40 cases of The Dissident sold out in 2.5 hours at the Portland pub today.
Color me unshocked. I arrived about an hour after they opened and saw the sizable dent in the available stock. Passed three guys on the sidewalk with half-cases and zen-like expressions and another four people walked in to buy their bottles while I was there. You just got the feeling that a post-work trip would've been fruitless. I felt happy to grab my three bottles and a shirt when I did. Timing is everything, etc, etc. I caught Angelo (and Tyffany, should have at least said hello but I blanked on her name from the site) from Brewpublic at the bar and chatted a bit on the beer itself. I obtain a lot of my beer-in-Portland knowledge from that site and I was a little surprised that he remembered my face from the party for the website a few weeks ago. Our opinions of the beer were fairly in sync and he let me try a pull of the tulip glass he was working on. He had also already tried the other beers in my weekend plans (quell surprise) and had some initial suggestions on what to expect.
As for The Dissident, it landed right about where my flavor preference wanted it to be. I cracked open one bottle after putting the other two in storage and will stand by my first impression. Malt, cherry, almost a hint of a cinnamon flavor, yes - but the brettanomyces are large and in charge from start to finish. My one sample of the '08 variety was so long ago (and before I started to really pay attention) that I cannot compare the two with any major accuracy, but my memory says there is more bite to the 2010 vs. the 2008. If you got your hands on some, high-fives all around - get those bottles under lock and key. If you missed it, the Bend location reportedly still has it in stock. I suggest a road trip.
Saturday, I hit Hopworks to try the two beers with their estate-grown San Juan hops. Angelo said I would probably like the dark lager more than the double-IPA and damned if he wasn't right. Pig War (the IIPA), while pleasant, is not much different from other offerings. It held the 'sweet' note that I associate with Hopworks beer and built a hoppy pile on top of it. I didn't find myself picking up huge differences in the hop variety used for this brew, but that's not a complaint. Decent, but they've done better work.
Better work like Dark Helmet. Wow. This is a black lager with a thin body and miles of dirty/dark taste to it. If told that they dumped six cartons of Marlboros in the tank during the brewing process, I would likely buy that story. There is a monster vein of tobacco running through this beer and it's one that gets you sitting up and taking notice. I got a touch of chocolate off the malt, but that's at something like '2' while the tobacco is at '9'. At 5.0% abv, this is an easy-drinking lager with a hell of a flavor profile - one that I can't immediately tie to another beer I've tried. Good stuff.
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