Portland, Or - Details Please

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RC0032

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Doing a get away weekend in Portland in Feb and wnated to know what area of town is good to stay in? Close to bars, restaurants etc.


Also what brew pubs to visit?

Thanks!
 
Well, you can't go wrong if you were to stay downtown. I hear good things about the Ace Hotel and The Nines, but I've not been to either (since I live here, you know!).

If you're downtown, you'll be able to easily visit the Deschutes, Full Sail, Rogue, and Bridgeport brewpubs. The Widmer Gasthaus is just a quick Max ride away (our version of the El) on the other side of the river from downtown. Also on the Eastside is the Lucky Lab brewpub and Roots Organic brewing; farther out in Southeast is Hopworks Urban Brewery, which is making some absolutely fabulous beers.

If you're here to enjoy a pint or two, you really ought to stop out on the Eastside at the Horse Brass Pub, which made Esquire Magazine's "Best Places to Drink in America" - while not a brewpub, they are a solid English-style alehouse and have an amazing selection on tap. Also, the Green Dragon alehouse, closer in on the Eastside, has 50 taps and NO BMC - they're also doing some brewing on a 1BBL system, with new releases usually tapped on Thursdays.
 
My top recs for breweries: Lucky Lab (NW), Amnesia, Widmer Gasthaus, Deschutes Pub, Bridgeport Brewery (NW), Laurelwood (NW/NE - the NE one is better), the Upright Brewing tasting room (NE), Full Sail Pilsner room (SW), Hopworks (SE), McMenamin's Kennedy School (NE - or grand lodge, or edgefield), Racoon Lodge (Beaverton - Cascade Brewing, great sours), New Old Lompoc (NW or N)

pubs: Horse brass (SE), belmont station (SE),green dragon (SE),henry's on 12th (NW), Bailey's Taproom (SW), Saraveza (N), Victory (SE), moon & sixpence (NE)

If I were you, I would either stay downtown (ace hotel,nines, corporate, etc), or inner southeast at The Jupiter Hotel, or in NW at the Inn at Northrup Station (I had a good experience there while my house was being worked on).

no matter how you do it, you'll have a hard time avoiding good beer (and food). feb is pretty cold so bring some warm stuff (although nothing like chicago haha).
 
Hopworks is also loud too. Every time I've been there it's really loud and packed. Then again I went during peak times, so there ya go.

If you go to the Green Dragon, ask what's on the Oly tap. :D You won't regret it. Last time I was there it was DFH 120 min IPA.
 
My favorite place to go with our 3 yr old is Belmont Station. While Hopworks has great beer and food (I just dropped off a corny to get filled 2 hrs ago), it does get loud and can be a bit overwhelming. Belmont station, on the other hand, is a super mellow cafe atmosphere, is guaranteed to have some very interesting beers on their 15 or so taps and has 1,000-1,300 different beers in bottles that you can drink in the cafe.

Last week my wife and I met there and shared a Bear Republic Racer X and a Ninkasi SleighR on tap then walked over and discovered a great bottle of organic, sulfite free hard cider that we found in the bottle shop side of the outfit. They were playing Grant Green on the radio, too. A perfect evening.
 
I went to High School in Vancouver, WA just across the river from Portland. Spent a lot of time hanging out in the Rose City as a kid. Go back every once in a while to visit old friends and family who still live in the area. My advice as too where to stay in Portland is...far away.
 
sup hater????

Hey! It's all good. There are some cool things about Portland. Heart was from there, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Johnny Limbo and the Lugnuts. The Organ Grinder was cool, until they closed it down. Roses was awesome, until they closed it down. I am sure that Octoberfest is still a great party! My wife hits Powell's Bookstore every time we're in the neighborhood. And it's a hell of a lot easier getting in and out of PDX than Seatac. There are a lot of worse places in the world than Portland. Like Vancouver, most of Louisianna and all of Iraq.

I'll give you this, the Willamette Valley has some awesome vinyards and produces some of the best wines in the world (second to Washington of course). So if you gotta go to Portland then drive south on I-5 and hit some of those tasting rooms.
 
Yummy bait. Sounds like you're hung up on 30yr old memories. If you aren't into food, music, art, bikes, nature, or beer, I can see how you could be down on Portland. I am an ambassador for my city and won't hear her disparaged without just cause. There is a lot to fault Portland for, but for all her scars and fault, she is still one of the most exciting and beautiful cities in the USA. If you are a beer fan, doubly so.
 
Yummy bait. Sounds like you're hung up on 30yr old memories. If you aren't into food, music, art, bikes, nature, or beer, I can see how you could be down on Portland. I am an ambassador for my city and won't hear her disparaged without just cause. There is a lot to fault Portland for, but for all her scars and fault, she is still one of the most exciting and beautiful cities in the USA. If you are a beer fan, doubly so.

Damn you're good! 30 years is right on. Every city needs an ambassador. For many years I was an ambassador for Seattle. Still am to a great degree, but for all it's beauty and wonderful character the city is just way to liberal for my taste. As for the food, music, art, bikes, nature, or beer, I like that about Portland, just like Seattle. That is a PNW thing.

Any time you want to gang up on LA or the Big Apple, I got your back, brother. Stay true to your hood, but I'll take Lakewood any day. Ain't a big city, but it ain't no farm town.

Sorry to distract the conversation. I was just having a little fun. RC, enjoy your time in Portland. It really is a nice place to visit.
 
Yummy bait. Sounds like you're hung up on 30yr old memories. If you aren't into food, music, art, bikes, nature, or beer, I can see how you could be down on Portland. I am an ambassador for my city and won't hear her disparaged without just cause. There is a lot to fault Portland for, but for all her scars and fault, she is still one of the most exciting and beautiful cities in the USA. If you are a beer fan, doubly so.

Amen brother! Keeping it real! :mug:
 
Tacoma Lite bagging on Portland. Now I have seen everything.
I could do without the 12,000 bridges but other than that PDX is badass.
 
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