I was able to make it down to the Portland International Beerfest for a few hours on Friday. The goal was to snag a few of the beers I’ve been eager to try, chat with a few friends then head out early to attend a friends birthday party. The plan unfolded pretty close, only a few hiccups on the “eager beers”.

The PIB is one of my favorite Portland beer fests, I would say my favorite, but Bailey’s anniversary party is coming up, and Puckerfest this year was pretty excellent. So if not my favorite, it is in good company. We arrived in the sweltering July heat, easily in the 90’s with not a cloud in the sky, thankfully once inside the fest the Park blocks provide ample shade, nothing worse then trying to enjoy some of these bigger ABV beers in the hot sun. Friday saw a packed house almost immediately, the line continuing around the block from the time I entered until I left a few hours later, even with expanded capacity this year. Even with the crowds the lines were never long, no giant swaths of sweaty people crowded right up next to you yelling for some arbitrary reason, yah, I’m looking at you OBF.

Turns out that a few of the scheduled beers didn’t make it this year, including the special 150 year old sherry cask of JW Lees. Preston was pretty disapointed about that one not making it, and I’m sure there will be quite a few people on Saturday that will be let down. Other no shows were the Bell’s/De Proef collaboration and Fantome Pissenlit, both of whom were at the top of my “must try” list. Well, plenty of other great beers to drown your disappointment.

Also, some of the “Mystery beers” were finally revealed, although strangly their signs behind the pouring station still read “Mystery Beer”, at that point you knew what the beer was right? Who knows, maybe they will be pouring different “Mystery beers” each day. The Cantillon “Mystery beer” turned out to be Iris, Cascade brought along Gose and Mouton Rouge. Also, I’m not sure about these two, but PBR 40’s and Iron City bottles were also being poured as “Mystery beer”… must be some sort of inside joke that I just don’t get.

Here are a few quick recaps from what I tried:

Cantillon Iris - This beer is usually available in bottles, but not sure I’ve ever had this on tap. I’d be lying to say that I wasn’t a bit let down when I found out the Cantillon “Mystery beer” was Iris, I had some far-fetched hops that somehow they landed a keg of Blabaer, Gran Cru, or Cuvee des Champions, why do I get my hopes up? Either way Iris is delicious. Iris is an unblended lambic, not a gueze like almost all of Cantillon’s other beers. Instead of blending multiple vintages to smooth out the flavor, Iris remains but one vintage at a time. Iris is also brewed with 100% pale malt and hopped partially with fresh hops and dry hopped. In contrast most of Cantillon’s beers (and lambics in general) are almost half wheat and usually only use aged hops to get less hop character, which Iris tries to showcase. Anyway, with all that blather out of the way, Iris usually more acidic with its sourness, the blending of vintages in gueze usually softens the acidity a bit. The keg on at PIB however was much more subdued then the Iris I’ve had in the bottle in the past. Maybe this was a vintage keg, but the acidity to the sourness was mellow for a Cantillon beer. The hops were mildly pleasant, showing  a bit of earthy character, overall this beer feeling much more mellow and well rounded then your typical Cantillon gueze.

Cascade Gose – I was able to try this one a week ago at the Raccoon Lodge patio BBQ party. I much preferred the version at Raccoon lodge as the carbonation was higher bringing out more of the floral esters. At the PIB they were serving this beer from the pitcher (probably due to foamy pours), so the beer was a bit on the flat side. Great hot day beer with wheat up front and a tart finish. Excellent beer, but do yourself a favor and head out to Raccoon Lodge and try this from the source.

Rogue John John Hazelnut – This idea sounded good, Rogue Hazelnut  Brown aged in Rum barrels. Although I haven’t had a Hazelnut Brown in years, I recall liking it, and although I’m not a big hard alcohol drinker, Rum is one of my favorites. Somehow this just didn’t come together for me, most rum character seemed lost, providing mostly a boozy burn to the Hazelnut Brown. With the added booze the base beer felt thin and the hazelnut flavor got lost in the mix.

Dieu Du Ciel Equinoxe du Printemps – Scotch ale brewed with maple syrup… yes please. Even on this hot day I couldn’t pass up a scotch maple beer, that just sounds delicious, and it was. Very woody with just a soft maple note that really enhanced the sweetness up front. What you had here was just a lot of good flavors that work really well together, wood, smoke, maple. At over 8% ABV this beer was still very smooth and was no task to finish even in 90 degree heat.

Mikkeller US Alive – I sprang the 5 tokens to try this one, my recommendations, keep the tokens and buy the bottle later. Labeled as a Quad… I think.. but really far from it. The carbonation really breaks up the palate keeping any sense of heaviness from this and really bringing the esters to life. Earthy and fruity up front with a dry finish with a good dose of hops present. Just another excellent Mikkeller beer, but pick up the bottle in the store and try others at 5 tokens.

I do miss the 1 token La Folie they had last year, watching the expecting patrons grimace in pain at it’s acidity and sourness. There were still quite a few beers that I wanted to try, so I’m thinking about heading back Saturday at opening to sample a few more.

Anyone have any recommendations from what they tried on Friday?

Now onto the beers. First up was Rogue’s new release John John Dead Guy. I’ve often wondered why Rogue hasn’t really got on the barrel aged band wagon… especially since they have their own distillery. Well, now they gone and done it. John John is Dead Guy aged in their Dead Guy Whiskey barrels for 6 months. Preface, I don’t groove on Dead Guy, it’s always a grab bag, usually to much diacetyl, sometimes hot with alcohol, so my hopes weren’t all that high on this, but ordered it up anyway, so you results may vary. Overall I didn’t find the barrel added much to this, mild oak and a touch of booziness, but lacked some of the vanilla and smoke I was hoping for. Soft and subtle, fair enough, no need to go overboard. I’m not sure if I’ve ever had Dead Guy Whiskey, maybe I should try it to give a proper review of this. In the end I didn’t get a whole lot out of this that Dead Guy doesn’t provide.

Next up was the new Cascade Nightfall Blackberry, maybe a replacement for their previous blackberry sour? A whole different beast for sure, if you didn’t jive on the original Blackberry, make sure to give this a shot, a big step up. Nightfall pours like carbonated Powerade, red/purple with a tall pink head. Imbibing a chalice of this purple stuff in public might make some uneasy, not the most manly beer around… unless you are Prince, then you could just pour this stuff all over yourself while singing Purple Rain and the ladies would just start undressing while you wail some sick solo on your phallus shaped guitar. So unfair what stardom will get you. Anyway, Cascade’s new creation is another to seek out, while not as sour as some of their offerings, a great tartness pulls all the fresh flavor from the berries. The oak barrel provides enough woodiness to keep the brain on track, this is beer, not juice, remember that. Acidity stays pretty mild like most other Cascade beers. Try this one out for sure, I’ve heard the brewery also has it on tap from their Solstice party last Saturday.

Anyone else try either of these? Thoughts?

Green Dragon Brewpub presents Meet the Brewer Tuesday January 13, 2009, featuring Scott Sieber of Eugene City Brewery from 6:00p to 8:00p.

Eugene City Brewery is an artisan varietal brewery founded in October of 2004. Previously known as the West Brothers BBQ and then the Dive Bar & Grill, the location has its roots in the original historic Eugene City Brewery, established in 1866.

Featured Beers:

*200 Meter – IPA

*3 Bills – Golden Ale

*To Be Announced (an undisclosed, dark beer)

Being a former Duck, Eugene is home to many good memories, sadly I haven’t made it down there in a few years, so this might be my first opportunity in a while to try some of the brews from Eugene City. But I have to say, I’m a bit disappointed that they haven’t embraced the Ducks recent bowl win and 10th place finish in the nation in a commemorative brew. Mr. Sieber, I suggest you work on a witty name for that “undisclosed dark beer” for Tuesday!