Level Beer is one of the newer Oregon breweries to pop up in the last few years, founded in 2016 in northeast Portland. The folks behind the brewery describe themselves as, “We are an American Craft Brewery focusing on lighter alcohol beer styles with hoppy beers, barrel aged beers and sour beers rounding out our line-up.”

The brewery is quite a ways up north, off Airport Way and 148th Avenue, and sounds like a neat destination:

Situated on 2 acres in Northeast Portland, Level Beer includes a tasting room, greenhouse beer garden, food carts, and a large outdoor space with games and a hop field!

The brewery has both a 20 barrel production brewhouse as well as a 2.5 barrel pilot system, allowing for experimentation and innovation.

(From the About page.)

The marketing theme and beers largely have a classic video game motif, at least from the mainstays that I have seen. I haven’t had a chance to visit yet—these days, getting to Portland means staying near the downtown core with little time to explore new places—but I was happy to see bottles of Level Beer showing up in Central Oregon earlier this year. I picked up a bottle of Game On! IPA and sat down with it a little while back.

I haven’t found a description of the beer, but it’s an American IPA, 6.5% alcohol by volume and 55 IBUs (according to Untappd). I drank the beer on May 27, it was bottled on February 27.

Appearance: Orange with a slight chill haze, a white head with good lacing.

Smell: Bitter greens, orange marmalade, a mix of tropical fruit juiciness with savory garlic greens. Citrus zest, freshly herbal. At three months old, holds up well with this blend of juicy, fruity hops that dominate the aroma.

Taste: Hop forward; earthy greens with a mild bitterness, balanced by a neutral malt body, with a bit of citrus as the back. The hops (to me) are more savory at this point (typical to my palate of the Mosaic family). It’s herbal and dry, with a light hop spiciness.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied malt with a dry finish. An herbal hoppy aftertaste lingers pleasantly.