Mother's Day

Went down to Pelican Brewery in Pacific City for Mother's Day. The release of the Mother of All Storms Bourbon barreled Barleywine that they do. It is an English Style Barleywine aged in Kentucky Bourbon Barrels. It has caramel and toffee notes. The barrel brings out the complexity if the barleywine and is a real treat. While there I had their vintage vertical flight. They had the Stormwatchers Winterfest 2013, 2012, & 2011. This is the base beer for the Mother. Then they had Mother of All Storms 2014, 2013, & 2011. It was nice arrangement and should the changes of the flavors over the years. If you get a chance yo try it go fo it, it is worth the money and one of the best barleywines in the country. Cheers!  

It was the monster mash...it was graveyard smash

Enjoying a Monster Mash Imperial Porter from Lompac Brewing. It has a robust coffee flavor with a subtle smoke finish. It's flavor is Ghoulish! Cheers 

Long time Blogging....or Since it has happened

This summer was busy with a lot of sun and fun and beer. A couple notes on what has been drunk this season. First off my new favorite seasonal stout, Indra Kunindra from Ballast Point. It is a stout with curry, coconut, cumin, and kafir lime. It is delicious with spicy sweetness. 

We also went to Missoula and checked out Big Sky and Bayern. Big Sky had on tap a Orange Mocha Stout which was amazing. 

Thirdly we went to Bellingham and went to Chuckanut Brewing. Came back with bottle because they are not distributed statewide. I recommend the Dunkel Lager.

For the Fourth of July we were up in LaConner and we decided to go Anacortes Brewing. I highly recommend the food and beer.

We did a couple of "Beer Tastings" Highlighted beers from the tastings

Fremont Old Bridgerider-a bourbon barrel aged barleywine

Breakside Elder Statesman-a bourbom barrel aged red ale 

Cascade Vlad the Imp Aler-a sour aged in bourbon barrels . 

Evil Twin Lil B- Imperial Porter

Rodenbach Grand Cru-a grand cru

Robinson's Brewing Trooper-a bitter from England

On our anniversary we enjoyed three tasty beers from breweries that we have visited together our favorite was the Mogli from Caldera. A chocolate porter aged in oak barrels, best chocolate beer I have ever had. 

Final Odin opened a new location in South Center. The tap room is really nice and spaceous. They also have Odin's Gift on Nitro! All in all it has been a good flavorful summer. I and my taste buds are excited for fall flavors , Elysian's Dark of Moon......oh yeah! Cheers!

Sour Fest 2014

Took May 15th off and went to Sour Fest with my brother and brother-in-law. We tried a lot of good beer. Here is our list with rankings out of 8.

Black Raven king dandy  5/8

Cantilion rose' 7/8

Cantillon st gilloise 6/8

Cascade bourbonic plaque 7/8

E9 rhubarb wild 6/8

Logsond peche & brett 6/8

Almanac Barreled Age Pèche 6/8

Breakside A Saison in Hell 4/8

The Common Trillium 7/8

Crux Banished Better off Red Flanders 4/8

10 Barrel Apricot berlinnerweise 7/8

Ballast Point Sour Wench 5/8

Bear Republic tartare 5/8

Bruery Rueze 7/8

Birrifico 4/8

Mikkeller Betelgeuze  5.5/8

Snipe Mountain Quinceañear Prieta 6/8

Surley Pentegram 5/8

Lompac Cherry Christmas 5/8

Struise blonde Sour 6/8

The standout from the day was 10 Barrels apricot berlinnerweise, my favorite was Trillium from Commoms brewing. Prost

Delicious Stout Beer

The last couple weeks I have had some delicious beer. Let start with Hair the Dog's Matt. It was a bourbon barreled stout, that is also aged in brandy barrels. Sweet, roasty and delicious. The next beer I had was Pelican's Irish Handcuffs, it is a dry irish stout. It is smooth, balanced and subtly sweet. At 4.4% it is a quaffable stout. The next beer I had was Black Raven's Grandfather Imperial Stout. This beer is from 2012, aged for 2 years. It was thick, creamy and satisfying. Black Raven has never disappointed. Also while driving through Astoria stopped by Fort George and picked up a limited release Cavacta stout aged in Rum barrels. I haven't had one yet but once I do I will write about. Drink and be merry! Prost! 

Portland Drinking

We went to Portland March 8&9. Surprise Surprise. First stop was lunch at Hopworks Urban Brewery. Had the 7 Grain Suvival Stout and my wife had HUB ESB, both were excellent. Then we went to Powell's off Hawthorne. After that the next Brewery we hit was Gigantic, I had the Most Premium Imperial Russian Stout and she had the Bang on British Pale Ale. The stout was creamy, sweet and roasty. The pale ale was beatifully balanced with malts and hops. We then stopped by Hair of the Dog and I got to try Strawberry Fred from the Wood and she had Greg. First with Greg it is a squash pilsner, and beer that my wife actually likes from Hair of the Dog. Strawberry Fred was amazing. Lastly we hit Basecamp Brewing which is becoming one of my favorites in Portland as well. The have great beer(smoked weiss & Northwest fest), two food trucks that deliver inside and the to go beers are in aluminum bottles which is pretty cool.  To end the trip we also hit Belmont Station and Rogues PDX bottleshop and came home with some good selections like Mikkler's Santa's Little Helper aged in Cognac barrels. Prost! 

Beer tasting 2/14

Enjoyed a 2013 Hair of the Dog Doggie Claws. One of the more enjoyable Christmas beers. It is a barleywine. 13%, an American Style with more hoppy notes. Makes me all warm and cheery inside. We also did a beer tasting with some friends. My Top 3 were Port Brewing's Old Viscosity, it was a roasty malty barleywine, looks more like a stout then a barleywine. Very Delicious. 2nd was Gigantic Brewing Massive. It was also a barletwine. Balanced, sweet, and easy to drink. 3rd was Avery/Russian River Collaboration Not Litigation, this was made by both Breweries. They both have a Belgian beer named Salvation and this is a blend of each one. Hunt and Explore beer, you never know what tasty concoction you will fine! Prost!

Sam Adams Utopias tasting

Last night went to the Utopias tasting at Beer Junction. We tasted 5 different Sam Adams beers. First the Stony Brook Red, it is a flanders style red. It started out tart and had a malty oak finish. A pretty decent beer. Second was the Thirteenth Hour stout, a belgian imperial stout barrel aged. This beer was disappointing. It came out flat and a lack of flavor. Third we tasted Tetravis, which is a belgian quad. It was bold and rich. Filled with complex sweetness characteristics. Fourth was Utopias. It was 28%! When you smelled it, it smelled like bourbon aged it brandy casks or vice versa. It was uncarbonated, thick and sweet. It was like drinking a glass of brandy and well worth the experience. We finished with Rebel IPA. It was balanced and floral. It was a decent IPA but average compared to PNW IPAs that are available. Cheers!

Beer Tasting and More

During the wild card weekend I got to enjoy a 2012 Fremont Bourbon Abominable Ale. It was smooth, sweet, and chocolate. It had the aroma of bourbon when you smelled it. It was incredible. Word cannot describe how much I love this beer.

Last Friday I went up to a friends place and we did a beer tasting. My favorites of the night was 2011 Firestone Walker Parabola( aged in bourbon barrels, it had vanilla notes and sweetness and being from 2011 a balanced flavor), Gigantic  Imperial Russian Stout (Big and creamy and tasty), Black Raven Old Bird Brain Barleywine, and He'Brew 16 anniversary Jewbalation Ale( this had the cinnamon spicy sweetness, aged in barrels and was 16%. 

Had a ton of great beers over the last two weeks. New ones come up everyday! Eat, drink and be merry!

Prost and Go Hawks' 

Holiday

Crazy Holiday season and a lot of delicious beers. Time flew but brews were just as tasty. We did a Hair of the Dog beer tasting. It involved Ruth, Adam, Fred, Doggie Claws, Otto, and Bourbon Fred. The majority liked Doggie Claws a American hoppy barleywine, my favorite was Otto which is Cherry Fred blended with Peach Fred aged in Oak barrels for 18 months. I also had Stone Smoked Vanilla Bean Porter and Pelican Mother of All Storms both were amazing. I also tried  Black Ravens Gun Powder Imperial Bourbon Porter which had a burnt sweet flavor really enjoyed the intensity of the flavor. Nice Beers and good Company this Holiday. Hope you did the same. Prost!