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Let this sink in for a second: The best new brewery in Oregon this year is in Beaverton.
Since this summer, Logsdon co-founder Charles Porter's Little Beast has released at least four beers that should become Oregon classics—and strawberry-rich Dream State is one of them.
Porter's beers are all about creating subtlety through near-obsessive complexity—like a hairdresser in the '90s, he's all about layering. Dream State is a barley, wheat and oat beer aged in a wooden foeder once used to age wine and fermented with enough bugs to fill a zoo: three strains of saccharomyces, a lactobacillus strain and three strains of brett. Then, as if that gallimaufry of grain and souring bacteria weren't enough, Porter threw 950 pounds of strawberries into the mix.
The result is dry, complex and pungently fruity, not to mention softly funky in the manner of a Michael McDonald song. Strawberry is a weird fruit for brewing, and a few sensitive tasters have complained of the plasticky phenol notes endemic to beers made with it. Do not listen to such people. This is berry for miles and miles, and it is unendingly delicious.
Recommended.