Home Posts tagged "Beer" (Page 3)

Tag: Beer

2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Portsmouth Brewery, Portsmouth, NH (July 2nd, Brewery Stop #19)

2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Portsmouth Brewery, Portsmouth, NH (July 2nd, Brewery Stop #19) The 19th brewery we stopped at on our cross-country beer discovery tour (click to read about the whole trip) was The Portsmouth Brewery in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. After a great day and evening visiting our friends in Philly, we woke up early and headed north towards our mid-way point (Maine). Leaving Philly, we went east into Jersey (Camden), then north to New York City for an early lunch (pizza) in lower Manhattan. After eating we did take a short side trip up to Times Square (drove through it), which was one of my bucket list items. Eventually we made our way out of the city with the intent on stopping in Boston en route to Maine. However, the bumper to bumper traffic on the freeways had us taking back-roads and alternate routes around Boston and then north into New Hampshire to find dinner before making the final trek into Maine. With the alternate back-roads navigating (always take a road atlas with you as your phone may not get signal out in the back woods), we were able to see some really great historic towns and villages in …

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2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: East End Brewing Company, Pittsburgh, PA (June 30, Brewery Stop #15)

2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: East End Brewing Company, Pittsburgh, PA (June 30, Brewery Stop #15) The 15th brewery found on the cross-country beer discovery tour (click to read about the whole trip) was East End Brewing Company located in Pittsburgh, PA. After picking our friend Joel up in rural PA at his parents farm, we headed into town to hang out with our hosts for the night, Rusty and Sara. After unpacking the car and presenting Rusty with the cases of beer we brought for him from Oregon, we sampled a few of his favorite beers and then headed out to a couple of breweries and to get dinner. I had never been to Pittsburgh before, and didn’t realize it was so steep (hilly) and had so many bridges. I thought the west hills of Portland were bad, OMG, it’s incredibly challenging to travel around the east and north end of the city without GPS or a navigator that knows their way around. The first brewery we stopped at was in the central east part of the city, the East End Brewing production facility and taproom. It’s nessled in the back side of a larger industrial looking building and you …

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Review: Ghost Runners Brewery, Vancouver WA

Ghost Runners Brewery, Vancouver WA This last week on Friday night (Oct. 2nd) we stopped by the Ghost Runners Brewery in Vancouver WA on our way to drop off some friends. I’ve had a few chances to sample their beers over the past couple of years as they have been producing and distributing in the local area and was excited to check them out. We were really happy that they finally opened up a tap-room at their production facility off of NE Minnehaha in an industrial area of Vancouver, the local brewing scene is growing with a strong showing of brewers that have a clue. The brewery is located along the 2nd row of the building complex, not visible from the street. They have a 10 barrel system with a couple of storage tanks inside behind the bar area. If you ask one of the interns or bartenders, they will show you around and explain their setup. I’m really glad that they opened up the opportunity to visit their production site and try their beers on site. I would highly recommend visiting them if you’re in town and have a few extra minutes in the evening to give them a …

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2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: The Saint Louis Brewery, Schlafly Bottleworks, St. Louis, MO (June 29, Brewery Stop #14)

2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: The Saint Louis Brewery, Schlafly Bottleworks, St. Louis, MO (June 29, Brewery Stop #14) The 14th brewery that we visited on the cross-country beer discovery tour (click to read about the whole trip) was Schlafly Bottleworks in St. Louis MO. After a great KC BBQ lunch, we hit the road and headed to St. Louis. There was a little bit of traffic out of KC, and a whole bunch of traffic trying to get into St. Louis which pushed out travel time to over 5hrs. We ended up getting off the freeway and taking some side-roads into the SW part of town as their rush hour freeway traffic is horrible. The Schlafly Bottleworks location isn’t hard to find, just be ready to drive a bit through residential areas to get there. Note, that there are two locations, we went to the production facility to meet up with one of Gary’s former students that lives in the area in the suburbs and not the main downtown restaurant and bar. I had never heard of Schlafly before our trip, it was selected by Devin and I’m glad he picked it out for us to stop at. They have …

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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: 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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