Märican Biere Bought and Drunk...

Jeff, I am in Oregon (Portland) right now. I would suggest pFreim and Occidental to you at the moment.

@boddhitree, it sounds like where you were in Texas was problematic? There are plenty of US craft breweries in SEPA who have notable German style maltiness in their German style beers.

Cheers!

 

Was in La Crosse WI a few weeks ago and brought back a boatload of Two Women. That beer is something special. It captures something that I have only had in Germany and Austria. There's just such a depth of flavor to the malt. It's simplistic on the surface, but it's damn near perfect at the same time.

I'll be heading to Portland in August and am definitely looking forward to drinking some beers from Heater Allen, pFreim, Occidental, etc.

 

I will be in Hood River after the conference, pFriem is a definite stop.

Had Heater Allen Pils in McMinnville. Last night we stopped at Buoy brewing in Astoria, liked the Pils and Dunkel. Ninkasi had an OK Helles. Coldfire had a nice Czech Pils.

 

Very intriguing that you're hopping around Portland and trying German-style (if not Czech) beers. My last trip to that area all I remember are Ales.

 

I’m just now in Portland. There are several to try here. Zoiglhaus is one that is fairly new, but gets good reviews.

Ninkasi and Coldfire are in Eugene.

My wife had a KellerPils at Block 15 in Corvallis. Forgot that one.

 

What was your honest assessment of the Heater Allen. I had a very fresh can of the Pils brought to me. Thought it was okay. Again, I bet the beer loses a lot in the process of moving from FV to brite to canning, etc.

 

This was at a restaurant, it was just OK. I don’t know how fresh it was. The brewery has limited hours, closed on the Sunday we were there. They are pouring at the Kickoff meeting Thursday night, hopefully fresh, so I can try it again and chat with the Brewers.

 

PFriem Pils is very good. Random Pizza place near Cascade Barrel Works. A little too cold at first, but really light color, clean flavor. Will have more next week at the source.

 

This one will probably get me in trouble, but I thought the Urban Chestnut Zwickl was good but not great. Reminded me of Brauerei Griess's stuff. Again, I am willing to bet that it's much more like the Kellerbiere I know and love when it's straight from gravity (or the tank). @hopfenunmaltz : do you know if they are using DA water to move beer around, or is it CO2 or pumps. No idea what their system looks like, but your comments on DA on Facebook (those were yours, right?) made me wonder about that as a factor -- both in my own brewing as well as others'. I know using CO2 to move our stuff around early on led to some pretty significant loss of aromatics and volitiles. No one complained about early batches, but when I started letting the guy who assists me try the tank stuff, he was like "oh yeah...THAT tastes like Franconia."

 

I think you will enjoy it. My wife and I visited earlier today and had a beer and lunch.

A word of warning - it is a small place. We had to wait 1/2 hour for a late lunch on a Tuesday.

Cheers!

 

I don’t know that about the moving with DA water. That was me on face book, you should have that figured out. ;-)

 

A little context to the UC Zwickel: it's great in that there are very few Ami German-style lagers that get the maltiness near-to-right, as UC does. But yeah, I'd lay good odds that it's even better off the tapper.

 

I was hoping to visit Heater Allen when I'm in Portland, but it's looking like their brewery/taproom hours are really limited. Kind of a bummer.
I tried a few of their beers at GABF early enough in the evening where I could still appreciate them. I don't know if they're on the level of Bierstadt, New Glarus, Dovetail, etc. but I have a feeling they're at least 2nd tier.

 

Chris,

I was provided some tips from a good friend and I visited a couple of Portland Beer Bars earlier this evening:

Belmont Station

They advertise over 1000 beers. They had several brands of Heater Allen beers and I purchased a bottle of the Pilsner. I thought it was good but for my palate I enjoyed the Pilsners of pFreim and Occidental more. My wife and I also ordered some beers on draft: Chuckanut Dunkle and Wayfinder Hidden Hand (Czech Dark Lager). The Dunkle was good and the Czech Dark Lager was excellent. In the back of Belmont Station is a food truck that serves Cheesteaks and Hoagies.

Horse Brass Pub

There was Heater Allen Kolsch on tap but when I saw they had an Altbier on cask I immediately decided to order that beer. It was very good and it complemented my meal (Fish & Chips which were excellent) very well. My wife ordered a Chicken Pot Pie which she stated was excellent.

So, there are Heater Allen beers available in downtown Portland so real need to visit the Heater Allen brewery to drink their beers.

Cheers!

Jack

@Sixpoint @hopfenunmaltz

 

Heater Allen and pFriem are listed as breweries at the Kickoff party tomorrow. I hope they have fresh examples of the Pils for side by side comparisons.

 

That would be cool! I would be interested in doing a side-by-side tasting if they are both available.

My Heater Allen Pils earlier today was from a bottle and I often enjoy a given beer served on draft better.

Cheers!

 

The owner of Belmont Station used to work for my dad here in SC. He then started a chain of record stores where I used to buy all my punk stuff back in the day. He's also the one who brought me the Heater Allen beer.

 

Jack I hope you enjoy HBC. I hope for a full trip report if you have time when you return.

 

Yep. Live Oak Hefeweizen has won numerous awards and beaten hefes from all over the world. A great beer. I'm loving the Grodzkie they make now also... plus their Berliner Weiss is fantastic... and pretty much everything else they brew.

 

Jack, I think we've had this conversation before. In fact, I recall you giving me a Prima Pils, or at least I remember trying one a few years ago... and still wasn't impressed. I still haven't had one in America where I'd say, "WOW."