2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR, Portland OR to Portland ME and back… 24 June-9 July, 2015

2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR, Portland OR to Portland ME and back…7800 miles later… From late June to early July 2015 I was lucky enough to go on a cross country road trip with Gary and our nephew Devin. We drove my car from Portland Oregon to Portland Maine in just about three weeks. We took a ‘central US’ path East and came back taking a more northern passage. Regarding where we went each day, we made it to about 40 breweries and a handful of tap-houses, bars, and brewpubs to find local beers and food along the way. While the long distance driving was challenging some days (10+ hrs at a time), we really enjoyed the trip with it’s the ever-changing scenery and wonderful cities, towns, and people we met. Before leaving on the trip, we gathered and then took a couple of cases of local specialty beers for our friend Rusty in Pittsburgh. The sucky part was that while we wanted the beers to not get ruined by the heat, we ended up unloading and reloading it a LOT as we stopped each night. This is a valuable learning experience, to stick to mailing stuff like beer and wine, …

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Review: Burnside Brewing, Portland OR

BURNSIDE BREWING CO., PORTLAND OR Memorial Day (Monday), May 25th we ended up at Burnside Brewing for a late lunch. The location is along the north side of east Burnside Blvd in Portland Oregon next to a lot of newly renovated buildings, shops, boutiques, strip bars, and restaurants. It has outdoor seating (as you can see from the pictures) that is open year round in their front parking lot. Which I must say, I have always been able to find a spot in every time we’ve gone, must be my awesome parking karma at work. Overall, this is a well established brewery with a full menu for lunch and dinner. The beer list includes a large variety of seasonal drafts and they do offer a bit of swag and 22oz. bottles for sale to go. You can do growler fills there as well. The bar/restaurant is on the left side of the building, and the brewery to the right. I haven’t been into the brewery side, so I can’t speak to their production and size. I have been to the bar/restaurant a number of times, sitting both inside and outside, and can attest to the fact that they know what …

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Review: 10 Barrel Brewing Co., Portland OR

10 BARREL BREWING CO., PORTLAND OREGON On the early evening of April 7, 2015, we ventured into downtown Portland to visit this recently opened brewpub by 10 Barrel Brewing. This location was well in the works before they sold to Anheuser-Busch InBev, so we had to at least give it one try before passing judgement. Neither of us had been to any of the other 10 Barrel locations so it was a clean slate to start with when we arrived. As you can see, it’s quite a large space with many tables and large self-seating area around the bar side. The production tanks are behind the main seating area, and the beer list is on a gigantic chalk board above the west wall in the bar area. The only compliant was the amount of noise that was generated once the bar became full. It was hard to hear the bartender when we tried to order, but that’s typical of most bars in large open spaces. The bar wasn’t too busy when we got there during early happy hour, so we bellied up to the long wooden bar and were served immediately with an interest in what we liked in beer …

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Review: Fifth Quadrant Lompoc Brewing, Portland Oregon

LOMPOC BREWING, PORTLAND OREGON Tuesday Feb. 24th, 2015 we visited the Lompoc brewery location in North Portland, the Fifth Quadrant. This restaurant and brewery has both a bar area, inside family seating, front-street smaller tables, and outside (smoking) patio/porch that is covered with larger tables. If you want to stay clear of the criPODS, you have to stick to the bar area. Lompoc has a number of locations (bars & restaurants) around Portland and has been brewing beer since 1996. Their recopies have changed a bit over the years and the recent ‘regulars’ have a decent level of complexity and quality that stands against most other mid-sized breweries in the area. The menu at this restaurant/brewery has a good range of NW food ranging from sammiches, burgers, Pork mole tacos (da-BOMB), and salads. The happy hour is pretty decent as well, and we normally visit it during a weekday prior to 6pm. It’s always busy, every time we’ve gone, so be ready to either sit where you don’t want, or show up early. This time around, we were lucky and got a table on the bar side so we didn’t really have the criPOD effect going on. We ordered happy …

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Review: Breakside Brewing Co., Portland OR

BREAKSIDE BREWING CO, PORTLAND OREGON We decided to visit one of our old favorites, Breakside Brewing’s Dekum restaurant for this week’s ‘Wednesday Hoppiness Hour’ outing (18 Feb. 2015). Breakside has been setting the bar for quality independent micro-brewing in the Portland area since 2010. Their Dekum St. restaurant has one of the best brewery menus, combined with their constantly rotating list of outstanding beers keeps us coming back at least twice a month for many, many years. The restaurant space used to be an old car repair shop with both outside table and inside seating with long a bar area. When the weather permits, they open the large garage doors and the outside space is pet friendly. Be warned that due to the somewhat limited amount of seating, that the restaurant does fill up quickly during dinner hours, and there always tends to be families with kids around. We normally sit by the bar and watch sports on one of their two large flat screen TV’s when we go on the weekends. This time around, we were able to sit at one of the large round tables in the main floor area. The servers are usually attentive and provide quick …

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Review: Ex Novo Brewing Co., Portland OR.

EX NOVO BREWING CO, PORTLAND OREGON We visited Ex Novo on a recent ‘Wednesday Hoppiness Hour’ trip here in Portland (4 Feb. 2015). This is a non-profit brewery. For those that aren’t sure what that means, they donate 100% of the net profits to “organizations that are working to affect positive social change both in Portland and around the world.” This is not the only bar/restaurant in Portland that has this model. It prevents them from being bought out by a larger company (InBev) while producing a top quality product. They do pay their staff and owners a decent living wage, don’t mistake that for a second, just the rest of the $$ after they pay their bills and wages go towards a number of organizations that deserve support. The brewery location is close-in North Portland across the street from a neighborhood park (with baseball and soccer fields). The on-street parking is a little bit limited and you may have to walk a little bit if you go during peek hours. The inside of the brewery mixes raw-wood and cool art with an upstairs seating area, bar seating and small dining area on the main floor. The production tanks are …

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