Saturday, February 24, 2007

Beerfest

Every trip back to the Puget Sound is like an easter egg hunt, only with beer. 2007 revealed the following hoppy gems behind salal bushes and driftwood (in taste rank):

Manny's Pale Ale
Full Sail LTD #1
Bridgeport IPA
Maritime Pacific IPA
Deschutes Black Butte Porter
Big Sky Crystal Ale
Toby's Parrot Red Ale
New Belgium Fat Tire
Pyramid Snow Cap Ale
Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale
Maritime Pacific Jolly Roger
Cutter's Amber Ale
Mac and Jack's African Amber
Alaskan Amber
Mac and Jack's IPA
Skagit River Scullers IPA
Lagunitas Hairy Eyeball

Back in Quabbin Qountry,
BTB

9 comments:

VSJB said...

the black butte porter is one of my all-time favorites. i rock that every time i go to squirrel's. for real, a pint of deschutes with a squirrel-burger (half-pound beef, cheese, onion, tomato, plus a fried egg) is what the northwest is all about.

never had the manny's. i'll have to put that on the to-do list.

BTB said...

Word, I have to give my portern nod, currently, to the Stone Smoked Porter. I had it about two weeks ago, it was the bomb. As for Manny's, I don't know how far outside of Seattle you can find it, but damn I need to try me a Squirrel burger

VSJB said...

in other news, i just bottled my first batch of IPA: Baird's Blue Collar India Pale Ale.

Burley said...

Man, I haven't had any of those in a while, but I fondly remember Oregan brews from out West. Particularly the full range of Deschutes brews. I seem to remember the stout, of which I notice a general lack of representation on your list. Is that due to a geographical anomaly or perhaps the taste buds of Mr. Quabbin? I also happen to fondly remember the butte creek line of beers, particularly porter and IPA.

BTB said...

Interesting point on the stouts. Granted, my palate does make a difference but I really don't think there are as many stouts out there. I think it has something to do with the natural predominance of hops and the lack of cold weather. Vince, who is this Baird you speak of?

CB said...

Is this ranking Manny's 1st? A pale ale topping the list? Mclaughlin would be calling you out right now! But I do commend you on your placement of the Bridgeport and Maritime Pacific IPA's, regular orders myself at Ballard's Sunset Tavern and King's Hardware. That is, besides the $2 (max) cans of Rainier.

CB said...

I also feel slighted that Red Hook's Ballard Bitter wasn't mentioned....

BTB said...

Alas, I didn't put the Redhook ESB on there because of the brewery in Portsmouth, NH. In fact, the Redhook IPA (aka Ballard Bitter) is more difficult to find. Around here I only ever see it at The Spoke. Coincidentally, I am on my second one of the night and had been planning on signing off tonight's post with a Ballard Bitter. Ya Sure? Ya Betcha!

BTB said...

Meanwhile, what has our discourse come to when the most popular posts are listings of beer, consumed in heavy quantity, from a dark and rainy region? I don't know, but I like it.