Tomorrow we head back to AZ, home, and triple-digit weather…hopefully the monsoon season has started too so that things will REALLY suck…but today was a great Northwest day, tied together, as I suspect most great Northwest days are, with beer. I’ll skip the travelogue stuff (our trip to the Portland zoo, for example) and go right to the cerveza.

Stop # 1 was Lucky Lab Brewing Company. The place is semi-famous for its doggie-themed pub sign and frickin’ good chicken (or, if you insist, veggie) bento. Their commitment to canines run deep, as dogs are always welcome on their patio, and once a year they sponsor a huge Dog Wash. I started out with their Super Dog, a “Norhtwest IPA” (which our server pointed out was more-or-less a redundant thing to say), seved on nitro. Nitro and cask conditioning seem to be pretty big around here, and I decided I’d take advantage of that to try some new experiences. In this case it was a pretty good call, as the tiny creamy bubbles took some of the carbonation bite out of the IPA and let the (presumably) Cascade hops really do a number on my tongue. I think nitro/cask is a great way to enjoy an IPA. My second choice was an Anchor Steam clone on cask. I’ll just say this: cellar temperature steam beer isn’t a great idea…brewers out there, don’t put your California Common beers on cask: it’s just not flattering.

Next we stopped by Roots Brewing Company. Besides their Rastafarian theme, their hook is that they are totally organic, and that’s all well and good. But two of their beers stole my heart, different styles altogether, but sharing one thing in common: neither used hops, AT ALL, in their brewing. One was a heather ale, using tips of heather (a hardy, northern european plant), in a style which claims to have roots back 4000 years. The beer was definitely that: beer, but with a more delicate counter-balance to the malt. Not your citrus/grassy thing, more of an herbal/sweet tea thing. Way drinkable. The other was even more remarkable: a kölsch brewed with gruit, an amalgam of plants like chamomile and lavender, in place of hops. Gruit predates hops in brewing and was used for hundreds of years in some parts of the world. I can see why: this stuff kicked ass. It was light in color and midrange in alcohol, but its flavor was just fantastic, almost too weird, complex, and new to describe. I gotta say, lavender really adds something to beer, believe it or not…

Then it was off to New Old Lompoc. The name suggests a complex history, and there is one, but I’m not knowledgable enough to sort it out. The beer I had there was Lompoc… something, something…it was late in the day…but its initials are LSD. It was an “American strong ale” served–you guessed it–on nitro. Basically we’re talking Arrogant Bastard clone here, and a pretty good one too. The teeny nitro bubbles added a new dimension and, like the IPA mentioned earlier, let other tastes emerge that might otherwise be scoured away by CO2. I could get sick of nitro, as it’s a titch “trendy” (apparently), but it’s a great way to put a new spin on things every now and then.

Our last stop was just next door, Pix Patisserie. Boutique chocolate. Boutique beer. You do the math. I had a little moussy crunchy confection served with a slice of triple creme brie called a “Royale with Cheese.” Yes, they knew what they were saying, as the “official” description of the dish implies that you get a Burger King crown with your chocolate (you don’t). They were showing Hitchcock’s “The Birds” on one wall as my friends, family and I stuffed our faces with chocolate and (for the adults) beer. I washed my Royale down with some Hair of the Dog Adam (see Speaking of Beer #5), which turns out to be an excellent companion to chocolate.

Crap. That’s a lot of beer and stuff. I’ve skipped tons: our outing to Sudwerk brewery in Davis CA, my pint of Terminal Gravity SDS (stands for “San Diego Sucks”–take that Stone!), my trip to Bridgeport Alehouse, my shopping trip to Belmont Station, our dinner of grilled salmon and sweet corn in Beth and Jason’s backyard while we soaked up the Tuck’s Farmer’s Daughter and Trippel…wow, this was great.

I got lots of stuff recorded so keep your ears tuned to the podcast as I dribble it out for the next six weeks or so…just about until we take our trip to Philadelphia. I love my job.

Oh wait…I don’t get paid for this….

So our plane landed in Portland, and my wife and I had more-or-less successfully unloaded the kids and the stuff (roughly in that order), and we were schlepping bags/herding cats through the airport, when we were greeted by the smiling faces of our friends Jason and Beth. It turns out Jason was smiling for a special reason, as we had no sooner thrown the kids and stuff into the rental car, when he grabbed me and informed me that we had to go and drink, right this instant. I waved goodbye to the family, and then Jason whisked me off to a little place called Tuck’s Brewery.

It turns out the urgency was warranted: Tuck’s is only open from Noon to 6 on Saturdays. That’s it, no more, you snooze you lose. It’s in a little strip mall on Portland’s west side, an unassuming facade with a deceptively Old-Milwaukee-esque sign over the door, holding the promise of lots of fake wood panelling within. I know about deceiving appearances and all that, but I still wasn’t quite prepared for what came next. Passing beneath that flashing neon “Pub Open” sign ushered me into one of the coolest beer experiences of my life.

We were in fact greeted by cheap panelling, but that’s beside the point. It was quite clear that only two things were important here: The nine tap-handles behind the bar, and the guy who was pulling them. That would be Max Tieger, brewer, bartender, and bouncer of Tuck’s. He’s blunt, brash, and not afraid to ban you from his place for life if he doesn’t like the cut of your jib. He’s also a freakishly talented brewer, and justifiably proud of his eclectic and groundbreaking beers. Jason and I went for the sampler, and I’m surprised I didn’t get whiplash going through this set of brews: a golden ale, an alt beer, a berry-bursting framboise, and a spicy witbier, all zigged and zagged me. Each was a solid, even excellent example of the style. Then it started to get really wild.

First came the Imperial Stout, served on nitro. Beneath a creamy tan head that would make a Guinness lover weep with joy was the quentessential silky black brain torpedo we all know and love. I wasn’t in a “stout mood”, but one sip and I was ready to order up a pint. But then came the next beer: A Belgian IPA. Say wha? Initially I wasn’t sure: the nose promised big hops, but the first sip hit me with that funky phenolic belgian yeast flavor, only to be followed by an agressive bitterness settling on my tongue like a cloud of little spikes. Wild. And after a couple more hits, I was sold. The flavors of the hops and yeast marry well, and add a whole new dimension to the IPA experience. Fantastic stuff, and I ultimately did order up a pint.

But that wasn’t all. Turns out Max has beers “in the back” that you apparently need to charm your way to. I guess Jason was one charming mofo, because we ultimately got treated to the best Tuck’s has to offer. That would be Farmer’s Daughter, which I’m guessing is a belgian saison, but infused with vanilla and just about the best fucking beer I’ve ever had in my life. And then came the trippel, which is obviously Max’s favorite child, and an absolutely stellar example of a terrific style of beer. We ordered up a growler of each.

Now the bad news: Tuck’s is about to close for good. However, Max will be soon opening his own place (called, appropriately enough, “Max’s”), so weep not. Keep your eyes out for more from Max Tieger, and keep your ears out for Tuck’s on an upcoming Speaking of Beer.

WHOOO-WEEE! (to quote one or more of the Duke Boys and/or Skywalker Men), my vacation has definitely taken a turn for the BEER. As I write this I am in Portland, with one incredible Oregonian beer experience under my belt, but I’ll keep this entry about yesterday, when I was hanging out with friends in Chico, CA. The beer-related highlight there was the afternoon spent at the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company brewpub/brewery/retail outlet/experimental hop farm. You’ve probably tried their Pale Ale [and if you haven't a) what's wrong with you, and 2) wait a few weeks for an upcoming "very special" Speaking of Beer podcast], or maybe their Porter. I don’t want to gush fanboy-like, but they have been in the game a long time, have reached a fairly high level of financial success, and still put out a helluva good beer.

It turns out that if you visit the actual place, many surprises await. If you have a fairly hip beer outlet, they may carry three or four Sierra Nevada brews (including seasonals). When my friend Matt and I sat down at the pub and ordered a sampler, we were greeted by SIXTEEN little glasses filled with all shades of the beer rainbow. They had a kölsch as the lightest, almost Bud-like, entry; not one but THREE different wheat beers (“Wheat”, “Crystal Wheat”, and a hefe-weizen), several variations on the Pale Ale (blonde all the way up to an IPA, with about 5 steps between), and (of course) their Stout and Porter. To go through all of that side-by-side was a bit overwhelming, but I got used to it. After tackling the sampler, I ordered an IPA, and really started to relax.

Matt and I then took a self-guided tour of the brewery and bottling plant. The place is set up to really crank out the beer. The fermenters look like the tanks at an oil refinery, and the bottling area is cranking out cases faster than Laverne and Shirley ever dreamed of. It’s freaky that the beer is so good when that part of things felt so “mass-produced”.

On the way out we checked out their hop farm. One of the guys at the restaurant said that this is a labor of love for the owner, Ken Grossman. The vines look cool, but apparently its not that easy to grow quality hops in that particular climate. Still, once a year they harvest them and pour them into a special beer available, of course, only in Chico. It’s a company town, but what a freekin’ company!

Yeah, so this site is basically to support the podcast, but I realized the other day that it’s actually a BLOG too. Since I’m on a vacation through Northern California (a.k.a “beer country”), with a hop up to Portland (a.k.a. “you’ve got to be fucking kidding me! beer country”), I thought maybe I should record some of my beer observations for my loyal site-checkers (both of you, you mad crazy sunsabitches).

So far I’ve been hanging with family, and not getting out much, but I’ve discovered BevMo and have “gone to town” there. Two trips to this California “Beer Barn” have netted me many beers, both local and far-flung, and even inspired me to record a show with my brother-in-law (though I’ll leave those beers out of the following discussion so as to maintain a semblance of suspense for any listeners).

Highlights thus far:

Unibroue’s Don de Dieu. A wheat tripel. Like most of their beers, this one takes the phrase “belgian funkiness” and raises it to new levels. I swear, I kept thinking of Dr. Pepper when I was drinking this, but by the bottom of the glass Dr. Pepper became my favorite soda ever.

Lagunitas’ Censored (a.k.a. “The Kronik”). I’ve been aware of Lagunitas for a couple of years now, but always dismissed them as Stone wannabes. Sorry Lagunitas! This particular beer is great, like a homebrewer’s wild hair (“I’ll brew an Imperial Amber!”) gone horribly right. Skewed in the sweet direction, but with a nutty crystal malt finish and a healthy ABV. Good stuff, dood.

Mendicino’s Red Tail Lager. Yes, Lager. It’s a recent addition to their stable, and an obvious attempt to cash in on the undisputed success of their flagship beer. I’m pretty over-the-moon for Red Tail Ale, a great anytime easy drinking beer that nonetheless rewards your attention should you feel inclined to pay it. Ditto the Lager, but with that clean lager profile we all know and love. A “light beer” even a Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA lover can enjoy.

Marin Brewing Co.’s Hefe Doppel Weizen. OK, I’m not sure what to think of this one. By cranking up the Doppel, they lost a large part of the Hefe, if you know what I mean. It’ll give you a buzz, but much of the wheat beer personality is trampled by the strength (a relatively big 7% ABV). It was pretty chunky, too.

That’s all for now. I’ll keep you posted as the trip gets more beer-o-centric. Til then (as the man says), drink well.