Review: Green Hour from Upright Brewing

Author: Jason Harris
December 23, 2016

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.

Review: Upright Brewing Supercool IPA

Author: Jason Harris
June 8, 2012

Last week I ventured down to Upright Brewing in Portland and spoke with Alex Ganum, owner of Upright. He introduced me to Supercool IPA as a “straight up IPA”. As a huge India Pale Ale fan, that’s all I needed to hear. 🙂

Supercool IPA is a super limited release and is described this way:

(Supercool IPA has) No twists, no odd processing or ingredients, just a grip of pale malt, pinch of vienna and special roast and plenty of nugget, columbus and santiam hops. We snagged a pitch of yeast from a brewery down the street and let it rip in our conical fermenter.

I asked Alex more about the yeast and he told me it originates from Amnesia Brewing,just up the street from Upright. He went on to say it has medium intensity and they used Santiam hops because it leaves a nice floral note on the palette.

When I pour Supercool IPA from the growler, it has a hazy golden brown hue. There’s a slight white head to this beer – but it isn’t very carbonated at all.

To the tongue, Supercool IPA has a hoppy but not overly bitter taste to it. It has a definitive citrus hint to the slightly floral flavor. I would describe the taste as impactful, but not overwhelming.

Beer drinkers who don’t like a “slap you in the face” strong IPA would enjoy Supercool as it’s balanced hoppyness does not overwhelm.

Look for Supercool IPA at Portand-area pubs on tap as it’s not being bottled.

Review: Upright Brewing’s Hard Bop Brown

Author: Jason Harris
December 30, 2011

Portland, Oregon – Upright Brewing is a small-batch brewery located on the east side of the Willamette River, across the street from the Rose Garden. Although small, this brewery has had some amazing press in the traditional and online media and is a loved brand in and around Portland’s otherwise crowded beer scene. I’ve heard of Upright on a number of occasions and was happy to be able to tour their brewery recently.

Their unique style of beer is crafted after farmhouse ales from Belguim and France. I am a huge fan of this style because of it’s distinctive yeast-y taste that only Belguim-style ales have.

Today we’ll take a look at Hard Bop Brown, one of Upright’s seasonals currently on tap in the Portland area. Brown ales, traditionally, are known for being smooth in palate with a hint of malt and perhaps a taste of nut, depeneding on the brew. Alex, the owner of Upright Brewing, described Hard Bop as a “hoppy brown ale with a kick”.

Hard Bop Brown is composed of a few bales of hops that Upright normally doesn’t produce with, in this case centennial and cascade hops. This strong and hoppy brown ale also utilizes a new house yeast strain, according to their website and weighs in at 9% ABV and has 60 IBUs.

When you pour Hard Bop Brown, it’s a very dark copper-ish red color and the smell of the hops emanates from the pint glass. At first sip, you can definitely sense the the floral hoppy-ness with a small hint of bitter although not overwhelming. With this ale, you’re first met with a citrous-like start that is balanced with a mix of malt and yeast that balances out the drink. This beer tastes a bit bitter at first, but you quickly forget about it as the smooth brown ale taste takes over.

My impression of the beer is that it’s one of the best brews I’ve tasted in all of 2011. As a fan of hoppy beers and brown ales as well, Hard Bop Brown is a perfect marriage of the two ale styles, providing a smooth beer experience with the taste and surprising flavor of a hop ale.  Yum!

Upright Brewing is located in Portland, Oregon (map provided below). The draft house is open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and also before each Blazer home game.

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