Breweries of Salem: Santiam

Every so often, I like to take day trips to other Oregon cities so as to keep up with what's going on in their craft beer communities. Salem's a place I haven't spent much time in - I last visited a couple of years ago, when The Ram chain and McMenamins were the only real establishments, with Gilgamesh just having opened their new outpost downtown.

Quite a lot has changed since then - Salem now boasts four major microbreweries in addition to the abovementioned chains, three of them opened in the last two years. Monday, a good friend and I visited three of these: Gilgamesh, at their new campus; Vagabond, and Santiam. It's the last of these I'd like to discuss today, though I'll be getting to the other two in good time.

Located in an unassuming warehouse space in central Salem, Santiam is an establishment with a clear purpose and vision behind it - a seeming rarity in the crop of breweries opened in the past several years. Like Brewer's Union in Oakridge, Santiam is cultivating a very traditionally British approach to beer and service. Nearly all the beer on offer is British-inspired or influenced, and there are 4 cask engines serving pints at proper temperature.

In a departure from most other breweries, Santiam takes the beer flight very seriously. A full flight includes 10(!) beers, out of a baker's dozen or so. On Mondays this flight is only $7 - which would be a great deal even if the beer wasn't any good. The full pours run either 10 or 20oz, using the imperial pint measure.

Now, to the beer itself. Since there are ten beers (plus an eleventh sample we asked for), I tried to pick just the highlights. But, as you'll see, EVERY beer is a highlight, so this proved impossible.

Here are my notes:

Infiltrator Pilsner: Clean, crisp, and tasty, without excess carbonation.

Edelweiss Bier: Very traditional banana/clove dichotomy, but well-executed.

Bramble On: A honey-infused raspberry beer. Perfect amount of sweetness from the honey to balance the tartness of the raspberries. The nose is a bit off, though.

Cherry City Saison: Some bite, but not too tart, with a dry, clean finish. An excellent beer.

By this time, my friend and I were in disbelief - very few small breweries make such good, consistent beer. Having 4 winners in a row is something even long-established breweries struggle with. We continued.

Druid's Bragawd: A braggot - mead blended with beer. Sharp heavy booziness, spicy, with an unbelievably smooth finish, undoubtedly due to the honey.

Spitfire ESB: Chewy and buttery, with an excellent malt bill taking center stage.

Coal Porter: A roasty, dry robust porter, excellent start to finish.

Brown Bess Porter (Cask): This beer made me cry. The cask conditioning leaves no rough edges, the roast is expertly balanced against sweet malt, and it all slowly fades into the finish, which lingers invitingly on the tongue for minutes afterward. Wow.

Pirate Stout (Rum Barrel Aged): The warmth and coconut of the rum is strongly felt, buoyed on a base of smooth roast from the stout.

Stonehenge IPA (Cask): A NW IPA, probably a concession to the popularity of the style locally. But even this has a decidedly British approach, aided by the cask conditioning. The balance between hop and malt is knife-keen and so finely tuned that both can be tasted simultaneously - a welcome change from the hop explosions most NW IPAs have become.

Ecotopia IPA: Another NW IPA, this one a bit rougher around the edges, but only by comparison to Santiam's other beers, all of which are incredibly smooth. This little shake to the palette was welcome.

So, 11 beers, and 11 winners. Santiam is doing something special. What else is there to say? If you're a connoisseur of fine British-inspired beer, or just fantastic beer in general, you owe it to yourself to drive to Salem and check these guys out. They're running a little cask ale festival in July, and I can't wait for the opportunity to visit them again!