NW Cities most "Iconic" brews

Hard to come up with one beer for Portland, but I'll throw one out there to keep the ball rolling and get the debate started:

Hair of the Dog Adam

 

I could see Widmer Hefe. Maybe even MacTarnahan's Amber.

 

For Seattle I vote for Interurban. Mac ‘n Jack isn’t a Seattle beer. Unless Seattle annexed Redmond and I didn’t know about it that is.

 

For Anchorage, I’d probably have to go with King St. IPA. It feels like 90% of restaurants here have a dedicated tap for it. The pop top 16 oz cans are everywhere!

A tie, or perhaps close second, would go to Midnight Sun’s Panty Peeler. Few people chugging a 20 oz glass on the sunny deck of Seward’s Folly could tell you what a tripel is, but they know the “peeler” gets them f’d up! Iconic!

 

I'll vote for Widmer Hefe as well. That beer isn't just Portland iconic, it helped shape the landscape of craft beer across the entire country!

 

Seattle Old Timer vote: Rainier Ale. Back in the day (1970s and early 80s), the only decent beer around here. My nostalgia pick. Plus, Rainier had the best TV commercials.

 

I'd say Mirror Pond for Bend.

 

Bend? Black Butte Porter or Mirror Pond.

Even though it hasn't been made here in decades and is owned by our corporate overlords, Rainier still has a lot of nostalgic love from Seattleites.

 

That is my quintessential Bellingham beer, but that's mostly because I lived there 2002-2006 before the brewery explosion hit there, so BB was literally the only game in town. So part of it's nostalgia, but every time I have something from Boundary, it's always good. The BB IPA was definitely my intro to that style, too, which is probably why I reject pretty much all hazy IPAs.

The Boundary Scotch Ale is still by far my favorite example of the style, which is one that not many breweries even try, let alone do it well.

 

RPM should be in the discussion for Bend

 

While I was trying to think of an iconic beer for Portland, I took a side jaunt and tried to think of other beers which are completely iconic for other places.

When I thought of Seattle, I thought about the big red "R" pretty much immediately.

I never lived in Seattle, so I can't speak to any personal history. But in my mind Rainier is a classic Seattle icon, every bit as iconic (trite? stereotypical?) as the Space Needle, the Supersonics, Boeing, and...well...Mt. Rainier.

 

I really think its gotta be Mirror Pond, if for no other reason the label imagery. I personally associate Black Butte more with Sisters, even though its not brewed there.

 

My affection for Rainier is all in the past. I hate it when big corporations buy up brands, just so they can use their logo and fool some people into thinking that's it's the real thing from the past. Zombie brands today: Rainier, Oly.

It's a little different from corporate ownership of breweries that continue running. I don't buy Goose Island, but they still are a real brewery. I don't buy Elysian, but ditto, they exist. Rainier and Oly? Strictly zombies.

 

I'd add the UW to your list. I'm not sure exactly what the icon is, but the U has been a dominant fixture in the city for over 150 years. Maybe the stadium and the boats beyond on a football afternoon?

By the way, the big red R used to mean the baseball team as well as the beer.

There were older giant neon signs that marked the skyline and neighborhoods: Bardahl in Ballard, Grandma's Cookies, Wonder Bread near the Needle, but they're all gone now.

 

This one, right around the corner from Reuben's?



(Edit: Yes, I know this is not OilAdvocate or even NeonAdvocate. That's why I went out of my way to include Reuben's as a beer reference.)