Thanks to everyone who chimed in on my help thread. Breweries I stopped at: Ashland: Caldera Eugene: Ninkasi Tilamook: De Garde, Pellican Portland: Hair of the Dog, Cascade, Rogue Hood River: Double Mountian Bend: Boneyard, 10 Barrel, Crux, Deschutes Misc: McMinamons (doesn't really count IMO), Fall River (Redding, CA) Plus stopped at several bottle shops and growler filling stations. Picked up a ton of good bottles and cans from all of the above and stuff from: Ale Apothecary, Worthy, Goodlife, Ft. George, Hub. Double Mountain and Crux were my favorite places including beer, food and hospitality. HotD was cool, except our waitress had quite the attitude. De Garde was TINY but really amazing. Cascade beers were really good, but the tasting room left a bit to be desired. The beers across the board were really solid. The growler filling stations in Oregon were AMAZING. So cool, I wish we had places like that in Cali. Overall, 1,400 or so miles later, the GF and I had a great time. Thank you Oregon!
Doggie Claws, Fred, Lila, Ruth, Blue Dot, Adam, and Cherry Adam from the Wood. Server was a brunette gal. She got nicer as the morning went on, she may have been a bit hung over?
I've only been to HotD once but our server was an awesome dude. Friendly, talkative, helpful. He brought the wrong bottle once and we didn't realize until he had already opened it - he was super apologetic and comp'd us the bottle. (We had ordered Pannepooch and he brough a Bourbon Fred - ended up enjoying the accidental Bourbon Fred more and would've gladly paid for it, but he wanted to comp it for us.) All in all, no complaints.
HotD can be that way. Sometimes they are really nice, and sometimes they have attitude. They are also understaffed way too often. I feel the same way about Cascade. I love their beer, but for some reason I dont like hanging out there. Double Mountain is one of my favorite places, along with pFriem family brewers.
Last time I stopped by Cascade, I asked my server, who was a young hippie chick and high as kite, which beer was which after ordering 2 tasters and she straight up laughed at me. Pretty awesome.
Agreed - the inside of the Barrel House is awful...bland, no character whatsoever. The Raccoon Lodge is mostly families, but at least the place itself has some personality.
The Cascade Barrel House isnt that bad - especially on tap-it Tuesdays. I can get down with the patio too.
I think hotd has a boring look to it, and what's with the fish stuff? I do love their swag though! I like cascade's look actually and even though I've gotten to know many of the people at both places I prefer cascades service more. I feel that at hotd they just have more to do and most times are doing multiple things so chatting and prompt service lacks. So I get that under staffed is a issue. Most times I go they are really busy so I don't know why they don't have enough staff. Alan has to be making money on the place. so I can see why new people or casual people might think they have bad service. I've actually heard people getting upset due to it, sometimes I'll give them the 411. The last time that happened is when AFTW was just released and Wendy was slammed and people were just getting pissed at the service. I talked to two of them and told Wendy to help them first since I didn't want them to leave and I knew she was super busy.
I've been going to HOTD about once a week for a year now and have had nothing but great service, with three or four of the servers being exceptionally friendly.
I like both HOTD and Cascade, but I admit to having had conflicting experiences at Cascade. The first time it was the first sour tasting ever for my wife and I and our waitress was extremely helpful, patient and well informed on a busy evening, which we appreciated. One subsequent time our waitress (different one) was less than helpful, but then after that it was great. I guess it just depends who you get. My one HOTD experience was fantastic. Our waiter was extremely knowledgeable and helpful. Back to the original post, that sounds like an epic, epic trip and I want to do that itinerary. And I live here! I'm guessing the car was quite packed with bottles for the return trip.
