The Portland brewery tour train rolled on down the line from the Green Dragon to the Cascade Brewing Barrel House. The core group in the tour had been to Cascade’s brewpub, the Raccoon Lodge, on a previous trip, but fortunately they decided to include the Barrel House even though they don’t do any brewing on premises. It does house the aging barrels, and that’s good enough for me. Plus, it was on the way to the next stop. We also sat down at two separate tables here, but I somehow felt more rushed than at the Green Dragon. Oh well.

Rob’s Picks
• Blueberry Bourbonic – 11% – Smooth sour blueberry flavor, with bourbon finish. Somewhat heavy. Nice!
• Rhubarb Crisp – 6.5% – Sour start, with a rhubarb blast finish that lingers.
• Plum Rye – 7.35% – Plum aroma, flavor on finish. Very sour start. Nice broad base.
• Shrieking Violet Blueberry – 11% – Lighter and crisper than the Blueberry Bourbonic, and really nice.
• Kriek – Really good. Very very sour, and somewhat subtle cherry flavor.
• Nouveau Cerise – 8.18% – Really nice and sour. Cherry “darker” than the Kriek — more complex.

The Rest
• Noyaux – 8.94% – A raspberry sour. Subtle start, raspberry comes through in the finish.
• 2010 Sang Noir – 9.2% – Like a really sour sparkling wine. Very raisiny.
• Raspberry Wheat – 5.7% – The one non-sour beer that was ordered. Basically a bubbly raspberry drink. Meh.
• Sweetart – 8.25% – Sour and good, but nothing about it stood apart from the other sours.
• Blueberry – Also sour and good, but after the other two blueberry drinks, this one felt and a little too light and easy.

I forgot to take a picture here, which is unfortunate because their colorful beers would have made for some great photos.