You May Talk o' Gin and Beer: Portland Spring Beer Fest 2005
by our resident inebriate, Crazy Marty
Critical Cloud's unquenchable thirst for knowledge sent Intrepid Reporter Crazy Marty (hey, doesn't 'intrepid' mean 'thirsty'?) to Portland, Oregon this past weekend to boldly go where no beer drinker has gone before. Exhibiting an overzealous dedication to the assignment, our IR (that journalism talk for Intrepid Reporter) returned a bit hung over, but still better informed about the status of Northwest brews. On second thought, he might be our RI (Resident Inebriate).
Held in the Oregon Convention Center, the venue was not pretty, but it was convenient with nearby street parking and very little traffic to deal with. Compared to San Francisco, Portland is a very cute city. It's a hard place not to like.
The admission was a slim $5 bill, but buying a glass and tokens (which would be exchanged for good sized tastes of beer) upped the entry fee to a not inconsiderable amount. Perhaps that is one way of reducing drunkenness, although most people certainly seemed more interested in tasting quality beers than in simple swilling, a phenomenon we see in most of our sports arenas.
The approach we took was to walk around the room once, making mental notes of which vendors had new or interesting beers and ales. In retrospect, it might have been quicker and much more efficient had we actually read the guide provided by the sponsors and given it our all in that manner. But, we had fun (there were four of us...two couples) although it turned out to be impossible to taste everything that seemed appealing.
Most serious beer drinkers have their favorite styles and we're no different. Stouts and Amber Ales (especially those with a lot of hops) are our favorites, with occasional forays into IPA’s (India Pale Ales). Getting to appreciate the great, but often sour tasting, beers of Belgium is our next project. It is what is known as self-improvement.
Hands down winner, among our group, was the Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout from California's own Ft. Bragg North Coast Brewing Company. This is not a new ale, but it is good enough to be included in Michael Jackson's (not that Michael Jackson) handsome volume, Great Beer Guide which pictures and describes "500 Classic Brews." Imperial Stout is much more alcoholic than the non-imperial version (think Guinness) and deserves a session devoted to sitting and enjoying its charms...easily enhanced with a fine cigar.
Besides the usual micro-breweries, such as Bridgeport Brewing, or Rogue Brewery (which has a satellite pub in North Beach...check it out) a number of small, single location, Oregon brew pubs took tables at the Fest, perhaps in an attempt to lure locals into their establishments. For the most part, it seemed that their output wasn't quite up to the quality of the more established micro-breweries, with full-time brewmasters, but who could taste everything?
There were representatives from some pretty distant breweries. The vaunted Young's brewery of London was there with their Double Chocolate Stout, as was a small brewery from Maine, called Allgash. Their specialty must be reproductions of legendary Belgian ales, and their Tripel (an extra strong golden ale, and quite hoppy) was a bit of a show hit.
If, instead of a cigar, you prefer a pipe with a spicy Latakia blend, may we suggest the Lagunitas IPA. Lagunitas had a booth at the show, and is from Petaluma, so it is not hard to find locally. Not all of our time in Portland was wasted drinking beer at the Beer Fest. We also wasted our fiber drinking beer in Portland restaurants and hotels. Number one in selection, volume, and quality has to be Higgins, which is conveniently located downtown near that other oasis of culture, the Portland Art Museum. Higgins has bottles of many hard to find Belgian and German beers, plus a fine list of drinks on tap. The food is excellent, geared to fresh Northwest fare and you can indulge in either the wood-lined bar or the linen-clothed dining room. Considering the number of pubs in Portland serving excellent beer, I'm surprised that there isn't a dispensary in the Portland Art Museum. There is, however, the Laurelwood Public House, which, while not acting as an art museum, can act as a baby sitting service, with its very own in-house nursery for children while the parents indulge in some in-house brews. It must look like a horror house to children who's parents turn nasty after a few drinks: "Come on darling, mommy and daddy are going to take you to that nice little house with the play-room while we have a few beers and discuss mommy's spending habits and daddy's visits to the strip club." Their Stout was very good, as was both the hamburger and vegetarian chili. Nor, we must add, did we detect any irritating bawling to disturb our studies. It's just off 23rd Ave., a street that, due to its Union Street (San Francisco) look is called "Trendy 3rd".
Even our hotel was ultra beer friendly. We stayed at the Kennedy School, an ex-elementary school, turned into a hotel (the class rooms were cut in half, each with its own private bathroom) with 4 bars and a brewery on premises. The favorites are the Cypress Room and Detention, both of which accommodate smokers. The other two rooms don't permit smoking and I can't imagine hanging out with anyone who would want to drink in the smoke-free Honors Bar. Can you? With a movie theater and sap on premises, you can see why this hotel, in a residential neighborhood, is a favorite of locals, perhaps more so than out of town guests.
But back to the beer festival. With 47 companies pouring two to three beers each, you can see how a weekend was just not enough time to test every offering. We plan to return next year with a plan of attack based on experience and not just lust. We'll stumble back then.
More info: Portland Spring Beer Fest
posted by el Greco at 10:14 AM
|
1 comments
