Oregon June 30-July 7

Completely agree Mudbug. I try to always sit in the bar area as well and have never had a bad experience there. I'm not a huge Rogue fan, but nevertheless, I just can't imagine going to Newport without stopping at the brewery (usually 40 or 50 rogue beers on tap, and typically they have at least a couple limited release items available).

Also, just my two cents, but I think the Green Dragon is worth a visit. They have an extensive tap list, and often they'll have something on tap I won't see any place else. It's just a couple minute walk from the Cascade Barrel house, so why not?

 

Yeah, I think that pretty much nails it Brian. I used to find the "atmosphere" at Tugboat's kind of interesting/amusing, and I guess it still is (if you've never been there before), but after my last visit (some years ago now) I decided enough was enough. The trade off isn't worth it to me any more; I just don't think there's any reason to put up with mediocre beer in PDX. Also, with Bailey's right next door, across the street, I've pretty much forgotten that Tugboat is even around.

 

"Would Lucky Lab or Beermongers be a better choice than Green Dragon?"

I would say no, but I'm sure others will say yes.

It's really hard to compare these three places as they have very little in common. Beermongers is basically a bottle shop, but they also have 4 or 5 beers on tap, and of course you can open and enjoy on premise anything they sell. Prices are good and they have a nice selection of bottled beer.

The LL is a brewery/brewpub, making a wide range of beers. I like their stuff a lot, but of course not everyone does. Occassionally you'll see some of their beers around town, but for the most part, the LL brewpubs are the only place where you can find their beers. Food is pretty good as well, and their prices are very reasonable. Miser Mondays and Tightwad Tuesdays are the days to go if you really want to drink cheaply.

The Green Dragon is a multi-tap pub, now owned by Rogue. The Buckman Village brewery is co-located there, and so naturally they tend to have a number of Buckman beers on tap at any given time. Despite the Rogue ownership, the GD tends to have a pretty excellent tap selection of imports and craft beer (mostly local and regional stuff). There is also a cold box with a decent selection of bottled beer to buy to go or enjoy on the premises. Prices are a bit on the high side, at least for Portland. However, that's fairly typical generally of Rogue pubs in Oregon (high prices).

The Apex pub/tavern is literally across the street from Beermongers, so arguably you could go there instead of the GD, if you want a multi-tap pub experience (Apex does not have a kitchen, if that matters to you - you can bring in food from outside if you want). The quality level is similar (I'd give the nod to Apex over GD), though of course both places have a completely different draft list.

 

I second Brian's recommendation.

The GF and I took a scenic drive on Hiway 26 up around Government Camp a week ago last Sunday, and right now there is a considerable amount of road contruction going on just past Government Camp. It appeared as if part of the road had been washed out, resulting in considerable delay going through there (one lane with a flagger letting cars through). It wasn't too bad on the Sunday morning we drove through, but if there had been a lot of traffic, my guess is that waits to get through could be considerable.