The 15-person Portland brewery tour tsunami swept its way from The Commons to the Rogue-owned Green Dragon alehouse, which in addition to having 62 beers on tap also houses a distillery and two microbreweries, Buckman Brewery and Oregon Brew Crew’s 1bbl nanobrewery. Interesting set up. Buckman specializes in botanical brewing, with various herbs and spices and fruits and whatnot, which is an area that Rogue hasn’t explored too much. Anyway, there were too many of us to all sit together, and so we split ourselves across two tables. I ended up at the smaller, 6-person table, where we ordered two 4-glass samplers to cover the five Buckman and two Brew Crew beers on tap, plus a bonus Double Mountain IPA. The waitress eventually came back with two sets of the two samplers, which was a bit of a surprise but, in the end, a good problem to have. And since we were a smaller group and all seated, I was able to take more reasonable notes. Phew!

Doubled up samplers of Buckman and Oregon Brew Crew at The Green Dragon — Portland, OR

Rob’s Picks
• Fruit Cake Stout – Decent stout, slight fruity notes but not as fruitcake-y as I feared. Slight smoky finish.
• Chamomellow – Nice, light and bubbly, with good mellow flavor.

The Rest
• Black Saison – Dark in color but watery, kind of bland.
• Side Dish Sweet Potato Brown – More body and flavor than the Black Saison, some more complex sweetness.
• Ginger – Definitely taste the ginger. Well-made, but I don’t think I’d drink a whole pint.

So yeah, some interesting brews, but I think I still have a ways to go before I fully appreciate the world of botanical brewing.