Age Before Beauty
Written: Aug 15 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Outstanding IPA, smart staff, super equipment, great prospects.
Cons: The reek from the fishmeal plant can gag you sometimes if you're outside.
The Bottom Line: A must. If you're in Portland for beer and miss this, you're an idiot. Sorry, but it's true.
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| beerfly's Full Review: Bridgeport Brewing Company |
Let's talk hoppy beer for a minute.
Some folks want a screaming mouthful of lupulin, resins clinging to their teeth. This is without subtlety or grace. Some folks are scared of truly hoppy beers. This is without a proper amount of spleen. Some long for -- and rarely find -- a beer that is firmly hoppy, confidently hoppy, in the way that a working blacksmith is strong. BridgePort makes an IPA like that blacksmith.
The IPA (India Pale Ale, a bigger, hoppier version of pale ale) is this brewery's reason for being. It may not have begun that way, but that's what it has become. Blue Heron Bitter is good, Old Knucklehead is great stuff, a barleywine where the yeast character really comes through, but the IPA is it.
As it should be. After all, this is the Pacific NorthWest, the Republic of Cascadia, hop country, where the beers are bitter and the people are hoppy--I mean, happy. It is The Land of The IPA. And BridgePort makes one of the best.
That's not just my opinion, either. Back in the river-side corner of the brewpub you'll find a... well, a shrine where The Award is displayed. BridgePort IPA won top honors at the Brewing Industry International Awards in 2001. Before you wonder about the value of that, the BIIA is sponsored by the British Brewers Guild and has been around since 1886. They are the top brewing award in the world. And BridgePort IPA was chosen as the best "International Ale" in the field.
They're proud of that, and they should be. But there's more to be proud of. BridgePort has a very technically advanced brewery (and it's getting better all the time; plans were just announced for a doubling of capacity) and is crazy about the quality of their beer. Their parent company, Gambrinus, is very serious about brewing perfection (see my review of their other facility, the Shiner brewery http://www.epinions.com/fddk-review-3690-29C9A4B7-3A0507D1-prod3). Karl Ockert, BridgePort's brewmaster, told me about the technical papers he and some of his staff were working on for brewing science journals. These guys are hardcore.
You can see that at the bar. You've got the taps, right, and the brewery-view window behind the bar, which is standard brewpub fare, and the bartender who was knowledgeable and had a free hand with tasting samples. But you've also got handpumps for cask-conditioned ale, more than just one (ahhh, I can't recall exactly how many, I think it was four. Sorry.), and that's the hot ticket.
I was there with 8 or 9 old friends I'd just met (upcoming review on Portland and the Oregon Brewers Festival!), and while we sampled almost everything, a good half of the pitchers we purchased were the cask IPA (I'll be rewriting my rather lukewarm BridgePort IPA review shortly, believe me). Cask, when done right, is just better beer, softly carbonated and full of flavor, and this stuff was dead on the mark.
I've heard people complain about the concrete floor at BridgePort, about the plain brick walls, the sparse decor. It's an old rope works, built of brick and now wonderfully, greenly covered with creepers outside, but still, it's factory space. Plain, though, sparse? I prefer to think of it as attractively spartan. When the sun goes down and the softer lighting comes up, the crowds make for a warmly inviting place with the subdued roar of conversation. It almost seems to glow with beer energy.
And yes, there are crowds. This is a very popular place, and with the new streetcar stop right out front (for Portland's new Czech-made streetcars, made in Pilsen, appropriately) it will only get more so. Best of all, you can actually have conversations without being drowned out by loud music.
Food? Well, it's pizza, and it's that Left Coast stuff, all covered in goat cheese and whole cloves of garlic, but... Anyway, I'd say get the sausage sandwich or the 'rustic sandwich,' but some people like that kind of pizza. I guess.
I also spent some time out on the 'porch,' a converted loading dock that is now dotted with tables. It was a nice night, and we were happy out there, watching the pretty streetcars go by and getting in someone's wedding pictures. But that's where I also ran into the only thing I didn't like about BridgePort (well, other than the Porter, which didn't really knock me out): the fishmeal plant in the next block gets a little whiffy sometimes! I was told it's not the prevailing wind, which helps.
BridgePort has three main attractions for me. I've already talked about the beer and the atmosphere, the third part is the history. BridgePort is the oldest craft brewer in Oregon, started in 1984, which makes it one of the oldest craft brewers anywhere. They're still in the same building, though they've expanded to take over most of the block now. Karl Ockert was the first brewer; he's still here. They've seen a lot, and they're still here, and growing.
I talked to Karl at length, and it was an education. "In 1987," he said, "we could put out anything, and it sold. There there was a glut in the 1990s. Now it's consolidating, both brands and lines, and that will continue." What are BridgePort's plans for expansion? Ockert recalls something Jim Koch said in the mid-90s: "If you're not Sam Adams, stay home." "At first I thought that was arrogant," Ockert said, "but now I know it's good advice. It's tough to be national, so we'll work our backyard."
Lucky Oregon, lucky Portland. Wish I had a backyard like that.
Recommended:
Yes
Brewery Name: BridgePort Brewing Co.
Date Visited: July 2001
Tours Offered: Yes
Tasting cost, per person: $4/tray
Brewery Rating: Something special
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Epinions.com ID:
beerfly
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Member: Lew Bryson
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Reviews written: 88
Trusted by: 82 members
About Me:
One bourbon, one Scotch, one beer, eh? I'll take Kentucky Spirit, Scapa, and HopDevil.
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