Wonderful BA's... I need some help. A friend, who lives in Portland, and knows not much of beer....wants to give my brother in-law a nice mix of beers from the Portland area. He lives in Colorado, is not a crazy beer geek, but would likely appreciate some local things from the Portland area. My question, can you guide me to recommend to her some Portland local bottles/cans that don't see distro in Colorado? Any help would be greatly appreciated here. Thanks very much!
seekabrew.com will help you see what distro we have that you don't. giving more info about styles that your brother likes will help the advice you receive.
Good, strictly Portland breweries that aren't available in CO: Gigantic - IPA & Most Premium RIS Breakside - Big Country Ale & Wanderlust IPA Commons - Anything you can find Upright - Anything you can find, especially barrel-aged or "Sole Composition" bottles Laurelwood - Workhorse IPA Hair of the Dog - Anything you can find, which will probably be Adam, Fred, & Doggie Claws Cascade - Anything you can find (assuming you like fruity, lacto-bomb sours). Kriek, Apricot, Vine, Figaro, and Strawberry should all be readily available around town, and the Barrel House may have something else beyond that. Personally, I don't think their stuff is worth $20-30+ per bottle, but I'm probably in the minority. Non-local breweries worth seeking out: Ale Apothecary - Anything you can find De Garde - See above Double Mountain - Vaporizer & Fa La La La La would be my picks at the moment Pelican - Imperial Pelican Ale and Stormwatchers are definitely worth grabbing Logsdons - Anything, especially Seizoen Bretta & Cerasus Block 15 - Bottles will be tough to find without heading to Corvallis, but everything they make is solid Bend - Ching Ching and Hophead IIPA are both awesome Hop Valley, 10 Barrel, Ninkasi, & Goodlife all make solid IPAs and IIPAs (especially for the price), so if you need some good $5 bombers to fill out a box they're good picks
seekabrew narrows it down a bit, but doesn't tell me much about specific portland/oregon breweries only. it helps a little, but I figured help from locals would be better. My bro in-law likes Porters/Pale ales/ IPA's/Stouts/Lagers. Nothing incredibly fancy. Thanks for the help!
Craft lagers are surprisingly easy to find here. Breakside, HUB, and Base Camp make some decent year-round lagers/pilsners if you're specifically looking for Portland breweries. But if you're willing to look regional (say 40 miles or so), the lagers from Heater Allen are excellent. (Side note: Upright makes a stunning pilsner but doesn't bottle it.)
I was going to add this since it was missing from the large list above. Their pils is phenomenal, but I think all of their beers are very good. I would also try Bobtoberfest (not around at the moment) and Mediator (their doppelbock). and yes, Upright's pilsner, Engelberg, is one of the best beers in PDX.
