Taking a little break

Hey guys!  I have been out of the picture with my blog posting for awhile now and it’s time to come clean.  Jonah and I are bringing another Dart-Mclean into the world!  We are very excited!  This does put a damper on the beer tasting and I realized it’s really hard to read and write about beer when you feel hungover all the time (first trimester is kicking my ass).  Once things settle down, I will be working on some outstanding reviews.  Sorry that I didn’t get to all of you beforehand!

Besides that, I’ll see you in October!

 

fill in the blank friday.

My sister Shannon, of Simply Shannon, has been nagging me repetitively talking about letting my readers know a little more about me.  So… I’m listening Shannon!  I swear!  Here’s my answers to fill in the blank friday.

1. My favorite place I’ve ever traveled to is… Italy.  Spending a month in Italy changed my life entirely.  I made a leap into adulthood on that trip.  I learned to rely on myself to get me around foreign cities, make traveling easy, and keep myself safe.  I saw amazing things that were 1000x better than in the Art History books I studied.  Plus it was warm and beautiful!!

2. Spain, Portugal, Morocco, then Sicily is somewhere I’d love to go someday.

3. I pass the time on a plane (or bus, or car ride or train) by knitting! or reading celebrity gossip magazines.

4. My three must-haves when I travel are my list of local breweries, umm…. do I need anything else?  Good walking shoes and an easy way to get around not by car!

5. My favorite travel companion is someone who really wants to be there and enjoy the time we have to travel.

6. The craziest thing that ever happened to me while traveling is being mislead by some flower salesmen in Venice, could have been a very scary situation.

7. The most exotic food I’ve ever tried while traveling is rattlesnake, very chewy.  If I can’t think of another one, must not have been too exotic.

8. If I could live anywhere else, I’d live in Asheville, North Carolina.  Great beer, warm weather, plus you can buy an inexpensive tree house!

I have been to 27 states in the U.S.  28th next month!  And I have been to breweries in over half of them.  The real question… How many states have I been to breweries in? 16!

Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming.

How many states have you been to breweries in?

 

 

Bright Lights, Big City – Anchorage Alaska

Today, on January 23rd, 2012 at 2:30pm, I finally made it to Anchorage.

Travel back 2 weeks ago….

Living so (relatively) close to Anchorage, I knew I had no excuse for missing the Great Alaska Beer & Barley Wine Festival.  Plus I had a lot of great reasons for making the journey.

1. I really wanted a chance to meet  Alaskan Brewing Company‘s Ashley Johnston, who I’ve exchanged a lot of emails with but have never met in person.
2. I have heard many people RAVE about the new brewery in town King Street Brewing.  I must try their beer!!!
3. Catch up with Sassan and Boe from Denali Brewing Company who came to Cordova for the Salmon Jam Festival last summer.  Check out my post about that weekend.
4. Hang out with my friend Mary who lives in Anchorage!!!  I was really excited about venturing over with my fellow Cordovan Cathy in a weekend of beer exploration.
5. Beer.
6. Beer.
7. Beer.

Too bad the ferry had other plans for us.

I’m not sure how much I have told you about Cordova.  There is only two ways to get into the town, by air or by water.  During times of great weather, neither form of transportation is super reliable but it’s always safer to fly.  HOWEVER I was super stubborn, refused my husband’s warnings and booked a ferry ticket.  The day before we left, the last loaner Snowpocalypse plows damaged the car ramp leaving us without a ferry for 4 days and DENYING ME FROM GETTING TO BEERFEST!!!

Don’t worry, I have breathed deeply in and out, counted to ten, and gone through the 5 stages of grief.  Now I’m on the other side,  I have reconciled with the loss and feel stronger for going through this.  I arrived in Anchorage today and plan on making up for my lost weekend.

If you were in Anchorage for a week, what beers would you try?

 

Alaskan Waters = Great Beer

Photo by Jonah Dart-Mclean

Today I bought my ferry ticket and admission to the Great Alaska Beer & Barley Wine Festival!  So exciting!  It has been great living up in Alaska and trying out all the beer this great state has to offer.  Even in Oregon it’s hard to find beer from the Last Frontier, I’m glad I have an opportunity to enjoy it because beers from Alaska are delicious!!!

Individually, Alaska’s breweries have reasons for being fantastic, but what do they have in common?  Glaciers.  Yeah you heard me, clean, untouched water from glaciers.  Here’s some photos of Jonah’s and my hike out to Sheridan Glacier, about a 20 minute drive and short walk from downtown Cordova.

Walking Sheridan Road by Jonah Dart-Mclean

Sheridan Glacier by Jonah Dart-Mclean

Mountain + Glacier by Jonah Dart-Mclean

Jessyka + Iceberg by Jonah Dart-Mclean

Ice + Stones by Jonah Dart-Mclean

Untimely Photo

Sunshine by Jonah Dart-Mclean

Stuck in the Berg by Jonah Dart-Mclean

 

And the winner is…

Rebecca's winning photo taken in Boswell Bay, AK

Rebecca Schikora in Anchorage AK!

 

 

Cohoho Imperial IPA

The weather outside is frightful!  Up here in Alaska, our winter started off with a bang; we got almost 40 inches of snow in November.  It was a fun and wintery Thanksgiving, then the rain started.  During the weeks before Christmas, we were listening to Christmas music trying to imagine a white Christmas while everything around us was drippy and cold. I can’t remember how many times I heard complaining about the rain and wishing for it to get just a little colder…

Then it started to snow.

Starting on Christmas, we woke up to more and more snow.  Every morning Jonah shoveled at least 4 inches off our car.  Wonderful!  A white Christmas!

Then the snow didn’t stop.

By the end of the week, we had a record making 82 inches of snow accumulation and it didn’t stop as we started 2012.  Nearing the end of the first week of January, Cordova has not only declared one, but two snow days.  I have to say I found a great way to celebrate and/or recover from the frightful weather, opening the bottle of Cohoho Imperial IPA by Midnight Sun Brewing that my coworker Kate gifted to me for Christmas.  This beer takes Sockeye Red IPA and amps it up full of holiday spirit, or maybe just more maltiness and hops.  Cohoho is packed full of flavors, rounded out to make a snowy day a little more cheery, or maybe that’s the higher alcohol content.  Anywho, extend the holiday season by grabbing one of these if there’s any left!Check out our little town covered in snow.  Amazing enough, the sun also made it over the mountains before it started to set again.  We haven’t seen that happen in some weeks.

Photo by Rochelle Van den Broek

Photo by Rochelle Van den Broek

Photo by Rochelle Van den Broek

 

Favorite Beers of 2011

In order of consumption…

Crye Baby Rye by Arbor Brewing
Bitter American by 21st Amendment Brewing
Puget Sound Porter by Harmon Brewing
Immersion Amber by Two Beers Brewing
Ol’ Ball & Chain by The Price Boys
Matt Porter by Denali Brewing
Nut Red Ale by Fort George Brewing
Kitty Kat Red by Coalition Brewing
Perseverance Ale by Alaskan Brewing
Old Growth Imperial Stout by Caldera Brewing
Na Zdravi by Southern Oregon Brewing
Breakside Aztec by Breakside Brewery
The Trip by New Belgium & Elysian Brewing

 

New Year Photo Contest

Alex Harris, our logo designer.

Photo Contest!
Let’s see your favorite beer pics from the best party night of the year!

Go to facebook.com/letstalkaboutbeer.
Like the page.
Post your photo.

I will pick the best photo on January 7th.

Cheers!

 

Breakside Brewery

820 NE Dekum St.

Portland, OR 97211

503.719.6475

www.breaksidebrews.com

First night in Portland and I explored a new brewery, I am a very lucky girl.  I know I’ve said this before, but it’s very hard being away from Portland when all these new breweries are popping up.  When I moved away from Portland in 2009 I had been to every brewery in Beertown, now I can’t keep up – even with multiple vacations south every year. 

Mr. Peter Price picked me up from my lovely airport hotel.  (I’m in town for my job with the Copper River Salmon Association.)  My family lives in Southwest and Jonah’s in Southeast, therefore accessing Portland from the Northeast made a handful of breweries much more accessible.  In no time, Peter and I were in the Woodlawn district, walking up to the brewery.  The first thing I noticed was the architecture; I am a BIG FAN of the melding of industrial and organic, a mix of metal and wood.  The second was that Breakside Brewery is the essence of a neighborhood brewery.  Man I wish I had a neighborhood brewery!

Peter and I sat outside on one of the many picnic tables.  They had the garage doors open, letting the warm fall air into the building.  We started with an IPA and the Dark Mild.  I won this round, the Dark Mild was DELICIOUS: light, crisp and full flavored – I could drink a hundred of these beers.  The IPA is no slouch though; maybe the opposite of the Dark Mild, it’s a big beer with dramatic flavoring.  Second round was the Oatmeal Stout for Peter and the Farmhouse Golden for me; Peter won this round.  The Oatmeal Stout had a royal flush of flavors: coffee, chocolate, and a smokiness.  The Farmhouse Golden was a little intense for me; I’m still working on my saison knowledge. 

When I first came into the brewery I questioned the bartender about the beers on tap to figure out my game plan.  After two beers, I think the bartender was worried we weren’t going to get to all his suggestions – he brought us out samples of the Aztec and the Dry Stout.  Ah!  These were the best beers we had!  Both of these beers are on their VERY short year-round list so count yourself lucky when you visit Breakside.  When I visited in October, the brewery was a year and a few months old and had already produced 37 beers.  The BEERS page of their website is by far the most extensive section with tabs for YEAR ROUND, SEASONAL, BEERS OF THE PAST, UPCOMING RELEASES, and most excitedly, there’s a tab for the current beers on tap.  Usually that wouldn’t be big news, but the list changes so often the tab is a blog, less than a week in between the posts. 
Here’s what it looked like the day I visited:

I wonder what it will look like when I visit next!

 

Merry Christmas!

Fireside Chat by 21st Amendment Brewery