Visiting Portland (2019)

Upright, both on draft and in bottles, at their tasting room is one of the best values in town.

 

If I end up moving out here (strong chance at this point), I'll just plan to give them my post-work business on a regular basis..

 

You mean the country, right?
Getting pitchers of Special Herbs for $15 and Fantasia for $20 was fun while it lasted.

 

Ashamed I haven’t been to the taproom since the remodel (so over a year??), but yes they are/were one of the best values in town. Shit, before blazer games we would head down there and get 12oz of engelberg pils for $3. Fantasia and special herbs also on tap for WAY below normal prices. Wine barrel aged Oregon Native 12oz for $5 ??? Madness

 

Great beer. How has it aged?

 

Bottleworks has put it on a few times in the last couple years and it's still phenomenal.

 

I was in your fair city (and surrounding area) for a few days last week and took a bunch of recommendations from this thread. I thought I’d report my findings. Ignore my profile state, I visited from Colorado.

Places I visited:

Von Ebert
Great Notion
Wayfinder
Alesong
No Rails Ale House
Block 15
Upright
Hoplandia

My favorite pours:

Wayfinder Hell
Block 15 Sticky Hands
Alesong Deux Fermes Syrah
Upright Foeder Doppelbock

Honorable mentions to Fremont Rusty Nail and Chuckanut Dortmunder, considering they are not Oregon beers. I’ve had both before, but I couldn’t help myself.

 

still holding up quite well IMO. sounds like they are brewing a 2nd PNC this year which is very good news

 

Whoa, seriously? Any more details, or just rumor mill?

 

Just gonna repeat what I posted in the Seattle thread: given that the "Visiting" threads are only yearly now, maybe it's time to kick around ideas for the new thread. Contribute.

 

Thanks for this thread guys! Visiting PDX this week and this thread is very helpful. At the moment enjoying a fantastic B-Bomb vert at Imperial bottle shop. Might head to Beer Mongers after for the Spice Wars.

Let me know of any other can’t miss tappings this week!

 

To follow up on this post, I am looking forward to joining the Portland beer community in the summer of 2020. To new friends and adventures (and delicious beer)!

 

Had both the Kriek and the Purple. In a bit of a shocker, i didnt like either one. The kriek was especially odd. Purple was a bit more enjoyable, but the flavor behind the sour just wasnt there for me. oh well.

 

I've just spent the past few days in Portland, and it was awesome. Really loved your city.
Hit 27 unique breweries, some restaurants, some live music, and Loyal Legion (locals recommended it).

How I did it:

Day 1 (all walking)

Wayfinder
Base Camp
Schilling Cider
Cascade
Modern Times
Hair of the Dog
Lucky Labrador Brew Pub
Away Days Brewing
Baerlic
Grixsen

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Way...0d32664b2!2m2!1d-122.6554651!2d45.5050147!3e2


Wayfinder was the winner of that day.

Dinner: Departure. Wasn't my favorite.

Day 2:

Stormbreaker
Ecliptic Brewing
LABrewatory
Little Beast
Culmination Brewing
Breakside Brewery - Dekum
Upright Brewing
Reverend Nat's Hard Cider
Ex Novo
Great Notion

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Sto...625234a69!2m2!1d-122.7089356!2d45.5397055!3e0

So everything was moving along smoothly as a walking tour...but then it turns out several places (Ex Novo, Upright, Nat's) didn't open until 4/4:30 p.m., it was around 2 p.m., and I needed to keep going. So I made adjustments. Ubered over to Little Beast, then Culmination. I was informed if I was going to Breakside, it had to be the OG Dekum location, so I adjusted for that as well.

Personal favorite of the day was LABrewatory.
Dinner: Wilf's. It was fantastic. I went to Great Notion after dinner.

Day 3:

Deschutes
Backwoods Brewing
Rogue Pearl
Back Pedal Brewing
Von Ebert Brewing
McMenamins Crystal
Ruse

Walking tour was going well until 10 Barrel was closed for a private event. I also popped into McMenamins Ringlers, but they didn't have any different beer from Crystal.

Then, I walked by Avid Cider and Rock Bottom, and both were shutdown completely. So I ubered out to Ruse.

Ruse and Backwoods were my winners for the day, but the food at Von Ebert was great too.

Dinner: Le Pigeon. Also fantastic.

Later in the evening I went to Loyal Legion for more beer.

Success!

 

I've lived here 7 years and haven't been to about half the places on that list. Well done, sir/madam.

 

I’m considering visiting Portland next weekend for 1 night. Maybe 2. No set plans. Main reason for visiting would be Great Notion. I would be in Portland Saturday afternoon and leaving out Sunday afternoon. So basically 24 hours to check out downtown. So I have a couple of questions.
Flying into PDX. Do I need a rental car? Pretty cheap at around $30 for 24 hours.
Need a hotel recommendation. Which part of Portland would be best for checking out the beer scene?
I definitely would like to check out Great Notion. Will they cans available for purchase on the weekends?
Any recommendations for 1 or 2 more breweries to check out? Modern Times, etc. or should I check out a couple of beer bars or pubs? Not much time so I’m trying to keep it all in the same area of our hotel. Walking distance or uber.
Looking for mostly ipa’s (west coast or hazy).
Also looking for food recs.
Thanks.

 

If you're in the area for 24 hours, I'd recommend against getting a car. Uber is cheap, and driving is only going to get in the way of drinking. Hotels, I can't speak for.

If you've been to one of the other Modern Times locations, I'm not sure I'd say you have to go to the Portland location, unless you are a total fan and completionist. Don't get me wrong, it's a great place, but not really Portland.
If you enjoy hazy IPAs, then add Ruse to your list. If you enjoy big barrel aged beers, take.a look at the Hair of the Dog taplist. If you are into farmhouse style beers, Upright is the place to go. If you want a sense of the Portland bar scene, you could do Bailey's, Beermongers, Apex and Belmont Station, and pay homage to Horse Brass while you're there. Hit all these spots in 24 hours, and you will have a miserable flight back home, or as I like calling it, a successful drinking expedition.

 

Non-resident opinion here: I fly in a couple times a year - a car isn't necessary at all, I usually only get one for a drive out to deGarde. Otherwise I usually stay just east of the river and downtown. I've stayed in a few really nice airbnb's but also at the Jupiter Hotel. It's basically an old motel updated to be a bit quirky so it wouldn't be the best place you've ever stayed, but it's clean, has friendly staff, the rates are reasonable, and there's a great onsite bar, the Doug Fir Lounge. They've also got a newer, separate building called Jupiter Next which is a step up but the rates are higher. They're about a 20 minute walk downtown, and less to other places I like (Hair of the Dog, Bearlic, Cascade, and yes Modern Times but I don't get to CA much). I'll take a cab to the places a little further like Great Notion, Upright, and Ruse. Brewery-wise, I haven't really liked too much west of the river/downtown except Von Ebert. Great bars and food are abundant though, and worth walking around for a couple hours.