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Review: Wayfinder Beer, Portland, OR

Review: Wayfinder Beer, Portland, OR We set out on Sunday 20th November 2016 to visit 4 breweries that were new and unknown to us in the Portland/metro area. The first stop was Wayfinder, they had the best (only) food reviews of the four breweries we intended to visit, so that’s where we started. They are located in the SE industrial district of Portland, about 1/2 a block from Produce Row on on SE 2nd. They have a huge patio and walkup to the front of the brewery/restaurant, and inside, they have a bar area, restaurant area, brewing production area, and overall commercial vibe. The unfortunate thing was that they were not producing beer on site when we visited in Nov. They were doing collaborations with various other breweries, and still are to this day. We were able to find a table in the bar area, and ordered a lineup of tasters of their beers (all 4 of them) and some food for lunch. The menu changes between lunch and dinner, so depending on when you go, it will range from decent ‘top end’ bar food, to really good dinner food. The beer list is quite extensive with imports from Europe …

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2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: KettleHouse Brewing Co., Missoula, MT (July 9th, Brewery Stop #38)

2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: KettleHouse Brewing Co., Missoula, MT (July 9th, Brewery Stop #38) (recovered post) The 38th and final brewery visited during our cross-country beer discovery tour (click to read about the whole trip) was the KettleHouse Brewing Company in Missoula Montana. The Northside Brewery location was our final tour stop for Missoula and the trip, unfortunately they were not pouring when we arrived. Luckily I’ve been to this and their downtown south location on a prior trip to Missoula and had experienced the beers before. If you go to Missoula, make sure you get to the breweries prior to 8pm. By law, breweries/taprooms are not allowed to serve after 8pm, but can do growler fills until 9pm. I know this doesn’t make sense, but that’s how it is. We finished up our dinner and sampling at Flathead Lake and did the quick drive up to KettleHouse thinking we’d get there in time, but we didn’t. As you can see from the pictures, they are located in an old shipping terminal along the railroad tracks. It’s kind of a hard place to get to if you don’t have navigation, so make sure you have that or a good map. …

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2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Flathead Lake Brewing Co., Missoula, MT (July 9th, Brewery Stop #37)

2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Flathead Lake Brewing Co., Missoula, MT (July 9th, Brewery Stop #37) (recovered post) The 37th brewery visited during our cross-country beer discovery tour (click to read about the whole trip) was the Flathead Lake Brewing Company and Pubhouse in Missoula Montana. It was approaching dinner time, and we decided to visit Flathead Lake Brewings downtown Missoula location to get some food and try their lineup. This is a higher-end restaurant and pubhouse with no brewery production on site, but they do have a great setting for hanging out. The building they are located in has two floors. The upstairs is the ‘sports bar’ type vibe, the first floor room is more for the ‘fine dining’ approach. We did take a look at the upstairs, but decided for the beer tasting and dinner to stick with the first floor. As this was not the first time I’d been to this pubhouse, I was looking forward to trying their beers again, and perhaps some of the guest taps they had available from Blackfoot, Blacksmith, and Big Sky. We settled on a table towards the back of the dining area, and ordered up a round of their tasters and …

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2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Big Sky Brewing Company, Missoula, MT (July 9th, Brewery Stop #34)

2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Big Sky Brewing Company, Missoula, MT (July 9th, Brewery Stop #34) (recovered post) The 34th brewery visited during our cross-country beer discovery tour (click to read about the whole trip) was Big Sky Brewing Co. in Missoula Montana. After visiting family in Bismark North Dakota, we hit the road west and crossed the great barren north, or ‘Fly-over’ country as most call it. We got into Missoula in the afternoon and checked into our hotel, and to refridgerate the beers we had in our trunk. The brewery scene in Missoula wasn’t totally unfamiliar to us as we had visited it a year prior for a few days while on a work trip. We knew that tasters were limited and the amount of beer they could serve a person was restricted per visit, so we planned on just hitting a few breweries for tasters and then finding dinner and going from there. The first brewery we hit as it was closest to the hotel we stayed at was Big Sky. It’s located on the edge of town just off the freeway and it’s pretty easy to find. The production facility and tasting room look like a big …

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2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Gritty McDuffs Brewing Company, Portland, ME (July 3rd, Brewery Stop #23)

2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Gritty McDuffs, Portland, ME (July 3rd, Brewery Stop #23) (recovered post) The 23rd brewery visited during our cross-country beer discovery tour (click to read about the whole trip) was Gritty McDuffs in Portland Maine. This is one of three locations for this restaurant/brewpub located in Maine. This particiular one is located in the heart of historic downtown Portland, not far from the waterfront. Parking was available a block or so away in a public garage, on-street parking is a challenge in this part of downtown. As you can see, it’s a bit rustic and has a local vibe to the establishment. We were there shortly after the lunch rush, so we didn’t have a wait to get a table. The back of the restaurant area looks out over the waterfront, so check out that part when looking for a table. We ordered a sampler of their beers (as shown below), with eight beers (two on cask) and once guest cider. While we had higher expectations of the beer, being that there is a lot of competition in this area, we were not really blown away with what was served. When we asked the server who brought …

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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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