Drank: Rigel Sparkling Ale (Ecliptic Brewing)

By Rebecca Jacobson

Oregon brewing legend John Harris has been making beer for more than 30 years. Rigel Sparkling Ale, currently on tap at his just-opened Ecliptic Brewing in North Portland, has been in the works for 27 of them. Back in the '80s, while working at McMenamins Cornelius Pass Roadhouse in Hillsboro, Harris and his fellow brewers found a wild grape vine growing by the road and decided to make a beer with the fruit. That first attempt planted a seed, and now Harris has honed the recipe with this highly carbonated, refreshing ale combining light malts and fruity Crystal hops with riesling juice from a winery in Roseburg. That addition gives the beer a touch of musty funkiness, but it's still drinkable and subtly sophisticated. Forget Miller High Life—this is the real Champagne of beers. Recommended.

Click here for a review of the new Ecliptic Brewing brewpub.

WWeek 2015

Rebecca Jacobson

Rebecca Jacobson

Rebecca Jacobson is a writer from Portland (OK, she was born in Seattle but has been in Oregon since the day after she turned 10) who's also lived in Berlin, Malawi and Rhode Island. While on staff at Willamette Week, she covered theater, film, bikes, drug dealers-turned-barbers and little-known scraps of local history.

Willamette Week’s reporting has concrete impacts that change laws, force action from civic leaders, and drive compromised politicians from public office.

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