Day 1: Portland
As we rolled into Portland after a three-hour drive from Bend, we headed for an old favorite, Hopworks. I have discussed Hopworks on this blog before so I won’t repeat myself too much and only say it is awesome and if the Velvet ESB is on tap, try it because it is a deliciously underrated beer (and ESB’s in general are an underrated style).
As our next planned stops opened a bit later in the afternoon, we dropped in at Gigantic Brewing, always a good choice and one of my husband’s favorites. I was really excited to try their new Project Pilsner beers because I love a clean, simple, delicious beer when I can find it. I ordered the Project Pilsner Citra. One of the things I like best about Gigantic is that they like to take big swings when it comes to their beer. Often this works out well for them, but I feel like they fell a little short of the target with this beer. While the beer was in no way bad (I don’t think they make a pour down the drain beer) the Citra overwhelmed the Pilsner to a distracting degree (citra is a very flavorful hop and pilsners tend to be more understated beers).
After visiting two old favorites, it was off to try some new places.
First we headed over to one of the current darlings of the Portland beer scene, Ruse Brewing. Whenever a brewery has received as much attention as Ruse has, I am always a little cautious going in, especially when said brewery is in Portland. Don’t mistake my intention here: I love Portland. I lived there off and on for ten years and it will always have a place in my heart (despite how much it is becoming like Seattle). However, it is not without good reason that a lot of people make fun of Portland and its hipster culture. And that said hipster culture is often reflected in the more popular restaurants and bars around town, including breweries. Therefore, when walking into Ruse, part of me was expecting, well, that sort of ambiance. I was mostly pleasantly surprised to be (mostly) wrong.
First of all, people were not wrong about the beer. It is REALLY good and many of the styles they make are right up my ally (hello sours and hoppy pilsners, lovely to see you). They have a nice selection of styles on their tap list, as well as cans and bottles to take home or drink in house. The tap room is in a mostly industrial part of SE Portland (right off the MAX), in a modern office building with several other businesses (i.e. there is a shared bathroom with a code) and that look is reflected in the tap room. It’s a pretty low key setting and was only infested by a few hipsters ;).
I sampled Noctuary, a barrel-aged black sour ale, Semicircles (2019), a foeder aged blonde with peaches, and Covered Bridges, a German pilsner. All were very tasty and I ended up taking a bottle of their beer home with me.
Next up was Baerlic Brewing. Baerlic is one of those places that has been on my to-visit list for too long (Portland has a lot of breweries y’all) since I already knew they make quality beer. The tap room on 11th Ave (they have a second tap room with food carts in Rose City Park) has a light and airy, almost coffee house-like feel which is somewhat at odds with the punk rock theme their branding goes with. While the contrast may be a little odd at first, it had a chill vibe that I enjoy and their beer is top notch (the most important part). I sampled the Simon and Our-Dunkel, a Dunkel style lager with a delightful name.
They also have an art space in the back of the tap room called the Hellion Gallery, so that combined with the punk rock aesthetic, I knew these guys were my kind of people.
We finished the day with dinner at another old favorite, Mi Mero Mole. This place has been around for awhile and is probably my favorite Mexican place in PDX. The food is amazing and their margaritas are delicious (especially the spicy one). It is walking distance from where we were staying at the Hotel Dossier, which won this trip’s Hotwire lottery for which downtown hotel we’ll stay in (I’ve almost collected them all at this point).
Anyways, between beer and burritos we went back to the hotel room and were fat for the rest of the evening.
Day 2
Day 2 took us to Astoria and the true purpose for this trip and my favorite beer fest: the Festival of the Dark Arts. Looking back while writing this, I am so glad we got to go to this before all beer fests started getting canceled. For those who don’t know Festival of the Dark Arts (aka a Carnival of Stouts) is Fort George’s beer fest devoted to dark beers. Their website describes it as “a magical menagerie of dark art and macabre entertainment, all while surrounded by the boldest collection of stouts ever assembled in one place.” The Festival also includes the debuts of that year’s debut of the different variants of Matryoshka, their barrel-aged Russian imperial stout. This year there were eight different variations, aged in different kinds of liquor barrels and with different flavors.
The festival “showcased over 70 rare and unique stouts” so I was in no way able to try all of them, but here are a few of my favorites (with scores from 1-10 that I jotted down during the festival):
- Cloudburst Brewing, And Also With You: Double Dry Irish Catholic Stout (my score: 8)
- Reuben’s Brews, BBIS Cognac, Bourbon barrel aged imperial stout finished in Cognac Puncheons (my score: 6) Additional notes: 14% ABV=oh boy; puncheon is a fancy word for barrel
- Mount Olympus Brewing, Blood of Hades, Whiskey Barrel Aged Imperial Mexican Hot Chocolate Stout with cinnamon, ancho, guajillo, and mulato peppers (my score: 7)
- Fort George Brewery, Matryoshka 2020, Woodinville Rye Whiskey Barrel Aged Russian Imperial Stout with Cocoa Nibs (my score: 9) Additional notes: very smooth
- Fort George Brewery, Polish’s Black Walnut Stout (my score: 9) Additional notes: I fell in love with this beer and had it at least twice and ended up taking some home with me.
- Fort George Brewery, Dark Tunneler, Imperial Caramel Stout with Cocoa Nibs, Macadamia Nuts, & Sea Salt (my score: 6) Additional notes: super duper sweet
- Ex Novo Brewing, Kill The Sun (Horchata), Barrel Aged Imperial Stout Matured up to One Year, Conditioned on cinnamon and Madagascar Vanilla Beans (my score: 8) Additional notes: this beer is a lot! but in all of the best ways 🙂
- Public Coast Brewing, BlackJack Bumbleberry Sour, Sour Stout Aged on Blackberries, Blueberries, Raspberries, and Boysenberries (my score: 9) Additional notes: this was probably my favorite beer of the festival
- Bale Breaker Brewing Co., Barrel Aged Wood & Wire, Imperial Stout that utilizes 11 different malt varieties, aged for 9 months in bourbon barrels (my score: 7)
- pFriem Family Brewers, Mexican Chocolate Stout, Stout with peppers, chocolate, & spices (my score: 8) Additional notes: crazy easy drinking and pairs surprisingly well with oysters
- Hopworks Urban Brewery, Barrel Aged Cashmere, velvety stout brewed with excessive oats, chocolate, & orange, aged is Westward Whiskey Barrels (my score:7)
After spending several hours drinking stouts and enjoying the dark ambiance of the festival, we decided to visit a newish bottleshop about a block away from Fort George: Bridge & Tunnel Bottleshop. I had heard good things about it and turns out it has an amazing selection (including beers that weren’t stouts, which is what one needs after spending a day at the Festival of the Dark Arts), a helpful staff, and a relatively quiet and dry place to relax. We also ran into a group of people doing a pub crawl in footie pajamas which was an interesting experience. After a beer or two we walked back to the hotel (safety first!) and stopped and had Chinese food.
Day 3
The next morning was beautiful and sunny (a rarity in Astoria in February) so we decided to pursue an outdoor activity. We headed over to Fort Stevens State Park, which is just west of Astoria in the very small town of Hammond. If you want an idea of how small, there were a group of elk just wandering around town as we drove through.
Fort Stevens is an old military base that was built to guard the mouth of the Columbia River near the end of the American Civil War. The fort is best known for the shipwreck of the Peter Iredale (which is still visible today) and for action during World War II when a Japanese submarine fired on the fort. It was decommissioned in 1947 and is now on the National Register of Historic Places.
It should also be noted that if you like creepy things (like me), an episode of Ghost Adventures was filmed at Fort Stevens in 2018 and the staff love to talk about it. You can find the episode here if you’re interested.
At this point in the day we were headed towards lunchtime which means one thing: time for beer! First up was Buoy Beer Company, one of Astoria’s most popular breweries. These guys make some excellent non-showy beers while having the most showy view from their back patio (that’s it below). I sampled their Cream Ale (a stellar example of the style) and the Eureka Single Hop IPA. Also, if you come here I highly recommend the oyster shooters and the clam chowder. So yummy!
After lunch, we wandered around downtown Astoria which has a cool Victorian vibe and many shops and restaurants worth visiting. One of those shops is Phog Bounders Antique Mall. This place is two stories of weird, cool stuff with everything from furniture to comic books. I came home with a bunch of old postcards of Central Oregon which now reside in my dining room.
Our next stop ending up being a bust. We tried to visit Astoria Brewing Company but there was a huge wait and it was full of small children (while I am all for people bringing their kid into brew pubs, even I have my limits) so we bounced. What I can tell you is that they sell a shit-ton of Goonies merchandise so if that’s something you’re into, this place is definitely worth a visit.
After failing to get a beer at Astoria Brewing Company, we headed over to Reach Break Brewing, a newish brewery on the Astoria brewing scene. Reach Break shares a wall with Reveille Ciderworks and has a patio surrounded by food carts. The patio seemed like a nice place to hang out but it started raining almost immediately upon our arrival so we headed inside. The inside is a bit cozy (i.e. small) and was packed so my husband and I ended up grabbing seats at the bar (which was a great idea since the bartender was super friendly and full of facts to know and tell about beer in Astroia). I tried Autumn Sole, an ESB, and McRea’s Oyster Stout. Side note: can we talk about how delightful a good oyster stout is? I sometimes feel like I am very alone in this opinion.
After Reach Break we headed back over to Bridge and Tunnel (that place is really good, highly recommend!) and had a couple more beers. As examples of their well rounded selection I had Astrolabe Quadrant from Bottle Logic Brewing and Acid Wash (a fresh hop sour saison) from Dwinell Country Ales. Good stuff!
To finish off the day we headed back to Fort George for dinner and to pick up some bottles of the newly released Matryoshka. This bottle release is known as The Aftermath and always occurs the day after Festival of the Dark Arts. So with out tummies full of delicious beer and food, we finished off a wonderful weekend (and I really hope there will be a Festival of the Dark Arts in 2021 because it really is the best). Prost!
