Review: Green Hour from Upright Brewing
Editor’s Note: Today is day eleven in our Twelve Days of Christmas series on Pints and Steins – where we’ll be letting you know about a winter beer every day between now and Christmas Eve.
On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, Green Hour from Upright Brewing!
Upright is one of my favorite Portland breweries, as I used to work in the building they’re housed near downtown (right across from the Rose Garden). Upright brews French Farmhouse styles and is big into complex saisons and other unique ales. If you like French or Belgian beers, Upright might be up your alley.
Green Hour is a fresh hop saison that has hops from the Willamette Valley. This beer starts with more than 100 pounds of fuggle hops picked at the height of the season with Liberty hops from the end of the season. This beer has a fruity and spicy yeast.
Green Hour comes in at 6.1% ABV.
How does it taste?
Green Hour pours a glowing orange, translucent color with a sizeable white head. There’s lacing present as the beer rests in the glass. Your nose picks up on spice, wheat-like scents with a little bit of honey. This saison has a crisp, floral taste due to the use of copious amounts of fresh hops. It’s not overly bitter and there’s no hoppy taste at all.
The aftertaste is dry with an aggressive spicy, pleasing yeast that will fascinate any saison fan. This is a fantastic alternative holiday beer.
Should I buy it?
If you like saison, yes, absolutely buy this beer.
On the “The Early Show on Saturday Morning” on CBS recently, the program highlighted 5 beers. What is absolutely great is that all of the beers highlighted are from the great state of Oregon!
We have a reputation for being nuts about beer and it’s great to see some great Oregon brews put into the national spotlight. Which beers did they choose? They discussed 5 beers from 5 different breweries all around the state, stretching from Portland, to the coast, then all the way inland to Central Oregon (my favorite part of the state).
Here is an excerpt:
Widmer Hefeweizen: A great American version of a German wheat beer. It’s a little tangy, and very refreshing. A great summer beer. I’d pair it with grilled seafood, raw oysters, that sort of thing.
Full Sail Session Lager: The beer world divides its product into lagers and ales; it has to do with the type of yeast used and the brewing process. But an easy rule of thumb is that lagers are like white wine (lighter, crisper), and ales are like red wine (bigger, richer, more powerful). Full Sail makes a great, tasty lager, good with almost anything. Personally, I’d drink it with hot dogs off the grill, but it’s also a classic all-purpose beer: chicken, potato chips, pretzels, you name it.
Deschutes Green Lakes Ale: This is an ale, so it’s richer and darker than the Full Sail Session Lager. What’s especially cool is that it’s made from organic ingredients. Deschutes is based in Bend, Ore., but it has a brewpub in Portland, too. I’d drink this with a hamburger; for me, ales like this are ideal burger wines.
Bridgeport IPA: Another ale; this was a style invented by the British, called India Pale Ale. Hops, one of the ingredients of beer, act as a preservative, so the British made an especially hoppy brew to ship on the long voyage to India. Hops also add flavor-a kind of citrusy, piney, bitter note that’s very pronounced in IPAs. I think they’re great with fried foods — anything from fried shrimp to French fries — the bitterness kind of wakes up your mouth after all that rich fried coating.
Rogue Dead Guy Ale: This is a darker, more intense style of ale (technically, it’s a German style called a Maibock). It’s a bit higher in alcohol — 6.5 percent — with a toasty, malty character and real texture to it. This is my go-to for big, spicy foods: sausages on the grill, barbecued ribs, that kind of thing.
Kudos to these Oregon brewers for churning out great brew and getting some well-deserved recognition!