Visiting Portland (2019)

Flying into Portland on Saturday! This thread has been super helpful. Maybe I missed it, but any recommendations for best brewery food?

We will be staying in Alberta area, will have kiddos, going to Hood River area for a day, finishing trip with 3 days in Manzanita/Cannon Beach Area. Gluten Free options would be a plus.

 

Most breweries will at least have a cider on tap, if your GF person is an adult. Food-wise, Deschutes downtown has a mostly locally sourced menu and can do GF buns on any of its sandwiches.

Great Notion is on Alberta and marks GF items on their menu, although I haven't eaten there. There's a 100% GF bakery restaurant across the street called Back to Eden.

Breakside is near Alberta on Dekum and has good food, although fewer GF options. Wayfinder is also good, but again, not a lot of GF options. Most brewpubs in Portland have "alright" food, but it tends to be pub food and not the kind of meals you're going to remember for years to come. Von Ebert's food is average but they offer GF buns and GF pizza crusts (even though their new menu doesn't specifically mention that). It's very common for restaurants in Portland to both have GF options and for the wait staff to be able to answer your GF questions. I'm not sure where you're coming in from, but I know that's not the case all over the country.

 

A good place for Kids near you would be Fire on the Mountain. lots of GF options, and food is awesome. the 57th and Fremont location brews their own beer and i think they are all pretty damn solid. The wonderin Rye golden ale is one of my favorites, especially on hot days.

https://www.portlandwings.com/

 

Thanks for the replies so far! Coming in from Arkansas so not a lot of GF choice here, beverage or food, so great to hear!

Thanks for the bakery as well. My wife may actually be able to indulge her sweet tooth a little.

 

Well in that case, here's a couple more GF recommendations...
- Petunia's is my favorite GF bakery, and Blue Star is on the same block which is my donut recommendation for people from out of town (not GF) so the whole family can get what they want.
- Ground Breaker is a 100% GF brewery in Portland. Evasion is 100% GF in McMinnville. From a non-GF perspective, Evasion is the better brewery, but Ground Breaker is going to see better distribution and has been around a lot longer. Ghostfish from Seattle is also in bottle shops around town and is pretty decent.
- A lot of breweries and bars will have GF beer, but almost always will have a local cider tap. Pacific Northwest cider is usually very good. Von Ebert always has about 6 GF taps, usually 2 beer, 2 cider, a mead, and a fizzy wine.

 

Just got back from a long trip to Portland/Hood River and I wanted to thank everyone for their recommendations. I'll add my $0.02 for those who might be heading that way.

Upright, Great Notion, Little Beast, and pFriem blew me away and would absolutely make these my priority breweries if I were to be lucky enough to get back to Oregon. The only time I can get GN is at IPAFest and EBF so getting a chance to try everything they had was incredible (Overripe was the winner for me). Upright, Little Beast, and pFriem had the most interesting and delicious sours and farmhouse ales. pFriem's Brett Saison was one of my favorite beers of the trip (their food was also delicious!). Upright's taproom is awesome because you're pretty much drinking right next to all of their conicals and foeders.

I wasn't able to stay at Level very long, but their pils and grodz were good and their beer garden was really nice. Wayfinder's Hell and Baerlic's Baerweiser were my favorite lagers (didn't get a chance to get to Zoiglhaus but was able to pick up a can at Beermonger's). Ruse and Modern Times had really good IPA's. Breakside had some solid beers and had an outdoor area which was enjoyable.

Those were the most noteworthy ones for me. I also hit Ex Novo and Von Ebert which both had solid beers but nothing that stood out compared to the others. Also, if you're close to Baerlic, I highly recommend heading over to APEX, their taplist is incredible, and Beermonger's for a great can selection. I also found that McMenamins Bottle Shop on 23rd Ave had a solid selection too. Hope this helps!

 

Not to mention, the day pass can also get you on the Aerial Tram

 

Portland isn't the best for foot traffic. The way its set up is in neighborhoods, and each has their own locations. I'd recommend taking the light rail. Google maps has all of its transit info which makes it easy to just toss in and address and get transit info. Plus its only $5 for a day pass rather than how expensive Uber is around here with all the traffic.

 

I'd recommend visiting the Fulton Pub as well!

 

Also the Mount Hood Brewery Tillikum Station

 

As someone who lives in Portland, I personally think it's awesome for foot traffic. The city is mostly flat, sidewalks everywhere even on the bridges, lots of traffic calming measures, and generally very safe even at night. I regularly walk anywhere within a 3 mile radius.

Now all of that said, we also have probably the best public transit system for a mid-sized city in the country. If you're not familiar with the layout of the city, or just don't like walking, it's a great alternative. Not only is a day pass $5, but if you purchase a reloadable Hop card for $3, it won't ever charge you more than $5 a day. Bus and light rail fares are $2.50 (street car is $2), so if you ride twice the rest of your rides are free for the day.

 

At the risk of turning this into BusAdvocate, it doesn't quite work like that.

The first time you use the Hop card, you get charged $2.50 and you can make as many bus/MAX/Streetcar rides as you like in the next 2.5 hours. The next time you use the card after that initial 2.5 hours, you get dinged for another $2.50 and you now have a Day Pass.

Obligatory beer and public transit: Even though it's right there at a MAX stop, and apparently has pretty good food, I still haven't visited the new Mazama Brewing pub at Orenco.

 

I think everyone has a different definition of walkability. I'm with you and have no problem walking multiple miles within Seattle, but some people think I'm crazy when I mention that.

 

There are definitely more clusters of walkable areas, but for example you're not gonna wanna walk from alberta to division...

I remember we used to have "suggested pub crawls" on the lead post...

To actually answer @socon67 's question, I'd recommend an inner southeast spot where you can easily hit a bunch of spots (Wayfinder/HOTD/MT/Cascade/Loyal Legion) then wander down towards Baerlic/Beermongers/Apex, and if you're still craving more head up division.

Downtown/Pearl District is another wander-able option that's pretty easy to walk around and hit a bunch of good spots.

 

Trip Report -
- had an amazing time in Portland/Oregon
- Don’t know that I had a bad beer anywhere
- Pfreim was by far the highlight of the trip, they do amazing work. Everything from the Pilsner to the barrel aged stuff was top notch. Bosbossen was my favorite there
- Made it over to Tillamook for De Garde and I’m glad that I did. Violet Premiere was the favorite
- Didn’t make it to the brewery but had several Little Beast bottles/cans which were all very good. Loved the Brett Saison
- Modern Times was Modern Times good, but not great. I just don’t love their hazy game
- Great Notion was fun, lots of different stuff to try but all fairly similar.
- Food overall was top notch. Loved EEM, Por Que No, pine state biscuits, and Tasty and Alder. Back to Eden Bakery was excellent for GF.

Thanks for all the help in planning! You guys are great!

 

damn, im jealous of your trip and i live here

 

Sounds like a swell time. Next time, hit up Upright, they straddle the space between the old school and the new school breweries perfectly!

 

Any areas to avoid staying (sketchy neighborhoods to stay in or even to walk through late at night, ...)? I'll be walking and taking public transit to get around and figure I'll stay downtown or so. Also am I better off on one side of the river or the other?

 

When I stay downtown PDX I stay on the West side downtown or the Pearl. If you're a walker, you will find it easy to walk to Deschutes , Baileys, Upright, Hair of the Dog and many other places worthy of your time plus the public transit is exceptional. I feel Portland is a very safe city as cities go. I've heard it's relatively unsafe around Lloyd Center but have't seen it.