Just a suggestion, and I hope this doesn't come across as snarky, but... There are both a visiting PDX and visiting Bend thread in this forum, outlining the best places to go when visiting both cities. Both threads contain numerous comments and observations, as well as experiences from recent visitors. Why not read those threads and make up your own mind? Both places have plenty to offer, though of course PDX, being larger with a denser population, has a greater number of places listed in the OP. That being said, everyone's tastes and priorities are different, and as I don't know yours, it's impossible for me to respond to your question. I'm sure you'll have fun whichever place you decide to visit. Cheers!
Undeniably Portland. It's an order of magnitude larger, and there are relatively few beers available in Bend that you can't also get in Portland. I love my town, and there are non-beer elements that you can't get in Portland, but it does not compete with Portland's breadth and depth of beer. Did you just move here, are you new to craft beer, or are you in a more remote part of the state that you can't gauge this difference first hand? No judgement, just curious.
I love Bend, but I'd go to Portland five times before I even considered going to Bend, especially if you're only taking beer into account.
Well, I'm not a fan of larger cities, so Bend would be my personal choice. Both Bend and PDX have attributes going for them, depending on what you want to do with your non-beer drinking hours.
If this is a beer trip, than the answer is Portland. You could be here for a month an not hit all the awesome beer bars/breweries.
I'm going to go against the grain and say Bend. There's something quite special about a beer oasis of Bend's quality in the middle of essentially nowhere.
Snarkiness aside, thank you for your comments. Discussions start with general questions. My intent was to get feedback about the differences between these two great, but different, beer destinations. Of course, residents of either city would support their local beer scene, so I chose to frame the question with the verb "visit" in hopes of gaining a perspective from an outsiders point of view. The question remains: Portland or Bend?
Are you going to just sleep, eat, and drink beer? Then certainly PDX. Ya wanna get up in the morning and go for hike? Bend. Wanna get up in the morning and go to museums or shopping? PDX. If yours is a beer only trip, then there's really no question. Stock up on the purple Vitamin Water, and try to drink all the beer in PDX.
Portland almost anytime, but Bend in Spring or Fall is wonderful. But here's the local ticket, Tillamook for the Elk raking and Clam gunning. Then down the coast for the extremely rare shelf aged (put name of beer here) Oh look! a whale!
I love both, but for the overall experience I would take Portland over Bend. The bars in Portland are just amazing. Bend is an awesome small vacation town if that's more up your alley.
To echo the others, if this is a beer-focused trip you should definitely choose Portland. Most of the breweries in Bend that are worth drinking send a large portion of their beer to Portland, so unless you want the experience of sitting in the back yard at Crux or you want to tour Worthy (or whatever), you'll find most of Bend's best beers here in town. On the flipside, you probably won't find much in the way of Fathead's, Great Notion, Hair of the Dog, Cascade, Culmination, Ex Novo, etc on tap in Bend. Last but not least, if you're looking for bottles to take home, there's nothing in Bend (as much as I love Broken Top) that can compare to the availability in Portland.
