BEER!

Spent the weekend up in Portland visiting my friend Brian and touring Portland's brewery and brewpub scene. Portland has more breweries per capita than any other city in the world so this is like Mecca for beer drinkers. I'm back and mostly recovered.

We started at Pyramid/Mactarnahans Brewery, home of the famous Pyramid Hefeweizen. We got a sampler there including a very interesting nitrogenated Pale Ale (think the creaminess of Guinness but with a Pale). The Pac NW is mostly known for the hoppiness of their beer, understandable as the region is a major source of hop agriculture. Next stop was dinner and another sampler at Bridgeport Brewing Company. Samplers are a great buy as usually you get the equivalent of 2+ beers for a fairly cheap price (and if you find one you don't like you're not stuck with it for a whole pint). I mostly stuck with the Pales and IPA's which were very tasty. We finished the night at Rogue, who doesn't brew in Portland but is native to Oregon. They are pretty famous for doing funky things with beer, like their Dead Guy Ale that is a German Maibock but is brewed with an ale yeast. We went through 3 samplers ($6 each, I love it) and introduced my friends to Barleywine. I also got into an argument with our cute waitress about the definition of "dry hopping", in short, she was wrong. :-)

Next day we slept in and dragged ourselves to Salmon Creek Brewpub in Vancouver for lunch and another sampler. They had a Scottish ale that we both thought was great and they poured us samples of a Belgian style IPA (interesting) and a seasonal Oktoberfest (just ok). We were the only people in there so the staff hung out with us and we all made fun of fizzy beer; they have a thimble sized glass they give to people who order Budweiser or Coors. Back to Portland to Laurelwood for a pint. Had a red ale, usually about as bitter as a pale but with more malt characteristics. Then headed to the New Old Lompoc for another pint. Had a high alcohol IPA made with fresh hops (as opposed to dried hops). The fresh hops gave an interesting bitterness and aroma. It would be like making tea using fresh tea leaves. We ended the night at a poker game. I lost but my friend won the second tournament after I couldn't hit any cards. No beer there, the host was from Kentucky so it was bourbon all around.

We didn't get out the final day till 5 pm. Hung out playing Space Hulk and video games and drinking lots of gatorade. Left to go to a party and ditched out of there to hit one last spot at the all organic Hopworks Urban Brewery for a couple last pints. I'm glad we did, Hopworks made some of the best beer I'd had all trip! I had Fest o'Fury, a beer I don't even know how to classify. I guess it's kind of a cross between an amber and a pale, really dry with a nice sharp bitterness and some malt but not over the top like I find many amber ales. Second pint was a classic IPA and a great way to finish the trip.