve felt a bit lifeless. The beer on draught on the other hand, with it’s full carbonation, was simply incredible. The barrel notes stand out more, extra earthy and smokey, more like Adam should be.

Bruery White Oak – a 12% wheat wine… this was going to be interesting, and it was, but not in the way I had imagined. I pictured a sweet and heavy boozy brew like a barleywine, instead was a citrusy fruity lighter bodied beer with a tart finish. There was some excess alcohol, but I’d never guess this was close to 12%. Apricot, peach, and tangerine flavors over a crisp citrus hop, softly tart finish. I didn’t really get any bourbon notes from this. Overall excellent, much better then I was expecting.

Lagunitas Ruben and the Bretts – An Imperial Stout aged with Brett in bourbon? This was interesting, I thought it turned out well for what it was, but I’m not sure brett and Imperial Stout is really my thing. The brett was mild, adding just a soft funkiness to the finish, but for me that just worked against the roasty stout that preceded it.

Block 15 Super Nebula – A bourbon aged Imperial Stout. After having their Pappy’s Dark bourbon strong ale I was looking forward to this one. Overall I think it will be great down the road, but wasn’t quite ready yet. The flavors needed a bit more time to mellow and meld, the barrel to settle a bit and the hops needed to fade. My preference for Imperial Stout is less hops though, I usually think Great Divide Yeti is to hoppy, so this was a similar situation. Hopefully I can try this again this winter after it has settled bit since I know this will improve a ton. I’ve been really impressed by Block 15 so far, wish we saw their beers up here more often.

There were many more to try but I didn’t get around to taking more notes. Portland’s beer enthusiasts were out in full force, so hopefully some of the other blogs will have other and better reviews.

A big thanks to Geoff and the crew at Baileys for this excellent Annibrew 2 festival. Can’t wait for next years, I’m sure Geoff is already starting to save kegs for it as I type this.