Portland: The Final Day...

Recently my wife (Sarajo) and I took a week's vacation to the Beer Mecca that is Portland, Oregon.  While we did try out a nearly overwhelming number of breweries, we also took some side trips and ate at a wonderful plethora of places.  On our third day in, two of our friends (Kathleen and Shea) met up with us from DC and joined in the fun.  I'm going to blog about the trip in some detail, mostly to immortalize it in the written word, but consider it a starting point for your own Portland area trip!  Feel free to shoot me any questions or clarifications if you like.

Day 7

On the morning of day 7, our friends Shea and Kathleen had to head back home to DC.  We bid them an early adieu and then gathered up our things for one more day of adventure before heading home ourselves.

We started out the day with a walk through Laurelhurst Park, waiting for the chill morning to warm up with the sun.

A strange little shrine discovered in the park...

Not far from here was Laurelhurst Market (where we had previously had a fancy dinner) and we got there just at 11 when they opened for lunch.  By day this place is a deli and butcher shop.  We dined upon a stellar charcuterie plate of house made meat products, followed by a fantastic grilled pork rillette sandwich--one of the top meals for me this trip.

Sokol Blosser Winery

Suitably full, we headed next to Sokol Blosser Winery not too far outside of Portland.  We tasted through some fantastic wines, talked Minnesota beer with the expat server, molested a nesting robin, and ordered some wines to be shipped back home.  With a beautiful view of rolling hills, farms, and acres of grape vines, this was a beautiful stop.  We stayed a little longer than expected, but enjoyed ourselves plenty.

McMenamins John Barleycorns

On the way home we stopped at another McMenamins property: John Barleycorns.  This brewpub was one of their few properties built from scratch and not a revamped historic property.  We had been pleased with the beers from Edgefield and Kennedy School previously on this trip and figured this was a good spot for some food and a sampler before getting back into town.  While each McMenamins brewery does have a few standard beer recipes they make, the process and equipment differs at each site, and the brewers are allowed to do other beers as well.  The beers at this site were not nearly as good as the others.  The hoppy beers especially had problems ranging from astringency to a bit of diacetyl.  The best of the bunch was the Nesting Doll Imperial Stout, but even that was still a little thin for the style.  Our server was(admittedly) new, but incredibly inattentive.  Despite the place being nearly empty at this afternoon hour, I had to go searching for her twice.  The food was less than stellar.  This stop was a bust and not nearly up to par with the other McMenamins spots we've visited.  Based on this visit I can not recommend it to anyone.

Keep Portland weird?

Once back in Portland we stopped back at Paxton Gate, a crazy store specializing in taxidermy, fossils, carnivorous plants, and more.  We had stopped in here previously and decided to come back for an amazing display of moths and butterflies for our home.  Seriously this place is creepy and cool.

Ecliptic Brewing

Just a few blocks away from the Shop of Curiosities was Ecliptic Brewing.  Started by a former brewer for McMenamins, Deschutes, and then Full Sail, this place's style blends beer and astronomy.  Most of the names come from astronomic features.  We were seated outside and tried through a sampler of the beers.  I did not like the Orbiter IPA--giving it a 2.75 for being overly sweet.  The Hypernova Triple IPA, however was quite tasty and got a 4.  The Zenith Grapefruit Gose was pleasant and refreshing getting a 3.75.  The Capella Porter was the top for me getting a solid 4.5--the best dark beer of the entire trip to Oregon.  Overall this place has some pretty good beers and I'll be watching them in the future.

StormBreaker Brewing

Just a few more blocks away, surrounded by cute shops, restaurants, and more is StormBreaker Brewing.  This place was brand new the last time I was in the area, and both that time and this visit we kept hitting the area when the brewery was closed.  This last day, we finally managed to find the taproom open for business.  The space is large, with a sizable patio area to boot.  I could tell Sj was about ready to call it a day, but she was a trooper and stuck it out for one more brewery visit.  I think I'll keep her.

Being honest here, I didn't have high expectations going in, but the beers were really quite good.  Our server pretty much disappeared once we had our sampler--I had wanted to get a whole pint of something else, but by the time we tracked her down we were just ready to get going.  The top beer for both of us was Keep It In Your Schwarz--an unusual coffee infused dark lager (4.25).  Other highlights were Handfuls of Hops IPA and Triple Double (a DIPA) both garnering 4's.  The loser of the flight was the Hoppy Marijuanukah which was a hoppy smoked beer that really didn't work well for me (2.75).  I'd go back to StormBreaker for sure based on the beers.

McMenamins Kennedy School Theater Bar

Back home at the hotel we needed one more stamp in our passports to get our magical free prizes, so stopped in to the Theater Bar.  We hadn't even realized there was a separate bar, just figuring it was for theater concessions.  Another beer and cocktail in hand we wandered off to buy some last minute things from the gift shop and get dinner at the restaurant.  Then to pack (boxing up a whole wine shipper full of beers) and get a good night's rest.

Day 8

The last day was mostly for travel by plane back to Minnesota, but I thought I'd mention the airport at PDX.  First off, they have a Made in Oregon store past the onerous security check which stocks a good variety of local wines and beers for not too much over the typical store price.  They also furnish carrying boxes for the plane.  Yeah, we picked up a few extras here--they had Logsdon and Cascade beers!

Rogue Public House

While we didn't make it to the actual Rogue Brewery this trip, we finished up waiting for our flight by having lunch a final beer sampler at the Rogue Public House.  Not bad.  I've heard since that the Laurelwood Pub is better, but that was in another concourse.  Next time!

And that is the end of our epic trip!  Below is the final tally of booze-tastic places we visited.  I think we did a respectable job!

Final Tally:
Breweries: 21
Distilleries: 3
Pubs/Bars: 17
Meaderies: 1
Cideries: 1
Wineries: 1

More Places to Eat and Drink in Portland! Day 6

Recently my wife (Sarajo) and I took a week's vacation to the Beer Mecca that is Portland, Oregon.  While we did try out a nearly overwhelming number of breweries, we also took some side trips and ate at a wonderful plethora of places.  On our third day in, two of our friends (Kathleen and Shea) met up with us from DC and joined in the fun.  I'm going to blog about the trip in some detail, mostly to immortalize it in the written word, but consider it a starting point for your own Portland area trip!  Feel free to shoot me any questions or clarifications if you like.  I accidentally deleted this whole post, so my rewrite is going to be shorter.  Stupid Blogger.

Day 6

Interurban

Breakfast this fine day was at Interurban, a small upscale pub specializing in pre-prohibition cocktails.  Heidi from Forktown Tours suggested this spot as a good place for brunch and she was not mistaken!  I snarfed down my biscuits and gravy topped with perfectly cooked duck egg, paired with a frothy Pliny The Elder.  This was a breakfast!

From here we wandered around the neighborhood a bit, taking in the sites and doing a little shopping.

Lots of paper advertisements all over Portland...some with interesting results...

From there we spent time at the extensive Portland Rose Garden (put in around 1917)  This was a fun little trip, but a bit crowded with this being Mother's Day Sunday!

A rose by any other name?

Next up and just across from the Rose Garden was the serene Japanese Garden.  This one was not free, but as a result was less crowded.

Breakside Brewery

One of my top brewery visits for the trip, this place is a must-visit spot in Portland.  Despite an initial crabby hostess who didn't want us to move from the wobbly table, we ended up with a very pleasant server.  Another little nafu with some chipped taster glasses and a little glass in my beer held me up a few minutes before getting to drink these wonderful beers.  But these beers were great.  Several tasty IPA's were at the forefront, along with my favorite IPA of the trip: India Golden Ale.  They had a great Pomegranate Gose that was Sj's favorite as well.  The Salted Caramel Stout and the Barrel Aged Fitzcaraldo were also stellar.  Seriously this is a great brewery.

Bushwhacker Cider

While sipping on golden sunshine at Breakside, we spotted a cider bar across the street.  This was Bushwhacker Cider's second (and new) location featuring 14 ciders on tap from around the world, and several bottles as well.  For a nice change of pace (from beer anyway) we shared two large samplers between the four of us.  Unfortunately the Bushwhacker ciders were our least favorite of the bunch, but still decent.

McMenamins Edgefield Estate

We took what we thought would be a short field trip to McMenamins Edgefield Estate, just to show off the place to our friends.  The place started as a 1911 poor farm, and has a ton of cool old outbuildings that have been converted to bars, pubs and restaurants.  They have golf, a brewery, winery, distillery, and more on the grounds.  I want to stay there a few nights just to explore more!  We started with a visit to the tiny Red Shed bar that looks like someplace where Samwise and Frodo might put their hairy feet up and hoist a flagon of ale.  From there we visited the Distillery Bar, and got a cool impromptu tour of the distillery while there by distiller Bill Fry.  Then to the Grateful Dead themed Jerry's Ice House.  Then to the Tea House Bar next to the spa pool where we had the wonderful cocktail Phil Collins (a Tom Collins made with house distilled hazelnut spirit).  Then to dinner at the Black Rabbit restaurant and bar.  We ended up spending much more time here than expected, but there was just so much to do!

After getting back home, we walked a few dark blocks to Expatriate, a cocktail bar manned by two mixologists who were spinning vinyl and mixing strange concoctions for us.

A quick trip back to the McMenamins Boiler Room Bar in our own hotel before bed and we call a close on this long day of adventure!

Running Tally:
Breweries: 18 (I'm counting Edgefield's since I looked in the window and had a beer while there).
Distilleries: 3
Pubs/Bars: 15
Meaderies: 1
Cideries: 1

So Many Breweries, So Little Time: Portland Day 5

Recently my wife (Sarajo) and I took a week's vacation to the Beer Mecca that is Portland, Oregon.  While we did try out a nearly overwhelming number of breweries, we also took some side trips and ate at a wonderful plethora of places.  On our third day in, two of our friends (Kathleen and Shea) met up with us from DC and joined in the fun.  I'm going to blog about the trip in some detail, mostly to immortalize it in the written word, but consider it a starting point for your own Portland area trip!  Feel free to shoot me any questions or clarifications if you like.

Day 5

We started out our fifth day with a good base of a sturdy breakfast at the wonderfully rural looking and hipster friendly Pine State Biscuits.  Yummy biscuits and gravy!  I recommend this place but there was a sizable line and not a lot of seating so get there early!

The view from line at Pine State...

The Commons Brewery

Stomachs full of rapidly expanding biscuits, our next stop was  The Commons Brewery, which had been suggested by several of my friends as a great newcomer to the Portland brewery scene.  Starting as a 1 barrel nano system, they have already upgraded first to a 7 bbl, and now again to a 15 bbl brewhouse.  Rapid growth can be bad, but in the case of Commons, I think it's a good thing indeed.  We were nearly the first ones there, coming in just as they opened (I'd heard the place gets crowded and wanted to beat the rush).  We ordered samplers to taste through all 12 beers they had on tap.  Watching our server rinse off the sticky overflow from the outside of the sampler glasses with a little condiment bottle made me realize that these guys really care about their beers and how they are presented.

Shall we talk about the beers?  Out of 12 beers the lowest score I gave was a 3.5 for the Pils (just not quite perfect, but still drinkable).  The rest were all 3.75-4 beers, which for me is well above average.  Most were Belgian in character with a few different takes on saisons and a French Biere de Garde that was very tasty.  My favorite was the Myrtle--sour, tart, with a spritzy hoppy finish (4.5).  This was followed by The Croze--lemony and refreshing (4.25).  I think our whole group was pretty happy with our time here!  Well worth a visit to Commons.

Cascade Barrel House

From Commons, it was just a short walk on a sunny day to Cascade Barrel House.  This is Cascade's barrel aging (and serving) facility and is known throughout the land as one of the top American producers of sour beers.  I've written up Cascade in the past so I'm not going too much into it today--but this brewery was on our must-revisit list for sure!  Between the four of us we tried all the available sour beers and the special Derby Day concoction that tasted like a mint julep.  I think the fan favorite was the Framblanc--a tart raspberry sour made with white raspberry.  I can't say enough good things about this brewery and it is a must-do for any beer enthusiast in the Portland area.  Pretty much every beer I tasted got at least a 4 or higher score.

Culmination Brewing

Not far away was another young brewery that we had discovered on our tasting travels: Culmination Brewing.  This was located in a small, but newer strip-mall.  We had tried their triple IPA Ferret The Younger at the McMenamins 23rd Ave Bottle Shop earlier in our visit and that made me jump this brewery up on our list--unfortunately they didn't have it on tap at the brewery.  Sad Face.  Culmination had a nice vibe once inside the taproom, but it was getting a little warm for comfort at this time of day.  They had a good looking food list and a variety beers to try.  Pretty much all of the beers were above average (average score for me was 3.5) with my favorite being the Euphoric IPA and the Euphoric Brett IPA.  The most unusual beer was made with tea with mango and passion fruit--none of us were quite sure what to make of this one, but it stood out from the crowd of other beers on the trip.  While this wasn't our favorite brewery of the trip, they certainly have potential for greater things over the coming years.

Stung Fermented

While at Culmination, Shea (I think) noticed a small sign for Stung Fermented across the parking lot.  Curious, we wandered over and had one of the better surprise experiences of the trip.  This is a very new meadery (for those not in the know, mead is a fermented honey beverage) specializing in dry, carbonated meads.  Most of the commercial and homebrewed meads I've had have been on the sweeter side, and most often are served more as desert wines, so I was excited to try these.  The issue with dry meads is that the sweet honey character is often lost and the result can be less than exciting.

We were greeted by Patrick Lawrence, the assistant mead maker, who was manning the shopfront.  He walked us through the line-up with tastings of their three core Worker Series meads (lower alcohol champagne-like meads).  I'm going into more depth on these!

Trinity: The flagship--mild, easy to drink, would go great with foods as a palate cleanser.  3.75
Mosaic: This one is actually made with Mosaic hops and had an amazing hoppy, blackberry aroma.  4
Standard: Ginger on the nose.  Carbonation strong.  Mild honey character.  3.75
Farmhouse: Funky aroma with a very dry finish.  Not my favorite.  3
Caffe: Crazy coffee and vanilla on the aroma and flavor.  A strange and intriguing mix.  4
Gose: A take on the coriander and salted tart beer style of the same name.  Odd for a mead, but interesting.  A bit too much coriander in it, but the salt adds some different character to the drink. 3.5

We had accumulated another couple on the tasting tour by now and Patrick gave us an impromptu tour of the meadery as well.  These guys are totally into the science behind the process and it shows in their finished product, as well as the fact that all their fermentors are all named after scientists!  We got to try two special meads directly from the fermentors and these were the stand-out hits of the visit--these were bigger, badder meads and the first of their Queen Series.  One was made with local blackberry honey and had a nice tart finish that made me smile (4.25).  The other was made with high desert honey and had an incredible earthy flavor redolent of sage and mesquite wood (4.5).  We really liked this place and I think they'll be going places soon.

Coalition Brewing

Moving on from Stung, we headed for yet another brewery!  Coalition Brewing was not far from where we planned to have dinner, so we walked there prior.  By this time we were a little beered-out but the meads had reinvigorated us for one more stop.  OK, mostly I pushed for one more stop and my group grudgingly allowed it.  Coalition is located in what looks like an old warehouse.  This is a 10 barrel brewery set into a very tiny and narrow space that frankly looks way too small to hold all that equipment!  This is very much a production spot, but near the entrance they have a set of taps set up for selling pints and samples as well, and some outside seating.  Here I tried: Space Fruit IPA (3.75), Dropping Science DIPA--love the name and the beer (4), and Bosc Mode a brett beer made with local Bosc pears (4).  This is not the most picturesque of breweries, but he beers were solid for sure.  I'm also pleased that they routinely get together with homebrewers to make taproom only beers.

In our travels we stopped at Yarnia to fulfill Kathleen's need for yarn.  Yes, Yarnia

Laurelhurst Market

For dinner, not far from Coalition, we headed for Laurelhurst Market.  During the day this place is a deli and fancy butcher shop, but at night it turns into a high-end steak-oriented restaurant.  We had a wonderful dinner with great service and various outrageous cocktails.  Not our cheapest meal for sure, but worth the trip.

Have you noticed how my write-ups get shorter as the day of indulgence goes on?

McMenamins Honors Bar

As mentioned in previous entries, our hotel (McMenamins Kennedy School) has a total of 5 bars in the building, and we had to catch them all!  Once safe at home and no longer requiring Sj to drive, we had to catch her up on the cocktail action.  We started with the Honors Bar.  Located in the old principal's office, this is a very small (fits 8-10 people) spot with a couple beers on tap and plenty of cocktails.  In winter months they run the world's tiniest wood stove to warm the place up.  By this point I was getting tired and just had a Jam Session IPA from the brewery--hurray for session IPA's!  We ended up downstairs in the Boiler Room Bar again and played a wacky card game that Shea and Kathleen taught us.  We got our drank on this day!

Running Tally:
Breweries: 16
Distilleries: 2
Pubs/Bars: 8
Meaderies: 1

Oregon Day 4: Hood River

Recently my wife (Sarajo) and I took a week's vacation to the Beer Mecca that is Portland, Oregon.  While we did try out a nearly overwhelming number of breweries, we also took some side trips and ate at a wonderful plethora of places.  On our third day in, two of our friends (Kathleen and Shea) met up with us from DC and joined in the fun.  I'm going to blog about the trip in some detail, mostly to immortalize it in the written word, but consider it a starting point for your own Portland area trip!  Feel free to shoot me any questions or clarifications if you like.

Day 4

Day 4 dawned bright and sunny, a perfect day for our planned field trip along the scenic Colombia river Gorge to the town of Hood River, Oregon.  After breakfast of Blue Star donuts (given to us a parting gift from Heidi of Forktown Tours the day before) and some coffee, we headed out!

Our first stop was along the way (maybe 45-60 minutes out of Portland I think) at a trailhead to Wahclella Falls.  The trail was fairly short (about a mile each way) but steep and rugged at times for us non-hikers.  It got pretty steamy along the way as well.  The scenery was breathtaking though, enormous moss-laden trees, exposed rock of cliffsides, small caves, wooden bridges across the river, and more.  Of course the waterfall at the end of the trail was the high point for me!  Regret for not lugging my tripod along was strong, but I did my best with long shutter speeds and hand holding the camera to get a few decent shots of the falls.  Sj and our friends were very patient as I stopped every 5 feet to take more pictures along the way.

pFriem

Sweaty and tired, we made it back to the car and finished the trip to Hood River just in time for a late lunch at pFriem Family Brewers.  We discovered this place about 3 years ago on our way to Bend and it promptly jumped up to our "breweries to watch" list.  At the time they were very young, but still had some incredible beers.  Now they have only improved!  The brewery is right along the river, and since our last visit, a cool park has been built in between the brewery and the river.  The downstairs area was pretty full but we found seating upstairs easily.  The food is top-notch with nods to Belgium, Germany, and of course American cuisine.  All of us are "foodies" and this place rocked our world for lunch!

Between the four of us we tasted all the beers they had to offer, and we were all very impressed.  Three top notch IPA's led the charge--with my favorite being their regular IPA and second with the Down Under.  A tasty and refreshing Helles rounded out the portfolio with a lager.  Several versions of saison sparkled with true Belgian yeast character in a way that I haven't seen often in American versions of the style.  One of my favorite beers of the entire trip to Oregon was the Peche--a fairly classic peach lambic that puts most other American sours to shame (I'm talking to you kettle sours!).  I ended up having to get a whole glass of this and bought a bottle to take home.  Seldom do I find a brewery that has this much range and technical skill in brewing such varied styles.  Throw in excellent service, great food, and beautiful location and this pFriem is a winner!  It kind of blows my mind that so few people in Portland have even heard of these guys.

Logsdon Farmhouse Ales

A new addition to the Hood River beer scene since our last trip out is a tasting room for Logsdon Farmhouse Ales.  The brewery itself is somewhere outside of town and has been putting out great beers from--you guessed it--a farmhouse brewery!  Now thirsty travelers can taste the great and funky stuff in a comfortable taproom right downtown.  I've managed to get my hands on a few bottles of these beers over the past few years and wrote up Peche 'n Brett as one of my Whale A Week tastings HERE.

Sj and I each ordered a sampler to share so we could try most of the options.  The sampler glasses were actually bigger than most and we had to enlist our friends to help us with them!  On a funny note, one of the wooden sampler trays got wet and expanded a bit, not allowing Sj to be able to pull the glass out of the base.  They also had a little sandwich station in the back end of the place in case of hunger...

While pFriem really shone with their takes on classic Belgian ales, Logsdon stood out for doing their own different and more unusual versions.  The two more traditional beers Moniken Kruin (Quad) and Straffe Drieling (Tripel) were both good, but were my least favorite of the bunch (both got 3.75 scores though!)  Oaked Aged Bretta was their oak aged saison with brettanomyces (4), Cerasus was the cherry funk/sour beer (4), Far West Vlaming was the Flanders Red (4), and the Szech 'n Brett was the saison with Chinese Szechuan peppercorns (4).  Yup I liked all the beers here quite a lot.  4's are usually my top beers so this place was stellar.

Double Mountain Brewing

After having our fill of Belgian and Belgian-esque beers, we stopped briefly at Double Mountain Brewery.  This place is known for their hoppy beers and is a favorite of my cousins who live out this way.  It has a more classic brewpub feel and makes some pretty good pizzas to kill the hunger.  My favorite beers this visit were the Mama Tried, and Dearly Beloved--both classic American IPAs.  Molten Lava DIPA was also quite good.  They had a cider, a perry, and a sour kriek that were all respectable, but these guys shine with the hops.

Full Sail Brewing

, we swung by Full Sail Brewing for a quick dram on the way back to the car.  Full Sail is the elder statesman of the brew scene in Hood River, (and Oregon for that matter) and is worth a stop.  They focus more on lagers and sessionable beers, but have some cool things at the tap room from time to time.  They have a great view of the river from the deck, but some of this has been obscured by new buildings since our last visit.  While there we tried Hop Pursuit IPA which was on cask--smooth, but not a ton of hop character going on.  A decent stop for sure, but it remains below the other two breweries in town for me.

Olympia Provisions

On the way back home we nearly ran out of gas, since none of us remembered to fill up in town, but made it to a gas station in time!  We eventually arrived back to our home base of the McMenamins Kennedy School.  A quick change and we were all off again to our dinner reservation at Olympia Provisions (formerly Olympic Provisons).  This is a cool restaurant and deli that makes all their own sausage and charcuterie, and was on the top of our planned dining options for this trip.  They have a few local craft brews on tap, but mostly specialize in wine and cocktails.  Shea and I ordered heaping platters of sausage goodness while the ladies ate more refined dishes and sipped at fancy cocktails.

McMenamins Detention Bar

Back home at the hotel, Kathleen headed back to her room...to promptly fall asleep instead of partying with the rest of us.  She may have had the right idea.  Sj, Shea, and I all took a trip to one of the hotel's myriad bar options.  We started with the tiny old Vice Principal's office that has been dubbed Detention.  Dark and close, seating about 8-10 very cozy people, this is also the whiskey and cigar bar.  A few open high windows and a small fan actually provided remarkably good ventilation while surrounded by pungent cigar smoke.  Trying some Scotch, but no cigars, we hung out until we smelled properly of smoke and were ready to move on.  While here, we discovered several other patrons dressed like escapees from an 1980's John Hughes film and later realized that they were having an 80's Prom Party in the main ballroom (gymnasium) of the school that night.  Things just keep getting weirder...

McMenamin's Boiler Room Bar

Rusty wheels in my head starting to slow down now.  A long day of hiking, eating, and yes plenty of drinking, was finally taking its toll.  But hey, why not check out one more bar?  I mean, its in the hotel right?  We're already home right?  So we three survivors slogged down the stairs to the old boiler room, past odd paintings and sculptures, stair rails made of old radiator coils, things starting to have an ominous and more bizarre dreamlike cast.  Tasting through an ill-advised sampler of McMenamin's house distilled whiskeys, we all hung out and relaxed until our bodies finally gave up and forced us to give in to sleep.  Don't worry we all made it back to our rooms safely!

Running Tally:
Breweries: 12
Distilleries: 2
Pubs/Bars: 7

Oregon Day 3: Hair of the Dog that bit you?

Recently my wife (Sarajo) and I took a week's vacation to the Beer Mecca that is Portland, Oregon.  While we did try out a nearly overwhelming number of breweries, we also took some side trips and ate at a wonderful plethora of places.  On our third day in, two of our friends (Kathleen and Shea) met up with us from DC and joined in the fun.  I'm going to blog about the trip in some detail, mostly to immortalize it in the written word, but consider it a starting point for your own Portland area trip!  Feel free to shoot me any questions or clarifications if you like.

Portland Day 3

Dawn arrived too early, but the blackout curtains helped hide the sun's harmful rays from our blurry eyes.  Shambling down to the McMenamins Kennedy School restaurant, we met up with our friends--looking much more alert than the previous night.  I had a great and hearty dish of house made corned beef hash and about a quart of house roasted coffee for breakfast and started to feel a bit more human.

We spent some time after breakfast exploring the spaces of the old school building that hosted our hotel rooms.  One of the stamps for our McMenamins passports was a scavenger hunt for a particular painting, so we wandered the halls taking selfies with any likely and odd artwork we could find.  We also invited ourselves into the brewery (as mentioned in the previous post) for a tour (and stamp!).

Having killed enough time before the breweries opened, we headed out for our first stop of the day:

Hair Of The Dog Brewery 

Hair of The Dog is a brewery we stopped at on our last visit to Portland and was at the top of our list for places to revisit.  I won't go into too much detail here since I've covered the place before.  This brewery has been around for a long time, putting out unique beers unlike anything I've had before.  Their penchant for naming beers after people is cool but makes it difficult for me to remember which one I liked or what kind of beer it was.  The ladies split some small samplers of these eclectic beers, while Shea and I shared two vintage bottles of strong ale (Putin the Russian Imperial stout, and Matt).  Both were turbid, boozy, uncarbonated, and remarkably tasty.  Keep making amazing beers guys and I'll keep visiting!

Forktown Tours

For our first real day in Portland we had signed up for a food and alcohol tour with Forktown Tours to get a crash course on some of the local fare.  Started by Heidi Burnette, the tour company has five different walking tours--each focusing on a different neighborhood of Portland.  We took the Alphabet District Tour and were quite happy with our experience!  Heidi herself was our seasoned tour guide and with our group of four, she tailored the experience even more to our preferences.  We started with a bagel and sandwich at Kenny & Zukes deli for starters.  Then we moved on to St. Honore Bakery where we relished sweet French pastries and realized we might not have come into this with enough space in our bellies.


Next up was Bull Run Distillery, where we had a short tour and tasted through a large selection of spirits--my favorite was a whiskey aged in red wine barrels that tasted like a pre-mixed Manhattan cocktail!  Oh, and then an extra bonus trip to another distillery who specialized in making Aria dry gin where we tasted through several tasty mini cocktails.  Getting happy, we moved to Taste on 23rd--a wine bar in a converted old home that served us a really nice dish paired with a wine.  And then we finished our tour with a trip to The Meadow--a shop specializing in culinary salts, cocktail bitters, and high-end chocolates.  Yes this place is amazing!  We sampled chocolates, tasted salts and bitters, and got serenaded with a duet of banjo and guitar in a vividly Portland kind of way.  Heidi also gave us some great advice on other places to check out during our travels.  This was a fantastic way to cover a lot of ground in an area and get a sampling of some of the food, drink, and culture of the scene.  I can't recommend Forktown Tours enough!

Bluegrass jam session makes this so "Portland!"

Lompoc Brewing/Lompoc Tavern

While walking on our tour we had scoped out a few more prime places to check out while we were in the neighborhood.  Our next stop was the Lompoc Tavern, located right in the heart of this neighborhood.  This used to be the site of an older brewpub (1990's), but in 2012 was razed to add a large new building.  They reopened in 2013 in the same spot, but have since moved production of the beer to another location in Portland.  With a sunny warm day outside, plenty of folks were sitting in the small outdoor seating area, so we had luck getting a booth just inside the open doors.  Despite its relative youth, the place feels authentically old, with weathered woods and old-school pub feel.  Having just eaten tons of food on our tour we opted to avoid the beer sampler this time and just focus on a single beer each.  Shea got the Batch 69 Baltic Porter which was a well done example of the style and not overly sweet (I gave it a 3.75.)  I got the LSD (Lompoc Special Draft) which is a dark smoky strong ale and also gave it a 3.75.  Interestingly, back in Minnesota, Indeed Brewing has recently had to change the label on their beer LSD.  Small world.  Based on the two beers from Lompoc, I'd recommend checking it out, but I've heard since that the Sidebar location is the best place to visit.

McMenamins 23rd Avenue Bottle Shop

This is a new addition to the McMenamins empire (see my day 1 write up for more on them) and is a stand-alone liquor store/bottle shop.  Just a few blocks down from Lompoc we decided we needed to stop in and check it out.  We got our passports stamped and perused the over 800 bottles of liquid heaven available in the coolers.  I talked at length to one of the very helpful staff who helped me pick some of the better local bottles (and who suggested some future stops on our beer tour).  The place fills growlers off their 16 taps as well and we had a couple of samples while shopping.  On the way out I picked up a few bottles of Russian River beers sitting unobtrusively by the checkout counter.  Score!  I love the fact that you can have a tap beer at a bottle shop, fill a growler, or even pop a bottle and drink it there.  Minnesota's antiquated beer laws are cramping my style after seeing this in action!

Upright Brewing

Not to let the day end there, we headed for yet another brewery: Upright.  Many friends had put this on their top Portland brewery lists so I was excited to check it out.  We went on a week day thinking it would be less crowded, but failed in that endeavor!  The brewery is located in the basement of a large building (Leftbank) and is somewhat difficult to find--even when you're looking for it!  We discovered a ghetto hand-written sign near the entrance and still managed to fumble around the basement and back halls of the place before we followed the sound of happy drinkers to our goal.  The brewery is small and the tasting room is basically just some chairs and a few small tables thrown into the center of the brewery.  There was a charity event going on when we arrived and the place was packed with people.  With lower ceilings, iffy lighting, and chaos, this place certainly had character, but was not quite to my wife's liking.  I ordered a sampler (probably a bad idea in this crowd but I wanted to try everything!) and the two folks serving were volunteers didn't really know anything about the beers or how to fill sample glasses.  They were pleasant enough, just not experienced.

Hanging in the basement brewery!

Their beers are a hybrid of Belgian/French and American styles that really are difficult to categorize--and that's the way they like it.  Most are nominally "farmhouse" styles so saison-ish.  Tasting through Five, Six, and Seven are all standard beers for the brewery and all were respectable farmhouse ales--I gave them all 3.75 scores--but none blew my socks off.  Most had a bitter finish that was either yeast derived or possibly just aggressive hopping for the style.  Their Pilsner was OK, but a little sulfury.  The highlights were the special beers like the Anniversary and Four Play which hosted some Brett funk and added complexity (these I gave 4's).  When I went back to the taps to ask about the bottles they had for sale, I was pointed to talk to Alex Ganum who was trying to keep up with stocking glassware for the taproom.  It turns out that Alex is the owner and head brewer, so it was nice to get a brief chat with him about the beers!  Overall, coming out of the brewery, our group was a little underwhelmed by the beers and overstimulated by the crowd.  Looking back now and checking out my beer scores, these were actually some of the higher scores I had given beers up to this point on the trip so I may have just been crabby at the time.  I'd be curious to try out more of the special releases from Upright in the future (and did actually take home a bottle of the mysterious sounding Heart's Beat)...

Whiskey Soda Lounge

We got back to the McMenamins Kennedy School hotel to drop off swag and refresh--then it was time for a fairly late dinner.  This time we let Sj stop driving us and took an Uber to Whiskey Soda Lounge.  This is a bar/lounge owned by the same people as the famed local Thai restaurant Pok Pok, but specializes in "Thai drinking food" as well as whiskeys and cocktails.  We had the amazing Fish Sauce Wings and some other very spicy and authentic Thai dishes to share.  Shea had a cocktail made with Thai chili that was insanely good and also dangerous..."Tastes like burning!"  We enjoyed this place, especially the odd Thai covers of 80's pop tunes playing over the speakers.

McMenamins Kennedy School Cypress Room

We ended the day at our hotel (like you do) but weren't quite ready to call it a night yet.  The bonus of staying at a McMenamins is that most of them have multiple bars available.  We decided to try out the Cypress room this fine night.  Located in an old classroom,  a long wooden bar lines one side of the room, some scattered tables take up more floor space, and a few old wooden booths line another wall.  Reggae music plays over the loudspeakers and rum drinks abound.  This is probably our least favorite of the place's bars, mainly because neither of us are big into rum.  They still had a couple of house brews available too though, so I was still happy.  After a while we hit our wall and scattered to our rooms for much needed rest.  #TooOld.

Running Tally:
Breweries: 8
Distilleries: 2
Pubs/Bars: 5

The Coast, Bunnies, Beers! Oregon Day 2

Recently my wife (Sarajo) and I took a week's vacation to the Beer Mecca that is Portland, Oregon.  While we did try out a nearly overwhelming number of breweries, we also took some side trips and ate at a wonderful plethora of places.  On our third day in, two of our friends (Kathleen and Shea) met up with us from DC and joined in the fun.  I'm going to blog about the trip in some detail, mostly to immortalize it in the written word, but consider it a starting point for your own Portland area trip!  Feel free to shoot me any questions or clarifications if you like.

Day 2

Dawn arrived at the tiny coastal resort town of Pacific City.  Despite threats of rain, the air was clear and brisk but with a firm grey cloud cover.  Hints of morning sun periodically winked through the looming clouds, illuminating the magical view from our room of Haystack Rock jutting out of the sea.  Side bar here: this was where parts of The Goonies was filmed and I made continual quotes about One-Eyed Willie and the Truffle Shuffle though-out our entire stay.  My wife is very patient with me.  Sometimes.

Camera in one hand, my lady's hand in the other, I made my way to the beach for a long walk.  The briny smell of the sea, the crunch of barnacles underfoot, the raucous cries of wheeling sea birds, all brought home how different this world was from our home in Minnesota.  We climbed on the rocks, looking at colorful anemones and hermit crabs trapped in their shallow depths.  Soon we walked up a huge sand dune to find a spectacular view of sandstone cliffs, a large cave, crashing waves, and gulls galore.  My kingdom for a tripod!

Finishing up our long walk, just as some mild rain started spitting, we stopped in to Pelican Pub & Brewery for a hearty breakfast.  9 AM and I am splitting my attention between hot coffee and Tsunami Stout.  Life is good!

Now full to the brim with breakfast foods, coffee, and stout, we checked out of our hotel.  While doing so Sarajo discovered bags of rabbit food for sale and we invested the 50 cents in a bag.  Taking our spoils out behind the hotel, flocks of black rabbits incautiously approached us and began eating out Sj's hand.  A fun little excursion before heading on!

Salem 

We took a bit of a long-cut by way of Salem (Oregon's capital) in order to visit a couple of breweries that were totally unknown to us.  We also didn't want to try too many of the Portland breweries without our friends so this was a nice way to widen our brewery net into new areas.

Our first stop in Salem was Vagabond Brewing, which we had discovered on our taster tour of local beers at ABV in Hilsboro the day before.  The brewery was started by a group of  Marine Corps combat veterans who had traveled extensively and discovered beer in all the places they visited.  Vagabond was the culmination of those travels, and the name nods to the wanderer.  They have a cute little kitchen that served up some great Native American style frybread to clear the palate after drinking through two sampler platters.  They had a few local ciders on tap as well so Sj was happy!

The beers were surprisingly good.  I gave nearly all of them 3.75 scores (from 0-5) which place them above average in my own personal tastes.  I really enjoyed the Attack Owl IPA--named for a local owl that was apparently swooping down on unsuspecting park-goers.  We tried the Redshift IRA which was a pleasant hoppy red, (and had tried this with guava previously).  Sj and I also liked the 50/50 Kettle Sour with black currants--a well done version of this style for sure!



After our pleasing stop at Vagabond, we moved over to Gilgamesh Brewing, also in Salem.  This place is tucked into the back end of an office park--they have a cool sign and water feature out by the road, but no signs on the actual building.  The space is more of a brewpub with a large kitchen behind the bar.  The place is a little dark, but cozy.  We of course shared the sampler to try through the beers and I discovered Hoot Attack--also named for the crazy owl--but this wasn't quite as good as Vagabond's version.  All of the beers were decent, with my average score coming in at 3.5.  Their Terry Porter and Springer IPA were my favorites of the bunch, and the Mamba (a beer made with black tea, bergamot, and tangerine peel) was the most unique.  None were seriously flawed, which is always nice to find!

Other than some unusually shaped tap handles, I felt that Gilgamesh didn't play into their Sumerian name enough.  Since one of our local breweries in Minnesota (Enki Brewing) does a better job of Sumerian branding I expect a lot! This place is worth a quick stop (and the food looks great) but I enjoyed Vagabond a bit more of the two.  Why visit just one?!

Portland

After our brief sojourn in Salem, we drove back into Portland to pick up our friends Kathleen and Shea, just arriving groggily on a long flight from the D.C. area.  This part of the trip was boring and did not include any beer.  Moving on...

We checked into our hotel for the following week: the McMenamin's Kennedy School.  For those who haven't experienced a McMenamin's property I'll give a quick lesson here.  The McMenamins have been buying up old historic buildings in the Oregon and Washington areas for over 20 years years, refurbishing them and keeping much of the charm of the original structures intact.  These range from hotels, to theaters, to brewpubs, and more.  While this is a "chain" every one of these places is unique and fun to visit.  Strange paintings, hidden faces, old enlarged photos, and more, abound.  Many of the locations have their own tiny breweries (of which some are better than others).  Two locations host distilleries which furnish spirits to the other properties. They roast their own coffee which is served through the other spots.  Now, they also have a passport that you can get to get stamps at all the spots, as well as for special experiences (having a beer or wine sampler, soaking in a pool, seeing a movie at one of theaters, etc.) This really encourages you to explore the nooks and crannies of each property and seek out others.  This is an unusual and intriguing empire!

The Kennedy School is an elementary school from 1915, and has a distinct age and history to it. I love this property and this is actually our second time staying there.  A theater (with its own bar) provides a couple of movies during the week.  There's a soaking pool for the weary traveler.  Multiple bars are present on the property, each with their own specialization (more on these in future posts!).  We started out in the restaurant for a late dinner with our new arrivals.  The food here over our stay was consistently very good, and you can't beat the location.  Antique hanging lamps and paper lanterns dangle in seemingly random abandon from the ceiling and a long bar lies along one side of the room.  An old squat wood burning stove hunches over in one corner--silent this night, but pumping out heat the next morning to fight the chill.

The Kennedy School has its own tiny brewery.  The McMenamin's breweries all have a few core recipes that are brewed at each place (Hammerhead pale ale, Ruby raspberry ale, and Terminator Stout) but the rest are up to the individual brewers.  Many Oregon brewers get their commercial start at these properties before moving on to bigger things.  Last time (3 years ago) we were at the Kennedy School the beers were not so great, but this time things had improved dramatically.  The Outdoor School IPA and the Jam Session session IPA were my favorites from the sampler and I got some more full pints later in the trip.  They also served up a very good off-dry cider from the Edgefield Estate that was a hit with our group.  We ended up getting an impromptu tour of the small but well decorated brewery the next day when we barged in on one of the brewers hard at work sparging a batch of cream ale.  I really appreciated him taking time out to give answer questions.

Check out the artwork on the brewery equipment!  

After dinner and beer it was time for bed...

Running Tally:
Breweries: 5
Pubs/Bars: 1

Oregon Day 1: BOA (Beer On Arrival)

Recently my wife (Sarajo) and I took a week's vacation to the Beer Mecca that is Portland, Oregon.  While we did try out a nearly overwhelming number of breweries, we also took some side trips and ate at a wonderful plethora of places.  On our third day in, two of our friends (Kathleen and Shea) met up with us from DC and joined in the fun.  I'm going to blog about the trip in some detail, mostly to immortalize it in the written word, but consider it a starting point for your own Portland area trip!  Feel free to shoot me any questions or clarifications if you like.

Day 1: BOA (Beer On Arrival)

We arrived at PDX Airport on a Tuesday afternoon, tired from the three hour trip and ready to explore a bit.  After picking up our rental car we headed straight for our first brewery...I know you are all shocked!

Hopworks Urban Brewery (HUB)

HUB has been a staple in the Portland craft beer scene since about 2007.  They have several organic ales and take great pride in Green business practices.  They've embraced the bike culture of Portland and in fact the light fixture/chandelier over the bar in the taproom is made of bike frames!  They have expanded to include a second location and now distribute cans around the state as well.  Several friends had steered (pun intended) me to visit this spot.


We arrived before rush hour hit the city, so the place wasn't crazy yet.  We snagged a seat at the bar and ordered the BIG sampler.  This is a sampler of 15 (2 oz) beers served up in a metal pan and was quite the eye-catching sight for a weary traveler!  I tasted through them all (sharing a tiny amount with Sarajo of course).  With such a huge number I took sparing notes in Untappd.  Looking at my overall scores it looks like out of 15 beers the highest I gave (out of 0-5) was a 3.75.  Average for all of them was 3.5--putting this brewery in the decent but not great category for me.  None of the beers were terrible, but overall they just didn't wow either of us.  Probably the best was a toss-up between the Gear Up IPA and the IPX Organic El Dorado (single hop).  It was a fun stop, but didn't live up to my expectations.

ABV

Our destination for the day was to drive out of town and about 1.5-2 hours to Pacific City--a tiny quaint vacation town on the Oregon coast.  We wanted to get out Portland before traffic got rough, so went on a little detour in Hillsboro (a suburb just outside of the city proper).  Our friend Matt Messier, who hails from that area, suggested we stop at a little under-the-radar place in an office park called ABV Public House.  This was a great suggestion!  This is a bar, serving food and 34 draft lines of craft beer--mostly local. They also have extensive coolers full of bottles all along two walls of the place that you can drink in-house or take home with you.  Thank you Oregon's progressive beer laws!  We tried a sampler of beers and ciders that we'd never heard of along with some snacks there before we headed back out toward the coast.  It was tempting to buy a bunch of beers right there, but I had to limit my bottle selection for the trip (flying) and decided to hold off for now.  Based on some of the sample beers we tried and the reviews from our helpful server we added a few breweries to our budding itinerary.

Pacific City and Pelican Brewery

This was the view from our hotel!

Pacific City is tiny.  Really tiny.  But the population swells come warm weather and beach crowds for the summer.  It was still early in the season on this trip and the place was pretty deserted.  We stayed at the Inn at Cape Kiwanda, a very nice little hotel right up the hill and across the street from both the beach and Pelican Brewery.  The Inn had a Bed, Breakfast & Brew package which includes a $25 dining credit (not just for breakfast) and a free sampler of beer from the brewery.  Of course we took advantage of that!  We arrived at dusk and after checking into the hotel and taking in the most marvelous view I've ever had at an overnight stay, we darted down to the darkening beach.  A brisk (timing and temperature) walk along the beach and onto the barnacle encrusted rocks revealed by the retreating tide was our treat for the evening.  Just as a light rain started, we arrived back at the brewery for our tasty dinner and free beer sampler.

I've been a fan of Pelican since we stopped there on a trip about 5 years ago.  The place has won national recognition for their beers, including the barrel aged beast that is Mother Of All Storms (which I review HERE.)  They've recently expanded to include a production facility in nearby Tillamook as well, but that was out of our way for this trip.  The big, old-fashioned brewpub is comfortable, weathered, and relaxed, sitting literally right on the beach.  The food was good and hearty, the beers excellent.  The Kiwanda Cream Ale is their flagship--one of the best cream ales I've ever had, though it isn't my favorite style.  The Mosiac Pilsner small batch was a strange and interesting mix of lager style and ale hopping--but worked well. Most of the beers ranged from 3.75-4 for me this visit--above average for sure.  Oh how I wish they had MOAS!

Exhausted from our day of travel (and perhaps beer) we skipped across the street to the Inn for bed.  There we "rented" for free a DVD and watched a movie (this would be the last TV-type media for a full week) and fell asleep to the sound of crashing waves through our open balcony door.  This was a stellar start to an epic vacation.  Though tomorrow threatened heavy rains, we were prepared for another great day of fun ahead.  Oh, and more beer of course!

Running Tally:
Breweries: 2
Pubs/bars: 1

Bend Over: The Final Day In Oregon

Our final day in Bend, Oregon was a great one, filled with adventure and beer!  Ok, mostly just beer, but still awesome!  After having our freshly ground coffee in the room, and discussing the merits of removing fluoride from the water supply in Bend with the odd lady at the front desk, we headed out to see the sights of town.  I would have been happy heading right to a brewery, but strangely they don't really open until 11 AM, forcing us to find other entertainment before returning to the Ale Trail.  We discovered a couple of cool galleries and an art show just across the street from the hotel and spent some time perusing the local art scene. 

Parking lot hop yard!

By 11 we were just outside of town to visit Worthy Brewing, a fairly new and large brewery.  They are growing rows of hops outside the enormous pub and brewery, with its own little green-house.  The dining and bar area is large and wide open, with a modern feel to it.  Some of the wood used to decorate the place was reclaimed from the Oregon asylum where they filmed One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which explains the multiple pics of Jack Nicholson on the walls!  The food here was fantastic, elevating pub food to a new level: we had coconut milk clam chowder and prosciutto fig flatbread.  The brewery is well named, and the beers were indeed worthy.  They had a great Farm-Out Saison, a helles bock, Imperial IPA and a stout with vanilla that were all tasty and well balanced.  Between great beers, better food, cool vibe and good service, I highly recommend the place.

Keep driving

Our next trip was to Cascade Lakes, clear across town (OK a five minute drive).  Walking in this brewpub has an older feel, like a slightly shabby local drinkin' man's bar with sports on the TV.  We settled into the bar and got the sampler, as per our usual MO.  I was very disappointed in the beers here.  Out of the 6 or 7 beers we tried, only the IPA was drinkable, but still not good.  Most of the beers had off flavors hinting at either dirty tap lines or poor fermentation.  Feeling guilty, we left all of the samples unfinished, throwing cash on the bar on our hasty way out.  Blech.  How can a place like this stay in business in a city a made famous by breweries???  This was by far the worst brewery I visited in Oregon.

To clear the palate after our ill-fated visit to Cascade Lakes, we headed to Old Mill Brew Werks.  Apparently this is a new location for the place, in a nicer strip mall near the Deschutes River (and brewery,) with a nice view from the deck.  This place looked and felt more like a wine bar than a brewery, with no visible brewing equipment present.  Most of the folks here were drinking coctails and wine, furthering that impression.  They had about 6 good commercial beers on tap and 6 of their own.  I give the house beers a 50/50 good to meh ratio.  The best was actually a blonde ale (which I don't normally love) and the worst was a dry hopped version of the same beer.  Overall not bad, but not in my top Bend breweries.  Certainly better than the previous stop!

This is the Good Life!

Our next stop was one of the high points in my Bend beer adventures, probably my second favorite in town.  Good Life brewery occupies part of a warehouse, sharing a courtyard with a winery.  The actual tasting room is quite small decorated with some long knotty pine picnic tables and a bar with room for 5.  They do have a larger fenced-in outdoor area that they were prepping for their anniversary party when we arrived.  While here the bartenders and locals told us a bunch of the local dirt/history of the other breweries in Bend, and we had a great time socializing at the tiny bar.  The beers were all very good...probably the best hoppy ones we had in town.  My favorite was the Sweet As Pacific: a light IPA made with all New Zealand hops.  I even bought one of the aluminum carabiner tap handles for that particular beer.  This brewery completed our Bend Ale Trail experience--making 10 breweries in 2 days.  We stopped into the City Tourism building and received our commemorative mini silicone pint glasses for getting to all the breweries!  What other city has their own branded insulated growlers and tons of other beer-related swag?

Sj proudly showing off her hipster side on the Cycle Pub

After stashing our spoils we briskly walked to our 4 PM meet-up place for the Cycle Pub.  Since I know one of the founders of the original Pedal Pub in Minneapolis, I felt a little guilty about riding this rival pub, but this is what my cousins arranged so I went with it.  Sorry Al!  This is actually the first time I have been on one of these slow-moving contraptions and it was an experience.  We had enough folks signed up to have two of them filled to the brim with friends and family.  We had arrived early and this was the hottest day so far on our trip, so Sj and I were incredibly thirsty to start off.  We were forced to drink PBR from a can to survive.  I know.  I'm going to need to grow out ironic facial hair and wear a flat cap and skinny jeans now!  We headed off on the first leg of the trip, working up a sweat pedaling uphill.  Cars behind us either waved and called out to us or honked and gave us the finger.  We arrived en mass at 10 Barrel, which was already filled to capacity including their large patio area.  It took a while but I got a glass of Swill to quench the thirst and regain my energy before our exodus back to the cycle.  Our previous trip here was much more mellow!

Our next stop was nearby, back at Good Life!  The anniversary party action was all out back, so we were able to all fill the small tasting room and sit down in the shade.  One of my cousins had planned ahead here and called for pitchers, so we were quickly served up more wonderful hoppy ales to share.  I was happy to get to try another taste of Sweet As Pacific. 

Having completed our visit to Good Life, we headed back out on the trail for one more brewery: Crux.  This leg of the journey was nearly all up hill, and significantly farther away from our previous stop.  I lucked out by getting to sit in a spot with no pedals!  This time Crux was very busy, but we managed to find outdoor seating around a big wooden cable spool table in the shade.  I was able to try the one beer not featured on the sampler from the previous day: Tough Love.  This was one of the best beers I had on the trip--a bourbon barrel aged Imperial stout--and made me more than happy we had returned here.  After a while there was a fire started in the giant iron Fire Ball and dusk began to fall over the high desert and train tracks.  It was incredibly nice to hang out with my cousins and their friends in this setting, and bittersweet to say farewell at the end. 

On our way home, we went though Drake's park and caught the tail end of Deschutes' 25th anniversary bash there.  Most of the best beers were gone and the music was iffy at the time, but cool to stumble upon such a free event.  Realizing that we hadn't had dinner and it was going on 9 PM, we ended up at Brother John's for a late dinner.  All the heat, lack of food, and many breweries in a row had gotten to me and for the first time this trip was feeling a bit out of it.  The food helped immensely.  I would recommend the pub, as they have a great tap list and good food.  One more short stagger to get back to the hotel and our trip to Oregon was nearly complete. 

Overall, an amazing trip filled with wonderful scenery, satisfying beers and a truly great wedding.  Considering the short time period I think we managed to fit a lot into an extended weekend and would love to go back some time.  Thanks for reading along with my blatherings, and hopefully this will push you over the edge to visit some of these places for yourself!