Visiting Portland (2019)

Made a quick trip to Portland/Vancouver to pick up competition entries and got to visit Fortside, Grains of Wrath, Trap Door, Wayfinder, Hair of the Dog, Modern Times, and pFriem before returning. Highlights were the Cerne Pivo at Wayfinder, HotD Don (and $2.50 small pours of Adam), and the Raspberry Brut IPA at pFriem, though I didn’t have a dud anywhere. We even had good luck with the uhaul, both in finding parking spots and the fact that it escaped being pillaged.

 

Sorry if I'm being "that guy" by asking this, but I'm going to be in Portland this weekend for the release of our collaboration beer with Ruse. My wife and daughter are coming along as well, and I was wondering if anyone could tell me if Wayfinder allows kids. I've been a few times, but honestly can't recall if they do or not. Thank you in advance!

 

Yes, I believe they even have a kids menu. Ruse somehow allows kids too despite not serving food.

 

Last time I was at Wayfinder, I saw a group of high school aged kids in there for lunch.

 

Yes, and the kids’ steak frites is a steal, @Structures.

 

My wife and I are looking to visit Portland this summer. What's a good neighborhood to stay in that offers walk-ability to bars, restaurants, etc?

 

Inner Southeast is the generally accepted standard answer for this. Best bang for your buck. That said, it's a very easy city to get around via public transit, etc.

 

I don't think I've ever spent more than like $12 on Uber rides around Portland, no matter where I've stayed.....it's a magical place.

 

Portland Laws are different in that you can have people under 21 up to a certain time even if you don't serve food. I know it's different in Seattle but wasn't sure if Bellingham was the same boat.

 

Planning a PNW trip soon and I don't think I have to look for any resources further than this thread. Wanted to drop in and give you props @guajolote

 

Noticed Ruse wasn’t on the list ... just wondering why the omission? Simply not list-worthy? Thanks!

 

They were in the "Newcomers" section, which was removed from this edition of "Visiting Portland" because this thread is now yearly instead of quarterly, as mandated by BA.

Ruse is list-worthy, in my opinion, and probably would have been a candidate for the "Other Highly Recommended Breweries & Brew Pubs" section if we were still updating quarterly.

Well spotted, @AlexM . I'd file this one under "Unintended Consequences."

 

All good ... yeah I tried a couple of Ruse hazies at Festival of Dankness in San Diego last summer and thought they were solid. Will be visiting PDX in June so planning to pay then a visit. CHEERS.

 

Made it up to Portland last weekend. Some of my thoughts.

1) Upright was easily my favorite brewery I visited. I am a sucker for saisons and pilsners, they had some great examples of both.

2) Wayfinder threw me for a loop. It being co-owned by the owner of Relapse, all their metal themed beers, I was expecting a more metal vibe and aesthetic for the place, kinda like how Baerlic ran with the '90's Cali-punk thing. Cool to hear OM in the bathroom, would have been better if that music was played throughout, IMO. Really, the metal attributes of the places were secondary and if I didn't know the bands the beers were named after, if I wasn't aware that the Relapse guy was an owner of the place, I wouldn't have any idea of the metal connection involved. Seemed more like a more upscale brew-pub. I was definitely hoping for a more laid back, casual experience than it provided, personally. Probably on me for having inaccurate expectations and for what it is, it is a good choice. Really did enjoy the beer, really did enjoy the food, really hated the check (but worth it). Would definitely go back next time in town, but with more appropriate expectations and I'd try to grab a seat at the bar rather than a table.

3) Baerlic was a unplanned visit and a pleasant surprise. Not a 90's Cali Punk Fan so can't say that side of the brewery worked for me (though to be fair, listening to the guys like Propagandhi, Descendents, Pennywise, etc., is certainly better than other stuff), but their set up is generally the type of brewery/taproom I like to visit. Smaller, laid back, good beer, friendly staff. That or Cascade was probably my favorite taproom I visited. The amount of options available at Cascade was great. If I lived in Portland, Cascade would be a random, once in a while visit but as an out of towner it was definitely a must visit for me. I am not a sour fan, but they do a good job with them.

4) Hair of the Dog, maybe the first brewery I have been to in ages without any music going on which I can't say I liked. Even bad music can be better than no music I found. Their beers were good but tough to discover a new place and have all the beers of interest be so high in abv, limited what I was able to try. Despite all that, they hit the spot.I'd happily return but plan things out better and do it on a day when they were the only brewery I was visiting, not one amongst others.

5) Tried going to the Deschutes Pub downtown but that place was absolutely jam packed. At 2 PM. You Portlanders love to get your drinking on early it would appear. Didn't bother sticking around, as the bar had no seating.

All in all, a nice trip. Been wanting to return to Portland for a long time now, so glad I finally did.

 

Thats random about hair of the dog. They pretty much always have blues playing when I visit. And yeah, sounds like Apex would be your jam

 

Yeah, I had back up plans when Deschutes fell through. Ended up doing Cascade and Hair of the Dog, which was lined up for afterwards anyways, just opened the door for some extra drinking at Cascade.

And interesting about my timing with Hair of the Dog and music.

Typically when visiting other cities, I like to hit up the breweries over bars but I'll keep Apex in mind for my next trip. I just reviewed the tap list and it looked good. I was able to hit a couple concerts while up in Portland, and that was the reason for the this trip (especially the timing of it), so I was able to gett my music fix while I was.

 

Thanks for posting such a detailed review, @denver10 . I enjoy reading peoples' impressions when they visit Portland, good and bad. Glad to hear you had a good time.

And yeah, I'll toss in another recommendation for Apex. I think you'll like that atmosphere, if your Kyuss avatar is anything to go by.

Side note: I see you're from New Mexico. I grew up there, and I'm looking forward to visiting my folks in Albuquerque in a couple weeks. (Fresh La Cumbre at the Westside taproom, aw yeah.)

 

Blues music? I don't recall hearing any music on my last visits. If there is any music it must be played pretty low that you don't even pay attention to it.

 

@vurt, I made it over to that new La Cumbre taproom when it first opened. Definitely a bit different in vibe/feel/atmosphere than the original, but the beer is the same....fresh and great. I prefer and go to the original location but if I lived West Side and it was more convenient I might change that pattern up.

 

Alan is close with Curtis Salgado. I would hear his stuff or other blues music fairly often when stopping by. Usually at a noticeable volume. But I’m sure they go without music fairly often as well

 

Definitely a different vibe, and I do prefer the Girard location. But the new taproom is about a mile and a half from my folks' place, so I can't complain about that kind of convenience.

Looks like Marble has a new place in Rio Rancho out near Rust Hospital, so I'm looking forward to checking that out too.

I have another NM question, but I think I'll head over to the SW forum to see if I can dig up some intel...

 

Chicago area BA here. Not (unfortunately) visiting Portland, but a buddy is going to be driving back from there in the next week or so, so looking for recs on the best freshies available in cans/bottles. I'm old school, just looking for clean IPAs, in other words, what I think of when I think of Portland beer.

If there's another thread that covers, let me know. Thx.

 

@vurt, any questions about NM feel free to hit me up with a message and I will answer as best I can.

 

6ers of pFriem IPA in cans should meet that need

 

pFriem IPA
Gigantic the Time warp IPA
Gigantic Sassy Pony
Block 15 Fresh pow
Breakaide Wanderlust
Deschutes usually has a good classic IPA on the shelves

For non IPAs that are clean and refreshing

Heater Allen Pils
Zoiglhaus Pils
Wayfinder Hell
Fort George Optimist pale ale

 

Aside from the excellent recommendation from @jakecattleco , here are a few others which should scratch that old school proper IPA itch:

• Culmination Phaedrus
• Ecliptic Starburst
• Block 15 Sticky Hands (double IPA)
• Georgetown Bodhizafa
• Georgetown Lucille

All of these are easy to find. FWIW, Bodhizafa is pretty much my favorite IPA available in cans these days.

EDIT: If you find yourself in a place that has Barley Brown's Pallet Jack IPA on tap, and also fills crowlers, DO NOT HESITATE. Grab 2.

 

Also, Ex Novo Elliot IPA works

 

Great recs here, especially some personal favorites, Pallet Jack, Sticky Hands, Bodhi, and Wanderlust. And echo the rec on doubling up on Pallet Jack crowlers!

 

I'd rather have no music than metal. But, I don't particularly like metal, either the music or the attached aesthetic. Clearly, our mileages vary. Glad you had a fun trip!

 

Welcome back, and thanks for the detailed report! What shows did you catch while in town? As for your comments, I am starting to think Upright might be in the top 3 breweries in the country. No one does saisons quite as well as they do, definitely not the variety that they have. And the atmosphere in the taproom is special. They clearly take a lot of pride in what they do, but they aren't the least bit pretentious about it.

As for Wayfinder, I agree, the atmosphere isn't as metal as I'd like, but the quality more than makes up for it. I hope you got to try some of their pilsners, they've brewed a few different fantastic ones.

 

All I had at Wayfinder were their lagers. I had their Helles and their Italian Pilsner. Both were great and I was really tempted to return there the following day to try their other offerings, but too many others places in town I needed to check out. And glad I waited until Sunday to try Upright, because I would have been just as tempted to make a return visit to them as well.

Hit up OM @ Wonder Ballroom on Sunday, hit up Usnea/Abstracter/Hissing @ Twilight Bar and Cafe on Friday. Both shows were good, OM definitely my favorite of the two. I thought the Wonder Ballroom was a cool venue and Twilight Bar was the "dive-eist" musical joint I have been to in decades.

 

Thanks for the recs! No idea which of these brews I'll end up with, but am definitely looking forward to some great Portland beers.

 

Deschutes is always like that, and it's almost all tourists in there. Don't get me wrong, the food and beer are great, but all of us that live here have pretty much the same experience you did. I imagine it's that everyone has heard of Deschutes and so it's on everyone's list as a place to stop in Portland.

The Relapse guy also owns the Sizzle Pie locations in Portland, which feel a little more "metal" than Wayfinder does. When Wayfinder first opened there really wasn't the slightest hint of a metal influence. It has slowly been creeping in through their branding, so we'll see what happens over the next 5 years with that space. Personally, I'd love if they fully embraced the metal side of things.

 

The same could said for Bend. Every time I have visited Bend, getting into Deschutes was a no go. Simply went a block over to Bend Brewing. Problem solved.

 

Teote House Cafe had pretty good South American style cuisine with really good selections of craft beer.The food itself is a great draw.

 

couple auxilary questions that i couldn’t dig up with quick search:

- should I hit the Oakshire taproom vs. actual brewery? Looking for some Watershed cans to go, if that matters.

- cheapest/most available shop for some de Garde bottles?

- best place for a beer and vista over the Big River?

 

Watershed cans can be found just about anywhere - any grocery store, even. Just be sure to check the dates! As far as de Garde bottles...the only places that MIGHT have them are Tin Bucket or Arch Bridge. de Garde doesn't distribute much at all.