EUGENE, OREGON
At the outskirts of the most liberal municipality in America, NINKASI BREWING COMPANY thrives at a remodeled Eugene plumbing store since 2006. Formerly located in neighboring Springfield, which currently houses Hop Valley Brewery, this bottling and keg plant in the industrial Willamette Valley also features a very sanitary 18-stool tasting room for the general public, perused December ‘09.
Lively grapefruit peel-embittered, currant-spiced, grassy-hopped, maize-muted Matt’s Autumn Wheat draped orange-tangerine tang over slight metallic astringency. Dry hop-spiced orange-yellow-fruited currant-juniper-embittered Quantum Pale Ale gained floral black tea backdrop. Lighter-than-most, Total Domination IPA worked polite piney grapefruit-orange peel bittering into corn-dried floral spicing and latent mango-apricot-pineapple tropicalia. Roasted oats-flaked Oatis Oatmeal Ale secured black chocolate-cappuccino-espresso triumvirate with tannic grape, walnut, and molasses illusions. Sullen fig-date-soured bock-light Sleighor Double Dark Alt lacked wintry seasoning.