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Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Portland International Beerfest

Although international beers are now far more readily available than in past years, and although PIB has lately been showing some signs of neglect, I nevertheless still look forward to this fest with great interest. Nothing beats a great, rare beer on a sunny day under the trees of the North Park Blocks. All the event details are here.

I would love to spend some serious time on a preview, but it's not in the cards this week. I've been invited to brew a beer with Ben Edmunds at Breakside* (I'm with him now as this post goes live), and later in the week I'll be in Hood River with Matt and Charlie at Kriek Kamp. However, I did spend four minutes scanning the beer selection, and these jump out (recognizing that I don't know whether they'll be one or six tokens):
  • Cantillon Cuvee Saint-Gilloise (aka "Cuvée Des Champions") - two-year-old dry-hopped, unblended lambic. Draft.
  • De Proef Brotherly Love (aka "Broederlijke Liefde") - a brett-aged collaboration with Philadelphia's Sly Fox Brewery. Draft.
  • Trois Mousquetaires Kellerbier - unfiltered pale lager from Canada. Perfect sunshine beer. Bottle.
  • Amager RugPorter. Danish strong rye porter. Bottle.
  • Bateman's Mr. George's Ruby Porter. Got porter on my mind, and an example from an oldish English brewery seems just the thing. Bottle.
  • Emelisse Double IPA. This is listed as Belgian, but it's actually a Dutch brewpub, and one that's new to me. Bottle.
  • Page-23 Reserve Hildegarde Blonde. A French blonde I've never had the pleasure of meeting. Never pass up a French Blonde. Bottle.
  • Aecht Schlenkerla Helles. A helles by a famous rauchbier producer. Supposedly it's residually smoky. Bottle.
  • Weihenstephaner Vitus. A weizenbock by the world's oldest brewery. Many have tried it; I have not. Bottle.
  • Molen Heaven and Hel (aka Hemel and Hel). Another one I've missed--a Dutch imperial stout. Bottle.
There are a few very nice American ales, including Firestone Walker Parabola and Abacus, Full Sail Black Gold, some nice barrel-aged beers from Stone, among others. Also of interest, that Xbeeriment beer is an imperial stout made by a Gypsy brewer from Denmark.

Perhaps I'll see you there.

_____________
A grisette or petit saison, your choice, brewed with pilsner malt, wheat, spelt, a dash of rye, and the Dupont yeast. Plus one other special process I'll save for later. Target OG is, I think, 1.036.

10 comments:

  1. I wouldn't reccomend the Bateman's Mr. George's Ruby Porter. It's anything but traditional and not really a porter at all, in fact it's sold as Batemans Dark Lord in the UK, they had to change the name for the US market (which is the version you are referring to), I'm assuming because of Three Floyds Dark Lord.

    It's a pretty crap beer to be honest. The selection of British beers at international festivals always makes me cringe, very rarely are the beers representative of the best of british beer. Their are millions of better porters from the UK but I suspect the organisers are limited to those already being imported.

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  2. p.s. It's definately more of a dark ruby ale than a porter. A bit like Wychwood Hobgoblin if youve ever tried that.

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  3. Aecht Schlenkerla Helles is always available at the BeerMongers and it is a fantastic beer. No smoked malt in the brew but the same yeast and brewing equipment Schlenkerla uses for their other beers, its gentle smokiness is lovely. Emelisse, Weihenstephaner, Amager & Trois Mousquetaires beers are also readily available in Portland. However the Cantillon and De Proef brews are well worth visiting. Cheers

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  4. Neil, good to know. Too many beers to waste on a dud.

    John, thanks. Definitely going to go for that one.

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  5. No probs jeff.

    I'm sure the same happens at an international festival over here with American beers, we never get the best stuff!

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  6. This looks more like a typical Northwestern Beer fest with some easily accessible imports. A trip to Belmont Station or John's Market would reveal 500% more of an International selection. Really sad, this used to be one of the better Oregon Beer fests.

    When are one the local Beer yahoos going to support a real International beer fest or even a Belgian Beer fest?

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  7. Anon, you organize it, I'll support it. (And when are the people who call others names like "yahoos" going to develop the courage to post under their own names?}

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  8. Yeh I'm with jeff. Have the balls to put your name to your comment, or stop bitching. Ya can't have it both ways

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  9. Big Johnny Cockwad10:14 AM, July 14, 2011

    What's in a name? Here's a name for ya! Does this make ya feel better? Like, "Neil, Eating isn't Cheating" is a real F***ing name!

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  10. There's a comma there, see it? Neil's my name, the other bit is my blogs name. I know it's all very confusing johnny but try and keep up.

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