Laurelwood Brewery (Portland, Oregon) - Organic Free Range Red
I got this bottle right when I heard that they just started bottling their Red. I’ve had it on tap numerous times and boy, it sure tastes great out of a bottle too! Nice work Laurelwood, you’ve never ever let me down! The beer is a red color, not as dark and mahogany as many of the reds I’ve recently had. The flavor is like toasted bread and caramels. There is an initial wonderful taste and it just continues to warm up; it just gets better and better as you sit there. I appreciate this beer because it has a lot of characteristics of a good IPA, but it’s much earthier and warmer. It seems to be a good beer for fall, winter, and early spring.

Russian River Brewing Company (Santa Rosa, California) - Pliny The Elder IPA
Pliny The Elder is well-known among Oregonian beer lovers. It’s definitely a beer that we are jealous that California brews it and we don’t. Some consider this one of the best beers ever brewed. I agree…one of the best, but maybe not the best (Ever tried the Double Mountain IRA???) It has all the makings of a great IPA: the pine needle aroma and taste, a great hop burst, some citrusy flavors including grapefruit, and a warm ride, and an aftertaste that keeps going. It’s a lot of fun to taste this one. Unfortunately, if you are not in certain parts of California it may be hard to find. For Portland, It occasionally comes to New Seasons and Belmont Station. I’ve had it on tap at Henry’s and I’m sure Horse Brass gets it occasionally. I picked up a few of them when I heard it was in town.

Bridgeport Brewery (Portland, Oregon) - Hop Harvest Ale
This is a triple hopped beer. Enough said right? So you are expecting to be completely blown away. Unless you know your Bridgeport beers, you will be expecting to be blown away. However, Bridgeport has a more refined taste. Their Imperial Hop Czar was way crazier than this beer. This one is nowhere near as piney and doesn’t burst with outrageously intense bitterness. But it’s not called the Hop Czar is it? No, it’s the Hop Harvest. The taste is actually closer to the normal, lovely IPA they produce but with extra strength from the hops and an extra freshness, and at imperial levels. I don’t think it’s meant to be a “Skull Splitter,” “Hop Monster,” or “Tricerahops.” Not that any of those beers are wrong, they are all good. I call this an excellent beer; this beer is very well crafted and unexpectedly maintains the classic IPA that Oregonians have come to love. It comes with a nice green foil too. Thank you Bridgeport.

This post was originally posted on beerandscifi.com

Popularity: 9% [?]

Deschutes Brewery (Bend, Oregon) - Jubelale 2008 (Winter Seasonal)
One of my all time favorite beers, the Jubelale is back for the fall and winter season. Yes! This strong ale is a dark mahogany color with a beautiful dark fruits (apple resin) and spices (cinnamon, coffee) aroma. It avoids the burst of evergreen pine that many IPA’s have, it is subtler and yet more stable and even more mature tasting (An IPA tastes experimental compared). The taste is very full but not overly complex and it actually does taste like the holiday season; I don’t know how they do it, but I immediately think of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the snow. This beer gives you the comfort of a porter or stout but without the heaviness, and with some extra hoppy kick that is classic for the Pacific Northwest. Don’t pass this one by.

Hale’s Ales (Seattle, Washington) - Kölsch
I should have reviewed this one earlier in the year because I just found out that this Kölsch is only supposed to run through August. I can still find it at Whole Foods, and probably New Seasons, Belmont Station, etc. (in Portland). If you live outside Portland, you need to call your best beer store. The bottle says “German Style Ale” and I don’t know what makes it that. Some reviews I’ve read say that it is not a “real” Kölsch. Whatever it is, or isn’t, it IS a really great tasting beer. I enjoy the simplicity of it, and it’s earthy quality. It has a roasted nut and toasted bread taste to it while remaining a bit thin. The warmer, toastier, taste sort of swells a little after you swallow and then it rounds out. There are some hops added that give it just a tad more kick than I would expect from a German beer. Try to pick this one up before it disappears, it may come back every year too, but I don’t know that for sure…

Bridgeport Brewery (Portland, Oregon) - Hop Czar
Another beer that may be leaving stores soon. Pick it up ASAP at Belmont Station, Whole Foods, or New Seasons… maybe call them first. Brideport’s Hop Czar is an IPA that I consider to be the classic beer for the Pacific NW (the Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale is another classic). IPA’s have since become testing grounds for ultra hoppy and bitter qualities that you would find in say a Ninkasi Tricerahops Double IPA or Double Mountains Hop Lava. The Hop Czar from Bridgeport could be considered, by some, to have the same classic feeling as the normal IPA, but an instant classic for all these new Imperial and Double IPA’s. I don’t know if I would go that far; it’s good, but it’s new and one of the characteristics of the newer imperials/doubles is their wild quality. Bridgeport is usually more reserved. The Hop Czar is an Imperial IPA, with 8% alcohol. It has an extremely potent and noticeably sharp hop smell, like the hops were just put in the bottle or something. Consistent with Bridgeport, the drink is nicely balanced, not pulling you one way or another, and leaving you feeling great about what you just drank. Lots of citrus flavor that reminds me of lime, grapefruit, or others and has a nice lasting aftertaste. A 22oz was a bit much so I split it with friends. That’s always a good way to taste beer.

Originally posted on beerandscifi.com here.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Fresh hops flowers

Hops is harvested in early September. It is usually dried in kilns and often pressed into pellets to prevent it from spoiling soon after harvest. But for some lucky brewers who are close enough to the hops fields, fresh, or wet, hops can be used to brew a very special beer.

While the drying process preserves the hops, it also causes the cones to lose some of the essential oils that give hops, and ultimately beer, that special fragrance and taste. Two Northwestern brewers, Sierra Nevada and Great Divide, take advantage of their proximity to the hops fields of Washington and brew a limited edition wet hops beer.

Musings Over a Pint has a couple links to videos of these beers being made. Unfortunately, neither video can be embedded so you’ll have to go to the Denver Post to see the Great Divide Fresh Hop Pale Ale being made, and Sierra Nevada to see the Harvest Ale being made.

The Sierra Nevada video is gorgeous and it made my mouth water. I’ve got to try that beer!

Popularity: 7% [?]

I have written before about the world-wide shortage of hops (and malts) that is causing the price of beer to go up. Now it seems the next logical step is already taking place: breweries are having to change their beer recipes to use less hops.

Here’s the root of the problem:

The bulk of U.S.-grown hops are produced in the Yakima, Washington, area. Farmers weren’t getting a profitable return and got out of the market, switched crops or went bankrupt. The same was happening in Germany, the world’s No. 1 hop-growing country.

In the United States alone, there were an estimated 515 hop growers in 1950; 75 in 2000 and just 45 today, Ward says. In 2006, about 2 million pounds of hops were destroyed in an S.S. Steiner warehouse in Yakima, equaling about 4 percent of the U.S. hop crop.

All the while, beer sales are increasing worldwide by about 1 to 2 percent annually. The craft brewing industry is growing yearly by 12 percent. That economic reality is pushing hop growers back into the fields.

The larger breweries are not being hit as hard because they have long-term contracts with hops farmers. it’s the little guys that are suddenly having to figure out how to make their brews with much less of a key ingredient. There really is not substitute for hops to the taste of the altered recipe is inevitably different. This is bad news for “hop heads” but personally I like my beer to be less hoppy than most. Still, it’s got to suck for these small breweries who have carved out a little local niche with their one-of-a-kind recipes and now have to change it.

Popularity: 4% [?]