May 13th - Quick Pasta and Pints at Green Dragon

I was contacted by a writer who’s looking to write an article on beer judging and the BJCP. She had spoken to a few people in the Oregon Brew Crew who referred her to me. I had agreed to meet her at Green Dragon for a few pints to discuss beer judging. Being essentially a cheap bastard, I decided to eat at home first before I ran over there. I still had a piece of homemade pancetta that I needed to use or freeze so I cubed some of it and sautéed it. As it browned and rendered its fat, I boiled some pasta. When the pancetta was browned I added more garlic and some crushed red chili pepper. I tossed all this with the pasta and a little pasta water to make a sauce. If I hadn’t been so lazy, I would have chopped some parsley and added that as well but I was in a hurry and was feeling lazy. It’s still one of my favorite quick pastas. Since I was going to Green Dragon I didn’t actually drink anything with it.

I got to Green Dragon a few minutes early and looked over their extensive draft selection. It’s a tough place to get a beer because there’re always too many great beers available. I had been told that the Weihenstephen Doppelbock was available last week but it was long gone by the time I got there so I had to settle for a La Chouffe. It’s still one of my favorite beers, although it is a little different on draft. It’s not as carbonated as the bottle conditioned ones but does have the same, slightly hazy golden color and the signature spicy nose from the yeast. It’s also incredibly easy drinking for an 8% alcohol beer. Luckily they only server it in 8 ounce pours. They were having a Meet the Brewer event with the Mia and Pia’s from Klamath Falls, so in addition to their ridiculous line up of great beers they also had four beers from Mia and Pia’s, including their pilsner, which is a wonderful beer. It wasn’t as hoppy as I thought previous batches were, but it’s got a good malt flavors and, because of its slightly subdued hop bitterness is actually a softer style delicious beer. Style-nazis may say it’s closer to Helles than pilsner, but I wasn’t concerned with splitting hairs. It’s a delicious beer and I was happy to have another opportunity to taste it again. The last beer I had was Six Rivers IPA from McKinleyville, CA. One of the bartenders had just been there and recommended it. It’s darker than many IPA’s and had a lot of caramel richness and sweetness. It had a much bigger and richer malt profile than most IPA’s but had the requisite hop bitterness and good citrus hop aromas and flavors. I’d love to taste more of their beers if they come into this area.