Introducing the "Here's to feeling good all the time" Portland, OR edition!

After three long weeks of painting houses in the blistering heat, "The Boss" (not Tony Danza, but my buddy Jeremy who happens to be employing me this summer) and I were well overdue for some good beers and good times outside of Spokane!  The plan; a weekend in Portland, hitting up as many breweries as possible and whatever else happens to cross our paths. After debating all day whether or not we should leave after work, we devised the perfect plan. Leaving around 7pm from Spokane, we arrived in the "Land of the Atom" aka Tri Cities, WA. Not really a beer destination, but rather a place to crash as the Boss' brother lives there. We made the best of it by hitting up Ice Harbor Brewing Co.'s brewpub for a pint before closing and then headed out to their "downtown" to see what we could find.

Surprisingly decent beers being brewed in the Tri Cities, a must stop if you find yourself there!

Honestly, not all that much, but managed to find a bar with pool tables, a decent cover band and they had bottles of Widmer's KGB Imperial Stout...not bad for a random bar in Tri Cities. Next stop was certainly unexpected but awesome non the less. It just so happened that I wasn't paying as much attention as I should have and accidentally got off the freeway in Hood River and ended up driving right past the Full Sail Brewery! A quick u turn and there we were lounging on one of the most epic brewpub patios I have ever experienced.

View of the largest windsurfing destination in the world; Hood River.

We had the C-Hops II IPa, Slainte Stout, and a Saison that didn't seem to make the board...

Slainte Stout on Nitro and the C-Hops II IPA.

 
 Finally we made it to Portland. Checked in, got ready to head out, and were sitting at one of the numerous McMenamins "compounds" when the Boss got an unexpected call from his parents. His dog had been taken to the vet and things were looking pretty grim. If you've seen the movie Marley and Me, then you can put two and two together...especially since the doodle's name is Marley! After downing the rest of my beer, a pretty decent Black IPA from McMenamins, we were off to Raccoon Lodge for happy hour and some grub. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera at the time, but I think that at some point there will be a brewery feature of Raccoon Lodge/Cascade Barrel House in the near future because my family and I are planning on a pit stop in Portland before our trip to the Coast. Despite the Boss being on the phone wandering the parking lot the whole time, I managed to enjoy some awesome sours which included Cascade's Summer Gose, Honey Ginger Rye, and Summer Solstice IPA. Well, long story short, the dog ended up making it and is recovering appropriately and thankfully the trip was somewhat salvaged with a few stops before heading out on Sudany morning. First on the list was Cascade's Barrel House. I knew they would have more on tap than the Raccoon Lodge location and sure enough I was right.

Such a chill spot for some Sunday morning brews!

What was left of the taster by the time I remembered to borrow the Boss' Iphone to take some photos!

After enjoying my "flight" which included Prebourbonic, Figaro, Sang Royal, The Vine, and a glass of their Apricot=Awesome...we headed off towards Hair of the Dog. Little did I know that we would be walking right past one of the most well established beer bars in Portland, The Green Dragon. They happened to be having a ribs festival outside with local vendors and despite Rogue now owning the Green Dragon, I had to stop in and see what was going on.

Unfortunately, once again I didn't have my camera and wasn't able to get a pic of the inside but did happen to thoroughly enjoy a tasty collaboration brew from Mikkeller/Stillwater called Two Gypsies Our Side Saison before heading off to Hair of the Dog. Time was limited once making it there so I did my best to try a couple of Pub exclusives and even managed to convince the manager to let me take one of them to go (they have an in house exclusives list on the menu) but after explaining that I would be buying them one way or the other, preferably with a fresh and sober palate, I was able to walk away with a bottle. While I was happy to get one of them to go, I have to say that the rarity of beers and the exclusiveness of them is starting to become rather obnoxious. But, it is what it is and I just hope that the craft beer industry can do it's best to keep up with demand and produce more beer so that rules like in house consumption don't have to be instilled.

The rarest of the rare from HOTD: 10' Matt...certainly was not a summer afternoon beer, would have much rather put it in the cellar. But, I was told this one was not leaving the building so I said go ahead and pour me one!

Honestly this trip was somewhat of a let down, but such is life. Thankfully I was able to hit my top two destinations and several others on the way despite being so pressed for time. I can say this though, I was definitely feeling good the whole time and thankfully managed to bring a few gems home to add to the ever growing cellar!

Can you tell I love Cascade Brewing...a case of Portland Ale, 10' Kriek, and Sang Royal. The only HOTD beer that I was "allowed" to take home from that exclusive list: 10' Cherry Adam from the Wood.