For a short video of a reveler at the recent festival see http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=125060327535002.

While we were in Portland for Fredfest, which we covered with an earlier post, we took the opportunity while in town to visit many area brewpubs, breweries and taphouses. While not by any means complete the following is an account of what we found along the way. First off a few observations and generalizations -  Portland has a good transit system that allows for free travel within much of the downtown area, but unlike what you will find in Denver or Montreal for instance, brewpubs and taphouses in Portland are spread out and only a few lend themselves to walking pub crawls (mainly those in the Pearl district).  Stay on the Max (light rail) line if possible, even if you are in the Pearl district you will want to venture out.  Hotels in the convention center area are generally cheaper and still fairly convenient and central in that respect.

Our first night we ventured into the Pearl district and visited the Rogue taphouse (the brewery is located along the coast in Newport). A sampler platter of what we were hoping would be flavorful brews that included three IPAs left us a little disappointed and unfortunately their cask bitter had diacetyl issues (beyond what anyone would expect even if they had used Ringwood yeast - yes I know they have their own Pacman yeast).  Note that while Rogue doesn’t brew here they do distill at the location and you can try a number of their liquors. Although the time difference and traveling tired us out we were undeterred and determined to find something to end the night on a high note. Luckily the Deschutes brewery (the main brewery is in Bend) was only a few blocks away and well worth the diversion. Deschutes spent a pretty penny on this place which boasts a fantastic pilot brewing system which produces most of the non-standard beers there and northwest décor that includes a lot of carved wood and local stone. Standouts included a fantastic and clean, yet slightly fruity cask bitter as well as very fresh Hop Henge IPA (9%).  The food looked wonderful which prompted a return on a couple days later.

The next day we ventured South to the Full Sail brewhouse and taproom attached to the upscale McCormick and Schmicks.  Like Deschutes, most of Full Sail’s beers are made elsewhere (Hood River) but brewer John Harris (see half of him in the pictureto the left) makes many of the company’s prototypes and special editions on the system at this location. And if you go during happy hour you can munch on fantastic $1.99 appetizers. Several of the beers sampled were top of the line including an imperial stout and a cask version of the Slipknot Imperial IPA, although the other beers, most of which were regular Full Sail staples such as their pale ale were clean but still less inspiring by comparison so it might be worth it to call before visiting.  If you don’t mind a lengthy walk after Full Sail the Hawthorne Bridge takes you back to the Southeast part of town and almost directly to the Yellow Lab brewpub. The Yellow Lab is open with a large patio and normally a lot of dog owners, especially on a rare sunny day. A sample of some of their more flavorful beers including a stout and a few hoppy examples such as a triple IPA were clean but in some cases unbalanced. Go for the ambiance and to down a session beer or two but don’t expect to have your socks blown off.  We started to head into Roots brewpub a few blocks away when we received a call from our friend Charles (Google ”Charles beer nerd Portland” and he shows up as #4 on the list - see the obligatory picture to the right at Saraveza) who cautioned that the location was up for sale and had gone down a bit. Having noticed a fairly run of the mill line up on their board we agreed to save ourselves and head to the Green Dragon instead, which seemed to be about a five minute walk north. The Green Dragon is a beer bar that recently started brewing and shares space with a distillery. Rogue bought the place so it fell out of favor with some beer nerds, but we found their selection great and well thought out.  An 8% black IPA was their sole brewpub offering, but they had a wide selection including a personal favorite of mine, Mad River Barleywine.  From there we met up with friends Janice and her husband Warren and headed back out to the grand opening of a new beer bar called Apex (www.apexbar.com) where we finally met up with our friend Charles and his lovely wife Teresa and enjoyed Firestone Walker Oatmeal Stout and Union Jack IPA. From there it was across the street to the Beer Monger, a little bottle hop with taps and several tables where we enjoyed several bottles of HUB Imperial IPA among others. If my memory serves we left and were driven to the Concordia Ale House after that for a final beer and something to eat.

The next day began at a leisurely pace with a visit to Hopworks Urban Brewery (HUB), a nice organic brewpub and restaurant with solid offerings but nothing to note beyond the usual, stout, pale ale and lagers. While HUB makes a good Imperial IPA it was not on draft (no IPAs in fact – which I found quite strange for Portland).  Venturing down to the brewery Janice was able to wrangle a free tour by co-brewer Michael (picture on the left) who showed us the nice shiny stainless and a very small cold room.  After eating at HUB we drove back north to Upright Brewing Company (www.uprightbrewing.com) which is located near the Rose Garden but a little difficult to find as it’s located in the basement of retail center. A very small Belgian inspired micro, Upright uses open fermentation and ages many of their offerings in various barrels. Their tasting room is open during limited hours on Friday and the weekend (picture on right). While an apricot limbic and another maltier experimental sour beer were standouts several others were not as impressive. Although the lambic was not available in bottles they did have a seasonal release called Four Play which sported a provocative label and given the description seemed like it would be worth taking a chance on.  Later in the early evening we met up with another friend Constanze, who came into town for Fredfest and made our way back over into the Pearl district towards Bridgeport, one of the oldest breweries in the state. Having visited almost fifteen years ago I was unprepared for how modern and swanky the place is now. Don’t get me wrong progress can be good, but it seemed like they sucked the soul right out of the place.  For a Saturday it seemed very quiet as we sipped on our stouts. Unfortunately they had none of their seasonal such as the barleywine or imperial anything on tap.  Somewhat disappointed we ambled a few blocks back to Deschutes for dinner and more quality offerings (which this time included two distinct but delicious cask bitters) before deciding to call it a day.

On our third night in Portland we rented a car and made some touristy stops on the way to Hood River for a visit to Full Sail via a stop at McMenamins Edgefield (a former workhouse now brewpub/hotel/distillery and drunk compound).  The Full Sail brewery is larger than I expected and the place was packed during lunch. We found space at the bar and ordered a sampler platter which included little beyond the normal Full Sail selections. It was interesting to note we all agreed the imperial stout we were served was not as roasty and full bodied as the one served in Portland and I forgot to ask John when we visited the latter again whether they were the same batch.  We then walked to nearby Double Mountain to try a few of their offerings that included a high gravity Kriek (described as a cross between a tripel and a kreik), another cherry Belgian inspired beer, and their Rye IPA. Aside from being a bit pricey the two cherry flavored offerings fell short with regard to flavor in everyone’s opinion. The Rye IPA which others seem to like was somewhat cloudy and not very hoppy in terms of bitterness or aroma.  Somewhat let down by what we found in Hood River we decided to start making our way back so we could stop in at Belmont Station and the Horsebrass nearby, as both are a little beyond any light rail stop. Belmont was first on the list being the premier bottle shop with an attached draft bar carrying quality offerings at reasonable prices. It was very nice to be able to shop while sipping on a Russian River Pliney the Elder. After loading up several boxes of beer into the rental car we went down the street to the Horsebrass (see picture to the right), a traditional English pub with only quality selections on tap and finally…hops. From Caldera to Walking Man we counted twelve IPAs on tap – bless you Don Younger! We finished our beers and were once again contacted by our local buddy Charles who suggested we go to one of his favorite watering holes, the Moon and Sixpence, another authentic British pub North of downtown with a quality draft selection including several casks. After returning the rental car I caught up with our friends at Saraveza later that night, a beer bar in far north downtown that also carries bottles to drink there or to go. We finally cracked open a Cascade Kriek along with a few other local selections including a can of Maui Coconut Porter.  It was a nice quiet end to a perfect day.

Our final day also began on a leisurely note (déjà vu?) as we headed out to do a little sightseeing and then visit one of the New Lompoc locations nearby (in Oregon, and in stark contrast to states such as Texas, one brewpub can supply other bars and its own taphouses with the beers it brews).  The location we visited, The Hedge House, was set in a residential area and reminded me of a quaint café, so we ate and sampled some of their beers, none of which deviated from the usual stout, pale ale, and IPA.  Wanting to end our afternoon on a high note before going to Fredfest later that night we opted to get a cab back over to the Full Sail brewpub for one last imperial stout then head to the hotel for a little rest. And as to Fredfest you can read the sordid details in our prior post, it was a fitting end to a long trip. While reflecting on our trip during the four plus hour flight to Texas I had some regrets about not getting out to the Raccoon Lodge and Brewpub, home of Cascade brewing, makers of some of the country’s best Belgian-style sour ales, but it is located on the edge of the city and its offerings seemed readily available around town.  We had similar regrets about Amnesia and Laurelwood, although again we did try bottle versions. In retrospect Portland is a great beer town and while it might contain the largest number of breweries in the US, true gems were somewhat more difficult to find than I had expected (or remembered from my trip 15 years ago). In my very humble opinion breweries in both San Diego and Denver have been more creative recently. So for all of those in Texas that pine away for the Northwest you shouldn’t feel too dejected.  Although Texas boasts relatively few breweries and brewpubs some of the ones in our own backyard are making wildly creative stuff and with several set to start up in Austin and Houston within the next year it will only get better. I’d much rather have one quality micro or brewpub making a wide variety of beers than ten making strikingly similar pale ales, stouts and lagers.  That said, I can’t wait to return again to find out how things have changed.  After all next year Fred turns 85.

In somewhat related news, Edward Peters currently at Austin Homebrew Supply was identified as the new brewer at South Austin Brewing Company once it starts up (at least I didn’t spill the beans). For background on South Austin see http://southaustinbrewing.wordpress.com/.