Great American West Brewery Tour - Installment II

Installment II: 8/31/2007
LoLo Hot Springs, Montana, to Portland, Oregon

Sad as we were to leave the Kellerman’s-style family resort without having slept in a teepee (we opted for a room in the “fort”), and without having witnessed a dance-off of any kind, we had road to cover and beer to drink, and so on we went…The morning was uneventful. We made it all the way across central Idaho without encountering a brewery or being propositioned for anonymous sex in a public restroom by a US Senator. And while recent events have shaken some Americans’ faith in their public officials, the only disillusionment in our group was Allie’s loss of confidence in the disaster readiness of corporate America. Why she thought that the Walla Walla Wal-Mart would be a bastion of safety and steady electricity in the face of severe thunderstorms is unclear, but suffice it to say that the Red Cross Wal-Mart is not.  We did manage to sneak in one unscheduled brew-stop before for the storm rolled through…

Laht Neppur Brewing Company (Waitsburg, WA)

This tiny operation (Gaelic for “Drink to Life”) has only been open for 2-3 months, but it is already a locals hangout. A post-lunch crowd of 5 or 6 filled the bar, contributed to the peanut shells on the floor and commented on the whiteboard denoting which regulars had been in recently, and which had not. The brewery was a nice hybrid of indoor and outdoor space, with patio furniture seating under a tent roof. Plus, we loved that in addition to the usual growlers and kegs, this brewery will fill Mason Jars and Party Pigs for you.  Laht Neppur also marked our transition from somewhat random sampling at brewery taps, to exhaustive sampling via the platters of 3-4 oz. beer shots available along most of the rest of our route. The tray included:

Kolsch: Golden and blah…
Apricot Hefeweizen: Light banana flavor, no taste of apricot, not as crisp as Madison River’s
Pale Ale: Resin-y hops, slightly sour on the tongue, nice head
Golden Ale: Described as “a more robust version of the pale ale” and is way better, caramel in color with a hefe-like flavor
Nut Brown: Mellow and, of course, nutty, it is solid but not special
Oatmeal Porter: Easily drinkable on this 100F summer day, despite dark color; grainy malt flavor, high carbonation for a porter
Cream Stout: Grossly sweet, reminds me of the AVBC stout
Imperial IPA: Usually included but out when we arrived

The Golden Ale was the best, but none of them were spectacular. Maybe with time… 

After that, it was time to move on and drive west, for that beer gem nestled in the setting sun near the mouth of the mighty Columbia: Portland. With more breweries (micro-, macro-, and –pub) per capita than any other city (and apparently more strips clubs too, according to Tim Anderson), Portland was an obvious stop for our tour. Along the way we picked up some produce from a roadside stand, figured out what The Dalles are, and found the back way to the airport. Why the airport? Because Allie, Melissa, and I were adding to our band of merry misfits. Fresh off the sky shuttle from San Francisco came Nick, ready to leave behind the travails of pharma consulting and to take up a whole other field of chemistry: brew science.  We made two stops that night, both in the Pearl district. Unfortunately, my notes are somewhat scanty due to my disintegrating competency across the course of the evening. I blame the BridgePort barleywine.

BridgePort Brewery (Portland, OR)

This was both a FANTASTIC brewery and a GREAT restaurant. Between us we had a shepherd’s pie, two barbeque pulled pork sandwiches, and an applewood bacon and chicken sandwich. I only fault them for putting their bathrooms upstairs, accessible only via a metal grate staircase, which though modern and chic, was quite a challenge to my fear of heights (I don’t like to be able to see air under my feet).In general, all of their beers seemed characterized by high carbonation levels and very fragrant citric hops. We tried:

Extra Pale Ale: VERY good, especially for the genre, the 4 malts and 3 hops varieties gave it a depth EPAs usually lack, the malt had a distinctive non-barley taste, possibly wheat or corn, that added to the layering of flavors
Pale Ale: A sweet caramel malt balanced by the dry hops and high carbonation
India Pale Ale: Citrus and honey flavored hops that were highlighted, but not overbearing, it had a great smell that I could probably sit around sniffing all day
Amber: This one was not as good as the others; the malt tasted weird, though I’m not quite sure in what way
ESB: The best of the bunch! Great hop character as in the IPA, but with additional complexity. The sweet amber malt carried the subtle flavors of other fruits, mostly plum and pear, that balanced the bitterness.
Brown: The only one of the bunch I really did not want to drink. Flat carbonation and flat taste. It started off with promise, and then died on the tongue.
Porter: Medium-bodied and tastes more chocolate-y than coffee-ish, finishing with a fruity flourish, cherry-ish.
Stout: I had most been looking forward to their blackstrap stout but it was a disappointment. There were so many other beers to taste that by the time I got to this one it was flat. Nick says it wasn’t earlier, I just waited too long. Will have to try again.
Barleywine: Amazing! It was syrupy sweet (in a good way) with assertive hops and high carbs to dry it out and keep it from being to heavy. I finished the rest of this taste all on my own, possibly explaining the deterioration of my faculties that evening.

The best were the ESB, all three pale ales, and the barleywine.

We then drove around the corner to one of the locations of the Lucky Labrador…

The Lucky Labrador (Portland, OR)

Unfortunately for us, this location must not have been the city’s finest, because the entire place smelled strongly of bathroom, which was quite a feat considering that it was a giant warehouse space with open garage door fronts. It was also only about 10% full, as had been the case with BridgePort, which was odd for a Saturday night post-dinner. All we could figure was that Portlandians must really love to get out of the city on holiday weekend, and that it must not be a very popular vacation destination for others. Though they did offer quarter pint (4oz) sampler-size tastes, we didn’t notice until too late, so our tasting selection was limited (compounded by Allie’s decision to order the same beer as Nick). This was probably a good thing though, because we were all about to keel over, more from driving fatigue than beer, after a single pint. We tried:

ESB: Inspired by BridgePort’s victory in the ESB department, and egged on by a recommendation from the bartender, I thought I might strike lucky with an ESB again. Alas, this was not the case. This version was more bitter, with less flavor, than the BridgePort ESB. I could still smell citrus-y hops, but it was weak in comparison to what I had just drunk.

Wheat Stout: We all thought this would be interesting to try, since normally wheat beers are the lightest of the bunch, and stouts the darkest, though thinking about it now, I don’t understand why more people don’t roast their wheat to make other styles from that grain. This is probably something the home-brewing crowd knows more about than I do. In any case, all I wrote in my notes from that night was, “Tastes like oatmeal stout. Good.” So, sorry it is not more helpful, but we were way tired. Plus, they don’t distribute, so unless you live in Portland, you can’t get it anyway, and if you do live in Portland, you’ll have to go sit in their bathroom of a bar to drink it.  Coming up next: Portland, OR, to Eureka, CA, including an episode of beer at breakfast.