One Night Portland Brewery Crawl

  Last summer I had the pleasure of taking a road trip through the northwest heading through the states of California, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. For those of you that do not know, this trip could be made into a beer lovers dream trip as the northwestern states are home to more craft or microbreweries per area than any where else in the country.

  For this blog I'm going to focus on what I did one night in Portland, Oregon which was to hit as many good breweries as I could walk to between 7 PM and last call. It just so happens that my friends Curtis and Liza Brennan are heading to Portland this weekend to celebrate New Year's, so Brennans here are my recommendations for some tasty beers. (Portland Brewery Map)

  With roughly 40 breweries and tap rooms solely dedicated to local microbrews within Portland's city limits, picking a few to visit can be intimidating. I decided there were a couple that I really wanted to visit like Rogue and Hair of the Dog and then I would just venture out to any other tap rooms that found their way into my "hopped" up stumbling path.

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  Rogue Beer Hall is a small little joint in the area known as the "Pearl" that serves all of Rogue's beer along with a good food menu that ranges from pizzas to your typical brewpub fare. Definitely try some of their seasonals that offer a unique taste of what Rogue's creativity has to offer, such as their Chipotle Ale and one of my favorites of the trip, Captain Sig's Northwestern Ale named after Capt. Sig Hansen of Deadliest Catch fame. If you're lucky enough to be at Rogue Beer Hall during the Deadliest Catch season stop by when the show is on and the bar comes alive with drinking games, beer specials, and all the tv screens full of whitewater and king crabs.

 Another stop nearby is Bridgeport Brewery which is now home to Bridgeport Ales which are the oldest craft beers in Oregon. Curtis, you'll like this, these first craft beers were made by a graduate of UC Davis in 1984. Bridgeport was the last stop on my crawl that night so to tell you the truth what I drank there was a little blurry but I do remember one of their beers I have had during the holidays in particular, which is their Ebenezer Ale. Ebenezer is a very malty beer, light on the hops, and has that caramel type color and finish that makes for a full bodied but smooth ale.

Lucky Lab Beer Hall on Quimby

The last Portland brewery I recommend is the Lucky Labrador Brewing Company. The Lucky Lab has four locations in Portland including a beer hall, public house, brew pub, and taproom. They all offer their own personal niches whether you're in the mood for pizzas, sandwiches, or pub fare. The most important thing is that they all offer Lucky Lab craft beers. They usually have about eight of their beers on tap including a cast conditioned ale and nitro tap which I prefer because of the flatter, creamier finish of a full bodied ale rather than a lot of carbonation.

Outdoor Patio at
Lucky Labrador Beer Hall

  So Curtis, Liza, and all others that are planning to go to Portland to drink beer, those are a few of my favorites I found amongst the ridiculous number of breweries that Portland has to offer. So go enjoy a pint or six and don't forget to hit up Voodoo Doughnuts when you're nice and buzzed (or drunk) they are open 24 hours!!!

Cheers!!!

Turkey's Not Just For Thanksgiving

  Nearly a month has passed since the big turkey day, but if the texture of a dried out oven bird or cost of

three gallons of peanut oil for the turkey fryer has left a bad taste in your mouth, then here is the recipe for you.

I smoked my first turkey a couple of years ago for Thanksgiving at my house when I ran out of poultry cooking options. I have of course made the classic oven roasted bird and dabbled in the turkey deep fryer, but it was time to try something else so I decided to break out the orange home depot bucket I use for brining and fire up the smoker for my first smoked turkey.
Going out of town this past Thanksgiving I had a frozen leftover turkey in my fridge, so once the food coma wore off from a weekend long face stuffing session I decided to replicate my famous smoked turkey and here's the recipe!




Turkey Brine

6 qts. hot water
1 pound kosher salt
1 pound dark brown sugar
5 pounds of ice

   Combine the water, salt, and brown sugar in a clean five gallon bucket, Gatorade type drink cooler, or ice chest. Stir the liquid until all of the salt and sugar is dissolved and then add the ice to cool down the mixture. Once the brine has cooled down place the turkey in the brine, making sure it is completely submerged. Place the bucket in a cool place for 10-12 hours.

Smoked Turkey

12-14 pound turkey with giblets removed
olive oil
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon pepper
1 tablespoon ground sage
1 tablespoon dried thyme
3 sprigs of rosemary
1 onion
apple & hickory wood chunks (soaked in water)

Fire up your smoker to 250 degrees and place your wood chunks in to start the smoking. While your smoker is heating up dry off your turkey and then rub liberally with olive oil and spices to cover the entire bird and place quartered onion and rosemary inside the cavity. Cover the tips of the wings with foil to prevent them from burning while cooking.

Place your turkey in the smoker over the drip pan containing your vegetables for the gravy. After about 2 hours check your bird to make sure it is not getting too dark in color. If it is getting too dark loosely cover the entire bird with foil for the remainder of the cooking process.

Smoke your turkey for about 4-6 hours at 250 degrees or until you reach an internal temperature of 160 degrees. Let the turkey rest for 30 minutes once removed from the smoker and then carve as you would any other turkey and serve with the gravy (recipe below).

Apple Gravy (optional)

2 onions

3 celery ribs

3 carrots

1 lemon
3 sprigs of rosemary
turkey giblets (neck, gizzard)
1/2 cup apple juice
2 cans chicken stock
1/4 cup flour
salt & pepper to taste

Roughly chop all of the vegetables and place in an aluminum turkey pan with the giblets, apple juice, and chicken stock. Place the pan under the turkey in the smoker to catch the drippings and cook the vegetables. When the turkey is finished, strain out all of the vegetables and solids from the pan and pour the liquid into a saucepan over medium heat to reduce. Slowly add the flour and whisk to thicken the sauce. When desired thickness is reached remove from the heat and serve with the turkey.