I feel a little bad for Upright Brewing because it seemed like my taste buds hit the wall at this point, kind of like beer tasting fatigue. Oh well. Maybe I’ll give them another shot next time I’m in Portland.

Upright Brewing sampler set — Portland, OR

Rob’s Picks
• Seven – Saison. Lemony aroma. Interesting flavor: kind of sweet, not very malty, somewhat bitter.
• Scotch Ale – Nice maltiness, nice bitterness. Pretty crisp, too.

The Rest
• Four – Saison. Bitter, bready, astringent.
• Five – Pale Ale. Floral aroma. Hoppy, not much of a pale.
• Six – Rye. Sweet but hoppy. Kind of bock-like, but not bad.
• Engelberg Pils – Pretty light, but still interesting. Wouldn’t want a whole pint, though.

This was the last brewery on the tour. I said goodbye to the rest of the folks who headed off across the bridge to the train station. Then the hail started. Doh! Fortunately for me, I had a warm, dry car ride to Robert and his wife’s house.

Lompoc Brewing seems to consist of two breweries, the first at New Old Lompoc, and the second at Lompoc 5th Quadrant, which is where we visited. They both brew pretty much the same stuff, but the first does most of the seasonals, and the second creates the supply for their distributor. Or something like that. What it means to me is that I only have to visit one to do an “offical” Lompoc Brewing post.

After a welcome walk from Breakside in the brisk sun, I was ready for either a late lunch or an early dinner along with the fine Lompoc ales. The portabello sandwich hit the spot. Robert and his wife rejoined the tour here, and he got a comprehensive taster tray to complement the various pints others had ordered.

Taster tray at Lompoc 5th Quadrant — Portland, OR

Rob’s Picks
• Centennial IPA – 6% – Malty start, lingering floral finish. Nice and drinkable.
• C-Note IPA – 6.9% – Really nice! Smooth maltiness and good strong floral/bitter/citrus hops. Slight sweetness, too.
• Proletariat Red – 6.2% – Good nutty maltiness, lingering hoppiness.
• LSD (Lompoc Strong Draft) – 6.9% – Alcohol aroma. Dry and smoky, sort of stout-like, but with slight alcohol flavor and bit of sweetness. Interesting.
• New Olde Ale – 7.5% – Smooth, well-balanced, touch of sweetness. Sort of amber-like, but nice. Very drinkable.
• Batch 69 Baltic Porter – 7.7% – Alcohol aroma. Smoky, chocolatey goodness. Yum!
• Jolly Bock – 7.2% – Really nice brown ale. No bocky sweetness.

The Rest
• Fool’s Golden Ale – 5% – Lemony, hoppy aroma. Light and somewhat sweet, crisp, slight breadiness.
• Sockeye Cream Stout – 4.9% – Pretty creamy, but somewhat watery, oddly enough. Not too flavorful.
• Oregon Special Bitter (OSB) – 4.2% – Some bitterness, some maltiness, but a little watery. Light.

At the end of the visit, I tried to buy a logo glass, but they had just run out of their selling stock, unfortunately. Should’ve pinched one of the glasses that had been on the table. Next time I’ll know better than to try and be honest in my logo glassware acquisitions…

Robert, Morgan, and I lingered at Fire on the Mountain after the others set off on foot to Breakside Brewery, but they had already arrived and ordered a few beers and free samples by the time Robert dropped off the two of us (he had a few things to do other than hang out and drink — weird). So I spent some time playing catch-up with the beers on the table and giving the glad eye to one of the waitresses, but she never even looked my way.

Breakside has a cool space: two levels, lots of light, modern feel. Nice neighborhood brewpub.

Papa beer and baby beers at Breakside Brewery — Portland, OR

Rob’s Picks
• Hoppy Amber – 5.5% – Hoppy aroma. Great citrus hoppy bite and good malty base.
• Aztec – 9.4% – Nice amber color. Great spicy maltiness and good alcohol edge.
• Alanbier – 8.2% – Nice brown with slight nuttiness. Good body and dryness.

The Rest
• Dry Stout – 4.7% – Good chocolatey aroma. Very dry, but kind of watery. Flavors are kind of weak.
• BLT Gose – 4.6% – Watery, bready, slightly lemony. Odd.
• Triple – 9.1% – Slow start to sweet caramel finish. Doesn’t taste strong. Not the usual tripel, not too sharp.
• American Wheat – Kinda blah. [Not the best tasting notes, I know…]

What else to say? Only three more Portland brewery posts to go — can’t wait till I’m all caught up!

After Saturday’s seven or so brewery visits, it was kind of hard to wake up Sunday morning. Ugh. I was moving way too slowly to make it to the first stop of Day Two of the Portland tour: brunch at the Columbia River brewpub. Instead, Robert and I joined the attenuated tour (about half the participants had returned to Seattle that morning) at the more civilized time of 1:00 pm at Fire on the Mountain.

This is a curious place. It’s a Buffalo Wings joint, and this one (the Fremont location on NE 57th — there are three) started brewing its own beer sometime around the beginning of December 2011 (and they already have an oak aged stout!). No wings for me, but I did have a taste of their hottest sauce, El Jefe, and yeah, The Boss slapped the hangover right out of me.

New brewery offerings at the Fire on the Mountain wings joint — Portland, OR

Rob’s Picks
• Shocks of Sheba IPA – Nice hoppy aroma. Good malty base and decent hoppy bite. Very drinkable. Not the hoppiest, but nice.
• Electric Mud Stout – Oak aged. Pretty light on the start, then the stoutness kicks in. Not bad at all.

The Rest
• Wonderin’ Rye – Pretty smooth, but a little watery.
• Pancho Pale Ale – Somewhat bitter, somewhat malty, but a little too light on the tongue for me.
• Lefty Lager – Like the Pale, but less hoppy. Drinkable but not too memorable.

Not the usual brewery visit, but it was a fun way to start the day, and they even had FotM Brewery logo glasses for sale.

After Migration, the brewery tour headed off to the Deschutes Public House. I’ve been to the Deschutes brewpub in Bend many times, and when I finally do an “official” visit for the blog, I want it to be from that one. So I went rogue and left for Tugboat Brewing with Robert, his wife, and their friend.

Tugboat is a cozy little pub. Lots of bookshelves with odd titles for a bar (The Nursing Mother, From Here to Maternity, iMac for Dummies, Internet for Dummies) and retro lamps on the tables. They had three of their beers on tap, but unfortunately the Chernobyl Stout (13%!) was out.

Great atmosphere at the Tugboat brewpub. Wish I could say the same for the beer… — Portland, OR

The Rest
• Hop Gold/Wheat – Hop craziness. Superstrong grapefruit/tangerine citrus flavors that overpower everything else. Intense face-puckering bitterness that just doesn’t go away. None of us could drink more than a couple sips. One of the worst beers I’ve ever had. Robert suggested re-naming the beer “Fool’s Gold.” We returned the two pints, and the bartender replaced them with the Hop Red, mercifully pouring the Hop Gold down the drain.
• Hop Red – Malty aroma. Hoppy, malty taste, but very bitter. More manageable than the Hop Gold, which isn’t saying much, but still too bitter for me. Got through about a third of the pint before giving up. None of us finished this beer.

We also ordered a plate of nachos. Robert described them as “good for washing away the bitter memories.” To be fair, though, the various reviews we looked at after the fact had good things to say about the Chernobyl Stout and their IPA, and one of the Portland brewery tour organizers had great things to say about their visit to Tugboat. But that doesn’t change the fact that the two beers we tried were horrible. Maybe next time they’ll have decent stuff on tap.

When we arrived here, I thought this place was pretty great, but by the time we left it had gotten so crowded and loud that it just wasn’t very enjoyable anymore. Better to get to Migration Brewing early, or go mid-week. The curse of success, I suppose.

Most folks on the tour ordered individual pints here, but Robert, who rejoined us here with his wife and a friend after a post-Green Dragon hiatus, got a comprehensive sampler of the Migration ales. So I was able to try everything on tap. After a whole day of sampling beer, however, my notes were somewhat sub-par. Oh well. Just go meta with this one.

Migration beers migrating to our bellies — Portland, OR

Rob’s Picks
• Migration Pale Ale (MPA) – 5.2% – Floral aroma. Broad malty base with some floral hoppiness. Very drinkable.
• Luscious Lupulin IPA – 6.5% – Floral/citrus hop blend — quite nice. Subtle maltiness. Good lasting hoppiness.
• Black Hearted CDA – 7% – Seasonal. Great blend of roasted maltiness and bitterness.
• Terry’s Porter – 6.7% – Malty and dry, with bitter undertones. Really good porter.
• Deuce Double IPA – 9% – Seasonal. Good hoppiness, but maltiness really shines. Awesome balance. Bitter but smooth.

The Rest
• Clem’s Cream Ale – 4.6% – Very bready, pretty crisp. More like a blonde.
• Glisan St. Dry Hop Pale Ale – 5% – Sweet aroma. Pretty good, but kind of sweet instead of extra hoppy.
• Old Silenus Strong – 7.2% – Malty sweet aroma. Doesn’t taste strong, more like a good bock. (Too bad I’m not a big fan of bocks…)

Usually the intros and outros are fairly easy to write, but after so many breweries in one day, and so many posts in a short span of time, they’ve been getting harder and harder to come up with and make entertaining (although the next one will be easy). Sigh. My life is so hard!