maltedbarleyandhops

I appologize for not posting anything on here in quite some time. In mid March I was offered to relocate from Chicago, IL to Portland, OR. I took the offer and this cross country move finally happened in early May. 2231 miles later and I’m living in Beervana. Its been 3 weeks since I’ve arrived and now I’m fully moved in and ready to see what Portland and the rest of the Pacific Northwest has to offer. And I have a strong suspicion that its some great beer!

Prior to departing Chicago my friends organized a beer bar hop on a trolley. Fun was had by all…from what I can remember. We started the day off at Rock Fest at Rock Bottom in downtown Chicago. I assisted Pete in pouring some of his fabulous beers during the day. Of course I had quite a few for me but I had to pace myself. The trolley was to leave at 5 and I arrived at Rock Bottom at noon. So when the trolley arrived at Rock Bottom we departed for Piece Brewery and Pizzeria.

A View at Piece

 The trolley driver had some difficulty maneuvering the alley but he ended up getting some assistance from Chris and John.

Chris and John Directing Traffic

Once we arrived at Piece we placed our pizza orders and I had to get the Garlic and Clam with White Sauce one last time! I believe I turned on some of the naysayers to these toppings! I better be able to find it out here in the Northwest with all the plentiful crustaceans. Then from Piece we went to Goose Island – Clybourn. There we had some of Will’s fabulous beers one last time, or until Denver in September! He even gave the trolley goers a tour of the brewery.

Pete, Steve, Todd & Myself at Goose

After Goose Island we departed on the trolley for the Hopleaf. By this time we were all feeling quite good.

Steve (3 sheets) & Erin

Some of us more than others! Well at the Hopleaf we met up with Steve and Sean from the Drinking & Writing Brewery and fortunate enough for Pete and I they had spots for us at the bar. Of course while at Hopleaf what else would you order, some of their delicious mussels! So good. At this point we had some more beer while others left the group. But we were not done at Hopleaf, we still had one more stop on the trolley, Brownstone, to watch some UFC fights. Not too sure on who were able to actually watch the fights but none the less we did arrive and ended the night there. A big thanks for all my friends that I’ve left behind in Chicago. Please come out an visit, you have a place to stay here in Portland! And to that I bid Chicago farewell….welcome Portland!

New Glarus Brewing Co. ALT

New Glarus Brewing Co.’s seasonal offering ALT is their version of the great, hard to find beer that comes from Dusseldorf, Germany “officially” called altbier. Altbier is a top fermenting beer that is later lagered to offer a very crisp, clean taste compared to that of a British Ale. 

This version of Altbier by New Glarus is only loosely based on the more traditional style of altbier. Dan Carey’s version is only similar in a few aspects. Yes, ALT is a top fermented with heavy use of caramel malts but from there is where the difference begins. Dan’s ALT uses Raw Turbinado Sugar and then is aged on oak in open topped fermentors followed by a bottle conditioning. 

New Glarus Brewing Co. ALT pours out to bold copper color with just the slightness of a cloudiness to it with a thick rich amber head. The aroma is that of bold caramel and noticeable alcohol that ultimately takes over the entire beer. From the first tastes of this beer all I could taste was the overpowering sweetness and alcohol (must be from the oak fermentors). A very strong beer and not like its Dusseldorf’s counterpart of being an easy session beer. ALT is just not the beer for me.