Upright's Four Play release..and my 100th post

Last night was the very generous media party at Upright. The occasion was created to release Upright’s newest seasonal, Four Play. I am sure you can read many reviews of it on any PDX blog. It was super tasty, and another feather in Alex’s cap. But, the beer I want to talk about is one that is going to be rare and gone fast, their Anniversary Apricot Ale.
As a general rule I do not like fruit beers. Most I have had have the complexity of a fart and the flavor to match. Pyramid’s Apricot Ale, to me , is an ale made solely to encourage one to stop drinking or possibly commit suicide. That being said, Upright’s Apricot Ale is something that is hard to put into words. As I was taking notes last night, the word I came up with was “sincere.” The taste was..sincere. Fruity, not artificial, bold but not pretentious. Sincere.
Upright’s Apricot Ale was aged in Gin Barrels. Barrel aged beer can go horribly wrong, or even worse, horribly boring. This went neither. [note: what we had was not aged in Gin barrels, but a future release of this brew will be, the Four Play however was aged in Pinot barrels] This 6% beer was intensely cloudy and had an amazing nose of natural apricot. I tasted not apricot flavor, but apricot. Of course, this was all balanced out with the house yeast, picked to suit the taste buds of the brewer.
It is one of the best beers that will never touch a bottle, and one that you would be remiss not to scurry off to try. It is so good, in fact, it makes me forgive Upright for the truly..umm... unique Eucalyptus beer.
After an exciting year in operation, Upright continues to produce beer that is made with skill, passion, and honesty. We should all count ourselves lucky to be able to watch with thirsty eyes Upright’s next experiment gone...perfect.
For more pics, please visit my Flickr page.
Also, do not forget, April 9th is Upright's one year anniversary party. Yes, there will be a lot of people there, but join the crowd.