We are finishing up our 2 day stay in Portland and about to head out to the Oregon coast. I have to say Portland has changed a lot since our last visit in 1999 but it is still a great beer-filled city.
After the excellent brewers guild dinner on Wednesday night, we did our traditional walk up to the Bridgeport Brewery in the Pearl District. The redevelopment of the neighborhood was amazing… old warehouses being replaced by brand new condo complexes. Whether that is progress or not, I am not sure but one thing is for sure; it was the Bridgeport Brewery that started the revitalization of the neighborhood. It was also nice seeing our old friends Roscoe and Fidel… and Eve too.
Our day at the OBF started early… 10am at the Rogue pub in the Pearl District for breakfast, beer and kazoo practice. Then the parade of revelers started down to the festival lead by the mayor of Portland, bagpipers and a keg of Rogue ale. And just like in Munich, the mayor tapped the keg to officially open the festival. My hats off to the Rogue crew and the brewers guild for pulling off a great event.
The festival continues to bring in some of the best beer in the Northwest and we tried too many great brews (and a few stinkers) to list here. We also met some great people who, like us, are trying to make the world more enjoyable through beer.
We finished off a long beer filled day by visiting the world famous Horse Brass Pub… Don Younger has been pouring great beer in his pub for over 30 years and I am ashamed to have to admit it was our first time there. We definitely missed out on our previous trips to Portland. What an incredible pub.
All the pictures can of Portland can be seen here.
Good meeting you guys at the OBF. I’ll be reading up on your travels here and hope to see you again someday. Maybe the next time you hit Seattle.
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