Portland Trips

If you ever go to Portland here are a couple of place to hit up. First Hair of the Dog and while you are there try vintage Bottles.  I recommend the 2010 Matt: a bouron barrel aged stout and the 2011 Bourbon Fred: a bourbon barrel aged style strong ale. Both are excellent. Second check out BigAss Sandwich in The Mississippi District, it is in the parking lot of Prost. You can get a sandwich then walk in and get a 1 litre of Licher. Lastly Deschute in Pearl District. They have solid beer, but you can alway find a limited on tap. Last time I had the Abyss Imperial Stout. Quite tasty! Enjoy Beer! 

Portland Brew Tour

Couple weeks ago went to Portland for the weekend. Hit Hair of the Dog and Cascade Brewing. At Hair of the Dog, I had Lila, Cherry Fred on Wood, Matt, and Bourbon Fred. My least favorite was Lila. I really enjoyed the Bourbon Fred and Matt. Both aged in bourbon barrels. Matt is a stout and Fred is a special golden ale. Both were phenomenal. We went to Cascade and I had the Bourbonic Plague which is there double porter aged in bourbon barrels with vanilla bean and thai cinnamon. Amazing. If you are ever in Portland I highly recommend these two breweries. Cheers!      

National Drink a Beer Day

Happy National Drink a Beer Day! I enjoyed Laurelwood's Pumpkin Ale. Spicy and Balanced. Definitely a fall favorite. Prost!

Seahawks!

Hawks lead the west and are off to a 3-0 start! Celebrate with the 12th Can. The 12th Man Pale Ale is by Hilliard's in Ballard. It is smooth, balanced and lightly hopped. Legion of Boom! 

Southern Oregon Beer

Couple weeks ago went down to Ashland/Medford for Vacation. We stopped by SOB, Caldera, and Standing Stone. Southern Oregon Brewing(SOB) by far my favorite. I had the Pin-up Porter  and there seasonal Kolsh. I also bought a new growler. Caldera was fun. More hippie than I was expecting. Tried the Ginger Hibiscus ale and the Mogli a chocolate oak aged bourbon porter. The Mogli was amazing, strong chocolate flavor. Last we stopped by Standing Stone. There beer was good, their food was better. The weather and the local was amazing and just sitting having a beer made it better! Cheers! 

Last week in Beer

Last weekend I went to Fremont and I got to try their Barleywine. It was very delicious, not heavy or strong alcohol like most other Barleywine. We then went to Asgard's Tavern I had the Thor's Equinox and my wife had the Sunstone. Both solid Belgium's and better on draft. Thursday got a chance to try Burnside's Lime Kolsh, it was nice and light with a hint of lime. Finally Friday I split Pike's Wood Aged Stout, it was excellent with sweetness of bourbon and bringing out the coffee notes. All in all a good selection this week in August. Cheers!  

National IPA Day!

Hoppy National IPA Day! I am enjoying a Daddy's Little Helper Black IPA from Rogue. It has a delicious roasted malt flavor balanced with Hops! Proust! 

Over the weekend

Over the weekend, I took my cousin out for his 21st. First we hit Two Beers in Georgetown. He tried the Immersion Amber, I had the Presidential Pils. I also had the Evo IPA and tried a sample of there Sodo Brown with mint and cocoa nibs. All their beers were excellent. Then we went to Schooner Exact and both tried the dry stout. It was a nice quality, balanced Stout. Then we swung by Beer Junction and picked up some bottles yo go. We ended the night at Prost were we did a boot of a dunkel weiss. The beer was light with a hint of raisins. Also over the weekend we shared a Manhattan NW sour ale from Cascade. It was a cherry and noyeux ale aged in bourbon barrels and it was amazing! It was a good weekend, with good beer, and good company. Cheers!

MLB ASG

Enjoyed Schooner Exact Hop vine IPA. It was nice and balanced. Slightly hopped and light floral notes. Tasted like a fresh hop IPA. I really enjoyed the beer and the American League won! King Felix pitched a scoreless 4th inning! It was a good night. Prost! 

This week in Beer

I bought myself a 6 pack of the Seattle Beer Week 5th Anniversary Beer from Fremont. It is a pale ale. Balanced and smooth with a subtly hint of citrus. I also had Southern Oregon Brewing Czech pils. It is quite tasty, it is a little more hoppy than a standard German pils. Thirdly I had Elysian's Oddland Series Peppercorn Saison. The bouquet was of peppercorn. The flavor had just a hint of peppercorn. Saison is a style of beer that I am enjoying a lot and Elysian does "unique" beers like no one else. Cheers! 

Beer

It's been a busy couple weeks and haven't had too many beers, but here are a couple I did have and enjoyed. First Snipe Mountain Brewing Session IPA. It is light and hoppy. Second there is Reuben's American Rye Ale. It is a pale made with rye. One of my new favorites. Thirdly Almaeda Huckleberry Hound Golden Ale. This one is light and balanced with a little bit of sweetness. Very good. I have been enjoying a lot from Almaeda lately. Cheers and enjoy this beautiful weather. 

Beer Tasting

Last weekend went out and tried some different breweries in the greater Seattle area. First off stopped at Machine House Brewery in Georgetown. This brewery does everything English Session Style Ale in cask condition and poured out with pump handles. I recommend the Bitter. Second went to Emerald City Brewing. I have to say I was a little disappointed. Their Flagship beer Dottie had an infection in the line that made the beer taste almost like a sour ale which I know they were not trying to do. Thirdly we went to Reuben's Brewing in Ballard which we liked the best. The had several options to try. They had a lot that would benefit from bottling and being aged. I recommend the American Rye Ale and American Brown. Finally we went to NW Peaks home of the grassy beer most of their beers had a grass flavor that didn't quite hit the palette well. There only enjoyable beer was the ginger pale ale. Experienced new beer at two great breweries over the weekend, what more could you ask for. I don't know maybe a 100% great experience. :) Proust! 

Last Week

Over the last week I have a couple of good beers. I got to have the Dayman Coffee IPA on tap at Beer Junction. I would have to say this has been my favorite year of 2013. It is a collaboration      beer with Stone and to other Breweries. It is nicely balanced with coffee and hops with a nice floral finish. I also tried the Sigrun IPA from Odin. Odin like do things the way they want to and it shows in their beer. I never dislike anything they do. Wish they bottle their Bourbon Thor's Equinox. Also if you are looking for a nice summer beer I recommend the Good Juju from Left Hand. It is light and refreshing with the ginger spice. If you liked Elysian's Hansel and Gretel you will like this. Finally I went to Fremont Brewing on Monday, it is my favorite brewery in Seattle. I got to try their Dark Star Stout with Coconut and let me say I was in heaven it was like drinking dessert. My wife also bought me a bottle of the Old Bridge Rider which is an anniversary beer a bourbon barreled Barleywine. Cheers! 

Pelican Brewing

Enjoying a Silverspot IPA from Pelican down at their pub. This is probably my new favorite beer from them. Cheers! 

Craft Beer

Over the past couple of weeks I got to try some good beers. I had the Alameda Bad Bunny Imperial Cream Ale. It was light, creamy and tasty! I also had Boulevard's Golden Bock which is probably my new favorite summer beer. Today I tried Stone Double Dry Hopped Ruination IPA which was on tap for Craft Beer week! Nice hop flavor. Definitely a great IPA! This weekend Pelican Brewing on Oregon Coast yessss! 

California Breweries

I have always been a big fan of 21st Amendment and Stone, recently Coronado Brewing has made its way to Washington. Their coffee stout is delicious. Last night I tried their Red Ale, it was a nice balanced amber. Lightly hopped copper color. Also came in to owning Stone's Espresso Imperial Russian Stout. I am excited to try this Stone is one of my favorite breweries.

Red House

Went to Red House in Renton for the first time. It was delicious, The polenta fries were amazing! I tried on tap Big Al Hopvillian Black IPA which was good balanced both with roasted malt and hops. However it did not compare to The Dayman from Stone. Which I split with a buddy of mine. It was so delicious strong coffee flavor and nicely hopped with Citra Hops I may have to by another bottle!

312

I tried the 312 Urban Wheat from Goose Island. It was light and refreshing. A great beer to enjoy when the sun finally shows up. I also got a limited Release of the Grandfather Raven Stout from Black Raven in Redmond. It grains are roasted to the point that is creates a smokiness flavor. A lot of complex characters, a really good beer!

Elysian

Went to Elysian at dinner, tried their Minotaur Dark Lager. It was really delicious robust flavor with characteristics of toffee. Also my wife bought me a new sweatshirt which I love!

Beer Junction

Last Night went to Beer Junction and had a flight. The 4 Beers I chose were:
Lagunita cappuccino stout
Maritime Salmon ESB
Fort George Roses on Roses
Schooner Exact No Sacc Sour Brown
My favorite of the night was Schooner Exact. There sour had a butter smooth finish which I liked. My Second favorite was Roses on Rose. It was a Bourbon barrel aged Imperial IPA. The Bourbon mild out the hop notes of the IPA but you still got strong floral and Oaked characters. I finished the night with Coronado Brewing coffee stout on nitro which was amazing as I shopped around and came home with Burnsides Sweet Heat(apricot scotch bonnet pepper ale), Epics Rips Rompin Rye Ale, and Fremont's 5 year anniversary ale.

March Madness

Been Busy watching March Madness. Been drinking mainly Elysian. Their Loser Pale Ale, Dragontooth Stout, Immortal IPA and Bête Blanche . Other than that haven't had much else to report. I will check in later

Beer this week!

We went to California last weekend for a wedding. While down there I tried Carmel Vally Brewing Wheat and Anchor Brewing. Then this week we went to the Pelican Tasting at Beer Junction. Tried their Keg Monkey Zwickel Unfiltered Lager and Liz won a shirt. Then Last night I drank the Elysian's Avatar IPA and Dragontooth Stout, Victory's Hopdevil, Maui Brewing's Sobrehumano Palena'Ole and Burnside Brewing's Sweet Heat. Sweet Heat still one of my new favorite beers!