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 Abbaye des Saveurs, Lille A major interchange on the fast rail routes connecting England, Belgium and the Netherlands with France, Lille is the sort of place you remember primarily for passing through. Many a Belgian-bound British beer enthusiast will have found themselves hastily clearing up the formerly empty seat next to them for the benefit of a passenger joining at what the Dutch language announcement terms “Rijsel, station Lille Europe.”
This is a shame, as Lille turns out to be a fascinating city, the regional capital of Nord-Pas de Calais and the archetype of what the French have in mind when they think of ‘le nord‘. Founded by the Dukes of Flanders in the 11th century and seized and fortified in the late 17th century by the French, it’s long stood on the frontier of French and Flemish culture.
Thanks partly to its proximity to important coalfields, in the 19th century it became a major industrial centre, particularly for textiles, and known as the Manchester of France, an apt comparison in several ways. Today it’s at the core of a 1.9million strong conurbation that sprawls over the Belgian border to include Mouscron and Tournai in Hainaut and Kortrijk in Dutch-speaking West Flanders.
 Craig Allan and Mont des Cats at Abbaye des Saveurs, Lille Beer lovers have a particular reason to regret not stopping off, as this is also the urban centre of France’s richest regional beer culture. All of historic Flanders and neighbouring Picardy is beer country by geography, climate and tradition. Grains and, formerly, hops flourished here in a climate too cool for grapes and for centuries hundreds of farmhouse brewers slaked the thirst of agricultural workers with rustic ales.
Industrialisation also favoured brewing and the 19th century saw bigger regional breweries emerging to serve the swelling ranks of new proletarians. Growth drove technological development: the great microbiologist Louis Pasteur was based in Lille for much of his life, and worked on his groundbreaking Études sur la bière here.
 Iconic northerners -- Ch'ti 'tapis de bar' at Abbaye ds Saveurs, Lille But as in many other places local brewing came under pressure in the postwar period from emerging national brands, mainly emanating from Alsace, another stretch of border country, where the transnational influences are German and lager is the beer style of choice. By the 1970s the wisest local brewers were withdrawing from the losing battle with mainstream lagers and instead reviving the old regional farmhouse style of ‘beer for keeping’, bière de garde.
French gastronomic culture is traditionally sympathetic to regional specialities, and these rejuvenated beers, led by Duyck Jenlain, gained a youthful following among people wanting to express a distinct French-Flemish identity.
From around 2,000 breweries at the beginning of the 20th century, the region boasts a mere 30 today. But these include some of the most vibrant and interesting beer makers in France, as the historic bière de garde producers are joined by an increasing number of new micros, some with ambitions far beyond upholding local tradition.
 Shop window for local beer: Abbaye des Saveurs, Lille Visit the huge Carrefour supermarket in the striking Euralille development around the international station to find better known regional brands like Jenlain, Ch’ti and Trois Monts at bargain prices. For the smaller brewers, though, you’re best advised to explore Vieux-Lille, the mediaeval core around the island created by the river Deûle that gives the city its name in both languages (‘l’île’, or in Middle Dutch, ‘ter ijssel’). Among the specialist shops in narrow and picturesque rue des Vieux Murs (‘old walls street’, recalling former fortifications), the Abbaye des Saveurs (‘abbey of flavours’) is unique in offering both local and global craft beers alongside specialist regional foods.
The smallish and charming shop is the sort of place a tourist may stumble upon while exploring the alluringly picturesque lanes of the old town, and at weekends in particular it’s well used by visitors from all over France, the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands and further afield loading up with authentic titbits.
 Franck di Grégorio proudly displays the house beers at Abbaye des Saveurs, Lille. But the dazzling range and the reasonable prices belie any suggestion of a tourist trap. Its founders – former engineer Franck Di Grégorio and his business partner Anthony D’Orazio, a chemist by training who once brewed at brewpub chain Les 3 Brasseurs – are genuinely and deeply passionate and knowledgeable about their wares.
“If you want to sell beer it’s important you know what it tastes like, the styles and the history,” Franck tells me. “When I began to drink beer at 18 I was first fascinated with sous bocks – beer mats – and wanted to know what the beers they advertised tasted like. So I read lots of books about beer and tasted as many beers as I could. I tried all the traditional Northern French beers then started travelling just to taste beer. I’ve been all over the world, and I have no prejudice about where beers should come from.”
Franck and Anthony noticed that despite the rich regional patrimoine brassicole, Lille’s single specialist beer store sold only Belgian beers. So when they opened the Abbaye in 2005, they were determined it should do justice to the local scene. That emphasis continues today, with the best part of the wall on the right given over to around 90 beers from 23 local breweries.
 The impressive regional shelves at Abbaye des Saveurs, Lille Besides a comprehensive range of familiar brands –Ch’ti, Choulette, Goudale, Trois Monts – there are lesser known bières de garde including the delightfully traditional Theillier Bavaisienne, Vieux Lille from Brasserie des Sources and beers from the Annoeullin, Bailleux and Saint-Germain breweries. Then there are the mould-breaking micros, from trailblazer Thiriez to the youthful likes of 2 Caps, Artésienne (Saint-Glinglin), Caou (Kaou’ët) and Pays Flamand.
Among these are the wonderfully distinctive house offerings from Craig Allan, an expatriate Scot and old friend of Anthony from his days as a student in Edinburgh. Though these are currently brewed over the border at Proef in West Flanders, the Abbaye team are working with Craig on opening their own brewhouse in nearby Cassel later in 2012.
Belgian beers have their place too, with a particularly well chosen selection. Lambics might include Cantillon’s dry hopped Cuvée Saint-Gilles, gueuze from new blender Tilquin and serious rarities from 3 Fonteinen (I spotted Armand 4 Saisons at €45). Trappists include the new beer brewed at Chimay for the Mont des Cats monastery, and first class brews from Abbaye des Rocs, Belgoo, Dochter van de Korenaar, Dupont, Ellezelloise, De Ranke, Sint-Bernardus, Saint-Feuillien and Struise are also on sale.
International choices, tellingly, mainly represent talked about new brewers with a global reputation rather than textbook classics. So there’s Thornbridge and BrewDog from the UK, US extreme beers from Stone, Danish gypsy brewer Mikkeller, Molen from the Netherlands, BFM from Switzerland, Dieu de Ciel from Québec and Toccalmatto from Italy. “We do get beer geeks,” concedes Franck, spontaneously using the English term. “Of course our customers travel and use the internet so some of them are familiar with these names.”
 Regional delicacies at Abbaye des Saveurs, Lille The food shelves, though, are unashamedly Flemish: pots of carbonnade flamande, several varieties of the mixed meat terrine known as potjesvlees, pâté with beer or genever, various waffles, cinnamon spekuloos biscuits and even spekuloos flavoured spread. Then there’s the local genièvre, beer eau-de-vie from a nearby distillery and a handful of whiskies including imported malts.
“There’s no point in trying to compete with supermarkets,” says Franck. “We can advise people about beer flavours and recommend beers they might like. The supermarkets can’t do that. So a customer might come in wanting one beer and end up buying 10 in different styles.” I imagine the infectious enthusiasm of the staff contributes as much to such happy outcomes as their knowledge and authority.
This enthusiasm has since spilled beyond the murs. In 2008, the duo opened a little pub, La Capsule, just around the corner at 25 rue des Trois Mollettes. With 10 draught beers and approaching 150 bottles, including cellar aged examples, it’s one of very few bars in the city to showcase regional brewers rather than big brands. It also offers monthly tastings and food pairing events.
Late in 2011, the business expanded again with a bigger venue called the Monk’s Café, a bar restaurant in the heart of the modern day city centre at 3 rue Nicolas Leblanc. A further opening is planned for 2012, with live music promised alongside more beer.
 Abbaye des Saveurs, Lille The expansion reflects how the growing craft beer movement is revitalising interest in beer even in the traditional brewing regions of Europe, coupling a concern for heritage and local production with a broad appreciation of flavour fuelled by international brewing culture. “We’ve been very successful,” concludes Franck, “because people want to drink beers with true taste, with bitterness or sourness, with full flavour and aroma.” Louis Pasteur would be delighted.
Researched November 2011.
Fact file
Address: 13 rue des Vieux Murs, 59000 Lille
Phone: +33 3 28 07 70 06
Web: www.abbayedessaveurs.com
facebook: Abbaye Des Saveurs
Hours: 1100 (1400 Tue)-1900 (1330 Sun, closed Mon)
Drink in? No, only in nearby pub
Mail order: Yes, via website
Manager’s favourites: 3 Fonteinen oude geuze, Proef/Craig Allan Cuvée d’Oscar, Saint-Glinglin and Kaou’ët beers
Beer picks
- Artésienne St Glinglin Édition Limitée Amarillo 6% Auchy-les Mines, Pas-de-Calais, France
- Pays Flamand Anosteké Brune Imperial Smout 8.5% Blaringhem, Nord, France
- Proef/Craig Allan Cuvée d’Oscar 7.5% Lochristi, Oost-Vlaanderen, Vlaanderen
- Theillier Bavaisienne Ambrée 6.5% Bavay, Nord, France
- Thiriez Blonde d’Esquelbecq 6.5% Esquelbecq, Nord, France
Beer sellers: Abbaye des Saveurs
ABV: 6%
Origin: Auchy-les Mines, Pas de Calais, France
Website: http://biereartisanale.fr/
 Artésienne St Glinglin Limited Edition Single Hop Amarillo You’ll look in vain for the delightfully assonant St Glinglin (pronounced like ‘san-glan-glan’ but with French nasalised vowels) in the Dictionary of Saints. When a French speaker says something will happen on St Glinglin’s day, it’s a humorous way of saying it won’t happen at all, similar to English expressions like ‘when pigs fly’. When Thomas Pierre chose to label his first commercial beers after the nonexistent holy man, he was deliberately digging at breweries that fake monastic credibility with the names of fictitious or defunct religious institutions.
Such irreverence is characteristic of a brewer still in his late 20s, who moved from garage brewer to professional in 2007 on a budget of a mere €50,000. He’s succeeded through quality, flair and an iconoclastic imagination, catching attention with a cannabis beer called Weed alongside new twists on more familiar styles.
 Une jolie verre de St Glinglin This superb special edition, recommended to me refermented in a 750ml bottle at the Abbaye des Saveurs beer shop in Lille, is one of an occasional series taking Thomas’ basic St Glinglin blonde recipe but with a single hop – in this case the distinctive and fashionable Pacific Northwest variety Amarillo, yielding a fusion between Flemish abbey blond and hop-accented American pale.
My bottle poured clear and very pale golden with a fine bead and a thickish, very tight white head. An inviting and distinctive aroma had notes of apricot, black pepper, roses and grass. The palate was crisp but full with plenty of herbal and fruity complexity, apricot, tobacco, honey and lemon with faint notes of detergent and burnt dried fruit. Salad green bitterness emerged in the mouth and developed in the lingering finish, but wonderfully softened by fruit, with a rush of juicy orange, and more apricots and pepper.
It would have been unthinkable a decade or so back for such a vivid and unusual beer to emerge from a Northern French brewery – so maybe St Glinglin has his day after all.
Beer sellers: Abbaye des Saveurs
ABV: 6.5%
Origin: Esquelbecq, Nord, France
Website: www.brasseriethiriez.com
 Thiriez Blonde d'Esquelbecq Daniel Thiriez began reinventing Northern French beer as far back as 1996. He ploughed a lonely furrow for some years – only from the mid-2000s have other startup breweries in the region dared to brew beyond established traditions. But Daniel maintains a commanding position with his world class beers, several of which I’ve written about elsewhere on this site.
Blonde d’Esquelbecq is his best seller, a tasty and distinctive but accessible blond beer that’s a great first step in exploring the newer beers of the region. Named for the village where the brewery is based (from an old Dutch name meaning ‘acorn brook’), the beer is brewed whenever possible from local barley malted at the Château du Soufflet, with bittering hops from Flanders and aroma hops from the Czech Republic. The yeast originally came from Brussels, and the beer is conditioned for at least three weeks at the brewery before being reconditioned in the bottle with fresh yeast and sugar.
A 330ml bottle bought in late 2011 at the Abbaye des Saveurs in Lille poured a hazy gold with a fine white head and mineral malt aroma with suggestions of coriander (though I’ve no evidence the beer is spiced) and some slightly phenolic, medicinal notes. Those mouthwashy phenols persisted, if gently, on a very creamy, fresh, quite clean and malty palate, with notes of citrus and grassy, gently spicy “noble” hops. The finish remained coating, creamy and full, with more citrus and hops and a building nugget of bitterness. A perfectly poised blond with extra interest from more complex flavours.
The recipe has been tweaked slightly very recently and the beer, and an alternative English language label, simply reading Thiriez Blond, now declares only 6% ABV.
ABV: 4.5, 6.4 and 7.2%
Origin: San Francisco, California, USA
Website: http://thirstybear.com
 ThirstBear Brewing Company and Spanish Cuisine, San Francisco Northern California’s Bay Area is indisputably the birthplace of the modern US craft brewing movement, whether you date it from Fritz Maytag buying and reviving San Francisco’s historic Anchor brewery in 1965 or Jack McAuliffe founding the first US microbrewery of the modern era, New Albion, in Sonoma in 1976. Inspired in part by the atmosphere of nonconformism and experimentation that the principal city and its outlying region has nurtured since at least the 1950s beat scene, when Kerouac and Ginsberg hung out at Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s North Beach bookstore City Lights, Bay Area brewers have moved in all kinds of weird and wonderful directions – think of Drakes, Lagunitas, Moonlight, Moylans, Napa Smith or Russian River.
Compared to that lot, often overlooked San Francisco brewpub ThirstyBear seems, well, more grounded – but the quality and the ambition are just as keen as among the purveyors of three-figure IBUs and menageries of wild yeast. It’s a stylish place in the City’s SoMa neighbourhood – so named as it’s south of the diagonal axis of Market Street.
The area was formerly, and remains partly, industrial, with a reputation that dates back at least to the beginning of the last century of catering to itinerant workers and the homeless — still a disturbingly common sight on the city’s streets for all its liberal values and prosperity. Today’s SoMa is a slightly edgy mix that includes major cultural institutions like the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Yerba Buena Center, galleries and craft shops, the Moscone Center with its high tech trade shows, the cruisier side of the local gay scene along Folsom Street and a world class beer shop, City Beer Store.
 Iconic Spanish imagery at the ThirstyBear. The brewpub’s founder, former immigration lawyer and all round bundle of energy Ron Silberstein, conceived the place as a way of combining two of his passions when he opened it in 1996 – a home brewing hobby he’d acquired as a student in Massachusetts in 1978, and a love of Spanish food, especially tapas, that developed during a two year sojourn in Madrid in the 1980s. As brewpubs boomed in the 1990s, Ron chucked in his job and joined the first cohort on the American Brewers Guild’s Intensive Brewing Science and Engineering Diploma.
 Fermentation vessel at the ThirstyBear. As well as all the other aspects of running the business, Ron did all the brewing in the early days and developed many of the core recipes. But trade grew and pressure on time increased, and in 2002 he took on a full time brewer, the garrulous Brendan Dobel, another former home brewer who served his professional apprenticeship at Tabernash in Colorado (since absorbed by Left Hand). Brendan then trained at the Doemens-Akademie in Munich, and worked at the Fässla brewery and the famous Weyermann maltings in Bamberg before returning to his native California determined to brew German-style beers. Which he still does to an extent, and the influence is clear, but it’s not the overarching theme of the Bear.
The original concept was to give equal weight to food and beer and food remains a strong part of the offer. The place has a claim on being the first authentic contemporary Spanish restaurant in the USA and includes on its menu well cooked version of traditional staples like paella (including one with locally foraged wild mushrooms), pescaditos fritos, empanadas de polla and membrillo. But there are also burgers, bar snacks and Californian artisanal cheeses, and you’re welcome to pop in just for a drink at the bar. Despite the “Please wait to be seated” sentry at the door, the contemporarily styled, split level quasi-industrial space with its long tables, bare brick and bullfight posters still has the sociable, bustling feel of a bar more than a restaurant.
 Casks at the ThirstyBear. Brewing takes place in the extensive basement but the tall conico-cylindrical fermenting vessels tower impressively, penetrating through to the public space. The design is as it was on first opening and Ron says he would do things differently now, as some of the kit is hard to access and the layout doesn’t make the best of the brewhouse as a feature of interest for customers, but it’s certainly capable of producing some very decent beer. In the grain store I spotted supplies from Brendan’s former employer Weyermann, Gambrinus in British Columbia and from Crisp in the UK, but the brewery also makes use of more local supplies – it has brewed beers made entirely from California-grown malt and hops. All the ingredients are organic – it is the first and so far the only San Francisco brewery certified by the state accreditation body CCOF.
The name, incidentally, has nothing to do with the bear on the California state flag but is taken from a headline in the San Francisco Chronicle which caught Ron’s eye in 1991, “Thirsty bear bites man’s hand for beer”, recounting an incident in the Ukraine when an escaped circus bear had attacked an unfortunate drinker, one Viktor Kozlov, and took his beer. The victim is commemorated in the regular stout, Kozlov Stout. This is one of seven regular brews that also include a pils, a brown ale that aims at a British rather than a contemporary US style, an IPA and a Belgian-style wheat beer. All are unpasteurised and usually served from kegs and bright tanks, with the stout and ESB dispensed nitrokeg style, but the brewery also experiments with wood ageing and usually offers at least one cask beer, sometimes a cask version of a regular.
 Glasses for quenching bear-sized thirsts. Taster fights with small glasses of all the available beers are sold, and I worked my way round one, picking out a few to write about in more detail. ThirstyBear’s brews aren’t “extreme” beers – they’re by and large very flavoursome and well made, but also approachable, balanced and not too assertive, very much reflecting the original intention of creating quality beers to match with food. Well worth seeking out, even if you don’t have a bear-sized thirst.
Golden Vanilla is the lowest gravity of the regular brews and one of the pub’s most popular lines, a delicate golden ale, shading on light amber, that’s infused during conditioning with whole organic vanilla pods. Vanilla is obvious on the aroma and also on the palate, giving a cream soda note but remaining dry rather than sweet, with some tangy fruit and biscuity malt. The shortish finish develops very gentle hop notes – the beer is only rated at 15 IBUs. This is a light hearted, easy quaffing beer with a subtle twist and you can see why they get through so much of it.
Meyer ESB is ThirstyBear’s entry in the extensive ranks of US craft beers honouring England’s, and more specifically Fuller’s, Extra Special Bitter style. Like many other examples it’s a bit stronger than the original at 6.4%. It’s fermented with Wyeast’s ‘1968’ classic British ale yeast strain and is habitually served stout-style using nitrogen but occasionally pops up in cask.
 Firkin Tuesday at the ThirstyBear (firkin puns thankfully avoided). My sample was a rich amber with a fine, dense yellowy-beige head and an aroma of fruit, malt and cream. The palate was big but very smooth and rounded, with that sweet-dry ambiguity I find characteristic of the original. Again there was fine biscuity malt, with some slightly stewed, earthy hop flavours coming through – the bitterness is rated at 30 IBU. A coating and very moreish finish had a light but not overbearing bite of hops. Overall this was my favourite of the beers I tried.
There are regularly changing seasonals and specials and when I called they were serving Ryeison, a saison-style beer made with rye. This came about as a result of one of those homebrew competitions where the prize is to have your beer made by a professional brewery. It was a golden beer with a bit of white head. A fruity and notably soured aroma heralded a soft but complex palate, with typical oily and spicy rye flavours, aromatic orange notes, some gritty malt and a hint of vanilla. A sweetish, fruity finish dried to leave tangy orange marmalade and herbal flavours.
 Shopfront at the Beermongers, Portland, Oregon, USA Portland, Oregon, is a beautiful, prosperous, civilised inland port city straddling the Willamette river. Looking west from the riverside, across a fine strip of parks and beyond the traffic calmed city centre with its free public transport, elegant squares and compact walkable blocks, thickly wooded slopes climb steeply, forming one of the USA’s largest and lushest urban forest parks. Besides fine views and many miles of surprisingly rugged trails, it boasts a zoo and a world famous rose garden, and you can reach it on a modern light rail system, only a few stops from the urban centre of Pioneer Courthouse Square.
Just to the north the Willamette drains into the Columbia river which divides the state of Oregon from neighbouring Washington. Tumbling from the Cascade mountains on its way to to the Pacific, the Columbia has carved a spectacular gorge 130km long and up to 1,200m deep, now protected as a National Scenic Area.
 Sean Campbell pours a beer at the Beermongers, Portland, Oregon. So though it’s some way down the list of famous US cities, Portland has much to reward the discerning visitor – and even more so if one of your interests is beer. Oregon is one of the cradles of US craft brewing, home to some major names with their roots in the early growth of the movement in the 1980s, like Deschutes, Full Sail, Rogue and Widmer Brothers, this last in Portland itself.
The state is now the second largest craft beer producer and the third largest craft beer market in the country. And as its biggest city, Portland is a major focus of the industry, hosting Oregon Craft Beer Month in July and boasting 43 breweries, more than any other city in the world.
Readers who know their hops will pick up a clue to one of the reasons for such beery excellence from some of the geographical names mentioned above. Both the Willamette and the Cascade range lend their names to hop varieties, reflecting the state’s longstanding importance as a hop growing region, now the second biggest hop producing state in the US.
 Full Sail Session Lager at the Beermongers Decent beer here has become a commonplace – even tiny local delis offer a selection of craft brewed bottles and cans. Amid such abundance, it’s more of a challenge than usual for specialist outlets to stand out, but one place that really makes an impression is the BeerMongers, one of the city’s most youthful beer venues.
The format combines a shop and a bar – a setup that’s becoming more widespread on the US scene and is also employed by another excellent Portland venue, the older-established Belmont Station, not far away. But whereas Belmont splits the space between the two functions, at the BeerMongers they coexist in a single space.
It’s in southeast Portland, some way from the city centre – I took a long walk there on a warm early autumn day, across the river and southeast following the railroad tracks, but it’s also by a bus stop with a frequent and reliable service. It’s set back from the road in a row of industrial units clustered around a little car park.
 Rare and empty bottles at the Beermongers The interior of this rather smallish and rather anonymous concrete space has been turned into something that’s homely and amicably cluttered, with a mix of art, sporting ephemera and breweriana on display. An assemblage of beer bottles and cans, both vintage and contemporary, has been donated by local collectors, including a 1979 sample of the first commercial bottling of Anchor Old Foghorn, courtesy of veteran Anchor brewer Ron Wolf, who now works for local brewpub chain McMenamins and occasionally serves behind the bar at Beermongers events.
The McMenamins connection extends to cheerful and enthusiastic chief beermonger Sean Campbell, who has worked for the bigger company for 15 years and continues to do so, splitting his time with his own business. He and his business partner wanted their own beer-related project and first thought of a brewery, but decided there was too much competition already. Speciality beer stores, however, were relatively rare. “Where I live, there are three wine shops I can walk to but nobody does a good range of beer, even though everyone drinks it,” says Sean.
 Well-stocked fridges at the Beermongers. Besides the large fridges containing around 525 bottled beers that line two walls, there are also eight draught taps – a relatively small number by US craft beer bar standards but vital nonetheless and well tended by Sean and bar manager Josh. “We always intended to have in-store consumption when we opened in 2008,” Sean explains. “The law in Oregon allows it so long as we don’t allow minors or serve hard alcohol.”
Originally the stock was just bottles, sold at the same keen prices both for drinking in and out, a policy which happily endures. “But as the first year went on,” Sean continues, “we got this really great group of customers that wanted to spend more time here, so we got the bar built and added more seating, and people have taken to it as a place they like to hang out. And that’s great – I’ve always liked working behind bars and chatting to people. I used to live in England and worked in pubs there. Not having too many taps means we focus on specials and seasonals, often from small local brewers, and we can give each beer the attention it deserves.”
Sean’s professional background explains a slight British touch to the decor – there are some second hand English church pews his parents found for him, and most of the woodwork was created by a British expat carpenter. Displays that honour the popular local proper football – as in soccer – team, the Portland Timbers, add to the effect.
 Glasses and real footie at the Beermongers The beers are arranged not, as is usual, by country and region but by style, irrespective of origin, creating some interesting juxtapositions that invite comparison and contrast. So Belgian classics like Saison Dupont line up beside American interpretations from small Oregon brewers like Ambacht, Beetje, Logsdon, Upright and the puzzlingly named Captured by Porches, while fellow Oregonians Southern Oregon and Fort George challenge Bitburger and Budvar in the pils section.
Belgian-style and genuine Belgian beers are well-represented beyond saison, with lambics from 3 Fonteinen, Boon and Hannsens and big ales and sour browns from Anker, Rochefort, St Bernardus, St Feuillien, Verhaege and lesser known names such as Gaverhopke and Schelde. These are ranged alongside American tributes and variations from the likes of Deschutes, Pelican (both from Oregon), Avery, Anchorage, Boulevard, Green Flash, Nebraska and the always appreciated but hard to find Russian River.
Still, US beers dominate, and as you’d expect, pale ales and IPAs are particularly well represented. Other small Portland brewers on the shelves include Alameda, Hopworks and Lompoc while 10 Barrel, Beer Valley, Caldera, Flat Tail, Hop Valley, Klamath Basin, Ninkasi, Oakshire, Pelican, Seven Brides and Silver Moon come from elsewhere in the state. Other West Coast brews – Diamond Knot, Fish Tail and Pike from Washington, Bison, Green Flash and Uncommon from California – line up beside admired craft brewers from across the nation. The cultish Pabst Blue Ribbon is a sole ironic nod to the mainstream, a survivor from the early days when they also offered a range of national brands but found most of them ended up in the bargain bin.
Imported offerings besides those already mentioned include Scandinavian eccentricities from Beer Here, Evil Twin, Midtfyns, Mikkeler and Xbeeriment; some British classics from Fuller’s, JW Lees and Traquair; and the odd bottle or two from Canada, Italy, the Netherlands and Japan. A small range of craft ciders is set to expand as local interest in this sector grows.
The range includes some beers the management admits are relatively slow sellers “Drinkers have gotten more experimental with sour beers, geuzes and other funky beers that they wouldn’t have recognised three or four years ago,” says Sean. “As soon as I start thinking, ‘why are we carrying that?’, someone will come in and say it’s their favourite. And our approach is good for brewers too – if they come up with something new they will often put it out to us because we’ll at least try it.”
 Sean Campbell of the Beermongers It’s a densely populated part of town but the shop gets visits both from across Portland and far beyond, with customers from across the US and Canada, including numerous younger craft beer fans. Sean has learned not to stereotype. “Young folks who look like they just got off their skateboard might go straight for Rodenbach,” he says. Other customers are members of the city’s sizeable home brewing community, looking to try examples of styles they intend to make.
Events include regular Meet the Brewer evenings, themed days when countries, styles or regions take over all the taps, an annual Orval event and beer festivals where they expand into a marquee in the car park. Expansions are planned, such as adding aged beers (including Orval), or even opening a second branch. Good advice is on hand when you need it. “People are here for fun and the shopping experience,” Sean confirms, “so there’s a delicate balance between education and hovering.”
Online and social marketing have proved a key to success in an increasingly web-based beer scene. “We had facebook and twitter accounts right from the beginning,” Sean recalls. “It takes your time, but it doesn’t take anything out of your pocket and I don’t think we would be nearly as successful without that stuff. I’m 40 and a bit of a dinosaur as I still read the newspapers, but lots of people younger than me get all their stuff online, including from trusted beer blogs.”
 Sign at the Beermongers. I spotted exceptions. Great little places like the Beermongers are currently riding the crest of a wave of excitement in fine beer, not only in places like Portland but elsewhere. Even in the midst of recession, craft beer is flourishing as an affordable luxury that people like Sean are keen to share. “It’s great to be able to tell people they can enjoy the greatest sour beer in the world for less than $20,” he concludes. I’ll raise a glass to that.
Researched September 2011
Fact file
Address: 1125 South East Division Street, Portland OR 97202 (corner of SE 12th and Division)
Phone: +1 503 234 6012
Web: http://thebeermongers.com
Hours: 1100-2300 (Fri-Sat 2400)
Drink in? Yes
Mail order: No
Manager’s favourites: Orval, Oud Beersel Oude Geuze, Heller-Trum Schlenkerla Rauchbier Märzen, Upright Belgian-style beers
Beer picks
All from Oregon
Beer sellers: Beermongers
ABV: 5.4%
Origin: Pacific City, Oregon, USA
Website: http://pelicanbrewery.com
 Pelican Kiwanda Cream Ale US craft brewers, particularly West Coast ones, are known to beer fans in Europe primarily as producers of extreme beers – hyper-hopped, ultra gravity, wild fermented monsters that have preferably spent two years maturing in a bourbon barrel. But the truth is most brewers pay the rent with much more everyday and approachable brews that shade towards what Brits might recognise as session beers, and in my view these are at least as interesting, particularly those that look back to historic, pre-Prohibition styles.
When brewer Darren Welch was devising the initial recipes for the nascent Pelican brewpub, right on the ocean at Pacific City, Oregon, in 1996, he puzzled about what style to adopt as the entry level beer on offer. Avoiding the obvious pale ales and lagers, Darren developed a recreation of a 19th century cream ale. This style had originally developed as the old established ale brewers’ answer to the growing popularity of pale lagers from German-American breweries, using pilsner-style ingredients and a cold conditioning period but with a warm fermenting yeast, rather like Kölsch is made in Germany today. He named it after the protected coastline of Cape Kiwanda nearby.
Kiwanda Cream uses two-row pale malt, carapils malt and flaked barley, with a single hop, Mount Hood, a variety known for its German-style subtlety rather than the vivid citric and pine flavours most associated with American hops.
A 650ml bomber bottle bought at the Beermongers in Portland, Oregon, yielded a pale yellowy gold beer with a fine and full white head and a creamy and slightly spicy malty aroma with a classic hop note. The palate was straightforward but accomplished, with cracker-like malt lifted by firmly tingly and gently flowery hops. The finish left a creamy texture in the mouth, with light citric flavours and a refreshing bitter note. Overall a very well-balanced, tasty, honest and satisfying ale.
Beer sellers: Beermongers
ABV: 7.5%
Origin: Hood River, Oregon, USA
Website: http://farmhousebeer.com
 Logsdon Organic Farmhouse Brewery Dave Logsdon has more than an average brewer’s interest in yeast – he was a founder of renowned yeast culture supplier Wyeast, as well as being the original brewer at what’s now one of Oregon’s most successful craft breweries, Full Sail. So it’s perhaps not surprising that when he set up his own brewery early in 2011 with business partner Charles Porter, he turned to Belgium, with its array of weird, wonderful and wild yeast cultures, for inspiration.
This is a true farmhouse brewery in the style still occasionally found in Belgium and northern France, located on an organic farm in deep countryside south of the city of Hood River and some way east of Portland. The farm’s herd of Highland cattle feast on the spent grains, and some of the hops used is grown on site. Dave is currently raising a crop of genuine Schaarbeek cherries intended for future authentic krieks, and meanwhile the fruit beers utilise other locally grown ingredients.
The Seizoen is the brewery’s flagship beer, its spelling recalling the rare Limburg variant of the style, Sezoens Blond, brewed by Martens at Bocholt, but the beer itself owes at least as much to the classic saisons from Hainaut in French-speaking Belgium, and a good deal to individual imagination. This last factor accounts for the inclusion of locally sourced pear juice, added during fermentation though not especially present in the final flavour.
I sampled Logsdon Seizoen on draught, unfiltered and unpasteurised, at the Beermongers in Portland, but it’s also available bottle conditioned in 750ml bottles with beeswax-sealed caps. It poured a cloudy light amber with a sunshine glow and a fine yellowy head. There was a hint of orchard fruit on the creamy aroma – I noted apple but perhaps it was the pear – alongside orange and a pleasanty fruity, farmhouse-tinged yeasty touch.
A chewy palate had fruity estery notes but was well integrated and smooth, with notes of nuts and bruised apple emerging, and more fresh orange notes with touches of mint and pineapple. A pleasant finish coated the mouth with tangerine fruit, turning very lightly bitter with a hint of almond-like hops. A wonderfully refreshing, complex and elegant glassful and certainly one of the best saison-inspired US craft brews that I’ve encountered to date.
Beer sellers: Beermongers
ABV: 6.1%
Origin: Ashland, Oregon, USA
Website: www.calderabrewing.com
 Caldera IPA Of all the taboos that craft brewers in the United States have systematically busted, the notion of craft beer in a can is arguably one of the most challenging. It certainly was to me. I listened with some incredulity when the charming Garrett Marrero of Hawaii brewery Maui first made the case to me. Surely canning was the ultimate insult, demonstrating the contempt in which the big brewers held the world’s greatest drink, and canned beer the epitome of mass produced industrial fizz?
But beyond the prejudice, canned beer makes sense. Cans offer numerous advantages that big brewers like for perfectly rational reasons – they’re lighter, sturdier, easier to pack and transport than bottles, and even have an environmental justification, particularly in cultures like the US and UK where returnable bottles are seen as a tough ask on customers. Modern can linings no longer taint beer with metallic flavours, and are fine for modern unpasteurised and naturally recarbonated craft beers. The one thing that doesn’t work so well in a can at the moment is refermentation, though some brewers are experimenting with “can conditioned” beers.
Cans were just as taboo among beer connoisseurs in the US as in Britain, but Caldera, alongside Maui, 21st Amendment, Oskar Blues and a few others, is now challenging that. Founded in the southern Oregon city of Ashland, not far from the California state line, in 1997, it originally produced only draught beer, and its IPA was one of its first recipes. When it decided to move into packaged beer in 2005, it settled on cans as the ideal vessel, the first Oregon micro to do so.
The IPA stands up very well to the process. This is very much a hop-led West Coast example of the style, dosed with Simcoe, Centennial and Amarillo to a hefty 94 IBU, but on a firm malt base that adds some Munich and Crystal to the two-row US pale malt that provides the backbone.
I enjoyed one of these colourful cans with lunch at a deli in central Portland, Oregon, whereThey’re relatively easy to come by. It was especially delightful to enjoy unusual quality beer in an otherwise perfectly everyday eating place – Portlanders take it for granted.
This amber beer turned out lightly hazy, with a thick, rocky slightly pinkish head. A relatively gentle whiff of pine and fennel set up a smooth palate with plenty of firm toffeeish malt well integrated with smooth, earthy, piny, peppery hops – considerably less overbearing than expected given the IBU. The hops clung on the swallow, but didn’t disrupt the smoothness of the finish, which remained approachable despite the vivid, drying bitter spicy notes.
I admit – I never expected to taste such a fine brew from a can.
 Glasses waiting to be filled at the Beermongers, Portland OR, September 2011 This is the fourth year of compiling a Top Tastings list and I’ve stuck to the same self-imposed rules as previously. Here are 30 beers I’ve tasted during 2011 which particularly stuck in my mind as the sensory highlights of the year, and a reaffirmation of why I spend so much time seeking out examples of the brewer’s art. They’re mainly beers new to me but not necessarily new beers – indeed some have been around for a very long time – and a few are resamplings of beers I’ve tried before.
They’re all seriously good beers but I wouldn’t say they’re necessarily the “best” I sampled – I’ve aimed for variety and beers that represent various beer travels and activities I’ve been involved with, and as before I’ve limited myself to one beer per brewer. There are a number of London beers, reflecting the work on my London guide; souvenirs of trips to Glasgow, Lille, Portland (OR) and San Francisco; unblended lambics tasted on my first Toer de Geuze; and yet another Fuller’s Vintage Ale from an astonishing vertical tasting.
Finalising the list is always painful but this year’s was particularly challenging, with so many excellent and memorable beers I simply didn’t have room for. So I’ve indulged myself for the first time with another 30 honourable mentions, listed briefly at the end. Both lists are in alphabetical order, with no further ranking intended, and the clickable links will take you to detailed tasting notes and background information.
- Bayerischer Bahnhof Gose Original Leipziger Bier Spezialität 4.6% Leipzig, Sachsen, Germany
- Bend Hop-Head Imperial India Pale Ale 9% Bend, Oregon, USA
- Boon Oude Lambik 3 jaar oud 6% Lembeek, Vlaams-Brabant, Vlaanderen
- Box Steam Funnel Blower 4.5% Colerne, Wiltshire, England
- Broumov Opat Kvasničák Pepper 5% Broumov, Králové Hradecký Kraj, Czech Republic
- Bruery Saison Rue 8.5% Placentia, California, USA
- Carlton & United Sheaf Stout 5.7% Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Full Sail Session Lager 5.1% Hood River, Oregon, USA
- Fuller’s Vintage Ale 2001 8.5% London W6, England
- Fyne Jarl 3.8% Cairndow, Argyll & Bute, Scotland
- Goose Island Bourbon County Coffee Stout 2010 13% Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Harveys Christmas Ale 8.1% Lewes, East Sussex, England
- Kernel Imperial Brown Stout London 1856 10.1% London SE1, England
- Kinshachi Nagoya Akamiso Lager 6% Nagoya, Chūbu, Japan
- Marble Old Manchester Ale 7.3% Manchester, England
- Mighty Oak Oscar Wilde 3.7% Maldon, Essex, England
- Moncada Notting Hill Amber 4.9% London W10, England
- Moonlight Death & Taxes 5% Santa Rosa, California, USA
- Nynäshamns Ångsbryggeri Bedarö Bitter 4.5% Nynäshamn, Södermanland, Sweden
- Orkney Dark Island Reserve (draught) 10% Quoyloo, Orkney, Scotland
- Pays Flamand Anosteké Brune Imperial Smout 8.5% Blaringhem, Nord, France
- Plzeňský Prazdroj Kvasnicový 4.4% Plzeň, Plzeňský kraj, Czech Republic
- Proef/Craig Allan Cuvée d’Oscar 7.5% Lochristi, Oost-Vlaanderen, Vlaanderen
- Redwillow Ageless Double IPA 7.2% Macclesfield, Cheshire East, England
- Steam/Epic Mayhem 6.2% Otahuhu, Auckland, New Zealand
- Texels Bock 7% Ouderschild, Texel (Noord-Holland), Netherlands
- Theillier Bavaisienne Ambrée 6.5% Bavay, Nord, France
- Tilquin Gueuze à l’ancienne 2011 6% Rebecq-Bierghes, Brabant-Wallonie, Wallonie
- Tryst Drovers 80/- 4% Larbert, Falkirk, Scotland
- Wells & Young’s Courage Imperial Russian Stout 2011 10% Bedford, Bedfordshire, England
Honourable Mentions: Adnams Tally-Ho 2007, Belhaven/Innis & Gunn Canada Day 2011, BrewDog Avery Brown Dredge, Brodie’s Red, Bouillon Médiévale Ambrée, Caldera IPA, Camden Town Show Boat, Deca/Struise Black Albert, Hardknott Vitesse Noir, Hopshackle Extra Special Bitter, Lambrate Imperial Ghisa, Lindemans Lambic 2 jaar oud (Tilquin), Logsdon Seizoen, Magic Rock Cannonball, Molen Hout & Hop, Moor Unfined Confidence, Murray’s Nirvana Pale Ale, Nøgne-Ø Imperial Stout, North Coast Merle, Olde Saratoga/Shmalz He’Brew Messiah Bold, Port/Lost Abbey Angel’s Share 2009, Rogue XS Old Crustacean, Sharp’s Turbo Yeast Unspeakable Abhorrence from Beyond…, Smuttynose Wheat Wine, Southern Tier 2xIPA, Stone Smoked Porter, Stowey Nettle Beer 2009, Thornbridge Italia Pilsner, Williams Brothers Profanity Stout, Windsor & Eton Conqueror 1075 Black IPA
Top Tastings 2011
ABV: 10%
Origin: Bedford, Bedfordshire, England
Website: www.wellsandyoungs.co.uk
 Wells & Young's Courage Imperial Russian Stout 2011 Excitement rippled through the beer world in Autumn 2011 as one of Britain’s most historic beer brands made an unexpected return from the dead. Courage Imperial Russian Stout can trace its lineage back to the Anchor brewery on the original site of William Shakespeare’s Globe theatre on Bankside, Southwark, which in 1781 became Barclay Perkins – a means to become “rich beyond the dreams of avarice” as Samuel Johnson commented when he handled the sale as the executor of deceased former owner Henry Thrale. The new owners lived up to Johnson’s word – the brewery became the world’s biggest, a major producer of the dark, vinous porter beers for which London was famed as the first capital of industrial brewing.
The beers now known as stouts evolved from strong porters which were labelled ‘stout’ in the sense of ‘strong’. Barclay Perkins led the field in exporting particularly stout bottled porters of 10% ABV or more to the Baltic nations, including to Russia which from 1703 had become more accessible with the creation of the port city of Sankt-Peterburg. These stouts even gained a following in the opulent royal palaces that brightened this massive country’s “window on the West” and were apparently appreciated by Empress and Autocrat of all the Russias Catherine the Great herself, acquiring the adjective ‘imperial’ not, as is still sometimes supposed, in honour of the British Empire but of the Russian one.
By the end of the 19th century prohibitive import duties had put an end to the Russian trade but the Anchor brewery continued brewing its imperial stout through the merger of Barclay Perkins with the nearby Courage brewery in 1955. Production was now limited to an annual brew packed in vintage dated bottles, now bearing the new owner’s brand, though the traditional technique of refermentation in the bottle was retained throughout the beer’s history – it was one of only five known British bottle conditioned beers still in production when the Campaign for Real Ale was founded in 1971, and one of the few beers then noted for its ageing potential.
By the 1970s Courage had relocated the brewing of Imperial Stout to its own facilities at Horsleydown at the south end of Tower Bridge, though continued to mature and bottle the beer at Barclay Perkins until the latter site finally closed in 1981. Production was relocated in 1983 a long way from its original home, at John Smith’s Magnet brewery in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, where the end of the line was finally reached in 1993, the last year of regular production under the auspices of Courage.
Aside from a couple of minor glimmerings – some pasteurised bottles that briefly appeared on the Scandinavian market later in the 1990s, a one-off cask version at the 2003 Great British Beer Festival – the venerable line of brewing heritage appeared extinguished. Meanwhile other breweries moved into the gap on the shelves, notably Harveys, who recreated the stout imported into Russia from Britain in the 1820s by the A Le Coq company, itself perhaps derived from a Barclay Perkins recipe.
 Wells and Young's head brewer Jim Robertson (foreground) admires the revived Courage Imperial Russian Stout with beer writer Melissa Cole, who helped recreate the beer. Pic: Wells & Young's Now, almost two decades after the last regular brew, Courage Imperial Russian Stout has reappeared thanks to Wells & Young’s. The enterprising new national struck a deal in 2007 to take over the production and marketing of the Courage brands from their then owner, Heineken, beginning with the standard and special bitters Courage Best and Director’s. In 2011 W&Y gained complete control of the brands and celebrated in splendid fashion in May with a new bottling of the historic strong stout, packaged in half pint bottles with red labels that pleasingly recycle elements of the iconic 1970s design.
Of course Young’s, one half of the original 2006 merger that created Courage’s new custodians, was once itself a London porter brewer, though much smaller than Barclay Perkins, and if Imperial Russian had ended up at Young’s historic Wandsworth site it would almost have been like coming home. Sadly that site now lays derelict and the 2011 version was produced at W&Y’s Bedford plant. But there’s a pleasing personal connection, as head brewer Jim Robertson is a former Courage employee who was involved in brewing the stout at Horsleydown in the early 1980s.
It was also noteworthy that W&Y chose to launch the new brew not in London, nor even in the UK, but at September’s Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Colorado, an indication of how the principal market for beers like this has shifted quite a long way west of the Baltic. Very little 2011 Imperial Stout found its way to British customers, and even beer writers and industry figures had to wait till December to get their tasting samples. Next year’s brew is expected to be more widely distributed.
Jim set out to recreate the stout he remembered from the 1980s, with pale, amber and black barley malts and lots of Styrian Goldings hops. Once again the beer is bottle conditioned. Although my sample was tasted relatively young at just over six months, it was already a mightily impressive and indulgent brew.
The beer poured near black, with a thick and creamy beige head. A sweet, caramelly aroma had notes of coffee, rum and raisin, a theme that continued in the rich and thick but sparkling palate, with fine chocolate and developing fruity raisin notes, a treacly sweetness and some biscuity malt. The finish was both drying and warming, with tannic notes and powdery bitter chocolate, swirled with complex esters that revealed late pear-like flavours.
The ageing potential is obvious, and I’m grateful to Wells and Young’s for sending me two bottles so I could stash one away to see what became of it. I also couldn’t resist cracking open one of my few precious remaining bottles of the 1993 John Smith version for comparison. It’ll be difficult to wait 18 years to taste the 2011 again.
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