Drinking my lunch in Portland
You know you are on vacation when you drink your lunch, with your wife. I did that last week on the final day I was in Oregon.
My wife and I and our friend Janie Hibler, walked from Janie's home to Bridgeport Brewing brewpub and bakery on Marshall Street in Northwest Portland. I had the $7 sampler: nine small glasses of their nine ales. My wife and Janie shared another sampler. We picked our top three favorites.
The ladies liked beers with low IBUs, international bitterness units. Their favorite was the Beertown Brown -- roasted caramel and chocolate malts, lightly hopped, with an IBU of 20. Their second favorite was Ropewalk Amber Ale, a brew that also used caramel malt and had an IBU of 18. They split on their third favorite. Janie preferred the Blue Heron Pale Ale, with an IBU of 25. My wife picked the Black Strap Stout, with an IBU of 30.
I liked the Extra Special Bitter (30 IBU), the Blue Heron Ale, and the India Pale Ale that packed a whopping 50 IBUs. I am a bitter guy.
We did eat. The smoked duck and green chili quesadilla salad was our favorite dish. At the bakery I bought a loaf of bread that used spent grain, left over from the brewing. Pretty good, especially toasted.
I know that the IBU or bitterness of a beer is somewhat offset by the amount of malt in the brew. Yet I told the ladies that looking at a beer's IBU is a pretty good way to judge its bitterness.
Agree or disagree?
Also what do we think of samplers? For lunch? Anyone else bake beer bread with spent grain?
Comments
IBUs always work for me (I wish more companies, especially PA and IPA makers, would post them on the bottle).
The more IBUs the better, I always say. Although sometimes when its really hot out (today, for example) I'll skip that 90 ABV Dogfish head and go for something more mild, like a witbier or a lager.
Posted by: Grant | July 8, 2008 5:52 PM
I would agree about the bitterness being judged by the IBU rating. I like to tell people to look at the "hoppiness" of the beer as opposed to the bitterness. I find most people equate bitterness with the bitterness in food and have a hard time seperating that from the bitterness of beer.
I also like "samplers" for lunch. In fact a great way to order is to have the sampler on the appetizers menu coupled with the beer sampler. It's quite often a perfect blend.
Posted by: Jr Copper | July 9, 2008 10:41 AM