Ghost Hole Ale
Cascade Brewing / Raccoon Lodge & Brewpub

Stopping for the night in Garibaldi turned out to be a great idea since two great bars were located across the street from our hotel. The Ghost Hole Public House was one of them. Before I go into the beer, I have to recommend the bar. The Ghost Hole featured Karaoke the night we were there and that turned out to be some of the best people watching on the OR coast. The only other people in the bar, and therefore the only people singing were two lesbians, two Mexican laborers, a drunk cowboy, a drunk biker, an obese good ol’ boy, and some young woman who thought she was Sheryl Crow.

To the beer… After a few nice selections from Descuttes, I ordered a Ghost Hole Ale, the house beer contract brewed for Ghost Hole by Raccoon Lodge. To my surprise, this beer was really damn good. I expect contract brews to be dull, sweet, unbalanced, and rarely hoppy. They’re usually some sort of indiscernible red/amber/bock/malt lager mess. This was a real beer, with a lot of hops.

Appearance is a pretty amber with a thin white head. Aroma is intensely piney with a nice caramel malt base. The flavor is pure resinous pine sap goodness balanced by a nice caramel sweetness. The finish is long and bitter and leaves a lasting taste and feel of bitter pine sap. The body is light, balanced but leaning towards being quite bitter, with some creaminess. Ghost Hole Ale is very drinkable. I recommend stopping in for a Ghost Hole at the Ghost Hole next time you’re in Garibaldi.