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!!!