Tried to get.the naming convention right in case anyone else wants to use this later I'm staying in Ashland next week and haven't been there in about a decade. Caldera and Ninkasi was about all the excitement in town then. Is there any new spots worth checking out? If not, is the Market of Choice still the best option for packaged stuff? Also, only tangentially beer related, who's got the hot tip on good sledding hills? Thanks guys
I've been a regular visitor to Ashland, but not in 2020, so my information might be out of date. My favorite spot in recent years has been Gil's, a small taphouse with a well chosen selection of beers and a small menu of sandwiches and the like. It's more like a neighborhood coffeehouse than a bar, but with craft beer instead of lattes. I usually visit two or three times on every Ashland visit. I reviewed it in 2016, but no one from BA besides me has checked in, so you've only got my take to go on. https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/46123/ You can check out their taplist on their website. I think they also have a fridge with a few bottled beer selections. There's also Standing Stone (OK but underwhelming), and a Growler Guys (ehh), and Caldera is consistently itself, lots of beers, decent food, and not remarkable. Besides the Market of Choice, you might try the Ashland Co-op for bottles.
I haven't been down that way in a while as well, so my information may be dated as well. When I lived/worked in Eugene, I used to go down to Medford on business trips once or twice a year. The beer scene in Medford was nothing to write home about, but even so, I thought it considerably better than what's on offer in Ashland. Ashland was only 15 or 20 minutes down the road from the hotel I was at, so I did some online research to see if there was anything of interest in Ashland that would be worth making a drive for. What @VashonGuy listed was pretty much what I saw as well (there used to be a decent pizza place in Ashland with a pretty good beer selection at one time, but it had gone belly up at the time I was making my forays down to Medford). In the end, I decided there wasn't anything worthwhile to visit down in Ashland. However, as @VashonGuy mentioned, Caldera is very close by, and I think the tasting room/restaurant is worth a visit. The beer selection there isn't going to blow your mind, but I always enjoyed my visits. Food was passable, and I thought some of their BA stuff quite good (their IPA's suck and are to be avoided). If you're heading up that way anyway, I would say drive another 10 minutes up the road to Medford and visit BeerWorks. In my experience, they have by far and away the best bottle and draft selection in the area (they've even managed to score a keg of Younger in some years). Anyway, good luck and enjoy your time in Ashland.
