Good grief, is it nearly July already? Where is this year going? Aside from that, good stuff happening in July.

The Oregon Brewers Festival Turns 20 This Year.

Oregon celebrates its profusion of good beer all year, but July is the state’s official Craft Beer Month. 2007 marks the 20th anniversary of the Oregon Brewers Festival from July 26th to 29th. This year’s festival features 74 beers from craft brewers around the country along with educational displays and live entertainment.

Soft, pure water cascades down from the mountains, aromatic hops spring from the valley’s fertile soils, and barley thrives on the high plains over on the state’s dryer eastern side. Oregon beers are truly local and incredibly delicious. The state’s brewers produce traditional styles from pale ales to dark stouts, but they’ve also pioneered new beer styles, created organic beers, and breathed new life into the typical American beer style with handcrafted lagers.

Governor Tom McCall Waterfront Park in downtown Portland provides the Willamette River and Mount Hood as backdrops for the Brewers Festival. At least 50,000 beer enthusiasts are expected at the Festival during its four-day run.

Other Craft Beer Month events include a beer and sausage fest, cheese pairings by the dean of American beer writers, Fred Eckhardt, an Oregon Brewers Guild barbecue featuring 24 special beers that you can’t get at the Brewers Festival, and a rousing parade of brewers strutting along Portland sidewalks to the beat of the March 4th Marching Band.

“We are proud to be the only state that has designated a special month to recognize our local craft brewers,” said Brian Butenschoen, Executive Director of the Oregon Brewers Guild. ”Beer is one of Oregon’s iconographic agricultural products and Oregon Craft Beer Month is a wonderful opportunity to stop and lift a glass to all the passion and success we have had here.”

America’s beer revival began in Oregon in the early 1980s, and the state, the second largest producer of craft beer in America, is home to 82 craft breweries. Portland has 29 breweries, more than any other city in the world. Industry pioneers such as BridgePort Brewing, Widmer Brothers, McMenamins and what is now Pyramid Breweries started in Portland. Full Sail Brewing, Deschutes Brewery and Rogue Ales also started in Oregon and now have regional, national and international distribution. Emerging breweries such as Terminal Gravity, Ninkasi and Cascade Lakes beers can be found all around the state and local breweries like Amnesia Brewing, Laurelwood Brewing and Roots Organic Brewing offer unique beers on tap at their neighborhood pubs.

A recent book review in The New York Times cited a study from The American Journal of American Nutrition suggesting that beer in moderate consumption is actually good for you, meeting about 11 percent of your protein needs, 12 percent of your carbohydrates, and significant amounts of essential vitamins such as phosphorous, riboflavin, and niacin.

Healthy or not, Oregon craft beers taste delicious. Pour yourself one soon at one of the Craft Beer Month events and visit the Oregon Brewers Festival in July.

Admission to the Festival is free, but a $4 mug purchase as well as $1 tokens are required to try the beers. The Brewers Festival opens at noon Thursday, July 26th and runs through Sunday, July 29th. Beer taps shut down at 9 p.m. Thursday through Saturday; 7 p.m. Sunday. Minors are permitted with a parent all hours.

Finally, the official review for the Long Hammer IPA samples I received last week. First, some stats on the beer itself. Just to recap, Long Hammer is brewed by Redhook, a relaunch of their IPA with a new name and packaging.

• Grain Variety: 2-row Klages, Munich and Crystal
• Hop Variety: Northern Brewer, Willamette, Cascade
• Flavor Profile: Aggressively hopped, dry and crisp finish
• Color: Brass (8.4 SRM)
• Bitterness Units: 38.5 IBU
• Alcohol % Weight: 5.10
• Alcohol % Volume: 6.51
• Original Gravity: 1.05773
• Calories / 12 oz.: 186
• Carbohydrates / 12 oz.: 12.23 g

Appearance: A nice golden color—like a gold coin—and very clear. A tad orange. Fluffy off-white head.

Smell: Nice sweet grapefruit and slightly toasty malt. Sweet and just a tad cloying.

Taste: Nice big Northwest hops right up front—herbal and floral and bitter, but clean. Malt is on the light side, toasted without burnt character, grainy. Has a bit of that nice sweet character rolling around that I detected on the nose.

Mouthfeel: On the thin side of medium-bodied. It has a nice residual hop bitterness and is refreshing—there's a bit of a bite to it from that.

Overall: Pretty drinkable, but I think it's a bit light for an IPA. Actually I was surprised that the IBUs are only 38.5, because the standard range for an IPA is 40-60 IBUs. (Interesting side note: Korzonas in his Homebrewing Vol. 1 indicates that the true, original English IPA style is much hoppier—80-100+ IBUs. Wow.) Aside from this IPA discrepancy, I think it's a technically well-done beer and is summertime-drinkable.

On BeerAdvocate, they are not as kind: it scores 77 out of 100 with only 67% of reviewers giving it a thumbs up. On RateBeer it's a similar story: 2.9 out of 5, only in their 36th percentile. It seems a fair number of the reviewers are dinging it over the IPA question that I raised.

The Angel's Share is a Lost Abbey Strong Ale that is barrel-aged for six months and is a respectable 10.5% alcohol by volume. My paltry one-line description there doesn't do it justice; here's the description from the website (and bottle):

Down in Kentucky and across the pond in Scotland, distillers who age their whiskeys for many years refer to the evaporation of the spirits from their barrels as “The Angel’s Share.” We couldn’t agree more. Each time a barrel is filled, a measure of liquid seeps into the oak and is lost for good. This striking Strong Ale is brewed with copious amounts of Caramel malt to emphasize the vanilla and oak flavors found in freshly emptied bourbon barrels. The beer spends almost six months in oak before it is packaged for release.

It was the next of the three Lost Abbeys I opened up for our friends this weekend. It's also the one I wrote the least amount of notes for, but it stands out pretty well for me.

Appearance: Reminds me of a cola—dark brown, almost black, the tan-brown head. Interestingly, it has purple highlights.

Smell: Distinctive. Oaky, bourbony, a tad smoky, a hint of sour mash, rich full malt.

Taste: OMG. (Yes, I really wrote that.) This is amazing. Rich, dark, has the most amazing bourbon character you could imagine... not sweet, but full of vanilla, oak, charcoal, caramel, biscuit, honey malt, whiskey... layered and nuanced, subtle and bold, utterly drinkable. Brilliant.

Mouthfeel: Imagine how perfect a beer feels in the mouth that I've described above... like that. Just right.

Overall: Not much more I can say, except that our friends Paul and Sandi had gone to the Deschutes Brewery's barrel tasting the weekend before, so I asked them if the Deschutes barrel-aged beers were comparable or as good. "They weren't," they assured me. And these are people who really like Deschutes.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores 89 out of 100 and garners 100% approval from reviewers. On RateBeer, it scores 4.31 out of 5 and is in their 100th percentile.

We had friends over this weekend, beer loving/brewing friends, so I broke out the higher-alcohol Lost Abbey beers to share, starting with 10 Commandments. This is a 9% alcohol Belgian strong ale, notably one of the ones brewed with raisins. Actually, more than just raisins; their press release says

a Belgian-style dark farmhouse brewed with raisins, fresh rosemary and honey. As an added twist, a secondary wild yeast was also added to the brew during bottling.

That's impressive; I don't believe I've ever seen rosemary as an ingredient in beer before. My notes on this and the next two are sparse; ultimately I had to pay more attention to our guests. :)

Appearance: Brown at first look, but a deep plum and clear when held to the light.

Smell: Sourish, definite raisin and dark fruit.

Taste: Dark, sourish with that dark fruit, and malty, masks the alcohol completely. Oh, spoke too soon... it's warming up and definitely has a brandy character.

Mouthfeel: Thinner than I would expect from the high alcohol and extras. But that warming character of the alcohol comes through.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores 88 out of 100, with 100% approval. On RateBeer, it scores 3.85 out of 5 and lands in their 96th percentile.

As promised, here are a couple of photos of the Long Hammer IPA promo samples I received.

I like the packaging; it's clear and uncluttered. The color scheme works, too.

Cool bottle, too; the label is split into two halves—allowing the raised-glass impression of barley to be prominent. That's a nice touch; many brewers these days have custom bottles made with the raised-glass impression along the upper have curve of the bottle (you can see that here), but this is the first bottle I've seen with the mid-bottle design as well.

After work yesterday we headed down to the Deschutes Brewery for beer and dinner. I hadn't been there in awhile and wanted to try some of the seasonals/specials they have on tap—particularly their new 19th Anniversary Golden Ale.

I didn't keep track for full reviews—in particular, I have a bottle of the 19th Anniversary to review later—but I thought I'd blog a few notes about what I had. (You can see the current lineup here.)

19th Anniversary Golden Ale: Deschutes' interpretation of a strong (8.7%) Belgian ale, and it's quite tasty. They serve in half-pints due to the higher alcohol content. Malty, sweet, very, very drinkable. Can't wait to crack open my bottle.

Wychick Wheat: Their site says this wheat ale "is a pub original, the third beer ever brewed here." It reminded me more in appearance of a pale ale, more orange-copper, but it was lighter on the palate than a pale. Moderately hopped, and drinkable. 4.7% alcohol.

Mt. St. Helens Keller Bier: A cellared all-German beer, they say it's an "unfiltered Pilsner" but it looked pretty clear to me. Straw yellow, crisp, clean, very well done. I liked it better than the Wheat. 4.6% alcohol.

I also wanted a taster of their current (at the time) X-Tap, which on the site (and menu) said,

St. Nicholas Belgian Ale
A strong Belgian-style ale similar to beers in the Sour Flanders-style category. This beer is spiced with coriander, cardamom and bitter orange peel. The tartness comes from a second fermentation with wild yeast & raspberries.
Original Gravity 1.096 Alcohol Content 10.2% Half Pints Only!

Sounds pretty tasty! However, the waitress came back with a different taster, and said they had literally just changed the keg on the X-Tap, and the new beer was a "coffee Imperial porter." Sounds like it's this one I blogged about, made with local coffee.

Based on the taster, though, it could definitely stand to mellow; it was strong, but had an almost turpentine, or paint thinner note to it. A little off-putting. Of course, I noticed on their blackboard later the X-Tap said, "Orange Coffee," so I'm wondering if they seasoned the Coffee Porter with orange? They do that kind of thing on the X-Tap, so maybe that was the off-flavor.

All in all, a good evening.

One of the many things I'm loving about blogging—and blogging about beer in particular—is the marketing perks that I'm receiving. This time around, it's samples of Long Hammer IPA from Redhook. I ran the press release back in February for the (re)release of it, and recently was contacted to find out if I'd be interested in samples. Uh, yeah!

I expected one or two bottles to try, so imagine my surprise when the box came this week and there are 12 bottles of the IPA for me. That's right, a half-rack. Between this and the Lost Abbey ales I received, I'm a happy blogger.

I'll take some pictures in the next day or so, and then review the beer as well. I'm thinking I might start a new category or sidebar that features the blog posts and reviews of the beer samples I receive. Hmm.

And for the record, I'm more than happy to receive press releases, PR materials, samples, marketing, whatever. I will always give a fair shake and do my best to deliver a fair and impartial review. Yes, sometimes I may actually not like something and I will write as much—but I will be fair about it.

Lost and Found is another Lost Abbey beer, an abbey style ale (a Dubbel, according to BeerAdvocate) with an unusual addition: raisins. According to their site, they "created a special raisin puree for this beer." You don't see that too often! I love it when a brewer gets creative. (Even better when it's successful.)

It's an 8% alcohol beer... with a 750ml bottle, you have to be careful. One to enjoy slowly, or with friends.

Appearance: Clear mahogany color as I poured... reminded me of iced coffee. Not much of a head. Final pour is nice dark brown with garnet edges.

Smell: Not much at first sniff... mild aromas. Cognac, brandy-ish, dark fruit. Sweet like a barleywine. Very mellow.

Taste: Warm and malty and rich, candy sugar, plums, figs, toasted grain, dark caramel, a hint of licorice, liqueur notes from the alcohol. Very good, almost a dessert beer to my mind.

Mouthfeel: Lots of body here, very full but not being overly thick/syrupy.

Overall: Good, very interesting. The raisins definitely push this beer into the dessert territory I mentioned.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores 87 out of 100, with 100% of reviewers approving. On RateBeer, it scores 3.71 out of 5 and is in their 93rd percentile.

Avant Garde is the third bottle I've opened from the big batch of Lost Abbey beers I received. The name is a play on the style of beer—Bière de Garde (French farmhouse ale)—but "avant garde" also has the meaning of being experimental, or on the edge—referring usually to things that are ahead of their time. I think Lost Abbey is pretty much avant garde in that sense, combining traditional Belgian styles with the "new" American brewing sensibilities.

Avant Garde the ale is excellent. So far it's my favorite of the three I've opened. I mowed the lawn after I came home from work, so I couldn't think of a better way to relax than popping the cork on the bottle, sitting out on the patio in the nice evening weather, and tasting this beer.

Appearance: Light and gold with a slight haze. Nicely fuzzy head, audibly fizzing. Reminds me of nectar. There's visible sediment on the bottom of the bottle, too.

Smell: Some nice floral aroma, and a touch of sour. A little bit of fruit and orange blossoms, and a mild Belgian farmhouse yeast character. Fairly delicate aroma overall, I'd say.

Taste: Oh my, that is a good beer. Big and malty with cotton candy and rock candy, and even though it sounds weird, there's a vegetable note that's really good... beets? It's rich, whatever it is. Malts are nice and toasty and bready. I'm noticing it gets spicy as it warms up. Quite simply—superb.

Mouthfeel: Rich and thick but not chewy... complex flavors roll around the palate and it just works. You want to keep sipping and sipping...

Overall: What, I should gush about this beer some more? It's good. It's #20 on Men's Journal's 25 best beers in America. 'Nuff said.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores 86 out of 100 with 100% approval. On RateBeer, it scores 3.59 out of 5 and is in their 88th percentile.

A couple of fun links some friends have sent this way.

• Bud Light Real Men of Genius Commercials: No, I can't drink the stuff, but I have to admit I do enjoy those "Real Men of Genius" radio commercials. They're just too funny, especially the singing parts. This blog post has collected 66 of them, full-length MP3s. The page reads a bit like a Bud PR site, but oh well.
• YouTube: Banned Commercial - beer bitch: Great punchline. Worth watching. I have to wonder if this was a truly "banned from TV" commercial, or was it created to be released on the web as viral marketing?

It occurred to me that even though I brought back a case of Sharkbite Red from Pizza Port in Solana Beach, I've been neglectful in actually reviewing it—and it's almost gone. Time to remedy that!

Sharkbite is Port's signature beer. They say, "A very robust Red ale made with Centennial and Cascade hops which lend a spicy finish to the beer." It's a decent session beer at 5.5% alcohol by volume.

Appearance: Deep amber—red-orange at the edges. Brownish tint. Nice beige head with clear bubbles (ie, they don't have a soapy, rainbow sheen to them).

Smell: Hoppy, with caramel notes in the malt. Pretty straightforward.

Taste: Spicy hops roll over the tongue, astringent and woody. Malt tends toward dry as well, there's a little burnt grain and a little bit of caramel-toffee in there. Fairly clean.

Mouthfeel: A bit thin, but not terribly so, and very dry. The dryness sticks with you.

Overall: Sharp, dry, and drinkable. As with the other San Diego-area beers, hoppier than I would expect at first. But that's totally in keeping with their style.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores 86 out of 100, with 100% of reviewers (all 29 of them) giving their approval. On RateBeer, it scores 3.47 out of 5, and is in their 82nd percentile.

There was an article in Sunday's paper that I found rather interesting, though it was picked up off the wire from AP and so has no set "home" online. So, here's the article from a Toledo paper (first result I plucked from Google News): Wine country too snooty? Brewery hopping provides alternative.

Although beer lacks a major destination such as Napa Valley, many beer aficionados are taking vacations that are more like extended beer runs, visiting the nation’s many craft breweries, brewpubs, and beer festivals.

And,

Beer appreciation is a transformation in progress. Beer is evolving from a working-class beverage guzzled out of a can to something that’s judged, critiqued, and enjoyed with food by discriminating connoisseurs.

“I feel like we’re on the edge of a cultural shift — people are starting to understand beer styles now and learning about variety and diversity,” said Paul Gatza, director of the Brewers Association, which represents 983 U.S. breweries.

While many casual beer drinkers wouldn’t know an India pale ale (characterized by hoppy bitterness and higher alcohol content) from a Belgian-style ale (a citrus-tinged, spicy taste), he’s encouraged by the growing number of people visiting breweries and festivals.

Nothing earth-shaking here, I just enjoyed the article, and I think it gives beer a much fairer shake than much of the inflammatory stuff that's appeared lately that's gotten the bloggers riled up. It's also much smarter written than the usual beer article you see out there. Worth a read.

One minor quibble—they only have two things listed for "West Coast"? (Oregon Brewers Festival and AleSmith Brewing.) Come on! I can rattle off five or six breweries and events off the top of my head that are West Coast biggies, and are absolutely destination-worthy.

Examples? Aside from the two they mentioned, how about Stone Brewing, 21st Amendment, Rogue Ales, the Pelican Pub, anywhere in Portland, Pike Brewing, and Elysian Brewing? Or the Organic Brewers Festival, the Belgian Beer Fest, and the Pumpkin Beer Festival?

On the other hand, that's what all these blogs are for...

Red Barn Ale is another of the beers from The Lost Abbey, one of their year-rounders. Their website says:

This Farmhouse Ale traces its roots to the small rustic breweries of Southern Belgium. The word Saison comes to us from the French language and it means Season. Lightly spiced with Organic Ginger, Orange Peels, Black Pepper and Grains of Paradise, this brew promises to quench your thirst on the hottest Southern California days or wherever your travels may take you.

Like the rest of their beers, it comes bottled in the 750ml corked and caged bottle that I associate with Belgian beers.

Appearance: Pale yellow-orange, the color reminds me of sunflower oil and light honey. Nice crisp white head, nicely fluffy.

Smell: Belgian farm housey—spicy, cut grass, pungent and a bit sour. A bit musty and tangy.

Taste: Yummy Belgian wheat and malt, light and spicy. Black pepper, fresh herbs (of indeterminate origin), mushroom, dusty hop. Nice tangy sourness. Farmhouse ale all the way, one I could drink all year.

Mouthfeel: Nice puckering sourness overlaying a lightly-thick body. Refreshing.

Overall: Pretty happy with this beer; I wish I had access to it on tap year round.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores 87 out of 100, with 100% approval from reviewers. On RateBeer, it scores 3.79 out of 5 and lands in their 95th percentile overall.

Devotion is a limited-edition brew from The Lost Abbey, one of the ones I received in the PR care package a couple of weeks ago. It's a blonde Belgian abbey-style ale, served up in a 750ml corked bottle, and is one of their lower-strength beers at 6.25% alcohol by volume.

It's the first beer from The Lost Abbey that I've had, actually. I've had some of the Pizza Port/Port Brewing beers (from Solana Beach), which are the same brewer, sort of. The bottle is the large 750ml "Belgian style" with champagne cork and wire cage, with a very nice looking label. (All of The Lost Abbey's bottles look very cool.)

Appearance: Pale gold orange, very slight haze, and a big white head formed when I poured. A bit of a pink tinge to the beer, maybe, also?

Smell: Floral and slightly herbal, slight hint of spiciness. Deeper aromas are resinous hops; perhaps a hint of Belgian candy sugar but the hops really dominate the nose, for me.

Taste: Definitely the hops taking the forefront—resiny and a little pitchy, even. Juniper and pine, sticky-spicy like that. It's not overpowering in the Northwest style (or even in the seemingly-typical San Diego style I noticed of other beers while down there), though it is very hoppy and bitter—oily in hops, almost. But not a kick in the face with them. Malt is simply there as a foundation for the hop character, it seems: very neutral.

Mouthfeel: Firm body but (again) it's the hops that are noticeable—almost oily and coating the mouth. You almost want to think it's sticky from resin.

Overall: Don't let my gushing about hop bitterness lead you astray, this is a well-crafted beer.

On BeerAdvocate, only 8 reviews so far don't give an overall score, but the average is 4.04 out of 5, all reviews approving. On RateBeer, it scores 3.62 out of 5 and is in their 86th percentile.

The other blogs have noted this already, too... I seem to be falling behind these days. The folks over at the Hop Talk blog are hosting the July Session and have announced the theme: Atmosphere.

Beer is about more than flavor, IBUs, and the debate over what is a craft beer and what isn’t. It’s about Life. It’s the proverbial icing on the cake.

So, we want to know about the “Atmosphere” in which you enjoy beer. Where is your favorite place to have a beer? When? With whom? Most importantly:

Why?

Because while life isn’t all about beer, beer is all about life.

Interesting choice, I like it. It's a much more "anecdotal" topic than previous Sessions.

This is the heretofore-unknown Rogue ale I picked up on our Memorial Day trip to Portland, at the Saturday Market. There's no style attached to it, other than the "Artisan Ale" tag, though I noticed with some surprise as I read the label more closely, getting ready to pour it, that they brewed with juniper berries. Interesting.

This is a unique beer in that it doesn't show up on either BeerAdvocate or RateBeer, which is surprising considering that between the two sites every other beer I've heard of is listed. Obviously it's an ultra-local, ultra-limited brew, and I'm glad I came across it. If you're in Portland, seek this one out.

(Turns out, according to this comment, that this is simply their Juniper Pale Ale repackaged.)

Appearance: Pale orange and a bit hazy. Nice short-lived head, a typical off-white.

Smell: Some hops, some floral... Crystal malts (sweet). It's a light, moderately sweet pale ale, with nice floral (but not fruity) hop notes.

Taste: Light and crisp, with a nice biscuit malt base and a floral hop edge. A bit of spice—apparently from juniper berries, though I don't get a strong juniper essence at all. Perhaps in the aftertaste? Refreshing.

Mouthfeel: Light but with a thick character on the tongue—a bit chewy. Taste of hops or juniper berries lingers, after.

Overall: A nice drinkable pale ale with the right amount of juniper berries—not too much, it won't remind you of gin or turpentine. Not that it would anyway, being a Rogue. Worth getting a hold of for the limited bottle design alone—the beer is the icing.

Saw this blurb in the local paper: Bend Brewing Company (one of my locals) won the Gold Medal for English Old Ale at the North American Beer Awards. The beer they won for was Outback X, one I'm actually not familiar with (sounds like an extreme version of their Outback Old Ale though).

Congrats to Bend Brewing, they're doing some good stuff lately (they won a Gold at the GABF last year, too).

I haven't really heard of the North American Beer Awards until now, but scanning their winners list, I see several other local wins:

• Silver in the German Pilsner category for Cascade Lakes for Paulina Lake Pilsner
• Gold in the Imperial Stout category for Deschutes Brewery for The Abyss
• And a good number of other Oregon breweries (particularly Pelican Pub).

Young's Old Nick is a traditional English barleywine, though it may surprise people to find out it's only 7.2% alcohol—in this day and age of super-strength beers, 7.2% sure doesn't seem like much. Quite the contrary, it fits the traditional style exactly—and it's not just the alcohol strength that makes a barleywine.

Appearance: Deep red color, copper-brown at the edges. Head is thick, creamy, light beige. It has a very nice all-around look to it.

Smell: Surprisingly fruity—pears, plums. Malt in the background is sweet and rich... almost candy on the nose.

Taste: Figs, licorice, dark honey, candied fruits, coffee (light), burnt sugar, caramel. Very sweet, very winey and brandy-ish. Every sip is just a BAM! of complex candied flavors.

Mouthfeel: Very smooth and thick. Complex interplay of textures and bites and flavors.

Overall: A real treat. Young's is staying traditional and showing all the extreme upstarts how it's done.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores 87 out of 100 with 98% approval. On RateBeer, it scores 3.58 out of 5 and is in their 88th percentile.

I got the email for this a little while ago and kept forgetting to post it, and I've noticed the other beers blogs have been beating me to the punch, so here we go: The Kegerator Give-Away. It's a contest running from June 1st through August 1st wherein you submit a paragraph describing why you deserve to win the free kegerator. One entry per person.

They'll draw a winner sometime after August 1st and notify them before September 15th. I'm a little concerned with actually receiving the prize:

4. Prize must be redeemed within twelve (12) months from the date of award.
...
6. Any difficulties with getting to locations, or acquiring the means, to participate in the Contest are not the responsibility of Kegerators.net.

They're located in Texas; does this mean they won't ship the kegerator to the winner, instead making it the responsibility of the winner to come pick it up? I'll send them an email to clarify...

Old Bounder is a barleywine from Boundary Bay Brewing Company up in Bellingham, Washington. It's 9.6% alcohol by volume. The site states:

A rich, full-bodied barley wine with a smooth caramel sweetness, warming alcohol content and balanced hop character. Excellent with desserts as an after diner beverage. To be appreciated in moderation.

Of course, "in moderation" is relative when you have a 22-ounce bottle...

Appearance: Murky, rust or dark copper in color; nice light sand-colored head.

Smell: Sweet smell of caramelized (Crystal) malt and candy sugar; floral and slightly grapefruit hops; cloyingly sweet and syrupy.

Taste: Alcohol heat and sugar syrup in a one-two punch right off the bat. Very nuanced like a cognac here. Bitter—both from the hops and the alcohol—it's a bit astringent and hot and boozy. There's almost an extract, liqueur caramel character. Malt does overpower the hops a bit.

Mouthfeel: Warm and thick and carries an alcoholic astringency. A tad harsh, otherwise it's pretty textbook.

Overall: A tasty strong barleywine, a pretty good example of the style. I think it would benefit from some aging, but no other complaints here.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores an average of 3.9 out of 5; there are only 8 reviews (all approving), so there's not enough for an overall scoring. On RateBeer, it scores 3.42 out of 5 and is in their 76th percentile.

It's that time again: first Friday of the month, time for The Session! This month the theme is Local Brews, hosted by Gastronomic Fight Club, with the goal "to create a guide book of tasting notes to drinking local":

The idea here is to be as helpful as possible for visitors to your area. What is the beer/brewery/brewpub that you feel is quintessential to your city? What do the locals drink? What could a tourist drink that would make them feel like they've found something special; something that they're going to miss when they go home?

I'm very fortunate to live in Central Oregon in the Pacific Northwest, and have six microbreweries or brewpubs here in Bend alone. For all that, though, the quintessential brewery to Bend is, without a doubt, the Deschutes Brewery. Not only is it the largest brewery in town, it's been here the longest, and among locals is simply known as "The Brewery." And their beers? Sublime.

Founded in 1988, Deschutes bottles and distributes six year-round beers, at least four regular seasonals, and a variety of special 22-ounce "Bond Street Series" beers. In addition, their Public House in Downtown Bend also has at least eight or nine other specials on tap (a mix of the current seasonals and specialty batches).

Since The Session is about the beer, I'll hold off on doing a longer review of Deschutes (the Brewery) for another time. As for their beers, though... it's going to be tough to limit myself. I'll cover what I consider to be their four "core" beers—three regulars and one seasonal—then I'll cover a few of the others.

The absolute first beer you should drink when you visit the Brewery is Black Butte Porter. This is Deschutes' flagship and best-known beer, brewed since their founding in 1988. The bottled version is good, but the tap version is unmatched; inky black with ruby edges, creamy smooth, with rich notes of chocolate, coffee, charcoal, and rich dark malts, it has an acidic tang and balances sweet and dry without veering into harshly astringent. Its body is firm yet drinkable and refreshing, and it's a wonderful session beer at 5.2% alcohol by volume.

It's garnered a slew of awards, deservedly so, and if you visit the brewery and find yourself drinking only the Porter, you'll still walk away satisfied. It's that great and that drinkable. My all-time favorite Porter.

I already covered Obsidian Stout for the very first Session. It's worth reading again. I'll wait.

If you're looking for lighter beer, then Mirror Pond Pale Ale is a must-try. An exemplary American Pale Ale, Mirror Pond is malty and flavorful, full of caramel and bready grain notes, with just the right amount of Cascade hops—you know this is a Northwest ale for sure, without the puckeringly bitter hop character that many "extreme beers" are trending for these days.

I find that it complements almost any meal very well; it neither overpowers nor is overwhelmed by the cuisine—it's Just Right. In fact, when I go out to eat locally, I almost always select Mirror Pond when I'm drinking beer, unless they have something on tap unusual that I want to try. Even though Black Butte is Deschutes' flagship, I think Mirror Pond is better represented on the local dining scene.

The next beer is a seasonal, but in many ways I consider it to be the seasonal: Jubelale. It was the first beer bottled by Deschutes (the regulars were only available on tap at the time), and each year's bottle features a label created by a local artist.

Jubelale is a traditional Winter Warmer style of ale—darker, maltier, and stronger than the regular lineup, with a hint of spice and a rich, warming character. Dark crystal malts give the beer a roasted-but-sweet malt flavor, and this is well-balanced by a generous use of hops.

I consider it one of their core beers—as do the locals—but since it's a seasonal, you can only get it from October through January. (Their site says December, but you usually see it hanging around a bit longer.) You'll need to time your visit just right to try this one.

Once you've worked your way through the core brews, you might want to tackle some of their other regulars—in particular, Cascade Ale if you're looking for a very light session beer, and Inversion IPA for the signature Pacific Northwest offering—but you should definitely try one or more of the other seasonals or specialties that you'll only find on tap at the Public House downtown.

Current seasonals you'd enjoy are the Buzzsaw Brown and the just-released, ever-popular (particularly with the locals) Twilight Ale. Buzzsaw is a traditional English Brown Ale that's tasty and easy to drink, and Twilight is a summertime Pale Ale with an extra hop kick.

As for the specialty, brewpub-only batches? They rotate all the time; check out the Brewery's Now Pouring page to find out what's current and drool over the choices. If you're not sure what you'd like, they're happy to bring you tasters. Just to give an idea of what they offer, I've had a Saison, a Pilsner, various types of session ales, fruit beers, barleywines, and more.

Hopefully I've been a good tour guide/evangelist for Deschutes for this month's Session. However, if you have time to visit more than one brewery while you're in Bend, then I have some more recommendations for you...