OK, so I spent the golden part of today's idyllic Pacific Northwest afternoon at the 25th annual Oregon Brewers Festival on the beautiful waterfront in SW Portland.
Here's a list of the showcased beers:
http://www.oregonbrewfest.com/index2.php?p=beersSadly, many of the ones I was most interested to try were already tapped by the time I got there. Breweries replaced tapped kegs with alternate choices. Bear Republic, for instance, was out of the Black Racer [sadfais], but did offer Racer 5 as a substitute (yay!).
Some highlights:
Anderson Valley (Boonville, CA) Summer Solstice: liquid velvet. Creamy and smooth, just a wonderful session beer. Like drinking a slightly hopped and less sweet cream soda.
Coalition (PDX, Oregon) Rooster's Cream Ale: right behind the AVSS.
Epic (SLC, Utah) Hop Syndrome Lager: I normally don't go for lagers, but this one was so nicely hopped, it was more like an ale. French hops, who knew?
Full Sail (Hood River, OR) Brewer's Share Chris' Summer Delight Berliner Weiss: longest named beer at the entire fest. Tart and sour, but refreshing. A nice palate-cleanser compared to the hop-heavy offerings on tap.
Hale's (Seattle, WA) Supergoose IPA: absolutely super. Went back for seconds of this. Straight on IPA, right up there with the Racer 5. Try one.
Lagunitas (Petaluma, CA) OBF Fusion: floral overtones balanced by ample hops give this that special something that make you want more. Very nice.