Gigantic brewing

The brew club visits are now a little less regular now that i have moved to Ireland. In a special opportunity trip I was able to arrange a beer club and golf visit (plus work) trip rolled into 1.
We were able to try one of the newer breweries in town, Gigantic. A little out of the way in inner southeast Portland.
Special note- no food served other than some nuts and popcorn (good but not a meal)

Unfortunately the note taking at beer club has become lax.
We had a mix of draft and bottles.
If memory serves correct we had the IPA, the end of reason, ...
the rest elude me perhaps Todd can pipe in

a nice visit, there was one that was very good but the name eludes me doh...

Rob

Old Chicago - 28Mar13

Okay, so Old Chicago is not a brewery of itself but they do have an interesting selection of local micro brews.  Plus, they have lots of TVs to watch the NCAA basketball games.  Old Chicago has taster trays with 4 beers of your choice.  Here is how we sampled them....

Round 1

Sierra Nevada Kellerweis - Inspired by traditional Bavarian techniques. Kellerweis is brewed in open fermentation tanks to let the ingredients truly shine. The result is a hazy wheat ale. With a full, fruity aroma and notes of spicy clove and banana bread.
Fort George Vortex IPA- Amarillo, Simcoe and Centennial hops.  Heaps of organic pale malt,
New Belgium Rampant IPA- Imperial IPA, copper in color. The Mosaic and Calypso hops bring stonefruit to the front seat, and the addition of Centennials nod towards citrus.  Heavy peach tones and a profoundly bitter bite. Some malt sweetness and the finish is bone-dry.
Boneyard IPA - Pale in color with pineapple and citrus notes.

Round 2

Widmer O'Ryley - Notable hoppiness and just a touch of caramel malty sweetness. Brewed with rye and Nelson Sauvin hops imported from New Zealands South Island, subtle rye spiciness and fruity, berry-like aroma and flavor.
Cascade 20" Brown on Nitro - extremely complex malty character. Using 6 varieties of Northwest grown malt
Fish Tale Amber - Organic pale, Munich, and crystal malts create a gentle sweet character.  From organic Hallertauer hops come a zesty flavor and aroma that beautifully balance Organic Amber's malt profile.
Widmer Green and Gold -  Kolsch is a golden straw-colored beer with aromas of strawberry and cracked black pepper, a soft sweet bready malt flavor, a creamy body, and a crisp dry finish. 

Round 3

Smithwicks - Irish and ruby colored.  Not many details given on their webpage.
Vertigo Apricot cream - Summer ale brewed with Pale and Crystal malts, balanced with late additions of Saaz and Mt. Hood hops, and finished with a hint of apricot.
Breakside Fennel Farmhouse - this wheaten farmhouse ale uses heirloom spelt as well as three types of fennel (seed, bulb, and pollen). The result is a mildly tart, estery and dry beer with a complex layering of anise and a touch of citrus.
Laurelwood Gearhead IPA - citrus and piney, moderately malty.

So what were our favorites...top 3 in order....
Rob -  Kellerweis, Rampant, ORyley
Ben - Kellerweis, 20"Brown, Rampant
Steve - Boneyard IPA, 20" Brown, Farmhouse
Todd - Kellerweis, Boneyard IPA, O'Ryley

We also tasted the Chicago Meat Me and Classic pizzas.  The group preferred the Meat Me flavors.  We also sampled the Cookie and Ice Cream as well as the Chocolate Lava.  It is hard to beat the Cookie and Ice Cream but the Chocolate Lava was a close second.

We have a few months left before Rob moves to beer sampling in Ireland.
Cheers,
Todd

February 20th, 2013 edition of beer club took us to Fire on The Mountain Brewery (Fremont location)

Fire on the Mountain was first a chicken wings place but branched out to beers since thats just what they do in Portland.
The chicken wing review
Lime Cilantro
Bourbon Chipotle (spicy but not distinctive)
Rapsberry Habanero
Spicy Peanut (2nd)
Jamaican jerk (top choice)

The beers were found to be a nice compliment to the wings.

X-TINGUISHER WHEAT (favorite of 3 of 4. unique flavor)

WONDERIN' RYE 

PANCHO PALE 

SHOCKS OF SHEBA IPA

ELECTRIC MAYHEM (American strong ale) (Robs favorite)

The fine wings and beer were finished off with some fried cookies.

They used to have fried twinkies (replaced with little debbies as twinkies are gone) 

We skipped that and went with nutter butter and oreo. Nutter butter perhaps the better unfried cookie, was unspectacular fried. The oreo on the other hand did quite well in fried form and merits a reorder in return visits.

Overall pleasant experience, nice wings, good beers

Rob 

Base Camp Brewing

Wednesday, Jan 30th, 2013

We visited Base Camp this month.  The bar has a nice space and the tables are very robust.  We did not hear the story behind the damaged canoe handing over the bar.  They brew there own beer but the food is handled by food carts out front.  They work well together and you can order food from your table and pay one bill.

We had pizza and a side order of brussel sprouts.  The pizza was good and ranked above average for Portland.  The brussel sprouts were good.  To be honest the first 40 years of my life I could say I don't like brussel sprouts.  These were cut in half and roasted.  I don't know what seasoning they put on them but they were good.  Now I can say someone in this world can make an edible brussel sprout.

Here are the taps we tasted in order,
Paolschenbier - This is a solid pale.  The beer is light and reminiscent of a lager.  Good flavor and easy to drink.
NW Fest - This beer has a lager flavor also.  It is okay but not as festive as expected with a name like NW Fest.
Ripstop Rye Pils - Smooth, easy drinking without much rye flavor.
Belgian Session Ale - Smooth, easy drinking but light on the Belgian flavors.
Out of Bounds Brown - Okay but nothing distinct.
Acclimator Dopplebock - One said it was too sweet.  The others felt is it was well balanced and had more character than the prior beers.
In-tents IPL - It has the hoppyness of an IPA but not much lager.  The aroma and the upfront flavor is sweet.  Okay but probably just drink one.
Prime Meridian IPA - This IPA has a different smell.  It is almost Tropical.  The hop flavors are pronounced.  "Probably finish the pint but move on."
S'more Stout - The toasted marshmallow goes great with this stout.  There are chocolate flavors but the dominant flavor is smokey.  Just like going camping.

Okay now we have tasted them all what are the favorates.
Rob - Paolschenbier, Ripstop Rye, Dopplebock
Ben - Paolschenbier, IPL, Ripstop Rye
Todd - S'more Stout, Dopplebock, Ripstop Rye

Overall we would visit Base Camp again.  The unfortunate thing is they close at 9:00pm on Wednesday.

Until next time....brew at home.
Cheers,
Todd

Beer club by the numbers ( a little engineering analysis)
38 brewpubs (1 closure)
6 taprooms/bars
1 home tasting (irish beers)
4 repeat visits (bridgeport, deschutes, widmer, old market pub)

56  months since the start ,7 months missed (those darn family and work commitments)

for a short while we were running out of new breweries with brewpubs to try. Luckily the brewers have stepped up and new places have started opening Commons, Gigantic, Mt Tabor, etc... so no end in sight

 Rob

The idle blog...

while not many posts there has been drinking going on
Pints brewing Dec 2012

Nice brewpub nested in old town.
Food was good, beer was good . another great Charcuterie plate .Note taking not so much...
The place was empty which doesn't bode well long term, but based on the food and drink I would go again.

October 2012
Old market Pub repeat
Not a blow your socks off brewpub. Beer was good, food is okay

August 2012

Best location of brewpub. On the water in lake owsego. Sounded great on paper skewers, beers.

Unfortunately the skewer grill went kaput, and none of the beer on tap, so drinks were all guest taps.

Will have to go again once brewery is up to speed

July 2012 Sasquatch brewing in multnomah village

they had some awesome house made pickles I believe. Good food , good beer, nice destination in Multnomah Village.  Also started the trend of the meet/cheese/pickle plate which i am a fan (Charcuterie plate for the fancy)

more drinks to come in 2013, new breweries opening up

Rob