Acclaimed Brews Worth A Road Trip

OK, I’ll admit it for a beer writer, I sure don’t get out much.

Yes, I realize that the freshest, best beer comes straight from the tap. But with my homebody habits, I’m more inclined to hoist a bottle in the basement than a pint in the pub.

So when I found myself with a few free hours the other Friday night, I decided to hit the road and try a few brews I’d been hearing about.

My first stop was Hill’s Someplace Else, to sample the Northern Lights Pale Ale that Airway Heights brewer Mark Irvin fussed over for months before finally releasing for public consumption.

It was worth the wait. Clean, with a hearty hop character (thanks to dryhopping during fermentation with a recently developed variety called Columbus), it’s one of the more flavorful light-bodied beers I’ve had in some time.

I also tried another seldom-seen draft offering, the Pintail ESB (extra special bitter) from Portland’s BridgePort brewery. It was fuller and more complex, though still with a distinct hoppiness. Chef Dave Hill, himself a home brewer, says it “reminds us of what Redhook used to taste like.”

With the Pintail taste still strong in my mouth, I headed to the Birkebeiner Brewing Co., not knowing quite what to expect.

While Birkebeiner’s superior food and smoke-free atmosphere make it an extremely pleasant place to while away an evening, my experiences with the house-brewed beer have been mixed. But Seattle beer authority Larry Baush’s kind words about the dry-hopped ESB, which I hadn’t had, piqued my curiosity.

Fortunately, my palate was piqued as well. The reddish, aggressively hopped ale lived up to its billing in Birkebeiner’s menu as not for the timid, but a true treat for hopheads.

My next stop was Spokane’s venerable beer mecca, the Viking, to try the draft version of Jamaica Red from California’s Mad River microbrewery.

Don’t go confusing this with the wimpy “red beer” from the big boys. The richer Jamaica Red has plenty of hop, too, but delivers a more subtle, back-of-the-tongue bitterness that lingers pleasantly.

The Viking also has snared some kegs of Alaskan Amber from Juneau, which was a highlight of my trip to Alaska last fall. And it should soon have New Zealand’s summery Steinlager on tap, which a colleague reports is all the rage in Hawaii.

Buoyed by my success so far, I decided to end the evening at Wine Stein’z, the new kid on the block - the 11000 East block of Sprague, to be precise.

Its 30-tap selection is comprehensive, but less adventurous than the Viking’s. The bottled list features a few less predictable choices, including Jamaica Red (curiously listed with the imports), said to be even hoppier in the bottle.

But I was starting to get hopped out, and my fish and chips called for something more British (even if it was Cajun catfish), so I ordered a Newcastle Brown Ale. Being one of the more obscure (and pricy) selections on the menu, I also thought it might be a good freshness test to see how fast all those kegs were turning over.

The Newcastle came devoid of the cardboardy taste I’ve found in the bottled version (that’s what you get when beer in light-sensitive clear bottles travels long distances), but was served too chilled for its trademark maltiness to come through.

Feeling unfulfilled, I opted for a couple of dessert sips - 2-ounce samplers of Northern Lights’ Blueberry Creme and Hale’s raspberry-tinged Razzleberry.

While I’m far from a fruit beer fan, I found both quite appealing and not too sweet. The Blueberry Creme comes on strong at first, but mellows in the finish; the Razzleberry, by comparison, delivers most of its berry flavor in the aftertaste.

Some taverns have even taken to mixing the blueberry with a porter to produce a tart-tasting “Black and Blue” (think Black and Tan). Well, maybe next time.

No stopping them

Speaking of mass-market reds, I also dutifully tried the latest twist in the category: Coors Red Light (can Red Light Ice be far behind?), a light (105-calorie) beer brewed with a touch of caramel malt.

Coors says it’s “targeted to consumers who like certain attributes of specialty beers but, overall, find them too heavy or bitter.” Or, as marketing mascot “Big Man” puts it: “Not any sippin’ beer.”

When I first sampled the stuff, I made the mistake of treating it more like an ale, drinking it moderately chilled in a mug on a cool evening.

The next time around, I had it iced down on a warm afternoon after mowing the lawn, straight from the bottle. It was, well … cold. Oh, just see for yourself.

Sip city

Mark your calendar for the Oregon Brewers Festival on July 28-30 in Portland’s WaterFront Park, featuring 60 microbreweries from throughout the United States and Canada.

Admission is free; souvenir mugs for tasting cost $2, with an additional $1 charge for each 6-ounce beer sample. For information, call (503) 778-5917.

, DataTimes MEMO: On Tap is a monthly feature of IN Food. Rick Bonino welcomes reader questions and comments about beer. Write to: On Tap, Features Department, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210. Call 459-5446; fax 459-5098.