Great Leap Banana Wheat, Porter, Stout and Pale

Never had a banana beer? This is a serious treat, a banana wheat. Sweet, strong banana flavor and a masterful balance. Yes, fruity beer is sacrilegious but in this case all is forgiven. It tastes like candy and love. Rock on!!

The porter has an excellent balance and full roasted malt character, while the pale is a robust interpretation of the type.

The beers are priced on a sliding scale based on how much they cost to produce, which also tends to arrange them in a good order for tasting. Starting with the lowest priced beers will preserve more sobriety and taste buds for the flavor onslaught provided by the excellent stout. For a beer lover in Beijing, visiting Great Leap is a must.

Ninkasi's Total Domination

The story of Ninkasi has been told elsewhere, but this is one success story that shows no sign of stopping. This upstart brewery out of Eugene, Oregon has taken the brewing world by storm, and has become a favored bottler for the connoisseur set. My taste for their IPA was whetted on a recent trip to Bend, where I enjoyed a Tricerahops Double IPA on draft at a downtown pub.

Today, I found myself back in Bend, and sampling yet another Ninkasi IPA - their Total Domination. This time it was prelude to a Walkfast show at Mountain's Edge. The Total Domination is actually a pretty straight up IPA, just super hoppy and very flavorful. It's a very drinkable, very Eugene response to the Mirror Pond that is ubiquitous in the area.

The Tricerahops is another animal entirely, and totally deserving of the huge amount of praise it receives. It is a fabulous double IPA - it has slightly less bite than most, while exhibiting no lack of character, and awesomely complex hoppy flavors.

Widmer KGB

Check out all the official descriptions and details on the Oregon Brewers Festival website.

Latest Tastes from the Rogue

HUB Update

Hedge House Redux

Revolution at the Rogue

The revolution has begun. Long live the rogue!

Roasting the Rogue

Mt. Hood Brewing

A quick morning of snowboarding, some good beer (Ice Axe), and a few runs on the alpine slide. Happy Birthday to me!

Roots

Dropped in at Roots' brewpub today for an excellent salami sandwich and a taster tray.

Calypso is a fruity summer brew, with a very spicy feel. Light and easy drinking, the heat is a wise departure in a summer brew. As anyone who has sampled world cuisine knows, spicy hot food is popular in hot regions - probably because the sweating that follows enhances the natural evaporative cooling of the body.

Kolsch follows in good form, with a very mellow and soothing mouthfeel after the Calypso. There was a unique odor that I could not identify, and unfortunately it wasn't to my liking. Overall a decent beer.

Burghead Heather Ale comes third, using Heather flowers in place of hops. A very striking and unique brew yet extremely pleasant. A beer that proves even hop free brews can succeed, and a good demonstration of ancient techniques. Extremely tasty for a beer without any hops.

Roots' Island Red is a pleasantly hearty beer lover's dream, based on oats and English hops. It's essentially a dark red stout, and tasty as heck. Recommended.

Woody IPA is yellow-orange and bursting with hops. Mellowed with a little citrus note, this dry-hopped ale is assertive in a good way. Highly recommended.

Crannog Stout rounds out the selections today as dessert, and restored my faith in the ultimate goodness of existence. Caramel and coffee help form a dream of a closer brew. No bitter aftertaste, just a well executed stout that leaves me smiling. Hard to go wrong here.

Hedge House: C-Note

A visit today to the Hedge House allowed me to revisit an old favorite - the super hoppy joy known as C-Note. This brew has an Abv of 6.9%, a deep copper color, and seven 'C's. A rating of 100 IBU attests to
the potency of the combined Crystal, Cluster, Cascade, Chinook, Centennial, Columbus and Challenger hops. Needless to say this is a complex brew.

The yummy beer is even more tasty on Tuesday, at $2.50/pint. Just remember that this place can be popular in the evening, particularly in nice weather. Here's to Oregon sunshine!

HUB round 2

I enjoyed four new seasonals today with my pear & nut salad.

The HUB's Wheat is a pleasant and cloudy one, sweet enough to drink without the usual lemon wedge. Very drinkable, slightly floral finish.

The Kölsch is light and effervescent, with gentle character all around. A dreamy, extremely light straw color - summer in liquid form.

The third seasonal, a Belgian, is still light enough for summer, but begins to reveal the more robust tendencies of the HUB's other offerings. Bitter enough to offend a delicate palate.

Summer Ale is the last seasonal today, providing a respectable interpretation of an Oregon summer ale. Very flavorful yet easy drinking - truly a beer for the season if you can handle the hops.

Yes this is my fridge

I am using this seemingly flippant photo to note that there is plenty of good local beer that never sees a keg at all - Portland's own homebrew. Now that the Keghunter is packing heat in the form of an iPhone, photo blogging of beers shall be the norm.

Welcome to the future, fellow keg hunters.

Rogue ales

Biked to the Rogue ales pub today for a taster tray and a burger. As usual the brews impress, starting with a freebie American Amber. This brew is light and very easy drinking, flavorful but thin enough for summer. I followed with one of my favorites, the ever tasty I2PA which packs a nice wallop. Next on my list today was the YSB, a true local brew if ever there was. Bitter and smooth is an unlikely combination here embodied.

To lighten the potency, I turned to St. Rogue Red and enjoyed this delightful brew as an apéritif for my dessert - Old Crusty, of course!