In October 2011, the Beer Chicks revisited Portland. We had big plans for the breweries that we were about to drink in and
Megan also wanted to visit Portland State University. We were so
excited to get back to this amazing city and couldn't wait for the
opportunity to see more of what it offered. This time around we
stayed in downtown Portland at the Courtyard Marriott. It was only
one block from a Max Rail stop, so like before, we used public
transportation and walked most of the city from there. This hotel was
a great place to stay, too. We really enjoyed the Inn at Northrup
Station the year before, but we wanted to check out other areas of
the city. The rooms were big and comfy, which was a bonus. We also
want to mention that visiting Portland in October is a great time
because the weather has been pretty mild, rainy at times, but warm
enough to walk without feeling sweaty when you reach your next
destination.
Upon arrival, we immediately began our adventure and headed towards Full Sail Brewery. We walked about 2 miles only to find it wasn't open. We're not sure if it is even there anymore, or if it was just bad timing on our part. So, we headed towards the PSU campus and stopped at McMenamins Market Street Pub. We had a great lunch and tried their Ruby, Marzen Style, Hammerhead, and IPA. All in all they were OK, but Megan definitely preferred the Ruby. It was a unique beer, ruby in color (hence the name), and different from other beers we have tried before. Once we were well on our way to a great start to the weekend, we headed to the campus tour. PSU has a beautiful, urban campus. There is a nice mix of old and new buildings and a great student rec center. There is plenty of space to walk around and enjoy the outdoors without too much traffic.
After the campus tour, we hopped on a bus to take us to the east side of the river. We wanted to visit Cascade Barrel House again, a favorite of both of ours, because they specialize in sour beers. At Cascade, we each had a sampler to try some of their new brews. The Platinum Blonde is a great introduction to sour beer for newcomers. It has some familiar flavors, and isn't too sour. We also tried the Apricot, Sang Royal, Sour Bruin (which has a tobacco flavor, not tasty in both of our opinions), Nightfall, and the Test Flight IPA. It was a wonderful reunion! From there we walked back to the Green Dragon where we tried some seasonal beers; Buckman Sweet Potato Brown, New Belgium Kick (sour!), Boneyard Girl Beer Cherry, Beer Valley Jackalope Imperial Pumpkin Porter, Laurelwood Stingy Jack Pumpkin, and the Nogne Pumpkin. It was the fall, what can we say, pumpkin beers were all the rage! There wasn't a bad beer in the bunch; all of them were unique in their own ways.
Our last stop of the evening was Deschutes Brew Pub (210 NW 11th Ave, Portland, OR 97209) in the Pearl District, close to downtown Portland. We called our cab driver from the previous year, as we had kept his business card in the hopes that he was still driving. Success! On the way to Deschutes we went by the Occupy Portland site, which had built a small colony in one of the downtown parks. It was very interesting to witness first hand. There was a lot of live music and people having a good time, and also very peaceful at the same time. At Deschutes, we tried the Winter Ale and Mirror Pond. After enjoying our last couple of beers, we decided to walk back to the hotel. Along the way we stopped at Powell's City of Books, a great tourist destination that everyone should see. It's bigger than you'd expect, and worth a stop for every lover of a good book. We then headed straight for VooDoo Doughnuts. We got lucky this time with the downtown location and only had to wait in line for 10 minutes. We each got a Maple Bacon Bar (heaven, trust us), and some of the other crazy concoctions that we took back to the hotel to have for breakfast. Overall, the first day was a great start to the weekend, and we were enjoying Portland as much, if not more than we had the first time.
Saturday, we started the day with our remaining donuts, relaxed a bit, and then headed towards the Northwest District. We decided to walk to the Bridgeport Brew Pub to take another shot at what they had to offer, since Jen may or may not have been in the “mood” to try them last year. Once there, we grabbed a sampler of the Summer Squeeze, Blue Heron, Kingpin Double Red, IPA, Hop Czar, Old Knucklehead, Ebeneezer, and Hop Harvest. Another good start to an exciting day ahead!
We then decided to walk up through our old stomping grounds and headed to New Old Lompoc. There we had a sampler where we tried Fool's Gold Ale, Lompoc Strong Draft (coffee flavored porter), C Note (a mix of the 5 'C' hops), Sockeye Cream Stout, Proletariat Red, and the Centennial IPA. The same bartender was there, although he didn't remember us...but it had the same great atmosphere and a wide variety of beers to try. From there it was a quick walk to the Lucky Lab Beer Hall, another favorite from the past, where we tried Summit IPA, Harvest Reaper-Weizen, Mega World Peace Pils, Dog Day IPA, Lolatober Fest, and the Old Yeller Barleywine. We also enjoyed a slice of pizza to hold us over and help soak up some of the beer. It had been a long, short day, but not one that we were ready to end yet.
It was then time to decide how to get to our next destination. It was at least 2.5 miles away, but we needed some time to walk off a little bit of our excitement. We were headed to Widmer Brothers (955 N. Russell, Portland, OR), which was north and east, across the river again. We started walking towards the bridge with the idea that we were going to catch a bus or something to help us along on our journey. Once we got to the bridge, we realized that it was only open to pedestrian and bike traffic, so over the bridge it was. We sang our way across, got a few interesting looks, and continued forward. Some time later, we finally made it to the brewery. Widmer Brothers had a large, and obviously popular restaurant. We sat down for a dinner and of course, had a couple of beers. We tried one of their flagship brews, Drifter Pale Ale, and a more seasonal beer, the Longrass Wheat Ale. Dinner was fantastic, but it was time to head back to the city center.
At some point we realized that we are getting older and can't handle quite as much as we had before...so we walked for a bit and turned in for the night. We had an early flight the next day, and of course, another stop to make to VooDoo Doughnuts.
The following day, we picked up our donuts at about 5:30am, and then took the Max Rail back to the airport. It had been an amazing weekend, yet again, but we left knowing we still had more to see on our next visit.
Upon arrival, we immediately began our adventure and headed towards Full Sail Brewery. We walked about 2 miles only to find it wasn't open. We're not sure if it is even there anymore, or if it was just bad timing on our part. So, we headed towards the PSU campus and stopped at McMenamins Market Street Pub. We had a great lunch and tried their Ruby, Marzen Style, Hammerhead, and IPA. All in all they were OK, but Megan definitely preferred the Ruby. It was a unique beer, ruby in color (hence the name), and different from other beers we have tried before. Once we were well on our way to a great start to the weekend, we headed to the campus tour. PSU has a beautiful, urban campus. There is a nice mix of old and new buildings and a great student rec center. There is plenty of space to walk around and enjoy the outdoors without too much traffic.
After the campus tour, we hopped on a bus to take us to the east side of the river. We wanted to visit Cascade Barrel House again, a favorite of both of ours, because they specialize in sour beers. At Cascade, we each had a sampler to try some of their new brews. The Platinum Blonde is a great introduction to sour beer for newcomers. It has some familiar flavors, and isn't too sour. We also tried the Apricot, Sang Royal, Sour Bruin (which has a tobacco flavor, not tasty in both of our opinions), Nightfall, and the Test Flight IPA. It was a wonderful reunion! From there we walked back to the Green Dragon where we tried some seasonal beers; Buckman Sweet Potato Brown, New Belgium Kick (sour!), Boneyard Girl Beer Cherry, Beer Valley Jackalope Imperial Pumpkin Porter, Laurelwood Stingy Jack Pumpkin, and the Nogne Pumpkin. It was the fall, what can we say, pumpkin beers were all the rage! There wasn't a bad beer in the bunch; all of them were unique in their own ways.
Our last stop of the evening was Deschutes Brew Pub (210 NW 11th Ave, Portland, OR 97209) in the Pearl District, close to downtown Portland. We called our cab driver from the previous year, as we had kept his business card in the hopes that he was still driving. Success! On the way to Deschutes we went by the Occupy Portland site, which had built a small colony in one of the downtown parks. It was very interesting to witness first hand. There was a lot of live music and people having a good time, and also very peaceful at the same time. At Deschutes, we tried the Winter Ale and Mirror Pond. After enjoying our last couple of beers, we decided to walk back to the hotel. Along the way we stopped at Powell's City of Books, a great tourist destination that everyone should see. It's bigger than you'd expect, and worth a stop for every lover of a good book. We then headed straight for VooDoo Doughnuts. We got lucky this time with the downtown location and only had to wait in line for 10 minutes. We each got a Maple Bacon Bar (heaven, trust us), and some of the other crazy concoctions that we took back to the hotel to have for breakfast. Overall, the first day was a great start to the weekend, and we were enjoying Portland as much, if not more than we had the first time.
Saturday, we started the day with our remaining donuts, relaxed a bit, and then headed towards the Northwest District. We decided to walk to the Bridgeport Brew Pub to take another shot at what they had to offer, since Jen may or may not have been in the “mood” to try them last year. Once there, we grabbed a sampler of the Summer Squeeze, Blue Heron, Kingpin Double Red, IPA, Hop Czar, Old Knucklehead, Ebeneezer, and Hop Harvest. Another good start to an exciting day ahead!
We then decided to walk up through our old stomping grounds and headed to New Old Lompoc. There we had a sampler where we tried Fool's Gold Ale, Lompoc Strong Draft (coffee flavored porter), C Note (a mix of the 5 'C' hops), Sockeye Cream Stout, Proletariat Red, and the Centennial IPA. The same bartender was there, although he didn't remember us...but it had the same great atmosphere and a wide variety of beers to try. From there it was a quick walk to the Lucky Lab Beer Hall, another favorite from the past, where we tried Summit IPA, Harvest Reaper-Weizen, Mega World Peace Pils, Dog Day IPA, Lolatober Fest, and the Old Yeller Barleywine. We also enjoyed a slice of pizza to hold us over and help soak up some of the beer. It had been a long, short day, but not one that we were ready to end yet.
It was then time to decide how to get to our next destination. It was at least 2.5 miles away, but we needed some time to walk off a little bit of our excitement. We were headed to Widmer Brothers (955 N. Russell, Portland, OR), which was north and east, across the river again. We started walking towards the bridge with the idea that we were going to catch a bus or something to help us along on our journey. Once we got to the bridge, we realized that it was only open to pedestrian and bike traffic, so over the bridge it was. We sang our way across, got a few interesting looks, and continued forward. Some time later, we finally made it to the brewery. Widmer Brothers had a large, and obviously popular restaurant. We sat down for a dinner and of course, had a couple of beers. We tried one of their flagship brews, Drifter Pale Ale, and a more seasonal beer, the Longrass Wheat Ale. Dinner was fantastic, but it was time to head back to the city center.
At some point we realized that we are getting older and can't handle quite as much as we had before...so we walked for a bit and turned in for the night. We had an early flight the next day, and of course, another stop to make to VooDoo Doughnuts.
The following day, we picked up our donuts at about 5:30am, and then took the Max Rail back to the airport. It had been an amazing weekend, yet again, but we left knowing we still had more to see on our next visit.
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