#185 Bridgeport - IPA

Bridgeport brewery is Oregon's oldest craft brewery opening in 1984. They offer a pretty standard selection of beers. This IPA seems to be there flagship beer.

The beer has a strong citrus and pineapple aroma, the smell was present while pouring the beer. The color is a cloudy yellow or gold. The head is very thick with good retention.

The taste is hoppy with citrus flavors. The bitterness is so strong it causes some puckering and mouthwatering. There is very little malt flavor, just a hint of sweetness. The mouthfeel is thin, almost watery. The finish is bitter with the same mouthwatering.

This is quite a bitter beer. This beer could really benefit from some more malt to balance the hops and add some mouthfeel. Still a fine beer and I am happy to drink.

#184 Fuller - 1845

Fuller 1845 was made to celebrate the companies 50th anniversary. The beer was so popular it continued as regular distribution beer.

This beer has a rich smell, with caramel malt flavors and light hop aroma. The color is an orangish amber, with a light hazy. The head is very thick and sticking to the side of the glass, a sign of a hoppy beer.

The taste is full of malt and hops. Starting with a sweet malty caramel taste, and continuing to a hoppy grassy flavor. The mouthfeel smooth and on the heavy side with plenty of carbonation. The finish is a little bitter, causing some puckering.

This is overall a very taste beer. Great balance of flavors, nice smooth mouthfeel. Just a good beer.

#183 Breckenridge - Avalanche Amber Ale

Another beer from Breckenridge Brewery. I think the brewery is trying to grow more in this part of the country, in the last 6 months the number of beers they have on the shelves has really grown.

Honey is the main aroma to the beer with some malt smell. The color is amber to orange and very clear. The head is almost non-existent it's so thin.

The taste overall taste is bitter. There is a hint of malt in the taste and some honey, not not very strong flavors. The bitter flavor is not accompanied by any strong hop flavors. The mouthfeel is thin. The finish is pretty clean, not near as bitter as the taste.

I am unimpressed with this beer. I have like other beer from Breckenridge, and I have liked other amber ales, but this one is not much of either. This is a drinkable beer, just nothing exciting.

#182 Breckenridge - Vanilla Porter

Another with added flavors. Being the fourth beer in a row and I starting to think the beer purity law are too strict and beer should be made with more variety.

The smell of this beer is earthy with a light flower perfume aroma (maybe an association from vanilla scented perfume). The color is a dark brown that show red highlights when held to light. The head is a light brown and thin.

This beer has a rich flavor, it starts with a malt sweetness. The vanilla flavor tastes more like a vanilla soda than a vanilla flavored desert. There is a definite earthy, plant like taste to the beer. There is a little roasty flavor that is normally found in a porter, but the vanilla is most prevalent. The mouthfeel is thin, with some carbonation. The finish leaves a light vanilla taste lingering.

This is a really taste beer. It might be a little close to a vanilla soda than a normally porter, but that is not taking away from the beer.

#181 Williams Bros. Brewing - Grozet Gooseberry & Wheat Ale

Another unique beer from Williams Bros. Brewery. These Williams Bros. beers are from a "Historical Ales" selection, all brewed with ingredients not normally used today.

This beer has a clear wheat beer aroma with a hint of some fruit. The color is a light straw and very clear. The head is thin, poured thin and barely covers the top of the beer after it was set of a bit.

This beer has a fruity taste that can be assumed to be gooseberry flavor. It is a pleasant berry taste that is not over powering. The beer also has some light hop flavor, giving a little bitterness to beer. The mouthfeel is thin, and carbonated. The finish is a little bitter and full of the gooseberry taste.

This is another tasty beer. I am enjoying these William's Bros. Brewery beers with there unique fruit and herb additions. Normally beers with fruit added are too heavy on the fruit taste and not enough beer, these beers are well balanced.

#180 Williams Bros. Brewing - Edulum Elderberry Black Ale

This beer is from the same company as the Pine and Spruce beer yesterday. I didn't realize how unique these beers where when I picked them out, I was just looking for any beer I hadn't drank yet. This is a good example of the variety available in beer.

This beer has a slight dark malt roasty smell along with a earth dirt aroma. The color is pretty much pitch black, even when help to the light this beer can't be seen through. The foam pours very thick and leaves the beer covered in foam after to fizzes away.

The taste is malty with a hint of something else. The malt flavor is light with sweet and roasty flavors. This beer also has a tart fruit taste that must be the elderberry. The supposed elderberry and the malt are well balanced. The mouthfeel is medium with some sediment floating around, not visible because of the dark color but noticed in the mouthfeel. The finish has the nice tart elderberry taste.

This is a tasty beer. I like the Elderberry taste, it is a good addition to the malt flavors. I could happily drink more of these.

#179 William Bros. Brewing - Alba Scots pine ale

This is a Gruit beer, one using herbs to add bitterness instead of hops. This beer uses spruce and pine sprigs, both commonly found trees in Scotland. There is talk that this style of beer might become more popular with the current hop shortage, but I am skeptical.

The aroma is grassy and reminiscent of hops (spruce and pine sprigs are used instead of hops) with some sweet malt smells. The color is amber with some orange highlights. The foam starts thick and keeps the beer covered. Perhaps pine has good head characteristics like hops.

The taste is on the sweet side with some spicy flavors. The spice is different, it isn't like hops and it isn't like Belgian clove spice. There is an evergreen taste, but it is slight enough to avoid over powering the beer. The mouthfeel is medium with a smooth feel. The finish has a pine taste taste that gets old after a few sips.

As a hop substitute I think spruce and pine do a fine job. I rather have hops in my beer, but this is still an enjoyable beer. From drinking just this one beer I am getting tired of the pine taste I think drinking a few might get over whelming. If I didn't know about the pine substitution I would just think the beer used a small amount of an odd hop variety.