Road Trip: Bear Republic Brewing Company

After a fantastic visit to Russian River Brewing Company, my wife and I headed up the 101 to our first night's stop Healdsburg, CA. Healdsburg is a quaint little town with a nice central square ringed with shops, restaurants, and all things wine. It is right in the middle of the Russian River valley and probably hundreds of wineries. It is also home to another great brewery - Bear Republic Brewing Company.

After checking into the nearby hotel, we just happened to park very close to the brewery. But, following RRBC I felt I needed a little exercise and time before heading into Bear Republic. So, we walked the square, window shopped, and picked up some books for the trip. Just in time for happy hour, I was ready to head inside.

Not to ruin the rest of the post, but my visit to Bear Republic was not as exciting as Russian River. And a lot of this comes down to luck/timing. Bear Republic just didn't have many great beers on tap that I have not had before. Here was the taplist for the day:

Racer 5, Red Rocket, Big Bear Stout, and Hop Rod Rye are all great beers that I can get on tap or in a bottle just about any day of the week in Portland. Racer X is around pretty frequently. The End '09 was a mega malt machine that the brewery admitted in the description was made at the end of the year to clean the books and clean out the malt shelf! The lager and hefeweizen were blah (and not my favorite styles).

That's the thing about visiting breweries like Bear Republic. When I visit a big brewery with wide distribution I am looking for two things. First, the opportunity to try beers that are only available at the brewery or in limited release. Second, a chance to visit the brewery and get a feel for the place.

I know that it mostly comes down to luck when hoping for unique special/seasonal releases (although the Deschutes Portland pub does a great job of always have unique taps on hand). I was bummed they didn't have anything "unusual" on tap but I cannot fault them for that. The ambiance of the place though, I can hold that against them.

The inside of the brewery felt like I was drinking amongst the marketing department of Bear Republic. Bear Republic Brewing Company advertising and product was literally hanging from the walls. The picture above is just one little corner. It was obnoxious.

I will say the outside patio and beer garden were an oasis. They both look out onto a park area along the river where people were relaxing or throwing the frisbee. The beer garden was full of nice locals. We quickly retreated to the beer garden where I enjoyed a nice Racer X in the sun while we talked with a few locals and read our books.

We had an incredible dinner that night in Healdsburg at Cyrus. There was no beer involved but if you ever make it down that way, I highly recommend Cyrus for dinner. It is an experience. The plan was to have lunch the following day at Bear Republic but we decided to skip it and head into the valley to check out a few wineries. Another recommendation: Preston Vineyards - an organic winery run by nice people near Healdsburg. They also make fantastic homemade sourdough bread!

Road Trip: Russian River Brewing Company!

Last week my wife and I took advantage of grandma being in town to sneak down to Northern California wine country without our daughter. Not being big wine drinkers (not to mention my wife is pregnant), the trip was more about relaxing in the sun. Russian River Brewing Company may have had something to do with the planning as well!

We arrived at the tiny Santa Rosa airport just after noon and we were sitting on the patio of Russian River Brewing Co. (RRBC) by 12:30. Gotta love small airports.

Located in the quaint downtown Santa Rosa, RRBC is pretty big and was doing good lunch business. It was good to see quite a few people in suits and other work attire enjoying a beer at lunch. I was envious. I also noted quite a few beer tourists snapping photos of the brewery, just like me. After taking a moment to look around, I perused the taplist. A total of 17 beers on tap! 9 Belgians and 8 other styles.

Of course I was excited to try many of the Belgian styles. But I was also interested in several of the "regular" offerings. I have never seen RRBC porter or stout make it up to Portland. Same for the IPA - seems like it is always Pliney the Elder or Blind Pig. Anyway, I ordered the sampler tray and a pizza.

The sampler tray, as you can see below, is 15 beers deep. I am not sure if they are full 4 oz. samplers as is standard elsewhere but they must have been close. Needless to say, I was a little bit overwhelmed by this sampler. My pregnant wife was gonna be of no help on this one. It was up to me alone to finish this bad boy off. Where to start?

I knew palate fatigue and a building buzz would be my enemy here. So, I started with the Belgian styles. I have had the super hoppy offerings before, so I wanted to concentrate on exploring the Belgians, many of which I have not had before.

All of them were interesting and all but a few were exceptional. It goes without saying that Consecration (dark ale/cab barrel aged), Supplication (pinot barrel aged), and Temptation (barrel aged blonde) were fantastic. Consecration was a nice dark sour which highlights the Brett yeast and adds touches of tangy fruit and oak flavors. Temptation was strongly carbonated and sour - reminding me of champagne. I also enjoyed the biere de garde Perdition which had a lot of caramel flavors.

After leaving the Belgian side of the sample tray, I worked my way through well known hop bombs - Pliney and Blind Pig. I enjoyed the regular IPA which showed more intricate flavors as the lower IBUs let more subtlety to the surface. Two of my favorites were the porter and O.V.L. Stout served on nitro. Both were nice changes from the sours and hops and proved a perfect ending to a monstrous sampler.

The pizza was very good as well. Many interesting topping combinations and a great thin, crispy crust. In fact, we returned at the end of our trip before catching our flight back to PDX. I had a goblet of Consecration and a pint of porter with our pizza. A perfect way to end the trip. My first visit to Russian River Brewing Company was outstanding. The quality of the beers along with the number of taps and variety of styles was amazing. I hope I do not have to wait too long for a return trip.

Barley Brown's Brewpub: Great Beer, Disappointing Visit

My final beer destination in Easter Oregon was Barley Brown's Brewpub in Baker City. Along with Terminal Gravity, this was the brewery I was most interested in visiting. The few beers from Barley Brown's I have been lucky enough to try in Portland have all been well made. IPAs to dark winter warmers to fresh hop ales. I was excited to visit the source and learn more. Unfortunately, I left the brewpub disappointed.

It was not the beer that disappointed. In fact, the Tankslapper Double IPA was probably the best beer I had in all the breweries I visited over the previous two weeks. A floral hop bomb with an ABV around 10% (more on that later) served in a tulip glass. This beast was delicious and reminded me of Russian River Pliney the Elder. I also had the sampler tray. The WFO IPA was great as always - a classic NW IPA. The Hot Blonde Ale with chile peppers was a surprise treat. The two malt ales are something you don't see often.

What was so disappointing was the fact that I drove over 140 miles specifically to visit the brewery and left with no more information about it than when I arrived. Just for background: I emailed the brewery via the website over two weeks before my visit hoping to arrange a meeting with the owner or brewer. I never received a response. That didn't bother me much. Brewers are busy. I know that.

The problem I have with Barley Brown's Brewpub is that the brewery seems to take a backseat to the restaurant. There did not seem to be a single server in the restaurant when I was there that knew much at all about the beer. Certainly the woman tending the bar did not. She is how I know that the Tankslapper Double IPA has an ABV "somewhere around 10%". That was all the information I could get about it or any of the other beers. She also showed no interest in my requests to see if brewer Shawn Kelso might come out from the back to talk to me (I saw him by the tanks when I was checking out the rest of the brewpub).

I know not every server at a brewpub is going to be a beer geek or have much knowledge about beer, just like every customer at a brewpub is not. Restaurants also get busy and servers may not have time to talk at length with every customer (although I did arrive at 4:30 pm - not exactly dinner rush). The solution though is pretty simple. Staff one person at the bar who has serviceable knowledge and at least some interest in the beer. That is not too much to ask. Most beer geeks who visit a brewery and really want to learn about the beer and the brewery are going to sit at the bar or will know that the bartender is most likely to have the most information.

Mt. Emily Ale House in La Grande is a great example of this. I visited on two consecutive Saturdays right during the dinner rush (including right after my visit to Barley Brown's). Servers were running around trying to keep up. At least 4-5 people were seated at the bar each time. During both visits, the bartender was a wealth of information about the brewery. He knew all about the system set up, the details of each beer, what was sitting in the tanks, etc....He was well informed about other breweries in the region and was eager to hear about some of the knew breweries I had visited. I had the same experience at Terminal Gravity.

Hopefully my visit was a rare hiccup at Barley Brown's. I enjoy their beers very much. But, I cannot recommend making a long trip specifically to visit the brewery if you are hoping to learn much about the brewery itself. Instead, look for Barley Brown's beer on tap in Portland (especially the Tankslapper) and seek out a meet the brewer event. In the meantime, learn the details about Barley Brown's (that I missed out on) in this great post from The Daily Pull.

UPDATE: I received an email from Tyler at Barley Brown's as I was about to catch a plane to Santa Rosa last week. He apologized for overlooking my email and he agreed with several points in my post. I look forward to talking with him soon, now that I am back in PDX.

Road Trip: The Breweries of Prosser, WA

The town of Prosser, Washington is nestled up against the northeastern slopes of the Horse Heaven Hills range in the nook of the bend in the Columbia River. The town is right in the middle of wine country and has many surrounding hop farms. Prosser is about 35 miles west of the Tri-Cities (Ice Harbor Brewing) and 12 miles east of Sunnyside, WA (Snipes Mountain Brewing). The town had a population of just under 5,000 in the 2000 census. Prosser also happens to have twice as many breweries as the 4th largest city in the nation. Houston has one brewery. Prosser has two!

I had a chance to visit both breweries last week. The two breweries share many similarities. They both are run by hard working families and nice people. Both breweries understand their customer base and their best selling beers are "transitional" craft beers they use to win over the macro-lager loving locals. They both serve spicy pretzels! Of course, a few things set the breweries apart.

My first stop was Horse Heaven Hills Brewery, which is located right in the heart of downtown Prosser. I visited on a slow Monday evening and had a great chance to talk at length with co-owner Dave Keller. Dave and longtime friend Gary Vegar first started homebrewing together in a backyard shed. Well you know how this story goes...the hobby took on a life of its own and friends repeatedly encourage the duo to sell their beers. After a couple of years of planning and hard work, Gary and Dave along with their wives, officially opened the brewery and taproom less than a year ago on July 4th.

Gary and Dave spent months trying to find a used brewing system. Everytime they found a promising system online it quickly sold. One late night a friend called and said he found a 7 barrel system for sale on craigslist in Alabama. They checked out the ad and called immediately. A few days later they flew out and arrived on the drag next to the campus of Auburn University a few days before Christmas to check out the system. The copper system arrived in Prosser by train the following February!

The next task was converting the old laundromat in the historic building into a space suitable for a brewery and taproom. That took almost exactly a year from when they took over leasing the building. The room carries on the wild horse theme of the brewery's name with sculptures and photographs. The copper brewing system is right in the heart of the taproom and is beautiful artwork itself.

Gary and Dave have spent the first several months the brewery has been open tinkering with the different beer recipes. Stepping up brewing from a homebrew system to a 7 barrel system requires adaptation. Dave feels the beers are now settling into a consistent level of quality. He also said business at the brewery has exceeded expectations and everyone involved is having a great time. All four co-owners have full time jobs. Despite that fact, the taproom is open 7 days a week. He especially enjoys educating and converting the macro loving locals.

A surprisingly large tap selection included (among others) an IPA, stout, cherry stout, red, Ruby Spur (amber), and pale ale. The IPA was not aggressive with low bitterness but good citrus and pine flavors. The red was nice and hoppy with a good balance of malts. The stout was actually a quite delicious dry stout with a hint of chocolate. The cherry stout was good but I found the cherry flavor a tad strong for my taste. If they could dial the cherry back a bit, it would be a winner.

The surprise beer for me was a hefewiezen. It was still fermenting and was not quite done yet. Dave was kind enough to give me a sample out of the tank. This thing was a delight and, if you have been reading my blog, you know I don't usually care for hefewiezens. The aroma was a blast of banana to the senses. The carbonation was not at full strength yet, which might have worked in its favor. The taste was layered, with only a hint of banana from the aroma. Man, it was tasty. I had to beg for a second sample!

After a great visit with Dave, I headed to the second brewery in Prosser - Whitstran Brewing. Located in a nondescript building near downtown Prosser, Whitstran is decorated with beer quotes and local art on the walls. Quiet when I walked in, a bit of a dinner rush quickly hit. The brewer was not on hand that night so I did not have a chance to get as much information as I would have liked. The owner/brewer's wife was tending bar and waiting tables though. Between serving tables she was kind enough to answer my questions.

Whitstran runs a 7 barrel system with two 10 barrel tanks and two 5 barrel tanks. Their most popular beer is the Steamy Cream California Common Ale - which does well with the macro converts. There were 10 beers on tap this night, including a couple of belgian style ales. I went with a six beer sampler. The brewery surprisingly does not have an IPA but does have two pale ales - one conventional and one dry hopped. I lined up the two pale ales and both were good but the dry hopping gave the Over-The-Edge Pale Ale an extra kick of flavor.

The porter, stout, and chocolate stouts were standard fare, good but nothing exceptional. I was impressed that the brewery was offering more "exotic" fare such as belgian style ales and the recently blown barleywine. After all of the conventional ales I had tried between the two breweries, it was nice to get something different. The Belgian Brown was quite enjoyable. Good yeast flavor with well rounded character. I think it would do well in introducing people to belgian style ales.

I had a great dinner at Whitstran. A nice piece of halibut that went great with the beers. Once again the people at the brewery could not have been nicer. I did not have great expectations for my trip to the breweries of Prosser. In the end, I really enjoyed my time at both breweries and I think they are both doing a great job of providing the locals and the surrounding Yakima valley with quality craft brews. I look forward to returning next time I am out that way for work. If you happen to be in the area, stop in and give them a try.

Road Trip: Mt. Emily Alehouse in La Grande

On my recent road trip to Terminal Gravity and Mutiny Brewing I had a chance to visit a brewery that I did not even know existed a few days ago. I was having a beer at Ice Harbor Brewing in the Tri-Cities last week, leafing though a Northwest Brewing News. I took a look at the Oregon brewery map and saw Mt. Emily Alehouse in La Grande.

I stopped in on my way back from TG/Mutiny. Located in a renovated bank in historic downtown La Grande, Mt. Emily Alehouse opened in January of 2009. Jerry Grant handles the brewing and has been home brewing since 1992. He attended the UC Davis Master Brewer program in 2007 and spent some time at Shasta Brewing. They use a 7 barrel system.

Jerry apparently has an interest in original English style ales. The taplist on this day included an IPA, Heifer Wiezen (moooo!), blonde, porter, and the house beer The Big. The Big is described as "...defies categorization, but we feel it resembles an old English ale with toasted caramel undertones crossed with the piney hoppyness of a West Coast IPA." The apparently popular Double IPA had just blown.

I had schooners of the IPA and The Big. The IPA has to be one of the lightest in color I have seen in a long time (see picture below). It is a well crafted but average IPA. Mellow citrus hops flavor with an underwhelming aroma and bitterness. The Big was interesting. More towards the English ale in that it had a strong malt profile with some caramel flavors. It only hinted at underlying hops. I enjoyed it. A sample of the porter didn't blow me away but it was noted to be another porter light in color.

It was great to step into another brewery in Oregon, especially one that I did not even know of a few days ago. The place was packed for the Saturday dinner crowd, which was great to see. I might try to stop by again on my trip out to Baker City and Barley Brown's Brewpub this weekend to see if the Double IPA is back on tap.

If you find yourself out in Eastern Oregon and hungry/thirsty in La Grande, stop into Mt. Emily Alehouse and give it try for yourself. The house made root beer is excellent too!

Band of Horses New Album Streaming Online

The new Band of Horses album Infinite Arms drops (as the kids like to say) next Tuesday, May 18th. You can listen to the this highly anticipated album for free online thanks to a local radio station and here is the link. I was lucky to see them at SXSW and all of the new material sounded great. I am fighting a poor wifi signal right now trying to get my first listen of the new album. I hope you have better luck. Enjoy.

Road Trip: Terminal Gravity

After my visit to Mutiny Brewery and a quick, snowy hike near Wallowa Lake, I backtracked to Enterprise and Terminal Gravity Brewery. Set in a small bungalow on the outskirts of town, TG has great views of the adjacent snowcapped mountains. I walked in right at opening time and was welcomed by the great staff. The people I met while at Terminal Gravity were all very friendly and I had good conversations with several locals. You could tell they were all proud of their hometown brewery, and rightfully so.



The first thing I thought when I walked in was "Man, this place is small". The bar area has maybe 4-5 adjacent tables. I was trying to figure out where they put everyone when it gets crowded. Just then a young family walked in and the kids ran upstairs. I followed to check out what was going on upstairs and quickly discovered a large seating area with a couple of private nooks. Very cool.




I sat at the bar and got down to business. The taplist included the standards: IPA, ESG, and Stout. The Breakfast Porter, which is not too frequently seen in Portland, rounded out the regulars list. The seasonals included two single hopped double IPAs - one with Centennial hops and the other with Millenium hops (a cross between Nuggets and Columbus). A Cascadian Dark Ale had just blown. A Barlywine rounded out the list. I sampled everything and went with glasses of my favorites to maximize variety.



I had a glass of each of the double IPAs. Both were very good. I preferred the Millenium which was a bit surprising as this hops is usually know as a bittering hops, without adding much of that hop flavor. The beer was quite the opposite. While certainly bitter, I thought the grassy, earthy hop flavor was much better in the Millenium IPA than the Centennial IPA. Apparently, I had just missed the Columbus version. I filled a growler of the Millenium double IPA. Maybe others will get a taste and confirm/dispute my thoughts.




I filled my belly with a fantastic salmon sandwich with a fresh wild sockeye filet. The chips and salsa that came with it were great too. I had to ask for extra salsa it was so good. I finished off the meal and my visit with the breakfast porter. A very light porter, it was the perfect dessert.



They offer great to-go beer deals at Terminal Gravity. A case of the IPA or ESG is $24. Growlers are $9.50 for regulars, $11.00 for seasonals. What I really liked is that they seemed to be willing to fill anything. A young father had his Sigg water bottle filled with Barleywine! And that was a recurring theme at TG - the staff was knowledgeable and trying hard to please all of the customers. They were quick with samples and pints alike.

If you haven't made the trip out to Enterprise to visit Terminal Gravity, it just might be time. Pick a nice late spring/summer day and head out East...

The National: Listen on NPR Music & Watch Live on YouTube

The Brooklyn based band The National are playing a benefit concert for the Red Hot Organization on May 15th at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The show will be live webcast on YouTube. Not a whole lot of information on the webcast is available yet but it is mentioned on the American Express ZYNC facebook page (sponsor). So, keep an eye on the website.

In the meantime, get familiar with The National's upcoming new release High Violet which is streaming for free at NPR Music.

Mutiny is Brewing!

I was planning a quick trip to Eastern Oregon to make my first visit to Terminal Gravity over the weekend. In planning the trip, I came across a blog from a bed and breakfast in nearby Joseph, OR which stated that the new brewery in town, Mutiny Brewing, was finally brewing and set to release their beers on Saturday, May 8th. The Mutiny Brewing facebook page confirmed the news. That sealed the trip.

On Saturday I drove straight to Joseph and Mutiny Brewing. When I walked in it was a quiet post-lunch crowd. The taplist on the chalkboard listed Deschutes and Ninkasi offerings. I knew things were not as advertised. It seems they were a little bit behind schedule and the beer release was pushed back to Wednesday, May 12th. Luckily brewer Kari Gjerdingen was kind enough to come out from the back, bring me a couple of samples, and talk about her brewery.




Mutiny has been open for almost a year. Getting up and running proved to be quite a task - including renovating the cute little bungalow in which it is housed and setting up the brew system. As a result, brewing got pushed further and further back. Kari first got into commercial brewing in her home state of Indiana. That was followed by attending the brewing course at UC Davis. After trying to find a job in the greater Portland area, Kari ended up brewing at Terminal Gravity. She fell in love the Enterprise/Joseph area (I can see why - beautiful country and great people) and looked to open her own brewery.




Kari has a 4 barrel system at Mutiny, with 5 tanks. The population is not large and she did not want to get too large of a system. She expressed some reservations about keeping up with the summer tourist months but expects to be able to do so. The first beer they will release on Wednesday will be a wheat beer. Brewed with the Wyeast Belgian Witbier yeast, this wheat is also brewed with chamomile and orange peel. I really enjoyed this beer. It had a great depth of flavor with strong fruit presence. It will be wonderful to drink on the large patio out front with the beautiful mountains looming nearby.

Kari also let me try a bit of the porter that has only spent a week or so in the tanks. Despite it's young age, this porter already had lots of classic chocolate and roast flavors. It should be delicious when finished. A pale ale has also been brewed within the last several days. The brewery will start off with three taps and expand.

The two samples I was offered were very good. I am excited for the town of Joseph. They are about to be home to excellent local craft beer. A trip to Enterprise/Joseph is definitely recommended for my Portland readers. Good luck Kari!

Tri-Cities Washington Breweries: Choose Wisely

The closest thing to a city near my temporary work home in Hermiston, OR is Tri-Cities, WA. The three cities are Kennewick, Richland, and Pasco. Three cities. Three brewpubs. Well, Kennewick has one and Richland has two. Poor Pasco, odd man out in the brewery department. I have to caution you when visiting Tri-Cities and seeking out craft beer - choose wisely.

You might have gathered from previous posts, that when here I frequent the Ice Harbor Brewery. They have a solid lineup of beers, a cask selection, and I have had some stellar seasonals including a fresh hop ale and an IWA. My only visit to Rattlesnake Mountain Brewing was so underwhelming, I have never been back. Despite a nice view overlooking the Columbia River, the beer was less than average.

Thursday night, after a quick stop at Ice Harbor for a taste of their Cascadian Dark Ale (a decent but underhopped, malt forward version), I headed into Richland to give Atomic Ale Brewery a try. I know you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover. Regardless, my expectations dropped when I pulled into the brewery parking lot. The cheesy sign led into a cramped renovated restaurant, a radioactive theme, cheap laminated menus and a taplist consisting of a hefe, two ambers, a scottish ale, and a porter.

Wanting to end with the porter, I gave the Happy Hippie Honey Red a shot first. The indistinct amber brought little flavor and had a hint of being infected. On the bright side, the wood fired pizza was excellent. I ended the meal with the porter which was a much better yet average offering. A dark porter with light body and some chocolate notes.

The pizza was good but the beer and ambiance left me wanting more. So, if you find yourself in Tri-Cities Washington in need of a good beer, I recommend heading straight to Ice Harbor Brewing. If you need to move on from there, Atomic Ale might be your next stop, especially if you are in the mood for some good pizza.

Back in Hermiston. I mentioned this on twitter the other day, and I feel it deserves repeating. I headed to Safeway in Hermiston on Sunday to do my shopping for my time here. Hermiston has a population between 10-15,000. Here is just a portion of the beer aisle in the Safeway in Hermiston and a reason why I love Oregon:

New Brewery: The Prodigal Son Brewery - Pendleton, Oregon

Saturday May 1st was a crazy day at our house. Our daughter's 2nd birthday party was scheduled for the afternoon in our local park. That lead to a day full of sky watching, but luckily the sun came out just in time for the party. I used a cake and balloon run earlier in the day as an excuse to sneak out for about 45 minutes at the beginning of the Cheers to Belgian Beers festival. Since I only got to try 5 beers, I didn't post a full review. I concentrated on breweries outside of Portland and enjoyed beers from Double Mountain, Oakshire, and eventual winner Block 15. I spent my last ticket on Widmer's low ABV table beer entry (not wanting to overdo it before the party) and enjoyed it very much.

After a successful party, it was time to pack up for another one of my wonderful work related trips to Eastern Oregon on Sunday. After stopping off in Hermiston, I headed straight to Pendleton to visit the newly opened The Prodigal Son Brewery:

I first heard of this brewery through a comment left on one of my first posts on this blog. Getting ready for this trip, I went back and reviewed the comment and Googled the brewery. I was stoked to see it had finally opened. Only open 3 weeks, Prodigal Son occupies a huge space a few blocks off of Main St. in Pendleton. Seriously, this space is massive which on a quiet Sunday afternoon gave it a cavernous feeling. Large windows up front let in lots of light. The light has a hard time reaching back to the bar though and it felt a little dark in the bar area. One great thing it does have: Ms Pac Man tabletop. Yes!

I had a nice chat with Owner Tim Guenther (Tim's wife Jennifer is also an owner) and brewer Brian Harder. Brian spent a few years working at Rogue. He came across as a big chemistry/physics guy and you could tell he loves the tinkering aspect of brewing. Tim noted that he has been spending some long hours at the pub since opening and things have been going really well. They recently hosted Chris Dudley, who is running for governor, on a packed Saturday.

Brian is brewing on a 1o barrel system. The first three beers available: Little Magic IPA, Bruce/Lee Porter, and Wheatstock Hefeweizen. The IPA is brewed in a more traditional British IPA style. I feel it is more of a pale ale and is quite good. The Hefe is served with a grapefruit wedge which seemed to be quite popular. Not being a lover of Hefes, I will defer judgement. On the other hand, I love me a good porter and this was very good. Plenty of chocolate flavor and a hint of coffee. This one was tasty right off the bat. After getting sidetracked by a phone call, the porter expressed even more layers of flavor as it warmed up.

Speaking with Brian, he mentioned they have a more NW hopped IPA and an amber in the tanks right now. The Little Magic IPA derives it's name from the nickname of Brian's friend who just happens to own a hop farm. Brian looks forward to experimenting with fresh hops beers this fall. He also plans on expanding the lineup of beers soon.

I had a great visit to The Prodigal Son Brewery. The food was excellent. The service was great. The only negative I saw was the growler fills were pretty pricey at $12. I was hoping for nice low growler fills like I had come across at Block 15 and Snipes Mountain. I will certainly stop back in during this trip and hopefully they will have the NW IPA and amber on soon. You can follow them on facebook and look for their website to be fully functional soon. If you find yourself in Eastern Oregon, I highly recommend you stop in and grab a beer!