The Oregon Trail Brewery is in an odd location. It’s tucked into a corner of the Old World Deli, which has all sorts of old European facades inside to give you the feeling that you’ve stepped into a 19th century European village. Unfortunately, the cheap, cafeteria-style tables and chairs detract from the feeling. The little deli in the back has the Oregon Trail beer on tap, but they don’t have any formal taster trays. One of the women working there improvised with those little plastic salsa containers, though, and she gave me some complimentary chips to go along with the pint I eventually ordered. Did a brewery tour, which was fun. They’ve crammed a lot into their small but vertical footprint — the rooms aren’t particularly big, but they have three floors and have incorporated gravity into the beer-making process. Fun. Also got to try their Hopdoctor, a hopped-up version of the Beaver Tail, and it was really good.

Oregon Trail: the Old World Deli refreshment — Corvallis, OR

Rob’s Picks
• Wit – very drinkable, really nice balance
• Brown Ale – very drinkable
• Beaver Tail Kolsch – very drinkable

The Rest
• IPA – hoppy and crisp, but more on the soapy than citrusy side
• Ginseng Porter – odd but okay. Ginseng flavor not too overpowering, but brewer said they were dialing it down a bit.

Block 15 had 13 beers on tap, but the taster tray was limited to five. Probably for the best because a lot of their beers had pretty high alcohol content. Not that that’s a bad thing. Since this was the first brewpub after the beer blogging suggestion, the pictures will start here.

Update!  November 30, 2011: During a recent stay in Corvallis, I re-visited the burgeoning Block 15 beer empire. In addition to their brewpub, they have now opened a European-style gastropub next door called Les Caves. It is European-style presumably because they serve a whole lot of bottled European beers (in addition to two Les Caves-only Block 15 beers) and the food’s much fancier than in the brewpub. Ended up tasting eleven more of their beers. Yikes! Good thing it was spread out over two days. The difference between the old and the new tasting notes are pretty noticeable…

Block 15 sampler block and logo glass (original photo) — Corvallis, OR

Rob’s Picks
• Caves IPA – 6% – Good floral aroma. Very strong hoppiness — nice floral/citrus blend. Full malty base with slight caramel flavor. Big, strong IPA.
• Caves Saison – 5.5% – Has that banana aroma and flavor, but the flavor was well-balanced by maltiness and strong hoppiness. Quite smooth, too. Kappy didn’t taste the banana, so maybe it’ll come off as clove if that’s your thing.
• Strawberry Fields – 7% – Sour kick to strawberry flavor. Interesting, especially the aroma: sour creaminess, kind of cheese-like.
• Imagine – 15% – “Bourbon barrel Belgian Imperial Stout” — Holy cow! Strong bourbon aroma. Bourbon stout explosion to a chocolate finish. Thick and strong. A huge beer! Wow. They only sell this every other year, apparently — I wish I’d bought a bottle or six…
• Bent Shovel – 10% – Alcohol aroma. Great caramel/alcohol balance. Bitter finish.
• Hemp Nut Brown – 5% – Fun tangy flavor to the nut brown. Interesting bitter aftertaste, slightly floral. Not light, not heavy, but elements of both. Second hemp beer I’ve seen, and I’ve liked both. Hmm…
• Alpha IPA – hoppy and crisp, kinda citrusy. Yum!
• Print Master’s Pale Ale – quite nice, very drinkable
• Aboriginale – Big! Like this better than Print Master’s, actually. 7.1%!

The Rest
• Glo, Golden Lager – 5% – Fairly bubbly. Bready start balances the lightness. Lemony finish.
• Apricot Ale – Apricot aroma. Strong tangy apricot flavor that lingers.
• Ridgeback Red – 6.3% – Floral aroma and flavor. Strong hoppiness. Okay.
• Super Fly Rye – 7.5% – Floral aroma. Pretty hoppy, but in the same floral way. Some maltiness, but not too much. Lingering bitterness.
• Dunkel Weissbier – 5.5% – Alcohol aroma. Interesting alcohol/hop/malt balance, but a little watery.
• Chocolate Porter – very chocolatey, maybe too much so. Slight licorice edge to aroma and flavor. Finishes with root beer flavor. Kappy sez, “Tastes like Chocolate Red Vines.”
• Nebula Oatmeal Stout – kinda weak, but at 6.8% it won’t take much to do the trick

Visit #2 = 2 sampler blocks — Corvallis, OR