Following on the Portland Food Recap, here are some notes about the 60+ beers we tasted at the Oregon Brewers Festival back in August.

A side note before I talk about all the beers I didn’t like– yeah, yeah, it’s far easier to be a critic than to actually make something, these are just my opinions (well, combined with some comments and notes from James).

The OBF as they call it was the initial impetus for visiting Portland that particular weekend, though plenty of other beer, food, book-buying, and friend-visiting activities fit themselves into the available time.

Unfortunately, it was somewhat disappointing (and we sold our spare beer tokens so we could leave early). Most of the beers we tried were relatively unremarkable. The exception was a few of the Buzz Tent beers, but all of the buzz tent beers sold out Friday and it was closed Saturday and Sunday. The festival was also crowded, with big groups of people regularly yelling “Wooo!”, and mediocre food compared to elsewhere in Portland. We heard a brewer later say “oh, breweries don’t sent their best beers to OBF”, and suggested it was more a generic outdoor drinking party.

But it was still worth going for a few hours, even if just to taste a lot of beers quickly. A quick summary:

Beers we actively disliked:

  • Dogfish Head Black & Red (disgusting mint beer)
  • Three Creek Porter
  • Cascade Razberry Wheat
  • Burnside Smoked Gratzer (ugh)
  • Uncommon Brewers Siamese Twins (not much flavor)
  • Boneyard Girl Beer(slightly sweet water)

Beers we all said “meh” about:

  • Double Mountain Pilsner (interesting straw smell)
  • Hopworks Evelyn Imperial Sunshine (generic hoppy beer)
  • Laughing Dog Anubis Imperial Coffee Porter (but note: midday in hot direct sun is a hard time to appreciate a porter)
  • Bridgeport Summer Squeeze (odd acidic almost hint-of-bile taste)
  • New Holland Golden Cap(unassuming)
  • Alaskan White Ale (it’s no Allagash White)
  • Elysian Sextacula (generic hoppy beer)
  • Riverport Blonde Moment
  • Seven Brides Brewing Lil Pils (some interesting things going on there, but buried by the hops)
  • Big Sky Dark Mexican Lager (more hoppy and carbonated than a typical Mexican beer, but in the end didn’t work for us)
  • Lucky Lab Crazy Foyston Alt (very hoppy, not much else)
  • Hollister Altered State
  • Pike Brewing Monk Trippel (trying to be a belgian-style, but bland, and odd smell)
  • Kona Brewing Ginger Duke w/ Lemongrass (interesting idea, the lemongrass came through well, but just a novelty),

Beers we thought were decent, or that one of us really liked:

  • 50-50 Donner Party Porter
  • Wasatch Summerbrau Lager (crisp, effervescent, session beer, drinkable)
  • Lagunitas Little Sumpin’ Wild
  • Full Sail Jimvar Bohemian Pils (bright hops, but some malt for balance, smooth, crisp)
  • Bridgeport Stumptown Tart Strawberry (a bit like a lambic, ‘funky’ flavor combined with strawberry, worth ordering but also not something I’d want to drink more than one of)
  • Squatters Pequino Imperial (crisp, slight sulfur nose, interesting)
  • Eel River Onyx (dark brown ale, light in taste, sharp carbonation)
  • Surly Hell (funky farm/saison smell and taste, effervescent, interesting
  • McMenimans Crimson & Clover (light, delicate, a bit hard to taste at a festival)
  • Riverport 5/5 Pepper Beer (reminded us of a Michelada, but not just a gimmick: an interesting mix of different pepper flavors: black, bell, pasilla)
  • Alameda Yellow Wolf Imperial IPA (some of us found it too generically hoppy, some liked the extra citrus hint)
  • McMenamins Dark Star (very hoppy but balanced by some strong caramel/malt flavor)
  • Fearless Scottish (mild, light touch on the hops, drinkable),

Our favorite few beers of the festival(though we had others outside the festival we liked more):

  • Surly Five (malty, musky, sour, dark, aged in pinot barrels)
  • Fort George Sunrise Oatmeal Pale Ale (light, bright, not overly bitter, interesting oatmeal + cascade hops balance)
  • Golden Valley Cote d’Or (creamy, malted belgian style, smooth, slight spice)