The Cherry Baltic Porter is no stranger in my house. I have a had a pretty good relationship with this beer for a few years now. It’s a shame I haven’t reviewed this one until now, but that’s the way the beer pours sometimes.
This beer just makes me warm looking at the bottle. It has a dark cherry red label with a lovely lady that stares into your heart. Yeah, your heart! Because, I love this one.
No, this is not the beer I am taking camping, this is not the beer next to me at the pool, and no this is not the beer I like to sip on at lunch. This is the beer I like to savor until Friday night with a good movie and a bucket of popcorn. This beer makes me want to take sloooooow sips, and enjoy the moment.
Rogue provides two bottled chocolate stouts. This is the big brother of the pair weighing in at 9%ABV. The bright red bottle can’t be missed as we found this one at our local whole foods. The price is a little steep, but hey every once in a while it’s OK to ball out on a chocolate stout!
Style: American Double / Imperial Stout
Ingredients: 10 Ingredients:
C120, Chocolate and Rogue Micro Barley Farm Risk, Cascade and Rogue Micro Hopyard Revolution Hops, Rolled Oats, Honey, Natural Chocolate Flavoring, Rogue’s Pacman Yeast and Free Range Coastal Water
Specs:
- 9.2% ABV
- 50 IBU
- 22º Plato
- 74 AA
- 135º Lovibond
Further Reading
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/132/60694
One of the many reasons we live in Bend, OR is the presence of Mt. Bachelor. Snowboarding/Skiing is a great way to spend the looooong Winters here, and nothing beats a morning workout at the hill. Three years ago I had an accident on the mountain where I fell into a powder covered tree. I was just going to say that I sure wish I had one of these beers that day! Cheers!
Style: American Pale Ale
Specs:
- 5.5% ABV
- 40 IBU
- Malts: NW Two Row, Melanoidin, Crystal 60, Carafoam
- Hops: Centennial, Cascade, Pacific Jade
Further Reading
Mountain Rescue @ GoodLife
We love the Bend location for Cascade Lakes Brewery as it is on the way to and from Bachelor. The service is always great, however, we are not big fans of the food or the beers. We did think it was a good idea to give it another chance as we headed out on the Bend Ale Trail but still were not impressed. See our ratings below and let us know what you think of the beer.
Also Bone-a-fide soaps available!
We had our first chance to try the Bone-A-Fide Pale Ale from Boneyard Beer at the World Beard Championship in Bend last May and we were more than pleased. We have since tried this beer a few additional times and are big fans. If you haven’t been to their tasting room, we highly recommend that you do. You can also find their beers at several local restaurants in town such as Brother Jon’s and Jacksons Corner. It’s more than likely they will be serving this brew or the RPM IPA.
On a mission to help Boneyard break another record of growlers sold each Wednesday we headed on over to pick up a growler of Bone-a-fide. It was business as usual on Wednesday for Boneyard as they had a tent and grill set up for serving fish tacos and the ever present line to fill ‘er up! We were quickly greeted by the gang who is always friendly and ready to share their tasty treats. After a quick chat and news that a new shipment of apparel would be arriving next Wednesday we headed out knowing we would be back next week. On the way to the car one of the brewers let us know he was still working on the recipe for Bone-a-fide and hadn’t quite achieved what he was looking for. I wasted no time in letting him know that not much change was necessary. Bone-a-fide is already on it’s way to being a classic Pale Ale from Bend, Oregon.
There are many great things about living in Central Oregon. From the lakes, rivers, and mountains there are lots of opportunities to experience the outdoors. One of our favorite hobbies here in Central Oregon is snowboarding at Mt. Bachelor. Every year we look forward to making turns down his beautiful slopes, and every year we look forward to riding up the Red Chair lift together. This year we have started a tradition that involves drinking a Red Chair beer from Deschutes Brewery on our first run. Really there is no better way to celebrate another year on the hill.
Deschutes has made a delicious batch once more and we will definitely be putting a dent in the supply!
Check out the specs:
Style: American Pale Ale
Ingredients:
Malts: Seven varieties of malt including British crystals, German pilsner, and domestic versions of cara-pils and Munich.
Specs:
- 6.4% ABV
- 60 IBU
- Available: January to April
Finally, it is time for us to post about one of the best beers I have ever tasted. In preparation for this blog I wanted to spend some time making sure this life-long relationship was real. How many times have you tried a beer a second or third time to find it doesn’t compare to your original assessment? Maybe it was the food pairing. Could have been that particular batch. Or possibly it was the not so good beer you tried right before. After almost every Tuesday for over 8 months of visiting Bend Brewing Company in Bend, Oregon I can truly say this beer is unequaled by few in the community. With a 9.2% ABV this time around Hop-Head Imperial IPA is a sweet and smooth treat with a power packed punch to the noggin’ if you’re not careful.
Hop-Head’s home, Bend Brewing Company, is a great spot to hang out and kick it after work any day of the week. The dining area is cozy and sports fans will love the TVs in view of most tables. The bar is one step above the dining area and can seat quite a few hop heads waiting for a pour of gold! In the summer time the back patio provides a great spot to chill out while viewing the Deschutes River at Mirror Pond.
Amazingly, Bend Brewing Company has occupied the same building for it’s 15 years of existence. The brewery was actually the 2nd brewery to be founded in Bend. The beers are all nurtured by their awesome brewmasters including one of a handful of female brewmasters, Tonya Cornett. Hop-Head and some of their other brews have won medals at many prestigious beer festivals around the globe. After trying any of their award winners it’s easy to see why locals night at the pub is always busy!
Tonya Cornett and the Bend Beer Bloggers!
Earlier this year, we did a trade deal with Justin Iverson, aka PB Hoss for all you twitter fans. We designed his beer cellar door and he gave us a case of his wonderful amber home brew. Thanks Justin, we enjoyed it!! And we hope to come out and brew with you some time!
Last week we tried the Southern Oregon’s Nice Rack IPA. Love the name, but are not in love with the actual beer. We have never been to the actual brewery unfortunately, but do hope to visit soon and to try some of their other beers as well.
Ninkasi has been a power house in the local beer industry this past year. They are doing great things not only with their beers, but with promotion and advertising as well. It takes a lot to stand a part from all the other local breweries. Good beer is just part of the puzzle. We recently had a chance to give their Maiden The Shade a try and were very pleased to find this beer can definitely stand on it’s own.
Style: American IPA
Ingredients:
Malts: ???
Hops: ???
Yeast & Water: ???
Specs:
- 6.8% ABV
- Starting Gravity: 1065
- 72 IBU
- Preferred Glass: Pint Glass (or Becker, Nonic, Tumbler), Mug (or Seidel, Stein)
- Food Pairing: Cuisine (Curried, Thai) Cheese (peppery; Monterey / Pepper Jack, sharp; Blue, Cheddar, pungent; Gorgonzola, Limburger) Meat (Poultry, Fish, Shellfish, Salmon)
- Established 2009
- Available: Seasonally on draft and in 22oz. bottles
