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Portland Brew
Crawl Hair of the Dog Alan Sprints, Brewmaster was our tour guide and host. I think he said he used to work for Widmers. The brewery specializes in strong beers with Belgian strong ale influences. Big grain bill and lots of flavor is the rule for these beers. They are hoping to get people to buy and age their strong beers like people do with Thomas Hardy Strong Ale. This was definitely the best beer on the trip for me. Many of my companions agreed, being partial to strong/flavorful beers. These were not made for the *average* beer drinker or for that matter for "session" drinking. After introductions were over, we had a chance to quaff a few brews while waiting for some late comers to show up for the tour. The first beer we tasted was Ed. Its a lighter beer made from the second runnings of Fred which I'll describe below. The next beer was Rose. After that we were served Adam which is a Doppelbock with a malty nose. I don't remember a whole lot about them.... sorry. The next was Fred. Its a strong Ale reminiscent of Thomas Hardy but very smooth and complex. Alan told us that "Fred" had just won First place at the Tornado’s Barley wine fest. That particular beer was aged in a barrel with 18 months of mellowing prior to bottling. It tasted great and was my favorite of the trip. The brewery is pretty much a combination of purchased equipment like the Unitanks from JV Northwest to fabricated from scratch like the a whole bunch of gear. For example, they took a stainless steel tank and modified it with a tangential fitting to make it into a whirlpool. The beer is all naturally carbonated using the old process of mixing old fermented beer with fresh beer in the bottle. Just like some people do for homebrewing (I think its called Kreusening in Germany but I’m probably mistaken or have misspelled it) Every single bottle coming out of the brewery is hand capped with a one bottle capper. Their most advanced brewing equipment is the labeler which puts the labels on the bottles. Of course you have to have someone catch the bottle of the other end so its still pretty much hands on. All of this craftsmanship and care results in a very rare find… Great beer. Jaime was so enthusiastic about the beer that he bought a Super magnum and carried it all the way home for his bachelor party. I think I’ll just keep and eye for it at better beer shops around. After the main tour was complete, the brewer brought out a beer not commercially available called Eve. The start out making Adam and then they specially process it (do your own research) into an Eisbock. It ends up being one of the smoothest Eisbocks I've ever tasted and I hope that it makes it into the regular brewing schedule. Jaime walked a bottle of eve home that the brewer gave him. I hope his fiancee isn't jealous. The address is below. There web page has information on were to find it locally but dont call the brewery direct for bottles because they are a wholesale outfit and doesn't yet have a license to ship beers direct. 4509 Southeast 23rd
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