10 barrel brewing

After receiving a bottle from my brudha. I decide to attempt the pub they had opened on the westside of Bend. Inlaws in tow, who had attempted to eat and drink there earlier only to met with a huge wait, we arrived. The pub has copied a design from 7th Street in Redmond and has two garage style doors that access the outdoor seating. The wait was minimal, even though the building was packed.

And thanks to manager/owner we were offered a tasty pair of beers (the third was not so tasty),
I had the Sinister Ale, which was delicious, but I traded MIL for her less interesting red on nitro (she liked the black and i didn't want her to suffer).
The Sinister was dark and had a great flavor. It's roast made it delicious. I stuck to that once i finished the red on nitro.
The red had no aroma, no real flavor, but was creamy (go figure). The manager checked back in and asked about our beers, i told him the red was so so and he offered me Duke. A "mish mash" of left overs thrown into a recipe. It had a great aroma of hops and nice sharp flavor. It was a good change of pace from the red.
My wife and FIL had the coffee porter. They loved it. A great coffee smell, followed by the taste of coffee and chocolate. They would not stop drinking them.
I had a sip, it was good, but the sinister kept my taste buds under a spell.

Beer Tasting

So I finally had time to sit down and taste all of the beers brought to me by friends and family. I shared them with friends over a bit of pizza.

1- August Schell's Pale Ale= a nice safe drinkable beer. a light color beer. suited more drinkability, rather any skill of making a beer. i have low expectations for pale. it had no aroma. i would drink it if no other of my favorites were around. not something i would buy regularly, but wouldn't look down on it either.

2- August Schell's Stout - a good beer, although as discussed with friends, it supports the theory that east coast breweries have a lot to learn about beer. It was well made and beat most of the east coast stouts I have tasted. But still not strong, still no roast/dark flavor, which west coast breweries have spoiled me with. the black ale was better flavored beer.

3- Grand Teton Brewing Black Cauldron Imperial Stout- This beer starts off sharp and bitter and then slides off into a great after taste. It's alcohol is at a perfect level 8%. The problem is the first taste and the second taste don't fit each other. Almost like they hadn't "tuned" the recipe enough.

4-Mactarnahan's Goose Bump- Imperial Stout w/coffee= this is a beer that punches you in the face with flavor and alcohol. it is strong. i found myself put off by it after opening, but was engaged with something else and kept drinking. finding out that i enjoyed it after it overwhelmed my tongue and i had finished the 22.

5-Laughing Dog's Alpha Dog Imperial IPA- a good made beer. overpowering with it's hoppyness. i am barely an IPA fan and to drink an Imperial (it is close having a
Coors Light fan and drink an Old Rasputin). I loved the cloudiness and aroma of the hops, but just not the assault of hop flavor.

6-10 Barrel Brewing - Sinister Black Ale- The surprise of the tasting. A black ale with tons of mellow rich flavor, not overpowered by "beery" flavor, not bitter, not sour and very drinkable. a good solid aroma.

honorable mention
chris's homebrew. a stout made with coffee instead of water. it a was a great beer. it had little of a sugary problem, but better than i have ever done for stouts