February has been very kind to me. Earlier in the month I went to a tasting at Full Sail after work where they poured their
last 3 vintages of beers that had been aged in bourbon barrels. The lineup was the 2004 Imperial Porter, the 2006 Black Gold
Imperial Stout, and the just released 2008 Top Sail Imperial Porter. All were amazing, but the stout was the clear winner.
It took me back to the weekend we spent with the Marsh's and Deady's in Cape Meares where several bottles were consumed.
This beer is definitely on my top 10 list.
February 14th means only one thing.....beer and chocolate! Fred Eckhardt, Portland's beer patriarch, conducts a tasting of
his two passions every Valentine's Day at the Rogue Public House. Molly, Angie, Mike, and I wrestled our way through 10 courses
from simple (Kell's Lager with a chocolate chip cookie) to complex (Rogue Old Crustacean with chocolate barleywine cheesecake).
All were good, but you can't beat an Oreo cookie dipped in a glass of warm Hair of the Dog Fred. Fred's interlude between
courses is not to be missed......unless you're a Republican, a fan of Budweiser, a woman, or born after 1960. Sorry Fred.
Best for last. Last Friday a few of us assembled at Mike's house to pop open a who's who of bourbon barrel aged beers.
Last month when the coveted Abyss from Deschutes went on sale (sold out in less than a week and bottles were going for 5 times
the retail price on Ebay) we decided to gather as many bourbon barrel aged beers as we could find (and safely drink) and have
a tasting. From left to right in the photo are:
Deshutes Abyss Imperial Stout 2006
Deshutes Abyss Imperial Stout 2007
Full Sail Imperial Stout (OK, not bourbon barrel aged, but damn good and a bargain at $3.50)
Anderson Valley Imperial IPA (OK, not bourbon barrel aged, but we needed some hops for balance, right?)
Stone Old Guardian Barleywine (I don't think we even made it to this one)
Lucky Labrador Pavlov's Russian Imperial Stout (Aged in Port barrels)
Full Sail Top Sail Imperial Porter
Bridgeport Old Knucklehead
Butte Creek Train Wreck Barleywine (never got to this one either)
The 2006 Abyss was awesome and had incredible depth and balance for a 10% beer. This was the crowd favorite and we bow down
to Mike for somehow resisting the urge to drink this for a year. The 2007 Abyss was 95% of the 06, a damn fine beer. I started
off the night with the Pavlov's Imperial Stout. If I had nothing else that night I would have been a happy man. A fantastic
imperial stout with a subtle port barrel character. I always look forward to Old Knucklehead, especially this year. There
is always a knighted "old knucklehead" and this year, John DeBennedetti (our homebrew store owner) won the honor. Plus this
year was bourbon barrel aged. But the beer didn't do it for me. I don't think the flavors melded well together. Give me
a good old pour of past year's selection off the cask any day. And last Top Sail. This was my least favorite at the Full
Sail tasting, but our example in the bottle was an entirely different beast. It was like the Black Gold Imperial Stout, big!
For others it was a bit too much, but for me it sang. It was so close to being too hot from the bourbon you were expecting
the balance to just fall apart. But the finish on the beer was to die for. I would kill for a case of this!
Thanks to Mike for hosting!
