Visiting Portland (Winter 2016 update)

If you couldn't tell from it's own thread, Great Notion is getting lots of attention lately.

 

Yeah, Culmination has done some good beers so far, haven't made it out to their pub yet though.

 

Looking forward to it

 

I'd cast a vote for both Ex Novo and Great Notion. Ex Novo doesn't seem to get enough love around here, though.

 

Ex novo for sure.

 

You might consider including a section for the local beer blogs - Brewpublic, The Brew Site, New School, Portland Craft Beer Events Calendar. Might cut down on the "Are there any events happening on _______ weekend?" questions...

 

Great Notion is already in the Newcomers section.

 

Yep! I think people forget they've been open since January.

 

I guess it's too early to add Biketown to transit since they don't launch til July.

 

Doing some follow-up reading on other sites regarding this Base Camp owner goes to jail story and yeah, dang ... Portland does have a serious out of control homeless issue ... especially right where Base Camp is located.

Wondering ... since my wife & I will be in town from SoCal for a birthday vacation ... is a visit to Base Camp (we'll be on foot coming up from the Commons / Cascade area) a good idea? If I were alone, I wouldn't think twice about hoofing it to Base Camp ... been to plenty of big cities including SF.

Also ... What's the HotD / Commons / Cascade area like? Aggressive homeless like near Base Camp? Thanks!

 

You'll be fine at all those places.

 

A lot of the issues with the homeless have been blown out of proportion. Yes, there's a bunch of them, but the vast majority aren't aggressive. Sure, they'll ask you for spare change or a smoke, but very few will verbally accost you if you politely decline, and only a tiny, tiny fraction of those people would even think about assaulting someone.

I do empathize with the folks from Base Camp, because there are a lot of people living out of tents and cars in that area, but I've wandered all over that neighborhood at all times of day and never felt threatened.

 

Shit can happen anywhere. That aside, that is one of the safest brewery crawls on the planet

 

I've got homeless people living in tents under I-5 across from my house. They're not a threat whatsoever.

 

Don't leave your bike unattended or a bag of empty soda cans laying around. And never walk anywhere barefoot including Willamette river riverbanks. In all seriousness, the only thing to worry about is that you may feel a little depressed enjoying yourself while homeless folks are spread about on the sidewalk.

 

Thanks all for the replies! Yeah over at reddit they make the area around Base Camp seem like a fucking war zone (like the dude who just got murdered one block away from BC) ... so naturally since my wife would be walking around the battle grounds with me, I would be thinking "FUCK that - I don't need a marshmallow garnish that bad". But yeah, I get how things can be totally blown out of proportion ... yes the homeless situation is bad, but for the most part, there is no threat to casual passer-bys. Then again ... maybe just skip BC and uber to Great Notion