Ninkasi Oatis Oatmeal Stout

Back when I first started drinking beer, I feel like there were only a few stouts widely available. Most of the time you'd be stuck with a watery Guiness. Personally, I was privileged to have access to Shakespeare Stout, the one beer that I can credit as the catalyst for my long term love affair with beers. But of the few stouts available, Sammy Smith also had a particularly fond memory in my mind for it's quality of using oatmeal. Today, almost every brewery has their version of an oatmeal stout, and they range from excellent to atrocious. The youthful, yet eager brewery, Ninkasi, has done a very nice job with their take on it. It's a carefully calculated balance of oats, chocolate roasted malts, and bitterness, and the end result is quite enjoyable. The body is fairly light on this one, so it won't overwhelm you like it's big thick Russian Imperial cousin. 7.5% alc/vol. 45 ibus

Oatis Oatmeal Stout: ****

Southern Oregon Brewing Porter

Not a tremendous amount to say here. Southern Oregon Brewing has made a porter that is, much like their simple aptly named beer, a porter. It's got a sweet aroma and fairly dark body for a porter. The label claims the beer to be flavored with coffee, chocolate, and smokey flavors. While the chocolate and smoke aren't all that apparent, the coffee tones are quite apparent and very appropriate; seems pretty reasonable and apropos for a beer from Ashland. However, ultimately the beer doesn't add too much depth or complexity to its body and just the slightest bit watery.

Porter: **

Ninkasi Sleighr

This is an interesting choice for a seasonal by the folks at Ninkasi. Altbiers, similar to our brown ales, are conditioned for longer periods of time to mellow out fruity flavors and promote a smooth malty taste. The extra conditioning is probably why so few have gone this direction with their seasonals. However, Ninkasi has done a great job developing a mellow yet rich brew worthy of the season.

There's the smallest bite on the front end that opens the flood gates for sweet malts to come pouring through. It's a little challenging to describe what it is in the taste that actually makes this beer so delicious, but the darker roasts with the lighter body really makes for a wonderful wintertime seasonal. Altbiers are supposed to be well balanced and I certainly think they've achieved that. In addition, there's a mix of old world and new here as Ninkasi has taken a German style, doubled it, and made it their own through west coast style brewing. Plus the shout out in the name to 80s hair bands of old doesn't hurt either. Well done.

Sleighr: ****

Oregon Adventures

First off, I'll apologize for the hiatus in blog posts, I was out of town for the holidays. I'm about a month or two behind in posting beers that I've tried, so I'll probably be posting quite a few in the next couple days. However, if there are certain beers/topics/ideas that you're interested in, don't hesitate to email me or post about it. I also have my newest homebrew, the Shah Mat, which should be up and ready to drink in the next few weeks.

Over Thanksgiving I was up in my home state of Oregon. In addition to enjoying the cold weather and the home cooked meals, I did quite a bit of beer sampling... well, drinking; "sampling" conjures images of standing around at posh bars, while tuxedo wearing waiters with pencil mustaches pour you shot sized portions and give you a disdainful eye when you belch and ask for more. No, this was more like taking down a 22 on my own with perhaps the small indulgence by my parents, who were curious about the different types of beers I was drinking.

For those of you who haven't been fortunate enough to ever visit Oregon, the first thing about beer drinking that you have to understand is that drinking good beer up there is much more common place than it is in other states. I was once told that there are more micro(craft)breweries in Portland than in the rest of the nation combined. I don't know if that stat, is still or, was ever true, but just walking into an ordinary supermarket in the Beaver state you'll be pretty floored by the selection of beers made available to you. It's a refreshing site when you're used to seeing the same old generics at California grocers, next time I'll have to take a picture.

Most of the beers you'll find are from Pacific Northwest region. There are always a few other labels from around the country that get mixed in, but mostly it's Oregon beers. It's a subtlety that I enjoy as it feels like I'm buying local, but also obtaining access to a number of smaller, less well distributed brewers who otherwise would be impossible to try.

Highlighted on this trip was the Ninkasi Brewery out of Eugene that has been growing in leaps and bounds, both in scale and popularity. Definitely worth trying are their double and single IPAs, the Tricerahops and the Total Domination, respectively. I enjoyed both beers immensely, although I slightly preferred the Total Domination, which I found to be a little cleaner in its taste. However, I got so excited about these two that I forgot to write down tasting notes. I also tried the Believer Double Red, the Oatis Oatmeal Stout, and Sleighr, which is their seasonal. Next up are four reviews on some of the beers I took the time to write notes on.

Shipyard XXXX IPA

Part of Shipyard's Pugsley's Signature Series (I have no idea who Pugsley is...), the XXXX IPA makes no joke of intensity with bright orange X's on the front and a clearly marked 9.25% alcohol. According to the British convention, the X's connote style, not necessarily strength; a nice tidbit of historical bolstering, which I personally always enjoy with my beer.

The beer makers were kind enough to bitter it with Cascade, Warrior, Summit, and Glacier hops.

Sampling here in my brand new yard style beer glass (a gift from my brother and his girlfriend), it has the wonderful aroma of cascade dry hopping and a brilliant copper color. Unfortunately, the beautiful citrus hops that come through in aroma, doesn't tip off the palate when you first taste this beer. Reminds me of Trailers for movies that promise far more than the movie can ever deliver. The overwhelming taste is of malt, although I will give credit to Shipyard for beautifully crafting their grains, which gives the beer a smooth, sweet and rich caramel character. Do not fear, the hops return in the end, but now, mixed with the well bodied malt, does not have the promise that the aroma first offered and is not enough to satisfy my hop crazed palate.

XXXX IPA: ***1/2

Mikkeller Struisse Brouwers DSB

This beer, just recently retired, is a collaboration between two Europe's finest brewers: Mikkeller and de Struisse Brouwers. This beer was first created in 2007 by combining a super hoppy Mikkeller beer and a strong blonde from de Struisse. It was first created as part of ratebeer.com's worldwide master series and is heralded as the hoppiest beer brewed in Belgium.

The alcohol content is high, which you can really taste. It has an overwhelming hop flavor that really binds well to the alcohol lending a sort of heaviness to the bitters when they kick in at the end.

A crisp yeast cleanly carves out the light malts the bolster the hops. I'd say the yeast is a little too involved in the flavor for my taste buds, but the beer exhibits a masterful craftsmanship. The residue flavors have the perfect leftover citrus rind, it dips down and smoothly glides back up for that last kick. The whole beer moves like a perfect ellipse, never losing it's flavor, but always building throughout the tasting experience.

Mikkeller Struisse Brouwers: ****1/2

Dry Hopped Christoffel Nobel

I'll be writing a some tasting notes about a couple of the beers I tried in Amsterdam. This is the first.

Some interesting flavors reminds me a bit of the Winter Solstice because of the fresh almost peppermint qualities. Although the fact that it's called "Christoffel," and a green and red label might also be contributing to the subconscious idea of a Christmas seasonal. I taste some english hop stylings down in there somewhere, but it seems a little too watery and the yeast adds a fruity quality that when combined with the mintyness makes this beer entirely too light bodied.

Dry Hopped Christoffel Nobel: ** 1/2