Eve of the Eve of the Eve of the Eve

Treats

Ramesses - Cult Of Cyclops
Dio - Don't Talk To Strangers
Lair of the Minotaur - Blood From the Witch's Vein
Miles Davis - Madness
Solace - The Skull of the Head of a Man
Bonnie Prince Billy - Death To Everyone
Blue Öyster Cult - (Don't Fear) The Reaper
Hooded Menace - Theme from Return of the Evil Dead
Sourvein - Burial
King Crimson - The Court Of The Crimson King
Evil Army - Friday the 13th 
The Ghost - When You're Dead

Autumn in Fremont

Cowiche Canyon Organic Fresh Hop Ale - Fremont Brewing Company

Not only is it pumpkin season it's also fresh hop season.

What better place to get fresh hops then the Evergreen state.

Washington provides over 75% of hops to the good ole USA.


Fremont teamed up with local hop farmers to experiment with new organic hop growing methods.

Gushing citrus with bubbling mango, ripened apricot, and peach eruptions.  Fresh pineapple chunks and a clean bitter finish.  Hands down one of the best beers on this planet. 6%.

Delicious and detoxifying.

Blackened

Sunday was meant for cooking.

Dreary, chilly Fall mornings call for blackened food to warm the home and soul.

Local ingredients, loud music, and ale required.

Pumpkineater - Howe Sound Brewing

Howe Sound Brewing and the first victim of gourd chopping season.

Smooth whipped cinnamon carved out with liquorice cream.

Scraps of ginger biscuit infused with nutmeg spiced seeds. 8.%

7th Annual GPBF Recap

Elysian put on a spectacular, and well planned, pumpkin boozing extravaganza.


From pumpkin ice cream and doughnuts to complimentary carving pumpkins.


Three beers tapped straight from pumpkins and it's not exactly easy to pick a favorite.

But to keep my head from being lopped off I would choose the festival namesake - The Great Pumpkin.

Buttery clove and toasted pumpkin meat. Possibly the best pumpkin beer ever?

Dark o' the Moon was liquid delight that had even more of a cinnamon sugar pie taste after being drained from the massive gourd.

Most Unique:  Coche de Medianoche - Cumin, guajillo chilies, and cayenne with roasted pumpkin seeds.  7.5%.

Best Name:  Saison of the Witch - 120 pounds of roasted Baby Pam pumpkins and fennel fronds.  5.6%.

The Strongest:  Rumpkin - Avery Brewing spiced this perfectly and aged the concoction in Gosling Rum barrels for 6 months. 16%.

The Subtlest:  Kürbitinus Pumpkin Dunkelhefeweizenbock - Bavarian yeast, pumpkin in the mash, kettle, and fermenter. 6.65%.

Craziest Color:  PK-47 Pumpkin Malt Liquor - Corn sugar, yellow #6, and red #4.  This looked like radioactive pumpkin juice.  6.2%.

Most Anticipated:  Pumpkinator - Saint Arnold Brewing came through with an imperial molasses coated pumpkin stout.  One of the best at the festival and from one of the greatest cities. 10%.

Most Surprising:  Great Pumpkin Ale - Cambridge Brewing had the other "GP."  MA grown barley and sugar pumpkins.  4.4%.

Best Non-Spiced:  SasquatchKin Imperial Pumpkin Stout - Black Raven Brewing took away the standard spices and left only Kabocha pumpkins, sugar pie pumpkin, acorn squash, and kuri squash. ? %.

Most Bizzare:  Punk Rauchen - Silver City had a curiously tasting smoked apple wood pumpkin beer that lived up to the ash. 6.3%.

Battle of the Bourbons:  Elliot Bay's PABST (pumpkin and bourbon stout together) coupled organic spices in Heaven Hill bourbon barrels.  9%.  Fremont Brewing's Punk'n B-bomb defiles roasted pumpkin flesh in 20 year old bourbon barrels.  9%.  The winner? Whoever consumed either.

Plenty of others that deserve mention.  After two days I noticed I had a stem growing from my head.

EVE

Toasted chocolate mint cracker and ginger pudding aromas.

Cinnamon coals and cracked nutmeg dipped jack-o-lantern.

Whipped morning glory seed and creamy toffee finish. 7.8%.


T.R.E.A.T. starts what will be a pumpkin possessed weekend.

I've trained for this by eating pumpkin seeds and drinking water.

Punkin Ale - Dogfish Head Craft Brewery

Resurrected in '94 by a fiendish Northeastern alchemist.

Caramel coated pumpkin flesh with crusted cinnamon stitching.

Bolts of brown sugar sewed in a patchwork of whipped vanilla and electrified nutmeg. 7%.

Halloween III: Complete Original Motion Picture Score (1982)

Halloween III: Season of the Witch is a movie watching tradition.

Those with discerning tastes recognize it's superiority in the series as Tom Atkins leads the charge.


John Carpenter and Alan Howarth improvised this eerie score and recorded live to tape while watching the movie.

25 peculiarly minimalistic tracks that harvest Samhainian warmth and full moon soundscapes.  Deranged meditative atmosphere that fills the mind with maize, melted pumpkin, and menace.

                            9 more days till Pumpkinfest...

Happy 201st Birthday Mexico

                                           El Grito

Cascade Brewing Barrel House

Cascade Brewing Barrel House is one of the best places in Portland.  First class sours, gentlemanly service, and relaxing vibe.

Some beer's are to perfect to remember.

Apple Pie - "NW style sour blond ale initially aged for 6 months in oak, then aged on Granny Smith apples for another 2 months.  Blended with vintage apple beer and aged with Bourbon vanilla bean and Granada cinnamon."

Sang Royal - "Sang Royal is NW Style Sour Red Ale that spends over 6 months of lactic fermentation and aging in oak wine barrels. Sang Royal is from select stock that is matured an additional 6 months in Port barrels and refermented on Bing Cherries."


Kriek - "Kriek spends over 6 months in lactic fermentation and aging in oak barrels. This NW style sour red ale is fermented for 8 months with fresh whole Bing and sour pie cherries."

Nightfall - "Nightfall Blackberry starts as a soured blonde wheat beer aged for 12 months in oak barrels, then laid on blackberries for another 6 months."

The Stoic - Deschutes Brewery

The Stoic is a rye laced homage to the quad.

Spiced apple with ripened cranberry and cloven raisin cream.

Thin molasses coated banana with vinous and oaken peach bubbles. 11%.

Ate so many shrimp I got iodine poisoning.

Yawning Man - Rock Formations (2005)

Yawning Man is in my top 10 of the decade.

Instrumental music that makes your mind wipe out against a cosmic wave of mellowed haze.

1. Rock Formations
2. Perpetual Oyster
3. Stoney Lonesome
4. Split Tooth Thunder
5. Sonny Bono Memorial Freeway
6. Airport Boulevard
7. Advanced Darkness
8. She Scares Me
9. Crater Lake
10. Buffalo Chips 

Brains become blistered in a beach blanket blackjack of beered, bar-b-qued, and baked bliss.

Victorinox - Bantam

           Is there anything a knife or bottle opener can't do?

Happy Labor Day

Voo Doo is heaps of chocolate-coffee-coconut relics possessed with a pin prickle finish. 8.5%.

Howlin' Wolf is frothing lycanthropic hallowed blues and Gustav Holst is a civilized sci-fi soundtrack for the time travelled alchonaut.

San Clemente is where I discovered fish tacos, landed pier side kickflips, & celebrated the Millennium.

Won't You Take Me Back to Muhlenberg County

Lips Of Faith Kick - New Belgium Brewing + Elysian Brewery

NB+Elysian = Cranpumpkinberry.

Stabbing cinnamon cider with peppered green apples.

Chainsawing cherry tartness dulled in an oak cauldron of vanilla frosting, pumpkin marrow, and sunshine.

                              Lemon rind hay fire. 8.5%. 

       *On tap @ Elysian Tangletown 09/28/11.  One of the best pumpkin beers I've had.

Halloween Movie Round-Up 2011

A mortifying 2 month movie marathon of the macabre, maniacal, and maddening manifests! 2009, 2010. 

The Evil Dead (1981): 10/10
Big Trouble in Little China (1986): 10/10
The Return of Living Dead (1985): 10/10
The Fog (1980): 9.5/10
Madhouse (1974): 9/10
Mad Monster Party? (1967): 9/10
In the Mouth of Madness (1994): 9/10
The Comedy of Terrors (1963): 9/10
Waxwork (1988): 9/10
Poltergeist II (1986): 9/10
Trollhunter (201): 9/10
Phantasm II (1988): 8.5/10
Pinocchio's Revenge (1996): 8.5/10
Puppetmaster (1989): 8/10
Mulberry Street (2006): 8/10
Jason X (2001): 8/10
The Fat Albert Halloween Special (1977): 8/10
Santa's Slay (2005): 8/10

The Violent Kind (2010): 7.5/10
Blood River (2009): 7.5/10
Cropsey (2009): 7/10
Evil Ed (1995): 7/10
Parasomnia (2008): 7/10
The Perfect Host (2010): 7/10
Hobo with a Shotgun (2011): 7/10
Shredder (2003): 7/10
The Horde (2009): 7/10
The Walking Dead (2010): 6.5/10
The Ward (2010): 6.5/10
Death Machine (1994): 6.5/10
Scooby-Doo! Camp Scare (2010): 6.5/10
Office Killer (1997): 6/10
Chain Letter (2010): 6/10
Ripper (2001): 6/10
Red State (2011): 6/10
Mask Maker (2010): 5.5/10
Somebody Help Me 2 (2010): 5/10
A Severed Arm (1973): 5/10
Halloween: Resurrection (2002): 5/10
Fright Flick (2011): 5/10

Organic Pale Ale - Laurelwood Public House & Brewery

Laurelwood Brewing Company is Portland's 1st certified organic brewery.

Creamed Flowered hops with lightened grapefruit and honey shine. 5.1%.

You know who could use a bunch of beer? Sheriff Joe.

Happy National Knife Day

                                     Victorinox - Cadet

It's That Time of Year, Finally

The best time of year is upon us and the only way to kick it off properly is with the first of many Elysian Night Owl's.

Pumpkin pie with a burnt nutmeg crust.  Creamy ginger with a cinnamon coated hops finish.  5.9%.

Goatwhore from the second best gulf coast state, Louisiana, has Sammy from Acid Bath.

Their debut is a great start to the millennium with riffs by one of the best guitarists ever and vocals by one of the most underrated.

The clock is ticking, it's almost time.  1,698 hrs until Halloween.

 

Invert the Feline.

 RIP Nikon Camera From 2007.  Welcome New Fuji.

Theobroma - Dogfish Head Craft Brewery (2011)

First tried this beer, in a foggy 12/26/10 celebration, courtesy of Matt.

Musky caramel with smoked vanilla honey.  Halloween-esque candy chilie corn & subtle earthy spice.  Fire roasted cocoa pods. 9%.

I can't appreciate molecular archeology.

Salmon + Small Stone, Part III of III

Lo Pan's, 2011, Salvador feels like riding shotgun in a Trans Am while doing doughnuts in a Stop-N-Go parking lot during a head knotted summer night.

Catchy, billowing, vaporous vocals & riffs.  Breaks 6.9 on the Richter Scales.

Mustard seed coated salmon baked and pan seared with asparagus, tomato, olive oil, and IPA with a side of cajun buttered corn.

Avery Brewing Company is one of my top non-WA breweries.

Their IPA is layered with citrus coated vanilla.  Juicy fruits punch your mouth and warm into buttery caramel. 6.5%.

It's all in the reflexes.

Homefront IPA - Fremont Brewing Company

Seattle's Mariners Chris Ray teamed up with Fremont Brewing to brew beer aged with bats donated by Louisville Slugger and with the goal of raising money for Operation Homefront.

Why hasn't ESPN picked up this story?

Tough to describe the awesomeness of an IPA soaked in maple baseball bats.

Burnt citrus with an almond finish. 6.25%.

Solid beer for an equally solid cause.  Stock up on these bottles while you can.

Cheers

In the Garden....

19.8%?

McGwire thrown under the bus, yet again. Jeff Bagwell not in on his first go.  MLB and the BBWAA suck.

                               Forearm curls please Crom.

Howe Sound Brewing Company - Three Beavers Imperial Red Ale

My first ever beer from our friendly neighbors to the north:  Howe Sound Inn & Brewing Company. 

Pumpkineater is my number one beer to try this coming fall and hopefully I see more their beers around these parts.

Plumped floral aromas spiced with heaps of pepper coated candies.  Malty sweetness with a touch of tangerine.  Drinks effortlessly. 7.5%.

Pardon the picture, my pupils are dilated.

Salmon + Small Stone, Part II of III

The Glasspack's 2002, Small Stone Recordings release, Powderkeg riding shotgun with blackened salmon.

This requires heavy spice & high heat cooking resulting in citrus haze, disorientation, and removing your smoke detector's battery.

Powderkeg is high octane rock perfect for cast iron exhaust.

Snoqualmie Falls Brewing Company Plant 1 Powerhouse IPA is a peppery orange tang and lemon bread sweetness.  Named for the world's first completely underground power plant.  7.5%.

Save Ghostwood from that dastardly Ben Horne.

Salmon + Small Stone, Part I of III

Small Stone Recordings is from Michigan and put out an array of awesome rock releases that go well with beer, summer, and salmon.

First off with a mushroom, cheddar, salmon omelette is Valis's Dark Matter.

Sounds like the bass player from one of the late 80's / early 90's best bands took a time machine back to the 70's and ate an omelette with those funny mushrooms.

Odin Brewing Company, like Valis, is from the fine state of WA.

A junipeppery red ale with a caramelized honey and nutty roast finish.  5.4%.

'New' Screaming Trees out on Aug. 2nd?