I'll be visiting Seattle May 21-27th and Portland May 27-30th and was wondering if anyone had any information on potential beer events going on during this time (releases, festivals, tappings, etc). I've seen the extremely helpful "Visiting Seattle Spring 2016" thread and done my research on the Portland beer scene, so I already have a long list of breweries / bars / restaurants to visit. Just looking for any advice on potential events I might be overlooking. Thanks in advance for your help! Cheers!
For Portland, try these links: http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/visiting-portland-winter-2016-update.377534/ And here are some links to local beer blogs that will help you find out what's going on the weekend you are here: http://www.beeradvocate.com/communi...winter-2016-update.377534/page-4#post-4639902
I'm not aware of any festivals on Memorial Day Weekend, but I'll post the obligatory "every day is a beer fest in Portland" post. It's cliche, but it's true. On any given day you've got: Apex: 50 taps Baileys (and Upper Lip): 31 taps BeerMongers: 8 taps Belmont Station: 23 taps Bridgetown Beerhouse: 10 taps Hop & Vine: 12 taps Horse Brass: 58 taps NWIPA: 6 taps Saraveza: 10 taps Sassy's: 23 taps That's 231 taps that will probably have very little in the way of overlap, and I didn't even bother to include the dozens of other beer-centric bars or 50+ breweries.
You will hit the very end of Seattle Beer Week, so you may want to check out those events. You may find taps that carry over from events on previous days if you're just looking for the beer itself and not the experience of the specific event. http://www.seattlebeerweek.com/
Im from Northern NJ and am just getting back from both spots. Ill post my personal thoughts in the next few days so hopefully others find it helpful.
FWIW, I think it would be more helpful to post your reports in the "Visiting" threads for SEA & PDX. And thank you for posting reports. We answer a lot of questions, and rarely get feedback on how people liked our suggestions. So, thanks again!
As someone who moved here from central NJ (yes, it exists), I can't imagine anything but glowing reviews. When it comes to beer I do NOT miss living there.
I'm sure food is a different story. I haven't lived in the east for almost 20 years and still miss the pizza, bread, subs/sandwiches, and many other culinary offerings quite often. And speaking of Jersey, I was quite surprised to see that my local Fred Meyer carries pork roll.
Food is definitely a different story. Man do I miss Hoagie Haven in Princeton and Vito's Pizza in Pennington. They're obligatory stops every time I go home. The stuff that passes for pizza out here took some getting used to. Which Fred Meyer? I haven't seen pork roll out here at all.
Greenwood Fred Meyer has pork roll in a display cooler surrounded by Boar's Head products. The cooler is between the deli and produce, and IIRC not too far from the floral display. De Laurenti's is another place I've seen pork roll before. Not sure if they still have it. For pizza, check out Italian Family Pizza downtown, the dude that runs it is super cool and from Philly, with family in Jersey and NYC, so he's got good roots he's drawing from. Also, if you ever make it down to Hood River, be sure to try Double Mountain's pizza. It might be the best I've had on the West Coast. It's New Haven style and damn good. And speaking of Italian Family, the brother of the owner of Italian Family runs Calozzi's Cheesesteaks, which serves up the best cheesesteaks I've had in Seattle by a country mile. They do all the cheesesteak variations too. Yeah, it's slim pickings when looking for authentic stuff out in these parts, but there's an oasis here and there.
Italian Family Pizza and Calozzi's both look awesome! I know where I'll be eating this weekend. Thanks for the tip!
