The great Northwest: Oregon, Washington and Beervana

Mt. Hood - Oregon

Cathy and I just returned from a 10 day trip to Portland, OR and Seattle, WA (and everywhere in between!). What a great trip filled with a lifetime full of memories, beers, people and beautiful scenery. We landed in Portland, Oregon late Friday night and made it to the hotel around 12am (or 3am our time), so we hit the sack and headed out early Saturday to experience all that Beervana had to offer.

Beervana - was a phrase coined in Oregon to describe the burgeoning craft beer movement that had taken hold here in the 1980s. And indeed, it's an apt description, as those who are actively involved in the beer community think of it a near-religious experience to make and enjoy well-made brew.
But Beervana also describes the transcendent union of climate and environment which makes Oregon the home to great hops growing and affords the brewmasters the highest quality water.
http://www.opb.org/programs/oregonexperiencearchive/beervana/

The day was filled with a self guided walking tour of Portland (museums, shops, nature, etc.) finally ending with an attempt to go to the 24th annual Oregon Brewer's Festival. Bad mistake... There were 85 beer vendors at the festival and each had a line 100+ deep to get a beer. WOW! So we decided to come back to the festival on Sunday afternoon, hoping for smaller crowds.

We decided to try Deschutes Brewery for a few beers and dinner, and on our walk to the Public House, we stopped along the way to have a beer or 2...

Oregon Beer is good...

at the Deschutes Brewery

The next afternoon we headed back to the Oregon Brew Fest and thankfully, the crowds were way smaller and we could enjoy the beers and the beautiful weather. Over the course of the afternoon we were able to try around 12 different beers each (don't worry, we only did 3-4oz tastings and not full beers...). Each beer that we tasted was something new to us and something we are not able to have back in Ohio, so needless to say, my Untappd account was busy.

My guess is that there was easily over 100,000 people who visited this festival over the 3+ days. It was so busy, that many of the brewers ran out of beer on Saturday afternoon and had to restock for the full day on Sunday! We had such a good time, that I might try to talk Cathy into going back again next year.

When our busy 2+ days in Portland were up, we picked up a rental car and headed east towards Mt. Hood and the Columbia River gorge -- good decision. Again, great scenery and great beer was enjoyed. We stopped at Full Sail for lunch and was able to get a few pub exclusive beers and a nice view of the Columbia River.

at Full Sail Brewery

After lunch we drove the "Fruit Loop" a 35 mile stretch of road that heads towards Mt. Hood and had over 10 different fruit farms for visitors to stop and take in scenic views of the mountain and buy fresh cherries, apples and ciders.

Our next destination was the Oregon coast. Small little tourist towns blanket the coastline and the drive between the Clatsop and Tillamook State Forests was pretty amazing.

Horsetail Falls

While there weren't the crazy amount of breweries on the coast as are in Portland, the beer culture is still very strong. I only remember seeing a few places with AB-InBev products to drink, most everywhere served local craft beers, which is awesome to see. I think that everywhere we stopped, we were able to try a new and different beer from the stop before. Now, it may seem like all we were doing was drinking beers (we sort of were) but in between we were hiking, biking, reading and eating our way from Portland to Seattle.

Our next stop took us to tiny Lake Quinault Resort for a few nights stay and a trip to the Hoh Rainforest (yeah, we have rainforests in NW USA!). We were able to meet some really fantastic folks who run the resort, as well as, another family visiting for the weekend. We were able to share dinner with them both nights we stayed, and Cathy even "traded" Facebook links with them! We toasted to #IPADay (quietly to ourselves), as our new friends were drinking Coors Light and Tecate! To each his own, I say!

Lake Quinault

A few relaxing days helped refresh us for the crazy tourist area and final destination: Seattle.

We filled our last few days away from home by checking out the Public Market, eating a lot of fish, hunting for ghosts and trying to explore all that Seattle had to offer us. Although, I think I would say that the best time we had in Seattle, was when we left Seattle... and ferried out to Bainbridge Island and caught a few beers on the patio at the local waterfront restaurant.

Market Ghost Tour

I would recommend Portland and the Northwest to any craft beer drinker. I think that they truly embrace the craft beer culture and it is rivaled by no other place at this time. We have been to Asheville, NC (the other beer-centric city) many times, but I have never experienced the full on culture and embrace of craft brewing like in Portland (it is definitely there in Asheville, I just think it is on a way smaller scale). It really is embedded into Portland and is part of what makes that city great.

Cheers and Happy Drinking.