Beer Guide 2015: Laurelwood

By Lucas Chemotti

Laurelwood

5115 NE Sandy Blvd., 282-0622, laurelwoodbrewpub.com, 11 am-10 pm Monday-Thursday, 11 am-11 pm Friday, 10 am-11 pm Saturday, 10 am-10 pm Sunday.

[ORGANIC GROWTH] Laurelwood's Workhorse IPA is a balanced introduction to Portland's beer scene that you can get fresh on tap before you've even exited the terminal at PDX. Vasilios Gletsos, the guy who brilliantly rebuilt the Workhorse recipe in the throes of a hop shortage, just moved on to Vermont's vaunted Hill Farmstead. So far, new brew boss Shane Watterson is keeping the momentum going. At their welcoming brewpub on Northeast Sandy Boulevard, kids and parents eat organic burgers topped with mustard and barbecue sauce made from the beer. They stay pretty busy cranking out the regular lineup, but when Laurelwood does something limited—like, say, Megafauna Imperial IPA—it's usually worth searching out.

DRINK THIS: Workhorse IPA has a perfect alchemy of hops—roughly 40 percent juicy Galaxy from Australia, 50 percent Citra from Washington and a smattering of El Dorado and Simcoe—complemented by a nice, vaguely biscuity dry body.


WWeek 2015

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