Technical Difficulties

I have made the switch wordpress, come check my new site at ltabeer.wordpress.com.

HOWEVER, I can't convince godaddy to switch my url forwarding over.  Until I figure this out ltabeer.com will only bring you back here.

Come check out the new site!

And the winner is...

Rebecca Schikora in Anchorage AK!

Cohoho Imperial IPA

The weather outside is frightful!  Up here in Alaska, our winter started off with a bang; we got almost 40 inches of snow in November.  It was a fun and wintery Thanksgiving, then the rain started.  During the weeks before Christmas, we were listening to Christmas music trying to imagine a white Christmas while everything around us was drippy and cold. I can't remember how many times I heard complaining about the rain and wishing for it to get just a little colder...

Then it started to snow.

Starting on Christmas, we woke up to more and more snow.  Every morning Jonah shoveled at least 4 inches off our car.  Wonderful!  A white Christmas! 

Then the snow didn't stop.

By the end of the week, we had a record making 82 inches of snow accumulation and it didn't stop as we started 2012.  Nearing the end of the first week of January, Cordova has not only declared one, but two snow days.  I have to say I found a great way to celebrate and/or recover from the frightful weather, opening the bottle of Cohoho Imperial IPA by Midnight Sun Brewing that my coworker Kate gifted to me for Christmas.  This beer takes Sockeye Red IPA and amps it up full of holiday spirit, or maybe just more maltiness and hops.  Cohoho is packed full of flavors, rounded out to make a snowy day a little more cheery, or maybe that's the higher alcohol content.  Anywho, extend the holiday season by grabbing one of these if there's any left!

Check out our little town covered in snow.  Amazing enough, the sun also made it over the mountains before it started to set again.  We haven't seen that happen in some weeks.

Photo by Rochelle Van den Broek

Photo by Rochelle Van den Broek

Photo by Rochelle Van den Broek

Favorite Beers of 2011

In order of consumption...

Crye Baby Rye by Arbor Brewing
Bitter American by 21st Amendment Brewing
Puget Sound Porter by Harmon Brewing
Immersion Amber by Two Beers Brewing
Ol' Ball & Chain by The Price Boys
Matt Porter by Denali Brewing
Nut Red Ale by Fort George Brewing
Kitty Kat Red by Coalition Brewing
Perseverance Ale by Alaskan Brewing
Old Growth Imperial Stout by Caldera Brewing
Na Zdravi by Southern Oregon Brewing
Breakside Aztec by Breakside Brewery
The Trip by New Belgium & Elysian Brewing

New Year Photo Contest

Alex Harris, our logo designer.

Photo Contest!
Let's see your favorite beer pics from the best party night of the year!

Go to facebook.com/letstalkaboutbeer.
Like the page.
Post your photo.

I will pick the best photo on January 7th.

Cheers!

Breakside Brewery

820 NE Dekum St.

Portland, OR 97211

503.719.6475

www.breaksidebrews.com

First night in Portland and I explored a new brewery, I am a very lucky girl.  I know I've said this before, but it's very hard being away from Portland when all these new breweries are popping up.  When I moved away from Portland in 2009 I had been to every brewery in Beertown, now I can't keep up - even with multiple vacations south every year. 

Mr. Peter Price picked me up from my lovely airport hotel.  (I'm in town for my job with the Copper River Salmon Association.)  My family lives in Southwest and Jonah's in Southeast, therefore accessing Portland from the Northeast made a handful of breweries much more accessible.  In no time, Peter and I were in the Woodlawn district, walking up to the brewery.  The first thing I noticed was the architecture; I am a BIG FAN of the melding of industrial and organic, a mix of metal and wood.  The second was that Breakside Brewery is the essence of a neighborhood brewery.  Man I wish I had a neighborhood brewery!

Peter and I sat outside on one of the many picnic tables.  They had the garage doors open, letting the warm fall air into the building.  We started with an IPA and the Dark Mild.  I won this round, the Dark Mild was DELICIOUS: light, crisp and full flavored - I could drink a hundred of these beers.  The IPA is no slouch though; maybe the opposite of the Dark Mild, it's a big beer with dramatic flavoring.  Second round was the Oatmeal Stout for Peter and the Farmhouse Golden for me; Peter won this round.  The Oatmeal Stout had a royal flush of flavors: coffee, chocolate, and a smokiness.  The Farmhouse Golden was a little intense for me; I'm still working on my saison knowledge. 

When I first came into the brewery I questioned the bartender about the beers on tap to figure out my game plan.  After two beers, I think the bartender was worried we weren't going to get to all his suggestions - he brought us out samples of the Aztec and the Dry Stout.  Ah!  These were the best beers we had!  Both of these beers are on their VERY short year-round list so count yourself lucky when you visit Breakside.  When I visited in October, the brewery was a year and a few months old and had already produced 37 beers.  The BEERS page of their website is by far the most extensive section with tabs for YEAR ROUND, SEASONAL, BEERS OF THE PAST, UPCOMING RELEASES, and most excitedly, there's a tab for the current beers on tap.  Usually that wouldn't be big news, but the list changes so often the tab is a blog, less than a week in between the posts. 
Here's what it looked like the day I visited:

I wonder what it will look like when I visit next!

Merry Christmas!

Fireside Chat by 21st Amendment Brewery