EYELUVBEER: Hoops and Hops at Portland's Rose Garden

The Hoops for the Trailblazer/Wizard game Tuesday night were a disappointment, but the Hops prior to the game were a hit. It all began at Bridgetown Beerhouse around 4pm. We were told that Pliny The Younger was going to be draft and hiding out behind the bar, but from the looks of the place, the secret had spread fast. Mike, one of the owners, was making pour after pour for the thirsty line of Pliny lovers. It wasn’t long before Mike said “that’s it”, meaning the keg was spent. Fortunately, we were able to have one snifter type glass of the famed, rare Younger version of the Elder. It was delightful.

Thirsty for the Pliny

One happy camper

Our next stop was the main event. Hoops and Hops at the Rose Garden. My wonderful sweetheart surprised me this Valentine’s Day with tickets to this pre-game tasting series. I think we were both a little skeptical going in, but that all changed once we saw the variety of beers and breweries being represented. Some of the bigger players were there, like Widmer, Hopworks, Blue Moon and Ninkasi, but the event also featured some of the smaller guys, such as Breakside and Amnesia. Another appealing aspect of Hoops and Hops was seeing several brewer’s, owner’s and beverage representative on hand to answer questions about their product. We had a nice conversation with Blue Moon’s rep about an upcoming small batch series named Vintage Blond Ale that they had on hand. It was certainly interesting. It combined beer and chardonnay wine. We thought it tasted similar to sparkling wine and would pair well with a warm, summer day. Blue Moon is also releasing a red wine version of this unique blend.

The official tasting room

Blue Moon's beer and chardonnay beverage

There were two other beers at the event that neither of us had tried before. One was a spiced IPA from Widmer’s Rotator series, a beer brewed with malty assam black tea, ginger, cinnamon, clove, star anise, black pepper, and cardamom. It was definitely one of a kind, like Blue Moon’s Vintage Blond Ale. We enjoyed our 4oz. taster. The second beer that was new to us, was Laurelwood’s Espresso Stout; a beer that was collaboration with Portland Roasting Company. This Stout was the ultimate beer coffee, or coffee beer mix. It was rich, full of flavor and smelled amazing. Juan Valdez would certainly give this 5 stars.

7 pm rolled around fast. We still had a few tasting tics left in our pockets that didn’t want to go unused. We traded them in for a pint of Laurelwood Gearhead IPA. After making quick work of the IPAs we headed across the commons to the Rose Garden for some Trailblazer action, which turned out to be inaction. We lost what should’ve been an easy win. Even though Batum had a great game, I read he said that the loss to the Wizards “maybe the worst game we’ve played this year”. Agreed. It was nice to see Batum start though. LA’s ankle roll was unfortunate and I hope he returns as soon as possible, but I think the team could have carried this game without him.

There are still three more Hoops and Hops series left. If you like the two B’s (beers and basketball) then you should definitely attend. You can find more information here: http://www.nba.com/blazers/tickets/packages.html

Let’s hope our Blazers get back the spunk they had when the season started. I think they can do it!

Some more photos from the evening