Return to the House of Sour

Sunny spot at the bar, a glass of Nightfall, and no other immediate plans.

With the sun peeking out on Portland during a fairly mild Saturday, I made a return trip to the Cascade Barrel House. I'm pleased to see that business is still hopping over there. While there were maybe 6-8 people having drinks when I first arrived, the freaking world rolled in over the next hour and it was suddenly packed to the gills. Maybe I caught a lull, but the word is out and the people are coming. And that's great to see - this is a place that deserves to stick around.

The main reason for the trip was after I heard about their 'Tuesday Tapping' of Früit Loops. I nearly fell out of my chair reading the description: a blend of the Apricot and Noyeaux. Oh, and Razberry Wheat. And Frite Galois. AND Sang Noir. Who in the hell could come up with that and where do I get in line to give them a hug? That's mad scientist stuff, gang. And the result is an incredible sour mix - the nose is unlike any beer I've ever tried. Sweet aromatics and waves of fruit all over the place. I could definitely pick up on the Sang Noir bite, but the rest was sour fruit cocktail and I mean that in the best possible light. Complex, delicious - just another day at the office for Cascade. It's still on-tap as of this post. You should seriously consider getting some.

The author with Früit Loops. No, he's not sharing.

Even while getting some mixed reviews at the bar from other patrons, I had to try the other Straight-From-The-Cask offering: Chocolate Raspberry. Cascade describes this as the last keg of their Fresh Hop Porter (which was pretty tasty) and a new batch of Busta Nut Brown. Then they added in Raspberry Infused Triple (dug that a few weeks back) and Bourbonic Plague. While one guy said he thought the raspberry dominated everything, I didn't find that to be the case. It's there, yes, but I got more than enough cocoa and sour from the Plague to make this a pretty nifty little blend. It would be really good as a post-dinner beer - just a shame it's a one-shot deal that will likely never be seen again.

Also had a free sample (this is why you sit at the bar if you can) of the Sang Rouge (great, as always) since they overpoured a few tasters during the mad rush of people. And I couldn't leave without a touch of the Nightfall '10. For my money, it's the best of the lot that Cascade offers. That is admittedly splitting hairs between "really really good" and "really really really good", but the blackberry backbone simply adds to the sour in a way that my tastebuds are configured to enjoy.

You, sir or madam, definitely need to get to Cascade if you've yet to make the trip. Personally, I need to get back there for the 'standard' roster at some point, but the sour creations are always too good to pass up.

Hoptimum / Renewale

Quickly then - since my plans of long, thoughtful posts in January are clearly a pipe dream:

ReNEWale (Ninkasi) - a rare misstep by Ninkasi in their seasonal lineup, but a misstep nonetheless. Irish-style red ale, says the bottle, and it definitely starts that way with a hazy-looking amber beer and a faint mix of hop smells mixed with a few whiffs of hay. The taste is an early wash of bitter hop that rolls to more of the hay/straw flavor that I was picking up in the nose. Sort of an odd curveball to the taste pattern and one that I personally wasn't a huge fan of. It's drinkable and isn't a drainpour by any stretch, but I can't see myself making a second attempt with this beer unless I see glowing reviews elsewhere.

I seriously love that picture on the bottle.

Hoptimum (Sierra Nevada) - if you like hops, this one will float your boat. Just a large whiff of pine and citrus and everything good about double-IPAs right out of the gate. It's a good looking beer (orange/bronze with head retention) and up until halfway through the first sip, I was thinking this might be a new favorite. But the incredible sweetness and bite of the hops had a blindside punch of alcohol burn at the back end. While not entirely unpleasant, it can be jarring until you get used to it. I found that things mellowed and merged as the beer was allowed to warm up, so it might just be a different beer at cold temperatures. Regardless, while it's not quite the atom-bomb hop flavor of certain representatives of the style, Hoptimum is still easily packing more than enough to get the job done and is a recommended pickup if you see it.

Also, I hit the Cascade Barrel House on Saturday:

It's not that I was actually drinking liquid gold . . . but some of it was pretty damn close. More on that later.

Oh, right. Work.

The actual job that pays me money is cramping my blogging style at the start of this week. I'll try to have some thoughts on Hopworks' two versions of Noggin Floggin (the '09 and '10) later this week.

But if you ever thought about hitting the Barrel House and have yet to do so, the two cask beers they are now serving are incredible: the NW Sour Red is reportedly the backbone to a large number of their creations and it's a treat-and-a-half. But the Raspberry Infused Tripel was so in my wheelhouse (a favorite fruit, perfect mix of sweet/sour, eye-popping color) that I had a hard time believing this was beer. Sheer delight in a glass - if this is the only time they're going to have this available, you need to get a move on. Big time high-fives to Cascade for this one, WOW.

Saraveza's 2nd / Cascade Barrel House

Saturday was a pretty good day.

Early at Saraveza - before the masses started their post-work arrivals that evening.

I wasn't in the front door of Saraveza for two minutes before Tyler Vickers (of Tyler the Elder fame) was pouring me an imperial porter with a Whopper dropped into the head. This apparently earned me some street cred at the bar from a patron or two, but I was unable to gather if it was because I was drinking porter at 11:45am or if it was due to my immediate agreement to add candy to my beer. In either case, this is just an example of how fun this place can be. It had been about 10 months since I was last there and I felt immediate pangs of regret to live halfway across the city. Saraveza has friendliness pouring from the windows and it's a great little watering hole. I enjoyed the spicy chili that was recommended to me (not the best pairing with my beer, but it's all good) and just missed a bottle-cap-in-a-container-guessing-contest win by about 20 (225 to 243, I think and the total in Container #1 was about 270). If you're in the north part of town and rolling down Killingsworth, you are implored to stop by.

There are worse ways to start your day.

The beer was from Caldera Brewing down in Ashland - 'Mogli' Imperial Porter. The picture above is one sip in and it was an effort not to chug before getting the camera out. This was a good porter that turned into 'very good' with the chocolate backbone involved. The balance is nicely done with some light bittering from the hops moving the chocolate flavor smack in the middle between Sweetened and Unsweetened. If you see in on-tap, it won't disappoint. Just pack Whoppers ahead of time - I doubt other places are going to offer.

Step two on my Saturday trek was a visit to the new House of Sour.

Returning to Cascade is not a matter of if, it's a matter of when.

For those not aware of their history, Cascade Brewing is a great example of How To Succeed In Oregon Brewing. It's no secret that there are a large number of breweries in this neck of the woods, so to rise up from the pack, carving out a niche (and then kicking ass at it) is almost mandatory. Cascade dove headlong into aging and sour ales a few years back and, seriously, bless them for it. The Gold AND Silver medals for Wood-Aged Sour (2009 GABF) turned a few heads and their popularity, both in town and outside of it, has steadily increased. My primary reason for visiting? The two beers that took those medals: Bourbonic Plague and Vlad the Imp Aler. In bottles. For sale.

The second reason was that the Barrel House is getting obscenely good reviews (at least the garbled sounds of delight seemed positive) and I definitely wanted to see if the joy was legit. Cascade's own description of their house: "Of the 7,100 sq ft, the pub takes up 2,100 sq. feet. On the aging side – not open to the public - we can house 350 wine, whisky or port barrels in the cooler, plus another 150 outside of the cooler, as well as bottles for filling and aging. The barrel room is specially designed to keep the sour beers at a proper temperature for aging, specifically the cultivation of bacteria that give these brews their distinctive tang."

Yes, the place is badass. How's the beer? Tongue-tying in uniqueness. You are simply not going to get anything remotely like this unless you're on an active Sour Seeking mission. Even then, the chances of you getting a lineup like this are between slim and HAHAHAHAHA.

My first beer there was the Bourbonic Plague. While I'd like to look all kinds of knowledgeable and worldly in my reviews, I have to be honest: it's almost too complex for someone with my skills to break down. Sure, the nose is fairly straight-forward with white wine and a sweet note or two. But the taste is like drinking Calculus out of a glass when Algebra II is all I've seen so far. Just a rush of flavors across your taste buds and you're getting everything from oak to faint hop to cinnamon in there. Sour finish (natch), but not anywhere near as oppressive as you might think. I'm just not the guy to pin down the sixty tastes that are flying around in there - it took me six sips before I finally said, " . . . oh, cinnamon!" That's one flavor, mind you. Definitely good and definitely worth a try. My purchased bottle is going into the Beer Cabinet of Perpetual Darkness for a bit, but having this now would not be a problem.

My other selection at the House was Nightfall. The description from Cascade: "Nightfall Blackberry starts as a soured blonde wheat beer aged for 12 months in oak barrels, then laid on blackberries for another six. It features intense fruitiness and a concentrated color and aroma." My glass was sent over with zero head, which was odd since the beer ended up providing good lacing. Sours are weird that way. Fruit and sour/wine in the smell - obviously with a predominant blackberry angle on things. Admittedly, I love sour fruit if it's done correctly and during my first sip of this, my eyes lit up like I was about to explode. I'm amazed that the fruit can just overpower the sourness of the ale to create a great blend like this - the margin for error has to be slim as hell. It's a testament to brewers who know the process and can get the most out of it and I have to high-five Cascade on their skill. Those who visit Cascade's new place are strongly advised to put Nightfall on their list.

Just another weekend in Portland. Hard work, this.