Oregon Brewers Festival 2008: The Review

July is the holy month of beer in Oregon, and the Oregon Brewers Festival definitely holds the high holy days. I always block out the first day of the festival on my calendar and make sure everyone knows I won’t be in the office that day. A girl’s gotta have some priorities!

With 72 beers on tap it would be difficult to try them all. So I make a short list of beers I must try, then beers I wouldn’t mind trying. This year I got through 14 beers before my tastebuds pooped out on me. And so, the beers:

Surly Brewing’s Coffee Bender
Oh man, this is the beer I want to have for breakfast. It’s rich and hearty like good black coffee, but it’s a beer. Not at all bitter the way cold coffee can be, not sweet, but perfectly balanced like the perfect cup of joe. Plus, they have a great logo!

Bell’s Brewing Porter
It’s hard to follow a stout coffee like Coffee Bender, so Bell’s Porter seemed a little weak and watery. As it warmed it improved, with stronger coffee notes and a little bitterness.

Deschutes Brewing 20th Anniversary Wit
After some palette-cleansing water, I decided it was time to move on to a Belgian style. Deschutes was serving from their crazy keg-shaped trailer, which was pretty awesome. The wit wasn’t awesome, but it was pretty good. Banana and cloves in the nose, but lighter than the average wit. We decided that it would make a good beer on a hot day when you didn’t want something sweet or high in alcohol. A fancy Pabst, if you will

New Holland Brewing Dragon’s Milk
Who could turn down a beer with a name like that? An ale aged in oak barrels, with that sweet oaky aroma, taste of alcohol at the back of your throat (8.5%), the flavor of chocolate that’s just bitter enough to balance the sweetness of the beer. Not a great hot day beer, but in the winter? Oh yes, I’d drink me some more!

Caldera Brewing Ginger Ale
Not the ginger ale you might expect! This was a pale ale brewed with a whole bunch of ginger in it. A crisp ale with a good malt flavor, but the zesty aroma of ginger and a tangy ginger flavor up front and a citrus finish. Really refreshing! I’d drink this all day on a hot day. It was so good that at the end of my drinking day, I got a full glass of it.

Kona Brewing Mac Nut Brown
I’ve grown to love many of Kona’s beers, from the porter to the lager, so the nut brown sounded like a good bet. It was a classic brown ale with a slightly bitter finish. I was disappointed that it had almost no flavor of macadamia nut honey. Decent beer, but not a stand out.

Standing Stone Brewing Almond Nut Brown
Well if you’re going to have one nut brown, why not try another? It was great to compare the two browns at the festival side by side. The almond nut brown was wonderfully smooth, had a great nutty flavor but wasn’t sweet, and had a creamy mouthfeel. Next to Rogue’s Hazelnut Brown, it’s my favorite nut brown out there!

Roots Organic Brewing Calypso Ale
And now for something completely different! Billed as an apricot and chili beer, this was really a chili beer. It smelled like pepperjack cheese, spicy and delicious. The scotch bonnet peppers added an interesting savory dimension, overwhelming the hops and apricot. At first I didn’t think the beer was spicy, it just tasted like peppers. But then WHAM, it was spicy! A warm tickle at the back of my palette. I was impressed that they pulled off a drinkable and tasty chili beer.

Iron Horse Brewery Quilter’s Irish Death
I had to try this one based on the name. Too much of this might be your death indeed! It’s an imperial sweet stout, so it’s 7.8% and quite hefty. It was almost warm and comforting like a quilt, and would be delicious in the winter.

Fifty Fifty Foggy Goggle White
Another wacky beer, this was like a hefeweizen meets a white. Cloudy and citrusy like a hefe, but flavors of clove and orange like a white. The addition of rosehips in the brew made for a tart finish like a geuze. Definitely and interesting beer!

Fearless Brewing Cream Ale
I love a cream ale, the interesting caramel and vanilla flavors of a good one just make my day. The Fearless version had a good malty aroma and flavor, but fell flat on the caramel and vanilla notes. The finish had a light citrus flavor. Pretty good, but not as delicious at Pelican Brewing’s Kiwanda Cream Ale.

Pelican Brewing Surfer’s Summer Ale
Speaking of the Kiwanda Cream Ale, I had to try Pelican’s summer seasonal. It was a crisp, malty ale with a lightly hopped finish. Tasted like the delicious spray off an ocean wave, refreshing and light. Not extraordinary, but a nice change from some of the more hefty beers of the day.

Goose Island Brewery Matilda
There were a lot of Belgian styles at the brewfest this year, and Matilda was one of the better ones I tried. It has a spicy sweet flavor with no floral hops note or bitterness, a cereal aroma (think Grapenuts), and a solid banana and spice flavor as it warms.

Old Market Pub Hopcask Triple Tripel Organic
I knew I was getting into a hoppy beer with this one, but I had to try an organic tripel anyway. This had a strong hops aroma, but not a floral one. The flavor was a little sweet on my tongue, but over all surprisingly well balanced. Of course, the finish was strongly of hops, so the takeaway was that it was overhopped for the style. But hey, I knew that when I ordered it! And interesting take on the tripel style, at any rate.

In Summary
At the end of the day, Surly Brewing’s Coffee Bender and Caldera Brewing’s Ginger Ale were my two favorite beers. While at opposite ends of the beer spectrum, they were the two I could still taste from memory and wanted to have again. I’m definitely looking forward to next year’s brewfest!