Breweries of Salem: Vagabond

As part of my trip to Salem earlier this week, I visited Vagabond. I want to talk about them next, as they're a neat study in contrast when paired with Santiam.

Vagabond Brewing, like Santiam, is set in a warehouse strip-mall. But unlike Santiam's small, closed-in space, Vagabond is enormous and expansive, with multiple pool tables, a dedicated stage for musicians, a closed-off space just for darts, and plenty of open seating.

Santiam is run by older, more experienced brewers, whereas Vagabond's brewers are younger.

And most strikingly, while Santiam makes smooth, traditional, nuanced beer, Vagabond's brewing philosophy appears to be bold, sharp, and strong, with little regard for convention.

Vagabond usually has 12 beers on tap, and sells flights of 6. Upon my visit, there were just 10 beers - I was told there had been a couple of very popular one-offs that had sold out much more quickly than anticipated. All 10 beers cost around $12 or so.

Here are my tasting notes:

Blondeish: Heavier, chewier, and darker in color than a standard blonde, with a nice malt flavor, almost amber-like in quality.

Eurorail: A Belgian-style pale ale, heavy on the citrus hops. The yeast really punches through, and the finish is overpoweringly coriander.

Hoppy Wayfaring Wheat: Part of a series of modified wheat beers - others have been made with fruit, honey, etc. This one has earthy, marijuana-like hopping, clumsily hitched to a rough lemon-wheat finish.

Tropische Belgian IPA: Grapefruit and passionfruit hop aroma and flavor clashing with Belgian yeast.

Wild Ride IPA: A fairly standard NW IPA, with some added butteriness, and a one-two punch of malt/hop flavor.

Cencerro Brown: Great nose, but disappointingly sweet malt, strongly reminiscent of too-sweet coffee.

Hyperion Red IPA: A collaboration with Salem Ale Works. This ale is definitely more 'red' than 'IPA' - the malting shines through - but is subtly and appropriately hopped to balance it all out. Probably their best beer.

NW Passage Stout: A very good blend of roastiness, malt sweetness, and hop/roast bitterness.

Controlled Burn Smoked CDA: High hopes for this one, but like the brown, it's way too sweet, and the smokiness is prominent but unhelpful. Though over 90 IBUs, the hop flavor and bitterness don't arrive until much later.

The French Connection: This is Eurorail aged in Pinot Noir barrels. The aging process definitely smooths out the rough edges (especially the coriander) and adds a welcome floral note that blends rather nicely with the Belgian yeast profile.

Vagabond is a pretty new brewery - I just heard about them at Sasquatch, where I was quite impressed with their Falcon Punch Barleywine - and after tasting their lineup, it seems they're still trying to figure out what kind of beer works best for them. Some of these beers seemed good in theory but lacked in execution. Of the 10, there are 3 I would gladly drink again - the stout, the Wild Ride, and Hyperion. Seeing as the last of these is a collaboration, I wonder if the good beers are accidental? Regardless, none of Vagabond's beers are boring - all feature a potent mix of flavors.

As always, I hope these guys continue to experiment and improve, and I'll look forward to seeing what they come up with in the future.