My mission to try more Oregon beers that I probably can’t get back in Illinois continued at the Oregon Brewers Festival. Before traveling to Oregon, I found out, as part of my Brewmaster Cuisinternship, I was going to be on a radio show called Beer O’Clock with Lisa Morrison, the Beer Goddess. I listened to the podcast of the show, so I knew what to expect, and on one of the shows they were talking about a beer from Lompoc called “C Note.” Named so because all of the hops included in it started with “C” – Chinook, Crystal, Centennial, Cascade, CTZ, Challenger, and Cluster hops. So, when I saw Son of C Note at the festival, I knew I had to give it a try.
When served it had a light coppery color to it, and (as all the beers at the festival did) a nice creamy head. The aroma was a nice big piney and grassy hop smell, that was very pleasant.
The body was light and the mouthfeel was somewhat creamy and velvety. It had a surprisingly smooth hop bitterness up front, but the big hop flavor eased its way into the aftertaste. The finish was light and enjoyably citrus/piney, but still a big hop flavor. The hop flavor almost snuck up on my palate in the aftertaste with a nice, complex, citrusy, piney, grassy, earthy hop flavor.
As a hop head, this is the way hops were meant to be enjoyed. It wasn’t a complete hop bomb – like the Lucky Labrador Summit IPA or the Terminal Gravity Single Hop Double IPA. It had a solid malt flavor with plenty of hop flavor to it. I’m not sure I’d pair this one with a food either, I think I’d just sit back and enjoy it. A very good beer. If you read this blog and live in Oregon, and can find me a bottle of this, please ship it my way. Thanks in advance! 🙂
My Rating: 
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