Home Posts tagged "Portland" (Page 3)

Tag: Portland

2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Shipyard Brewing Company, Portland, ME (July 3rd, Brewery Stop #22)

2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Shipyard Brewing Company, Portland, ME (July 3rd, Brewery Stop #22) The 22nd brewery visited during our cross-country beer discovery tour (click to read about the whole trip) was Shipyard Brewing Company in Portland Maine. We made our way down the coast to Portland and did a little site seeing and then grabbed a bite to eat at a great restaurant near the main historic area of town. We decided to stop at a few breweries in this part of town first before exploring out into the suburbs. Shipyard is one of the larger production facilities in Portland and they have a great selection of beers. The brewery has a large swag and merchandise area, tasting room, and provides brewery tours year round. They don’t have any food on site and the tasters are done in large groups for FREE. Yes, you read that correctly, FREE. Not many breweries do this, and it’s a great way to gain loyal customers. There is truly nothing better than “free as in beer”. The tasting area is like a small bar with just a few seats and mostly standing room only. We were able to sample some of their beers …

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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: Baerlic Brewing, Portland Oregon

BAERLIC BREWING, PORTLAND OREGON Baerlic Brewing in SE Portland was the fourth and final brewery we visited on Saturday, January 24th 2015. We had not been back to Baerlic since it opened and they have refined their recipes considerably since then. This was a great surprise. In the interim, we have been able to try their beers at a few festivals recently which was partly reason to revisit their location and provide you with this review. The brewery is located in the Ladd’s Edition neighborhood next to a large sports bar called Blitz on SE 11th. It should be pointed out that the brewery doesn’t have a kitchen, so no food available to order other than table snacks and they ‘highly’ recommend that you purchase something from one of the multitude of nearby restaurants and bring your own food in. There is also some great outdoor seating that is used year round. The inside seating area and bar area are bright, open, spacey, and have lots of seating available. Behind the bar they have a large board with the available beers on draft (see pictures) and they do have taster trays available to order as well as pints, growler fills, …

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Humbug Lager Fest, Portland OR

HUMBUG LAGER FEST, PORTLAND OR The 2014 Humbug LagerFest is back again to celebrate lager beers this holiday season! It took place on Saturday December 13th, at Occidental Brewing in Portland Oregon. This year they had 18 lagers on draft for sampling. There was no price for admission, tokens were $1/ea and 1 token = 1 sample. The brewery utilized it’s two main rooms to pour 8 samples at each. The main room had tables and some barrels to stand at. There were a LOT of people there when I stopped by, so finding a place to stand was tricky. The bartenders were working really fast, and there was little to no waiting at the bar for pours. The 2nd room which is used for storage of empties was used for the food stand and a LOT of the empty pre-production cans from the brewery along two sides. Occidental Brewing is located in the far north end of Portland, in the St. John’s neighborhood under the St. John’s bridge, just a few blocks from the Willamette River. The brewery is the south side of an industrial building and there’s plenty of on-street parking. The food stand this year was from …

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Holiday Ale Festival, Portland OR

HOLIDAY ALE FESTIVAL, PORTLAND OR The 2014 Winter Holiday Ale Festival in downtown Portland, December 3rd-6th, is one of the funner festivals to attend for beer lovers. This year like every year we’ve gone in the past, had a number of seasonal/one-off’s/rare beers that are made especially for this event by local and west coast brewers. There is no cost for admission (as with most beer fests), the cost comes in buying the tasting glass/plastic cup, and the tokens or tickets. The standard package was $35 and included a plastic tasting mug and 12 tickets. 3 oz. tastes were normally 1 ticket, but some specialty beers were 2, 3, or even 4 per pour with 4-8 tickets for a full mug (10oz) pour. I did try a few of the more ‘expensive’ rare beers and none of them disappointed. The festival has been downtown Portland at Pioneer Courthouse Sq. for quite a few years, and the layout of the fest has been consistent, which we all appreciated. They have an upper tasting area w/ a side bar and two main tasting areas with food vendors in between. The tents are heated, and unfortunately on Saturday afternoon, it was warm outside …

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Review: Gigantic Brewing, Portland OR

GIGANTIC BREWING, PORTLAND OR This is the second spot we went to on during a little Sunday brewery tour (30 Dec. 2014). Gigantic Brewing Company is located in deep South East Portland a few blocks south of SE Holgate in an industrial area with on-street parking. This is a somewhat small building with room for about 30 people inside and a large patio out front. If it’s cold outside, you may not be able to find a place to sit inside, so be prepared to stand. There is a food cart parked next door (literally 10 paces from the door) that has food during normal business hours. The decor inside is somewhat of an art gallery with prints and objects for sale, as well as a big TV to watch Timbers matches on. We’ve never ran into kids inside, as I’m going to take a guess that it’s considered a bar. During warm months, there might be some outside on the patio when it’s open. Oh, and the patio is dog friendly as well. Regarding their beers, Gigantic has made a name for itself with strong, in your face beers. They have slowly expanded what they have on tap at …

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