One could say that Art Larrance set the foundation for Oregon craft beer. In 1985, Larrance co-founded one of the first mircobreweries in Portland, Portland Brewing, and three years later, created and launched the Oregon Brewers Festival, which annually brings in 80,000 people and an estimated $23.2 million dollars to the Portland area as one of the world’s leading craft beer festivals. However, Larrance’s biggest buzz-worthy role with the Oregon craft beer scene might have been his part initiating the brewpub legislation that allowed breweries to brew and serve their own beer on site in the state, an industry of now 153 brewing companies, operating 191 brewing facilities in 62 cities in Oregon. With his Raccoon Lodge & Brew Pub in the Raleigh Hills neighborhood of SW Portland, Larrance also helped to put the Northwest sour ale movement into motion with Cascade Brewing.
Outside of a handful of Northwest necessities (IPA, pale ale, Belgian), Cascade taps a full range of sour ales and rare limited beers from the blender’s cellar, including the Oblique Coffee Black & White Stout. “Close your eyes and taste,” suggests my beertender at the Barrel House last Saturday. A straw-yellow and nearly translucent color filled my taster glass, so I played by the rules, tasting the stout like a judge from “The Voice.” Rich, robust and right in your face with aromas of fresh-roasted coffee, vanilla bean, toasty malt and hints of piney hops, this stout is bigger and badder than it looks, finishing medium-bodied, creamy, bittersweet and sultry.
