End of the year always brings the recap posts.
2012 was a year filled with beer festivals. A recap of all the new beers, both good and bad, to remember 2012 by
Portland Fruit Beer Festival
Initially I went to this because my wife wanted to attend something that suited her more then the usually hoppy beers we found around the city. I was pleasently suprised with what I found.
10 Barrel Raspberry Sour – This was my first experience with 10 Barrel, and oh how it has sparked a wonderful relationship. This delicous raspberry beer provides excellent tart qualities with a summer thirst quenching body.
Alameda Brewing Huckleberry Hound – I was suprised at the hop presence in this. Being a fruit beer fest, most beers were very light on the hop presense. On the downside, there was almost no huckleberry flavor to be found.
Boneyard Brewing Femme Fetale – Another Bend brewery that I had no prior experience before this festival. Really loved the malt flavors that backed the sour fruit in this beer.
Breakside Brewery Strawberry Rhubarb Pie – For a beer that claimed to have been brewed with entire pies(crusts and all) this beer was remarkably clear. So clear in fact, I think most of the fruity flavors were clensed right out. The strawberry flavors were very light and I tasted no rhubarb at all.
Hood River Fresh Hop Festival
One of my goals this year was to make it to a fresh hop festival. With the hop harvest in late summer/early fall, this area is filled with these celebrations of fresh hopped beers.
Gigantic The most interesting beer in the world – I thought Gigantic could do no wrong. While this beer definitely does not fall in horrible category, there was a minimal hop presense espically for a festival celebrating hop flavors.
Logsdon Saizon Bretta – This was a brewery I was looking forward to trying. This local Mt. HOod brewery's website leaves a lot to desired, but I had hoped it was due to all their skills being focused into brewing. This Farmhouse ale balanced great hop flavors with a great brett/saizon flavor.
Pfriem Belgian Strong – Another brewery located in the Mt. Hood area that I had no experience with. Unfortuately they didn't quite knock my socks off like the Logsdon did. Pfriem is fairly new to the brewing scene and I have no doubt they'll improv their beers over time. However this Belgian Strong left a lot to desired.
Solera Brewing Peche – When I saw the Solera table had a continous line beyond the tent I knew I had to check them out. Both the Peche and their Kwazy Wabbit offering had a beautiful hop presence. The Peche Bier was a fruit wheat that had excellent citrus hop notes. The Kwazy Wabbit was a double IPA with great citrus hop flavors to mask it's big alcohol presence.
These are the breaks 