Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale

@DeschutesBeer Mirror Pond Pale Ale: pale upfront, rouch of amber, dry finish. Good balance for food.

Mirror Pond

Deschutes Flight

So here we are at the Beer Bloggers Conference 2011 in Portland, OR.  After a quick trip to Seattle and a train ride down to Portland, a rather hearty thirst begins to crop up.  Never fear... #BBC11 has been plunked down in the heart of microbrew country for a reason.  Yesterday was my first trip to the City Center and we managed to find Deschutes brew pub pretty quickly.  They were setting up for their street fair that we visited later on during our pub crawl, but the First Lady and I just wanted some quick grub and a few drinks to start the adventure.   Here is a brief description  of the brews we sampled  (Remember that it's hard to do a full-on review with only a sample, but you all know that I've given it my best shot):

Black Butte Porter: roasty yet drinkable, wisp of smoke

Obsidian Stout: Nitro smooth, coffee bitter, very drinkable

The Stoic: crazy quad with zippy fruit tartness; more playful than its name

Wowzenbock: Wow, Zen, and Bock. Oh, and Weizen.

Hop-in-the-Dark: Cascadian Dark Ale with serious character. Roasty and hoppy at the same time. Mmm.

Hefeweizen: some citrus goin' on. Nice, but Wowzen is wheatier.


I also got to drink an entire pint of one of the best session brews I've ever encountered.  Check out the post I put on Facebook at the time of its drinking:

Deschutes Inversion IPA, hand-pumped Cask. Ultimate session brew! British pub meets the West Coast.

I hope to get my hands on some more Deschutes brews throughout the weekend.  Their quality is everything it should be, and their devotion to the craft is evident in the sublime flavors.