Beyond the Pint

Beer # 30: Mountain Brewing Imperial Porter

Mon, 11 Jun 2012 22:40:55 -0400

Brewery: Mountain Brewing Co. (Portland, Oregon)

Style: American Imperial Porter

Who I drank it with: My beer buddies!

Mood: Relieved yet still stressed

The Conversation Over Beer: Well this beer is actually my own home brewed creation that has been sitting in the bottle since October. I have been slowly aging it to see how it is improving; a bottle of this hasn’t been opened for months. I decided to have this beer last to celebrate the end of the 30 days of beer with some buddies after class. The conversation mostly just was over each of the beers I had over my journey this past month. It was a really good night.

Grading the Beer:

Im afraid to say I will not be grading this beer, since it is my own creation, I wouldn’t want to include any personal bias. But I must say, it is pretty darn tasty.

Beer # 29: Ninkasi Spring Reign

Tue, 29 May 2012 07:27:18 -0400

Brewery: NInkasi Brewing (Eugene, Oregon)

Style: American Blonde Ale

Who I drank it with: Some buddies over lunch

Mood: Neutral

The Conversation Over Beer: Summer, summer, SUMMER!!! Summer is on its way and its time to start planning those camping trips. We all sit here sipping on some lighter spring beer hoping for good/warm weather.

Grading the Beer:

Appearance: Poured a light golden body with a huge foamy white head.

Smell: Interesting mix of sweet honey malts, spice and a blend of piney and citrusy hops.

Taste: Semi sweet upfront followed by hop bitterness. Getting some honey tasting malts paired with piney yet grapefruit tasting spicy hops in the finish.

Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with lots of carbonation.

Overall: B-

Beer # 28: Hopworks 7 Grain Survival Stout

Tue, 29 May 2012 07:13:44 -0400

Brewery: Hopworks Urban Brewery (Portland, Oregon)

Style: American Stout

Who I drank it with: Good ol’ thesis project & the girlfriend

Mood: Eh/overwhelmed.

The Conversation Over Beer: As my girlfriend and I sit here, slaving away at our homework, we can both see the light at the end of the tunnel. She will be graduating this next week from grad school, and I will be finishing up my bachelors at the end of the summer. We mostly are just sitting here trying to make plans that involve starting our lives and not our next term. Exciting stuff!

Grading the beer:

Appearance: Pours pitch black and is accompanied by a dark mocha head.

Smell: 7 grains equals a lot going on with this beer, tons of aromas! Getting chocolate, espresso, coffee beans, roasted dark malts, smoke, leather and burnt caramel. Mmmmmmm.

Taste: Roasted, semi bitter dark chocolate up front followed by a slew of coffee flavors and spices. Dark malts come midway with a slight hop character in the backend followed by more coffee and espresso.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with low carbonation.

Overall: B+

Beer # 27: Harvester Experiment Ale

Tue, 29 May 2012 06:57:00 -0400

Brewery: Harvester Brewing (Portland, Oregon)

Style: Gluten Free American Amber/Red Ale

Who I drank it with: old college buddies take 2 + extreme amounts of homework.

Mood: Still doing great!

The Conversation Over Beer: Still have some friends from my old college up enjoying the weekend. This beer was drank over some dinner while we relive old nights in the greek system down at Oregon State. (Sadly this beer was partially poured out because of how awful it was).

Grading the beer:

Appearance: Poured a very dark amber with a nice off white head. Pretty decent amount of lacing left on glass.

Smell: This beer kinda smells like earth, and when i say earth, I mean dirt. Lots of odd aromas coming out of this beer. A mixture of tabacco, chestnuts, leather and floral hops.

Taste: Oh boy is this pretty darn bad. Smells like dirt, taste like dirt. Getting a roasted malt backbone with earthy flavors and a slight floral hop character on the backend.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied and well carbonated.

Overall: D

Beer # 26: Lompoc C-Note

Mon, 28 May 2012 19:07:02 -0400

Brewery: New Old Lompoc Brewery (Portland, Oregon)

Style: Imperial IPA (India Pale Ale)

Who I drank it with: With my girl friends sorority sisters during movie night!

Mood: Good!

The Conversation Over Beer: Its great to see old friends again, and since we all have busy lives we all don’t get to see each other too often besides on facebook. This beer and many others were all shared during a movie and catching up.

Grading the beer:

Appearance: Super dark amber/copper with a big off white head.

Smell: Big northwest piney hops with a nice caramel malt profile. Semi sweet on the back end.

Taste: Again, pretty straight forward like the nose. Big piney hops up front with a semi-sweet caramel malt backbone. Very nice.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with a dry finish.

Overall: B+

Beer # 25: Pelican Dorymans Dark Ale

Mon, 28 May 2012 18:54:16 -0400

Brewery: Pelican Brewery (Pacific City, Oregon)

Style: American Brown Ale

Who I drank it with: My homework, yet again, and with the dog and girlfriend.

Mood: eh

The Conversation Over Beer: Both of us are entrenched in home while watching some TV. Oh what a fun night, at least there is beer involved.

Grading the beer:

Appearance: Dark orange-ish brown in color with a off white head.

Smell: Faint, but I am getting some semi-sweet dark malts, chocolate and molasses.

Taste: Clean and crisp flavors of dark malts with a combination of bittering hops on the backend that help balance things out. Getting some dark fruit character as well.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with a clean crisp finish.

Overall: C+

Beer # 24: Three Creeks Five Pine Chocolate Porter

Mon, 28 May 2012 08:04:00 -0400

Brewery: Three Creeks Brewing (Sisters, Oregon)

Style: American Porter

Who I drank it with: With a couple of friends, pre concert beer!

Mood: Excited//Pumped

The Conversation Over Beer: Podcast, music, beer, women and then more beer. Went to see Red Fang and we decided to have some beers before hand at a local beer bar just down the road from the venue. Excellent night.

Grading the Beer:

Appearance: Pours a super dark brown, but not quite black with monstrous tan/mocha head.

Smell: Its like a mixture of light hops, milk chocolate, roasted malts and coffee beans

Taste: Sweet almost bittering chocolate first comes to mind, but then is filled with hints to floral hops, coffee and also semi sweet malt. This is a super clean, straight forward ale.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with almost too much carbonation for one beer. Really dry finish that is actually some one nice.

Overall: B

Beer # 23: Deschutes Red Chair

Mon, 28 May 2012 07:47:42 -0400

Brewery: Deschutes Brewing (Bend, Oregon)

Style: American Pale Ale

Who I drank it with: Some buddies over lunch

Mood: Neutral

The Conversation Over Beer: We are all actually contemplating how we are going to finish school projects without losing “it.”

Grading the Beer:

Appearance: Pours a clear copperish orange with a massive off white head.

Smell: Tons of piney and citrus hops paired together with a semi-sweet malt profile.

Taste: A nice one two punch of citrus hops and piney hops hit your tongue followed by that semi-sweet malt character that I had found in the nose. This is one very well balanced beer.

Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with a good amount of carbonation.

Overall: B+

Beer # 22: Hopvalley Alpha Centauri Binary IPA

Mon, 28 May 2012 07:23:40 -0400

Brewery: Hopvalley Brewing (Springfield, Oregon)

Style: Imperial IPA (India Pale Ale)

Who I drank it with: Buddies at a beer tasting!

Mood: Happy, excited

The Conversation Over Beer: Mostly just about beer, but that is what happens at a beer tasting :). Most of the conversation was all about the online beer world, previous beer releases and up coming releases. Nothing better than a bunch of grown ups acting like a bunch of kids playing with Pokemon cards.

Grading the Beer:

Appearance: Pours a hazy orange-ish brown with a medium sized off white head.

Smell: Semi-sweet arrangement of citrusy (grapefruit) and fruity (pineapple + banana) hops paired with a caramel malt aromas.

Taste: Again, the beer has a semi-sweet quality that makes it pretty darn tasty. Lots of citrus hops up front followed by a bitter piney hop character in the finish. Nice caramel backbone to give it balance.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied beer with a great deal amount of carbonation. Alcohol is nice and warming without a bite.

Overall: B-

Beer # 21: Heater Allen Coastal Lager

Mon, 28 May 2012 07:05:37 -0400

Brewery: Heater Allen Brewing (McMinnville, Oregon)

Style: American Amber/Red Lager

Who I drank it with: A wood fire

Mood: Tired, some what bored

The Conversation Over Beer: Continuing my “connecting beer with random places or objects,” a great beer can make a good time great, but in the opposite direction, a bad beer can make a bad time worse. While I am not currently having a bad time, Im in a tired bored mood and this beer in particular just put fuel on the fire.

Grading the Beer:

Appearance: Pours a dark golden amber color, fairly cloudy. Nice amount of white head.

Smell: Mostly dominated by a semi-sweet malt base with a slight fruity hop character. Lager yeast apparent.

Taste: A weird combination of these fruity hops, lager yeast and a big malt base. Not my type of beer by any means. There is a weird off flavor to this beer that isn’t agreeing with me.

Mouthfeel: Thin and slick. Weird. Good amount of carbonation though.

Overall: D

Beer # 20: Laurelwood Gearhead IPA

Mon, 28 May 2012 06:42:24 -0400

Brewery: Laurelwood Brewing (Portland, Oregon)

Style: IPA (India Pale Ale)

Who I drank it with: Continuing my excursion of the great outdoors.

Mood: Happy

The Conversation Over Beer: Day # 2 in the forest (well, my parents house, in the forest). Good weather and good beer just go hand in hand. Amazed by the power beer has to make you look at the world a little differently.

Grading the Beer:

Appearance: Pours a beautiful clear amber color with a fluffy white head.

Smell: Piney hops really dominate at a first whiff, then some floral/citrusy hops come in. Also a biscuity malt back bone.

Taste: Following the nose very closely, you get a big blast of piney hops up front then citrusy hops in the back followed by the biscuity malt backbone. Really balanced IPA.

Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied IPA with a great amount of carbonation.

Overall: B+

Beer # 19: Bridgeport IPA

Mon, 28 May 2012 06:16:32 -0400

Brewery: Bridgeport Brewing (Portland, Oregon)

Style: IPA (India Pale Ale)

Who I drank it with: The great outdoors

Mood: Great

The Conversation Over Beer: As I explore more and dive deeper into the world of craft beer and all of its social aspects, I have found myself connecting beer with other objects or areas that you would probably over look. As you can tell from the picture, there is quite the connection between a great tasting ale and the great out doors. Beer not only can bring people together, it can connect people to their local surroundings.

Grading the beer:

Appearance: Nice golden color, although pretty cloudy at pour. Nice small off white head that left little lacing.

Smell: A mixture of lemon grass, floral and citrusy hops, not too over the top though. Makes me want more! Slight caramel malt backbone.

Taste: Real soft and gentle mixture of floral and citrus hops. Lacks the malt backbone need to make a better balanced beer. Rides the fine line between a APA (American Pale ale) and a IPA.

Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied, decently carbonated, smooth finish.

Overall: C

Beer # 18: Southern Oregon Holy Water

Mon, 28 May 2012 05:53:49 -0400

Brewery: Southern Oregon Brewing (Medford, Oregon)

Style: Maibock

Who I drank it with: with the girlfriend; dinner and homework, a college students dream date!

Mood: Neutral

The Conversation Over Beer: Plans for summer and actually this project. How much beer is too much beer in a month and how I hope to finish this project on time. We also covered summer plans.

Grading the Beer

Appearance: Pours a darkish amber/brown color. Comes with a small off white head.

Smell: Not a whole lot coming from this beer but what I can smell is yeast and bready malt. Small amounts of brown sugar and cinnamon. A little bit of alcohol as well.

Taste: Lots of malts dominating the palate, almost fruity in a way. A small brown sugar character is present, but the flavor is really dominated by the mass amount of malts added to this beer. Also some alcohol present.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied beer with a little bit of alcohol present on the finish. Good amounts of carbonation.

Overall: C

Beer # 17: Cascade Lakes Project X

Mon, 28 May 2012 05:36:27 -0400

Brewery: Cascade Lakes Brewing (Redmond, Oregon)

Style: American Pale Ale

Who I drank it with: The dog and a pile of homework

Mood: Eh

The Conversation Over Beer: Well I find myself with todays beer being drank with my dog again, but I must include the mountain of homework that is also sitting next to me. The beer is really helping me keep calm.

Grading the Beer:

Appearance: Pours a very clear light golden color with a small white head.

Smell: Getting a nice combination of floral hops and malts. Very even in aroma.

Taste: A very nice even blend of floral hops and bready malts. Each really complement each other nicely making for a tasty beer.

Mouthfeel: Light bodied with a crisp finish. Very easy drinking beer.

Overall: B+

Beer # 16: Deschutes Black Butte Porter

Mon, 28 May 2012 05:23:04 -0400

Brewery: Deschutes Brewery (Bend, Oregon)

Style: American Porter

Who I drank it with: The Dog on a Friday after work

Mood: Tired

The Conversation Over Beer: As you may have read in earlier blog posts, I do have a dog and we like to drink beer together. While I technically do all the drinking, he doesn’t mind jumping up on my lap and watching some tv after a weeks worth of hard work. Beer can bring anything together, I swear it can.

Grading the Beer:

Appearance: Super deep black pour with a mocha colored head. Lots of lacing left on the side of glass.

Smell: A great mixture of roasted malts, chocolate, molasses and coffee. Smells wonderful.

Taste: Just like the nose, this thing is dead on with the roasted malts, chocolate and molasses. Slight bitterness on the back end with a hint of coffee.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with a good amount of carbonation.

Overall: A-

Beer # 15: Caldera IPA

Mon, 28 May 2012 05:10:00 -0400

Brewery: Caldera Brewing (Ashland, Oregon)

Style: IPA (India Pale Ale) IN A CAN!

Who I drank it with: The girlfriend

Mood: Overwhelmed

The Conversation Over Beer: Just going over how busy we each are and how we don’t have enough time. The future is always a question mark, but is it ever so the months just shortly before grading from college.

Grading the Beer:

Appearance: Copper orange in color, very clear. Nice decently sized slightly off white head.

Smell: Pretty good mixture of pine and citrus hops. NIce malt character peeking its head out.

Taste: Hops really dominate anything that is going on in this beer with a really good bitterness to the beer. Small hints of caramel malts on the back end.

Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied, great amount of carbonation and no real hint of alcohol.

Overall: C+

Beer # 14: 10 Barrel Brewing ISA

Mon, 28 May 2012 04:58:10 -0400

Brewery: 10 Barrel Brewing (Bend, Oregon)

Style: IPA (India Pale Ale)

Who I drank it with: Friends at lunch

Mood: Neutral!

Conversation Over Beer: After a great night on the town, you always some time to regroup your thoughts from the previous night out with some buddies over lunch. A beer never hurts this process and can also relieve some of that headache!

Grading the Beer:

Appearance: Pours a nice clear bright golden color with a small bright white head.

Smell: Nice blend of citrus and floral hops. Grapefruit is dominate. Small malty backbone present.

Taste: Very earthy in flavor (grains) combined with light citrus hops, bready malts make up the rear. Nothing sticking out to heavily. Great drinking IPA on a warm day.

Mouthfeel: Light and well carbonated. No alcohol present.

Overall: C

Beer # 13: Full Sail LTD Lager #4

Mon, 28 May 2012 04:47:14 -0400

Brewery: Full Sail Brewing (Hood River, Oregon)

Style: Lager

Who I drank it with: Friends. The beer “going out” beer.

Mood: Excited

The Conversation Over Beer: We have all been there (hell, most of us are still there). We all don’t have a lot of money to spend, so when going out for a night on the town, a little “pre-gaming” is in order. This was drank with some buddies while we were getting ready to go out. Our conversation was mostly guy talk: girls, booze and more girls.

Grading the Beer:

Appearance: Nice golden brown color with a small off white head. Some lacing.

Smell: Really fragrant fruity smell coming at a first whiff, followed by pilsner yeast and barley. One great smelling lager. Some alcohol coming through as well.

Taste: Sweet yeast, caramel malt and some slight floral hops. Slight alcohol on the backend.

Mouthfeel: Light bodied with tons of carbonation.

Overall: B

Beer # 12 Oakshire The Perfect Storm

Sun, 27 May 2012 02:14:00 -0400

Brewery: Oakshire Brewing (Eugene, Oregon)

Style: Imperial IPA (India Pale Ale)

Who I drank it with: The Dog

Mood: Neutral

The Conversation Over Beer: Just the dog and I. A perfect afternoon.

Grading The Beer:

Appearance: Super clear amber color with a off white head. Slight lacing left on the side of the glass

Smell: A pretty good mix of fruity and floral hops. Also getting some lemon grass and caramel malt.

Taste: Nice caramel malt up front followed by a heavy dose of citrus hops, i.e. Pineapple and grapefruit.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with a light, dry alcohol finish.

Overall: B

Beer # 11: Dechutes/Hair of the Dog Conflux #1

Mon, 21 May 2012 20:15:19 -0400

Brewery: Deschutes Brewery / Hair of the Dog Brewing* (Bend, Oregon & Portland, Oregon)

*This is a collaboration beer between two breweries.

Style: American Strong Ale

Who I drank it with: The girlfriend!

Mood: Relaxed and Tired

The Conversation Over Beer: Mostly about the week and how weird the beer is. This beer is very, very strange.

Grading the Beer:

Appearance: Pours a dark muddy brown with orange and red hues. Comes with a off white head, little to no lacing.

Smell: A serious blend of weird things going on. I instantly smell a slight sourness, like soured cherries. Also getting a lot of oak, spice, and dark fruits.

Taste: The sour cherries really come through on the front end, followed by array of spices, fruits and wooden flavors (oak mostly). Very strange mix of things going on here.

Mouthfeel: Medium to thick mouthfeel with slight alcohol punch.

Grade: B+