Visiting Portland (Winter 2016 update)

If I had to guess I would peg the Vin Lee and BBomb as the first kegs to blow and probably won't make it through tomorrow (high demand, small kegs), but I suspect the rest of them should be pouring for at least another day or two. Also, we have several kegs of the Anniversary barleywine so we'll have that on continuously for at least a week or two.

 

Are the "beer tours", such as Brewvana, worthwhile?

 

I think you need to look at the tour options that are available when you're visiting and run your own cost/benefit analysis. Their tours usually include 4 stops with samples provided at each stop, and they pick up and drop off for free within 3 miles of downtown for ~$70. Depending on where you're staying and where you want to go, it might be cheaper to use them than to take an Uber around town and pay for all your own beer.

Frankly, if you aren't traveling in a large group it's probably cheaper and faster to use Uber/Lyft to get from one spot to another. If you are in a big group or want to have them arrange tours at places that don't normally offer them it's worth looking into. This is probably their biggest strength; the fact that they have relationships with lots of breweries will get you behind the scenes at places that don't normally offer tours.

Of course, all of that is ignoring the fact that our transit system will get you anywhere you would realistically want to go all day long for a $5 day pass.

 

Probably been asked a million times but guessing Logsdon and de Garde brews are basically non-existent?

 

They exist. Slim pickings on de garde but you might get lucky.

 

Logsdon is definitely around, de Garde you'll mostly be out of luck.

 

Everything from Logsdon other than Peche & Brett should be available in Portland, and if you have a couple hours to kill they have bottles of it at the tap room in Hood River.

 

Yeah, pretty much about the above three said. Logsdon is pretty easy to find, sans Peche n' Brett ($25/bottle at the taproom if you have the time), and de Garde tends to be around a couple days after a bottle release. Hell, New Seasons typically has bottles.

In the same ilk, Ale Apothecary should be fairly simple to find as well, and comes highly recommended if you can stomach the upfront cost.

 

Worth going to Hood River during a three day visit? No car either.

 

Probably not, to be honest. While Logsdon, pFriem, Full Sail, and Double Mountain are all worth your time, there's just too much in Portland proper, even for three days.

 

I was in Whole Foods Pearl two days ago and they had tons of Saizoen, Saizoen Bretta and Oak Aged Bretta.

 

unless you specifically want bottles of pnb, no.

 

de Garde is around at some spots outside of the city. NW Growlers in Sherwood had 3 different bottles as of a few days ago, they've had Saison Premiere since the last time it was distro'd a few months ago. I think Arch Bridge has some bottles?

 

Did Torpedo kick yet?

 

How easy/hard is it to find Boneyard crowlers in Portland? Can you only get those at the brewery?

 

http://www.thegrowlerguys.com/our-locations/oregon-portland

rpm, notorious, and a crowler machine. (check website for live list, taps rotate frequently.)

 

So side trips to Tillamook, Hood River, or anywhere else around probably not worth it either?

 

RPM and Hop Venom are generally very easy to find. Notorious has been more available lately.

If you don't have access to a car, trips to Hood River and Tillamook wouldn't be worth it. There is a bus from Portland to Tillamook, but it only runs once or twice a day and you'd have a very short window to get to de Garde from where the bus drops you off and then get back so you're not stuck in Tillamook overnight.