Next month, Jeff Alworth is leaving WW to pursue other projects.
If you have the brew knowledge and writing experience to replace
him as our beer columnist, send a résumé, cover
letter, sample Mash column and three writing clips to: Mash
Search, Willamette Week, 822 SW 10th Ave., Portland, OR 97205.
Anderson
Valley Brewery Tasting
Belmont Station 4520 SE Belmont St., 232-8538
2-4 pm Saturday, June 12
KÖLSCH Me Again
If you've had the opportunity to
meet Rob or Kurt Widmer, you know them as personable men.
Oregonians through and through, they are polite to a fault,
always quick with a handshake and a smile. But they take their
beer very seriously.
When I met them recently to discuss their two newest offerings,
Sommerbräu Kölsch and Bourbon Bock, I was greeted
with requisite smiles and handshakes--and a pile of documentation
about the Kölsch style. They remembered my comment
of a year ago, when I called Sommerbräu "a workmanlike
summer beer." Writing of Kölsch last year, I explained
the style, saying of Widmer's version, "due to the Widmer's
very dry altbier yeast strain, it doesn't end with the tangy
flair of a good Kölsch and isn't as complex." They
were nice enough not to call me a bonehead but proud enough
to suggest--diplomatically, of course--that I reconsider
my views.
Fair enough. While still standing by my analysis of Kölsches,
let me admit that the style has broad parameters. A zesty
lactic quality (the dimension I found lacking in the Widmer)
may be present in a Kölsch, but any pale ale with a
delicate, slightly fruity maltiness and low bitterness is
appropriate to the style.
So, back to the Sommerbräu: On second examination,
I found it to be a crisp, refreshing beer of some complexity--a
bit of floral maltiness that has just the tiniest indication
of zing. Perhaps I was blinded by the intensity of last
summer's hoppy seasonal offerings; on balance, Sommerbräu
is a pretty tasty beer.
As for the Bourbon Bock, there's no disagreement: It's
a fantastic beer. At last year's Oregon Brewers Festival,
the Widmers surprised festgoers with their first batch of
Bourbon Bock--their regular doppel aged in whiskey casks--and
created a storm of interest. The beer, with its clean, malty
profile, created a wonderful medium for bringing out the
flavor and aroma of the bourbon. The malt and liquor notes
mingle together to produce a very rich, fragrant beer--the
best of both worlds.
And yet, despite the furor it created, the Widmers announced
that this was a one-time brew, something special for the
festival that they didn't plan on repeating. Fortunately,
the brewery's 15th anniversary was just around the corner.
In celebration, Widmer decided to bring back the Bourbon
Bock. Once again, it is in limited supply and will be served
on draft only. It's a time-intensive, expensive beer, but
this time, the Widmers aren't declaring they'll never brew
it again. In fact, they told me they're willing to be convinced
that they should bring it back a third time. Consider this
one vote in favor of its return.
More
Beers of Summer
Slowly but surely, McMinnville's
Golden Valley has managed to expand its presence, building
on the success of its bottled Red Thistle and Tannen Bomb
ales. Its newest offering is a lager, Geist Bock, a beer
very much in keeping with the brewery's reputation for rich,
creamy beers. Bock has become something of a pet seasonal
for many breweries, and it's easily the most popular lager
in Oregon. In adding yet another one to the mix, Golden
Valley runs the risk of being overlooked, but those who
try Geist Bock will be pleased.
If you look closely enough, you can usually find a brewer's
fingerprints on his line of beers, and in Geist Bock, I
found John Eliassen's. Whether ales or lagers, his beers
have a smooth and softly malty accent. Even in his big beers,
the creaminess of the malt obscures the sharper alcohol
flavor. In Geist Bock, the malt profile is complex enough
to bring out different notes with each swirl of the tongue;
at turns it is nutty, sweet and roasty; it finishes characteristically
soft.
Last year, when Portland Brewing introduced its summer
seasonal Portland Ale, it got a fair amount of press for
adding hop oil, a little-used method of imparting the aromatic
essence into a beer. It worked beautifully: The delicious,
fresh aroma rose out of the pint glass like a bottled hop
field. But when rabid lupomaniacs lifted glass to lips,
they found precious little hop flavor, let alone bitterness.
The hop oil is back this year, but brewer Brett Porter
has made sure the beer's flavor can make good on the promise
of the aroma. He boosted the malt a bit and gave it a more
golden hue, but mainly he added more hops. Now using five
additions, Porter characterizes the beer by saying, "It's
pretty much all about the hops." Indeed. In addition to
using the oil, Porter dry-hopped the beer, a technique he
used to great advantage with Thunderhead Cream Stout. Here,
it imbues the beer with a resinous hop flavor, without much
bitterness. Portland Ale is so richly hoppy that it may
be too much for some. Maybe Porter is just making up to
those of us hopheads who wished last year's had packed a
bit more oomph.
Previous
Mash columns:
Big In Belgium
Spring
Beer Fest
Trappist Ales Await
Prohibition
Sneaks Back?
Bock
Is Back
Goodbye Blitz-Weinhard
McBeer
Beyond the Pint Glass
A Bounty of Barley Wine
Look Into My Crystal Ball
Rising with the Tide
The Benefits of Age
Winter Brews
Potpourri
Great American Beer Festival
Bizarre Brews
Oktoberfest
Hop Harvest
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Willamette Week | originally
published April 21,
1999
|
