Trip up the Coast

We went to Portland a few years ago specifically for beer. To be frank, we were pretty disappointed.

That being said, our side-trip to Tillamook / de Garde saved the trip. Killer place. Would love to go back!

 

The lady and I make the trip from the Bay to LA a few times a year, the spots we like and stop at regularly are.....

Santa Barbra:
https://www.yelp.com/biz/crushcakes-and-cafe-santa-barbara?

https://www.yelp.com/biz/lillys-tacos-santa-barbara-2

Paso:

https://www.yelp.com/biz/joes-place-paso-robles-paso-robles

https://www.yelp.com/biz/silva-brewing-paso-robles

Santa Maria:
https://www.yelp.com/biz/costa-de-oro-wine-tasting-santa-maria



Monterey/Carmel:

https://www.yelp.com/biz/parker-lusseau-pastries-and-cafe-monterey?

https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/de-tierra-vineyards-carmel?



Santa Cruz Area:
Sante Adarius -DUH!

Amazing beer selection, and GREAT food counter, right off the highway...
https://www.yelp.com/biz/ajs-fuel-market-capitola

Portland:

Hair of the Dog
Beer'OClock
Voodoo Dunuts
Tons for great places to eat and drink near Downtown
Deschutes had really good food!
https://traveloregon.com/things-to-do/destinations/waterfalls/before-visiting-multnomah-falls/

Hope this helps a bit

 

Did the trip up the coast in 2012. We stopped at Russian River first thing and went over to Bear Republic for lunch. From there we went by Anderson Valley on our way over to the coast and stopped at North Coast. We stayed the night in Brookings and went to Wild River for dinner. That was a long day of driving so I'd suggest a shorter day. Our next leg was Brookings to Newport which was much more doable but still a long day. In Newport we hit up Rogue. The next day was Newport to Seaside which was way easier. The next leg was up to Quinault, WA which was easy as well. The Lake Quinault Lodge was cool and some great hiking. From there we worked our way up and around the Olympic National Park to Seattle. If we were to do it again we'd probably skip Brookings and stay somewhere closer to Eureka and add an extra night in there between Eureka and Newport. Staying in Seaside or Cannon Beach is suggested for the upper part of the Oregon coast. Pelican Brewing in Pacific City is a great spot for lunch. Even in 2012 there were a lot of breweries along route but nothing to write home about and some might not even exist anymore.

 

Last time I was at Cannon Beach I visited a hardware store that had good beers on tap. So if you need pliers and a pilsner, it's a good stop.

 

Congrats, and a beer road trip sounds like a great idea! We just got back from doing something similar (but not as long) — after months of sheltering in place we wanted to take an excursion out CA (we live in the Bay Area) without going too far so we went up to Brookings (right across the OR border.)

We took the 101/Redwood Highway up. We looked for a good brewpub for lunch on the way up and decided on Eel River Brewing in Fortuna. We got the sampler of all 12 their beers for $17, 4-5 oz each. All organic, almost all traditional styles (though there was a watermelon hard seltzer, which was interesting) and nearly all were reasonably good. My favorites were the heavy and light ones. The Triple Exultation Barleywine was very good, Drying Shed Saison was also good, and the light ones such as the California Blonde were good for easy drinking. Not as big of a fan of their IPAs (though the Earth Thirst DIPA wasn’t bad.) Not necessarily a destination but a good stop if you’re heading that way. The food was good too. I got the made in house veggie burger with bacon, lol.

Brookings, OR has two breweries, Misty Mountain and Chetco. Both were solid. On average, we liked the beers at Misty Mountain slightly better (the Hobbit theme was cool too!) — Rivendale Blueberry Saison, Sea of Ruin Imperial Red, and Black Gate Black Rye IPA were all very good. Chetco is worth checking out too, they had a bigger selection and a nice facility (they even had a socially-distanced live musician on Saturday, nice to see something like this again.) Our favorite from them was the Imperial Coconut Porter.

We also wanted to bring back some Oregon beer and found what we needed at Grocery Outlet. It was cool to see a different selection on shelves, from breweries only found in the PNW (Fort George, Iron Horse), rarely found outside the PNW (Goodlife, Crux, Ecliptic) and breweries commonly found in CA but with a different selection (Rogue, Fremont.) Since I was specifically looking for Ft. George, we picked up a couple from them — Cavatica Stout, Vortex IPA and Fanzine IPA, as well as Crux Lime Gose, Rogue Combat Wombat and Ecliptic Tangerine and Peach sours. There’s also a gigantic Fred Meyer grocery across the street but we filled up at GO so we didn’t stop by.

We skipped over from 101 to 1 on the way back. The first 30 or so miles of the 1 were honestly pretty awful (up and down a windy curvy mountain where turns commonly recommend slowing down to 10 mph) though once you get to the ocean it’s much more manageable (though still curvy/steep at times) at least down through Bodega Bay which is where we headed back inland. Anyway, we stopped overnight in Fort Bragg primarily to check out North Coast Brewing. Unfortunately they’re closed for remodeling until early July. We found this out a few days before the trip, but decided to stay in Ft. Bragg anyway just because everywhere is probably equally spotty right now. But their gift shop is still open so we picked up a few souvenirs and I guess we’ll have to save the brewery visit for another time.

 

Fall is always the best time for a highway 1 road trip anyway.