There's nothing like a trip to the Silicon Valley to make you appreciate Portland's pub culture. The intrepid West Coast Good Beer Guide doesn't get any further south in the Bay Area than Burlingame; there are a few brewpubs in the valley, but by and large the most interesting place to pick up local beers turns out to be the grocery store. My best beer experience so far on this trip is that I found a tasty beer from North Coast Brewing that I don't recall seeing in Portland: Cru D'Or, a certified organic Belgian-style ale.
Despite the name, Cru D'Or isn't a golden ale -- pardon my inappropriate hotel plasticware -- it's a darker Abbey ale, like a dubble. It's rather sweet, with that delicious flowery Belgian yeast taste. A winner.
Now that Russian River is even distributed in Oregon, I was hoping to pick some up in the stores here, but I haven't seen any yet. Oh well. Give credit to the Mountain View Whole Foods for stocking the Cru D'Or. BevMo didn't have it [Update: Corey points out that Cru D'Or is a Whole Foods exclusive -- how does he learn these things?!?], but listen to the awesome thing BevMo does have: alphabetical order. That's right, beers are shelved alphabetically by brewery. Why does anyone do it any other way?
Cru D'Or is made specifically for Whole Foods and you can get it at the Whole Foods on East Burnside in PDX. If Russian River is what you want, go to Pasta Works on Hawthorne
ReplyDeletePastaworks? Oh Corey, have mercy on a poor soul exiled from bejeweled Portland!
ReplyDeleteSeriously, that's good to know about Cru D'Or. Also, New Seasons has been sporting some Russian River, though it seems to sell out about as soon as they put it on the shelf.
I'll have to look for this. To my knowledge, North Coast has never made a beer I didn't love.
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