Hair of the Dog's
JD is on tap at Bar of the Gods
(4801 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 232-2037).
Lucky Lab
Brewing Co.
915
SE Hawthorne Blvd., 236-3555
Big in
Belgium
Of all Belgium's many strong, exotic
beers, Brasserie Fantome's Noel may be one of the most complex.
Almost impossibly rich, it's a dark, meaty brew in which one
can taste tart notes, pepper, fruit, an earthy mustiness,
a rich, aged quality--and on and on. So where can you find
this delicious beer? Outside Belgium, the closest location
is Colorado, where a local importer has the sole U.S. rights.
But on April 14, you could have sampled it at the Jantzen
Beach BJ's, where Alex Puchner, the California-based chain's
head brewer, offered a tasting of rare Belgian ales.
It was the first in what BJ's hopes will become a regular
series of tastings highlighting specific styles or regions
of beers. If this event was any indication, the tastings
will offer an excellent education in the world's classic
beer styles. For his first tasting, Puchner compared a lineup
of beers from the artisanal breweries of Wallonia, a southern
region in Belgium. Wallonia, which shares a border with
France, is home to a crisp, effervescent and spicy style
of beer known as saison. Cellared and aged like champagne
in large, corked bottles, it is particularly suited to meals,
something for which the region is famous.
The group offered for tasting consisted of 10 beers from
eight breweries; for anyone who's stood in front of a shelf
of imports wondering which $6 bottle to buy, this was a
mind-boggling range. The focus was on the flavor, though,
not on swilling. Palates were kept fresh by moderate, two-
or three-ounce tasters, ample water and fresh vegetables.
Puchner introduced each beer, giving some history on the
brewery and style of beer, and over the course of two hours,
we worked our way from the milder beers (a relative term,
given that even the weakest of them was 6 percent alcohol)
toward the more heady ones, finally concluding with Fantome.
I have long been a big fan of Dupont's classic Saison,
considered the standard for the style, and yet I was startled
to find that I enjoyed some of the other beers even more.
In particular, the Vervifontaine Blonde, also of the saison
style, was more robust and, with its licorice and orange
notes, more complex than the Dupont.
This highlighted one strength of the tasting; with such
a nice selection of similar beers, we were able to compare
and contrast the nuances of each one. Another strength was
the variety of breweries, a half of which are unrepresented
in Portland. Puchner plans to continue this trend, bringing
to each tasting at least a few beers that are not available
in Oregon. Look for the next one in late June, with Belgian
Trappist and Abbey ales as the focus.
One
Dog, Two Dog
What's in a name? For Portland's two canine breweries,
Hair
of the Dog and Lucky
Lab, a lot. Both have recently released new beers, and
in both cases the name holds more than just passing significance.
At Hair of the Dog, naming beers has come to represent
a kind of coronation. Its newest beer, JD, recognizes the
help and support of John DeBenedetti, owner of F.H. Steinbart,
the venerable brewing supply shop on Southeast 12th Avenue.
In business since Prohibition, Steinbart's is known as a
homebrew store but has long been a source of brewing equipment,
ingredients and information for professional brewers.
JD the beer is actually more of a reincarnation than a
new birth. A "small" beer, it is created by reusing the
grain bed from another beer (in this case Adam), which was
the case with the previous version, called Small. Because
of JD's malty, slightly smoky palate, Hair of the Dog has
styled it a Scottish ale, which seems fairly apt (as close
to a recognized style as Hair of the Dog gets). It's nowhere
near as big as the brewery's bottled beers but predictably
full of flavor and character.
The name of the Lucky Lab's newest brown ale makes no subtle
allusion to the event folks at the brewery are delighted
to welcome: Open Bridge. Located a scant few blocks from
the Hawthorne Bridge, the Lab felt the span's yearlong closure
acutely, barely keeping its head above water, according
to co-owner Gary Geist.
Hey whatever doesn't kill you only makes you stronger,
right? That seems to be the Lab's lighthearted attitude.
In brewing the new Open Bridge Brown, the brewery has a
yang to its Broken Bridge Brown yin (the beer the Lab brewed
when the span closed). Now the folks at the brewery are
taking full advantage of the comparisons between the two
"Bridges." Among the puns in the current press material:
"It's stronger than it used to be, has a more pleasing color,
has a wider [flavor] profile and has been aged a few extra
weeks." If the comedy isn't enough to bring you back, the
beer should be, whether it's the new brown or the fine range
of other nice beers at the Lab.
Previous
Mash columns:
Spring
Beer Fest
Trappist
Ales Await
Prohibition
Sneaks Back?
Bock
Is Back
Goodbye
Blitz-Weinhard
McBeer
Beyond
the Pint Glass
A
Bounty of Barley Wine
Look Into My Crystal Ball
Rising
with the Tide
The Benefits of Age
Winter
Brews
Potpourri
Great
American Beer Festival
Bizarre
Brews
Oktoberfest
Hop
Harvest
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Willamette Week | originally
published April 21,
1999
|
