Drinking Horse

By Matthew Korfhage

11517 SE Highway 212, Clackamas, 564-8165, drinkinghorsebeer.com. 4-8 pm Friday, 2-8 pm Saturday, 2-6 pm Sunday.

Past the Oak Acres Mobile Home Park and the aerospace manufacturer, behind the sawdust-floored Wichita Pub and through an unsigned door that opens onto a life-sized Jenga game, there is Drinking Horse. It is the name of a long trail in Montana, and you'll feel as if you've hiked it upon arriving at a spacious warehouse brewery in which two large dogs—owned by two brothers—might be trying to knock the crap out of each other. The beers at the year-old brewery are classic in form: The Pils is clean and very German, the IPA feels almost subdued in the face of its startling 110 IBU, and the chocolaty CDA clocks in at an almost stewy 118. But the discovery here is the Silk Road Saison, which adds not only a little bit of Meyer lemon zest but a nibble of ginger for mild spice to accent the yeast. It's almost as subtle as the taproom's location.

Drink This: That Silk Road Saison is a fine summer beer, especially at its approachable 5 percent ABV.

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