Heater-Allen

Thursday night at Belmont Station featured the beers of McMinnville, Oregon’s Heater-Allen Brewing. Pouring six different beers, including two seasonals, was brewer, owner, and sole employee, Rick Allen. Allen’s beers are all brewed in the Bavarian style and feature a Pacific Northwest influence that is evident in their unique yet quite familiar characteristics.

First in the progression of styles was the Pils, a Saaz-hopped Czech style Pilsener lager with the sharp hop added throughout various stages in the brewing process.  A creamy, golden bodied beer with a swirling thin white head, the Pils echoed waves of distinctly prolific and prominent hops. Next, the Bock, a dark robust brew with lots of Munich base malts (93% to be precise) and a little Crystal malt as well.  This traditional German style beer was the most maltabulous of the lot.

Heater-Allen’s Coastal Common ale was not your average steam(TM) beer (not that there really is such as thing as a common California Common).  “It started out as a steam and turned into something different” said Allen. The Cascade hopped lager “fermented at warmer temperatures than most lagers” he continued. “I was living on the coast when I came up with this beer.  It is more like a NW Doppel Common.” Lots of complex, malty, and somewhat fruity notes made this quite particular hybrid brew immensely enjoyable.

The Schwarz was a quite dark, opaque deepended treat with a small inviting tan head.  Chocolaty and distinct, this blackish Reinheitsgebottled beer was a bitching beaut. Light in alcohol (4.8% ABV), yet full of wonderful robust, roasty flavors, Allen said “When I brew this, I use a lot of flavorful amber malts, and just enough black malt to get the color right – a total of nine different malts in all.”

Seasons for the cold months, included the Hugo, as Allen put it “kinda like a Dunkel on steroids”, and the Sandy Paws Baltic Porter. Released at Thanksgiving, Hugo is named Allen’s wife’s grandfather, Hugo Effenberger, who moved to Tillamook County from Germany in the late 19th Century. The brew had a strong, gritty malt character, with cited notes of anise and cacao, and a finished mildly sweet. Sandy Paws, released on this night, was another roasty chocolaty, sit-by-the-fire-and-swirl-a-few-times-before-sipping-beers. The name will remain annually as the beer should change in style. At 6.6% ABV and will a decent hop bill to match, this nice beer is a great holiday quaffer.

Currently Heater-Allen is a production only brewery and, despite having an on-premise license, has no plans to operate otherwise. Allen said, “If you see a Honda Element that says ‘Heater-Allen’ on the side, that means I’m there. If I’m there, stop in.”

Look for Heater-Allen’s Doppelbock coming out at an Oregon Brewers Guild open house on February 14, 2009. For more information, visit http://www.heaterallen.com/