The dark clouds close in, bringing a splatter of drizzle. The slate, almost still mirror of the Columbia River belies the turbulent entrance to the Pacific ocean a few miles down. Bland industrial buildings are broken up by brightly colored Victorian homes. It is a sleepy Saturday with only a few people braving the elements to trod along the riverwalk. However, a few blocks from the water something is stirring. There is the clatter of metal kegs being put into place. The smell of woodsmoke fills the air, followed quickly by the scent of bacon. As you approach this spot, a sense of anticipation grows. You see small groups of people bundled up, talking excitedly, many wearing clothing items bearing the name of some brewery or other. Some familiar, some not. They all are moving toward the same destination. That is when you see a line, snaking around a building that takes up an entire block. The small groups have gathered into a horde, all clutching small fluted glasses. Many look at lists, some on their phone, some printed out. You glance over someone’s shoulder to spy the list. It is a list of beers, all dark, all malty, but all different. It is time for the annual ode to the stout. It is time for the Festival of Dark Arts.
For those unfamiliar with what I’m talking about Fort George Brewery (located in Astoria, Oregon) hosts an annual beer festival in February that is devoted to the art of the stout (a “carnival of stouts” if you will). As a craft beer nerd, I am a fan of beer fests in general, but ever since I first attended the Festival of Dark Arts in 2018 it has been far and away my favorite. Why? How different could a particular beer fest possibly be? Let me tell you.
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).
Velvet ESB @ Hopworks, also my little hop friend, Brewce Hoppington
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).
One of my goals for 2020 was to do one Hop Trip per month. However, COVID-19 seems to have put the kibosh on that idea, at least for awhile. Since I can’t go anywhere, I figured I should finally post about the two I did go on before everything became weird all the time (hooray!). With that in mind, here’s the first one: my short excursion to the beer capital of the Columbia River Gorge: Hood River.
Day 1
After a couple hours drive north from Bend, we arrived in Hood River. After checking in at the Best Western (a really nice hotel btw) we headed over to Ferment Brewing.
I feel a little unoriginal writing about Portland so often but with the number of breweries within its city limits, it should hardly be surprising. So without further ado, here are the places I visited this time around:
Breakside Brewery (Dekum location) is an old favorite that I haven’t been to in awhile (I used to live within blocks of it). They have had a solid and award-winning line-up of beers since they first opened in 2010, and the beer quality remains top-notch. Their restaurant is also excellent, and I cannot recommend their blue-cheese fries highly enough.
Beers @ Breakside
This time around I went with their classic Pilsner (one of the better ones produced in the northwest) and one of their experimentals, called Basic Witch. This saison, while slightly high in ABV for that style (6.4%), was very light overall with flavors of honey, rose water, and pepper. The pepper almost turned me away from ordering it as I have sampled pepper saisons where that’s all you can taste and it has made me a little leery of the style. However, the pepper in this beer is very subtle and you really only taste it on the back end.
As far as I’m concerned there are three powerhouse beer towns in Oregon: Bend, Portland, and Eugene. I am very familiar with the first two (having lived in both) but my knowledge of Eugene breweries has come more slowly. Why? No offense to the beer loving citizens of Eugene, but I kind of hate Eugene. Now hear me out. My first few trips to Eugene were for work for a job I didn’t really like and since the aforementioned company was based in Eugene, I worked with many Oregon Ducks fans who are often really annoying. Most of them were wonderful people otherwise but when the conversation turned to college football, ugh, it was annoying and tiresome. It probably also doesn’t help that I earned my master’s degree from the University of Washington, a noted rival of the University of Oregon. Is all of this Eugene’s fault? No, not really, but I want to get my rant about this damp, patchouli scented den of homeless people and college students out of the way before I talk about the beer. Let it also serve as an explanation as to why I don’t really go into further detail about the city outside of the beer. Citizens of Eugene, feel free to call me out on this but I’ll warn you that I have two friends who live in Eugene so I have heard all of the defenses of your fair city already. Now with that out of the way, onto the beer.
Southern Food? Yes please.
While doing my research for these trips I take deep dives into each brewery’s website, seeing not only what beer they have on offer but what food options they have going on. The latter is what drove me to Elk Horn Brewery (also the fact that I’d never had their beer before). Elk Horn specializes in southern food, from BBQ to fried chicken to gumbo and fried okra. I had the Cajun Chicken sandwich (basically fried chicken on a bun) while my husband tried their pulled pork sandwich. Both were delicious and this place has really good fries (I am a connoisseur of fried potatoes so I like to think I know a good fry when I taste it).
There’s a lot of dead stuff on the walls which is…interesting
An array of beers
Elk Horn also has a nice selection of brews on tap. I sampled the Velvet Antler Red, a balanced red ale that was perfect for the start of fall, and the Scoggin’s Common, an easy drinking California Common. Side note: I love a California Common and wished more breweries brewed that style. My husband had the Hoppy Kettle Sour and the Lemon Blonde both of which were pretty tasty (especially the Lemon Blonde).
Hoppy Kettle Sour and Velvet Antler Red
No Sir, I will not fall in that hole
Our next stop was Coldfire Brewing which is currently surrounded by some street construction (including the nice man with the Ditch Witch who warned me to not fall into the giant hole they had just dug near the sidewalk). Coldfire’s tasting room is a little hidden away, sandwiched between Skinner Butte Park and the Willamette River. The space is similar to a lot of newer tasting rooms: open floor plan, small patio, a nice view of several of the fermentation tanks, and a food truck out back. By calling it similar, however, I am not trying to infer that it is bad. Far from it. The tap room has a nice chill feel while still being industrial (a combination I thoroughly enjoy) and most importantly, serves some excellent beer. Also, fun thing to note about the industrial style: the fermentation tanks are all named (and are all ladies). Forgot to ask if there was a meaning behind the names so fair readers, if you know, drop me a line.
Tap List @ Coldfire
Hello Ladies
I had sampled some of Coldfire’s beer prior to this visit as they do some distribution to Bend. I bought a four pack of their St. James IRA a few months back and enjoyed it very much, so I knew that this was definitely a place I wanted to visit next time I was in Eugene. I knew that Coldfire was the place for me as soon as I spotted the tap list and saw a dry hopped Brett Saison on there (a Brett Saison is one of my favorite styles and I will sample one whenever I see it). Their Brett Saison Seeds of Infinity did not disappoint either. So fucking good, you guys. They also bottle this beer so you can bet that I also bought a bottle to bring home with me. While visiting I also sampled the Stylish Kolsch which is crisp, clean, and delightful on a warm day (also bonus points because they served it in the appropriate glassware). My husband went with the Cumulus Tropicalus (a hazy IPA, a four pack of which also came home with us) and Peaches and Dreams (a peach sour which was very subtle and not overpowered by peach flavor).
Stylish Kolsch and Peaches and Dreams
These penguins were above our table and I liked them
The Hoppiest of Valleys
Now, I am fully aware that some beer nerds have a serious issue with macro breweries of any kind. I am not one of those people so be forewarned that I am about to say some nice things about a brewery that is owned by Miller Coors. Everyone prepared to deal with that? Good. Hop Valley Brewing has been a favorite of mine since I started drinking craft beer (back when they were still technically a craft brewery) and as far as I’m concerned still make some of the best widely distributed IPAs in the Pacific Northwest, which was why their downtown tap room was our last stop of the day. (I also have two friends that work there who I was meeting up with). This was my first visit to this location (I have previously visited their pub in Springfield, OR which I would also recommend) and was pretty impressed. This location has a large patio out front, a wood paneled tap room near the main bar, and another space that is primarily utilized for private events. It’s definitely a good place to chill and have a beer and a snack (I would recommend the soft pretzel).
Hop Valley Taproom
Tap list
Tap list continued
If I have an issue with some larger breweries’ tasting rooms, it can be a lack of experimental beers. Unlike their close neighbor Ninkasi (who I love and makes one of my favorite reds but who only serve their core beers at their tap room-although I’m hoping this may change with their upcoming expansion) Hop Valley has an excellent experimental program and has a number of those beers on tap at any given time. While there I sampled their Mango and Stash, a fruiter version of their core offering Bubble Stash, and Ripple, a pale ale. I may have had a third beer as well but at this point I was neglecting my reporting duties in lieu of having fun.
To finish off the evening my husband and I headed over to Cuthbert Amphitheater where we had tickets for Flogging Molly and Dropkick Murphys. Great concert, nice outdoor venue, and the fourteenth time I have seen Flogging Molly (side note about me: Flogging Molly is one of my absolute favorite bands and I have loved them since I discovered them my senior year of high school). If you have not had the pleasure of hearing their music before, let me share. They always put on a great live show and that night was no exception.
Flogging Molly (yes, that is the guy from Fastway)
One last word to the wise about Eugene: do not visit on a weekend when there is a University of Oregon football game happening. It is busy everywhere and good luck finding a hotel. Also don’t be a dumb dumb like me and get tickets for a concert the weekend before school starts at said university.
Ah Portland. My former home and a place I have come to love and hate in just about equal measure. However, I will exclude the hate from this post and talk about one of the reasons I love Portland so very much: beer! It is one of the American beer meccas and with good reason. It has 75 breweries and counting within city limits and some of the biggest names in the industry work, or have worked, for one of Portland’s breweries. I mean they call the city Beervana for a reason. You get it.
In short, Portland is all about the craft beer and this is the first of what I assume will be many Portland Hop Trips. So let’s get going!
Why Camas?
Our first stop isn’t technically in Portland but as it is counted as part of the Portland Metro area I’m going to include it. Camas is a smaller city on the eastern side of Vancouver, Washington and comprises part of the Portland Metro that resides on the Washington side of the Columbia River. So why Camas? Two reasons: my sister-in-law lives there and there’s beer. My husband’s youngest sister lives on the edge of Camas in the middle of nowhere (because she hates people and wants to make it very difficult for people to come see her-sorry, Mary, but it’s true) so our Hop Trip started there to see her and get in some baby cuddles (her son is a year and a half).
While you may not guess it driving around Camas (especially with the paper mill which likes to stink up the entire area if the wind is blowing in the right direction) there are a couple of top notch breweries in town. Our first stop was a place I’d been before in the heart of downtown Camas (which is like 3 blocks long): Mill City Brew Werks. It looks like any other pub style restaurant (i.e. not terribly exciting) but don’t let looks fool you, these guys make some quality beer. They also have an adorable intro video you can watch here. This place is not about fads and tend to stick to more Germanic beer styles (the last time I was here the owner told us all about the yeast strain that their family brought over from Germany so I suppose that focus makes sense). As such we stuck with those styles in our sampling: I had the Kolsch while my husband went for the Hefeweizen. The Kolsch was crisp, clean, and absolutely perfect since it was way too fucking hot that day (more on that later). I also recommend their food which is all sourced locally and pretty damn delicious.
And here we are, back in the Emerald City. My husband joined me for this portion of the hop trip so we opted to drive instead of fly. Approximately six hours later we made it my sister-in-law’s apartment in West Seattle, our home base for the next few days. Since it took half the day to drive from Bend and with a desire to avoid Friday evening traffic in the city, we opted to stay in West Seattle for the rest of the day. However, as we soon found out, this in no way limited our beer choices.
Our first stop was West Seattle Brewing, the Mothership location, which is located off of Fauntleroy Way (they have a second location called the Tap Shack which is on Alki Beach). The Mothership is a small, industrial space with several tables looking directly onto a section of the brewery floor (my preferred design for a tap room, always love that smell). The tap room has a decent selection of beers on tap (both core and seasonal offerings) and also serves coffee drinks and a small food menu (sandwiches, salads, and pizza). While there I sampled their Alki Lumber Lager, a clean, light lager which was perfect for a warm day in Seattle (shocking, I know) and the Smoke Haze IPA, a decent addition to the hazy IPA trend. Since the Brewers Association added Hazy IPAs as an official category can we call it a trend anymore? Anways, I digress.
The view from the cheap seats-West Seattle Brewing Co.
Alki Lumber Lager
After finishing up some work (it was Friday, guys) we ventured over to The Beer Junction, a combo beer bar and beer store in the middle of West Seattle. The Beer Junction came highly recommended from my coworker and fellow beer nerd Adrian so that combined with the fact that it was walking distance from where we were staying (don’t drink and drive y’all), I had a feeling it would be a winner. I was very happy to be right. Their website claims to have Seattle’s largest beer selection with over 1,300 different beers available in package and a monster tap list with around 40 taps of beer, cider, mead, and kombucha. And it was a beautiful tap list that night, and not only because they had Cascade Barrel House’s Manhattan on tap. The tap list is separated into several categories including: Hops!, Light & Medium Bodied, On the Dark Side, and Rare, Sour, or “Odd & Delicious.” While they did seem to have a love for Central Oregon beers, which I always appreciate, I went for some non-Oregon beers including a Dark Mild from Machine House Brewery (one of the most British ass beers I’ve had in awhile) and a Mahogany Kriek from Grand Teton Brewing. While sipping on these beers we also spent some time perusing their massive bottle shop selection which I believe I have only seen bested by one other place (we’ll keep that one for a future hop trip). In short, it is awesome and if money and storage were no object I would have brought a good portion of it home with me. It’s also worth noting that The Beer Junction is a block away from Ma’ono, a place which serves delicious fried chicken and Hawaiian food.
After taking a one-hour puddle jumper flight from Bend to Seattle, my first stop in West Seattle (besides my sister-in-law’s apartment to drop off my stuff) was Elliott Bay Brewing Company. I vaguely remember visiting this brewery many moons ago when I still lived in Seattle so I decided it was time for another visit.
Elliott Bay Brewing Company’s original location (they now have four) is located in the heart of West Seattle on California Avenue. The atmosphere is old school British pub with lots of dark wood, a massive bar, and booths with high backs that make you feel like you’re in your own cozy beer drinking world.
Day 2
The next day took me to the two breweries located in Seattle’s iconic Pike Place market: Old Stove Brewing and Pike Brewing Company. Pike Brewing Company is a known quantity for me so we headed to Old Stove first.
For this inaugural Hop Trip I chose the land of hops and one of my former home states: Washington. I also chose it because I was already going for a different reason which we’ll get to in a little bit. As Washington is a large state this Hop Trip focuses on three specific locations and a couple of stops in between. These locations include Seattle, Orcas Island, and Port Townsend.
Seattle
September 15th 2017
Ah Seattle, a beautiful city that I have a rather complicated relationship with. I lived in Seattle for about three years between 2007 and 2010 while obtaining my master’s degree in Library and Information Science from the University of Washington. I had some good times and some not so great times during those years and I learned that while Seattle is great to visit I did not want to live there. Seattle has many downsides (traffic, gloomy weather, expensive as shit) but one if its big upsides is its beer and as such there is not really a better place to begin a Washington Hop Trip. For this trip I focused primarily on northwestern neighborhoods of Seattle, including Magnolia, Ballard, and Greenwood.
Our first stop was Figurehead Brewing in the Magnolia neighborhood of Seattle. I lived in Magnolia when I lived in Seattle and since I left a couple of craft breweries have popped up in the industrial area of this neighborhood near the Fisherman’s Terminal (where you can sometimes spot the boat from Deadliest Catch). Figurehead is very new on Seattle’s craft scene, founded in 2016 by three homebrewers and utilizes a 7 BBL brewhouse that feed three 7 BBL uni-tanks. Their beers tend to be English and Belgian inspired but there was a least one NW style IPA on tap. The tap room has a fisherman’s wharf vibe and a small patio out front and appears to be both kid and pet friendly (especially since I saw someone’s dog puke all over the concrete floor in front of the bar). Vomit aside, Figurehead has a nice ambiance and good beer. I sampled the Golden Delicious Blonde Ale and the Belgian Bitter, both of which I enjoyed (although the Belgian was better).
