Beer Adventure: Trio of Portland Breweries. Aug. 15

Aug: 15: Beer Adventure: I’m writing this after a few month’s lapse, so my memory may be a bit faulty.

I was invited by friends Brad and Jesse to stay with them in Portland. Jesse is a long-time family friend but I didn’t know Brad that well. Yet, he graciously took me out on a mini beer tour to three locations. A long-time friend, Matt, who now lives in Portland was able to join us, so the trio of us hit a trio of breweries. 

The first stop was for dinner and beers at Alameda. I’d had some of their offerings and enjoyed them, so was very excited to go there in person. They have a very nice set up and a healthy number of offerings. The food was fantastic. They have great options at happy hour so I ended up with a very good basil and tomato pizza. And the beer was exceptionally good. I tried:

Double Down IPA (at Brewery):  Very strong at 10% ABV and 100 IBU. I found it sweet and smooth with mildly earthy hops. Very strong but very smooth. Medium gold color. (8/15/2012)

Yellow Wolf Imperial IPA (at Brewery): Very piney. Yellow gold color.

Wilshire Wheat (at Brewery): Cloudy yellow color. Nice citrus flavor. Very mild and fruity. Mild sweetness. (8/15/2012)

El Torero (at Brewery): Sweet with mild pine flavor. Solid IPA. Organic. (8/15/2012)

Klikitat (at Brewery): Earthy Pale Ale with slight sourness. Light pine flavor. Pale amber color. (8/15/2012)

Irvington Porter (at Brewery): Good smoky roasted porter with slight sour. Very good porter. (8/15/2012)

Maple Mild (at Brewery). Sweet with an amber color. Slight sour. Mild and tasty. (8/15/2012)

P Town Pils (at Brewery): 4% ABV and 20 IBU. Sweet and light, but too mild to be interesting. (8/15/2012)

Black Bear XX on Nitro (at Brewery): Smoky and dark and wonderful. Mildly alcohol flavor seeps through, but overall VERY good! (8/15/2012)

Black Beark xx Co2 (at Brewery): Dark and mildly sour. Less full flavor than on Nitro. (8/15/2012)

Coffee Vanilla Stout (at Brewery): Sweet vanilla flavor and good coffee bite. Good desert beer. Very tasty. (8/15/2012)

The second stop was Migration. I was less ambitious to try the same variety as I had at Alameda. Migration has wonderful offerings and had one of the best beers I’d ever had, a Coffee IPA. I got lazy and didn’t describe it at the time, but the memory of it is very strong. The blending of a strong coffee flavor in the IPA worked very nicely. I also tried their Old Silenus.

Old Silenus (at Migration Brewery): on nitro. Deep complex amber ale with creamy head. Sweet, malty, bourbon flavor.  With roasted hints in the malts – more dominated by the malt flavor than the hops. 7.5% ABV. 75 IBU, but doesn’t taste like it.

The last stop was at Coalition Brewing. Very cool place. They have not only their own brews, but collaboration brews with local brewers and home brewers. Great concept. Tried their Maple Porter –roasty, and sweet.