Visiting Portland (Fall/Winter 2014 update)

Would somebody be interested in sending me a BM about a potential IP trade? The stuff I'm looking for isn't super rare or anything, I'm just trying to figure out what it will take to get them and nail down a plan.

 

Amazing weekend. Awesome beer, which is to be expected. What impressed me even more was the food - don't think I've ever had such consistently good food over several meals like I did in OR. Can't wait to come back.

 

I'd recommend posting in the IP trading forum with some examples of what you're looking for and what you have to offer. I usually jump on IP trades whenever I've got the right stuff to avoid those pesky shipping costs!

 

Has anyone made a list of all these place's happy hour times? It seems like most places in Portland have a happy hour at various times. I'm predicting my Portland trip is going to cost around 2k

 

that price could go +/- $1k depending on how much beer you plan on purchasing and what you like to eat There is so much amazing food in PDX, but there is a ton that is affordable too. While eating at Aviary and Ava Genes etc... is great, there are tons of places that wont crush your wallet.
Have fun!

 

Question related to all this.

If you're visiting PDX for a day/night pretty much exclusively to be a beer tourist, what region/hotel do you recommend staying in?

 

Southeast

 

Except for the near complete lack of hotels in decent parts of SE.... The Jupiter Hotel and Eastside Lodge might be places to check out. But, also, even the hotels in downtown are only a short walk / bus / cab to most of the beer destinations in SE.

 

Airbnb is also a good option if you want to be right in SE.

 

Geez, a Calipornian worried about the cost? Dude, it's going to be cheaper than where you're from.

Just a mild bit of chain-jerking, enjoy your visit!

 

Alright Beertunes, now I'm not going! I hope you're happy with yourself! Jk
But regardless if it's cheaper than California I remember when I visited a few years ago someone talking about locals go bar to bar based on happy hour times. I was just wondering if anyone has seen such list.

 

AFAIK, most of the top tier beer bars that pop up in theses threads don't really do happy hours. That said, most of the dive bars in town to happy hours or daily specials (like a shot of X and a 16oz can of PBR for $5), and even the diviest bars in town will have at least a handful of craft beers, so if you feel like slumming it you can certainly get drunk for cheap. The "Stumble Zone" of Hawthorne from ~40th to 50th is particularly well suited for a bar crawl. Starting at 42nd and working east you've got:

• Hawthorne Hophouse - beer bar with 24 taps of mostly local stuff. $1 off all Portland beers from 3-6 every day
  
• Hawthorne Fish House - Wisconsin-themed fish and chips place with ~8 taps of local stuff. Cheap food and $1 off pints from 3-6
  
• Zach's Shack - Hot Dog & Sausage place with 4 or 5 local beers. I don't think they do happy hour, but it's cheap enough any way.
  
• Angelo's - legit "dive bar" atmospehere with 20+ taps of mostly solid stuff. They have 3-4 rotating beers on $3 pint special all night, so if you want a couple cheap beers and play some Big Buck Hunter or Pool this is your place.
• Bar of the Gods - Dive bar with ~12 taps, 8 of which are usually worth drinking on any given visit. They also have pinball & pool tables. $3 well drinks and $1.50 PBR cans from 4-8
  
• Space Room - They only have 1 tap (Bud), but this is one of the best spots in the neighborhood for cheap stiff drinks and "Fish bowls" full of booze. The decor alone makes it worth a quick visit. Happy hour drink specials vary by the day.
  
• Tanker Bar - Sports Bar (I guess?) with ~12 taps of craft beer as well as every tall boy can available in the state of Oregon. Several big screens, Skeeball, pinball, and one of those 4 player "Super pacman" machines round out the entertainment. $3 well drinks and rotating $3 pints all day every day
  
• Sewickly's Addition - Commonly referred to as "The Sickly Addition" because when you order a $2.50 well drink (4-7pm) it's 80% booze and 20% mixer, leading to some dangerously cheap evenings. They also have pool tables, free darts, and a bunch of TV's if you need something to do so you don't drink too fast.

 

Great post. I remember now that my trip a few years ago I knew a lot less about beer and actually went for Widmer Bros! lol. I have completely different tastes now and your point makes perfect sense. I really only have interest in Portland's best IPAs & all the sours/wild beers & breweries now. If I run out of money on my trip, I'll be looking up your post

 

A super solid amount of top-tier recs have already been laid down for where to drink and eat (and eat while drinking). But now that the topic of where to stay has come up, for anyone visiting AFTER winter (meaning spring 2015 or later), I'll have Inn Beervana back up. It's our completely private/fully-detached hopartment in inner SE. Belmont Station, Bazi, Hawthorne Hophouse plus growler stations galore are all mere minutes by foot. The constellation of breweries including HOTD, Cascade, Commons, Baerlic, Base Camp, Ground Breaker, Mt. Tabor... is 10 mins by bike. I'm always happy to float more beer and food recs than you can hit in a visit during (or before) your stay.

 

I'll probably be going in July next year. So you have a link to whatever these hopartments are?

 

Boo at Logsdon being closed. I was really looking forward to visiting.

 

Heading down tomorrow morning to help a friend pick up a bike and then we've got the day to drink reasonably before driving back to Seattle around 5pm. Thinking grabbing food at Lardo SE and then taking it to Apex. We'd like to check out Fat Heads, but other than that we're game for whatever. Breakside doesn't open until 3 and sadly Commons and Upright are closed on Tuesdays. Maybe stop in at HotD. Not really sure. Any other suggestions of what's hot right now?

 

If your time is limited, I would definitely skip HotD. Cascade isn't far from there and they are awesome.