Trip logs for Outside the PNW

I'm not saying Caldera has made it into the elite category of breweries, but their stuff is pretty good, at a minimum, and their draft-only, brewery-only beers are wide ranging and impressive. Their best is really good. In Washington terms, they remind me a bit of Old Schoolhouse ... both are in lovely towns, well outside the metropolitan areas and a bit hard to get too, but making consistently fine beers (and both make excellent Imperial Stouts). Either one is worth a stop if you're in the area, and worth going a bit out of your way. Caldera (with their 40 beers on offer) is of course much larger than Old Schoolhouse, but I think the quality level is about the same. And while Caldera's beer isn't at the level of Fremont or Black Raven, for example, I have to say it's really nice to have both a wide selection of fine beers and excellent food, in a spacious setting. I haven't been to any brewery in our state that offers both food and beer at that level.

 

I'll add to the Toasted Coconut Chocolate Porter love, and mention that I recently had a Mosaic IPA that was significantly better than their canned hoppy stuff. They did not put their best foot forward with their distributed cans, so I too wrote them off when I lived in WA, but the draft stuff I've had access to in OR is better.

 

I will echo what others have said. Thier distribution beers are good but not great. However I really like Mogli (barrel aged porter with Chocolate) and the toasted coconut porter is really good. Every time I have a one-off keg at a festival or event, its always suprisingly good. This is also similar to the Widmer experience. I never ever ever buy Widmer beers, but their Gasthaus offers some really cool beer from time to time ranging from Barrell aged sours to random Meads.

 

Caldera IPA cans have always been welcome at my campsite.

 

Mogli is fantastic. I always forget that it's Caldera.

 

At the brewery, they had a Barrel Aged Mogli on tap. That's right, they are taking a beer that already had some barrel aging, and putting it through another barrel aging cycle. The result was more bourbon, and less sweet than the regular Mogli you get in bottles. I loved it. Just an example of what you get when you make it to Ashland.

 

my favorite bar in the world. awesome trip report!

 

Great report. As for cost of beer (and living overall) in NYC, it's important to remember that per capita income is much higher too. In New York County, per capita income is $111,000. Compare that to Seattle ($42,000) or Portland ($31,000).

Do people still get priced out of places like New York or San Francisco? Of course. But taking your Oregon money to New York, you're inevitably going to feel some sticker shock. Just like my wife, fresh off the boat out of rural Indiana, almost shat her pants when our first house (1998) cost more than $200,000. You could (and still can) get a mansion (or at least a McMansion) in the Midwest for that.

 

Quick log from my Minneapolis trip over the weekend.

• Surly: Nice stop, similar to Stone's massive taproom/restaurant/circus in Escondido. Furious, Todd The Axe Man, and cocao bender were our favorite drafts of the day. Good place for large groups.
• Indeed: Favorite brewery we visited. Day Tripper, wooden soul #1, and wooden soul #3 were all crowd favorites. Hell, the Day Tripper on cask I had was the quintessential pale ale. I'll dream of that beer for some time.
• Bauhaus: Oh man, send somebody from Bon Appetit (or any other trendy magazine) to this place ASAP; this is the most gorgeous tap room and brewery space I've ever seen. Their offerings seem to lean German-style, and the Wagon Party I ordered (west coast-style lager, whatever that means!) was a gem. Coupled with a huge space, picnic tables, food trucks, and games, this place turns beer into a circus in the best way possible.
• Dangerous Man: Great beer. Another hip space, was busy but not unruly. Had an excellent single-hopped beer (green bullet IPA) and a nice belgian table. Awesome logo, too.

Also made stops at Fulton's and Insight, but nothing really to report at either of those locations. Was impressed with the city keeping there taps local, and can't wait for another excuse to visit this city.

 

Hubby and I do a lot of beer cations. The last one we did last month was Cali with our 'Scottsdale Beer Club'. We were camping at Dana Point, so they tended to stay close by. We were shopping for a Hobie Kayak, so we spent a few days in San Diego, which were the best.

We are from AZ and we tend to practice 'respect every brewer' there's a couple here in AZ that i would never mention, but would not go back to drink their beer. But we feel that every brewer is an artist and deserves to make a decent living and therefore we will support as many as we can. Yes, there are some that are just not that good, but every one deserves to live their artistic dream, therefore I will only mention the breweries we liked in Cali.

I'll also caveat that we always bring beer with us to share with the local breweries we visit as we feel that it's important to share the wealth and give others drinks they may not be able to get.

We started off from AZ and hit Alpine first. VERY surprised at the reaction of Alpine. Irish Bobby is awesome! He totally talked to us about the beers, what they were planning, etc. Yes, we gave him a growler of AZ Wilderness but he seemed excited to talk to anyone about the beer. We only went to the growler fill station, but the talk was awesome, highly recommend seeking him out and chatting about their releases.

Ballast Point was next and it was a huge location in a business district. They too were awesome to talk to, they offered us a tour, but we were on a schedule with the club so it didn't work out. Great patio, excellent service.

Next was AleSmith. Really, can i say any more? Excellent beer, huge open air space that was packed, but when they learned we were out of state, they came over an talked to us. Great warming reception, we brought several bottles with us.

On to Stone, can't rave enough about their beautiful gardens. That alone is worth the visit if you have never been there before. Service, so so, but worth a visit.

Then to Mother Earth. Fantastic brews! wow, if you have never gone to this small town but awesome brewery site, take the time to visit. Yes, it was crowded, but we went on a Friday night. The place is huge. The brews are fantastic, very earthy homey feeling, open air brewery. A definite must.

Another day.....on to Societe. Really, one of the best in the country, very surprised it wasn't mentioned here. A very much must visit when going to San diego. They are clearly one of the best in the country with solid brews and fantastic service. We spent several hours here talking with them regarding their brews and it was the most enjoyable afternoon. Huge space, long bar, but plenty of space for everyone. If you didn't figure it out before GO VISIT!!!!!! And if anyone wants to bring me a Pupil, I'm here :0)

Also hit several bottle shops. Since we were driving (why we were able to give away 9 growlers to Cali brewers) we took many bottle cases home.....not complaining.

Hit Bagby in Oceanside. That was a definite surprise. Very decent brewery with good brews and again, very accommodating and talkative staff. i love talking to the brewers to get their take on the market and what's coming up. It is a huge place with patios, great for parties, my fave was the Dinkus.

Breakwater was blocks away. Not gonna lie I'm not a mead fan but their Rabiscus was very good. Their DMJ IPA was also very good, nice citrus tones and piney taste.

Those were the ones worth talking about.

We are on our way to Portland in 5 days with some great hook ups and can't wait to taste the beers you guys get every day! Thanks for all of your info.

 

As summer draws to a close I have to say... this got used a lot less than I expected it to get used.

 

Maybe we all stayed home all summer?

 

Too hot to move around much?

 

Yeah........why leave???

 

NW Summer is clearly the best time to be here. The weather is awesome, the outdoors are beautiful, and there's tons of events happening every day. Now once winter rolls around, then I get interested in travel....

 

I still need to write up my Spain, Belgium and Netherlands trip from June/July.

 

Just lazy...

Prague, Budapest, SF, Chicago, Madison, Austin, Charlotte and Denver (next week) is my out of region wailing for the summer