Visiting Portland - Summer 2017 update

I should amend my previous post though:

1) I completely disagree with your assessment of culmination
2) Prefacing a post by discussing your own reputation (regardless of what said reputation is) suggests a level of self-absorption that should be avoided if you want to be taken seriously. I'm guessing most people here took exception to you just because of that. This is something ElijahSF has yet to understand.

 

I think everyone needs to just let lukewarm opinions slide - it's just one guy's impression, it doesn't take anything away from the beer scene here.

 

Not sure if it's cruel, but I'm not sure it's accurate either. Deschutes still makes beers that people want (Abyss, Black Butte anniversary, some of the pub-only offerings).

How about Bridgeport? They seem like a better example of a former leader who's seen better days. Like Anchor.

 

You're right. I was thinking in terms of Deschutes importance to Oregon beer history, a venerable father (or mother) figure who isn't as cutting edge now as in the past. Anchor's as close as the Bay Area gets to that. But it isn't that close, as Deschutes does still make some good beer.

Really, I don't know how Bridgeport stays in business

 

I miss Blue Heron.

 

Oh, Alaska. Just because you have 650,000 sq. miles to work with.

 

Really miss those 650k sq. miles.

 

Yo, PDXers. As my busy season at work starts to wind down, I'm thinking about coming down for a couple days around, or just after Thanksgiving. Any preferred cheap motels? An airport motel is fine, but a quick googlization gave me about gajillion options. Thoughts, comments?

 

And doesn't that make all the difference?

Online communication is a funny business. It simultaneously enables people, who couldn't otherwise connect, to connect; and people, who wouldn't ordinarily misunderstand, annoy, and vilify each other, to misunderstand, annoy, and vilify each other. Here on BA the consequences tend to be very small. Elsewhere they can, as we've all seen, be much greater. Overall I'll call the introduction of this tool into modern society a wash. But that is probably optimistic.

On a related note, I take it the beer summit with some locals at Great Notion on one of your trips up hasn't happened yet? I still hope it does. I think it would be helpful, and for both sides. The "old guard" here, some of whom I've had the pleasure to meet, is much better than you give it credit for. And I also happen to think you are, too, even though you sometimes really push your luck. Meeting in person would likely reveal that.

Sadly, I don't make it down that way as much as I want to, and even less do I travel to the Bay Area. But if you ever venture up to Seattle, let me know. I'll be happy to buy you a beer. And @thuey, too--provided he promises not to judge me too harshly here on BA.

Perhaps I'm alone, but I interpreted that as an admirable self-awareness--and the bookend disclaimers about the worth of his own admittedly exacting standards and subjective personal opinions were precisely why I took him more seriously than I otherwise would have. It's a good thing when we know our reputations, limitations, and what other people think of us. They are often more accurate than what we think of ourselves, and just the opposite of self-absorption.

 

I did get a Ex Novo Fresh Hop Eliot at Lardo. That was my favorite West Coast IPA that I had on the trip.

There were also two The Commons beers that I did enjoy, Myrtle and some Brett Saison. The ones I didn't was their IPA (which I knew they weren't known for) and a couple of coriander saisons. I thought it was cool that they had 3 coriander Saisons on the board - like they take an idea and ran with it.

 

A buddy of mine came to Portland on the cheap a couple months ago. He stayed at the Banfield Value Inn and found it clean, comfortable, and convenient for public transit (the Hollywood/NE 42nd MAX station is a 5-minute walk).

 

I appreciate your desire to assume the best intentions. I agree with your final statement, which is why I told him I didn't think any of his opinions (beer-wise) were all that off-base. And yes, he walked it back with a few humble concessions, so we're not talking delusions of grandeur here. I'm a pessimist in recovery, though, a glass half empty guy, and I saw less self-awareness than overconfidence. I mean, he wasn't showing an awareness of his reputation, he was announcing that reputation to a group of strangers, who neither know or need to know about it. A better opener could be: " hi guys, I like your city." Any criticism that follows carries a different tone. He even responded afterward that he liked a few beers (ex novo and commons) showing an emphasis on criticism rather than praise in the original post.

I didn't mean to sound angry about it, though. He sounded pleasant enough and I enjoy some banter and debate. I just wanted to point out that the rhetorical style Is off-putting. Hopefully he isn't scared off.

 

To be fair, I wrote the original post on my last evening in Portland, having visited all the breweries we were going to visit.

But we were flying out the next day, which is where I had a few more beers at restaurants, like the Myrtle I mentioned later

 

In short, gambrinus company decided to fire 50% production workers, including some brewers, plus this part of town in PDX is 70% newcomers to Cascadia whom are willing and able to pay price for ales that BP is brewing.

 

How did this drop to page 2?

Just to keep this from being a useless bump, there's a cool "battle of the lagers" event happening at Belmont Station tonight. Blind tasting and ranking of 3 Wayfinder beers vs 3 German beers from Andechs and Flensburger.

 

I like the sound of that. I had my first Wayfinder lager last night (Party Time, their German-style pilsner), and it was really good.

 

Whats the lowdown on Ruse? Coming to town this weekend, never heard of them until now.

 

They make some real good IPA's, farmhouse ales, and sours. They're currently brewing at Culmination, but are in the process of building their own brewery. Culmination usually has a few of their beer on draft or you can find them around PDX at many beer bars.