Portland Itinerary

Don't skip the Horsebrass! Taps there can be amazing.

 

"English Ale Thing?" It's modeled after English pubs, but 80% (or more) of their 50 something taps are American beer, mostly from the PNW. They also rotate through things faster than almost any bar in town (except for maybe Apex), so the beer is usually fresh and tasty.

Back to the OP: I'm not going to get into the debate over which bottleshops you should or shouldn't visit, but I would like to offer a couple suggestions on your Wednesday itinerary:

• HOTD doesn't open until 2pm, so depending on how early you finish OMSI you may want to hit Cascade first since they open at 11.
• Riding 20-30 blocks up the hill to Hawthorne, riding 25+ blocks back down the hill to Apex/Beermongers, and then riding 40+ blocks back up the same hill to get to the Brass/Station seems like a lot of unneccessary back tracking. Unless you really want to rack up some miles on the bike I'd suggest doing Cascade/HOTD/Lardo, picking up your bike, riding down to Apex/BeerMongers, and then heading up the hill towards Hawthorne/Brass/Station.
• Last but not least, the Brass is open until 2am, but the Station closes at 11pm, so if you decide to visit them and it's getting late in the evening you may want to hit the Station first since it closes earlier.

Cheers!

 

Id go to Belmont bottle shop for sure, great selection and nice people, however, when you cross the vortex into the bar be prepared for elitist, standoffish, you are killing me by making me do my job, assholery. Id simply go to Belmont bottle shop before or after HBP.

Apex and Beermongers is a great stop. Get some Los Gorditos to go (theyll deliver if you order and sit outside at Apex, just dont climb over the railing or take it to Beermongers, which has great prices for bottles, same price to drink there or to go.

 

Being from San Diego, I'm glad someone gets this besides me

 

Funny how quickly people lose sight of the historic nature of the Horse Brass. It's a Portland institution, and any visit to Portland's beer scene that nixes it in favor of the new and shiny makes Don Younger put out a cigar in a puppy's eye.

 

Didn't you know that taco trucks were invented in Portland?

 

FYI. HotD opens at 11:30 these days.

 

I wasn't saying anything bad about it, I was saying I haven't made a trip to it yet but it's quite reputable.

 

Won't someone think of the puppies?!?

 

On that note, if you're bringing kids be aware that the bar side of the Station only allows minors until 7 (minors are welcome in the store at all times), and I think the Brass tolerates them until 8pm, but I could be off by an hour. Being childless, it's not something I pay particularly close attention to.

 

On your first day, if you end up skipping Bridgeport (which I recommend because they don't really have anything special at the brewery), you can take the street car into the Pearl and do Deschutes and/or Baliey's Taproom (you have to walk a little). (Personally I could give or take Henry's Tavern; they have a decent tap list, but it will be redundant with all the other places you are visiting.)

Or if you want to do something fancy, you can ride all the way down to Higgins:
http://higginsportland.com/

It's pricey, but it's considered a Portland institution. They also usually have some good taps and they also have an pretty good bottle list (with plenty of Belgian beers).


As far as bottle shops go, my advice is to go to Belmont Station. I understand the love for Beermongers, but personally I've found their selection to be not as good or plentiful. For example, last week when Midnight Sun Berserker came out, Beermongers sold out in a few hours whereas Belmont Station had enough to last throughout the long weekend. That said, Beermongers is a better location since you can also hit up Apex, and you're close by to the Hawthorne food cart pod.

One tip to save time is that Belmont Station has their entire beer list online.
http://www.belmont-station.com/index.php?id=bottles

I always make a list ahead of time so I don't end up getting distracted and getting lost in the 1000+ bottles they have. Of course, it's fun to browse but I'm assuming you already have limited luggage space for bottles so you'll have to prioritize (especially if you're planning on buying from Cascade as well).

One last tip, you can buy some Commons bottles at Belmont Station. You can crack open a bottle while you're here just so you can sample what it's like (since you won't get a chance to visit the Brewery itself).

 

Just a heads up, Bailey's is 21+ as well.

 

I think even if you brought cute bunnies and puppy dogs the people on the bar side would still be asses, theyd probably complain about too much happiness.