Congratulations to Block 15 brewing for winning the 2010 Cheers to Belgian beers with their La Ferme’ de Demons. It was my best of show selection as well. Whether or not you agree with my extremely high praise of Block 15, you have to admit these guys are really one of the rising stars in the Oregon brewing world.

I really hope more kegs of this beer make an appearance up here in Portland, or dare I dream a bottled offering. I think with a few more months of aging this beer will really hit it’s stride and really wow people. I foresee this one definitely making Jeff’s Beervana Satori award nominations list with a bit more conditioning time.

I think I need to plan a trip down to Corvallis in the near future to see if they have this on tap.

The top 6 vote getters from 2010 Cheers to Belgian Beers via the Oregon Brewers Guild:

Block 15 Brewery La Ferme’ de Demons
Cascade Brewing Frite Galois
Green Dragon King Ghidorah
Hopworks Urban Brewery DiaBlato
Oakshire Brewing La Ferme
Upright Brewing Mingus and Monk

Congrats all!

Well, it was the best line up yet for Cheers to Belgian beers… but there were still a lot of rather so-so beers. On the good side I had a couple that were truly outstanding, and on the other side I had one in particular that really wasn’t fit for human consumption, we’ll get to that. Overall, the fest was really well run, efficient and comfortable. It was a great afternoon of comradery with brewers, friends, fellow bloggers, and there was even a Dr. Wort spotting.  On to the beers.

Oakshire La Ferme (gravity defying)

First up was Cascade’s Frite Galois. A quick babelfish translation spit out Fried Welsh, which may sound odd, but fits with Ron’s sense of humor. The first pour of this beer I tried was completely flat leading to a watery body and rather bland flavor. Luckily from a friend’s recommendation I went back for another pour and experienced a much better beer. Much more sour throughout, notes of peach and apricot. Light lacto funkiness, sort of dried hop earthy quality. A-

Widmer Biere De Table – The lightest offering of the day, and surely looked the part, very light in color, just a soft straw tone. Nose of NW hops, maybe some simcoe and nobels. The yeast gave off a lot of banana esters and a touch of earthiness. Malts were bready and had a touch of honey sweetness. Very drinkable and showcased the yeast strain nicely, although some higher fermenation temps might have brought out some of the more tropical fruit notes of the yeast. A-

Lucky Lab Doggie Kong – I heard many people expressing their approval for this, but I was really turned off by this one. The sourness had a sort of unfinished flabby taste that my homebrewed versions get when they are only a couple months in. Sort of off funky almost rubber like flavors possibly from autolysis, and a bit of diaper note. Overall this may turn around with some time aging. C-

Next up a friend and I did a side by side tasting with the Double Mountain Bonne Idee and kriek version. The regular portion I thought was far to bitter. Big NW hops, sharp bitterness, nothing really pulling the beer together. The kriek version had an odd metallic note that was really distracting and also suffered from the strong bitterness. C & B-

Block 15 La Ferme de Demons

Block 15 La Ferme de Demons – Recently I proclaimed Block 15 as my #1 Oregon Brewer, so my expectations for this beer were high… well they delivered. Big barrel character that provided many layers of flavor. Bourbon backed the sweeter notes of the pinot barrel while also pulling out hints of chocolate and cherry. The finish gained a nice tartness from pairing of the pinot and cherry. Really outstanding beer that I’d like to sit down and have a couple glasses of to get to know better. A

Oakshire La Ferme - Really well done saison. The grains of paradise really brought out a drying pepper note, soft tropical fruit from the yeast strain. NW hops provide a nice citrus punch in the finish with a nice crispness. A touch more carbonation would have really helped, but I like my saisons dry, and not much they could do about that at the fest. A-

Rogue John’s Dark and Scary - Dark brown pour with a thin beige head. Notes of cherry, chocolate, and plum from the malts and banana from the yeast esters. Overall a sort of hoppy dark dubbel, maybe a bit to sharp on the bitterness, but overall rather well done. B+

Hopworks Diablato – I was a bit nervous about this one due to the short turn around time, three weeks for a 11% Belgian is cutting it close. The boozy notes were a bit heavy, but overall this turned out well. Apple and honey in the nose. A bit like a hoppy Duvel, although not as dry and carbonated and a bit more sweetness, so maybe more like Delirium.  B+

Old Lompoc Norman Invasion – Another beer that everyone I talked to really enjoyed but I didn’t care for. I picked up a lot of vegetal notes in this like I typically get from the La Chouffe yeast strain. Sort of under attenuated and boiled artichoke like flavor, but maybe I’m just sensitive to some flavor. C

Upright Mingus and Monk – I tried this on tap at Upright a week ago and much preferred it then over the samples at CTBB. Firstly the fest sample very cold, but also the high carbonation of the brewery sample brought out the currants and wine barrel more. This beer is really interesting, about a dozen flavors all coming together and competing for your attention. I think more aging may help the flavors meld more, but I really can’t complain about its current state… or should that be currant state? Chocolate and currant unearth themselves as the beer warms, soft pinot flavors enhance the tartness in the finish. Sort of earthy, even musty hops in the background. I think I need more of this to come to a complete decision on this. B+

Green Dragon King Ghidorah – Not sure about the Bier de Garde style on this, more of a Belgian Strong Golden, but well done to say the least. Apple and banana esters followed by honey malt and hops. I didn’t really pick up any barrel character from this, but with such little time in preparing for this fest you don’t get much contact time on the barrels. A-

I had samples of a few others that were rather middle of the road, but I need to make space for one special beer that is still stuck in my memory. This years “Dumpbucket Champion” had to go to McMenamin’s The Big Worm. Sick joke maybe, but this beer should have never seen the light of day, nor been served to oxygen breathing creatures (sorry plants you took one for the team today). With a nose of pure nail polish and menthol and a flavor stuck somewhere between cough medicine and bitter poop, this beer can only be described as “all shittiness”.

With all that out of the way I think the event is getting better each year. Hopefully next year the yeast strain is chosen earlier to give brewers more time to work out recipes and let the beers really meld before they are served. Can’t wait for next year.

Oh, and my friends Josh, Sean and I won a silver… verrry nice!

So the other day I was in a conversation with a friend over who I thought was Portland’s best brewery. Later in the day I sat wondering who I thought were Oregon’s top brewers. After all, with a major influx of new breweries opening in the next year I need some bar to see how they stack up, and it’s something to look back on years from now.

Sitting back in deep beer fueled thought a few jumped to mind, then I stopped to consider their whole beer line up and things got more complicated. On one hand there are breweries like Hair of the Dog, they make Adam which could downright be the greatest fricken beer I’ve ever had, but their line-up is smaller and has a ton variability. On the other hand are breweries like Deschutes, they crank out great beers across the board, but might have a few less “wow” beers then the previous. How do you compare? Lastly there are quite a few breweries that I haven’t had a large enough sampling from, i.e. Brewers Union, Barley Browns, Oakshire, so those don’t get a fair shot.  So enough with the blathering here is my list:

1. Block 15
2. Deschutes
3. Cascade Brewing
4. Hair of the Dog
5. Big Horse
6. Heater Allen
7. Upright
8. Standing Stone
9. Double Mountain
10. Laurelwood

Heater Allen? A all lager brewery? I’m not typically much of a lager guy, but damn they make great beer.

I’m not sure Cascade/Raccoon Lodge would have even been in this list a few years back, but their recent work with sour beers has ramped them up near the top.

Block 15, from no where these guys have risen to the top of my list in a short time they’ve been open. Every time I’ve been to their pub I’ve ordered up a big sampler tray full of inspiring beers.

The most interesting part of this for me was looking back on my list once finished and thinking about how it will stand in the coming years. I’m sure if I had created this list when I first moved to Oregon, and I wish I had, it would have looked very different. Maybe I’ll continue to hash out this list yearly to compare. So who’s going to climb up the rankings in 2010? Which of the new breweries opening up will leave a real impression?

So who’s in your top 10? Any bets for who will jump out of the gate in 2010?