Going, going … gone! The hopheads are outta here! A visiting team from Portland proper might feel a tad lost at this Raleigh Hills venue, because Lodge owner Art Larrance and his “chief imagineer” Ron Gansberg brew things a little differently just over the fence in the ’burbs, eschewing the bold bite of hops for Old World balance and palatability. Raccoon beers make an immediate impression as tasty, light and drinkable, but not particularly big or potent. Undercurrents of honey and herbs have a pleasingly vague presence.
Gansberg, who worked at Bridgeport for eight years and Portland Brewing for another three before joining forces with Larrance 10 years ago, is particularly pleased with the Blonde Bock, a beer that combines the lightness of a lager with the sturdier qualities of Belgian-style ales. It’s spicy, crisp and dry, isn’t overwhelmingly hoppy and makes for an excellent change-up from the IPA wave.
“I know what people like to drink around here,” Larrance explains.
“I didn’t really want to make a big, cloying, sweet beer,” adds Gansberg. “I work very hard to balance the hops and the malt. But we are in a hops arms race, there’s no doubt about that.” Indeed, the Lodge’s top-selling beer is an IPA.
Larrance is a highly significant figure in the beer scene: He brewed for Bert Grant in 1983, founded Portland Brewing in 1986 with Hillsboro High School classmates Fred Bowman and Jim Goodwin (Glass of ’62) and started the Oregon Brewers Festival in 1987.
“But I’m not really on the brewing side of things,” he says. "I’m more on the drinking side.
“I knew what kind of place I wanted,” Larrance says of the Raccoon Lodge, which opened its doors in 1996. "We have a McMenamins down around the corner … and we have a McCormick’s Fish House down the street. So physically I’m between two different levels of service. I’m financially in between, and I’m quality-of-food in between–and in beer I think I’m above all of them.
“But that’s in the eyes of the beer-holder,” he laughs. “And I’ve got one in my hand.”