Portland, OR trip

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Tuck
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Joined: Wed Jan 23, 2008 10:09 pm
Location: Lawrence, KS

Portland, OR trip

#1 Post by Tuck » Sat Jul 26, 2008 3:32 pm

Just got back from Portland OR on Thurs. While I was there I visited several brewpubs and two breweries. Short Synopsis of some of this:

New Old Lompoc, 5th Quadrant: Had the C-Note IPA which was a 100 IBU beer, actually was a pretty nice balance considering that It has pretty much every hop that starts with a C in the mix, also had the LSD (Lompoc Strong Draft) which has a big malt profile with a little smokey flavor

Rogue Public House: Tried the Chipotle Ale which had a weaker pepper flavor than the bottled version, and the Brutal Bitter which I though was a lot better on tap than the bottle

Random bars: Had both the Ninkasi Total Domination IPA, and Mirror Pond Pale Ale, quite a few times

Hair of the Dog Brewery: Small brewery in SE Portland, met Alan who is the owner/brewer/sole employee of the whole operation. He showed me around his brewery/warehouse. He makes 20 Barrel Batches by making (4) 5 Barrel batches and blending them in the Primarys. He uses an organic pilsner malt as a base for all his beers of which his sample taps included a beer made from squash, Blue Dot Double IPA, Fred, Adam, Doggie Claws Barley wine, Fred from the Wood (Aged 2 years in Whiskey Barrels), and Jim which I believe is a blend of Fred and Adam aged in white oak casks. I have pictures of a lot of the brewery and will bring them to the next meeting.

Let's Brew: not a pub or a brewery but a homebrewing shop. Good selection and really nice people. Offers a group brewing class on Saturdays where he brews a 25-30 gallon base batch and then has 5 seperate kettles where people can add specialty grains/hops/adjuncts to make what they want. Also he owns the HVAC company that does work for Nike so it is a pretty slick set up.

Amnesia: brewery/brewpub/beer garden in NE Portland. Cool place just a big metal building with a beer garden. All of their food is cooked on a barbeque grill on the patio. Had both the copacetic IPA and the desolation IPA, enjoyed the copacetic IPA more, but both were good.

Bridgeport: Largest brewery by far on my trip. They brew 80 Barrel batches, interesting that they use pellet hops in their boil and whole hops in a hop back after whirlpooling their beer. Also use tanks to let the beer settle in secondary tanks before sending it to bright beer tanks. They recycle almost all of their used materials, treat their own waste water for chemicals before dumping it, and have a single dumpster that is emptied twice a week (including all the trash from the brewery and attached brewpub) with a better city compost facility in the works they hope to cut it down to one. Also mentioned a possible transition to cans in the future. Showed me both the bottling line and keg lines. After tour, at my guides suggestion, tried a mix of their Hop Czar Imperial IPA, Cask IPA (only available at brewpub), and Normal IPA, with an orange slice. Not generally being a fan of putting fruit in my beer after the fact, I was surprised that the orange cut some of the bitterness of the Imperial and brought out a lot of citrus notes in the other two, actually was pretty nice. I have pictures of this as well.

Also went to the Portland International Beerfest, but as I have gone on this long already, I will say it was pretty cool and I have the flyer for anyone who wants to see it. All and all I had a great trip and recommend that city to anyone who hasn't gone it is a great beer town.
"People who drink light 'beer' don't like the taste of beer; they just like to pee alot."

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