The Unemployed Writer and the Great Bearded Wine Dork were driving through the flooded netherlands of Portland the other day, looking for a rare breed of beer. It was probably the burgeoning Willamette that made the beer and its natural environment, the pub, so rare that day. After several attempts we succeeded in finding a pub among the high grasses of Willamette Village. It was a magnificent find, as it was a pub containing an uncommon Portland breed of beer:

So, here’s what my impressions were:

Dog Day IPA, the best in their year-round lineup, starts with a bright hoppy smell. The beer in the mouth is the best part. The bitter hops are balanced with light fruit and it goes down the gullet leaving your mouth feeling like a crisp spring morning and tasting grapefruit.

Scottish Holiday is their holiday brew, so it’s not going to be available year round, but there’s nothing exactly Christmassy about it, and its well composed structure stands up to all-comers. The murky, dark tan beer tastes of malt, but the often sweet coffee/chocolate taste isn’t cloying or overpowering. Hops and spice help to counter the malty sweetness. That being said, the hop, malt, and spice don’t overpower the tongue, leaving it to ponder each subtle taste separately. The abrupt crisp finish leaves the mouth wanting more.

Organic Golden Ale was surprising. Not the good kind surprise. The kind of surprise you get when you pick up a trashy mystery novel at it turns out to be an Oprah Book Club pick. It just isn’t what you expect. When you take a sip of the OGA, the crisp, light beer that you expect has been tragically replaced by spicy, hoppy, fizzy mediocrity. Experimentation is not necessarily a bad thing, but I don’t recommend messing with the type of beer most people who are scared of microbrews would pick off the menu. In the mouth the bitters briefly sit on the tip of the tongue and the spicy root-beerish flavor precedes a clean finish. If you want to try a different version of this style, go ahead and have a taste. Just remember: just because it’s different, doesn’t make it better.

Hawthorne’s Best Bitter. It may be their best bitter, but it’s not as good as the Dog Day IPA. I would definitely call it their hopiest beer. It has a hoppy nose and hoppy body with a slight lemon/grapefruit aftertaste. Overall it’s a rather lackluster beer with little carbonation.

Mild Byte was indeed mild. In fact, it was so mild that it could be described as unremarkable. The drinker is left wondering if what they are drinking is actually beer. The carbonation was flat. There was a hint of spice (perhaps nutmeg?) in the nose and a tinge of hops on the way down. The only remarkable thing about this beer is that it tasted like root beer. Really. If you’re looking for a low alcohol (5.5%) novelty beer, this is for you.

Blue Dog is a malty, fresh beer. There is a futile attempt at balancing the malt with some mild fruit, but the mouth is still left feeling the cloying malt aftertaste. Note: to remove the tongue from the roof of the mouth try water or pale ale.

Reggie’s Red is yet another variant from Lucky Labrador. This is the beer that is a great middle-of-the-road beer. There is little aroma, it goes down smooth and the tastes are balanced, leaving the mouth feeling not too bitter not too sweet. The perfect goldilocks beer—it’s just right.

Stumptown Porter was the only dark beer we tried as for some reason we couldn’t get the Black Lab on the platter. The malty richness is complimented with lots of spice. So much spice that it goes up your nose as the beer goes down the throat. It does leave a little old milk or egg taste on the tongue.

Black Lab Stout was unavailable, but I will go back and grab a pint soon.

Here’s some general notes on the beer and the venue:
The pub in Multnomah Village is a restored mason’s lodge that resembles a mission style church. The layout is simple with a counter you place your orders and a room full of tables. There are often college types studying or granola types reading or hanging out. No one has tried to read a Ferlinghetti poem out loud, but this is the kind of place where it wouldn’t surprise you if someone did.

It’s easy to tell that the beer here tries to be different from the norm. There’s nothing wrong with that. The good beers here are very tasty. There are a little too many varieties, especially when different beers cover the same ground (i.e. Mild Byte, Blue Dog, Reggie’s Red). With those beers it’s hard to tell what the brewer is trying to do. That said, the IPA is a fine example of a refreshing hoppy ale and the Scottish Holliday is so good and so non-winter they should think about offering it year round.

Want to see what they have to say about their beer?
www.LuckyLab.com

Keep your palette clean and your hoisting arm strong,
-YT