Trip to Oregon

esprit · Post by **esprit** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 10:00 am

Took my first trip to Oregon (ostensibly to see the British Blues All Stars play in Portland but they cancelled a couple of weeks ago) and just returned. Wow...what a place! Not only is it stunningly beautiful but you can buy great beer and great coffee almost anywhere...makes Toronto seem like some tiny backwater town. Spent a night in Newport and, needless to say, visited both Rogue houses i n town and the brewery and spent the night in one of their rooms above the Ale House. For the first time in my life tried about 10 different Rogue's on tap...heaven! Also got to Bridgeport's pub in Portland...great beer, lousy food and lousy service and also partook of various Widmer's and Portland Brewing products. A beer lover's paradise!!! In the airport waiting to leave today we stopped at Portland Brewing's bar and restaurant and had some half decent pizza and a selection of about 30 drafts...can you believe that???
After all that, Geoffrey and I are off to Denver on Friday for the Great American Beer Festival so eat your hearts out!

inertiaboy · Post by **inertiaboy** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 11:18 am

I was fortunate enough to attend a conference in Portland a few years ago and was similarly amazed. Even the crappy sports bar in the Marriott I stayed in had 24 taps: Bud, Bud Light, and 22 Oregon micros.

Another amazing brewery at the time was Deschutes Brewery (http://www.deschutesbrewery.com/). Their Black Butte Porter and Obsidian Stout were supertasty.

Even dinky little grocery stores were similarly well stocked. I asked the stockboy if it was okay to take singles and he said that it was no problem. Needless to say, they were left with 24 5-packs!

Cass · Post by **Cass** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 11:57 am

I've always wanted to check out Oregon. If Portland was close to ski mountains I would probably head out there in the winter, but I don't think there's much around.

burgermeister · Post by **burgermeister** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 1:13 pm

Cass wrote:I've always wanted to check out Oregon. If Portland was close to ski mountains I would probably head out there in the winter, but I don't think there's much around.

45 minutes from Portland to Mt. Hood - ski all summer if you want. Can always check out the Mt. Hood Brew Pub. Drive back via Hood River, check out Full Sail brewing. Cross the river and check out Walking Man Brewing - Home of HomoErectus lager (never tried it but love the name). Head back along the Columbia River gorge on the Oregon side and check out the McMenamins Brewery, hotel and pub in Edgefield. Quaff a few Terminator Stouts, Hammerhead and a little Ruby Ale. Whose got time to Ski anyway when there's so much beer to drink?

Uncle Bobby · Post by **Uncle Bobby** » Thu Sep 30, 2004 12:37 pm

Lovely beer in Portland. My ex-brother-in-law (so many hyphens!) lives in Tigard. McMenamin's has good beers, but some of the venues lack atmosphere -- stuck in a suburb by a big cross-town street, no walk-in traffic, more of an after-work venue, feels like a Gordon Biersch.

However the Ram's Head pub just to the NorthWest of downtown is sweet. And it offers a great menu, at least when I was last there. Nice district generally, too.

An English friend who worked there also suggested the McMenamins movie theatre, the Bagdad.

The chain seems to have expanded substantially since I was last there -- wonder if they have managed to sustain the quality of beer at each venue!?

There used to be a fun Irish pub nearer the river downtown -- big cavernous place in two storefronts. And it actually served 20oz. pints! Fun.

Enjoy yourself if you go. 5:15 hours drive from Vancouver and Seattle is about halfway. Air Canada even has a Dash 7 commuter hop from Vancouver which can be added to a Toronto-Vancouver ticket for marginally more money. An hour or two drive east of Portland to some serious ski-ing; an hour west to some really lovely coastline.

I have some friends (lurkers on this website) who did a fun drive and drink tour of Vancouver, Seattle, Portland and San Fran a few years ago.

http://www.mcmenamins.com/

-Uncle Bobby

burgermeister · Post by **burgermeister** » Thu Sep 30, 2004 1:10 pm

Uncle Bobby wrote:.... McMenamin's has good beers, but some of the venues lack atmosphere -- stuck in a suburb by a big cross-town street, no walk-in traffic, more of an after-work venue, feels like a Gordon Biersch.

However the Ram's Head pub just to the NorthWest of downtown is sweet. And it offers a great menu, at least when I was last there. Nice district generally, too.

McMenamin's is a pretty interesting success story in Oregon. They started off as one of the first BrewPubs in Portland and grew into a local chain. They generally buy community watering holes that have become run down, dress 'em up, rebrand them and make a fresh start. The Ram's Head is a good example of that - great little community pub up on 23rd I think. McMenamin's beers are only available on tap in a McMenamin's pub - no beer to go sold as far as I know, no bottles available in any retail outlet. Not all the pubs actually brew, getting their beer from either another McMenamin's pub or the relatively new Brewery at Edgefield. Edgefield itself is kinda cool. It used to be a Poor/Debtors farm. Basically a place to kick the homeless back in the 20s and 30s. Now it's a quirky hotel with a pub, a "Brew 'n View" movie house - like the venue downtown, a golf course, an outdoor concert theatre, and a vinyard. Don't know if it still happens, but a lot of their beer used to be made from extract as some of the pubs did not have the abilty to mash. Just a brew kettle and a couple fermenters.

There's better beer in the state, but McMenamin's is a must stop, especially if you pick one of the pubs with character, like the Ram, or Edgefield, or Cornelius Pass.

I'm from Oregon, I love the place, why I'm still here I'm not sure (wife and kids probably have something to do with it). Great place to visit.