flaskey

I’ve sort of been playing around with home brewing for a while now, but prior to this month had only officially made two different beers; an Irish stout and an imperial porter. Both turned out pretty well actually, but due to my laziness and hate of bottling I took my time brewing my next batches. After a lot of “encouragement” from various people I finally decided to work on the idea I came up with about two months ago. I took my Irish stout and tried my hand at adding other flavors to it. After two weeks in the primary bucket I moved it to a carboy and added some medium-toasted oak chips that I had been soaking in Bakon Vodka and added some cacao nibs as well. The theory being that the toasted oak will add some hints of caramel and vanilla while the vodka will add some smoke/slight salt and of course the cacao nibs will add some chocolate. I plan on letting it sit there for about a month while taking a taste after maybe two weeks to see if I should maybe add a little more of either ingredient.

The one I made yesterday however is a cream stout. I love milk/cream stouts, but I don’t see them that often for some reason. Maybe people just don’t like the sweetness of them, but I think they’re great. Since the other one has to sit for a while I figured I’d make another that should be ready for bottling in two weeks.

Cream Stout:

Great day for brewing!

Cream Stout & the “Experiment” down in the basement:

The Cream Stout and the "Experiment"

Ok, it’s not really a speakeasy. What it is though is the home of a Portland home brewer that has been kind enough to open his basement up to other beer lovers. Dean’s Scene is the converted basement of Dean Pottle into what I’d call a home brewer’s dream. When you first enter through you’ll see various bottles, beer coasters, glasses and other beer paraphernalia. There’s a really nice bar set up in the middle of the basement where you can just sit and talk, or play various games as one group was doing. He had a board up with what current home brews he had on tap and at the time I believe there was 7 of them! I have to say my favorite was the bourbon aged hazelnut brown (reminded me a lot of the Maui Brewing Coconut Porter). He also has a really nice brewing set up in the back part of the basement which also has what I believe is a hand dug walk-in freezer he did himself. Also throughout the basement was various brews sitting in carboys and a nice walk-in, tiled refrigerator holding more carboys and bottles of beer.

Dean has been brewing for many years and since this is not an actual brewery, but in his home where he can drink with his friends (anyone that wants to come visit) and doesn’t charge money for anything (there is a donation box to cover electric, air, etc if you would like to) he’s not held to any of the OLCC regulations that I know of. If you do look too young to drink I believe he’ll ask for ID, but again…this is just a place to hang out, try some good beers and talk about brewing or anything else you might want to. Also, since this is not a bar be aware that there will be smoking down there. Since smoking has been banned in bars for so long and I haven’t been around it at all really since then I forgot how hoarse it made my throat. I’m still in recovery mode from 2 days ago surprisingly. If you’re allergic to smoke, or just don’t want to smell like an ashtray later then this probably isn’t going to be for you. As much fun as it was I probably wouldn’t go back again because of the distance from my home and the raw throat feel.

Would I recommend at least one visit? ABSOLUTELY! It was a fun time and Dean was extremely hospitable and friendly. My one regret is that I didn’t take any pictures of his set up. Thanks Dean!