Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Sleigh'r Dark Double Alt Ale



Ninkasi Brewery- Sleigh’r Dark Double Alt Ale – Eugene, Oregon

This review, my first “Oregon brew, drank in Oregon”, goes out to all the fellow winter seasonal beer lovers. I thiiiiink the winter seasonals are my favorite, and I think I have had enough beer in my life now to claim that responsibly. This beer is brewed by Ninkasi Brewery, straight from Eugene, Oregon, home of the University of Oregon a.k.a. Tracktown USA a.k.a. a bunch of underpaid, weird hipsters. Don’t get me wrong, Eugene is pretty neat, it’s like Portland’s little sister, so it’s not a surprise that they have an awesome little microbrewery in Ninkasi! I have yet to try many of their beers, but those that I have tried have been delightful.

As for the Sleigh’r, my first impression was good due to the pretty rockin’ artwork on the label. What could be better than enjoying your beer with a partyrocking, ghost riding Santa?!? I was also excited because this was the first winter beer I was going to have this year, not to mention my first Oregon brewed winter beer. Overall, I’d give this beer a 6 out of 10. It was definitely good, but it ended up not being what I wanted out of a winter seasonal. The taste was surprisingly light and smooth for such a dark beer, but most of the flavor I got out of it was metallic-y. The flavor suctioned on to the very back of my tongue and didn't go away until well after I had finished the beer. Again this is a good brew, and totally drinkable, but be warned that in my experience it was a bit of a face-scruncher.

Stay Thirsty.

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Beertopia



I"M BACK!

Legends of the Hidden Brewery took a temporary hiatus from the internets for the past three months, in order for the author to get acquainted with a new life and a new job, on a new coast...And a new internal sense of direction when it comes to navigating oneself to the east or west*. Not only is the author excited about this move and change of pace, but the author has not-so-coincidentally placed herself in a magical city known to some [ie the Mayor, Sam Adams (< NOT a joke)] as "Beertown," otherwise known as Portland, Oregon.

Portland has more than 40 breweries, more than any city in the WORLD. So if you love beer like I do, then this is a pretty spectacular location. There are more breweries here than anyone knows what to do with, I feel like I'm living in a constant state of anxiety knowing that I have only tried a fraction of the beer this city has to offer! Okay not really, but it is still quite overwhelming when you are driving around trying to find a drug store and instead you find six microbreweries/brewpubs. Beer can cure all ailments, right? Might as well stop at them and forget about the drug store checklist.

Needless to say, I now have A LOT of new beers I need to report on. There's...too many of them! Golly, even the grocery store beer isle is a project in itself, carrying all sorts of west coast gems from California, Washington, Colorado, Alaska, etc. I will not run out of material is what I'm saying; perhaps only the motor skills and cognitive functioning to sit down and type a blog post after drinking all these delicious beers!

Check back soon for my first thoughts on some Portland style brews! Until then check out this map which has now become my Holy Grail.

http://www.portlandbeer.org/breweries/map/

Stay Thirsty.


* Seriously, which side is the freaking ocean on right now? West? I have to turn left...The Pacific Ocean is always west? Where is home now? Wait, the sun is over there and it's 4pm what does that mean? Why am I going this way? WHAT. I'm going the wrong way. Shit.