Alameda Brewhouse

The October edition of the beer club took us to Alameda Brewhouse

Drinks

Siskiyou Golden
lager-ish, like it, taste like miller lite, scores well with midwesterners
Wilshire Wheat Ale
pretty good, i would drink a gallon of this (Steve- but then again Steve what wouldn't he drinka gallon of...), smooth, easy drinking
Klickitat Pale Ale
bitter finish at the end, taste more like an IPA, mislabelled, not rogue bad
El Torero Organic IPA
fruity smell, 2 don't likes, odd tasting , 1 unifinishable
Brickhouse Brown Ale- Nitro
really smooth, should be sold in milk carton, pretty good
Brickhouse Brown Ale- CO2

rich, milder flavor, pretty good
Irvington Park Porter-
mild porter, cloudy, smokey, nod bad- not great, average porter

In the CO2 vs NO2 challenge it was a draw. Steve and Tood favored old school CO2 , Rob and Scott favored NO2

Food
Cheesteak- not the expected cheesesteak. Too clean ...
Salmon tortellini- pretty good
Lasagna- growing on me (Scott), hope that isn't like a mold
Tuna- not bad

overall, a nice neighborhood pub. Decent beer- didn't blow our socks off but no real dogs either

Rob

Widmer

Rob, Todd and Steve made the trip to Widmer on August 20th. It's in a great location in older part of N.E. Portland. Widmer has the charm of an old time upscale brew pub. Food was very good - restaurant quality - not bar food. Scott did not make the trip. He was back visiting extended family in MI – poor SOB!


Waitress fussed a bit about providing tasting trays, but once we helped her understand our V.I.P. stature, everything ran smooth.


Beer samples included:
1) Summer Brau – light easy drinking, great summer beer
2) ALT – German Ale – full bodied, bitter but smooth finish, nice variation from Amber
3) X-114 IPA – Grapefruit flavor. Not bad, but initial taste catches you by surprise. One pint is enough unless you want a permanent pucker face
4) IPA Full Nelson – Fruity smell, lingering aftertaste, bitter finish. Thick like barely wine. A fruit beer drinker won’t like the bitter taste; a bitter drinker won’t like the fruity taste.
5) Albino – Smooth, little thin/thick (can’t remember if it was Todd or Rob who made that comment, but he must have been drinking too much)
6) Pale Ale – Smooth, more body than most. “Good enough to drink out of a pale” (whoever made this comment was definitely drinking too much).
7) Oktoberfest – excellent, good balance, liked by all.

____________

Top Choices

Todd - Albina

Rob - ALT-German Ale

Steve - Pale Ale (seasonal, not Drop Top, although DT is also good)

Quote of the day: "the BLONDE tastes like piss" - compliments of our waitress, we took her word for it.

Overall, beer was liked by all. All were drinkable and some were downright delicious

Racoon Lodge

Racoon Lodge, July 16, 2008

No samplers outside

Some unknown samplers - nobody got the same 10 beers

Crusty old server

Razberry Wheat

not bad for a fruit beer

not too sweet

actually tastes like beer

Mystery Beer #1: Belgian Wheat or C'est Dengue English Golden?

mediciney smell

tastes just as bad

not finishable

rank, foul

Mystery Beer #2: Cascade Pale Ale?

spearminty

Ringtail Pale Ale

pretty good for pale ale

smooth

Old Salt IPA

it's got some smell to it

not overpowering

Bad Billy Blond Bock

like a Pilsner, but thicker

little hoppy, but smooth

great stickiness on the glass

early leader

Celtic Copper Ale

little bland

malty, not bad

other leader

Porter

vinegar-like

this is the worst beer I've ever tasted

smells bad, tastes bad, different shades of bad

even Steve won't finish it

Todd actually finished this - he was the only one

Black Snout Stout

good, light, coffee

Old Market Brew Pub

Monday, 22Sept08
Tonight's event was at Old Market Brew Pub in the Garden Home area of Portland.
The evening started with Rob, Lynn and Todd. Steve had some business to wrap up but still managed to arrive with time for 2 pints.
We sampled 11 of the beer options on tap.
The group typically prefers the darker beer but tonight the Great White Wheat and the Pinochle Pale Ale topped the list.

• Great White Wheat - Thumbs up, easy drinking, "best wheat bear I've ever had"
• Gravelberry (raspberry wheat) - Rob liked it more than Ruby but Todd and Lynn thought it was too sweet with a fake fruit punch or kool-aid taste.
• Pinochle Pale Ale - This ale is mild, smooth and drinkable. Good body and flavor for a pale ale.
• Mr Toad's Wild Red - A little hoppy with good flavor, Rob says it is not too hoppy.
• Hop-on - Most flavor of any beer yet, kind of like an ESB, lingering after taste and Todd says it is a little too hoppy for me.
• Rat Dog ESB - Not bad, mild and smooth for an ESB. A bitter start with a smooth finish that does not linger. Steve chimed in with a "nice balance" comment.
• British Bombay IPA - The beer is mild for an IPA and the flavor is average for this style of beer. It is okay but nothing exceptional.
• Pacific Porter - This porter is sweet and smokey. The emphasis is on sweet. From a crowd that normally likes porters this one is a little too sweet. 1 pint is drinkable but a second pint would be too much.
• Maple Vanilla Stout - Way too sweet. Rob took a few sips and could not finish the sample. Todd and Lynn finished the sample but the taste was reminiscent of a cream soda. This stout is too sweet for our liking.
• Black Magic Stout - This was a nice stout and Todd ranked it as the third best beer at Old Market.
• Old Granny Smith - This beer was very light with almost a sparkling cider flavor. Too sweet for our taste buds.

Food - Todd had the honey-mustard chicken sandwich which was pretty good pub food. Lynn and Rob tried the Falafel which ended up way over cooked. The beer battered fries were especially tasty. Light and crispy but not greasy and fit in well with the pub atmosphere.

Atmosphere - The pub is definitely family friendly with several TVs for watching sporting events. It is a comfortable space with options for pool or shuffleboard.

Service - Our service was good. We asked for 3 sampler trays and the waitress was happy to fill the order. Several other establishments gave us grief for this same request. The food was delivered timely without any issues.

Beer - The top 3 were not heavily debated and the late arrival, Steve, liked our recommendations. The top 3 in order are the Great White Wheat, Pinochle Pale Ale and the Black Magic Stout.

Overall the experience will bring us back to Old Market.....the only delay is that we have so many other breweries to investigate in the Portland area.

Cheers,
Todd

Rogue brewing recap (tasting #2)

Atmosphere/service:

Nice seating outdoors ;however, a tip for those sampling. Never sit at a wire mash table with spalshy sampler trays. Many a wet lap after this dining experience.
Service was a wee slow. The server also liked everything so the advice was suspect.
The food was decent bar food, not spectacular but passable.
Ton of variety

The tasting
4 trays

Tray 1 Good tray, chipotle was the loser here
Brutal Bitter "good hops" "not too bitter" "classic summer beer" "better then normal bitter"
Kells Lager- "pleasant" , "good keg beer"
Juniper Pale ale- "chuggable"
Chipotle ale "tough to drink, couldn't drink more then a sample"

Tray 2 ( 3 of 4 good, smoke ale was the big loser here)
Mocha Porter- "porter lite" " easy drinking"
Chocolate Stout - " a chicks beer"
Hazelnut brown- "very chocolately" "1 could drink a lot of that" "tastes like a tootsie pop"
Smoke Ale "tastes like old wet wood" "tastes like smoked salmon"

Tray 3 starting to go downhill. St Red ok, amber ok
St Red - no comments on this one, probably best of this tray
honey wheat " smells like a urinal" - waitress said this is one of favorites
American Amber "very bitter" "more bitter then a bitter"
Soba Ale " spills easy" "overpowered by BBQ pork" "another chicks beer"

Tray 4 we didn't finish strong. Only stout was a winner here
Ol Crust barlywine "tastes like ass"
Dads malt "south side of chicago" (2 unfinished samples)
Shakespeare Stout "thumbs up" smooth"
I2PA "2 unfinished samples" " sip drink"

Best beers
Kells Lager
Hazelnut Brown
Brutal Bitter
Mocha Porter
Shakespeare Stout

quote of the day
"beer is proof that god loves us and wants us to be happy"


Overall impression-
Nice beer variety. Very hit and miss. The classic styles (IPA, pale, amber, stout) were overall better at bridgeport. There were probably more girl friendly beers here.

Bridgeport (tasting #1)

May 21, 2008

Bridgeport brewing

The brewery-
decent atmosphere, food was good...

The beers reviewed

BridgePort Old Knucklehead
BridgePort India Pale Ale
Blue Heron Pale Ale
BridgePort Extra Special Bitter
BridgePort Black Strap Stout®
Ropewalk™ Amber Ale
Beertown Brown
Haymaker Extra Pale Ale
Porter?


Top 3
Stout, Brown, Porter (Rob)
Brown, Stout, Amber (Scott)
Porter, Stout, Amber (Todd)
Brown, Stout, IPA (Steve)
Overall :Stout

Bottom 3

EPA, IPA,ESB (Rob)
IPA, ESB, EPA (Scott)
EPA, ESB, IPA (Todd)
EPA, IPA, ESB (Steve)
Overall : if it has an "E" at the front it didn't fair well