Portland, Oregon

For Jase’s birthday I decided to plan a trip to Portland, Oregon in the hopes of finding great beer and cool breweries that we have heard so much about in our favorite magazines and television shows. What I didn’t expect to find was a incredibly beautiful metropolis. The abundance of trees that were in fall colors and their leaves that smothered the city were truly breath taking. Coming from southern California this was our first time witnessing the change of seasons.

The Beer Gods were with us on this trip, we met many beer lovers, a beer journalist, a world famous Pub owner, a home brewer and a beer blogger. I guess it’s not surprising since we were in the Nations Brewery Capital.

I used my favorite rental site Vacation Rentals by Owner to book our stay. This will have been our third time this year renting a place for our vacation trip. I found that it is much more relaxing and comfortable staying in a house or condo. I feel that one gets a sense of being a local and sees things that you might not get to see if you stay in hotel surrounded by a bunch of tourist potholes.

We did not rent a car but took public transportation, which ended up to be an excellent idea. We both were able to relax and enjoy the scenery, plus get to know the city inside and out.

Tuesday 10. 23. 2007

We found a little modern cottage located in the Hawthorn District about a 10 minute bus ride to downtown Portland’s Pearl District. We didn’t waste anytime once we arrived. Excited, we hurried, unpacked and took a stroll out to see the local neighborhood, Hawthorne. We had a few hours to kill before heading over to Apizza Scholls. I heard about this restaurant in one of my favorite TV shows on the Travel Channel, No Reservations, with Anthony Bourdain. We had great pizza and great beer. A definite place to eat if you ever find yourself in Portland.

Later that night we hopped on the #70 bus to the Doug Fir Lounge to see a live show, Digitalism. We didn’t know what to except but were pleasantly surprised by the great music and very hip bar scene. The place was a true mid century modern building with a slick looking restaurant and cool lounge downstairs. I hope one day that Jase can book a gig there.

Wednesday 10. 24.2007

We woke up to soft rain that morning but it didn’t stop us from getting out early. Jase and I were determined to hit all the places we had planned for that day in downtown’s Pearl District. We strolled around the city before heading over to Portland’s oldest craft brewery, BridgePort Brewing Co. for brunch. What was once an old rope factory has now been turned into cozy pub. The pub still shows characteristics from it’s past with industrial steel, brick and stone. The food was very good, especially their homemade pretzels. But we were disappointed with the beer, average at best. I am no beer expert in any means but I got a sense that all their beers tasted very much the same, very mild. We ordered a sample tray of their beers to give each one a try but in the end it was hard to determined one beer from another. I guess we were hoping for more beer favor.

Our next stop, Portland’s beautiful Chinese gardens. This was the best Chinese gardens we have seen, hands down. They also had an excellent teahouse where we stopped to have tea and a little snack before heading over to the highlight of the day. The Halloween night tour of the Shanghai Tunnels.

As the tour guide recommended we arrived about 45 minutes early so we could have a drink at the famous Hobo’s bar, where “so called crimes” occurred. The tour group met just outside its back in a quiet courtyard for an introduction and history of the underground tunnels. Unfortunately, we did not see any ghosts on the tour, but Jase manage to freak me and a few others out on the tour by trying to see if he could see any ghosts by walking in deep dark corners where others in the past have seen or heard spirits from the beyond.

To end the day we walked about two blocks to Ground Kontrol a classic arcade with over 70 games from the 70’s 80’s and 90’s. They have live music every night, but this particular night they were having electronic artist that played some real cool chill music. After 7pm they kick the kiddy’s out and it’s 21 and over with an small bar of beer and wine. Jase was a big time gamer in his teens so it was fun to watch him play. It did not take long before I wanted to try a game, but the only ones I could play were Ms Pac-Man and Frogger. I still couldn’t get pass the 2nd level.

Thursday 10.25.2007

We woke up late and hungry. One of places on my Must See list was Voo Doo Doughnuts in Old Town Portland. I am not a real fan of doughnuts, but something told me that these were going to an exception. It was almost noon by the time we got there so we had the place to ourselves which was a good thing since the place was super tiny with one table. The doughnuts are very unique with the most crazy toppings we had ever seen, some included: coco puffs and captain crunch for the cereal lover or marshmallows, candies and cookies for the hard core sweet tooth. It took us awhile to choose but we went with a maple bar with two strips of bacon on top and a glazed doughnut with rice krispies, swirls of peanut and chocolate. Funny how something so bad can be so good.

After the sugar download we headed to the river bank and took a stroll along the banks. One of the nicknames for Portland is “Bridge Town” since it has many bridges spanning Willamette river. We ended up walking for almost two hours slowly zig zagging through the city’s streets before we hit Rogue Brewery, another brewery that was on our list. We couldn’t have timed it any better. We sat down ordered our first beer when the very nice bartender told us that we were in time for their distillery tour. I think that had to be the highlight of our day. We grab our drinks and joined the others for an hour of very interesting and informative tour about running and operating a distillery. At the end of the tour we were able to sample their gins and rums, which I think were the best I ever had. The Spruce Gin was my favorite.

Friday 10.26.2007

A good hearty breakfast was what we were craving that morning so we walked over to the Horse Brass Pub for a proper English breakfast. We met the legendary Don Younger, the owner of the pub who has been on countless TV shows and in publications for his contributions to the beer world. I was a total geek and asked him if I could take a picture with him. We had a great time meeting the regulars that shared with us some other places that we needed to visit while staying in in Portland. We decided then and there that we would come back to Portland next year.

We were sad to leave the comfortable haven, but we jumped on the bus towards downtown for a brewery tour of Widmer Brothers Brewing Co. There as we sat at the bar waiting for the tour to get started we met David Dronkowski, a reporter/journalist for the Portland Tribune. He and his staff review beer and pubs throughout Portland. He told us of a brand new brewery The Green Dragon that just opened and it was a must see while in Portland. What luck I thought, so I made a mental note to go visit on our way to the airport the next day.

The tour was more fun and informative than I expected. Beginning of the tour they sat us in a private room in the back. There they showed a film telling the history of Wilmer Brothers Brewing while serving us samples of all their craft brews. Yum. After, we walked across the street to visit the brewery. There was a soft “awwww” from our group as tour guide open the huge double doors to let us all in. The huge shiny steel tanks, the sophisticated machinery for the bottling process, the men with white coats walking around plant made you feel like you walked into a grownup Willy Wonka’s Factory.

Saturday 10.28.2007

We had a few hours before we needed to be at the airport so we jumped on the bus and headed over to the Green Dragon. Unfortunately, they did not have their craft beers ready. But, fortunately for us we met some interesting people at the bar. Michel Brown, a home brewer and head of the Brewing Man Group a group that gathers together to celebrate and teach home beer brewing. We also met Daren, star of Drinking with Daren. Daren’s mission to inform and educate people about Northwest Micro and Craft Beers and local events. What a perfect ending to our beer adventure to meet these two guys. I only wish we had more time to talk to them.

We have been thinking since Jacob and Jordan left for College how fun it would be to start brewing our own beer at home. A fun new hobby we could do together. Meeting up with these two guys was like fate telling us to “just do it”.

Portland is a beautiful city. While we stayed there we realized that it just wasn’t about the great local brewery’s, but the sense of comradery . We met many interesting people and they shared with us their love for Portland. Each said the same thing “because we are a community,” I loved that.

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