Epic beer adventure help in PORTLAND Oregon.

[BarrelAgedForrest]

OK so the SO and I have made it official we are going to Portland for our 4 day mini vacation next month. Leaving Fri for a 6 hour drive coming home Monday. Prolly shop and express Friday, hike Saturday, more city exploring Sunday. Any of you guys know the area? What are the top breweries I should hit for awesome brews? Best places with killer gift shops with rare beer and or cool nik naks? (I collect beer paraphernalia) obviously a Deschutes tap room and rogue are there. we are gonna hit ninkasi on the way up through Eugene as well. All tips are welcomed!

 

[Dixon9717]

Here's a list of Portland breweries. https://www.google.com/search?q=por...e=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari#istate=lrl:xpd

 

[BarrelAgedForrest]

Here's a list of Portland breweries. https://www.google.com/search?q=por...e=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari#istate=lrl:xpd

LOL well played sir. I've already done that. Was curious for people's personal recommendations.

 

[Sailingeric]

Widmer has a nice pub with a lot beers you cannot get anywhere else, $5 for a brewery tour but you get a lot of beer, some of it test stuff that may never make it out to release and you get a nice nice in the end so the $5 is worth it. Just need to call and book it ahead of time.

 

[aprichman]

If you're making the drive up from Eugene to Portland I would absolutely recommend making a stop in Corvallis, Oregon to check out Block 15. IMO Block 15 is the best "hidden gem" in the entire Willamette Valley, they are producing some of the best hop forward beers in the entire state. They have a downtown location that is the original brewpub and also a new brewing facility located on the south side of town. Both are nice locations but the downtown brewpub has a really great food menu (the food at the brewery location is pretty basic ATM). Make sure to try the Sticky Hands and grab some crowlers (32oz cans that are filled and sealed when you buy them) if you're at their south town brewery.

 

[iijakii]

Make sure you check out Cascade. Fantastic sours. Commons is great if you're into farmhouse type stuff. Breakside and HUB have pretty good all across the board beers. Honestly too many breweries to list ><

Since you're coming up through Eugene, check out Hop Valley and let me know how it is. Their IPAs are fantastic, especially for the price. Love Citrus Mistress. Never been to their place though.

Lots of good beer stores. Belmont Station is one of the better ones.

Definitely go into The Gorge, although it's not quite the best time of year for that. Take the scenic highway and hit some waterfalls, go to Vista House for the views, Multnomah is gorgeous but will be packed with fellow tourists. Pick a hike (Angels Rest is a nice not too-difficult one with beautiful views). Gorge views and hikes > anything Portland has to offer. It's amazing.

 

[BarrelAgedForrest]

Nice ideas! I forgot hop Valley is up that way! Will have to check out block 15 as well I like the hidden stuff.

As for hiking and the falls we are avid backpackers so any thing out there is going to be amazing unless it's raining in which case my photography aspect will not be happy.

 

[Sailingeric]

Nice ideas! I forgot hop Valley is up that way! Will have to check out block 15 as well I like the hidden stuff.

As for hiking and the falls we are avid backpackers so any thing out there is going to be amazing unless it's raining in which case my photography aspect will not be happy.

Beacon Rock on the Washington side across from Cascade Locks is a good hike with good a great view but dont do it if it is windy, it really sucks then.

 

[alexacuna]

Oakshire, mcmenamins, elkhorn, bier stein (bottle shop), and falling sky are all good ones from Eugene.

 

[bob1852]

Fish 'n chips and pliny at Horse Brass pub.

 

[BarrelAgedForrest]

Thanks guys! Alexacuna will definitely check the bier Stein shop out!

 

[rahines08]

Base camp, great beer cool atmosphere.

 

[aprichman]

Make sure you check out Cascade. Fantastic sours. Commons is great if you're into farmhouse type stuff. Breakside and HUB have pretty good all across the board beers. Honestly too many breweries to list ><

Since you're coming up through Eugene, check out Hop Valley and let me know how it is. Their IPAs are fantastic, especially for the price. Love Citrus Mistress. Never been to their place though.

Lots of good beer stores. Belmont Station is one of the better ones.

Definitely go into The Gorge, although it's not quite the best time of year for that. Take the scenic highway and hit some waterfalls, go to Vista House for the views, Multnomah is gorgeous but will be packed with fellow tourists. Pick a hike (Angels Rest is a nice not too-difficult one with beautiful views). Gorge views and hikes > anything Portland has to offer. It's amazing.

Hop Valley's location is awesome, my wife and I went down to Eugene to visit some breweries last summer. Eugene has a bunch of breweries all within walking distance which makes being a beer "tourist" pretty awesome. You should totally check it out, and stop by Block 15 on the way down

I've got to say, Hop Valley was the highlight of that trip. They have a great outdoor patio (hopefully it's covered this time of the year!) and the beers (especially the IPAs) were amazing. I had already been drinking a bit by the time I made it over there so I just went with a sampler of 10-12 beers. They have a lot of beers that are only on tap that I had never tried before. Good times. Also a fun fact - Hop Valley is owned and operated by a graduate of OSU's fermentation science program, go beavs!

 

[BarrelAgedForrest]

Hop Valley's location is awesome, my wife and I went down to Eugene to visit some breweries last summer. Eugene has a bunch of breweries all within walking distance which makes being a beer "tourist" pretty awesome. You should totally check it out, and stop by Block 15 on the way down

I've got to say, Hop Valley was the highlight of that trip. They have a great outdoor patio (hopefully it's covered this time of the year!) and the beers (especially the IPAs) were amazing. I had already been drinking a bit by the time I made it over there so I just went with a sampler of 10-12 beers. They have a lot of beers that are only on tap that I had never tried before. Good times. Also a fun fact - Hop Valley is owned and operated by a graduate of OSU's fermentation science program, go beavs!

Nice! Well we may be spending more time in Eugene then thought!

 

[BarrelAgedForrest]

Wow so Portland was basically beer heaven for someone like me! What a great trip! And we came back with a score of 19 beers that will sit and be enjoyed with time!! We hit falling sky in Eugene, it was OK nothing special. We then hit oakshire and we're both blown away with their 2014 pinot aged barley wine. And their espresso oatmeal stout. We left with 2 of those and a 2013 barleywine. Then we hit hop Valley, for the hop heads that is the place to go they had some great offerings, the saison was my favorite. We then swung by ninkasi for some merch.
In Portland we hit a lot! Deschutes was of course awesome we got to taste the cognac Abyss and kim fell in love with it, also the special release rum wowzenboch was great. We left there with some merch, a BB Porter 26, the rum wowzenboch, and the dissident. We then went to rogue grabbed a glass. Then went to Fat Heads and all their stuff was awesome, sadly no bottles there which was lame as the oompa loompa and barrel aged cherry oompa loompa were amazing. Hit breaksideBrewing which was OK though not as amazing as I was hoping for. Hit migration, it was also OK though not amazing. We hit Cascade and wow the sours were phenomenal! Way better then Russian Rivers sours IMHO. And holy CRAP, Hair of the dog was freaking mind blowing! We had a 2014 Adam From the wood and WOW is all I can say, sadly you can't take any home which was retarded. Then hit Belmont our last night and scored some awesome stuff! Here's a list of what we came home with and a pic!

Oakshire espresso oatmeal stout
Oakshire 2013 barley wine
Deschutes 26
Deschutes rum wowzenboch
Deschutes 2015 dissident
Stone Xocoveza Charred (super excited to find this!)
Basecamp Smores stout
Rogue 2014 XS Stout
Oak aged espresso Yeti
Southern tier Creme Brulee
Anderson Valley Huge Arker
Pfreim Belgian Stout
Elysian The FIX
Knee Deep Imperial Tanilla (Kim was super excited as she loves regular Tanilla)
Full Sail Bourbon Barrel wheatwine
Hair of The Dog Cherry Adam from the wood
Firestone Velvet Merlin
Firestone 2016 Sucaba


Also added here is a picture of our current collection of 41 beers patiently being aged to enjoy!

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