On a lovely Saturday in August, we folded up our Bike Fridays, tossed them in the Volt, and headed south for our second Bike & Brew tour in Eugene. Knowing we had to visit 11 more pubs in the last two and a half months, we planned a day out with two pubs on the docket and a dozen or so miles in between, to help burn off the calories.
First up was Oakshire Brewing, one of Eugene's middle generation breweries, having opened in 2006. Frankly, I've not been too drawn to Oakshire's bottled products, as they tend towards the high-hop (IPAs and Ill-Tempered Gnome) or intense (Espresso Stout). But after being blown away by the excellent beers we tried on our pleasant mid-day visit, I may have to recalibrate my attitude.
We got a flight of a few sours and fairly normal beers: Sun Made Cucumber Sour, Tmavé Pivo (a Czech Dark Lager), Amber Ale, and No Ghosts, an American sour ale finished on tangerine puree and orange juice.
But the true standout was Chocolate Symphony, an Imperial Pastry Stout with coffee, vanilla beans, and "chocolate ten ways," including finishing on two of Sweet Life Patisserie's Chocolate Symphony cakes! (They poured the fermenting beer over the cakes and let it literally soak up the flavor.) The blend and balance of flavors was incredible! Very sweet, obviously, but balanced by the bitterness of the coffee. And amazingly, it went very well with the cucumber sour from the flight, cutting the sweet intensity of the Chocolate Symphony and acting as a palate cleanser.
We liked it so much we swung by at the end of our trip and bought two cans of Symphony, along with two sour 6-packs to drink with them. Then, as we considered how special it was, and how it was likely to go away all too soon, we asked our friends Vicki and Mike to buy us another six cans of Symphony a few weeks later. We think it will be a great wintertime beer to share with friends.
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