Visiting Eugene/Springfield (Inaugural Summer/Fall 2015 edition)

Could probably throw Elk Horn into the newcomers list. I wasn't all that impressed with their beer, but the space is nice, and they are still technically under a year old. Maybe the beers will improve with time...

 

Sure hope so... and hope the prices for beer come down too. $6 for a pint of Hop Stoopid on guest tap in the PNW just won't cut it. Can get that beer for $4 pint easily around town.

I'll add them to the post.

 

I just had a taster tray, so didn't pay attention to the prices. Also didn't eat the food, is that any good? I enjoyed the patio, but it's doubtful I'll be back anytime soon unless I start to hear the beer has improved.

Switching gears... what about Beergarden? 42 taps plus some food trucks & a patio. I stopped with my wife with the intention of getting dinner, but we're vegetarian, and weren't too impressed with the selection offered by the carts there that night. If she wouldn't have been with me, and/or if we weren't pretty damn hungry, I'd have hung out for a beer or two. The space seems cool.

 

The food at Elk Horn is really good. The owners of the business used to run the Delecatta food truck in town. Their new cook used to be the chef at the Lane Community College on site restaurant for the culinary school. It is just the beer quality and prices that need work.

Beergarden is kinda meh. I think they still have a lot of kinks to work out as well. They have a major flow problem for the bar. Their prices are a little too high as well, above any other place in town. I like the concept of having the food cart courtyard. I haven't eaten their, but it sounds like the prices are a little high on that as well. I did see that they had an icecream cart there with some bomb sundaes (a few kids in our group were scarfing them down). They also have a fairly nice bottle selection aside from the taps, which honestly disappointed me. 42 taps and maybe 15 (max) were actually beer.

 

thanks for putting together @John_M - my key takeaway is that the beer bars and shops are awesome but the breweries in the area are just average based on my experience with Oakshire, Ninkasi and Hop Valley...

 

I can see how this might be true, especially being so close to a place like PDX. Of course we don't have any breweries killing specific niche beers as of yet (like sours or Farmhouse), but they are coming up. Give us a few more years and we will have some more guns in our arsenal.

Oakshire has had some fairly phenominal barrel aged beers outside of the Hellshire program, and Bike Ride is a killer double Red IPA (they just need to make it more often than just Fall). What Ninkasi is doing with their lager program is fairly amazing. Hop Valley can make some pretty meh beers outside of their IPAs, which those tend to be done well.

 

Hey guys, awesome post! Thanks for putting it together. Moving to Eugene from Denver in a week and glad I'll still be in a beer town. Two questions do all beer centric bars do growler fills? Getting a growlerwerks uKeg hopefully someday, and can't wait to try that bad boy out. Secondly anybody doing crowlers up there?

Thanks in advance,
Ben

 

Glad to hear. You'll love it here, it is a great place to live, except no one knows how to drive here...

1) Yes, they all fill growlers. A couple won't fill specific beers that are expensive and rare, but all the growler fill places do. Oregon also has an any growler policy, so you can bring any growler, or 2L soda bottle, or mason jar, and get it filled.

2) Oh yeah... http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/crowlers-in-the-nw.315735/

 

Just went to a brand new restaurant last night in town. Board, it is in the old Tiny's Tavern in the Whit. Only a stone's throw from Ninkasi. Amazing food, great price, wonderful presentation, and a decent taplist consisting of OR breweries including locals. The taplist isn't anything to scream about, but they are still new. Definitely a worthy spot to hit and then jump to one of the breweries.

 

Been doing some brewery hopping since I got to town, and there certainly is a great scene up here. When just about any bar you stumble into has RPM on tap I'm a happy camper. Anyways though, no love for Falling Sky? I thought the Belgian Pale I had from them was top-notch and the Porter was very nice too? Just my 2cents haven't been around long, but I was a little surprised they weren't on here. Different note, but really enjoyed Claim 52 as well reminded me of the breweries back in Denver.

*And I'm an idiot just noticed falling sky's under restaurants.

 

Oakshire announced the date for their Fall Bierfest as October 24th.

"This year’s line up again features breweries from all over the Pacific Northwest, showcasing the rarest, unique, one-off creations – including many fresh-hopped and pumpkin beers and other seasonal favorites"​

 

Is it just me or is everything coming out of claim 52 can't miss lately? That Mt Pisgah pale is damn tasty.

 

We probably need to update this, but for now ColdFire officially dropped last night @ T&G. They have another tap attack at Bier Stein next Thursday (1/21) and open the sick ass tasting room on Saturday the 23rd. They've got a collaboration beer with Matt Van Wyk of Alesong (formerly of Oakshire) for the KLCC fest in February.

 

I was impressed with their IRA last night. Might need to dial in the carb, but great flavors wish I could have tried the other two. Saw you for a fleeting second the lost you @jbakajust1 that place was packed.

 

It was packed. The carb issues were actually not totally the beer. The same beers at the brewery have much better carbonation. Are you going to the Stein or Taproom opening? Trying to get @John_M to one as well.