Going out to Medford for work and didn't see much for bars or bottle shops around searching ba and the web. Got a rental car so up for a drive for some good nw beer. Thanks, Robb
Ashland, OR is where you go for craft beer in that area. Caldera brewpub is highly recommended, and there's a couple markets that will have some PNW-only offerings in bottles/cans. last year when I was in Ashland, I was drinking Barley Brown's on draft, so there's plenty of good beer to drink in the area.
I wish I did Justin. My work takes me down to Medford periodically, and I've about given up on the area. Places like Beerworks and Kaleidescopic pizza will have a decent selection of bottles (bottleworks) and draft (KP and BW both), but don't expect anything anywhere close to jaw dropping in town. It's the same with the grocery stores there; expect to see the usual suspects from Southern Oregon Brewing, Ninkasi, Deschutes, Hop Valley, etc. That being said, Caldera brewing is just a 15 or 20 minute drive down I-5 (depending where you're coming from), and the place is flat out terrific. They typically have roughly 40 different Caldera beers on tap, including a number of excellent brewery only selections (I would recommend staying away from most of the IPA/DIPA selections, but their porters and stouts tend to be excellent). Caldera is usually the only place I visit when I'm down in Medford, but as Ballardbeer mentioned, there are (supposedly) a number of other good spots down in Ashland as well. Places I've heard good things about include Liquid Assets and the Ashland Co-op (the latter for bottles), and most Market of Choices stores will have an above average bottle selection as well (MofC is similar to the Wegman's and Wholefoods you have back East). I don't know how ambitious you're feeling, or how much time you have, but if you want to significantly upgrade the quality of your beer imbibing experience, then you might want to consider driving up to Eugene to check out the scene there (do a search for the Visiting Eugene thread in this forum). It's roughly a two and a half hour drive up to Eugene, but if you have the time and inclination to make the drive up to Eugene, you'll be very glad you made the drive up. Have fun.
This recent thread focused on Klamath Falls, but a lot of the advice was for the Medford/Ashland area. I have family in Ashland, so I'm there a couple times a year. In Medford, the only place I've spent any time is Beerworks. As stated above, it's solid, and you'll find plenty of good stuff that doesn't make it to the east coast. But it's not amazing. In Ashland, Market of Choice has a pretty good bottle selection, usually quite a bit better than other grocery stores in the area. Last time I was there they had de Garde shelf beers and some Hair of the Dog barrel-aged (flat) stuff, just to give a sense. Gil's Growler Station is a new spot in Ashland, with a pretty good tap list. It has kind of a brewery taproom-like vibe. Liquid Assets has a small tap list, but there's usually something good on. I hear lots of good things about Caldera's taproom, and I keep meaning to go there.
