PORTLAND, OREGON
In Portland’s historic northwest Mississippi District within walking distance to Widmer Brauhaus, AMNESIA BREWERY occupies a freestanding converted warehouse with old cement floors, exposed pipes, and covered side deck (with picnic benches). Its aluminum-sided green-walled interior had tickers, posters, and pictures strewn about.
The atmosphere was laid-back this early December ’09 afternoon and brewer Kevin King’s delectable brews were tried alongside a meaty burger (smoked sausages are also available).
As I entered Amnesia, famed Rogue brewer, John Maier, and his wife, were seated at the rustic 10-seat bar. A pleasant coincidental surprise, indeed, since I’d met the awesome brew-some twosome originally in Newport, Oregon when my wife and I stayed at one of Rogue Brewery’s cozy loft suites. We had a few laughs as I downed a few beer samples and then took off for Seattle to catch a plane home to Jersey.
On this cold clear-skied autumnal day, I quaffed six well-integrated brews, starting with cherrywood-smoked chocolate-spiced fig-dried chipotle-peppered resin-hopped Chimney Diver Red Ale.
Rich macadamia-hazelnut-doused pecan-buttered mocha-malted English Brown Ale, The Big Newton, was nearly as good as hop-charred espresso-roasted caramel-chocolate-malted cookie dough-centered walnut-toasted coffee-finishing Slow Train Porter.
Black chocolate-y fruit-dried pecan-sugared tobacco-roasted Sleighjerker Winter Ale tingled tongue with sweet wintry spices. Dry pine-hopped, perfume-spiced, lemon rind-embittered, apricot-apple-insured Desolation IPA may’ve bettered woodier, spicier Copacetic IPA, with its resinous Chinook-Amarillo hops, juniper-currant-grapefruit bittering, and floral heather-honeysuckle-lilac lilt.
phone number: 503 281 7708