Redbones' Northwest Beer Dinner

After years of broken promises to attend this event, we finally got around to booking seats at the thirteenth edition of Redbones' Northwest Beer Dinner.

We're not able to compare with previous years, but this was a fun opportunity to try some unfamiliar beers from a selection of Washington and Oregon breweries. While they serve Northwest brews for several weeks around the time of the dinners, they reserve some of the best kegs for the event itself, and according to some of the speakers, we were drinking, in some cases, seasonal brews no longer available anywhere else.

The full selection of beers was as follows, roughly in order of serving:

Pyramid Broken Rake Amber
Pyramid Thunderhead IPA
Pyramid Imperial Hefeweizen
Elysian Immortal IPA
Big Time Firecracker
Rogue Chocolate Stout
Elysian Dragon's Tooth Oatmeal Stout

The event takes place downstairs in Redbones, and we were seated with strangers since we didn't have enough people for a full table; the beer inevitably made this very convivial.
The beers were served at the table, and while there were occasional hiccups as to what exactly we were drinking at any given time, in the end we did sample all seven options. The food was regular Redbones fare, or at least those items they chose to serve on the buffet line, but was generally very tasty. Interspersed with the food and beer, we had brief talks by some of the visiting brewers; these were a little dry to start, but the final two were more entertaining (though they all spent too much time talking about the wonderful Northeastern brewing tradition!).

Later in the evening, one of the owners asked trivia questions in exchange for (many) prizes, although she seemed more interested in heckling than in actually asking questions (we can't complain: we had quite a haul of loot).

As for the beers, based on my quick survey, the Amber, the Immortal IPA and the Chocolate Stout were our three picks of the night; the Amber was a great, drinkable, malty-hoppy start to the evening, while the IPA was on the drinkably hoppy side. The Chocolate Stout really had a rich chocolately aroma and taste, which made it dangerously consumable, in a good way.

By contrast, we weren't huge fans of the Imperial Hefeweizen, which might have really been a Weizenbock, though there wasn't much clarity on that point.

We were agreed that these smaller beer events are starting to become our preferred method of encountering interesting new beers, or locally unusual brews.

Smuttynose Wheat Wine Ale

Rating: 2.5

Smuttynose Brewing Co., Portsmouth, NH

Style: Barleywine

ABV: 11.0%

1 pint 6 fl oz bottle

Part of Smuttynose's "Big Beer" series, this entry is brewed with 53% wheat and 47% barley. It pours with a modest head (one finger width), and has a deep amber color. The aroma is fruity, and reminded us of Cambridge Brewing Company's Arquebus Summer Barleywine, though this one was a little sweeter-smelling. We couldn't detect any hint of wheat on the nose, and the same was true for the taste: with an 11% alcohol content, this is very solid barleywine, with a slightly syrupy quality. It's an enjoyable sipping beer, but perhaps not quite as distinctive as the label implied. Or, rather, not as distinctive on the palate as it was in the production process, but that may be our fault for expecting a beer with a hefty alcohol content to be subtle!