Great Notion

I almost wonder if the NE IPA caters to newer palates. A lot of people have trouble with the bitter aspect of hoppy beers when they first get into craft (I was one) so I could see how the NE stuff could be more approachable.

Also it makes sense that those beers started in that region since their IPA's were traditionally far less bitter than stuff out here.

 

Thought them having a NE IPA was a nice change up from every other IPA in Portland. Just my 2 cents. Was a big fan of Ripe and Juicy Jr. their cuban was also pretty tasty.

 

I agree: that Cuban sandwich was good.

Also: Don't get me wrong about the NE-style IPA. I enjoyed Ripe and will likely order it again. It isn't my personal favorite approach to IPAs, but it is a very well-made beer, and I'm glad to have it around as an IPA option around here.

 

When they are fully dialed in, I will retire from trading.

 

Visited tonight. Juice Jr and the Berlinner Weisse were very good.

I have had many "Vermont" style IPAs over the years and noticed the clamoring for "juicy/orange/dry/grapefruit" IPAs that persist on BA. This style is nice, and Great Notion is doing a bang up job of replicating what the East Coast folks fiend for. I also welcome this variety to the land of West Coast IPAs. That said, just as it happens with the best from out east (Julius, Heady, etc.) I begin to fatigue on the taste after a few beers.

Luckily, this place looks to have eyes on doing all sorts of styles, including stouts and sours and all sorts of IPAs


Enjoyed my visit

 

The first thought that crossed my mind when I saw this was if they were named after the movie with Paul Newman. I believe that was set somewhere in the forests of the PNW.

As for the beer, sounds good. Hopefully some will make their way to the Washington that is east of the Cascades.

 

Me, too, except my initial thought was that they named their brewery after the Ken Kesey novel on which the Paul Newman film was based. But after looking at their website, such a tribute or homage is entirely uncertain, and I'm not sure how it squares with their "mission" as a brewery, given the themes of the novel. Perhaps they just liked the verbage, or perhaps, like Hill Farmstead, which has a tendency to name some beers after works by Nietzsche, they are just a little bit pretentious and over-literary. This isn't the worst possible shortcoming, or even one at all. Indeed, as a semi-pretentious and over-literary sort myself, I kinda admire it. And particularly if the beer lives up to the literary standards.

 

Perhaps it's as simple as something someone said when the owner(s) floated the idea of starting a brewery.

I didn't realize Kesey wrote that. It's actually been at least 25 years since I even saw the movie. In fact I might not have known who Kesey was when I saw it.

 

Yeah, until they chime in, it's pure speculation on our part. They certainly could've thought their idea for a brewery was an "outstanding concept" without knowing the first thing at all about a Kesey novel of a similar name. Still, it seems a bit unlikely, and particularly given the shared geography of both.

 

I never heard of the movie, had to read the book freshman year of high school (gawd, 40 years ago already!?!). Kesey was from the Eugene area, so of course, anything he wrote is going to be a bit, ahem, different.

 

I think it actually is somewhat related to Kesey. If im not mistaken, I believe one of their beer descriptions at the Brewery says something in reference to him.

 

Their logo is a logger. I don't think it's THAT speculative.

 

Well, whenever they release a beer called, "One Brew Over the ****oo's Nest," we'll know it's official.

 

I noticed that, too, and it's a good point. At the same time, isn't it de rigueur in Oregon to put the likeness of a logger on just about everything, and especially those things marketed towards hipsters?

 

Great Notion. Merry Dankster. Logger Logo.

Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times, it's enemy action.

 

The fact of the matter is I assumed it was a Kesey reference the very instant I heard of such a name for a brewery based in Oregon, and knew it was when I saw the logo. Still, it's more fun, and generally better epistemological practice, to at least play the part of the skeptic. More than enough people do the opposite, and I'm not sure it makes the world any better.

 

Newman directed the movie himself, and I believe it's the only time in Henry Fonda's career where he lost an arm to a tree.

Gotta watch that again, not to mention read the book. I read Cukoo's Nest about 20 years ago, (and actually was an actor in the play version once), but haven't read anything else by Kesey.

 

NEWMAN!!!


...Oh, wrong show...

 

The line, "Sometimes I get a great notion, to jump in the river and drown" was taken by Kesey from the classic folk song "Goodnight Irene" by Leadbelly.