By Gail Oberst
Forget about the “Top 10” and “5 Faves” lists. Those are for sissies. This is Oregon, where towns fight over the title Beervana, where a 6 pack in your refrigerator is enough for breakfast, where geeks don’t talk about their computers … they talk about what they spilled on their computers. So buck up, Oregon craft beer fans. Here’s a list of the 55 favorite beers chosen by you -- our consumer volunteers at the Perfect Pints tasting events Oregon Beer Growler hosted throughout 2013. Please note that many of these may not be available now, but we mention them so that you, dear beer lover, can hassle the brewers to brew them again.
Here’s another note, mostly of appreciation. All of these breweries and many more have contributed to our monthly tastings, and our consumers have heartily toasted them at each tasting. And about our tasters: Where other publications might have enlisted the same geeky gang of four judges each month, the Oregon Beer Growler has chosen to go to the consumers, all over the state, to ask them what THEY like. Their opinion, we believe, is what our readers will trust.
Beers below are loosely arranged according to the categories noted.
Central Oregon Winter Warmers – Tasting at Platypus Pub, Bend
Boneyard Hop Venom – West Coast Double IPA – ABV 10 %
Crux Snow Cave -- ABV 10 %
10 Barrel Pray for Snow -- Strong Ale – ABV 7 %
Cascade Lakes Slippery Slope – Winter Ale – ABV 6.4 %
Silver Moon’s Hoptagon – Imperial IPA -- ABV 8.6 %
Three Creeks Hodag – Cascadian Dark Ale – ABV 6.4 %
Stouts – Tasting at Bier One, Newport
Beer Valley’s Black Flag Imperial Stout, Ontario – 11 % ABV
Hopworks Urban Brewery Survival 7-Grain Stout, Portland – 5.3 % ABV
Ninkasi Oatis Oatmeal Stout, Eugene – 7.2 % ABV
Pelican Tsunami Stout, Pacific City – 7 % ABV
Rusty Truck Procrastinator, Lincoln City– 5.4 % ABV
Walkabout’s St. Outback Stout, Medford – 7 % ABV
Green Beers – Tasting at Belmont Station, Portland
Agrarian BelGene Green Farmhouse Ale (Saison)– ABV 7%
Ambacht Mazobrau Golden Ale -- ABV 6.5%
BridgePort Smooth Ryed – ABV 6.3%
Coalition Two Dogs IPA – ABV 5.8%
Hopworks Secession Cascadian Dark Ale – ABV 6.5%
Laurelwood Organic Free Range Red Ale – ABV 5.9%
Oakshire Watershed IPA – ABV 7.1%
IPA tasting at Hood River’s Volcanic Bottle Shop & Pub
BridgePort Hop Czar – 7.5% ABV, 87 IBUs
Pfriem IPA – 7.2% ABV, 65 IBUs
Vertigo Friar Mike’s IPA - 6.1% ABV, 62 IBU
GoodLife Descender IPA – 7.0% ABV, 70 IBU
Long IPA – 6.2% ABV, No IBU listed
Lompoc C-Note – 6.9% ABV, 100 IBU
Big Horse Pale Rider IPA -- 6.2% ABV, 55 IBU
Fruit Beer tasting at Portland U-Brew
Buckman Botanical Brewery Apple Beer -- 8% ABV, 25 IBUs
Burnside Sweet Heat – 4.8% ABV, 9 IBUs
Flat Tail 5 Loco – 7.5% ABV
Lompoc Cherry Wheat –5.0% ABV
Ninkasi Vanilla Oatis – 7.2% ABV, 50 IBUs
Portland U-Brew Peach Phuz -- 5.8% ABV, 23 IBUs
Vertigo Apricot Cream Ale – 4.8% ABV, 11 IBUs
Pale Ale tasting at O’Toole’s, in Roseburg
BricktownE Brewing’s Applegate Pale Ale, Medford 5.7 % ABV, 45 IBUs
Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale, Bend -- 5.0 % ABV, 40 IBUs
Good Life Brewing’s Mountain Rescue Dry Hop Pale Ale, Bend 5.5 % ABV, 40 IBUs
Hop Valley Citrus Mistress, Springfield -- 6.4 % ABV, 76 IBUs
McMenamins Hammerhead, Roseburg -- 5.93 % ABV, 44 IBUs
Omission Brewing Co., Portland -- 5.8 % ABV, 33 IBUs
Vertigo’s Closer Pale Ale, Hillsboro -- 5.7 % ABV, 55 IBUs
Widmer Brother’s Alchemy, Portland -- 5.8 % ABV, 40 IBUs
Wheat Beer tasting at Saraveza, Portland
Columbia River’s Rose City Wheat, Portland, 5.5 % ABV, 18 IBUs
Deschutes Brewery’s Chainbreaker White IPA, Bend 5.6 % ABV, 55 IBUs
Gilgamesh’s DJ Jazzy Hef, Salem 5.7 % ABV, 9 IBUs
Heater Allen’s Isarweizen Bavarian Style, McMinnville 4.8 % ABV, 15 IBUs
McMenamins Oak Hills Brew Pub’s Stephen Weizen, Beaverton 5.5 % ABV, 28 IBUs
Pyramid Hefeweizen, Portland -- 5.2 % ABV, 18 IBUs
Sky High’s June Bug Wheat Ale -- 4.9 % ABV, 23 IBUs
Widmer Brothers’ Brotha From Anotha Motha -- 5.8 % ABV, 16 IBUs
Session Beer tasting Horse Brass Pub, Portland
Silver Moon GetSum Pale Ale, Bend -- 5.6 % ABV, 44 IBUs
Ninkasi Radiant, Eugene -- 6% ABV, 40 IBUs
Long Brewery Linda’s Lager, Newberg -- 4% ABV, 12 IBUs
Hopworks Organic Lager, Portland -- 5.1% ABV, 32 IBUs
Full Sail Session Lager, Hood River -- 5.1% ABV, 18 IBUs
Deschutes River Ale, Bend -- 4% ABV, 28 IBUs
Bend Brewing Metolius Golden Ale, Bend -- 5.4% ABV
Double IPA Tasting at a neighborhood barbecue, Independence
Big Horse Strictly Rude #4, Hood River -- 7.8 % ABV, 75 IBUs
Burnside Alter Ego Imperial IPA, Portland 7.9% ABV, 99.5 IBUs
Hopworks Ace of Spades IIPA, Portland -- 9.5% ABV, 100+ IBUs
Coalition Double Dog Dare, Portland -- 8.2%, 80 IBUs
Natian Old Grogham, Portland -- 8.5 % ABV, 86 IBUs
Pelican Imperial Pelican Ale, Pacific City -- 8% ABV, 85 IBUs
Widmer’s Nelson, Portland -- 8.6 % ABV, 70 IBUs
Boneyard Hop Venom -- 10% ABV, 80 IBUs
Fresh Hop beer tasting at Crosby Hop Farm
(Note: most fresh hop beers won’t be available until next September-October)
Laurelwood’s Fresh Hop Red -- 6.2 % ABV, 60 IBUs
Coalition’s Green Pig Fresh Hop Pale Ale, Portland. 5.0 % ABV, 50 IBUs
McMenamins Thundercone Ale, All locations. -- 6.19% ABV, 56 IBUs
Hopworks Fuggin’ A, IPX Single-Hop Ale, Portland 6.0% ABV, 60 IBUs
Sky High Brewing’s Fresh Hop Ale, Corvallis -- 5.0% ABV, 27 IBUs
Stickmen’s Cascade SMaSH, Fresh Hop Pale Ale, Lake Oswego. 5.8 % ABV, 34 IBUs
Golden Valley Fresh Hops Ale, McMinnville -- 5.1% ABV, 35 IBUs
Civil War tasting (Eugene and Corvallis-area beers) at The Bier Stein, Eugene
Plank Town IPA, Springfield -- 6.2% ABV, 65 IBUs
Flat Tail Rough Cut IPA, Corvallis -- 6.8 % ABV
Mazama Brewing White Wedding, Corvallis -- 5.2 % ABV, 55 IBUs
Oregon Trail Hop Doctor, Corvallis -- 7 % ABV
Oakshire Brewing Watershed IPA, Eugene -- 6.7% ABV, 70 IBUs
Block 15 Sticky Hands Man on the Moon IPA, Corvallis 8.25% ABV, 110 IBUs
Benny’s Pale Ale, McMenamins, Corvallis -- ABV 6.9%, 95 IBUs
Turf Burner Amber, McMenamins, Eugene -- 5.8 % ABV, 39 IBU
Sky High Freewheel IPA, Corvallis -- 7% ABV, 77 IBUs
Ninkasi Total Domination, Eugene -- 6.7% ABV, 65 IBUs
Calapooia Paddle Me IPA, Albany -- 6.8% ABV
McKenzie Brewing Twisted Meniscus, Eugene -- 6.9% ABV, 63 IBUs
Falling Sky’s Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster, Eugene -- 5.7% ABV, 60 IBUs
Hop Valley’s Proxima IPA, Eugene -- 6.3% ABV, 70 IBUs
Holiday Beer tasting at Belmont Station, Portland
Burnside Permafrost, Portland -- 8.3% ABV, 77 IBU
Coalition Bring Out the Imp – Imperial Stout, Portland 8.5% ABV, 70 IBU
Pyramid Snow Cap, Portland -- 7.0% ABV, 47 IBUs
Golden Valley Tannenbomb, McMinnville -- 8 % ABV, 50 IBU
Ninkasi Sleigh’R Dark Double Alt Ale, Eugene -- 7.2% ABV, 50 IBU
BridgePort Ebenezer, Portland -- 6.4% ABV, 40 IBUs
Forget about the “Top 10” and “5 Faves” lists. Those are for sissies. This is Oregon, where towns fight over the title Beervana, where a 6 pack in your refrigerator is enough for breakfast, where geeks don’t talk about their computers … they talk about what they spilled on their computers. So buck up, Oregon craft beer fans. Here’s a list of the 55 favorite beers chosen by you -- our consumer volunteers at the Perfect Pints tasting events Oregon Beer Growler hosted throughout 2013. Please note that many of these may not be available now, but we mention them so that you, dear beer lover, can hassle the brewers to brew them again.
Here’s another note, mostly of appreciation. All of these breweries and many more have contributed to our monthly tastings, and our consumers have heartily toasted them at each tasting. And about our tasters: Where other publications might have enlisted the same geeky gang of four judges each month, the Oregon Beer Growler has chosen to go to the consumers, all over the state, to ask them what THEY like. Their opinion, we believe, is what our readers will trust.
Beers below are loosely arranged according to the categories noted.
Central Oregon Winter Warmers – Tasting at Platypus Pub, Bend
Boneyard Hop Venom – West Coast Double IPA – ABV 10 %
Crux Snow Cave -- ABV 10 %
10 Barrel Pray for Snow -- Strong Ale – ABV 7 %
Cascade Lakes Slippery Slope – Winter Ale – ABV 6.4 %
Silver Moon’s Hoptagon – Imperial IPA -- ABV 8.6 %
Three Creeks Hodag – Cascadian Dark Ale – ABV 6.4 %
Stouts – Tasting at Bier One, Newport
Beer Valley’s Black Flag Imperial Stout, Ontario – 11 % ABV
Hopworks Urban Brewery Survival 7-Grain Stout, Portland – 5.3 % ABV
Ninkasi Oatis Oatmeal Stout, Eugene – 7.2 % ABV
Pelican Tsunami Stout, Pacific City – 7 % ABV
Rusty Truck Procrastinator, Lincoln City– 5.4 % ABV
Walkabout’s St. Outback Stout, Medford – 7 % ABV
Green Beers – Tasting at Belmont Station, Portland
Agrarian BelGene Green Farmhouse Ale (Saison)– ABV 7%
Ambacht Mazobrau Golden Ale -- ABV 6.5%
BridgePort Smooth Ryed – ABV 6.3%
Coalition Two Dogs IPA – ABV 5.8%
Hopworks Secession Cascadian Dark Ale – ABV 6.5%
Laurelwood Organic Free Range Red Ale – ABV 5.9%
Oakshire Watershed IPA – ABV 7.1%
IPA tasting at Hood River’s Volcanic Bottle Shop & Pub
BridgePort Hop Czar – 7.5% ABV, 87 IBUs
Pfriem IPA – 7.2% ABV, 65 IBUs
Vertigo Friar Mike’s IPA - 6.1% ABV, 62 IBU
GoodLife Descender IPA – 7.0% ABV, 70 IBU
Long IPA – 6.2% ABV, No IBU listed
Lompoc C-Note – 6.9% ABV, 100 IBU
Big Horse Pale Rider IPA -- 6.2% ABV, 55 IBU
Fruit Beer tasting at Portland U-Brew
Buckman Botanical Brewery Apple Beer -- 8% ABV, 25 IBUs
Burnside Sweet Heat – 4.8% ABV, 9 IBUs
Flat Tail 5 Loco – 7.5% ABV
Lompoc Cherry Wheat –5.0% ABV
Ninkasi Vanilla Oatis – 7.2% ABV, 50 IBUs
Portland U-Brew Peach Phuz -- 5.8% ABV, 23 IBUs
Vertigo Apricot Cream Ale – 4.8% ABV, 11 IBUs
Pale Ale tasting at O’Toole’s, in Roseburg
BricktownE Brewing’s Applegate Pale Ale, Medford 5.7 % ABV, 45 IBUs
Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale, Bend -- 5.0 % ABV, 40 IBUs
Good Life Brewing’s Mountain Rescue Dry Hop Pale Ale, Bend 5.5 % ABV, 40 IBUs
Hop Valley Citrus Mistress, Springfield -- 6.4 % ABV, 76 IBUs
McMenamins Hammerhead, Roseburg -- 5.93 % ABV, 44 IBUs
Omission Brewing Co., Portland -- 5.8 % ABV, 33 IBUs
Vertigo’s Closer Pale Ale, Hillsboro -- 5.7 % ABV, 55 IBUs
Widmer Brother’s Alchemy, Portland -- 5.8 % ABV, 40 IBUs
Wheat Beer tasting at Saraveza, Portland
Columbia River’s Rose City Wheat, Portland, 5.5 % ABV, 18 IBUs
Deschutes Brewery’s Chainbreaker White IPA, Bend 5.6 % ABV, 55 IBUs
Gilgamesh’s DJ Jazzy Hef, Salem 5.7 % ABV, 9 IBUs
Heater Allen’s Isarweizen Bavarian Style, McMinnville 4.8 % ABV, 15 IBUs
McMenamins Oak Hills Brew Pub’s Stephen Weizen, Beaverton 5.5 % ABV, 28 IBUs
Pyramid Hefeweizen, Portland -- 5.2 % ABV, 18 IBUs
Sky High’s June Bug Wheat Ale -- 4.9 % ABV, 23 IBUs
Widmer Brothers’ Brotha From Anotha Motha -- 5.8 % ABV, 16 IBUs
Session Beer tasting Horse Brass Pub, Portland
Silver Moon GetSum Pale Ale, Bend -- 5.6 % ABV, 44 IBUs
Ninkasi Radiant, Eugene -- 6% ABV, 40 IBUs
Long Brewery Linda’s Lager, Newberg -- 4% ABV, 12 IBUs
Hopworks Organic Lager, Portland -- 5.1% ABV, 32 IBUs
Full Sail Session Lager, Hood River -- 5.1% ABV, 18 IBUs
Deschutes River Ale, Bend -- 4% ABV, 28 IBUs
Bend Brewing Metolius Golden Ale, Bend -- 5.4% ABV
Double IPA Tasting at a neighborhood barbecue, Independence
Big Horse Strictly Rude #4, Hood River -- 7.8 % ABV, 75 IBUs
Burnside Alter Ego Imperial IPA, Portland 7.9% ABV, 99.5 IBUs
Hopworks Ace of Spades IIPA, Portland -- 9.5% ABV, 100+ IBUs
Coalition Double Dog Dare, Portland -- 8.2%, 80 IBUs
Natian Old Grogham, Portland -- 8.5 % ABV, 86 IBUs
Pelican Imperial Pelican Ale, Pacific City -- 8% ABV, 85 IBUs
Widmer’s Nelson, Portland -- 8.6 % ABV, 70 IBUs
Boneyard Hop Venom -- 10% ABV, 80 IBUs
Fresh Hop beer tasting at Crosby Hop Farm
(Note: most fresh hop beers won’t be available until next September-October)
Laurelwood’s Fresh Hop Red -- 6.2 % ABV, 60 IBUs
Coalition’s Green Pig Fresh Hop Pale Ale, Portland. 5.0 % ABV, 50 IBUs
McMenamins Thundercone Ale, All locations. -- 6.19% ABV, 56 IBUs
Hopworks Fuggin’ A, IPX Single-Hop Ale, Portland 6.0% ABV, 60 IBUs
Sky High Brewing’s Fresh Hop Ale, Corvallis -- 5.0% ABV, 27 IBUs
Stickmen’s Cascade SMaSH, Fresh Hop Pale Ale, Lake Oswego. 5.8 % ABV, 34 IBUs
Golden Valley Fresh Hops Ale, McMinnville -- 5.1% ABV, 35 IBUs
Civil War tasting (Eugene and Corvallis-area beers) at The Bier Stein, Eugene
Plank Town IPA, Springfield -- 6.2% ABV, 65 IBUs
Flat Tail Rough Cut IPA, Corvallis -- 6.8 % ABV
Mazama Brewing White Wedding, Corvallis -- 5.2 % ABV, 55 IBUs
Oregon Trail Hop Doctor, Corvallis -- 7 % ABV
Oakshire Brewing Watershed IPA, Eugene -- 6.7% ABV, 70 IBUs
Block 15 Sticky Hands Man on the Moon IPA, Corvallis 8.25% ABV, 110 IBUs
Benny’s Pale Ale, McMenamins, Corvallis -- ABV 6.9%, 95 IBUs
Turf Burner Amber, McMenamins, Eugene -- 5.8 % ABV, 39 IBU
Sky High Freewheel IPA, Corvallis -- 7% ABV, 77 IBUs
Ninkasi Total Domination, Eugene -- 6.7% ABV, 65 IBUs
Calapooia Paddle Me IPA, Albany -- 6.8% ABV
McKenzie Brewing Twisted Meniscus, Eugene -- 6.9% ABV, 63 IBUs
Falling Sky’s Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster, Eugene -- 5.7% ABV, 60 IBUs
Hop Valley’s Proxima IPA, Eugene -- 6.3% ABV, 70 IBUs
Holiday Beer tasting at Belmont Station, Portland
Burnside Permafrost, Portland -- 8.3% ABV, 77 IBU
Coalition Bring Out the Imp – Imperial Stout, Portland 8.5% ABV, 70 IBU
Pyramid Snow Cap, Portland -- 7.0% ABV, 47 IBUs
Golden Valley Tannenbomb, McMinnville -- 8 % ABV, 50 IBU
Ninkasi Sleigh’R Dark Double Alt Ale, Eugene -- 7.2% ABV, 50 IBU
BridgePort Ebenezer, Portland -- 6.4% ABV, 40 IBUs
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