Travel in North America – Page 20

September 29, 2010January 25, 2013

It’s What We Do

We couldn’t travel to Denver without visiting a few new breweries. It’s what we do. Plus, with the year winding down, I wanted to pick up three or four to help with our goal of reaching 600 by year’s end. The problem is that the eastern slope of the Rockies is well traveled territory for us. After a bit of research, I found four potential targets just south of Denver.

We were on the road late morning to reach our first stop at their 11am opening time. After what seemed like a million traffic signals, we were at our first destination, Hops Restaurant and Brewery, in the Denver suburb of Littleton.

Hops Restaurant and Brewery in Littleton

I know I should have more of an open mind, but I’ll admit I am not a huge fan of chain breweries. My expectations tend to be low and I just view them as a notch on the bed post. However, we were pleasantly surprised at Hops. The staff was very friendly, even after we told them we were on a brewery tour so we only wanted a taster set.

And the beers were not too bad. My biggest beef with chains is that their beers usually taste the same no matter what style they’re supposed to be. Not so at Hops. There were a couple of flavorful beers amongst our six beer sampler. I thought the Thoroughbred Red and the Hoptoberfest were the best while Merideth’s favorite (although she’s embarrassed to admit it) was the Clearwater Light.

After visiting nearly 600 breweries, I have developed a sixth sense about when a brewery visit will potentially be a problem. It’s that “uh oh” feeling I get that tells me the brewery is going to be either a) closed, b) closed for good or c) not have any of their own beers.

Our second stop, Falcon Brewing in Parker, was one of those breweries where I got the “feeling.” Before our trip, I confirmed that the other brewery in Parker was open, so it wasn’t going to be a complete loss if my feeling about Falcon was correct.

And the correct prediction was… C. Falcon was out of their beer. The bartender told us that the house brews would be ready in a week. Even, “Oh, well, we’re from California” didn’t get us any samples from the fermenters. Out of luck, we headed over to Parker’s other brewery.

Elk Mountain Brewing was the pleasant surprise of the trip. Located in an industrial park off the main road into Parker, the tasting room is bright and spacious with that really new feel. That made a lot of sense as Elk Mountain had held its grand opening party just one month before. Like many of the new generation of beer places we have visited recently, Elk Mountain does not have food, but provides a number of takeout menus from local restaurants who will deliver.

Taster set paddle made from an old snowshoe

As one of the only customers early on a Friday, we had a chance to chat with Tom, brewer/owner and his assistant. Elk Mountain is apparently known for their German-style beers and it showed with a wonderful Hefeweizen, Wild Wapiti Wheat. Lots of banana and clove, just how I like it. Merideth loved the clean and crisp Mine Shaft Kölsch. However, Puma IPA was the star of the show. A wonderful hop bomb!

One up on Merideth again…We had one more

We had one more stop before returning to Denver. Merideth picked up Dry Dock Brewing a few months back on a trip without me. That was an important moment for her as she leveled the brewery count. To show what a wonderful husband I am, I offered to skip Dry Dock on this trip so we could reach 600 at the same brewery this December in Europe (I’m such a romantic!). Merideth said not to worry about it and it was okay to go to Dry Dock. However, once there, she engaged in a bit of whining and claimed not to remember this pre -trip conversation.

Enjoying an 11 beer taster set at Dry Dock

A few hours before the Friday night session, Dry Dock was hopping when we rolled in. The bartender was quickly and efficiently pouring taster set after taster set. Wanting to try all 11 beers, we ordered an almost double taster set and found a table in the corner.

Dry Dock subsequently won four silver medals at GABF the following day, but unfortunately only one of those beers would be available on our visit. U-Boat Hefeweizen was the second great Hefe of the day!

However, the beer I really went to Dry Dock for was Seven Seas Double IPA. I drank it for the first time the day before at Falling Rock. This massive hop bomb was my favorite beer of the trip and I was hoping to bring some home. When I inquired about purchasing a couple of bottles, the bartenders reaction told me I was light years too late. After a few sips of each of our beer samples, we slipped out and headed back to Denver. I had picked up three breweries, Merideth two; closer and closer to 600.

In our two previous GABFs, we have shied away from both the Friday and Saturday night sessions. They have the reputation for being really crowded with long beer lines. Not the kind of scene Merideth and I generally like. But this year, we attended Friday night’s session mainly because the beermen.TV guys were going. They missed meeting up with us at Falling Rock before the session (something about needing a beauty nap), so we agreed to hook up with them at the session.

Finding three Aussies and a Kiwi at the Friday night session was easier said than done. Employing our wandering down the aisle choosing breweries without lines tactic, we figured we would run into them sooner or later. Halfway through the three hour session, we still hadn’t found them. By 8:30pm, the crowds were getting too large for our enjoyment so we gave up our quest and left the festival.

We couldn’t leave Denver without trying one of the new beer establishments in the city. There were a number to choose from but we selected Freshcraft, mainly because it was a few blocks from Falling Rock. With the GABF session still going on, Merideth and I easily found a spot at the bar.

Earlier in the day, we learned from our friend and Colorado beer writer, Dan Rabin, that Boulder had a new organic brewery, Asher Brewing Company. What a coincidence… the first beer listed on the menu was Asher Amber. Merideth and I both ordered a pint of this really nice brew. After the din of the GABF session, it was nice to wind down a bit and have some dinner. Even the semi-annoying birthday girl couldn’t even damper our relaxation, though she tried hard.

But once the GABF session ended, the small restaurant filled up quickly and we felt pressed up against the bar. The party really got started when Greg Koch from Stone arrived to do an event in the back of the restaurant. At the same time, Odell Brewing started pouring a firkin of their Bourbon barrel-aged Stout. After chatting with Joe, a brewer from Odell for a few minutes and trying the Stout, we finally had enough for the day. Merideth and I looked at each other, giving each other the “it’s time to call it a night” look. We left Freshcraft and headed back to our hotel.

September 25, 2010January 25, 2013

Left To My Own Devices

It was that time of year again… the pilgrimage of beer geeks from all over the world to Denver for the Great American Beer Festival. Merideth and I were going for the third year in a row with the added bonus of our friends from beermenTV coming in from Australia to join in the fun. We arrived mid-morning in Denver and parted ways at the airport. While she took care of some business, I headed into Denver to hang out, waiting for her call. And by hang out, I mean drink beer…. sorta.

We had lived out this scenario once before on our first visit to Denver in 2001. While waiting for Merideth, I visited several of the numerous beer places in Denver (Falling Rock and Great Divide come to mind). By the time we were reunited in the evening, I was completely pissed. Merideth knows when I’ve had a lot to drink because I start telling her all these great entrepreneurial ideas that I have. After the second completely brilliant idea, she says to me, “Are your drunk?” Fast forward to 2010: as we said our goodbyes at the airport, I gave Merideth a kiss and promised that this year would not be a repeat of 2001.

I dropped my bag off at our hotel and I really wasn’t sure what to do next. With probably six hours to display some sort of self-control, delaying tactics were certainly in order. I left the hotel and wandered leisurely in the direction of the Convention Center to pick up our passes. There was no line so that took all of fifteen minutes. But they had given me a bunch of printed materials that I didn’t want to carry around, so I headed back to the hotel to drop the folder off. Another fifteen minutes off the clock.

Now I felt silly. I couldn’t do this all day. I made my first real decision. I would walk over to Great Divide and get a Titan IPA. Maybe a friend would even be there and I would have someone to chat with. Great Divide was crowded when I arrived. There was an industry get-together about to start in the brewery and the invitees were all crowded in the bar area getting a head start. Despite the number of people, I quickly had a glass of Titan IPA in my hand.

Glancing around, my heart sank. I knew no one. Well, there were the Alström brothers but we’re not quite on a first name basis yet. As I settled into a spot in corner of the tasting room, an odd feeling settled over me. I realized I was alone, without Merideth. We rarely spend any time apart and especially not during beer travels. In my mind, everyone was staring at me thinking “who is that loser here all alone…”

Three very friendly guys from Texas tried to engage me in conversation. But I was too frazzled to manage much conversation beyond that they were from Houston and it took them 18 hours driving to get to Denver. I resolved to finish my Titan and walk over to Falling Rock Tap House. I WOULD know someone there.

Thursday afternoon at Falling Rock Tap House

Falling Rock was crowded but not as crowded as I thought it might have been a few hours before the first GABF session. Fortuitously, I was reunited with Lisa and Mark (Beer Goddess and Mr. Beer Goddess). I had shared a shuttle from the airport into the city with them a few hours before. During the ride over, I told them the 2001 story and my pledge to Merideth. I had even put them in charge of keeping an eye on me. Joining them at an outside table, I ordered some much needed food and my second beer of the day, an Odell IPA.

The afternoon went smoothly after that. I chatted with Mark and Lisa, the two Matts from Big Sky and three quarters of the beermenTV crew. I even moderated my drinking though that became more difficult once the Aussies arrived.

Merideth finally called around 3:30pm. I left everyone at Falling Rock to connect with her at the hotel and get ready for the first GABF session.

For some reason, I always need a strategy or theme to choosing beers at GABF. In the past, I have focused on breweries with no lines. This year, I thought I was particularly brilliant. I would try beers from breweries that I had never heard of. Given the sparsity of our beer travels in the South and Midwest, I thought this would afford me a large number of targets.

Two things went wrong with my “brilliant” strategy. First, the beers from earlier in the day finally must have caught up with me because my very first beer from a brewery that I have never heard of… was a brewery that we visited in 2007.

The second problem was more perplexing. There had to be plenty of breweries that I never heard of making great beer. But after the first five or six beers I tried, I had yet to have one I liked. After the sixth disappointing beer, I spied the Fat Heads booth. From North Olmsted, OH, I knew of Fat Heads from their surprise win at the Bistro’s IPA festival a few years ago. Never having tried any of their winning brews, the brilliant strategy was ditched. Head Hunter IPA was a great beer. The rest of the evening, I stuck with more sure things.

Nathen Maxwell performing his Bunny gang songs

Our GABF evening was short. With still two hours left in the Thursday night session, we left the beer world and assumed our punk music fan personas. As many of you know, we are huge Flogging Molly fans. Nathen Maxwell, bassist for the band was playing a solo acoustic show at a Denver Irish pub, Scruffy Murphys. He has a side project band called Nathen Maxwell and the Original Bunny Gang where he performs his own songs. We spent the rest of the evening listening to Nate and a few other local musicians. Nate was awesome but Todd, lead singer of the Denver punk/ska band Synthetic Elements stole the show with his acoustic cover of Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face.”

August 5, 2010March 15, 2013

Rediscovering Portland

A lot has happened since our last visit to the Portland two years ago during the Year in Beer. Between our visits, Merideth and I have traveled to a diverse range of beer destinations and added approximately 160 breweries to our tally. Older and wiser, we had some catching up to do in the Rose City.

Joined by our friend Chris, we left the festival on Thursday evening to explore on the other side of the Willamette River. Crossing the Burnside Bridge, we headed east towards our first destination, 28 blocks away. After a afternoon at the festival, we welcomed the long walk to Coalition Brewing.

Coalition Brewing in the Buckman neighborhood

Coalition Brewing’s unassuming, grayish/green exterior disguised a real gem inside. Walking through the rolled up doors into the small but airy dining area, our threesome grabbed the only available table which was close to the bar.

The buzz regarding Coalition Brewing was that they were working with local homebrewers to brew and pour their beers. However, I don’t think any collaboration beers were on tap for our visit, just the regular house lineup. There were six beers, ranging from an ESB to a Stout. The other Chris ordered Bump’s Bitter ESB and Merideth went with the Hans O’ Stout. Of course, I ordered the Two Dogs IPA. Passing the beers around as an impromptu taster set, all were quite delicious.

The kitchen was the pleasant surprise at Coalition Brewing. The simple menu featured inexpensive, yet creative food. While I went the comfort route with Mac-n-Cheese, Merideth ordered the “Coalition of the Willing Ham”, a panini with Black Forest ham, coppa, havarti and pickled carrot. She allowed me one a small bite and I have to say, it was one of the best sandwiches I have tasted in a long time.

The beer gods must have been telling us we needed another long walk. Our next stop was a mere six blocks away, but instead of using our brains and walking up 28th Street, we relied on the iPhone for directions. After a 45 minute tour of some nice Portland neighborhoods and the required ‘it should be right here’ moment, we decided just to find Migration by the address. Ten minutes later we were at the bar ordering a beer.

Another new entry on the Portland scene, Migration was another neighborhood industrial space, roll up the doors, ample beer garden with picnic tables kinda place.

Migration only had three house beers, complimented by eight guest taps including the amazing Racer X from Bear Republic. The three of us enjoyed a pitcher of their flagship Pale Ale on their patio. Well, until Merideth got chilled and we moved inside. Despite enjoying ourselves at Migration, it was a one and done. We still had one more beer stop so after finishing our pitcher, we moved on to Apex, a multi-tap establishment.

After a few beers, I admit that I start wondering about the strangest things. Having never been to Portland in the winter, I always wonder what happens to the outdoor seating in the cold and wet months. Do people actually site outside? Wading through Apex’s rather large beer garden, that was all I could think of.

Luckily, such philosophical questions are short-lived once confronted with a lengthy beer list. After adjusting my eyes to the high tech airport arrival/departure type display, the first thing that caught my eye at Apex was the number of California beers on tap. The owner, being a Toronado alumni, might have something to do with this. Passing on some of my favorite home state brews such as Firestone Walker Velvet Merkin or Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye, I went with Double Mountain’s Molten Lava.

We finished our first day in Portland at Apex. What a first day it was; four breweries, a beer bar and Oregon Brewers Festival.

Saturday was our last day in Portland and we passed on attending another day at Oregon Brewers Festival to visit a few more breweries. We were at the Mash Tun, in Northeast Portland, late morning just after opening time. Located in the ultra hip Alberta Arts District, the Mash Tun has been on the Portland beer scene since 2005. Passing through the bar area, our group, including Chris (again) and a friend of his, found a table in the oddly stifling courtyard.

In a town that prides itself on their Pacific Northwest brews, the Mash Tun was an anomaly, brewing English-style beers. On the beer menu during our visit was five brews, including English Mild and Penfolds Porter. They also had a small number of guest taps.

Tater tots seemed to be a big thing in Portland. We saw them on a number of menus. The highlight of our visit to the Mash Tun was the big steaming plate of deep fried potato goodness. After a taster set, I paired the tater tots with the roasty Penfolds Porter. Merideth went with the Sam Jackson Pale Ale.

In the basement of the Left Bank Building

The most interesting newcomer brewery in Portland, was Upright. Located in the Rose District just across the Willamette from downtown Portland, Upright was our 567th brewery. And the very first located in a basement. We were greeted by our friend Annalou as we walked into the cool, dark lower level of the Left Bank Building. There was already a fair sized crowd occupying the small space.

The happy foursome enjoying the beers at Upright Brewing

Maybe the best taster deal on the planet, Upright’s sample tray was $6 for nine beers. The year-round beers go by the descriptive names of 4, 5, 6 & 7, the names derived from starting gravity in degrees. All four use a Saison yeast and are open fermented. 4 was a great session beer at 4.5% ABV. 6 was the most unique of the four, the only one using rye.

Of the seasonal beers, the stars were Engelberg Pils and Vin Aigruer, a beer reminiscent of Flanders Red. That was until Annalou pulled out a bottle of the Gose. Having only discovered the style the previous month in Germany, Upright’s version stood up to the brew at Bayerischer Bahnhof in Leipzig.

Renee enjoying the Fringe Fest at Belmont Station

With gas still left in the tank, our next stop was Belmont Station for their Oregon Craft Brewers Fringe Fest. The idea behind the Fringe Fest was to give Oregon breweries not at OBF a chance to showcase their brews. At different times during the day, these breweries poured samples of their beers. What had me excited was the cask beers. My first beer was Barley Brown’s WFO IPA, an excellent beer from the Baker City brewpub. Equally tasty was their 60 Love Pale Ale, a hoppy brew also on cask. Two other stars were the German-style beers from Heater Allen in McMinnville. Their Isarweizen and Pils were both tasty brews.

The best of Portland: Copacetic IPA and a brat at Amnesia Brewing

We ended our ninth Portland beer adventure at our favorite beer spot in Portland, Amnesia Brewing. Amidst a lively Saturday night crowd, Merideth and I wound down for the evening knowing we had a long drive ahead the following day. We quietly enjoyed our brats and beers as the sun set on another Portland trip.

July 28, 2010March 15, 2013

Our Ninth Oregon Brewers Festival

The 23rd edition of the Oregon Brewers Festival was our ninth. Attending six straight years at the end of the 1990s and three out of the last four years, we have seen it grow and change over the 16 year span. Changes aside, one thing remains the same: the Oregon Brewers Festival is, in my humble opinion, the West Coast’s premier beer event and our favorite large US festival.

Correction: Due to some poor math on my part, we previously reported that the 2008 Oregon Brewers Festival was our ninth visit. We have lived a lie for the last two years. Thebeergeek.com regrets any confusion this may have caused. Having said that, I will now report on our actual ninth visit to OBF.

Merideth enjoying OBF with our friend Renee

There are a myriad of reasons that we have been to OBF nine times. First, the setting along the Willamette River and the almost always perfect weather is idyllic for a beer festival. Second, the festival is just so well run. There have a few glitches and blips over the years, but the problems are always corrected. Most important, it is one of the festivals where we get to see many of our West Coast beer friends.

Similar to past years, our plan included attending the Thursday and Friday sessions.

Merideth and I arrived on the first day of the festival a few hours after opening. Minutes after showing our IDs to the gate security, we had mugs and tokens in hand. Obviously, this is not the case for every session. Just like any large festival, Friday and Saturday nights are popular sessions and we’ve learned from experience to avoid those more congested times.

Thursday afternoon at Oregon Brewers Festival

Wading through the unexpectedly large Thursday afternoon crowd to find our friend Chris Devlin, we were surprised to hear that the “woo-ing” had already started. Such behavior usually didn’t begin until later. We found Chris and went in search of our first beers. I started with Flying Fish’s GABF gold medal winning Exit 4, a Belgian-style Trippel. Merideth began her 2010 OBF with Boundary Bay’s German Tradition Double Dry Hopped Pale Ale, a beer specially made for Oregon Brewers Festival.

Being an unabashed hophead, over half the beers I tried over the two sessions were an IPA or Double IPA. However, my two favorites didn’t come from the hopbomb world. On the top of my list was the aforementioned Flying Fish Exit 4, the first beer I tried. That wonderful brew was closely followed by Boundary Bay German Tradition Double Dry Hopped Pale Ale, Merideth’s first beer. Of the hoppy brews, there were a number of good examples but kudos has to go out to Alpha Centauri Binary IPA from Hop Valley Brewing.

Merideth, following a warm weather drinking pattern, focused on Kölschs, Wits and Saisons. Of particular note for her were two Portland beers, the Summer Gose from Cascade Brewing and Reggae Junkie Gruit from Upright Brewing.

Willamette River cruise at the 1995 Oregon Brewers Festival

Over the years, if we have seen one disappointing trend, it would be the beer selection. I think part of it is nostalgia for our younger days. (“When I was a kid, I had to walk ten miles in the snow to get to OBF.”) In the ’90s, breweries poured new and unique beers to ‘wow’ the crowd. I’m sure if I dug out some of our old programs, this may be a bit of revisionist history, but a number of friends did comment to us that the beer selection this year was pretty average.

To the credit of festival organizers, they appear to be trying to combat this criticism. This year was our first experience with the “Buzz Tent.” Started last year, the “Buzz Tent” serves special and rare beers. Costing two tokens instead of the normal one, the beers served in this tent rotated regularly. As one keg blew, a new beer was put on.

Last keg ever of a 13 year-old Imperial Stout from Full Sail

I was more than willing to use two tokens each on San Diego beers such as Ballast Point Sculpin IPA and Green Flash Super Freak. But the most interesting beer was a 13 year-old keg of Russian Imperial Stout from Hood River’s Full Sail Brewing. When the gathering crowd heard that it was finally available, the area really started to buzz. I joined the 20 person line, something I usually avoid at OBF, and waited patiently for a 4oz taste of the very rare brew. As expected, the beer was jet black with strong booze and raisin flavors.

After four hours at the Thursday session, we called it a day at the Oregon Brewers Festival. We planned a return visit to the Friday afternoon session, but we hadn’t been to Portland in two years and there were plenty of new additions to the Portland beer scene to explore.

July 24, 2010March 15, 2013

On the Road Again

We were excited to return to Portland for our ninth Oregon Brewers Festival. But with two previous beergeek.TV episodes covering the West Coast’s best beer fest, we needed to do something different. After much thought, we decided a road trip to Portland would be new and exciting.

At noon, I picked Merideth up at work for the long drive north. Crossing over from the coast to the Central Valley, we hopped on I-5 at Santa Nella. The plan was to drive almost half the interstate’s 1,381 mile length before stopping in Corvallis, OR for the night. Along the route, we had a few beer stops.

The drive through the Central Valley was certainly not the most exciting, but mile after mile of expansive farmland finally gave way to some hills after Redding. Soon after that, Mt. Shasta loomed in the distance, the namesake for our first brewery stop of the day. We pulled into the parking lot of Mt. Shasta Brewing Company in Weed, CA a little over six hours after we left Salinas. Besides being home of a brewery, Merideth has a personal connection to Weed. Her Mom was born in this tiny Northern California town.

Mt. Shasta’s brewery and pub is located in an old creamery. A warm day, we walked in through the pub’s big rolling door and grabbed a couple of seats at the bar. After six plus hours on the road, we were ready to try some legal weed. The sight of the bartender placing a taster set in front of us had never been so welcome. Our seven beer set included four regular beers and three seasonals.

The Golden Ale was perfect for the day, a very refreshing brew. Their IPA, a brew I have had before, was really solid. The most intriguing beer was the Strawberry Ginger seasonal. I love anything with ginger but unfortunately, this wasn’t the ginger-bomb I was hoping it would be.

Mt. Shasta Brewing would have been the perfect spot for a relaxing game of Scrabble but we still had the other half of our drive ahead. So, after finishing our taster set, we pressed on.

Crossing the border into Oregon, our next stop was in the Bard’s town, Ashland. Shakespeare aside, Ashland is also home to a pair of breweries. On our road trip plan included hitting one on the way up and one on the way home.

Caldera was the brewery we were going to hit on the way up. Unfortunately, Caldera wouldn’t count on the brewery list as the actual brewery is located across town from their downtown tap house. This violated rule #1, the beer must be brewed on premise.

Grabbing a table on the main level of their multi-deck patio, we quickly ordered a taster set and some dinner. On the five beer paddle, I picked three that I would like and two that I thought Merideth would like. As they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Turns out one that I picked for Merideth, the Dry Hopped Orange, was not an orange flavored beer that had been dry hopped. It was actually an IPA that highlighted citrus hops. I loved it, Merideth not so much. However, the best beer on the now hopbomb heavy sampler was the Rauch ür Bock, a wonderful smoked beer.

Caldera Tap House was another short stop as we still had three plus hours to drive to our final destination of the day, Corvallis. Quickly eating our meals and drinking our samples, we were back on 1-5 heading north in under an hour.

After over twelve hours on the road, we rolled into Corvallis at 12:30am. Corvallis was a ghost town at that early hour but we hoped that Block 15 Restaurant & Brewery might still be open. In all our road weariness, we managed to find the brewery. A couple of staff remained inside, but the stacked chairs indicated that they were closed. That was probably for the best as “Miss Cranky Pants” was tired. The brewery could wait for the following morning.

Late Thursday morning, we were at the doors of Block 15 waiting patiently for them to open. While we only had another hour on I-5 before reaching Portland, we didn’t have all the time in the world. We were meeting a friend at Oregon Brewers Festival in a few hours. Another quick sample set it would be.

We got to chose five beers from their selection of over a dozen. What jumped out at Merideth and I were the number of session beers available. Three of our five beers, the Kölsch-style Summer Knights, Glo Golden Ale and Hop-a-long Amber were 5% ABV and under. The star was the Hop-a-long, a hopped up brew that came in at 4% ABV. On the hoppier end, the One Hop Tomahawk was an excellent one hop IPA. As the name implies, it is hopped with just the Tomahawk variety of hops.

We had one more stop before arriving in Portland. Located a short distance from Corvallis in the nearby town of Albany, Calapooia (Cala-poo-ya) Brewing Co. was our next stop. Situated on a quiet side street along the railroad tracks, the pub looks more like a quaint cafe from the exterior. The interior has a similar feel but the extensive beer list revealed the pub’s true identity.

And in our speed dating version of brewery tours, we only had time for yet another sample paddle. Of the eight samples, we got to choose two, the other six being their regular brews. My standout was the Big Aft Pale Ale while Merideth liked River Dog ESB. However, we both agreed that the star was Devil’s Hole Stout, a wonderful roasty, chocolate brew.

In what was the running theme for the drive up to Portland, Calapooia Brewing Co. was another cozy brewpub where we could have relaxed the day away playing Scrabble. But that wasn’t the plan. We were out the door in twenty five minutes and on our way to Portland.