Catching Up: Day Trip Part 1

A few  weeks ago I was able to take 2 beer related day trips both with my friend (and tour guide of sorts), Marc. I have been trying to figure out the most efficient way of posting about these trips. I decided that it would be better to break them up into several post.

 

On Monday on we down to McMinnville, OR .  But we of course had to stop a few places along the way.

First stop was Max's Fanno Creek Brew Pub in Tigard, OR. We wanted to stop there and see how things were going after all the changes at the pub. Despite the changed we were happy to find that the pub is turning out some very tasty beer.  Marc had a O Holy Hop Ale and I had Dopplebock. Both were well made defiantly worth a return visit.

Next up was Golden Valley Brewer & Pub in McMinnville for lunch and a beer. The food was good but more importantly, so was the beer.

Marc had a Chehalem Mt. IPA, which was good and clean but could use some more hops in the bittering to balance the malt. I had a Tannenbomb, which is there winter sessional and, as the name suggests, is very much a malt bomb.

Jason the brewer was nice enough to talk to us and invited us back into the brewery. We had a nice chat about his brewery and these are a few of the pictures I snapped.

Snow Days

It has been snowing for 10 days now and we have been hitting the beer cellar pretty hard. The recycling bin is starting to overflow and the city has not been able to pick up for over a week now.
Bottles are starting to pile up in the kitchen as well.


Fortunately my friend Marc doesn't mind driving in this weather (a 4 wheel drive Honda Pilot helps a lot), so he saved me from rotting in the house and took me down to Portland a for a few beers.
Yesterday we started off at Hopworks for lunch, a mug of Abominable Winter Ale, and a glass of Cask Barrel Aged DOA for dessert.







From there we headed over to Amnesia for a Copacetic IPA and 2007 Sleighjerker.







After that we headed up to Saravesa for one more beer (A Russian River Blind Pig) before heading back home.



Now that is what I call a good Christmas Eve!

The Bruery Now Being Distributed In Oregon

According to The Bruery's Blog, The Bruery, located in Placentia, California is now being distributed in Oregon, and soon in Northern California. It's kind of hard to believe Oregon is getting it first! Check out their web site for more information.

I have had the chance to try most of Brewer/Owner Patrick Rue's beers at a few private tastings and most recently at this years Great American Beer Festival. Their beer is mostly Belgian inspired and very tasty. These beers are very much worth seeking out. I can't wait to get some locally!

Bottle tasting at Cascade Brewing/Raccoon Lodge

I spent the afternoon at a bottle tasting over at Cascade Brewing/Raccoon Lodge. I'd tried some of brewer Ron Gansberg's beers at the GABF this year and was very impressed by the beers that I'd sampled at their both, so I was looking forward to this tasting today. I was not disappointed as Ron was a very gracious host.
He pulled out all sorts of goodies including a 3 year old barley wine, a beer he was calling "Half Beer" which was Flanders Red blended with Cherries, and a beer I think he is calling "Shekar" (a sour spice strong blonde ale fermented with a "White Wine Grape") all of which were quite remarkable. Then he started pulling samples from the tanks in the brewery. There we tasted some truly special beers like his wonderful Apricot Flanders and very tasty and well balanced blended that I can't remember the name of (I must have been drinking). I think it might have been called P’Quad. (Edit: Vlad the Imp Aler.)
Then we went into the walk-in cooler to have some Drie Zwarte Pieten “Sang noir” which will be served at the Holiday Beer Festival this year.


Cascade Brewing is a brewery to watch out for. There are some really good beers coming out of this little gem of a brewery.






Not at all a bad way to spend a Saturday afternoon in Beervana I think!

Thursday afternoon/evening in Portland

My friend Marc and I went out on Thursday and hit a few good spots:

Lompoc 5th Quadrant - Brian has a great Fresh Hopped Lager on right now.

Green Dragon - I had a Beer Valley Pig Skin Pale Ale - Really delicious!

Roots - Toasted Coconut Porter & Fresh hopp-opotamus, Fresh Hop ale. Mmm...

Then we went over to Bailey's Tap Room for a Bottled Barleywine Tasting -

Alaskan Barleywine
AleSmith Old Knucklehead
Avery Hog Heaven
Green Flash Barleywine


We ended up over at the Tug Boat - I can't recommend any of the house beers but they do have some good guest taps. And the atmosphere is great! I had a Fish Tale Winterfish which was great.
There is a great write up on the Tug Boat by Angelo on his Brewpublic blog, check it out!

I wish I had pictures but I forgot to bring my camera... Next time!

All in a days "work" in Beervana!

Cheers!

More Random GABF Pictures

Hanging at the festival with my Portland friends Mark Campbell and his wife Lisa Morrison (a.k.a. The Beer Goddess)
Photo by Tom Dalldorf



Matt from Double Mountain Brewing with Tracey, Barney, & John of Full Sail.

More GABF Pictures

I can't stop talking about Swifty winning a silver metal for his Keller Beer. I'm so freakin' proud and happy for my friend! Here is a picture of Swifty with his metal!
Congratulations again Swifty!

Photo by Mark Kizer