Road Trip: Beer Suggestions for OR & WA

https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/visiting-seattle-spring-2017-update.502062/
https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/visiting-portland.510396/

 

Make sure to stop in the Spokane area on the way through. Selkirk Abbey is just on the Idaho side of the border. @woemad can give you better details, but Iron Goat is a must hit, IMHO.

Worth getting off I-5 for is Ten Pin in Moses Lake. Very worthy of a detour is going up to Leavenworth and stopping at Icicle. Plus, the drive over the pass on Hwy 2 is better than going over on I-5, and opens up beer options on the North end of the Seattle area.

 

Once you are in southern Oregon, on I-5, be sure to stop at Caldera Brewing, in Ashland, about 10 miles from the California border. IMHO, it's much the best beer spot along I-5 between Eugene and Chico (Sierra Nevada), a distance of almost 400 miles. Decent food, too.

 

Selkirk and Iron Goat are must hits, as @beertunes says, but Perry Street can be added to that list. Their IPL won gold at GABF, no mean feat for a brewery that small, and their Citra Dust IPA is epic. Their location in the funky Perry district lends itself to easy journey by foot to Lantern Tap House and a couple quaint food options.

Iron Goat makes all sorts of beers, from IPAs to sours and wild ales. All are good, many of them great, and few make it to bottles, and are run by and frequented by great people. It also has the advantage of being within walking distance of other breweries and tap rooms, being in very close proximity to River City and Orlison tap rooms and the nano-brewery incubator space known as Steel Barrel. A little further east are Whistle Punk's brand new downtown tap room, Steam Plant Brewing, and Black Label in the Saranac Commons. It's the closest Spokane comes to a true brewery district, and if staying downtown overnight would be a fun brewery crawl.

Selkirk Abbey does mostly Belgian beers (though they also have a small line of traditional UK styles under the name Northern Cross). Everything they do is quality. Their Cuvee might be my all time local favorite.

 

Anybody know anything about Dru's Brews (or however it's spelled)? Last time I went that way I went hella early, over the pass still in the a.m. Although I saw some bottles from them a couple months ago, in Idaho of all places, I've never had anything from them.

Worth the OP's time when at the summit, and they're open?

 

It's been a year, but the beer there was pretty good and focused more on lower-ABV offerings. The Aardvark food truck across the street was one of the best I've had in Washington State though, so if it's lunch time - and if Dru Bru still welcomes outside food - get some Aardvark and take it in to Dru Bru for an awesome meal.

 

I-90, not I-5. If you get off I-5 looking for Moses Lake you'll get seriously lost.

Bale Breaker in Yakima is well worth your time. Driving through Yakima in general is a definite requirement, see Hop Country USA.

 

I hear there's a funky little brewery about an hour south of Cannon Beach in the cow town of Tillamook that may be worth visiting

 

Well since scenery obviously isn't important (I 5 through Or, motto: Worst road in the state) hit all the great stuff in Corvalis (Block15) then Eugene then Ashland. Too bad you are bypassing one of the worlds top drives, Hwy 101/1 down the coast where you just might find hidden gems like the Yachatts Farm store.

 

I stopped at Dru Bru in March. The beers were interesting, and reasonably good. I recommend that any of the NW BAs going over Snoqualmie give it a try.

But should the OP make a stop there, on a long trip, and a first visit to the Northwest? No, I don't think so. While Dru Bru is somewhere between OK and pretty good, that could be said of probably 80% of the breweries in the state. For the OP's first trip to our area, I would recommend sticking to the top tier breweries. There are more than enough of those to keep the OP from ever getting to California, anyway.

 

Depending on what day you're driving thru Newberg, you could hit Wolves & People.

I've read good things about Ashtown Brewing in Longview, but haven't been yet.

 

Shhh!

 

That funky little brewery hasn't been a secret for years. Heck, their beers are distributed to California now.

 

DOH!!!! I ain't all that bright really, plus I replied from my phone, several beers deep. @onemoresatnight , I clearly meant I-90 in my previous post, and @distantmantra is very correct, the 30-40 minute drive south from Ellensburg to Yakima for a visit to Bale Breaker is a must hit. The family that owns the brewery are multi-generational hop ranchers, and carved a few acres out of their Field 41 to build the brewery. Go there!

 

That's the place that has the experimental beers from the hop processors brewery on tap, right? I was trying to come up with the name, and spaced on it.

As far as Bale Breaker, we disagree. I'm a huge fanboy, so keep that in mind, but, I just love sitting outside at Bale Breaker and soaking up sun, warmth, and beer. They usually have some onsite only brews on tap too. For me, that makes it a must hit.

 

But not where I live.