Hotlanta

the view of Olympic Park from my hotel room

The South is a mysterious place to many in this country.  If you’ve never spent any time there, you might picture Plantation homes, humidity on a scale unimaginable, and glasses of sweet tea being consumed on a large wrap-around porch.  All of those are things you find down south, but there is so much more than that going on. I’ve been in Atlanta for the last several days at a professional conference, and it’s been great. Atlanta is an old southern city, known for its history and friendly charm.  Ive been here several times in my life and am always struck by the livability of the place.  Considerably larger that Portland, most would assume that it’s all traffic and concrete. The truth is that the city has done a fantastic job, the last couple of years, of focusing on amenities that soften the edges of the large metropolis that it is.  With all of that has come renewed investment in the city and a burgeoning food and beer scene.

just another weekday

foamy but tasty

A co-worker mentioned that he needed to “pick up some more de Garde” on his way home tonight.  That was all the push I needed to open this beer up.  Been wanting to drink their beers for some time, just haven’t gotten around to grabbing this out of the back of the beer fridge.  Their focus is spontaneous fermentations that are inspired by European traditions, and they’re located in Tillamook, OR.  Just awesome.  So glad I felt inspired.  This particular beer is the Spears Wild Farmhouse Pale aged in oak gin barrels.  As you can see from the pictures, this bottle was well-carbonated.  It would seem to be bottle conditioned, based on the sediment layer on the bottom.  Right after pouring, the bottle started spitting up foam.  Not sure what got it a tad over carbonated, but they might want to dial that back a bit, if possible.  Didn’t make for a great first pour.  The rest of the beer, though?  You pick up a lot of oak in the nose, with a whiff of juniper and spices.  The beer starts off dry, with subtle hop notes that give way to an even subtler malt flavor that has hints of apricot and marmalade.  As you swallow the beer sweeps aside everything with its dryness and some of that woody barrel flavor. At 5%, its not going to knock you out.  The oak and gin notes are subtle, unlike a lot beer that comes from whiskey/bourbon barrels.  I’ve noticed this about beer aged in gin barrels.  Lighter and more drinkable in quantity.  This is good enough to drink in quantity, believe me.

It would seem that I too need to pick up some more de Garde.  Probably need to get out to Tillamook and drink at the brewery as well.  Anybody been out there or had any of their other offerings in Portland?  I got this one at the Tin Bucket.  I know Bridgetown Beerhouse carries some of their stuff.  Where else?  Give me the details in comments.

weekend update

Totally underrated beer

The past couple of weeks I’ve realized how much beer I tend to consume over a weekend.  Makes sense that I would keep track of it and update readers with a few beers at a time, right? It’s a bit of a cheat, really.  Instead of multiple posts, I get to be a bit lazy and get it up all at once.  Whatever.  It’s more Dennis Miller than Seth Myers probably.  Seth seemed like a hard worker.  Dennis felt like he was always mailing it in. Nealon?  That guy seemed like he had to work twice as hard to look half as good as Miller.  Sometimes talent wins out, I guess.

weekend drinks

Spot on, old chap. Spot on.

I managed to have several really good beers this weekend, which isn’t that amazing when you think about where I live.  Even though you can often get 3 or 4 really great beers in one day here in Portland, I thought these three all deserved a little love on the blog.  

left coast is the best coast

not particularly rebellious…pretty tame, really

There are so many new beers showing up that it’s damn near impossible to keep up anymore.  Truth is, I rarely grab the new stuff if it’s from a brewery I know to be average.  Just not worth the time, really.  But this time?  This time, Samuel Adams drew me in.