I probably never would have stopped by Velo Cult if I hadn’t gotten a groupon. Velo Cult is a bike shop where they decided to set up a craft beer bar that can offer a good variety of beers. The taps offered plenty of variety when I stopped by and because I had the groupon I ended up trying a few that I wouldn’t normally order. Sadly, the people I went with didn’t end up sharing the beers all that much so I ended up drinking the majority of the 8 tasters and 2 pints.

In total I got to try a dry-hopped cider, the Caldera Porter, a dry-hopped Saison from Commons Brewing, Terminal Gravity IPA, Little Saison, La Guillotine Belgian Blonde, Boneyard Triple IPA, and Evil Twin Lil B Porter. I really liked the dry-hopped cider. The hop flavors helped balance out the tart flavors of the apple. The Caldera Porter was a solid chocolate and coffee porter in the middle range.

The dry-hopped saison from Commons Brewing was really good. The Belgian yeast blended perfectly with the citrus hops to create a drinkable middle of the road beer. I ended up coming back to this for one of my two pints. Terminal Gravity IPA lived up to its name with flavors mostly leaning towards heavy malts. I wasn’t very fond of this one.

The little saison was a lighter version of a saison with lighter flavors similar to a session. The flavor was a bit too light for me but it would be very sessionable for sure. The La Guillotine Belgian Blonde was one of my favorites out of the set. It was strong enough that it was almost a triple. I loved the sticky sweet flavors that reminded me of burnt sugar like in a creme brulee. This was a nice change of pace from most stronger Belgian style beers that tend to lean towards heavy spice flavors.

Boneyard Triple IPA was so delicious that I wish I had gotten a chance to drive out to Bend Oregon to visit the brewery. At 12% it is one of the strongest IPAs I have ever tasted. The higher alcohol made it a bit more on the sweet side but it still had plenty of citrus, tropical fruit, and grapefruit to balance everything out. This was the best beer I tried while visiting Portland and I really savored the 12oz pour that I ordered after I was done with all the tasters.

The Evil Twin Lil B Porter was a really thick chocolate and plum porter though I thought the plum flavors were a bit too heavy. I don’t think plum mixes very well with the chocolate though I tasted a number of beers blending those two styles in Portland. This beer was also quite sticky sweet, good and solid.

I really liked the atmosphere at Velo Cult and the mini skateboards that they used for holding the tasters. The bartenders were both knowledgeable about beers and enthusiastic about certain ones. I also appreciated the ability to do flights at a bar that isn’t a brewery because that is the best way to try a bunch of different beers.