Where To Go, When You Go, to Oregon

When I travel, either solo or with wife, once the travel is booked the second thing that I do is start looking for breweries to visit.

But getting current and smart recommendations which should be easy in this internet age, only sporadically is. Usually, hours of operation are out of date, can’t find taplists or food menus. I tend to now have plans B and C in my pocket wherever I go. Because I expect that location A may be closed.

Bit of a preamble to very exciting news from the Beervana Blog and esteemed drinks writer Jeff Alworth about a new (and large) project that will help beer travelers plan trips to Oregon.

Read the announcement HERE.

Once up and running, it could be an invaluable travel resource and a clearinghouse of Oregon craft beer information.

PDX22

If the aiport gods smile down upon me, I will be back in my hometown of Milwaukie, (OR) in a few days. While Milwaukie doesn’t have a scene minus Breakside, there is plenty of brewing going on in the larger city to the north, AKA Portland.

Thankfully, the Beervana blog posted travel centered posts in late June for me to plan where I needed to stop. Read the orientation post HERE.

Wherever you summer travel this year, I strongly suggest finding the local beer writer and even if they do not have a travel to piece, all you really need to do is read a few posts to catch the current mood or find a new brewery.

Hops on the Horizon

If you do not follow the BeervanaBlog, well, you are missing out. Especially if you want to be up to date on hops. Jeff Alworth has done the legwork on new and slightly new hop varietals so that you can sound so much smarter at the bar.

HERE is the extensive round-up. I am the most intrigued by the English and French hops since especially Endeavour and Barbe Rouge.

Hoppy 2016

The new hops are coming, the new hops are coming…..

IPA’s will only grow more powerful as the latest crop of hops hit the market in larger quantities. Check out the great post from Jeff Alworth about it HERE.

hops
hops

I am growing to be less of a fan of the slightly lame names being used but of the group cited in the post, these hops and their flavor profiles held the most attraction to me….

Caliente – peach/nectarine and plum
TNT – green and sweet fruit
Pekko – mint and citrus
Enigma – Red Currant and Pinot Gris
Lemonaughty – lemonade and cantalope