Ninkasi Renewale Porter

Now that was a defining day. My steadfast flagship of Oregon beer, the brewery I have praised with the greatest praise all my legal drinking years as the finest, most consistently satisfying and rejuvenating, not to mention intoxicatingly addictive this side of Mars, did, indeed, disappoint.

I do not use the term "disappointment" lightly. Especially because, as a promotional deal, the six-pack was significantly discounted, making it the cheapest six-pack in its weight class. I never thought, especially with a label that said Ninkasi, that they were cheaper because they were of lesser quality. It was an obviously amateur mistake that I take full credit for: always beware the outward appearance of a deal (read: Yoav): take it with a grain of barley. That being said, I still drank four of the six, having pawned off the others in the name of objective scientific research. And its not a bad beer...for a Porter.

I should have known.

See, the Stout, a style of beer made for rich complexity and body can withstand the sheer quantity of hops the Ninkasi brewers attack with. A Porter, although dark in color, lacks the depth of character that a Stout can provide. While the Ninkasi Imperial Stout, for example, boasts an impressive 9.2% ABV and a healthy dose of hops (and on whose reputation I approached the Porter), the Renewale's relative translucency made it crumple under the intensity of production. It tasted like a half-hearted attempt at a NorthWest Black IPA and whimpered in with a 5.4% ABV. It was a sad day indeed.

I realize that my standard are high, spoiled as I am, and I realize that perhaps my demands of Ninkasi were unattainable. Their production and expansion have been growing steadily and no doubt creating pressure to diversify and release new special brews, but when you work under pressure one of two things can happen: you can make a mistake (case in point) or you can start the Revo-Fucking-Lution (see every other example of Ninkasi).

Status: Onesy Brew. You really only want to drink one of these, just to get the curious itch out of your system.