[BW] Beer Blog

Brewery: Coeur d’Alene Brewing Company
Style: Belgian Stout
BeerAdvocate.com Rating: Retired?
RateBeer.com Rating: 3.78 (95th Percentile)
Serving: On Tap

Last night my friend Tim and I decided to check out Coeur d’Alene Brewing Company’s alehouse in Moscow, Idaho. Pullman (where we currently live) isn’t exactly a beer Mecca, so we were incredibly relieved to go to a real public house and try some hand-crafted, local beer.

I decided to try their Vanilla Bourbon Stout and wow, I was really impressed. Here’s what I wrote down while tasting:

Color - Incredibly dark brown, not quite black with only a thin lace of head. The lack of head may be due to a lag in getting the beer from the tap to my table.

Smell - Smells of roasted coffee and vanilla. Very inviting.

Taste - My nose is getting really good at this. Tim described it as “coffee with vanilla ice cream.” While I don’t completely agree, there is definitely a slight coffee hue that balances perfectly with the vanilla. The bourbon comes through afterwards very slightly and lightly floats over your taste buds for a few seconds. While this may be a stout, this brew is incredibly drinkable. It’s not very heavy and I had no problem drinking two pints.

Beers like this are the kinds of gems you can only find from local microbreweries. These are the brews that show how hard working and how creative brewers can get when they’re not forced to brew inoffensive, mediocre beers that are supposed to appeal to everybody. Coeur d’Alene Brewing has a new fan and he definitely plans on picking up a growler next time for the incredible price of only $15 and $7.50 for refills.

I also had the opportunity to order their Blue Cheese Burger. This hamburger was topped with blue cheese, two huge onion rings, and all the standard burger veggies. Served with some seasoned fries and combined with the beer, Tim and I had one very delicious and much deserved dinner. I highly recommend you visit the alehouse if you happen to be in the Palouse area, want some good food, and crave a local brew.

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This came as somewhat of a surprise to me, but that haiku I wrote about University Market a while ago was selected to be the haiku of the day on Beer Haiku Daily for 8/19.

Beer and haiku. They almost go together like beer and, uh, well I guess beer can pretty much go with anything. Enjoy!

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Brewery: Deschutes Brewing
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
BeerAdvocate.com Rating: 82
RateBeer.com Rating: 3.14 (55th Percentile)
Serving: 22oz Bottle

As a big fan of Deschutes’ brews, I had to pick this up. A golden ale is definitely something unique for Deschutes, so let’s see how they did.

Color - Transparent, rich golden in color. A good amount of carbonation is present as indicated by the continuous bubbles. Surprisingly this poured with virtually no head.

Smell - I’m not very well versed in reviewing this kind of brew, but nothing really special is reaching my nose. Kind of smells like a really mellow belgian.

Taste - Oh wow, what a train wreck. This tastes like incredibly carbonated yeast in water. I just finished my second sip and my entire mouth is coated in what feels like chalk. I’d take a few more sips to be more descriptive, but I don’t hate myself that much. I apologize for not being very descriptive here, but if you tend to agree with my reviews then stay away from this one.

I should note as a disclaimer that I am not the hugest fan of Belgians. I keep trying and trying to find one that I’ll like, but it appears even most of the internet beer community wasn’t a fan of this one either.

Normally I’m a huge fan with most of what Deschutes puts out, but this one is definitely an exception. This is actually the second anniversary brew in a row of theirs that I haven’t been a fan of. Last year they made an 18th Anniversary Pilsner and maybe it’s good if you enjoy Pilsners, but I wasn’t a fan of that either.

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I’ve had this for quite some time and have completely forgotten where I got it from, but thought it was still funny. Enjoy.

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Brewery: Midnight Sun Brewing
Style: Porter
BeerAdvocate.com Rating: 85
RateBeer.com Rating: 3.55 (87th Percentile)
Serving: 22oz Bottle

This brew was actually spotted by my sister during my last trip to University Market. Going into this I knew absolutely nothing about this brew nor the Midnight Sun Brewery. Before I get into the review, let’s learn something together!

The Midnight Sun Brewing Company is a brewery out of Alaska. Apparently the only two states you can find their brews are Alaska and Oregon. I guess folks up in Alaska are fully aware of Oregonian’s obsession with great beer. According to their website they brew nine “regular” beers and additionally seven they call the “Seven Deadly BeeRs.” These brews are one offs and supposed to be absolutely ridiculous in style. Let’s see how their coffee porter holds up to my taste buds.

Color - As dark as brown can get before it is black. Only a very thin lace of a tan head shows.

Smell - Has all the smells of a regular porter, but with a very large hue of burnt coffee and espresso. This smells like it’s going to be fun.

Taste - Oh yeah, bring on the coffee! The mouthfeel of this brew is very smooth and almost creamy. Instantly you taste the infusion of a great porter and a LOT of coffee/espresso. The taste lasts all the way until the next sip, so expect to taste coffee for a while.

Going into this I didn’t think it would be possible for anybody to brew a more delicious coffee-inspired beer than Lagunita’s Cappuccino Stout, but I think I enjoy this one more. Perhaps the reason has something to do with Arctic Rhino’s lower alcohol content and my wanting to drink this at the same pace I drink coffee. Either way it is very delicious and a great coffee-inspired porter.

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I know this is a beer blog, but I want to bring to everybody’s attention a new blog that has popped up here in the Northwest. Some good friends of mine are as passionate for wine as I am beer and have decided to start The Oregon Wine Blog. Think of this blog as the wine counterpart to my own.

While I exclusively blog about beer, you may have noticed that many beers take ideas and aspects of wine to make them truly unique. Take my review of Dogfish Head’s Red and White for example. This is a beer brewed in Delaware that utilizes pinot noir juice from the Willamette Valley. Beer is so much more than just hops and barley nowadays that I find it important to understand other spirits that some beers borrow from.

So go ahead, take a look at it and learn a thing or two about everybody’s favorite grape-based (but not always) alcoholic beverage. Besides, their Clustr Map only shows hits from Oregon and Washington. Let’s light that thing up! =)

The Oregon Wine Blog
http://oregon-wine.blogspot.com

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While I may not have a new beer to review, I do have this picture I took of the pint I’m currently drinking. Why? I felt like it, so there.

I also thought this would be a good opportunity to plug the store labeled on the pint glass; University Market in Corvallis, Oregon. What’s so great about “The Orange Market?” Well for one the building is painted orange. Ok, so that really has nothing to do with beer, but it makes it way easy to find.

The awesomeness of University Market starts with the fact that they carry around 500 different kinds of beer and I believe over 800 kinds of wine. All but a handful of beers reviewed on this site has come from University Market, so if I’ve reviewed it, you can most likely buy one for yourself.

Other perks is their excellent selection of glassware, their super helpful staff, and the ample supply of snacks. You owe yourself a visit to University Market if you’re ever in Corvallis.

University Market
1149 NW Van Buren Ave
Corvallis, OR 97330
(541) 753-7391

But wait, there’s more! I’m feeling all artsy enough to write a haiku:

Oh Orange Market
Where I buy all of my beer
They’re in my belly

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