Keep Portland Upright

Early August 2014, the wife and I took another trip to the Pacific Northwest.  While there, I made sure to include many stops at breweries, including Upright Brewing. Upright sits in the basement of a brick building on North Broadway in Portland, Oregon.  I was excited to visit this small scale brewery, as the others that we visited on that trip were larger in scale and more brewpub than brewery.  The focus of Upright Brewing is on French and Belgian styles of beer with a Pacific Northwest twist of using local ingredients and slightly more hops in some of the beers than is traditional to the styles brewed.

The only signage visible from the road.

The wife and I walked up to a seemingly closed building, but were assured by the sandwich board that they were in fact open.  We made our way to the basement and down a hallway to discover this gem of a brewery.  When we walked in, we were right in the middle of the small brewing facilities and surrounded by barrels of aging beer.  I gazed in awe at the barrels and shiny stainless steel and thought to myself that something this size could just about work in the garage of a certain homebrewer... wishful thinking on my behalf.

Ooh, shiny!  Ah, barrels!

We got ourselves a sampler and sat at one of the few communal tables and enjoyed each and every taste.  I did not take any notes that day, all I have is a fond recollection of very tasty saisons.  We did, however, adopt a couple bottles of their brew to bring home and love and care for and call George.  I opened one of these bottles recently and shared it with the wife, my fond recollections were justified.  A very tasty saison indeed.

Behold, beautiful beer

Tasting Notes:

- Five is a beautiful beer that you may fall in love with at first whiff.  Its aroma brings to the imagination a nectarine cobbler.  This aroma is balanced with a subtle spiciness that is quite alluring.  The appearance of Five is like apricot preserves topped with a thick, bright white cream.  The head was sticky and formed a patch work of lace down the glass as I slowly sipped.  The aroma carried in the luscious flavors of nectarine and passion fruit to the pallet, this was offset by a lingering, spicy hop characteristic.  It has a smoothness that fills your mouth and then breaks into an effervescence that is tongue coating and mouth watering.

I was impressed by the beers from Upright Brewing and I'm very glad that I adopted a couple bottles.  I'd be more glad if only I had purchased more.  The brewery was comfortable, with light music fading into mixed conversations; this is the kind of place I could sit for hours and would love to the next time I visit Portland.


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Cheers!