Brewed Beverage of Choice: Hair of the Dog Adambier
To give you an idea of how beer crazy Portland is and why this town is sometimes called either Beervana, or my personal favourite, Munich on the Willamette, I submit to you the Hair of the Dog Anniversary Sale yesterday. Every year one of the best and most ecclectic breweries in town, Hair of the Dog, opens its doors for the release of its barley wine, Doggie Claws. From 10 am to 4 pm you can hang out in the brewery, sample all of his wares, hang out with other beer geeks, and purchase some of the best beers you will ever have. So tell us, oh confucian brewer, how is this an example of Portland’s brew-craziness? Patience…
Last year I took one of my friends to the sale. He was so amazed at the turn out that it has become part of our local lore. This year he and I along with a couple of our other friends made the trek. We arrived to the cars parked many blocks away with their owners putting their cases of beer - transported to their cars on dolleys…yes…dolleys. It was only 11 am and the sale was going on strong.
Aside from Doggie Claws being released, the brewer was also selling a bottled version of his Fredbier that had been aged for 6 months in oak. Remember I said the sale started at 10am? And remember when I said we arrived at 11 am? The Fred in the Wood as it was called was sold out before we had arrived! In fact there were already many items on the list that were sold out. So as we stood in the brewery and tasted all his great brews we decided to pick up some of the litres of this years Doggie Claws. Good thing too! By the time we made it through the line the litres were sold out as well. This is by noon. Freaks!
The great thing about Hair of the Dog beers is that they are brewed to be aged. I never in my life thought I would be excited about aging beers, but here I am with a bottle of 2005 & 2006 Doggie Claws and a special edition of the St. Bernardus Abt 12 from Belgium. The only problem with it is that I have essentially hide the beer so I do not open it. So there it sits in its aging closet ignored. Like I said…Freak!
I have taken the tour of Lakefront Brewery in Milwaukee and they are the closest example of how crazy we can get about beer. But only in Portland will you find beer geeks standing in line on a Saturday morning and dropping on average about $70 for some beer. And now…back to my Adambier…Mmmmmm…
Prost!
the confucian brewer