I will be posting photos and additional commentary on my recent trip to Oregon, but here are some initial reactions from stops in Portland, McMinnville and finally Astoria….
It has been a patio drinking kind of trip. Sitting at Wayfinder beer watching the tables fill up with Portlanders who take every opportunity to sit outside to Allegory Brewing in McMinnville before the UFO parade to the sorta-outside seating section at Fort George. Usually, one bundles up in Oregon but even at the tip top of the state with Washington across the water of the Columbia it has been blue skies.
Beer-wise Wayfinder was strong. Primarily light and tilted to belles and dark lagers with an excellent hefe. I snuck into Beer Mongers for a quick pint and ran across Mirage Brewing of Seattle whose Neon Guts hopped pils was really nice.
From there to Allegory who had nine beers on offer and nary a dud in m6 taster tray of five. They even had a barrel-aged small stout.
Then all the way up the 101 to Astoria. Walking to Fort George, after parking the car a couple blocks from their city block I walked past a distillery, a cidery, a bottle shop and tap house and Astoria’s newest brewery, Reach Break. Typical Oregon.
More Oregon photos and a list of beers drunk in later posts.