Now they do not feature just a bunch of Rogue beer on their 56 tap handles, but instead have mostly things from other produces. They also have a restaurant side to sit at if the bar scene is not your thing as well as Beckman Botanical Brewery on site offering tours of their brewery every weekday at 4pm. Not to mention that they also offer free home brewing classes so you can learn to make great beer at home. Also make sure to check out their greenhouse and see what’s growing
Now what has really got me interested in this place is not only the fact that they have their own brewer producing beers you can only find at The Green Dragon, with a new one being taped every Wednesday at 5pm, but is the fact that every Thursday at 6pm they bring in a brewer who is making beer somewhere in the Pacific Northwest for a meet and greet.
Making my life easier I have been attending the brewer meet and greets every Thursday to sample some great regional beers and talk to some cool brewers. Starting at 5pm they put the beers they are going to feature from that brewer on tap (FYI happy hour is from 3-6pm so get there a little early). Then at 6pm them ring a bell to grab everyones attention and they give an introduction to the brewer, where they are from, and what they are doing. Then the brewer addresses the crowd and talks about what they are all about. Afterward they usually post up at the bar with a pint for themselves and you can just casually walk up and talk about anything you want with them. Besides the usual free giveaways what can be cooler than drinking a pint and talking about it with the person who made it.
On my first time there I was able to meet the brewer of Swift Cider Aidan Currie. Located in Camas, Washington Aidan only uses… you guessed it Washington apples. What makes his craft ciders different is the fact that he is thinking like a beer guy and attempting to convert her core beer drinkers into what he calls craft cider drinkers. Besides using only fresh local ingredients he is not adding a sugar or water to create a dryer cider. Now this might still have you not convinced that this is something you still may want to try. My recommendation, the Dank Hop Cider. Using his basic Wholesome Apple Cider as the base, he adds some pineapple, then hops it with Columbus, Centennial, and Chinook hops. The end result is an amazing blend of a beer and a cider with 6.7% ABV. Also in the line up were his original Wholesome Apple Cider 6% ABV, and his Marionberry 6% ABV. I was convinced that I could get into to the ciders and not the sugary ones we are so familiar with.
The following week I returned to meet Dave Vohden of 13 Virtues. Located in Southern Portland this was once an operation that was so tiny barely anyone in town even knew who they were. Once they hired Dave he started to put them on the map. He most recently won a Silver Medal at the 2014 Great American Beer Festival for their Woozy Weizenbock. This night he was showing off his Schwarzberry 6% ABV, Milwaukie’s Best Pilsner 5% ABV, Cold Spice Habanero Rye 5% ABV, and his Barrel-Aged Port of Tart 7.9% ABV. Inspired by “Game of Thrown’s” the Barrel-Aged Port of Tart is meant to taste like a beer that people would have been drinking in the middle ages. Since they did not fully understand the fermentation process back then, nor sanitation, Dave uses wild yeast to give this beer a slight sour taste. Also most beers back then were dark and aged in wooden barrels, so he uses Bourbon barrels to age this Imperial Porter in. The final result is a full flavored, smooth beer, with a slight sourness, and some smokey wood tannins. This beer really hits all of the parts of your pallet. I was also struck by the Habanero Rye since most versions of this beer I have had were pretty spicy and not something you want to drink more than one of. But this one has just a hint of spice so you could drink a few. I asked Dave about it and he told me that he has a very sensitive stomach and can not handle much spice so he went light on the habaneros and balanced it out with the sweetness of the malt. It was a great balance so you can knock a few of these back.
The next week was Mike Paladino, Ryan Nicolai, and Casey Ellington from Sasquatch Brewing. Located in Southwest Portland, Sasquatch only uses local farmers for their products and uses a 7 barrel system to keep everything truly small batched. They featured their Moby Dick 9.5% ABV, Grand Cru 7.3% ABV, and their Vanilla Bourbon Cream Ale 6.6% ABV. I stared out with the Grand Cru, a Strong Belgian Blonde Ale. The word strong must be referring to the alcohol content as you could put this one down all summer long. It was a great alternative to a wheat beer presenting a lot of similar flavors but with out the weight. Then I moved on to the Vanilla Bourbon Cream Ale and I was done. Filled up the growler with this beauty and went home, its that good. They did the unveiling of this beer that night so we were the first to try it. Just like the name implies it is a cream ale aged in Bourbon barrels and made with fresh Mexican vanilla beans. This really complemented the Bourbon barrel aging without giving it that sugary taste you get from artificial flavoring or extract.
This is a place I expect to bring you more stories on as I will be visiting The Green Dragon frequently yo meet with some more local brewers and taste their beer, so keep a look out.
