portland may have forgotten the memorial day of st. christopher (feast of, really...bastards!), but the rose city is definitely showing the bens of the city some love tonight. and duly so, because a certain five of them make us some of the better beer that allays our distress over the gloom year in and year out (and in particular this year, the year that summer never came). we're an hour away from the conclusion of the first annual benfest, july 25, 2011, held at the new(ish) grain & gristle on ne 15th ave and prescott.
the lineup (in no order of obvious importance):
the ben-alt-imate, a german style alt bier from ben engler of occidental brewing...done by eight when the christophers got here.
the friends with benefits, a three year aged russian imperial stout with black benberries from ben dobler of widmer brothers brewing.
the peach hefeweissben, an unfiltered wheat beer with peaches from ben edmunds of breakside brewing.
ben & jerry's ice cold cream ale, a collaboration between ben flerchinger of lucky labrador brewing and jerry fechter, the owner of lompoc brewing.
the bourben de ieso spades, a bourbon barrel aged version of hopworks urban brewery's ace of spades by ben love.
...and a bonus ben beer from outside of portland (although arguably from the pacific northwest), the midnight benshine, a black imperial steam beer aged in oak with brettanomyces from ben johnson of midnight sun brewing and ben millstein of kodiak island brewing in alaska.
maybe going for pints wasn't such a good idea. i've only had a chance to try numbers five and six, and the abvs of both are working along with my empty stomach to convince me not to have a third. coming directly from a ride might not have been the best idea, but now i know to stop by the occidental tap room then next time i'm taking the longer way home through st. johns.
far be it from me to comment on any of the beers on offer with such distinguished palates breathing over my shoulder, especially when more than one of them is going to be blogging about this tomorrow. i just wanted to start early enough to stake claim on my title. and anyway, i don't need to have an opinion on the beer. someone mistook me for jeff alworth.
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I can confirm that there are no fallacies in this story. I love the perspective. Thx, Slim!
ReplyDelete"someone mistook me for jeff alworth."
ReplyDeleteYou poor bastard. That's a fate I wouldn't wish on anyone.
i was upset that nicole corrected the guy, jeff, although she did correct him by saying that i was casey lyon's best friend, which i suppose saved me some celebrity appeal. and anyway, i'd rather you than david pogue. i just got that accusation from a friend a couple of days ago.
ReplyDeletenicole: thanks for making it happen! i've already gotten several compliments on my shirt.
er, lyons'. more obnoxious to leave the typo as is or to correct it? or to call attention to the fact of correcting it? damn.
ReplyDelete