Tasting Notes. Resurrected Post.
My Beautiful Wife and the Heir Apparent have been away for a couple of weeks. Too long, really. Still the time intervening between departure and return must be filled. I���ve been reading, caught up on some films, gotten a solid push on the second draft of ���Boss.��� Productive, I think. Stimulative to the synapses, fueling the story muscles. But a man can���t work all the time.
And so, beer.
I managed to visit a few brewpubs that I���ve missed. It���s not hard to miss a new one. They spring up in Portland like mushrooms. I posted some pictures of last weekend���s beer exploration. Today I���ll provide some tasting notes and comments about this weekend. For those of you who read this web log solely for thoughts on books, speculative fiction, sci-fi conventions and whatnot, this is a good place to stop reading.
Fat Head���s Brewery in Northwest Portland is the Oregon branch of an Ohio-based operation. But it brew on the premises and appears to develop a good number of its recipes independently. It is a cavernous space with a lot of tables. Oregon was playing Cal on the tube above the bar. And I ordered a five beer taster for $11. A bit steep I think. Perhaps someone has a spreadsheet with the price of taster trays in the greater Portland area.
The thing is, I took notes. Perhaps less detailed notes than usual, but here they are.
Built for Speed IPA. 6.3% Typical West Coast IPA, but not in a good way. Revisit ��� Pretty good after food.
Semper FiPA. 6.5% Oo-rah! Sorry, had to. Grassy, undistinguished IPA. Revisit ��� unchanged.
One for the Road IIPA. 8.5% Raisin and leather balancing a near perfect amount of hops. Near to classic beer status. Revisit ��� Unbalanced.
Tortuga Tri-PA. 9.25% Pineapple wallop. Aftertaste a lingering cigarette bitterness. Might grow on me, but no an immediate favorite. Revisit ��� Unchanged.
Pimp My Sleigh. 10.5%. Belgian Style Christmas Ale. Tastes like a near textbook barleywine. Perhaps a trifle thin/vinegary. Could use a chewier, raisin finish. Revisit ��� Minor improvement.
I think I���d go back there, try some more options. I find it interesting that revisiting a beer after having run some different flavors over the tastebuds occasionally altered my initial impression.
I visited Great Notion Brewing because a local publication listed one of its beers as the best beer in Portland. So of course the pub was completely sold out of the beer in question. I���d say just my luck but I probably should have seen that coming.
Great Notion is a typical example of the Portland brewpub. A smallish, re-purposed space decorated in a vaguely woodsy, Northwestern fashion. I ordered a sandwich and a five beer-taster tray. The sandwich was reasonably priced, $9 for a sandwich and generously sized side salad. The taster tray ��� not so much. $14! That can���t be the going rate, can it?
At least the beer was good.
Strawberry Cream IPA. 7%. Slight bite of hops to offset the smoothness. Strawberries and cream���and hops? Who���d a thunk it? Works though.
Grassroots IPA. 7%. Solid IPA. ON par with Gigantic and ��� almost ��� Breakside.
Super Ripe IIPA. 9.5%. Grapefruit and sucrose. In a good way.
Sorcerer���s Apprentice. 7%. Sour. Apricot and lemon juice. Pucker up!
Midnight Fluff. 10%. Stout. Feeling diabetic after one sip. Dip a s���more in it or pour it over ice cream. This is dessert beer overkill. Good, though.
I���d go back. But I think I���d just order a pint of something and hope for the best.
Hey, if you���re enjoying my particular brand of nonsense, please exercise the like and share functions of your social media platform of choice. Think of the children.
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Published on March 12, 2017 12:28
