On the road
To New Friends… in Oregon
Portland is known for two things. One, as I came to find out from one of my Uber drivers, is strip clubs. The second? Breweries. Over the course of 5 days, I visited 15 breweries. When I wasn’t using Uber, I was walking, which I think is the best way to see a city. Below are the highlights of my trip.
Hair of the Dog Brewery and Tasting Room — Hair of the Dog has a great taproom — a unique open space feel with natural lighting brought on by the open garage door. I ordered two flights which equaled everything they had on draft that day — 8 in total. They also had a selection of their vintage bottles. I didn’t feel it sitting at the bar, but I certainly felt their high ABV beers catch up with me by the time I got to my next stop — The Commons Brewery.
Cascade Brewing Barrel House — If there is one place I anticipated visiting more than any other, it was Cascade Brewing and Barrel House. I’ve become a huge sour beers and this is the place to be for just that. I spent most of my day sitting at the bar and enjoying nearly everything they had on tap — 20 beers in total.
Gigantic Brewing — Once I walked in, the intoxicating smell of hops smacked me in the face. I ordered a flight of all of their beers on tap and plopped myself on a leather couch. They have one of if not the most energetic/spunky bartenders I’ve ever seen at a taproom. It was great to see someone so passionate about the beer they serve and someone so willing to educate people about what they’re drinking. Pipewrench, their 8% IPA aged in Ransom Old Tom Gin barrels for 3 months was my favorite.
Culmination Brewing — Culmination Brewing is one of Portland’s newest breweries in Portland. They were recently awarded Best New Brewery of the Year by the The Oregon Beer Awards. April, the co-owner, greeted me and made me feel right at home. They offered an extensive list of beers — 18 in total that day — with a variety of styles including their Kölsch, Put Me In the Game, which was solid and I’m not a big fan of such a style.
De Garde Brewing — De Garde was the reason for this trip. Several weeks prior, I had purchased a ticket for their quarterly release event. I had read about the infamous post-release bottle shares at Mar Claire following the De Garde events. Unfortunately, all of the rooms had been booked in advance. Upon arriving in Tillamook, I settled for an outdated 1970′s decor room at the Red Apple Inn — about a 15 minute walk from Mar Claire.
Following a well curated event at De Garde, I rested up for what I anticipated to be a long night. I packed my bottles to share and got in touch with my Untappd “friend” who said he was down to meet up. He had stood me up.
I found myself standing outside the hotel in a mist of rain. As I contemplated leaving and having a solo share, three girls came walking down the stairs to my left.
“What are you doing? Come with us.” one of them said.
“Ughh…I was…Okay.”
They took me to their room where their friends were in the midst of their own bottle share. For the next hour, I sat listening to a room full of people talk about nothing but beer like it was the only thing that mattered in life. I had an epiphany in that room. I had to step out of the room. That’s when I bumped into Louis and his girlfriend Madeline.
They invited me to the back lobby of the hotel for some beers. There were three tables completely covered with beers from every corner of the U.S.
So this is the infamous bottle share.
There were a couple of stragglers and plenty of leftovers.
We gathered around the table and started sampling. Louis and Madeline told me about how they met each other and botany among other things. They informed me that this was the final bottle share at Mar Claire. The motel was being torn down to make way for a highway project. The motel owner was fed up with the noise and mess left behind and threatened to call the cops. Louis and Madeline invited me back to their room where we shared more bottles and laughs.
I had a recent conversation with a good friend of mine. He echoed my sentiment and how I feel about the craft beer scene at the moment. In the end, it comes down having a good time and enjoying beer with good company. That’s it. Thanks Louis and Madeline.
