Full Sail Bourbon-Barrel Aged Top Sail Tasting

Okay, since I have been getting so much shite from my friends (mostly blogger friends) I'm going to knock out this post out while it is still fresh in my mind even though I don't have any pictures (yes, once again I forgot to bring my camera and I didn't even use my iphone camera. I know, lame).  But that is okay because  I  know a few of  did take some pictures. Maybe I will "steal" one...

I got to the Full Sail Brewery at Riverplace a little early to find a table since I knew of there were a few other people coming. Ezra was already there and had secured a good size table for all of us (thanks Ezra!).  Soon after were joined by Derek,  Bill, and "SNOB" Ritch.

For reasons that Bill explains in his report of the event here, this year's Top Sail release party featured a horizontal tasting of single-barrel versions of this year's Top Sail Imperial Porter. They aged the beer in three different whiskey barrels: Maker's Mark, Stranahan's (out of Colorado) and Four Roses.

Like Bill, my favorites were the Maker's Mark and the blended versions. The blend seemed to have the most bourbon character while the Maker's Mark to me had the more smooth and balanced flavor with a good amount of vanilla notes. With that said, I did like the Stranahan's quite a bit. (I think Ritch liked this one the best.) To me it seemed to have the most "spicy" character of all the samples. The Four Roses was my least favorite. I think it had the least amount of bourbon flavor of all with a pretty dry finish.

Later on we sat around drinking beers and were joined by Kerry and Ken of Taplister.  At some point in the evening  Full Sail's John Harris was nice enough to bring our table samples of the 2004 and 2008 versions of Top Sail. Both of which I really enjoyed, but I would have to say the 2008 was the better of the two.

I should also mention that the Full Sail's Riverplace Brewery (a.k.a The Plisner Room) has a happy hour menu with great food special which makes sense seeing how The Pilsner Room is connected to McCornick & Schmick's Harborside at the Marina next door.

Overall,  I really enjoyed the horizontal tasting and had a great evening. Kudos to Full Sail Brewing for putting this event on!

Finally I'm getting around to posting my first blog post of 2010. What's taken me so long? Lack of things to write about certainly isn't a valid reason since there is so much going on in Portland. I guess I let procrastination and writer's block get the best of me... Well the only way to change that is to just jump in!


So here we are in a new year and a new decade! There are a number of things to mention. Several new beer blogs that have just started up:

The New School Brew Blog - This is a blog started by my friend Ezra who is quite the renaissance man of beer, music, and the visual arts. His blog is a fun mix of beer news and reviews. I know he has some great content planned. I look forward to reading and contributing to his blog.

* 999 Beers - Beer tasting project started by my friend Dave Selden one of the bloggers behind The Champagne of Beer Blogs.


I haven't met these two bloggers yet, but I look forward to doing so.
* The Daily Pull 
* Portland Beer And Music 

We have such a rich beer scene and beer blogging scene I hope this will inspire me to write some posts to this blog. I guess that is one of my New Year resolutions...

Cheers!

More Holiday Ale Festival

Here are a few pictures from last night at the festival. Sorry about the quality, I took these with my iphone because I forgot my camera (again).
Here are some of my favorites from the fest:

• Upright Brewing - Holy Herb
• New Belgium Brewing - La Folie (Wed. night) & Tart Lychee(Fri. night)
• Oakshire Brewing - Very Ill Tempered Gnome
• Hopworks Urban Brewery - Kronan the Barbarian
• Full Sail Brewing - Wassail Holiday Blend
• Cascade Brewing - Dre Zwarte Pienten "Sang Noir" 2009
• Deschutes Brewery - Lost Barrels of Mirror Mirror

Those are just a few. If you haven't gone down there, you should! We're heading down there right now!

For more complete coverage check out these fine blogs:

Brewpublic

Taplister

It's Pub Night

Beervana

Okay I need to get my act together and get down there!

Cheers!

'Tis The Season - Holiday Ale Festal Part 1: Preview

Ok, it's that time of year again. Time for the Holiday Ale Festival. The HAF is probably my favorite festivals of the year in Portland (even though this is only my 2nd time to attend this festival). A lot of that has to do with the fact that I really enjoy holiday beer of all types, which is what you find at this festival.

Okay here is the info for the Holiday Ale Festival, which kicks off today at 2 pm.

Holiday Ale Festival, Dec 2-6
Pioneer Courthouse Square
Wed, 2 pm - 10pm
Thurs-Sat, 11am - 10pm
Sun, 11am - 7pm

Website and here is the Twitter feed.

Here are a few of the beers I'm looking forward to trying this year (in no particular order):

• Alaskan Brewing - Alaskan Barley Wine - Always a solid brew
• Block 15 Brewing Co. - Oaked St. Nick
• Cascade Brewing - Anything they serve will be fun!
• Firestonewalker Brewing Co. - Oatmeal Stout
• Full Sail Brewing Co. - Wassail Holiday Blend - Sounds intriguing.
• Hair of the Dog Brewing Co. - Jim 2009
• New Belgium Brewing Co. - Various Lips of Faith beers! Not to be missed!

These are just a few of the beers I look forward to trying today. There are some other beers that sound like solid brews, so we will see...

Pictures from the Hood River Hop Festival

Good times with friends at the Hood River Hop Festival

The weather was mostly great (except for a 20 minuet or so downpour)

Updates & Hood River Hops Festival

Okay, I know I am sucking at this blog thing. I will try to get better but I seem to be better at the "micro-bl0gging" thing i.e. Twitter. My Twitter feed is on the right side of this page if you want to follow along.

That being said let's move on to the today's topic: Hood River Hops Fest!

Yes, it's that time of the year again: Fresh hop beer abound all around Beervana! I've already had at least 10 fresh hop beers this season even before attending a Fresh Hop Festival! So on to the festival (which technically in NOT a Fresh Hop Festival, rather it is a Hop Festival - a celebration of beers hoppy and not so hoppy). The tap list is here. Jeff over at Beervana has a nice post with a list here.

Pictures coming soon...

Hops And More Hops!

Just a quick note about a few hoppy happenings around Beervana... Yes it is that time again!!!

Today starting soon:

Hop Harvest at the Lucky Lab on Hawthorne! Starting at 2 PM going on all day.

You can find more info at The Beer Here blog.

And next up is Hop Madness down at Willamette Mission State Park this weekend! I'll be heading down there on Saturday with my friends Ritch and Ezra. Should be a great time!

(For more info hit the link)

I'd better get down to Lucky Lab!

Cheers!