It’s Monday, and Friday can’t get here soon enough. That’s when we leave for Portland to go to the Oregon Brewers Festival. I went there 8 years ago when I won the Oregon Travel brewmaster Cuisinternship, and ever since, my friend @Bettywriter has been trying to get me to come back. Once we finally knew we were going to be able to make it, she sent us several beers from breweries she recommended we visit during our trip. We’re hoping to make it up to Astoria during our visit, and this brewery is right on the water there.
Location: Poured into a tall glass at my home in Bloomington, IL.
Numbers: 5.5% ABV, 20 IBU, OG 13.1º Plato, FG 2.8º Plato, ~170 Calories
Appearance & Aroma: It’s deep brown in color with ruby highlights. It’s very clear and while it initially had a big, fluffy, light tan head, it fell after a minute or two to a thin ring around the edge of the glass. It has a big, rich caramel malty aroma.
Taste & Feel: The body is medium and the mouthfeel is smooth and lightly crisp from the carbonation. It has a nice caramel maltiness up front with a very light hint of earthiness. The maltiness gets sweeter and richer in the middle with some dark caramel flavors. A little bit of earthy bitterness comes in during the finish to match the caramel malty sweetness, although the caramel sweetness is easily the primary flavor. The caramel maltiness is what lasts for a bit in the aftertaste, and it is joined by a slight warmth.
Food Pairing: This is a great beer to pair with a burger or steak because of the caramelly malt sweetness, but it would also be a great pairing for a cold weather meal like chili or stew.
Overall Impression: This was a very solidly made beer with a lot of good malty flavors, balanced slightly with a little bit of earthy bitterness. I’d say this would be a very good fall beer with all of the good caramel richness it had. I noticed what seemed to be a nice alcohol warming feeling, even though this beer is only 5.5% ABV. Overall, it was a very good, solid dunkel lager with a maltiness I start to crave in the fall and wintertime. I’m looking forward to trying more of their beers when we stop by the brewery.
My Rating: 
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