By Amy Tindell

Quick: I’m in Portland, Oregon, with exactly one hour to find amazing beer before I meet up with my friend (who will then guide me to more amazing beer and other Portland delights). Crowd-sourcing directs me to Bailey’s Taproom. Conveniently, I happen to be 3 blocks away. I walk (through the rain, of course, since I’m in Oregon), and am the second patron to sit at the bar and peer up at the very detailed beer menu. It is, after all, 2 pm on a Sunday.

Bailey’s features 24 rotating taps, along with about 100 bottled beers, with focus on Oregon and West Coast breweries. The centerpiece of the Taproom is the DigitalPour menu. DigitalPour, also located in Portland, provides a “real-time beer dashboard” that patrons can inspect for information about which beers are on tap and what they can expect from each beer. It shows information about the beer name, style, brewery location, alcohol content and bitterness (in IBUs). Patrons can get also an idea of the color the beer will be, what type and size glassware it will be served in, and its price. Further, interested enthusiasts can prioritize their consumption by noting whether a keg has just been tapped, how much beer remains in the keg, and what beer might be tapped next. For those real attention-seekers, DigitalPour even allows for social media integration.

DigitalPour also offers helpful interactive analytic reports to its clients that reflect how each beer performs in terms of how long the beer remains on tap, its average income, and its average profits over time tapped. In this way, bar managers can understand which beers sell best and how each type of beer contributes to their overall profits.
With the help of DigitalPour and the friendly bartender, I select a flight of Oregon (+ 1 Alaskan) beers, from Laurelwood (Portland), Base Camp (Portland), Flat Tail (Corvallis), Burnside (Portland), Awesome Ales (Silverton), and Alaskan (Juneau) breweries.

A sucker for a good Alt, I start with an imperial one: Base Camp’s Ctrl Alt Delete, which pours a hazy copper color with a malty, grassy nose. A true Alt, the flavor hits the tongue as quite malty and grainy, with notes of caramel and a bitter finish. The bartender tells me that Base Camp follows a complex fermentation process, first applying its house ale yeast strain to create fruity flavors, and then its house lager yeast strain to generate that clean, smooth finish. I also enjoy Awesome Ales’ Red House, an India Red Ale. Coppery-amber in color, the beer smells somewhat like an orange scone – citrusy and biscuity, with some floral hop notes. As expected, the beer tastes sweet, citrusy, and malty, with some creaminess in the slightly bitter finish. Perhaps unexpected, however, is the taste of Burnside’s Spring Rye,. The nutty flavors created by the rye partner surprisingly well with the spicy fruitiness of the Ultra hops and coriander, all of which taper off into an herbal aftertaste.

With each beer sampled but not completely consumed, it is time for me to surrender to the flight. I have exactly 15 minutes to meet my friend, with a planned stop at Powell’s Books on the way. I don’t know it yet, but our (eventual) destination will be Apizza Scholls, described by locals as the “Pizza Nazi,” which will earn a coveted spot on my beer tourism map. After a very full day, it’s just too bad that neither of us will drink quite enough beer to forget about that naughty midnight visit to Portland’s Voodoo Doughnut.

By Amy Tindell

After dropping off (Great) Aunt Arlene in time for her 5:30pm dinner, my cousin (once removed) Kelly and I decided to squeeze in a visit to 7 Devils Brewing Company before heading back to my grandmother’s house. Both intrigued by the presence of a craft brewery in Coos Bay, Oregon, we were excited to have the opportunity to poke our heads in for a look around.

Named for a state park and recreation area along the coast, 7 Devils Brewing Company specializes in “northwest ales from the southern Oregon coast.” Its co-founders, a husband-and-wife team, share a strong commitment to the restoration and maintenance of crucial environmental and human ecosystems, both locally and abroad. Annie Pollard attended the University of Oregon, studying ecological rehabilitation and conservation, writing her Master’s thesis on marine bird nesting ecology. In her free time, Annie organizes the local Surfrider Foundation chapter and creates art across a variety of media. Carmen Mathews, co-founder, co-brewer, and Annie’s husband, got his start in the beverage industry with Dutch Bros. Coffee and home-brewed for ten years prior to opening 7 Devils. Carmen maintains active involvement in the local community through the Oregon Coast Music Association, Surfrider, and the Coos Bay Parks Commission. They opened the brewery to create a space where “local artists, craftsmen, and entrepreneurs can mingle to create and share sustainable business goals that reflect and celebrate local culture.”

As soon as we walked through the doors, Kelly, who grew up in North Bend/Coos Bay, but currently lives in the Portland area, met someone he knew from childhood. Charmed by the small town encounter, I surveyed the public house, admiring the chalkboard on the right with food and beer menus, the bar on the left facing the taps, and past the bar, through a glass-paned garage-like door, the brewhouse with its high ceilings and shiny tanks.

The bartender explained to us that 7 Devils’ beer is 100% American made, with most ingredients coming from the Pacific Northwest. To gain a full understanding of this local flavor, Kelly and I ordered a flight to share, and since there was not an unoccupied seat in the house, carried it carefully outside to the patio. Neither of us huge hops fans, we found the Advocate pale ale and the Trillium seasonal IPA quite drinkable and balanced. The Advocate featured citrus, floral, and straw flavors, with a mild sweet beginning and slight bitter bite at the finish. Trillium tasted more of pine, with bitter notes throughout, and a slightly sweet ethanol finish.

Our favorites were the Blacklock oat porter and the Arago amber. The porter seemed light for the category, but the signature flavors of roast, malt and coffee came through admirably. Arago poured surprisingly smoothly, first imparting caramel malt flavors, then balancing those sweeter flavors with just the right amount of hop bitterness.

The clear winner selected, we returned to the bar to find two empty seats from which to order our full pints of Arago amber, and to listen to the musician who had materialized on the brewhouse floor in our absence. Across the public house, patrons chatted, tapped their feet to the music, and enjoyed tapas-style plates of poutine, oyster po boys, and honey and cheese sandwiches.

As we finished our pints, we debated whether we should bring back wine or beer to my grandmother’s house. Because Oregon boasts a wealth of excellent options for both beverages, we elected to procure samples of each. Of course, Kelly, the local boy, knew just where in town to find them.