Mcmenamins Scotch Ale on cask

Single Wide IPA

A good IPA; Citrus and Floral Hop characteristics. Out of KC, this beer is was also dry hopped. Very good product put out by Boulevard Brewing.

Fire Station 5 Brewing: Steam Pumper IPA. Brewed by Portland Brewing Company it has Light Hop flavor, and amber in color.

Naked City Brewers Night at Latona Pub

 

This was the the cask beer the Publicity Red, this was an amazing beer. It was a great red ale that was dry hopped in the cask which made so much better. 

This is the Smoke Town Porter. This Porter is a Rauchbier or smoke beer. This was good, not overly smokey but a good balance between the maltiness and smokey flavor. The nice part about Brewer's Nights is that the brewers are on premise to talk beer, explain their thoughts on their beers and answer beer questions. 

I asked the brewer how the smoke flavor was added into this brew, knowing that traditional Rauchbeirs are traditionally smoked using Beechwood Logs. The Beechwood usually directly burned and smoke the malted barley. This beer was actually brewed with grains that came smoked using cherry wood, this gave it a really nice, not overly smokey taste.

 

Misc Beers...

At my favorite local watering hole The Hilltop Alehouse, they were serving Boundary Bay ESB on cask.


This was a special from Cascade Brewing, Glueh Kriek. Uber was only place that this sour could be found outside of the brewery. I cant describe how this beer was except, warm like cider, sour like cherries and then sweet like sugar. At Uber it was served with and orange and cloves giving it even more flavors than it has on its own. Here is the description given by the brewery's website.
This oak aged blend of Bing and Sour pie cherry sour red ales his been steeped on spices fresh from Grenada and wild flower honey, served with a slice of orange at 70 C deg. It's like Christmas in a glass before the credit card bill comes due!

This was brought to me to try by a friend, this is New Belgium's 2 Degrees Below Winter Seasonal. Here in the great NW you really need a great Winter Ale to stand out in the very plentiful Winter Seasonal market. This beer went in an opposite direction with a lighter malt and hop characteristic, when compared with numerous other NW Winter Ales, but is still a solid beer to have when the temperature drops.
This was also brought over for me to try, this is a English Style Brown Ale. When you think English Brown the biggest is Newcastle, however this is nothing like it. This is a darker, maltier and better English Brown.It has some flavors of coffee and chocolate. After doing just a bit of research Black Toad is out of Chicago, contract brewed by Goose Island Brewing.
The Bruery's Rugbrod, or "Rye Bread" in Danish. This is a specialty grain beer that is brewed in the same way that Belgium style Dark Strong Ale, which is a pretty much a Super Brown Ale. Yeah this beer is something special, The Bruery didn't brew this within a certain style so they pretty much just made a beer and called it what they wanted. It is brewed year round, but it is most definitely a winter beer. It is spicey and nutty and bready this is a must have when it the colder season.

Amnesia Brewing, Portland, Or.

A look into the brewing area at Amnesia Brewing, it was a small space but great beer came out of this little brewery.

While sitting outside on Amnesia's beautiful patio area where they were cooking dogs and sausages for the handful of people that were hanging out soaking up the sun, we enjoyed many different beers. Istarted off with their seasonal Oktoberfest while Lauren tried the Pale ale. Then from there we moved to IPAs.All in all, the Bratwurst was a great lunch and the beers were amazing. Also on the plus side, they are dog friendly all of this adds up to another visit to enjoy this gem.

After eating, drinking away an afternoon I felt that I need to take more pictures....

If my drunken memory serves me right, I believe they only had 3 fermenting tanks, also I love a sign that delivers good news.

A picture of the Lauter Tun.

As I was being told to hurry up because we were leaving I was able to snap off one more picture of their beautiful brew kettel, Amnesia makes me happy...

Full Sail, Pub Powder Stash Pale (Nitro)

Beer Fest Day 2011

On January 29, there will be 2 highly anticipated beer festivals happening across the country from one another. Jupiter, Fl. is holding their 5th annual Jupiter Craft Beer Festival. After living and drinking in Florida, there is none better in the state. This festival is held at Roger Dean Stadium, the spring training home of the St. Louis Cardinals and the Florida Marlins. There will be over 50 breweries offering 150 brews, not to mention the "Best Dressed Monk Contest" this is surly not on to be missed if you live in FL. http://www.jupitercraftbrewersfestival.com/

On the other side of the country in Washington, Port Townsend is holding their 7th annual Strange Brew Fest. With over 30 Breweries and Cideries. Many local breweries brought some tasty stuff, whose recipes included such delights as cayenne, coconut, corriandor and cucumber. There are multiple categories in this festival that are organized by the letter and those are just some of the ingredients from catogory 'C'. Strange Brewfest 2011 is sure to be a sensory overload of deliciousness. 
http://www.strangebrewfestpt.com

A Celebratory Trip To Naked City Brewery & Taphouse

Draft List

Here is to the Packers!

Lauren didn't want to be in the picture obviously, but her beer did. She had the lighter colored Double Mountain Vaporizer which is a 6% ABV, American-Style Pale Ale that has been Dry Hopped. It uses 100% Gambrinus Pilsner malt and Challenger Hops from a single farm in Yakima Valley. Due to its popularity, Double Mountain Brewing announced that this is going a available year round.

My beer on the right is Lompoc "C-Note." New Old Lompoc is an Oregon Brewery that I have read about a lot as of late, but have yet to try. When I saw C-Note on the chalk board something in my mind clicked and my mouth started watering. The name "C-Note" comes from all the Hops used to make this Imperial Pale Ale all 7 of the hops that were used all begin with the letter "C" (Crystal, Cluster, Cascade, Chinook, Centennial, Columbus, and Challenger) This was a very hoppy and delicious beer and will order it every time that I can.

My second victory beer of the night was Cascade Brewing's, Dark Day IPA. I have tried a lot of Black IPAs within the last year, I have tried a handful of of this style and all have succumbed to mediocrity. After trying a couple of other Cascade Beers I thought that I should try this. I was thoroughly surprised with this BIPA it had a good enough amount of hops to stand up to the rich roasted grains. Which was what I liked most about this beer.   

Round #3

Right side: Big Als Winter Warmer, mainly because I am a sucker for Winter ales, this lives up to its name a little heavier than most Winter ales with a more roasted malts then touched with a good amount of hops. Think a Porter with a touch of hops
Left side: Dicks IPA, I didn't try this one here. I got Lauren this one because she had been drinking IPAs all night. I regret not trying this one now because this is very available. By very available I mean its sold at the gas station right down the road. I'm sure a critique will come sooner rather than later.

More at Bev Place Pub

In the right one of the top 3 best IPAs ever, Boundary Bay IPA, On the left Double Jack Imperial IPA by Firestone Walker, in Paso Robles, California.

And at The Beveridge Place Pub what did I discover...

On the left, Hoppy the Woodsman by Schooner Exact Brewing,which is amazing. I have seen this beer on draft at 2 or 3 places around town but never ventured toward it, what a mistake. This is a bourbon barrel aged ale with awesome notes of chocolate, vanilla and bourbon.

On the right Big Als IPA. This IPA is a very good go to beer, not over the top hoppy but has good citrusy and piny flavors. I will be getting this beer with more regularity, with only a 6% alc I can enjoy plenty of these, I think I have found a beer to watch the Packers in the Super Bowl.

Both very delicious choices!

Full Sail IPA

 I feel like this an avg. IPA. This is a good beer to buy a six pack of, not out of the park hoppy like most NW IPAs but well balanced and a solid beer all around. This is far from the best of Full Sail's offerings but I can see this being a good go to beer when I am being indecisive, which happens to be pretty often.