Portland Area Brewpubs

I am going to Portland, OR in May to try some sturgeon fishing and would like to hit some brewpubs. I will be in the Oregon City area. What pubs should I not miss? I will be there Tuesday thru Friday so I hope to hit a few. I will have a car so a little traveling won't a problem.

ROGUE!!! One of the best i have been too.

You should definitely check out McMenamins Kennedy School. It's an old school that was converted into a hotel/movie theater/bar/restaurant/cigar lounge/etc. The Boiler Room is a great place for food and beer (their Terminator stout is fantastic). Also, you can roam the halls and explore the school with your drink in hand.

Laurelwood is another favorite of mine. Hopworks, Bridgeport, and Amnesia are all great as well. Widmer is a pretty neat place, too, and their food is fantastic.

I'm personally not a fan of McMenamins' beer, it's just kind of mediocre. That being said, the buildings they convert to brew pubs are definitely pretty cool. Lucky Lab on 10th and SE Hawthorne is a good one, and I wouldn't miss out on Amnesia in North Portland. Green Dragon in SE Portland is a great beer bar and 1 block away is Cascade Brewpub, which specializes in sour beer.

There's two new brew pubs on NE 28th near Glisan called Migration and Coalition, I've been to both and they're good.

+100 on the Green Dragon!

damdaman said:

I'm personally not a fan of McMenamins' beer, it's just kind of mediocre. That being said, the buildings they convert to brew pubs are definitely pretty cool. Lucky Lab on 10th and SE Hawthorne is a good one, and I wouldn't miss out on Amnesia in North Portland. Green Dragon in SE Portland is a great beer bar and 1 block away is Cascade Brewpub, which specializes in sour beer.

There's two new brew pubs on NE 28th near Glisan called Migration and Coalition, I've been to both and they're good.

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Normally I'd agree, but having just interned as assistant brewer at a McMenamins in Corvallis I have to say that some of them are cranking out good beer. The recipes may not be awe-inspiring, but if the brewer in the back is worth his salt, the kegs kick quick (yay alliteration).

Novare Res and Great Lost Bear are the places to hit in the city of Portland, and Ebenezer's nearby is maybe the best beer bar in the US.

But they're all in the better Portland for beer in the US (in Maine), not out on the west cost.

Out west, the Horse Brass and Henry's Tavern, along with the aforementioned Green Dragon, are all great places to get a beer. Avoid Horse Brass on Fri/Sat nights, though--it turns into more of a meat market. On quieter nights it's a good bar, though.

Cascade Brewing Barrel House is pretty good, too--nowhere in Oregon (or the west coast in general) comes close to Ebenezer's, Monk's Cafe, or some of the other great east coast Belgian bars (Max's in MD, Thirsty Monk in NC) for general lambics/sours/etc (or even for more general Belgians). Cascade's about as good as you'll get on the west coast short of the in-brewery bars at places like Lost Abbey and Russian River--those in-brewery places beat the pants off the east coast ones when it comes to their own beers, and Allagash is the only east-coast place producing any real wild ales on the scope of what the best west coast places are doing.

I would definitely hit the deschutes portland pub.. fantastic food, and fantastic beers. They have the standard 6 which they distribute, but also some pub exclusives, cask conditioned ales, and seasonals... all in all, my far and away favorite.

Ill second mcmenamins, but only for the awesome restorations they provide to their buildings.. and the awesome ambiance.. there are many places with better beer (although I will say that their isnt terrible).

Ive also heard good things about green dragon, and its got a lot of variety.

Upright brewing is a small operation, but they make some great stuff, and their tasting room is in their brewery.. like you can sit on the steps to the control panel. Kinda fun. Check the website though cause they have limited hours.

The other place thats fairly new (as a tasting room anyway), is Hair of The Dog-- great beer, limited food (appetizers only).

Other places worth mention are hopworks, laurelwood, new/old lompoc, and rogue is an iconic place to stop (id rather go to deschutes).

oh.. and I also second cascade barrel house.

anyway, as you can see.. there are many. Have fun.

don't forget Ninkasi in Eugene...mmmm

Portland has some of the best brewpubs in the country (probably in the world too).

Brewpubs:
All 3 Lucky Labrador are top notch and very cool places (my preference goes to the one on Hawthorn).
Deschutes and Rogue downtown are fine, but they are more mainstream than the other smaller bp's.
Widmer across the river is always an interesting place to visit.
New Old Lompoc has a decent selection
Hopworks is nice too, very decent beers.

Beer bars:
Green Dragon is decent
Horse Brass always has an impressive selection of IPA's and numerous others.
Prost! is a cool German place
Gustav's has my vote for the best German food in town (decent beers too).

Places I don't go:
Amnesia, while it's cool and quirky, doesn't appeal to me with their murky beers.
McMenamin's ... I've never cared for their beers.
Alameda: Not really much to brag about.

I love Lucky Lab too (Hawthorne)

Portland also has more strip clubs per capita than anywhere else in the country. They serve good Oregon brew too

Good beer flows through Portland, so you should enjoy yourself wherever you end up, unless it's in the Shanghai Tunnels.

I hit PDX for a day before Thanksgiving. We hit these (in order):

Hopworks (good beer)
Deschutes (talked to a couple of brewers there, very nice folks)
Tugboat (it felt dark like an old boat, but they've got a 3BBL brewing system right in there!)
Laurelwood (again, good beer)

We didn't visit Rogue this time since we visited it the last time I was in town. They're a good place to visit as well. Also, not beer, but Voodoo Donuts is a fun spot too.

http://www.portlandbeer.org/

This will help ya out!

Thanks to everyone. Now I have a bigger,better problem. How do I visit them all in 4 days!

Hub

nothreat said:

Thanks to everyone. Now I have a bigger,better problem. How do I visit them all in 4 days!

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go to portlandbeer.org and pick a pre-planned pubcrawl.

nebben said:

I hit PDX for a day before Thanksgiving. We hit these (in order):

Hopworks (good beer)
Deschutes (talked to a couple of brewers there, very nice folks)
Tugboat (it felt dark like an old boat, but they've got a 3BBL brewing system right in there!)
Laurelwood (again, good beer)

We didn't visit Rogue this time since we visited it the last time I was in town. They're a good place to visit as well. Also, not beer, but Voodoo Donuts is a fun spot too.

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neeben, what did you think of tugboat's beer?

I thought Tugboat was OK. I think I had an english bitter, and it was fine. No complaints. I don't recall if they had more than three types of beer though. Just like in my basement. 3 beers and cash only.

I would recommend the Hores Brass and VooDoo Doughnuts, skip McNenamins-they are just another chain type brewpub. I haven't heard of some of the suggestions hear and I live a mere 40 minutes from Portland.

I highly recommend Laurelwood. Excellent beer, equally delicious food.

No one has mentioned the Bridgeport brewpubs they are similar to others out there but they always have a couple casked conditioned beers. I also really like the Moon and Six
Pence. The Horse Brass is a cool place but it is crazy on the weekend.
I would skip the McMenamines too.

Though McMenamins doesn't have the greatest beer, the Kennedy School is still an awesome place to hang out. Definitely worth checking out if you're visiting.