Curing The Portland Blues With Roots Brews

I’ll be the first to admit that I have yet to jump on the organic food bandwagon. If you are like me, your idea of an organic meal is adding some fresh onions to your hot dog. But once you taste the beer at Roots Brewing Company you may begin to see the value in the organic movement.

Roots (1520 SE 7^th, www.rootsorganicbrewing.com) opened as Oregon’s first completely organic brewery in 2005. They brew the standard lineup of Portland’s favorite ales, including the crisp, clean Roots Pale Ale, the generously hopped Woody IPA and their Exxxcalibur Imperial Stout, a strong and smoky coffee-lovers dream. But their beer menu also offers a couple of pleasant surprises.

Burghead Heather Ale utilizes heather tips for bittering rather than the traditional hops. The result is a very light and distinctive ale that will challenge your traditional ideas about light ales and the value of perennial shrubs. The Roots Island Red was also a bit unusual. A large number of Oregon reds offer the standard medium-bodied, mellow flavor profile. Island Red is bigger and bolder in all the right ways. Maltier and hoppier than most reds, this beer has a solid, bitter finish and a fuller body than I was expecting. Definitely worth your pint money. Also available in 22 ounce bottles for the bus ride home.

The real fun starts in the seasonal section of the Roots beer menu. The Festivus Winter Ale is an excellent example of the strong, hoppy winter ales that we Portlanders need to slog our way through the incessant winter rain. But the real cure for any beer lover’s seasonal depression is a big, strong, kick-you-in-the-teeth barleywine. While the guy pouring the beer (Craig Nicholls, brewer and co-founder of Roots, how cool is that?) insisted that Roots Epic Ale is a strong English Ale, I am confident enough in my ignorance to still describe this brew as a barleywine style ale. From the initial, almost overwhelming sweet maltiness to the warming effect of the 14% alcohol content, Epic Ale dares you drink more than one. And dare you should, as this is one of the most drinkable extra-strong ales I have ever encountered. The brewing process includes hand smoking the malt over Glenlivet-soaked cherry wood, and I believe, although I was not able to confirm this, the use of Leprechaun laborers. While my glass of Epic Ale was likely drawn from the last keg, a few magnum bottles are still available.

Rotating artwork, live music Thursday through Saturday and, most importantly, delicious beer make Roots Brewing Company a can’t-miss destination for any self-respecting beer explorer.

Article By Jason Miller, Hophead