Deschutes Brewery Mirror Pond Pale Ale
Another live one. Roasting coffee and drinking a Descutes Mirror Pond.
Smells like a pale ale, alright. Nice and floral nose, with a hint of hop bitterness at the end. There is a little warmth at the begining of the nose though, which coresponds well with the coppery color.
The body is a little thin, and the finish is a little flat, but the overall flavor is pretty good, and would be very well balanced, except for that flatness at the end. I would imagine that was a concious descision, as not everyone likes as much hops as I do. Still, this beer was close to greatness. In some ways I find it reminicent of a Carlsberg, but better, if that is a helpful reference for people. Repeat drinkablilty is high, and it is complex enough to keep them all interesting.
WDTB? Bend golfers. People all up and down the coast.
WSDTB? Anyone who likes pale ales, but prefers ones that aren't that hoppy.
Rating: 7.8/10
OK, this part has nothing to do with the rating of the beer, but it certainly affected my willingness to purchase this beer. There was a rumor floating around that Deschutes brewery was a major donor to the Republican party. So like any true American I didn't buy the beer. I certainly didn't want my money going to support the systematic dismantling of America. However, like any young fool I didn't do any research at all to back up this claim. Until now. A quick search of the FEC website (I highly recomend it, especially the corporate donation page) reveals that Gary Fish, the president of Deschutes Brewery has donated at least 8,227 dollars in donations over 200 bucks to various candidates within the past decade. 2,900 went to Sen. Ron Wyden (D OR), and the rest went to Sen. Gordon Smith (R OR) and Greg Walden, a House Republican, with the bulk to Gordie. So we know several things. First, Gary Fish seems to lean to the right, but that he keeps his bases covered, and that a perfunctory search didn't turn up any direct contributions from Deschutes Brewery itself. So I'm not too worried about the political contributions. However I did discover that the Republican party holds events at the Deschutes Brewery, so it is fairly clear that this particular brewery's culture tends to lean right, but keep in mind this is Bend we are talking about. So my advice is to buy this beer if you really want to, but if you have better options, as you usually will, go for them.
Smells like a pale ale, alright. Nice and floral nose, with a hint of hop bitterness at the end. There is a little warmth at the begining of the nose though, which coresponds well with the coppery color.
The body is a little thin, and the finish is a little flat, but the overall flavor is pretty good, and would be very well balanced, except for that flatness at the end. I would imagine that was a concious descision, as not everyone likes as much hops as I do. Still, this beer was close to greatness. In some ways I find it reminicent of a Carlsberg, but better, if that is a helpful reference for people. Repeat drinkablilty is high, and it is complex enough to keep them all interesting.
WDTB? Bend golfers. People all up and down the coast.
WSDTB? Anyone who likes pale ales, but prefers ones that aren't that hoppy.
Rating: 7.8/10
OK, this part has nothing to do with the rating of the beer, but it certainly affected my willingness to purchase this beer. There was a rumor floating around that Deschutes brewery was a major donor to the Republican party. So like any true American I didn't buy the beer. I certainly didn't want my money going to support the systematic dismantling of America. However, like any young fool I didn't do any research at all to back up this claim. Until now. A quick search of the FEC website (I highly recomend it, especially the corporate donation page) reveals that Gary Fish, the president of Deschutes Brewery has donated at least 8,227 dollars in donations over 200 bucks to various candidates within the past decade. 2,900 went to Sen. Ron Wyden (D OR), and the rest went to Sen. Gordon Smith (R OR) and Greg Walden, a House Republican, with the bulk to Gordie. So we know several things. First, Gary Fish seems to lean to the right, but that he keeps his bases covered, and that a perfunctory search didn't turn up any direct contributions from Deschutes Brewery itself. So I'm not too worried about the political contributions. However I did discover that the Republican party holds events at the Deschutes Brewery, so it is fairly clear that this particular brewery's culture tends to lean right, but keep in mind this is Bend we are talking about. So my advice is to buy this beer if you really want to, but if you have better options, as you usually will, go for them.
2 Comments:
did you try the Black Butte Porter? It's heaven in a bottle.
By Anonymous, at 11/19/2004 8:32 AM
Yes, I have tried Black Butte Porter. It is a decent porter, but there are many better ones out there. I may at some point review it, but probably only if I can find a situation that does not involve my hard earned money going to people who hate me (republicans).
By kenji, at 11/28/2004 10:41 AM
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