My Top 5 of 2009

As the year comes to a close and many are sharing their Top 5 Lists, I thought it would be appropriate for me to do the same as my first post for The Daily Pull.  I've lived in Portland for four months.  In my short time here I've spent a lot of my spare time visiting the seemingly endless number of local breweries, beer bars, and bottle shops - talking with people about their favorites and asking for recommendations - trying to get a handle on all that's available here in the Pacific Northwest.

I moved to Portland from Chicago in August.  By comparison, Chicago has an extremely limited number of local microbreweries (there were only a couple in the city when I moved here, and I heard that another opened this fall).  Because of the limited local selection, we were left to seek out beers brewed elsewhere.  And while that may not sound so bad, beer distribution issues in Chicago and Illinois served as another barrier to getting our hands on the quality and variety we were looking for (the most well-known case is Bell's Brewery's - see 'availability').  The move to Portland completely changed this.

I've included my Top 5 beers of 2009 below.  These are all beers I first tried after moving to Portland, and I've opted to only include beers brewed in Oregon as part of my list for this year.

Barley Brown's WTF IPA

Barley Brown's WTF IPA is my most memorable beer of the year.  Some may think it's over the top with hops, but I couldn't get enough of it.  As Brewpublic suggested in its post about the brewery last month, Barley Brown's may be 'Oregon's Most Extreme Brewer."  While I wish this one was more widely available, I'm looking forward to drinking more beers from Barley Brown's in the coming year.

Double Mountain IRA

Double Mountain India Red Ale is a unique beer, described by the brewery as one that "marries a ruby red color and rich body with the hop flavors of in IPA."  I was introduced to the IRA by a friend who insisted I try it after seeing it on tap at a bar in our neighborhood; the beer lived up to his excitement.  I'm jealous of those that drank the IRB that Double Mountain put out about this time last year.

Heater Allen Schwarz

Before having this beer from Heater Allen, I can't say that I've ever had a Schwarz beer before.  Shortly after I moved to Portland, I asked the guys at Belmont Station for some recommendations - this was one of them.  I typically favor ales over lagers, so I was a bit reluctant with this one - but I was pleasantly surprised by its dark color, smokiness, and overall drinkability.  I agree with the description of the beer on Heater Allen's website "it's really good."

HUB Fest of Fury

HUB's Biketobeerfest was my favorite beer event that we attended in 2009.  Before the official release on September 30th, we were able to try HUB's Fest of Fury at the bike fest, and it was a standout with us (in part because it reminded us of Goose Island's Harvest, one of our favorites from Chicago).  It's an organic, salmon safe, wet-hopped beer that's perfect for fall.

Deschutes Brewery The Abyss

I've heard people talk about The Abyss, so I made a point to try it on draft when it became available.  Deschutes describes the imperial stout as 'alluring' and 'mysterious', and while vague, I think these are good words to describe the beer.  It's certainly strong and thick - but not overpowering (even at 11%).  I'll be looking forward to a bottle of aged 2009 around this time next year.

With so many choices, it's difficult to limit the list to five favorites.  I feel like I've barely scratched the surface in terms of what's available in Portland - let alone in the entire Pacific Northwest.  I'm looking forward to using The Daily Pull as means to document and share my experiences with beer, breweries, brewers and beer drinkers - and I'm sure that making a Top 5 list this time next year will be much more difficult.

With that, I'm looking forward to a great year ahead.  As I drink my way through other peoples' Top 5 lists from 2009, please feel free to share your favorites or other recommendations with me via comments here or through email.