Annibrew Summary, and Prepare for Bite-time

August 1, 2010 by Leave a Comment

The Bailey's Taproom Annibrew Cubed event was what I had hoped it would be- full of good beers and conversations with other beer enthusiasts, it wasn't crowded or hot and there were no obnoxious people that I could tell, which is good enough. We were there when they opened their doors to ensure we would get to taste everything, and sure enough a few hours in our top favorite, the Cascade Bailey's Quadratic Formula in beautiful beer geekiness of ax^2 + bx + c = 4 where a= 1 bubonic Plague(Heaven's Hills) b= 1 Spiced Quad (Maker's Mark) and c=2 Big Red(Maker's Mark)  all equating into a wonderful swirl of complex flavor, was out. As we left, our second place winner in our eyes, the Firestone Parabola with a bold bourbon and tobacco initial punch followed by dark chocolate and smoke as it bloomed on the palate, also tapped out.

During our 5 hour stay (which also included a cheerful passing by of pirates outside from Plunderthon which many along the windows raised their glass and waved to but still everyone withstrained from any shouts or screams even after a couple hours of drinking, inner woo hoos only!), we chose to get a few repeat token taste. The beers that made this cut included the Russian River Consecration (Belgian style aged in Cabernet Sauvignon barrels with Brettanomyces, Lactobacillus, Saccharomyces and Pediococcus and currants added to make one sour beer) and Hair of the Dog Cherry Adam from the Wood (a bourbon nose with a very dark cherry profile and only a hint of tartness Pilsner malt aged with black cherries in bourbon casks). We were at a draw whether the Hopworks For Those About to Bock had vanilla tones or yeast tones in it or not- even 20 minutes after we had left and were on the way home the debate continued.

And we will never forget the barnyard nose, our first experience of barnyard in beer, on the Block 15 #181- despite its aroma the yeasty ferment did even out on the tongue. The biggest disappointment was the Allagash 08 Curieux, a Belgian Tripel aged in Jim Beam for 8 weeks that didn't have much to show for its age. The New Holland Dragon's Milk was a soft caramel nice beer, but not as deep as hoped either. And no, there are no pictures from this event because hey, I was tasting 20 barrel aged beers. The veggie sandwich I had right before and the chorizo burrito from Santeria afterward were still not enough to combat the heavenly effects of the alcohol content ingested at this Bailey's third anniversary. Still my favorite beer event of all July.

So no beverage photos… though I do have a token photo of the best happy hour menu in Beaverton that I know of, Decarli's. The pizzettas are enough for two, and their best one is the portobello mushroom, gorgonzola, sweet onion, and walnut-sage pizza. The best option is still the polenta fries with gorgonzola butter, but if you want to share, go with this pizzetta.

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Next weekend is Bite of Oregon, including 120 items from restaurants, food carts, and a dessert pavilion to taste. I'll also be switching gears from tasting beer to tasting wine. On Monday, there is a Groupon special where you can purchase 2 admissions for the price of 1!

We'll be stopping by on Saturday afternoon, after a class I'm very excited about, a cheese making class with Hip Cooks where we'll be making and sampling Ricotta, Goat Cheese, Mozzarella, Mascarpone and Fromage Fort in a menu that includes

  • Roasted tomatoes filled with fresh ricotta
  • Goat Cheese and Fromage Fort with french bread
  • Pizza bianca with fresh Mozzarella
  • Poached apricots stuffed with Mascarpone, rolled in pistachio

Isn't my countdown to this coming weekend worth it?

 

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Filed Under: Beer Review, Food and Drink, Portland Highlights, Restaurant Review Tagged With: , , , ,

July is Craft Beer month… and the highlight is Bailey’s

July 24, 2010 by Leave a Comment

This means it was time for the now annual pilgrimage to the Oregon Brewer's Festival. This year we showed we had learned our lesson from hiding at the Buzz Tent last year on a Saturday (now on our Murtaugh List), so this year attended on OBF opening day. Sure, we had to take the day off from work, but it was worth it for no lines and plenty of laid back tasting and conversation instead of loud talking over random group cheers/shoutings/screams that usually punctuates the tents. Thanks to sharing tastings with others, I tried approximately 30 beers. Besides the toasty tasting Maui Coconut Porter, the rest of my faves were at the Buzz Tent (such as vanilla coffee chocolate Caldera Mogli, and pepperjack Riverport 5/5 Pepper), where it took two instead of one tokens to get a taste.

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For me, that's not the highlight of this July though. I missed the Rogue Annual Beer and Cheese event this month because I dropped the ball on when it would be and didn't block my calendar, so I had an inevitable work conflict. But that's not the highlight either. No, the highlight is Bailey's Anniversary Barrel Aged Beer Fest. I know there will be no annoying woo-hoos at the mature anniversary event at Bailey's Taproom, our usual hangout for beer, and it is held inside so you can enjoy AC and shade (though they have a few tables for outside patio drinking sometimes). Bailey's is our drinking hole thanks to their constantly (a couple times a week) rotating tap which I follow all the time on FB and twitter. Despite the lack of food menu, they have an understanding with the Mexican hole in the wall across the street, Santeria, that delivers their dishes to Bailey's, and that is just fine with us and leaves you more money for beers. This is their 3rd anniversary, an event they celebrate where they tap aged barrels of beer for sampling at only $15 (which includes a real glass glass and 5 tasting tokens). It's like another Cellarfest! Yes, an event enjoyed indoors with beer aficionados, not 1000 people looking to just drink a lot of beer.

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Baileys_log_ban5

They've written up 2/3 of their descriptions already, and they include, so you have an understanding where my beer palette lies since my re-education and relocation from Chicago thanks to all that is available in micro brew capital Portland… (below photo is quite representative of a typical visit to Bailey's)

  • Oakshire Very Ill Tempered Gnome was first brewed for the Holiday Ale Fest.  Oakshire then took this Strong Winter Ale and aged it in a Sokol Blosser Pinot Noir barrel for five months.
  • Rogue Juniper John John is a Juniper Pale Ale aged in Rogue’s Juniper Gin barrels.  A hint of cucumber and a sprucey note in the aroma are followed by a Juniper bute mid palate finishing with a soft oakiness.
  • Upright Lambicus Six is the first batch of their Six (a dark Rye) that has been sitting in a Pinot barrel since May ‘09 with brettanomyses lambicus added to it.  The result is a Flanders style red/bruin character.
  • Russian River Consecration is a belgian style ale aged in Cabernet Sauvignon barrels.  Brettanomyces, Lactobacillus, Saccharomyces and Pediociccus are added, plus currants
  • Firestone Parabola has been on of the most popular beers at the past two anniversaries, this beer features bold bourbon and tobacco aromas and rich dark chocolate, charred oak flavor.
  • Moylan’s Kilt Lifter Scotch Ale.  Moylan’s took this rich malty beer and aged it in both Apple Brandy barrels and Port barrels.
  • Fort George ‘09 Illuminator.  We’ve been holding on to this one for a year.  It is dark brown in appearance, with an intriguing hint of bourbon, rich, malty, and balanced with the dryness of hops and a tart finish.  Aged in Heaven Hills bourbon barrels.
  • Lompoc ‘08 Bourbon LSD.  Another beer that we served at our first anniversary and have been hanging on to.  This beer was fantastic two years ago, we’ll see what another couple of years of aging did to it.
  • Jolly Pumpkin Oro de Calabaza is brewed in the Franco-Gelgian tradition of strong golden ales.  It is Spicy and peppery with  a gentle hop bouquet and the beguiling influence of wild yeast.  Aged in Oak barrels.  8% ABV
  • Full Sail ‘09 Black Gold was initally brewed in Feburary 2008 and released as their Imperial Stout.  Full Sail ages a portion in Bourbon casks and releases it a year later as Black Gold. We held on to this for an additonal year.  Chocolate and caramel nuances blend with the hops for a smooth Imperial Stout.  10.5% ABV
  • Allagash ‘08 Curieux is their belgian Tripel aged in Jim Beam barrels for eight weeks.  The beer picks up soft coconut and vanilla characteristics…and also a hint of bourbon flavor.  We had this at our first anniversary and then held on to an additional keg.  11% ABV
  • New Holland Dragon’s Milk has a soft, rich carmael-malt intermingled with deep vanilla tones; all dancing in an oak bath.  New Holland brought this beer to OBF a couple years back, I’m guessing there are a couple of people who wouldn’t mind trying it again.  10%ABV
  • Deschutes Twilight is their summer seasonal that they aged in Pinot barrels.

They have a few more beers lined up, so I am awaiting one more write up at the Bailey's Blog from Bailey's soon with the rest of the beers for their big day. This Bailey's Bday event is to me, the real deal example of celebrating Oregon craft beer month, not OBF.

 

 

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Filed Under: Beer Review, Festival Event, Food and Drink, Portland Highlights Tagged With: ,

Caprial Supper Club

July 17, 2010 by 3 Comments

I've never attended any of the cooking classes, but I was invited by a friend for a ladies dinner at Caprial+John's Supper Club on July 15th. Because of the hot weather and a circumstance at their usual kitchen location, they held it at their own home in their backyard. This turned out beautifully, as we enjoyed the summer evening with a slight breeze and the mosquitoes somehow knew to hold off until dinner was already over.

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The "Yeah It's Summer" menu that night started off with a corn and tomatillo soup with crispy cheesy polenta croutons and candied bacon. Evidence of the homemade preparation were the corn cobs their chickens were now pecking at nearby. This was a great starter, particularly the crispy cheesy polenta croutons that offered texture but also melted inside your mouth. Unfortunately, I didn't take a photo of the homemade bread

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The main course was served family style, and included peppered and brined N.Y. steak, crispy smashed yukon gold potatoes with roasted garlic, and oven roasted green beans with caesar dressing.

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Yeah, the steak was seriously thick cut!

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Dessert was a white and black chocolate cake with raspberry compote to leave us on a happy note from the richness.

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The event was BYOB with no corking fee, so everyone in our group brought a bottle or two of wine to share, so there there was plenty of nectar flowing to accompany the meal. What a great summer dinner!

 

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Filed Under: Food and Drink, Portland Highlights Tagged With: , ,

A Visit to the Cart Pod of SE 12th and Hawthorne: Cartopia

June 27, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Ever since I moved here and saw Potato Champion, I have wanted to visit the cart pod (a group of carts- this one is also known as Cartopia) in southeast Portland.

I affectionately call Cartopia the “drunk pod” because they are near several late night establishments, thus their evening-wee morning hours, unlike the morning-lunchtime only and closing before the regular business workday hours that the downtown carts generally keep (which translates to me not being to eat at most of them since I work in Beaverton unless I get a friend to drive or have don’t go into the office). This desire to visit the SE 12th and Hawthorne food carts only got greater as I heard legends of Whiffies, and then at the Food Cart Festival heard raves about Pyro Pizza. So, after the North American Organic Brewers Festival, I was only too happy to go along for the ride.

Now, I can only be so greedy. Whiffies that night for their savory selections had a vegan pie and a chicken pot pie, neither which I was interested in (I would try BBQ or any of their pork ones). So one friend got a savory crepe from Perierra Creperie that had a sexy sounding mix of gorgonzola, pear, walnut, and honey I believe- this was ok, very light but it didn’t hit the spot for me.

Another friend got the White Truffle pizza (dough brushed with white truffle oil topped with romano cheese and a dash of black pepper) while I ordered the Caramelized onion Pizza (with  caramelized purple onions with gorgonzola and parmigiano-reggiano cheeses and pistachios) from Pyro Pizza, the latter being the specific pizza topping combo that was so raved about at the food cart festival.

Pyro Pizza
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Pyro Pizza
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Unfortunately, now from the original cart this latter pizza did not deliver, being more onion with some cheese and a few pistachios rather than cheese topped with caramelized onions and sprinkled with pistachios. Besides the proportions of onion to the other two topping ingredients, the important element of caramelized did not happen- the oven at the food cart festival was not what this cart had, and I wonder if the other one burned hotter because of it’s larger capacity (it was the size of the wood burning oven that Tastebud always brings to the PSU Saturday Farmer’s Market). Or maybe they got too hot in the cart.

Fortunately, the White Truffle pizza did deliver, though I think the winning element was the crunchy romano that crisped up like a frico (aka parmesan crisp). I ended up taking a box home to share with F… which actually only I ate the next day by myself. Heh.

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The highlight of this food cart pod visit was from Potato Champion, with a large order of poutine, which means fries topped with gravy and cheese curds, one of the few gifts from Canada. The fries were fresh and crisp, even better then what I had at the Food Cart Festival from Spudnik (their roaming cart; Potato Champion is the original home base cart). They were more generous here with the rich gravy (I went with the meat based one not the veg one although there is one available- but look at how thick that gravy is, well flecked with seasoning), and there were nice sprinklings of squeaky chewy chunks of Rogue curd throughout.

Potato Champion's poutine
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When placing my order, I was tempted to order a cone to try their other sauces, but thankfully I didn’t because a large poutine is huge as you can see. But, so delicious and good size for sharing, and a perfect way to soak up alcohol. Want to buy my friendship? Here’s one currency to use. And yes, my friendship is for sale… for the price of taking me/bringing me deliciousness like this. If you don’t like cheese or fried foods… well, we can’t be friends anyway.

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Filed Under: Food and Drink, Food Carts, Portland Highlights Tagged With: , , , ,

Umpqua Valley Barrel Tour: The Tour Itself

June 12, 2010 by 1 Comment

So at 9am, we were on a bus with these menus in hand! How awesome is it to have all these wineries only a few hours away from Portland… and a tour in which they take care of the transportation for you.

 

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First stop was River’s Edge. Their Pinot Noir needed a little more time because of the confusing legs on it, but it was in the barrel so duh… the Pinot Noir Black Oak Vineyards barrel tasting was paired with one of my favorite food pairings of the entire day, the grilled chicken-apple sausage with triple cream brie and their pinot noir jam combining the smokey savory and creamy with the fruity and then dark red wine with a bit of tannin to finish it off. I even purchased a jar of their very liquidy jam to enjoy at home. Their winery is indeed located by the edge of a river, presenting a lovely view of vines and river and bridge and rolling hill and sky.  Yes, you can indeed enjoy wine at 9:30 in the morning!


 
Next stop was Bradley Vineyard, where we shivered as we enjoyed delicious wines and snacks outside. Who would expect that it would still be in the 50s in mid May? The view was incredible from their deck, despite the fact it was a rainy day, so worth a little shivering. This quote cheered us up as we entered the very small tasting room and were blown away by their delicious reds.


They also had really cool pourers at Bradley that measured their tasting portion in little mini-flasks. Their Pinot Noirs (they had several years to try) were paired with castillian chicken tapenade spread on baguettes, which were ok- the food couldn’t quite stand up to the great punch of the wine because the bread was too dry and hard and almost cracker-like, though the tapenade was rich from stewing in its slow cooked crockpot: having a spoonful of that on its own with the pinot from a cup might have been a better match.The hit with us was the Greek Cheese Pie (which they had catered by a local restaurant- maybe next time we should stop and eat there hmm) which warmed us up while enjoying their chilled off dry riesling outside in the cold air, and also the blue cheese spread (which you spread yourself on bread or veggies) paired with their Umpqua Rose. They also conveniently packaged their various spreads as seasoned mixes to sell so we puchased the mix for that even before we picked out which pinot noir we each liked best. I am going to enjoy that blue cheese spread with guests this summer on our patio with wine, so yes I already have plans for that tasty mix!

Bradley is where I started on my box o wine bottles to take back home- everyone who purchased wine had to put in cases underneath the bus with our name on it.

Brandborg Vineyard was next, tapping their barrel into a pitcher as they told us stories about how the couple met, finding this location for their winery, ferris wheels and love puppets. They did two smart particularly inspired pairings; their barrel tasting of Pinot Noir was paired at with a rich duck stew with mushrooms and olives over rosemary polenta and they also paired their Gewurztraminer with a Thai curry shrimp and rice with a couple pineapple chunks sot hat the light and bright Gewurtz balanced the spice brilliantly. I really liked their port-style syrah as it wasn’t overly sweet or thick (though their pairing this port-style syrah with a nut/cheese/dried fruit medley was more like trail mix and not a fit). They had a full portfolio of different wines to offer, showing a lot of diversity.
Next was Sienna Ridge. The best thing there was their honey buns. Sorry. Their profile of flavors for their wine was just not to my palette.
At Marshanne Landing, they had to deal with unfortunately a busload of people who had now visited 4 wineries and had tastings but no lunch. They were really generous with their spread of food, offering not only tastings but also cheeses and veggies and breads with olive tapenades, for which I hope they know a busload of people are very grateful (I know I certainly am). MarshAnne Landing included a pairing of their Merlot with an owner made tortellini carbonara instead of the originally planned spanakopita but his updated pairing was much better. Maybe I had more then one tasting here of this particular item (although I found out later this was being done by other bus peers at every winery where they essentially finished off any trays laid out of snacks! We were a busload of greedy guests which I am both apologetic for and what kind of tour for 7 hours doesn’t include a meal and puts the onus on the wineries being visited?).Marshanne also had paired a tri-tip with their syrah and their Red Planet mixed varietal wine with meatballs and raspberry sauce, the sauce at least tried to help what tasted like frozen appetizer selections from Costco. The tortellini carbonara was what stood out for me, though I was getting to the end of my wining and dining limit. As one more note, Marshanne had a great back patio with a contemplative view of a rainy day in the Umpqua Valley, and showcased local artists in their tasting room.



Last stop at Reustle took place in their packaging area supervised by Jean Luc. A little tree with little flowers watches the bus full of people messily devour ribs with the Reustle Syrah (the last pairing).
Reustle replaced the small chicken flautas we had the day before with the Gruner with a smoked salmon crostini with goat cheese and pesto- the flautas were a better complement. They still served their Pinot Noir with phyllo cups of Rogue Smokey blue cheese- it was a clever way, just like the day before, to package the blue cheese, but phyllo cups are a eat all of it in one bite or it’s messy because it falls apart sort of deal: how Brandborg toothpicked their triple cream brie was more user-friendly.
If I had to rank my favorites of the day in terms of wine and food pairing offerings, it would be Reustle, Bradley, Brandborg, tie between Marshanne Landing and River’s Edge, and then Sienna Ridge. It was definitely fun to spend two days exploring wineries and not being responsible for directions or staying sober enough to drive. But, I think before I go back to the Umpqua Valley, I should give the closer Willamette Valley wineries a try.

From Umpqua Valley Barrel Tour- North

 

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Filed Under: Festival Event, Food and Drink, Portland Highlights, Winery Visits Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
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