Dirt Road Brewing, Philomath OR

Summer Trip 2022, Day 14

I was at Dirt Road last summer on that trip and absolutely had to arrange my drive this summer to be here again. It did not disappoint, although they didn’t have any beers dry-hopped with spruce tips this time … it was too early in the season for those.

There was a flight involved, naturally:

Juicy (a Hazy NEIPA) – 6.4% – I did like this one! Already, we’re better than anything offered at Eel River.

Yeah Right IPA – 7.2% – This IPA has rye in it and it’s one of the favorites on tap with their customers. No wonder, either – this was easily my favorite of the five beers I had here! Silky smooth with just the right hop flavor to balance … perfection in a glass.

Mexican-Style Vienna Lager – 5.2% – Such an interesting mash-up of styles, and actually quite good! Both the traditional Vienna Lager flavor and the corn flavor of a Mexican Lager were present and the balance was great. Still, that Yeah Right …

Smoke Shifter – 5.5% – This is their smoked beer and I had it last year as well. It’s easy to see why it’s still on tap a year later – it’s a perfect lager with just enough smoke to be interesting but not so much that it’s overwhelming as can be the case with some smoked beers.

Second Meal™️ itself was their Dirt Road Pizza (minus the olives), but this is (as I recall) sausage, pepperoni, bacon, peppers, onions, mushrooms, and cheese. And this is just one of about a dozen pizza offerings they have! Whoever runs their kitchen does a bang-up job on these, and this one was every bit as good as the one I had last summer.

While eating, the beer ran out … so I opted for a pint of their Porch Light Pale, an APA at 5.5%. It was good as well, but really made me wish I’d had a second of that Yeah Right!

That was it for beer today because my older brother drove down from Seattle to meet me here and we needed to head on to other things. If not for that, another Yeah Right would definitely have been enjoyed.

Dirt Road is a great example of a craft brewer who decided to expand beyond his garage, then partnered with a great brewer to really take things to the next level. I just wish I didn’t live 3,000 miles from them!